In a brief while the meal was placed upon the table and the two sat down. The food consisted of slices of crisp, fried bacon, coarse brown bread, clear, amber coffee with sugar and condensed milk. Mike could not have asked for anything better and praised the culinary skill of his host.
The old gentleman did not use tobacco, and after the dishes had been cleared away, the guest helping, the two seated themselves in front of the fire, for the night air was crisp enough to make the slight additional warmth pleasant. Although the cabin was provided with a kerosene lamp it was not lighted. The mellow illumination from the blaze on the hearth filled the room and showed each one the face of the other, as they talked of the Boy Patrols.
The hermit gently swayed back and forth for a few inches, as he looked into the embers or the countenance of his young friend, who was keenly interested in everything that was told him. Mike had an excellent memory, and aware of the importance of the instruction he received, treasured every word that was said, asking a question now and then when the meaning was not clear. His teacher drilled him patiently, and when necessary to illustrate some of the points, stirred the glowing logs which sent up myriads of sparks and leaned forward in the yellow glow.
Now, instead of putting down everything, I shall adopt the plan of Uncle Elk, who, when he had impressed upon the lad all that he could clearly remember, said:
“I shall ask you no questions tonight, but give you your examination tomorrow morning after breakfast, when you are ready to start for Gosling Lake. All the knowledge you then possess you will carry with you. It will crystallize while you sleep.”
“And the same would have been true wid me barring I niver had the knowledge to crystallize during me dreams.”
With his fine-grained courtesy, the host insisted upon giving up his bed to Mike, who of course refused the favor, declaring that before consenting to such foolishness he would sleep in the woods with the risk of being devoured by elephants and tigers. So a compromise was effected by which the lad slumbered soundly upon a blanket spread on the floor.
Thus it came about after the morning’s meal—in which flapjacks took the place of bread—Uncle Elk put his pupil “through his paces.” Here is a condensation of the questions and answers:
“What are the twelve points of the scout law?”
“To be trustworthy, loyal, friendly, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”
“Of what does a Patrol consist?”
“Of eight boys, all more than twelve years old, one of whom is patrol leader and another corporal.”
“What is a troop?”
“Three or more patrols, whose leader is Scout Master; he must be at least twenty-one years old and the assistant Scout Master cannot be under eighteen years of age.”
“It isn’t necessary to go further into the details of the organization, as it would confuse you. What is the Boy Scout motto?”
“Be Prepared.”
“Pretty comprehensive counsel; suppose you give something in the way of explanation.”
“He must be prepared in mind by learning obedience and by thinking out beforehand what should be done in case of any accident or situation, and in body by making himself healthful, strong and active.”
“It will be time enough to learn the various badges when you are ready for them. That of the tenderfoot is of gilt and seven-eighths of an inch wide, and it is made for the button hole or with a safety pin clasp. Now reverently repeat the scout oath:
“On me honor I will do me bist:
“1. To do me dooty to God and me country, and to obey the scout laws;
“2. To hilp ither people at all times;
“3. To kaap mesilf physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”
“Give the scout sign and salute.”
(These have been described. The sign is merely holding up the three fingers in position, while the salute requires that the fingers shall be raised to the forehead.)
“You glibly rolled off the twelve points of the scout law, but their meaning should sink deep into the understanding. We all admit that it is our duty to be helpful to others, but we neglect such duty shamefully. I have often reflected that if certain rigid rules were laid down much more would be accomplished. What is the wise provision of the Boy Scouts?”
“That aich must do at least one good turn every day to somebody.”
“What little trick do many of the Boy Scouts adopt to keep this duty in mind?”
“They lave the ends of their nickties hangin’ outside till the good turn is done, though I’m thinking,” added Mike with a grin, “that it would be as well to tie a string round his finger; that’s what me mither used to do wid me.”
“How did it work?” asked Uncle Elk, yielding to the diversion.
“I can’t say it was a succiss,” replied Mike with a sigh; “me good mither tied the cord so tight that it hurt that much I furgot what it was there fur; so me wise mither adopted a better plan.”
“What was that?”
“She ixplained the matter to me dad and he—”
Mike with a grin pointed at his buckthorn which leaned against the wall.
“I understand, and now what of being courteous?”
“The Boy Scout must show courtesy to ivery one, espicially women, childer, old people, the waak and hilpless and he must accipt no tip or pay for such services.”
“What are the different classes of Boy Scouts of America?”
“They are the tenderfut, second-class scout and first-class scout.”
“For the present your interest lies in the tenderfoot or lowest grade, which is the first step and in which grade you must serve at least a month before you can advance to the next. You have given the scout law, the sign and salute, and may now tell me something about our national flag. How old is it?”
“It was born in June, 1777, and was first flung to the breeze at the battle of Germantown, in Siptimber of that year. A star is added in the blue field on the Fourth of July, nixt after a new State comes into the Union. ’Tis fur this raison that the flag now has forty-eight stars.”
