Scouting and the Y. M. M. I. A.

SCOUTING AND THE Y. M. M. I. A. 925 Lesson 23. The reward. Latter-day Saint vital statistics. Achievements by L. D. S. A manual containing these lessons will be ready for circulation before the opening meeting in October. Send orders to the General Secretary Y. M. M. I. A., Salt Lake City, Utah. For the Junior Class there will be twenty-two lessons, consisting of missionary stories, embracing missionary experiences in the early history of the Church, as follows: 1. Answering the Call. 2. From New York to Missouri. 3. Entertaining a Stranger. 4. The First Missionary Martyr. 5. Opening the Door in England. 6. Help in Time of Need. 7. The Harvest in Herefordshire. 8. How a Sensitive Missionary Became Bold. 9. The Ser- mon on "Nothing." 10. Two Important Lessons. 11. President Lund as a Boy Missionary. 12. Confounding the Wise. 13. A Wise and Brave Missionary. 14. A Remarkable Deliverance. 15. A Message from the Lord. 16. Among the Hawaiians. 17. Saved from Drowning. 18. A Narrow Escape. 19. In Norwegian Prisons. 20. A Champion of Truth. 21. The Gift of Language. 22. Saved from Destruction. A manual containing these les- sons will be ready for distribution before the opening meeting in October. Send orders to the General Secretary, Y. M. M. I. A., Salt Lake City. Elder Nephi Anderson, of the General Board, Junior committee says: The Junior Manual for 1922-3, contains stories in which will be found incidents which aptly illustrate the principles of scouting as laid down in the Scout Promise, the Scout Law, and the Scout Motto. The very first promise made by the candidate for scout honors is "to do my duty to God" — and this is what every missionary is doing. Every one of the twelve scout laws is embodied in the work of the missionary. "A scout is trustworthy;" so is a missionary in that he is sent to deliver an important message. A scout — let us change the word scout to mission- ary— "is loyal" to the Church and the cause he represents; he is help- ful, because those to whom he delivers his message are in need of help; he is obedient to the call of duty and authority; he is brave to face the dangers which often lie in his path; he is clean in body and in mind that he may show by his living example the way of life; he is reverent — and so on, a missionary by his daily life illustrates the principles which underlie scouting. The stories in the Junior manual will, therefore, be a great help to the scout leader in tying up his work directly with the Mutual and the Church. If properly told and applied they will help to spiritualize scout work. The M. I. A. Scout Bulletin, for 1921, page 18 reads: "Scout work, being a part of the M. I. A. program, the Junior Manual lessons should be a part of this period." This has reference to the instruction period provided in the program for troop meetings. How to Tie Up Scouting to the Y. M. M. I. A. Dr. John H. Taylor of the General Board says on this subject: Accept scouting as a real part of M. I. A. work. Push it and make it go like you would any other successful part of M. I. A. work. It is the major part of your Junior program. You cannot be a complete success as an officer without it. The scout men, being officers as other class teachers aie, should attend all officers' meetings. Study the fundamentals of Scouting. Know the game. It will impress you with the necessity of securing leaders fit for the work. Visit their classes and cooperate with them. If Scouting is not a suc- cess the M. I. A. leadership is failing somewhere. Scouting, as a program for boys, is a success.

926 IMPROVEMENT ERA The M. I. A. is the first consideration. The ideals of the M. I. A. are what we are working for. Scouting is in the program to help the boy to attain to these ideals. The Junior Manual must take its place in the evening program. Follow the rules and regulations concerning scouting and the M. I. A., as outlined in the Bulletin. We too often, figuratively speaking, use a granny knot to tie up scouting to the M. I. A. It soon slips or comes undone. Use a square knot, and there will be no question about scouting and its place in the program. Have scouts render real service for the M. I. A., such as helping in the programs, entertainments, care of house, etc. The idea that scouts are only for cleaning up and other janitorial duties is too prevalent. If there is one factor that stands for success in scouting more than another it is in having an efficient examining committee and a troop com- mittee who will see that their boys progress up through the grades. The troop committee is made up of at least one of the ward presidency. If this committee is active, scouting is bound to take its place as a part of Mutual. Have a scout stake deputy commissioner who enjoys the work as well as the honors, and will qualify as an expert in scouting. Stake and ward officers have not completed their obligations to scout- ing or to the boys when they have chosen a leader. They must cooperate and work with and see that the leaders qualify and put over the job, and give to the boys what they have a right to receive through scouting, as a part of the M. I. A. program. Lessons to be Learned from the Efficiency Report The efficiency report shows us how and where we are going. It enables us to prepare for what we are expecting to accomplish. It shows the condition of every ward for the benefit of the ward and stake officers. It shows the condition of every stake of Zion for the benefit of the stake officers and the General Board. It shows the standards to work to, so that all the officers, from the highest to the least, are informed upon the condition of the associations, and whether they are working satisfactorily towards these standards. One of the lessons learned from last year's report is that we start very low and end very low, January being our highest month of work. We began in October, 1921, with 49 reports. This increased to 60, in November 71, in December 83, in January, 1922; and then decreased 69, 62, 32 to 18 for May; 330 wards reported in October; 737 in January; and 149 in May. Our enrollment reported in October was 9,820, in January, 38,335; and in May, 9,002. The average attendance in October was 7,067; in January, 23,416; in May, 4,577. This, of course, does not show the actual condition, because of many stakes not reporting but suffices to show that we start low in the fall, go to the height of our organization in January, and then recede again until May. The lesson from this should be that we should begin in full force, continue upward until the end, both with the reports and with the actual work, holding the interest from the beginning in October until the end of May, the close of the efficiency report period or the study lesson period of the organization. We would then be able to take up the summer work with better results. In many stakes there are always some wards that do not report. It should be required of every secretary to render his report monthly at the