The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-03-05
Boy Scouts Do
Some Good Work
Diary Of a Youngster on Duty
Is Proof Of Their Service in j
Time of War

London, FEB. 24.-Ihe diary OF
d boy scout, published in the
Manchester Guardian, is an in
teresting piece of juvenile, lite
ly than has heretofore been done
some of the work the scouts are
doing.
Oh and | have complete
charge of sixteen miles of coast,"
the young adventurer boasts in
telling OF his life in all isolated
bungalow on the North Shore on
the lookout for hostile cruisers
and aircraft or the, signaling Of
spies. He tells Of sleeping on
the table on a pile Of overcoats
until midnight, when two boys
went OH duty.
Some paragraphs from the
diary read:
"nad very decent, night.
Received messages about the
Zeppelin raid and as H and L
were. along we, had q rather ex-
citing time. We called the mill
tary, as instructed, and our six
hour watch passed like a few
minutes.
1.-The lookout box in which [
am now writing is small place,
about five feet by eight, with
windows on three sides which
look out to- the sea. 1t has a.
stove, cupboard, various tele-
phones, signals, revolvers, rifles,
cocks telescopes, etc. H has
now the revolver around his
waist. lie is, Of course, on duty
outside. He comes in every few
minutes, passing remarks on the
night.
"triday-lt is now midday;
and IL and l have just come:
off duty. We have had a very
interesting morning. Two gov
ernment patrol boats have pas
sed quite close to us, also two
tugs towing a big slavage crane.
which in turn was towing a
derelict. Life here is great; you;
have no idea how important and
'bossy' we feel when on watch,
because even the soldiers come to-
us every hour to know if we have
any messages or orders. The
dug-outs,' trenches, guns
along the coast are simply glori-,,
Gus: really I'm in my element
We are on very good terms with,
the soldiers-so good, in fact,
that when we said it was a bit
cold in our bungalow the lieu7
tenant. asked for blankets, and.
the men, l believe offered fifty,
ten OF which were accepted. l
have now four blankets and
greatcoat, also ground sheet
and camp bed, and 1 really sleep
as well here as 1 do at home.
the only difference being that l
find no difficulty in getting up
when called, at all hours of the
night or day. We get a thirty
six hour rest, 'stand-off' (nau-
tical exprcssion) every fifth day..
Il have charge Of the log, and
it practically takes up all my
spare. time, because we are on
twelve hours and off twelve.
But the log-book promises to be
a very interesting volume when
completed if l keep up oh the
same lines as / have begun. Yes!
terday morning l had the job
of cleaning all the rifles, revolv-,
ers, sword sticks, and leatl. I
work for the coast guards and
get complimented on the way in
which | did it ESQ | suppose l al
ways shall have the job). lis
is the advantage (O Of bs .ng
thorough workman (please IL
father this
"This is rotten, flat, and
u,ninteresting coast, although 4 e
surf on the reefs (of which tn, r.
are plenty) makes a very prett.,
picture. 1t is fine place fc1'
landing 'Germhlms' if they KIN, y
where to come; but all the nie
landing places are jolly well
guarded. Yesterday two of my
fellow 'mud-diggers' came back
in a very excited and breathles y
conditinon-they said they had
|tfound a mine washed ashore. it
turned out to be an old boiler
off a ship