Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, October 28, 1914, Page 10

B OW great a part i the Boy Scouts of the world play in tbe great war of nations staged in Burope? That already. _bad invaded than there the report across seas that Belsian Boy Erouts to the number of abost thirty had saptured woveral German spics und es- ctedithem o headquarters. A fow dass ter zhis Teport appeired: “The Germans ure using Ty Scouts as toles, sccording to revorts icm Delgion uwms oficers. Complate plass s thei Datcn fortress st Mnestmicat were found} ¥ 2 Gorman Boy.Sc Nor s :his all. That Burupe hud con- seded tne pssibilities of the Boy,Scout srganizatiors. in time of war was' dem- snstrated when, some years ago, the Frenck Peace Soclety Invited Sir Robert Bucer-Powell and #,000 Boy Sgouts to “iniade” France and march on Parls, was met the £ Ihe Englixit’ and French nations. But roun after the nnnouncement was made there came a torrific protest, prin- sipuily from military men. The invad- 3ré ware turmed the “boy sples of Brit- un” and the fact that the mafch was Inally permitted did not lessen the hos- iility to it in certain quarters. Organized essentially in the inter- essts’of the boys themselves and with- out the idea of war, these young scouts may become valuable aids ‘to the embattled nations. Thosé who be- lieve this point to the statement ac- sredited to Maj. Gen. Wood that “prac- tically ‘all wars have been fought by boys.' & French and English scouts have played an indirect part in the war. In the tormer nation they have been de- tailed to carry provisions to the sick' and wounded, care for old women, aelpless men and children, and aid in rexping the crops upon which the men at the front must-depend. In the lat- ter nation they have been detailed to puard bridges, and, on occasions, ald he polftte in preserving order. Everything.in the Boy Scout's train- mg appears to have fitted him for war. He can march, find his way through lense woods, signal to his comrades rither by the telegraph or the signal, ag, pitch a camp and generally rely upon himself. He can swim, shoot ind run probably with more swiftness | than a heavier and older soldler. No less an authority than Ludwig S. Dule of New York city, one of the national authorities on the movement ind a close friend of Baden Powell, has leclared that in_ time of war the Boy Scouts’ drill work and training in sig- nallng would it them for military service. Rt Of the Boy Scouts in Europe, England nas miore than any .of her sister na- tlons. Her organization 1is. 200,000 strong. Germany comes next with an >rganization of 50,000, drilled in the fame way, althous} they go by the aame of “Pathfinders” ~Austria-Hun- gary has 15,000 scouts, and her enemy, France, has 8/000. Russian Pcland tlone has 8,000.scouts, the total num- ser in the empire not being known. Servia has 4,000 scouts. Scandinavia, which. of course. is not @ tho war, has 20.000 Boy Scouts. The temainder’ of the Buro) saye abont 3 000 sconts. P, hatlons out Six vears awo Sir Robert Baden- Powell, the Eneliah milltarist pon sacn: DE that out of Encland's 3.000.000 boys 'sw more than a quarter of a m''lon were tnabled to have, praver care and {rainfne Jegan to_think seriously of trying to be !l aid. Mere monev had heen: tried he- ‘ore in various “uvlift” endeavors. There nust be something new. Thompson Seton he writer of pnimais haunts and habits, 1ad seen the hecessity for the samie thing n America and he had been exper'ment: Dg. He had called the grouns o" Iads he 'ad _gathered together and trained in 00ds lore “The Woodcraft Tndians " Dan Beard, then an editor, evolved another oclety ca'led “The 'Sons of - Danfel Boone.” afterward “The cers € America.” b fiiy * P It is really difficuit to pin the badee of toner for first thinking of the scheme ipon any one man, but it was Gen. 3aden-Powell who, with fine experience s a @thctlvflht. set M{o'ut the pra fical plans of the ‘Boy Scout movement. He had, shortly befgre the opganization vas conceived, published a text book cn the ‘subject of scouting for soldlers. This rook was utilized by VI-!"IO}I.! boys® clubs nd private schools with®™s surprising de- tree of interest., so its’author was en- wuraged to devise some wide-reaching tlan for all boys, whether belonging to flubs, going to private schools or living n_ the top of a temement or on some onely farm. The general, a colcnel of fe