Scouting, Volume 61, Number 3, March-April 1973 Page: 21
92, W1-W32, [16] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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As these photographs attest,
Scoutmaster Bowen isn't a
sit-down-and-watch leader.
{Upper left) Working with
a Scout on some cooking
requirements. {Lower left)
Demonstrating the proper
way to give the fireman's
carry. {Center) Giving tips
on tent-pitching, with a
"stay-dry" gimmick on top.
past. He holds the Silver Beaver
Award, was camp director of Ar-
kansas' Camp Quapaw for 25 years
and was one of the council's orig-
inal members of the Order of the
Arrow. He has received the Vigil
Honor Award, and a special nature
award bears his name.
It is estimated that he has
worked with 10,000 young men and
he has helped 50 boys become
Eagle Scouts. And therein, say those
who know him, lies his greatest
gift: He can show a boy a leaf and
make him see more than a leaf.
"I do seem to have that knack of
catching the attention of the boys,"
he said. "You can take a horse to
water, but you can't make him
drink. But, if you salt him, you can
make him drink. That's what I do. I
salt these kids, make them want it.
"Now, you take trees. I get them
out there and I take a few trees
that they know. I take one or two
and let them get acquainted. By
doing things, by having them do
things and not just telling about
them—you can sit down and tell a
boy about a lot of stuff and it
doesn't go over. But, if you have
him do it, he learns it.
"And, some of these Scout lead-
ers, they're too busy. They won't
help a boy. A boy will come to him
and he doesn't get any attention.
I'm never too busy to stop and take
one out. One boy, he wanted some
tracks, but he couldn't get up there
on this little old stream. He had to
go through a lot of stinging nettles
and bamboo briars. So, I just took
some time off and got a boat and
took him up there. Where the
stream runs into the river, there is
a muddy bottom. There were rac-
coon tracks and oppossum tracks
and we made some plaster casts.
Well, now, that boy ... he never
forgot that. He never will forget it.
He went on and became an Eagle."
There's more to being Scoutmas-
ter, Bowen agrees, but he won't at-
tempt to explain it.
"You get out at night, three
o'clock in the morning. See the
stars. It does something to a boy.
It does something to me. Nothing
beats a good campfire, if it's han-
dled right. A lot of people get out
there and do a lot of yelling, see
who can.yell the loudest. That won't
do it. It should start with a little
fun and get into the more serious
side of it and finally end up singing
taps. It depends on the Scout-
master. If he has the attitude, I
think the boys will catch it."
So, regardless of where the con-
versation starts, it always seems to
go back to the boys, the hills, the
campfires.
I returned a few weeks later to
visit the old man and his troop.
Sundown was sneaking in on Ar-
kansas' Ouachita Mountains and
peace settled over them like the
woodsmoke that flattened out from
the dinner fires to flow through the
dips and hollows of the hills. Shouts
of young men rolled part way up
the massive shoulder of Flatside
Pinnacle and lost themselves in the
brightly colored patchwork of its
wooded autumn coat. The old man
moved easily around the campfire,
his eyes moving from the faces of
the boys to the fiery colors of the
hills and back again. The big dinner
in his honor was a pleasant memory
now that it was over. He was back
at ease in the hills with his boys.
It was a camporee of the Pioneer
District of Quapaw Council and
Bowen had spent much of the
bright, sunny Saturday afternoon
fidgeting in a car and trying to
listen to a football game because his
boys were on a 7'/2-mile hike with
packs and Bowen had been forced
to yield and ride in a car.
"I sure did want to walk it," he
said, "but I thought I'd better not."
But, the boys were here now.
Tents were pitched. The camp was
laid out and the dinner fires were
21
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 61, Number 3, March-April 1973, periodical, March 1973; New Brunswick, NJ. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353622/m1/21/: 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.