In 1910, a small book was published, the first of four volumes, each containing ten Essays written by "Public Figures", effectively deploring the state of "Youth today" and suggestions for improvement.  Later the essays were published in a single volume, the cover of which is shown above.  

One of these essays (No. 32, in the last Volume) was written by Robert Baden-Powell, then in the process of creating the Boy Scout and the Girl Guide Movements.  It has to be said, his essay is not particularly brilliant; but his mind was perhaps on other things.  

There are three points about these Essays:-

1.  How much it seems that the "youth of today" was bemoaned by so many in high positions - and is not the same true today, over a century later ?

2.  How much it seems those "problems" were crying out for a "simple solution" - and - now, with hindsight - how that solution, then and now, is provided by the Scout and Guide Movements; and

3.  How ironic it seems now that so many of those lads thought to lack "duty and discipline" proved that they did indeed have those attributes, by "stepping up to the plate" and being sacrificed in the impending Great War, which started the same year that the final(?) version of these Essays was published.

Your comments are invited.  Feel free to add them through the "Contact Us" tab on the left of your screen.  e-mail addresses will NOT be shown.  If you are referring to a particular Essay, make sure you give its Number so that other readers can follow you.

Please notify us of any typographical errors - better still, send us the corrections so that we can just paste them in.

There are 40 Essays here; we suggest you don't try to "swallow" them all at once; probably better to read one, digest it for a day, then read the next. 

Start reading here.

WebSite created 5th April 2012.

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