Scouting Magazine, December 1948

You’re Wanted for Questioning

But don’t let it bother you. Any embarrassment will be on our side. And we’re willing to take the chance.

All you stand to lose is three cents and a half hour. To gain, a more interesting and helpful SCOUTING.

What I mean is, you’re No. 1 man on our Board of Experts and your opinion is very important to us.

We know that you have one, that you make up your mind very quickly as you thumb an issue as to whether a page seems to interest you, whether you’ll read it or keep thumbing. Finally, whether it was worth your time, likely to help you in your Scouting work.

We can’t talk with you personally about your ideas, and a long questionnaire would probably send you scooting, so here’s a plan to do it the easy way. It may look sketchy to you, but it will really help us a lot.

Here’s how it works—when you have finished reading this issue—that is, all of it you feel the urge to read—turn back to this page and use the contents column as your survey blank. Put checks opposite each article in the columns that best describe your reaction. Then write any comment you wish to add in that small space at the bottom, note your Scouting position, cut off the Contents strip on the dotted line, slip it into an envelope and mail to us.

I hope we will hear from you. It’ll be a real Good Turn to all your fellow Scouters.

Lex R. Lucas
Managing Editor

SCOUTING MAGAZINE is published monthly except August and bi-monthly June-July, and copyrighted 1948, by the Boy Scouts of America, 2 Park Ave., New York 16, N.Y. Reentered as Second Class Matter, June 13, 1946, at the Post Office at New York, N.Y., under the act of March 3, 1879.

Scouting Magazine is edited in the Division of Program by the Editorial Service. Director at the Division of Program, E. Urner Goodman. Director of Publications, Editor, Lorne W. Barclay. Managing Editor, Lex R. Lucas. Asst. Managing Editor, Tom MacPherson. Art Director, Donald Ross. Production Director, Geo. W. Goddard, Jr. Associate Editors: Gerald Speedy, Cub Scouting; Ted Pettit, Boy Scouting; Ted Holstein, Senior Scouting.

SCOUTING

DECEMBER, 1948, VOL. 36, No. 10

CONTENTS

Follow the “Trail Signs”—

★, ◆, ⚜, ●

to find articles of special interest to you.

Key to interest level:

a - I READ THIS ARTICLE CAREFULLY

b - I READ IT CASUALLY

c - I DID NOT READ IT

d - IT WAS INTERESTINGLY WRITTEN

e - IT WAS NOT INTERESTINGLY WRITTEN

f - I CAN USE THE IDEAS

g - I CANNOT USE THE IDEAS

h - THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE CLEAR

i - THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT CLEAR

j - THE ILLUSTRATIONS HELPED THE ARTICLE

k - THE ILLUSTRATIONS DID NOT HELP

Comments:

My Scouting Position

Scouting the Country

★ Buckshot to Memorial

When John M. Phillips began his crusade for conservation less than two generations ago, he was taunted, reviled, threatened, and “accidentally” shot in the legs three times. Sportsmen of that day felt game was public property, and they dealt roughly with “busybody conservationists.”

But on an August Sunday in 1948, a new crop of sportsmen met near Glenhazel, Pennsylvania, and paid public tribute to the same John M. Phillips, no longer taunted nor “accidentally” shot. Commonwealth sportsmen now revere him as “Pennsylvania’s grand old man of conservation.” On the site of the first game lands purchased by the state, they unveiled a huge boulder, bearing a keystone-shaped plaque commemorating the work of Mr. Phillips in developing a state-wide conservation system.

A member of the Advisory Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Mr. Phillips is 87 years old, and one of the few men to have a memorial erected in his honor while still living.

Dutch Uncles—2¢ Each

If you’d like to get it off your chest—you know, tell parents a thing or three—here’s your opportunity to do it in a nice way. (Not that you’d do it other than nicely.) At the request of many Scouters, we are making reprints of Louis C. Fink’s “Are We Pied Pipers?” from October Scouting. If you’d like a few copies, why not ask your Council for them?

Country Kids

If you, too, have always taken it for granted that delinquency is a crop native only to the teeming metropolis, Albert S. Goss, Master of the National Grange, has a shock for you.

“The farmer,” reports Mr. Goss, “is now disturbed about the rapid increase in delinquency. He has finally come to the conclusion that the greatest influence (in combatting delinquency) is that of character-building organizations, the results of which he is delighted with.”

Among character-building organizations, “Scouting for the country kid,” adds Mr. Goss, “is a natural, for he has many things right at his back door that Scouting offers (and) every one of the Granges can sponsor a Scout Unit. There are 7,100 sub-units in the United States, and a special effort is being made this year to push this. The sub-units themselves own about 4,000 buildings.”

Mr. Goss was speaking at a meeting of the National Committee on Rural Scouting late last October. The meeting was presided over by Mr. Wheeler McMillen, Committee Chairman. Mr. McMillen, known for his interest in rural youth, is moderator of this month’s round table, “Reaching Out,” which you’ll find on page [4].

Old Mags

The fondest dream of any editor is that you, dear reader, cherish and possess your magazine through eternity. But, no respecters of dreams are the 2,000 Boys’ Clubs of Britain. Magazine-hungry, they’ll gladly accept any and all back numbers of any magazine, providing it’s American. Mail ’Em to E. H. G. Barwell, Peace Haven, 25 Chantry Close, Kenton, Middlesex, England.

