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(Chapter 7)
ROVERINGTHE AIM OF THE ROVER BROTHERHOOD
ROVERS are a Brotherhood of the Open Air and Service.
They are Hikers on the Open Road and Campers of the
Woods, able to shift for themselves, but equally able and
ready to be of some service to others. They are in point
of fact a senior branch of the Boy Scout Movement-young
men of over seventeen years of age.
The four main aims of the Scout training in Woodcraft
are to develop these poinis:
Character and Intelligence.
Handcraft and Skill.
Health and Strength.
Service for others and Citizenship.
These are the requirements for a happy and active life.
Many young men just drift passively along and never reach
happiness. With Rover Scouting they would not let slip
their golden opportunities.
The Rover brotherhood is not only a brotherhood but a
jolly brotherhood with its camp comradeship, its uniform,
and its "dens" or meeting-places all the world over.
Since it is a Brotherhood of wanderers, you can, as a
member of it, extend your travels to foreign countries and
there make your friendships with Brother Rovers of other
nationalities.
This side of our Movement is not only interesting and
educative but must make a real step in ensuring the future
peace of the world through mutual good will.
CAMPERCRAFT
I have had the luck to camp out in a good many different
parts of the world-in the Canadian backwoods, Central
African jungle, Egyptian desert, Norwegian rivers, South
African veld, Himalayan mountains, etc.-all have their
own particular delights; but all the same, your own country
has a beauty and charm of its own which is hard to beat
however far you may travel.
You have there the joys of camping almost at your door,
at the least possible cost in money, time and trouble.
Out of the stuffy smoke and second-hand air of the noisy
town you have stepped out into the freshening breezes of the
open downs and drinking deep of the pure air you gain "new
blood in your veins and new life in your brains".
And as you swing along with the untiring stride of perfect
fitness you know the joy of living. Over hill and dale, with
changing beauties of scenery at every step, you feel a free
man. The view is yours to gaze upon, you're free to go
and free to stay and free to pitch your lodging where
you feel inclined. Whether you prefer solitary hiking or
trampmg in company depends on your personal tempera-
ment-and temper.
There is no pleasure that comes near to that of preparing
your own meal over your fire of wood embers at the end
of the day, and no scent like the smell of that fire.
There is no view like that from your lair on the woodland
hill-side. And there is no sleep like that in the open with
a warm blanket or a good thickness of paper beneath you.
("More under than above you" is the tramps' secret for
lying warm 0' nights.)
The sound of the night and the companionship of the
beasts and the birds make you feel a comrade of them all
in the Brothership of Nature.
Rain? Cold? Yes, I suppose they come, but you really
get to disregard them when you are in the regular swing
and habit of week-end camping.
Whether you are a lone hiker or whether you camp with
a companion, or in company with a Patrol of pals-it is all
good.
"There is nobody under thirty so dead but his heart will
stir at the sight of a gypsy camp ... there is some life in
humanity yet, and youth will now and again find a brave
word to say in dispraise of riches, throw up a situation to
go strolling with a knapsack" (R. L Stevenson).
Then the quaint brethren of the road that you meet, and
the freemasonry among out-of-doors men, give you many
new ideas and a fresh and widened outlook on life from many
a new standpoint.
With this opening up of a new and human side to your
character you can, if you will, make your hiking into the
wandering of a knight-errant, by being a doer of good
turns to all and sundry as you go along.
HOW TO BECOME A ROVER SCOUT
To become a Rover Scout the best way is to join a
Rover Crew belonging to a Scout Group in your neigh-
bourhood.
Any local Secretary or Scouter (i.e. any Scout officer)
of the Boy Scout organisation will advise you on the
subject and help you in your desire to become a Rover
Scout.
We have at our Headquarters at 25, Buckingham Palace
Road, London, S.W.i., an equipment store where you can
get all you want in the way of camp or hike kit. One way
to become a camper, besides being a Rover, is to join the
Camping Club of Great Britain. And there are correspond-
ing Clubs in most other countries.
There are many camping grounds in the Scout Movement;
Broadstone in Ashdown Forest, Great Tower in the Lake
District and Brynbach in North Wales are specially suitable
for Rovers. Gilwell Park in Epping Forest is the fore-
runner of these and the centre of our Scouter's training.
