By A. J. Gillette
Unlike most skits, this is not a comedy. It is to be used to recruit potential Scouts and is also especially suitable for Parents' Night at camps or Visitors' Day-- It should be carefully rehearsed
Characters:
 | Scout in full uniform with First Class Badge |
| Scout in plain clothes. |
Properties:
| One complete Scout Uniform, with First Class insignia. |
| One four-foot rope. |
| One small pack. |
| One First Aid kit. |
Action:
Scout appears on the stage whistling and tying knots, a small pack on his back.
Boy of eleven enters, at left.
Scout: "Hello, Johnny, watcha doin'?"
Boy: "Nothin', what you doin'?"
Scout: "Well, not just nothin'; I'll tell you that. Say, has anybody asked you to be a Scout yet? Why don't you join the Troop?"
Boy: "Don't want to, that's why. Whatcha doin' with that rope ?"
Scout: "Tying some knots that are a part of the Tenderfoot test,"
Boy: "Let's see you tie 'em."
Scout: (Ties a square knot.) "That is the knot to use when you want to tie two ropes together, it won't ever slip. just pull, see? (They pull hard. The Boy looks more interested.)
Boy: "Let me see your rope. Bet I can tie it. (Ties, gets a granny, Scout pulls it out. Laughs at the boy, Boy is bewildered.)
Scout: "Thought you couldn't do it. Suppose you had to tie two ropes together to let some one down over a cliff or something, guess you'd fix 'em. Here, let me show you. (Takes rope--explains how square knot is tied. Boy watches closely.)
Boy: "What other knots do you have to learn?"
Scout: "Lots of 'em. Want to see a few? This is a bowline." (Shows him a bowline. Ties it around boy, jerks him around the stage.) "Bet you wish you could tie that."
Boy: "Let me try. (Takes rope and tries two or three times.)
Scout: "Here, I'll show you, you see there's a knack to it." (Ties it the "rabbit" way.) "Here's a tree-here's a rabbit's hole. This end is the rabbit. Now the rabbit sticks his head up out of the hole. He sees a dog, dodges around the tree and ducks back into his hole again. Now pull the tree and both ends of the rabbit. See?"
Boy: "Gee, that's good, show me how." (Scout tries to show him. Finally gets hold of his hand with a jerk.) "Yowee! Cut that out. I'll fix you!"
Scout: "Now, what's the matter?"
Boy: "Guess you'd holler too, if I grabbed your sore finger."
Scout: "What ails your 'little finner?'
Boy: "Cut it last week and it hurts."
Scout: "Last week? Let's see it. What'd you do when you cut it?" (Looks at it closely.) "Geeee-!"
Scout: "Look here, buddy, you had better go to a doctor. That looks bad. Did you put some anti-bacterial cream on it?"
Boy: "What's that?"
Scout: "Gee, you ought to know! Why didn't you bandage it?"
Boy: "Don't know how, any way it's only a little cut."
Scout: "Yeah, that's just what causes a lot of trouble, carelessness. You don't attend to little cuts and then holler when they go from bad to worse. Better let me fix that for you." (Boy submits while Scout gets out First Aid kit and applies bandages.)
Scout: (While applying bandages.) "You sure were foolish to let that cut go. If you were a Scout you'd know what to do when you get cut. Gee, I cut my finger last week, too, but it's all right now 'cause I put anti-bacterial cream on it and wrapped it with a sterile bandage."
Boy: "Did you learn all that in the Scouts?"
Scout: "Did I? You can just bet your life I did!: Gee, and First Aid is only a starter."
Boy: "What else do you learn?"
Scout: "Oh, lots of things. How to track animals, how to signal, how to use an axe, camping, map making, cooking, all about trees and birds, n' everything. Come up to my house and I'll show you my handbook. Ever see our Patrol den? Gee, you don't know anything about Scouting, do you?" (After Pause, more thoughtfully.) "But,. honestly, you could be a good Scout if you only would, why don't you join?"
Boy: "Guess I'll be one--who do you pay?"
Scout: "Say, friend, don't get so excited, you can't just step up and pay your money and be a Scout. You have to learn a lot first. Oh, it isn't so easy. Do you know the Scout Oath? Well, here it is." (Repeats the Scout 0ath and gives the Scout Sign.)
Boy: "What did you do that for?" (Does Scout Sign awkwardly.)
Scout: "That's the Scout Sign, those three fingers stand for the three parts of the Scout Oath. My duty to God and Country; my duty to others; and my duty to myself."
Boy: "You guys have to salute The Flag too, don't you?"
Scout: "Say, what's the idea? 'Have to?' --why we're proud to salute it and glad to know how to do it right."
"Here's the way we do it. See? Three fingers and thumb on little finger." (Boy tries it clumsily.
Scout: (Continuing.) "You'll have to learn the Scout Law too. And, Boy, when you learn all about it, it sure means a lot. There are 12 points to it." (Names them.) "And then you have to know the full meaning of every one of them."
Boy: "Gee, that is a lot, but I guess it's important."
Scout: "And we have a Scout handshake too. I'll show you, if you are really going to join. Are you?"
Boy: "You bet I am."
Scout: "Well, we do it this way. See? And our Scoutmaster says there are Scouts in over fifty countries of the world all using this same handclasp." (They shake left hands.)
Boy: Who's your Scoutmaster?"
Scout: "Boy, he's real! Why, he spends all kinds of time with us on hikes, and at Troop meetings, and has us out to his house n'everything. He's kewl. I'll take you over to see him." (Starts off stage.)
Boy: "Let's go over and see your Patrol den on the way. I'm sure anxious to be a Scout. What did you say I have to do first?"
