Endurance: A manly moderation which keeps a boy fit and strong
and in good condition.
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Self Improvement: The ambition to get on in life by all fair means.
Humility: That fine quality which keeps a scout from
boasting, and which generally reveals a boy of
courage and achievement.
Honor: That great thing which is more sacred than anything
else to scouts and gentlemen; the disdain of telling
or implying an untruth; absolute trustworthiness and
faithfulness.
Duty to God: That greatest of all things, which keeps a boy
faithful to his principles and true to his friends
and comrades; that gives him a belief in things that
are high and noble, and which makes him prove his
belief by doing his good turn to some one every day.
This list of virtues a scout must have, and if there are any that
standout more prominently than the others, they are the following:
[Illustration: Scout protecting child from mad dog.]
Courage
It is horrible to be a coward. It is weak to yield to fear and heroic
to face danger without flinching. The old Indian who had been mortally
wounded faced death with a grim smile on his lips and sang his own
death song. The soldier of the {249} Roman legions laughed in the face
of death, and died often with a "Hail, Imperator!" for the Roman
Caesar upon his lips.
One of the stories connected with the battle of Agincourt tells us
that four fair ladies had sent their knightly lovers into battle. One
of these was killed. Another was made prisoner. The third was lost in
the battle and never heard of afterward. The fourth was safe, but owed
his safety to shameful flight. "Ah! woe is me," said the lady of this
base knight, "for having placed my affections on a coward. He would
have been dear to me dead. But alive he is my reproach."
A scout must be as courageous as any knight of old or any Roman
soldier or any dying Indian.
Loyalty
Loyalty is another scout virtue which must stand out prominently,
because it is that which makes him true to his home, his parents, and
his country. Charles VIII, at the Battle of Foronovo, picked out nine
of his bravest officers and gave to each of them a complete suit of
armor, which was a counterpart of his own. By this device he outwitted
a group of
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