As a Rover Scout you will have the joy of picking up the
many and varied details that help you to enjoy life and
Camp comradeship of the Brotherhood.
Among these will be-
Tracking of men, animals, wheels, etc., and the reading of
information therefrom.
Fire-making in the way that a tramp or Red Indian does it
and not as you would do for a jubilation on Guy
Fawkes Day. A mere handful of red-hot embers will
do all the cooking you need.
(By the way, I had letters from more than one ex-Scout
who during the war escaped from a German prison
and managed to subsist and keep hirnseif concealed
largely thanks to what he had learned as a Boy Scout,
especially in the matter of hiding his tracks and of
cooking his grub over a diminutive fire.)
Cooking, with what the Red Indians call a chiploquorgan, or
bent osier, to hold your "billy" over the fire, and a
mulquagan, or forked stick, round which you can
twist dough for bread and upon the points of which
you fix slabs of meat for roasting.
Tent, not a canvas tabernacle, but the light-weight bivouac
that is now used largely by practical campers, and can
almost be carried in your pocket.
Knot-tying, like the use of needle and thread, is a necessary
bit of knowledge for a camper.
The axe, and knowing not only how to use it but how to
take care of it is another necessary adjunct.
Map-reading and finding your way by map, land-marks,
compass, stars, direction of winds, etc., is as interesting
as it is essential.
The Rucksack and its load teaches you how little you can
do with and have to do with when hiking.
Eyesight. By practice your eyesight is strengthened to a
notable degree, especially if you are town
bred and have never had occasion to look
more than fifty yards ahead of you.
Hearing is strengthened by practise in listening
to sounds by night; and sense of smell
is also invaluable for finding your whereabouts or
the presence of other people at night.
Judging distance is an art developed by
practice when hiking.
Weather knowledge is invaluable to a hiker, who soon gains
it by continual observation.
Nature Lore becomes a second nature to the out-door
man and gives him a new interest and joy in life.
Camp utensils and apparatus have to be improvised, and
this teaches one much handiness and resourcefulness.
WOODCRAFT
There is a lot in the lore and tradition of the backwoods
which naturally comes to be adopted by Rovers.
The gypsies, whether in Britain, Southern Europe or
the East, all have their customs, signs and languages.
The Red Indians have their picturesque tradition and
ceremonial, and so too have the Arabs, the Maoris, the
Zulus, the Masal, and others-all of them interesting and
worth studying, since they give romantic suggestions.
I have had to do with most of these peoples;
and though the Red Indian has been the most
imitated, the present-day specimen is not as a
rule the inspiring figure that his forefather was.
Excepting the few Indians who stili go trapping
in the woods, the Arab (of the right kind) is the
greater gentieman, the Zulu the braver warrior,
the Indian gypsy the better hunter, the Maori
the better sportsman, and the Australian black
the better tracker. All of them have their
points until they come under the deadening
influence of civilisation and gin.
A true Woodcralter loves and adopts much
a of the picturesque meaning of the savage arts
and crafts of all such tribes.
The history and world-wide significance of
Totems is a study in itself; and the practical
usefulness of the Signs makes a universal
language that is adopted and understood
throughout the brotherhood of out-door
men.
BE PREPARED
"Be Prepared" is the motto of Scouts.
I have only briefly sketched these points in camping and
hiking as a general indication, because alter all, enjoyable
and health giving as they are, they are only steps by which
you go on towards your further aim-that is, to be prepared
for manhood. Of course, if you have the good fortune to
be in a newly developed or uncivilised country, they are of
direct value to you.
Anyway, through their practice you gain the handiness
and knowledge and the self-reliance of the backwoodsman,
which makes you the more efficient for your life's work in
whatever direction it may lie; you gain the appreciation
of the wonders and beauties of Nature; and, more especi-
ally, it makes you efficient for doing service for others as a
good citizen.
A bad citizen is the man who only looks out for his own
good; the good citizen is he who is ready to lend a hand
for the community at any time.
I say "ready," not merely willing; lots of people are
willing, but when it comes to the point it so often happens
that they have never learnt how, so they are useless.
The Rover's business, therefore, is to learn how to be
ready and how to be able to do the right thing in an
emergency for the good of the rest.
I will therefore give you the further steps by which the
Rover fits himself for this through the organised method
of the Boy Scout Movement. These might look a bit formal
and complicated when set down in black and white, but
don't be put off by that. As a matter of fact ours is a
simply4ormed fraternity of young men.
