Are you afraid of the dark? Most of us are at some time or other, though really, in Kulim nowadays, there is hardly ever any reason to be scared. If you were in some country strange to you, with a tiger, or a human enemy, looking for you--as the Chief Scout [Baden-Powell] has been often enough you might have some excuse for "getting the wind up," as we used to say during the Great War [World War I].
However, I don't suppose the Chief ever felt frightened, either of the enemy or of the dark, and there is no reason why you should be, if you set to work to train yourself the right way. Night Scouting is jolly good fun [sweet], and there are bags of ripping [phatt] games to play and things to do which will prepare you for facing real danger or difficulty in the dark at some time or other.
The practice of Night Scouting can be carried out first in the daytime, by blindfolding yourself or, indoors, just by covering the windows and putting out the light. Then it can be practiced, too, after about four o'clock on a winter evening; and later on by older Scouts, in the middle of the night with other Scouts, or alone.
You will be wise to take to Night Scouting in that order; first, blindfolded, or indoors with the lights out; next, early in the evening in autumn and winter; and, finally, later at night alone; and that is the order in which I intend to deal with the subject.
Patrol Leaders
And here I must say a few words to you Patrol Leaders and older fellows, who are never afraid of the dark, and perhaps already know the joys of lying up in a wood alone in the night, listening to the stirrings of birds and animals all round you. Remember always that little chaps [guys] and youngsters are often more than a bit scared of being by themselves in a dark room, let alone in a dark wood.
Any " funny stuff " with white sheets--or even the telling of ghost stories--may give them frightful scares or nightmares, which may be seriously harmful. Never play the fool with a youngster's nerves, but graduate your training so that he grows accustomed to darkness and the exaggerated noises of the night, and learns by experience that there is really nothing to be scared of in mere darkness.
Take the whole Patrol on your night games and practices at first, and never leave one of the kids alone in the dark until he has learned the rudiments of Night Scouting, and has faced and conquered his perfectly natural fear of the dark.
Now it is best to begin your Night Scouting in daytime, using your Troop scarves to blindfold yourselves. Or you can make some small black masks out of cloth wide enough just to cover the eyes, with tapes sewn on to tie round the head. See that the cloth is completely opaque, and that everyone is quite " blind " before you begin.
You can have a lot of fun with a Blindfold Passing Relay. Two Patrols or more may take part, if there are equal numbers of players in each Patrol. All are blindfolded, and stand in line, extended to two arms' length between each Scout in the Patrol. Beside the player at one end of each Patrol, is placed a chair on which sundry articles are put, identical for each team: a Scout hat, scarf, penny, clock or watch, matchbox, shoe; but nothing edged or sharp-pointed.
When the whistle blows, number one of each team starts passing the things, one at a time along the line, until all are collected by the player at the other end. The first team to have the whole lot at the other end, wins.
Any article dropped must be found by the player who last held it in his hand, by groping round; and no player may hold more than one article at a time. That means that if there is a hold-up in the line because of a dropped article, players must pass the remaining articles back again up their line, until word comes that the dropped article has been found and is on its way, when the passing of the others will be resumed.
Here is another clubroom stunt which is worth practicing, and is also jolly good fun.
Each Patrol goes to its own corner of the room, and every Scout takes off his hat, scarf, belt, knife or whistle, lanyards, garters, stockings, and shoes. He lays them, with his staff, on the floor; and then he lies down flat alongside his own pile.
When everyone is ready, all lights are put out and the umpire blows his whistle. Immediately each Scout must get up, put on all his uniform and gear correctly, and fall in with his hat on and staff in hand, in his proper place in his Patrol, in line in its own corner. All this must be done without noise or talk. As soon as the PL knows his Patrol is complete and in line, he may call out " Curlews, alert! " and the umpire (with a small pocket lamp to guide him) notes which Patrol is first, and how many minutes it has taken.
Points are allotted as follows: a maximum of 20 points for each Patrol while in the dark, and the umpire deducts one point for each sound he hears from any Patrol Comer; and a maximum of 10 points for inspection after lights have been turned up, with one point deducted for each item wrongly or crookedly worn ; and a bonus Of 5 points for the first Patrol to be in line alert, 4 for the second Patrol, and so on.
To read your compass,
When you need to find your way from one particular place to another, you need to use these numbers to find out the bearing to that remote place. The direction you are going is called your heading. Heading and Bearing are pretty much the same thing. The image above is a heading of about 250 degress.
Using your compass, take a few bearings. Move your body until the direction-of-travel arrow points at the following items and then turn the dial until "RED is in the Shed". Then, read the bearing at the Index Pointer:
To all my scouts, you all must be wondering about the term 'IMPEESA' as written in the masthead. The term 'IMPEESA' is actually reserved for our Chief Scout Lord Baden-Powell.Impeesa
"The Wolf Who Never Sleeps"
