Many boys, upon taking up the Scout Movement, are dubious about the value of the scout staff and many friends of the movement ask "Why does a boy scout carry a staff?"
Experience has proven it to be one of the most helpful articles of equipment. In order to show this we are reproducing, through the courtesy of Lieut-Gen. Sir Robert S. S. {366} Baden-Powell, illustrations from printed matter used by the English boy scouts. These illustrations show a number of different ways in which the staff will prove a handy and valuable article; in fact, essential to the Scout outfit.
Wading a stream. Two or three Scouts grasp the Staff like this.
Both patrol tents and tepees can be made with the aid of the Staff.
An improvised stretcher of coats and staves.
A line of Scouts linked together on a night march.
When anyone falls through some ice, throw him your Staff so that he can grasp it like this until you can get a rope and pull him out.
When climbing gates you can give yourself a push up with your Staff.
For erecting a flagstaff and forming a fence, the Staff is very useful.
A clear view can be had by looking through a small hole drilled in the Staff.
Measuring Distances.
Self-defense.
Making Splints.
Jumping Ditches.
Making Rafts.
Bridge Building.
Climbing a Mountain.--Carry the Staff cross-wise, and if you slip, lean inwards upon it, against the side of the mountain. The weight of your body will then drive the end of the staff into the earth, and so anchor you.
Levering up Logs and Stones.
Rope ladders,
Feeling the way over marshy ground.
Recovering Objects Floating in the Water--
First tie a line to the centre of the staff. Then tie a piece of string to each end of the staff, and the other ends of these strings being tied to the centre. That will keep the staff at right angles to the line that is in your hand.
By swinging the staff out over the water, beyond the floating article, you will be able to draw the latter in close to shore.
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