Robert Baden-Powell

“ If it is slightly on one side, the wearer is good-natured; if it is worn very much on one side, he is a swaggerer; if on the back of his head, he is bad at paying his debts; if worn straight on the top, he is probably honest but very dull.
The way a man (or a woman) walks is often a good guide to his character—witness the fussy, swaggering little man paddling along with short steps and much arm-action; the nervous man's hurried, jerky stride; the slow slouch of the loafer; the smooth, quick, and silent step of the Scout, and so on. ”

“ So don't become a Patrol Leader merely for the swagger of it or the sake of wearing an extra badge or two, but really think whether you are fitted to lead those girls, and take it up with the best of your ability to make good Scouts of them. You have got to command your Patrol; well, you can only command others if you have their confidence, and you can only have their confidence if you have confidence in yourself; you can only have confidence in yourself by knowing your work thoroughly and well. ”

“ Besides worshipping God in church, the knights always recognised His work in the things which He made, such as animals, plants, and scenery. And so it is with the Scouts to-day, that wherever they go they love the woodlands, the mountains, and the prairie, and they like to watch and know about the animals that inhabit them, and the wonders of the flowers and plants. No man is much good, either to himself or to others, unless he believes in God and obeys His laws. So every Scout should have a religion. ”

“ Instead of being hysterical and useless, she was as cool and ready to do the right thing as if she had been in bomb-raids every day of her life. Well, that is what any girl can do if she only prepares herself for it. ”

“ A Scout's Duty is to be Useful and to Help Others.
She is to do her duty before anything else, even though she gives up her own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to do it. When in difficulty to know which of two things to do, she must ask herself, "Which is my duty?"—that is, "Which is best for other people?"—and do that one. ”

“ You save every particle of food and in this way you learn not only cleanliness, but thrift and economy. And you very soon realise how cheaply you can live in camp, and how very much enjoyment you can get for very little money. And as you live in the fresh, pure air of God you find that your own thoughts are clean and pure as the air around you. There is hardly one of the Scout Laws that is not better carried out after you have been living and practising it in camp. ”

“ How to Train a Tenderfoot
You know the things that you had to do as a Tenderfoot. It is now your business to do a good turn to another girl by showing her how to become a Scout. Mind you, it is all done by kindness and example. Perhaps you will find your pupil very shy or slow or stupid. Well, Be Prepared, for that and—smile. Be jolly with her. Don't try and teach her everything all at once. Show her generally all that she has to do and then begin with one thing and do it for her—then repeat it with her—and finally let her do it for herself. ”

“ It is an interesting thing to take as the object of a walk the selection of a house where you would like to live. Notice the position, estimate the cost of rent, rates, taxes, etc., notice its garden and how you would utilise it, and, inside, what kind of wall-paper, etc., you would select so it would be homely and not merely for show, in good taste and not tawdry, airy and not stuffy with too many hangings, which will clean, and so on. ”

“ So the wretched Girl Scouts, when they are forced to play these dull games and to do the terrible hard work of Scouting, need something to cheer them up. All they have to do is to learn a few jingles and to sing them, stamp, bang, or whistle them as they go along, and they are sure to feel the better for it. ”

“ But it could only be done when a girl has trained herself as the Scouts do to be plucky, to be handy, to keep cool, to know what is the right thing to do—and to do it at no matter what risk to herself. ”

“ This body of men must be prepared for every kind of fighting. Sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in the mountains, often with pioneer work, wading through rivers and making bridges, and so on. But they have to be a skilful lot of men, brave and enduring, ready to turn out at any time, winter or summer, or to sacrifice themselves if necessary in order that peace may reign throughtout India while they keep down any hostile raids against it. ”

“ There are many kinds of religion, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mohammedans, and so on, but the main point about them is that they all worship God, although in different ways. They are like an army which serves one king, though it is divided into different branches, such as cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and these wear different uniforms. So, when you meet a girl of a different religion from your own, you should not be hostile to her, but recognise that she is still serving the same king as you. ”

