Life, 1920-02-05 · page 32 of 52
Life — February 5, 1920 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This nostalgic piece contrasts pre-Boy Scout boyhood with modern scouting. The author laments that his generation lacked structured youth organizations, instead roaming unsupervised with rough companions like "Peck" Barker and "Soggy" Jones. Their "gangs" engaged in mock-violent play (fighting over leadership, pulling hair). Their true hero was "Old Hank Mellish," a hardened frontiersman who taught them cursing and tough street wisdom—the opposite of the genteel values Boy Scouts promote. The accompanying cartoons underscore the satire: one depicts boys engaged in rough, dangerous play; another shows a father dismissing his son's modern business methods, saying he trusts memory over filing systems. The joke is that modern Boy Scouts' emphasis on "kind acts" and discipline represents an over-civilized, unnecessarily regimented alternative to authentic boyhood roughness—yet the author simultaneously regrets missing scouting's "noble" influence. The satire cuts both ways, mocking both nostalgic roughness and modern institutional sentimentality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
What We Missed WISH there had been Boy was a kid. much Scouts when I I realize now ‘nobler a man, physically and morally, I might have become, had I been, during the forma- tive period of youth, under the good influence of a kind, gentle scoutmaster and within the chivalric environment of a troop of scouts. But instead of that, when our “gang” went off to the woods on a Saturday, as soon as we got out of how MR. COMMON PEOPLE, BOUND HAND AND FOOT AND TIED IN A THE ORIGINAL BOY SCOUT sight of our mothers, “ Peck” Barker and “ Soggy” Jones got into a fight to settle who was to be the Big Chief for the day. And sometimes they would pick sides, and the whole gang of us would be Mohawks on one side and Sioux on the other, and the side that pulled the most hair out, counting ten hairs to a “scalp,” were bosses for the day, and the side that were licked had to do just what the other fellows said. But we had the most fun when we got into the woods and ran in with Old Hank Mellish. He was a real old Qa, Xlowsomms scout—had been out West and up North and everywhere, and now hi spent his old days trailing skunks and trapping muskrats. He was our indi vidual and collective hero, and h¢ taught us more tough things, like chewing and squirting and juicy cuss- words, in half an hour than a scout- master could counteract in a month of Sunday-school, with Christmas and Santa Claus thrown in. Nowadays, Boy Scouts are obligated to do a kind act or say a kind word every chance (Continued on page 237) oral $0 eA FE ROA Se Father: pON’T TELL ME HOW TO RUN THIS BUSINESS, BOY. 'VE FORGOTTEN MORE THAN YOU EVER KNEW ABOUT IT, “THAT's JUST IT, DAD. NOWADAYS WE DON’T TRUST TO SACK, WILL EXTRICATE HIMSELF UNDER WATER (MAYBE) MEMORY, WE CARD-INDEX EVERYTHING. comicbooks.com