ROVER ORGANISATION: THE CREW
For full details see official handbook THE POLICY, ORGANISA-
TION AND RULES OF THE BOY SCOUTS ASSOCIATION
issued by order of the Committee of the Council
of The Boy Scouts Association.
THE CREW AIMS
Rover Scouting is a brotherhood of the open air and
service, the purposes of which are:
(i) to continue the training in citizenship given to
Cubs, Scouts and Senior Scouts, but with a wider
outlook appropriate to the age of Rovers; and
(2) to encourage Rovers to make useful careers for
themselves and to render service to the community.
Rover training covers the period during which the young
man is "finding himself", i.e., developing his character and
his powers, and endeavours to help him to put into practice
in a wider world the principles of the Scout Promise and
Law.
STAGES
The Rover Crew is divided into two stages as follows:-
(1) The Probationary Stage-Rover Squires.
(2) The Training Stage-after investiture as Rovers.
This structure of the Crew is designed so as
(1) to prepare a Rover Squire for his investiture and
to ensure that he attains certain standards of
Scoutcraft.
(2) to provide a programme of activities for Rover
Scouts.
THE ROVER SQUIRE: CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP
Before a young man is admitted to a Crew, the following
conditions must be observed:-
(1) He must be approved by the G.S.M. and R.S.L.
and by the Crew.
(2) He must either be recommended by the S.M. as a
Scout, or by the S.S.L. or S.M. as a Senior
Scout, who is trying to act up to his Scout
obligations, including the doing of good turns, or if
not previously a Scout, or Senior Scout, he must
be willing to learn practical Scouting, pursue the
open-air life, and accept the way of life set forth
in the Scout Promise and Law.
(3) The age for admission is necessarily dependent on
the physical and mental development of a boy in
his progress to manhood. He must be at least 17
years of age.
(4) A Squire must not have attained his 22nd birth-
day at the date of his admission.
On admission to a Crew, he is known as a Rover Squire
until such time as he is invested as a Rover.
ROVERS-ROVER SQUIRE
A Rover Squire who has been a Scout (or who has passed
the Tenderfoot test and made the Scout Promise) wears
uniform as for Scout, Sea Scout, or Air Scout, as the case
may be, but the shoulder knot will be green and yellow.
A Rover Squire who has been a Senior Scout, wears
uniform as for Senior Scout, but with green and yellow
shoulder knot instead of a shoulder patch.
ROVERS AND ROVER AIR SCOUTS
A Rover or Rover Air Scout wears uniform as for Scout,
or Air Scout, as the case may be, but with the following
differences:-
Shoulder knot. Red, yellow and green.
Garter tabs. Red
Thumbstick. In place of staff.
Trousers. Lovat, or dark blue. Long trousers may be
worn as an alternative to shorts by Rover Scouts,
subject to the following conditions:-
(1) The trousers must conform to the shade and
pattern approved by H.Q.
(2) All members of the Rover Crew must dress
alike on any given occasion (i.e. all in long
trousers of the same approved shade and
pattern or all in shorts).
(3) Socks should be of an appropriate colour to
match the trousers.
(4) Trousers for Rover Air Scouts will be dark
blue.
DEEP-SEA SCOUTS
DEEP-SEA SCOUTS-ENROLMENT
(i) Deep-Sea Scouts are those who are members of the
Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy, the Fishing Fleets, or
crews of ocean-going yachts and who have attained the age
of 16, or where not possible to belong to a Scout Group, at
the age of 15. They are registered as Deep-Sea Scouts by
H.Q. Registration is for one year only and must be renewed
annually.
Those who have not previously been members of the
Movement will be invested by a Port or Fleet Commissioner,
should one be available, otherwise by any Commissioner on
the recommendation of the Headquarters Commissioner for
Deep-Sea Scouts. On investiture they will make the Promise.
Port Commissioners may be appointed at the discretion
of H.Q. in certain Ports in the United Kingdom.
(ii) Full particulars of organisation, registration, uniform,
training and badges will be found in the pamphlet "Deep-
Sea Scouts" obtainable from H.Q.
WARRANTS FOR SCOUTERS
The following appointments to warranted rank are made
by H.Q. at its discretion:-
(1) Fleet Commissioner.
