CHAPTER IX.

PATRIOTISM;

or,

Our Duties as Citizens.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 26. OUR EMPIRE.

How it Grew--How it Must be Held.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

_The use of a large Map of the Empire is very desirable for illustrating this. The Arnold Forster or the Navy League or the League of the Empire Map are very good, and we hope to issue one specialty designed for the Boy Scouts._

_Look up the local history of your neighbourhood, and give your scouts the more interesting and dramatic bits of it, on the actual scene of the events if possible._

OUR EMPIRE.

Any of you who have travelled much about this country by train, going for your holidays and so on, know how two or three hours will take you a good long distance and six or eight hours will take you to the other end of England.

Well, if instead of hours you travelled for as many days, even six or eight days would take you a very little way over our Empire. It would get you into Canada, but you would want several more days--not hours--to get you across that country. Eighteen days' hard travelling day and night would get you to India or South Africa, but either of these are little more than half way to Australia. And all that distance off, across the seas, on the other side of the world, we have a British country into which you could put nine Great Britains and Irelands.

9 United Kingdoms = 1 Australia. 10 " = 1 Canada. 6 " = 1 India and Burma. 5 " = East Africa, Uganda, and Soudan. 5 " = South Africa. 1 " = New Zealand. 1-1/2 " = Nigeria.

Then there are numbers of smaller Colonies or Dependencies, such as Guiana (nearly as big as the United Kingdom), North Borneo, New Guinea, Somaliland, Straits Settlements, Gold Coast, West Indies, Tasmania, etc., and numbers of islands in ever sea all over the world.

Our Colonies together are something like forty times the size of the United Kingdom at home.

Our fellow-subjects amount to four hundred millions, and comprise almost every known race. Almost every known species of wild animal occurs in British territory.

It is a magnificent Empire over which the Union Jack flies, but it is still only at the beginning of its development. The territories are there, but the people are only coming. The white population of all these Colonies only amounts to a little over a quarter of the population of our crowded little island. We have nearly forty-four millions here; they have among the colonies a little over eleven millions.

Many of you scouts, as you grow up, will probably become scouts of the nation, and will find your way to some of the Colonies to help to push them up into big prosperous countries. Your scout's training will come in very useful to you there. But when you go there you must be prepared to work, and to work hard, and to turn your hand to any kind of job.

HOW OUR EMPIRE GREW.

All those vast Colonies did not come to England of themselves. They were got for us by the hard work and the hard fighting of our forefathers.

AMERICA.--When we first got to America it took Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith, and other great pioneers four or five months to get there in their little cockleshells of ships, some of them only 30 tons measurement--no bigger than a Thames barge. Nowadays you can get there in five or six days, instead of months, in steamers of 30,000 tons.

Think of the pluck of those men tackling a voyage like that, with very limited supply of water and salt food. And, when they got to land with their handful of men, they had to overcome the savages, and in some cases other Europeans, like the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the French; and then they had hard work to till the ground, to build settlements, and to start commerce.

Hard sailoring, hard soldiering, hard colonising by those old British sea-dogs, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hawkins, Frobisher, and, best of all to my mind, Captain John Smith.

He left Louth Grammar School in Lincolnshire to become a clerk in an office, but he soon went off to the wars. After two years' fighting he returned home.

He admitted he had gone out as a "tenderfoot," and had not properly prepared himself as a boy for a life of adventure; so he set to work then and there to learn scouting. He built himself a hut in the woods, and learnt stalking game, and killing and cooking it for himself; he learnt to read maps and to draw them, and also the use of weapons; and then, when he had made himself really good at scoutcraft, he went off to the wars again.

He afterwards became a sailor, fought in some very tough sea-fights, and eventually, in 1607, he went with an expedition to colonise Virginia in America. They sailed from London in three ships, the biggest of which was only 100 tons, the smallest 30 tons. But they got there after five months, and started a settlement on the James River.

Here John Smith was captured by the Red Indians one day when out shooting (as you have seen by the play in Chapter I.), and they were proceeding to kill him when the King's daughter, Pocahontas, asked for him to be spared. After this the Red Indians and the Whites got on good terms with each other. Pocahontas became a Christian, and married Smith's lieutenant, Rolfe, and came to England. After many strange and exciting adventures in America, John Smith got much damaged by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, and came home ill. He eventually died in London.