Boer wa fren” got together urrey ¢ He told them something Te boys. in Mafeking, Africa, had dome luring the struggie in the Traansvaal, tow Tord Cecil had wout tactles, drilled them uniforms, made nder T.ord Edward Cecil, them, and, in_the lone advance line of Mafeking. The general needn't have told his roung audlence how eager for duty these liefs of 13 the British bovs on tha.veldt were, 15 they rode on bicycles from fort to lort with messages, acted as ordeilies, once whirked tiw. Aunigers of Aring rine a real war. The Jays, me they i'staned tc the story of '59. peor with desive %0 fearn nct only rome: den in the e England, Razen-Pewelrs idea was to “teach ihe fioys to teach rhemselvas charac- ; in an impoverished state and went tc : e 5 5 after th Jor® The wovd ‘scout” to voung|ZiCh the home, land inaugurated the|work nauling wood, which was rated at America, suggests Fenimore Cooper |also had it. 3 $30 a cord; but cutting and hauling a cord ipo eargoitan I Srglend hat iLe frontd wneg's ende: tolonizing :s ane uf Eagland’s policies \nd border life 's just as sticring an. s pecersary for the glory of misn tadk as woen Sir wigh iveC. T, Jold before them, and tnere is vith the propazanca of the mov they will play some part has been derioastrated ‘Hardly he Germans Belgium came It y a whimsical way of showing nily relations eaxisting between r some English povs in of what talked to them of giving them the proud nessengers of the handful of weary men ir fathers and elder Lroth- Afriens alis wese buhbling ian tralls, but young bas Eipling &8 2 reminder is still a pride in their tnat exploring and the Walter Ra- Teudal Knights, too, and thival-ous scowrs of peace ure heroes little louht that kright. errantry In all its| _ance wnd color has haf much to do ment all coun- scouts, a boy must prove, among other things, that He can trail in twenty- five minutes an obscure track half a mile long. Before he can rise beyond the “tenderfoot” stage he must show that he can make a fire out in the } oben, using not more than two matches, and ‘there he able to cook a certain amount of meat and ‘potatoes without other cooking utensils than his “billy Saturday afternoons, just outside of London, in_a score of suburbs whose faces press.in close against the changing streets while their hearts look backward to the woods, the Boy Scouts are a busy lot. From ten to elghteen yedrs of age, and recruited from every stratum of every class, they scurry here and there, making a good time for themselves and others. A story is told of a.weary London shop- man, getting an hour's fresh air in a cool spot where there were some trees. He had lunched heartily, and was lying-on the grass sleeping. A crowd of scouts were playing-quite a wonderful game, and seeking each other in the hollows of trees and the most unsuspected places. What was the astonishment, not to say alarm, of the grocer, as he-: rose from his nap, to be accosted rather excitedly by a Youne man about twelve who looked all ready fo defend the London bridge if , and asked if he had seen any or “bears’—that they had given him the slip, and’couldn't be found. L * ¥ One statement that Baden-Powell made must stick in the memory of every -one who hears it: “The Boy Scout movement is a great leveler; it has brought together the son cf the duke and the coster.” As instance of this, there is a well known London editor whose" country, place and extensive gardens are his joy. His gar- dener’s son was ever wont to lift his hat and greet the editor's son as ‘'sir,” but now that-the lowlier lad is at the head of the village patrol of scouts, editor junior salutes his chief respectfully and sets about doing whatever he commands. So the Boy Scouts of Great Britain have hecome an of that nation's great interests. The movement is hardly less seriously taken, it seems, than the pushing of em- pire. The London Dally Telegraph about ur years ago undertobk to raise some- thing over $100,000 for the general fund at headquarters, and not only did the isles proper subscribe, but the colonles on the other side of the world. From Australia came a goodly percentage of this over- seas contribution, Some of it was from the boys themselves, for it was not long In a review in Melbourne not long ago the Scouts of Victoria had more than 900 members ‘on parade. The membership is more than 2,000, but the state or province of Victoria cov- ered too