scouting for boys

[sargey]

i recently came across a reprint of baden-powell's original 1908 classic, scouting for boys. this was written after it became apparent that many enterprising groups of boys were getting together and using "aids to scouting" as an outdoor handbook. the version specifically for boys was released and the scout movement was born. scary in places, others just alarming, funny too. both jingoistic and naif as many victorian/edwardian books are. i'm only about half way through.

the original was made up of several parts, released over a period of time, magazine style. this version has them all collected together with a lengthy introduction by some professor of colonial and post colonial literature at nottingham trent university. i skipped over most of that bit as i started loosing the will to live.

the intro repeatedly points out that much of the info was unashamedly liberated from other sources. parts of the campcraft chapter have a disinctly nessmukian feel to them. at the end of the chapter, he lists book sources for further reading, specifically woodcraft, by nessmuk ):

here's a wee quote:

I have eaten the huge kind of lizard called an iguana. He had his head and tail cut off to enable him to go into the cooking pot, and when he was boiled and put on the table he looked exactly like a headless baby with his arms and legs and little hands. And when we ate him he tasted just like a baby too. Well---you know what a baby tastes like---sort of soft chicken flavoured with violet powder!

i hope this is his idea of a joke ):

more than just a book of outdoors skills, (some of the info is of dubious worth/reliability) it contains info on setting up your own scout troop, and many instances of boys catching murderers and robbers, it's "a handbook for instruction in good citizenship"

"a dead body must be treated with the greatest of caution: it is more likely than not to be a murdered one ."

well worth reading.

cheers, and.

 

[Hoodoo]

I have eaten the huge kind of lizard called an iguana. He had his head and tail cut off to enable him to go into the cooking pot, and when he was boiled and put on the table he looked exactly like a headless baby with his arms and legs and little hands. And when we ate him he tasted just like a baby too. Well---you know what a baby tastes like---sort of soft chicken flavoured with violet powder!

Sounds like he plagiarized Grimms Fairy Tales.

What is it about the good ol' days that we used to love to threaten children with the fear of being eaten? :rolmao:

 

[jakunen]

Womble has a copy which I've had a look at. Its quite twee, and very 'Hurrah!', but has some great sections in it.

And I still enjoy scaring kids with those tales

 

[Hoodoo]

Its quite twee, and very 'Hurrah!'

Is there a translator in the house? :wave:

 

[jamesdevine]

I have one as well and I really enjoyed reading. Scouting in Ireland followed this formula while was still a lad but it has much chance since then not all for the better either.

Good read quite easy to see how young and old would be inspired by it when there was no TV or playstation to keep them indoors and here's someone telling them to get out and have an adventure themselves everyday.

I have not really grown much as you can imagine.

James

 

[jakunen]

Is there a translator in the house? :wave:

OK, for those that don't speak proper English...(****** Americans!!!)

Its very dated in its style and to my mind rather elitist in its 'Boy scouts are such worthy people'. And as for the Boy Scouts code - how many kids these days woudl be able to keep half of them?

Chaste and pure of mind? Yeah right!!!

(Only joking and no offense Hoodoo, my sister-in-law is from Michigan and I love her to bits, (even if she hasn't written or called for months...)).

 

[maddave]

Unfortunate title for a book though, don't you think?? I imagine I'd get a slap these days if I walked into Waterstones... "Excuse me young lady. Do you have any books on 'scouting for boys' " :yikes:

 

[nameless]

Just Checking Somthing

 

[jamesdevine]

I came across this last week and thought some of you guys might like to give it a look. The guy was mentioned a few time in a Bio of BP I read a while ago and I believe he was the inspiration for Allen Quatermain from King Solamon's Mines. He seems quite the bushcrafter.

http://www.burnhamkingofscouts.com/index.html

I haven't read it yet but I hope to as soon as I have the readies. Buy it here it's signed by the author and a lot cheap then amazon.

James

 

[TheViking]

Scouting for boys?

http://www.gomelscouts.com/books/tsx0200.shtml

It's a good book, though perhaps a tad too idealistic IMO.

 

[miniac]

Hi guys, I to have a copy off "scouting for boys" by BP. What a fab read, found some of the stuff in there very funny. I struggle to imaging scouts today acting the way BP expected them to in 1908. Some non scouting freinds borrowed it and said that BP comes across as a strange man, he might be, but would we be in a worse place with out him?

I only recently found out that out of the handfull of men to walk on the moon, only one of them was not a scout. My explorer scouts love that one!

