his ear. How
his jaw dropped when he heard--or seemed to hear--the magic button's
words, four words he will never, never forget, even if he lives to be a
hundred years old!

"_Safety First_," whispered the magic button in his ear. "_Get Busy!_"

Bob sprang to his feet, so startled that he nearly dropped the button.

"Get busy?" he echoed. "Well, let's!"

"And let's be quick about it," chimed in Betty. "I want to earn one of
those magic buttons myself."

"Here too!" Bob whirled around to Sure Pop. "But we'll have to get the
soil ready first, won't we, just as the King told you? So the seed won't
be wasted, you know."

"That's the first move, Bob. Waste is something no Scout can bear to
see. Waste of life, waste of health, waste of time, waste of food--even
waste of money seems a crime to a Safety Scout."

Betty was thinking hard. "Then before we can plant the Safety First idea
in other people's minds, shan't we have to start it growing in our own,
Sure Pop?"

"Sure pop, we shall! And now listen, friends. When I first came to
America, after years of Safety training among my own people, I took up
the task of planting the Safety First idea among the great American
mills and factories. Some day I'll tell you about those years of Safety
work among the mill hands, but just now what I want to explain is this:
when I had got the work well established among the mills, I thought at
first that my work in America was finished; but the more I thought it
over, the plainer it became that my most important work still lay before
me."

"Your most important work," echoed Betty. "What do you mean, Sure
Pop--teaching Safety to the President of the United States?"

"No, Betty. A far more important work than that--teaching Safety to
children. I saw that by making Safety Scouts out of the boys and girls,
I should be solving the whole problem of the years to come--for workmen,
Presidents, and all. So I drew a long breath and started in again, this
time in America's homes.

"Now how do you suppose I came to choose your home to begin on? Just as
I was wondering which house to tackle first, I overheard Bob wishing he
had Uncle Jack's life of adventure--though the United States has more
real adventure to the square mile than all South America put together!"

"You don't mean it? Why, this is a civilized country!"

"You Americans think so, Bob. And you're trying to bring about
world-wide peace, because you feel that war is out of place