Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-07-01

Great movements have silent begin
nings! And SO it is not strange that
the organization Of the boy Scouts in
the United States should have been
passed over with a bare mention in the
press. The society had it's birth in
Washington, the latter part of April,
and its sponsors we're Col E. J. Spen-
Ger and Mr.. William H. Thomson, of
st. Louis, and DR.. Gunsaulus, W. D.
Boyce, r. o. West and G. H. Stoddard,
Of Chicago, and the bill of incorpora-
ton was introduced in the House of
Representatives by Congressman Graft,
of Illinois, member Of the Committee
on Education.
To the superficial observer the or
ganization of semi-military society
among young boys may not appear of
great moment We have only to fol
low the effects of the society in Great
The boy is the same, the world over,
and he is to be appealed to in much
the same manner on both sides of the
Atlantic. 1t must not be supposed that
the appeal is to his savage instinct, to
the native barbarian that Is in him.
Indeed the reverse of this is true. The
scouts are little soldiers; but they are
taught 80 many other things besides
scouting that the soldier is almost
wholly lost in the embryo man.
The British society, according to
writer in the st. Louis Globe-Democrat,
was founded by Sir Robert Baden-Pow-
ell, the hero of Mafeking, who had see~
service in India, Afghanistan and all
the British provinces of Africa before
the Boer war and whose wide expert
ence as a soldier was linked with the
most sympathetic understanding Of the
timber Of which armies are made. The
need for some such organization among
English boys was made Enthusiastically
plain to him by the timber that pre-
scented itself at the outbreak of hos
tilities in South Africa, or rather at
the time when the fight assumed such
proportions that volunteers we're called
for. To his surprise and chagrin the
general discovered that the English
boy was not fitted to take up arms in
behalf of his country He was a poor
campaigner because he had not learned
to take care of himself. and he was In
clined to look upon this service to his
country as great and unnatural hard
ship. Gen. BadenPowell studied the
British youth during the trying days
of the struggle, and when the war was
over and he had been appointed to the
post of inspector general of cavalry, he
used this vantage ground to further
study the soldier and to determine
what it was that had been lacking in
his early education. The younger boys
were all around him, and with the
silent plea Of their appearance and at
titude, he formulated a scheme that
would transform Indifferent and even
vicious youngsters into the type of men
of which Britain might be proud.
Even Sir Baden-Powell, with his iri-
descent dream of great movement for
the betterment of the English boy,
huilded better than he knew, for the
work of the society has gone leagues
beyond his dream in it's splendid real
ity 1t is making little men, not mere
ly prospective soldiers, and it is devel-
oping ideals of the highest and most
helpful kind in the young boys Of this
generation, ideals that will prove an
invincible power in the men OF to-
morrow. All this seems extravagant to
him who has preconceived notions of
the work of the army scout. We look
upon the scout as the daring pioneer
in a military engagement He has
courage and ingenuity, but beyond that
we have given little thought to his 9th
err characteristics. And we need not
consider the others, for courage and
ingenuity are enough to start with.
The scout is the idol of the small boy,
because he is brave and resourceful,
and to call boy a scout is to make
him desire to be these two things,
brave and resourceful
Gen. Baden Powell knew the boy ma
ture far too well to begin with high
ideals and practical work. He gath
cred together a small company of in
teresting little chaps and told them
that he wanted to train them as scouts.
That was thrilling and the youngsters
took to it with avidity. Others came
and when they had been on camp q
few weeks they spread the news that
they had had the time of their lives,
and that their friends could do the
same things next summer If they would
join the order and learn the prelim-
mary lessons. The result was that the
idea spread like an epidemic until
there is no part of the British empire
that does not boast its boy scouts.
The scout badge Is not bestowed un-
til the boy has acquired great deal