Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-06-08
DO A Good DEED.

The Boy Scout movement if il has
to its credit no other good achieved
than the intoxicating in the minds of
the youthful members OF that organi-
zation the duty OF doing at least one
good turn TO somebody every day" has
done the world benefit that can never
be measured in time. 1t is more than
likely that this single requirement has
done more TO reconcile peace lovers
OF the Boy Scout idea than all the pro-
testations OF the leaders OF that move
ment TO the effect that the military
idea was incorporated for disciple
nary reasons and not for the purpose
oil training the boys To become soldiers
The seed planted in the minds OF the
boys OF the land must eventually bear
iruit IN the conduct OF the men of the
coming generations, and herein is the
wisdom OF the Boy Scout promoters
justified.
No particular class OF people or sec
ton OF country can expect 10 retain
the exclusive possession OF something
the wider dissemination OF which
would prove a boon to all the race;
nor is II believed that the Boy Scout
officials have the least desire to re-
strict the performance of good deeds
To the limits of the enrolled member
ship OF that organization, this. then,
should be considered as common prop
erty' the prerogative OF every inteln-
gent being, the doing of a good turn
Tor somebody every day.
While the matter of doing good
should not be advocated or suggested
ON the low plane OF compliance with
duty. an obligation assumed in order
that one might be member OF some
desired organization, humanity is beset
with so numerous a flock of divergent
calls, and most OF them perhaps, wor-
thy, IL has been found necessary To
stress some one or more of our duties
that these, at least, may obtain ade-
quate consideration which they might
not receive if left to personal initiative.
before their eyes on desk or workbench
as purely suggestive, notices. such as
Tomorrow has its own demands. get
todays out of the way" or Sometimes
thought will save a dollar" These
suggestions do not reflect the charac-
teristics of the man. but they remind
him OF certain deficiencies in his own
composition of which he may be aware,
and yet not to a sufficient extent to
prevent his falling victim to some law
inertia, unless he remind himself of
his mental or physical shortcomings
by some mechanical method. We very
frequently awake to the fact that we
need daylight alarm clock to spur us
toward living our best.
Ii has been said that our anniver-
saries constitute wise provision of a
benign providence to keep the race
from degenerating into more human
machines, performing diurnal tasks,
scarcely conscious OF the reason why
This may explain why Christmas holt
days possess such powerful appeal;
man being by nature a kindly dispos-
ed being educated by his calling and a
false philosophy to restrain the eXhi-
bition OF characteristics that might
be construed as virtues, he must have
an occasion for showing that he still
possesses qualities that dilferentiate
him from the beasts of the field, and
Christmas, a child's birthday or a we'd
ding anniversary, constitutes h e e
wise provisions, and we being indebted
TO these red letter days. unconsciously
recognize the debt by permitting our
teal sntiments to have full play and
he world thus becomes enriched just
that much.
Teaching the boy to do one deed of
kindness each day is planting in the
mind of the future citizen the habit
of continuing to do good. Some phil
osopher has said that it is just as easy
to form good habit as bad one; and
the fact that so many bad habits are
being practiced is tantamount to an ac-
acknowledgement that the huma bias is
toward the bad, and this is a moral
point great many are not willing to
concede. But there can be no viola
ton done our individual self, our ma
ton or the entire human family by
the adoption of the Boy Scout motto,
and a wider investigation into its mer-
condition of living and higher moral
standard and these are being worked
az by all of US. although along less di-
rect lines than outlined by the Scouts
Galveston Tribune.
The growing spread of industrial un-
rest in spite of increasing wages and