CHAPTER IX
EUROPE

Norwegian Scouts

IN Christiania I inspected a parade of nearly 800 Scouts ; fine, strapping, big lads they were, too, just like a lot of British boys, and dressed the same as we are, and very lively and active. I had to present Colours to some of their troops, and their national flag is in some ways a little like our Union Jack.

The Norwegian Flag, which as you will see is something like the Union Jack.		Norwegian Scouts were very lively.

And I told them that they were as like English boys as their flag was like ours, and that their forefathers, the Norsemen, were mixed up with our forefathers in the old days, and I hoped that we should all be mixed together, in a friendly way, in these days-as brother Scouts.

Sweden

In England we are apt to look upon Norway and Sweden as almost one nation, but they are not so in reality. The Norwegians in the old, old days formed one nation with the Danes, but the Swedes have always been a separate nation, which has never been under the rule of any other people. And they are very proud of this. So when I got amongst the Swedes, I found a totally different people, but they were equally kind and friendly to me, and they had an equally British-looking lot of Boy Scouts. A large number of these had collected the day before I was to review them in Stockholm, and were camped there. So I went and saw them overnight in camp, and found them round their camp fires, cooking their suppers, as jolly as sandboys. If they could do nothing else, they could, at any rate, cook their food very well.

But they could do other things, too, as they proved next day at the rally. This took place on a big open sports ground. The Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden were there to see them (the Crown Princess is our Princess Margaret, daughter of H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught). Their Royal Highnesses are tremendously interested in the Scouts, and watched all that they did most keenly.

Good Turns Done by Swedish Scouts

I heard many reports of the good work done by Swedish Scouts.  Here is one.

A poorly paid working-man in Gothenburg found him­self in great difficulties recently through his wife and two children being suddenly taken ill with diphtheria and re­moved to the hospital. He himself had to go to his work at the factory all day, but he had one of the children left on his hands, as well as the home to look after.

He got the wife of one of his neighbours to do this for one day ; the next he came back home during the dinner-hour to see how things were going on, and he found his home all cleaned and tidied up, and a strange boy sitting on the floor playing with his child, while another was still finishing the cleaning-up work.

When he asked who they were, they explained that they were Boy Scouts, and, having heard that he was wanting help in his home, they had come to give it. You can imagine how grateful he was, especially as the Scouts kept on at the work for over two weeks until the mother had got well and returned to take charge. One of those boys was the son of a rich man, while the other, his comrade, was quite a poor lad.

The Danes

In Denmark the Boy Scouts are strong in numbers, and keen and good at their work. Those of Copenhagen gave a rally in my honour, and twenty troops paraded and gave very good shows of scoutwork, each troop doing its own in turn. They seemed very good, especially in their cooking.

There were two very smart troops of Girl Guides also present at the parade, who cooked, too. The consequence was that when I began tasting some of their good dishes, I had to go and taste all, so that when the time came for the official dinner I had to attend in the evening I was already so "crowded" that I could not eat any of it!

When I drove away from the parade-ground after it was over, the Scouts and the Girl Guides made an avenue, crossing their staves overhead, through which I drove in my motor-car.

In Copenhagen, the Town Hall is the great thing to see. It is quite modern, only lately built, and is a magnifi­cent building. One of the features about it is the lifts, which keep running slowly up and down. They have no attendants in them. You simply have to jump in or out fairly quickly. I saw one stout old lady come and look at the lift.  She did not seem to like trying to jump in, but there seemed no way of getting it to stop for a minute ; she looked helplessly around; then she had another look at it. The more she looked the less she liked it, and finally she gave up the idea of visiting the upper floors of the building, and went sorrowfully away.

The lift in the Town Hall at Copenhagen is a continuous-moving one--you have to jump in or out of it pretty smartly. Old Lady: "Shall I venture!"

The Accident Corps

The Scouts in Copenhagen have been trained in first aid work by a First-Aid Corps which exists in that city, but I have never seen one anywhere else. I am hoping soon to see some started among ourselves in some of our big towns.

The Danish First-Aid Corps is very much like our Fire Brigade. At the First-Aid Station are motor-cars fitted up with things needed for almost every kind of accident, and they are ready to turn out any moment that their services may be required. Their office is on the telephone with every police station, and when they get a call to an accident, the motor, with all appliances, leaves the station within thirty seconds of the alarm.

