~ SSRsi PDF Library Previews ~

Scouting for Girls
Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts
By Girl Scouts, Inc.
584 pages 1925

Intuition  ~  Creativity  ~  Adaptability
Home Page
Table of Contents
Emergencies
Family Affairs
Natural Disasters
New World Order
Outdoor Survival
Self-Reliance
Shortages
TEOTWAWKI
Terrorism & Terrorists
United States Government
War & Military
Other Stuff


Contact SSRsi
News, Ads and Chat
Support SSRsi
Reciprocal Links


SSRsi OnLine Store
Get Firefox!

This book is included in the Family Affairs - Children, Parents & Home Economics section.

wwhmurray1 wwhmurray1

Foreword - How Scouting Began
"How did Scouting come to he used by girls?" That is what I have been asked. Well, it was this way. In the beginning
I had used Scouting—that is, wood craft, handiness, and cheery helpfulness—as a means for training young soldiers
when they first joined the army, to help them become handy, capable men and able to hold their own with anyone 
instead of being mere drilled machines.

You have read about the Wars in your country against the Red Indians, of the gallantry of your soldiers against the
cunning of the Red Man, and what is more, of the pluck of your women on those dangerous frontiers. Well, we have 
had much the same sort of thing in South Africa. Over and over again I have seen there the wonderful bravery and
resourcefulness of the women when the tribes of Zulu or Matabeles have been out on the war path against the white
settlers.

In the Boer war a number of women volunteered to help my forces as nurses or otherwise; they were full of pluck and
energy, but unfortunately they had never been trained to do anything, and so with all the good-will in the world they
were of no use. I could not help feeling how splendid it would be if one could only train them in peace time in the same
way one trained the young soldiers—that is, through Scoutcraft.

I afterwards took to training boys in that way, but I had not been long at it before the girls came along, and offered to
do the very thing I had hoped for, they wanted to take up Scouting also. 

They did not merely want to be imitators of the boys; they wanted a line of their own.

So I gave them a smart blue uniform and the names of "Guides" and my sister wrote an outline of the scheme. The
name Guide appealed to the British girls because the pick of our frontier forces in India is the Corps of Guides. The
term cavalry or infantry hardly describes it since it is composed of all-round handy men ready to take on any job in 
the campaigning line and do it well.

Then too, a woman who can be a good and helpful comrade to her brother or husband or son along the path of life is
really a guide to him.

The name Guide therefore just describes the members of our sisterhood who besides being handy and ready for any
kind of duty are also a jolly happy family and likely to be good, cheery comrades to their mankind.

The coming of the Great War gave the Girl Guides their opportunity, and they quickly showed the value of their
training by undertaking a variety of duties which made them valuable to their country in her time of need.

My wife, Lady Baden-Powell, was elected by the members to be the Chief Guide, and under her the movement has
gone ahead at an amazing pace, spreading to most foreign countries. It is thanks to Mrs. Juliette Low, of Savannah,
that the movement was successfully started in America, and though the name Girl Scouts has there been used it is all
part of the same sisterhood, working to the same ends and living up to the same Laws and Promise.

If all the branches continue to work together and become better acquainted with each other as they continue to 
become bigger it will mean not only a grand step for the sisterhood, but what is more important it will be a real help 
toward making the new League of Nations a living force. How can that be? In this way:

If the women of the different nations are to a large extent members of the same society and therefore in close touch
and sympathy with each other, although belonging to different countries, they will make the League a real bond not
merely between the Governments, but between the Peoples themselves and they will see to it that it means Peace 
and that we have no more of War.
Robert Baden Powell.
May, 1919

Preface
THE present edition of "Scouting for Girls'* is the result of collaboration on the part of practical workers in the 
organization from every part of the country. The endeavor on the part of its compilers has been to combine the 
minimum of standardization necessary for dignified and efficient procedure, with the maximum of freedom for every 
local branch in its interpretation and practice of the Girl Scout aims and principles.

