Evening star., 1914-10-08
BOY SCOUTS LEND AID
TO BRITISH WARRIORS
Patrol Coasts, Guard Bridges, Signal
and Act as 0rderlies-Girl
Guides Also Assist.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.

ASSOCIATED Press,
LONDON. September 15.-The Boy
Scouts of Great Britain are distin-
gushing themselves in almost every
way suggested by Juvenile fiction.
From the north Of Scotland down the
eastern coast to the Isle Of Wight on
the south. sea scouts are patrolling
the shore. watching for the dreaded
Zeppelin or for some armed raider that
might have escaped the British North
sea feet, with a view to sinking the
army transports in the channel. Rail-
way bridges and reservoirs are
watched by camps of scouts, relieving
the soldiers who are needed at the
front.
Orders come into the scout district
headquarters for buglers for Lord
kftchener's new army. for British bu-
glers are from fourteen to eighteen years
Of age, and enlist by their parents con-
has received the necessary consent.
and he gives his comrades a wink of
triumph as the scoutmaster signs a
letter to the recruiting office. He will
serve in the Middlesex Public School
Battalion.
These are some of the military
aspects of scout life. But the scout
ideal of service useful to the public
still is supreme. Those entering Lord
Kitchener's army as buglers are a
in Great Britain. Coast and railway
patrols are unarmed, and merely assist
the military as eyes.
Boy Scouts Assist.
Owing to the rapid recruiting in war
times. no one-not even Sir Robert
Baden-Powell-know the exact num-
ber of scouts in the United Kingdom.
But in London alone there are $50 act
ing as orderlies in the war office. about
the same number in the admiralty,
tending to telephone calls and acting
as messengers, and 700 or more who do
the same service at the Red Cross and
recruiting headquarters. Besides. there
are about 300 scout cyclists. who tend
to important errand running, between
the various stations. Scouts are to be
found at every train, guiding refugees
with money to boarding houses ap-
proved by the British relief societies.
If any one wants to learn about a
| certain street, he calls for path
|. .fiffder-a scout who has obtained spe-
cial rating as a guide in London, after
severe than that required by the coun-
ty council for taxi chauneuf
license Scouts have been loaned to
the American relief committee and the
American embassy, Wnere tneir serN-
ices are invaluable.
AS ali scouts above the rank of ten
derfoot understand signaling. their as
sistance is often called for in this
respect.
pressed Americans in London is the
businesslfke and military air OF the
British scout. He has no sheepish reel
ing about appearing in uniform. He is
proud of his organization and takes
his duties seriously.
Scouts Are Volunteers.
The scouts are volunteers in the full
est sense, even to paying for their
own uniforms. But a publicly assisted
canteen which serves meals at from
one to three pence. now keeps down
his cost of living.
The girl guides. the feminine branch
of Baden-Powelfs organization, are no
less busy. There are more than 10000
of these guides in the kingdom, and
since the war their uniform has be-
come quite familiar on London streets.
knitting muff1ers and stockings for the
scouts, but only in part.
To take random instances Of their
usefulness. the guides at Leeds scrub
bed down house that was being
turned into a military hospital. In
Hertfordshire they did the mending
and darning for a regiment of terri
torials. At Crawley they made puz-
zles to amuse convalescents and sewed
newspapers together for extra winter
blankets At the London refugee
camps for homeless Belgians the girls
act as nurses for the children. At
Harrow they are raising vegetables
for the poor.
Every Red Cross hospital has its
corps of girl guides, who wash the
dishes and do general cleaning, run
errantls, and sometimes save steps by
wigwagging.