CHIVALRY
By John L. Alexander, Boy Scouts of America
Ancient Knighthood
A little over fifteen hundred years ago the great order of knighthood and chivalry was founded. The reason for this was the feeling on the part of the best men of that day that it was the duty of the stronger to help the weak. These were the days when might was right, and the man with the strongest arm did as he pleased, often oppressing the poor and riding rough shod without any regard over the feelings and affections of others. In revolt against this, there sprang up all over Europe a noble and useful order of men who called themselves knights. Among these great-hearted men were Arthur, Gareth, Lancelot, Bedivere, and Alfred the Great. The desire of these men was “To live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the king.” Of course in these days there also lived men who called themselves knights, but who had none of the desire for service that inspired Arthur and the others. These false knights, who cared for no one but themselves and their own pleasure, often brought great sorrow to the common people. Chivalry then was a revolt against their brutal acts and ignorance and a protest against the continuation of the idea that might was right.
Nowhere in all the stories that have come down to us have the acts of chivalry been so well told as in the tales of the Round Table. Here it was that King Arthur gathered about him men like Sir Bors, Sir Gawaine, Sir Pellias, Sir Geraint, Sir Tristram, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad. These men moved by the desire of giving themselves in service, cleared the forests of wild animals, suppressed the robber barons, {238} punished the outlaws, bullies, and thieves of their day, and enforced wherever they went a proper respect for women. It was for this great service that they trained themselves, passing through the degrees of page, esquire, and knight with all the hard work that each of these meant in order that they might the better do their duty to their God and country.
Ancient knight
Struggle for Freedom
Of course this struggle of right against wrong was not confined to the days in which chivalry was born. The founding of the order of knighthood was merely the beginning of the age-long struggle to make right the ruling thought of life. Long after knighthood had passed away, the struggle continued. In the birth of the modern nations, England, Germany, France, and others, there was the distinct feeling on the part of the best men of these nations that might should and must give way to right, and that tyranny must yield to the spirit of freedom. The great struggle of the English barons under King John and the wresting from the king of the Magna Charta, which became the basis of English liberty, was merely another development of the idea for which chivalry stood. The protest of the French Revolution, and the terrible doings of the common people in these days, although wicked and brutal in method, were symptoms of the same revolt against oppression.
Pilgrim father
The Pilgrim Fathers
When the Pilgrim Fathers founded the American colonies, the work of Arthur and Alfred and the other great men of ancient days was renewed and extended and fitted to the new conditions and times. With the English settlements of Raleigh and Captain John Smith we might almost say that a new race of men was born and a new kind of knight was developed. All over America an idea made itself felt that in the eyes of the law every man should be considered just as good as every other man, and that every man ought to have a fair and square chance {239}at all the good things that were to be had in a land of plenty. It was this spirit that compelled the colonists to seek their independence and that found its way into our Declaration of Independence as follows:
The fight of the colonists was the old-time fight of the knights against the oppression and injustice and the might that dared to call itself right.
Pioneer
American Pioneers
No set of men, however, showed this spirit of chivalry more than our pioneers beyond the Alleghanies. In their work and service they paralleled very closely the knights of the Round Table, but whereas Arthur’s knights were dressed in suits of armor, the American pioneers were dressed in buckskin. They did, however, the very same things which ancient chivalry had done, clearing the forests of wild animals, suppressing the outlaws and bullies and thieves of their day and enforcing a proper respect for women. Like the old knights they often were compelled to do their work amid scenes of great bloodshed, although they loved to live in peace. These American knights and pioneers were generally termed backwoods men and scouts, and were men of distinguished appearance, of athletic build, of high moral character and frequently of firm religious convictions. Such men as “Apple-seed Johnny,” Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, Simon Kenton and John James Audubon, are the types of men these pioneers were. They were noted for their staunch qualities of character. They hated dishonesty and were truthful and brave. They were polite to women and old people, ever ready to rescue a companion when in danger, and equally ready to risk their lives for a stranger. They were very hospitable, dividing their last crust with one another, or with the stranger whom they happened to meet. They were ever ready to do an act of kindness. {240} They were exceedingly simple in their dress and habits. They fought the Indians, not because they wished to, but because it was necessary to protect their wives and children from the raids of the savages. They knew all the things that scouts ought to know. They were acquainted with the woods and the fields; knew where the best fish were to be caught; understood the trees, the signs and blazes, the haunts of animals and how to track them; how to find their way by the stars; how to make themselves comfortable in the heart of the primeval forest; and such other things as are classed under the general term of woodcraft. And, with all this, they inherited the splendid ideas of chivalry that had been developed in the thousand years preceding them, and fitted these ideas to the conditions of their own day, standing solidly against evil and falsehood whenever they lifted their head among them. They were not perfect, but they did their best to be of service to those who came within their reach and worked conscientiously for their country.