(2) Port Commissioner.
(i) Fleet Commissioners are appointed by, and are
directly responsible to, H.Q.
(ii) A Port Commissioner receives a warrant as A.D.C.
(for Deep-Sea Scouts) for the district in which he functions.
CIVIC SERVICE
I don't want to alarm you with a big-looking job, but
this chart (see Appendix) is merely to explain to you the
various directions into which you can explore, if you want
to, as a Rover Scout; and these lead directly to good
citizenship and service.
You are not expected to do them all, but they are
alternatives so that you can take up some or others which
happen to suit your circumstances.
ACTIVITIES
Service is the practical outcome of Scouting for Rovers.
All Rovers should be encouraged to help in every possible
way in the running of their own (or other) Troops, or Wolf
Cub Packs: thus gaining the practical experience in train-
ing Scouts which helps to fit them for becoming Scout-
masters and fathers in the future: they should be given
responsibility for definite departments in helping the
Scouters of the Group.
Co-operation and inter-patrol activities, by means of
conferences, games and work are necessary so that Groups
may get to know one another, thus encouraging friendships
and emulation.
Activities naturally fall under two heads:
(a) Scout Service; (b) Public Service.
(b) Patrols can be formed and trained as "Local Aid
Detachments" for service, such as that opposite:
Accident First Alders (for dealing with accidents of every
kind, crowds, etc.).
Assistant Welfare Officers in factories, play centres, etc.
Coastwatchers or Assistants to Coastguards.
Cyclist Despatch Riders and Motor.
Assistants or Instructors in Scout Troops, Play Centres,
Boy's Clubs, etc.
Fire Brigade in village, town, factory, hospital, etc.
Life-saving Rocket apparatus men.
Lifeboat men or launchers.
Special Constables or Assistants to Police.
(a) Service in their own Groups, as Cubmasters,
Secretaries, Games Organisers, Instructors, Badge Ex-
aminers, Committee Men, Assistant Scoutmasters, etc.;
service in helping other Groups; Sea Scouts; Scouts in
hospitals and homes; helping at Rallies, Sports, Camps, etc.
TEAM RECREATIONS
(Corporate, Physical and Moral Health)
It is important that camping and outdoor games should
be carried out to the utmost (and appropriate recreation
and rest for Sundays should not be lost sight of). "Parlour
Scouting" to be avoided. The following are examples:
Outdoors-
Athletics
Walling Tours
Coasting Voyage
Football
Cycling
Scouting
Cruises on Canals and Rivers
Hockey
Hare and Hounds
Swimming
Nature and History Rambles
Baseball
Gymnastics Display
Boating
Tree and Rock Climbing
Camping
Tracking
Visits of Instruction to
Municipal Offices, Courts
of Justice, Museums,
Factories, etc.
Tours abroad to visit foreign
Rovers, etc.
Indoors-for mutual improvement, such as-
Lectures by experts on
any subject, vocational
or social
Choral Society
Dancing
Debating Society
Dramatic Troupe
Folk Dancing
Indoor Games
Gymnastics and Free Exercises
Judo
Orchestral Society
Scouts Own
Sing-Songs
Social evenings
Sketching Club
Study Circles (for Civic Instruction, etc.)
It is a valuable help to get experts to come and hold
informal talks and demonstrations or to conduct rambles.
CLIMBING
I have mentioned in the above "climbing" as one of
the activities for Rovers.
I know no better physical exercise than this, since it
not only trains and develops every muscle in the body,
but also encourages healthy living, moderation in eating
and drinking and smoking, and the development of nerve,
endurance and resourcefulness, besides being a most
healthy, most enjoyable and manly form of recreation.
It is best done in teams, such as Patrols, working generally
with a mountaineer's rope. It includes tree climbing,
which in itself becomes a highly interesting sport, mast
climbing, rock climbing, cliff climbing and mountain
climbing.
There are many more facilities in all parts of the British
Isles for this sport than is generally suspected. There is also
more danger about it than may be at first thought. It
therefore needs careful practice and instruction to begin
with. But when once a man is good at it, it has a tremendous
attraction, offers never-ending variety, and cannot fail to
keep him fit and happy.