When I was there the alarm came that a man had been run over by a tramcar in Market Street. In a few moments a motor lorry ran out of the station equipped with lifting jacks and levers to raise the tramcar, while a second followed it immediately with stretcher and first-aid appliances for the injured man.

In the station were kept all the things necessary for dealing with railway accidents, for rescuing people overcome with gas, for saving people in the water, and for pumping air into them when apparently drowned ; there were derricks for raising fallen horses, and fire escapes of every kind. In fact, it was fitted up and manned by thirty men, all trained and prepared to deal with every kind of accident that could well happen.

Well, that's just what I should like to see done by Boy Scouts in our country towns and villages. They might make their clubroom a first-aid station, with as many appliances as they could get together in the shape of bicycles, hand-carts, ladders, jumping-sheets, stretchers, bandages, spare harness, and with every Scout trained to deal with every kind of accident, or to form fence while others rendered first-aid, and so on.

The Dutch Scouts' Stretcher

There might be some way of sending round or sounding the " alarm " when an accident was reported, to bring together in a few minutes the patrol whose turn it was for duty.

In this way Scouts would do most valuable work.

Dutch Scouts

Then I went to Holland, where I saw plenty more Scouts, both at Amsterdam, Amersfoort, and The Hague, and fine, smart, clean-looking fellows they were, too.

One thing which they did especially well was throwing the lasso. They all carried light cord-lassoes on them. These came in useful for hundreds of things, like making bridges, rope-ladders, rescuing people from burning houses, and so on. But the Scouts also used them for lassoing each other, and many of them were awfully good at it.

Most of the Amsterdam Boy Scouts carry lassoes with which they are pretty handy.

The Dutch Scouts also had an excellent stretcher, which I think would be very useful for some of our ambulance patrols. With its help, one Scout alone could take an injured man to hospital. In the first place, it was flat on the ground, without any feet to it, so the Scout could roll or drag his patient on to it. Then it had two pairs of canvas flaps, which could lace across the patient's chest and loins, with sort of pockets for his feet, so that after the patient had been fastened on to it he could, if necessary, be stood upright. This is sometimes useful in a narrow place like a tunnel or a mine or a passage. Then, with a short chain and hook to each corner, the stretcher was slung underneath a pair of wheels (a Scouts' hand-cart would do equally well), and the Scout was able to wheel his patient away. Belgian Scouts

Before my visit to Belgium the Scouts there did grand work in helping the soldiers who had been sent to put out some forest fires. For several days the Scouts were camped with the soldiers. They supplied a line of signalling posts, by which communication was kept up with the nearest telegraph offices. They rendered first-aid to a good number of soldiers who got slight injuries from burning or other accidents in fighting the flames. And also the Scouts did good work in keeping the soldiers supplied with water when it was most difficult to get.

When the campaign with the bush fires was over, the military commanding officer published his very sincere thanks and praise for the good work done by the Scouts. The Belgian Scouts made a very good kind of but for themselves. In the sketch above you see the framework of one hut, as well as the but completed by being covered with turf sods, and a wickerwork door.

Belgian Boy Scouts' hut and the framework of the hut.

I was very glad to see so many Scouts all doing well, and all looking very like British Scouts, in so many differ­ent countries—Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. I hope that next year a number of our Scouts will be able to go over and see them, too ; and also that many of our brother Scouts from abroad will come over and see what England is like. I am sure they would receive a hearty welcome from all of us.

Brother Scouts of all the World

So you see that foreign Scouts are doing the same work and are dressed in the same uniform as yourselves. We are all one large brotherhood.

It began by being British, and extended to Britons beyond the seas in all our great dominions as well as in the smaller colonies. Then Scouting began to be taken up by the boys of other nations, until now practically every country has its part of our brotherhood. And it is our business to try to make that brotherhood a real one, so that all the nations may be on friendly terms together in future years.

CONTENTS

		The Baden-Powell Library. A Selection of excerpts from the works of Lord Baden-Powell and works relating to his life and career.
		Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of the World Scout Movement, Chief Scout of the World. A Home Page for the Founder. Links Relating to Baden-Powell on the Pine Tree Web and elsewhere.

The Pine Tree Web Home Page: A Collection of the Author's Links

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Copyright © Lewis P. Orans, 2002
Last Modified: 4:42 PM on July 4, 2002