Modern knight
Modern Knighthood
A hundred years have passed since then, and the conditions of life which existed west of the Alleghanies are no more. Just as the life of the pioneers was different from that of the knights of the Round Table, and as they each practised chivalry in keeping with their own sur-roundings, so the life of to-day is different from both, but the need of chivalry is very much the same. Might still tries to make right, and while there are now no robber barons or outlaws with swords and spears, their spirit is not unknown in business and commercial life. Vice and dishonesty lift their heads just as strongly to-day as in the past and there is just as much need of respect for women and girls as there ever was. So to-day there is a demand for a modern type of chivalry. It is for this reason that the Boy Scouts of America have come into being; for there is need of service in these days, and that is represented by the good turn done to somebody every day. Doing the good turn daily will help to form the habit of useful service. A boy scout, then, while living in modern times, must consider himself the heir of ancient chivalry {241} and of the pioneers, and he must for this reason give himself to ever renewed efforts to be true to the traditions which have been handed down to him by these great and good leaders of men. The boy-scout movement is a call to American boys to-day to become in spirit members of the order of chivalry, and a challenge to them to make their lives count in the communities in which they live–for clean lives, clean speech, clean sport, clean habits, and clean relationships with others. It is also a challenge for them to stand for the right against the wrong, for truth against falsehood, to help the weak and oppressed, and to love and seek the best things of life.
Abraham Lincoln
Perhaps there is no better example of chivalry than the life and experience of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all our American men. Every boy ought to read the story of his life and come to understand and appreciate what it means. Lincoln was born in the backwoods of Kentucky. He was a tall, spare man of awkward build, and knew very little of the school room as a boy. He fought for his education. He borrowed books wherever he could. Many long nights were spent by him before the flickering lights of the log cabin, gleaning from his borrowed treasures the knowledge he longed to possess. He passed through all the experiences of life that other scouts and pioneers have experienced. He split rails for a livelihood, and fought his way upward by hard work, finally achieving for himself an education in the law, becoming an advocate in the courts of Illinois. Wherever he went, he made a profound impression on the lives and minds of the people and won over his political opponents by his strength, sympathy, {242} and breadth of mind. At the period when storms threatened to engulf our Ship of State, he became President of our country. Although Lincoln was an untried pilot, he stood by the helm like a veteran master. A man of earnest and intense conviction, he strove to maintain the glory of our flag and to keep the Union un-broken. Hundreds of stories are told of his great heart and almost boundless sympathy for others. The generals of the Civil War were deeply attached to him, and the rank and file of the sold-iers who fought under these generals loved and revered him. He was familiarly known as “Honest Abe.” He could always be relied upon to give help and encouragement. His smile cheered the defenders of the Union, and his wise counsel gave heart to the men who were helping him to shape the destinies of the nation. At the close of the war which saw the Union more firmly established than ever, he fell by the hand of the assassin, mourned deeply both by his own country and by the world at large.
The further we get from the scene of his life and work the more firmly are we, his countrymen, convinced of his sincerity, strength, wisdom, and bigness of heart. The two men who stand out preeminently in history among great Americans are Washington and Lincoln, the former as the founder of the Union and the latter as the man who gave it unbreakable continuity and preserved it, as we hope and believe, for all time.
Using every opportunity
Lincoln’s life and career should be the study and inspiration of every boy scout. He became familiar with all of the things for which the Boy Scouts of America stand. He was a lover of the wild things in the woods, and loved and lived the life of the out-of-doors. He had a high sense of honor and was intensely chivalrous, as the many hundred stories told about {243} him testify. He did many times more than one good turn a day; he sincerely loved his country; he lived, fought, and worked for it; and finally he sealed his loyalty by giving his life. The path that he travelled from the log cabin to the White House clearly shows that an American boy who has well defined ideas of truth and right, and then dares to stand by them, can become great in the councils of the nation. The life, then, of Abraham Lincoln should be a steady inspiration to every boy who wishes to call himself a scout.