“ Do not give a baby too much food at a time, and keep him on plain food. This applies to you as well as to baby. When the digestion is not right the appetite will not be good. Digestion makes the food you eat ready to be turned into muscle and bone and brain, and indigestion means that you have not used up the food you ate and therefore you have those uncomfortable pains in the middle of the night. Eat only the foods you know you can digest comfortably. ”

“ Then your own example is what will influence her a lot. If you get impatient and short-tempered so will she. If you laugh and enjoy the lesson so will she, and between you, you will get along like a house on fire. ”

“ The caddis worm has extraordinary jaws which he can fold up when they are in the way, and he can also push himself along in the water by squirting out a strong jet of water all round him. A caddis worm is really only the larva of a large sort of dragon fly; so when he wants to change into a winged insect, he cleverly spins a silken door across each end of his tubular house, and fixes it on to the stalk of a plant near the water. Then he waits till his wings have grown, and at last he crawls out and runs up the plant out of the water, and flies away into the sunshine. ”

“ And for these reasons the name Scout was given to them originally.
By means of games and activities which the Scouts practise they are able to learn the different things which will help them to get on in life, and show the way to others to get on also. Thus camping and signalling, first aid work, camp cooking, and all these things that the Scouts practise are all going to be helpful to them afterwards in making them strong, resourceful women, skilful and helpful to others, and strong in body as well as in mind, and what is more it makes them a jolly cheery lot of comrades also. ”

“ Oh, there is one more thing that hockey teaches. Often you lose a game, but you do not therefore lose your temper or lose your happiness for, as a Scout, you at once cheer the winners and forget to be put out by it. ”

“ As a Leader you must be the best at carrying out the Scout Law in your Patrol, the others will follow you in it; you must be the captain also in all the games; you must be the first in every venture; you must be the one to suggest good games, good ideas, good thoughts. If you are the first in every way like this your girls will follow your leads and you will have good discipline among them. Your aim should, of course, be to make your Patrol the best, and if every Patrol tries to be the best in the Troop, you may be sure that that Troop will be a very good one amongst other Troops. ”

“ In September you will see the migrating birds collecting to go away, the starlings in their crowds and the swallows for the South, and the warblers, the flycatchers, and the swifts. And yet about the same time the large are arriving, so there is a good deal of travelling to and from among the birds in the air at all times of the year. ”

“ What will you do when you suddenly find that baby is ill? To call in the doctor is the first thing, that is, if there is a doctor. But when there is no doctor! You will at once think of all the First Aid you have learned, and what you know of home nursing. Drugs are bad things. You may lay up trouble for a child by giving it soothing drugs and advertised medicines which sometimes make the baby stupid and may cause constipation. Never neglect the bowels if they become stopped up. This upsets digestion, poisons the baby and may help to bring on convulsions or other serious illnesses. ”

“ That is why we go into camp a good deal in the Boy Scout and in the Girl Scout movements, because in camp life we learn to do without so many things which while we are in houses we think are necessary, and find that we can do for ourselves many things where we used to think ourselves helpless. ”

“ You cannot see your thought, but you know it is there, and you see the result of your thought when you grasp the thing. In the same way God is not visible, but all the same he is there, and you see the result when you do a good act. Sometimes you don't do that good act, or you may do one that is not suggested by God. ”

“ You will have one little difficult point that you must keep an eye on; when you are trying to lead the Patrol and at the same time to show them the way, don't forget that you must not do the work of other girls. Give each one her job and see that she does it, but don't do it for her, or else she will always be leaning on you and expecting you to do it.
A Patrol can specialise, that is, all members to take one special badge, or a bit of ribbon will do, that a Patrol may be a Despatch Riding Patrol, or a Signalling Patrol, First Aid Patrol, a Home Helping Patrol, or even an Entertaining Patrol. ”