“What about the stripes?”
“They be niver changed; all the same, at the first off the government added two stripes whin Kaintucky and Vermont were admitted, but they were taken off in 1818.”
“I think that will be news to a good many of the Boy Scouts,” commented Uncle Elk. “For an Irish lad who never set foot in America until last year, you can put more than one of our youths to shame.”
Mike rose, bowed and made the Boy Scout salute, his red face as grave as that of a deacon during service.
“Axcoose me blushes, Uncle Elk.”
“I am unable to see that you are blushing, since your face could not be any redder than it seems always to be,” said the old gentleman with a twinkle of his bright eyes.
“I am thrying me bist; angels could do no more, as Jim O’Brien remarked whin he agraad to lick five men in five minutes and aich one got the bist of him.”
“Now, Michael, as to showing respect for the flag: what can you tell me of raising and lowering it?”
“It should be h’isted before sunrise and not be left aloft after sunset.”
“What is the rule for ‘retreat’ at sunset?”
“Civilian spectators must stand at attintion and uncover while the band plays ‘The Star Spangled Banner’; military spectators must stand at attintion and give the army salute.”
“When the national colors are passing on parade or in review?”
“The spectators if walking should halt, and, if sitting rise, uncover and stand at attintion.”
“You know that a flag is flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning: what should be done at the close of the funeral?”
“The flag should be hoisted to full staff.”
“How should a flag be placed at half-mast?”
“It should be hoisted first to the top of the staff and then lowered to position, and be
fore lowering from half-staff, it should be first lifted to the top.”
“We have a beautiful custom of observing Memorial Day on May 30 each year. What is the law for displaying the flag throughout that day?”
“The same should fly at half-mast from sunrise to noon, and at full staff from noon till sunset.”
“I repeat ‘Well done!’ All that now remains is for you to show your skill in tying at least four out of eight knots known as square or reef, sheet-bend, bowline, weaver’s or fisherman’s, sheepshank, halter, clove hitch, timber hitch or two half hitches. When I was a boy we called a few of these by different names. You have told me that some of the seamen on the steamer showed you how several knots are tied. So I think you will find no difficulty in meeting the requirements in this respect. Let us begin.”
Uncle Elk brought forward several coils of small rope and handed them to Mike, who grinningly set to work. He was absorbed for less than half an hour, when he leaned back and looked into the kindly face.
“Fetch on what is lift, as me grandfather said whin he finished the last of half a bushel of praties.”
“There is none left; you have tied every one; you’ll pass, young man.”
Every one knows how to tie a few simple knots, but I am sure you would like to learn the method of tying the more complicated ones. They are very useful and are easily learned, but I do not think I can make my explanations clear by means of description alone. Mr. Samuel A. Moffat, Field Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America, in their official handbook illustrates these various knots and has kindly given me permission to use the same, so to Mr. Moffat belongs the credit of what follows in the next chapter.
CHAPTER V
How “Knot” to Do Several Things
Every day sailors, explorers, mechanics and mountain-climbers risk their lives on the knots that they tie. Thousands of lives have been sacrificed to ill-made knots. The scout therefore should be prepared in an emergency, or when necessity demands, to tie the right knot in the right way.
There are three qualities to a good knot: (1) Rapidity with which it can be tied; (2) Its ability to hold fast when pulled tight, and (3) The readiness with which it can be undone.
The following knots, recommended to scouts, are the most serviceable because they meet the above requirements and will be of great help in scoutcraft. If the tenderfoot will follow closely the various steps indicated in the diagrams, he will have little difficulty in reproducing them at pleasure.
In practising knot-tying, a short piece of hemp rope may be used. To protect the ends from fraying, a scout should know how to “whip” them. The commonest method of “whipping” is as follows:
Lay the end of a piece of twine along the end of the rope. Hold it to the rope with the thumb of your left hand while you wind the standing part around it and the rope until the end of the twine has been covered. Then with the other end of the twine lay a loop back on the end of the rope and continue winding the twine upon this second end until all is taken up. The end is then pulled back tight and cut off close to the rope.
For the sake of clearness, a scout must constantly keep in mind these three principal parts of the rope:
1. The Standing Part—The long unused portion of the rope on which he works;
2. The Bight—The loop formed whenever the rope is turned back upon itself; and,
3. The End—The part he uses in leading.
Before proceeding with the tenderfoot requirements, a scout should first learn the two primary knots: the overhand and figure-of-eight knots.
After these preliminary steps, the prospective tenderfoot may proceed to learn the required knots.
The Overhand Knot
Start with the position shown in the preceding diagram. Back the end around the standing part and up through the bight and draw tight.
The Figure of Eight Knot
Make a bight as before. Then lead the end around back of the standing part and down through the bight.
Square or Reef Knot
The commonest knot for tying two ropes together. Frequently used in first-aid bandaging. Never slips or jams; easy to untie.