Challenge of the Present
Thus we see that chivalry is not a virtue that had its beginning long ago and merely lived a short time, becoming a mere story. Chivalry began in the far-distant past out of the desire to help others, and the knights of the olden days did this as best they could. Later the new race of men in America took up the burden of chivalry, and did the best they could. Now the privilege and responsibility comes to the boys of to-day, and the voices of the knight of the olden time and of the hardy pioneers of our own country are urging the boys of to-day to do the right thing, in a gentlemanly way, for the sake of those about them. All of those men, whether knights or pioneers, had an unwritten code, somewhat like our scout law, and their motto was very much like the motto of the boy scouts, “Be Prepared.”
Politeness
Good Manners
The same thing that entered into the training of these men, knights, pioneers, and Lincoln, then, must enter into the training of the boy scouts of to-day. Just as they respected women and served them, so the tenderfoot and the scout must be polite and kind to women, not merely to well-dressed women, but to poorly-dressed women; not merely to young women, but to old women: to women wherever they may be found– {244} wherever they may be. To these a scout must always be courteous and helpful.
When a scout is walking with a lady or a child, he should always walk on the outside of the sidewalk, so that he can better protect them against the jostling crowds. This rule is only altered when crossing the street, when the scout should get between the lady and the traffic, so as to shield her from accident or mud. Also in meeting a woman or child, a scout, as a matter of course, should always make way for them even if he himself has to step off the sidewalk into the mud. When riding in a street car or train a scout should never allow a woman, an elderly person, or a child to stand, but will offer his seat; and when he does it he should do it cheerfully and with a smile.
When on the street, be continually on a quest, on the lookout to help others, and always refuse any reward for the effort. This kind of courtesy and good manners is essential to success. It was this unselfish desire to protect and help that made these men of olden time such splendid fellows.
Good manners attract and please, and should be cultivated by every boy who expects to win success and make his life interesting to others. In the home, on the street, in the school, in the workshop or the office, or wherever one may be, his relationship to others should be characterized as gentle, courteous, polite, considerate and thoughtful. These are virtues and graces that make life easier and pleasanter for all.
Cheerfulness
As has been said, whatever a scout does should be done with cheerfulness, and the duty of always being cheerful cannot be emphasized too much.
And keep us mortals all from getting blue?
A laugh will always win.
If you can’t laugh–just grin.
Go on! Let’s all join in!
Why don’t you laugh?
Benjamin Franklin said: “Money never yet made a man happy, and there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness, One’s personal enjoyment is a very small thing, but one’s personal usefulness is a very important thing.” Those only are happy who have their minds fixed upon some object other and higher than their own happiness. Doctor Raffles once said, {245} “I have made it a rule never to be with a person ten minutes without trying to make him happier.” A boy once said to his mother, “I couldn’t make little sister happy, nohow I could fix it, but I made myself happy trying to make her happy.”
There was once a king who had a tall, handsome son whom he loved with his whole heart, so he gave him everything that his heart desired–a pony to ride, beautiful rooms to live in, picture books, stories, and everything that money could buy. And yet, in spite of this, the young prince was unhappy and wore a wry face and a frown wherever he went, and was always wishing for something he did not have. By and by, a magician came to the court, and seeing a frown on the prince’s face, said to the king, “I can make your boy happy and turn his frown into a smile, but you must pay me a very large price for the secret.” “All right,” said the king, “whatever you ask, I will do.” So the magician took the boy into a private room, and with white liquid wrote something on a piece of paper; then he gave the boy a candle and told him to warm the paper and read what was written. The prince did as he was told. The white letters turned into letters of blue, and he read these words; “Do a kindness to some one every day.” So the prince followed the magician’s advice and became the happiest boy in all the king’s realm.
To be a good scout one must remain cheerful under every circumstance, bearing both fortune and misfortune with a smile.
Cheer up
Character
If a scout is cheerful, follows the advice of the magician to the king’s son, and does a good turn to some one every day, he will come into possession of a strong character such as the knights of the Round Table had; for, after all, character is the thing that distinguishes a good scout from a bad one. Character is not what men say about you. A great writer {246} once said, “I can’t hear what you say for what you are,” and another one said, “Your life speaks louder than your words.” It was not the words of the knights of old that told what they were. It was their strong life and fine character that gave power to their words and the thrust to their spears.
It is necessary that a boy should live right and possess such a character as will help him to do the hardest things of life. Every boy should remember that he is in reality just what he is when alone in the dark. The great quests of the knights were most often done singly and alone.