“ Dissecting.—If you go to the butcher's and get him to give you a sheep's foot and you carefully open it up with a sharp penknife you will see how wonderfully every bone and joint and sinew is made and fitted into the machine which enables the foot to move and the sheep to get along. Then, if you think it out, you know that if you go away across the sea to the other end of the world, to Australia or New Zealand, and take a sheep's foot there and dissect it in the same way you find it exactly and identically the same over there as it is here. God's work is the same all over the world. ”

“ A jolly useful thing for saving coal, saving time, and saving money is a Fireless Cooker.
The Fireless Cooker is a very valuable help to you in your enjoyment of camp, because once you have started the food cooking you shove it in the Fireless Cooker, you press the lid, and the Fireless Cooker does the rest!
And you can leave the dinner to cook itself while you go out and play camp games.
And so, too, in your own home, once you have started the food cooking you can put out the fire, and thus save fuel or gas, and let the Fireless Cooker finish the job for you. ”

“ Never keep an unused room shut up. Disease germs, poisonous gases, mildew, insects, dust, and dirt have it all their own way in stale, used-up air. Air does not flow in and flow out of the same opening at the same time any more than water does, so you want two openings in a room—an open window to let the good air in, and a fireplace and chimney to let the stale air out, or whether there is no fireplace, a window open both at top and bottom. The night air in large towns is purer than the day air, and both in town and country you should sleep with your window open if you want to be healthy. ”

“ On Memorial Day, May 30th, the flag should fly at half-mast from sunrise till noon, and at full mast from noon to sunset. The flag at half-mast is a sign of mourning. The flag flown upside down is a signal of distress. No national flag is ever hung above the flag of another nation. When the flags of two or more nations are displayed they should be on separate staffs or on separate halyards, and on the same level. In America the Stars and Stripes are always given the place of honor on the right. An old torn or soiled flag should be destroyed privately and respectfully, preferably by burning. ”

“ A good observant scout will get to know the different kinds of birds by their cry, by their appearance, and by their way of flying. She will also get to know where their nests are to be found, what sort of nests they are, what are the colors of the eggs and so on. And also how the young appear. Some of them come out fluffy, others covered with feathers, others with very little on at all. The young pigeon, for instance, has not feathers at all, whereas a young moorhen can swim about as soon as it comes out of the egg; while chickens run about and hunt flies within a few minutes ”

“ You ought, first of all, to know exactly what is the span of your hand and the breadth of your thumb, and the length from your elbow to your wrist, and the length from one hand to the other with your arms stretched out to either side, and also the length of your feet and of your stride; if you remember these accurately, they are a great help to you in measuring things.
Judging the distance of objects from you is only gained by practice, and judging the distance of a journey is generally estimated by seeing how long you have been travelling,
A Scout must be able to estimate heights. ”

“ Exercises and Their Object
To make yourself strong and healthy it is necessary to begin with your inside and to get the blood into good order and the heart to work well; that is the secret of the whole thing, physical exercises should be taken with that intention. This is the way to do it:—
(a) Make the heart strong in order to pump the blood properly to every part of the body, and so to build up flesh, bone, and muscle. Exercise: "Swimming" and "Wrist Pushing."
(b) Make the lungs strong in order to provide the blood with fresh air. Exercise: "Deep breathing." ”

“ There always are and always will be children to be care of. Perhaps there is no better way for a girl to help her country than to fit herself to undertake the care of children. She should learn all she can about them, and take eyery opportunity of helping to look after these small Boy and Girl Scouts of the future. Many girls are already doing this and are realizing that the Child Welfare badge is one of the most important in the whole list for a Scout to win. ”

“ Good teeth depend greatly on how you look after them when you are young. Attention to the first set of teeth keeps the mouth healthy for the second teeth, which begin to come when a child is seven, and these are meant to last you to the end of your life if you keep them in order.
If one tooth is allowed to decay, it will spread decay in all the others, and this arises from scraps of feed remaining between the teeth and decaying there. ”

“ But they have to Be Prepared for many other things besides sickness. It falls to the lot of very many girls to take up life Overseas, and very often it is a rough life, and one full of adventures and romance.
But although this sounds nice in books and stories it is no fun for a girl who has had everything done for her at home, to find herself stranded in an outlandish place with no one available to help her, no water or gas laid on, no shops, or bakers, no cooks, no doctors. She has to do everything for herself. ”

