52 THE BOY SCOUT 



the uses of animals and plants, their habits and 

 winning ways; he should not consider anything 

 too trifling or of little account, or trust to luck to 

 enable him to climb the ladder of life. He should 

 practise memorising things and events; make 

 himself intimately associated with the history of 

 his country; endeavour to cultivate his spare time 

 pleasurably and profitably; pay attention to his 

 physique; lead where others refuse to go forward; 

 and last, but by no means least, be so prepared 

 that should such time arrive he will be well able 

 to defend his King and country. 



Yet, the reader may say, boys will he boys ; so 

 let them be, but there is all the difference in the 

 world between an indolent, ill-caring youth, and 

 one who endeavours to be a real boy, full of pluck 

 and daring, and yet at the same time a little 

 gentleman. 



There is a splendid work to be done by the Boy 

 Scout that I should like to know even regarding 

 the protection and preservation of places and 

 objects of historic interest, and of animals and 

 plants. To animals my ideal Boy Scout would 

 invariably be kind and humane. He would not 

 be frightened at the sight of a Spider, or utter 

 exclamations of disgust when our friend the harm- 

 less Toad is encountered. Robbing birds' nests 

 and despoiling the countryside of some of its 

 rarest treasures, sticking a horrid pin through a 



