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.
PART IV
CAPTAINS
WHAT IS GIRL SCOUTING?
The Girl Scouts are a Sisterhood. This means that members of it, from top to bottom, are working together as sisters—elder and younger sisters—from joy of the work. It is not a small army composed of officers, non-commissioned officers and privates in their respective grades directing or directed under imposed instruction, therefore the title of Captain and Lieutenant, which, although adopted in the Association, does not exactly describe their rôle, so I shall in these notes refer to the seniors of all grades as I always think of them, viz. as the Captains—those who, like elder sisters, show the younger ones how “to turn to the right and keep straight on.” The secret of successful execution of a scheme or of an order is that those to whom it is imparted should not merely have the statement but understand the meaning that underlies it. So I would propose here—without any idea of instructing my grandchildren how to masticate hen products—to help them to understand some of the methods of our movement so that those who are interested may the more easily take up the work of guiding girls in this happy sisterhood.
The Need
That nation comes to the fore which has the most character in its citizens. It deserves its supremacy only when that character is a good character. The character of a nation is not merely that of a few leaders but of the majority of the people. Character is largely a matter of environment and training, and, later on, of experience. Undoubtedly the mother’s influence gives as a rule the first impetus to character. A mother cannot give that which she does not possess herself. Therefore it is all-important that the mothers of our country should possess character of a high quality in order to inculcate it in their children. Hitherto the girls, some of the future mothers of our race, have had little character training as a direct part of their education. Character includes self-reliance, self-discipline, cheerfulness, consideration for others, sense of duty, patriotism, and other such moral qualities. But there are other things besides character needed to make a citizen, especially: