A Brownie is a household fairy who lives under and in the trees. This is the reason that the Brownies badge is an acorn.
The Brownies' Totem.
There are many kinds of Brownies, such as Sprites, Elves, Gnomes, Fairies, Goblins, Pixies, Imps, Nymphs, Will-o'-the-wisps.
Have you ever seen a fairy ring? There are many in the woods and sometimes in the garden—just a wide circle in the ground of rather darker grass than the rest of the turf round about it. It is said to be a track made by the Brownies who come together and dance on the grass by moonlight, round a toadstool in the middle.
So our Brownies have a toadstool as their Totem and they make their ring around it. Like true fairies they can make their ring anywhere, not only in the woods or out on the grass, but even in the town and in a room.
When they come together they plant the toadstool in the center and the Brownie captain (that is, the leader of the Pack) takes her place by the toadstool. The Brownies then form a ring around her, the Elves together (there must not be more than eight of them), the Goblins together, the Fairies together, and so on.
For the Pow-wow (or Talking Ring) they stand close together, so that their elbows are touching. It is called
The Fairy Ring.
For the Dancing Ring they all join hands, and make the circle as wide as they can reach.
The Promise
Any girl can become a Brownie who is under ten, and who does her best to carry out the Promise of the Brownies.
This is the Promise:
The Recruit Brownie
When a girl first joins the Brownies she is only a recruit like a boy who joins the army, and before she can count as a real Brownie she must know and understand the Promise, and what is more she must have carried it out by doing a good turn in her own home.
The Pack
The Goblins go together, the Fairies go together and so on, each forming a Pack. Some Packs are numbered like Girl Scout troops instead of being named Fairy, Pixie, Elf, etc.
The Eight
The Captain or Leader of a pack is a grown-up person, and in each pack there are several parties of eight under a Leader who is selected if possible from a Girl Scout Patrol, and who is called a Brownie Lieutenant.
Badge
Each Brownie Pack selects the leaf of any tree for its crest. This may be a real leaf or any artificial one.
LIST OF TREES
Motto
Be Prepared.
The Yell or Cry: LAH, LAH, LAH. It sounds nonsense but it is not, because it means Lend a Hand, and LAH are the initials.
| L e n d |
A | H a n d |
WAR CRY.
Uniform
| Middy Blouse | in khaki. |
| Bloomers | ditto. |
| Hat | same as Girl Scout. |
| Shoes and stockings | brown. |
| Hair ribbon | brown. |
| Badges | worn on arm. |
| Crest | leaf of a tree worn on breast. |
Tests
The Recruit
A Brownie must know:
and must be able to:
To be Obedient
In the Brownie Pack every Brownie obeys the wishes of the leader. So it is in our nation. The Americans are a very big pack, but they have their one chief, the President. To be successful as an army in a battle or as the team in a football match all should obey their captain. If everybody started to play the game in his own way, there would be confusion, and there could be no results. But if we "play the game" according to orders our country will always be successful.
And in the same way, as a Brownie you must obey the Lieutenant of your Eight.
The Good Turn
But now about the second promise, namely, to do a good turn to somebody every day.
The Brownies and the Girl Scouts have a patent dodge of making themselves happy. How do you suppose they do it?
By running about and playing at scouting games? By going out into camp? By lighting fires and cooking their own grub? By tracking down animals, and getting to know all about their ways?
Yes, they do all these things, and make themselves happy; but they have a still better way than that. It is very simple. They do it by making other people happy.
That is to say, every day they do a kindness to some one. It does not matter who the person is (so long as it is not themselves), friend or stranger, man or woman, or child.
And the kindness, or "good turn" need not be a big thing. You can generally get a chance of doing a little kindness in your own home, such as helping your mother or a servant to do some little job about the house; or you can, if away from home, help an old lady to carry her parcel, or take a little child safely across the street, or do something of that sort.
But whatever you do, you must not take any reward for doing it. If you take money for it, it is not a good turn, but just a piece of work that has been paid for.
The Brownies' Smile
Brownies always smile, and if they are in difficulty, in pain, in trouble, or in danger, they don't cry, they just grin and bear it.
The Salute
When a Brownie shakes hands with another Brownie, or with a Girl Scout or Boy Scout, she does so with the left hand. That is the secret sign of brotherhood between them all.
How to Salute.
Then also as a Brownie you must understand and be able to make the salute, which is done by holding up your hand with two fingers like this:
The Salute is another sign that you are a Brownie, even though you may not be dressed in uniform, and that you recognize the person you are saluting also as a Brownie.
