Scouting, Volume 1, Number 7, July 15, 1913 Page: 2

SCOUTING.
EVERYBODY SINGING PRAISES
OF THE SCOUTS AT GETTYSBURG
Newspapers Reflect the Good Opinion of All Who Saw Them at
the Battlefield Camp.
All reports from Gettysburg give
praise for the Boy Scouts from Wash-
ington, who have been so effectively as-
sisting the veterans in the great semi-
centennial encampment.
Washington is proud of these boys,
who are thus maintaining the high
standard of their organization.
The moral effect of the Boy Scout
work is unquestionably far-reaching.
These lads are learning obedience and
service. They are being taught that
there is something better than mere play,
but that work and play can be com-
bined and that there is a joy in doing
useful and helpful things. They are
learning to hold themselves well in hand,
to avoid bad habits and bad language.
They will make better citizens for their
participation in this work that is being
so well conducted here as part of a
great national enterprise.—Editorial in
Washington Star, July 6.
are getting a training that will be of the
highest value to them in manhood and
to their country. Besides the good they
accomplish, they are learning the lessons
of usefulness and the value of discipline.
They are blending play with work and
making work a pleasure instead of a
task. Instill that thought into the minds
of all American boys and the generations
that are to come will excel the present
one as this does the generation of 1840.
—Paterson (N. J.) Call, July 4.
More touching even than the empty
sleeve and the hobbling crutches is the
sight of the old men leaning on the
shoulders of the Boy Scouts and being
From every quarter come testimonials
to the splendid work the Boy Scouts
from Washington did at Gettysburg.
There was need for just such a Corps as
they made up, to help the. veterans
through the trying days of excessive heat
and unwonted exertion, and the boys
demonstrated their discipline and their
capacity to take their business seriously.
Beyond all that, they proved wonder-
fully efficient in doing the things needed
of them. They knew how and devel-
oped the confidence to do the thing that
the moment's exigency demanded, in
case of accidents, prostration, and the
like. Groups of them were attached to
the various aid stations scattered
throughout the battlefield, and they
worked hard day and night, winning
the enthusiastic praise of all.
It is a little hard to realize that these
Boy Scouts, with a few more years on
their heads, will be to-day's counterpart
of the grand armies of boys that fought
the Civil War. The Scout organization
is giving them a training and discipline,
an appreciation of responsibility, a seri-
ous bent of mind, that is probably the
nearest possible approach to the results
that military organizations gave to the
boys of half a century ago.—Editorial in
Washington Times, July 6.
If there ever was any doubt as to the
usefulness of the Boy Scouts, all of it
has been dispelled by their activities in
this encampment. Seldom has a mili-
tary body, either juvenile or adult, ex-
celled this youthful organization in dis-
all the bodies, veteran or regular, en-
camped here, these mere children stand
forth as the great surprise of the fiftieth
anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.
Officers of the regular army, tottering
veterans in Blue and Gray and the host
of civilian visitors unite in their praise.
—Philadelphia (Pa.) Record, July 2.
Scouts Helped Many Exhausted Veterans
to the Rest Stations.
guided by the youngsters to the tents
where the mess kits are given out. The
Boy Scouts are doing great service in
this way. Major Normoyles and Major
L. T. Hess, of the provisional field hos-
pital, can't say enough for them.—
Butler (Pa.) Citizen, July 1.
The Boy Scouts are justifying their
existence on the battlefield of Gettys-
burg.—Springfield (Mass.) Republican,
July 1.
The employment of Boy Scouts at
Gettysburg in Red Cross work, in es-
corting aged veterans to their quarters,
in carrying messages and in other work
for willing hands to do reveals the great
importance of the Boy Scout movement.
These boys, and thousands like them,
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Washington.
July 9th, 1913.
Mr. E. S. Martin,
Scout Commissioner of the
District of Columbia,
Washington, D. C.
Sir:
I desire to express my deep
appreciation of the excellent work
done by the Boy Scouts at
Gettysburg during the recent
Veterans' Encampment.
These boys rendered efficient
service in various capacities and
did much to contribute to the
success of this really remarkable
encampment.
Very respectfully,
(Signed)
LINDLEY M. GARRISON,
Secretary of War.
commemoration are those associated
with the presence of the Boy Scouts in
the camp of the 50,000 veterans. The
alert lads in their neat uniforms of
khaki are the messenger boys and guides
always on call at everybody's service.
Nearly a hundred of the boys have been
assigned to service in the Red Cross
corps. The officers of the army, the
officials of the camp, and the visitors
and sightseers join in the praise of the
willingness and efficiency with which
they do their work.—Boston (Mass.)
Journal, July 2.
It has been a great and invaluable
service, for the Boy Scout has been
ready and willing to run an errand or
do anything else for the convenience
and -comfort- -of- the- nt>w-irgeti-tR€n who
risked their lives in the war. And it
is a tribute to their own discipline and
intelligent care of themselves that with
all their exposure and often fatiguing
work, not one of the Scouts has been
treated in any of the hospitals. It has
been a remarkable -demonstration of
youthful ambition properly directed.
No wonder all—officers of the regular
army, veterans of both the North and
South, with the hosts of others in the
camp—unite in praise of the efficiency of
the scouts. They have well deserved it.
And what an education in patriotism the
reunion will be to them! The inspira-
tions they receive on the great battle-
field will be the inspirations of all the
future for them.—Philadelphia (Pa.)
Telegraph, July 3.
The cheerful, whole-hearted, efficient
service being given by the Boy Scouts
in helping the State of Pennsylvania
play host to visiting veterans on the
battlefield is one of the beautiful and
wonderful things about this many-sided,
wonderful encampment. Praise is com-
ing to them not only from the persons
drawing upon their time and attention,
but from camp officials, army officers
and others who have seen them at work.
—Philadelphia (Pa.) Bulletin, June 30.
Let it be inscribed in capital letters
that the Boy Scouts have made good
with a bang. In a good many instances
the old men have not known what to
make of such courteous treatment from
small boys. More than once they have
"been seen to offer tips, but, of course,
taking tips is strictly divergent from the
scout code, and the boys politely refuse
them. — Harrisburg (Pa.) Telegraph,
July I-
Not the least impressive of the many
remarkable scenes witnessed at Gettys-
burg through these days of reunion and
Praise is coming to the scouts not
only from those drawing upon their time
and attention, but from, camp officials,
army officers and others who have seen
them at work. . . . It is a common
sight around the emergency hospitals
for a little fellow to come staggering
in with a heat stricken veteran leaning
heavily on his shoulder. — Associated
Press Dispatch in Chicago (111.) News,
July 1.