CHAPTER I BOY SCOUTS IN A STRANGE LAND "Fine country, this—to get out of!" "What's the difficulty, kid?" Jimmie McGraw, the first speaker, turned back to the interior of the apartment in which he stood with a look of intense disgust on freckled face. "Oh, nothin' much," he replied, wrinkling his nose comically, "only Broadway an' the Bowery are too far away... more...

SCOUTING AND THE SCHOOLS. Scouting continues to enjoy the cordial indorsement of school men everywhere all over the country. More and more those interested are coming to see the enormous possibilities of cooperation between the scout movement and the schools. Many schools now give credit for scout work done outside of the schools. Many more are in hearty sympathy with the program as an extraschool... more...

BLACK BEARS AND WOLVES. "Wake up—wake up—wake up!" Frank Shaw, passenger on the United States army transport Union, San Francisco to the Philippines, awoke in his cabin to find the freckled face of Jimmie McGraw grinning above him. "What's the use?" he demanded, sleepily and impatiently. "It will be only another roasting day on a hot deck on an ocean fit to stew fish in.... more...

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF PLANTS. 1. Abelmoschus moschatus.—This plant is a native of Bengal. Its seeds were formerly mixed with hair powder, and are still used to perfume pomatum. The Arabs mix them with their coffee berries. In the West Indies the bruised seeds, steeped in rum, are used, both externally and internally, as a cure for snake bites. 2. Abrus precatorius.—Wild liquorice. This twining,... more...

CALLED TO ACTIVE SERVICE "What's this call for a special meeting of the Boy Scouts, Jack?" asked Pete Stubbs, a First Class Boy Scout, of his chum Jack Danby, who had just been appointed Assistant Patrol Leader of the Crow Patrol of the Thirty-ninth Troop. "Well, I guess it isn't a secret any more," said Jack. He and Pete Stubbs worked in the same place, and they were great... more...

INTRODUCTION. THE chief object of the present work is to describe and connect together several large classes of movement, common to almost all plants. The most widely prevalent movement is essentially of the same nature as that of the stem of a climbing plant, which bends successively to all points of the compass, so that the tip revolves. This movement has been called by Sachs "revolving... more...

AT THE EDGE OF THE FIRE A pall of smoke, dark, ugly, threatening, hung over a wood in which the Thirty-ninth Troop of the Boy Scouts had been spending a Saturday afternoon in camp. They had been hard at work at signal practice, semaphoring, and acquiring speed in Morse signaling with flags, which makes wireless unnecessary when there are enough signalers, covering enough ground. The Scout camp was near... more...

CHAPTER I. A HALT BY THE ROADSIDE. "Tara—tara!" Loud and clear sounded the notes of a bugle, blown by a very stout lad, clad in a new suit of khaki; and who was one of a bunch of Boy Scouts tramping wearily along a dusty road. "Good for you, Bumpus! Can't he just make that horn talk, though?" cried one. "Sounds as sweet as the church bell at home, fellows!" declared a... more...

I. [Footnote 1: This section may be omitted, and the lessons begun with Seedlings, if the teacher prefer.] What is Botany? The pupils are very apt to say at first that it is learning about flowers. The teacher can draw their attention to the fact that flowers are only a part of the plant, and that Botany is also the study of the leaves, the stem, and the root. Botany is the science of plants. Ask them... more...

The scenery which impresses most of us is certainly that in which Nature is seen in her wild and primitive condition, telling us of growth and decay, and of the land's submission to eternal laws unchecked by the hand of man. Yet we also feel a certain pleasure in the contemplation of those scenes which combine natural beauty with human artifice, and attest to the ability with which architectural... more...