Will
Another thing that entered into the make-up of a knight was an iron will. He had staying powers because he willed to stick; and the way he trained his will to do the hard things was to keep himself doing the small things. Not long ago, there was a lad whom the boys nicknamed “Blockey” and “Wooden Man.” When they played ball in the school play ground, Blockey never caught the ball. When they worked together in the gymnasium, Blockey was always left out of the game because he couldn’t do things, and was slow and unwieldy in his motions. But one day, a great change came over Blockey and he began to train his will. He worked hard in the gymnasium: he learned to catch the ball, and, by sticking to it, was not only able to catch the ball but became proficient. Then there came a time when the first one chosen upon the team was Blockey; and it all came about because he had trained his will so that when he made up his mind to do a thing, he did it.
Thrift
Another thing which entered into the training of a knight was his readiness to seize his opportunities. The motto of the scout is “Be Prepared.” He should be prepared for whatever opportunity presents itself. An interesting story is told by Orison Swett Marden. He says that a lad, who later became one of the millionaires of one of our great Western cities, began his earning career by taking advantage of an opportunity that came to him as he was passing an auction shop. He saw several boxes of a kind of soap which his mother was accustomed to buy from the family grocer. Hastening to the grocery store he asked the price of the soap. “Twelve cents a pound” was the reply. On being pressed for a lower figure the shopkeeper remarked in a bantering tone that he would buy all that the boy could bring to his store at {247}nine cents a pound. The boy hurried back to the auction and bought the soap at six cents a pound. It was in this way that he made his first money in trade and laid the foundation of his fortune.
The knight never waited for opportunity to come to him. He went out looking for it, and wore his armor in order that he might be ready for it when it came. There is a story of a Greek god who had only one lock of hair upon his forehead. The remainder of his head was shining bald. In order to get this ancient god’s attention, it was necessary to grip him by his forelock, for when he had passed, nothing could check his speed. So it is with opportunity, and the hour of opportunity. A good scout is ready for both and always grips “time by the forelock.”
Individuality
If the foregoing qualities enter into a scout’s training, an individuality will be developed in him, which will make itself known and felt.
Every scout should read over the following list of scout virtues, and should strive at all times to keep them before him in his training, thus making them a part of his life:
| Unselfishness: | The art of thinking of others first and one’s self afterward. |
| Self Sacrifice: | The giving up of one’s comfort, desires, and pleasures for the benefit of some one else. |
| Kindness: | The habit of thinking well of others and doing good to them. |
| Friendliness: | The disposition to make everyone you meet feel at ease, and to be of service to him if possible. |
| Honesty: | The desire to give to every one a square deal and the same fair chance that you yourself wish to enjoy. It means also respect for the property and rights of others, the ability to face the truth, and to call your own faults by their right name. |
| Fair Play: | Scorning to take unfair advantage of a rival and readiness even to give up an advantage to him. |
| Loyalty: | The quality of remaining true and faithful not only to your principles but also to your parents and friends. |
| Obedience: | Compliance with the wishes of parents or those in places of authority. |
| Discipline: | That self-restraint and self-control that keep a boy steady, and help him in team work. |
| Endurance: | A manly moderation which keeps a boy fit and strong and in good condition. {248} |
| Self Improvement: | The ambition to get on in life by all fair means. |
| Humility: | That fine quality which keeps a scout from boasting, and which generally reveals a boy of courage and achievement. |
| Honor: | That great thing which is more sacred than anything else to scouts and gentlemen; the disdain of telling or implying an untruth; absolute trustworthiness and faithfulness. |
| Duty to God: | That greatest of all things, which keeps a boy faithful to his principles and true to his friends and comrades; that gives him a belief in things that are high and noble, and which makes him prove his belief by doing his good turn to some one every day. |
Scout protecting child from mad dog
Courage
It is horrible to be a coward. It is weak to yield to fear and heroic to face danger without flinching. The old Indian who had been mortally wounded faced death with a grim smile on his lips and sang his own death song. The soldier of the {249} Roman legions laughed in the face of death, and died often with a “Hail, Imperator!” for the Roman Caesar upon his lips.
One of the stories connected with the battle of Agincourt tells us that four fair ladies had sent their knightly lovers into battle. One of these was killed. Another was made prisoner. The third was lost in the battle and never heard of afterward. The fourth was safe, but owed his safety to shameful flight. “Ah! woe is me,” said the lady of this base knight, “for having placed my affections on a coward. He would have been dear to me dead. But alive he is my reproach.”
