THOUGHTFUL ITEMS FOR SCOUTERS

Thanks to Scouter Jim, who prepares this section of Baloo for us each month.  You can reach him at bobwhitejonz@juno.com or through the link to write Baloo on www.usscouts.org.   CD

Roundtable Prayer
CS Roundtable Planning Guide

Today and every day, we thank Thee for the freedom we have.  Amen.

By the Rocket’s Red Glare
Scouter Jim

Most of us have stood at attention while the Star Spangled Banner was played or sung.  Do we remember where it came from and the long journey it took to become our national anthem.

On Sept. 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key peered through clearing smoke toward Fort McHenry to see an enormous flag flying proudly after a 25-hour British bombardment of the fort. Key was inspired to write a poem, which was later set to music.  Mr. Key had found himself a captive of the British Navy after securing the release of his friend of Dr. William Beanes.  Dr, Beanes had been captured after he had arrested two drunken British sailors.  During the War of 1812, the British Forces would burn important government records in captured towns.  As a public official, Dr. Beanes was responsible to protect the records of the State of Maryland.

During his detainment, Francis Scot Key stood watch through the night from the deck of a British ship anchored about eight miles below Fort McHenry during its bombardment.

It was from this site that "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" finally gave him "proof through the night" that the flag was indeed "still there," flying high and victorious, over the fort.

During the night, the British had fired nearly 1,800 bombs, rockets and shells at the Fort, with about 400 landing inside. As the day's early light dawned, Key penned his feelings of thrill and relief on the back of an envelope.

As the British fleet withdrew, Key and his companions were sent ashore to Baltimore.

The next day, in a hotel, he made a good copy of his poem and showed it to some of his wife's Baltimore relatives. They immediately had it printed and distributed throughout the city on a handbill entitled "The Defense of Fort McHenry."

A couple of weeks later, it was published in Baltimore newspapers, and under the name, "The Star-Spangled Banner," gained enthusiastic popularity. An actor-singer then sang it, using the English tune to which Key had matched its meter, at a public performance.

During the Civil War, with Union and Confederate forces rallying to its strains, Key's creation became nationally popular. However, it took several more decades, another war and the Great Depression for it to be named the official anthem of the United States. President Herbert Hoover signed the Congressional bill proposing that it be so into law on March 3, 1931.

When we look at the banner of our nation and sing our National Anthem, let us remember those brave defenders of Fort McHenry and the millions of Americans that have given their all for the freedoms we enjoy.  Thank you Baltimore and the soldiers of Fort McHenry.   Thank you Francis Scott Key for your loyalty, bravery and talent. Thank You American for the sacrifice you have given; of your husbands and wives; fathers and mothers; sons and daughters; and for your  brothers and sisters.  Let Freedom Ring!

It’s Just a Piece of Cloth
Santa Clara County Council

It's just a piece of cloth, that's all it is
Just a piece of cloth.
But when a little breeze comes along, it stirs and comes to life
And flutters and snaps in the wind, all red and white and blue....
Then you realize that no other piece of cloth could be like it.
It has your whole life wrapped up in it...
The meals you eat, the time you spend with your family,
The kind of things boys and girls learn at school,
The strange and wonderful thoughts you get in church. Those stars on it...
They make you feel just as free as the stars in the wide, wide, deep night.
And the stripes....they are the bars of blood
To any dictator who would try to change this way of life.
Just a piece of cloth, that's all it is
Until you put your soul into it and give it meaning;
Then it is the symbol of liberty and decency and fair dealing for everyone.
It is just a piece of cloth
Until we breathe life into it.
Until we make it stand for everything we believe in
And refuse to live without it.