The Rover Scouts, for practice of the Scout Ideals of Service in their citizenship.
From the national point of view our aim is solely to make the rising generation into good citizens.
We do not interfere with the boy’s religion, of whatever form it may be, though we encourage him to practise whichever he professes.
Our training divides itself under four heads:—
1. Individual character training in resourcefulness, observation, self-reliance to gain the Scout’s Badge.
2. Handicrafts or hobbies which may help a boy to make his way in life, for which we give “Proficiency” badges.
3. Physical Health, by encouraging the boy to take plenty of exercise and to look after his body.
4. Service for the State, such as fire brigade, ambulance, missioner, life-saving, or other collective public duty by the troop.
Scouting appeals to boys of every class, and can be carried out in towns just as well as in the country.
When a Scoutmaster has not sufficient knowledge in any one subject he can generally get a friend who is an expert to come and give his troop the required instructions.
Funds must be earned by the Scouts themselves, by their work, not by begging. Various ways of making money are given in this book.
A Wolf Cub Pack, Scout Troop, and Rover Crew form what is called a Group under a Group Committee which co-ordinates the work of all branches.
Wolf Cubs.— The training of the Wolf Cubs is founded on the romance of the jungle, and is kept as dissimilar as possible from that of the Scouts in order that, on the one hand, the Scouts shall not feel that they are playing a “kid’s game”, while the Cubs, on their part, will look forward to the new atmosphere and novel activities they will come in for when they attain the age and qualifications for “going up” into the Scout Troop.
The details of the organization and training of Wolf Cubs will be found in “The Wolf Cub’s Handbook” and “Tenderpad to Second Star”
Rover Scouts.— Rover Scouts are Scouts over 17 and in exceptional cases younger. They are organized in Rover Crews in their Group.
The object of their institution is to complete the sequence of the Wolf Cub, Scout, and Rover. The training of the Cubs and Scouts is largely a preparation for rendering Service which is consummated in practice by the Rover. Such Service in many cases takes the form of helping in the administration and training of the group. Thus the progressive cycle becomes complete from Cub to Scoutmaster. In this way the Scoutmaster, while retaining the young man under good influence at the critical time of his life, gains valuable help for himself in his work, and, in such cases as are fit for it he turns out further recruits for the ranks of the Scoutmasters, while for the nation he supplies young men trained and qualified for making good useful citizens.
The details of organization and training of Rovers are to be found in the Headquarters hand- booklet, “Plan for Rover Scouts”, while the spirit and moral ideas are given in “Rovering to Success”
Girl Guides.— The Girl Guides’ Association is a sister organization for girls on precisely similar lines and principles, though differing of course in detail.
The Scout programme is applicable to other existing boy organization and has had particularly good results in schools for Deaf Mutes, the Blind, the Handicapped, Boys’ Training Schools and the Churches.
FOREWORD
I Was A Boy Once.
The best time I had as a boy was when I went as a sea scout with my four brothers about on the sea round the coasts of England. Not that we were real Sea Scouts, because Sea Scouts weren’t invented in those days. But we had a sailing boat of our own on which we lived and cruised about, at all seasons and in all weathers, and we had a jolly good time—taking the rough with the smooth.
Then in my spare time as a schoolboy I did a good lot of scouting in the woods in the way of catching rabbits and cooking them, observing birds and tracking animals, and so on. Later on, when I got into the Army, I had endless fun big-game hunting in the jungles in India and Africa and living among the backwoodsmen in Canada. Then I got real scouting in South African campaigns.
Well, I enjoyed all this kind of life so much that I thought, “Why should not boys at home get some taste of it too?” I knew that every true red-blooded boy is keen for adventure and open-air life, and so I wrote this book to show you how it could be done.
And you fellows have taken up so readily that now there are not only hundreds of thousands of Boy Scouts but over six millions about the world!
Of course, a chap can’t expect to become a thorough backwoodsman all at once without learning some of the difficult arts and practices that the backwoodsman uses. If you study this book you will find tips in it showing you how to do them— and in this way you can learn for yourself instead of having a teacher to show you how.
Then, you will find that the object of becoming an able and efficient Boy Scout is not merely to give you fun and adventure but that, like the backwoodsmen, explorers, and frontiersmen whom you are following, you will be fitting yourself to help your country and to be of service to other people who may be in need of help. That is what the best men are out to do.
A true Scout is looked up to by other boys and by grownups as a fellow who can be trusted, a fellow who will not fail to do his duty however risky and dangerous it may be, a fellow who is jolly and cheery no matter how great the difficulty before him.
I’ve put into this book all that is needed to make you a good Scout of that kind. So, go ahead, read the book, practise all that it teaches you, and I hope you will have half as good a time as I have had as a Scout.
Chief Scout of the World.
INTRODUCTION
By LORD ROWALLAN
Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire
To those who are reading this new edition of Scouting for Boys for the first time it may be of interest to set down what information it has been possible to glean about the way in which the book was composed.
Owing to the kindness of Lady Baden-Powell, B.-P.’s private diaries and letters have been read, and from these some fresh facts can be given. Another source of information is the portion of the original manuscript now in the possession of I.H.Q. The story is far from complete, but we now know much more than was available even twelve months ago.
The manuscript is on many kinds of paper and was evidently written at many times and in many places. The earliest dated portion, the yarn on “Tracking,” contains one page written on notepaper addressed “Harwood, Bonchester Bridge, Hawick, N.B.” (Perhaps it should be explained that” N.B.” stands for” North Britain “ and is an outmoded way of saying “Scotland.”). The date of this is June 18, 1907. B.-P. had an amusing habit of occasionally using notepaper for his manuscripts ; one page, for instance, is on Savoy Hotel paper; others are from addresses in Kensington and Newcastle.
The diary shows that actually on that date, June 18th, B.-P. was staying at the Izaak Walton Hotel, Dovedale, on a fishing holiday. The entry under June 18th is marked with a large red cross and reads, “Got 6? brace.” Then for June 19th, “Wrote S for B most of the day—writing 9 hours.”
The next date is July 15th with the entry “Wimbledon; a letter to his mother from Mill House, Wimbledon, dated July 16th, contains the following passage, “It is perfectly delightful here, and I am getting on with my writing very well—being entirely my own master—and very quiet sitting out in the garden all day.”
Nothing further is given until the diary entry of December 22nd, when B.-P. was at Middleton in Teesdale; he noted,
“Worked all morning on S for B.”
