When the scouts went hiking

Media

Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People

Title: When the scouts went hiking
Language: English
Source: The Young Citizen 5 (7) July 1939
Year: 1939
Subject: Boy Scouts; Camping; Reading (Elementary)
Rights
Fulltext: THE YOUNG CITIZEN .July, 1939 READING TIME FOR YOUNG FOLKS WHEN THE SCOUTS WENT HIKING By DOLORES A. LEGASPI THE time for the siesta in the boy-scout camp was almost over. In the tents the boys were putting on their clothes and canvas shoes. Soon they heard the bugle call for assembly. When they were together the camp direFtor inspected them. Then each of the group leaders called the names of the five boys in his division. When each boy had found his and tall for his sixteen years-a cheerful, likable chap who had something about him which made him a leader. He was familiar with the mountain trails of that vicinity and knew a great deal about many things of nature, because he W'!S an experienced hiker. · In his group were Ciriaco, Felipe, Es,teban, Arturo, and Jose. As soon as they were well on their way the boys stopped singing, and each one began to ~eep his eyes open for interesting things about him. "Roland, do you see that beautiful flower?" said Ciriaco as he pointed to some violet co 1 or ed flowers growing in a tree a short ways ahead. . place in his group, the dir.ector said: " Yo u have four hours for a hike. Go wherever yo u r . leader takes you. T h e important thing on this hike is to observe things. You may see an interesting plant, an insect, a flower, a butterfly, a fruit-anything. Look for things which are of enough i·nterest that you will want Starting on the Hilu Rolando looked and then replied, "I think those are orchids, Coy." t<i bring a specimen ba<;k with you if possible. Tonight at the camp fire we shall hear of your experiences and see the things you have brought back with you.'' The song leader began the camp song, and the groups started on their hike with everybody singing. Rolando was the leader of one of the groups. He was a boy who was large "They certainly are beautiful. Mother would be glad to have a plant with such beautiful flowers," said Ciriaco. "She shall have it then,''. said Rolando. "We'll get it without injury to the plant." Ciriaco became very attentive. "Ready, boys," said Rolando. "We'll form a pyramid. Coy, you climb on top. Be sure you have your knife ready. Up July, 1939 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 239 you go." "I've got it, Rola"nd," shouted Ciriaco in a few minutes. Rolando and ihe other scouts helped Ciriaco prepare the orchid plant so it would not be injured while it was being carried. "Well, that's a good start," said Rolando. "This orchid is somewhat rare,. and is certainly a beautiful specimen. Let me tell you something about orchids, boys. Just recently I was reading about them. Did you know that sometimes enormous prices have been paid for a single rare specimen of an orchid? "These flowers are so beautiful that they have become the favorites of many people. The demand for orchids in the United States and Europe is very great, so every year thousands of dollars' worth of orchids are sent from South America, the East Indies and0 the Philippines, and even from Australia. "Many an eager collector has climbed precipices, waded through swamps full of malaria, and endured all the dangers of a tropical forest to get these plants. The most valuable orchids are those which are airplants and grow on tree trunks. There are between 6,000 and 12,000 different species of orchids. Now let us continue our hike." The boys started on their way. They had hiked for perhaps half an hour. "What is that?" suddenly said Jose, the smallest boy in the group. "Where, Tiny?" asked Rolando. "On the limb of that small tree." "Get it and we'll see," said Rolando. Soon Jose brought something to Rolando which he recognized at once. "That," said Rolando, "is the chrysalis of a butterfly or a moth." "What is a chrysalis?" asked Tiny. "A chrysalis," explained Rolando, "''is the form which butterflies or moths take before becoming butterflies or moths. First the insect Jays eggs. From an egg comes a caterpillar. After a short time the caterpillar changes to a chrysalis. The chrysalis later .changes to a butterfly or a moth. Unless I am mistaken, Tiny, the chrysalis which you have here is a chrysalis of a giant moth.. Take this home with you and put it in a suitable place, and by and by it will become a giant moth with a wing-spread of perhaps 8 or IO inches." "What luck we ar-e having!" exclaimed Tiny. "First Coy finds an or-. chid and then I find a "chrysalis of a giant moth." After Tiny's chrysalis was neatly folded in his handkerchief the boys marched on. They had not