Grateful acknowledgments are due to the following:

Miss Sarah Louise Arnold, Dean, and Miss Ula M. Dow, A.M., and Dr. Alice Blood, of Simmons College for the Part of
Section XI entitled "Home Economics''; Sir Robert Baden-Powell for frequent references and excerpts from "Girl 
Guiding"; Dr. Samuel Lambert for the Part on First Aid, Section XI, and Dr. W. H. Rockwell for reading and criticizing 
this; Miss Marie Johnson with the assistance of Miss Isabel Stewart of Teachers College, for the Part entitled "Home 
Nursing" in Section XI ; Dr. Herman M. Biggs for reading and criticizing the Parts dealing with Public Health and Child 
Care; Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton and The Woodcraft League, and Doubleday, Page & Co. for Section XII I and 
plates on "Woodcraft"; Mr. Joseph Parsons, Mr. James Wilder, Mrs. Eloise  Roorbach, and Mr. Horace Kephart and 
the Macmillan Company for the material in Section XIV "Camping for Girl Scouts"; Mr. George H.Sherwood. Curator, 
and Dr. G. Clyde Fisher, Associate Curator, of the Department of Public Education of the American Museum of 
Natural History for the specially prepared Section XV and illustrations on "Nature Study," and for all proficiency tests 
in this subject; Mr. David Hunter for Section XVI "The Girl Scout's Own Garden," and Mrs. Ellen Shipman for the part 
on a perennial border with the specially prepared drawing, in the Section on the Garden ; Mr. Sereno Stetson for 
material in Section XVII "Measurements, Map Making and Knots"; Mr. Austin Strong for pictures of knots; Mrs. 
Raymond Brown for the test for Citizen ; Miss Edith L. Nichols, Supervisor of Drawing in the New York Public Schools,
for the test on Craftsman; Mr. John GroUe of the Settlement Music School, Philadelphia, for assistance in the Music 
test; Miss Eckhart for help in the Farmer test; The Camera Club and the Eastman Kodak Company for the test for
Photographer; Mrs. Frances Hunter Elwyn of the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, for devising and drawing
certain of the designs for Proficiency Badges and the plates for Signalling; Miss L. S. Power, Miss Mary Davis and 
Miss Mabel Williams of the New York Public Library, for assistance in the preparation of reference reading for 
Proficiency Tests, and general reading for Girl Scouts.

It is evident that only a profound conviction of the high aims of the Girl Scout movement and the practical capacity of 
the organization for realizing them could have induced so many distinguished persons to give so generously of their 
time and talent to this Handbook. The National Executive Board, under whose auspices it has been compiled, 
appreciate this and the kindred courtesy of the various organizations of similar interests, most deeply. We feel that 
such hearty and friendly cooperation on the part of the community at large is the greatest proof of the vitality and real
worth of this and allied movements, based on intelligent study of the young people of our country.
Josephine Daskam Bacon,
Chairman of Publications
March 1, 1920. 

Contents

Foreword by Sir Robert Baden-Powell.
Preface by Josephine Daskam Bacon, Editor.

Section I. History of the Girl Scouts 
Section II. Principles of the Girl Scouts 
Section III. Organization of the Girl Scouts 
Section IV. Who Are the Scouts? 
Section V. The Out of Door Scout 
Section VI. Forms for Girl Scout Ceremonies 
Section VII. Girl Scout Class Requirements. 
Section VIII. What a Girl Scout Should Know About the Flag 
Section IX. Girl Scout Drill 
Section X. Signalling for Girl Scouts 
Section XI. The Scout Aide 
	Part 1. The Home Maker 
	Part 2. The Child Nurse 
	Part 3. The First Aide 
	Part 4. The Home Nurse 
	Part 5. The Health Guardian 
	Part 6. The Health Winner 
Section XII. Setting-up Exercises 
Section XIII. Woodcraft 
Section XIV. Camping for Girl Scouts 
Section XV. Nature Study for Girl Scouts 
Section XVI. The Girl Scouts' Own Garden 
Section XVII. Measurements, Map-Making and Knots 
Section XVIII. Proficiency Tests and Special Medals 
Section XIX. Reference Reading for Girl Scouts 

Index

End of Preview.

RETURN to Main Titles Index or Family Affairs - Children, Parents & Home Economics

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2012, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572