The Right Stuff
100 years of Scouting
By Kent Brooten
My mother grew up in a log cabin. There was no electricity, no plumbing, no refrigeration. Water came from a spring about 200’ away. There was an outhouse not far from the front door. It was a two seater that was terrifying to a 4 year old. My grandfather died when my mother was 2 so his brother came from “the old country” to take care of my grandmother and my mother.
The highlight of a visit to “grandmother’s house” was to listen to the green battery powered tube radio. The prime time was during “story hour”. The rest of the time was spent in the main room of the cabin, talking, reading or playing cards. At night the light was provided by a kerosene lantern (the one with a silk mantle, the light wasn’t too bad actually). My grandmother could make amazing cakes in the oven of the wood fired cook stove. Not far from the stove was the ice box. I wasn’t allowed to open it just to look, didn’t want to let the cold out. The ice was stored in the cellar downstairs. It was a hand dug dirt floored pit below the cabin – also terrifying to a 4 yr old.
When my mother went to town to get new school clothes, they took a horse and buggy, it was an all day marathon to get to Coeur d’Alene, day two was shopping, day 3 was home again. Today it’s a 20 minute drive on I90.
When my wife and I were dating, we had a 13 family party line, she had an 11 family party line. It was a constant irritation to the other families on the party lines when we were talking because they couldn’t use the phone.
I had lots of chores, even at my grandmother’s cabin. The animals had to be fed, pens cleaned, lawn mowed, snow shoveled, coal loaded into the furnace, ashes cleaned out of the firebox and hauled away. With reception of just one station on the black and white TV, I spent more time outside than inside.
Today a typical teenager spends 48 hours a week in front of a screen, TV, computer or video screen. This doesn’t include the up to 3000 text messages a month that some teens rack up. Unsupervised outdoor activity averages just 30 minutes a week.
The past 100 years have seen incredible changes in technology.
Our challenge as Scout Leaders is to find a balance between technology and being true to the Aims of Scouting: to build character, promote fitness and establish citizenship. The best gift we may give our Scouts is to instill in them the spirit of adventure by exploring the wilderness, hiking mountain ridges, capturing the excitement of the outdoors.