Produced by Don Kostuch
Transcriber's note:
Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed
in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
breaks occurred in the original book.
Descriptions of illustrations are indented to distinguish
them from the running text. The "next" page immediately
preceding or following a group of illustrations may jump to
account for the pages occupied by the illustrations.
Italic are enclosed in underscores: _this is italicized_.
Some suggestions that have serious consequences are noted (e.g.,
Use lead acetate to waterproof a tent).
Numerous untitled or otherwise ambiguous illustrations are described
and annotated with (tr)--transcriber.
End Transcriber's note.
BOY SCOUTS HANDBOOK
_The First Edition, 1911_
[Illustration: Boy Scouts at camp. (tr)]
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
Boy Scouts of America
Official National Out
SIGMUND EISNER
New York Salesrooms
103 Fifth Avenue
Red Bank. N. J.
[Illustration: Two Boy Scouts in full uniform. (tr)]
Each part of the uniform is stamped with the official seal of the Boy
Scouts of America.
If there is no agency for the official uniform in your city write for
samples.
SIGMUND EISNER
Manufacturer of U. S. Army and National Guard Uniform
The Best Food for The Boy Scouts is
[Illustration: Cereal bowl. (tr)]
Shredded Wheat
because it has all the muscle-building, bone-making material in the
whole wheat grain prepared in a digestible form, supplying all the
strength needed for work or play. It is ready-cooked and ready-to-eat.
It has the greatest amount of body-building nutriment in smallest
bulk. Its crispness compels thorough mastication, and the more you
chew it the better you like it. Shredded Wheat is the favorite food of
athletes. It is on the training table of nearly every college and
university in this country. The records show that the winners of many
brilliant rowing and track events have been trained on Shredded Wheat.
_The BISCUIT is in little loaf form. It is baked a crisp, golden brown.
It is eaten with milk or cream, or fruit, or is delicious when eaten
as a toast with butter. TRISCUIT is the Shredded Wheat wafer---the
ideal food for the camp or the long tramp_.
_Building buster boys is bully business--that's the reason we want to
help the Boy Scout movement_.
The Shredded Wheat Company
Niagara Falls, N. Y.
[Illustration: Getting the final word before hiking.]
BOY SCOUTS of AMERICA
THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
FOR BOYS
[Illustration: First Class Scout Emblem. (tr)]
_Published for_
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
200 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1911
COPYRIGHT 1911
BY BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
BOY SCOUT CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that _________
of ___________ State of _________
Street and City or Town address
Age_____ Height_____ Weigh_____
is a member of ________ Patrol, of Troop No. _____
________________
Scout Master
SCOUT HISTORY
Qualified as Tenderfoot ________ 191_
Second Class Scout _________ 191_
First Class Scout _______ 191_
QUALIFIED FOR MERIT BADGES
SUBJECT DATE
1________________ ________________
2________________ ________________
3________________ ________________
4________________ ________________
5________________ ________________
Qualified as Life Scout ________________
Qualified as Star Scout ________________
Qualified as Eagle Scout ________________
Awarded Honor Medal ________________
{v}
PREFACE
The Boy Scout Movement has become almost universal, and wherever
organized its leaders are glad, as we are, to acknowledge the debt we
all owe to Lieut.-Gen. Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, who has done so
much to make the movement of interest to boys of all nations.
The BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA is a corporation formed by a group of men
who are anxious that the boys of America should come under the
influence of this movement and be built up in all that goes to make
character and good citizenship. The affairs of the organization are
managed by a National Council, composed of some of the most prominent
men of our country, who gladly and freely give their time and money
that this purpose may be accomplished.
In the various cities, towns, and villages, the welfare of the boy
scouts is cared for by local councils, and these councils, like the
National Council are composed of men who are seeking for the boys of
the community the very best things.
In order that the work of the boy scouts throughout America may be
uniform and intelligent, the National Council has prepared its
"Official Handbook," the purpose of which is to furnish to the patrols
of the boy scouts advice in practical methods, as well as inspiring
information.
The work of preparing this handbook has enlisted the services of men
eminently fitted for such work, for each is an expert in his own
department, and the Editorial Board feels that the organization is to
be congratulated in that such men have been found willing to give
their time and ripe experience to this movement. It would be
impossible adequately to thank all who by advice and friendly
criticism have helped in the preparation of the book, or even to
mention their names, but to the authors whose names are attached to
the various chapters, we acknowledge an especial obligation. Without
their friendly help this book could not be. We wish especially to
express our appreciation of the helpful suggestions made by Daniel
Carter Beard.
We have carefully examined and approved all the material which goes to
make up {vi} the manual, and have tried to make it as complete as
possible; nevertheless, no one can be more conscious than we are of
the difficulty of providing a book which will meet all the demands of
such widely scattered patrols with such varied interests. We have
constantly kept in mind the evils that confront the boys of our
country and have struck at them by fostering better things. Our hope
is that the information needed for successful work with boy scouts
will be found within the pages of this book.
In these pages and throughout our organization we have made it
obligatory upon our scouts that they cultivate courage, loyalty,
patriotism, brotherliness, self-control, courtesy, kindness to
animals, usefulness, cheerfulness, cleanliness, thrift, purity and
honor. No one can doubt that with such training added to his native
gifts, the American boy will in the near future, as a man, be an
efficient leader in the paths of civilization and peace.
It has been deemed wise to publish all material especially for the aid
of scout masters in a separate volume to be known as "The Scout
Masters' Manual."
We send out our "Official Handbook," therefore, with the earnest wish
that many boys may find in it new methods for the proper use of their
leisure time and fresh inspiration in their efforts to make their
hours of recreation contribute to strong, noble manhood in the days to
come.
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
Editorial Board.
WILLIAM D. MURRAY
GEORGE D. PRATT,
A. A. JAMESON,
{vii}
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
THE FIFTH AVENUE BUILDING, 200 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
Honorary President THE HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT
Honorary Vice-President Colonel THEODORE ROOSEVELT
President COLIN H. LIVINGSTONE, Washington, D. C.
1st Vice-President B. L. DULANEY, Bristol, Tenn.
2d Vice-President MILTON A. McRAE, Detroit, Mich.
3d Vice-President DAVID STARR JORDAN, Stanford, Ca.
Chief Scout ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, Cos Cob, Conn.
National Scout Commissioner DANIEL CARTER BEARD, Flushing, L. I., N.Y.
National Scout Commissioner Adj.-Gen. WILLIAM VERBECK, Albany, N.Y.
National Scout Commissioner Colonel PETER S. BOMUS, New York City
Treasurer GEORGE D. PRATT, Brooklyn, N. Y.
MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
COLIN H. LIVINGSTONE, Chairman
Daniel Carter Beard
Milton A. McRae
Mortimer L. Schiff
Col. Peter S. Bomus
William D. Murray
Ernest Thompson Seton
B. L. Dulaney
George D. Pratt
Seth Sprague Terry
Lee F. Hanmer
Frank Presbrey
Adj.-Gen. William Verbeck
George W. Hinckley
Edgar M. Robinson
JAMES E. WEST, Executive Secretary
MEMBERS OF NATIONAL COUNCIL
Charles Conrad Abbott
Arthur Adams
Dr. Felix Adler
Harry A. Allison
Henry Morrell Atkinson
B. N. Baker
Ray Stannard Baker
Evelyn Briggs Baldwin
Clifford W. Barnes
Daniel Carter Beard
Henry M. Beardsley
Martin Behrman
August Belmont
Ernest P. Bicknell
{viii}
Edward Bok
Colonel Peter S. Bomus
Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte
William D. Boyce
H. S. Braucher
Roeliff Brinkerhoff
Dr. Elmer E. Brown
Luther Burbank
Dr. Richard C. Cabot
Rev. S. Parkes Cadman
Arthur A. Carey
E. C. Carter
Richard B. Carter
W. D. Champlin
Thomas Chew
Winston Churchill
G. A. Clark
P. P. Claxton
Randall J. Condon
C. M. Connolly
Ernest K. Coulter
Dr. C. Ward Crampton
George H. Dalrymple
Dr. George S. Davis
E. B. DeGroot
Judge William H. De Lacy
William C. Demorest
Dr. Edward T. Devine
Admiral George Dewey
Gov. John A. Diz
Myron E. Douglas
Benjamin L. Dulaney
Hon. T. C. Du Pont
Dr. George W. Ehler
Griffith Ogden Ellis
Robert Erskine Ely
Henry P. Emerson
Hon. John J. Esch
J. W. Everman
Eberhard Faber
Dr. George J. Fisher
Horace Fletcher
Homer Folks
Dr. William Byron Forbush
Dr. Lee K. Frankel
Robert Ives Gammell
Hon. James R. Garfield
Hamlin Garland
Robert Garrett
William H. Gay
Bishop David H. Greer
Jesse A. Gregg
George B. Grinnell
S. R. Guggenheim
Luther Halsey Gulick, M. D.
Dr. G. Stanley Hall
Dr. Winfield Scott Hall
Lee F. Hanmer
Dr. Hastings H. Hart
Hon. W. M. Hays
Prof. C. R. Henderson
Clark W. Hetherington
George W. Hinckley
Allen Hoben
Hon. R. P. Hobson
Rev. R. W. Hogue
John Sherman Hoyt
C. R. H. Jackson
Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks
G. E. Johnson
Dr. David Starr Jordan
Mayor William S. Jordan
Otto Herman Kahn
Dr. William J. Kerby
Charles H. Kip
Dr. J. H. Kirkland
Judge Henry E. Klamroth
Rev. Walter Laidlow
Charles R. Lamb
Joseph Lee
Samuel McC. Lindsay
Judge Ben B. Lindsey
Colin H. Livingstone
Col. Frank L. Locke
Hon. Nicholas Longworth
Hon. Frank O. Lowden
Hon. Lee McClung
William McCormick
{ix}
Hon. Henry B. F. Macfarland
J. Horace McFarland
C. W. McKee
Hon. William B. McKinley
J. S. McLain
Francis H. McLean
Milton A. McRae
Charles G. Maphis
George W. Manton
Edgar S. Martin
Frank S. Mason
Frank Lincoln Masseck
Dr. William H. Maxwell
Lieut.-Gen. Nelson A. Miles
John F. Moore
Arthur C. Moses
William D. Murray
Dr. Cyrus Northrop
Frank W. Ober
Hon. C. S. Page
Dr. C. H. Parkhurst
Hon. Herbert Parsons
Hon. Gifford Pinchot
David R. Porter
George D. Porter
Perry Edwards Powell
Frederic B. Pratt
George D. Pratt
Frank Presbrey
G. Barrett Rich, Jr.
Jacob A. Riis
Clarence C. Robinson
Edgar M. Robinson
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt
Lincoln E. Rowley
Oliver J. Sands
Dr. D. A. Sargent
Henry B. Sawyer
Mortimer L. Schiff
Charles Scribner
George L. Sehon
Rear Admiral Thomas Oliver Selfridge
Jefferson Seligman
Jesse Seligman
Ernest Thompson Seton
Samuel Shuman
Rear Admiral Charles Dwight Sigsbee
William F. Slocum
Fred. B. Smith
Hon. George Otis Smith
Lorillard Spencer
Lorillard Spencer, Jr.
Judge William H. Staake
Hon. Adlai Stevenson
Andrew Stevenson
A. E. Stilwell
C. H. Stoddard
Rev. John Timothy Stone, D.D.
Isidor Straus
Hon. Oscar S. Straus
Josiah Strong
Hon. William H. Taft
Edward K. Taylor
Graham Romeyn Taylor
Judge Harry L. Taylor
William L. Terhune
Seth Sprague Terry
John E. Thayer
Rev. James I. Vance
Dr. Henry Van Dyke
Adj. Gen. William Verbeck
John Wanamaker
Henry L. Ward
Lucien T. Warner
Richard Benedict Watrous
Rear Admiral J. C. Watson
W. D. Weatherford
Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler
Eli Whitney
Mornay Williams
Gen. George W. Wingate
A. E. Winship
Henry Rogers Winthrop
Major-Gen. Leonard Wood
Surgeon-Gen. Walter Wyman
Major Andrew C. Zabriskie
{x}
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF SCOUT
TO THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA:
There was once a boy who lived in a region of rough farms. He was wild
with the love of the green outdoors--the trees, the tree-top singers,
the wood-herbs and the live things that left their nightly tracks in
the mud by his spring well. He wished so much to know them and learn
about them, he would have given almost any price in his gift to know
the name of this or that wonderful bird, or brilliant flower; he used
to tremble with excitement and intensity of interest when some new
bird was seen, or when some strange song came from the trees to thrill
him with its power or vex him with its mystery, and he had a sad sense
of lost opportunity when it flew away leaving him dark as ever. But he
was alone and helpless, he had neither book nor friend to guide him,
and he grew up with a kind of knowledge hunger in his heart that
gnawed without ceasing. But this also it did: It inspired him with the
hope that some day he might be the means of saving others from this
sort of torment--he would aim to furnish to them what had been denied
to himself.
There were other things in the green and living world that had a
binding charm for him. He wanted to learn to camp out, to live again
the life of his hunter grandfather who knew all the tricks of winning
comfort from the relentless wilderness the foster-mother so rude to
those who fear her, so kind to the stout of heart.
And he had yet another hankering--he loved the touch of romance. When
he first found Fenimore Cooper's books, he drank them in as one
parched might drink at a spring. He reveled in the tales of courage
and heroic deeds, he gloated over records of their trailing and
scouting by red man and white; he gloried in their woodcraft, and
lived it all in imagination, secretly blaming the writer, a little,
for praising without describing it so it could be followed. "Some
day," he said, "I shall put it all down for other boys to learn."
As years went by he found that there were books about most of the
things he wished to know, the stars, the birds, the {xi} quadrupeds,
the fish, the insects, the plants, telling their names; their hidden
power or curious ways, about the camper's life the language of signs
and even some of the secrets of the trail. But they were very
expensive and a whole library would be needed to cover the ground.
What he wanted--what every boy wants--is a handbook giving the broad
facts as one sees them in the week-end hike, the open-air life. He did
not want to know the trees as a botanist, but as a forester; nor the
stars as an astronomer, but as a traveler. His interest in the animals
was less that of anatomist than of a hunter and camper, and his
craving for light on the insects was one to be met by a popular book
on bugs, rather than by a learned treatise on entomology.
So knowing the want he made many attempts to gather the simple facts
together exactly to meet the need of other boys of like ideas, and
finding it a mighty task he gladly enlisted the help of men who had
lived and felt as he did.
Young Scouts of America that boy is writing to you now. He thought
himself peculiar in those days. He knows now he was simply a normal
boy with the interests and desires of all normal boys, some of them a
little deeper rooted and more lasting perhaps--and all the things
that he loved and wished to learn have now part in the big broad work
we call Scouting.
"Scout" used to mean the one on watch for the rest. We have widened
the word a little. We have made it fit the town as well as the
wilderness and suited it to peace time instead of war. We have made
the scout an expert in Life-craft as well as Wood-craft, for he is
trained in the things of the heart as well as head and hand. Scouting
we have made to cover riding, swimming, tramping, trailing,
photography, first aid, camping, handicraft, loyalty, obedience,
courtesy, thrift, courage, and kindness.
Do these things appeal to you? Do you love the woods?
Do you wish to learn the trees as the forester knows them? And the
stars not as an astronomer, but as a traveler?
Do you wish to have all-round, well-developed muscles, not those of a
great athlete, but those of a sound body that will not fail you? Would
you like to be an expert camper who can always make himself
comfortable out of doors, and a swimmer that fears no waters? Do you
desire the knowledge to help the wounded quickly, and to make yourself
cool and self-reliant in an emergency?
Do you believe in loyalty, courage, and kindness? Would {xii} you like
to form habits that will surely make your success in life?
Then, whether you be farm boy or shoe clerk, newsboy or millionaire's
son, your place is in our ranks, for these are the thoughts in
scouting; it will help you to do better work with your pigs, your
shoes, your papers, or your dollars; it will give you new pleasures in
life; it will teach you so much of the outdoor world that you wish to
know; and this Handbook, the work of many men, each a leader in his
field, is their best effort to show you the way. This is, indeed, the
book that I so longed for, in those far-off days when I wandered,
heart hungry in the woods.
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON,
Chief Scout.
Headquarters Boy Scouts of America,
200 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
June 1, 1911.
{xiii}
CONTENTS
PAGE
Boy Scout Certificate iii
Preface v
Officers and Members of the National Council vii
CHAPTER I.
Scoutcraft 3
AIM OF SCOUT MOVEMENT John L. Alexander
WHAT SCOUTING MEANS John L. Alexander
SCOUT VIRTUES John L. Alexander
THE BOY SCOUT ORGANIZATION Special Committee
SCOUT OATH Special Committee
SCOUT LAW Special Committee
TENDERFOOT, SECOND CLASS, AND
FIRST CLASS SCOUT REQUIREMENTS Special Committee
BADGES, AWARDS AND EQUIPMENT Special Committee
KNOTS EVERY SCOUT SHOULD KNOW. Samuel A. Moffat
CHAPTER II.
Woodcraft 57
WOODLORE Ernest Thompson Seton
BIRDCRAFT National Association Audubon Societies
SHELLS AND SHELLFISH Dr. Wm. Healey Dall
REPTILES Dr. Leonhard Stejneger
INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES United States Bureau of Entomology
FISHES AND ANGLING Dr. Hugh M. Smith
AQUARIUM Dr. Wm. Leland Stowell
ROCKS AND PEBBLES United States Geological Survey
FLOWERS, FERNS AND GRASSES Dr. L. C. Corbett
MUSHROOMS, FUNGI OR TOADSTOOLS Ernest Thompson Seton
COMMON NORTH AMERICAN TREES Ernest Thompson Seton
NATIVE WILD ANIMALS Ernest Thompson Seton
CHAPTER III.
Campcraft 145
HIKING AND OVER-NIGHT CAMPS H. W. Gibson
TENT MAKING MADE EASY H. J. Holden
AN OPEN OUTING TENT Warren H. Miller
CANOEING, ROWING, AND SAILING Special Committee
{xiv}
CHAPTER IV.
Tracks, Trailing, and Signaling Ernest Thompson Seton 187
CHAPTER V.
Health and Endurance George J. Fisher, M.D. 219
CHAPTER VI.
Chivalry John L. Alexander 237
CHAPTER VII.
First Aid and Life Saving Major Charles Lynch 255
WATER ACCIDENTS Wilbert E. Longfellow
CHAPTER VIII.
Games and Athletic Standards 291
INDOOR AND OUTDOOR GAMES Ernest Thompson Seton
ATHLETIC STANDARDS Special Committee
CHAPTER IX.
Patriotism and Citizenship Waldo H. Sherman 323
PRACTICAL CITIZENSHIP Col. Theodore Roosevelt
APPENDIX.
EQUIPMENT 359
BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 369
INDEX 393
ADVERTISEMENTS
HANDBOOK FOR BOYS
{3}
CHAPTER I
SCOUTCRAFT
_This chapter is the result of the work of the Committee on Scout Oath,
Scout Law, Tenderfoot, Second-class and First-class Requirements; the
Committee on Badges, Awards, and Equipment; the Committee on Permanent
Organization and Field Supervision, and John L. Alexander and Samuel
A. Moffat_.
Aim of the Scout Movement
_By John L. Alexander, Boy Scouts of America_
The aim of the Boy Scouts is to supplement the various existing
educational agencies, and to promote the ability in boys to do things
for themselves and others. It is not the aim to set up a new
organization to parallel in its purposes others already established.
The opportunity is afforded these organizations, however, to introduce
into their programs unique features appealing to interests which are
universal among boys. The method is summed up in the term Scoutcraft,
and is a combination of observation, deduction, and handiness, or the
ability to do things. Scoutcraft includes instruction in First Aid,
Life Saving, Tracking, Signaling, Cycling, Nature Study, Seamanship,
Campcraft, Woodcraft, Chivalry, Patriotism, and other subjects. This
is accomplished in games and team play, and is pleasure, not work, for
the boy. All that is needed is the out-of-doors, a group of boys, and
a competent leader.
What Scouting Means
In all ages there have been scouts, the place of the scout being on
the danger line of the army or at the outposts, protecting those of
his company who confide in his care.
The army scout was the soldier who was chosen out of all the army to
go out on the skirmish line.
The pioneer, who was out on the edge of the wilderness, {4} guarding
the men, women, and children in the stockade, was also a scout. Should
he fall asleep, or lose control of his faculties, or fail on his
watch, then the lives of the men, women, and children paid the
forfeit, and the scout lost his honor.
But there have been other kinds of scouts besides war scouts and
frontier scouts. They have been the men of all ages, who have gone out
on new and strange adventures, and through their work have benefited
the people of the earth. Thus, Columbus discovered America, the
Pilgrim Fathers founded New England, the early English settlers
colonized Jamestown, and the Dutch built up New York. In the same way
the hardy Scotch-Irish pushed west and made a new home for the
American people beyond the Alleghanies and the Rockies.
These peace scouts had to be as well prepared as any war scouts. They
had to know scoutcraft. They had to know how to live in the woods, and
be able to find their way anywhere, without other chart or compass
than the sun and stars, besides being able to interpret the meaning of
the slightest signs of the forest and the foot tracks of animals and
men.
They had to know how to live so as to keep healthy and strong, to face
any danger that came their way, and to help one another. These scouts
of old were accustomed to take chances with death and they did not
hesitate to give up their lives in helping their comrades or country.
In fact, they left everything behind them, comfort and peace, in order
to push forward into the wilderness beyond. And much of this they did
because they felt it to be their duty.
These little-known scouts could be multiplied indefinitely by going
back into the past ages and reading the histories and stories of the
knights of King Arthur, of the Crusaders, and of the great explorers
and navigators of the world.
Wherever there have been heroes, there have been scouts, and to be a
scout means to be prepared to do the right thing at the right moment,
no matter what the consequences may be.
The way for achievement in big things is the preparing of one's self
for doing the big things--by going into training and doing the little
things well. It was this characteristic of Livingstone, the great
explorer, that made him what he was, and that has marked the career of
all good scouts.
To be a good scout one should know something about the woods and the
animals that inhabit them, and how to care for one's self when
camping.
{5}
The habits of animals can be studied by stalking them and watching
them in their native haunts.
The scout should never kill an animal or other living creature
needlessly. There is more sport in stalking animals to photograph
them, and in coming to know their habits than in hunting to kill.
But woodcraft means more than this. It means not only the following of
tracks and other signs, but it means to be able to read them. To tell
how fast the animal which made the tracks was going; to tell whether
he was frightened, suspicious, or otherwise.
Woodcraft also enables the scout to find his way, no matter where he
is. It teaches him the various kinds of wild fruit, roots, nuts, etc.,
which are good for food, or are the favorite food of animals.
[Illustration: Scout Stalking.]
By woodcraft a scout may learn a great number of things. He may be
able to tell whether the tracks were made by an animal or by man,
bicycle, automobile or other vehicle.
By having his power of observation trained he can tell by very slight
signs, such as the sudden flying of birds, that someone is moving very
near him though he may not be able to see the person.
{6}
Through woodcraft then, a boy may train his eye, and be able to
observe things that otherwise would pass unnoticed. In this way he may
be able to save animals from pain, as a horse from an ill-fitting
harness. He may also be able to see little things which may give him
the clew to great things and so be able to prevent harm and crime.
[Illustration: Horse with head pulled back. (tr)]
Torture (Note the check or bearing-rein)
[Illustration: Horse with head relaxed. (tr)]
Comfort
Besides woodcraft one must know something of camp life. One of the
chief characteristics of the scout is to be able to live in the open,
know how to put up tents, build huts, throw up a lean-to for shelter,
or make a dugout in the ground, how to build a fire, how to procure
and cook food, how to bind logs together so as to construct bridges
and rafts, and how to find his way by night as well as by day in a
strange country.
Living in the open in this way, and making friends of the trees, the
streams, the mountains, and the stars, gives a scout a great deal of
confidence and makes him love the natural life around him.
[Illustration: Camp loom, for making mats and mattresses.]
To be able to tell the difference between the trees by their bark and
leaves is a source of pleasure; to be able to make a {7} bed out of
rough timber, or weave a mattress or mat out of grass to sleep on is a
joy. And all of these things a good scout should know.
Then too, a good scout must be chivalrous. That is, he should be as
manly as the knights or pioneers of old. He should be unselfish. He
should show courage. He must do his duty. He should show benevolence
and thrift. He should be loyal to his country. He should be obedient
to his parents, and show respect to those who are his superiors. He
should be very courteous to women. One of his obligations is to do a
good turn every day to some one. He should be cheerful and seek
self-improvement, and should make a career for himself.
All these things were characteristics of the old-time American scouts
and of the King Arthur knights. Their honor was sacred. They were
courteous and polite to women and children, especially to the aged,
protected the weak, and helped others to live better. They taught
themselves to be strong, so as to be able to protect their country
against enemies. They kept themselves strong and healthy, so that they
might be prepared to do all of these things at a moment's notice, and
do them well.
So the boy scout of to-day must be chivalrous, manly, and gentlemanly.
When he gets up in the morning he may tie a knot in his necktie, and
leave the necktie outside his vest until he has done a good turn.
Another way to remind himself is to wear his scout badge reversed
until he has done his good turn. The good turn may not be a very big
thing--help an old lady across the street; remove a banana skin from
the pavement so that people may not fall; remove from streets or roads
broken glass, dangerous to automobile or bicycle tires; give water to
a thirsty horse; or deeds similar to these.
The scout also ought to know how to save life. He ought to be able to
make a stretcher; to throw a rope to a drowning person; to drag an
unconscious person from a burning building, and to resuscitate a
person overcome by gas fumes. He ought also to know the method of
stopping runaway horses, and he should have the presence of mind and
the skill to calm a panic and deal with street and other accidents.
This means also that a boy scout must always be in the pink of
condition. A boy cannot do things like these unless he is healthy and
strong. Therefore, he must be systematically taking exercise, playing
games, running, and walking. It means that he must sleep enough hours
to give him the necessary strength, and if possible to sleep very much
in the open, or at least {8} with the windows of his bedroom open both
summer and winter.
It means also that he should take a cold bath often, rubbing dry with
a rough towel. He should breathe through the nose and not through the
mouth. He should at all times train himself to endure hardships.
In addition to these the scout should be a lover of his country. He
should know his country. How many states there are in it, what are its
natural resources, scope, and boundaries. He ought to know something
of its history, its early settlers, and of the great deeds that won
his land. How they settled along the banks of the James River. How
Philadelphia, New York, and other great cities were founded. How the
Pilgrim Fathers established New England and laid the foundation for
our national life. How the scouts of the Middle West saved all that
great section of the country for the Republic. He ought to know how
Texas became part of the United States, and how our national heroes
stretched out their hands, north and south, east and west, to make one
great united country.
He ought to know the history of the important wars. He ought to know
about our army and navy flags and the insignia of rank of our
officers. He ought to know the kind of government he lives under, and
what it means to live in a republic. He ought to know what is expected
of him as a citizen of his state and nation, and what to do to help
the people among whom he lives.
In short, to be a good scout is to be a well-developed, well-informed
boy.
Scout Virtues
There are other things which a scout ought to know and which should be
characteristic of him, if he is going to be the kind of scout for
which the Boy Scouts of America stand. One of these is obedience. To
be a good scout a boy must learn to obey the orders of his patrol
leader, scout master, and scout commissioner. He must learn to obey,
before he is able to command. He should so learn to discipline and
control himself that he will have no thought but to obey the orders of
his officers. He should keep such a strong grip on his own life that
he will not allow himself to do anything which is ignoble, or which
will harm his life or weaken his powers of endurance.
Another virtue of a scout is that of courtesy. A boy scout {9} ought
to have a command of polite language. He ought to show that he is a
true gentleman by doing little things for others.
Loyalty is also a scout virtue. A scout ought to be loyal to all to
whom he has obligations. He ought to stand up courageously for the
truth, for his parents and friends.
Another scout virtue is self-respect. He ought to refuse to accept
gratuities from anyone, unless absolutely necessary. He ought to work
for the money he gets.
For this same reason he should never look down upon anyone who may be
poorer than himself, or envy anyone richer than himself. A scout's
self-respect will cause him to value his own standing and make him
sympathetic toward others who may be, on the one hand, worse off, or,
on the other hand, better off as far as wealth is concerned. Scouts
know neither a lower nor a higher class, for a scout is one who is a
comrade to all and who is ready to share that which he has with
others.
The most important scout virtue is that of honor. Indeed, this is the
basis of all scout virtues and is closely allied to that of
self-respect. When a scout promises to do a thing on his honor, he is
bound to do it. The honor of a scout will not permit of anything but
the highest and the best and the manliest. The honor of a scout is a
sacred thing, and cannot be lightly set aside or trampled on.
Faithfulness to duty is another one of the scout virtues. When it is a
scout's duty to do something, he dare not shirk. A scout is faithful
to his own interest and the interests of others. He is true to his
country and his God.
Another scout virtue is cheerfulness. As the scout law intimates, he
must never go about with a sulky air. He must always be bright and
smiling, and as the humorist says, "Must always see the doughnut and
not the hole." A bright face and a cheery word spread like sunshine
from one to another. It is the scout's duty to be a sunshine-maker in
the world.
Another scout virtue is that of thoughtfulness, especially to animals;
not merely the thoughtfulness that eases a horse from the pain of a
badly fitting harness or gives food and drink to an animal that is in
need, but also that which keeps a boy from throwing a stone at a cat
or tying a tin can on a dog's tail. If a boy scout does not prove his
thoughtfulness and friendship for animals, it is quite certain that he
never will be really helpful to his comrades or to the men, women, and
children who may need his care.
{10}
And then the final and chief test of the scout is the doing of a good
turn to somebody every day, quietly and without boasting. This is the
proof of the scout. It is practical religion, and a boy honors God
best when he helps others most. A boy may wear all the scout uniforms
made, all the scout badges ever manufactured, know all the woodcraft,
campcraft, scoutcraft and other activities of boy scouts, and yet
never be a real boy scout. To be a real boy scout means the doing of a
good turn every day with the proper motive and if this be done, the
boy has a right to be classed with the great scouts that have been of
such service to their country. To accomplish this a scout should
observe the scout law.
Every boy ought to commit to memory the following abbreviated form of
the Scout law.
The Twelve Points of the Scout Law
1. A scout is trustworthy.
2. A scout is loyal.
3. A scout is helpful.
4. A scout is friendly.
5. A scout is courteous.
6. A scout is kind.
7. A scout is obedient.
8. A scout is cheerful.
9. A scout is thrifty.
10. A scout is brave.
11. A scout is clean.
12. A scout is reverent.
The Boy Scout Organization
(Result of work of Committee on Permanent Organization and Field
Supervision:--H. S. Braucher, Chairman. Lorillard Spencer. Jr., Colin
H. Livingstone. Richard C. Morse. Mortimer Schiff, Dr. George W.
Ehler, C. M. Connolly, E. B. DeGroot, Lee F. Hamner.)
To do good scouting a boy must understand the organization of which he
is a part. The Boy Scouts of America is promoted and governed by a
group of men called the National Council. This National Council is
made up of leading men of the country and it is their desire that
every American boy shall have the opportunity of becoming a good
scout.
The National Council holds one meeting annually at which it elects the
officers and the members of the Executive Board. It copyrights badges
and other scout designs, arranges for their manufacture and
distribution, selects designs for uniforms and scout equipment, issues
scout commissioners' and scout masters' certificates, and grants
charters for local councils.
{11}
A local council through its officers--president, vice-president,
secretary, treasurer, and scout commissioner, its executive committee,
court of honor, and other committees--deals with all local matters
that relate to scouting.
The scout commissioner is the ranking scout master of the local
council and presides at all scout masters' meetings as well as at all
scout field meets. It is also the duty of the scout commissioner to
report to and advise with the Chief Scout through the Executive
Secretary concerning the scouts in his district. The scout
commissioner's certificate is issued from National Headquarters upon
the recommendation of a local council after this council has been
granted a charter.
The scout master is the adult leader of a troop, and must be at least
twenty-one years of age. He should have a deep interest in boys, be
genuine in his own life, have the ability to lead, and command the
boys' respect and obedience. He need not be an expert at scoutcraft; a
good scout master will discover experts for the various activities.
His certificate is granted upon the recommendation of the local
council.
An assistant scout master should be eighteen years of age or over. His
certificate is granted by the National Council upon the recommendation
of the scout master of his troop and the local council.
Chief Scout and Staff
The Chief Scout is elected annually by the National Council and has a
staff of deputies each of whom is chairman of a committee of
scoutcraft. These deputies are as follows:
Chief Scout Surgeon.
Chief Scout Director of Health.
Chief Scout Woodsman.
Chief Scout Athletic Director.
Chief Scout Stalker.
Chief Scout Citizen.
Chief Scout Master.
Chief Scout Director of Chivalry.
Chief Scout Camp Master.
Scouts are graded as follows:
Chief Scout and Staff.
Scout Commissioner.
Scout Master.
Assistant Scout Master.
Patrol Leader.
Assistant Patrol Leader.
Eagle Scout.
Star Scout.
Life Scout.
First-class Scout.
Second-class Scout.
Tenderfoot.
How to Become a Boy Scout
The easiest way to become a boy scout is to join a patrol that has
already been started. This patrol may be in {12} a Sunday School,
Boys' Brigade, Boys' Club, Young Men's Christian Association, Young
Men's Hebrew Association, Young Men's Catholic Association, or any
other organization to which you may belong. If there is no patrol near
you, get some man interested enough to start one by giving him all the
information.
A patrol consists of eight boys, one of whom becomes the patrol leader
and another the assistant patrol leader.
A troop consists of three or more patrols, and the leader of the troop
is called a scout master. There can be no patrols or troops of boy
scouts without this scout master.
The Scout Motto
The motto of the boy scouts is Be Prepared, and the badge of the boy
scouts is a copyrighted design with this motto, "Be Prepared," on a
scroll at its base.
The motto, "Be Prepared," means that the scout is always in a state of
readiness in mind and body to do his duty. To be prepared in mind, by
having disciplined himself to be obedient, and also by having thought
out beforehand any accident or situation that may occur, so that he
may know the right thing to do at the right moment, and be willing to
do it. To be prepared in body, by making himself strong and active and
able to do the right thing at the right moment, and then to do it.
The Scout Badge
The scout badge is not intended to represent the fleur-de-lis, or an
arrowhead. It is a modified form of the sign of the north on the
mariner's compass, which is as old as the history of navigation. The
Chinese claim its use among them as early as 2634 B. C., and we have
definite information that it was used at sea by them as early as 300
A. D. Marco Polo brought the compass to Europe on his return from
Cathay. The sign of the north on the compass gradually came to
represent the north, and pioneers, trappers, woodsmen, and scouts,
because of this, adopted it as their emblem. Through centuries of use
it has undergone modification until it has now assumed the shape of
our badge.
This trefoil badge of the scouts is now used, with slight local
variations, in almost every civilized country as the mark of
brotherhood, for good citizenship, and friendliness.
Its scroll is turned up at the ends like a scout's mouth, because he
does his duty with a smile and willingly.
The knot is to remind the scout to do a good turn to someone daily.
{13}
The arrowhead part is worn by the tenderfoot. The scroll part only is
worn by the second-class scout. The badge worn by the first-class
scout is the whole badge.
The official badges of the Boy Scouts of America are issued by the
National Council and may be secured only from the National
Headquarters. These badges are protected by the U. S. Patent Laws
(letters of patent numbers 41412 and 41532) and anyone infringing
these patents is liable to prosecution at law.
In order to protect the Boy Scout Movement and those who have
qualified to receive badges designating the various degrees in
scoutcraft, it is desired that all interested cooperate with the
National Headquarters in safeguarding the sale and distribution of
these badges. This may be done by observing the following rules:
1. Badges should not be ordered until after boys have actually
complied with the requirements prescribed by the National Council and
are entitled to receive them.
2. All orders for badges should be sent in by the scout master with a
certificate from the local council that these requirements have been
complied with. Blanks for this purpose may be secured on application
to the National Headquarters.
Where no local council has been formed, application for badges should
be sent direct to Headquarters, signed by the registered scout master
of the troop, giving his official number.
Scout commissioners', scout masters', and assistant scout masters'
badges can be issued only to those who are registered as such at
National Headquarters.
_Tenderfoot Badge_--Gilt metal.
_Patrol Leader's Tenderfoot Badge_--Oxidized silver finish.
These badges are seven eighths of an inch wide and are made either for
the button-hole or with safety-pin clasp. Price 5 cents.
_Second-Class Scout Badge_--Gilt metal.
_Patrol Leader's Second-Class Scout Badge_--Oxidized silver.
These badges--safety-pin style--to be worn upon the sleeve. Price 10
cents.
_First-Class Scout Badge_--Gilt metal.
_Patrol Leader's First-Class Scout Badge_--Oxidized silver.
Both badges safety-pin style--to be worn upon the sleeve. Price 15
cents.
_Scout Commissioner's, Scout Master's, and Assistant Scout Master's Arm
Badges_.
These badges are woven in blue, green, and red silk, and are to be
worn on the sleeve of coat or shirt. Price 25 cents.
{14}
_Buttons_--The official buttons worn on the scout uniforms sell for 10
cents per set for shirt and 15 cents per set for coat.
_Merit Badges_--Price 25 cents each.
_Boy Scout Certificates_--A handsome certificate in two colors, 6 x 8
inches, has been prepared for boy scouts who wish to have a record of
their enrolment. The certificate has the Scout Oath and Law and the
official Seal upon it, with place for the signature of the scout
master. The price is 5 cents.
Directions For Ordering
Important! When ordering supplies send exact remittance with order, If
check is used add New York exchange. Make checks and money orders
payable to Boy Scouts of America. All orders received without the
proper remittance will be shipped C. O. D., or held until remittance
arrives.
The Scout Oath
Before he becomes a scout a boy must promise:
On my honor I will do my best:
1. To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout law;
2. To help other people at all times;
3. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
[Illustration: Hand position. (tr)]
When taking this oath the scout will stand, holding up his right hand,
palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of the little finger and
the other three fingers upright and together.
The Scout Sign
This is the scout sign. The three fingers held up remind him of his
three promises in the scout oath.
The Scout Salute
When the three fingers thus held are raised to the forehead, it is the
scout salute. The scout always salutes an officer.
The Scout Law
(Result of work of Committee on Scout Oath, Scout Law, Tenderfoot,
Second-class and First-class Scout Requirements:--Prof. Jeremiah W.
Jenks, Chairman. Dr. Lee K. Frankel, George D. Porter, E. M. Robinson,
G. W. Hinckley, B. E. Johnson, Clark W. Hetherington, Arthur A. Carey.)
There have always been certain written and unwritten laws regulating
the conduct and directing the activities of men. {15} We have such
unwritten laws coming down from past ages. In Japan, the Japanese have
their Bushido or laws of the old Samurai warriors. During the Middle
Ages, the chivalry and rules of the Knights of King Arthur, the
Knights Templar and the Crusaders were in force. In aboriginal
America, the Red Indians had their laws of honor: likewise the Zulus,
Hindus, and the later European nations have their ancient codes.
The following laws which relate to the Boy Scouts of America, are the
latest and most up to date. These laws a boy promises to obey when he
takes his scout oath.
1. A scout is trustworthy.
A scout's honor is to be trusted. If he were to violate his honor by
telling a lie, or by cheating, or by not doing exactly a given task,
when trusted on his honor, he may be directed to hand over his scout
badge.
2. A scout is loyal.
He is loyal to all to whom loyalty is due: his scout leader, his
home, and parents and country.
3. A scout is helpful.
He must be prepared at any time to save life, help injured persons,
and share the home duties. He must do at least one good turn to
somebody every day.
4. A scout is friendly.
He is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout.
5. A scout is courteous.
He is polite to all, especially to women, children, old people, and
the weak and helpless. He must not take pay for being helpful or
courteous.
6. A scout is kind.
He is a friend to animals. He will not kill nor hurt any living
creature needlessly, but will strive to save and protect all
harmless life.
7. A scout is obedient.
He obeys his parents, scout master, patrol leader, and all other
duly constituted authorities.
8. A scout is cheerful.
He smiles whenever he can. His obedience to orders is prompt and
cheery. He never shirks nor grumbles at hardships.
9. A scout is thrifty.
He does not wantonly destroy property. He works faithfully, wastes
nothing, and makes the best use of his {16} opportunities. He saves
his money so that he may pay his own way, be generous to those in
need, and helpful to worthy objects.
_He may work for pay but must not receive tips for courtesies or good
turns_.
10. A scout is brave.
He has the courage to face danger in spite of fear and has to stand
up for the right against the coaxings of friends or the jeers or
threats of enemies, and defeat does not down him.
11. A scout is clean.
He keeps clean in body and thought, stands for clean speech, clean
sport, clean habits, and travels with a clean crowd.
12. A scout is reverent.
He is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties
and respects the convictions of others in matters of custom and
religion.
The Three Classes of Scouts
There are three classes of scouts among the Boy Scouts of America, the
tenderfoot, second-class scout, and first-class scout. Before a boy
can become a tenderfoot he must qualify for same. A tenderfoot,
therefore, is superior to the ordinary boy because of his training. To
be a tenderfoot means to occupy the lowest grade in scouting. A
tenderfoot on meeting certain requirements may become a second-class
scout, and a second-class scout upon meeting another set of
requirements may become a first-class scout. The first-class scout may
then qualify for the various merit badges which are offered in another
part of this chapter for proficiency in scouting. The requirements of
the tenderfoot, second-class scout, and first-class scout, are as
follows:
_Tenderfoot_
To become a scout a boy must be at least twelve years of age and must
pass a test in the following:
1. Know the scout law, sign, salute, and significance of the badge.
2. Know the composition and history of the national flag and the
customary forms of respect due to it.
3. Tie four out of the following knots: square or reef, sheet-bend,
bowline, fisherman's, sheepshank, halter, clove hitch, timber hitch,
or two half hitches.
[Illustration: Tenderfoot badge. (tr)]
Tenderfoot
{17}
He then takes the scout oath, is enrolled as a tenderfoot, and is
entitled to wear the tenderfoot badge.
[Illustration: Second-class Scout badge. (tr)]
Second-class Scout
_Second-class Scout_
To become a second-class scout, a tenderfoot must pass, to the
satisfaction of the recognized local scout authorities, the following
tests:
1. At least one month's service as a tenderfoot.
2. Elementary first aid and bandaging; know the general directions for
first aid for injuries; know treatment for fainting, shock, fractures,
bruises, sprains, injuries in which the skin is broken, burns, and
scalds; demonstrate how to carry injured, and the use of the
triangular and roller bandages and tourniquet.
3. Elementary signaling: Know the semaphore, or American Morse, or
Myer alphabet.
4. Track half a mile in twenty-five minutes; or, if in town, describe
satisfactorily the contents of one store window out of four observed
for one minute each.
5. Go a mile in twelve minutes at scout's pace--about fifty steps
running and fifty walking, alternately.
6. Use properly knife or hatchet.
7. Prove ability to build a fire in the open, using not more than two
matches.
8. Cook a quarter of a pound of meat and two potatoes in the open
without the ordinary kitchen cooking utensils.
9. Earn and deposit at least one dollar in a public bank.
10. Know the sixteen principal points of the compass.
_First-class Scout_
To become a first-class scout, the second-class scout must pass the
following tests:
1. Swim fifty yards.
2. Earn and deposit at least two dollars in a public bank.
3. Send and receive a message by semaphore, or American Morse, or Myer
alphabet, sixteen letters per minute.
4. Make a round trip alone (or with another scout) to a point {18} at
least seven miles away, going on foot or rowing boat, and write a
satisfactory account of the trip and things observed.
5. Advanced first aid: Know the methods for panic prevention; what to
do in case of fire and ice, electric and gas accidents; how to help in
case of runaway horse, mad dog, or snake bite; treatment for
dislocations, unconsciousness, poisoning, fainting, apoplexy,
sunstroke, heat exhaustion, and freezing; know treatment for sunburn,
ivy poisoning, bites and stings, nosebleed, earache, toothache,
inflammation or grit in eye, cramp or stomach ache and chills;
demonstrate artificial respiration.
6. Prepare and cook satisfactorily, in the open, without regular
kitchen utensils, two of the following articles as may be directed.
Eggs, bacon, hunter's stew, fish, fowl, game, pancakes, hoe-cake,
biscuit, hardtack or a "twist," baked on a stick; explain to another
boy the methods followed.
7. Read a map correctly, and draw, from field notes made on the spot,
an intelligible rough sketch map, indicating by their proper marks
important buildings, roads, trolley lines, main landmarks, principal
elevations, etc. Point out a compass direction without the help of the
compass.
8. Use properly an axe for felling or trimming light timber; or
produce an article of carpentry or cabinet-making or metal work made
by himself. Explain the method followed.
9. Judge distance, size, number, height and weight within 25 per cent.
10. Describe fully from observation ten species of trees or plants,
including poison ivy, by their bark, leaves, flowers, fruit, or scent;
or six species of wild birds by their plumage, notes, tracks, or
habits; or six species of native wild animals by their form, color,
call, tracks, or habits; find the North Star, and name and describe at
least three constellations of stars.
11. Furnish satisfactory evidence that he has put into practice in his
daily life the principles of the scout oath and law.
12. Enlist a boy trained by himself in the requirements of a
tenderfoot.
_NOTE.--No deviation from above requirements will be permitted unless
in extraordinary cases, such as physical inability, and the written
consent of the National Headquarters has been obtained by the
recognized local scout authority_.
[Illustration: First-class Scout badge. (tr)]
First-class Scout
{19}
Patrol Signs
Each troop of boy scouts is named after the place to which it belongs.
For example, it is Troop No. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., of New York or Chicago.
Each patrol of the troop is named after an animal or bird, but may be
given another kind of name if there is a valid reason. In this way,
the Twenty-seventh New York Troop, for instance, may have several
patrols, which may be respectively the Ox, Wolf, Jackal, Raven,
Buffalo, Fox, Panther, and Rattlesnake.
[Illustration: Boy Scout in uniform. (tr)]
Positions of Various Badges
Each scout in a patrol has a number, the patrol leader being No. 1,
the assistant patrol leader No. 2, and the other scouts the remaining
consecutive numbers. Scouts in this way should {22} work in pairs,
Nos. 3 and 4 together; 5 and 6 together; 7 and. 8 together.
{20}
[Illustration: Outline of animals. (tr)]
MONGOOSE
Squeak--"Cheep"
BROWN AND ORANGE
HAWK
Cry (same as Eagle)--"Kreeee"
PINK
WOLF
Howl-"How-oooo"
YELLOW AND BLACK
PEEWIT
Whistle-"Tewitt"
GREEN AND WHITE
HOUND
Bark "Bawow-wow"
ORANGE
CAT
Cry--"Meeaow"
GRAY AND BROWN
JACKAL
Laughing Cry-"Wahwah-wah-wah-wah."
GRAY AND BLACK
RAVEN
Cry-"Kar-kaw"
BLACK
BUFFALO
Lowing (same as Bull) "Um-maouw"
RED AND WHITE
PEACOCK
Cry-"Bee-oik"
GREEN AND BLUE
BULL
Lowing-"Um-maouw"
RED
SEAL
Call-"Hark"
RED AND BLACK
OWL
Whistle "Koot-koot-koo"
BLUE
TIGER
Purr-"Grrrao"
VIOLET
LION
Roar-"Eu-Ugh"
YELLOW AND RED
KANGAROO
Call-"Coo-ee"
RED AND GRAY
HORSE
Whinney-"Hee-e-e-e"
BLACK AND WHITE
{21}
FOX
Bark-"Ha-ha"
YELLOW AND GREEN
BEAR
Growl-"Boorrr"
BROWN AND RED
STAG
Call-"Baow"
VIOLET AND BLACK
STORK
Cry-"Korrr"
BLUE AND WHITE
PANTHER
Tongue in side of mouth--"Keeook"
YELLOW
CURLEW
Whistle--"Curley"
GREEN
HYENA
Laughing Cry-"Ooowah-oowah-wah"
YELLOW AND BROWN
RAM
Bleat--"Ba-a-a"
BROWN
WOOD PIGEON
Call--"Book-hooroo"
BLUE AND GRAY
EAGLE
Very shrill cry--"Kreeee"
GREEN AND BLACK
HIPPO
Hiss-"Brrussssh"
PINK AND BLACK
RATTLESNAKE
Rattle a pebble in a small potted meat tin.
WILD BOAR
Grunt--"Broof-broof"
GRAY AND PINK
COBRA
Hiss--"Pssst"
ORANGE AND BLACK
CUCKOO
Call--"Cook-koo"
GRAY
OTTER
Cry--"Hoi-oi-oick"
BROWN AND WHITE
BEAVER
Slap made by clapping bands
BLUE AND YELLOW
{22 continued}
Each scout in a patrol should be able to imitate the call of his
patrol animal. That is, the scouts of the Wolf patrol should be able
to imitate a wolf. In this way scouts of the same patrol can
communicate with each other when in hiding, or in the dark of night.
It is not honorable for a scout to use the call of any other patrol
except his own.
The patrol leader calls up his patrol at will by sounding his whistle
and by giving the call of the patrol.
When the scout makes signs anywhere for others to read he also draws
the head of his animal. That is to say, if he were out scouting and
wanted to show that a certain road should not be followed by others,
he would draw the sign, "not to be followed," across it and add the
name of his patrol animal, in order to show which patrol discovered
that the road was bad, and by adding his own number at the left of the
head to show which scout had discovered it.
[Illustration: Outline of animals. (tr)]
BLUE BUFFALO on white ground
FLYING EAGLES
"Yeh-yeh-yeh"
Black and white on red
BLUE HERONS
"Hrrrr"
Blue and green
HORNED KINGBIRDS
SINAWA
Black on red
BLACKBEARS
Black on red
AHMEEKS
SILVER FOXES
RED TRAILERS
MOON BAND
Yellow on blue
OWNEOKES
BLAZING ARROW
Each patrol leader carries a small flag on the end of his staff {23} or
stave with the head of his patrol animal shown on both sides. Thus the
Tigers of the Twenty-seventh New York Troop should have the flag shown
below.
[Illustration: Banner with tiger and "27 N.Y." (tr)]
The Merit Badges
(Result of work of Committee on Badges, Awards and Equipment: Dr.
George J. Fisher, Chairman, Gen. George W. Wingate, Dr. C. Ward
Crampton, Daniel Carter Beard. C. M. Connolly, A. A. Jameson. Ernest
Thompson Seton.)
When a boy has become a first-class scout he may qualify for the merit
badges.
_The examination for these badges should be given by the Court of Honor
of the local council. This examination must not be given any boy who
is not qualified as a first-class scout. After the boy has passed the
examination, the local council may secure the merit badge for him by
presenting the facts to the National Council. These badges are
intended to stimulate the boy's interest in the life about him and are
given for general knowledge. The wearing of these badges does not
signify that a scout is qualified to make his living by the knowledge
gained in securing the award_.
Scouts winning any of the following badges are entitled to place after
their names the insignia of the badges won. For instance, if he has
successfully passed the signaling and seamanship tests, he signs his
name in this manner--
[Illustration: Signature of "James E. Ward" with insignia. (tr)]
{24}
Agriculture
[Illustration: Plow insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Agriculture a scout must
1. State different tests with grains.
2. Grow at least an acre of corn which produces 25 per cent. better
than the general average.
3. Be able to identify and describe common weeds of the community and
tell how best to eliminate them.
4. Be able to identify the common insects and tell how best to handle
them.
5. Have a practical knowledge of plowing, cultivating, drilling,
hedging, and draining.
6. Have a working knowledge of farm machinery, haymaking, reaping,
loading, and stacking.
7. Have a general acquaintance of the routine seasonal work on the
farm, including the care of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs.
8. Have a knowledge of Campbell's Soil Culture principle, and a
knowledge of dry farming and of irrigation farming.
Angling
[Illustration: Fish insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Angling a scout must
1. Catch and name ten different species of fish: salmon or trout to be
taken with flies; bass, pickerel, or pike to be caught with rod or
reel, muskallonge to be caught by trolling.
2. Make a bait rod of three joints, straight and sound, 14 oz. or less
in weight, 10 feet or less in length, to stand a strain of 1-1/2 lbs.
at the tip, 13 lbs. at the grip.
3. Make a jointed fly-rod 8-10 feet long, 4-8 ozs. in weight, capable
of casting a fly sixty feet.
4. Name and describe twenty-five different species of fish found in
North American waters and give a complete list of the fishes
ascertained by himself to inhabit a given body of water.
5. Give the history of the young of any species of wild fish from the
time of hatching until the adult stage is reached.
Archery
[Illustration: Bow and Arrow insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Archery a scout must
1. Make a bow and arrow which will shoot a distance of one hundred
feet with fair precision.
2. Make a total score of 350 with 60 shots in one or {25} two meets,
using standard four-foot target at forty yards or three-foot target at
thirty yards.
3. Make a total score of 300 with 72 arrows, using standard target at
a distance of fifty yards.
4. Shoot so far and fast as to have six arrows in the air at once.
Architecture
[Illustration: Column and Lintel insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Architecture a scout must
1. Present a satisfactory free-hand drawing.
2. Write an essay on the history of Architecture and describe the five
orders.
3. Submit an original design for a two-story house and tell what
material is necessary for its construction, giving detailed
specifications.
Art
[Illustration: Brushes and Pallet insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Art a scout must
1. Draw in outline two simple objects, one composed of straight lines,
and one of curved lines, the two subjects to be grouped together a
little below the eye.
2. Draw in outline two books a little below the eye, one book to be
open; also a table or chair.
3. Make in outline an Egyptian ornament.
4. Make in outline a Greek or Renaissance ornament from a cast or
copy.
5. Make an original arrangement or design using some detail of
ornament.
6. Make a drawing from a group of two objects placed a little below
the eye and show light and shade.
7. Draw a cylindrical object and a rectangular object, grouped
together a little below the eye, and show light and shade.
8. Present a camp scene in color.
Astronomy
[Illustration: Star insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Astronomy a scout must
1. Have a general knowledge of the nature and movements of stars.
{26}
2. Point out and name six principal constellations; find the North by
means of other stars than the Pole-star in case of that star being
obscured by clouds, and tell the hour of the night by the stars and
moon.
3. Have a general knowledge of the positions and movements of the
earth, sun and moon, and of tides, eclipses, meteors, comets,
sun-spots, and planets.
Athletics
[Illustration: Winged foot insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Athletics a scout must
1. Write an acceptable article of not less than five hundred words on
how to train for an athletic event.
2. Give the rules for one track and one field event.
3. Make the required athletic standard according to his weight,
classifications and conditions as stated in chapter eight.
Automobiling
[Illustration: Wheel insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Automobiling a scout must
1. Demonstrate how to start a motor, explaining what precautions
should be taken.
2. Take off and put on pneumatic tires.
3. Know the functions of the clutch, carburetor, valves, magneto,
spark plug, differential cam shaft, and different speed gears, and be
able to explain difference between a two and four-cycle motor.
4. Know how to put out burning gasoline or oil.
5. Have satisfactorily passed the requirements to receive a license to
operate an automobile in the community in which he lives.
Aviation
[Illustration: Biplane insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Aviation a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of the theory of aeroplanes, balloons, and
dirigibles.
2. Have made a working model of an {27} aeroplane or dirigible that
will fly at least twenty-five yards; and have built a box kite that
will fly.
3. Have a knowledge of the engines used for aeroplanes and dirigibles,
and be able to describe the various types of aeroplanes and their
records.
Bee Farming
[Illustration: Bee insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Bee Farming a scout must
1. Have a practical knowledge of swarming, hiving, hives and general
apiculture, including a knowledge of the use of artificial combs.
2. Describe different kinds of honey and tell from what sources
gathered.
Blacksmithing
[Illustration: Anvil insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Blacksmithing a scout must
1. Upset and weld a one-inch iron rod.
2. Make a horseshoe.
3. Know how to tire a wheel, use a sledge-hammer and forge, shoe a
horse correctly and roughshoe a horse.
