Dan wondered how it would feel NOT to like birds or animals or any wild creatures. Just the thought made him shiver. Quickly he reached down to stroke Calico, who was purring against his ankles.

"It would be a MIGHTY lonesome world with only people", he said.

On their first camping trip Dan Beard and his friends decided to live in the out-of-doors the same way America's famous frontier scouts had lived. They called themselves the "Boone Scouts" in honor of Daniel Boone. At first they were very poor Boone Scouts. Their bed rolls fell apart while they were hiking; they forgot to make camp before sundown; and no one could strike a fire. After several days in the woods, however, the boys were able to do all these things and, what is most important, their love of the out-of-doors was stronger than it had ever been before.

This was especially true of young Dan. He read about man's senseless destruction of America's forests and wildlife and he made a promise to himself—a promise to spend the rest of his life doing whatever he could to "help the birds and animals". It was during the time that he attended art school in New York City that Dan Beard realized just how important it was for him to keep his promise. How could the thousands of young people who had never seen woods alive with trees and flowers ever care enough to want to save our country's natural beauty?

Here is a heartwarming biography of one man who devoted his life to two loves—love for the out-of-doors and love for young people—and who became the founder of the Boy Scouts of America.

From the book