Scouting, Volume 1, Number 17, January 1, 1914 Page: 4
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SCOUTING
SCOUTING
published semi-monthly by national head-
quarters, boy scouts of america, fob scout
officials and others interested in
the boy scout movement
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL AND
executive board
Honorary President: Woodrow Wilson.
Honorary Vice-President: William H. Taft.
Honorary Vice-President: Theodore Roosevelt.
President: Colin H. Livingstone, Washington.
Chief Scout: Ernest Thompson Seton.
Nat'l Scout Commissioner: Daniel C. Beard.
Treasurer: George D. Pratt, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Chief Scout Executive: James E. West, N. Y, C.
Office of Publication: 200 Fifth Avenue,
New York City
Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office,
New York, N. Y., under the act of
August 24, 1918.
VOL. I. JANUARY 1, 1914. • No. 17.
THE CHANGE IN BOYS.
WHEN one stops and thinks that in
every State of the Union Boy
Scouts worked before Christmas
and on the holiday to make others happier
on that occasion, it will be realized that the
boys of to-day are learning early that it is
more blessed—and more fun—to give than
to .receive.
It will be realized also that such Christ-
mas service, so given, signifies an early ap-
preciation of one's duty to those less fortu-
nate in his community.
What's best about it, though, is that the
every-day performances of the boys who
have been reached by our movement prove
that they deserve what was said of them
recently:
" The term ' Christmas spirit' is a good
definition of the Boy Scouts' attitude
toward life."
Earnest men who dwell in remote towns
and have no public fame, and earnest men
who " sit in high places " are working alike
in this big endeavor, each dependent on
the rest, to a larger degree than is sus-
pected, for the success of it. Together they
are doing a thing they could not do alone
—opening the minds of boys to new
thoughts, putting new desires and ambitions
into their hearts; in short, instilling this
" Christmas spirit" in a new generation and
making it operative the year around.
Only a part of the benefits show now.
The real benefits will not be fully recog-
nized until to-day's boys grow up.
Meanwhile the gratitude and thanks of
thousands of parents, indeed of all the
people of our country, are due these men
who have wrought the marvelous change
already apparent.
TELL THEIR PARENTS.
NOT all of the men who are expressing
profound appreciation for Boy Scout
work are connected officially with
the movement. A notable instance was the
testimony given recently by Mr. Jacob A.
Riis in The Outlook. Another was the
speech of Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President
Emeritus of Harvard University, one of
the educational leaders in the United States.
In this address, parts of which were pub-
lished in the Dec. 15 issue of Scouting, Dr.
Eliot indicated that he had made a careful
survey of the entire Boy Scout plan, and
had found that it provides many things that
are needful, many things which other edu-
cational agencies, even our long-established
and conscientiously1 developed public
schools, do not provide.
That such men should give, in authorita-
tive appraisals, such high praise to the
movement makes those who are working
directly with boys by this plan more cer-
tain than ever that it is a work well worth
while. It encourages them, helps them over
the hard places.
We should like to suggest, however, that
each Scout Master can at once lighten his
burden a little and increase the good results
of his work if he will take occasion to keep,
the parents of his boys fully informed about
his work with them, and also (that they,
too, may have a larger view of this work)
show them such testimonials to the Scout
movement as that which Mr. Riis and Dr.
Eliot have given.
A Future Scout.
An Editorial in the Richmond
(Va.) Times=Despatch.
MAN AND BOY.
VIRTUALLY all testimony about the
Boy Scout plan and its actual work-
ing out makes mention of and
emphasizes the importance of the personal
and intimate association of Boy Scouts
with their Scout Masters, men who are
clean, who understand the boy and his
habits and propensities, who are willing to
work hard to bring into his life an im-
portant element which too often is missing.
Many persons, not all of them Scout offic-
ials, and many of them parents themselves,
have said that this friendly relationship
existing between the boy and his Scout
Master enables the boy to obtain much
helpful information and experience, and
especially moral counsel, which he could
never get from his school teachers or in-
deed from his own parents.
Some aspects of the relations of adults
with boys are graphically and cleverly de-
scribed in an article entitled, "The Only
Child You Know," in the Saturday Even-
ing Post of December 6. All who have
filial or other intimate association with boys
will find good thoughts and helpful sugges-
tions in the extracts from that article re-
printed in this issue of Scouting, and more
in the article itself. A Scout Commissioner
in one city sent us, the other day, a copy
of a letter which he sent to all his Scout
Masters urging them to read that article
" for pleasure and benefit." It was good
advice.
IP any boy be bad, he was. Six months
ago tney brought him into court and
proved against him a charge which
would have put a man in stripes. He was
given a chance then on probation, but for
some reason he did not make a good
record; he reported tardily or not at all,
would not attend school, and all but drove
his overworked mother to distraction.
So the future seemed gloomy enough when
he stood yesterday in Juvenile Court, a tat-
tered little lad of twelve, abashed, yet
somewhat defiant, plucking mechanically at
bis hat and stealing an occasional glance at
his mother. The officers of the court
warned him, argued with him, tried to
arouse him and appealed to his spirit. All
in vain. He did not want to go to school,
because his clothes were old, and he much
preferred the factory and the night school,
at least until he earned enough to buy a
new suit. As his mother needed the pit-
tance his small hands could earn, this
seemed the only alternative; his probation
was renewed, his record was started afresh,
and he was about to leave the courtroom,
a final warning in his ears.
By chance some one proposed the
remedy:
" Suppose we let you try to join the Boy
Scouts and give you a uniform, if the
Scout Master will let you enlist?"
In a moment the cloud lifted, and the
sullen little face was flooded with the sun-
shine of joy. Did he want to join? He
would do anything in the world to gain a
place on the roster. Did he have to
promise honesty, obedience, truthfulness
and the rest? He would show those quali-
ties and earn admittance. The world was
made over, his little life had a purpose.
For the first time his heart had set for it-
self 'an ideal. And as he left the court-
room, few who saw him would have recog-
nized him.
Will our little fellow make a good
Scout? Watch him!
HIGH MORAL STANDARDS
OBTAINED THROUGH SCOUTING
M. G. Brumbaugh, Superintendent of
the Public Schools of Philadelphia, wants
to see the Scout movement in every town
and city in the country.
" The Boy Scout Movement," he writes,
" holds in it the promise of great good to
the boys of this country. Wherever these
boys are under competent leaders and
wisely directed, they will acquire, through
the enterprise of the Scout movement, the
moral qualities that make for good citi-
zenship. They will also secure high moral
standards of conduct and splendid physi-
cal discipline. All of these ends are de-
sirable and important."
Troop Gives "Boys' Life" as Prize.
Troop 5, of Cleveland, O., has decided
that all members whose dues are paid up
to date shall receive a copy of Boys' Life
magazine each month, to be paid for out
of the troop's treasury.
AFTER THE OLDER BOYS.
In Cairo, 111., a special effort is being
made to organize troops with older boys,
preferably from 14 to 18 years old. It is
felt that the Scout movement will benefit
these older boys even more than it will the
younger ones. A Cairo newspaper, after
discussing the aims and activities of the
Boy Scouts of America, says:
"Nothing will give a man more con-
fidence in the goodness that underlies a
boy than to live outdoors with him awhile."
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 1, Number 17, January 1, 1914, periodical, January 1, 1914; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282656/m1/4/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.