BOY SCOUTS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1925, Page 4

BOY SCOUTS

(Contributed.) The .sisters tof Hokitika Boy Scouts hnvo long been demanding the formation of a Company of Girl Guides in the town. At present it has been impossible to find it lady willing to take charge but sooner or later this difficulty is certain to be 'Overcome and already questions have been asked as to the connection between the two or-

ganisations. As a matter of fact the two are aV solufely distinct and are run front different headquarters both in this country and in London. At the same time Lady Baden Rowell is the Cliiel Guide and the hand book on which their training is founded was written by the Chief Scout himself. In spite of this there is no tendency to turn our gills into “tomboys 'or to oop\ slavishly the Seoul- methods. It has been officially declared that just as the aim of the Boy Scouts is to produce manly men, so in the Girl Guides an effort- is being made to turn out womanly women. The training in the two bodies is .substantially different, but there is no doubt that the formation of a local company would indirectly benefit the Boy Scouts, especially in the direction of promoting mi interest in our aims in homes where such does not at present exist. The Guido Alovoinont is uov. firmly established on the other side

iof the Alps and with .he keen interest shown in outdoor activities by the Indies of Hokitika, it is rather surprising that no one has so far been found willing til iu*t as captain. When such is discovered it will probably pi'-'ve a big surprise to everyone to find what a fund of youthful energy has so Inr keen allowed lo waste itsell. “TREE SCOl'T*” (By J. iS. Purdy, lion. S.M.) “I am just going outside," said ' Captain Oates, “and 1 may be t*>me time/ 1 [ As tlK'.v lay tliere wailing and wait- • ing for bis ret urn they remembered ' that Christ once said: Greater love hath no man than this, that ti man lay down bis life lor bis Irieml. He ' (lied as an English gentleiunn -a vers

Captain Scot!. Dr Wilson and 'Lieutenant towel's, starved and Irozeu. Inter crossed life’s frontier ntul presented arms to death. “Death. as Hie teller taf the glorious story o! Captain Scott says, "is very kind to heroes, who look upon that last .iour--v as til.' greatest adventure of all.” With tin' Tenth Australian Field Ambulance there were many heroes, as indeed there were in . very unit of the A.I.F. “Dorothy" Williams was in iln.' nursing seefoui. At the advanced dressing station at Kandahar, ibat shell devastated farm, during the second Messines offensive, "Dorothy asked to bo paraded belore the O.C. “Well. Dorothy, what’s the matterX’ “Colonel, bow does one get a Military Medal ” “You were at Green Farm wliisn the shell blew the kitchen to smithereens; Captain Glassford got the Af.C. Others, of Die oth. 19th. and lull, got the D.O.M. and M.M. You certainly earned one. But one can’t mention everybody, there nio not sufficient M.M’s L> go round. I’ll let. you go with the details to a battery whore you are sure to get vottr chain“Rigbt. <>h ! Next day “Dorothy." si called because lie tended the sick and wuinded like a nurse, went to a battery. Within a week a letter from Captain Till,-It. described bow Private William'-. during a heavy bombardment. bad shown conspicuous gallantry ami self-sacrifice in giving up bis own gas mask to a wounded mail without one. Captain Tillett was asked by lei tel to report- I lie incident to the battery commander with a view to rcongni-

I ion. Before the letter reached the battery Captain Tillett bad lumseil IMjl de ibe supreme sacrifice. Before Hi,, award appeared in orders "Dorothy" bail died from .'[feels of gas, ami never re.•« ive.l the medal. But In’s innlluM* did. *• Dnrnl liv” iliftl ;is ;m Australian. n vio v gallant gent Icninii and Boy Seoul . Ills mot her and bis cobbers i hunted Go I fur every reniemberame i.f him. Of sui li si nil are heroes made. Scouting tor boys incubates loyalty to tloil and the King, ami l 1: <b> goo,! turn every .lav. IP.l.i.ri Louis Stevenson maintained that, “a lull, busy youth is the only prelude to a self-nmtained and independent age: and Hie muff inevitably develops into the bore.” General Sir B. S. I*. Baden Rowell retained bis lH.vi'biiess even at Mafeking. lie was. indeed, n Rider Ran who never grew

up. In originating scouting lor hoys he embodied his recollect inn of his own boyhood. As I!. W. Emerson says. “A large majority ol men being bred in families and beginning early to be occupied day by day with some routine experience that makes the Indian. the settler, or the frontiersman self-reliant and fearless.” I'.arh

generation tries to impose on the next its ideas as to how they should he brought up. In the days when huge families were in fashion the elder member* of the family were able to broaden tlm outlook of tbe parents for Hie benefit of the younger members. There is, indeed, in these days a responsibility oil children to see that (heir parents are correctly brought up. Parents must learn Irom their children who have not been disillusioned, and are still living in a world of make-belief. Everyone loves a lover. and everyone loves a boy who is a real boy. To direct the energies along the right lines and teach him to play the game is the sum and substance of scouting. A, Scout is a friend to all. Be a friend to him.