Young Knights of the Empire | Page 2

has no sense of honour. If he is honourable he
will manfully and honestly tell the master that he broke out and will stand whatever
punishment comes of it. By so doing he will have proved to the master and to the other
boys that he is manly and not afraid to tell the truth, and is to be relied upon because he
puts his honour before all.
So the first training that the Boy Scout gets is to understand that Honour is his own
private law which is guided by his conscience, and that once he is a Scout he must be
guided in all his doings by his sense of Honour.
LOYALTY
Law 2. A SCOUT IS LOYAL to the King, and to his officers, and to his parents, his
Country, his employers, and to those under his orders. He must stick to them through
thick and thin against anyone who is their enemy or who even talks badly of them.
There was a Scoutmaster in the East End of London who when the war broke out felt it
his duty to give up the splendid work he was doing amongst the poor boys of the East
End in order to take up service for his Country.
Scoutmaster Lukis--for that is his name--felt bound, by his sense of loyalty to his King
and his Country, to give up the life he was then living and face the dangers of soldiering
on active service.
But the example which he set in loyalty was promptly followed by some eighty young
fellows who were his Scouts or Old Scouts.
Their loyalty to him made them wish to follow their leader wherever his duty led him. So
they became soldiers like himself and all went together to the Front.
A day came when the trenches which they were holding were heavily shelled. The danger
was great and the losses were heavy, and finally a piece of shrapnel struck Captain Lukis
in the leg and shattered his thigh. Two of his East London Boy Scout's sprang to his
assistance and tended him with devoted care. They waited for a lull in the firing and
finally between them they carried him, although exposed to a deadly fire, to a place of
safety. While so doing one of them was hit and severely wounded.
But the spirit of the lads was splendid. They cared nothing for their own safety so that
they got their beloved Scoutmaster out of danger. That was loyalty.

Loyalty means faithfulness. Your dog is faithful to you and sticks to you even though you
may beat him. He overlooks your faults and your unkindness and remains loyal to you.
Loyalty begins at home.
Some boys are always thinking that their parents are wrong or unfair to them. If you think
that your parents have any faults, don't look at those faults. Be loyal to your parents;
remember only that it is thanks to them that you are alive and able to be a Scout.
Obey your parents, believe in them, and respect them; if you can at any time help them,
do so. By doing these things you are being loyal to them. By being loyal to them you are
carrying out that commandment of the Bible which says: "Honour thy father and thy
mother." Be loyal, also, in the same way-by obeying and thinking no evil and by backing
them up-to your Patrol-leader, your Scoutmaster, and your schoolmaster. If you are a
working boy carry out the same idea towards your foreman, your manager, and your
employer.
On taking up your work, you have agreed to do a certain amount for a certain wage, and
it is loyalty on your part then to stick to that agreement and to give good work in return
for your pay.
If, on the other hand, you are a well-to-do boy and come to have a servant or a man
working under you as you grow older, you should equally be loyal to him. Remember
that in taking him on you expect a certain amount of work from him for the money you
give him; if you find that he gives you more work than you agreed for, you will be acting
loyally to him if you then increase his wage: but never go back on your agreement, and
do not try to make more money out of him than you meant to do when first making the
contract. So, too, if you are a Patrol or other leader, and if those under you get into
trouble through carrying out your ideas, be loyal to them; own up that it was through your
fault that they did wrong.
Whatever line of life you may be in, be loyal to God, to your King, and to