II. Character

Character Training Through Scouting

“A nation owes its success, not so much to its strength in armaments, as to the amount of character in its citizens.”

“For a man to be successful in life, character is more essential than erudition.”

So character is of first value whether for a nation or for the individual.

Erudition—that is, reading, writing, and arithmetic—is taught in the schools; but where is the more important quality, character, taught? Nowhere in particular. There is no authorised training for children in character. Yet, if it is going to make a man’s career for him, it ought to be developed in him before he starts out; while his is still a boy and receptive. Character cannot be drilled into a boy. The germ of it is already in him, and needs to be drawn out and expanded. How?

Character is very generally the result of environment or surroundings. For example, take two small boys, twins if you like. Teach them the same lessons in school, but give them entirely different surroundings, companions, and homes outside the school. Put one under a kindly, encouraging mother, among clean and straight playfellows, where he is trusted on his honour to carry out rules of life and so on. On the other hand, take the second boy and let him loaf in a filthy home, among foul-mouthed, thieving, discontented companions. Is he likely to grow up with the same amount of character as his twin?

There are thousands of boys being wasted daily through being left to become characterless, and therefore, useless wasters, a misery to themselves and an eyesore and a danger to the nation.

They could be saved if only the right surroundings or environment were given to them at the receptive time of their lives. And there are many thousands of others who may not be placed on quite so low a level (for there are wasters in every class of life), but who would be all the better men and more valuable to the country and more satisfactory to themselves if they could be persuaded, at the right age, to develop their characters.

Here, then, lies the most important object in the Boy Scout training - to educate; not to instruct, mind you, but to educate, that is, to draw out the boy to learn for himself, of his own desire, the things that tend to build up character in him.

One Reason Why a Troop Should not Exceed 32

I have said in Scouting for Boys that so far as my own experience went I should not train individually more than 16 boys—but allowing for my having only half the capacity of the experienced boy worker, the Scoutmaster, I allowed for his taking on 32.

Men talk of having fine Troops of 60 or even 100—Cadet Companies even run to 120—and their officers tell me that their boys are equally trained as in smaller Troops. I express admiration (“admiration” literally translated means “surprise”), and I don’t believe them.

Why worry about individual training? they ask. Because it is the only way by which you can educate. You can instruct any number of boys, a thousand at a time if you have a loud voice and attractive methods of disciplinary means. But that is not training - it is not education.

Education is the thing that counts in building character and in making men.

The incentive to perfect himself, when properly instilled into the individual, brings about his active effort on the line most suitable to his temperament and powers.

It is not the slightest use to preach the Scout Law or to give it out as orders to a crowd of boys: each mind requires its special exposition of them and the ambition to carry them out.

That is where the personality and ability of the Scoutmaster come in.

Character

Let us consider a few of the qualities, moral and mental that go to make character, and then see how the Scoutmaster can get the boy to develop these for himself through Scouting.

This list practically includes all that is taught in Scouting. Therefore, the whole of Scouting is practically directed to character-making, as the chief step to good citizenship.

But the qualities, which go to make a good citizen, are, as before pointed out:

1. Character.
2. Physical health.
3. Handicraft for making a career.
4. Service to others.

So that from the table we may take out (a) and (d), which will more properly be dealt with when we come to the subject of Service to Others; also (c) and (h), which will apply when we come to Health and to Making a Career.

That leaves us b, e, f, g to consider here—namely:

(b) Sense of Honour
(e) Self-reliance
(f) Intelligence
(g) Enjoyment of Life.

(b) Sense of Honour

Trustworthiness inculcated in the Boy Scout by Responsibility, Scout Promise, Scout Law, Giving Responsible Charge.

The Scout Law is the foundation on which the whole Scout Training rests.

Its various clauses must be fully explained and made clear to the boys by practical illustrations of its application in their everyday life.

There is no teaching to compare with example. If the Scoutmaster himself conspicuously carries out the Scout Law in all his doings, the boys will be quick to follow his lead.

This example comes with all the more force if the Scoutmaster himself takes the Scout Promise, in the same way as his Scouts.

The first Law, namely, A Scout’s honour is to be trusted (A Scout is Trustworthy), is one on which the whole of the Scout’s future behaviour and discipline hangs. The Scout is expected to be straight. So it should be very carefully explained, as a first step, by the Scoutmaster to his boys before taking the Scout Promise.

The investiture of the Scout is purposely made into something of a ceremony, since a little ritual of that kind if carried out with strict solemnity, impresses the boy; and considering the grave importance of the occasion, it is only right that he should be impressed as much as possible. Then it is of great importance that the Scout should periodically renew his knowledge of the Law. Boys are apt to be forgetful, and it should never be allowed that a boy who has made his solemn promise to carry out the Scout Law should, at any time, not be able to say what the law is.

Once the Scout understands what his honour is and has, by his initiation, been put upon his honour, the Scoutmaster must entirely trust him to do things. You must show him by your action that you consider him a responsible being. Give him charge of something, whether temporary or permanent, and expect him to carry out his charge faithfully. Don’t keep prying to see how he does it. Let him do it his own way, let him come a howler over it if need be, but in any case leave him alone and trust him to do his best. Trust should be the basis of all our moral training.

Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys.

The object of the Patrol System is mainly to give real responsibility to as many of the boys as possible with a view to developing their character. If the Scoutmaster gives his Patrol Leader real power, expects a great deal from him, and leaves him a free hand in carrying out his work, he will have done more for that boy’s character expansion than any amount of school-training could ever do. And the Court of Honour is a most valuable aid to this same end if fully made use of.

(e) Self-Reliance

By means of First-Class Scouts’ Tests. Sea Scouting. Swimming. First Aid. Lone Scouting. Camping.

The tests for First-Class Scouts are laid down with the idea that a boy, who proved himself equipped to that extent, might reasonably be considered as grounded in the qualities which go to make a good, manly citizen.

He could not but feel himself a more capable fellow than before, and, therefore, he should have that confidence in himself which will give him the hope and pluck in time of stress in the struggle of life, which will encourage him to keep his end up, and to stick it out till he achieves success.

Handiness and use of wits are most easily developed by the practice of boat handling; germs of pluck, of making up the mind quickly, of coolness and activity, of ready obedience to orders—all come in, in doing the work of Sea Scouts.

First Aid or Fire Brigade work, or Trek Cart or Bridge Building are of value for handiness and use of wits, since the boy, while working in co-operation with the others, is responsible for his own separate part of the job.

Swimming has its educational value—mental, moral, and physical—in giving you a sense of mastery over an element, and of power of saving life, and in the development of wind and limb.

When training the South African Constabulary I used to send the men out in pairs to carry out long distance rides of two or three hundred miles to teach them to fend for themselves and to use their intelligence.

But when I had a somewhat dense pupil he was sent out alone, without another to lean upon, to find his own way, make his own arrangements for feeding himself and his horse, and for drawing up the report of his expedition unaided. This was the best training of all in self-reliance and intelligence, and this principle is one which I can confidently recommend to Scoutmasters in training their Scouts.

Of all the schools the camp is far and away the best for teaching boys the desired character-attributes. The environment is healthy, the boys are elated and keen, all the interests of life are round them, and the Scoutmaster has them permanently for the time, day and night, under his hand. In camp the Scoutmaster has his greatest opportunity for watching and getting to know the individual characteristics of each of his boys, and then apply the necessary direction to their development; while the boys themselves pick up the character-forming qualities incident to life in camp, where discipline, resourcefulness, ingenuity, self-reliance, handcraft, wood-craft, boat-craft, team sense, nature lore, etc., can all be imbibed under cheery and sympathetic direction of the understanding Scoutmaster. A week of this life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room, valuable though that may be.

As the boy becomes conscious of no longer being a Tenderfoot, but of being a responsible and trusted individual with power to do things, he becomes self-reliant. Hope and ambition begin to dawn for him.

Therefore, it is most advisable that Scoutmasters who have not had much experience in that line should study the subject of camp in its various bearings.

Its cost, including railway fares, transport of stores, equipment, etc.

Its locality, including facilities for Scouting games and exercises, handiness to doctor, cover in event of bad weather, etc.

Its site as regards healthiness, water supply, sanitary arrangements, etc.

Its management as regards catering, cooking, camp routine, and discipline, programme of work, campfire amusements and talks, camp games, etc.

(f) Intelligence

By means of Tracking. Reading sign. Finding way by Map. Landmarks. Heights and Distances. Mapping. Reporting. Signalling. Ambulance. News of the Day. Plays.

Observation and deduction are the basis of all knowledge and can be taught directly through tracking and sign-reading (see Scouting for Boys, Chapter IV.), and by the reproduction of Sherlock Holmes stories in scenes.

The general intelligence and quickwittedness of the boys can very considerably be educated by their finding the way with a map, noticing landmarks, judging heights and distances, and noticing and reporting all details of people, vehicles, cattle, etc. Signalling sharpens their wits, develops their eyesight, and encourages them to study and to concentrate their minds. Ambulance instruction has also similar educative value.

Winter evenings and wet days can be usefully employed by the Scoutmaster reading the principal items of news in the day’s newspaper, illustrating them by map, etc. The getting-up of plays and pageants bearing on the history of the place is also an excellent means of getting the boys to study, and to express themselves without self-consciousness.

(g) Enjoyment of Life

Development of humour. Appreciation of wit rather than buffoonery. Higher thought. Appreciation of beauty. Wonder of Science: Art, Literature, Music, Poetry.

Why is Nature Lore considered a Key Activity in Scouting?

That is a question on which hangs the difference between Scout work and that of the ordinary Boys’ Club or Brigade.

It is easily answered in the phrase quoted, I think, by Sam Harrison, in an excellent article in the Scout Headquarters Gazette. “We want to teach our boys not merely how to get a living, but how to live” —that is, in the higher sense, how to enjoy life.