Brothers

Troop 23 of Schenectady, New York, did go to camp last summer, although there was some hectic scrambling at the last minute to raise funds. You see, Troop 23 was financially set pretty well in advance, but along came June, and clear across the continent Vanport, Oregon, went down under fifteen feet of water. Scouts of Troop 23 read of how two Vanport Scout Troops and two Cub Packs barely got ashore with the clothes on their backs, so the boys from Schenectady began packing. To Vanport went haversacks, uniforms, pins, badges, and a welter of miscellany. But still the packages didn’t look impressive enough to Troop 23, so into the treasury they dived and came up with $35 of their camp funds.

No moral needed.

Fifty Means Forty

No that’s not double talk on inflation, it’s just a first clue to the fact that, come 1950, we celebrate our 40th Anniversary, and since 40 years is quite a milestone, we propose to celebrate it in a big way.

In fact, we’ll be starting the process at the very beginning of 1949—a big, two year program which will reach into every Pack and Troop and Senior Unit in America. Be watching for future announcements!

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

By E. Urner Goodman

National Program Director

★ Scouting, like Christmas, is a thing of the spirit. Everybody knows about the spirit of Christmas! It is a spirit which makes itself felt in the heart of man no matter where he may be. There was the story of the landing at Casablanca which tells of this spirit so vividly. The story, contained in a letter to home by a Scout of yesterday, relates:

“It was Christmas Eve when we landed at Casablanca. We were among the first contingent to land, so we didn’t know what kind of reception we’d get. Our officers gathered us together and cautioned us about that. No one could predict if it would be a friendly welcome or a welcome of machine gun fire. So, as we marched up the main street of Casablanca, we walked as silently as possible. No one spoke to his neighbor. Everything was expectant and utterly tense.

“The march led toward the East, and as we marched, my eye quickly picked out a bright star shining down near the Eastern horizon. At once I remembered another Star that likewise shone so brightly on Christmas Eve. But now things seemed so different. Danger and death apparently were lurking behind every house as we passed.

“And then it happened—but not as we expected it. For, coming clearly and crisply from a group of buildings we were passing was the sound, not of machine guns or rifles, but the sweet and lovely strains of a blessed Christmas carol.

“The effect was electric. We all felt it. I looked at my buddy, who was a hard boiled sergeant. He caught his lip in his teeth and with tears coursing down his cheeks, he marched on unashamed.”

Well, there you have it. With the spirit of good will moving in the hearts of men, the Christmas spirit overcomes the rattle of the machine gun. It is wonderful to contemplate what effect the Christmas spirit has even on souls hardened by men at war.

More familiar, of course, are the homey evidences of the Christmas spirit ... the smell of balsam boughs and turkey roasting; the sight of the bright red berries on a wreath of holly; the soft caress of a falling snowflake on a moonlit Christmas Eve; the unforgettable taste of that red and white peppermint candy cane; and above all, the sweet notes of Christmas carols falling on the ear—all these things bring to us the spirit of Christmas at home.

But something deeper than all of that is there, because Christmas reminds us of the song of the angels, of “Peace on Earth among Men of Good Will.”

So similar is the spirit of Scouting, which grows out of such vivid experiences as these: The smell of woodfire with bacon broiling above it; the call of the loon over the lake on a quiet night; the sight of a great bird soaring over pines on a mountain top; the comforting feel of your buddy’s shoulder as you hike along a woodland trail at night; the unforgettable taste of wild strawberries gathered to augment the Patrol’s menu.

These things have a part, it is true, in the spirit of Scouting, but there is something far deeper, as we all know. For Scouting, like Christmas, is a thing of the spirit.

“Happyfying”

No season is happier than the Christmas season, and the secret of that happiness lies in what our founder, Baden-Powell, called “happyfying.” It is the philosophy of the old song, “I want to be happy, but I can’t be happy, ’till I make you happy, too.”

Our Christmas turkey loses its taste and becomes dry fodder unless we have done something to make somebody else happy at Christmas time.

Now that is the spirit of Scouting at Christmas and at all other seasons. It was put into the Scout spirit by Baden-Powell. The implication is clear. Our happiness all year through, as Scouts, grows out of the many acts we do to bring happiness to those around us.

It is a fine thing for the Troop to engage in national or community programs of service. We should do that as good citizens. It is an even greater thing for a Patrol to single out some very human service they can perform for somebody close at hand. And when these Scouts see the smile on the face of the neighbor they have helped, then they know all about “happyfying” and their own lives are blest, too.

And the Scoutmaster, or other Unit Leader, knows about “happyfying,” for is he not making a Christmas gift to the nation every week in the year as he carries on his Scoutmastership? Thus he, himself, receives dividends the like of which no billionaire in history ever knew. So it was that one such Scoutmaster speaking at the last meeting of our National Council was able to say, “When the Scoutmaster looks around him and counts his blessings, he finds that his reward is the richest of all.”

Good Will

The youngest Cub Scout, of course, knows about good will, for does not the Law of the Pack remind him that “A Cub gives good will?” So, in the Boy Scout experience he finds that “The Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout.” As he grows older he learns more of the World Brotherhood of Scouting and finds that good will among men knows no boundaries of race or creed, or nationality.

The beloved song of the angels at Christmastime, then, is the thing that Scouting is trying to do all year round. Insofar as Scouting builds its brotherhood and gives good will all year round, will it be speeding that day of “Peace on Earth.”

★ We have it on good authority that 53% of the boys of America live “way out there,” in the little crossroads settlements and on the miles-apart farms.

We all know that we have a big opportunity and responsibility to reach out into that open country. We also know that it is a hard job.

