Chapter I: How to Become a Tenderfoot (1)

THE SCOUT PROMISE

ON my honour I will try—

TO DO MY DUTY TO GOD AND TO MY COUNTRY.
TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE AT ALL TIMES.
TO OBEY THE SCOUT LAW.

THE SCOUT LAW

1. A Scout’s honor is to be trusted.
2. A Scout is loyal.
3. A Scout’s duty is to be useful and to help others.
4. A Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other
Girl Scout.
5. A Scout is courteous.
6. A Scout Keeps herself pure.
7. A Scout is a friend to animals.
8. A Scout obeys order.
9. A Girl Scout is cheerful.
10. A Scout is thrifty.

WHAT IS A GIRL SCOUT?

This is a Girl Scout.

She is in her uniform, wearing her badges of rank and awards for proficiency.

The stripes on her left breast and the badge in her hat show that she is a Patrol Leader—that is, she commands a group of seven other Scouts who form the “Patrol.” She carries in her hand the flag of the Patrol. The badge on her right breast is that for “War Service”—meaning that she has done public service during the war.

What Do Girl Scouts Do?

Look on the cover and you will see that they are jolly people who enjoy themselves, they are a happy sisterhood who do good turns to other people.

In Europe Girl Scouts are called Girl Guides and this is what they have done abroad during the Great War.

In the towns they have helped at the Military Hospitals as assistants to the ward-maids, cooks, and laundry women. In the Government offices, such as the War Office, the Admiralty, and other great departments of the State, they have acted as orderlies and messengers. They have taken up work in factories, or as motor-drivers, or on farms, in order to release men to go to the front.

At home and in their club-rooms they have made bandages for the wounded, and warm clothing for the men at the Front and in the Fleet.

(S.T. stands for “Stand tall and Sit tall”)

In the country they have collected eggs for the sick, and on the moors have gathered sphagnum moss for the hospitals.

Over in France a great Recreation and Rest Hut for the soldiers has been supplied by the Guides with funds earned through their work. It is managed by Guide officers, or ex-Guides. Among the older Guides there are many who have done noble work with the Hospitals at home and overseas; there was one in particular who went through great adventures in Serbia during the invasion of that country.

At home in many of the great cities the Scouts have turned their Headquarters’ Club-Rooms into “Hostels.” That is, they have made them into small hospitals ready for taking in people injured in air-raids by the enemy.

So altogether the Scouts have shown themselves to be a pretty useful lot in many different kinds of works during the war, and, mind you, they are only girls between the ages of 11 and 18. But they have done their bit in the Great War as far as they were able, and have done it well.

There are 64,000 of them, and they are very smart, and ready for any job that may be demanded of them.

They were not raised for this special work during the war, for they began some years before it, but their motto is “Be Prepared,” and it was their business to train themselves to be ready for anything that might happen, even the most unlikely thing.

So even when war came they were “all there” and ready for it.

It is not only in Great Britain that they have been doing this, but—in Canada and Australia, West, East, and South Africa, New Zealand, the Falkland Islands, West Indies, and India. The Scouts are a vast sisterhood of girls, ready to do anything they can for their country and Empire.

In this book I will show you as briefly as possible how you become a Scout, and what you have to do to make yourself fit for service. And I can tell you right off now that one thing you’ve got to do is to laugh and enjoy it all; you can’t help doing so when you get into it.

What the Guides Do

As a Guide your first duty is to be helpful to other people, both in small everyday matters and also under the worst of circumstances. You have to imagine to yourself what sort of things might possibly happen, and how you should deal with them when they occur. Then you will know what to do.

I was present when a German aeroplane dropped a bomb on to a railway station in London. There was the usual busy scene of people seeing to their luggage, saying good-bye and going off by train, when with a sudden bang a whole car was blown to bits, and the adjoining ones were in a blaze; seven or eight of those active in getting into the train were flung down—mangled and dead; while some thirty more were smashed, broken, and bleeding, but still alive. The suddenness of it made it all the more horrifying. But one of the first people I noticed as keeping their heads was a smartly dressed young lady kneeling by an injured working-man; his thigh was smashed and bleeding terribly; she had ripped up his trouser with her knife, and with strips of it had bound a pad to the wound; she found a cup somehow and filled it with water for him from the overhead hose for filling engines. Instead of being hysterical and useless, she was as cool and ready to do the right thing as if she had been in bomb-raids every day of her life. Well, that is what any girl can do if she only prepares herself for it.

Long before there was any idea of the war the Scouts had been taught to think out and to practise what they should do supposing such a thing as war happened in their own country, or that people should get injured by bombs or by accidents in their neighbourhood.

