tis' idle to pretend that the Btrength of the Boy Scouts in Shanghai is worthy of the size the population, Taking foreign boys alone into account, itis estimated that there are something like 4,000 of them in Shanghai, although they may mot all be between the ages prescribed for Boy Scouts, who, as., everyone knows,.must be. forgotten, and they function between the ages of eight and ten, 'The Jamboree yesterday: showed, however, that the right spirit, is at work, among those who follow the lead of the Boy Scouts' Association: During the twenty-two years" that the movement has been in existence it has become so world-wide that an International community like Shanghai has to take cognisance of its part in the development of citizenship, But, looking back in the files of thi newspaper, it will be discovered that s0-long ago as.1915 the Boy Scouts, or, the Baden-Powell Scouts as they were called in those days, could muster sixty strong, and now that the movement has assumed an international value which is fully recognized by the League: of Nations, it is surely a point of prestige that Shanghai should endeavour to increase its oumbers. It is understood that the difficulty is not so much that of enrolling recruits, but in obtai ing suitable Scout Masters. This. difficulty may be expected to diminish as time goes on, for' the chances of newcomers to Shanghai having been through the ranks of the Boy Scouts will proportionately increase. recognized that work in the Settlement often gives little time for leisure. " Conditions: impose more attention to the meed for relaxation than they might do in other parts of the world. "Yet there can be no greater pleasure for the young, man in Shanghai than that of teaching the even younger idea how to shoot.
Emphasis must be laid on the desirability of inspiring' interest' in the Scouts amon; the men of between twenty an thirty. They would find in any time spent in inculcating the tenets of the movement into the minds of very young Shangh: would be time well spent both for themselves and for those Whose whom they would serv.
Scout Law, which $s a mittedly derived from the records of chivalry, can be a most potent factor in' developing th qualities. of citizenship." The honour to be trusted, the loyalty to the ruler, and after him the community of which he is the head, the duty. of service to others, the friendship for every: cone, the courtesy, the consider tion for animals, the obedience to orders, the cheerfulness in difficulty,' economy in, the use of resources, and healthiness in outlook, all come from the vow or promise which the Boy Scout tries to keep.
No one who saw the Jamboree yesterday afternoon could have failed to recognize the value of the qualities to which that well-staged entertainment gave expression. The Boy Scout grown Up should be a more self-reliant, amore companionable, and a more efficient member of society than. his unhappy. predecessors to whom the vision of Bade Powell had been denied. Kipling perhaps has not always had his ced of praise in this connec~ tion. For if Baden-Powell developed his idea somewhere out the days of Mafeking, it was Kipling's "Army of! a Dream" which in a most remarkble way forecasted the plans which Baden-Powell eventually started to put into force in 1908. The movement has gone yond national boundaries. emphasizes the basic soundness of the creed, The true Boy Scout has not to budge from his loyalty to his country. In fact, by developing that quality he goes quite naturally through comradeship and the. other attributes of the true Scout to look to that wider citizenship which is in the.last resort to be of -such'- great importance in solving. the world's. psychological difficulties: For psychology to-day" plays: "perhaps" the Breatest part. in international relationships. So many understandings and so. many. disagreements have their Uasis in psychological causes. If there is one thing more than another-that the, Boy Scout learns it is that where there is a common endeavour there also can be & common understanding. which makes. all differences of outlook "merely a means of strengthening the common bond.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.