gone far until something dropped on the ground just in front of Arturo. He picked it up. It was nothing but a. feather-a soft feather which looked as if it had come from the breast of ·some bitd, Arturo was about to· throw it away. "Looks as if this feather has blood on it. It is a white, downy feather, but it has a red blood-stain. on it. :Some bird nearby has just been wounded and is now· bleeding." "Let me see: that ·feather, Art,'' said Rolando. Arturo handed it to him. "There is no bl9od- on this feather,'' said Rolando. "The red which you see is not blood-it is the actual color of the feather. This belongs to a pigeon which is found here in the Philippines and which is called the bleeding-heart pigeon. Let us look carefully, boys, and we may find the bird from which this feather came. Scatter out a little and start to use your eyes." The boys began looking in the trees THE YOUNG CITIZEN July, 1939 "Anything can ha,len wlien a scout goes hiking," said Rotando. and the bushes. Rolando was the lucky finder. "Look, boys, there· are two of them on that branch." The boys looked and saw two pigeons sitting and cooing on a low limb of a tree. Sure enough, the breast of each was white with a red splotch, and had the appearan•e of blood-stained feathers. "Yes, those are bleeding-heart pigeons," said Rolando. "Sit down, boys, and right here I will tell you an interesting story." The boys promptly sat down on some Jar ge rocks. "You saw those pigeons. You saw the white breast with the crimson feathers which look like a blood stain. There is a legend about this pigeon-a story which, of course, is not true, but which is interesting. "According to the legend this pigeon, or dove, long, long ago had a white breast. The legend tells us that this innocent bird witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus when He was upon the cross. The dove saw the crown of thorns upon the brow of the Savior, and felt compassion. It flew to the sacred head and tried to remove the cr~wn of thorns. The thorns pierced the white breast of the pitying dove, and made it bleed. The story goes that ever since then this dove or pigeon has had feathers which look like a bloodstained white breast. Of course, this is only a story which never· happened, but nevertheless, it is a beautiful legend. "If you would like to examine the bleeding-he.art pigeon closely, the first time you are in Manila go to the Aqua.rium in the old wall. You will see there a number of excellent live specimens of this pigeon. Now, boys, let us continue our hike." "Wait a minute," said Felipe. He quickly ran over to one of the rocks upon which some of the boys had been sitting. He stooped 'down and picked up something between his thumb and forefinger. "Here's my interesting bit of nature to take back to camp." "Oh, what a curious looking bug!" exclaimed little Jose. "How did you happen to see it? You surely have good eyes, Felipe." · "This is not a bug," answered Felipe. "It is a beetle." - "What is the difference?" asked Jose. "Beetles are not true b'ugs," said Felipe. "Though many beetles are called 'bugs' they should not be confused with the true bugs with sucking beaks, which form a distinct order of insects. This i5 a beetle. And I think I know what kind, too, because only last week I was reading about beetles in the encyclopedia, and I read about a beetle which seems to have the appearance of this one." (Please turn to page 256.) WHEN SCOUTS WENT ( Contin~ed from page 240) "What kind of beetle is this, Fil?" asked Arturo. "I think this is a hercules beetle. If it is, those long wicked-looking projections from its head and back are used by the male in carrying its mate. Curiously enough, this is one of the most harmless of all beetles. I am not sure that this is a hercules peetle, but I shall take it with me and at the first opportunity· I shall find out whether. or not I· am right." Felipe then placed his prize in his collector's jar. "Mr. Beetle, you wit! soon be dead, and then you will make a nice specimen for our. school museum _of elementary science." "Say, fellows! Why is it that everybody has had such good luck except me?" asked Esteban. "You have all found very interesting things, but I have found nothing." "Plenty of time yet, Steve," said Rolando. "We still have an hour and a half 'of our hiking time. Lots of things can happen in an hour and a half, you know. So come on, boys. All of you keep your eyes open, ~nd let's help Steve find something to take back to camp." THE YOUNG CITIZEN The boys started on. Everybody peered and looked, but no. one found anything of any particular interest. "I think Lady Luck has deserted us," said Esteban. "Say, boys, do you see that lovely little brook ahead of us? How pretty it is jrist