The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1947-06-05
Around Town With
The Editor

AT recent meeting of the Wash
ington County District of the Boy
Scouts, which has jurisdiction over
all Troops in Hagerstown and Wash
ington County, and of which A. Les
ley Gardner is the enthusiastic and
energetic chairman, discussion of
Scout needs brought out the fact that
perhaps the most urgent was more
adult leaders-more Scoutmasters.
During the war years, with many
of the younger men in the Armed
Forces, many of us older Scouters-
some of us veterans of twenty or
more years in Scouting-got back in
to harness in order not to let the
Scouts down, feeling certain that
when the war was over the younger
men would once again take over, but
it just hasn't turned out that way.
Most of the troops in Hagerstown
and the County are sponsored by
church organizations, where it seems
reasonable to expect that plenty of
men would be available as Scout
masters. But while some of the
Troops have Scoutmasters second to
none in the country, others are suf-
fering because of the lack of ade-
quate leadership.
There is, of course, no denying
that a Scoutmaster'S job entails
plenty of work and quite bit of
sacrifice as far as time is concerned
but l can vouch, from my own eX-
perience, that there isn't hobby in
the world that will give you more
happiness, more real satisfaction and
more never to be forgotten memo
ries, than working with a gang of
boys, gaining their confidence and
respect-and last, but far from least,
watching them develop into real
manhood with the proud feeling that
perhaps you had a little something
to do with getting them started off
on the right foot.
This week the daily papers are
full of news stories of boys grad
uating from school; boys winning
honors on the athletic fields: boys
coming back home after serving
their country. Outside of their re-
spective families and close friends,
these news articles don't mean a
great deal to the general public, but
to those of us who worked and
played with these lads in Scouting,
those honors are our honoFs too and
we are just as proud of them as the
boys and their parents are.
During World War II letters came
to me from many of my former
Scouts-and a lump used to come
into my throat when l heard that a
youngster who I often despaired of
getting past his Second Class tests,
was pilot in the Air Forces, or an
other that I had put through the
paddle line every now and then,
had been decorated for bravery.
Those letters and those memories
are among my most cherished pos
sessions.
And this week I am again being
paid = and paid in something far
more valuable than money-for the
years I have spent with the Scouts
here in Hagerstown.
Boys that I worked with, played
with, camped with-and sometimes
bawled out unmercifully-are now
young men graduating from school;
earning honors of one sort or an
other in the classroom and athletic
field; or getting back into civvies
after serving their country.
Boys like Tommy Gardner, Skip
py' Slick, Johnny Porter, Ed Ras-
kin, Ell Ellinger, Bill Green, Mort
Weston, and "Chippy" Moller, to
mention just few.
Do you want hobby that will
give you more lasting happiness,
more real satisfaction and more
pride of accomplishment than any
thing else in the world? Then hunt
up Scout Executive Bern Hagedorn
in the Thomas Building and tell him
that you want to be put to work
you'll never regret it.