The following are some bits I have come across that give food for thought. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I have also included some very nice campfire openings & closings I found on the Scoutpedia Web Site!

If you can't be .....
If you can't be the pine on the top of the hill,
Be a shrub in the valley - but be the best little shrub by the side of the rill.
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.
If you can't be a bush, be a bit of grass, and some highway happier make.

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass
But the liveliest bass in the lake.

We can't all be captains - we've got to be crew
There's something for all of us here
There's big work to do - and there's lesser to do
And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail
If you can't be the sun, then just be a star.
It ain't by size that you win or you fail.
Be the best of whatever you are ....

THIS DAY
I will follow the upward road today
I will keep my face to the light
I will keep high thoughts as I go my way
I will do what I know is right
I will look for flowers by the side of the road
I will laugh and love and be strong
I will try to lighten another's load
This day as I fare along.

Errors like straws upon the surface flow
He who would search for pearls must dive below

Forget - Remember
Forget each kindness that you do
The moment that you do it
Forget the praise that falls to you
The moment you have won it
Forget the slander that you hear
Before you can repeat it
Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer
Whenever you may meet it.

Remember every kindness done
To you, what'e'er its measure
Remember praise by others won
And pass it on with pleasure
Remember every promise made
And keep it to the letter
Remember those who lend you aid
And be a grateful debtor

IN LIFE'S GARDEN
Count your garden by the flowers
Never by the leaves that fall
Count your days by golden hours
Don't remember clouds at all
Count your nights by stars not shadows
Count your life with smiles not tears
And with joy through all your lifetime
Count your age by friends not tears.

Wesley's Rule
Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
At all the time you can
In all the places you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can.

VOYAGE

One ship drive East and another West
With the selfsame winds that blow
'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life
'Tis the set of the Soul that decides its goal
And not the calm or the strife.

TAKE TIME
.... to THINK - it is a source of power
.... to PLAY - it is the secret of perpetual youth
.... to READ - it is the fountain of Wisdom
.... to PRAY - it is the greatest Power on earth
.... to BE FRIENDLY - it is the road to Happiness
.... to LOVE and BE LOVED - it is a God-given privilege
.... to LAUGH - it is the music of the soul
.... to GIVE - it is too short a day to be selfish
.... to WORK - it is the price of Success.

THOUGHTS TO LIVE BY
Take time to dream - It hitches our soul to the stars.
Take time to work - It's the price of success.
Take time to think - It's the source of power.
Take time to play - It's the secret of youth.
Take time to read - It's the foundation of knowledge.
Take time to worship - It's the highway to your soul.
Take time to laugh - It helps with life's load.
Take time for health - It's the true treasure of life.
Take time for friends - They are a source of happiness.
Take time to love - It's the source of great joy.
Take time for family - They are the source of our roots and unconditional love.
Take time for reflection - The past has made us who we are.
Take time to count your blessings - It helps us appreciate what we have.
Take time to brighten someones day - Your's will be brightend too.

BOYS GROW BEST WHEN:
1. They are with adults who are at ease with them and who seem to enjoy them most of the time.

2. They are permitted to make mistakes which will not harm them unduly, and are permitted to live with adults who do not themselves pretend to be perfect.

3. Those about them believe in them and express confidence through words and through giving them freedom.

4. Those about them understand what they are trying to achieve and support and team with them in their endeavors.

5. Those about them permit them to express doubts, to raise questions, and to try their ow ideas.
6. They understand the limits of the freedom within which they can make decisions, and when this freedom in limited to the responsibility they feel able to carry at their stage of development.

7. Those about them deal with them with firmness and consistency.

8. Adults around them behave as adults and show what the adult way is like.

9. Those about them help than to succeed when they need help, but let them struggle when they are winning by themselves.

10. Those about them gear their expectancy of a child's behaviour to his capacity for that behavior.

11. Those about them understand how they grow and develop, and provide motivation and opportunity for encouraging sound growth.

12. They feel strong within themselves, when they feel they are just the kind of person wanted by their family, their friends, their community, and nation.

13. There is an atmosphere of friendliness and warmth whether with adults or with children.

14. They meet actual life situations, emotionally charged, and deal with them successfully whether with or without adult help.

15. Their perfotmance expectancy is related to themselves and not to others.

16. They are interested in what they are doing for its own sake. They will be interested when it has meaning for them. Children forced to perform tasks in which they have no interest or understanding are not helped but are actually blocked. Those who attempt it are battling against human nature and will lose in the end.

