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SCOUTING for GIRLS
[Illustration]
THIS BOOK BELONGS TO
___________________________________________________________
MEMBER OF
_____________________________________________________ Troop
MY SCOUT RECORD
Registration Date and Place _______________________________
Passed Tenderfoot Test ____________________________________
Passed Second Class Test __________________________________
Passed ____________________________________________________
SCOUTING _for_ GIRLS
[Illustration]
[Illustration: MAGDELAINE DE VERCHÈRES
The First Girl Scout in the New World. From Statue erected by Lord Grey,
near the site of Fort Verchères on the St. Lawrence.]
SCOUTING _for_ GIRLS
_OFFICIAL HANDBOOK_
OF THE
GIRL SCOUTS
[Illustration]
SIXTH REPRINT
1925
PUBLISHED BY THE GIRL SCOUTS, INC.
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
670 LEXINGTON AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y.
_Copyright 1920 by Girl Scouts, Inc._
_All Rights Reserved._
PRINTED IN NEW YORK CITY
_To_
JULIETTE LOW
THEIR FOUNDER
in grateful acknowledgment of all that
she has done for them, the American
Girl Scouts dedicate this Handbook
FOREWORD
_How Scouting Began_
_"How did Scouting come to be used by girls?" That is what I have been
asked. Well, it was this way. In the beginning I had used Scouting--that
is, wood craft, handiness, and cheery helpfulness--as a means for
training young soldiers when they first joined the army, to help them
become handy, capable men and able to hold their own with anyone instead
of being mere drilled machines._
_You have read about the Wars in your country against the Red Indians,
of the gallantry of your soldiers against the cunning of the Red Man,
and what is more, of the pluck of your women on those dangerous
frontiers._
_Well, we have had much the same sort of thing in South Africa. Over and
over again I have seen there the wonderful bravery and resourcefulness
of the women when the tribes of Zulu or Matabeles have been out on the
war path against the white settlers._
_In the Boer war a number of women volunteered to help my forces as
nurses or otherwise; they were full of pluck and energy, but
unfortunately they had never been trained to do anything, and so with
all the good-will in the world they were of no use. I could not help
feeling how splendid it would be if one could only train them in peace
time in the same way one trained the young soldiers--that is, through
Scoutcraft._
_I afterwards took to training boys in that way, but I had not been long
at it before the girls came along, and offered to do the very thing I
had hoped for, they wanted to take up Scouting also._
_They did not merely want to be imitators of the boys; they wanted a
line of their own._
_So I gave them a smart blue uniform and the names of "Guides" and my
sister wrote an outline of the scheme. The name Guide appealed to the
British girls because the pick of our frontier forces in India is the
Corps of Guides. The term cavalry or infantry hardly describes it since
it is composed of all-round handy men ready to take on any job in the
campaigning line and do it well._
_Then too, a woman who can be a good and helpful comrade to her brother
or husband or son along the path of life is really a guide to him._
_The name Guide therefore just describes the members of our sisterhood
who besides being handy and ready for any kind of duty are also a jolly
happy family and likely to be good, cheery comrades to their mankind._
_The coming of the Great War gave the Girl Guides their opportunity, and
they quickly showed the value of their training by undertaking a variety
of duties which made them valuable to their country in her time of
need._
_My wife, Lady Baden-Powell, was elected by the members to be the Chief
Guide, and under her the movement has gone ahead at an amazing pace,
spreading to most foreign countries._
_It is thanks to Mrs. Juliette Low, of Savannah, that the movement was
successfully started in America, and though the name Girl Scouts has
there been used it is all part of the same sisterhood, working to the
same ends and living up to the same Laws and Promise._
_If all the branches continue to work together and become better
acquainted with each other as they continue to become bigger it will
mean not only a grand step for the sisterhood, but what is more
important it will be a real help toward making the new League of Nations
a living force._
_How can that be? In this way:_
_If the women of the different nations are to a large extent members of
the same society and therefore in close touch and sympathy with each
other, although belonging to different countries, they will make the
League a real bond not merely between the Governments, but between the
Peoples themselves and they will see to it that it means Peace and that
we have no more of War._
_Robert Baden Powell._
_May, 1919_
PREFACE
The present edition of "Scouting for Girls" is the result of
collaboration on the part of practical workers in the organization from
every part of the country. The endeavor on the part of its compilers has
been to combine the minimum of standardization necessary for dignified
and efficient procedure, with the maximum of freedom for every local
branch in its interpretation and practice of the Girl Scout aims and
principles.