In order to be able to deal with such cases the first thing that you have to know is how to go out in the country and find the wounded by following their tracks to where they have crawled away to hide themselves or get water; you must know how to bind up their wounds temporarily; how to light a fire and boil up some hot soup, or fomentations for their injuries; you must be able to signal to other Scouts in the distance in order to call up help; you must be able to make a shelter out of the brush-wood around you, or to rig up a stretcher or means of carrying the injured on carts or barrows and so to get them in to hospital.

Then you have to know how to turn a room or a cellar into a ward, how to make up beds and apparatus for the use of the sick and wounded; how to nurse them; how to change their bandages; how to cook their food; what sort of ventilation is necessary; how to wash the linen and so on.

Convalescent Nursing

Finally there comes the convalescent stage when your patients are getting better, and you have to give them more nourishing food, cooked in a tempting manner, and you have to keep their minds active and cheerful by being able to read or sing to them, and so to cheer them back to life.

These are things which have to be learnt in peace-time, and because they were learnt by the Scouts beforehand, these girls were able to do their bit so well when war came.

Frontier Life

But they have to Be Prepared for many other things besides sickness. It falls to the lot of very many girls to take up life Overseas, and very often it is a rough life, and one full of adventures and romance.

But although this sounds nice in books and stories it is no fun for a girl who has had everything done for her at home, to find herself stranded in an outlandish place with no one available to help her, no water or gas laid on, no shops, or bakers, no cooks, no doctors.

She has to do everything for herself. This is where so many women, who had charge of ambulances in Serbia and other countries during the war, came out so splendidly, doing everything for themselves, and showing the greatest possible courage and handiness in the difficulties and dangers of active service.

(S.T.)

A story which should appeal with special force to Girl Scouts is that of Emilienne Moreau.

She is a French girl, and was living at Loos where the heavy fighting took place in October, 1915.

When the Germans took the place and held it, after their retreat from the Marne a year before, she, with her family, remained there and made the best of things under the German occupation.

She lived with her aged father and invalid mother, a sister, and a small brother of ten.

The father, broken in health and spirits by the presence of the hated Germans, died. Loos was practically empty of inhabitants, business was at a standstill—it was impossible to get a coffin even in which to bury the poor man.

So this girl, with the help of her young brother, got hold of some planks and themselves made one for their father’s body.

In September she noticed that the German garrison of the place were getting disturbed. More men were put into the town, and more defensive works were made. Shells began to fall, and the firing to become more intense day by day.

Instead of hiding in the cellar she climbed into the roof, where through a hole in the tiles, she was able to see the fighting that went on between the German defenders and the Highlanders who were attacking.

For several days it continued, but the Scotsmen finally got into the town and drove the Germans out from street to street with hand-to-hand fightings.

In a hidden corner five Germans kept fighting our troops unseen until this girl discovered their position.

She got hold of some hand-grenades and threw them in among them, killing three of them. The two survivors attacked her with bayonets, but she had armed herself with the revolver belonging to a dead British officer, and as they came at her she turned it on them with quick and steady aim and shot them both.

Then she went to work, regardless of the danger of rifle fire and shrapnel, tending the wounded, rendering first-aid, bringing water and blankets to them, thereby saving their lives and easing the pain of a number of British soldiers.

Our officers found her doing these things. She was personally thanked and congratulated by the British general for her valuable assistance to the medical staff, and for her courage and gallant help against the enemy, and she was later on awarded the French Military Cross “for valour on the field of battle.” Later we heard that Emilienne Moreau was a French Girl Scout, and what this gallant French girl did, her sister Girl Scouts in Britain would, I hope, also do in similar circumstances.

But it could only be done when a girl has trained herself as the Scouts do to be plucky, to be handy, to keep cool, to know what is the right thing to do—and to do it at no matter what risk to herself.

Frontierswomen

I have met many fine frontierswomen in my time. In Matabeleland, when the natives rose against us, Mrs. Selous, the wife of the great elephant hunter, was alone in her home, thirty miles away from the nearest town. Some natives living close by came and asked her for the loan of as many axes as she could spare, as they wanted to chop firewood. Shortly afterwards her husband, who had been away shooting, came galloping in, and told her to saddle and mount her horse at once and to get away as the natives were “up” and murdering the white inhabitants.

Being a frontierswoman it did not take her long to catch and saddle up her horse, and in a few minutes she and her husband had left their home, and were riding for their lives towards Bulawayo. Before they were out of sight of their house they could see smoke and flames already issuing from it. The natives who had borrowed the axes had done so with the object of murdering them, and finding that they had escaped, were now wreaking their vengeance on their property. It was just Mrs. Selous’ promptness, cool-headedness, and ability to ride that saved her life.

