Scoutcraft consists of "First Aid," Life Saving, Tracking, Signalling, Cycling, Nature Study, Seamanship and other instruction. This is accomplished in games and team play and in pleasure, not work, for the boy. The only equipment it needs is the out-of-doors, a group of boys and a leader.

Before he becomes a scout, a boy must take the scouts' oath thus:

"On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, 1. To do my duty to God and my country. 2. To help other people at all times. 3. To obey the scout law."

When taking this oath the scout will stand holding his right hand raised level with his shoulder, palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of the little finger, and the other three fingers upright pointing upward. This the scouts' salute and secret sign.

When the hand is raised shoulder high it is called "the half salute."

When raised to the forehead it is called "the full salute."

The three fingers held up (like the three points on the scouts' badge) remind him of his three promises in the scouts' oath.

There are three classes of scouts. A boy on joining the Boy Scouts must pass a test in the following points before taking the oath:

Know the scouts' laws and signs and the salute.

Know the composition of the national flag and the right way to fly it.

Tie four of the following knots: Reef, sheet bend, clove hitch, bowline, middleman's, fisherman's, sheep-shank.

He then takes the scouts' oath and is enrolled as a tenderfoot and is entitled to wear the buttonhole badge.

A SECOND-CLASS SCOUT

Before being awarded a second-class scout's badge, a boy must pass the following tests:

1. Have at least one month's service as a tenderfoot.

2. Elementary first aid bandaging.

3. Signalling. Elementary knowledge of semaphore or Morse alphabet.

4. Track half a mile in twenty-five minutes, or if in a 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 "scouts' pace."

6. Lay and light a fire using not more than two matches.

7. Cook a quarter of a pound of meat and two potatoes without cooking utensils other than the regulation billy.

8. Have at least twenty-five cents in the savings bank.

9. Know the sixteen principal points of the compass.

FIRST-CLASS SCOUT

Before being awarded a first-class scout's badge, a scout must pass the following test in addition to the tests laid down for a second-class scout:

1. Swim fifty yards. (This may be omitted where the doctor certifies that bathing is dangerous to the boy's health).

2. Must have at least fifty cents in the savings bank.

3. Signalling. Send and receive a message either in semaphore or Morse, sixteen letters per minute.

4. Go on foot or row a boat alone to a point seven miles away and return again, or if conveyed by any vehicle or animal go a distance of fifteen miles and back and write a short report on it. It is preferable that he should take two days over it.

5. Describe or show the proper means for saving life in case of two of the following accidents: Fire, drowning, runaway carriage, sewer gas, ice breaking, or bandage an injured patient or revive an apparently drowned person.

6. Cook satisfactorily two of the following dishes as may be directed: Porridge, bacon, hunter's stew; or skin and cook a rabbit or pluck and cook a bird. Also "make a damper" of half a pound of flour or a "twist" baked on a thick stick.

7. Read a map correctly and draw an intelligent rough sketch map. Point out a compass direction without the help of a compass.

8. Use an axe for felling or trimming light timber: or as an alternative produce an article of carpentry or joinery or metal work, made by himself satisfactorily.

9. Judge distance, size, numbers and height within 25 per cent. error.

10. Bring a tenderfoot trained by himself in the points required of a tenderfoot.

THE SCOUTS' LAW

1. A scout's honour is to be trusted. If a scout were to break his honour by telling a lie, or by not carrying out an order exactly, when trusted on his honour to do so, he may be directed to hand over his scouts' badge and never to wear it again. He may also be directed to cease to be a scout.

2. A scout is loyal to his country, his officers, his parents and his employers. He must stick to them through thick and thin against any one who is their enemy or who even talks badly about them.

3. A scout's duty is to be useful and to help others. He must be prepared at any time to save life or to help injured persons, and he must try his best to do a good turn to somebody every day.

4. A scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout, no matter to what social class the other belongs.

5. A scout is courteous, especially to women, children, old people, invalids, and cripples. And he must never take a reward for being courteous.

6. A scout is a friend to animals. Killing an animal for food is allowable.

7. A scout obeys orders of his parents, patrol leader, or scout master without question.

8. A scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances.

9. A scout is thrifty and saves every penny he can and puts it into the bank.

The scout master is the adult leader of a troop. A troop consists of three or more patrols. The scout master may begin with one patrol. He must have a deep interest in boys, be genuine in his own life, have the ability to lead and command the boys' respect and obedience, and possess some knowledge of a boy's ways. He need not be an expert on scoutcraft. The good scout master will discover experts for the various activities.

To organize a patrol, get together seven or more boys, explain to them the aims of the Boy Scouts, have them elect a leader and corporal from their own number and take the scout oath as tenderfeet. To organize a local committee, call together the leading men of a town or city, teachers, business men, professional men, and all who are interested in the proper training of boys, for a committee to superintend the development of the scout movement.

There are a number of divisions to scouting depending upon the place where the boys live and upon their opportunities. For instance, to obtain:

An Ambulance Badge: A scout must know: The fireman's lift. How to drag an insensible man with ropes. How to improvise a stretcher. How to fling a life-line. The position of main arteries. How to stop bleeding from vein or artery, internal or external. How to improvise splints and to diagnose and bind fractured limb. The Schafer method of artificial respiration. How to deal with choking, burning, poison, grit in eye, sprains and bruises, as the examiners may require. Generally the laws of health and sanitation as given in "Scouting for Boys," including dangers of smoking, in continence, want of ventilation, and lack of cleanliness.

Aviator: A scout must have a knowledge of the theory of æroplanes, ball balloons and dirigibles, and must have made a working model of an æroplane or dirigible that will fly at least twenty-five yards. He must also have a knowledge of the engines used for æroplanes and dirigibles.

Bee-farmer: A scout must have a practical knowledge of swarming, hiving, hives, and general apiculture, including a knowledge of the use of artificial combs, etc.

Blacksmith: A scout must be able to upset and weld a one-inch iron rod, make a horseshoe, know how to tire a wheel, use a sledge hammer and forge, shoe a horse correctly, and rough-shod a horse.

Bugler: A scout must be able to sound properly on the bugle the Scouts' Rally and the following army calls: Alarm, charge, orderlies (ord. corpls.), orders, warning for parade, quarter bugle, fall in, dismiss, rations, first and second dinner calls (men's), reveille, last post, lights out.

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