Milford chronicle., 1915-10-22
BOY SCOUTS COLUMN.
MILFORD BOY SCOTT NOTES

moving picture Lheathre.
Aside from the pecuHiary interest at.
tached to both, the former offers sew.
eral advantages in the way of training
Stage training of this kind is'a splendid
means for developing self-confdence.
ability to speak in public, for a reliable
memory, and is favored for this reason.
The only difficulty in the way, so far,
is the lack of someone sufficiently well
qualified to undertake the task of train
ing the Scouts in their parts. Mr.. An
derson. however, Scoutmaster of Troop
| l, has now taken the matter under con-
sideration and it is hoped that he will
reach favorable decision.
In the course of the evening, the prog
ress made by the Scout Organization in
certain sections of tine country was also
dwelt upon and note was taken of the
wonderful strides made in the direction
of special and manual training. In tnis
connection. should the Scouts be suffi-
ciently interested, steps will be taken
to organize Scout bank for the purpose
of aiding them in their efforts to save
money. 1t is not intended, in any way
to interfere with the plans of Scouts
who already have accounts in the local
banks, but members to aid in establish
ing others in the habit of saving, and
! providing, at the same time, a certain
amount of practical instruction.
According to the proposed plan, the
bank will be organized with board of
directors and the necessary officers,
chosen from the local troop. Deposits
| from one cent up will be received, upon
which interest will be paid; loans will
be made and general banking business
transacted. The local banks will of
course, be the repositories for the Scout
funds.
This plan met with general approval
at the Friday meeting and large at
tendance is desired from now on, in or
dersthat steps may be taken to properly
organize. Think this over, Scouts
Here is an opportunity to learn some
thing of bank management and how to
make your pennies grow into dollars.
1t will be your own bank, run by your
selves, for yourselves.
AS an example of what Scouts can do,
of what the organization may mean
when its program of service is carried
out, an account quoted from Scouting,
verbatim, of Scout activities in Wag-
oner, Oklahoma, is appended:
SECURING A MEETING PLACE.
A public library was being built in the
city, with large basement. The base
ment rooms had been spoken for and
plans were made to use them for sew
eral different purposes. / could plainly
see that they were just what the Wag-
oner Boy Scouts needed for their head
quarters. My appeals were all ignored,
but always with the remark that 1.-THE
boys surely needed some place." After
doing all in my power with the commit
tees in charge, l drew up a petition,
that reads as follows:
1--WE, the undersigned citizens of
Wagner, being interested in boys,
and in fact all of the young people
of our city, hereby, petition the
Honorable Mayor, Commissioners
and Library Board to grant the boy
scouts the right to use the basement
of the library building as their head
quarters and to establish a gymna-
nasium therein, said gymnasium to
be used only under director and at
such times as will not disturb the
patrons of the library. The public
will be given periods to use same
and periods will be reserved for
ladies and girls. This being the first
steps for Y. M. C. A. and a Y.
w. C. A., which organizations are
badly needed in our city.
After having two hundred of our best
citizens sign this, prepared the follow
ing for the Library Board:
1--WE, the members of the library
board, accept the terms of the at
tached petition and each of US do
hereby sign same to show our ap-
proval thereof"
HOW EQUIPMENT WAS SECURED.
They willingly signedit. After the com
pletion of the building we took possession
Of the basement. We were extremely
happy in our new home. The boys were
all delighted and willing to help in every
way possible to equip the gymnasium.
We had no funds, but dOgged deter
mination. We undertook several plans
to raise money, but they were not sue
cessful. We manufactured everything
we could and | succeeded in getting the
things that we most needed. we spent
NIGHT after night, until midnight, work
NO on our equipment. After we got
started the people began to see our
needs. We received two donations, one
If fiftv and one of eighty dollars, from
.wo old men and l never enjoyed more
pleasure in my life than l got out OF
watching the boys enjoy the equipment
purchased with the funds. l furnished
,ur office, game and reading room. From
lifferent sources, l secured pictures and
1ieces of furniture and in a short time
We had everything we needed. The av-
rage attendance at weekly meetings
Vas fifty. Every night for six months
We had either patrol meeting or some
.necial work and our headquarters be-
anne very popular among the citizens.
Vow we meet four times week large
,ovs. Tuesday night, small boys. Friday
,iSht. with patrol meetings on Wednes-
Iay and Saturday nights. | have one
undred and seventy enrolled and have
m average attendance of fifty on Friday
ioht and thirty on Tuesday night.
Our gymnasium equipment consists OF
wo box-ball alleys, two punching bags,
owing machine, parallel bars, six flying
mos Suspended horizontal ladder, chest
yeights. trapeze, horizontal bars, wrest-
no mat. two sets of boxing gloves,
,edicine bah, quoits, climbing rope,
nmb bells. Indian clubs, hurdle, wrist
evelopers. running machine, inside and
inside croouet set. Our office, reading
nd game room is fully equipped with
20, ,,onnopfe hammers and curlOS. ]