they must have from earliest youth
gregarious interests and occupations.

Among the scout activities that tend to develop this larger community
sense are games, athletic sports of all kinds, including team work and
competition between small, well-knit groups. Folk dancing and other
forms of amusement, such as dramatics, pageants, and story-telling,
serve a similar purpose because they all mean the possession of a
resource not only for the right use of the girl's own leisure time, but
for serving this need in the community.

METHODS.

The activities of the girl scouts are, of course, not peculiar to this
organization. Every one of them is provided for elsewhere, in schools,
clubs, and societies. But the way in which they are combined and
coordinated about certain basic principles is peculiar to the girl
scouts.

In the first place all these activities have a common motive, which is
preparation for a fuller life for the individual, not only in her
personal but in her social relations. It is believed that both the
habits formed and the concrete information acquired contribute to the
girls being ready to meet intelligently most of the situations that are
likely to arise in their later life. This concept is expressed in the
girl scout's motto, "Be prepared."

The method of preparation followed is that found in nature, whereby
young animals and birds _play_ at doing all the things they will need to
do well when they are grown and must feed and fend for themselves and
their babies.

The heart of the girl scouts' laws is helpfulness, and so the scouts
have a slogan: "Do a good turn daily." By following this in letter and
spirit, helpfulness becomes second nature.

Because the girl scouts are citizens they know and respect the meaning
of the flag, and one of the first things they learn is the pledge:

"I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Republic for which it
stands; one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Some observers have criticized the girl-scout organization because of
its apparently military character. It is true that the girls wear a
uniform of khaki and are grouped in patrols corresponding to the "fours"
in the Army; that they salute and learn simple forms of drill and
signaling. But the reason they do these is because the military
organization happens to be the oldest form of organization in the world,
and it works. It is the best way men have found of getting a number of