Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/266

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Chivalry
245

"I have made it a rule never to be with a person ten minutes without trying to make him happier." A boy once said to his mother, "I couldn't make little sister happy, nohow I could fix it, but I made myself happy trying to make her happy."

There was once a king who had a tall, handsome son whom he loved with his whole heart, so he gave him everything that his heart desired—a pony to ride, beautiful rooms to live in, picture books, stories, and everything that money could buy. And yet, in spite of this, the young prince was unhappy and wore a wry face and a frown wherever he went, and was always wishing for something he did not have. By and by, a magician came to the court, and seeing a frown on the prince's face, said to the king, "I can make your boy happy and turn his frown into a smile,
Cheer up
but you must pay me a very large price for the secret." "All right," said the king, "whatever you ask, I will do." So the magician took the boy into a private room, and with white liquid wrote something on a piece of paper; then he gave the boy a candle and told him to warm the paper and read what was written. The prince did as he was told. The white letters turned into letters of blue, and he read these words; "Do a kindness to some one every day." So the prince followed the magician's advice and became the happiest boy in all the king's realm.

To be a good scout one must remain cheerful under every circumstance, bearing both fortune and misfortune with a smile.

Character

If a scout is cheerful, follows the advice of the magician to the king's son, and does a good turn to some one every day, he will come into possession of a strong character such as the knights of the Round Table had; for, after all, character is the thing that distinguishes a good scout from a bad one. Character is not what men say about you. A great writer