great distances for more to come. Two kilted troops, represent- ing Scottish Highlanders, were in evi- dence; and one patrol from a troop of cripples. Fine log-cutting is a_spe- clalty of the cripples, and when want- ing to present some admirer of Boy more than once hollowed out a log; smoothed and planed the space into the shape. of a box, filled this with red- cheeked apples,” and, forming a of the hark removed, created no little surprise for their 'friend. Another thing about M Scouts with a rememberance they have lid -l hl & ¥y KING o AL PHONSO XITL SPATN & TeTis Box Scour CosTuME A LING Spanish Boy Scouts. - It was in Madrid, the royal capital, for Alfonso XIII is a Boy Scout himself and delights in the. or- ganization. Several hundred lads paraded that da¥, and quite a number of prizes were offered in the usual contests of archery, ambulance work and drllls. Like most fete days of the peninsu'a, Sunday had been chosen as the day for the ex- ercises; and the king, dressed as a scout, not only then inaugurated the movement in Spain as a national interest, but be- stowed the crosses and medals himself, with one exception. The queen presented a book and medal to voung Lucien Bas- tardo. He had saved the children of a certain school from a mad dog, and the book was a gift from the rescued. The medal was his aceording to scout law, and the queen was particularly interest- ed, because the boy, merely the appren- tice to a carpentgr, was trying to sup- port his mother several sisters upon his meager wages. An ambulance - stretcher has been in- vented by the Toledo Boy Scouts. To every 100 of their 400 members in that SToRY To ENGIISH BOYS city of Spain so filled with story and tradition, tales OY Moogs and mysteries, there is the quite moderh invention which stands for more rapid pace and readily answered needs.. The strange picture of these businesslike young Spaniards. clad in khaki going swiftly here and there throughout the famous old serpentine streets and ever in the shadow of mighty cathedrals_is equal cnly fo that of Hoi- land’s windmils, wide stretches of low- lahd along the sea, and ‘brown-clad scouts never without their long rope lassos. Rope ladders, too. are among’ the spe- cialties of the Dutch boys, but.i ttakes the Swedes to excel in cooking. Crewn Princess Margaret of Sweden, daughter of, the British Duke of Connaught, tells the story of a_ laborer in Gothenburg whose family, with tie exception of one small chid, was tak® to the ‘hospital with diphtheria. Theman was too poor to hire help, and one day when he came home at noon, to see if some kindly neighbor were minding the house and what did he find but a pink-cheeked A_GROUP oL R A PP AMounNTED TATROL o/ BOYSeouns, Y JOHARNESBURG, SOVTH ATRICA. S panTS BoY SCOUTS WiTH AMBULANC THEY INVENTED o AMERICAN Seours ) SCOUTIMASTER COOKING Boy Scout playing with the child, and the house clean as a pin, with some dinner cooking over a cheery fire, superintended young scout. The latter, the son of a rich neigh- the lanorer had never dreamed of quite importantly by another bor, touching -elbows with in weal or woe. Norway, which we are ever apt to think has 800 of when talking of Sweden, scouts i Christiania alone. Belgium, too, duty it is to put out the fires. ice’ lies Wwith telegraph offices. of these dreadful fires, and often burned, sistants act as first-aid to the When camping, with a sort of lattice door of twigs Which reminds one of *the near-to- has scouts particularly trained in first-ald work. Forest fires are -quite common there and the scouts render efficient help to the soldiers whose The serv- in keeping sentinels at signal posts that are in direct communication ‘When the soldlers arrive and have stopped the spreading are exhausted their khaki-clad as- injured. the Belgians make for themselves little huts ofg turf, furnished T THETR. PEERS scouts. have organizations. the 'systematic manner the exchequer clenc; Can It Be? Senator Key Pittman of Nevada has experienced in his short life about as many ro- mantic adventures as falls to the lot of man. Pitman is grandnephew of Francis Scott Key, and selected Mississippi for his birthplace. Later in life he struck about as far north as men care to go, belng one of the pioneers In the old days in the Klondike. He went literally from ‘“lands of suns to lands of snows. Pittman got to the Alaskan country of wood through snows over your