Another woman at that time was similarly out on her farm, while her husband was away in some other part of the country. The natives surrounded her house in the night and attacked her faithful native servants. Knowing her danger, she slept in her clothes, and realising what was the matter when she heard the noise of the attack, she seized her revolver and, slipping out of the house through a back window, she escaped into the garden and hid herself behind a tombstone there. In the early dawn the marauders departed, and she came out of her hiding-place to find her home wrecked and her faithful servants all killed. A relief party of white men soon after arrived from the nearest township, and found her quite self-possessed and calm. The only excitement she showed was her intense relief at the fact that one of the attackers had seized her sewing machine and was making off with it when he was killed by one of her men, and had dropped the machine at a spot where it just escaped falling down the well. So she rode back to Salisbury in triumph with her rescuers, clutching her beloved sewing machine. She had no sooner reached safety than she discovered that she had dropped her revolver, and she insisted on going back again to find it. You might think that she could have got a new revolver in the town, but that was not the question. The revolver was a favourite of hers, because, although old and rather out of gear, she had once killed a lion with it.

She had many other exciting adventures in Rhodesia which I have not space to tell here, but she was a splendid type of what a London girl can do when put to it in places of difficulty and danger, if only she has trained herself.

(S.T.)

The story of Laura Secord, the heroine of Canada, shows what a frontierswoman may be called upon to do, and what she can do if only she has Been Preparing herself in strength of mind and body like a Scout.

Canada was at war with the United States over a hundred years ago. Battles between the Americans and the English were being fought on all sides in that unhappy year 1812. After the engagement on Queenstown Heights a terror-stricken woman went tramping over the field where the slain were lying in search of her husband. Laura Secord had heard that her husband had been wounded and left there for dead; but on finding him, to her joy she discovered that he was still alive, though badly injured.

It was during his long illness that a report was brought to Laura Secord that the Americans were again coming to surprise the English, unknown to the general.

Owing to her pluck and determination, Laura achieved a famous deed of heroism and saved her country by taking the information of the advance of the enemy right away to the commanding officer of the British troops. Through difficulties and dangers she sped without a fear for her own safety; she trudged on through forests and bogs, going twenty miles round out of the beaten track so as to avoid being traced. In the dusk of the evening her path was checked by a deep stream. Here she felt almost hopeless, until she found a tree-trunk fallen across the water, and by this she managed to scramble to the opposite bank. Whilst dreading what might happen at home to her invalid husband and her little children left behind, Laura Secord still pressed forward through the darkness, tired and weak, till she at length reached the British camp, and was able to unburden her mind and give the news of the danger to the officer in command. All present were struck with admiration for her gallant effort, and with the knowledge of the impending danger thus gained, the British were able to BE PREPARED.

Now, did not this Laura Secord, though quite untrained, do every part of the duty of a Girl Scout? She showed SENSE OF DUTY in leaving all that was dearest to her to go off to the commander.

She showed cleverness and RESOURCE in getting through the American outposts by driving her cow in front of her, pretending that she was merely taking her out to graze.

She showed ENDURANCE going such a long journey rapidly and well, being healthy and fit for hard work.

Also CAMPAIGNING in being able to find her way by a circuitous route through forests and by night, and yet not seen by the enemy—SAVING LIFE, too, not only of the soldiers in the force, but eventually of all her nation, by freeing her country of the enemy.

She showed PATRIOTISM by sacrificing her own wishes for the good of her country, and risking her life for the good of her nation.

Why “Scouts”?

On the North-West Frontier of India there is a famous Corps of soldiers known as the Scouts, and their duty is to be always ready to turn out at any moment to repel raids by the hostile tribes across the Border, and to prevent them from coming down into the peaceful plains of India. This body of men must be prepared for every kind of fighting. Sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in the mountains, often with pioneer work, wading through rivers and making bridges, and so on. But they have to be a skilful lot of men, brave and enduring, ready to turn out at any time, winter or summer, or to sacrifice themselves if necessary in order that peace may reign throughout India while they keep down any hostile raids against it. So they are true handymen in every sense of the word, and true patriots.

When people speak of Scouts in Europe one naturally thinks of those men who are mountaineers in Switzerland and other mountainous place, who can guide people over the most difficult parts by their own bravery and skill in tackling obstacles, by helpfulness to those with them, and by their bodily strength of wind and limb. They are splendid fellows those guides, and yet if they were told to go across the same amount of miles on an open flat plain it would be nothing to them, it would not be interesting, and they would not be able to display those grand qualities which they show directly the country is a bit broken up into mountains. It is no fun to them to walk by easy paths, the whole excitement of life is facing difficulties and dangers and apparent impossibilities, and in the end getting a chance of attaining the summit of the mountain they have wanted to reach.