SERVICE FOR OTHERS
AN EMERGENCY CORPS
When in Copenhagen a few years ago I was shown the
organisation and working of the Accident Brigade in that
city. I believe it is a voluntary organisation that exists
in other parts of Denmark also, of which we have no exact
counterpart in Britain. It is in the nature of the Fire
Brigade and St. Johns Ambulance combined, and it offers
to Rovers a particularly valuable form of public service
both in towns and villages.
A good instance of the value and variety of its duties
occurred at the time when I was visiting its Headquarters
in Copenhagen. A call came by telephone to say that a
man had been run over by a tram-car and was badly
injured. They had not been able to extricate him, and
the car was pardy derailed. Within a minute three de-
tachments had left the Headquarters for the scene of
the accident in motor-cars equipped with all the necessary
apparatus for dealing with the situation, including a gin for
hoisting the tram-car, ambulance equipment for dealing
with the man, and including such details as a wire basket
into which to put his remains if he were too far mangled
for the ordinary stretcher to be of use.
Also, there were the necessary implements and insulating
gear to enable them to work safely where electric currents
had to be dealt with.
The Corps was trained to deal with accidents arising out
of explosions of the various kinds of gases, chemicals, etc.,
suicides by poison, strangulation and so on; ability to
track murderers by the smallest signs; knowledge of secur-
ing damaged aeroplanes, and dealing with railway accidents,
collapse of houses, falling trees, and the many minor
accidents to which men are liable through machinery in
factories or agricultural work, mad dogs, bulls, etc. In
fact, the range of their activities is almost unlimited, varying
according to the locality and the nature of industry, etc.
But the field for work is wide, and the training for it
involves various kinds of study and activities, which are
not only interesting, but useful to the men who take them
up. He would be a strange man who could not find
amongst these varied activities one which at least would
prove to be a hobby for him when once he had aqcuired it.
A fellow with hobbies is never likely to find time hang on
his hands, or to feel that life has not got some enjoyment in it.
POLICE SERVICE
"At the recent tragic fire in Newhaven, Connecticut, in
which seven persons lost their lives, and more than seventy-
five were injured, Scouts did noticeable service.
"At three separate street crossings Scouts saw conges-
tion of traffic with no traffic police officer on duty, and in
each case stepped out into the street and directed the traffic
in the pouring rain for more than two hours.
"Other Scouts did good service in aiding the orderlies in
the hospitals in quickly transferring the patients from the emergency
wards to the beds, making quicker handling of cases possible."
This suggests a form of service for which Rovers or Scouts would do
well to prepare themselves in co-operation with the police officers and
the Hospital Authorities in their districts.
They can learn the work of con-trolling the traffic, and of dealing
with crowds, where the Scout uniform will give them
the necessary authority.
Scouts are not allowed to use police whistles for the
Scout work, for fear of creating confusion, but there is
nothing to prevent them from carrying a police whistie as
part of their equipment, so that on an emergency, where
police help is needed, they can at once call for it.
A cyclist scout must of course be always ready to act as
orderly or messenger to police officers.
SAMPLE OUTLINE OF ACCIDENT FIELD DAY FOR ROVERS
Hike or bike, map reading and observing for several
miles.
(1) Halt near railway. Imagine railway accident, colli-
sion and train smash. Detail patrols to various duties. Each
Mate to state how he would carry them out with materials
on the spot. Improvising gins to raise wreckage. Extinguish
fire. Rescue and First-Aid injured. Policing their property.
Sending for help.
(2) Imagine aeroplane crash on landing in south-west
gale. Overturns. Aviator pinned underneath and injured.
Petrol tank takes fire. Rover Scout Leader gives duties
to patrols. Each Mate describes how he would carry them
out with the material available on the spo~ Orders should
include reporting the accident, and alter righting the
machine securing it properly, etc., etc.
ENJOYMENT OF LIFE
For sheer enjoyment give me the open air, and the country-
side, even if you cannot get the backwoods and the moun-
tains. Unfortunately, most of us are restricted as regards our
holidays and cannot all go far afield. None the less there
are week-ends, giving the opportunity for hikes and walk-
ing tours which, though they may be short, can yet be
arranged to include a great deal of solid enjoyment.
The Right Hon. H. A. L. Fisher, Warden of New College,
Oxford once stated some rules for those about to arrange
a holiday. They are well worth careful study.
1. Plan your holiday carefully, but be ready to abandon your plan
on the slightest provocation.
