Read Ebook: Really so stories by Gordon Elizabeth Rae John Illustrator

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Ebook has 450 lines and 21066 words, and 9 pages

, and finishing school!" exclaimed the boy named Billy.

"School was rather a different affair in George Washington's day," said Somebody. "He was born in the country, at a small place named Bridges Creek, Virginia, on the twenty second of February, 1732, and at that time the country was very small and had few schools."

"It must have been fun being a surveyor," said Billy.

"The traits of steadfastness of character which he had displayed in school and among his playmates now came out prominently. He excelled in running, wrestling, and horseback riding in his youth and in later years, because of his wisdom, patience, tolerance, courage and consecration to the righteous cause of liberty became the father of his country."

"My but his mother must have been proud of him," said Billy.

Somebody nodded. "It was to his mother, a woman of strong and devoted character, that George Washington owed his moral and religious training. Even when her son had risen to the height of human greatness, she would only say, 'George has been a good boy, and I'm sure he will do his duty.'"

"Guess I better tell Mom I'm sorry about leaving my hat on the living room table," said the boy named Billy.

"I would if I were you," said Somebody.

About Boy Scouts

"Get my new Scout suit," said the boy named Billy, coming in with himself all in khaki. "Look at the buttons, 'n the leggins 'n all!"

"It's very Scouty looking," said Big Sister. "I hope you'll keep it that way."

"Have to," said the boy named Billy, "or get a demerit. Going for drill now over on the parade ground in front of the armory. Got just long enough for Somebody to tell me when and where the Boy Scout movement started."

"The Boy Scout movement," said Somebody, "started in England in 1908 being launched by Sir Robert S. S. Baden Powell."

"Oh say!" exclaimed the boy named Billy, "why did we have to let England beat us to it?"

"We didn't--exactly," said Somebody, smiling at the zeal of the young patriot, "because at that very time we had two organizations which had the same purpose in view. One was called the Wood-Craft Indians founded by Ernest Seton Thompson, and another called the Sons of Daniel Boone founded by Dan Beard. Both men were popular writers of out of door stories, and greatly interested in boys and their sports and activities.

"Scouting gives a boy something to do, something he likes to do, something worth doing. It has succeeded in doing what no other plan of education has done--made the boy want to learn. It organizes the gang spirit into group loyalty.

"In 1910 both these organizations were combined under the title of the Boy Scouts of America, and as you of course know, Billy Boy, before a boy can become a Scout he must take the Scout oath of office."

"Yes, indeed," said the boy named Billy. "Wait, 'til I see if I'm up on that. 'On my honor I will do my best--To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.'

"A scout is required to know the Scout oath and law and subscribe to both. But his obligation does not end here. He is expected not only not to forget his oath and law, but to live up to them in letter and spirit from first to last."

"Fine!" said Somebody. "That sounds like a perfectly good working rule. Now what are some of your ideals as Scouts?"

"Well," said Billy, "we're divided into three classes. Tenderfoot, that's what Bob White and I are as yet, but we'll grow--second class Scouts and first class. According to Scout law one must have honor, loyalty, unselfishness, friendliness, hatred of snobbishness, must be courteous, be really kind to animals, and always obedient to fathers and mothers 'n Somebodys, be gentle, fair minded, save money, look out for fires and clean up after oneself."

"On account of that last item, thanks be that you joined the Scouts, Billy," said Big Sister, "and just to help you along, suppose you run up and wash the bowl where you just washed your hands."

"Oh, excuse me, Sis!" said the boy named Billy, "I guess I forgot, but I won't after this.

"I'm going to have a lesson on first aid this morning, so if you ever get a sprained ankle or anything I can hold the lines until the doctor gets here. S'long."

"All of which means that I scrub up after the youngster myself," said Big Sister, "but Billy's a pretty good scout at that."

Saint Patrick's Day

"Strange as it may seem," said Somebody, "St. Patrick was not an Irishman at all, but was by birth a Scotchman, having been born in Scotland about 372. When he was sixteen or seventeen years old he was stolen by Pirates and taken to Ireland and made to work at herding swine. He was a very studious boy and in the seven years that he remained a swineherd he learned the Irish language and the customs of the people.

"He then made up his mind that swineherding was not the right sort of occupation for a bright-minded youth like himself, so he escaped to the Continent, where after more years of study he was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent back to Ireland to preach Christianity to the people.

"But the old priests did not like him. He was very likely too bright for them, and they persecuted him, and made things very uncomfortable for him. Finally he was obliged to leave there, but before he went he cursed the lands of the other priests so that they would not bear crops, just to even up things.

"He was none too comfortable himself, but he did not mind small discomforts because one cold and snowy morning when they were on the top of a mountain with no fire to cook their breakfast St. Patrick told his followers to gather a great pile of snowballs, and when that had been done he breathed upon them and immediately there was a great glowing fire, and they got breakfast very nicely. This and other miracles made him very popular, and so when the scourge of snakes came he was sent for and begged to disperse the reptiles.

"'Easy,' said St. Patrick, 'bring me a drum.' When the drum came he began beating it with such vim and vigor that he broke its head, and it looked for a time as though the trick would fail. But just then an angel came and mended the drum and the snakes were forever banished. Just to prove it they kept the drum for many centuries.

"These and other marvels were performed by St. Patrick, who lived to be 121 years old, dying on his birthday, March 17th, 492.

"Historians have relegated many stories about Saint Patrick to the realm of myth, but the shamrock remains the emblem of Ireland, proudly worn by Irishmen the world over on Saint Patrick's Day, March seventeenth. The true shamrock is the hop clover, which much resembles our common white clover, except that the flower is yellow instead of blue-green. Large shipments of shamrocks are brought to the United States for Saint Patrick's Day."

"So the shamrock is the National emblem of Irish people," said Billy.

"Yes," said Somebody. "And it is said that no snake can live where it grows.

"Perhaps if one will take the trouble to think it out, one may find in that belief the idea of faith and loyalty and love of country for which the Irish people are noted, and that emblematically it means that no traitor to Ireland can live near the Shamrock."

"I see," said the boy named Billy, "they feel as we do about our Eagle, don't they?"

Lent

"Wish I had somebody to go skating with," said Billy one winter afternoon.

"Where's Bob White?" asked Big Sister looking up from her book.

"It's Ash-Wednesday, and his folks are Catholics," said the boy named Billy, "and they have after school services. What is Ash-Wednesday and what does it mean, any way?"

"Ash-Wednesday," said Somebody, "is the beginning of Lent, which lasts forty days and ends with the Saturday before Easter Sunday. It is supposed to commemorate the forty days fasting Christ did before His Crucifixion."

"My," said the boy named Billy, "I never could fast forty hours let alone forty days! How is it supposed to help a person to go without food for so long?"

"Fasting," said Somebody, "is to teach the lesson of self restraint, and self control, and to help us endure discomforts without complaining, how to refrain from all unkind thoughts of others, to control our tempers and make us better people generally.

"It's a very good idea for each one of us to give up something during Lent; something that we like very much indeed, and to give the money that it would have cost to some one who really needs food and comforts."

"Do you do that?" asked the boy named Billy.

"I try to," said Somebody.

"Oh, I see!" said the boy named Billy.

Palm Sunday

"Tomorrow is Palm Sunday," said the boy named Billy. "Why do some churches give the people palm branches to carry?"

"On the Sunday preceding the crucifixion Christ made his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. All the people came out to meet him, strewing palm branches in his path to do him honor, just as you school children all cheer when the president, or some great hero comes to town."

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