“ For the first eight or nine months of a baby's life mother's milk is the best food for him, and if he is unfortunate enough to have to take his milk from a bottle you will have to learn the best kind of bottle to use and how to prepare it. Baby is very particular about his milk being fresh and good.
Punctual feeding makes good digestion and even if he wants that extra nap it is better to wake a healthy baby to give him his meal at regular hours, than to let his digestion get out of order. Some babies are very punctual and feel it keenly if you do not feed them at the fixed hour. ”

“ But now you show us that if we do our duty during our life we shall not fly out into darkness again, when life is ended, since Christ has opened a door, for us to enter a brighter room, a heaven where we can go and dwell in peace for ever. ”

“ When people speak of Scouts in Europe one naturally thinks of those men who are mountaineers in Switzerland and other mountainous place, who can guide people over the most difficult parts by their own bravery and skill in tackling obstacles, by helpfulness to those with them, and by their bodily strength of wind and limb. ”

“ Stalking.—A Scout has to be sharp at seeing things if she is going to be any good as a Scout. She has to notice every little track and every little sign, and it is this studying of tracks and following them out and finding out their meaning which we include under the name of stalking. For instance, if you want to find a bird's-nest you have to stalk. That is to say, you watch a bird flying into a bush and guess where its nest is, and follow it up and find the nest. With some birds it is a most difficult thing to find their nests ”

“ The troop may have a flag, which has the number of the troop on it, and besides this each Patrol Leader may have a small flag, ten inches deep, on a staff, with the crest of her troop in cloth stitched on to it on both sides.
Each member of the troop wears an emblem badge sewn over her left pocket flap, and a shoulder knot of the colors chosen by her troop.
Every Scout is expected to know all about the life history of the emblem of her troop. If it is a flower, she should know what it looks like, when and where it blooms, and she should if possible grow it herself. ”

“ Where a doctor says swimming is bad for her, or there is no possible means for her learning, such other badges that she does not hold may be accepted instead towards qualifying the Scout for her 1st Class.
No Scout can be of real use till she can swim, and to learn swimming is no more difficult than to learn bicycling.
All you have to do is at first to try and swim like a dog, as if trying to crawl slowly along in the water; don't try all at once to swim with the ordinary breast stroke that swimmers use, because this only lets your mouth go under water every time. ”

“ Cramp doubles you up in extreme pain so that you cannot move your arms or legs, and down you go and drown.
When bathing is going on there should always be one or two good swimmers on duty as "life savers." They should not bathe themselves till the others are out of the water, but should be in bathing-dress, ready to jump in at any moment to help any one that they see in difficulties.
This plan is always strictly carried out by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in camp, and has already been the means of saving many lives and from changing a joy-camp into a camp of mourning. ”

“ You should take counsel among your Scouts as to what they fancy themselves at, and then challenge another Patrol to have a competition in that particular line, whatever it may be, whether Signalling, or Ambulance Work, or playing a game of Hockey, or baseball, or anything you like; but continually challenge other Patrols to beat you at your own game, and then practise your game well and make yourselves efficient at it, so as you do not get beaten. For every game the whole Patrol should form the team. Don't have one or two good players and the rest no use at all ”

“ When you come to be a Patrol Leader you must remember that you are really taking up a very responsible and important position, because you are going to be in charge of a number of girls under you, who will form their characters entirely under your example and guidance, and if you choose to be a slacker they will become slackers, if you choose to be a good Scout they will all become good Scouts, or nearly all of them. ”

“ Every Scout should not only know how, but should from frequent practice be able to do the right thing in every kind of accidental injury.
In an accident when you are alone with the injured person, if he is unconscious lay him on his back with his head a little raised and on one side so that he does not choke, and so that any vomit or water, etc., can run out of his mouth. Loosen the clothing about his neck and chest. See where he is injured, and treat him according to what you are taught in learn "First Aid." ”