shment. She must be able
to find her way about city or country without any of the usual aids,
using only the compass and her developed judgment of distance and
direction. She must also be able to communicate and receive messages by
signaling. She must have shown proficiency in home nursing, first aid,
and housekeeping, and, in addition, in either child care, personal
health, laundering, cooking, needlework, or gardening. She must also be
an all-round outdoors person, familiar with camping and able to lead in
this, or be a good skater or a naturalist or be able to swim. Not only
must she know all these different things, but she must have trained a
tenderfoot, started a savings account, and served her community in some
tangible way.

_Proficiency badges._--After a girl scout has attained to first class
there are still other worlds to conquer, as the badges she has earned on
the way are only a few of the many to be worked toward. There are no
less than 47 subjects in which a scout may achieve, and more are being
added. Just to mention a few: A girl scout may be an artist, a
beekeeper, a business woman, a craftsman, or a dancer; an electrician, a
farmer, a flower finder, a horsewoman, an interpreter, a motorist; or a
musician, a scribe, a swimmer, or a star gazer. The highest award given
is the Golden Eaglet, which means the earning of 21 Merit Badges, of
which 15 are in required subjects.

About 2,000 Merit Badges are earned a month. An analysis of the subjects
shows that home nursing is the most popular, with 126 of each 1,000
earned. Laundress comes next with 97. First aid is next with 67.
Needlewoman, child nurse, cook, pathfinder, health guardian, flower
finder or zoologist, and home maker complete the first 10 most popular
badges, with between 61 and 38 in each 1,000. The details are shown in
the accompanying table.

_Local councils._--Where troops are numerous it is usual to form a
council composed of women and men representing all the best interests of
the community: Parents, schools, religious denominations of all sorts,
business, producers, women's clubs, and other social and philanthropic
organizations. The council acts as the link between the girl scouts and
the community. It has the same relation to the separate troops that the
school board has to the schools--that is, it guides and decides upon
policies and standards, interprets the scouts to the community and the
community to the scouts. It does not do the