Investiture of a Brownie
When a girl has passed her test as a recruit she is admitted into her Eight as a Brownie, and she can then go on and pass her tests for a Second Class Brownie.
The pack is formed up in the dancing ring, and the recruits stand in the Pow-wow circle, with the Brownie Captain in the center.
The Brownie Captain says to the Recruit: "You have learnt what the Brownies are, and how they owe their duty to be obedient, to help other people, especially their own family, every day. What have you done to help in your home?"
When the recruit has answered, the Brownie Captain again asks: "What is your motto as a Brownie?"
"Be prepared."
"Do you know that if you now make the Promise you must always stick to it afterwards and do your best to carry it out? So do you still wish to make it?" If the recruit is willing the Brownie Captain then says: "Come to the Totem Pole and repeat your promise as a Brownie."
The recruit, touching the Totem Pole with her left hand, and with her right at the salute, then repeats the Brownie Promise. The Brownie Captain then pins on her left breast the badge of her Eight, and says: "You are now a Brownie, and wear the badge of the Eight. Will you promise to try?"
The Brownie Captain then shakes hands, left handed with the Brownie. The Brownie salutes with her right hand, faces about and salutes the Pack, and then runs to join her Eight. Her Eight all shakes hands with her, left-handed, to welcome her into the Eight.
Second Class Brownie
To become a Second Class Brownie you must:
| I. | Intelligence. | Describe the flag of the United States. |
| Tie the following knots: Reef, Sheet, Bend, Clove hitch and Fisherman's. | ||
| II. | Handcraft. | Hem a duster or darn a stocking. |
| Do up a parcel. | ||
| Set a table for two for dinner. | ||
| III. | Service. | Bind up a cut finger or grazed knee. |
| IV. | Health. | Perform two physical exercises (which should be selected by the Captain). |
| Know how and why you should keep your nails cut and clean; why you should keep your teeth clean and why breathe through the nose. | ||
| Bowl a hoop or hop around a figure 8 course. | ||
| Throw a ball ten yards with right hand and then with left hand. | ||
| Throw a ball so that a girl 6 yards away catches it 4 times out of six. |
Tying up a Parcel
The first duty of a parcel is to be neatly and strongly tied up so that it does not come unfastened, but, poor thing, it cannot do this for itself, so you have to do it a good turn by tying it up. Wrap it neatly in strong paper.
Just as you tuck in the corners of the blankets on your bed to keep you warm and snug, so the corners of the paper should be tidily folded at the ends of a parcel and doubled over flat.
The string should be drawn quite tight, and have only small knots which won't slip. It is therefore most important that you should learn, as Scouts do, how to tie knots properly.
When a parcel is going by post it gets thrown around a good deal and has to stand a lot of banging about, so bear that in mind when you are tying it up.
It is always wisest to write the name and address of the person to whom you are sending the parcel on the parcel itself. Very often people write this only on labels which they tie on, and then if this label gets torn off at all, away goes the parcel to the dead letter office or gets quite lost.
Hemming a Handkerchief
Double the edges twice, so that the rough edge of the square of linen or muslin are well inside the turning. Then baste all around so as to hold the turned edges in place, and so that they are the same width all round.
Then hem it with neat, small stitches.
Darning Stockings
You can do many a good turn by darning.
Mind you get wool or thread the same color, and if possible of the same thickness as the threads of the stockings you are going to darn.
You should put in your needle about an inch from the actual hole, and push it up and down in straight lines, taking a thread and missing a thread.
Then repeat this again criss-cross, leaving loops of the wool where you turn, so that the new wool can shrink without tearing the stocking when washed.
Setting a Table
Spread the table-cloth smoothly and evenly.
Put the knives, spoons, forks, and other things also exactly in place, but before putting them there see that there is not a speck of dirt on them, no finger marks or dust.
Although there is a regular way of setting a table, and all tables look much alike when set, there is a great difference between one by a Scout and set by any other girl. The Scout thinks for herself what things will be needed for the meal, how many courses there will be, and therefore how many knives, forks, and spoons, whether pepper will be wanted or sugar, and puts them on the table accordingly. She uses her wits as well as her hands.
