Patrol Leader and Second

Here is the Patrol, consisting of six, seven, or eight boys. As it is to be a unit for purposes of work, games, discipline, camp, and good turns, it is essential that a capable Scout should be appointed to the position of leadership. By capable it is not meant that he must be clever. It is meant that he should be able to lead. Qualities of leadership are partly natural and partly acquired. The natural qualities are important, for however excellent a boy may be, he cannot hope to be really successful as a leader unless he possesses something of that peculiar quality - that personal magnetism - which draws his fellows both in work and in play. The acquired qualities can be rapidly developed by the ordinary Scout training under the Patrol System.
If a boy is to be appointed Patrol Leader it is important that his age should not be against him. This does not signify that a boy of twelve cannot be just as successful as a leader as a boy of sixteen eighteen, but it means that a boy, unless quite exceptional, is unable to lead other boys older than himself. Young boys follow an older one even if he is stupid. Old boys do not follow a younger one, even if he is clever. In this respect muscles usually have a more cogent influence than brains. Boys have a respect for biceps without being interested in phrenology,
Even granting that the prospective Leader possesses the natural qualification in full measure, and granting, too, that he is likely to get the acquired qualifications in a short time, yet the work of patrol leadership is so important that it is too much for any boy to be expected to do by himself. A Patrol Second is therefore appointed to help him.
The Second is a boy selected by the Patrol Leader to be his assistant and to take command of the Patrol when he himself is away. It is essential to the successful organization of the Patrol that the Leader and Second should be on terms of intimate co-operation. It is for this reason that a Scoutmaster who chooses the Patrol Seconds without consultation with the Leaders is making an initial mistake, which it may be impossible afterwards to rectify. A Scoutmaster will certainly talk over with his Leader the question of who the Second is to be, but unless he can convince his Leader by argument, he must not use his powers as a Senior Officer to appoint a Second against the Leader's wishes. The Chief is in favor of leaving the selection of the Second practically entirely in the hands of the Patrol Leader, and of letting him make his own mistakes if he wants to.