Nature lore, as I have probably insisted only too often, gives the best means of opening out the minds and thoughts of boys, and at the same time, if the point is not lost sight of by their Scoutmaster, it gives them the power of appreciating beauty in nature, and consequently in art, such as leads them to a higher enjoyment of life.

This is in addition to the realisation of God the Creator through His wondrous work, which when coupled with active performance of His will in service for others constitutes the concrete foundation of religion.

I was in the sitting-room of a friend who had just died, and lying on the table beside his abandoned pipe and tobacco pouch was a book by Richard Jefferies—Field and Hedgerow, in which a page was turned down which said:

“The conception of moral good is not altogether satisfying. The highest form known to us at present is pure unselfishness, the doing of good not for any reward now or hereafter, nor for the completion of any imaginary scheme. That is the best we know, but how unsatisfactory! An outlet is needed more fully satisfying to the heart’s inmost desire than is afforded by any labour of self-abnegation. It must be something in accord with the perception of beauty and of an ideal. Personal virtue is not enough. Though I cannot name the ideal good it seems to me that it will in some way be closely associated with the ideal beauty of Nature.”

In other words, one may suggest that happiness is a matter of inner conscience and outward sense working in combination. It is to be got where the conscience as well as the senses together are satisfied. If the above quoted definition be true, the converse is at least equally certain - namely, that the appreciation of beauty cannot bring happiness if your conscience is not at rest. So that if we want our boys to gain happiness in life we must put into them the practice of doing good to their neighbours, and in addition, the appreciation of the beautiful in Nature.

The shortest step to this last is through Nature lore:—

“… books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

Among the mass of boys their eyes have never been opened, and to the Scoutmaster is given the joy of bringing about this worth-while operation.

Once the germ of woodcraft has entered into the mind of a boy, observation, memory and deduction develop automatically and become part of his character. They remain whatever other pursuits he may afterwards take up.

As the wonders of nature are unfolded to the young mind, so too its beauties can be pointed out and gradually become recognised. When appreciation of beauty is once given a place in the mind, it grows automatically in the same way as observation, and brings joy in the greyest of surroundings.

If I may diverge again, it was a dark, raw, foggy day in the big gloomful station at Birmingham. We were hustled along in a throng of grimy workers and muddy travel-stained soldiers. Yet, as we pushed through the crowd, I started and looked around, went on, looked round again, and finally had a good eyefilling stare before I went on. I don’t suppose my companions had realised it, but I had caught a gleam of sunshine in that murky hole such as gave a new pleasure to the day. It was just a nurse in brown uniform with gorgeous red-gold hair and a big bunch of yellow and brown chrysanthemums in her arms. Nothing very wonderful you say. No, but for those who have eyes to see, these gleams are there even in the worst of gloom.

It is too common an idea that boys are unable to appreciate beauty and poetry; but I remember once some boys were being shown a picture of a stormy landscape, of which Ruskin had written that there was only one sign of peace in the whole wind-torn scene. One of the lads readily pointed to a spot of blue peaceful sky that was apparent through a rift in the driving wrack of clouds.

Poetry also appeals in a way that it is difficult to account for, and when the beautiful begins to catch hold, the young mind seems to yearn to express itself in something other than everyday prose.

Some of the best poetry can of course be found in prose writing, but it is more generally associated with rhythm and rhyme. Rhyme, however, is apt to become the great effort with the aspiring young poet, and so you get the most awful doggerel thrust upon you in your efforts to encourage poetry.

Switch them off doggerel if you can. It is far too prevalent, when even our National Anthem itself amounts to it. I have a lovely “poem” amongst my many treasures which is the acme of striving for rhyme at the expense of everything else; and the author of it wrote to explain that, though I might think he was a poet, (which was very far from my imagination) he was in reality only a coachmen to Upper Tooting.

I love good doggerel too—in its place:

"Grandma's fallen down a drain.
Couldn't get her up again.
Now she's floating out to sea—
Thus we save her funeral fee."

Rhythm is a form of art which comes naturally even to the untrained mind, whether it be employed in poetry or music or in body exercises. It gives balance and order which has its natural appeal even and especially among these closes to nature—savages. In the form of music it is of course most obvious and universal. The Zulu War Song when sung by four or five thousand warriors is an example of rhythm, in music, poetry and bodily movement combined.

The enjoyment of rendering or of hearing music is common to all the human family. The song as a setting to words enables the soul to give itself expression which, when adequately done, brings pleasure both to the singer and to his hearer.

Through his natural love of music the boy can be linked up with poetry and higher sentiment as by a natural and easy transition. It opens a ready means to the Scoutmaster of teaching happiness to his lads and at the same time of raising the tone of their thoughts.

Our Artist’s Badge is devised under a rather misleading name I fear, to lead boys on to express their ideas graphically from their own observation or imagination without attempting thereby to be or to imitate artists. By drawing or modelling, many a careless young soul has become interested, and finally amenable to ideas of beauty in nature and art.

Programme for Study Patrol

Subject II.—Character Training

Week-end Camp.—Tramp out, finding way by map. Noticing landmarks, pitch tent, cook food, salute flag, camp prayers. Practise instruction learnt during previous four weeks.