Scouts On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scout movement started in England with the publication of Robert...

Question

Scouts

On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scout movement started in England with the

publication of Robert Baden-Powell's handbook Scouting for Boys. The name

Baden-Powell was already well-known to many English boys, and thousands of

them eagerly bought the handbook. By the end of April, numerous Boy Scout

troops had appeared across Britain.

In 1900, General Baden-Powell became a national hero in Britain for his

217-day defence of Mafeking in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Soon after,

his military field manual, Aids to Scouting, written for British soldiers in 1899,

became popular with a younger audience. Boys loved the lessons on tracking and

observation and organized outdoor games using the book. Hearing this, BadenPowell decided to write a non-military field manual for teenagers that would also

emphasize the importance of morality and good deeds.

First, however, he decided to try out some of his ideas on an actual group of

boys. On July 25, 1907, he took a diverse group of 21 boys to Brownsea Island in

Dorset, where they set up camp for two weeks. With the aid of other instructors, he

taught the boys about camping, observation, deduction, woodcraft, boating, life saving, and good manners. Many of these lessons were learned through original

games that were very popular with the boys. The first Boy Scout meeting was a

great success. Soon the handbook Scouting for Boys appeared.

With the success of Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell set up a central Boy

Scouts' office, which registered new Scouts and designed a uniform. By the end of

1908, there were 60,000 Boy Scouts, and troops began to appear in British

Commonwealth countries across the globe. The Scout movement supported the

boys in their physical, mental and spiritual development. The boys learned to work

together to achieve goals, they also gave a promise to live by certain rules, and to

help others when they could.

In September 1909, the first national Boy Scout meeting was held at the

Crystal Palace in London. Ten thousand Scouts showed up, including a group of

uniformed girls who called themselves the Girl Scouts. A year later, Baden-Powell

organized the Girl Guides as a separate organization.

The American version of the Boy Scouts has its origins in an event that

occurred in London in 1909. Chicago publisher William Boyce lost his way in the

fog. So he stopped under a street light to read his map when he was approached by

a young British boy. The boy asked the man if he could help and William Boyce

explained that he had got lost. After guiding Boyce to his destination, the boy

refused a tip, explaining that as a Boy Scout he would not accept payment for

doing a good deed. This anonymous gesture inspired Boyce to organize several

regional U.S. youth organizations. The Scouts movement soon spread throughout

the country. In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America in

Savannah, Georgia.

In 1920 the first international Boy Scout Jamboree was held in London, and

Robert Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. The founder of the

Scout organization died in 1941.

Nowadays, the Scouts Movement exists in 216 different countries all over

the world, there are more than 28 million boy scouts and over 10 million girl

scouts.

10-The word ‘scout’ was thought up by Robert Baden-Powell.