The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-09-22
THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT

THE BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT
The boy scout idea had its orig
in in the little town of Mafeking
in Africa. Mafeking is a town Of
about 1,600 white people and six
or seven thousand natives. It
came into a great deal of prom.
inence during the late Boer war
and it's boys also came in for a
good deal of public notice. The
boys were drilled and put into
uniforms to help out as scouts
during the war; they became mes.
sengers, carrying dispatches from
fort to fort on the line. They
kept the lookout, acted as order
lies, and so relieved Of these du.
ties the grown up men who were
so badly needed on the firing
line. Throughout the heal OF
Boer bullets these boy scouts
mounted mostly on bicycles, car.
ried on their duties without wa.
vering and at the end of the war
they received their medals like
grown up soldiers.
After the war Sir Baden Pow
ell, one Of the greatest heroes OF
the Boer struggle, returned tc
England, but the memory of these
boy scouts and what they had
done in Mafeking chung to him
long after the war was a thing
Of the past. One day he got to.
gether a lot of boys in Surrey
England and told them what the
boys of Mafeking had done. Their
he put the boys of Surrey into
uniform and drilled them as the
boys Of Mafeking had been drill
ed. He went out into the woods
with them and had them play
they were Indians and he tolc
them about the knights Of King
Arthur. He told them more
about the workings of nature
than they had ever heard before
he interested them in the trees
the birds and trained them int
all the ways Of woodcraft. Thu
boys were so responsive and be
gan to develop so much character
and so much interest in this sor
Of scouting that Sir Baden Pow
ell felt he had an idea whic]
could be made helpful to the boy
of all the world. Consequent,
he wrote book and incorporated
his ideas under the title 'Scout
ing for Boys.' Others becam
interested in the movement AM
within year there were fully
hundred thousand boy scouts il
England and now boy scouts il
London are as thick as flies il
August.
The idea came to America an,
America is all the better for il
The movement is growing rapid,
and already boys are swarmin,
over the country like so man
bees just let out of hive. Prom
inent business men, lawyers, doc
tors, ministers and educators ar
rallying to the front as leaders O
the movement and are devotin
their best energies as scout mast
ers and committee men to max
the entire scout movement
great success. The boys like tn
movement as it affords them a.
opportunity Of being useful an
at the same time of having ger
timely good time. 1t develop
manliness, character and patriot
ism; it gives many boy ne,
ideas Of life and opportunity. TIL
editor Of one Of the great Englis
dailies says whenever anythin
happens, when there is a railwa
dccluent, Or d morse runs away, O
a house is on fire, or man fall
into the river, boy scouts appea
as if by magic to make them
selves useful in any and ever
way. They are trained to dea
with emergencies, to give frs
aid to the sick and wounded. t
stop runaways, to put out fires
to revive the suffocated and t
rescue and resuscitate the drown
ing.
The following reading list ha
been prepared at the library an,
is reprinted in the hope that
will be of interest to prosperity
scouts.
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