Scouting for girls, adapted from girl guiding/Part 3

by Robert Baden-Powell

 

PART III

CITIZEN SCOUTS

(Over 16)

SENIOR SCOUTS

Even before the war came girls had begun to find that there were better things in the world for them to
Loafing on the pier. do than merely spend half their time in getting up their dresses and the other half in showing them off: there was enjoyment to be got without playing tennis, reading novels and so on; some of them had supposed that going to dances or loafing on the pier or in the street was the only way to get enjoyment, but others saw that this was really a great waste of time that became very boring after a bit. A vast number of them had seen that they were capable of doing a great many of the things that their brothers could do: they could play in a lot of games and take part in activities and also could do a good deal in the direction of work and handcraft, also they found that they could do well in professions and industries; they found that careers were open to them. Girls found at last that they had the power to make some use of their lives instead of drifting through them aimlessly and getting only a very hollow enjoyment out of them.

THE CITIZEN SCOUT

One of the most notable English statesman said in the fourth year of the Great War:

"I am anxious to bear testimony to the tremendous part played by the women in England in this vital epoch of human history. They have not only borne their burden of sorrow and separation with unflinching fortitude and patience but they have an enormous share of the burdens necessary to the practical conduct of the war.

"To their ennobling influence we look not only for strength to win the war, but for inspiration during the great work of reconstruction we will have to undertake after victory is won."

This is becoming true in American also. Never before have our national ideals been so clearly defined; never before have we realized the relative values of life.

One hundred years ago democracy was a masculine noun. Women worked loyally in the home for husband, son and brother. The war came and suddenly they found themselves working for all men who were holding high the ideals of the American home and the American nation. By assuming these responsibilities, women have entered unconsciously into active citizenship from which there is no retreat.

The great experiment is here. American girls are showing that they are made of the same stuff as their sturdy forefathers, and by thousands are entering untried and difficult fields and finding themselves capable of doing a great many things that their brothers and fathers have heretofore done. Handcraft, industries and professions have all been opened to young women. They are working in farm and field, factory and railway, bank and business office, hospital and camp, canteen and reconstruction. Girls and women with clear heads and adaptability are entering in amazing numbers into business and professional life, proving that their brains are not inferior to those of men. They have been keen to take up new tasks and quick to learn unfamiliar processes and their employers have been generous in acknowledging that skill comes only with practice.

But the authorities found on examining women for their new employments, that the lack was not entirely or fundamentally that of technical training but that a preliminary course was needed particularly in health knowledge and in discipline. These things would have been useful in any line of work, whether for war or for peace, and we are now awake to the necessity of such training. If a girl is to be equally efficient with her brother for work in the world, she must be given equal chances with him, equal chances for gaining character and skill discipline and bodily health, and equal chances for using these when she has got them.

Therefore the Citizen Scout was started, in order that girls with a sound body and disciplined mind should be able to help their country in many different ways after this tremendous world struggle.

Every Citizen Scout should have a vocation which she has chosen and by which she can support herself. If one can work at some congenial employment all the better, but even an apparently stupid occupation can be made interesting by a realization of the part it plays in the world of industry by which we all live, and one can get great pleasure out of work well done, even if it is only oiling a machine successfully. Wouldn't it make the daily labor more interesting to combine head with hand? For instance to put heads on pins all day long in a factory sounds monotonous, but the people to whom pin making is interesting find out what pins are made of, where the metal is found, how many things pins are used for; what people used as substitutes before pins were made. Once in England, a man took so small a thing as a needle for the subject of a play which has been well known ever since; Gammer Gurton's Needle. The machines which make the pins and needles are to-day marvels of skill developed through centuries of patient labor of head and hand. Farm labor is toilsome, but the life of the race depends on the products of field and pasture, and the Citizen Scout who works on the land is helping to feed the world.

But success in an industrial or professional career is neither the end nor the greatest joy of a girl's life. Home making is after all the vocation which calls most naturally and most deeply to a woman and is most worthy of her best efforts. However independent and self reliant a girl may be, the finding of her life comrade, the settling of her own home and the bringing up of her little ones are the biggest happiness that can be had in this world. Nature never meant a man or woman to live alone, and though bachelors may think themselves happy and free, they cannot realize the intense delight that comes with the home, the married comradeship and the children. There a woman has her real opportunity and her kingdom, and at the same time her responsibility. She is the making or the marring of the house, and her influence will rule her children all through their after life. If she recognizes this and shoulders her duty with that idea in mind she can in forming her children's character do a tremendous thing for each of them and a valuable service for the nation.