Grateful acknowledgments are due to the following:
Miss Sarah Louise Arnold, Dean, and Miss Ula M. Dow, A.M., and Dr. Alice
Blood, of Simmons College for the Part of Section XI entitled "Home
Economics"; Sir Robert Baden-Powell for frequent references and excerpts
from "Girl Guiding"; Dr. Samuel Lambert for the Part on First Aid,
Section XI, and Dr. W. H. Rockwell for reading and criticizing this;
Miss Marie Johnson with the assistance of Miss Isabel Stewart of
Teachers College, for the Part entitled "Home Nursing" in Section XI;
Dr. Herman M. Biggs for reading and criticizing the Parts dealing with
Public Health and Child Care; Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton and The
Woodcraft League, and Doubleday, Page & Co. for Section XIII and plates
on "Woodcraft"; Mr. Joseph Parsons, Mr. James Wilder, Mrs. Eloise
Roorbach, and Mr. Horace Kephart and the Macmillan Company for the
material in Section XIV "Camping for Girl Scouts"; Mr. George H.
Sherwood, Curator, and Dr. G. Clyde Fisher, Associate Curator, of the
Department of Public Education of the American Museum of Natural History
for the specially prepared Section XV and illustrations on "Nature
Study," and for all proficiency tests in this subject; Mr. David Hunter
for Section XVI "The Girl Scout's Own Garden," and Mrs. Ellen Shipman
for the part on a perennial border with the specially prepared drawing,
in the Section on the Garden; Mr. Sereno Stetson for material in Section
XVII "Measurements, Map Making and Knots"; Mr. Austin Strong for
pictures of knots; Mrs. Raymond Brown for the test for Citizen; Miss
Edith L. Nichols, Supervisor of Drawing in the New York Public Schools,
for the test on Craftsman; Mr. John Grolle of the Settlement Music
School, Philadelphia, for assistance in the Music test; Miss Eckhart for
help in the Farmer test; The Camera Club and the Eastman Kodak Company
for the test for Photographer; Mrs. Frances Hunter Elwyn of the New York
School of Fine and Applied Arts, for devising and drawing certain of the
designs for Proficiency Badges and the plates for Signalling; Miss L. S.
Power, Miss Mary Davis and Miss Mabel Williams of the New York Public
Library, for assistance in the preparation of reference reading for
Proficiency Tests, and general reading for Girl Scouts.
It is evident that only a profound conviction of the high aims of the
Girl Scout movement and the practical capacity of the organization for
realizing them could have induced so many distinguished persons to give
so generously of their time and talent to this Handbook.
The National Executive Board, under whose auspices it has been compiled,
appreciate this and the kindred courtesy of the various organizations of
similar interests, most deeply. We feel that such hearty and friendly
cooperation on the part of the community at large is the greatest proof
of the vitality and real worth of this and allied movements, based on
intelligent study of the young people of our country.
JOSEPHINE DASKAM BACON,
_Chairman of Publications._
_March 1, 1920._
CONTENTS
Foreword by Sir Robert Baden-Powell.
Preface by Josephine Daskam Bacon, _Editor_.