Well, I think it is the case with most girls nowadays. They do not want to sit down and lead an idle life, not to have everything done for them, nor to have a very easy time. They don’t want merely to walk across the plain, they would much rather show themselves handy people, able to help others and ready, if necessary, to sacrifice themselves for others just like the Scouts on the North-west Frontier. And they also want to tackle difficult jobs themselves in their life, to face mountains and difficulties and dangers, and to go at them having prepared themselves to be skilful and brave; and also they would like to help other people to get over their difficulties also. When they attain success after facing difficulties, then they feel really happy and triumphant. It is a big satisfaction to them to have succeeded and to have made other people succeed also. That is what the Girl Scouts want to do, just like the mountaineer guides do among the mountains.

Then, too, a woman who can do things is looked up to by others, both men and women, and they are always ready to follow her advice and example, so there she becomes a Scout too. And later on if she has children of her own, or if she becomes a teacher of children, she can be a really good Scout to them.

In fact, if one caricatured a Scout one would draw her thus:—“Turn to the right and keep straight on.” And for these reasons the name Scout was given to them originally.

By means of games and activities which the Scouts practise they are able to learn the different things which will help them to get on in life, and show the way to others to get on also. Thus camping and signalling, first aid work, camp cooking, and all these things that the Scouts practise are all going to be helpful to them afterwards in making them strong, resourceful women, skilful and helpful to others, and strong in body as well as in mind, and what is more it makes them a jolly cheery lot of comrades also.

“Be Prepared!”

The motto of the Scouts on which they work is “Be Prepared,” that is, be ready for any kind of duty that may be thrust upon them, and what is more, to know what to do by having practised it beforehand in the case of any kind of accident or any kind of work that they may be asked to take up. Thousands of women have done splendid work in this war, but thousands more would have been able to do good work also had they only Been Prepared for it beforehand by learning a few things that are useful to them outside their mere school work or work in their own home. And that is what the Scouts are learning in all their games and camp work; they mean to be useful in other ways besides what they are taught in school.

How to Join

You join a Troop in your neighborhood and become a member of one of the Patrols in it. A Patrol is a group of eight girls, under the command of a Patrol Leader. Each Patrol is called after a bird or a flower, and has that flower or bird embroidered on its flag. The Patrol is the team for play or for work, and each Patrol endeavors—or at least considers itself—to be the best in the Troop.

If there is no Troop in your neighborhood you can become a “_Lone Scout_.” That is, you can make the promise, carry out the Scout Law and all the practices by yourself, and you can wear the uniform and win the badges.

For this you must report and be registered. That is, if you cannot hear of a Scout officer near you, write to the Secretary at Headquarters, tell her where you live and she will put you in touch with the nearest officer who will register you and help you.

Scout Ranks

At first you rank as a Candidate until you pass your Tenderfoot tests. Then you can go on and rise to the following ranks:—

Candidate.
Tenderfoot.
Second-Class Scout.
First-Class Scout.
Corporal.
Patrol Leader.
Senior Scout or Citizen Scout.

HOW TO BECOME A TENDERFOOT

(S.T.)

A. You must learn the _Scout Law_.

B. You must make the _Scout’s Promise_.

C. You must learn the _Salute and the Woodcraft Signs_
of the Scouts.

D. You must understand how the _Flag_ is made up, and
how it should be flown.

E. You must be able to tie _knots_ and know what they
are used for; any four of the following:—

Reef-knot, Sheet bend, Clove-hitch, Bowline,
Fisherman’s knot, Sheepshank.

F. Elementary Scout’s Drill.

This may seem to be rather a lot of things to learn, but they are really very easy, and I will show you in the next few pages how to do it without much trouble.

When you can do these you will no longer be a Candidate, you will be admitted into the Scouts as a “Tenderfoot,” and can then go on and win badges.

The Tenderfoot Badge

The Badge of the Girl Scouts is the “Trefoil” (three leaves), which represent the three promises made on joining, as the three fingers held up in the salute also do.

The proper place for the Tenderfoot Badge is in the centre of the loose ends of the tie.

A. THE GIRL SCOUT’S LAW

1. A GIRL SCOUT’S HONOR IS TO BE TRUSTED.

If a Scout says “On my honour it is so,” that means
that it _is_ so just as if she had taken a most solemn
oath.

Similarly, if a captain says to a Scout, “I trust you
on your honor to do this,” the Scout is bound to carry
out the order to the very best of her ability, and to
let nothing interfere with her doing so.

If a Scout were to break her honor by telling a lie, or
by not carrying out an order exactly when trusted on
her honor to do so, she would cease to be a Scout, for
the time being, and she may be required to hand over
her Scout badge.

2. A SCOUT IS LOYAL

to the President and to her officers, to her mother and
father, to her employers, to those who may be under
her, and to her friends. She must stick to them through
thick and thin against any one who is their enemy, or
who even talks badly of them. A Scout will not talk ill
of them herself.

