Boy Hermits

Here and there we find a parent who thinks only in the terms of his own boy. “My boy is all right. He doesn’t need to be a Scout. I’m taking care of him myself.”

Raising his boy to be a hermit

He is a mental hermit himself who thinks that way. If he has time and intelligence to really care for his own boy he ought to be a scoutmaster and help take care of other boys also.

Suppose A oh Succeeded

Suppose you. Mr. Man. could take care of your boy and meet his desires and train him for manhood. Could you get any better result than to have him “Physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight?” Could you? How long are you going to keep him isolated? Sooner or later he must do things for himself. You can’t keep on his trail and by his side all the time and do anything else in life yourself. What then?

He may have learned to thoroughly understand you. He has not thus learned to understand other boys. And they are the ones with whom he must later build his own life. This is where scouting comes in. It trains the boy with boys. And later when he grows up they will be grown up. And their lives will trail together.

Boys Will Be Boys

But they don’t need to be juvenile delinquents. Boys are not naturally inclined to be bad. But they are naturally inclined to be busy. That being busy may take the course of violating the traditions and conventions of their elders unless their elders see to it that the training is in the direction of right, true manly ideals.

Most juvenile delinquency finds its roots in adult thoughtlessness. The boy want to be busy, but the older people are too busy to help him. The tension of the boy and the inattention of the man lead to mistakes on the part of both. The result is unpleasant to both. The public also suffers. The Boy Scout movement is the ounce of prevention that is worth more than the pound of cure.

Boy All Over

The Boy Scout movement is just “boy all over.” It takes that original instinct of the boy to be busy and supplies the things to keep him busy. It gives the boy all the liberty compatible with developing true manhood. It utilizes the things that boys want to do. It is built from the ground up on the constructive basis. Negatives are turned into positives. The boy is shown the “why” of the things he does. Body, mind and soul are exercised in clean, straight living. The boy wants it. There are practically no deserters among boys who once join, if proper leadership is provided to keep them in the movement.

It Is American All Over

Scouting is based on the idea of education. which is pre-eminently an American ideal. It is scientific, education. for it begins with what the boys know and goes from that to things they ought to know. It does things that the schools can’t do and that Sunday schools can’t do. And yet the whole force of it is to increase the boy’s interest in the things that the schools can do and the things that the Sunday schools are doing.

Boys are “motor minded.” They want action. They don’t want to just sit and listen. But they will listen intently if what they hear is related to what they are going to do a little later. That is where the scout teaching ties up with what the schools and Sunday schools want him to think about. Ever since our colonial fathers planted the little red school house on the New England hills, it has been our American ideal to provide for our coming generation. The importance of the boy has never loomed larger than it does right now at the close of the great war. The need of efficient education and American ideals has never been so thoroughly recognized. We must omit no opportunity for moulding the character of our boys along these lines. The Boy Scout movement is one of the greatest of these opportunities.

Absolutely Non-Sectarian

Recognition of God and service to Him are fundamental in scouting, but the movement is’ absolutely without any sectarian bias. Wherever it is practicable troops are organized in connection with churches of all denominations. If a scoutmaster is available in that church, he is at once put in charge of that troop. No boy is trained away from the thought of his own religious environment. This is attested by clergymen and officials of all churches. There is no guesswork about it. Scouting plays fair with the church.

Absolutely Non-Militaristic.

The constitution and by-laws of the Boy Scouts of America also forbid involving the organization in any matter of political character. There is no effort or possibility of making any effort to train the boy away from his own political home environment. The scoutmaster has no more to do with politics than the school teacher of the Sunday school teacher. The question is often asked as to whether the Boy Scout movement gives military training The answer is a decided “NO.” But there are certain things essential to civic uprightness and moral integrity as they ar. to military discipline which are taught. Scouts do not carry guns nor are they taught tactics distinctly military in character. But the scout movement emphasizes the individual responsibility of the boys to obligations which he has voluntarily assumed. He is taught that his own oath involves obedience to discipline that he may gain efficiency. Precision of action is balanced by training to personal resourcefulness. Above all the boy is trained to courage, loyalty, truth and manliness. These things every man needs outside military life as well as in it.