The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-10-25
SCOUTS AND Y'S
AS BOY TRAINERS

SCOUTS AND 1S
AS BOY TRAINERS
DR.. D. D. Wallace in Southern Chris
tian Advocate.
Worldwide attention has been at
tracted to the Boy Scouts by Sir En-
nest Shackelton's choosing two of
these young fellows for his South
Polar expedition. Sir Ernest knows
what goes into the making of man,
and those who know the Boy Scouts
will agree. that he did well in includ-
ing two of them in the small and
rigidly select company that is to
spend four years under circumstances
that demand the finest qualities OF
mind and heart and physique.
General Baden-Powell hit upon one
of the finest veins in Anglo-Saxon
character when he made the peculiar
appeal that he did to young English
speaking boys by organizing them in
to bands that appeal so strongly to
manly boys. Scouting satisfies the
group spirit that if misdirected takes
the boy into bad company and de-
grading associations. It stimulates
lin the youth all his latent manliness'
the sort of manliness, so perfectly
exemplifed in Robert E. Lee. 1t
makes the Scout instead of the
tough, and puts him into the troop"
instead of the gang
Last Sunday I walked up to a
crowd of about hundred people just
in time to see a man dragged out OF
the water by hook. He had been
under for thirty or forty minutes.
Nobody seemed to know what to do.
But in minute or two saw someone
astride Of the body going through sys-
tematic motions with great energy
but perfect composure. l recognized
him as we'll known boy scout. he
knew exactly what to do with a
drowned, or supposedly drowned.
person, just as he would have known
if the accident had been a broken
bone or a snake bite. After ne mad
worked himself tired, he put others
to work, showing them how to oper-
ate the mans lungs without even los
ing motion in changing workers.
It was hard to get a doctor; but after
a half hour a Y. M. c. A. secretary
came along and took up the efforts
at resuscitation with great enthusl-
asm. People began to say 1t was no
use. that the man had been IN water
TOO long. But just then a husky
Young fellow came up and relieved
the tired Y man, with the assertion
that he had seen them revived after
being in the water two hours when
he was in the navy. He did not want
to stop even when the doctor arrived
: and pronounced the man stone dead.
And so the men who knew how and
who had faith worked for two hours
;; more, though their efforts proved OF
no avail.
But there was one thing evident:
If there had been any hope, these
three, or any one of them, would have
saved the drowned man. They would
have saved him for two reasons: they
knew how and they had faith. They
had two things that every boy and
every girl ought to have; training and
spirit. Yet how few comparatively
of our boys and girls have either in
any adequate degree, How many
more could have them if the natural
leaders of youth would do their duty.
Young men, particularly college grad
yates or successful young business
men, athletes, young women of cheer
and leadership, by offering themselves
as scout masters or girls campfire
leaders could extend the benefits of
health, happiness, safety and charac-
ter far more widely among boys and
girls. The chief lack, the greatest
difficulty, is finding scout leaders.