"Dost thou value life? Then guard well thy time, for time's the stuff life's made of."
- Benjamin Franklin, quoted in the Boy Scout Handbook, 1927

Leaves turning color and a chill in the air remind us summer's over and time moves on. Of course there are plenty of autumn hikes and other exciting Scouting events coming up. Check the calendar for your Cub Scout pack, Boy Scout troop, or Venturing crew and see when you're heading out on the next adventure. To get there on time, check your watch, too.

Watch It!
A back page in the Boy Scout Handbook's first edition encouraged carrying a watch, but left it to each Scout to find his own.

Watches soon became standard items in BSA catalogues. Some pocket watches celebrated special occasions, making them useful timepieces in their day and valuable collectors' items now.

Modern Scout Watches
See www.scoutstuff.org for a couple of terrific modern-day watches. The carabiner on the Cub Scout watch can be clipped to a belt loop. The Eagle Scout watch is perfect for letting the world know you've earned Scouting's highest rank.

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Time for North
Ever used a watch to find directions? On a sunny day, hold a twig upright so it casts a shadow across a watch face from the number 9 to the number 3. Cut in half the angle between the hour hand and the position it would have at 12 o'clock (going counterclockwise), and the resulting line will show you which way is north.

For example, half the angle between 9 and 12 o'clock on the watch (going counterclockwise) is 4½ . Glance out over the point on the watch that is between the 4 and the 5 and you'll be looking north.

(If you have a digital timepiece, draw a watch face on a piece of paper. Include an hour hand matching the current time as shown on your digital clock, then cast a shadow across the drawing of the watch face just as you would across a real watch.)

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Sunwatches
A 1923 letter asked Scouting's wise old woodsman Daniel Carter Beard, "Is it possible to tell time using compass?"

Uncle Dan knew it could be done, but required complicated mathematical adjustments for angles and latitude. "Better," he replied, "to use a watch."

On the other hand, he did promote the sunwatch, a combination sundial and compass.

The sunwatch folded for easy carrying in a pocket or pack. A Scout could hold the brass instrument level in sunshine and use the compass to orient toward north. The shadow cast by the arm of the sundial would show the time.

"I would like to see every Scout have one," Dan Beard wrote, "because he could not use it without gaining useful knowledge of the sun, the variations of the compass and the principles of the sun dial."

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Clocking In
The Scout Stuff clock collection features quality timepieces designed for presentations at Courts of Honor, as thanks to Scouters for their service to the BSA, or proudly displayed in your home. They are ideal as gifts for new Eagle Scouts. See them all at www.scoutstuff.org.

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Calendars
Telling time the BSA way had special meaning for artists Norman Rockwell and Joseph Csatari. Mr. Rockwell painted a new image for a BSA calendar nearly every year, starting in 1925. Mr. Csatari continued the tradition from 1977 forward. The artists presented Scouting at its best on calendars that hung in homes, businesses, and Scout meeting places across America.

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Timely Advice
As the seasons roll past, do you think about how you use the gift of time? Authors of the 1927 Boy Scout Handbook considered time management part of being thrifty. Illustrated with Father Time sifting sand through an hourglass, they gave readers timely advice on the subject.

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(This edition of the Be Prepared Newsletter was developed and written by Robert Birkby, author of the current editions of the Boy Scout Handbook and the Scout Fieldbook.)