DESROSIERS, Léo-Paul

Turenne suit de vieux sentiers à peine indiqués qui serpentent sous bois, dévalent dans des ravins, franchissent des ruisseaux et des lacs qui ne sont plus, dans le paysage, que de grandes clairières. Le soir vient: l'homme s'arrête, creuse un large trou avec ses raquettes et les suspend ensuite à un arbre. Il allume un grand feu et il mange. Bientôt, il s'allonge sur le lit de branches de sapin, au fond du trou, entre les grosses couvertures; l'air pur passe entre ses lèvres, froid comme de l'eau, des étoiles brillent là-haut dans le firmament bleu noir. Et partout s'étend un silence complet, un silence de planète saisie par le froid, gelée jusqu'en son centre, toute vie détruite. (158)

LEWIN, Herbert S.

p. 169 :

The paragon of the successful, self-reliant, courageous, and self-made man is a traditional American ideal. It is quite certainly the educational ideal of the Boy Scouts of America. But the virtues, which were of vital importance in the frontier period, have lost much of their meaning in a world in which the opportunities for individual achievement and initiative are clearly limited by an economic and social structure, which in spite of fluctuations is pretty well-organized and patterned. Today most youngsters are forced to work under conditions that demand a mechanical and standardized performance rather than individual resourcefulness. Nor is in this society as much opportunity left as heretofore to realize the adventurous and enterprising spirit so often advocated in the Scout literature. Individual achievement in our society is usually based on competition. It does not mean the type of territorial or economic expansion as in the days of unlimited frontier opportunities, rather it means an unrelenting weeding-out of the rival.

("The Way of the Boy Scouts" dans Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Nov., 1947))

SEGAL, Eric J.

p. 639 :

Having recognized the need to manage adolescence, and bolstered by a tenable theoretical framework, boys’ workers found further incentive for their mission in the nationalistic rhetoric of expansionism that followed the closing of the American frontier. F. J. Turner's 1893 address, « The Significance of the Frontier in American History, » held that the unique national character of the American people was the product of their evolution in confronting the ever-present, though now bygone, frontier. In its place the city increasingly defined American social life at some peril to values established in the conquest of the frontier. Echoing sentiments of the frontier thesis – its nostalgic acknowledgment of the passing of the untamed West and the consequent need for new kinds of frontiers to secure manliness – Daniel Carter Beard, an early BSA leader, argued :

« The Wilderness is gone, the Buckskin Man is gone, the painted Indian has hit the trail over the Great Divide, the hardships and privations of pioneer life which did so much to develop sterling manhood are now but a legend in history, and we must depend upon the Boy Scout Movement to produce the MEN of the future. »

The Boy Scout movement, then, aimed to counteract the debilitating influences of women, the city, and modern life, taken to be the antithesis of the uniquely American experience of the frontier.

("Norman Rockwell and the Fashioning of American Masculinity" dans The Art Bulletin, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Dec., 1996))

SEGAL, Eric J.

p. 638 :

Other observers characterized city life itself as an enervating influence and a threat to masculinity. One commentator wrote in 1902 that urban parents « are frequently pained to find that their children have less power and less vitality to endure the rough side of life than they have themselves. […] Families who live in the city without marrying country stock for two or three generations […] later are unable to rear strong families. » New working patterns for urban industries drew middle-class men from the home, subjected them to enfeebling work environments, and interrupted traditions of father-son apprenticeships through the intervention of corporations. Medical discourse, too, substantiated fears of modern urban life, identifying neurasthenia as an affliction affecting both men and women of « the in-door-living and brain-working classes. » In boys the disorder was treated with outdoor physical exercise.

To counter the influence of these perceived social developments, a variety of groups sought to shape the character of the nation’s youth, through the general rubric of boys' work. Boys' works organizations in American cities and towns included the popular Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), founded in 1851 to ease the transition of young men arriving for the first time in large cities, and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), formed in 1910. Concerned adults – by profession « boys’ workers » – in urban, rural, and farming communities formed extrascholastic organizations to benefit and manage boys from various classes. Character building, a narrower term than boys’ work, focused specific attention on preparing white, middle-class boys to become responsible men. Through extrascholastic activity designed to discipline youths, character-building groups sought to instill in middle-class boys in particular probity, rectitude, and robust physical health.

("Norman Rockwell and the Fashioning of American Masculinity" dans The Art Bulletin, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Dec., 1996))