He was a splendid character--and always did his duty in spite of all temptations to let it slide. He was a tremendous worker, very keen, and very brave. He was never defeated by any difficulty however great, because he was always cheery under the worst of circumstances. His motto was, "We were born not for ourselves, but to do good to others," and he acted up to it.

IN SOUTH AFRICA we had to drive out the Dutch and then fight the natives for our foothold, which once gained we never let go--and though it has cost us thousands of lives and millions of money we have got it now.

AUSTRALIA was got by our sailor-adventurers, like Captain Cook, outstripping all other nations in their plucky navigation of immense unknown oceans.

INDIA was practically in possession of the French when Clive and Wellesley drove them out, and then in turn had to fight the hordes of fighting natives of the interior, and gradually, foot by foot, by dint of hard fighting, we have won that country for our Empire.

EAST AFRICA, Uganda, and the Soudan beyond Egypt, and Somaliland have also been fought for and won in quite recent times.

And now in all of these we are spreading the blessings of peace and justice, doing away with slavery and oppression, and developing commerce, and manufactures, and prosperity in those countries.

Other nations could formerly only look on and wonder, but now they too are pressing forward in the race for empire and commerce, so that we cannot afford to sit still or let things slide.

We have had this enormous Empire handed down to us by our forefathers, and we are responsible that it develops and goes ahead, and above all that we make ourselves fit and proper men to help it to go ahead. It won't do so of itself, any more than it would have become ours of itself. If we don't do this some other nation will take it from us.

If our island of England were attacked and taken, down comes our Empire like a house built of cards.

We have had this danger always, even before our Empire was a paying one and worth taking. Nowadays it is much more tempting for other people to take. We defeated determined attacks of the Dutch upon us in the old days. The Spaniards with their Armada attempted to invade us, when, largely thanks to a storm, we defeated them utterly. Then the French, after a long struggle to best us, had their invasion stopped by Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, and their harmfulness ended by Wellington at Waterloo. The French Emperor had been so sure of success that he had had medals got ready to commemorate the capture of England. And since helping in the defeat of the Russians in the Crimea we have been at peace with our Continental neighbours.

Let us hope that this peace will remain permanent.

HOW THE EMPIRE MUST BE HELD.

Peace cannot be certain unless we show that we are always fully prepared to defend ourselves in England, and that an invader would only find himself ramming his head against bayonets and well-aimed bullets if he tried landing on our shores.

The surest way to keep peace is to be prepared for war. Don't be cowards, and content yourselves by merely paying soldiers to do your fighting and dying for you. Do something in your own self-defence.

You know at school how if a swaggering ass comes along and threatens to bully you, he only does so because he thinks you will give in to him; but if you know how to box and square up to him he alters his tone and takes himself off. And it is just the same with nations.

It is much better that we should all be good friends--and we should all try for that--no calling each other names, or jeering; but if one of them comes along with the idea of bullying us, the only way to stop him is to show him that you _can_ hit and _will_ hit if he drives you to it.

Every boy should prepare himself, by learning how to shoot and to drill, to take his share in defence of the Empire, if it should ever be attacked. If our enemies saw that we were thus prepared as a nation, they would never dare to attack, and peace would be assured.

Remember that the Roman Empire 2000 years ago was comparatively just as great as the British Empire of to-day. And though it had defeated any number of attempts against it, it fell at last, chiefly because the young Romans gave up soldiering and manliness altogether; they paid men to play their games for them, so that they themselves could look on without the fag of playing, just as we are doing in football now. They paid soldiers to fight their battles for them instead of earning the use of arms themselves; they had no patriotism or love for their grand old country, and they went under with a run when a stronger nation attacked them.

Well, we have got to see that the same fate does not fall upon our Empire. And it will largely depend upon you, the younger generation of Britons that are now growing up to be the men of the Empire. Don't be disgraced like the young Romans, who lost the Empire of their forefathers by being wishy-washy slackers without any go or patriotism in them.

Play up! Each man in his place, and play the game! Your forefathers worked hard, fought hard, and died hard, to make this Empire for you. Don't let them look down from heaven, and see you loafing about with hands in your pockets, doing nothing to keep it up.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

Teach the words and choruses of:

"The Maple Leaf" (Canada), "The Song of Australia," and other Colonial songs. "God Bless the Prince of Wales." "Rule Britannia." "Hearts of Oak." "The Flag of Britain." "God Save the King."