Binding up a Finger or Knee
A cut on the hand. If anybody cuts his hand, and it is your job to render first aid, the first thing to think about is how to stop the bleeding. Remember, that just as important as stopping the bleeding is the keeping of any sort of dirt from getting near the wound. Now dirt here does not mean what you generally call dirt—mud and dust: it means anything containing germs. Germs are tiny little insects, so small that your eye can't see them; if they get into a cut they may poison it so that it festers and becomes really dangerous, ending, possibly, in the loss of a finger or hand. The worst kind of germs are those that come out of earth—such as garden mold, or mud from the road. They cause a terrible disease known as lock-jaw, so great care should be taken if any one gets a deep cut while gardening, for instance. But any dust, or any soiled object may, and does, contain germs. So if you are about to bandage a cut, find the very cleanest thing you can think of to put next to the wound. The inside part of a clean, folded handkerchief would probably be the best you could do, or failing this the inside of a clean sheet of notepaper, or the inside of an envelope. Having put something clean over the wound, you must add padding of some sort—several handkerchiefs or pieces of rag. Then bind up very firmly with tight, even pressure so as to stop the bleeding.
You can do this with strips of rag or a large, folded handkerchief. Make the patient keep his hand raised, or put it in a sling, which you can make from a scarf if you have one. Remember that your help is only first aid: so take the patient to a grown-up person who will attend to the wound more thoroughly, or take him to a doctor to be stitched up.
A graze. A graze is a bad scrape which has taken the skin off, and is usually covered with dirt—grit off the road, and so on. It will not be bleeding much, as a rule. The treatment should be to wash it well with clean warm water, soaking it till the dirt comes away, and clean it with little swabs of wool or cloth. When all the grit is removed cover the graze with a clean piece of rag. Bandage firmly, but not tight enough to be uncomfortable.
Nails
In the Japanese army, where soldiers keep themselves very clean, they have the order that before eating a meal thy must always wash their hands, and they must at no time allow their nails to be dirty. It is believed that it is this rule which has prevented a great deal of illness among the soldiers.
Toe-nail cutting.
Right.Wrong.
The reason for it is that these poisonous little germs, which float about in the air, live on dirt and are very liable to get on to your hands and to hide under your finger-nails, therefore you should always be careful to keep these clean, especially before handling your food. Nails, both on fingers and toes, should be kept properly trimmed with scissors.
Soldiers as well as other people, very often suffer lameness and great pain from the nail of their big toe growing down into the toe at one side.
Toe-nail Cutting
This is often caused by letting the nail grow too long until by the pressure of the shoe, it is driven to grow sideways into the toe. So you should be careful to cut your toe-nails frequently every week or ten days, and they should be cut square across the top, not rounded, and with sharp scissors.
Finger nails should also be cut about once a week to keep them in good order. They can be rounded to the shape of the finger to prevent the corners catching and getting torn.
Biting the nails is very bad for them.
Teeth
There is no part of you that poisonous germs attack more readily than your teeth. They get in between them and burrow inside them, and bring about that awful pain known as toothache, and the teeth decay and have to be pulled out; and consequently your food after that does not get properly chewed.
But you can prevent this for yourself if you take the trouble to clean your teeth properly, and to brush and wash away these germs out of your mouth.
The first thing is to have a toothbrush. This you can buy for a few cents at any drugstore. If you cannot afford to buy one you can at any rate make one for yourself. There are no drug stores in the wilds of Africa, and yet the natives there have splendid teeth, and they keep them clean by continually brushing them after every meal with little brushes made out of bits of stick.
They take a short stick and hammer the end of it until it is all frayed out like a paint brush. It is a brush that any Brownie can make for herself in a few minutes. The thing is not to forget to use it every morning and every evening, when you get up and before going to bed, and also if possible after your midday meal.
Attack those germs with a brush and get them out from their hiding places between and behind the teeth, and wash them out with mouthfuls of water, so that they don't get a chance of burrowing and destroying your grinders.
In pioneer days when the Indians scalped people they seized them by the hair growing on the crown of the head, which they called the scalp lock. A very good way to stand tall and sit tall is to imagine a string tied to your scalp lock, drawing you up to the ceiling or the sky, and all the rest of you, both inside and out, will fall into good position. It is quite painless, so try it.
Games and Practices
A strict obedience to the rules of a game, good temper, pluck and honest, unselfish play count as much as skill in playing.
A Scout always shakes hands when she loses a game and congratulates the winner.
Day and Night
The players divide into two parties and form in two lines, back to back, about three paces apart. One of the lines is named the "Day Party," the other the "Night Party." The leader has a disk painted black on one side and a white on the other. (A coin may be used instead of the disk.) In front of each party is a goal. The leader throws the disk into the air. If the disk alights with the white side up the leader calls "Day." The "Day Party" then rushes toward its goal and the "Night Party" pursues, tagging as many players of the "Day Party" as possible. These they take back to their own line. The disk is thrown again, and the party whose side turns up starts for their goal as before. The game continues in this way until all the players on one of the sides are lost.
Dodge Ball
Of any even number of players, half form a circle, while the other half stand inside the ring, facing outward.
