Scouting, Volume 1, Number 7, July 15, 1913 Page: 5
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WHY WE PARADED.
By Percival M. Churchill, S. C., East Bridge-
water, nass.
IN the May 15th issue of Scouting I
note what is said under the heading
of "Avoid Parades," and with the ap-
proval of our Local Council decided to
write you regarding it. I can see that
in larger cities there may be reasons for
these recommendations, but in country
villages like ours it has become the duty
of the Scouts to participate in the parade
and assist the old soldiers.
When the Scouts took hold of Mem-
orial Day two years ago, the outdoor
exercises had been dropped at all but
one cemetery, the members of the Posts
and Sons were discouraged, and the pub-
lic indifferent. Instead of attending
what services were held, the boys went
to ball games all day. Then the Social
Service Commission suggested to the
G. A. R. that the Scouts, the Boys' Bri-
gade and the school children be invited
to march with them Memorial Day. Our
Local Council strongly supported the
idea. At that time the Scout movement
here was weak and the response of the
boys correspondingly weak. They went
in the parade to the cemetery but about
half of them deserted to the ball game
when it started. The next year the boys
deserted the ball game and stuck to the
ceremonies.
This year we again rendered valuable
service to the G. A. R. The Scouts,
under the direction of the Sons, carried
the flowers and d'-' rbr;-nting, and
by their sturdy behavior won favorable
comment from the citizens and much re-
spect and admiration from the other
boys. At one cemetery one of the boys
repeated Lincoln's Gettysburg address
and later repeated it at the monument as
no services had been arranged for there,
thus preventing an awkward situation.
The effect of all this upon the boys
themselves has been good, giving them
confidence, and in the community it is
now recognized that the Scouts may be
depended upon to do things. Thus their
participation in the Memorial Day pa-
rade has helped the old soldiers, has in-
terested the citizens and other boys in
the proper observance of the day, and
has correspondingly helped the Scout
movement.
Now referring to your general state-
ment that "the scouts of old rarely made
a show of themselves." Is that a strictly
fair statement of the case? Is it not true
that the nature of their duties were not
spectacular at the time of execution?
But often the scout was not adverse to
rehearsing his exploits, nor to posing in
spectacular clothes. In some form or
other we all like to show off before our
friends, and, within certain limits it is a
very good thing to encourage a boy to do.
The only thing to be careful about is
that the right qualities should be pushed
to the front. I agree with you that just
to make a show of themselves it is not
advisable for Scouts to march, but where
they can aid others by their presence,
their moral support or by assisting in
making the ceremonies successful, or
where their participation helps to develop
respect for others, or patriotism in the
Scouts themselves, they should by all
means be encouraged to parade.
SC OUTING.
"OUTSIDERS" HELP SCOUT CAMPS.
Friends Make Summer Outings More Successful.
THE interest of outsiders in the Boy
Scout Movement has never been
more strikingly demonstrated than
in the bounteous aid lent in preparation
for the numerous Boy Scout summer
camps now being held throughout the
country. Reports from everywhere are
filled with expressions of thanks to .or-
ganizations and individuals who have so
willingly helped to make the. summer
encampments more successful than ever
before.
The success of the summer plans
made by the Greater Boston Council is
due in a large degree to the excellent
support received from interested indi-
viduals. Through the influence of
prominent men in the city the Metro-
politan Park Commission has opened a
forty-acre section of land in the Blue
Hills Reservation with a free range
over 7,000 acres of State reserve. This
ideal Boy Scout camp is removed from
Boston by only eleven miles and an
eleven-cent car fare, but its accessibility
does not at all lessen the real wild,
outdoor life. Besides the help of the
Park Commissioners who are permitting
the use of the reservation, the trustees
of the Humane Society of Massachusetts
are providing three competent swimming
instructors and the trustees of the Pub-
lic Library are furnishing books which
will be changed as often as necessary
so that interest in reading will be in no
danger of becoming exhausted.