head is no child’s play in a place whe: nd- wiches are $2 each and a dri es to *“‘three bucks. was to “tote” 1 over the ty ‘White Pass. It was while enjoying the life as a prospector that Miss Gates of California, to visit her brother, who had heen suc-| cessful in finding a very rich mine. a short time they were engaged. It hap- pened that Pittman went to Nome and got snowed In, so Miss Gates, accom- panied by her brother, undertook a dog Sled vovage of 2,500 miles to that town and th ewedding was celebrated. The couple soon .after went to Tongpah, a comes Another of his stunts 00 pounds of provisions five mile trail of the delights of Pittman met | who came up forpetad o ournc's work i3 that |big mining camp in Nevada, where the N sun. birde and butters | Mme. Melba, the prima donna. has a|husband has since been one of the lead- e part 1o tee aew | GooP, Of BOy Scouts named “Melba's|ing lawyers. (o - h - re e New | Own,” and she often entertains them| L. all Senator Pittman went by :‘;‘:.&eedi-fin.%’(??hhq?oatfio‘flg i in hér home and gardens, euto from New York to Washington teor.” 10 e af tha fa pril, on tke 26th, there was held stopped for the night at an inn in a New | et ermttemad Rssembly of Jersey town, in walch Secretary B yan In ¢ was expected to speak that evening. The senator went up to the desk and asked the clerk-if Mr. Bryan were stop- ping there. The man replied that no one of that name was a_guest in the place. mean Willlam Jennings Bryan,” ex- plained the senator. “There ‘isn't any one here by that name,” exclaimed the clerk, as he ran his forefinger, down - the register, ‘“and I don't happen to know the gentleman. But as he might be sitting around in the lobby, I can have him paged for you.” Pittman gave up the quest. “Thieves in the House.” Representative ‘Walter M. Chand- ler of New York, who is serving his first term as a member, is an ar- dent Bull Mooser. He tells a story which he heard the other day about a fellow- member, 2 mar- ried man. This statesman was one night awakened about 2 o'clock by a nervous wite who shook him vigor- ously et up, Johi she whispered in a quaking voice. ‘*Get up and get vour There are burgla® ‘in the he member, half a last ot as he caught only t of the sentence much!” he snorted disdainfully, turned over for another beauty L] in in the the “There may be thieves but there are none sleep. Senate, House!"” Saving With Straw. Wt Watson, one of Virginia's new representatives, lives in town called by the unique name of “Jenning's Ordi- nary.” This odd title 1s derived from the fact that in colonial days it was customary to call tavern or inn an “ordinary" when procuring a license for same, and the name of Jen- ning’s Ordinary, or Jenning's Inn, has come down the years with its quaint, old English sound. Not far from Judge Watson's district odd place known as Bermuda t seems that denoting a lo- hundreds’” was done in days before the revolution on account of there being muster-rolls by which a cer- Judge a a tain number of citizens were a: ned to_one place Like most members from the Old Do- minon, the judge has a larse constitu- ency of colored people, and knows some good stories of th liaritie Among the most_ pop: of that section of the country is the annual summer \p-meeting, at which re- ligion and water melons are both liber- seeking religion, often fall into a trance when they “feel they are saved,” and this neeessitates having the ground spread with straw. But one night the deacon had looked upon the melon when It was red too long and neglected his duty in this respect. So no sister “‘got ‘liglon™ for fear of falling on the bare ground. This rattled the preacher. Rising, with the moon =hining on his ebony counte- nance he shook his flst at the erring deacon exclaiming: “‘You done fafled in vo' duty and now dere is forty souls lost here tonight for want er straw!" Unanswerable. Representative J. W. Langley of Kentucky 1is a re- publican, but he married the daughter of J. M. Gudger of North Carolina, a rock- ribbed democrat. Now Mrs. Lang- ley went on her husband’s cam- paigns with him, and her gracious ways were of great assistance in electioneering. One day she met a countryman who was immovable in his determination to vote for the democratic didate as against Langley. fy dear madam,” he sald, taking off his straw lid In a sweeping bow. “I was born a democrat and riz a democrat, and I don't