“Then you will read on page 44, that every girl who wishes to enroll as a Scout must be at least ten years old and must have attended meetings for a month, during which time she will have passed her Tenderfoot Test. During the first month she is known as a Candidate. When she knows the meaning of the Promise and the Laws, and is sure she understands the meaning of the oath she is about to take, and comprehends the meaning of ‘Honor,’ she is eligible to be a Tenderfoot.
“My Girl Scouts passed the Tenderfoot class last year, and then took the Second Class Test, which was also passed successfully by them. We are all ready to pass the First Class Scout Test, except that each girl must present a Tenderfoot who has been trained by the candidate. This is our opportunity, as you girls all wish to be Scouts, and my girls can train you, thus giving them the privilege of being First Class Scouts.
“I was going to speak of other things, but since our visitors’ arrival, I wish Mrs. James to tell us how many girls she knows on whom we can count for the new Patrol.” Miss Mason turned to Mrs. James and waited.
“Natalie knows more about the matter than I, Miss Mason, as she and Janet went about the Corners securing the candidates. Let her tell us about it,” replied Mrs. James.
Natalie was called upon to address the audience and so she got up and spoke. “Janet and I called on Nancy Sherman and Hester Tompkins and secured their promise to join our Patrol as soon as we were ready for them. Then we went to Dorothy Ames’s house and got her interested. With these girls”—Natalie waved her hand at the four girls sitting on the log,—“we will have eight applicants. Janet has a younger sister Helene, who is not twelve yet, so we are not sure whether we want her to belong to our Patrol. All of us girls are over twelve and it is more fun when girls are nearer an age. I’ve been thinking that Helene might start a Brownie Troop, a younger Patrol than ours. We might allow them to join us, later on.”
As Natalie sat down, the girls of Solomon’s Seal Patrol showed their delight at the progress made in the enlisting, and Miss Mason commended the two who had visited the girls of Four Corners and had interested them in the proposed plan.
“Mrs. James, have you thought of a Leader and Corporal for Natalie’s new Patrol?” asked Miss Mason.
“I fear I am not well enough versed in scouting to take such a responsibility upon myself. I would prefer having you do it,” responded Mrs. James.
“I’d rather not be any officer, Miss Mason,” exclaimed Natalie, “because they always have to work while the others have a good time. I’ll just be an every-day Scout.”
The girls laughed, as there was more reason than rhyme in the statement. But Miss Mason said: “There’s always one girl in a group who has the knack of directing her companions. Such a girl ought to be an officer.”