To help bring this rural business into the spotlight, SCOUTING Magazine asked eight men to join in one of our Round Table discussions. These men represent all phases of rural life and of Scouting. The “moderator’s gavel” will be wielded by the Chairman of our National Committee on Rural Scouting, Wheeler McMillen, who as the Editor-in-chief of the Farm Journal and the Pathfinder Magazine, has a host of friends throughout America.

Mr. McMillen, will you take over?

McMILLEN: I feel honored to join you fine men, who represent so many aspects of modern farm life. We all have one thing in common—we want that boy who lives on the farm to have a good break. Some of us believe that the Scouting program can play a big part in his growth.

We should face this whole question objectively and constructively. Let’s start by asking a rather blunt question: Do rural boys really need Scouting? Or is their normal life already filled with the ingredients which make for character and good citizenship?

VERNON NICHOLS, SCOUTMASTER: They need it very much. Scouting not only builds character, but it helps especially in developing leadership, a quality often lacking in farm boys.

HOWARD F. FOX, SUPERVISOR, VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE: The boys who live in small towns need Scouting, but I think those who live on farms need it in less degree.

JOE C. CARRINGTON, COUNCIL PRESIDENT: I can’t agree with Mr. Fox. Farm boys need it even more than town boys, who have more supervised playgrounds, more church and school and club-sponsored programs. The rural boy has very little to round out his life, and really needs Scouting.

L. H. ELEAZER, CUBMASTER: Perhaps the elements are there on the farm, but Scouting can help bring them out. Sometimes when a man is close to a thing, he doesn’t see it in its real light. Also, all rural boys do not stay on the farms where they were reared. These boys need much of the same kind of training their city brothers get.

CARRINGTON: That raises a good point—when the rural boy moves to town, he very often has no entering wedge into the youth programs there. But if he is a Scout in the rural area he can transfer his membership and make a transition which would have been difficult without Scouting. Its universality is an important feature.

Reaching Out

McMILLEN: I see you’re all nodding in agreement, including Mr. Fox. Actually we have never really questioned the need, have we? It’s the ways to use Scouting best and to get it to the rural boy, that bothers us.

FOREST WITCRAFT, SCOUT EXECUTIVE: Does it really need to bother us? Of course it’s hard to take Scouting out to the boys in the open country, but plenty of Councils have proved that it can be done.

I’m thinking of Draper in my South Dakota country, with a population of 190, Barnard with 60, Strandburg with 177, Stratford, Northville and Garden City adding 700 more—six communities with a little better than 1100, supporting ten thriving Scout Units. I think of places like Tulare (population 244) with 19 Scouts, 17 of whom come from their farms. It can be done.

FOX: The crux of the problem is probably leadership. Can rural communities supply it? There is no question in my mind but that it’s there, but will men who do hard physical work long hours every day in the week give the time needed for Scouting?

HENRY P. CARSTENSEN, MASTER, STATE GRANGE: Part of the problem here is the tendency of parents of rural youth to take the attitude that Scouting is a non-essential activity, a luxury which they cannot afford.

Some good parent education would make it easier to get leaders and thus to spread Scouting.

CARRINGTON: There are ways to get men in the farm country. As District Chairman, I used a well-known method that worked wonderfully. I used a survey blank that asked boys the question “Who do you think is the best man in your community, and why?” The kids would name men whom we hadn’t thought of, and give good reasons. When we went to such men and told them why the boys thought they were tops, resistance faded away and we usually had our leaders.

In most communities the leadership is there if we know how to dig for it.

NICHOLS: Leadership may be there all right, but believe me, trained leadership is sure lacking. That is where our Local Councils need to give us more help—short courses that busy men can attend. I think time and money spent by the Local Council assisting new leaders would be well spent.

WITCRAFT: Training becomes harder as the distance between your Scout Units increases. Here are a few ways we have been able to get training to our men:

(a) We run week-end training courses.

(b) Our monthly Round Tables are packed with training as well as fellowship.

(c) The One-Unit course is tops—the committee joins with the leaders in an at-home training experience. This may lack some of the advantages of larger courses but it has some of its own.

(d) We count heavily on personal coaching by our Field Executives and Commissioner Staff.

McMILLEN: Before we get too deeply into Council methods of handling country Scouting, let’s study it a bit more from the boy’s angle. What aspects of Scouting are most interesting and helpful to boys?

ELEAZER: I would say the most interesting aspect to the rural boy is camping. The most helpful is probably the achievement part of the program.

FOX: I put this question to the forty students in my vocational agriculture class, well over half of whom are or have been Scouts. The younger boys put camping first; the older ones put it on a level with advancement skills. All of them rated these two aspects of Scouting tops.

NICHOLS: One of the values I see my boys get out of camping is the ability to work with others. Too often rural boys do not have a chance to develop this important trait. That’s why group activity is especially important to rural boys too.

McMILLEN: A very good point, Mr. Nichols. Our rural boys aren’t different, but sometimes their opportunity to develop certain abilities and traits is limited: Scouting’s camping and its group activity can fill a big void.

Speaking about program, what do you think of the Merit Badge work?

FOX: In the first place, rural boys like to receive recognition for things they do, as well as any youth. I know that many of the Merit Badges encourage farm boys to improve their agricultural skills. Experienced farmers make good counselors in agricultural subjects.

NICHOLS: The rural boy possibly needs the Merit Badge program more than does the city boy because he has less access to these “idea sources.” He needs to know about trades and occupations, too, other than those found on the farm.

