A Cub Scout follows Akela
There are things I never understood.Long, long ago, back when our President was a bald guy who everyone liked, or so the buttons said, I was a Cub Scout. America was different back then and us little toddlers in blue were given knives (two one for the pocket, one for the belt in a sheath) and hatchets to hack firewood with.
No, I never even heard of one of us hurting anyone with those. Who would do that? The knives were for whittling and cutting rope, not much more.
Alas just before I turned 11 and had to leave my Cub Scout pack and join the Boy Scouts I lost my Official Cub Scout Pocket Knife. Not really my fault I think. There was a little brass fitting on my belt the knive's loop hooked on. One day I discovered at the end of the day that sometime during the day the brass fitting had fallen off the the belt. I was devastated and visited every place I had been but never found it.
My parents did not share my concern as next week I was getting my Boy Scout uniforms and of course I would get a new official Boy Scout knife. Two and a new hatchet too. And even an actual ax. Cool.
I can't tell you how unhappy I was to learn the Boy Scout pocket knife was inferior to the Cub Scout knife. You see the Cub Scout Knife had a blade lock to keep the blade from closing on your fingers. The Boy Scout knife didn't. It was less than a week before the Boy Scout knife closed on my fingers during a routine slicing of something or other. Drip, drip, drip went my bloody finger. Some Boy Scouts still had their superior Cub Scout knives, but Local BSA Council policy was Boy Scouts may not use Cub Scout equipment. I even raided my piggy bank and went to Bobkopffs (the official store for buying scout equipment) and after the 3rd time the knife closed on my fingers tried to buy a Cub Scout knife. The man looked at my Scout ID Card and refused to sell me a piece of Cub Scout equipment. The only thing he was willing to sell me was another dumb Boy Scout jackknife. Not interested. Instead I went to a cigar store and bought a cheap Black Cat K-55 knife from Germany. A cheap stamped knife probably better for fighting as many were used for that, BUT it had a blade that locked. AND because it was not Cub Scout equipment it was okay to carry a K-55. Weird rational that. In the next decade I went through a dozen K-55 knives. Riveted, their rivets kept popping out if you tried to pry anything open with them or use the blade as a screw driver. Whatever. I could buy 4 K-55s for the price of one Boy Scout jackknife, and it did not slice my fingers. The blades would bend (being pot metal), but they didn't slam closed on my fingers and that was important.
Anyway, half a century later, guess what I found online? YES!!! At last, a 'new in box' Cub Scout Jackknife just like the one I lost so long, long ago.
Happy I am to put it away in my box of things from my childhood.
Comments (6)
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That cub knife is pretty cool!
As a kid , a lot of young boys carried little pocket knives, no one got stabbed, or threatened. The knives were for camping, fishing, hunting, and odd jobs. Nowadays, knives aren t as prevalent , the talk of knives in schools here are dealt with harshly . Times have changed.
As for the knife in your pic, I have a similar one ,around the house here somewhere, once found , it will be cherished so much more,
Thanks Bud, You have a Great Day,
No-one ever trusted me with a knife.
Now this week a court has opined that a school was well within it's rights to suspend from school a second grader. His crime? Eating a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun (an L) and pointing it at another student.
It is a felony crime today in the US to bring a gun onto a school property, but I remember in Junior High I remember the seniors kids showing up with their hunting rifles and shotguns during deer hunting season and not taking the bus home so they could deer hunt while walking home. 5 or 6 of them with rifles and ammo in the coat closet in back of the class. In HS (same one Donald T went to) we had issued 03s with bayonets we kept in our rooms and riflery practice after class had higher favor than football practice. No one misused anything. Our former HS Superintendent just passed this week. Great man Mr. Dobias was. Dropped out of the school during WW2 to go fight early in 42. Did a complete tour with the Big Red One. Saw the elephant and punched the elephant silly too. After Discharge at the end of the War the school urged him to come back and get his HS degree and he did. Then he went to college, then came back to the school as an advisor, teacher and later Superintendent. R.i.p Major D. You have earned it and I salute you and all of the many like you.
Causes of woes today are complex and varied. But gee, sometimes I miss the old days. This cub scout knife is not the one I lost of course. But it is close enough (identical really) so it makes no difference. Just holding it brings back memories of my little yellow cub scout scarf with the sliding clasp, my little blue * yellow Cub Scout cap, my first day camps, rides at Freedomland, Den mothers and long, long lost friends of yore, the junk man with his horse drawn cart and the ice man bringing the neighbors big blocks of ice he carried with tongs.
Ah, these days I carry a locking Leatherman. More useful with the pliers. But the CS knife was a classic and a good jackknife too.