A charming story, perhaps even partially true: in 1909, American businessman William Boyce was lost in a London fog. A small boy in an unfamiliar uniform approached him and offered to guide him to his hotel. When they arrived Boyce tried to give him a tip, but the boy refused to accept any money for doing what he called a "good turn". He vanished into the fog.

That encounter with "The Unknown Scout" impressed Boyce enough that he contacted Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the scouting movement in England. And that led to the formation of Boy Scout Troop 1 in the USA — and gave more than 100 million kids the chance to go on camp-outs, learn first aid, wash mess kits, give speeches, teach younger friends how to chop wood and light fires in (relative!) safety, and acquire a host of other useful experiences that have helped them grow up to be better adults ...

(OK, I must admit that if The Unknown Scout hadn't done it, somebody else would have ... but it's still a nice fable, eh?! Meanwhile cf. EinBenStein (19 Sep 2002), PeaceScouts (17 Jun 2003), ...)

TopicLife - TopicOrganizations - 2005-09-20

(correlates: MakeYourOwnWeather, IntellectualHeirs, HowDoYouDo, ...)