But to be the right sort of comrade to her husband and her children a girl must have known work herself. She must have gone through the struggle against failure and have enjoyed the triumph of success to be able fully to sympathize with her partner in his troubles and to be of use in helping him through them. A house mother is a money spender not a money getter, and her work is really much harder than his. A wise educator has said:

"I will undertake to guarantee the stability of our American democratic institutions if you will see to it that American wives are taught how best to spend the money their husbands earn. Somewhere in that last ten per cent of a man's income are hidden away his present happiness and future prospects, and those of his children.

The women of America must see to it that as far as lies in their power the vast resources of this great country are carefully conserved and wisely expended.

To be a valuable citizen the first qualification is an understanding of the organization and administration of one's government. With more knowledge of the principles for which our government really stands there will come to the thinking American girl a desire to help definitely in the administration of those principles. Real social service will develop every Citizen Scout, give her a broader vision of life, awaken her sympathy and clear her intellect so that when she casts her vote she will do it with intelligence and with civic pride.

Qualifications for Citizen Scouts

To become a Citizen Scout a girl must be 17 years old, or over, and she must declare her belief in the civic ideals of:

1. Good health—by trying to attain the Girl Scout standard of physical health.

2. Vocational Skill—by being willing to perfect herself in some work by which she can earn her living.

3. Public Service—by pledging herself to some public service, either individually or in her troop.

Any Girl Scout over seventeen shall be eligible for promotion to "Citizen Scout." When there are enough Citizen Scouts in any troop they may form a Citizen Scout patrol under their own patrol leader, in the same troop where they were formerly Scouts, or separate troops of Citizen Scouts may be formed if desired, either by ex-Scouts or by young women who have not been Scouts before. The number of members for Citizen Scout patrol or troop is not limited. One member will be elected Troop leader, and other officers may be elected as found desirable. A Troop may, if it likes, choose a member of the Local Committe or any woman in the community in whose sympathy and judgment they have confidence to act as "counsellor and friend." Or they may refer to the local director or to the chairman of Girl Scout Captain Association when any difficulty arises, or they may be quite independent of any control outside of their own troop, except the Council and Local Committee.

A Citizen Scout troop may adopt any crest of the list authorized by Headquarters but a crest is not obligatory.

Each Citizen Scout must pay an annual registration fee of 25 cents to National Headquarters.

A Citizen Scout is expected to make the regular Girl Scout promise and in addition to accept for herself the three ideals of good citizenship.—Good Health, Vocational Skill, and Public Service.

Motto, "Be Prepared."

Badge: The Trefoil. To the Citizen Scout the badge stands not only for the three parts of the Scout promise, but also for the three civic ideals.

Citizen Scouts use the regular Girl Scout Salute. (See p. 000.)

The uniform consists of:

• Khaki long coat (or Norfolk suit).
• Khaki hat.

G.S. (Girl Scout) on collar, or coat lapels.

Hat band with Tenderfoot badge on it.

Instead of the full uniform a Citizen Scout may wear a brassard of khaki with stencilled trefoil and letters G.S. to which she may add the crest of her troop. The Troop leader's insignia is a ¼ inch red ribbon around the left arm above elbow. This may be put on uniform or brassard.

Citizen Scouts may work for the same proficiency badges as Girl Scouts. They are recommended to qualify for the progressive badge, especially if they have already won the Proficiency badges.

A Citizen Scout who has been a Girl Scout may continue wearing her badge or she may wear the stripes to indicate the number of badges secured. One stripe denotes five badges; two stripes denote ten, and three denote fifteen badges.

Citizen Scout Ideals

Under the three civic ideals of Good Health, Vocational Skill and Public Service certain activities are suggested from which the Citizen Scout may choose.

I. "I will make myself physically perfect."

The Government requires that its employees shall pass a physical examination to determine their fitness for service. It is strongly recommended that every Citizen Scout shall determine her own physical fitness by a similar examination given by some competent physician. In this way she may discover any weakness or defect and remedy it by exercise, rest or medical care. An annual examination of one's body is a strong asset for a long life. The best body to have is one which is in such good health that its owner does not need to think about it.

