4 Boy Scouts They were exceedingly simple in their dress and hahira They fought the Indians, not because they wished to, but because it was necessary to protect their wives and children from the raids of the savages. They knew all the things that. scouts ought to know. They were acquainted with the woods and the fields? knew where the best fish were robe caught; under- stood the trees, the signs and blazes, the haunts of an;rnals and how to track them; how to find their way b?v the starS; how to m?ke themselves comfortable in the heart of the primeval forest; and such other things as are classed under the general term of woodcraft. And, with all this, they inherited the splendid ideas of chivalry that had been developed in the thousand yearS preceding them, and fitted these ideas to the conditions of their own day, standing solidly against evil and falsehood whenever they lifted their head among them. They were not perfect, but they did their best to be of service to those who came within their reach and worked conscientiously for their country. Modern Knighthood A hundred yearS have passed since then, and the conditions of life which existed west of the Alleghanies are no more. Just as the life of the pioneers was different from that of the knights of the Round Table, and as they each prac- tised chivalry in keeping with their own. sur- roundings, so the life of to-day is different from both, but the need of chivalry is. very .much the same Might still tries to make right, and while there are now no robber barons or outlaws with swords and spears, their spirit is not unknown in business and commercial life. Vice and dishonesty lift their heads just as strongly to-day as in the past and there is just as much need of. respect for women and girls as there ever was. So to-day there is a demand for a modern type of chivalry. It is for this reason that the Boy Scouts of Amer- ica have come into being; for there is need of service in these days, and that is represented by the good turn done to somebody every day. Doing the good turn daily will help to form the habit of useful service. A boy scout, then, while living in m&iern?imas. must Modern knight consider himself the h?e?
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