"A cabled invitation was received yesterday for one hundred American boys of high school age to be honorary guests in one hundred Danish homes for five weeks next summer.... They are to be chosen by Dr. Sven V. Knudsen, director of MY FRIEND ABROAD, the World Directory of Boys of All Nations."

THIS Associated Press notice in hundreds of American newspapers on March 5, 1927, was the first information to the public about a movement which was to develop into the international interchange of hundreds of boys. Before any groups left the United States, farsighted men honored the leader by forming an advisory committee whose excellent advice and effective assistance cannot be overestimated.

DONALD A. ADAMS, Professor, Yale University, Past President Rotary International, New Haven, Connecticut

N. H. BATCHELDER, Headmaster Loomis Institute, Past President Headmasters Association of America, Windsor, Connecticut

CONSTANTIN BRUN, King's Chamberlain, Minister of Denmark to United States, Washington, D.C.

CLAYTON H. ERNST, Editor-in-Chief, President, Open Road Publishing Co., Boston, Massachusetts

FRED F. RUST, President, Rust Craft Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts

SVEN V. KNUDSEN (the Leader), Director, My FRIEND ABROAD, the Directory of Boys of All Nations, Boston, Massachusetts, and Copenhagen, Denmark

The invitation was a continuation of the leader's work in acquainting representative boys of all nations. From his activities in Denmark in connection with international athletics and Government Preparatory Schools and from trips with Danish boys in Europe, he had found out how easily educated boys mingle in spite of national differences. This experience was augmented by his activities for fifteen years in the Boy Scout movement and in 1924 as one of the four directors of the World Jamboree in Copenhagen.

MRS. KNUDSEN	MR. AND MRS. CLAYTON H. ERNST	MR. N. H. BATCHELDER

On a fourteen months' motor camping trip around the world with Mrs. Knudsen in 1921-22, while on a leave of absence granted by the Danish Government that he might study the life of boys of all nations, he convinced himself that even in the remotest parts of the world modern education had broadened the life of many boys so much that they would have few difficulties in establishing mutual intimate relationships if they were given the facilities. On another leave of absence in 1925-28, during which he served for part of the time on the Antioch College faculty, he continued his educational investigations and during that period originated the methods by which closer international contacts were organized.

The response to his efforts from prominent American educators was cordial. On the invitation of a number of members of the Headmasters Association of America he presented to their students a series of four lectures on The Relationships of Boys of All Nations: The Boys of the Orient, The Boys of Europe, How the American Boys Compare, How Boys of All Nations Mingle. These lectures were introduced by Mr. N. H. Batchelder, headmaster of the Loomis Institute, Windsor, Connecticut, and his initiative and leadership were matched by the cooperation of dozens of his colleagues. In other chapters is found the story of the excellent cooperation which was given by The Open Road for Boys magazine, and also of the response of Rotary International and of American parents, who above all were the ones upon whom any action depended. Would all the schools, organizations, and individuals who were theoretically interested cooperate actively if an opportunity were presented to them ?

The invitation from Denmark for one hundred boys in the spring of 1927 offered the opportunity. The advice of a friend of the leader that he start with twenty-five sounds now almost amusing, because the one hundred invitations were accepted almost as soon as they were announced. They were extended to the members of the Headmasters Association, to a few other educators, and to personal friends who were to select two boys each. A limited number who had taken part in the world-wide correspondence conducted in The Open Road for Boys were also included. The following year, when there were three hundred invitations available, the circle of selecting educators was increased, as was the number of Open Road boys, and there were added to the selecting body a limited number of Rotary Clubs, and all the parents of the boys who had been on the trip the previous year. From the very beginning there was merely one requirement made---that only boys should be selected who were able to act as gentlemen under all circumstances. The whole responsibility for the qualifications was placed on the educators, friends, and parents. Only in the case of the Open Road participants did the leader make the selection.

This distribution of responsibility had the expected effect. It is well illustrated by the remark of a headmaster who saw the three hundred boys of the 1928 group. "I have never seen so many fine boys gathered in one place," he said. "How do you do it?" "What about the boys whom you have selected?" was the reply. "Well, of course, I haven't any better in the school." And he was convinced that the other educators were just as particular.; nor was there reason to believe that parents whose boys once had established a reputation for American gentlemanliness abroad would lower the standard. Of course, too much enthusiasm might make them less discriminating, as one mother who suggested a candidate. Immediately her two sons, who had been on a previous trip, exclaimed as if with one voice: "But, mother, he will never do in that group."