Campfire Openings
Cree Indian Opening
Waconda Day Doo Wah Poh Ah Me Ah Ah Ton Ah Hey
[The translation of this: Great Spirit,
we thank Thee for Thy Creations,
bless our council for the night.]


Here soon will be ashes that once were trees.

In Spring, they gave us delight
In Summer, shade
In Autumn, the colours of their falling leaves
In Winter, the beauty of their bare branches
May our lives like the trees be lives of service
I declare this campfire open.


This is an emblem:
Sparks that upwards fly
So may our hearts be young
And spirits high.


As the flames point upwards
So be our aims
As the red logs glow
So be our sympathies
As the grey ash fades
So be our errors
As the good fire warms the circle
So may our Ideals warm the world
[General Godfrey Faussett]

The North Wind brings the cold that builds endurance
The South Wind brings the warmth of friendship
The East Wind brings the light of day
The West Wind from the direction where the
Sun sinks brings night and the stars.

[This could be done by four Scouts bringing in a flaming torch from each of the four corners and perhaps adding the words "brings; greetings to this campfire circle"]

Oh Fire Maker bring forth the Sacred Fire
from the wood of the forest
so that we may have light
that we may have warmth
that we may sit in this council tonight.
Oh Fire Maker light now our Council fire.

From the North
From the South
From the East
And from the West
May Good luck come to you.
Brother Scouts, the campfire is open.

First a curl of birch bark
As dry as it can be
then some twigs of soft wood
Dead from off a tree
Last of all some Pine knots to make a kettle foam
And there's a fine to make you think you're sitting right at home.

Scouts of the World wherever you be
God shed his blessed grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From Sea to Shining Sea.
[John Thurman]

A little bit of kindness to each other now and then
A little bit of blindness to the faults of other men
A little bit of happiness - A lively Wolf Cub's smile
And then as on through life we go - We'll find it's all worth while

It ain't no use to grumble and complain
It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice
When God sort out the weather and sends rain
Why - Rain's my choice
[J. W. Riley]

No breathless hush in the close tonight
it's wind on the heath and in tent withal
It's cold and it's damp, so we'll pack in tight
So our hearts shall keep warm; weather befall.

Onward and upward; straight is the course,
and narrow the way, but others before us,
the path have trod and the top of the hill
is the Heart of God.

Oh ye of the East be with us
Oh ye of the dawn and day
Oh ye of the West behold us
Oh ye of the storm and night
Oh ye of the South be with us
Oh ye of the path of the Sun
Oh ye of the North behold us
Oh ye of the Mother of Day.

Who hath smelt woodsmoke at twilight?
Who hath heard the birch log burning?
Who is quick to read the noises of the night?
Let him follow with the others
For the young men's feet are turning
To the camps of proved desire and known delight.

We came as strangers.
We part as brothers.
May the spirit of the
[substitute the name of your camp]
be with you always.

Campfire Closings

My friends the coals of the Council fire burn low.
Our Council is nearly ended.
Let the smoke of the dying embers carry our prayers to the One Great Spirit.
Our Council is now ended.


Comes the last day of many days
The last Campfire of all too few
Last but not lost. In the years ahead
These times our memories shall renew


May the road rise to greet you
May the Wind be always at your back
May the sunshine warm your face
May the rains fall soft upon your fields
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

CAMPFIRE YELLS

Clam Yell
Hold hand up with the thumb on the bottom, and the palm and four fingers above. The "yell", silent of course, is done by rapidly "clapping" the thumb against the four fingers.

Painters' Convention Clapping
Paintbrush is the hand with the fingers hanging down loosely. The clapping is done by "brushing" the palm of the other hand.

Mosquito Yell
All in unison make a "z ... z ... z ... z ... z" sound. Then following the leader, make a gulping sound, "glk", followed by shouting, "Ouch", followed by a clap while yelling, "Got it".

Yabba Dabba Doo Yabba Dabba Doo The best Cub Scouts Are in Den Number Two!!! [courtesy of Clark Irwin, Den two, Pack 332, Sparta, Illinois, U.S.A.]

Balloon Cheer
Pretend to blow into a large ballloon, by putting hands to mouth and puffing laboriously. with each puff, you spread your hands apart slowly. When the hands are wide apart, yell out "BANG"

Thursday, August 17, 2000 12:24:00 AM