Читать книгу Scouting for Boys - Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell - Страница 28

Scouts, all the world over, have unwritten laws which bind them just as much as if they had been printed in black and white.

They come down to us from old times.

The Japanese have their Bushido, or laws of the old Samurai warriors, just as we have chivalry or rules of the knights of the Middle Ages. The Red Indians in America have their laws of honour, the Zulus, the natives of India, the European nations—all have their ancient codes.

The following are the rules which apply to Boy Scouts, and which you swear to obey when you take your oath as a scout, so it is as well that you should know all about them.

The scouts' motto is founded on my initials, it is:

Be Prepared,

which means, you are always to be in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your DUTY;

Be Prepared in Mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.

Be Prepared in Body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it.