Several Eus'luu illini and ilK-ri anu
women have helped to provide camp
equipment, including new 14 x 16-foot
tents, board floors, new swimming pier
and bath house, new cots and mattresses,
new beds, etc. In fact, aid seems to
have been showered from all sides with
such bounty as will make this a prize
camp.
Each of the thousand boys will be
required to pay $4 a week for running
expenses. Scouts themselves do all the
work at the camp, with the exception
of preparing regular meals for which an
experienced chef and his assistants are
fully prepared. Instruction in camp in-
cludes campcraft, woodcraft, nature
study, first aid to the injured, life-saving
and resuscitation, tracking, signalling,
cooking, washing, map-making, map-
reading, swimming, boating, knot-tying,
carpentry, tent-pitching and many other
phases of Scout activity. Norman B.
Cole, Harvard '09, is the executive head
and camp doctor. Under him are seven
other officers and a number of special
lecturers.
The New York City Council has pre-
pared an ideal camp on Hunters' Island
on Pelham Bay, a branch of Long Island
Sound. Through clever management
they have been able to take the prize
for minimum expense to the boys. Each
New York Scout is required to pay only
25 cents a day for the first two weeks and
50 cents a day for each week thereafter.
The camp, opened on July 7, will con-
tinue until Labor Day. it is expected
that about 60 boys will be in camp at
all times during the summer, each boy
to stay as long as he can. A movable
dock which will rise and fall with the
tide has been constructed, and four new
boats have been delivered. Field Scout
Master Clark is at the head of the
camp, and Scout Commissioner Spencer
and Deputy Scout Commissioner Stew-
art of New York City spend several
days each week with the boys.
When the Brooklyn Scouts arrived at
their camp in Inter-State Park near
Southfields, N. Y., they were surprised
by the appearance of a new 10 x 30-foot
pier with a 5-foot boardwalk leading to
it. Nearby is an enclosed swimming
pool for the use of the younger boys
who are being taught to swim. Besides
these two gifts, the Commission recently
added a float for the older boys. Two
new 16-foot boats and a canoe com-
plete the new equipment.
One of the most interesting things
at the Brooklyn camp is a wireless tele-
graph station by means of which base-
ball scores are telegraphed from New.
York. The wireless station is also used
to connect the main camp with a relay
camp which is maintained on account
of the distance to be travelled from the
Hudson river.
One of the best managed and highly
efficient camps has been opened by the
local council of the District of Columbia
in one of the most secluded spots on
Chesapeake Bay, three miles south of
Chesapeake Beach. Besides railway con-
nection, the camp can be reached by the
yacht owned by the Washington Scouts.
A feature of the work during the sum-
mer will be the improvement of the site
for a permanent camp. A signal tower,
an outdoor rustic reading room, and a
diving tower and boat landing have al-
ready been completed by the Scouts who
came for the first part of the summer.
Equally as much is expected from those
who are to come later. A feature is a
wireless station which connects camp
Archibald Butt with the headquarters in
Washington.
Camp Delmont, on White's Island in
the Delaware River near Yardley, Pa.,
is the scene selected by the Philadelphia
Council for one of the largest of the
many Boy Scout summer camps. More
than 500 Scouts are expected to spend
a part of the summer there under the
personal direction of Stephen S. Aplin,
Scout Executive of Montgomery Coun-
ty. Wireless stations connect the two
ends of the island and open the outside
world to the Scouts. The camp is ex-
pected to be active until the very end
of August.
Troop No. 1 of Port Chester, N. Y.,
famous for their signal tower, a picture
of which was published on the front
cover of Boys' Life last September,
have been unusually fortunate in secur-
ing a piece of land at Long Ridge,
Conn., to be used as a camping ground
for the summer. Special features will
be a council to be held after supper
each evening and a Court of Honor com-
posed of certain Scouts. The signal
tower will make it possible for these
Port Chester Scouts to exchange signals
over almost the entire stretch of land
at their disposal.
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 1, Number 7, July 15, 1913, periodical, July 15, 1913; New York, New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282636/m1/5/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.