WITCRAFT: In addition to the values the Merit Badge program holds for the boy, it has two other big values; it has sold many rural people on Scouting because farmers readily see the value of such subjects as Beef Production and Soil Management. It has also brought many men into Scouting. A man gets a taste of Scouting while serving as a Merit Badge Counselor and, liking this experience, accepts other leadership responsibilities.

McMILLEN: Mr. Witcraft’s comment about adults reminds me of a frequent criticism heard in the rural field that such activities as Scouting interfere with a boy’s responsibilities to his farm home. Is this so, and need it be so?

L. O. PARKER, COUNTY FARM AGENT: It is true that they could interfere, but I don’t think it happens often. When the Unit Leader and Committee are rural people they will recognize this problem and avoid it.

ELEAZER: Getting to and from meetings sometimes poses a problem. Perhaps a less frequent Troop meeting would be the answer, with Patrol meetings in the boys’ homes in between.

NICHOLS: The camp may be the biggest problem, if it comes in the middle of the harvest season.

FOX: Camp doesn’t really have to interfere, does it? Each Troop would naturally schedule its camp dates to miss the busiest season in that area.

NICHOLS: I didn’t mean that the camping problem was hard to overcome. Certainly it is so important to a farm boy that we must get it in somehow. Going to the Council camp helps us realize that we belong to something bigger than our own Troop in our own little community. In the same way, inter-Troop activities help us keep on our toes.

PARKER: I certainly agree that camping is important, but it is the Scouting activity which is most likely to conflict with home responsibilities. Councils with rural territory should be very aware of the problem, and should handle it realistically.

CARSTENSEN: This whole discussion of competitive activity raises another question which we in the Grange feel is important. That is, that leaders of all youth movements should recognize the need for closer contact and understanding—the need for planning together so that their problems will be coordinated rather than conflicting.

We have tried to work this way in developing our Juvenile Grange program; we have made an effort to support such activities as the Boy Scouts, the 4H, Future Farmers, etc.

FOX: I am not too much concerned about the danger of competition. Neither the 4H nor the F.F.A. cover the entire country, by any means. Furthermore, my experience has been that boys can belong to both F.F.A. and the Scouts and do a good job of both. Then, too, since Future Farmers are all older boys, their activities become a continuation of the leadership training received in Scouting.

PARKER: We in 4H like to have our boys active in Scouting. Scouting and 4H strengthen one another. For example, Scouting recognizes with its Merit Badge awards the work our boys do in 4H projects. Scouting provides programs in non-agricultural subjects which 4H does not offer.

WITCRAFT: Let’s go even stronger than that. There isn’t nearly as much competition for a boy’s time in the country as there is in the city; that’s one of the reasons Scouting is so much needed in the country.

McMILLEN: All of this brings us face to face with the pay-off question: Granted that Scouting has a program needed by country boys, and that there are ways of making it work, what help is most needed by isolated rural Units, and how can the Local Council best provide this help?

ELEAZER: The help most needed by those of us who lead rural Packs and Troops is that which can be given by the Executive or a Field Executive. This is especially true when we start new Units.

NICHOLS: Training is our No. 1 need, and this includes our Committees. Our Council made a good move in filling its monthly District meetings with real training and a lot of good fellowship.

WITCRAFT: That word “fellowship” is especially important. When men live a long ways apart they need opportunities to get together. The Council must find ways to make this happen.

FOX: Financing rural work also seems to be a problem. I am not too familiar with Scouting, but I wonder if this does need to be a problem?

NICHOLS: This is probably more true in times of financial stress than it is now, but there is a problem to face. One thing is sure, the stronger and more active the Troop, the easier it is to raise funds. If the people of a community see that Scouting is doing a lot for the boys, they’ll support it.

CARRINGTON: In our Council we furnish Scouting service all over our area, but we think it’s right to apportion more Field Executive time to the Districts which are providing adequate funds to make that field service possible.

At the same time, we carry on an organized extension program in all areas with the hope that all will make use of Scouting and give it their support.

WITCRAFT: It is true that the cost of rural Scouting has often delayed Councils in coming to grips with the rural problem. Usually we have assumed that Scouting starts in the city, moves out to the small towns and eventually filters down to the village and open country.

The Council faces a practical problem. It has a certain amount of time and money. How can these be spent most wisely? The same amount of work that will organize a rural Troop of six boys at Olson’s Corners will organize a Troop of twenty boys in the headquarters city. It has seemed to be sound business to spend Council money where it would bring Scouting to the most boys.

But consider what this means to Olaf Torkelson, twelve years old, out at Olson’s Corners. Can we say to him, “Sorry, Olaf, but it will probably be several years before we can organize marginal places like Olson’s Corners.”

Our Council, at its coming Annual Meeting, will take action on a proposal by our Organization and Extension Committee that we shall henceforth recognize an equal responsibility to all boys within our area, regardless of where they live.

We believe such an approach would be financially sound, and that the rural area will support it.

FOX: I broached this question of cost, but actually I don’t think it’s serious. The open country has the boys, and wants them to have their chance. The money can be secured if we approach the right people. For example, some farm cooperatives now have educational programs. They might see big dividends in efforts spent to help Scouting develop leaders among rural youth.

Farming has become so complex that the country can no longer afford to let its best youth go to the city. Today farming demands the best brains as well as the strongest bodies the nation can produce. The modern farmer must organize, manage, finance, produce, and market.

Scouting can, and does help round out a rural boy’s life. It builds the kind of men the nation needs on its farms.

McMILLEN: This has been good talk. It has been all the more persuasive because we have heard the voices of men who have actually “reached out.” Rural Scouting is a fact that grows all the time.