It serves her constantly and faithfully. The rules for keeping such a servant are:

Absolute cleanliness in body and clothing.

Daily exercise and rest in proper amounts.

Sufficient good plain food at regular intervals.

Plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

A Citizen Scout should have a definite knowledge of personal health and of her own physical constitution and powers; should know the dangers of disease, and the effects of the social evil.

A Citizen Scout should also understand the health conditions in her own neighborhood and have full information as to food, water, and milk supply, the ashes and garbage disposal, street cleaning and other matters relating to the public health in her community.

Suggested Activities

Gymnasium Exercises.

Organized sports and games, with teams for competitions against other Scout troops, Y.W.C.A. Jewish Alliance, schools, colleges or other organizations.

Troop hikes, indoor social games, and dancing.

Debates, talks by public health officers, readings on topics relating to household and civic sanitation. These should be linked up with some sort of actual community public health work such as milk or food inspection, school inspection, work of visiting nurse and school doctor, anti-tuberculosis campaigns, etc.

• Advanced First Aid.
• Advanced Home Nursing.
• Badges: Ambulance.
• Athletics.
• Public Health.
• Home Nursing.

Special Health Award

Citizen Scouts who attain to the Girl Scout standard of health shall be known as Super Scouts or Senior Scouts, and they shall be allowed to arrange the Girl Scout inter-troop athletic meets and competitions, calling upon the various captains of Girl Scout troops in the community and also Citizen Scouts to furnish girls to make up the teams. The Citizen Scouts may coach teams and shall act as umpires and referees in the games.

II. "I will be able to earn my own living."

Among the subjects Citizen Scouts may take up are nursing, child nursing, wood working, metal working, design, interior decoration, stenographer, typewriting, journalism, telegraphy, dress-design, dressmaking, salesmanship, cooking, marketing, farming, gardening, and all varieties of trades.

Groups of Citizen Scouts would find much pleasure and profit, if they would undertake some quite different line from their daily occupation such as basket making, modeling, pottery, book-binding, upholstery, or any other branch of industrial or fine arts.

If a troop of Citizen Scouts wishes to study industrial problems in their own trade or trades where other girls are employed, meetings may be arranged between the groups of girls in the different occupations. A sympathetic understanding of others needs will tend to create a better social stability. Self perfection and vocational advancement need not necessarily lead to selfishness and fancied superiority. In these discussions or debates outsiders may be invited to take part. A successful business woman might come to give her experience and help in the discussion. A troop scrap book of clippings from newspapers and magazines showing what is going on in the industrial world will be of interest.

Badges

• Artist
• Automobiling
• Child nurse
• Clerk
• Cook
• Invalid
• Dairy
• Electricity
• Farmer
• Gardening
• Home nursing
• Housekeeper
• Interpreter
• Laundress
• Music
• Needlewoman
• Photography
• Scribe
• Telegraphy

Special Vocational Award

Home maker.—To win this a Citizen Scout must hold the cook, laundress, needlewoman, housekeeper, and home nurse's badges, and must actually take charge of her home for a period of three months, keeping the accounts, and superintending all the housework that is done when she cannot do it all herself.

Industrial Worker.—To win this badge a Citizen Scout must support herself for at least three months, and bring a certificate from her employer to prove she has done this.

III. "I will serve my country"

Each Citizen Scout troop should when possible, take up some definite form of public service. When such group work is not possible, each individual can find real public service opportunities open in any number of fields.

Scouting gets its "punch" from actual participation in doing things worth while. Therefore, use study clubs, lectures, books, etc.; as may be necessary but base your tests on actual deeds performed. First a follower (learner) and then a leader. A Citizen Scout can observe and study law-making in progress in a local board of supervisors of a county or city council or state legislature: or report on a session of court covering at least one full legal case. She might visit the freight terminal, and follow the milk delivery to the door of the consumer; or find a voluntary job in a creche, hospital or old ladies' home, and do something worth while for thirty hours. She might attend a meeting of the School Board; help with school luncheons, and follow the work of the school nurse in the home. Any girl who will follow up any department of government and actually take part in it for a week—whether in street cleaning or reading to blind old ladies—will always thereafter have a different attitude toward civic affairs in that field.

