Pasteboards and Deal Tables.—Scrub hard the way of the grain. Hot water makes boards and tables yellow. Rinse in cold water and dry well.
Saucepans.—New saucepans must not be used till they have first been filled with cold water and a little soda, and boiled for an hour or so, and must be well scoured. After bowls or saucepans have been used, fill them at once with cold water to the brim; this will prevent anything hardening on the saucepan and will make cleaning easier.
Swimming
Swimming.—Every 1st Class Scout ought to be able to swim. It is not only for her own amusement that she should do so, but so that she will not cause other people to risk their lives in rescuing her when she gets into difficulties in the water, and that she may be able to help those in distress. British girls are behindhand in learning to swim—it is very different in Norway and Sweden, or in America, where nearly every girl can swim.
Where a doctor says swimming is bad for her, or there is no possible means for her learning, such other badges that she does not hold may be accepted instead towards qualifying the Scout for her 1st Class.
No Scout can be of real use till she can swim, and to learn swimming is no more difficult than to learn bicycling.
All you have to do is at first to try and swim like a dog, as if trying to crawl slowly along in the water; don’t try all at once to swim with the ordinary breast stroke that swimmers use, because this only lets your mouth go under water every time. When paddling along like a dog get a friend to support you at first with a pole or his hand under your belly.
Any of you who cannot swim as yet, and who fall into the water out of your depth, remember that you need not sink if you take care to do the following things. First, keep your mouth upwards by throwing the head well back. Secondly, keep your lungs full of air by taking in long breaths, but breathe out very little. Thirdly, keep your arms under water. To do this you should not begin to shout, which will only empty your lungs, and you should not throw your arms about or beckon for help, else you will sink. So the main thing of all is to keep cool and force yourself to remember and to carry out these things.
CHILD WELFARE
There always are and always will be children to be care of. Perhaps there is no better way for a girl to help her country than to fit herself to undertake the care of children. She should learn all she can about them, and take every opportunity of helping to look after these small Boy and Girl Scouts of the future. Many girls are already doing this and are realizing that the Child Welfare badge is one of the most important in the whole list for a Scout to win.