One thought in closing: No one has much trouble to get boys into Scouting. But in order to keep the Scout groups flourishing, we need more men who will give leadership. I would like to suggest that no Council’s annual dinner, or outdoor event, will be quite complete unless the top leaders in farm and rural business activities are personally invited to see and hear for themselves. Pay them more attention and they will pay more attention to Scouting.

SCOUTING ON MAIN STREET

By Edward Belason,

Assistant Director of Public Relations

★ BOY SCOUT WEEK will soon be upon us. For one entire week in February you will hear and see a lot about Scouting as the general public finds itself becoming Scouting-conscious.

You will hear Scouting on the radio, see Scouting in newspapers and magazines, and rub elbows with Scouting as Scouts go to and from school in their uniforms.

As a Scout leader, you will want to make the best use of the nationwide publicity and direct the attention of people in YOUR community to the activities of THEIR Scouts. One ideal method for a local Unit is through a Scout display in a store window with a prominent location.

The three immediate advantages of a window display are: ONE, the general public becomes Scouting-conscious; TWO, the Unit has a live and unusual program for several days; and THREE, boys who are not now Scouts see an opening for themselves to join the Unit.

Plan Your Display

Before you ask a merchant for window space, have some plans for your display on paper, or at least in your mind. Explain to him the advantages to the community, to Scouting, and to his store. Most storekeepers are willing to cooperate. Larger shops may even offer the services of trained window decorators. Once you obtain the space you have a responsibility to both the merchant and to Scouting to install the neatest and most interesting display you and your staff can create. No doubt you can get some valuable help from your Local Council.

Build your display around the theme for 1949—“Adventure—That’s Scouting!” Show the folks in your community that your Unit spells Adventure with a capital “A.”

Make a list of the items you will want to display, such as photographs, handicraft articles, posters, flags, collections, knot boards, books, etc. Select those which you can make outstanding. Don’t crowd the window; use just what you have room for.

After the list is decided upon, get the Unit’s specialists on the job. Get the shutter bugs busy on photographs, the craftsmen to their work benches, and the artists to their layout pads. Photos are one of the best mediums for telling your story. Select those that truly represent Scouting activities. Enlarge them and mount them neatly, with captions easily read.

The background, too, should be eye-catching. It should be large enough that passersby will be arrested and enticed to step up close to look over the display. You can make a good backdrop with a photo illustrating Scout adventure, and enlarged to take in practically the entire background. If you cannot get extra size enlargements in your community, choose several photos, make 11″ × 14″ enlargements and group them to form an artistic background. Or you might have your boys make a large Scout emblem from beaverboard and color it. Another possibility is to mount several photos on wallboard cut to the shape of the Scout badge.

Experiment with arrangements in advance, so that when you enter the store you can trim the window in the quickest possible time.

Chalk off the actual window area on the meeting room floor. Place smaller items in the foreground, and gradually build up to the background. If pedestals are needed, perhaps the storekeeper may lend them to you. If he has none, make some of cardboard and gummed tape. Cigar boxes, paper cartons, and tin cans, painted or covered with colored paper, can be used.

Extremely bright colors will sometimes detract from the items on display. Avoid them or use them carefully. Neutral colors can easily be arranged to compliment and flatter the displayed items. For example, when exhibiting a collection of leather-craft items, a cream or light green will show them up better than bright red or blue.

Arrange the articles to create continuity. It isn’t necessary that each item be seen from every angle. Avoid over-crowding; it has a tendency to confuse and tire the window-shopper. He may walk away and perhaps miss the essence of your message.

Not until you have had your “dress rehearsal” are you ready to install your display in the store window. The pet peeve of any shopkeeper is to have his store upset while windows are being dressed, especially if the job takes too long. Agree on the time convenient to him, then do the job rapidly and neatly. Don’t send the whole gang over. Pick two or three good workers and let them handle it. A good job done efficiently will undoubtedly get you a return invitation next year.

THE DUST OF THE ROUND-UP SETTLES

★ The Round-Up that started along the Old Scouting Trail three months ago is heading for the biggest event of all—the final “branding,” when the “mavericks,” the new boys brought into Scouting this fall, are formally and officially brought into the corral.

The “branding” ceremony, which should be staged in early December, can be one of the most colorful events your Unit ever held. Put it on with all the spirit and zip of a real western event. Use imagination in the staging—a few corral fence rails in the background, a fire “burning” in front, and the investiture team in cowboy togs. Think in western terms when you write the investiture script. Act out the Round-Up and branding with a nice combination of cowboy color and dignity, and your new boys and your public will remember the night of the “branding” ceremony for a long, long time.

When that final ceremony is staged, the “branding” done, we will have time to lean back against the old corral fence and take stock of the results.

What do we see as the dust of our Round-Up settles? How well did we round up the strays? Are there still boys “out there” who should be getting Scouting, and who could be, if we were really on our toes?

Before you hang up your spurs and lariat, won’t you check up once more on that boy that showed up at two or three meetings and looked as though he wanted to join but somehow didn’t make it.

You might be surprised at what you would find if you called on his folks—so often boys are kept out of Scouting because of misunderstandings which can be so easily cleared up when you talk to the parents. Lots of boys get that close to Scouting before they are shut out. The extra time given to this personal follow-up will be some of the best you ever spent on Scouting.

This may seem like a lot about membership, but remember, all of us who really believe in Scouting’s value to a boy, want to do our part to extend Scouting opportunity to as many boys as we can handle in our Unit.