 

[JFW]

miniac,

I only recently found out that out of the handfull of men to walk on the moon, only one of them was not a scout. My explorer scouts love that one!

which one?

cheers

JFW

 

[P Wren]

I bought a re print of Scouting For Boys after my Dad spent years claiming I'd lost the his 195? (something) edition which he'd had as a kid.

It provided a good couple of hours amusement in the office thae afternoon it arrived.

Neil Armstrong, was the first man to set foot on the moon, I know he was a Scout.

I hope he hadn't planned to use a hammock for is stay though

 

[miniac]

miniac,

I only recently found out that out of the handfull of men to walk on the moon, only one of them was not a scout. My explorer scouts love that one!

which one?

cheers

JFW

Dont know There was an article in august/septembers "scouting" magazine called scouts in space. It says 11 out of the 12 men to walk on the moon were scouts and 2/3 astronaunts who have been in space were involved in scouts. Even A J Rimmer from Red Dwarf was a space scout, how cool is that

miniac

 

[BlueTrain]

B-P had a worthy follower in the person of Dan Beard, one of the founders of the American Boy Scout movement. His background was different from B-P, it goes without saying, and his interests and outlooks were different. It would be interesting to compare boy scouting in the U.K. and in the U.S.. But Dan Beard his pecularities, too.

He was a very patriotic individual in that he was a believer in America. "Americanism," I believe was the word he used. He even went so far as to say that Americans should not live in Bungaloes, which is probably not spelled right, but I am referring to the house style. He thought it too foreign for an American. It is hard to avoid the idea that he thought hardship was a good thing.

On the other hand, he was a talented artist in much the same was as Baden-Powell. His works are illustrated with his own drawings. I have mentioned before that he was a great believer in campfires (and council fires) and devoted what seems like half of his writings to fires. So they must be important.

Dan Beard had already formed boy's groups before scouting came to America and I believe the inspiration was the stories and legends, really, around Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. While Baden-Powell was greatly influenced by South Africa, Uncle Dan was influenced by American Indians. Which ones in particular, I don't know.

One the common themes running through a lot of the turn of the century outdoor writers (meaning 1900, of course), was that there were no new worlds to explore (or conquer). No new challenges. Mankind was on the way downhill.

 

[Minotaur]

First thing first buy the re-print. Do not under any circumstances buy the modern version, they edited it.

i recently came across a reprint of baden-powell's original 1908 classic, scouting for boys. this was written after it became apparent that many enterprising groups of boys were getting together and using "aids to scouting" as an outdoor handbook. the version specifically for boys was released and the scout movement was born. scary in places, others just alarming, funny too. both jingoistic and naif as many victorian/edwardian books are. i'm only about half way through.

Scouting for Boys was written for the Boys Brigade and was then serialised in The Strand, which lead to children forming thier own scout patrols and the formation of Scouting. BP sort of got carried along against his will. Aids to Scouting was written for the army, weirdly enough and was the reason the Boys Brigade approched him.

BP is the patron saint of Bushcraft. Think about it, here is a person who learnt bushcraft skills for no purpose and then did more than anyone else to pass them on, to keep them alive. He used to skip school and go out into the woods to watch wildlife. Most of our modern outdoor pursuits are here because of Scouting. He was the first green, and in 1908, was giving kids sex education(it is one of the ways to spot a modern copy. Also count the scout laws, if there are ten it is a reprint and not edited).

It is one of the things that makes me sad, modern scouting is so much about image and nothing about substance. Anyone who went to the Outdoor show could have seen modern scouting, serously depressing.

 

[jamesdevine]

Where there not only Nine orginal Scout Laws. The Pure in thought one was added after the first addition in subcequent additions?

James

 

[rich59]

Scouting seems these days more like an activity lead by adults that youngsters join in. Far from the original scouting when the boys organised and did everything.

I have however come across a scout troup led by a 12 year old in Zanzibar.

Bushcraft seems to be more the spirit of original scouting, but seemingly done more by adults who are just grown up kids. (well, I am)

 

[Goose]

Scouting seems these days more like an activity lead by adults that youngsters join in. Far from the original scouting when the boys organised and did everything.

I have however come across a scout troup led by a 12 year old in Zanzibar.

Bushcraft seems to be more the spirit of original scouting, but seemingly done more by adults who are just grown up kids. (well, I am)

Who are you calling a grown up?

 

[Minotaur]

Where there not only Nine orginal Scout Laws. The Pure in thought one was added after the first addition in subcequent additions?

James

Never heard that before but anything is possible.