Hard sailoring, hard soldiering, hard colonising, by those old British sea-dogs, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hawkins, Frobisher, and, best of all to my mind, Captain John Smith.
He left Louth Grammar School in Lincolns hire to become a clerk in an office, but he soon went off to the wars. After two years’ fighting he returned home.
He admitted he had gone out as a “tenderfoot,” and had not properly prepared himself as a boy for a life of adventure; so he set to work then and there to learn scouting. He built himself a hut in the woods, and learned stalking game, and killing and cooking it for himself; he learned to read maps and to draw them, and also the use of weapons; and then, when he had made himself really good at scoutcraft, he went off to the wars again.
He afterwards became a sailor, fought in some tough sea-fights, and eventually, in 1607, he went with an expedition to colonise Virginia in America. They sailed from London in three ships, the biggest of which was only 100 tons, the smallest 30 tons. But they got there after five months, and started a settlement on the James River.
Here John Smith was captured by the Red Indians one day when out shooting, and they were proceeding to kill him when the King’s daughter, Pocahontas, asked for him to be spared. After this the Red Indians and the Whites got on good terms with each other. Pocahontas became a Christian, and married Smith’s lieutenant, Rolfe, and came to England. After many strange and exciting adventures in America, John Smith got much damaged by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, and came home ill. He eventually died in London.
The Call of our Kinsmen.
I can hear you saying, “Yes, that was all right for John Smith. There were countries to be discovered in those days, but what is there left for us?”
The answer is that these vast lands are calling for men who are prepared to give up some of the soft things of life and get down to real jobs of work. As a Scout you learn to prefer the open country to the town; you have found half the fun of life in the woods, in your camps and in Scouting. The Empire waits for you! There’s a man’s job waiting for you! It will mean hard work—but you will keep as fit as a man can; you will have the joy of creating something —perhaps a farm won out of the prairie; or perhaps such work as forestry attracts you. The Empire, indeed, is so widespread and varied in its resources that you will find something somewhere in it to suit your particular abilities and tastes.
Thousands of Scouts have already gone out to the Commonwealth countries and Colonies and have made good; some came in the Forces sent to help in the war of 1939—1945.
I wish you could see some of the letters Scouts have written about their experiences in the Empire. I’ll finish this yarn with an extract or two just to show you what these fellows felt about their new homes and work.
“Just a few lines to let you know that I am getting on A1 out here. I landed in Sydney on Aug. 1st ex S.S.Vedic and was sent to the Government Training Farm, where I received some very useful instruction for about 10 weeks. I was then sent away 310 miles
south of Sydney to my above address. I am getting along very well up to now. The people with whom I am living are a young couple just married and they treat me more as a brother than as an employed hand. This open-air life is the right life for me and I
am sorry that I did not come out here three years ago. There is one thing which s howed me the wideness of the Scout Movement and that was while I was at the Training Farm; among lads from every country in the Britis h Isles there was 95 per cent of them had been or were still Scouts or Rovers. This made things much more pleasant for us all, as we had at least one thing in common.
“Yours Scoutingly [Sgd. J. H. E. B.”
“Am doing real good—Canada is a real dandy country—I am glad I came out here. [Sgd.] F. C. H. W.”
Sometimes instead of going straight to a job you can go to a training school so that you will be more efficient before settling down to work. Here is a note from one boy who went to such a schooclass="underline"
“The school is the goods, also about 30 miles from town. There are plenty of buck here, some snakes, etc. We get woodwork, bookkeeping, science, no Latin, no French, so it suits me down to the ground. [Sgd.] J. P.”
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRACTICE
1. Yarns about how our forefathers discovered new lands and of the adventures of the explorers and settlers should be given occasionally.
2. A good-sized wall map might be displayed in the Headquarters, though rough ones to illustrate particular yarns can be chalked on the floor.
3. Consider the possibilities of using lantern slides and films. Help in this, and in illustrated pamphlets, etc., will easily be obtained from the various Dominion Offices in London, the Canadian Pacific Railway, etc.
4. Each Patrol might “adopt” a Dominion or one of the Colonies. They could make scrap-books of cuttings and pictures from newspapers and magazines relating to the chosen country.
5. Some of the Scouts might like pen-pals Overseas. Arrangements for these can be made through the Overseas Department at I.H.Q.
6. Some Troops link up with an Overseas Troop— perhaps in the same name town—and exchange news and ideas.
7. If you come across anyone visiting this country from Overseas, get him to come along and talk to the Scouts.
8. Keep up to date information about Overseas Settlement and the various training schemes.
CAMP FIRE YARN. No. 28
OUR WORLD-WIDE BROTHERHOOD
The Boy Scout and Girl Guide Movements have spread all over the world. In July, 1939, there were over three million Boy Scouts in some fifty different countries. So if you become a Scout you join a great host of boys of many nationalities and you will have friends in every continent. The number is not, alas, as great as it might be, for some countries have banned Scouts simply because they did not fit into the political scheme of the rulers.
I am sure that when the full story of all that has happened in the occupied countries comes to be told it will be a story you will all be proud of reading, and retelling, for I am confident it will show that Boy Scouts and Girl Guides will have lived up to their training and put our principles into action.
The Jamborees