What A Girl Scout Knew In 1923

[LizzieMaine]

Looking thru a copy of the 1923 edition of "Scouting for Girls," the original Girl Scout Handbook, I'm struck by the things girls were expected to know and do to qualify for various ranks in that organization.

To earn the "Second Class Scout" rank, a girl -- who would probably be about 11 years old -- would have to, among other requirements:

1. Identify the sixteen point of a compass and demonstrate how to use it.

2. Explain in detail how to react in the event of a fire.

3. Send and receive the alphabet in Morse or semaphore code.

4. Demonstrate the ability to make a quick and rough report of the appearance of the appearance and landmarks of a stretch of country, not to exceed one quarter of a mile, to be covered in not more than five minutes. Report should include details of ground surface, buildings in sight, trees, animals, etc.

5. Lay and light a fire in a stove, using not more than two matches, or light a gas range, top burner, oven, and broiler, without having gas blow or smoke. Lay and light a fire in the open using no artificial tinder, and not more than two matches.

6. Cook so that it may be eaten, seasoning properly, one simple dish. Set a table correctly for a meal of two courses.

7. Make an ordinary and a hospital bed, and demonstrate how to air them.

8. Present samples of seaming, hemming, darning, knitting, or crocheting and press out a Scout uniform as a sample of ironing.

9. Demonstrate how to stop bleeding, remove speck from eye, treat ivy poisoning, bandage a sprained ankle, and remove a splinter.

To earn First Class rank, a girl -- maybe 14 or 15 by this stage -- would be required to do all of the above things, as well as:

1. Draw a simple map using at least ten conventional map signs. Area covered must equal a quarter square mile, and if territory along a road is used, it should be at least two miles long.

2. Demonstrate the ability to find any of the four cardinal points of the compass using the sun or stars.

4. Send and receive Morse or Semaphore code at the rate of at least sixteen words per minute.

5. Take an overnight hike carrying all necessary equipment and rations. Construct a practical lean-to.

6. Be able to swim fifty yards and shin up ten feet of rope.


I'm struck by how demanding and physical many of these requirements are -- and how at odds they are with the modern belief that women of the Golden Era were raised to be delicate, diffident little flowers. Clearly the little girls who grew up to be Rosie the Riveter had a strong early start on independance.

How many of us, now, could do these things?

 

[Puzzicato]

I sure couldn't. But I remember in one of the CS Lewis Narnia books (so written in the 50s at latest), one of the girls does something clever and outdoorsy and it is explained as "she had been an excellent Guide in England". That always struck me, because I never felt that the brownies or Girl Guides of my acquaintance had really had this kind of military training!

 

[LizzieMaine]

My Scout leader was a former WAC, so "military" is just about the right word for the sort of training we got. I could probably still do flag drill in my sleep.

 

[Puzzicato]

I flunked out of Brownies after doing my first aid badge. It just wasn't very interesting.

 

[Lady Day]

I can do 2, 4, 5, 6 ,7 ,8 and 9
Of First Class rank 1 and half of 6

I was a scout from Brownie to Senior and went to jamborees' every summer and camps as much as possible. We learned all the rustic stuff. I don't know how Scouts is conducted today. Seems more like a high tea society than an actual rough and tumble type of scouting.

I look back on it now and I wish I had tried harder at it, or a scout leader had stopped coddling us and said 'try harder'! But I can light a fire with only one match

LD

 

[NancyLouise]

Wow. Never realized so much was expected of the supposedly dainty little girls. Sounds like the girl scouts of today are just a place holder.

 

[sheeplady]

I couldn't do any of the morse code. My husband says the 16 words a minute is very fast. To get a HAM radio license you used to need to be able to 5 words per minute for novice, 13 for general, and 24 for extra (in the US). (They don't require you to know this anymore). My husband got a license when 9, and had to be able to do 5 words per minute.

I have no idea about the gas stove. I will have to learn this someday when I get an older gas stove. (I have lit my gas burners with matches, but I have never lit an oven). I don't know what the map signs is refering to- things like hills and mountains?

