The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1914-12-25
The Boy Scouts.

| The need for the Boy Scout Move
ment l. grounded i'm the nature of
boyhood. Of boyhood there are two
views.
The one most commonly held, and
about which the boy hears most from
his elders, is that boyhood is period
OF preparation. All its various acti-
vities are viewed from the standpoint
of their value a. preparation for the
life which he is to live as a man.
Boys schools are preparatory
schools" The completion of his col
4 lege course il his commencement"
The whole. Of his previous life has
been preparatory for that which is to
follow. This view of boyhoOd il cor
rect, but it is not complete The cor
rectness of this view often the boy
will admit. But concerning what has
preparatory value, there L. great di-
versity of opinion. There are those
who see no such value in the study OF
the dead and the foreign languages.
To others higher mathematics seem
useless. Still others, because they are
not going to live in the past, can see
no value in historical studies. The
value of music and art is known to
the comparatively few Many very
practical persons are blind to the
practical value of athletics. IL not
working in the garden as valuable ex-
ercise as playing baseball? Perhaps
it is. Certainly steamboat is as val
liable carrier as railway train, but
who would urge that as reason for
abandoning our railway systems. Jack
needs to work. All play and no work
would make him frivolous. He also
needs to play. All work and no play
would make him dull. The instinct
to play must be, not suppresses, but
directed.
The other view of boyhood is that it
is not merely a preparation for life
but that 1t il itself life. From this
standpoint the activities of the boy
have more than preparatory value.
They have value in themselves real
and present. They make similar de-
mands upon his physical, intellectual,
and moral forces to those which he
will encounter III mature life. Honor
able success in the work and play of
boyhood has real and present value.
It also has preparatory value. But to
the boy himself the present value IL
perhaps the more powerful factor in
determining his conduct. A boy who
ing for the sake Of being a better man
readily suspends the habit during the
basketball season in order that he may
be in better condition for the games.
So long as the boy thinks. of his life
merely as a preparation for the tasks
of manhood, he is often willing to let
things 60 and take chance or supply
ing what IL lacking later on. But IL
the boy can see that today's work and
play present occasions for the exer-
else Of a boys judgment, the testing
Of a boys character, the outlay of a
boys strength, just as important and
as difficult for him now as those which
will come to him In his mature man
hood, life will take on for him more
and zest. BY all means the
boy should have impressed him the
OF preparing himself for
the tasks of manhood by the proper
training of his body, his mind, and his
character. But let it also be impress
ed upon him that his daily activities
have for him real and present value.
This second view Of boyhood is the
one held By the leaders Of the Boy
Scout Movement.
AT about the age Of fourteen begins
the period of boys life known as
adolescence. This period is marked
by certain physiological changes In his
body which are accompanied by other
great and important changes in his
habit of thought and conduct. It is
the period Of rapid physical growth
often accompanied by feeling OF
awkwardness and diffidence. He be-
gins to think for himself and to ques-
ton the authority Of his parents and
others whose authority he has up to
this time accepted natural He often
feels himself misunderstood and some
times abused. Boys at this period
crave freedom and adventure and to
secure il often break away from the
restraints Of home and school. 1t is
the age OF truancy from school, Of
running away" from home Ii is al
so the gang age" To be on the
team" or one Of the gang" is one Of
his high ambitions. Often the opinion
of the team" or gang" Is more re-
spected than that Of the parent or
teacher It is the period OF the most
violent change which takes place in
his entire life. He has been child
I but is one no longer. He is not yet a
man. 1t Is a time OF great peril but
OF glorious possibilities. lit is the
purpose of the Boy Scout movement
to assist the home, the church and
the school in SO directing the boys
that the glorious possibilities shall be
realized See this column next week.
c. +. FORLINES Scout Master.