Each Citizen Scout should find her own field and cultivate it: devote so many hours actual participation and report on it; develop qualities of leadership for her patrol; assist a captain of younger Girl Scout troop; take over the village park, the care of a public library, provide summer outings for poor children, conduct a camp, helping a teach, etc. District nursing offers many chances for voluntary effort. Sunday school teaching, Y.W.C.A. work, Girl's Friendly Societies, Big Sisters, all provide good opportunities. Red Cross and other patriotic organizations need helpers. No one should live to herself alone these days. Your country needs you now—not next week or when you have leisure, but now. The girl who doesn't respond never will be worth what she might be. What are you going to do about it? Do it now!

Badges

Public Health.

Civics.

Special Civic Award.—Must hold a civics badge, and carry out some definite investigation of civic matters, and report on it in an article of 500 words or more, or must carry through some public service for a period of at least three months.

The Badges are similar to those for Girl Scouts with a red border round them.

Badges are also given to girls who qualify in technical or continuation schools, or in some cases in their now factories or workshops. These are grouped as follows:

Activities for Citizen Scouts

Group I. Nursing Service.
	Medical Student.
	Home Nursing.
	Convalescent Nursing.
	Child Nursing.
	Hospital Nursing.
	Masseuse.
	Physical Trainer.
Gorud 2. Arts and Crafts.
	Architects.
	Artists.
	Embroiderer and Lace Maker.
	Designer.
	Wood-worker.
	Sculptor and Modeller
	Metal worker.
	Musician.
	Photographer.
	Acting and reciting.
	Dancing.
Group 3. Professional.
	Accountant.
	School Teacher.
	Secretary.
	Journalist.
	Motorist.
	Telegraphist.
Group 4. Manufacturer.
	Textile worker.
	Leather worker.
	Toy maker.
	Confectioner.
	Dressmaker.
Group. 5. Commercial.
	Clerk.
	Saleswoman.
	Traveller.
	Foreign Correspondent.
	Manager.
Group 6. Housework.
	Cook.
	Domestic Science.
	Parlourmaid.
	Housemaid.
Group 7. Outdoor work.
	Agriculture.
	Dairy farming.
	Horticulture.
	Poultry farming.
	Bee keeping.
	Fruit growing.
	Market gardening.
	Naturalist.

The badge for these is a coloured Badge round the arm. When a Student passes a higher examination of the technical school, she obtains a further Badge of a crown to add to the stripe.

In many places the leaders of Scout troops have felt the need of more training for the work they were doing with their girls, and so Training Schools have been established, or classes have been organized under the auspices of a local Council. In some cases regular troops of older girls have been organized for the purpose of training them to be Girl Scout leaders. Such "Officers' Training Troops" offer excellent opportunities for girls to learn all the Scout practices and activities, and at the same time how to manage troops, by the best possible method—that of actually doing it.

Discipline

In training yourself to be an officer you will recognise that in order to command obedience you have yourself to understand how to obey. It is only by practising your own self-discipline that you will see how to develop it in others.

Responsibility

As an officer you will be a responsible person in authority. You will not have others to turn to for instruction, you will have to devise your own plans and to put them into action for yourself. You will be trusted and expected to do these things.

Sympathy and Fairness

In dealing with those under you you must have sympathy with each individual. Each one of them has a different mind and a different capacity; this you have to take into account, and you must remember that success will only come where you get their whole-hearted enthusiasm for the work. The successful officer never drives—she leads.

Leadership

So the Scout officer leads her girls by her own example, whether it is in

"Come on, Lads!"	"Go on, you—"

her Character that is patience, good temper, keenness, and zeal,

or

her Skill at handcraft,

or

her Service in doing good turns and readiness to sacrifice her time, money, or even life itself for others,

or

her Development of her own health and strength in order to fit her to carry out her life's work.

The Joy of Scouting

Now after reading this don't, for goodness' sake, drop your jaw and think that "this is not the sort of thing you want to learn in becoming a Cadet." There is no need to be downhearted because there is a serious side underlying all the jollity of Scout games. Quite the opposite. Scout games and practices are just as lively and exciting as any others, but they bring greater enjoyment in the end. Why? Because after all, when you have played your tennis or your golf, your hockey or even your humble hopscotch, you begin to think it was very jolly but there was something lacking; what good did it do to anyone? It was to some extent time wasted. The worst agony of death at the moment when the sands are running out and minutes are precious is the feeling that so many hours of life have been wasted on things that did not matter.