(J. S. Maddison, 32 Charing Cross.)

Apply to Secretary, League of the Empire, Caxton Hall, Westminster, S.W.

Explore Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Temple Church, etc., with following books:

BOOKS TO READ.

"St. Paul's Cathedral" and "Westminster Abbey," both by Mrs. Frewen Lord, 1s. (Published by Clowes and Son, Charing Cross.)

(Excellent short histories of our famous men and their deeds.)

"Travels of Captain John Smith," by Dr. Rouse. 6d. (Blackie.)

"The Story of Captain Cook." Edited by John Lang. 1s. 6d.

"Deeds that Won the Empire," by Fitchett.

"Heroes of Pioneering" (in America, India, Africa), by Sanderson. (Seeley.) 2s. 6d.

Excellent Lantern Slide Lectures can be got on hire from the League of the Empire, Caxton Hall, Victoria Street, London, on the history of our Colonies and Empire.

DISPLAY.

John Nicholson was one of the finest among many fine Britons who helped to rule India. On one occasion he had a meeting of a number of chiefs at a time when they were beginning to show some signs of mutiny. The most important one of these chiefs was called Mehtab Singh, and just before the meeting he told the others that he for one was not afraid of the Englishman, and that he meant to swagger into the room with his shoes on. (It is the custom in India for natives to take off their shoes on entering the presence of a superior just as in England you take off your hat on coming in.) And he did so. He walked in before them all with his shoes on.

Nicholson did not appear to take any notice of it and went on with the meeting; but at the end of it, just as they were all leaving, he suddenly stopped Mehtab Singh, and ordered the others to wait. He then reprimanded him for his insolence, and ordered him to take off his shoes then and there and to walk out with them in his hand before all the other chiefs. And so he had to go, hanging his head with shame, disgraced and humbled by the firmness of the British ruler.

This makes a good subject for a display.

Scene in a great tent or hall in India.

Nicholson (with a black beard), in a dark suit, sitting on a throne in the centre, with several British and native officers in red tunics grouped behind him. Native princes, seated in chairs in semi-circle to either side of him, all with white socks or bare feet, except Mehtab Singh, who has black shoes on, put out well before him for all to see.

Nicholson rises, signs to the chiefs that they may go.

All rise and bow to him, with both hands to the forehead.

As they turn to go he stops them.

"Stay, gentlemen, one moment. I have a matter with you, Mehtab Singh! Thou camest here intent to show contempt for me, who represent your Queen. But you forget that you are dealing with a Briton--one of that band who never brooks an insult even from an equal, much less from a native of this land. Were I a common soldier it would be the same; a Briton, even though alone, amongst a thousand of your kind, shall be respected, though it brought about his death. That's how we hold the world. To plot against your master brings but trouble on yourself. Take off those shoes."

[Mehtab starts, draws himself up, and glares at Nicholson angrily.]

Nicholson [very quietly and deliberately]--"Take--off--those--shoes." [Points at them.]

A pause. Mehtab looks round as if for help, takes a step towards Nicholson, but catches his eye, and stops. He sinks slowly on one knee, head down, and slowly takes off his shoes.

Rises, keeping his head down, slowly turns--Nicholson still pointing--and walks slowly out, shoes in hand.

[If a longer scene is required Nicholson might then address the chiefs on the might of Britain, which, though a small country, is all powerful for good of the world, and so he, as representing her, stands one among them for the good of the whole. And that if they want peace and prosperity they themselves must be loyal and true to the hand that is arranging it. Nicholson's words are splendidly rendered in the poem by Henry Newbolt.]

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 27. CITIZENSHIP.

Duties of Scouts as Citizens--Duties as Citizen Soldiers--Marksmanship--Helping the Police.

SCOUT'S DUTY AS A CITIZEN.

There are two ways by which every good Briton ought to be prepared to keep up our Empire.

The first is by peaceful means as a citizen.

If every citizen of the Empire were to make himself a really good useful man, our nation would be such a blessing to the civilised world, as it has been in the past, that nobody would wish to see it broken up by any other nation. No other nation would probably wish to do it. But to hold that position we must be good citizens and firm friends all round among ourselves in our country.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. If a strong enemy wants our rich commerce and Colonies, and sees us in England divided against each other, he would pounce in and capture us.

