Organization
Scouts of Different Ages. The original Girl Scout program was designed mainly with the needs of the young adolescent in mind and the age was fixed from 10 to 18 years. But the little girls wanted to come in and so a separate division was made for them called the Brownies or Junior Scouts. Then the older girls and women wanted to join and as time went on the original Girl Scouts grew up, but not out of, the Scout movement, and programs are being made for Senior Scouts who are eighteen and over. The three age groups seem to be natural ones and each has its own methods and activities. The larger number of Girl Scouts belong to the middle adolescent group.
All Scouts are organized in the same way and all are enrolled with the National Girl Scout organization.
Patrol. Eight girls form a Patrol which is the working unit. The eight select from their own group a Patrol Leader who has charge of the activities for a month or any period of time the Patrol may designate. The Patrol Leader has immediate responsibilities for the activities of the eight. It is desirable to have each girl of a Patrol serve as a leader at some time or other.
Troop. One or more Patrols constitute a Troop which is the administrative unit recognized by the National organization.
Captain. The Troop is under the direction of a Captain who must be at least twenty-one years of age and whose qualification as a leader of young girls is passed upon by National Headquarters before she is commissioned.
Lieutenant. A Captain may have one or more Lieutenants. The Lieutenant must be at least eighteen years of age and her commission is likewise subject to control by National Headquarters.
Captains and Lieutenants may be organized into associations in any given locality.
Scout Classes. There are three classes of Girl Scouts, the youngest being the "Tenderfoot," the name given by frontiersmen to the man from the city who is not hardened to the rough life out of doors. Even the Tenderfoot, however, has to know some things including the Promise, Laws, Slogan and Motto, how to salute, and the respect due to the flag, and making some useful knots.
The "Second Class" Scout has been a Tenderfoot for at least one month, and can pass a test of distinctly greater difficulty, including a good deal about cooking and housekeeping, animals and birds, flowers and trees, some important first aid things, and the laws of health.
The highest is the "First Class" Scout and is to be attained only by a young person of considerable accomplishment. She must be able to find her way about city or country without any of the usual aids, using only the compass and her developed judgment of distance and direction. She must also be able to communicate and receive messages in two ways—by signalling in Semaphore and the General Service Codes which is the code used for telegraphing and wireless, and which can be used in several ways. She must have shown proficiency in Home Nursing, Child Care, and Housekeeping and in addition in either Laundering, Cooking, Needlework or Gardening. She must also be an all round out doors person, familiar with camping, and able to lead in this, or be a good skater or a naturalist, or be able to swim. Not only must she know all these different things but she must also have trained a Tenderfoot, and served her community.
Proficiency Badges. After a Girl Scout has attained to First Class there are still other worlds to conquer as the badges she has earned on the way are only a few of the many kinds still to be worked toward. There are at present no less than forty-six kinds of subjects in which a Scout may achieve, and more are being added daily. Just to mention a few: a Girl Scout may be an Astronomer, a Bee keeper, a Dairy-maid, or a Dancer, an Electrician, a Geologist, a Horsewoman, an Interpreter, a Motorist or a Musician, a Scribe, a Swimmer or accomplished in Thrift. Each subject has its own badge and when earned this is sewn into the uniform.
Council. There may also be, and this is desirable, a Council composed of women and men representing all the best interests of the community: parents, schools, religious denominations of all sorts, business, producers, women's clubs, and other social and philanthropic organizations. The Council acts as the link between the Girl Scouts and the community. It has the same relation to the separate Troops that the school board has to the schools, that is; it guides and decides upon policies and standards, interprets the Scouts to the community and the community to the Scouts. It does not do the executive or teaching work—that belongs to the Captains, Lieutenants and Patrol Leaders.
Another of the functions of the Council is to interest public spirited women and men, particularly artists and scientists in Girl Scout work and get them to act as referees in awarding Merit Badges for proficiency in the many lines encouraged for Girl Scouts.
But the community's resources of wisdom are not only in the schools and museums, and laboratories and studios—these are mostly to be found only in large cities. It is a poor place that does not have one or more wise old persons—a farmer learned in nature ways, a retired sailor stocked with sea lore, or a mother of men who knows life as perhaps no one else can. The wise council will know where to find these natural teachers and see that the children go to their schools.
Another prime function of the Council is the raising of funds and to make available such other material equipment as camp sites, meeting places for the Troops, etc. The Captain should turn to the Council for help in arranging and directing rallies, dances, fairs, pageants and other devices for entertainment or securing money.
National Organization. The central governing body of the Girl Scouts is the National Council made up of elected delegates from all local groups. The National Council works through an Executive Board, which conducts National Headquarters in New York. The National Director is in charge of Headquarters and has direct administrative responsibility for the work of the whole organization with the general divisions of Field, Business, Publication and Education.
"Be Prepared"
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