4. Be able to temper iron and steel.
Bugling
[Illustration: Bugle insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Bugling a scout must
1. Be able to sound properly on the Bugle the customary United States
Army calls.
Business
[Illustration: Quill Pen insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Business a scout must
1. Write a satisfactory business, and a personal letter.
2. State fundamental principles of buying and selling.
3. Know simple bookkeeping.
4. Keep a complete and actual account of personal receipts and
expenditures for six months.
{28}
5. State how much money would need to be invested at 5 per cent. to
earn his weekly allowance of spending money for a year.
Camping
[Illustration: Tent insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Camping a scout must
1. Have slept in the open or under canvas at different times fifty
nights.
2. Have put up a tent alone and ditched it.
3. Have made a bed of wild material and a fire without matches.
4. State how to choose a camp site and how to prepare for rain; how to
build a latrine (toilet) and how to dispose of the camp garbage and
refuse.
5. Know how to construct a raft.
Carpentry
[Illustration: Wood plane insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Carpentry a scout must
1. Know the proper way to drive, set and clinch a nail.
2. Know the different kinds of chisels, planes and saws, and how to
sharpen and use them.
3. Know the use of the rule, square, level, plumb-line and mitre.
4. Know how to use compasses for scribing both regular and irregular
lines.
5. Make an article of furniture with three different standard joints
or splices, with at least one surface of highly polished hard or
decorative wood. All work to be done without assistance.
Chemistry
[Illustration: Chemical retort insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Chemistry a scout must be able to pass the
following test:
1. Define physical and chemical change. Which occurs when salt is
dissolved in water, milk sours, iron rusts, water boils, iron is
magnetized and mercuric oxide is heated above the boiling point of
mercury?
2. Give correct tests for oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, and
carbon dioxide gases.
3. Could you use the above gases to extinguish fire? How?
4. Why can baking soda be used to put out a small fire?
{29}
5. Give tests for a chloride, sulphide, sulphate, nitrate, and
carbonate.
6. Give the names of three commercial forms of carbon. Tell how each
is made and the purpose for which it is used.
7. What compound is formed when carbon is burned in air?
8. Tell process of making lime and mortar from limestone.
9. Why will fresh plaster harden quicker by burning charcoal in an
open vessel near it?
Civics
[Illustration: Ax insignia (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Civics a scout must
1. State the principal citizenship requirements of an elector in his
state.
2. Know the principal features of the naturalization laws of the
United States.
3. Know how President, Vice-President, senators, and congressmen of
the United States are elected and their terms of office.
4. Know the number of judges of the Supreme Court of the United
States, how appointed, and their term of office.
5. Know the various administrative departments of government, as
represented in the President's Cabinet.
6. Know how the governor, lieutenant-governor, senators,
representatives, or assemblymen of his state are elected, and their
terms of office.
7. Know whether the judges of the principal courts in his state are
appointed or elected, and the length of their terms.
8. Know how the principal officers in his town or city are elected and
for what terms.
9. Know the duties of the various city departments, such as fire,
police, board of health, etc.
10. Draw a map of the town or city in which he lives, giving location
of the principal public buildings and points of special interest.
11. Give satisfactory evidence that he is familiar with the {30}
provisions and history of the Declaration of Independence, and the
Constitution of the United States.
Conservation
[Illustration: Sunset over forest insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Conservation a scout must
1. Be able to recognize in the forest all important commercial trees
in his neighborhood; distinguish the lumber from each and tell for
what purpose each is best suited; tell the age of old blazes on trees
which mark a boundary or trail; recognize the difference in the forest
between good and bad logging, giving reasons why one is good and
another bad; tell whether a tree is dying from injury by fire, by
insects, by disease or by a combination of these causes; know what
tools to use, and how to fight fires in hilly or in flat country.
Collect the seeds of two commercial trees, clean and store them, and
know how and when to plant them.
2. Know the effect upon stream-flow of the destruction of forests at
head waters; know what are the four great uses of water in streams;
what causes the pollution of streams, and how it can best be stopped;
and how, in general, water power is developed.
3. Be able to tell, for a given piece of farm land, whether it is best
suited for use as farm or forest, and why; point out examples of
erosion, and tell how to stop it; give the reasons why a growing crop
pointed out to him is successful or why not; and tell what crops
should be grown in his neighborhood and why.
4. Know where the great coal fields are situated and whether the use
of coal is increasing, and if so at what rate. Tell what are the great
sources of waste of coal, in the mines, and in its use, and how they
can be reduced.
5. Know the principal game birds and animals in his neighborhood, the
seasons during which they are protected, the methods of protection,
and the results. Recognize the track of any two of the following:
rabbit, fox, deer, squirrel, wild turkey, ruffed grouse and quail.
Cooking
[Illustration: Cooking pot insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Cooking a scout must
1. Prove his ability to build a fireplace out of stone or sod {31} or
logs, light a fire, and cook in the open the following dishes in
addition to those required for a first-class scout: Camp stew, two
vegetables, omelet, rice pudding; know how to mix dough, and bake
bread in an oven; be able to make tea, coffee, and cocoa, carve
properly and serve correctly to people at the table.
Craftsmanship
[Illustration: Drafting compass insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Craftsmanship a scout must
1. Build and finish unassisted one of the following articles: a round,
square or octagonal tabouret; round or square den or library table;
hall or piano bench; rustic arm chair or swing to be hung with chains;
or rustic table.
2. He must also make plans or intelligent rough sketch drawing of the
piece selected.
Cycling
[Illustration: Wheel insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Cycling a scout must
1. Be able to ride a bicycle fifty miles in ten hours.
2. Repair a puncture.
3. Take apart and clean bicycle and put together again properly.
4. Know how to make reports if sent out scouting on a road.
5. Be able to read a map and report correctly verbal messages.
Dairying
[Illustration: Butter churn insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Dairying a scout must
1. Understand the management of dairy cattle.
2. Be able to milk.
3. Understand the sterilization of milk, and care of dairy utensils
and appliances.
{32}
4. Test at least five cows for ten days each, with the Babcock test,
and make proper reports.
Electricity
[Illustration: Fist holding lightening insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Electricity a scout must
1. Illustrate the experiment by which the laws of electrical
attraction and repulsion are shown.
2. Name three uses of the direct current, and tell how it differs from
the alternating current.
3. Make a simple electro-magnet.
4. Have an elementary knowledge of the action of simple battery cells
and of the working of electric bells and telephones.
5. Be able to remedy fused wire, and to repair broken electric
connections.
6. Construct a machine to make static electricity or a wireless
apparatus.
7. Have a knowledge of the method of resuscitation and rescue of a
person insensible from shock.
Firemanship
[Illustration: Fire hose nozzle insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Firemanship, a scout must
1. Know how to turn in an alarm for fire.
2. Know how to enter burning buildings.
3. Know how to prevent panics and the spread of fire.
4. Understand the use of hose; unrolling, joining up, connecting two
hydrants, use of nozzle, etc.
5. Understand the use of escapes, ladders, and chutes, and know the
location of exits in buildings which he frequents.
6. Know how to improvise ropes and nets.
7. Know what to do in case of panic, understand the fireman's lift and
drag, and how to work in fumes.
8. Understand the use of fire extinguishers; how to rescue animals;
how to save property; how to organize a bucket brigade, and how to aid
the police in keeping back crowds.
First Aid
[Illustration: Large "X" insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for First Aid a scout must
1. Be able to demonstrate the Sylvester and Schaefer methods of
resuscitation.
{33}
2. Carry a person down a ladder.
3. Bandage head and ankle.
4. Demonstrate treatment of wound of the neck with severe arterial
hemorrhage.
5. Treat mangling injury of the leg without severe hemorrhage.
6. Demonstrate treatment for rupture of varicose veins of the leg with
severe hemorrhage.
7. Show treatment for bite of finger by mad dog.
8. Demonstrate rescue of person in contact with electric wire.
9. Apply tourniquet to a principal artery.
10. State chief differences between carbolic poisoning and
intoxication.
11. Explain what to do for snake bite.
12. Pass first aid test of American Red Cross Society.
First Aid to Animals
[Illustration: Bandaged dog insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for First Aid to Animals a scout must
1. Have a general knowledge of domestic and farm animals.
2. Be able to treat a horse for colic.
3. Describe symptoms and give treatment for the following: wounds,
fractures and sprains, exhaustion, choking, lameness.
4. Understand horseshoeing.
Forestry
[Illustration: Pine cone insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Forestry a scout must
1. Be able to identify twenty-five kinds of trees when in leaf, or
fifteen kinds of deciduous (broad leaf) trees in winter, and tell some
of the uses of each.
2. Identify twelve kinds of shrubs.
3. Collect and identify samples of ten kinds of wood and be able to
tell some of their uses.
4. Determine the height, and estimate the amount of timber,
approximately, in five trees of different sizes.
{34}
5. State laws for transplanting, grafting, spraying, and protecting
trees.
Gardening
[Illustration: Corn cob insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Gardening, a scout must
1. Dig and care for during the season a piece of ground containing not
less than 144 square feet.
2. Know the names of a dozen plants pointed out in an ordinary garden.
3. Understand what is meant by pruning, grafting, and manuring.
4. Plant and grow successfully six kinds of vegetables or flowers from
seeds or cuttings.
5. Cut grass with scythe under supervision.
Handicraft
[Illustration: Hammer and Screwdriver insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Handicraft a scout must
1. Be able to paint a door.
2. Whitewash a ceiling.
3. Repair gas fittings, sash lines, window and door fastenings.
4. Replace gas mantles, washers, and electric light bulbs.
5. Solder.
6. Hang pictures and curtains.
7. Repair blinds.
8. Fix curtains, portiere rods, blind fixtures.
9. Lay carpets and mend clothing and upholstery.
10. Repair furniture and china.
11. Sharpen knives.
12. Repair gates.
13. Fix screens on windows and doors.
Horsemanship
[Illustration: Horseshoe insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Horsemanship a scout must
1. Demonstrate riding at a walk, trot, and gallop.
2. Know how to saddle and bridle a horse correctly.
3. Know how to water and feed and to what amount, and how to groom a
horse properly.
{35}
4. Know how to harness a horse correctly in single or double harness
and to drive.
5. Have a knowledge of the power of endurance of horses at work and
know the local regulations concerning driving.
6. Know the management and care of horses.
7. Be able to identify unsoundness and blemishes.
8. Know the evils of bearing or check reins and of ill-fitting harness
or saddlery.
9. Know two common causes of, and proper remedies for, lameness, and
know to whom he should refer cases of cruelty and abuse.
10. Be able to judge as to the weight, height, and age of horses; know
three breeds and their general characteristics.
Interpreting
[Illustration: Handshake insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Interpreting, a scout must
1. Be able to carry on a simple conversation.
2. Write a simple letter on subject given by examiners.
3. Read and translate a passage from a book or newspaper, in French,
German, English, Italian, or any language that is not of his own
country.
Invention
[Illustration: Gear insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Invention a scout must
1. Invent and patent some useful article;
2. Show a working drawing or model of the same.
Leather Working
[Illustration: Awl insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Leather Working a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of tanning and curing.
{36}
2. Be able to sole and heel a pair of boots, sewed or nailed, and
generally repair boots and shoes.
3. Be able to dress a saddle, repair traces, stirrup leathers, etc.,
and know the various parts of harness.
