Fair Play
Play fair yourself and insist on fair play in others.
If you see a big bully going for a small or weak boy, you stop him because it is not “fair play”. If a prize fighter, in fighting another, knocks him down, he must not hit him while he is down.
The point is that “fair play” is an old idea of chivalry that has come down to us from the knights of old, and we must always keep up that idea.
Honesty
Honesty is a form of honour. An honourable man can be trusted with any amount of money or other valuables with the certainty that he will not steal it.
Cheating at any time is a sneaking, underhand thing to do.
When you feel inclined to cheat in order to win a game, or feel very distressed when a game in which you are playing is going against you, just say to yourself, “After all, it is only a game. It won’t kill me if I do lose. One can’t win always, though I will stick to it
in case of a chance coming”.
If you keep your head in this way, you will very often find that you win after all from not being over-anxious or despairing. And don’t forget, whenever you do lose a game, if you are a true Scout, you will at once cheer the winning team or shake hands with and congratulate the fellow who has beaten you.
This rule is carried out in all games and competitions among Boy Scouts.
“O God, help me to win, but in Thy wisdom if Thou willest me NOT to win, then, O God, make me a good loser.”
Loyalty
Loyalty was, above all, one of the distinguishing points about the knights. They were always devotedly loyal to their King and to their country, and were always ready and eager to die in their defence. In the same way a follower of the knights should be loyal to every one who is above him, whether his officers or employers, and he should stick to them through thick and thin as part of his duty. If he does not intend to be loyal, he will, if he has any honour and manliness in him, resign his place.
He should also be equally loyal to his family and his friends and should support them in evil times as well as in good times.
Loyalty to duty was shown by the Roman soldier of old who stuck to his post when the city of Pompeii was overwhelmed with ashes and lava from the volcano Vesuvius. His remains are still there, his hand covering his mouth and nose to prevent the suffocation which in the end overcame him.
Duty Before All
The name and fame of Jack Cornwell are known to every boy in Britain as the lad who in the great sea fight off Jutland in 1916 stuck to his gun aboard the Chester when all the gun’s crew were killed or wounded and he might have got away under cover.
He was badly wounded himself— but in the responsible work of sight-setter his duty was to be at his post by the gun, and there he stayed for twenty minutes under heavy fire, in case he should be wanted.
At the end of the fight, after the Chester had come successfully through her tremendous contest with three German cruisers, the only unwounded man of the gun’s crew said to him, “Well done, lad.
You stuck it out well. Lucky you weren’t wounded”.
Jack Cornwell was just a boy. But he proved in the
sea fight off Jutland that he could take a man’s place.
“Well! I am wounded—here in the chest. But did we win? “Yes, my lad.” The boy sank down fainting. He lingered a few days in a hospital and died of his wound, but satisfied—knowing that he had done his duty. He had “stuck to it”, as every Scout should.
Obedience and Discipline
Discipline and obedience are as important as bravery for Scouts and for soldiers.
The Birkenhead was a transport ship carrying troops. She had on board 630 soldiers with their families and 130 seamen. Near the Cape of Good Hope one night she ran on to some rocks, and began to break up.
The soldiers were at once paraded on deck. Some were ordered to get out the boats, and to put the women and children into them, and others were told to get the horses up out of the hold, and to lower them overboard into the sea, so that they might have a chance to swim ashore. When this had all been done, it was found that there were not enough boats to take the men, and so the men were ordered to remain in their ranks.
Then the ship broke in half and began to go down. The captain shouted to the men to jump over and save themselves, but the officer in charge, Colonel Seaton, said, “No, keep your ranks”. For he saw that if they swam to the boats, and tried to get in, they would probably sink them too.
So the men kept their ranks, and as the ship rolled over and sank, they gave a cheer and went down with her. Out of the whole 760 on board, only 192 were saved, but even those would probably have been lost had it not been for the discipline and self-sacrifice of the others.
A British training ship, the Fort Jackson, full of boy-sailors, was run into by a steamer, but just as in the Birkenhead there was no panic or crying out. The boys fell in quickly on parade, put on their lifebelts, and faced the danger calmly and well. And not a life was lost.