2. Never go north when you can go south.
3. A change of work is itself a holiday.
4. Never drive when you can walk, and never walk when you can
ride.
5. In a cross-country walk there is seldom time for short cuts.
6. A goed holiday is like eternity-there is no reckoning of time.
7. One of the best fruits of a holiday is a new friendship.
8. Stay where you are happy.
9. Soak yourself in the atrnosphere of a new place before you
study the details.
10. The best holiday is that which contains the largest amount of
new experience.
11. Holidays come up for judgment before the next term's work.
12. In the choice of holiday books act on the principle that one
of the main uses of leisure is to feed the imagination.
13. The principal experts in the art of taking holidays are
painters, naturalists, travellers and historians; the worst person to
consult is a golfer.
14. On occasions a very good holiday can be taken at home if you
change the hour of breakfast.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A ROVER SCOUT
Remember that as a Rover, besides making yourself a
better man and a better citizen, you are, whether you
know it or not, being looked up to by boys in your Scout
Group and your neighbourhood. Boys are awful imitators,
and I use the word awful advisedly, because it fills one with
awe when one thinks what harm or what good one might
be doing for the boys in the examples we set them.
They are very apt to make a hero for themselves of a
fellow who is older than them, and who has won their
admiration by his own personality, or by something that
he has done. I was asked only the other day what it was
that induced me to take up football with the energy that
I did when I was a boy. I can trace it directly to the
influence of one boy older than myself. He was ultimately
a well-known Association player, but at that time, when I
had only just come to school, I was his fag and had the
honour of holding his overcoat while he played, and of
cleaning his boots and his muddy garments and giving
him his hot water after the game was over. But I see him
now in my mind's eye, running with that easy gait which
never seemed to hurry and yet always put him in the right
spot for taking possession of the ball.
From the first I longed to emulate him, and, though
from that day to this he has never known of the influence
he had over me, it was thanks to his example that a good
deal of my life at school was fashioned.
So it is that, as a Rover Scout or older boy among your
younger brothers, you have a responsibility on your
shoulders which at first you may not realise. You may
be guiding many a boy to good or to bad according to
what you do or say yourself.
"To be good is noble-but to teach others how to be
good is nobler~and much less trouble." That is what
Mark Twain said, but I am doubtful about the last phrase,
since the teaching is largely through personal example;
so you have to be careful.
Be careful, if not on your own, at least on their account.
You can see for yourself that you have here a tremendous
opportunity if you like to use it for doing a great good for
your younger brothers. You can set the line for them to
follow by your own behaviour in the direction of cheery
and maniy friendliness and straight living and clean talk.
Think for yourself whether you have any failings which
you would not wish others to copy, and try and replace
these with something better. Here are a few instances of
the more usual weaknesses.
SHORT TEMPER
Do you get annoyed when things go wrong or people pin-prick you?
Force a smile and then laugh at the comparative smallness of the
irritation. "If you are in the right, you've no need to lose your
temper. If you are in the wrong, you can't afford to."
SMOKING
Remember boys copy you, and smoking is bad for their health.
Don't smoke when among them.
BAD LANGUAGE
Do you use swear words in moments of irritation, or dirty ones in
moments of thoughtlessness?
Try whistling-and drop it.
SLACKNESS AND SHIRKING
Are you inclined to "leave it to George, "to look on at
others doing the work or playing the game, or to anticipate
difficulties before they arrive?
Sleeves up and lead the way. "Look at the worst, but see the best."
Follow Saint George and tackle the job.
BACKBITING
Are you given to talking of other people's failings and
seeing only their bad points?
Go on the principle that there is 5 per cent of good
in the worst. The fun is to find it.
IMPATIENCE
Do you catch at sunbeams and hanker for the moon
-and curse your bad luck when things don't go as you wish?
"Softly, softly catchee monkey." It's dogged as does it.
"Stick to it and you'll win through."
"Patience is the secret to success in any career."
STOGINESS
Want of humour.
As there is at least 5 per cent of good in everything,
so there is also another 5 per cent of fun. Recognition
of this will carry you through many otherwise hopeless
troubles. Show your boys how to laugh while you work.
INTOLERANCE
Are you a possibly over-keen upholder of your own
particular social class, political party or form
of religion?