For this you must begin, as boys, not to think other classes of boys to be your enemies. Remember, whether rich or poor, from castle or from slum, you are all Britons in the first place, and you've got to keep England up against outside enemies. You have to stand shoulder to shoulder to do it.

If you are divided among yourselves you are doing harm to your country. You must sink your differences.

If you despise other boys because they belong to a poorer class than yourself you are a snob; if you hate other boys because they happen to be born richer and belong to higher class schools than yourself, you are a fool.

We have got, each one of us, to take our place as we find it in this world and make the best of it, and pull together with the others around us.

We are very like bricks in a wall, we have each our place, though it may seem a small one in so big a wall. But if one brick gets rotten, or slips out of place, it begins to throw an undue strain on others, cracks appear, and the wall totters.

Don't be too anxious to push yourself on to good billets. You will get disappointments without end if you start that way.

Work for the good of the State, or of the business in which you are employed, and you will find that as you succeed in doing this you will be getting all the promotion and all the success that you want.

Try and prepare yourself for this by seriously taking up the subjects they teach you at school, not because it amuses you, but because it is your duty to your country to improve yourself. Take up your mathematics, your history, and your language--learning in that spirit, and you'll get on.

Don't think of yourself, but think of your country and your employers. Self-sacrifice pays all round.

DUTIES AS CITIZEN-SOLDIER.

A cuttle-fish is an animal with a small, round body and several enormously long arms which reach out in every direction to hold on to rocks to enable it to keep its position and to get food.

Great Britain has been compared to a cuttle-fish, the British Isles being the body and our distant Colonies the arms spread all over the world.

When anyone wants to kill a cuttle-fish he does not go and lop off one of its arms; the other arms would probably tackle him and hold him for the cuttle-fish to eat. No, the way to kill a cuttle-fish is to suddenly stab him in the heart, and then his arms fall helpless and dead.

Well, we have many powerful enemies round about us in Europe who want very much to get hold of the trade in our great manufacturing towns, and of the vast farm-lands in our Colonies. If they tried to lop off one of our Colonies it would be like trying to lop off one of the arms of the cuttle-fish. All the rest would tackle him at once, as happened in the last war in South Africa.

Their only way--and they know it--is to stab suddenly at the heart of the Empire, that is to attack England. If they succeeded, the whole of the Empire must fall at once, because the different parts of it cannot yet defend themselves without help from home.

For this reason every Briton who has any grit in him will BE PREPARED to help in defending his country.

When Mafeking was attacked by the Boers, the boys of the town made themselves into a Cadet Corps, and did very useful work in the defence. It is quite likely that England will some day be attacked just as Mafeking was, unexpectedly, by a large number of enemies.

If this happens, every boy in the country should be prepared to take his place and help in the defence like those Mafeking boys did.

We don't think much of a fellow who is no good at cricket or football, and who only loafs about trying (without success) to look like a man by smoking cheap cigarettes. But we ought really not to think too much of any boy, even though a cricketer and footballer, unless he can also _shoot_, and _can drill_ and _scout_.

That is the fellow who is going to be useful if England is attacked.

I hope that before long every eleven, whether football or cricket, will also make itself a good eleven for shooting and scouting and therefore useful for defence of our King and country when needed.

In the Colonies boys think more of their shooting than of their games, because the shooting is for their _country_, the games for _themselves_.

Mr. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, writes:

"The qualities that make a good scout are, in large part, the qualities that make a good hunter. Most important of all is the ability to shift for one's self--the mixture of hardihood and resourcefulness which enables a man to tramp all day in the right direction, and, when night comes, to make the best of whatever opportunities for shelter and warmth may be at hand. Skill in the use of the rifle is another trait; quickness in seeing game, another; ability to take advantage of cover, yet another; while patience, endurance, keenness of observation, resolution, good nerves, and instant readiness in an emergency, are all indispensable to a really good hunter."

Roosevelt is not, like certain men I know of, a man who pays others to do his fighting for him, but, when America went to war with Spain about Cuba, he went to the front as a soldier--like many good Britons did in South Africa--and was of greatest value to his side because he had begun life as a scout.

So make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect the women and children of your country if it should ever become necessary.

MARKSMANSHIP.

