IL The Spartans of the West 



No WORLD-MOVEMENT ever yet grew as a mere 

 doctrine. It must have some noble example; a 

 Hvingj appealing personality; some man to whom 

 we can point and say, "This is what we mean." All the 

 great faiths of the world have had such a man, and for lack 

 of one, many great and flawless truths have passed into the 

 lumber-room. 



To exemplify my outdoor movement, I must have a man 

 who was of this country and cUmate; who was physically 

 beautiful, clean, unsordid, high-minded, heroic, picturesque, 

 and a master of Woodcraft, besides which, he must be al- 

 ready well-known. I would gladly have taken a man of our 

 own race, but I could find none. RoUo the Sea-King, 

 King Arthur, Leif Ericsson, Robin Hood, Leatherstocking, 

 all suggested themselves, but none seemed to meet the 

 requirements, and most were mere shadows, utterly un- 

 known. Surely, all this pointed the same way. There 

 was but one figure that seemed to answer all these needs: 

 that was the Ideal Indian of Fenimore Cooper and Long- 

 fellow. 



For this reason, I took the Native American, and called 

 my organization "Woodcraft Indians."* And yet, I am 

 told that the prejudice against the word "Indian" has 

 hurt the movement immensely. If so, it is because we do 

 not know what the Indian was, arid this I shall make it my 



•Also called Seton Indians and Indian- Scouts. 



