Scouts learn endurances in the open. Like explorers, they carry their own burdens and “paddle their own canoes”.
Then you will have in you the truest spirit of patriotism, which every boy ought to have if he is worth his salt.
THE ELSDON MURDER
(The following story, which in the main is true, illustrates generally the duties of a Boy Scout.)
A brutal murder took place many years ago in the North of England. The murderer was caught, convicted, and hanged chiefly through the scoutcraft of a shepherd boy.
Woodcraft—The boy, Robert Hindmarsh, had been up on the moor tending his sheep, and was finding his way home over a wild out-of-the-way part of the hills, when he passed a tramp sitting on the ground with his legs stretched out in front of him eating some food.
Observation—The boy in passing noticed the tramp’s appearance, and especially the peculiar nails in the soles of his boots.
Robert Hindmarsh, the boy, noticed the appearance of the tramp, without attracting much attention from the man.
Concealment—He did not stop and stare, but just took in these details at a glance as he went by without attracting much attention from the man, who merely regarded him as an ordinary boy.
Deduction—When the boy got near home, some five or six miles away, he came to a crowd round a cottage.