This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chivalry
241

and of the pioneers and he must for this reason give himself to ever renewed efforts to be true to the traditions which have been handed down to him by these great and good leaders of men. The boy-scout movement is a call to American boys to-day to become in spirit members of the order of chivalry and a challenge for them to make lives count in the communities in which they live—for clean lives, clean speech, clean sport, clean habits, and clean relationships with others. It is also a challenge for them to stand for the right against the wrong, for truth against falsehood, to help the weak and oppressed, and to love and seek the best things of life.

Abraham Lincoln

Perhaps there is no better example of chivalry than the life and experience of Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all our American men. Every boy ought to read the story of his life and come to understand and appreciate what it means. Lincoln was born in the backwoods of Kentucky. He was a tall, spare man of awkward build, and knew very little of the school room as a boy. He fought for his eduction. He borrowed books wherever he could. Many long nights were spent by him before the flickering lights of the log cabin, gleaning from his borrowed treasures the knowledge he longed to possess. He passed through all the experience of life that other scouts and pioneers have experienced. He split rails for a livelihood, and fought his upward by hard work, finally achieving for himself an education in the law, becoming an advocate in the courts of Illinois. Wherever he went, he made a profound impression on the lives and minds of the people and won over his political opponents by his strength, sympathy,