1914: OUR LOCAL BOY SCOUTS

 

The above article and photo were digitized from a Trenton Times "For and About Boys" feature that was published on a regular basis back in the early part of the 20th century. The remarkable thing as I read the articles on the page and looked at the photo of Troop 14, was the fact that little has changed over the years for this wonderful organization of men and boys. 

 

It was my privilege to sit in on an Eagle Scout award ceremony a week or so ago here at the Hamilton Township Public Library as young Eagle Scout Ben Mundt was awarded still another award in his 11 year career as a Boy Scout. The wheels started turning, I have long bemoaned the fact that one seldom hears words and phrases like "wholesome," "courteous," "good taste," "discipline," "self control," and other socially personal attributes that are ever rapidly being replaced by the sheer bad taste of much of today's societal ventures. 

Through all these years, the Boy Scouts of America have clung to the belief that young boys need wholesome role models who show them how to be productive and valuable assets not only to their family, but to the community in which they live. Thus it was with young Ben Mundt. For his Eagle Scout project, Ben recruited a number of his friends, his dad and grandfather, and set about building the gazebo which now reposes on the lovely lawn at the Hamilton Township Public Library. From my window in the Hamilton Library Local History workshop, I had a great view of the construction of the project. Through the steaming heat of the summer of 2012, Ben and his crew diligently crafted a true masterpiece. Below is a photo I took just after it was completed.

Not a day goes by that a mom or dad with one of their young children stop in and rest in the Eagle Scout project so beautifully constructed by Ben Mundt and his hard working crew.

2012: HOW I WISH WE HAD MORE BOY SCOUTS

I was not in the Boy Scouts when I was in my youthful years, and I am sorry I was not. My oldest brother Len, along with my old friend Webster "Webb" Grimm conducted a boys' group known as the "Lynx Club" back in the late 1930's and early 40's. My fellow amateur radio friend Gary Wilson has been a leader in the Mercer County area as a catalyst for bringing young boys into that worthy boys' organization. Show me a military veteran and I will show you a patriot and good citizen. Show me an accomplished boy scout and I will show you a patriot and good citizen. The discipline and training these young boys (and girls for the girl scouts) are subjected to are really teaching them the art of living.

1910: BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT COMES TO AMERICA

THE BOY SCOUTS CELEBRATE A CENTENNIAL:
FEBRUARY 1910 - FEBRUARY 2010

Those of you who have followed my columns over the years, and other locally oriented exploits, will recall those times when I mentioned Ernest Thompson Seton as one of my very favorite boyhood authors. How I loved to read of his stories of animals as they lived in their natural habitats! The most memorable of the books I read by this outstanding author is "Wild Animals I Have Known." Seton has that special knack in his story telling that places you right in the den of "Lobo" the wolf. The article is from a loose, un-identified source clipping in my collection. It tells of Sir. Baden Powell's founding of the organization over in Great Britain in 1908. (I inserted the 1986 Boy Scout Handbooks.) The organization was so successful, it ultimately branched out to other countries, including the U.S.A. and Trenton.