A great deal of routine work had to be done in the MY FRIEND ABROAD office in Boston in maintaining communication with hundreds of schools and Rotary Clubs and thousands of individuals. It is gratifying to have had commercial travel experts express their surprise that the details were handled with very little clerical assistance, which was possible because the educators, Rotary Clubs, and parents made their correspondence with the office so pleasant.

The preparations for the trips in the American homes must have been hectic, and no few worries must have been on the minds of mothers who sent their sons away to people of whom they knew nothing. One wonders how often the remark has been made: "And do remember to comb your hair?" or "Please don't forget your table manners"; and how much resistance it has cost six hundred boys to escape all the things which mothers have wanted to put in their grips!

Farewell banquets were not necessary, but experience showed that they were fitting. They were meant to put everyone at ease, as it was expressed in the announcement of the first one: "We shall gather in informal dress, mingle informally, and create the spirit in which the boys will meet their future friends in Denmark." Hardly any of the boys knew one another, coming as they did from all over the United States, nor did their parents know the other parents; so there was a very definite desire on the part of everybody to meet everybody else and find out who was who.

Scores of parents, relatives and boys flocked to the banquets---on one occasion as many as seven hundred people---and it was interesting to notice the relief of individual mothers that there were numerous "fellow victims." And what a treat to try to put them further at ease, to make them feel that there were people across the water who were looking forward to receiving their boys! The first year it seemed rather difficult to predict how the entertainment would turn out, untried as it was; but Mr. Georg Bech, Consul General of Denmark, contributed greatly towards a spirit of confidence by expressing how dear cordial hospitality was to fine Danish people, as did Dr. Norman Cole of Baltimore, Maryland, by describing from his own experience how wonderful Denmark had been to five thousand Boy Scouts of thirty-four nations during the World Jamboree. Mr. Clayton H. Ernst helped, too, by stating his faith in the ability of the boys to represent the United States in the right way, and a short poem by one of the mothers added a little sentimental touch.

Everyone realized that dozens of people were interested in the undertaking when bon voyage letters and telegrams poured in from all corners of the States---from Mr. Chesley Perry, executive secretary of Rotary International; from interested friends, and from headmasters. Dr. Charles S. Ingham of Governor Dummer Academy, Massachusetts , wrote: "My thoughts are with you and the boys as you are about to start on the Great Adventure. While it is all so new that no one knows just what will come out of the trip, I know that it is going to be very exciting at times, interesting always, and a great success in the best sense." The following telegram was received from Mr. Constantin Brun, the Minister of Denmark to the United States: "Please convey the following message to the boys on the eve of your departure on your important mission for international good will and understanding. I send the heartiest greetings and the assurance that the sincerest welcome and affection will be extended to you in Denmark." With such words, prospects for the outcome of the adventure looked brighter, and in 1927 one little banquet incident was particularly stimulating. Unexpectedly a great volume of voices accompanied the playing of the Danish national anthem. It came from a body of American citizens of Danish descent, and their enthusiastic singing was like a friendly call from foreign shores.

At the banquets in following years, definite incidents could be, related, pictures could be shown , and parents whose sons had enjoyed the hospitality experience could tell new parents about it, as when Mr. Louis F. Reed described how much it had meant to him and his two boys. A great privilege was to have present Mr. Adrian H. Onderdonk, headmaster of St. James School, Maryland, and Mr. Samuel F. Holmes of Worcester Academy, Massachusetts, whose own sons were participants, and hear them express implicit confidence in the trips. Equally encouraging it was to have boys who had been on previous trips assure others how much they had ahead of them. Official representatives of the various countries often sent farewell messages, such as came from the Ministers and Consuls of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, and Holland, or they might be present, themselves. Dr. O. C. Kiep, Consul General of Germany, gave one group a cordial send-off, and Mr. Van Velzen of Holland addressed another. No doubt the parents had a changed outlook and were very much more at ease after the banquets and were much better prepare to see their boys off on the pier.