3. A SCOUT’S DUTY IS TO BE USEFUL AND TO HELP OTHERS.

She is to do her duty before anything else, even though
she gives up her own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to
do it. When in difficulty to know which of two things
to do, she must ask herself, “Which is my duty?”—that
is, “Which is best for other people?”—and do that one.
She must Be Prepared at any time to save life and to
help injured persons. And _she should do at least one
good turn_ to somebody every day.

4. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ALL, AND A SISTER TO EVERY
OTHER SCOUT.

Thus, if a Scout meets another Scout, even though a
stranger to her, she may speak to her, and help her in
any way that she can, either to carry out the duty she
is then doing, or by giving her food, or, as far as
possible, anything that she may be in want of. A Scout
must never be a SNOB. A snob is one who looks down
upon another because she is poorer, or who is poor and
resents another because she is rich. A Scout is like
Kim—“Little friend to all the world.”

5. A SCOUT IS COURTEOUS—

that is, she is polite to all—but especially to old
people and invalids, cripples, etc. And she must not
take any reward for being helpful or courteous.

6. A GIRL SCOUT KEEPS HERSELF PURE. SHE IS CLEAN IN
WORD, IN THOUGHT, IN DEED.

She is strong enough in her mind to be above talking or
listening to dirty subjects. She keeps herself pure,
clean-minded, and womanly.

7. A SCOUT IS A FRIEND TO ANIMALS.

She should save them as far as possible from pain, and
should not kill any animal unnecessarily, not even the
smallest of God’s creatures.

8. A SCOUT OBEYS ORDERS

of her parents, patrol leader, or Captain without
question. Even if she gets an order she does not like
she must do as soldiers and sailors do—she must carry
it out all the same _because it is her duty_. After she
has done it she can come and state any reasons against
it; but she must carry out the order at once. That is
discipline.

9. A GIRL SCOUT IS CHEERFUL

under all difficulties. When she gets an order she
should obey it cheerily and readily, not in a slow,
hang-dog sort of way, and should sing even if she
dislikes it.

When she is in trouble or in pain it will at once
relieve her if she forces herself to smile—to “grin and
bear it.”

Scouts never grumble at hardships, nor whine at each
other, nor frown when put out.

A Scout goes about with a smile and singing. It cheers
her and cheers other people, especially in time of
danger, for she keeps it up then all the same.

10. A SCOUT IS THRIFTY—

that is, she saves every penny she can, and puts it
into the bank, so that she may have money to keep
herself when out of work, and thus not make herself a
burden to others; or that she may have money to give
away to others when they need it.

How Camping Teaches the Scout Law

Last year a man went out into the woods to try and see if he could live like the prehistoric men used to do; that is to say, he took nothing with him in the way of food or equipment or even clothing—he went just as he was, and started out to make his own living as best he could. Of course the first thing he had to do was to make some sort of tool or weapon by which he could kill some animals, cut his wood and make his fire and so on. So he made a stone axe, and with that was able to cut out branches of trees so that he could make a trap in which he eventually caught a bear and killed it. He then cut up the bear and used the skin for blankets and the flesh for food. He also cut sticks and made a little instrument by which he was able to ignite bits of wood and so start his fire. He also searched out various roots and berries and leaves, which he was able to cook and make into good food, and he even went so far as to make charcoal and to cut slips of bark from the trees and draw pictures of the scenery and animals around him. In this way he lived for over a month in the wild, and came out in the end very much better in health and spirits and with a great experience of life. For he had learned to shift entirely for himself and to be independent of the different things we get in civilisation to keep us going in comfort.

That is why we go into camp a good deal in the Boy Scout and in the Girl Scout movements, because in camp life we learn to do without so many things which while we are in houses we think are necessary, and find that we can do for ourselves many things where we used to think ourselves helpless. And before going into camp it is just as well to learn some of the things that will be most useful to you when you get there. And that is what we teach in the Headquarters of the Girl Scout Troops before they go out and take the field. For instance, you must know how to light your own fire; how to collect dry enough wood to make it burn; because you will not find gas stoves out in the wild. Then you have to learn how to find your own water, and good water that will not make you ill. You have not a whole cooking range or a kitchen full of cooking pots, and so you have to learn to cook your food in the simplest way with the means at your hand, such as a simple cooking pot or a roasting stick or an oven made with your own hands out of an old tin box or something of that kind.

Nature Study

It is only while in camp that one can really learn to study Nature in the proper way and not as you merely do it inside the school; because here you are face to face with Nature at all hours of the day and night. For the first time you live under the stars and can watch them by the hour and see what they really look like, and realise what an enormous expanse of almost endless space they cover. You know from your lessons at school that our sun warms and lights up a large number of different worlds like ours, all circling round it in the Heavens. And when you hold up a coin at arm’s length and look at the sky, the coin covers no less than two hundred of those suns, each with their different little worlds circling round them. And you then begin to realise what an enormous endless space the Heavens comprise. You realise perhaps for the first time the enormous work of God.

