Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-24
WHAT THE BOY SCOUTS ARE DOING

ing force of the organization, we are going to fail.
 We have one question which is a very vital one, I think, which has grown as a result of the development of the movement itself, cad that is the taking care of the older boys, the boys who have gone through the | movement to an age when they either enter college or some walk Of lire, | or their time is so occupied that 1t l is not possible for them to continue l in the active work of a troop. Those | boys have done their service and l should not be separated from us. We should not lose sight of them, but should keep them in on some basis which commands their interest, their devotion and their support. We do not want to lose those boys. We must use them.
 It is very gratifying to me to say ! just a word in connection with our publication which represents the boys l institution, and is their medium Of | exchange of thought and of stimulat- | ing readable literature-the Boy Scout Magazine, known as Boys Life. Dur 1 ing the past year it has had a won derfUl momentum, not only in the | increase of its circulation, but in the | character of it's contents. 1 think it | will appeal to all of you when l say that we are getting our boys to use that magazine as their periodic liter ature and to profit by it's clean, whole some and stimulating ideas. Fur thermore. our boys are going to Boys Life for suggestions as to the charac- ter of books which they should read. I know that from a number of in stances that I have personally ob- served. That has very wholesome effect upon the boys.
 It is very curious and seems al | most to have been prophetic that we have picked out for our motto, not of our own vOlition, but on account of it's historical association both here and abroad, the words Be Prepared" It has saved us a whole lot of trouble and explanation. The discussion of militarism, pro and anti, is very prev alent throughout the country now. We can go out through the country and clearly, with that ring to what we say that can not be Controverted, assert that we started the idea of be- ing prepared, prepared for everything; prepare the boy for his citizenship first and after that everything will take care of itself You can not make a boy a good citizen without making him a real good citizen from top to bottom, from one side to the other, and all through and through. His duties are apparent-his duties to the members of his own family and to the state and nation are just as apparent and clear to him as they are to his seniors who have grown up, so We do not have to put any E the doctrine of pro or anti-militarism in to the matter. All we teach is pre- paredness for every one of the walks of life which a boy may enter upon, keeping in mind that he must be a patriotic, loyal citizen throughout the country in which he lives, which leaves us free to hammer on the idea that we are not pro and we are not anti military: we are simply great citizens developing organization, who | have brought to us the virile youth | of the country.
 With these clean, wholesome young we have no question as 10 the result l of their training as applied to tie whole country afterward When we | have a million OF two boys living the scout life, l leave to the critics, both those who favor and criticise us, the question whether this country will not be better. And we will not stop at million, because I tell you, just as
 sure as thish movement progresses, it is going to be adopted in the school system throughout the country and all the boys will have the benefit of the training we have given in this small way, and which has gone through probably three or four hun dred thousand boys since it was be- gun.
 Of course many of the boys them selves realize, and we must impress it upon them, that the doing of daily SOOu IS dI lne heart Ol ln6lT lar daily activity, which makes them appreciated in the community. No movement that is not appreciated by the people who observe it will last very long. We have got to impress upon these observers that through this movement we get a momentum that makes for the bettermenr Of the
 boys. I hope that there will not be anyone who ill lose sight of the fact that we must keep pressing upon that one thing, among the many other things which we have to do; that should be the center-the doing of the
 good turn daily by the boy. Every
 thing else radiates from that point because that is treating another fel- low as you would be treated yourself. That is the golden rule and all the happiness of life radiates from that principle.
 Troop i.
 At the last meeting of the troop, a new patrol was formed, called the Blazing Arrow, with Richard Peale
 as patrol leader, and Richard Sage as
 assistant patrol leader. Ralph Gra- ham presented Herbert Corey for his tenderfoot examination, thereby quail flying for one of his first class tests.
 Herbert Corey was duly initiated in- to the troop.