The widespread interest in American Boys Abroad has never been more visible than in the demonstration of number plates, on private motor cars on the pier. One year the leader amused himself by counting plates from sixteen different States, and at certain departures masses of local spectators made the Scandinavian-American pier in Hoboken look as if half of New York were going to leave. Headed by special police on one occasion, twelve big busses departed from the My FRIEND ABROAD headquarters at Hotel Commodore and nobody was left in doubt as to where the passengers were going. Big signs said plainly, "Three hundred boys off for Denmark." Through the Holland tunnel they rumbled to Hoboken, and the sirens of the traffic cops cleared the path for this shipload of American boyhood. Even with smaller parties there would be excitement, particularly the first year when, in addition to the parents and relatives and friends, a special committee representing the Danish-American women of Greater New York was present, with Baroness Alma Dahlerup as its chairman. As the boys walked up the gangplank, the committee presented each of them with a small "Dannebrog," the Danish flag. It was a token of their interest and their hope that the trip to Denmark would make them understand the love which Danes entertain for their native country, although loyal citizens of America.

It happened to be pouring rain when the one hundred boys left New York for the first trip. As a matter of fact, there were one hundred and one boys, because a brother of one of the participants became so excited on the pier that right then and there he got permission to join the group, and he did not have even so much as a toothbrush with him.

A rain storm could not wash away the sentiments of the crowd. The Danish women committee members' clothes were drenched, but not their enthusiasm, and the rain added several drops to the tears which trickled down many a mother's check. Here was her boy setting out on an international adventure. The rest of the world might think that he was a big fellow of seventeen, but after all he was her "little Bill." The boys, of course, felt differently, or at least tried to act differently, and seemed perfectly happy to try anything once, adventure or not.

Were they all on board? Did the leader know? Maybe; but after all he did not care, following his principle that he was willing and prepared to do everything for those who were present and leaving it to the boys to be on the spot. At one departure the boat was well out in the river when suddenly a great commotion was noticed ashore. One of the tugs rushed to the pier, and in a few minutes was alongside the steamer again. Up the rope ladder climbed Carleton Dair, delayed on his train ride but finally aboard.

All aboard, that year and every year, for the adventures of American Boys Abroad!

II

THE ocean crossings might have been what they are to most tourists---a round of eating, sleeping, loafing, playing, and the inevitable talk of seasickness; but this would not have satisfied boys. Ocean or no ocean, they would want to be active.

If there ever have been more active passengers than the American Boys Abroad, we should like to meet them. They kept going for twenty-four hours of the day; and the credit for this goes to Captain Mechlenburg, Captain Schmidt, Captain Voldborg, and above all Captain Peronard, of the Scandinavian-American Line who, on the pioneer trip in 1927, set an example of sympathetic understanding. On the following trips he and the other officers made their liners not only a playground but a small world of nautical adventures. They played every bit of the game with the boys.

A GAME OF SHUFFLEBOARD.	COMING UP OR DOWN?
MASS MEETING ON THE MAIN HATCH.	TAKING IT EASY.

Everybody could enjoy what all tourists enjoy---the porpoises (and call them whales), an occasional iceberg, the fishing smacks, a passing steamer, the changes from fog to a clear sky and from a calm sea to the fury of the waves over the bow. They would get the thrill of a gale in the midst of the splashing spray and take snapshots of everything and mark one film: "Today the steamer was about to sink; the lifeboats were being filled with provisions and fresh water." They would not miss the traditional round of deck sports either--- ping-pong, shuffleboard, deck tennis, potato and wheelbarrow races, treasure hunts, pillow fights, apple-biting contests, hitting the nail, and tugs of war. Nor would they forget a bridge tournament or long contests of chess and checkers, And then there would be games of tag when they would turn the whole steamer into a bedlam. They would play the horse races and, what is worse, induce a law-abiding New England mother to join in the gambling---on a Sunday at that---with the only comfort to her conscience the knowledge that the proceeds went to sailors' widows and that anyhow Sundays at sea were not like Sundays in New England.