Then also in camp you are living among plants of every kind, and you can study them in their natural state, how they grow and what they look like, instead of merely seeing pictures of them in books or dried specimens of them in collections.

All round you, too, are the birds and animals and insects, and the more you know of them the more you begin to like them and to take an interest in them; and once you take an interest in them you do not want to hurt them in any way. You would not rob a bird’s nest; you would not bully an animal; you would not kill an insect—once you have realised what its life and habits are. In this way, therefore, you fulfil the Scout Law of becoming a friend to animals.

By living in camp you begin to find that though there are many discomforts and difficulties to be got over, they can be got over with a little trouble and especially if you smile at them and tackle them.

Then living among other comrades in camp you have to be helpful and do good turns at almost every minute, and you have to exercise a great deal of give and take and good temper, otherwise the camp would become unbearable.

(S.T.)

So you carry out the different laws of courteousness, of helpfulness, and friendliness to others that come in the Scout Law. Also you pick up the idea of how necessary it is to keep everything in its place, and to keep your kit and tent and ground as clean as possible; otherwise you get into a horrible state of dirt, and dirt brings flies and other inconveniences.

You save every particle of food and in this way you learn not only cleanliness, but thrift and economy. And you very soon realise how cheaply you can live in camp, and how very much enjoyment you can get for very little money. And as you live in the fresh, pure air of God you find that your own thoughts are clean and pure as the air around you. There is hardly one of the Scout Laws that is not better carried out after you have been living and practising it in camp.

B. THE SCOUT PROMISE

On my honour I will try—

1. TO DO MY DUTY TO GOD AND TO MY COUNTRY.
2. TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE AT ALL TIMES.
3. TO OBEY THE SCOUT LAW.

Duty to God

An old British chieftain, some thirteen hundred years ago, said:

“Our life has always seemed to me like the flight of a sparrow through the great hall, when one is sitting at meals with the log-fire blazing on the hearth, while all is storm and darkness outside. He comes in, no one knows from where, and hovers for a short time in the warmth and light, and then flies forth again into the darkness. And so it is with the life of a man; he comes no one knows from where; he is here in the world for a short time, till he flies forth again, no one knows whither. But now you show us that if we do our duty during our life we shall not fly out into darkness again, when life is ended, since Christ has opened a door, for us to enter a brighter room, a heaven where we can go and dwell in peace for ever.”

Religion seems a very simple thing:

1st. To trust in God.
2nd. To do good to other people.

The Knights

The old knights, who were the scouts of the nation, were very religious. They were always careful to attend religious service, especially before going into battle or undertaking any serious difficulty. They considered it was the right thing always to be prepared for death. In the great church of Malta you can see to-day where the old knights used to pray, and they all stood up and drew their swords during the reading of the Creed, as a sign that they were prepared to defend the gospel with their swords and lives. Besides worshipping God in church, the knights always recognised His work in the things which He made, such as animals, plants, and scenery. And so it is with the Scouts to-day, that wherever they go they love the woodlands, the mountains, and the prairies, and they like to watch and know about the animals that inhabit them, and the wonders of the flowers and plants. No man is much good, either to himself or to others, unless he believes in God and obeys His laws. So every Scout should have a religion.

Regiments in God’s Army

There are many kinds of religion, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mohammedans, and so on, but the main point about them is that they all worship God, although in different ways. They are like an army which serves one king, though it is divided into different branches, such as cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and these wear different uniforms. So, when you meet a girl of a different religion from your own, you should not be hostile to her, but recognise that she is still serving the same king as you.

In doing your duty to God always be grateful to Him. Whenever you enjoy a pleasure or a good game, or succeed in doing a good thing, thank Him for it, if only with a word or two, just as you say grace after a meal. And it is a good thing to bless other people. For instance, if you see a train starting off, just pray for God’s blessing on all that are in the train.

In doing your duty towards man be helpful and generous, and also always be grateful for any kindness done to you, and be careful to show that you are grateful.

How to Become a Star

Remember that a present given to you is not yours until you have thanked the giver for it. While you are the sparrow flying through the hall, that is to say, while you are living your life on this earth, try and do something good which may remain after you. One writer says:

“I often think that when the sun goes down the world is hidden by a big blanket from the light of heaven, but the stars are little holes pierced in that blanket by those who have done good deeds in this world. The stars are not all the same size; some are big, some little, and some men have done great deeds and others have done small deeds, but they have made their hole in the blanket by doing good before they went to heaven.”

Try and make your hole in the blanket by good work while you are on the earth.

IT IS SOMETHING TO BE GOOD, BUT IT IS FAR BETTER TO DO GOOD.

Duty to God and Country

Have you ever thought what a lot we owe to the Kaiser William of Germany. If he had not tried for world power, we should never have come together so closely as we have done with all our brothers and sisters overseas.

