Daisy and the Girl Scouts by Fern Brown

Author:Fern Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497635890
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company

Chapter Five

Daisy and the Girl Scouts

As soon as Daisy arrived in Savannah, she phoned Nina Anderson Pape, a friend and distant cousin who was the headmistress of a girls’ school.

“Come right over,” Daisy said. “I’ve got something for the girls of America and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!”

Nina had always liked Daisy, and she wondered what her cousin’s latest wild idea would be. When Daisy told her about the Girl Guides, Nina was impressed. She agreed with Daisy that girls as well as boys should be taught to develop good qualities such as honor, kindness, loyalty, and thrift. Daisy’s idea to train girls in both mind and body was something new, and it wasn’t wild at all. In fact, Nina knew a group of girls in Savannah that could easily become Daisy’s Girl Guide patrol. The girls met on Saturday afternoons with Walter Hoxie, a retired navy man who was a naturalist. During hikes in the woods, Mr. Hoxie taught them about trees, birds, and wildlife. Often the girls cooked supper over a campfire.

A made-to-order patrol! Daisy was delighted to find out that Page Anderson, her cousin Randolph’s daughter, was one of the group. Daisy smiled to herself as she recalled the time when they were children and Randolph had braided taffy into her hair.

Soon afterwards, Daisy had dinner at the Andersons. As usual she was late, and they had started to eat without her. She came into the dining room tying knots in a strip of soft leather. Of course the Andersons wanted to know what she was doing.

“I’m learning to tie knots for my Girl Guides,” she said.

The Andersons were very curious about the Girl Guides. So Daisy told them all about the organization and how English girls were begging to join. Page was so excited she demanded to know why American girls couldn’t join, too.

Daisy replied that if Page and her friends wanted, she would help them organize a patrol and become Girl Guides.

Page was certain her group would accept Cousin Daisy’s offer. She was right. The entire naturalist club came to the Gordon home to hear about Girl Guides and find out how to form a patrol.

The Sunday after the meeting, Daisy stopped Page Anderson’s mother at church and told her that she had been appointed captain of her daughter’s patrol. Then Daisy darted away without giving the startled Mrs.Anderson a chance to say a word.

On March 12, 1912, the day Page turned twelve years old, she and seventeen other girls twelve or older became the first officially registered Girl Guides in the United States. Two Girl Guide patrols were formed. The patrols were called the “Pink Carnation” and the “White Rose.” Each girl had with her a notebook, a pencil, and a yard of cord to practice knot tying. Some younger girls were at that first meeting, but they could not register until they turned twelve. Over the next months, other patrols were officially registered.

It was a solemn occasion. The girls learned the Promise, which Daisy had changed for the American girls.

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