nnels, but they should be presented in ways
which attract the girls. It should never be forgotten that Scouting is
chosen by the girls because it _interests them_. Use as bait the food
the fish likes. If you bait your hook with the kind of food that you
yourself like, unless you happen to have a natural affinity for young
people, it is probable that you will not catch many. If the Scouting
program fails to interest girls, they will find something that does.

The program should be varied, and never iron-clad, but adapted to fill
the needs of the special girl. Examples: Few city girls have much chance
to be in the country. An effort should be made to get them out on hikes,
and week-end camping trips. Some homes and schools do not teach the
girls such practical things as cooking, bedmaking, while some groups of
girls have no conception of obligation to other people or any sense of
citizenship. In each case, the wise captain attempts to discover the
novel activity, which besides being helpful, will attract the girls. The
wise captain does not expect girls to pay great attention to any one
subject for very long, and does not teach or lecture. They get enough of
that in school. The captain is rather a sort of older playfellow who
lets the girl choose activities which interest her and she will learn
for herself.

Most of the activities will be of the nature of play. Play is always a
means to mental and physical development. The best play leads towards
adult forms of leadership, co-operation, entertaining, artistic
execution and community service.

Any captain who finds herself judging her troop's efficiency by the old
fashioned system of examination marks based on a hundred per cent scale,
shows herself out of touch not only with the Scouting spirit, but with
the whole trend of modern education today. When the tendency of great
universities is distinctly toward substituting psychological tests for
examinations, when the United States Army picks its officers by such
tests, it would be absurd for a young people's recreational movement to
wear its members out by piling such work on captain and scout!

Examinations and tests should lay weight on what can be _done_ within
time limits and in first class form; also on the effort expended by the
girls, and not on what can be _written or recited_. Young people love
such tests--which relate closely to games--and they are of great
practical value in daily life. They are the tests we m