George Bell, Scoutmaster of Troop 72

I received an e-mail from Don C. Barnett, who had read the 5/12/08 post on George Bell and the Bradley Pioneer.  Don wrote:

“Thanks for your posting about Mr. Bell and the ‘Bradley Pioneer.’  I enjoyed it very much.  It does bring fond memories of George W. Bell.  Mr. Bell was Scoutmaster of Troop 72 for a number of years, when I was a Scout.  One of the places the Scouts would camp was in a wooded area behind his home at Walnut Hill.  I will never forget being around a campfire, before “Taps” and Mr. Bell would recite from memory the poem, ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee,’ by Robert Service.  The hair on the back of your neck would stand up.

I know Mr. Bell helped a number of Scouts to do the right things in life and we all are better persons because of George W. Bell.”

The poem to which Don refers concludes with these lines:

… The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

                            – – Robert Service.