A scout must be as courageous as any knight of old or any Roman soldier or any dying Indian.
Loyalty
Loyalty is another scout virtue which must stand out prominently, because it is that which makes him true to his home, his parents, and his country. Charles VIII, at the Battle of Foronovo, picked out nine of his bravest officers and gave to each of them a complete suit of armor, which was a counterpart of his own. By this device he outwitted a group of his enemies who had leagued themselves to kill him during the fight. They sought him through all the ranks, and every time they met one of these officers they thought they had come face to face with the king. The fact that these officers hailed such a dangerous honor with delight and devotion is a striking illustration of their loyalty.
The scout should be no less loyal to his parents, home, and country.
Duty to God
No scout can ever hope to amount to much until he has learned a reverence for religion. The scout should believe in God and God’s word. In the olden days, knighthood, when it was bestowed, was a religious ceremony, and a knight not only considered himself a servant of the king, but also a servant of God. The entire night preceding the day upon which the young esquire was made knight was spent by him on his knees in prayer, in a fast and vigil.
There are many kinds of religion in the world. One important point, however, about them is that they all involve the worship of the same God. There is but one leader, although many ways of following Him. If a scout meets one of another religion, he should remember that he, too, is striving for the best. {250} A scout should respect the convictions of others in matters of custom and religion.
Scout helping old lady across street
A Boy Scout’s Religion
The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no boy can grow into the best kind of citizenship without recognizing his obligation to God. The first part of the boy scout’s oath or pledge is therefore: “I promise on my honor to do my best to honor my God and my country.” The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe, and the grateful acknowledgement of His favors and blessings is necessary to the best type of citizenship and is a wholesome thing in the education of the growing boy. No matter what the boy may be–Catholic, or Protestant, or Jew–this fundamental need of good citizenship should be kept before him. The Boy Scouts of America therefore recognize the religious element in the training of a boy, but it is absolutely non-sectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. Its policy is that the organization or institution with which the boy scout is connected shall give definite attention to his religious life. If he be a Catholic boy scout, the Catholic Church of which he is a member is the best channel for his training. If he be a Hebrew boy, then the Synagogue will train him in the faith of his fathers. If he be a Protestant, no matter to what denomination of Protestantism he may belong, the church of which he is an adherent or a member should be the proper organization to give him an education in the things that pertain to his allegiance to God. The Boy Scouts of America, then, while recognizing the fact that the boy should be taught the things that pertain to religion, insists upon the boy’s religious life being stimulated and fostered by the institution with which he is connected. Of course, it is a fundamental principle of the Boy Scouts of America to insist on {251} clean, capable leadership in its scout masters, and the influence of the leader on the boy scout should be of a distinctly helpful character.
Work, Not Luck
Life, after all, is just this: Some go through life trusting to luck. They are not worthy to be scouts. Others go through life trusting to hard work and clear thinking. These are they who have cleared the wilderness and planted wheat where forests once grew, who have driven back the savage, and have fostered civilization in the uncultivated places of the earth. The good scout is always at work–working to improve himself and to improve the daily lot of others.
The thing that is to be noticed in all of these men, those of the Round Table, and those of American pioneer days, is the fact that they were ever ready to do a good turn to some one. The knights of the Round Table did theirs by clash of arms, by the jousts and the tourney, and by the fierce hand-to-hand fights that were their delight in open battle. The old scouts, our own pioneers, very often had to use the rifle and the hatchet and the implements of war. However, those days have passed, and we are living in a non-military and peace-loving age; and the glory of it is that, whereas these men took their lives in their hands and by dint of rifle and sword did their part in helping others, our modern civilization gives the Boy Scouts of America an opportunity to go out and do their good turn daily for others in the thousand ways that will benefit our American life the most. Sometimes they will have to risk their lives, but it will be in case of fire or accident or catastrophe. At other times they will be given the privilege of showing simple deeds of chivalry by their courteous treatment of their elders, cripples, and children, by giving up their seats in street cars, or by carrying the bundles of those who are not as physically strong as themselves. And in it all will come the satisfying feeling that they are doing just as much and perhaps a great deal more than the iron-clad men or the buckskin clothed scouts in making their country a little safer and a little better place to live in. Chivalry and courtesy and being a gentleman mean just as much now as they ever did, and there is a greater demand in these days to live pure, to speak true, and to help others by a good turn daily than ever before in the world’s history.
