2023-07 The Story of a Good Turn

How good must a Good Turn be to be GOOD? The answer is best given by telling you the story of how Scouting came to America. It shows that it isn't the size of the Good Turn that counts. It's the doing of it, whether large or small.

A GOOD TURN TO AN AMERICAN.

One day in the year 1909 the great city of London was in the grip of a dense fog. An American businessman, William D. Boyce, stopped under a street lamp to locate himself. Out of the gloom a boy approached him and asked if he could be of help.

"You certainly can," said Boyce. He told the boy that he wanted to find a certain business office in the center of the city.
'I'll take you there," said the boy.
When they got to the destination, the American reached into his pocket for a tip. But the boy stopped him.
"No thank you, sir. I am a Scout. I can't take anything for helping."
"A Scout? And what might that be?" asked Boyce.
And so the boy told the American about himself and his brother Scouts. Boyce became very interested. After finishing his errand, he had the boy take him to the British Scout office.
There the boy disappeared.

At the office Boyce met Baden-Powell, the famous British general who had founded the Scouting movement. Boyce was so impressed with what he learned that he decided to bring Scouting home with him.

And so, on February 8, 1910, in Washington, D.C., Boyce and a group of outstanding men founded the Boy Scouts of America. Ever since then this day has been known as the birthday of Scouting in the United States.

What happened to the boy? No one knows. He was never heard of again, but he will never be forgotten. In the British
Scout Training Center at Gilwell Park, England, a statue of a buffalo was put up in honor of this "Unknown Scout." His Good Turn had brought the Scouting movement to our country.

One Good Turn to one man became a Good Turn to millions of American boys. Such is the power of a Good Turn. You never can tell...