Membership facts, by the way, are a good measuring rod of our program. When there’s fun and adventure in a Scout Unit most every boy wants to join. When there’s always something new and interesting happening, they want to stay in.

That’s what our membership figures really represent—our ability to provide the opportunity to join, plus the program that holds.

Much of this fall’s Round-Up activity has been designed to provide more of the opportunity to join, as well as a good deal of planning for the program that holds boys. Now we need to follow through on that program. That means steady attention to the regular activities, whatever they may be—the Den meetings, the Patrol meetings and weekly Troop or Senior Unit meetings, and special attention to the highlights that serve to “point up” the boy’s Scouting experience.

What are some of these highlights? In Cub Scouting the monthly Pack meetings are highlight events; each one is different and apparently more interesting than those that have gone before.

Up and coming Boy Scout Troops and Senior Units plan their highlights in a different way. They schedule at intervals through the year a number of events specially chosen to give a lift and a purpose to the week-by-week program. They use these special events as something to look forward to, something to prepare for, and afterward, of course, to look back on with happy memories.

Well, it’s time to boost ourselves off that old corral post and get going. There’s things to do around this ranch and now’s the time to be doing them!

DON’T FORGET THE DENNER

◆ The Denner is probably the most neglected and forgotten leader in Cub Scouting. Yet he is one of the most important links between other Cub Scout leaders and the Cub Scouts themselves.

The Denner is elected by the boys. While their standards may be different from the standards of adults, you can probably trust them to select the boy whose leadership they are most ready to accept.

If there is any influencing of the election, probably the best point to bring out is that the older boy with more experience is usually the best.

Usually the term of office is not long. However, there is no specific limit. If the term is not too long, more boys will have an opportunity to practice leadership. On the other hand, if it is too short, no Denner serves long enough to become a really helpful leader.

HIS RESPONSIBILITIES

The Denner is the right-hand man of the Den Chief. Here are a few of the responsibilities which the Denner in most Dens can and should assume:

1. Arrive early to prepare meeting place.

2. Meet with Den Chief and Den Mother to go over last minute plans for the meeting.

3. There are times when he can lead games or songs. This will require coaching from the Den Chief, and also some backing during the activity.

4. He often keeps and reads the Den diary although in some Dens another member of the Den carries on this responsibility.

5. He can also help with simpler ceremonies. For example, he should lead the Grand Howl and Living Circle. When the Den repeats the Den Promise and the Law of the Pack, he is the logical leader.

HIS BADGE OF OFFICE

The Denner wears his Denner’s Stripe six inches below his left shoulder seam. An Assistant Denner wears a single stripe in the same position.

The Denner relinquishes the badge of office when he no longer holds that office. Only one boy in the Den wears the Denner’s stripes at any one time. Explain to the Den that Denner’s Stripes are not an award for service but a badge to designate the boy who holds the office. It should be presented to the boy at a ceremony either at a Den Meeting or a regular Pack Meeting.

SOME GENERAL TIPS

1. If the office is to seem important and worthwhile, the Denner must have an active part in the leadership of Den activities.

2. Sometimes a boy becomes a little overbearing. You may have to tone him down a bit, and make clear to him that one mark of a good leader is to lead in such a way that folks like to follow.

3. Make the election of a Denner an important matter. Discuss it thoroughly. Make clear to the boys that the boy they elect will definitely be their leader once he is elected and they are then expected to follow him.

4. Recognize the Denner. A bit of recognition will make his leadership more helpful.

5. The Den Chief and the Den Mother should see that the Denner has a happy experience. If the boys do not follow his leadership, it will tend to discourage him from further leadership efforts.

SCOUTING’S 39TH BIRTHDAY

BLUE AND GOLD

WEEK

◆ Yes, we know it’s only December, but it’s not too early to begin to think about the way your Pack will celebrate Boy Scout Week in February of 1949. This will be Scouting’s 39th birthday, and it’s a time for celebration for everybody related to the Boy Scouts of America.

Some Cub Scout Leaders feel since our birthday is called “Boy Scout Week,” that the celebration includes only Boy Scouts. This simply isn’t true; it’s the birthday of our Movement and those of us in Cub Scouting are very much a part of the Scout Movement. So—here are a few advance tips which will help you look ahead to February and make some plans. More detailed tips will appear in January Scouting.

ADVENTURE—THAT’S CUB SCOUTING

As you know, each Boy Scout Week has its theme or big idea, and in 1949 it will be “Adventure—That’s Scouting.” Of course, to you that means “Adventure—That’s Cub Scouting,” so you’ll be wanting to emphasize the adventure part of our program.

As usual, Blue and Gold will be our program theme for February. This has become a tradition in Cub Scouting. It’s an annual party occasion with Boy Scout Week as its theme. Perhaps your Blue and Gold party will be in the form of a potluck where everyone brings his own food, or perhaps you’ll do it banquet style. However you do it, it will be the basis for a month of preparation on the part of both Cub Scout Leaders and Cub Scouts.

THE UNIFORM

Encourage parents to look ahead to Boy Scout Week and attempt to have their boys in complete Cub Scout uniform by February. Cub Scouts will want to wear their uniforms to school and to church. They will want their uniforms in spick and span condition.

SCOUT SUNDAY

Plan ahead so that your Pack will fit into some scheme for attending church on the Sunday of Boy Scout Week. If your Pack is sponsored by a church, perhaps all boys who belong to that church will sit in a body with their parents on that particular Sunday. Perhaps you could even work out some plan whereby Cub Scouts will participate in the church service or prepare an exhibit for the entrance hall of the church.

