The Boys' Corner
Ernest Thompson Seton • Adventures in Woodcraft • Woodcraft for Boys • “The Wildest Bunch” • Free Vent to Energy • The Beginning • Scouting Among the Slavs
What a wealth of adventurous romance is conjured up by the name of Ernest Thompson Seton, the woodcraft man. One of the most famous naturalists in the world, he has made himself a friend of boys, and provided for them in America a movement which helps them get to the out-o'-doors, and spend as much of their lives as possible among the beautiful wild things of Nature.
What boys are there who have not read his wondertul books, “Two Little Savages,” “Wild Animals at Home,” “Rolf of the Woods,” and particularly “The Biography of a Grizzly.”
News has just come of a wonderful function arranged in his honour by an organization called the Woodcraft League of America. At this function, Mr. Seton was made “Grand Sachem Ipawa,” signifying leadership and achievement in all branches of woodcraft.
It is recorded that 12 applications for honours in his behalf had been filed by “tribesmen” (members of his wonderful organization, I believe) from all parts of the country. Each honour recounted some special accomplishment of the naturalist in the last year, including movements for the protection of wild life, furtherance of Nature study, help in boys' and girls' club work, new adventures in woodcraft, and other contributions to the wider knowledge of outdoor life.
Greetings from allied organizations all over the world were received at the meeting. These included the Boy Bcouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations the Girls' Friendly Society, International Boys' Work Conference, Boys' Clubs, and the Playground and Recreation Association.
At the conclusion of the ceremony Mr. Seton told of how his interest had been aroused in using woodcraft tto interest and develop Nature study by boys and girls. He said that in 1902 he bought a place at Cos Cob, Conn., and built an Indian village, stocked the lake with fish, and made provision for the protection of wild life, trees, and wild flowers.
IMG: ERNEST THOMPSON 8ETON,
One of the world's greatest naturalists and an expert in woodcraft, who was recently honoured by the, woodcraft League of America,
“I had not been there very long,” he said, “when the boys in the neighbourhood began to bother me. They painted and chalked up my fences and gates. They did all manner of things, but I went along each day repairing the damage they had done and trying to think of ways to stop them without using repression.
“One day I went to the village school and asked the teacher if I might talk to the boys. I told the class what I was trying to do, what I had done, and wound up by asking if they would like to come to my place ou the Friday afternoon and camp until Monday morning.
"My invitation was met with silence. They didn't know me. They didn't understand me. Finally I singled out some of the larger ones, and asked them if they would like to come. Hesitatingly, one after another, about 12 of them said they would come, and the way they accepted led me to believe they were conferring a great honour on me.”
"Friday. 4 o'clock came, but no boys. Four-thirty and still no boys. I bad stocked up with plenty of ‘grub,’ had the canoes caulked and everything shipshape for the big time. Five o'clock and still no boys. I began to feel a little apprehensive.”
“I thought my experiment was going to fall flat. Then, in a rush they came, not 12, but the whole class of 42. They descended upon me like a whirlwind. They were the wildest bunch of Indians I had ever seen. They were into everything.”
“‘Can we yell?’ they asked. ‘Sure,’ I said, yell your heads off if you want to.’ ‘Can we take off our clothes and get into the water?’ ‘Go to it,’ I said, ‘and the sooner the better.’ because I know that when they were in the lake they couldn't set fire to my woods, and besides it would serve to cool them off a bit.”
“That night at supper they ate me almost out of house and home. They left hardly enough for breakfast, but next day was Saturday, and I could stock up again. That night I introduced them to the friendliness of the campfire, told Indian stories, and the incidents of camp life in the big Canadian woods. They were thrilled.”
“John Hansen had come to the camp to help me take care of the boys. John said they were a bad lot, and that I'd get little satisfaction out of them. One of those boys — and I think he's here tonight — took all the bacon that I had saved for breakfast. That was Leonard S. Clark.”
“My, but he was a bad one, but now I am glad to say he has a Bible class of nearly 1,000 members.” (It was Mr. Clark who had, a few minutes before, bestowed the highest woodcraft honour on Mr. Seton.)
“By Monday morning, Mr. Seton added, “I had 42 new friends.”
Mr. Seton said that was the beginning of all the woodcraft movements among boys and girls. How it has grown and prospered, he said, was indicated by the cordiality of the greetings that came from all the world.
He still has his camp at Cos Cob, and it is the shrine of thousands of nature lovers. He has found there many characters for his books; one of them, George L. White, was a prominent figure in “Two Little Savages,” and is now a prominent woodcrafter. Many others who were among the 42 “wild Indians” of Mr. Seton's first boys' camp were present at the dinner, and laughed at the reminiscences of 25 years ago.
I have received from Prague, Czechoslovakia, two copies of Skaut-Junak, the journal of the Boy Scouts of that country. It is a splendidly arranged publication, and contains many fine photographs. To show you how interesting the paper is, I quote the followin:—
“Marno vsak hledet zpet, nelze-li se z te minulosti pouciti. A pouceni zde? Jake muze jine byt nez; uchovejme si vecne mladi! Zustanme mladi v pruznosti a prizpusobivosti! Nezapadejme v lenosivou, pohodlnou nehybnost, maskovanou ruznymi libivymi „idylami”.<ref> Skaut-Junák vol. 13. č. 7 1927, p 102