I am a decent fire starter, but I am going to assume that this is using stick matches and not book matches, so I might be able to start a fire with two matches if they were stick matches. Maybe. If my wood is wet (green and soaked from a rain storm) and I have no dry materials I could get it lit, but not with two matches.

The first aid I could have done at that age and the survival things. I grew up in one of the largest wooded areas east of the Mississippi and my parents made sure I could use a compass and also navigate at night without one from an early age. Growing up on a farm I had to know basic first aid, I learned how to do sutures around age 15, and I was giving the animals injections around age 13-14, if not younger.

 

[Idledame]

Hey LD, I also went from Brownies to senior girl scout. All those accomplishments Lizzy listed would probably have been merit badges that you worked on over months or years. GS where I grew up was a joke, a pale girly imitation of Boy Scouts. All you needed to get a badge was to have a parent sign a paper. I recall how disappointed I was when at age 10 my best friend got badges without doing the work, just by telling her dad that yes she did everything required. I went to one girl scout camp in Junior High, where we were not allowed to light a fire because it was too dangerous! I was SOOO disappointed in GS. they taught us how to make hospital corners in sheets and had cooking and art and craft classes. What I liked best was earning badges with my dad's help/supervision.

I had grown up envying my brother who got to do all kinds of interesting and challenging things in Boy Scouts-like 20 mile hikes wearing a wooden backpack they made themselves, rafting, things like that. One of the highlights of my life was a family weekend at Boy Scout camp, when, in a group with hundreds of boy scouts, I was the only one who could read semaphore flag signals!! I was about 8 years old and my brother had put up a chart on the blackboard in my room, and I picked it up without trying. The scout leader told the boys that they should be ashamed that a little girl knew it but they didn't. They all glared at me, but I loved it!

 

[zombi]

I, too, was a Scout from Brownies to Senior, ending with earning the Gold Award. My scout troop did a lot of camping and first aid and, while I never learned Morse Code, we did learn to cook, perform basic first aid, sew simple things, start fires, identify wild plants, and so on. My leaders were very good about those things. I think the experience with Girl Scouting can differ drastically depending on who your leader is and where you are.

That certainly IS a long, involved list, though! I agree with the poster above who said all those accomplishments would be different merit badges.

 

[LizzieMaine]

According to the book, you had to earn Second Class rank *before* you could even begin to earn merit badges. And you really had to *earn* those, too -- each girl would have to present her work to be examined by the local Council or judges appointed by the Council before a badge would be awarded. None of this having Ma scrawl her signature in a book stuff for the Scouts of the twenties.

There were a lot badges you might be surprised to find: alongside Dressmaker, Gardener, Homemaker, Hostess, and Cook, there were also badges for Electrician, Telegrapher, Business-Woman, Farmer, and Motorist.

Badge requirements tended to be extremely detailed. For example, to earn the "Health Winner" badge you had to present proof to your local Council that you:

1. Walked at least a mile every day for at least seventy-five days.

2. Went to bed every night by 9:30, with no parties, motion pictures, or other late entertainment on school nights.

3. Sleep every night with the window open.

4. Drink at least six glasses of water a day

5. Eat no sweets or candy except as desserts.

6. Have a bowel movement at least once every day, preferably immediately after breakfast or the last thing at night.

7. Wash hands after going to the toilet and before eating. Take a daily tub, shower, or sponge bath, or rub down with a rough towel every day, and a full bath at least twice a week.

8. Brush teeth twice a day.

9. Wash hair at least once a month, and brush well every day.

Another interesting thing is that there's a whole section of the book teaching close-order infantry drill. Girls learned to march smartly in formation, to execute commands, and to proceed to their meetings "in an orderly and dignified manner." It also notes that a well-drilled troop should consider bringing in "some returned soldier" who would be "glad to give a half hour occasionally to drilling the scouts." My old leader would have loved that.

