No, I wasn’t a member of the first Boy Scout Troop in America. I know I have a few miles on my odometer, but the first Boy Scouts in America were founded one hundred years ago, February 8th. I still remember the oath and The Scout Law:
Scout Oath (or Promise)
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
Scout Law:
A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,
brave, clean, and reverent.
I was a Cub Scout. My mother was a Den Mother. When I became old enough, I was a Boy Scout. My father was a leader in the Scouts.
I can hold part of my father’s love for Scouting in the palm of my hand. That’s because when he was a boy, he saved his pennies until he was able to buy a Boy Scout knife. The blade is as shiny as it was when he got it. The handle shows wear, but not abuse. My dad took care of his belongings. He didn’t have a lot of anything when he was a kid… except character. Looking back on it, daddy was the Scout law his entire life.
There are a lot of men like that. Men who learned about character, decency, and how to “Be Prepared”- think ahead and be ready for the unexpected.
It was fun to study for those merit badges, even though I am still hopeless with knots. I had a good time on camping trips even though my idea of roughing it these days is when the power goes out.
I’m sure I exasperated my mother with some of my craft work in Cub Scouts. When I got through with some of my projects, there was more Elmer’s glue on me than anything I had worked on.
But I was always a strikingly handsome young man in that uniform. I still have the hat and kerchief from Boy Scouts, plus a couple of pieces of painted plaster-of-Paris items and my handbooks. Scouting does not teach you to become a pack-rat. I learned to save everything all on my own.
At Scout-A-Ramas (I still have a patch from one of them) scores of Scouts would converge on a big building, such as one of the exhibition halls at Chilhowee Park. Some troops would build intricate wood bridges by lashing sticks and limbs together. Some Scouts would always have some outdoor cooking underway. I never knew warm Kool-Aid could taste so good. We would spend hours at all of the activity booths and exhibits, then walk outside into the fresh, cool air.. our Scout Uniforms soaked with sweat and our young brains marinated in an atmosphere where resilience was taught, character illustrated, and kids learned they were part of something larger than themselves.
I had fun as a Boy Scout. And even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was learning some things I could take with me into adulthood.
Oh, and there was that time when we had to make up a “skit” to perform at some Pack Meeting at Fair Garden School.
I made a “control board” out of a cardboard box painted gray with black dials and knobs. I made some headphones out of black construction paper.
My role in the performance: a radio broadcaster.
