1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

to the dwellings of private individuals, in order, in accordance withthe directions of the owners, to find pocket-books or a bunch of keyslying in the depths of some secret drawer, the position of which hadbeen told them. Each one had his sphere of action given him beforehand,and received his instructions from the Scout-chief, E. Edelstam,the Chief Leader of the boy-scouts in the Stadium, after an applicationfrom the officials for a scout.Then came the boy scouts’ own display in the Stadium on Friday,the 12 July. The first item of the programme was a gymnastic displayby the assembled scouts, under the leadership of Captain B. E. Littorin.The display began with a stately march into the arena of all the scoutsto the tones of a lively quick step played by the Band of the KungsholmBoys’ Club’s Scout Corps. The head of the long column consistedof the foreign contingents, preceded by the standards of theirrespective countries. Then came thousands of Swedish scouts, corpsafter corps, with some 20 banners at their head. The long train oflads, that stretched all the way round the running track of the Stadium,was greeted with loud applause by the spectators.The scouts marched out again through the two tower-gateways in orderto dress for the gymnastic display. After some minutes a sharp signalwas heard and, at the same moment, the scouts rushed into the arenalike one vast billowing wave. With their white shirts and blue collarsand cuffs, they looked like a flight of thousands of swallows, movingforwards in “much-admired disorder”. But the disorder was onlyapparent, for, the next minute, the turf was dotted with 1,000 boys inperfectly parallel straight lines, ready, at the leader’s command, to givean exhibition of the Swedish gymnastics which, to these youths of anewer time, has given the harmonious, beautiful forms of classic physique.The exhibition commenced with a few free exercises followedby a game, after which came marching and movements in the ranks.Then came free jumping and vaulting over each other’s bodies. Theprogramme was concluded with a few simple trunk- and respirationmovements. Everything went beautifully and with the greatest precision,not a single fault being made, and then amid the liveliest applause,they disappeared from the arena as swiftly as they had enteredit.After the gymnastics came a display of some special boy scoutexercises, tug-of-war, relay-racing, etc. Then came a display of “first aid”,the scouts giving an example of the way in which various injuries shouldbe treated, and finally transporting an injured person from the ground ona cycle-ambulance.After the Swedish scouts had been dismissed, the Danish boysmarched in and gave an attractive display, among other things, of akind of staff-play which is very popular in Denmark and goes bythe name of “stokkeslag”. Finally, the Danish boys threw themselveson the grass and began to roll about in all directions, apparentlywithout any plan or order. But the final effect was a very pleasingone and resulted, too, in a beautiful greeting to Sweden, for theDanish boy scouts had rolled into long letters forming the words816