The players in the center dodge the ball, which, while in play, is thrown by any of those forming the circle. Those who are hit with the ball take their places among those around the circle, and have an equal chance at those remaining in the center. One is put out at a time. This is kept up until no one is left in the circle, after which the players exchange places, that is, those who were in the circle now form around the circle, and vice versa.
Cross Tag
Any player who is chased may be relieved by any other player running between her and the one trying to tag her. The latter must then run after the player who ran between, till she in turn is relieved.
Sculptor
One of the players is chosen as the "Sculptor" and she arranges the other players in different positions and attitudes as statues. No player dares move or speak, for as soon as she does the sculptor punishes her by beating her with a knotted handkerchief or towel, called the "sack-beetle." After having arranged the players to suit her fancy the sculptor leaves the playground, saying: "The sculptor is not at home." No sooner is she gone than the statues come to life, sing, dance, jump and play havoc in general. On the return of the sculptor she counts, "One, two, three," and any player who is not in her former posture at "three" receives a beating with the knotted handkerchief from the sculptor. Should the sculptor punish the wrong statue all the players rush at her with knotted handkerchiefs and drive her to a goal previously decided upon, and the game is resumed with some other player as sculptor.
Inventory Game
Let each girl go into a room for half a minute and when she comes out let her make a list of what she has seen. Then compare lists to find who has seen the most.
Testing Noses
This is easiest with the competitors blindfolded. Let them smell different things and tell what they are. Also the objects may be placed in bags but this means much more work.
Three Deep
Twenty-four or more players form a circle of pairs with space enough between the players (who stand closely one behind the other, facing the center of the circle) to allow the runners to turn and run in all directions. Two players on the outside of the circle and at a distance from each other begin the game. One of these is called the "tagger," the other is "It." She tries to tag "It" before she can secure a place in front of any of the pairs forming the circle. If she succeeds, the player who has been tagged then becomes the "tagger" and the former "tagger" tries to secure a place in front of some pair. But whenever the runner (the player pursued) has succeeded in getting in front of a pair before being tagged, then the hindmost (the last or third in the respective rank) must take to her heels and seek to evade the unsuccessful "tagger," who now turns her attention to the runner. In trying to evade a tagger the successive player may run in any direction, either left or right, outside the circle, but not pass in front of any one rank to another rank in such a manner as to induce wrong starts. A hindmost player may also form in front of his own rank, making the second player in such rank hindmost or "third." The play is always directed against the third or last of a rank, two players being the number limited to each place.
(When numbers of players in the beginning are too large the circle may be formed by rows or ranks of threes, instead of twos or pairs.)
Expert players may form several circles and run from circle to circle, two pairs playing simultaneuosly. The above play may be varied in a number of ways.
Chasing an Owl
Another good stalking game is chasing the owl. This is done in thick woods where one Scout represents the owl hooting at intervals and then moving to one side for a distance. Each pursuer when seen is called out of the game, and the owl, if a real good one, may get safely back to her stump.
Turkey and Wildcat
This is played by the turkey blindfolded "going to roost" in some place where there are plenty of twigs or dry leaves to crack and rustle. At the first sound the turkey jumps. If not then within reach of one wildcat, she is safe and another wildcat has a chance. This is sometimes very laughable for the turkey being blindfolded may jump right on the wildcat.
Walking the Plank
Lay on the ground a couple of boards edgewise with an apple or small prize on the ground at the end of the board for the Brownie who can walk the plank, squat or stoop and pick up the prize, turn round and bring it safely back again.
(This practice is most valuable in producing concentration of mind and action—the effort of body-balance develops mental balance.)
Stepping-Stones
Put down small bits of board, or cardboard (nailed to the ground) or mark on the ground a twisty line of stepping stones as if for crossing a brook—some close together, others far apart. Each Brownie to try the course in turn, two tries. In the second try she carries in her hand a board about eight inches square on which is a small ball which, of course, must not be dropped.
(Object similar to that of "Walking the Plank.")
First Class Brownie
These are what you have to do to become a First Class Brownie.
| I. Intelligence. | Know the semaphore alphabet and know how to send and read 3 letters out of 4 correctly. |
| Know how to count change of a dollar. | |
| Know first and last stanzas of Star Spangled Banner. | |
| Know how to tell time by watch. | |
| II. Handcraft. | Know eight points of compass. |
| Knit scarf or make sewing bag, or make and dress a paper doll. | |
| Clean knives, forks and spoons. | |
| III. Service. | Carry a message and remember it for five minutes and deliver it correctly. |
| Fold clothes neatly. | |
| IV. Health. | Apply triangular bandage. |
| Perform five physical exercises. |
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
CHORUS:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream.
