gh the French lines at
Verdun, say, and push through to Bordeaux, capture all the French
transports, run the British blockade and make a sudden flank move
against Bridgeboro, Pee-wee would be very thankful that he had his
belt-axe along.

It was a great affair--that meeting. Dr. Wade told of the aims of the
new Y. M. C. A.; the Methodist Scouts' gave an exhibition of pole
jumping; the Elks (one member short) gave a demonstration of First-Aid
bandaging, and a Red Cross woman gave a demonstration of surgery, for
(as Roy said) she extracted _one bone_ from everybody in the audience.
Oh, it was a great affair! They had a movie play, _Scouts in Service_;
the Bridgeboro Quartette sang _Over There_; a real, live Belgian refugee
told how the gentle, kind Germans burned his little home and sent his
sisters and brothers into slavery.

Perhaps it was this tragic story fresh in their minds which caused the
crowd to clap vigorously when Private Bent, Second Infantry, U. S. A.,
jumped to his feet as Mr. Ellsworth finished introducing him and stood,
feet close together, straight as an arrow, a little flush of
embarrassment upon his handsome face, and threw his head back suddenly
to get his little forelock of wavy hair out of the way.

It is no discredit to Dr. Wade or to Mr. Perry, of the Local Council,
that Roscoe caught the audience with his first words. He was so young
and fresh, so boyishly off-hand--so different from the others who had
spoken. And then his straight young figure and his uniform!

"I don't know exactly why I'm here," he said; "I got this thing wished
on me and you've got me wished on you. I'm sorry for you. So far as I'm
concerned I guess I don't deserve any sympathy. I ran right into
Scoutmaster Ellsworth with my eyes wide open [laughter] and he nabbed
me. I should have kept my fingers crossed when I came back to
Bridgeboro. He took me to his house and fed me on sugar----"

"You're lucky," some one called.

"And what could I do after that?"

"If I ever get clear of the Boy Scouts, believe me, I'll never get
tangled up with them again. [Laughter.] But they tell me I'll see more
of them in England and still more of them in France--so I guess there's
no hope of getting away from them. [Laughter and applause.]

"If this thing keeps up we'll have to start a campaign to swat the
scout, and see if we can't exterminate them in that way. [Uproarious
shouts from Pee-wee.]

"But, ladies and gentlemen and scouts--n