Title: The Girl Scouts - Their History and Practice
Author: Girl Scouts of the United States of America
Language: English
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Women Working 1800 - 1930)



GIRL SCOUTS

THEIR HISTORY AND PRACTICE


"_Be Prepared_"

[Illustration: Emblem]

[Illustration: LESSONS IN FOOD CONSERVATION]


GIRL SCOUTS
Incorporated
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
189 Lexington Avenue
_New York City_


_Series No. 6_



GIRL SCOUTS


MOTTO
"_Be Prepared_"

[Illustration: Emblem]


SLOGAN
"_Do A Good Turn Daily_"


PROMISE

          On My Honor, I Will Try:
    To do my duty to God and to 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.



GIRL SCOUTS


_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 it and won 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 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 1913 National Headquarters were established in Washington, D.C., and
the name changed to Girl Scouts.

In 1915 the organization was incorporated with the legal title, Girl
Scouts, Incorporated.

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 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 join in the 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 the schools and churches everywhere are
co-operating eagerly with this great recreational movement, which they
realize adds something to the life of the growing girl that they have
been unable to supply.

Colleges are offering fellowships in scouting as a serious course for
would-be captains, and prominent citizens in every part of the country
are identifying themselves with local councils in an advisory and
helpful capacity. At the present writing, nearly 60,000 girls and more
than 3,000 captains represent the original little troop in
Savannah--surely a satisfying sight for our Founder and National
President, when she realizes what a healthy sprig she has transplanted
from the Mother Country!

_Aims._ While the aims of Scouting are similar to those of the schools,
the church and the home, its methods are less direct and success depends
upon the attraction which the program has for the girls. Belonging to an
organization, the uniform, such novel activities as knot-tying, hiking,
signalling and drilling, the chance for leadership, the laws to which
they voluntarily subscribe and the recognition of ability by the system
of giving badges are the distinctive elements of Scouting. They succeed
in bringing about improved health, approved standards of behavior
towards others, a general arousing of the imagination as well as
practical knowledge.

The ideal background for the entire program is cheerful companionship in
the open.

_Standards._ The standards of the Girl Scouts are expressed in their
Laws and Promise, their Motto and Slogan which are as follows:


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 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.


Promise

          On my Honor, I Will try:
    To do my duty to God and to my Country
    To help other people at all times
    To obey the Scout Laws.


Motto

"Be Prepared"


Slogan

"Do a Good Turn Daily"


The best results are obtained by emphasizing the fact that these ways
are the girl's own idea of the way to live, her choice. Success in
expressing one's own ideas never fails to give satisfaction. Clever
parents and teachers make use of this. "A Scout is cheerful" is a more
effective method of influencing a girl, for instance, than any amount of
advice on the subject.

It seems to be more and more difficult to induce girls to learn or
practice housework. For the average woman this is still necessary, and
the more advanced schools have taken it up. For the girl whom neither
the home nor the school has been able to reach, Scouting offers a most
successful and attractive means of getting the practical information to
the young generation. They will do for "merit badges," in other words,
what they will not do for their mothers or teachers.

An effective manner of upholding and exercising these standards, is, as
has been abundantly proved by the great war, the uniform. Earning and
proving worthy of it stimulates child, girl and woman alike. Uniform and
ceremony, not overemphasized, but duly insisted upon, have a profound
significance to the human race, and teach us to sink the individual
interests and raise the standards of the group.

_Leadership and The Patrol System._ In general a troop should not
contain more than thirty or forty girls. Many very experienced captains
have larger troops when they have several lieutenants to assist them.
The troops are divided into groups, or patrols of eight and treated as
units, each under its own responsible leader. An invaluable step in
character building is to put responsibility on the individual. This is
done in electing a Patrol Leader to be responsible for the control of
her Patrol. Leaders should serve a limited time and every girl in a
patrol should have the experience of serving some time during her
membership. It is up to her to take hold and develop the qualities of
each girl in her Patrol. It sounds a big order, but in practice it
works. With a friendly rivalry established between patrols a patrol
esprit de corps is developed and each girl in that patrol realizes that
she is herself a responsible unit and that the honor of her group
depends on her efficiency in playing the game. The patrol system is an
essential feature in Scouting. When this is lost sight of and the
attitude of a teacher is adopted, making the troop a _class_, the vital
spirit or meaning of Scouting is missed entirely. Although a powerful
personality always can succeed with young people, in individual
instances, it would be impossible to get enough of these people to make
any impression upon the thousands of girls in the organization.
Moreover, the average child is already overloaded with things to learn.
What nobody teaches her is how to control herself, and thus learn to
control others and take her share of responsibility. The whole Scouting
technique is adapted to exactly this idea and the patrol leader is the
key note of it.