These distinctions are sunk in the brother-hood
of Scouting. Practise tolerance-teach your boys to
study both sides of any question before making
up their mind on it.
SELF-DETERMINATION
This term is often used to cover disobedience, want
of loyalty and lack of discipline.
Develop responsibility and self-discipline in the
free spirit of playing the game for your side,
not for yourself.
SELFISHNESS
Is the worst failing of our race, causes short-
sighted outlook and contributes to personal
as well as industrial discontent.
Practise selflessness, i.e. others first,
self second.Look wide.
DISCONTENT
Generally the result of self-centredness and taking
life too seriously.
Make others happy and you will be happy yourself.
Recognise the good in what you have got, the fun in
life, the glories, wonders and beauties of Nature.
Sink personal ambition.
PESSIMISM
Do you let the difficulties or dangers of a venture
overshadow its possibilities?
"See the worst, but look at the best. "Optimism is
a form of courage that gives confidence to others
and leads to success.
NARROWNESS
Do you pride yourself on your view of a question happening
to be the right one?
Look wider-and then look wider still.
KNOWALL
Are you convinced that you know Scouting from A to Z?
Take in - in both senses of the word - the "Scouter."
A HIGHER SERVICE FOR ROVER SCOUTS
Amongst the various forms of service that have been
suggested, that of helping to run Scouts or Cubs may seem
at first sight to be rather a small one. But when you come
to look into it, it is really one of the greatest, if not the
greatest among them all. It is the most easy of all to take
up, since the opportunities for it lie close to your hand as
a Rover, but at the same time it is one in which you
can obtain big results in making men out of boys, results
which are visible to you as they grow under your hand.
And those results can be of the greatest value to your
country.
As I have before shown, the Nation badly needs voluntary
help for its Education. There is so much outside the
actual reading, writing and arithmetic that is necessary
for the boys of to-day to know if they are going to make
successes of their lives; and the shortage of school time
and of school teachers is a great handicap to them in
learning these things; so the help of voluntary "elder
brothers" is therefore urgently needed.
Rovers, who will lend a hand in the training or manage-
ment of their Scout troops or Wolf Cub packs, and especi-
ally in their camping, will be doing an immensely valuable
service. It is one, at the same time, which will bring
honest satisfaction to themselves. Everyone who has
trained a dog or a horse to be obedient and to perform
tricks knows the interest and gratification, but how much
greater this is in the case of the young human animal when
you see his character changing and forming on right lines
for life I Then you feel indeed that you have done some-
thing worth while.
FATHERHOOD
There is another point to it.
Some day you yourself will be a father. You will be
responsible for bringing boys and girls into the world, and
for giving them a helping hand to starting successfully in
life. If you fail in this and merely let them drift into
wastage or misery you will be guilty of a despicable crime.
For other responsibilities in life, such as managing a
business, running an engine, or laying bricks, you go
through a special training. And yet for this, the greatest
and most responsible of all duties, that is the fashioning of
the lives and happiness of your own offspring, you do not
prepare yourself in any definite way, but leave it to chance
And that is the rule of the herd. Yet what a great thing
you could do them had you only the knowledge and prac-
tice of the training of the young.
Through Rovering, however, you can get your opportu-
nity of actually practising some of the best and most
useful work of a father. You can give out the right
aspirations, and the healthy activities that teach the boy
ultimately to "paddle his own canoe," and you will be
in a position to warn him of the rocks that will lie in his
course in his turn.
A HOLE IS ONLY MADE TO BE MENDED
Now if you who read this are one who has bumped on
one of the "rocks" already, I want to tell you that I was
once voyaging across a lake in Canada, in a birch-bark
canoe with another fellow, when we bumped on a snag.
It was not a very serious bump, but birch bark is very
thin and the water began to come in through the hole,
and to save ourselves we had to paddle for dear life to the
nearest islet, having plugged up the hole as best we could
with an old hat.
It was a pretty close race. We paddled for all we were
worth, and we just got there in time as our crait was sinking.
We hauled her up on a flat, smooth rock, and got our
gear out of her and rolled her over, bottom upwards.
We then set to work to repair damages by getting some
of the natural gum of some fir-trees and made a little fire
in which we melted it. Then, having patched the hole
with some old rag and a bit of fresh bark, and the hot gum,
we very soon had the boat pretty nearly as sound as ever;
and before long we were on our way again, but with our
eyes more acutely on the look out this time, to avoid snags
and rocks in future.