Oh! thus be it e'er when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heaven rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation,
Then, conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."
MY COUNTRY, 'TIS OF THEE
My country! 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love Thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let Rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our Father's God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
How to Change a Dollar
American money is divided into
| Cents, which are made of copper. | |
| 5 | cent pieces, commonly called nickels (made of base metal). |
| 10 | cents, commonly called a dime (made of silver). |
| 25 | cents, commonly called a quarter (silver). |
| 50 | cents, or half a dollar (silver). |
| 100 | cents make a dollar, which is sometimes made of paper and sometimes made of silver. |
After you learn to count money up to one hundred cents or one dollar, it is easy to handle larger sums, such as five dollars, ten dollars.
The abbreviation for cents is cts. or ¢.
The abbreviation for dollar is this sign: $.
The monogram of the United States, "U. S.," makes the dollar sign if you leave off the bottom of the U.
Reading the Compass
Some time ago some wild Australian natives were taken for a voyage on a ship. They had always been accustomed to finding their way by tracks on the ground, so when they got to sea they wondered how the Captain of the ship found his way across the trackless ocean and they kept a look-out in the bow looking over in the water to see if they could discover the footmarks or signs by which the Captain was finding his way, till at last they went to him and said, "How do you manage it?" So the Captain showed them the compass which told him which way was north, which south, east and west, and that by reading the compass, and reading his map with it, he was able to go into strange parts of the world without ever having been there before, but always able to find his way because he knew which way was north by the compass. He marked the points of the compass on his map and by comparing the map and the compass it led him north, south, east, or west. And so it is also necessary for a Girl Scout or a Brownie to know the points of the compass, because at any time you may be told to go off to the north or to the south with a message, or you want to know which way the wind is blowing, whether it is a north wind which is going to bring cold or an east wind, rain, and so on. But how can you do this if you do not know which is the south or which is the north? When you have not got a compass it is quite easy to judge this by the sun. The sun gets up in the east and sets in the west and in the middle of the day it is due south of you if you are in the northern part of the world. A Brownie must understand this and the different points of the compass before she can be considered a good useful messenger.
Clean Knives, Forks and Spoons
Use very hot water for first cleaning them to get off the grease. That is the secret of success. Rinse them and use dry clean towels. But mind you do not put the white handles of knives in the water, because they are apt to crack if you do so.
Make Doll's Clothes or Brownie's Overall
In Australia there is a school where the boys were taught farming, but the first thing that a boy had to do when he got there was to make his own saddle and bridle for riding a horse. He was only allowed to use that same saddle during the rest of his time at the school, some three or four years, so if he did not make it neatly and well, he was the laughing-stock of the other boys for the rest of his time. And it is much the same with the Brownies. They are given directions how to make their clothes but if they make them badly, well then they will be ashamed of them for the rest of their time as Brownies. So be careful to listen to all that is told you as to how you should make the things and then make them as well as you possibly can.
Knitting
Of course you can do knitting either with a machine or with knitting needles by hand, but I strongly advise doing it by hand for though it is a little bit more difficult to learn at first it is much more pleasing afterwards. By being able to knit you can do good turns to other people very often indeed. All people, men and women, are glad to have warm things made for them in winter time, and by being able to knit a Brownie can lend a hand and give great happiness to other people.
Fold Clothes Neatly
A soldier or sailor on going to bed always puts his clothes neatly in some spot where he can find them readily in the dark and slip into them quickly in the case of alarm. And so also Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts do the same, because you never know when an accident may happen; the house may be on fire, or a thief may break in, and you may want your clothes suddenly in the dark. If you have them already folded in their place, you can readily find them and be quickly dressed. But if your clothes are lying all over the place it is impossible to find them in the dark. But there is another reason also for keeping your clothes neatly folded. And that is that they last much longer when properly taken care of, and always look neat, instead of getting baggy, worn and thread-bare. No true Brownie ever leaves her clothes lying about in an untidy way.
To Carry a Message in Your Head
Scouts and Brownies are very often employed as messengers and have done very good work. That is why so many of them have won War Service badges in the Great War. And the reason they are used is because they remember what is told them, carry it in their heads and deliver it properly. A Brownie learns her message by heart as soon as it is given to her, and repeats it to the person who gives it; then she keeps on repeating it while she goes along, and remembers that all the time she is going she is on duty, and therefore it is her business not to stop and loiter and look at other things, but to get her duty done. In this way her attention fixed on her work she can always deliver her message at the end of the journey quite correctly as she got it in the first instance.
Applying a Triangular Bandage