_The troop whose captain is (apparently) not managing it, but whose
girls manage themselves under the Scout laws, is the ideal troop._

_The Court of Honor._ The Patrol Leaders and their "seconds" form the
"Court of Honor," which manages the internal affairs of the troop. Its
institution is the best guarantee for permanent vitality and success for
the troop. It takes a great deal of minor routine work off the shoulders
of the Scout captain, and at the same time gives to the girls a real
responsibility and a serious outlook on the affairs of their troop. It
was mainly due to the Patrol Leaders and to the Courts of Honor that the
British Boy Scouts were able to carry on useful work during the war. The
Court of Honor decides rewards and punishments, and interprets rules in
individual instances.

_Methods._ Not only should the activities be those which they are not
getting through other channels, but they should be presented in ways
which attract the girls. It should never be forgotten that Scouting is
chosen by the girls because it _interests them_. Use as bait the food
the fish likes. If you bait your hook with the kind of food that you
yourself like, unless you happen to have a natural affinity for young
people, it is probable that you will not catch many. If the Scouting
program fails to interest girls, they will find something that does.

The program should be varied, and never iron-clad, but adapted to fill
the needs of the special girl. Examples: Few city girls have much chance
to be in the country. An effort should be made to get them out on hikes,
and week-end camping trips. Some homes and schools do not teach the
girls such practical things as cooking, bedmaking, while some groups of
girls have no conception of obligation to other people or any sense of
citizenship. In each case, the wise captain attempts to discover the
novel activity, which besides being helpful, will attract the girls. The
wise captain does not expect girls to pay great attention to any one
subject for very long, and does not teach or lecture. They get enough of
that in school. The captain is rather a sort of older playfellow who
lets the girl choose activities which interest her and she will learn
for herself.

Most of the activities will be of the nature of play. Play is always a
means to mental and physical development. The best play leads towards
adult forms of leadership, co-operation, entertaining, artistic
execution and community service.

Any captain who finds herself judging her troop's efficiency by the old
fashioned system of examination marks based on a hundred per cent scale,
shows herself out of touch not only with the Scouting spirit, but with
the whole trend of modern education today. When the tendency of great
universities is distinctly toward substituting psychological tests for
examinations, when the United States Army picks its officers by such
tests, it would be absurd for a young people's recreational movement to
wear its members out by piling such work on captain and scout!

Examinations and tests should lay weight on what can be _done_ within
time limits and in first class form; also on the effort expended by the
girls, and not on what can be _written or recited_. Young people love
such tests--which relate closely to games--and they are of great
practical value in daily life. They are the tests we meet every day.
They interest the community to watch and experts are always ready and
interested to judge them. But nobody is interested in examination
papers, and school children and especially captains should not be taxed
with more than the absolute necessity of proving a candidate's fair
grasp of the subject.

In this connection great latitude should be allowed for the captain's
knowledge of her girls and their real ability and attitude. The girls
are also good judges of each other. Remember that the girl with the best
examination paper is not necessarily the best Scout.

_The Council._ The Patrol System, under the captain, is the vital
_inside_ of Scouting: in order to tie the organization closely to the
community, the council must be well selected, strong and active. An
ideal council should represent the best homes in the community, the
church and the school. Some leading woman, whose acquaintance is wide,
should most certainly be on it, in order to help the captain out with a
list of people qualified to judge the merit badges, for instance.
Interested women who will help in camps, hikes, sales, moving picture
benefits, rallies are most necessary, and the captain should feel no
hesitation in asking advice or help from her council. At least one
member whose daughter is in the local troop should be a practical link
between the home and the troop, but all members should make a point of
understanding the principles and distinctive methods of Scouting and see
that they are carried out in their locality.



"_Be Prepared_"

[Illustration: Emblem]


Officers, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

_Honorary President_
MRS. WOODROW WILSON

_President_
MRS. JULIETTE LOW

_First Vice-President_
MRS. ARTHUR O. CHOATE

_Second Vice-President_
MRS. HERBERT HOOVER

_Treasurer_
DUNLEVY MILBANK

_Chairman, Executive Board_
MRS. V. EVERIT MACY

_Director_
MRS. JANE DEETER RIPPIN

_Executive Board_
MRS. SELDEN BACON
MRS. NICHOLAS F. BRADY
MISS ELLEN M. CASSATT
MRS. ARTHUR O. CHOATE
MR. FRANCIS P. DODGE
MISS EMMA R. HALL
MRS. JULIETTE LOW
MRS. V. EVERIT MACY
MRS. SNOWDEN MARSHALL
MRS. ROBERT G. MEAD
MR. DUNLEVY MILBANK
MISS LLEWELLYN PARSONS
MRS. HAROLD I. PRATT
MRS. THEODORE H. PRICE
MRS. W. N. ROTHSCHILD
DR. JAMES E. RUSSELL
MRS. GEORGE W. STEVENS
MRS. JAMES J. STORROW
MRS. PERCY WILLIAMS

[Illustration: Emblem]





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