YOUR SPONSORING INSTITUTION

Perhaps your Pack is sponsored by a P.T.A. or a civic club which has regular monthly meetings. If so, why not start working on a plan where your Pack might have some part in the February meeting of the organization. It is not necessary for the Cub Scouts themselves to attend the meeting, but an exhibit or a display and perhaps several representatives of the Pack would help to put the spotlight on Boy Scout Week.

WINDOW DISPLAYS

Every Pack should try to prepare a Cub Scout window display in a community store. If possible, pick a store window which is located in the neighborhood of your Pack. These are the folks who will be most interested in what you are doing. You will find some suggestions on Cub Scout window displays in the January Scouting Magazine.

SPECIAL PUBLICITY

Urge your Cub Scouts to listen to the radio during Boy Scout Week. There will be statements about Scouting in connection with all nationwide programs. Try to fit into this general scheme in your community and get some Pack news into your community paper.

AMERICAN CUB SCOUT DEN IN PERU

By Mrs. A. R. Merz
La Oroya, Peru

◆ “Gee, mother, all the Cubs are wearing their new uniforms to school and there’s four—let me see, how many Cubs are there now? I guess five, Cub caps in a row in the cloakroom, and now the two Scout caps, and, gee, they look nice!”

It was Boy Scout Week and the five Cub Scouts and two Boy Scouts, whose uniform accessories had just arrived from BSA Headquarters in New York were 100% thrilled at the privilege of wearing their new gear every day to school. The boys are members of Den One and Patrol One, the only officially registered Scout groups in the Sierra of Peru, and doubtless the highest in all the world—for the altitude where we live is 12,500 feet.

On January 7, 1947, the parents of the only four boys then eligible to join any Scout group met and decided that even with so few it would be worth everyone’s effort to start a Cub Den. We were all members of the small mining camp (about 50 “gringo” families) of the extensive Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation called La Oroya.

Since then, four new boys of Cub Scout age have come to camp and been admitted, and four of the original five have attained their twelfth birthdays and are now enjoying their first meetings as a Boy Scout Neighborhood Patrol. Without exception, the younger boys are all looking forward to their ninth birthdays so that they may join the envied group of Cub Scouts.

Our first month was dedicated to getting acquainted with Scouting literature, its history and intent, and fixing up the gravel-floored garage loaned to us as meeting place by the Cubmaster. We borrowed the unused school workbench, decorated walls with Cub Scout plaques, American and Den Flags, and the framed Den Charter. With the help of local men, often not themselves fathers of Cub Scouts, we made many things of wood, tin, and copper during the year. But the regular meetings are held at the Den Mother’s home, or at the homes of all the boys in rotation when the Den Mother is out of town.

Our theme for the second month was “Books,” when we learned how to care for books and specialized in the Reading Achievement. Now the company-sponsored Inca Club has a children’s book-shelf for the first time in its thirty years.

During April and May we made musical instruments and practiced using them—I can hardly say playing them—for a minstrel act that was part of a five-part program we gave at the end of the school term in June.

In July we had our first “Pack” meeting—the same few boys, but with their parents and the general manager and his wife as guests. Each boy personally prepared one dish to be served, and each mother another, so we had a generous banquet that night in the Golf club.

In December, with “Service” as our theme, we collected odds and ends of broken or non-used toys and outgrown clothing. By mid-month the garage was overflowing, and with the mothers we managed to get the hopeless looking pile reduced to gifts in acceptable condition to distribute to the poverty-stricken Indian children of Old Oroya.

Now, even as you, we are planning a minstrel show.

Music Minstrels
THEME for JANUARY
Pack 370, Portage, Wisconsin and Pack 7, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

◆ This month there will be musical games, new Cub Scout songs to sing, and a minstrel show planned and put on. It’s going to be a big month, and the following ideas will help make it so.

Naturally, we can’t tell you which type of music is most typical in your section. That is something Pack and Den leaders will discover during December in preparation for the January theme. School music teachers can help, as well as most libraries. Each Den can choose a song and do it in costume for the minstrel show.

Of course, the boys of the Southwest will be singing cowboy songs such as “Home On the Range,” “Headin’ For the Last Round-Up,” “Cowboy’s Lament,” The boys of New England may choose to sing sea-farin’ chanteys, such as “Blow the Man Down,” or “Reuben Ranzo.” (A laughable stunt would be to have a Cub Scout on stage going through singing motions while a hidden “basso profundo” sings “Rocked In the Cradle of the Deep.”) Boys of the South will probably sing southern ballads and spirituals.

HOMEMADE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

You will find this a most popular field with Cub Scouts. They can actually make instruments that will have musical tones as well as being comedy take-offs of actual instruments. You will find a page of ideas for homemade musical instruments on page [17] of this issue of Scouting.

Naturally, it’s a lot more fun to make these instruments if the boys know they are going to use them in your Pack meeting or minstrel show.

Perhaps each Den will have its own “kitchen cabinet” type of band. All Dens can practice the same songs, then come together at the Pack meeting in one big band and play them together.

Another interesting field is to make rhythm instruments which boys play to the tune of a phonograph record. Rhythm instruments include pot cover cymbals, rattles, blocks of wood, and tin cans.

CUB SCOUT MUSICIANS

Perhaps there is a boy in your Den who does most things poorly but plays or sings well. This is the month he can shine. Encourage boys with musical instruments to practice their best numbers and play or sing solos for the minstrel.

You will probably find several boys in your Den, and surely a number in your Pack, who will be interested in writing Den or Pack words to old time songs. Occasionally we even find a boy or two who can compose simple music and words so that a Den can have an entirely original song.

