The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1914-11-26

upon learning that out of Englands
100000 boys few more than a u
ter of a million were enabled to have
proper care and training, began to
think seriously of trying to be of aid.
mere money had been tried before
In various "uplift" endeavors. There
must be something new. Thompson
Seton, the writer of animals haunts
ana habits, had seen the necessity for
the same thing in America and he
been experimenting. He had
called the groups of lads he had gath
cred together and trained III woods
lore The Woodcraft Indians" Dan
beard, then al editor, evolved an
other society called The Sons of
Daniel Boone" afterward THE Boy
Pioneers of America"
1t is really difficult to pin the badge
OF honor for first thinking of the
scheme upon any M man, but 1t was
General Baden-Powell who, with fine
experience as a constructionist, set
about the practical plans OF the Boy
Scout movement.
Ee had shortly before the organiza-
ton was conceived, published a text
book on the subject of scouting for
soldiers. This book was utilized by
various boys clubs and private schools
with a surprising degree of-interest.
so its author was encouraged to de-
wise some ~wide-reaching plan for all
boys, whether belonging to clubs, go;
ing to private schools or diving in
the top of a tenement or on some lone
~ farm. The general, a colonel of
the Boer war, under Lord Edward Ce-
Gil. then got together some English
Boys in Surrey. He told them some
thing of what the boys in Matching,
Africa. had done during the struggle
In the Transvaal, how lord Cecil had
talked to them of scout tactics, drilled
them, and, giving them uniforms, made
them, the proud messengers of the
handful of weary men on the long adj
vance line of Mafekrng.
The general needn't have told his
young audience how eager for duty
these reliefs of their fathers and cid
er brothers the British boys on the
veldt were, as they rode on bicycles
from fort to fort with messages, acted
as orderlies, and never once shirked
the dangers of a real firing line in a
real war. The boys, as they listened
to the story of S99 and the African
plains were bubbling oyer with desire
TO learn not only something of camp
life during a battle, but the secrets
of nature which their big friend told
them were hidden in the woods and
streams of "Merrie England
Baden-Powelfs idea was to teach
the, boys to teach themselves, charac-.
ter" The word scout to young
America suggests Fenimore Cooper
and forgotten Indian trails, but young
England has Kipling as a reminder
that the frontier is still a pride in
their kings %endeavor, that exploring
and colcnizing is one of England's
policies, and that border life is just
as stirring and as necessary FOR the
glory of the union jack as when Sir
Walter Raleigh lived. Feudal knights,
too. and chivalrous scouts Of peace
are heroes held before them, and
there is little doubt that knight err
rantry in all it's romance and color
has had much to do with the propa-
ganda of the movement in Great Brit
ain.
Nearly all the training in all coun-
tries is given out of doors. Stars and
moon, rain and sun, birds and butter
flies, each have their part in the new
knowledge gained. Tracks and track
ing are studied, and to become even
a "tenderfoot," in the language of the
scouts, a boy must prove. among
other things, that he can tran in %
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 open,
using not more than two matches,
and there be able to cook a certain
amount of meat and potatoes with
out other cooking utensils than his
billy an"
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