Fellow passengers became curious over this notice on the bulletin board:

Groups were scattered everywhere and attendance was voluntary. On the aft deck a dozen or two energetic fellows were going through gymnastic exercises and afterwards shivering under water from a hose directly connected with the cold Atlantic. On another deck, a group of athletes were figuring out plays for football and picking up stray baseballs. From the dining room, wailing notes proved that the jazz band conductor had not yet full control over the "saxes" and clarinets. In the smoking room a boy was giving a talk on "Early American History" before an attentive audience of dozens who wanted to be tested on their subjects for public speaking. In the music room a sometime-to-be-sweet harmony denoted the glee club on the job. On the main hatch a gathering was listening to quaint words called Danish, and in the evening the whole company gathered for a lecture on "A Thousand Years of Danish History," ending up with community singing.

The following days, new schedules would show groups at work at story-writing, recitations, play rehearsals, and boxing bouts, with sailors off duty as spectators. Groups of five, or six in old pants, dirty sweaters, and sneakers would disappear down the pantry stairway, up towards the bridge, or down the engine-room entrance. In every place it said: "Passengers prohibited," but that did not prevent the captains and the chief engineers from giving the boys a chance to see how a liner was managed and even letting them lend a hand in running it.

Here was a gang under the supervision of the boatswain chipping paint and scrubbing decks. The chips came off in showers and the shining deck planks looked as if the boys were paid to work. In the engine rooms the mass of machinery required the care of expert engineers, although tools could be handled easily by fellows who for years had fooled around picking old automobile engines to pieces and putting them together again. The real man-size job below deck was stoking in an atmosphere which reminded one of a certain hot place. However, if the half-naked stokers could work here, who couldn't? And they grabbed the shovels and the rakes and went to it. Talk of heat! Why, when you got in front of the furnaces and opened the lids you felt like a piece of toast; and after a couple of hours you dragged yourself up into fresh air, tried to get rid of several layers of coal dirt, and nursed your blistered hands. Yet the following day you would be on the job again. What will athletes not do to get in trim for the football season and to get a word of praise from a professional stoker!

A group on the bridge would study, under the guidance of the officers, how the course was mapped out in the chart room, how orders were given to the sailor at the wheel, and how the course was kept hour after hour and day after day. Once in a while the steamer left a trail behind like the path of a snake. This invariably meant that a lucky boy had a chance at the wheel and discovered that it was easier to drive a Ford in heavy traffic than to steer a steamer over open waters. A group in the pantry was peeling potatoes, picking chickens, cleaning pots and pans, watching the cooking of five daily meals, and seeing provisions enough to make them sick of the sight of food, not to mention the smell of it. Another group was splicing rope, tying fancy knots, and learning nautical terms with an old sea dog as a tutor.

The favorite spot was the crow's nest, but it seemed also to be the most sacred. In any event, one captain gave them the understanding that it was taboo. But George stepped up to him and said: "Sir, may I go up in the crow's nest?" "No," said the captain, "you know that no boys are allowed up there." "That's what I thought," said George. "So I thought you wanted me to go up and tell Jim to come down!" The poorly hidden smile on the stern face of the captain showed more than anything he could say that he wanted the boys to see all that there was to be seen on the ocean. What an experience to be on the bridge at night, when everything was quiet below and only the motion of the steamer and millions of twinkling stars in the pitch-black sky showed that the world was still alive! The night watches became favorites, particularly the dog-watch, with coffee and cake at three o'clock in the morning. The curiosity of the leader was aroused as to why the pantry job between two and four o'clock A.M. was overbooked, until he found out that those were the hours for baking Danish pastry! If some of the radio amateurs could get on the right side of the radio operators, the whole world would be open to them---as it was to the boy who heard his friend at a short-wave set in Newton, Massachusetts, and received from him a message from his own family who lived across the street.

TOWARDS THE CROW'S NEST.	READY FOR DECK SCRUBBING.
AMATEUR STOKERS WASHING UP.	A TURN AT THE WHEEL.

On steamers where the officers did not feel inclined to go out of their way for the sake of education, the boys would have to be satisfied with sightseeing tours of the liners; but that did not keep a certain boy from doing things on his own, with the result that he scared the life out of the leader. Imagine not to be able to find him anywhere in a gale in the middle of the ocean, and with everybody from captain to bellboy searching for him; then, after two hours, have him pop up and confide that be had been in the crow's nest! Pity the sailor who had secretly led him up there if the captain ever found it out!