Well, that is the same with you, who may have run on
a rock in your time.
Don't think that on that account you are done for.
Hurry in before you sink and get your bark repaired. It
may be hard to do, but put your back into it and you will
probably succeed. Use the remedies I have suggested in
the foregoing chapters according to the type of rock that
you have run upon, mend your ways and resume your
voyage with stout heart and a good look out. Having
once touched a snag, you will know all the better how to
avoid them; and you can make your voyage just as big a
success as any of the other fellows.
Even if you have bumped on more than one Rock,
remember how General Foch, at the battle of the Marne,
in the Great War, reported to Joifre, his Commander-in-
Chief: "My right has been thrown back; my left is in
retreat ... I am attacking with my centre." And he won!
And so can you. Your right may have been smashed,
your left may be in disorder, but you still have your centre;
attack with that and you'll pull through.
ONE WORD MORE
Now I can picture to myself you who are reading this-
but you are not the fellow that I want!
You have already been taking an interest in your own
future, and you want to know how to "Rove to Success".
So my ideas will only come on top of others that you may
have already formed. Mine may corroborate yours, or
they may be disappointing to you. In either case I hope
you won't feel any the less of a friend to me.
But if you have already prepared yourself for your
future, you're not the fellow I really want, as a reader of
this book!
I want the chap who has never thought for himself, or
planned out his future.
There must be many and many a fine young fellow in our
nation being dragged down by bad influences around him,
because he has never seen the clearer way; he has not
known that by a little effort of his own he can rise above
his surroundings and paddle his way to success.
And that is where you come in. Will you help me to get
hold of that other fellow? You must know several of him
in your circle of acquaintances. If you can get him to read
this book I shall be grateful.
Possibly you might even go further and get a study
circle of three or four of your friends to
go through the book chapter by chapter,
one for each evening, and discuss among
you the questions I have suggested.
I don't say that you need agree with me,
but I do say that the consideration of
these ideas, whether you agree with them
or not, will at any rate make you think a
bit about your future, though I hope it may
do more than that. And if you lead others.
on to join in their study, you will be
doing a bigger thing-you will be doing
Service for Others.
So far as those who are already members
of the Scout Brotherhood are concerned-
and others too for that matter-I would
lay stress on the possibility and necessity of "service" in the
ordinary surroundings of the Rover Scout's life and point
out that he must first of all try to apply his ideals in his
ordinary life. This seems to me to be a better crown of
Scouting experience than sending the fellow on to find new
special fields in which to function. In this way I hope we will
consolidate the whole idea that lies behind Scouting and
emphasise what we really want, which is to bring the ideals
of Scouting into our everyday life, and thus to bring it to
pass that other people are touched by its magic and helped
by its ideals.
For me it is ten o'clock in the evening of life. It will
soon be bedtime. For you it is eleven o'clock in the morning
-noon-tide; the best part of the day is still before you.
For myself I have had a most enjoyable day of it. It
has had its clouds and its showers-but it has had also its
glorious sunshine.
But for you-what are you going to do with your day?
It can be an equally happy one if you only choose to make
it so. But not if you are going to laze through it waiting
for something to turn up, or are going to sleep away part
of it.
Wake up! Get busy! You have only the one life-day
to live, so make the best of every minute of it.
You will sleep all the better when bedtime comes if you
have been busy through the day.
The fellows who have restless, sleepless nights, are those
who have lazed away the sunshine.
Happiness is yours if only you paddle your canoe aright.
With all my heart I wish you success, and the Scouts' wish
-GOOD CAMPING.
"SONGS OF A SOURDOUGH"
BY ROBERT W. SERVICE
They've cradled you in custom, they've primed you with
their preaching,
They have soaked you in convention through and
through;
They have put you in a show-case, you're a credit to their
teaching,
But can't you hear the wild ?-it's calling you.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betides
us,
Let us journey to a lonely land I know;
There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam
to guide us,
And the wild is calling-calling.... Let us go.
Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, grovelled down
yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
"Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell
the story,
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul?
Have you seen God in His splendours, heard the text that
Nature renders?
(You'll never hear it in the family pew)
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do
things?-
Then listen to the wild-it's calling you.
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