SECTION:
I. HISTORY OF THE GIRL SCOUTS 1
II. PRINCIPLES OF THE GIRL SCOUTS 3
III. ORGANIZATION OF THE GIRL SCOUTS 13
IV. WHO ARE THE SCOUTS? 17
V. THE OUT OF DOOR SCOUT 35
VI. FORMS FOR GIRL SCOUT CEREMONIES 44
VII. GIRL SCOUT CLASS REQUIREMENTS 60
VIII. WHAT A GIRL SCOUT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FLAG 67
IX. GIRL SCOUT DRILL 84
X. SIGNALLING FOR GIRL SCOUTS 97
XI. THE SCOUT AIDE 105
Part 1. The Home Maker 106
Part 2. The Child Nurse 157
Part 3. The First Aide 164
Part 4. The Home Nurse 217
Part 5. The Health Guardian 254
Part 6. The Health Winner 257
XII. SETTING-UP EXERCISES 273
XIII. WOODCRAFT 280
XIV. CAMPING FOR GIRL SCOUTS 313
XV. NATURE STUDY FOR GIRL SCOUTS 373
XVI. THE GIRL SCOUTS' OWN GARDEN 456
XVII. MEASUREMENTS, MAP-MAKING AND KNOTS 466
XVIII. PROFICIENCY TESTS AND SPECIAL MEDALS 497
XIX. REFERENCE READING FOR GIRL SCOUTS 540
INDEX 548
GIRL SCOUTS
Motto--"Be Prepared"
Slogan--"Do a Good Turn Daily"
[Illustration: SYMBOL
TREFOIL: TO INDICATE THREEFOLD PROMISE]
PROMISE
On My Honor, I will Try:
To do my duty to God and my Country.
To help other people at all times.
To obey the Scout Laws.
LAWS
I A Girl Scout's Honor is to be Trusted
II A Girl Scout is Loyal
III A Girl Scout's Duty is to be Useful and to Help Others
IV A Girl Scout is a Friend to All and a Sister to every other
Girl Scout
V A Girl Scout is Courteous
VI A Girl Scout is a Friend to Animals
VII A Girl Scout obeys Orders
VIII A Girl Scout is Cheerful
IX A Girl Scout is Thrifty
X A Girl Scout is Clean in Thought, Word and Deed
SECTION I
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN GIRL SCOUTS
When Sir Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scout movement in England,
it proved too attractive and too well adapted to youth to make it
possible to limit its great opportunities to boys alone. The sister
organization, known in England as the Girl Guides, quickly followed and
won an equal success.
Mrs. Juliette Low, an American visitor in England, and a personal friend
of the Father of Scouting, realized the tremendous future of the
movement for her own country, and with the active and friendly
co-operation of the Baden-Powells, she founded the Girl Guides in
America, enrolling the first patrols in Savannah, Georgia, in March
1912. In 1915 National Headquarters were established in Washington, D.
C., and the name was changed to Girl Scouts.
In 1916 National Headquarters were moved to New York and the methods and
standards of what was plainly to be a nation-wide organization became
established on a broad, practical basis.
The first National Convention was held in 1915, and each succeeding year
has shown a larger and more enthusiastic body of delegates and a public
more and more interested in this steadily growing army of girls and
young women who are learning in the happiest way how to combine
patriotism, outdoor activities of every kind, skill in every branch of
domestic science and high standards of community service.
Every side of the girl's nature is brought out and developed by
enthusiastic Captains, who direct their games and various forms of
training, and encourage team-work and fair play. For the instruction of
the Captains national camps and training schools are being established
all over the country; and schools and churches everywhere are
cooperating eagerly with this great recreational movement, which, they
realize, adds something to the life of the growing girl that they have
not been able to supply.
Colleges are offering training in scouting as a serious course for
prospective officers, and prominent citizens in every part of the
country are identifying themselves with the Local Councils, in an
advisory and helpful capacity.
At the present writing nearly 107,000 girls and more than 8,000 Officers
represent the original little troop in Savannah--surely a satisfying
sight for our Founder and First President, when she realizes what a
healthy sprig she has transplanted from the Mother Country!