Life Saving
[Illustration: Lifesaving buoy insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Life Saving a scout must
1. Be able to dive into from seven to ten feet of water and bring from
bottom to surface a loose bag of sand weighing five pounds.
2. Be able to swim two hundred yards, one hundred yards on back
without using the hands, and one hundred yards any other stroke.
3. Swim fifty yards with clothes on (shirt, long trousers, and shoes
as minimum).
4. Demonstrate (a) on land--five methods of release; (b) in the
water--two methods of release; (c) the Schaefer method of
resuscitation (prone pressure).
Machinery
[Illustration: Pipewrench insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Machinery a scout must
1. State the principles underlying the use and construction of the
lathe, steam boiler and engine, drill press and planer.
2. Make a small wood or metal model illustrating the principles of
either levers, gears, belted pulleys, or block and fall.
Marksmanship
[Illustration: Target insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Marksmanship a scout must
1. Qualify as a marksman in accordance with the regulations of the
National Rifle Association.
Masonry
[Illustration: Trowel insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Masonry a scout must
1. Lay a straight wall with a corner.
{37}
2. Make mortar and describe process.
3. Use intelligently a plumb-line, level, and trowel.
4. Build a stone oven.
5. Demonstrate a knowledge of various uses for cement.
6. Build a dry wall.
Mining
[Illustration: Shovel insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Mining a scout must
1. Know and name fifty minerals.
2. Know, name and describe the fourteen great divisions of the earth's
crust (according to Geikie).
3. Define watershed, delta, drift, fault, glacier, terrace, stratum,
dip; and identify ten different kinds of rock.
4. Describe methods for mine ventilation and safety devices.
Music
[Illustration: Lyre insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Music a. scout must
1. Be able to play a standard musical instrument satisfactorily.
2. Read simple music.
3. Write a satisfactory essay of not less than five hundred words on
the history of American music.
Ornithology
[Illustration: Bird insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Ornithology a scout must
1. Have a list of one hundred different kinds of birds personally
observed on exploration in the field.
2. Have identified beyond question, by appearance or by note,
forty-five different kinds of birds in one day.
3. Have made a good clear photograph of some wild bird, the bird image
to be over one half inch in length on the negative.
4. Have secured at least two tenants in bird boxes erected by himself.
{38}
5. Have daily notes on the nesting of a pair of wild birds from the
time the first egg is laid until the young have left the nest.
6. Have attracted at least three kinds of birds, exclusive of the
English sparrow, to a "lunch counter" which he has supplied.
Painting
[Illustration: Paintbrush insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Painting a scout must
1. Have knowledge of how to combine pigments in order to produce
paints in shades and tints of color.
2. Know how to add positive colors to a base of white lead or of white
zinc.
3. Understand the mixing of oils; turpentine, etc., to the proper
consistency.
4. Paint a porch floor or other surface evenly and without laps.
5. Know how and when to putty up nail holes and uneven surfaces.
6. Present for inspection a panel covered with three coats of paint,
which panel must contain a border of molding, the body of the panel to
be painted in one color and the molding in another.
Pathfinding
[Illustration: Indianhead insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Pathfinding a scout must
1. Know every lane, by-path, and short cut for a distance of at least
two miles in every direction around the local scouts' headquarters in
the country.
2. Have a general knowledge of the district within a five mile radius
of his local headquarters, so as to be able to guide people at any
time, by day or night.
3. Know the general direction and population of the five principal
neighboring towns and be able to give strangers correct directions how
to reach them.
4. Know in the country in the two mile radius, approximately, the
number of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs owned on the five
neighboring farms: or in a town must know in a half-mile radius what
livery stables, garages and blacksmiths there are.
5. Know the location of the nearest meat markets, bakeries, groceries,
and drug stores.
{39}
6. Know where the nearest police station, hospital, doctor, fire
alarm, fire hydrant, telegraph and telephone offices, and railroad
stations are.
7. Know something of the history of the place, its principal public
buildings, such as town or city hall, post-office, schools, and
churches.
8. As much as possible of the above information should be entered on a
large scale map.
Personal Health
[Illustration: Heart insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Personal Health a scout must
1. Write a statement on the care of the teeth.
2. State a principle to govern in eating, and state in the order of
their importance, five rules to govern the care of his health.
3. Be able to tell the difference in effect of a cold and hot bath.
4. Describe the effect of alcohol and tobacco on the growing boy.
5. Tell how to care for the feet on a march.
6. Describe a good healthful game and state its merit.
7. Describe the effects of walking as an exercise.
8. Tell how athletics may be overdone.
Photography
[Illustration: Camera and tripod insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Photography a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of the theory and use of lenses, of the
construction of cameras, and the action of developers.
2. Take, develop, and print twelve separate subjects: three interiors,
three portraits, three landscapes, and three instantaneous "action
photos."
3. Make a recognizable photograph of any wild bird larger than a
robin, while on its nest; or a wild animal in its native haunts; or a
fish in the water.
Pioneering
[Illustration: Pickaxe and hatchet insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Pioneering a scout must
1. Fell a nine-inch tree or pole in a prescribed direction neatly and
quickly.
{40}
2. Tie six knots of knots quickly.
3. Lash spars properly together for scaffolding.
4. Build a modern bridge or derrick.
5. Make a camp kitchen.
6. Build a shack of one kind or another suitable for three occupants.
Plumbing
[Illustration: Faucet insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Plumbing a scout must
1. Be able to make wiped and brazed joints.
2. Repair a burst pipe.
3. Mend a ball or faucet tap.
4. Understand the ordinary hot and cold water system of a house.
Poultry Farming
[Illustration: Chicken insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Poultry Farming a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of incubators, foster-mothers, sanitary fowl
houses, and coops and runs.
2. Understand rearing, feeding, killing, and dressing birds for
market.
3. Be able to pack birds and eggs for market.
4. Raise a brood of not less than ten chickens.
5. Report his observation and study of the hen, turkey, duck, and
goose.
Printing
[Illustration: Ink roller insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Printing a scout must
1. Know the names of ten different kinds of type and ten sizes of
paper.
2. Be able to compose by hand or machines.
3. Understand the use of hand or power printing machines.
4. Print a handbill set up by himself.
5. Be able to read and mark proof correctly.
Public Health
[Illustration: Torch insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Public Health a scout must
1. State what the chief causes of each of the following disease are:
tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria.
{41}
2. Draw a diagram showing how the house-fly carries disease.
3. Tell what should be done to a house which has been occupied by a
person who has had a contagious disease.
4. Tell how a scout may cooperate with the board of health in
preventing disease.
5. Describe the method used in his community in disposing of garbage.
6. Tell how a city should protect its foods; milk, meat, and exposed
foods.
7. Tell how to plan the sanitary care of a camp.
8. State the reason why school children should undergo a medical
examination.
Scholarship
NOTE: The requirements for the merit badge for Scholarship had not
been decided upon when this book was published. Information about same
may be secured upon application to National Headquarters.
Sculpture
[Illustration: Bust insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Sculpture a scout must
1. Make a clay model from an antique design.
2. Make a drawing and a model from nature, these models to be faithful
to the original and of artistic design.
Seamanship
[Illustration: Anchor insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Seamanship
1. Be able to tie rapidly six different knots.
2. Splice ropes.
3. Use a palm and needle.
4. Fling a rope coil.
5. Be able to row, pole, scull, and steer a boat; also bring a boat
properly alongside and make fast.
6. Know how to box the compass, read a chart, and show use of parallel
rules and dividers.
7. Be able to state direction by the stars and sun.
8. Swim fifty yards with shoes and clothes on.
{42}
9. Understand the general working of steam and hydraulic winches, and
have a knowledge of weather wisdom and of tides.
Signaling
[Illustration: Signal flags insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Signaling a scout must
1. Send and receive a message in two of the following systems of
signaling: Semaphore, Morse, or Myer, not fewer than twenty-four
letters per minute.
2. Be able to give and read signals by sound.
3. Make correct smoke and fire signals.
Stalking
[Illustration: Leaf insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Stalking a scout must
1. Take a series of twenty photographs of wild animals or birds from
life, and develop and print them.
2. Make a group of sixty species of wild flowers, ferns, or grasses,
dried and mounted in a book and correctly named.
3. Make colored drawings of twenty flowers, ferns, or grasses, or
twelve sketches from life of animals or birds, original sketches as
well as the finished pictures to be submitted.
Surveying
[Illustration: Theodolite insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Surveying a scout must
1. Map correctly from the country itself the main features of half a
mile of road, with 440 yards each side to a scale of two feet to the
mile, and afterward draw same map from memory.
2. Be able to measure the height of a tree, telegraph pole, and church
steeple, describing method adopted.
3. Measure width of a river.
4. Estimate distance apart of two objects a known distance away and
unapproachable.
5. Be able to measure a gradient.
Swimming
[Illustration: Swimmer insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Swimming a scout must
1. Be able to swim one hundred yards.
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2. Dive properly from the surface of the water.
3. Demonstrate breast, crawl, and side stroke.
4. Swim on the back fifty feet.
Taxidermy
[Illustration: Talon insignia. (tr)]
To obtain a merit badge for Taxidermy a scout must
1. Have a knowledge of the game laws of the state in which he lives.
2. Preserve and mount the skin of a game bird, or animal, killed in
season.
3. Mount for a rug the pelt of some fur animal.
Life Scout
[Illustration: Life Scout insignia. (tr)]
The life scout badge will be given to all first-class scouts who have
qualified for the following five-merit badges: first aid, athletics,
life-saving, personal health, and public health.
Star Scout
[Illustration: Star Scout insignia. (tr)]
The star scout badge will be given to the first-class scout who has
qualified for ten merit badges. The ten include the list of badges
under life scout.
Eagle Scout
[Illustration: Eagle Scout insignia. (tr)]
Any first-class scout qualifying for twenty-one merit badges will be
entitled to wear the highest scout merit badge. This is an eagle's
head in silver, and represents the all-round perfect scout.
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Honor Medals
[Illustration: Honor medal insignia. (tr)]
A scout who is awarded any one of the following medals is entitled to
wear the same on the left breast:
Bronze medal. Cross in bronze with first-class scout badge
superimposed upon it and suspended from a bar by a red ribbon. This is
awarded to a scout who has saved life.
Silver Medal. Silver Cross with first-class scout badge superimposed
upon it and suspended from bar by blue ribbon. This medal is awarded
to a scout who saves life with considerable risk to himself.
Gold Medal. Gold Cross with first-class scout badge superimposed upon
it and suspended from bar by white ribbon. This medal is the highest
possible award for service and heroism. It may be granted to a scout
who has saved life at the greatest possible risk to his own life, and
also to anyone who has rendered service of peculiar merit to the Boy
Scouts of America.
The Honor Medal is a national honor and is awarded only by the
National Council. To make application for one of these badges the
facts must first be investigated by the Court of Honor of the Local
Council and presented by that body to the Court of Honor of the
National Council.
_The Local Court of Honor may at any time invite experts to share in
their examinations and recommendations_.
When the National Court of Honor has passed upon the application, the
proper medal will be awarded.
Badges of Rank
The following devices are used to distinguish the various ranks of
scouts:
Patrol Leader
[Illustration: Patrol leader insignia. (tr)]
Patrol Leader: The patrol leader's arm badge consists of two bars,
1-1/2-inches long and 3/8-inch wide, of white braid worn on the sleeve
below the left shoulder. In addition he may {45} wear all oxidized silver
tenderfoot, second-class or first-class scout badge according to his
rank. The assistant patrol leader wears one bar.
