Blame it on the Scouts

‘Blame it on the Scouts’

by
Maxwell Hubert Shaw Holgate
(ex Scout at 3rd Farnworth Grammar School Troop)
31st March, 1939

When on some Monday morning, they find footmarks on the stairs,
Or if the hall seems to have been the home of several bears,
They know just who the culprits are – they haven’t any doubts;
They simply take the shortest cut and blame it on the Scouts.

If chalk is found upon the floor, or ink upon the wall,
Or if a window has been smashed by someone’s errant ball,
Then up comes Mr. Wilson and he threatens us with clouts;
They don’t know who has done it – so they blame it on the Scouts.

If desks are ragged, or if they find some scratches on the door,
They know the fellows did it who were there the night before,
And say, “They do it for the sake of spoiling things, the louts!
Although it’s not a good deed, we can blame it on the Scouts.”

If the chairs down in the basement have been thrown about, you’ll find,
The Monday morning afterwards, the Scouts must stay behind;
Perhaps we have no hand in it, but Mr. Wilson shouts:
“Though I do not like to say it, I must blame it on the Scouts.”

Perhaps we are the guilty ones: we think we are not, but
You can give us all an alibi by buying us a hut.
Though it may cost you fifty quid or something thereabouts,
When you are out of pocket, you’ll be thanked by all the Scouts!