GROUP AND FAMILY SINGS

Why not suggest that each Den Mother invite boys and parents of her Den into her home on a Sunday afternoon. They could sing old time songs together, and boys who play instruments can put on an informal recital for parents. Perhaps there will be a dad or mother who can sing a solo.

In addition to Den sings, families will enjoy singing together occasionally. None of these things will happen—Den Mothers won’t think to ask the parents over, and boys won’t be asked to play their instruments—unless you push the idea.

JANUARY PACK MEETING TIPS

The Cubmaster or member of the Pack Committee can give a short talk on the importance of parents looking for opportunities to recognize their sons for having done projects found in the Achievement Program. Many times boys will complete projects without realizing they are meeting a requirement for an Achievement. For example, a boy may make a boat just because he is going to a lake and would like to have one to sail. Unless his parents point out that he has met the requirements for the Model Boats Elective, he may never receive credit for it.

Opportunity should be given for parents to ask questions on the Achievement Program. The Cubmaster should also cover current items, such as condition of the Pack Thrift Plan, attendance, etc.

JOINT MEETING.

You will find minstrel show tips on page 16, but here are a few suggestions on how your meeting may be adapted to the minstrel show idea:

If there are badges to award, award them immediately after the separate meeting, so you will not cut into minstrel show time. Before the show explain to the boys the program for the month ahead, and interest them in the Blue and Gold party.

Skip a formal closing this month. Close your Pack meeting with the grand finale of the minstrels. Make all announcements before the show begins. On page 16 you will find some ideas on preparing and staging your minstrel show. Here we are concerned mostly with the regular Pack meeting outline.

Pre-Opening.

During the pre-opening, boys remain in uniforms rather than wear minstrel costumes. Save the costumes as a surprise. Each Den should have a table available for exhibits developed during the month, especially homemade instruments, music scrapbooks, Cub Scout-composed music, etc.

Separate Meetings.

During this period Den leaders, with the help of others if necessary, should help the boys get ready for the minstrel show. It will not be difficult in the time allowed, because in most minstrels only end men wear blackface. Leaders should also make sure the boys know their songs, jokes, and stories. Just before opening the joint meeting, the boys should be lined up ready to begin the minstrel.

While the boys are busy reading for the minstrel, the Cubmaster meets with all parents. Since the January Pack Leaders’ meeting will probably take place before the January Pack meeting, plans will probably be well established for the Blue and Gold party in February.

The Cubmaster should explain Blue and Gold plans to parents, doing his best to build their enthusiasm for making it the high spot of the entire year. He should explain the way in which food will be handled, announce the names of those who will serve on committees, etc.

You’ll find specific helps for planning and producing your minstrel show, as follows: PROGRAMS (“Gentlemen, Be Seated”) page [16]; Homemade MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS page [17], and DEN REHEARSALS (“Den Doings”) page [19].

GENTLEMEN
Be Seated
Minstrel Program of Pack 18, Prospect Park, Pa.

Tips For Your Pack Minstrels

◆ Program and Publicity: Plan an attractive mimeographed announcement for your show, and deliver it to parents in advance.

Costumes: Almost anything goes. In some minstrels all actors are blackface. This appeals to boys, although it presents problems for the make-up crew. Blackface make-up may be bought at most drug stores. Burnt cork is an old favorite. In many minstrel shows the cast remains in white-face with simple costumes, while the end men wear bright, comic costumes and blackfaces. Either way is good, so take your choice.... It’s a good idea to have all boys except the end men dressed alike. If they are to be blackfaced, have each bring a black sock which can be pulled tight over the head to hide the hair. A white shirt with a black tie (cloth or paper), black trousers and socks, and dark shoes complete the costume. It also adds a nice effect if every boy can wear white gloves. Even white canvas work gloves will serve nicely.

Stage Setting: If you have a fairly good-sized stage, try to arrange chairs or benches on different levels so that all performers can be seen. Decorate the back of the stage with large paper musical notes pasted on a background of paper, and perhaps a sign reading “Welcome.”... Footlights and spotlights help the show but are not necessary for success. You can buy spot bulbs at hardware stores.... Even without a stage, you can arrange your chairs or benches on different levels so that you have the effect of a stage.

Program: Plan your program so you don’t need the entire Pack at rehearsals. Features which will be participated in by the entire cast (for example, opening and closing chorus), can be rehearsed by each Den, then sung together at the show. Here are some good numbers for your opening chorus: “Dixie,” “Minstrel Days,” “We’re Here For Fun” (see page 6, Cub Scout Song Book), “Hello, Hello, Hello,” “When You Wore A Tulip,” “Down South,” etc.... Each Den can prepare whatever acts time will allow, and ought to supply at least two solos, either vocal or instrumental. Solos can be alternated with the Den stunts. The stunts can include such items as homemade orchestras, Den chorus, Den tap dance, Den skits, etc.... Much of the success depends upon the end men. Two or four sit on each side of the front line and pass jokes and stories back and forth with the interlocutor. The interlocutor can be either an adult or boy, and it is his job to keep the show running smoothly and to prompt those who forget their cues. Most libraries have several books on minstrel shows, and you will find some good stories in them. Give them a local twist and they will seem funnier.

Remember: Your minstrel show can succeed without rehearsals of the entire cast if you plan carefully. It won’t be quite so polished as a professional minstrel show might be, but your parents and guests will enjoy it all the same, and will appreciate the fact that you did not require the boys to go out for special rehearsals.