 

[scotrace]

Good Lord... that explains a lot of the Old Battle-Axe Grannies I knew in the 60's!

Now to find the corresponding Boy Scout Manual. What did they have to do - lay a 30 foot long brick wall by age 7? Take Apart a Model T and reassemble it in three hours?

 

[Almost Vintage]

Wow! GS has certainly changed a lot, even from when I was a scout.

 

[Lady Day]

I don't think people today walk 75 miles a year, let alone in less than three months.

I am puzzled by #6. How in the world can you control when you have a #2?

LD

 

[Tuesday_Next]

I'm kind of tickled by this thread because I collect old Girl Scout manuals:


a 1940s edition by sugaroni, on Flickr

a 1930s edition of the Girl Scouts Handbook by sugaroni, on Flickr

inside the 1930s edition of the Girl Scouts Handbook by sugaroni, on Flickr


inside the 50s/60s edition of the Senior Girl Scouts Handbook by sugaroni, on Flickr

The book from the 30s includes many of the same tasks as the 1923 edition: compass points, knots, how to start a fire, first aid, and the like. There's a section on manners, selecting vegetables at the market, and recipes called "The Girl Scout Homemaker" as well.

My 1963 Junion Girl Scout Handbook has many of the same tasks as well-- Even a note about keeping you pocket knife sharp. While I admit that semaphore and morse code might not be all that useful nowadays, I still would have liked the chance to learn it when I was a girl.

 

[lolly_loisides]

I am puzzled by #6. How in the world can you control when you have a #2?

LD

That's funny

 

[MariantheLibrarian]

I am puzzled by #6. How in the world can you control when you have a #2?

LD

Cod liver oil. *cringe*

 

[Lauren]

Dang. If we did all that cool outdoorsy stuff I would have loved girl scouts. My girl scout experience began and ended with a dance performance of a song by Wham!
I dropped out and did all my fort building with my cousins instead lol

 

[Lady Day]

Yeah, but wouldn't cod liver oil make more than one #2s?

I have the 30s Handbook too, Tuesday_Next. Its an interesting read. :biggrin:

I still have the laws memorized:
I will do my best to be honest, to be fair, to help where I am needed, to cheerful, to be friendly and considerate, to be a sister to every Girl Scout, to respect authority, to use resources wisely, to protect and improve the world around me, to show respect for myself and others through my words and actions.

Wow, I just rattled that off in my head. Im so programmed.

LD

 

[lolly_loisides]

I was a Brownie & Girl Guide (UK & Aus equivalent to Girl Scout) our pledge was different, but I can still recite it by heart

I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God,
To serve my Queen and Country,
To help other people,
And to keep the Brownie Guide Law.

Apart from trying to do my best & helping other people I pretty much disagree with everything else. No wonder I was a terrible Girl Guide! I liked the outdoorsey practical stuff, but everything else, pfft.

*Edit* I don't know about the US, but in Australia, Brownies, Girl Guides & Scouts were mostly children of Anglican (Episcopalian) & Baptist faith. The Catholic kids went to the Boys & Girls Brigade.

 

[Stray Cat]

As far as I ever got was a "Bee".
That's an equivalent to a 12 or 13 years old scout.
I never passed the "exam" for the upper level, because I never went to the "camping" that season.
And the camping consisted of passing these:
1. Silence.
You had to be SILENT for the whole day. And, of course, everyone is trying to make you speak. So, it's a hard one (it gets even harder if you love to chat)
2. Hunger.
You eat nothing all day long. Most of the kids got this one easily because all children hide a "stash" in their bunk beds.
3. Hidden message.
I did pass this one prior to the camping. You have 5 minutes to hide a message somewhere on yourself (in your clothes, shoes.. not inside your body, or inside your underwear!). And then two people search for it. they have 5 minutes as well. If they don't find it (they didn't found mine ) you have 30 seconds to reveal it an read it out loud. And yes.. they are not allowed to tickle you while taking your clothes off (not all of it, you have to wear a swimsuit under, so they strip you down to it).
...