The best-inspired and most fruitful of all movements for the uplifting of the children of the people which belongs to this period was that of the Boy Scouts. It was entirely independent of State or official encouragement, and sprang from the ingenious brain of one man, General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, and _Punch_, as an Individualist, was not inclined to think worse of it on that account. As a matter of fact, he greeted the Boy Scouts with the utmost cordiality from the very outset. In 1909 his cartoon on "Our Youngest Line of Defence" shows the Boy Scout reassuring Mrs. Britannia: "Fear not, Grandma; no danger can befall you now. Remember _I_ am with you." Later on in 1911 came the delightful cartoon of the Boy Scouts capturing Windsor Castle, and, on the very eve of the war, in _Punch's_ Holiday Pages we encounter the late Mr. F. H. Townsend's admirable picture of our "dear old friend the foreign spy (cunningly disguised as a golfer) visiting our youngest suburb on a Saturday afternoon in quest of further evidence of our lethargy, general decadence and falling birth-rate." As a result of observing the activity and numbers of the Boy Scouts, he gets a serious shock, and at once telegraphs to his Commander-in-Chief "urging that the conquest of the British Isles be undertaken before the present generation is many years older." This oblique and imaginative tribute was happily conceived and well deserved. The spirit of the Boy Scout movement was at least a contributory factor in helping us to win the War. What was even more important was the conversion of a great many Pacificists from their mistrust of the alleged "militarism" of the movement, and their recognition of its essential value as an instrument in fostering self-respect, truthfulness, altruistic kindliness and cleanliness of mind and body. [Illustration: OUR DEAR OLD FRIEND THE FOREIGN SPY] [Sidenote: _Strikes and Unemployment_] This record--and it is by no means exhaustive--of _Punch's_ humanitarian activities must not blind us to the fact that throughout these years the principal object of his sympathy and compassion was not the working man but the middle-class tax-and rate-payer. In 1893 _Punch_ depicts him bound to a post and in danger of being drowned by the rising tide of rates--L.C.C., Asylums, Libraries, Baths, Vestries. _Punch_, as we have seen, did not acquit the coal owners and coal merchants of rapacity, but he was not any more sympathetic to the miners--witness the following dialogue printed in the same year:-- THE STRIKER'S VADE MECUM _Question._ You think it is a good thing to strike? _Answer._ Yes, when there is no other remedy. _Q._ Is there ever any other remedy? _A._ Never. At least, so say the secretaries. _Q._ Then you stand by the opinions of the officials? _A._ Why, of course; because they are paid to give them. _Q._ But have not the employers any interests? _A._ Lots, but they are not worthy the working man's consideration.