False Reef or Granny
If the ends are not crossed correctly when making the reef knot, the false reef or granny is the result. This knot is always bad.
Sheet Bend or Weaver’s Knot
This knot is used in bending the sheet to the clew of a sail and in tying two rope-ends together.
Make a bight with one rope A, B, then pass end C of other rope up through and around the entire bight and bend it under its own standing part.
The Bowline
A noose that neither jams nor slips. Used in lowering a person from a burning building, etc.
Form a small loop on the standing part leaving the end long enough for the size of the noose required. Pass the end up through the bight around the standing part and down through the bight again. To tighten, hold noose in position and pull standing part.
Halter, Slip, or Running Knot
A bight is first formed and an overhand knot made with the end around the standing part.
Sheepshank
Used for shortening ropes. Gather up the amount to be shortened, then make a half hitch round each of the bends as shown in the diagram.
Clove Hitch
Used to fasten one pole to another in fitting up scaffolding; this knot holds snugly; is not liable to slip laterally.
Hold the standing part in left hand, then pass the rope around the pole; cross the standing part, making a second turn around the pole, and pass the end under the last turn.
The Fisherman’s Bend
Used aboard yachts for bending on the gaff topsail halliards. It consists of two turns around a spar or ring, then a half hitch around the standing part and through the turns on the spar, and another half hitch above it around the standing part.
Timber Hitch
Used in hauling timber. Pass the end of the rope around the timber. Then lead it around its standing part and bring it back to make two or more turns on its own part. The strain will hold it securely.
Two Half Hitches
Useful because they are easily made and will not slip under any strain. Their formation is sufficiently indicated by the diagram.
Blackwall Hitch
Used to secure a rope to a hook, standing part when hauled tight holds the end firmly.
Becket Hitch
For joining a cord to a rope. May be easily made from diagram.
The Fisherman’s Knot
Used for tying silk-worm gut for fishing purposes. It never slips; is easily unloosed by pulling the two short ends.
The two ropes are laid alongside one another, then with each end an overhand knot is made around the standing part of the other. Pull the standing parts to tighten.
Carrick Bend
Used in uniting hawsers for towing. Is easily untied by pushing the loops inwards.
Turn the end of one rope A over its standing part B to form a loop. Pass the end of the other rope across the bight thus formed, back of the standing part B over the end A, then under the bight at C, passing it over its own standing part and under the bight again at D.
CHAPTER VI
How Two Millionaires Did a Good Turn
Gideon Landon sat talking with his friend Franklin Haynes in the city home of the former one cold evening in the early spring of 1912. You may recall that they had been estranged for a time, but after the removal of the misunderstanding, they became more intimate than before. They were associated in various business deals and hardly a day passed without their seeing each other.
The subject of their conversation on this occasion was the Boy Scouts of America, in which both were deeply interested, for they knew that their sons, of whom you have already learned something, had joined the organization.
“That fact led me to look closely into it,” said Landon, “and the more I learned about it the more I liked it; in my opinion the Boy Scouts mark the grandest advance that has
been made in all history by the youths of any country. It will prove a mighty factor in the betterment of mankind.”
“It has started with such a boom,” remarked Haynes, “that I fear its collapse; such an enthusiasm as a rule soon expends itself; action and reaction are equal and the higher the climb the greater the fall.”
“There will be nothing of the kind in this case, for there is no element of weakness in the organization. It was originated and is controlled by men who understand boy nature through and through, and who know how to appeal to it. The very word ‘scout’ kindles that yearning which every healthy boy feels for stirring incident. What youngster can resist the call of the fragrant woods, the rugged climb of the mountains, the rollicking plunge and splash in the crystalline waters, the trailing through the cool twilight of the forest,—the fishing, canoeing, hunting with a tinge of danger, the crackle of the camp fire, the stories of adventure, the sweet dreamless sleep on the bed of spruce tops or balsam boughs,—the songs of the birds—”
The friend raised his hand in protest,
“Cease, I pray thee. You remind me of the colored parson and his deacon riding on mule back through the Arkansas lowlands. The deacon depicted so eloquently the rapturous delicacy of browned ’possum, smothered in rich gravy, that the preacher suddenly gasped and dived from his animal, splitting a boulder apart with his head. As he climbed to his feet unharmed but slightly stunned, he explained that he couldn’t stand the ravishing memories called up by the deacon’s picture. And here you are discoursing so fascinatingly on the out-door life, that I am tempted to clap on my hat and overcoat and make a run of it for the pine woods.”
“I believe I should do it myself, if it were not too early in the season.”
“Yes, I see you hiking for the woods; before you reached the Grand Central you would switch off to Wall Street. You managed to worry through a few weeks at Southport Island last summer, and then on the first flimsy excuse you could think of, sneaked back to New York and stayed there.”
The Edward S. Ellis Megapack Page 299