there where it flows over those small stones. I wish I had my kodak with meI could. get a' fine picture. Let's go and look at the brook. May w~, Roland?" "Of course," said Rolando. "We will all go there. .It is a beautiful sIJot where we can sit down and eat our sandwiches. I guess we've found all the interesting things there are to be found on this hike, so we'll rest and eat, and then go back to camp." In a very short time six hungry boys were seated on the bank near the stonybedded little brook, and each was enjoying a large sandwich. Esteban finished his sandwich first. "You fellows are slow. You have not yet finished eati~g. But take your time. I'm going to poke around here. a little." "Go ahead, Steve. Maybe you'll find a knap-sackful of diamonds," said one of the boys. All the other boys laughed. July, 1939 Esteban wandered about, looking at the rocks and pebbles. Several he placed in his knap-sack. "These are not at all interesting," he said to himself, f'but I'll take two or three along anyway." "Come on, boys. It's time to start back," said Rolando. Soon the boys were on their way back to the camp. That night, by the light of the camp fire, each boy who had found anything of interest on the hike dis-. played his find and told about it. Ciriaco proudly showed his orchid and told what Rolando had said about orchids. ] ose showed his chrysalis of the giant moth. Arturo brought out his feather from the- breast of the bleeding-heart pigeon and told the legend about it. Felipe exhibited his beetle. Of Rolando's group Esteban was the only one who had nothing. to show. · Then the boys ·all turned in for the night. The next day they broke camp and _returned to. their homes. A day or so later Esteban happened to find the two or three rocks which he had picked up on the hike. "This one is all covered with clay/' he said. . He took his knife and.be(Please turn to page 26o.) 260 WHEK SCOUTS \VEl\T ( C&11tim1ftl from pa gr 2 56) gan to scrape the clay off. "I wonder what kind of a stone this is. It's so shiny. Guess I'll show it to our high school principal." A few days later Esteban showed his rock specimen to Mr. Diaz, the principal of their school, who knew something of geology. Mr. Diaz"exam'ined it carefully. "Come with me, Esteban. We are going to have it examined by an expert," said Mr. Diaz in a few minutes. Soon they were at an assayer's office. The h~ad assayer looked at it. Then he made some tests. "Where did you find this, my boy?" the assayer asked. Esteban told him. "Do you know what this is?" "N: o, sir," said Esteban. "What is it?" "Well, young man, you found a gold nugget-a fairly large one. This nugget is worth, I should judge, about two thousand pesos. Leave this with me and we shall soon find exactly what it is worth." Esteban could hardly believe his ears. Two thousand pesos! That would put him through college. The news soon spread, and everybody was conTHE YOUNG CITIZEN gratulating the boy upon his discovery. One of the first was Rolando. "That afternoon we went hiking I was not so unlucky after all," said Esteban. "Coy found a flower, Fil found a bug-no, I mean a beetle, Jo found a chrysalis, and Art found a feather. But I found a college education!" "Anything can happen when a scout goes hiking," answered Rolando. REYIEU'. I. Did you find this story interesting? Why? 2. Tell something about orchids. Jul,·, 1939 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Co111;,,t1td from page 257) REVIEW QUESTIONS I. Can you name. the instruments of the w.oodwind section? 2. Have you examined the picture of each instrument? (See page· 243.) 3. Can you tell about each of the following instruments: (a) flute, (b) piccolo, (c) oboe, (d) English horn, (e) clarinet, (f) bass clari.net, (g) bassoon, ( h) contrabassoon? 4. What is a reed? 5. Can you name the single-reed instruments of the woodwind section? The double-reed instruments? 6. Which ones hav.e no 3. Tell something about reed? the hercules . beetle. 7. Which is the smallest 4. What is a chrysalis? 5. Tell something about the giant moth. 6. Tdl something about the bleeding-heart pigeon. 7. What·is a legend? 8. Tell the legend of the bleeding-heart pigeon. 9. Has gold ever been mined in the Philippines? (Yes, and some gold nuggets have been found._...:T he Editor.) 10. What did Esteban mean when he said, "I found a college education"? woodwind instrument? 8. Which i s I a r g est woodwind instrument? 9. Which woodwind instruments have you seen and heard? IO. Which woodwind instruments can play a solo? (All except the contrabassoon.) 11. What are the most ancient types of woodwind instruments? (Flute, oboe) 12. What ancient nations had instruments of the oboe type? 13. How was the flute regarded by the ancient Gr.eeks?