Lord Roberts, who has seen more of war than almost anybody alive, knows how terrible a thing it would be if war came into England, and he urges everybody to join in preventing it by becoming a good marksman with the rifle. Thanks to him, all those who have patriotism in them are taking it up everywhere.

The value of non-smoking again comes in rifle shooting. I used to smoke myself as a youngster, but I had to do some rifle shooting, and when in training I found my eyesight was better when I did not smoke. So I gave up smoking altogether, and am very glad I did.

The boys of the International Anti-Cigarette League bind themselves not to smoke, in order to make themselves better men for their country--that is the best reason for doing it.

I heard another reason given the other day for not smoking, and that was that St. Paul did not smoke. I don't suppose he did. Tobacco wasn't invented in his time.

The Boers are all good shots, and so are the Swiss. In both countries the boys begin learning marksmanship at an early age by using crossbows. They have much the same action for the firer as the rifle, since they are aimed from the shoulder and fired by pulling a trigger when the aim is taken. Boys trained with the crossbow have no difficulty in shooting accurately with a rifle directly it is put in their hands.

To be able to shoot well, a great secret is to hold your rifle properly; if it leans over a little bit to one side or the other the bullet will fly low over to that side. Keep your left arm well underneath the rifle to support it, and hold it well into the shoulder with your left hand. The right hand should have the thumb on the top of the stock, and the forefinger as far round the trigger as you can get it; then in firing don't give a pull with your forefinger or you will pull the aim off the target just as you fire; you should squeeze the woodwork of the rifle between your thumb and forefinger, and that will fire it with steadiness.

Then when your rifle has gone off, don't throw up the muzzle in a hurry, but do like all old scouts, continue to look along your sights after firing to see how much you have jumped off your aim in firing, and try and correct it next time.

Shooting at a fixed target is only a step towards shooting at a moving one like a man. Firing at moving objects is, of course, more difficult, but more real, because you will not find a deer or an enemy as a rule kind enough to stand still while you shoot at him, he will be running and dodging behind cover, so you have to get your aim quick and to shoot quick.

The very best practice for this is always to be aiming at moving objects with your staff, using it as if it were a rifle.

Aim first at the man, then moving the muzzle a little faster than he is moving, and fire while moving it when it is pointing where he will be a second or two later, and the bullet will just get there at the same time as he does and will hit him.

HELPING POLICE.

Boy Scouts can be of special use in assisting the police in towns. In the first place every Boy Scout ought to know where the fixed police points are--that is, where a constable is always stationed, apart from the policemen on their beats. He ought also to know where to find the fire alarm; also where is the nearest fire brigade station, and the nearest hospital or ambulance station, and chemist.

On seeing an accident, if you cannot help at it you should run and inform the nearest policeman, and ask him how you can help him, whether you can call a doctor, a cab, and so on. If you hear a policeman's whistle sounding, run and offer to help him, it is your duty, as he is a King's servant. If you should happen to see a door or window left open and unguarded at night, it is as well to inform a policeman on that beat, but you should on no account attempt to do detective work by watching people or playing the spy.

If you find a lost child, or lost dog, or any lost property, you should take them at once to the police station.

Sir H. Poland, K.C., had his watch snatched by a pickpocket the other day. The thief darted away down the street; but a small boy jumped on to a bike and followed him, crying, "Stop thief!" till he was caught--with the watch on him.

Not only can boys help the police, but girls also. Within the last few months I have noticed three cases of girls going to the assistance of constables who were in difficulties with violent men. In each case the girl got the policeman's whistle and blew it for him until assistance arrived. These heroines were Miss Edith Harris at Southampton, Miss Bessie Matthews in Clerkenwell, and Mrs. Langley at Brentford.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

Marksmanship can be taught indoors with the Blanchette Air Gun Tube. Price four guineas with Air Rifle. Targets 10d. per 100.

CROSSBOW.--Scouts can make their own crossbows and learn marksmanship with them.

Get leave to use, or join, a Miniature Rifle Club range.

GAMES.

"SHOOT OUT."--Two patrols compete. Targets: Bottles or bricks set up on end to represent the opposing patrol. Both patrols are drawn up in line at about 20 to 25 yards from the targets. At the word "fire" they throw stones at the targets. Directly a target falls the umpire directs the corresponding man of the other patrol to sit down--killed. The game goes on, if there are plenty of stones, till the whole of one patrol is killed. Or a certain number of stones can be given to each patrol, or a certain time limit, say one minute.