Almost every morning there would be outside all staterooms the Transatlantic Breeze, the daily paper written, edited, mimeographed, and published by the boys, with the news, of course, also gathered by them. The gossip reporter would be busy, the sports writer, the lecture reporter; in short, all those who covered the happenings on board were on the job. There would be résumés of the talks by the adult assistants, fellow passengers, and the leader. There would also be stories from the adult companions, who would take over the edition of one of the issues to show their cooperation and their appreciation of the daily pleasure, which the paper afforded all on board. Even on steamers where different classes separated the boys from distinguished passengers, they would hear about the boys and want to become better acquainted with them. General Charles G. Dawes sent for a group of boys and chatted with them in his suite, and from his experiences as former Vice-President and Ambassador to England impressed upon them how they could further their contacts with peoples of all nations. It was a joke later to find reports on the boys' visit with General Dawes in American papers under the headline: "And don't swear, boys!" and that from "Hell and Maria" Dawes! That Max Schmeling, the former world heavyweight champion, wanted to meet the boys is just mentioned by way of contrast.

At all the boys' activities, fellow passengers were welcome---particularly, from the boys' point of view, girls. What a "break" to have a whole bunch of college girls on board going abroad to take a course in modern Danish gymnastics! With them, deck dances would be a sure hit; for with old-fashioned tunes from the ship's orchestra and hot jazz from the boys' hand, an even opportunity was given both for national dances and the familiar college steps. Even without girls, dress parties and stunt nights were successful. In the following program, not one girl took part, for the simple reason that the whole boat was filled with boys but for a few ladies too sedate for stunts.

After merry nights it was like being removed to another atmosphere to attend the Sunday services. Adult cooperation was greatly appreciated on these occasions, and, when a minister among the passengers was induced to lead the service or members of the groups spoke, everyone listened with reverence to their messages. A great deal was added to the spirit when the boys themselves took active part, as Charles Hinds of Dartmouth College led the service and James McAuliffe of Knoxville, Tennessee, High School read the Script Asbury Lee of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, High School gave a message on Clean Athletics; Charles Clisby of Western Reserve, Ohio, Academy, on Clean Speech and Scholarship; and Haldore Hanson of Duluth, Minnesota, High School, on Clean Habits. On other occasions Parker Hart of Dartmouth College, Kenneth Bell of Boston University, and Charles Kelley of Plymouth, New Hampshire, High School were in charge.

To an outsider the whole boat life might look like a mixture of school, camp, work, and hotel life---this last feature particularly when they flocked to the dining room and tried to do justice to the five daily meals. It might have looked like a camp save for the immaculate appearance presented at such times, in deference to trans-Atlantic formality. At the farewell dinner they even put on gala dress, not only for the sake of general festivity, but also in honor of the captain. It was a memorable moment when one of the boys, on behalf of the whole group, presented Captain Peronard with a small silk flag---a small thing, to be sure, but accepted in appreciation of their sincere gratitude for the wonderful opportunities he had given them on board.

The captain had learned to know them intimately and to like them---so truly American, always at ease in their gentlemanliness. It had not prevented him from pretending that they needed a little added discipline, and he looked for opportunities to teach them from his sixty years of experience, although the boys had already noticed that he had a way of looking younger than his age. So one day he suddenly appeared in the doorway of the smoking room, where two dozen boys were spread all over tables and easy chairs, legs both up and down---mostly up---in true collegiate style. "Don't you know that you should rise when an elderly person enters the room?" It came with firm authority from his most official face. Here he had them in a jam, he thought, and obviously enjoyed the few moments' embarrassment until a very polite voice from a corner broke the silence: "Yes, sir; but we never took you for a day over thirty."

After ten days on board the whole body, whether twenty-five, sixty, a hundred, or three hundred, would be a closely united group in spite of the fact that they had come from all over the United States and were as different as the various sections of the country which they represented. Boys from the North had come to know Middle Westerners; boys from the Far West had become acquainted with Easterners, and to their surprise found them not very different from themselves. As a boy from Texas said: "This is a fine bunch. I had expected the fellows way East in St. Louis to be very effeminate and that boys on the Atlantic coast would be almost like Europeans!" The real Southern boys felt fine, too. They even dropped the small d---- from Yankee, and not just from Southern politeness, either. Ten days together had made them overlook sectionalism and sense the meaning of "these United States."