[Illustration: Service Stripe insignia. (tr)]
Service Stripes: For each year of service as a boy scout, he will be
entitled to wear a stripe of white braid around the sleeve above the
wrist, three stripes being changed for one red one. Five years of
scouting would be indicated by one red stripe and two white stripes.
The star indicates the position for wearing merit badges.
[Illustration: Scoutmaster insignia. (tr)]
Scout Master: The badge of the scout commissioner, scout master, and
assistant scout master is the first-class scout's badge reproduced in
blue, green, and red, respectively, and are worn on the sleeve below
the left shoulder.
[Illustration: Star insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout: The badge of the Chief Scout is the first-class scout
badge with a five-pointed star above it embroidered in silver.
[Illustration: Caduceus (snakes on pole) insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Surgeon: The badge of the Chief Scout Surgeon is the
first-class scout badge with a caduceus above it embroidered in
green. (The Chief Scout's staff wear the badge of rank in the same
manner as the Chief Scout.)
[Illustration: Crossed hatchets insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Woodsman: The badge of the Chief Scout Woodsman is the
first-class scout badge with two crossed axes above it embroidered in
green.
[Illustration: Leaf insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Stalker: The badge of the Chief Scout Stalker is the
first-class scout badge with an oak leaf above it embroidered in
blue.
[Illustration: Tongues of fire insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Director of Health: The badge of the Chief Scout Director
of Health is the first-class scout badge with {46} tongues of fire
above it embroidered in red.
[Illustration: Moccasin insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Camp Master: The badge of the Chief Scout Camp Master is
the first-class scout badge with a moccasin above it embroidered in
green:
[Illustration: Winged foot insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout of Athletics: The badge of the Chief Scout Director of
Athletics is the first-class scout badge with a winged Mercury foot
above it embroidered in green.
Chief Scout Director of Chivalry: The badge of the Chief Scout
Director of Chivalry is the first-class scout badge with the scout
sign above it embroidered in gold.
[Illustration: American Flag insignia. (tr)]
Chief Scout Citizen: The badge of the Chief Scout Citizen is the
first-class scout badge with the United States flag above it in
silver.
Appropriate badges for national and local councilmen may be secured
from the National Headquarters.
Equipment
_It should be clearly understood by all interested in the Scout
Movement that it is not necessary for a boy to have a uniform or any
other special equipment to carry out the scout program. There are a
great many troops in the country which have made successful progress
without any equipment whatever_.
However, for the convenience of boys who wish to secure a uniform or
other equipment, the National Council has made arrangements with
certain manufacturers to furnish such parts of the equipment as may be
desired by the boys. Such arrangements have been made with these
manufacturers only after a great number of representative firms have
been given an opportunity to submit samples and prices; the prices
quoted to be uniform throughout the country. These manufacturers {47}
are given the privilege of using for a limited period an imprint of
the official badge as an indication that the Committee on Equipment is
willing to recommend the use of that particular article. The official
badge is fully protected by the U. S. Patent Laws and anyone using it
without expressed authority from National Headquarters is subject to
prosecution at law.
Considerable difficulty has been experienced in the selection of the
material used in making coats, breeches, and shirts. The material used
in the boy scout coat, breeches, and shirt has been submitted to a
thirty-day sun test, the acid and strength test and is guaranteed to
be a fast color and durable. To show the result of the selection made,
the manufacturer of these articles has been given the privilege of
using the imprint of the official seal and the right to use the
official buttons. We recommend the purchase of the articles having
this imprint through any local dealer or through National
Headquarters. However, where a local council exists, buttons will be
supplied on order of the Executive Committee for use on such uniforms
as the Committee may desire to have made locally. In communities where
no local council has been formed, they may be supplied on order of a
registered scout master. Prices of the buttons per set for coat is 15
cents and per set for shirt 10 cents.
Every effort is made to have all parts of the uniform and equipment
available to scouts through local dealers. If such arrangements have
not been made in a community, the National Headquarters will be glad
to help in making such an arrangement. Many scout masters prefer to
order uniforms and other supplies direct from National Headquarters.
In order to cover the expense involved in handling these supplies, the
manufacturers have agreed to allow National Headquarters the same
trade discount allowed to local dealers. Trade through National
Headquarters if sufficiently large will help to meet a part of the
current expenses of the National Organization. Any combination desired
may be made from this list. A fairly complete equipment may be secured
at the very nominal sum of $2.15. For instance, the Summer equipment
which consists of: Hat, 50 cents; Shirt, 75 cents; Shorts, 50 cents;
Belt, 40 cents.
Where it is desired to equip the members of the troop with a standard
uniform the following equipment is suggested: Hat, Shirt, Coat,
Breeches or Knickerbockers, Belt, Leggings or Stockings, shoes,
Haversack.
{48}
Other combinations may be made according to the resources of the boys
forming the troop.
However, it is recommended that each troop decide upon a definite
combination to be worn by its members so that all of the scouts in the
troop may dress alike. Each boy should pay for his own supplies and
equipment. Soliciting donations for this purpose should be prohibited.
A complete list of all supplies and equipment with full information
about places where same can be secured is given in the appendix of
this book.
KNOTS EVERY SCOUT SHOULD KNOW
_By Samuel A. Moffat, Boy Scouts of America_
Every scout knows what rope is. From the earliest moment of his play
life he has used it in connection with most of his games. In camp life
and on hikes he will be called upon to use it again and again. It is
therefore not essential to describe here the formation of rope; its
various sizes and strength. The important thing to know is how to use
it to the best advantage. To do this an intelligent understanding of
the different knots and how to tie them is essential. Every day
sailors, explorers, mechanics, and mountain-climbers risk their lives
on the knots that they tie. Thousands of lives have been sacrificed to
ill-made knots. The scout therefore should be prepared in an
emergency, or when necessity demands, to tie the right knot in the
right way.
There are three qualities to a good knot: 1. Rapidity with which it
can be tied. 2. Its ability to hold fast when pulled tight, and 3. The
readiness with which it can be undone.
The following knots, recommended to scouts, are the most serviceable
because they meet the above requirements and will be of great help in
scoutcraft. If the tenderfoot will follow closely the various steps
indicated in the diagrams, he will have little difficulty in
reproducing them at pleasure.
In practising knot-tying a short piece of hemp rope may be used. To
protect the ends from fraying a scout should know how to "whip" them.
The commonest method of "whipping" is as follows:
[Illustration: Whipping.]
Lay the end of a piece of twine along the end of the rope. {49} Hold
it to the rope with the thumb of your left hand while you wind the
standing part around it and the rope until the end of the twine has
been covered. Then with the other end of the twine lay a loop back on
the end of the rope and continue winding the twine upon this second
end until all is taken up. The end is then pulled back tight and cut
off close to the rope.
For the sake of clearness a scout must constantly keep in mind these
three principal parts of the rope:
[Illustration: Rope loop. (tr)]
1. _The Standing Part_--The long unused portion of the rope on which
he works;
2. _The Bight_--The loop formed whenever the rope is turned back
upon itself; and,
3. _The End_--The part he uses in leading. Before proceeding with the
tenderfoot requirements, a scout should first learn the two primary
knots: the overhand and figure-of-eight knots.
[Illustration: Overhand knot.]
_The Overhand Knot_.
Start with the position shown in the preceding diagram. Back the end
around the standing part and up through the bight and draw tight.
[Illustration: Figure eight knot.]
_The Figure of Eight Knot_. Make a bight as before. Then lead the end
around back of the standing part and down through the bight.
After these preliminary steps, the prospective tenderfoot may proceed
to learn the required knots.
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[Illustration: Reef knot.]
_Square or Reef Knot_. The commonest knot for tying two ropes together.
Frequently used in first-aid bandaging. Never slips or jams; easy to
untie.
[Illustration: False reef knot.]
_False Reef or Granny_. If the ends are not crossed correctly when
making the reef knot, the false reef or granny is the result. This
knot is always bad.
[Illustration: Sheet bend knot.]
_Sheet Bend or Weaver's Knot_. This knot is used in bending the sheet to
the clew of a sail and in tying two rope-ends together.
Make a bight with one rope A, B, then pass end C, of other rope up
through and around the entire bight and bend it under its own standing
part.
[Illustration: Bowline knot.]
_The Bowline_. A noose that neither jams nor slips. Used in lowering a
person from a burning building, etc.
Form a small loop on the standing part leaving the end long enough for
the size of the noose required. Pass the end up through the bight
around the standing part and down through the bight again. To tighten,
hold noose in position and pull standing part.
[Illustration: Halter knot.]
_Halter, Slip, or Running Knot_. A bight is first formed and an overhand
knot made with the end around the standing part.
[Illustration: Sheepshank knot.]
_Sheepshank_. Used for shortening ropes. Gather up the amount to be
shortened, then make a half hitch round each of the bends as shown in
the diagram.
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[Illustration: Clove hitch knot.]
_Clove Hitch_. Used to fasten one pole to another in fitting up
scaffolding; this knot holds snugly; is not liable to slip laterally.
Hold the standing part in left hand, then pass the rope around the
pole; cross the standing part, making a second turn around the pole,
and pass the end under the last turn.
[Illustration: Fisherman's bend knot.]
_The Fisherman's Bend_. Used aboard yachts for bending on the gaff
topsail halliards. It consists of two turns around a spar or ring,
then a half hitch around the standing part and through the turns on
the spar, and another half hitch above it around the standing part.
[Illustration: Timber hitch knot.]
_Timber Hitch_. Used in hauling timber. Pass the end of the rope around
the timber. Then lead it around its standing part and bring it back to
make two or more turns on its own part. The strain will hold it
securely.
[Illustration: Two half hitches knot.]
_Two Half Hitches_. Useful because they are easily made and will not
slip under any strain. Their formation is sufficiently indicated by
the diagram.
[Illustration: Blackwall hitch knot.]
_Blackwall Hitch_. Used to secure a rope to a hook. The standing part
when hauled tight holds the end firmly.
[Illustration: Becket hitch knot.]
_Becket Hitch_. For joining a cord to a rope. May be easily made from
diagram.
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[Illustration: Fisherman's knot.]
_The Fisherman's Knot_. Used for tying silk-worm gut for fishing
purposes. It never slips; is easily unloosed by pulling the two short
ends.
The two ropes are laid alongside one another, then with each end an
overhand knot is made around the standing part of the other. Pull the
standing parts to tighten.
[Illustration: Carrick bend knot.]
_Carrick Bend_. Used in uniting hawsers for towing. Is easily untied by
pushing the loops inwards.
Turn the end of one rope A over its standing part B to form a loop.
Pass the end of the other rope across the bight thus formed, back of
the standing part B over the end A, then under the bight at C, passing
it over its own standing part and under the bight again at D.
[Illustration: Mariner's compass.]
The Mariner's Compass
Boxing the Compass consists in enumerating the points, beginning with
north and working around the circle as follows:
North
North by East
North, North-east
North-east by North
North-east
North-east by East
East, North-east
East by North
East
East by South
East, South-east
South-east by East
South-east
South-east by South
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South, South-east
South by East
South
South by West
South, South-west
South-west by South
South-west
South-west by West
West, South-west
West by South
West
West by North
West, North-west
North-west by West
North-west
North-west by North
North, North-west
North by West
North
NOTES
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Notes
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Notes
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Notes
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