The Scout Museum gathers together all that relates to scouting, badges displayed in the form of tables, exhibitions of documents and models dressed in uniforms.(All the publications and books relating to scouting arepresented in the library) .
Thus, in a corner of the museum father Alger’s cub leader keeps a small sick wolf cub, who is lying on Berck Sanitorium stretcher, company : This is the splendid adventure of “extension scouting” , which we like àto remember : scouting within the reachof those bedridden through illness.
On the walls, portraits of Baden-Powell, Father Sevin, Canon Cornette, César Geoffray, founder of “Joyous Heart choral societies” , old engravings representing the heroic beginnings of the “wolf cub branch” , posters announcing scout festivals frombefore the war of 1940.
At first sight, it is the uniform which expresses the spirit of scouting. À uniform with a thousand alternatives, according to whereit is worn, but which always testifies the sameclearness, the same soberness, the same purity.
Whether it is a beige scout shirt, a blue marine scout shirt, or a grey or green Ranger shirt, the colour is always chosen to blend easily amongst the colours of nature : the scout is a gentleman of the woods who respects nature enough not to parade around the forest wearing flamboyant fashionable “fluorescent colours” . Open collar, he likes to feel the force of the wind, sleeves rolled up, there is always work to be done, a service to be given or a challenge to be tried!
Short lightweight trousers for hot countries, solid velvet for the more rigorous climates, or leather breeches, (that is a privilege…) always short because one does notcatch cold through one’s knees. And a pair of shorts dries more quickly in the rain than town trousers do. The uniform is simple, it is designed in the first place for walking, for work or for play. But the scout is a knight and, nobility obliges, for special occasions, his uniform becomes a ceremonial uniform : whether in natural surroundings or in the court of the castle, the cathedral choir or at the top of the glacier, white socks and gloves underline the uniform’s clear-cutness and the solemnity of the occasion.
Among the badges, the Fleur de Lys, chosen by Baden-Powell himself, is found the most frequently and exists almost everywhere, and then comes the L-shaped Cross the one which Father Sevin gave to the Scouts de France movement. Because “our spirit is a spirit of crusade, if not we don’t exist” But in each country, scouting has adopted andhonored old emblems, giving tomorrow’s youngsters pride in their origins. In our showcases, the French badgesof the Sacred Heart are exhibited next to the Templar’s cross of the Scouts of Portugal, The Polish Eagle The Cedar of the scouts of Lebanon who came to visit Riaumont.
The neckerchieves of dozens of friendly troops decorate the perimeterof the room, celebrating the brotherhood of scouting.
In a large central showcase, around a reproduction of the 1947 Peace Jamboree flag, the Laotien Scout flag can be seen. Various foreign scout uniforms, amongst them the a Belgian wolf cub den mother’s hat from before the war, a scout shirt from Canada, a BSA (Boy Scout of America) wolf cub shirt, the other part of the showcase isdevoted to the Scouts de France movement in Father Revet’s time. In thecenter Father Revet’s decorated tent, as well as a shirt from the 1st Lens company and a Clan leaders pennant (1st Algiers company) .
The shirt which Paul Coze wore during the 1929 Jamboree, showing an impressive quantity of badges, is one of the most beautiful parts of the museum.
Opposite a series of showcases contains documents : The 1925 scout cards that belonged to Father Duverne of Fontgombault Abbey, the writings of the military authorities authorizing Father Duverne (O. S. B) to wear his scout uniform for outings. Letters signed by Monseigneur Rupp, Father Doncœur a Cham certificate signed by Father Sevin given to the Reverend Father Rupp. Signed badges for Charles Sacchi (one of the firstLeon Chancerel Rangers), two metal high mountain awards (SdF). Scouts de France metal badges from before the war, calendars from the war years, white Russian Scout metal badges. À small displaycase about the 1947 Jamboree exhibits the metal Jamboree badges representing a head of an Indian smoking the Pipe of Peace.
Our scout museum does not want to be a simplecemetery of old memories. The glorious hours of scouting must bepresent in the spirit of the scouts of today and tomorrow. Two troop standards, the standard of Combreux, and thatof the Baudoin IV Jerusalem troop are also kept by the scouts of Riaumont, to whom they have been entrusted by old members of thesedissolved units while waiting for the day when they will be reformed.
