THE BOOK!
Want to see? I bet you do. Also, you need an introduction.
This is Maisie. She can't be a boy scout because she's a girl.
This is Charlie. He can't be a boy scout because he's a cat.
Now for specifics about the book itself. I looked on eBay for an original print, but they were running in the hundreds of dollars, so instead I went for the Dover reprint of the 1911 edition (available here). It's a plump little volume, about 400 pages with a section at the end including the ads that ran in the original. (The advertisement for Peter's Chocolate, which is "absolutely the most sustaining; has the most delicious taste that always makes you want more, and does not create thirst" is far and away my favorite.)
The merit badge descriptions begin with Agriculture (which would require the cultivation of an acre of corn whose yield is 25% above "the general average") and ends with Taxidermy, for which the young person in question must "mount for a rug the pelt of some fur animal").
Coming tomorrow: how in the hell am I going to do this?
Also, in thanks to Katie for her great suggestion earlier, I do have a question for you guys: there are 57 badges (I'll list them in the comments), of which only 11 are still in service. Which one do you find the most surprising? Which one would you totally have gone for as a kid? Let me know!
The merit badge descriptions begin with Agriculture (which would require the cultivation of an acre of corn whose yield is 25% above "the general average") and ends with Taxidermy, for which the young person in question must "mount for a rug the pelt of some fur animal").
Coming tomorrow: how in the hell am I going to do this?
Also, in thanks to Katie for her great suggestion earlier, I do have a question for you guys: there are 57 badges (I'll list them in the comments), of which only 11 are still in service. Which one do you find the most surprising? Which one would you totally have gone for as a kid? Let me know!
The badges (starred badges are still available):
ReplyDeleteAgriculture
Angling
Archery
*Architecture
*Art
Astronomy
*Athletics
Automobiling
Aviation
Bee farming
Blacksmithing
Bugling
Business
Camping
Carpentry
*Chemistry
Civics
Conservation
Cooking
Craftsmanship
Cycling
Dairying
Electricity
Firemanship
*First aid
First aid to animals
Forestry
Gardening
Handicraft
Horsemanship
Interpreting
Invention
Leather working
*Life saving
Machinery
Marksmanship
Masonry
Mining
*Music
Orinthology
Painting
Pathfinding
Personal health
Photography
Pioneering
*Plumbing
Poultry farming
Printing
*Public health
*Scholarship
Sculpture
Seamanship
Signaling
Stalking
*Surveying
Swimming
Taxidermy
Please scan and post the chocolate ad. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAs for merit badges, blacksmithing sounds awesome. I would have made myself a sword.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to post the chocolate ad, but I don't have a scanner and after a half-dozen attempts to just take a picture, I have to admit failure. I found the full text at Project Gutenberg, though. (All the ads are pretty amazing -- next time I have access, I need to scan 'em all):
ReplyDelete"Do You Know This Manual From Cover To Cover?
Well, here is another rule for you to memorize:
"Whenever Hungry Eat Peter's Chocolate"
Alpine climbers, hunters, campers, and woodsmen of all descriptions consider Peter's Chocolate the regulation food for camp or trail.
It is absolutely the most sustaining; has the most delicious taste that always makes you want more, and does not create thirst.
Don't you go camping this summer without a liberal supply. You can get the nut chocolate or the plain chocolate as you prefer, but be sure to ask for Peter's, the Original Milk Chocolate.
Peter's comes in several varieties:
Peter's Milk Chocolate
Peter's Milk Chocolate Croquettes
Peter's Almond Milk Chocolate
Peter's Milk Chocolate with Roasted Hazelnuts
Peter's Bon-Bons "
Astronomy, Carpentry, Civics, Craftsmanship, Interpreting, Pathfinding... those absences surprise me! I guess they've been replaced by Googling, GPS-following, and Standing in Line at Target.
ReplyDeleteStalking--now there's a timeless skill!
I have to confess to an error -- the badges I mentioned have been subject to very little graphic modification. I've been debating making another post to clear this up, and I think I'm just going to have to do so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your Standing-in-line-at-Target joke was possibly the best I've heard all day.
(For the record, Astronomy seems to still exist, but Carpentry and Pathfinding were both discontinued in 1952, Civics was replaced by Citizenship, which was then broken down into further badges, Craftsmanship was broken down into 8 separate badges in the 20s, Interpreting turned into "World Brotherhoood" (which later became "Citizenship of the World"))
(Thanks, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discontinued_merit_badges_(Boy_Scouts_of_America))
I totally want the wacky ones that were not available to me in GS (so, I would have gone for stuff like Painting and Camping, but I could and did do that in GS so it doesn't count) LIKE:
ReplyDeleteArchery, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Firemanship, Masonry, Seamanship
I did learn to build fires at camp, but a whole BADGE in fire? Sign me up!