Globusz^® Publishing 

Cleanliness

Cleanliness inside as well as out is of prime importance to health.

That rub down with a damp rough towel, where baths are impossible, is of very big importance to inculcate as a habit in your boys. Also, the habit of washing hands before a meal and after the daily rear. The need for scrupulous cleanliness may well be inculcated by the practice of "Kill that fly," not merely as a useful public service which Scouts can perform, but also as a means of introducing them to the minuteness of disease-germs as conveyed on flies' feet, and yet of such effect as to poison people.

Food

Food is an all-important consideration for the growing lad, yet there is a vast amount of ignorance on the subject on the part of parents, and, therefore, on the part of the boys. It is helpful towards the energy and health of his boys - especially in camp that the Scoutmaster should know something about the matter.

As regards quantity, a boy between thirteen and fifteen requires about 80 per cent of a man's allowance. He will gladly put down 150 per cent if permitted.

Temperance

Temperate eating is almost as necessary with the boy as temperate drinking with the man. It is a good lesson in self-restraint for him to curb his appetite, both as regards the quantity and the nature of his food-few have fathomed the extent of a boy's capacity when it comes to tucking away food of whatever variety. The aim to be held out to him is fitness for athletics.

Temperance thus becomes a moral as well as physical detail of training.

Continence

Of all the points in the education of a boy the most difficult and one of the most important is that of sex hygiene. Body, mind, and soul, health, morality, and character, all are involved in the question. It is a matter which has to be approached with tact on the part of the Scoutmaster, according to the individual character of each case. It is not as yet dealt with adequately by the Education authorities. But it is one that cannot be ignored in the education of a boy, still less in that of the girl.

There is a great barrier of prejudice and false prudery on the part of parents and public still to be overcome, and this has to be recognised and handled tactfully. It is, of course, primarily the duty of parents to see that their children receive proper instruction, but a very large number of them shirk their duty and then build up excuses for doing so. Such neglect is little short of criminal.

As Dr. Allen Warner writes:

"Fear has often been expressed in the past that such teaching will lead to vicious habits, but there is no evidence that this is true, whilst ex- perience proves that ignorance on this subject has led to the moral and physical wreckage of many lives."

This is only too true, and I can testify from a fairly wide experience among soldiers and others. The amount of secret immorality that is now prevalent is very serious indeed.

The very fact that the subject is taboo between the boy and grown-ups is provoca- tive, and the usual result is that he gets his knowledge, in a most perverted form, from another boy.

In What a Boy Should Know, Drs. Schofield and Jackson write:

"The sexual development of boys is gradual, and it is an unfortunate fact that habits of abuse are begun and constantly practised at a much younger age. If safety lies in the adage that `to be forewarned is to be forearmed,' then boys must be told what is coming to them, for the critical period of puberty lies ahead of them, and no boy should be allowed to reach it in ignorance."

A Scoutmaster has here a tremendous field for good. He must in the first instance ascertain whether the father of the boy has any objection to his talking to him on the subject, He will do well also to consult with those who know the boy - Pastor, Doctor, Schoolmaster, and to realise that he himself must be possessed of sufficient experience, knowledge and character in order to be in a position to be of real help to the boy.

Then he will best enter into it in a matter-of-fact way among other subjects on which he may be advising him, placing himself on the footing of an elder brother in doing so. To some Scoutmasters who have never done it the question seems a very difficult one to approach. It is in reality as easy as shelling peas. And the value of it cannot be exaggerated.

Personally, apart from explaining as a preliminary how plants, and fishes, and animals reproduce their species, I have found it appeal to boys, as it did to me when I first heard it, to tell them how in every boy is growing the germ of another child to come from him. That germ has been handed down to him from father to son from generations back. He has it in trust from God; it is his duty to keep it until he is married and passes it to his wife for reproduction. He cannot honourably forget his charge and throw it away in the meantime. Temptation will come to him in many forms to do so, but he has got to be strong and to guard it.

Every different boy at each age may need a different way of treatment in the matter. The main thing is for the Scoutmaster to have the lad's full confidence as a first step, and to be to him in the relation of an elder brother - where both can speak quite openly.

At the same time it is necessary for me to add a word of warning to young and inexperienced Scouters. The fact that they are nearer the boy in age is not necessarily an advantage. Frequently it is a handicap and sometimes a real danger. From what I have written in the past on this subject, an impression has gone abroad that I consider it to be the duty of every Scoutmaster to enlighten each of his Scouts on this subject. That has never been my intention. It would upset the whole fabric of the family system to do so. What I do desire to do is to direct the attention of Scoutmasters to the question and to ask them to try and see that their Scouts receive enlightenment from the right person at the right time. More frequently than not the right person is the Parent, Pastor, Doctor or another - NOT the Scoutmaster.

Non-Smoking

Somebody once wrote an improved edition of Scouting for Boys, and in it he ordered that "Scouts are on no account to smoke." It is generally a risky thing to order boys not to do a thing; it immediately opens to them the adventure of doing it contrary to orders.

Advise them against a thing, or talk of it as despicable or silly, and they will avoid it. I am sure this is very much the case in the matter of unclean talk, of gambling, of smoking, and other youthful faults. It is well to establish a good tone and a public opinion among your boys on a plane which puts these things down as "what kids do, in order to look smart before others."

Walking the Tight Rope

This may strike some readers as a curious means of teaching self-discipline or health. But it has been found by experience to do so.

You may see it being practised in Army gymnasia in the form of men walking a plank fixed up sidewalks it a height of some feet above the floor. It is found that by getting them to concentrate their whole attention on this ticklish test, they gain a close hold over themselves and their nerves. The experiment has been carried further to the extent that it has been found that if a soldier is making bad practice on the rifle-range a few practices in "walking the plank" readily bring back for him the necessary self-control and power of concentration. It is an exercise that appeals to boys. They can bind several Scout staves together as a balancing pole, which will give them additional power of balance in their first efforts.

As I have already indicated, character is concerned in such exercises too, and that is one of the reasons I deplore the modern tendency to place "Safety first," before all else. A certain amount of risk is necessary to life, a certain amount of practice in taking risks is necessary to the prolongation of life. Scouts have to be prepared to encounter difficulties and dangers in life. We do not, therefore, want to make their training too soft.