C. SIGNS AND SIGNALS

The Scout’s Salute

The right hand raised level with shoulder, palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of the little finger, and the other three fingers upright pointing upward.

That is the Scout Salute.

The three fingers held up (like the three points of a Scout Badge) remind her of her three promises in the Scout Promise.

1. To do her duty to God and Country.
2. To help others.
3. To obey the Scout Law.

When a Scout meets another for the first time in the day, whether she is a comrade or a stranger, she salutes.

She always salutes an officer—that is a Patrol Leader or a Captain.

Also the hoisting of the Flag, the colors of a regiment, the playing of Star Spangled Banner.

When the National Anthem is played the Scouts do not salute, but merely stand at attention.

When marching in Troop or Patrol formation do not salute with the hand. When passing other Troops or a superior officer, the officer or Patrol Leader in charge alone will salute with the hand, at the same time giving the command, “Eyes right,” or “Eyes left,” as the case may be, on which every Scout will turn her head sharply in that direction till the officer gives the word “Eyes front.”

It is more than ever necessary to hold yourself smartly when giving the salute, otherwise you would make a very slovenly show of it.

Woodcraft Signs

Scout signs on the ground or wall, etc., close to the right-hand side of the road.

Road to be followed.

Letter hidden five paces from here in the direction of the arrow.

This path not to be followed.

“I have gone home.”

(Signed) Patrol Leader.

At night sticks with a wisp of grass round them or stones should be laid on the road in similar forms so that they can be felt with the hand.

[_Practise this._]

Signals and Signs

When a Captain wants to call her Scouts together she sounds her whistle. Then they _double_ to the Captain.

_Whistle signals_ are there:—

One long blast means “Halt,” “Silence,” “Alert,” “Look out for my next signal,” or “Cease.” (Stop what you’re doing, look out for next command.)

A succession of long, slow blasts means “Go out,” “Get farther away,” or “Advance,” “Extend,” “Scatter.”

A succession of short, sharp blasts means “Rally,” “Close in,” “Come together,” “Fall in.”

A succession of short and long blasts alternately means “Alarm,” “Look out,” “Be ready,” “Man your alarm posts.”

Three short blasts followed by one long one from Scout Captain calls up the patrol leaders—that is, “Leaders come here!”

Any whistle signal must be instantly obeyed at the double as fast as ever you can run, no matter what other job you may be doing at the time.

_Hand signals_ (which can also be made by patrol leaders with their patrol flags when necessary):—

Hand Signals

“_Advance_,” “Forward.”—Swing the arm from rear to front, below the shoulder.

“_Retire._”—Circle the arm above the head.

“_Halt._”—Raise the arm to full extension above the head, etc.

“_Double._”—The closed fist moved up and down between your shoulder and thigh.

“_Quick Time._”—To change from the “Double” to the Quick Time, raise the hand to the shoulder.

“_Reinforce._”—Swing the arm from the rear to the front above the shoulder.

“_Lie down._”—With the open hand make two or three slight movements towards the ground.

“_Wheel._”—Extend your arm in line with your shoulder and make a circular movement in the direction required.

“_Incline._”—Extend your arm in line with your shoulder and make a turn with your body in the direction required.

Observation

_Stalking._—A Scout has to be sharp at seeing things if she is going to be any good as a Scout. She has to notice every little track and every little sign, and it is this studying of tracks and following them out and finding out their meaning which we include under the name of stalking. For instance, if you want to find a bird’s-nest you have to stalk. That is to say, you watch a bird flying into a bush and guess where its nest is, and follow it up and find the nest. With some birds it is a most difficult thing to find their nests; take, for instance, the skylark or the snipe. But those who know the birds, especially the snipe, will recognise their call. The snipe when she is alarmed gives quite a different call from when she is happy and flying about. She has a particular call when she has young ones about. So that those who have watched and listened and know her call when they hear it know pretty well where the young ones are or where the nest is and so on.

_Tracking._—The native hunters in most wild countries follow their game by watching for tracks on the ground, and they become so expert at seeing the slightest sign of a footmark on the ground that they can follow up their prey when an ordinary civilized man can see no sign whatever. But the great reason for looking for signs and tracks is that from these you can read a meaning. It is exactly like reading a book. You will see the different letters, each letter combining to make a word, and the words then make sense; and there are also commas and full-stops and colons; all of these alter the meaning of the sense. They are all little signs which one who is practised and has learnt reading makes into sense at once, whereas a savage who has never learned could make no sense of it at all. And so it is with tracking.

