…is that it gradually induces honorable behavior, even if it takes the better part of a lifetime.
Thus it did not surprise me when Mr. Boy returned from his latest camping trip—to a beautiful, watered ranch in the hills near Driftwood—and his stint as patrol grubmaster, with a bunch of squishy, black bananas, two of the four apples he took, and an unopened bag of baby carrots.
Gone were the hamburgers, hot dogs, and pancake mix. And, curiously, the two cucumbers. And, of course, the two boxes of Pop Tarts, the whole squeeze bottle of grape jelly and the other bottle of maple syrup. Strange that the peanut butter had not been opened, nor the loaf of sliced bread unwrapped.
The bananas, carrots, apples and cucumbers were cynically included in the menu by the grubmaster to meet a nutrition requirement for his Second Class badge. So it’s no surprise that most of it came back, uneaten. I do wonder about those cucumbers, though.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Ha! Clearly you just don’t remember your childhood days. Cucumbers are not squishy, they are not useful to a human body in any way, they taste good when salted enough, easy to handle. Typical boy food, in short.
Oh, and unlike carrots and apples, cucumbers don’t require a lot of chewing effort.
I certainly don’t remember eating cucumbers as a child, and definitely not on a campsite in the mountains or the woods. I’m afraid that’s one thing that doesn’t translate from east to west. Maybe you’re thinking of vegetarians? Not too many of those around in the 1950s.
Sounds familiar. Very reminiscent of my Boy Scout days and also my more recent experiences as a Civil War re-enactcor.
(Most historical re-enactors are former boy scouts who still have the scouting urge.)
Hmm. You don’t mean you ate cucumbers as a boy scout, now, do you? I find that hard to believe. Reenactors, now, they could all stand to go on diets, and cucumbers would be a good start for them.