How Girls Can Help Their Country.
[Low, Juliette]. How Girls Can Help Their Country. Adapted from Agnes Baden-Powell and Sir Robert Baden-Powell’s Handbook. (New York: Girl Scout National Headquarters),1917.
12mo.; photographically illustrated; text pages browned; stapled signatures; staples causing abrasions inside rear wrapper; blue illustrated cloth wrappers; light wear.
The first handbook for the Girl Scouts of the United States, adapted from the Boy Scout handbook written by its founder, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, and his sister Agnes. Agnes Baden-Powell had organized the “Girl Guide” troops to accommodate the 6000 girls who had tried to join her brother’s exclusively male organization. Juliette Low enrolled the first American Girl Guides in Georgia, in March, 1912, and the following year established the National Headquarters of the renamed Girl Scouts in Washington, D.C., establishing the ten Scout Laws: truth, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, purity, and thrift. In 1916 the headquarters were moved to New York, at which time Low consulted “a committee and experts from all parts of America” to help her adapt the Baden-Powells’ guide for use by the Girl Scouts of the United States. The preface notes, “It is impossible to train Girl Scouts without the Handbook” (p. 2).
How Girls Can Help Their Country is divided into six parts. Part One is an introduction, offering a history of the Scouts, with sections on “how to begin,” “laws,” and “self-improvement.” The second part provides membership information, including qualifications, enrollment, badges and awards. Part Three encompasses activities: games, camping, scoutcraft, stars, and gardening. Part Four covers sanitation, health, and home life. The penultimate part is devoted to first aid, and in conclusion Low delivers thoughts on patriotism, prints a reading list, and compiles an index.
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