_Reading Signs._—As you know a soldier Scout in war can only get his information about the enemy by watching for the smallest signs both on the ground and in the far distance. In the war of Texas against Mexico in the last century, it was very important that the general commanding the Mexican Army should be captured when the defeat of that army was accomplished by the Texans. He had disappeared; but some of the Scouts of the Texan force were out scouting for the enemy when they saw in the distance some deer were suddenly startled by something they could not see and ran away. The Texan Scouts were at once suspicious, and went to the spot as fast as they could. There they found a soldier of the Mexicans evidently trying to escape. When they caught him and opened his tunic they found underneath he was wearing a silk shirt, which was not usual with a private in the Army. They took him to Headquarters, and there found that he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Mexican Army, trying to escape disguised as a soldier. And had it not been that they had noticed the deer being startled, it is probable that they would not have caught him.

_Sherlock Holmesing._—In just the same way detectives, when they are following up a crime, have to act on the very smallest clues, and if they did not use their wits and notice these the criminal would probably escape.

Well, I want Girl Scouts to learn to be almost like detectives in their sharpness in noticing small signs and reading the meaning of them, not merely for the purpose of studying animals and birds, but also for studying their human fellow creatures.

It is by noticing small signs of distress or poverty in people that you can often help them in the best way. Generally those people who most need help are the ones who hide their distress; and if you are clever and notice little signs such as unhappiness, you can then give them or offer them help in some way or other. In this way you learn sympathy for fellow-creatures—not merely to be a friend of animals, but also to be a friend of your fellow-men in this world; and that again is carrying out the Girl Scout Law of helping others and being friendly to all.

_Nature in the City._—This noticing of small things, especially in animal life, not only gives you great interest, but it also gives you great fun and enjoyment in life. Even if you live in a city you can do a certain amount of observation of birds and animals. You would think there is not much fun to be got out of it in a city, and yet if you begin to notice and know all about the sparrows you begin to find there is a great deal of character and amusement to be got out of them, by watching their ways and habits, their nesting, and their way of teaching their young ones to fly.

_Dissecting._—If you go to the butcher’s and get him to give you a sheep’s foot and you carefully open it up with a sharp penknife you will see how wonderfully every bone and joint and sinew is made and fitted into the machine which enables the foot to move and the sheep to get along. Then, if you think it out, you know that if you go away across the sea to the other end of the world, to Australia or New Zealand, and take a sheep’s foot there and dissect it in the same way you find it exactly and identically the same over there as it is here. God’s work is the same all over the world. People don’t notice these things and don’t think about them as a rule, and when you begin to think it out you begin to see what a wonderful work it is of God’s, who made all these different animals in their own form, all alike, and yet so different from the other kind of animals, fishes, or birds. You begin to realise then what a wonderful Creator has made the world and all that is in it.

D. OUR FLAG

Scouts in uniform will always salute the colors (or standard of a regiment) when they pass. There are generally two such standards, one the “Stars and Stripes,” and the other the “Regimental Colors.”

The Army and Government buildings fly the stars and stripes.

Description of the American Flag

The flag to-day has thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, with a blue field in the corner bearing forty-eight stars. The thirteen stripes symbolize the thirteen original states, and the stars stand for the states now in the Union. The five pointed star is used, it is said at Betsey Ross’s suggestion. This five pointed star is the seal of King Solomon, and the sign of infinity. Even the colors of the flag mean something: red stands for valor, blue for justice, and white for purity.

Pledge of Allegiance

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

When you pledge your allegiance make the full salute, keeping the hand at the brow until you say “flag,” when you extend the hand, still in the salute position, palm up, pointing toward the flag. Hold the hand out thus until the end of the pledge.

How to Fly the Flag and Show Respect to It

1. The flag should not be hoisted before sunrise nor
allowed to remain up after sunset.

2. At retreat, sunset, civilian spectators should stand
at attention, Scouts may give their salute.

3. When the national colors are passing on parade or
review the spectators should if walking, halt, and if
sitting, rise and stand at attention and uncover.

4. When the flag is flown at half-mast as a sign of
mourning it should be hoisted to full staff at the
conclusion of the funeral. In placing the flag at
half-mast, it should first be hoisted to the top of the
staff and then be lowered to position. Preliminary to
lowering from half-mast it should first be raised to
top.

5. On Memorial Day, May 30th, the flag should fly at
half-mast from sunrise till noon, and at full mast from
noon to sunset.

6. The flag at half-mast is a sign of mourning.

7. The flag flown upside down is a signal of distress.

8. No national flag is ever hung above the flag of
another nation. When the flags of two or more nations
are displayed they should be on separate staffs or on
separate halyards, and on the same level. In America
the Stars and Stripes are always given the place of
honor on the right.

9. An old torn or soiled flag should be destroyed
privately and respectfully, preferably by burning.

E. KNOTS AND HOW TO TIE THEM

While making your knots S.T.

Knots

Strings or ropes are used almost daily by every one in some form or other, and yet people often break their nails and teeth gnawing at their own knots to untie them. Time spent in learning a few simple reliable knots is not time wasted, but quite the contrary.