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Title
The Boys' Brigade Southport & District Battalion
Description
A Brigade President, Lord Guthrie, once said: When anybody asked me how they could get an idea of what The Boys' Brigade stood for, I used to say: 'Read our motto, and then go and take a good look at Sir William Smith, our Founder and our Brigade Secretary'.
From the day he started the lst Glasgow, William Smith was Captain of his original Company, on parade, at Bible Class, and at Summer Camp. He gave of his best, and he. expected the best. He could warmly commend a Boy, an Officer, a Company for work well done, but he was not given to lavish praise. Duty was duty, and it was its own reward.
The Founder was very much a man of commonsense. He had little time, for instance, for Boys singing hymns which were ludicrously unreal to them. Lead, kindly Light was a fine hymn, but surely not for the B.B.? How could he associate the Boys as he knew them with ecstatic hailing of angel faces which they had loved long since and lost awhile? 'A Boy who sticks a pin into another Boy gives promise of being a finer man than he who sings demurely, "I want to be an angel".' Nor was Smith happy with zealous Officers who thought of Camp as a special opportunity to work on the Boys' feelings and convert them to a particular brand of religion. Camp was for health and enjoyment. Officers should do their work thoroughly, earnestly and devotedly, and leave the issue in God's hands. He insisted that Officers and Boys should share in all the adventure, weather, sports, hardships and fun of Camp, and that they must be together at meals. 'If a dinner does not turn out a culinary success, Officers should not immediately dine at the nearest hotel.'
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