"French and English," or "Tug of War."--One patrol against another.

THE STORMING OF BADAJOZ.--One patrol (French) mounts on a very strong kitchen-table, or bank, and holds it against all comers. The British attack, and try to gain possession of the fortress by pulling the defenders off. Defenders may have half their number on the ground behind the "rampart." If the defenders pull a Briton over the rampart on to the ground behind he is dead. No hitting or kicking allowed.

[Badajoz was a Spanish fortress held by 5,000 French and Spaniards. It was attacked, and stormed, and taken by the British, who lost 3,500 in the assault, on March 17th, 1812.]

BOOKS TO READ.

"The Boys' Book of Bravery." By Power Berry. (C. A. Pearson.)

"The Boys' Book of Battles." By Herbert Cadett. (C. A. Pearson.)

"Rules for Miniature Rifle Clubs." Secretary National Rifle Association, Bisley, Surrey.

CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 28. UNITED WE STAND. DIVIDED WE FALL.

Our Fleet and Army--Our Union Jack--Our Government--Our King.

HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.

_Hoist the flag and salute it every morning when in camp, and on special days get up a show, or sports, or competitions, etc., on such as King's Birthday, Empire Day, May 24th, annually, or on the day of the Patron Saint of your Country: St. George, April 23rd; St. Patrick, March 17th; St. David, March 1st; St. Andrew, Nov. 30th._

_Get up tableaux or small pageants by the scouts to illustrate scenes from history of your town, or of Britain, or of Greater Britain._

_These interest the boys and impress the incident upon them, and they educate spectators, and bring in money for your funds._

_Take scouts to see meeting of town council and how business is carried out._

_If in London, take your boys to the Museum of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall, and show them the models of Waterloo and Trafalgar; the gun which we manufactured in Mafeking; the medals of different campaigns; and a hundred other interesting relics._

_Take your scouts round and explain each statue in your town._

_Hold debates on questions of the day._

OUR NAVY AND ARMY.

The British Navy and Army have made our Empire for us, and if it had not been for their help the Empire would have been broken up by our enemies long ago.

So we must be careful to keep those Services supplied with good men who, like the scouts, must BE PREPARED to give their lives for their country at any time.

There are always members of Parliament who try to make the Navy and Army smaller, so as to save money. They only want to be popular with the voters in England so that they and the party to which they belong may get into power. These men are called "politicians." They do not look to the good of the county. Most of them know and care very little about our Colonies. If they had had their way before, we should by this time have been talking French; and if they are allowed to have their way in the future we may as well learn German or Japanese, for we shall be conquered by these.

But fortunately there are other better men in Parliament, who are called "statesmen"; these are men who look out for the welfare of the country, and do not mind about being popular or not so long as they keep the country safe.

THE BRITISH NAVY.--Every British boy should study the Navy as much as possible, and learn the history of the different ships, and their power and guns, etc. A collection of postcard portraits of all His Majesty's ships is a very interesting one to make.

You should know the badges of rank of the officers, because it is the duty of a scout to salute officers of His Majesty's service.

Badges of rank on the sleeve or shoulder-strap are these.

Perhaps you may like to know some facts about the dress of the sailors.

The reason they wear that flap collar on their back is a relic of the time when they wore their hair in pig-tails. The grease used to come off and spoil their jackets, so they wore big linen flaps, which could be easily taken off and washed.

They wear a black silk tie round their neck as a mark of mourning for the death of Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar.

They wear three lines of white braid to commemorate Nelson's naval victories, The Nile, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar.

They wear baggy trousers so that they can easily roll them up above their knees when they want to wade.

Soldiers and sailors tattoo their arms with the idea that when they are killed in battle they can be identified the more easily.

THE BRITISH ARMY.--The Army is made up of--

The Regulars or Active Army, which includes infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and many other branches of both white and native soldiers.

The Militia at home are to help the Regulars in time of war.

The Militia exist also in most of our Colonies for their own defence.

The Territorial Force is made up of volunteers to protect the British Isles in case of the Active Army being called away for war in other parts.