The whole large group was acquainted, one with the other, but within it smaller groups were friends. The first day out the leader had set forth his point of view as to how the party could be sub divided for convenience. Within two hours the boys had organized, not only in teams for all their activities, but also in "social teams"---three or four or six or eight in each, as many as were congenial. Each team had elected a captain and decided upon its own code of living, all of it entirely voluntary, and with the understanding that nobody was required to do anything unless it were done spontaneously and of his own accord. The effect of this on board, as well as abroad, was remarkable. To begin with, the boys could hardly believe that the leader was in earnest. On one of the return trips, half-a-dozen of the older ones said to him: "You fooled us, Doc! We never believed for a minute that you would stick to your line of talk of letting us decide upon our own behavior; but you haven't butted in once." He actually had "butted in" once, however, when he asked them to be lenient with a boy to whom they had given an ice-cold shower and were on the point of shaving all over the head because he had made them furious by bad behavior.

Of course, no leader could have carried this through, even with excellent boys, without having the assistance of excellent co-leaders. It was the leader's extremely good fortune on the first two trips to have the close cooperation of Mr. Clayton H. Ernst, the president and editor of the Open Road for Boys magazine. The boys' respect for his varied talents and their faith in his personality insured them of perfect guidance under all circumstances. He was the American corner stone in the whole undertaking.

The other assistants added to the unity of the life on board and afterwards abroad. The foreign-born men---Mr. Ingolf Bockman, Norwegian ; Mr. Folke Olander, Swedish; Mr. Vilhelm Bjerregaard, Mr. Jørgen Christiansen, Mr. Kai Hendriksen, Mr. Svend Høst, Mr. Svend Lundgreen, all Danish ---each had a little native information of special significance. The Americans, aside from Mr. Ernst---Captain DeWitt K. Botts, music; Mr. Fremont Loeffel, athletics; Mr. H. V. Kaltenborn, writing and speaking; Mr. Theodore Mayhew, teaching; Mr. Aiden Ripley, art; and Mr. Earle Whittington, Y. M. C. A.---contributed their specialties; and all alike, whether foreign-born or American, offered what counted the most---the pattern of gentlemanliness. This held true just as much of the fathers and other gentlemen who accompanied the groups as visitors; and the influence of the mothers and other visiting women created an atmosphere of refinement.

To this can be added the spirit of the office staff, both men and women: Miss Agnes Baron; Miss Leonor Field, nurse; Miss Edna MacDonough; Miss Harriet Pearce; Miss Mary Ruth Schantz; Miss Henrietta Schmitt; Mr. Fredo Aylé, French, and Mr. Halfdan Nyboe and Mr. Vilhelm Reker, Danish. Without their good work the machinery of the undertaking would not have run so smoothly.

Just two things had to be taken care of before going ashore for good. One was the packing, and the other a lecture on a very bad and contagious American "disease." After packing, enough forgotten articles were found to equip a flock of destitute children, if these children were willing to wear unmatched shoes, dirty shirts, a gray waistcoat with a brown coat, and five dozen other unmatched pieces of clothing. The lecture left the audience pale with fear that they might be locked up abroad, because that is done to those in Europe who suffer from what can, out of kindness, be called a disease, commonly known as "souvenir hunting." Abroad this is called theft, and the only treatment for it there is to be put in jail. Fortunately, only a few symptoms cropped out and no special treatment was necessary.

All hands were eager to go ashore. On the eighth day they passed the shores of Scotland, with blue heather and white sand proving that the first glimpse of the Old World was not so bad; and when in another day's time they steamed up a Norwegian fjord, with its woody, rocky banks rising from the deep blue water, they felt that the Old World looked very good indeed. Their enjoyment increased when they roamed for a couple of hours in Oslo, Norway, before they continued to Denmark, the first country where all groups except two were going to enjoy the main feature of their trip---the hospitality in private homes.

MISSOURI. MISSOURI. CALIFORNIA. DELAWARE. OHIO. MISSOURI.

Chapter Three
Table of Contents