The man said, "What?"
"Initials," Pee-wee told him; "it means starting to do things of your own accord, see?"
The man laughed and he said, "Oh, you mean initiative." He said Pee-wee was worth ten cents not counting the movie show.
After most everyone else had gone, the girls all crowded around Pee-wee before they went back to their canoes. Oh, you should have seen that kid! The girl in the red sweater said, "My name is Grace Bentley and my friends want me to tell you what a perfectly lovely time we've had. And we think it's just wonderful how boy scouts are so, you know, what you may call it——"
"Sure," Pee-wee said; "resourceful, that's what you mean."
She said, "But you must remember that the Camp-fire Girls are new and we'll catch up to you yet."
"Oh, sure," Pee-wee said; "you'll catch up with us. All you have to do is try. First I couldn't learn scout pace. Gee, don't get discouraged. If you want to do a thing just make up your mind that you'll do it. And if you can't do it, do it anyway."
Gee, the rest of us just stood there trying to keep from screaming, while Pee-wee stood in the center of that crowd of girls, looking about as big as a toadstool, and giving them a scout lecture.
"All you have to do is try," he said; "did you notice where I was diving from the springboard?"
"Oh, I thought it was just dandy," a girl said.