In the Army, field-marshals and generals (including major-generals and lieutenant-generals) wear cocked hats, with long white cock's feather plumes, and red tunics or black frock-coats. Their swords are curved scimitars, with ivory handles. Colonels wear the uniform of their regiment with crown and star on the shoulder strap, or, in khaki, on the cuff; majors, one crown; captains, three stars; lieutenants, two stars.

You can tell what wars soldiers or sailors have been in by the colours of their medal ribbons. These I will show you later on.

OUR FLAG.

Scouts will always salute the colours (or standard) of a regiment when they pass. There are generally two such standards, one the "King's Colour," the other the "Regimental Colour."

Men-of-war carry a pennant, _i.e._, a long thin flag like a whip lash. You may remember that the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, after defeating ours, carried a broom at their mastheads to show that they had swept us off the seas. But when we shortly after defeated them we put up a whip at the masthead to show that we had whipped the enemy, and this whip has been carried ever since by men-of-war.

The Royal Navy fly the White Ensign; no one else is allowed to except yachts belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron. The White Ensign is a white flag with the Red Cross of St. George on it and a Union Jack in the corner. It is flown at the stern of the ship, a small Union Jack at the bow.

The mercantile navy flies the Red Ensign; or if the captain of the ship belongs to the Royal Reserve, the ship flies a Blue Ensign.

The Army and Government buildings fly the Union Jack. Private houses and individuals should only fly the Red Ensign.

The Royal Standard, which shows the Lions of England, the Harp of Ireland, and the Lion of Scotland, is only flown when the King is present.

The Union Jack is the national flag of England, and is made up originally of the flag of St. George, a red cross on a white ground. In 1606 King James I. added to it the banner of Scotland, which was a blue flag with a white St. Andrew's Cross diagonal, that is from corner to corner.

In 1801 the Banner of St. Patrick of Ireland was added to the flag; St. Patrick's Cross was a red diagonal cross on a white ground, so that the flag now means the union of England, Ireland, and Scotland.

But there is a right way and a wrong way of putting it up, which all of you ought to know and understand, because so very frequently one sees it hoisted the wrong way up, which literally means that you are in distress; but people put it that way by mistake or from ignorance. You will notice that the red diagonal arms of the flag have a narrow white band on one side of them and a broad one on the other. Well, the broad one should be to the top of the flag on the side nearest to the flagpost, that is the "hoist" of the flag, and towards the bottom of the flag in the loose end, or, as it is called, the "fly" of the flag. (See picture, Part 1, page 29.)

It was called a "Jack," either from "Jacques," the nickname of King James I., who first started it; or, more probably, from the "jack" or "jacket," which the knights used to wear over their armour to show which nation they belonged to. The English knights wore a white Jack with the red cross of St. George upon it. This was also their flag.

If the flag is flown upside down it is a signal of distress. If it is half-mast it is a sign of mourning.

On going on board a man-of-war, when you reach the quarter-deck--that is the upper stern deck--always salute the ensign.

In the Navy, flags are hoisted at eight o'clock and saluted. With the Boy Scouts when in camp the same practice will be observed.

Of course you will always rise and salute or take off your hat on hearing the National Anthem played.

The 24th of May, the birthday of the great Queen Victoria, is "Empire Day," and we all hoist the flag and salute in special honour of the Empire on that occasion.

Remember it is going to be the business of everyone of you to keep the old flag flying, even if you have to bleed for it--just as your forefathers did before you.

We have all got to die some day; a few years more or less of our own lives don't make much matter in the history of the world, but it is a very great matter if by dying a year or two sooner than we should otherwise do from disease we can help to save the flag of our country from going under.

Therefore think it over--BE PREPARED to die for your country if need be; so that when the moment arrives you may charge home with confidence, not caring whether you are going to be killed or not.

If your enemy sees that you are bent on either killing or being killed, the probability is that he won't wait to oblige you.

Don't merely talk, like some gas-bags do, about shedding the last drop of your blood for your country--the difficulty with them, when the time comes, is to get them to shed the FIRST drop of their blood.

The Union Jack stands for something more than only the Union of England, Ireland, and Scotland--it means the Union of Great Britain with all our Colonies across the seas; and also it means closer comradeship with our brothers in those Colonies, and between ourselves at home. We must all be bricks in the wall of that great edifice--the British Empire--and we must be careful that we do not let our differences of opinion on politics or other questions grow so strong as to divide us. We must still stick shoulder to shoulder as Britons if we want to keep our position among the nations; and we must make ourselves the best men in the world for honour and goodness to others so that we may DESERVE to keep that position.

Unite the Empire; make it stand compact, Shoulder to shoulder let its members feel The touch of British Brotherhood, and act As one great nation--strong and true as steel.

OUR GOVERNMENT.

Of all the different kinds of government in the world, ours is the easiest and fairest for everybody.

Some countries have kings who make their laws for them whether the people like the laws or not; other countries make their own laws, but have not a king or a head who can carry on dealings on equal terms with other foreign countries.

With us the wants of the people are made known through Parliament. The House of Commons is made up of men chosen by the people to make known their wants and to suggest remedies, and the House of Lords sees whether these are equally good for all and for the future of the country; and what they recommend the King makes into law.

When you grow up you will become voters and have a share in putting members into the House of Commons.

And you will many of you be inclined to belong to Conservative or Liberal or Radical or other parties, whichever your father or friends belong to. I should not if I were you. I should hear what each party has to say. If you listen to one party you will certainly agree that that is the only right one, the rest must all be wrong. But if you go and listen to another you will find that after all that one is quite right, and the first one wrong.

The thing is to listen to them all and don't be persuaded by any particular one, for they all tell fibs; they each want to get into power. And then be a man, make up your mind and decide for yourself which you think is best for the country and future of the Empire--not for some two-penny-halfpenny little local question--and vote for that one so long as it works the right way, namely, for the good of the country.

Many people get led away by some new politician with some new extreme idea. Never believe in one man's idea till it has been well considered from all points of view. Extreme ideas are seldom much good; if you look them up in history you will see almost always they have been tried before somewhere. The Socialists are right in wishing to get money more evenly distributed so that there would be no millionaires and no paupers, but everyone pretty well off.

But they go the wrong way to work; they want to fight all other people to get themselves up, instead of joining in with everybody in doing a great thing for the whole country by a way which is fair and good for all. They do not read history, which shows that their plans have been tried before, and failed, because they made life a kind of slavery for everybody, and left the country an easy prey to another stronger one.

More thrift rather than change of government will bring money to all. And a strong united Empire, where all are helpful and patriotic will bring us power, peace, and prosperity such as no Socialistic dream could do.

OUR KING.

The word Empire comes from an old Roman word "Imperium," which means "well-ordered rule."

And the title Emperor, or ruler of the Empire, comes from the Roman word "Imperator." The King signs himself "R. I.," which means "Rex," or King of England, and "Imperator" or Emperor of India and the Colonies.

Imperator comes from two Roman words, "Im" and "Parere," which together mean "To prepare for"--that is, to BE PREPARED. An Emperor is one who has to be prepared to face any difficulty or danger that may threaten the country.

Scouts have in the same way to BE PREPARED to _help_ their country in any difficulty or danger; and, therefore, we are all working to back up our King.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

BOOKS TO READ.

"The Union Jack and How It Was Made." By F. Wintour. One penny. (St. Dunstan's Road, West Kensington, London, W.)

Leaflets at one penny from the Empire Day Association, 83, Lancaster Gate, London, W.

"History of the British Empire." By Arnold Forster. (Cassell.)

_So great has been the success of this Handbook, "Scouting for Boys," that Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell has decided to complete it with Part 6, and make arrangements instead for a weekly penny paper for young men, to be entitled_:

_THE SCOUT._

_It will be first published on April 14th, and every Thursday following._

_It will, primarily, be a paper for young men between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. It will not be planned or conducted as a boys' paper. It will appeal to the Imperialistic spirit of the young men of Great Britain and will endeavour to educate them in a pleasant, easy, anecdotal way towards their future responsibilities in life as the head of a family and as good citizens._

_The founder of "THE SCOUT" is Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell, who will write in its pages each week. For three months Lt.-Gen. Baden-Powell has been lecturing in every great town in the Kingdom on the subject of Scouting for Boys, and at the present moment something between 500,000 and 700,000 young men are interested in his scheme, which will come into full swing about April._

_Fuller particulars of_

_THE SCOUT_

_will be given later. Meanwhile all communications should be addressed to_

_Messrs. C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., 17-18 Henrietta Street, Strand, London, W.C._,

_who will be the publishers_.