Evening star., 1937-10-17
By J. Wallace Talley,

Dv y. " UII0Ce 4 lEeDs
Assistant Executive, District OF
Columbia Council, Boy
Scouts OF America.
1--WE hundred of the liveliest
l. Wolf, Bear and Lion Cubs ever
assembled frolicked on the soft
ball diamonds near the Lin
coin Memorial Rejecting Pool yes
terday afternoon. in field day that
gave Washington its first opportunity
to view the activities Of the fastest
growing boys organization in America
The Cubs.
Today, after years Of experiment by
hundreds Of leaders, and after scien-
tific research financed by the Laura
Spelman Rockefeller Memorial the
Boy Scouts of America is meeting an
insistent growing demand of the age
a program of home-centered activities
for boys of pre-Scout years.
The activities are suited to the age
and interests of the boys. The Den"
Is a natural, neighborhood play group
One OF the mothers, called the Den
Mother" gives interested oversight.
A Den Chief" an older Scout, meets
the Cubs" once a week-he comes
TO meet them. where they play.
The Pack" with its man Cub
master" consists of several Dens. The
Packs chief business is to help the
Dens. The Denis chief busine1 is to
provide activities, and announcement
for its boys.
Cubs enter at nine, wolf" year
pass on at 10 into Bear" year, at IL
Into Lion" year and at II graduate
into Scouting.
Clubbing was built to meet the
homes question-"What to do next?"
1t encourages homes to handle their
own outings and is bringing thousands
OF dads and young sons together, a
companionship which in many cases
continues through Scouting and into
manhood.
This is Clubbing, which according to
the Boy Scouts International Bu-
reau list, now exists in more than so
countries The British Empire, birth
place OF Scouting as we'll as Clubbing.
leads in membership with 100000
Cubs, while America has jumped into
second place with over 10000. Other
Cuobing countries in the order of their
numbers are Poland $4,000, France
$4,000. Hungary 5000, Japan 5000.
Holland 5000 and Belgium 3,4Oo.
switzerland, Lithuania Austria. Rou-
mania, CzechoSlovakia, Egypt, Dem
mark, 1raq, Sweden and Spain are also
among the leaders.
For many years Russia had neither
Scouts nor Cubs but these oreaniza-
tlons are now growing in the Soviet
Republic. OF the present warning
countries, Japan and Spain have Cub
bing but China does not. Both Scout
ing and Clubbing were dissolved in Italy
and Germany to make way for the
reglmented Mussolini and Hitler youth
organizations respectively.
Americas Clubbing was developed
after studying the boys programs of
all other countries and it is typical
OF American initiative and aggression
that thing recognized as desirable
should grow rapidly as Clubbing has
done. The membership jumped from
$4,000 in 1885 to $4,000 in 1886 and to
$4,000 by the middle of this year. At
this rate it is quite possible that Cubs
VIII soon outnumber the Boy Scouts.
washington was selected as one of
the f1rst cities in America to conduct
clubbing experiments, starting IL years
ago, and still holds a leading posi-
tlon in the successful DEVELOPMENT
OF the new program. More than Is
packs are operating in various parts
OF the city, and requests are being
made in increasing numbers for packs
IN other munities-requests that
are being filed as rapidly as spon-
sors may be secured and leaders re-
cruited and trained.
My age?" said the infant prodigy.
That is a difficult question. The
latest personal survey available shows
my psychological age to be 12. nv
moral age 4, my anatomical age
and my physiological age 6. 1 sup
pose, however, that you refer to my
chronological age, which is 8. That
Is so old fashioned that I seldom
think of it any MORE
But in spite of different kinds of
ages the calendar age has proven a
successful basis for working out leisure
Clme programs, and the Indian lore
with the animal personifcations of
Klpling's Jungle Books has proved
fascinating to all boys of 9 to -
chronological age regardless of their
moral, physiological, anatomical or
psychological ages.
THE Cub age boy has one outstand-
ing distinguishing mark-a short
interest span, an affliction from which
most boys never fully recover. He
shares vehemently in the universal
dislike of long speeches, non-partici-
pating meetings and other monotonies.
Cowper gave the key to the Cub pro-
gram when he wrote, Variety is the
spice of life" Whether it be a game. a
stunt, a story or song or a meeting.
stop it while interest is high and be
assured that the participants will come
eagerly again.
On one occasion the Cub Handbook
was criticized conscientiously by one
who said that it tried to handle too
many subjects without exhausting any
Of them. The program does provide
a vast number of boy interests and
satisfying things to do, and it adds
to the boys natural desire to do
things -he recognition of achieve
-frnr is powerful incentive to any
boy.
Among the activities are certain
achievements by which the Cub may
earn his Wolf, Bear or Lion badge, and
in addition there are many elective
achievements recognized by gold and
silver honor points.
Inch by inch he wriggles his way up.
carefully dragging his wooden gun, up,
UP, more cautiously as he advances.