see how I can possibly bring to vote against one for a repub- that's nothing,” laughed Mrs. nature environment of the South African The ;sea borders the province of Natal, and- several instances of life- saving reported are credited to these boys of the “Garden Colony of the British.” There are Girl Scouts here, too, and ohe of them, Miss Carrie Cross, received the silver cross for rescuing a woman swim- mer who had gone beyond her depth in the surf. Johannesburg, whose very name recalls the Boer war, has her quota of scouts; - then coming along the western coast of Africa. Nigeria and Sierra Leone Back in Europe again, little more need be said for the success of the movement in Germany than that the kaiser and kaiserin_and the government as a whole are heartily in sympathy with it. And, in everything is done in the German empire.gghere is periogically a certain sum set aside from for usé in furthering scoutdom toward better and better effi- Boys between the ages of ten and v dispensed, with watermelons large- n the majority. The colored sisters, after weeks of eighteen are. eligible for membersh! and are taken as they come. Men measure is made of them, and they ax¢ appointed. to a patrol. ese pal e individusl names and calls. A scout may be trailing about in the woods and happen to hear the crack- ling of twigs that betokens some of his companions may have strayed that way. If a “fox” he will at once begin. to “bark,” if an “owl” to “hoot,” and thereby he proclaims his tribe. There are secret patrol calls members us for communication and the leaders of patrols carry flags upon which the “ox,” “bear” or whatever it is they represent is pictured, while each young “guadruped” must be able to draw him- self in his animal guise. ¥ The unit of organization’ of"the Boy commander. - A specified- number of pa- trols constitute a tropp, and this is looked after by a .scoutmaster. ~ Before “tenderfoot” can become a second-class scout he must know a number of practl- cal things. He must know something of first-did work and how to put on ban- dages, be familiar with the Morse code, able to describe, after one minute's 100! ing, what is in a display window; he must travel a mile at scout's pace, and know the points of the compass. In Eng- land a second-class scout must also have a few shillings in bank. * * * To rank first-class he shall swim fifty yardshave 25 cents in the bank, be capable <of sending or receiving a mes= sage by Morse or semaphore at a rats of sixteen letters to the minute, and know come across. He shall, as a test of self- r:nnnce. go off for a two-day trip with only one companion, another scout. - ing a map is another requirement,-and 50 1s the judging of distance, height aod weight, no less than 75 per cent perfectl Then he must bring in a © trained by himself and ready fo o work. ‘;Isl: next step Is to try to gain a badge of proficlency in marksmanship, am; bulancework, signaling or woodcraft of some sort. Such an accomplishment de- pends much upon the geosraphy of the country or the section in which he lives. So many of the scouts in the United States live inland that opportunities for saving people in peril of drowning m: not often given the average scout. Ne Zealand, being small and having an ir; regular coast line, sees many lives Tos in the ocean that surrounds the mn:;i; The boys there, growing up along 2 ss frequently, and one arte Mcomfni:r:lewmd Was blowing hard er and a heavy sea WBJ on, a :fisfl?{t‘;da;\'cnturtr in a canoe was hl?‘lag jed out to sea. Alan Fisher, a little pe 5 who was standing on the sands’ cripple. WhY Tdanger, hailed three other and oy nched a boat in the twinkling scouts, e and put out to reach the toss. ey ior bark in whose hold sat ¥ ot brich ’a"fadmg‘,h‘é‘never expected to see the shore r second- again. long time for 2 " hours seems a long el of children to dare the bif r and gale, and it is not with that one learns they succeed their playfellow into thet The pity is that Pacific’s roal out a thrill in getting £2 .t ana back to land. Langley, “I was born a democrat, too, but if I can stand marrying a republi- can 1 guess you can stand voting for one!™ And it is needless to say he dld | this e medal could be awarded for Dut heroism. The cripple got it, o course, for he would have had no chana bad the boai overtuined. Scouts is a patrol of six boys under & how to deal with ail accidents he may -« we .