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| The First Scout Law is the Law of Knighthood. In the olden days when Holy Church was converting the white savages of Europe (our forefathers!) she taught that Knighthood was the highest glory for the King on his throne or for the humble peasant from the land. Honour is the test of true manhood still—to be trustworthy and to be trusted—to be true—to follow where the Spirit leads, whether to success or to death. In the shake of the hand which admits the Tenderfoot into the Brotherhood of Scouts we see, as it were, Saint George the Pattern of Knighthood welcoming a comrade in the Holy War. | The Second Scout Law is the Law of Brotherhood. You are not your own (1 Cor. vi. 19). You are bound up with your fellows in many ways. (1) You belong to Holy Church and must be loyal to God, whose army the Church is. (2) You belong to Britain and must be loyal to the King, whose is the head of the British peoples. (3) You belong to your School, your Scout Troop, your town and so on. You must stand by your own people, and they will stand by you. This is the secret of union and of success. Without loyalty one to another we are not really men at all. |
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| The Third Scout Law is the Law of Fellowship. As a matter of fact Fellowship is the note of most of the Scout Laws. But this is the practical law. A Britisher always asks what he is to do. Here it is very simply, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ" (Gal. vi. 2). In the picture on the other side (I don't say you can do all the things there, unless you are a perfect Scout), you can see the head of our Saviour above, blessing the work. Whatever you do for others you do for Him. Be a Christian and you will be a Scout in heart. | The Fourth Scout Law is the Law of Friendship. And remember that Friendship has nothing to do with social class. It is what a man is that matters, not how much money he has, when you are choosing your friends. A Friend is one whose company you like, and you are a Scout because you like Scouts. Our picture shows Scout Motor-bike meeting (perhaps in a Pathfinder's test) with Scout Boneshaker and exchanging foie-gras sandwiches out of his silver case for the paper-wrapped provisions of his "friend." It is the right spirit, the spirit of our King Jesus Who calls us not His servants but His Friends (John xv. 15). |
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| The Fifth Scout Law is the Law of Courtesy. Note the connection with Court, the Court of the King for example. A gentleman is known by his courtesy and the true Scout is a gentleman indeed. He respects himself and so he respects others. Our picture shows a typical act of courtesy—a Scout saluting an old, old clergyman, because he respects all the ministers of his Master, Christ. You will sometimes find boys who like to show off befor ethe old or the feeble. But "A Scout must be courteous to all men, especially so to the weak. Self-assertion is not indepedence. You can only get sat on for cheek." | The Sixth Scout Law is the Law of Humanity. As a man, you are heir of all the ages, you are King of Creation. All things are yours, as St. Paul says (1 Cor. iii. 22); but remember, as he goes on to say, ye are Christ's and Christ is God's. God made everything and gave you dominion over every living thing (Gen. i. 28). You are responsible to God for the way you use this power. And there is no better testimony to true manhood, to true Scoutsmanship, than the confidence which the lower animals have in you. Does not our picture show this? |
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| The Seventh Scout Law is the Law of Confidence. When a number of people join together, they do so because they trust one another, not because they all want to do the same thing at the same time. To act together there must geneally be one accepted as a leader, e.g. Scout-master in a Troop, Parish Priest in a Church, Captain in a Ship, Manager in a Factory. His "orders" are not given selfishly, but for the common work. You trust him and he must be able to trust you. Without this spirit of confidence common work is impossible. | The Eighth Scout Law is the Law of Cheerfulness. You might almost call it the Law of Manhood. "A Scout smiles and whistles. He doesn't expect the sun always to shine. Take the rough with the smooth as a man should. Don't sit like a puppy and whine." Of course there are worse things than a snowstorm at your back! Try being blown up by a submarine, or wearing a gas mask for 24 hours. Swearing is no good. Bad temper is no good. Patience to endure and faith that things will come right alone can see you through. |
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| The Ninth Scout Law is the Law of Unselfishness. You may not think so at first sight, but so it is. You can't help others, unless you have got something to help them with. And you can't have anything in hand, if you spend it as soon as you get it. In our picture you see the hives with their store of honey. So is the Scout who saves. Another has a basket of vegetables. He has grown them in his spare time (instead of wasting it). And he is the better example. For waste of time, property, or health is the real cause of poverty and want. | The Tenth Scout Law is the Law of Cleanliness—cleanliness without and within, which, the old proverb says, is next to godliness. For it is a fact that there is no place for the unclean in the Kingdom of God, just as there is no place for them in the brotherhood of Scouts. If your body is dirty, no one likes to be too near you. If your mind is dirty, you are also bad company. Of course, you are hardly likely to go through the world without being splashed with mud of all sorts. The clean man gets rid of it at once. The dirty lets it stick and alas! even enjoys it. But he is no Christian and no Scout. |
The Scout Law, illustrated by Thomas Noyes-Lewis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.