TELLS ABOUT CAMP-FIRE AND SKINNY
All of a sudden I heard a fellow shout, "There he is!" And then
everbody around the camp-fire set up a howl.
Skinny was standing in the dark away from the fire, just as if he was
afraid to come in among the fellows. His uniform was all wrinkled and
stained and he looked even worse than he did other times. There was a
long mark on his cheek where I guess the gold dust twin had scratched
him, and he didn't have his hat or his shoes. _Good night_, he didn't
look much like pictures you see of heroes. But he was all quieted down,
that was one thing. I guess he was played out.
"There he is, the crazy little Indian!" a fellow shouted; "come in
here, Skinny, till we get our fists on you. You've won the gold cross,
you little spindle shanks!"
Then a lot of fellows shouted, "Hurrah for Skinny! Come here, Skinny,
till we pat you on the back--you little water snake!" They didn't even
seem to know his last name or his front name either, and it made me
mad.
"You trot right over here to mamma, Skinny," Vic Norris of the Elks
shouted; "we'll take care of _you_."
The kid was smiling, all confused, as if he didn't know _what_ to do.
"Come ahead over; don't be scared," Connie Bennett shouted. So then
Skinny went over, kind of bashful and staring all around him, and sat
down with the Elk patrol.
Westy leaned over and whispered to me, "_Can you beat that?_ His own
patrol leader telling him not to be afraid to go and sit down with his
own patrol! I'll fix that bunch," he said.
Then he stood right up and shouted--oh, boy, you ought to have heard
him. He said, "Let's give three cheers for Alfred McCord, of the 1st
Bridgeboro Troop, B.S.A., the second fellow to win the gold cross in
his troop and the first one to win it in his patrol--the _only_ one in
his patrol that _could_ win it!"
Oh, boy, that was some whack.
Well, you should have heard the fellows shout for Skinny. Merry
Christmas! but that was some noise. They all stood up, the Elks too,
and gave him the biggest send-off _I_ ever heard at Temple Camp. Even
the scoutmasters and the trustees joined in and old Uncle Jeb kept
shouting, "_Hooo--ray! Hooo--ray!_" Cracky, you would have laughed if
you'd heard him. Oh, bibbie! when Temple Camp once gets started, the
west front in France is Sleepy Hollow compared to it.
And oh, didn't it make me feel good to see Skinny. He looked as if he
was going to start to run away, but Connie had him by the collar, and
all the Elks were laughing, and now I could see they were proud of him,
anyway.
Then Mr. Ellsworth held up his hand and as soon as the racket died
down, he began to speak. This is what he said, because Mr. Barrows
(he's a trustee) knows shorthand, and afterwards he gave it to me all
written out to copy in our troop book. He said:
"Scouts, you have heard that speech is silver and silence is golden. I
think this kind of shouting is highest grade sterling silver. It is
chunks of silver, as one might say. But since this is a matter of the
gold cross, I ask for just a moment or two of golden silence, while I
speak to you. I see about me, scouts from Ohio, and Michigan, and New
Hampshire--"
"And Hoboken!" Pee-wee piped out. Jiminy, that kid is the limit.
"Yes, and Hoboken," Mr. Ellsworth said, trying not to laugh. "I speak
to all of you from north, south, east and west--"
"One of them has been up in an airplane, too!" Pee-wee yelled.
"I speak to all scouts here," Mr. Ellsworth said, "whether they come
from the heavens above or from the earth beneath or from the waters
under the earth. That will include any scout who may happen to have
been in a submarine. Will that do?" And he gave Pee-wee an awful funny
look.
Then he said, "I want to thank you all for the tribute you have paid
our troop in its moment of pride and honor. This little scout is brand
new, he is not even out of the tenderfoot class, and the gold cross
award for heroism will be his. I think that every scout of his patrol
should thrill with pride at this thought. I dare say we all find him a
little strange, _we_ as well as _you_, and I'm afraid he is a kind of
law unto himself--if you understand what I mean. But this beautiful
cross which will soon be his will bring him closer to us all, I am
sure. It is said in our Handbook that a scout is a brother to every
other scout, so he has many thousands of brothers all over this broad
land. The gold cross is very bright. Look in it and you will see your
face reflected. You will see the scout smile, and that is brighter than
any gold.
"The best of all, it reflects honor--honor on him who wears it, honor
on his patrol, on his troop and on every troop and scout in this whole
great camp. And Alfred McCord has brought us this honor. Come here,
Alf, my boy, and let me shake your hand."
Wasn't that a peach of an address?
But I noticed that Skinny didn't move. He just stood there close to
Connie Bennett He was shaking all over and he was smiling and he was
crying. I saw Hunt Ward jump up and give him a rap on the back and he
was so little and so thin, that it kind of made him stagger.
Then he said, "Can't I stay here with them?"
Oh, boy, wasn't I glad!