Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced fromimages generously made available by the CWRU PreservationDepartment Digital Library
1917
In offering this collection of yarns, I do not suggest that these areanything more than further illustrations of the steps already schemedin Scouting for Boys for self-education in character and goodcitizenship.
But illustrations by themselves are of comparatively little valueunless the theories and ideas conveyed by them are also put intoactual and habitual practice.
It is in this that the boy needs your encouragement.
Perhaps you wonder what is a Young Knight of the Empire.
Well, you know what a knight is—or rather, used to be in the olddays—a gallant fellow who was always ready to defend weaker peoplewhen they were being bullied; he was brave and honourable, and readyto risk his life in doing his duty according to the code or law ofChivalry.
Well, nowadays there are thousands of boys all over the British Empirecarrying out the same idea, and making themselves into fine, reliablemen, ready to take the place of those who have gone away to fight andwho have fallen at the Front. These are the Boy Scouts. Their code isthe Scout Law—that is, a set of ten rules which they carry out intheir daily life.
I will explain these Laws, and will give you some other yarns of camplife and adventure such as the Scouts go in for.
Law 1. A SCOUT'S HONOUR IS TO BE TRUSTED.
If a Scout says "On my honour it is so," that means it is so, justas if he had taken a most solemn oath.
Similarly if a Scout officer says to a Scout, "I trust you on yourhonour to do this," the Scout is bound to carry out the order to thevery best of his ability, and to let nothing interfere with his doingso.
If a Scout were to break his honour by telling a lie, or_ bynot carrying out an order exactly when trusted on his honour to do so,he may be directed to hand over his Scout badge and never wear itagain. He may also be directed to cease to be a Scout._
People of a civilised country, just like boys in a school, are boundto conduct themselves in a proper manner, because of the law whichcauses them to be punished if they misbehave. There is a code of lawsdrawn up for this purpose.
But there is another kind of law which binds people just as much astheir written laws, though this one is neither written nor published.
This unwritten law is Honour.
A boy who has clambered over the school wall to go out of bounds andsmoke secretly has committed an offence against the published law ofthe school. If next day the master asks in school, "Who has broken outof bounds?" the boy is not bound by the law to confess that he did; hecan remain silent and t