“Sure I can do it; yes, twice as long.”
At six in the morning he was called and told to get up and go about his work and keep silent. He saluted in silence and obeyed.
My home was a quarter of a mile away. At tenthirty I was in my study when the door was darkened by a small figure. There was Hawkeye. He saluted as I said:
“Well?”
His face was working as he said in accents of deep humiliation:
“I broke my vow.”
“What!”
“I spoke.”
“Humph, you did, did you? You spoke? You could n’t keep silent for six hours and you think you can join the Woodcraft heroes. I suppose you would take an initiation that a six-year-old girl could take; that would be about your size.”
“Well, the fellows all laid traps for me”, he blubbered as the tears ran.
“Of course they did; that is part of it.”
“Will you let me try again?”
“No; certainly not. You failed. Go. Go away and come back when you are older and wiser; come back in about a week.”
“I can’t come back in a week. Mother says I must come home Saturday.”
“Well, that makes a difference”, I said. “I don’t want you to go back under the shadow of disgrace. I 'll give you one more chance.” Then I read him a lecture on citizenship and self-control, and wrote a note to the officer of the day, “Hawkeye is to have another try, beginning at 10:45”.
He saluted in silence and went off. When he was a hundred feet away I called out:
“Hawkeye, comeback.”
Promptly, he returned and I said: “Now,Hawkeye, I want you to realize the gravity of this situation. Your manhood is on trial, and no matter who speaks to you or what he says, will you keep your mouth shut?”
“Yes, sir”, was his emphatic response.
“Blunderer! Don’t you see you have failed again?”
Then he broke down and wept.
“I thought I had to answer when you spoke to me”, he said.
After another rating I said:
“Now I 'm going to overlook that, because I laid a trap for you, but you have lost fifteen minutes with your foolishness. Give me that paper.” I took it and changed the date to read, “beginning at 11”.
He received it in silence with a happy grin. That day he had a trying time, but at nine o’ clock he was brought into my lodge triumphant; he had kept his mouth shut for six hours. His initiation was passed. His self-control proved, he was on the way to join the Woodcrafters.
Thus we gratify the instinct of initiation, provide some fun for the camp, and no one suffers harm.
There are three rules for having fun that we stick to closely.
First, your fun must be made, not bought with money. Our American boys have the idea that you can’t have fun without spending money. We teach them to make their fun. ..text pokračuje
