Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1952-02-15
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Permission New York Times)

L Il
To 10-year old the Boy Scouts
seemed the most glamorous group
in the world. They took part in
Memorial Day parades, they wore
beautiful uniforms on special oc-
casions, they went off on myster-
;ous hikes into the WCds and,
more miraculous, came back.
Eleven is the earliest age at which
one can join the Scouts. It takes
quite a. long year, much Longer
than nlost, to grow from the age
of 10 to the age of IL.
1t happened at last and with it
the first meeting of the Scout
Troop. That meeting, which
meant being out on a school night,
privilege that hitherto seemed
reserved exclusively for grown
ups and Boy Scouts, was meagerly
reported The question, SWhat
did you do?" brought only a
grunt. The question, did you
like it" was answered, Pretty
good, | guess That was all fol
quite while. Then, without any
leading question came the com
ment, 'David's the biggest Scout
and he blows the bugle and he
blew taps and it was loud |
wonder where you learn TO blow
a bugle?"
A far more detailed report fol
lowed, in what was probably the
longest sentence ever recorded
on one breath: 1--WE have to get
pair Of pants and pair of shoes
unless we already have brown
shoes because black ones won't do
and a shirt and the insignia and
the tie and the tie clasp and the
belt and it has secret money
pocket in it and a hat and the in
sigma on the sleeve and we can
only wear the Uniform at Scout
meetings and when it's official
and could | go to the store tomor-
row after school, if Pm not kept
in for arithmetic, and get every
thing?"
When the uniform was bought
the only comment was, It's pret-
ty good" But when !he time
came to sew the insignia on the
sleeve young man who had
never before shown any particu-
lar interest in precision and who
could easily confuse a yard with
a mile when it came to remember
ing where he had last seen his
jacket suddenly appeared as the
greatest authority on siXteentls-
of-an-inch outside the Bureau Of
Standards. Ten times the insig-
MIA was basted on and ten times
it came off. at ought to be just
a little bit nearer the center of
the sleeve-no that too much,
back little, no, that's too far,
back this way, no just teeny bit
over" Each basting was follow
ed by a quick trip to a mirror
and frown but at the eleventh
time the verdict was Pretty
good"
A Scout manual turned UP next.
For some days thereafter an
astounding range of new know
ledge appeared at every oppor-
tunity, gathered from the back
pages of the book, which could
be read at leisure and were more
attractive than the front pages,
where there was material to be
memorized. A dinner guest might
be asked, "Do you know that to
help fellow who has broken
through the ice you should stay
out of the water yourself and
slide a pole out to him. There
was a rain of tidbits like, "Some
owls nest in the holes that wood
peckers ABANDON or '"Tlic gopher
snake is harmless and feeds on
small rodents, or "The forests of
the Piedmont Plateau are for the
most part oak and hickory" or
Don't move fracture case unit!
the doctor gets there"
About the same time the chairs
in the living room bloomed with
odd lengths of old rope, tied in
knots no landlubber ever saw ON
sea or sealubber ashore. Finally.
the new Scout announced, 81 gotta
learn to tie square knot but all
my square knots turn into gra-
miles,
A few more weekly meetings