THE FAMILY Baden-Powell had certain advantages in birth.

We will not violently uproot the family tree, nor will we go trudging over the broad acres of early progenitors.

I refer to the fact that his father was a clergyman.

To be a parson's son is the natural beginning of an adventurous career; and, if we owe no greater debt to the Church of our fathers, there is always this argument in favour of the Establishment, that most of the men who have done something for our Empire have first opened eyes on this planet in some sleepy old rectory where roses bloom and rooks are blown about the sky.
[Illustration: Professor Baden Powell.
From a Painting by Hartmann.] Mr.Baden-Powell, the father of our hero, was a man of great powers.
He was a renowned professor at Oxford, celebrated for his attainments in theology and in physical science.

But the peace-loving man of letters died ere his boys had grown to youth, and, alas, the memory of him is blurred and indistinct in their minds.