The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-04-12


sharp, alert, tidy, neatly gowned young
person. The same ruddy cheeks and
flashing eye with head held high, and
the sturdy frame and 1.-the figure are
still hers and viii always be, for that
is her heritage. But there is a dash
and vim about her that gives her an
entirely new character, a pleasing per-
sonality and one quite as distinctive
though different, from her old self
If you chance to see in her favorite
regalia, brown MILDLY blouse and
khaki skirt, scarf and olive drab roll
hat you will best appreciate and i'm
mediately recognize her. She is "a
Girl Scout.
Scouting for girls has been intro
duced into the mountains and is
spreading like the growing of green
grass in spring. In Kentucky and Vir-
ginia especially has scouting already
taken root. Girls are keen for the
scouting program of heaIthful and
helpful fun and activity, and parents
have accepted it for its worth
In breaking down of the reserve and
natural aloofness of these girls and
in bringing about the group idea of
participation in sports and compan-
ionship. scouting has worked wonders.
urban town can do, Miss Mountaineer
can accomplish and not infrequently
excel, for she catches on quickly.
This is the case at Pine Mt, Marian
county. Kentucky, in the heart of the
Blue Ridge. Natural physical condi-
lions have not changed much in the
| mountains, however. and the magic
outward and mental change in the
girls is simply the product of one big
idea-scouting. The schools still lack
electric light and hot water: thirty
| miles is, as before, a long days jour
ney. and Baltimore and Washington
as England and the Alps, are "out
yonder' in the general direction of
| the northeast where miles away lies
! the nearest railway station. There is
only the vaguest conception of either
the United States or the Kentucky
government
| At school the girls get up at 5
O'Clock in the morning and do the
chores and after lessons are finished
engage in the tasks about house and
| field that is their lot. And after
days work the size of which might put
to shame the efforts of many a city
| dweller. the girls find time for a half
hour or more of scouting before sup
Saturday afternoons, when work is
| finished by o'clock Bed time is s
| o'clock sharp, which may account in
| part for the general health of the girls
What do the city girls think about
| this.
From the small beginning of one
| troop with single patrol, less than a
| year ago there are now several hun
dred girls in the region enrolled as
/ scouts, and the movement is still in it's
| infancy.
An interesting description of the life
| OF the district is contained in a letter
| received last week at national head
| quarters of the Girl Scouts, 1S9 Lex
| ington-ave.. New York City, by Mrs.
| Jane Deeter Rippin, national director,
/ from Miss Lucretia Garfield, in charge
/ of the Girl Scout work in the Ken
| lucky mountains. Miss Garfield, from
Pine Mountain Settlement School,
| Pine Mt, Marian Co., in Kentucky.
| wrote as follows:
The girls here do not have much
| leisure time but they are keenly en-
| thusiast1c about scouting. Every girl
| in the school of ten years or over has
! Joined a troop Our meetings are
| an inspiration to me. The girls have
1 AioI 1idd do many years Oh ScnOOl as
| girls of their ages in other parts of the
| country, and it is therefore, harder for
them to meet the tenderfoot tests. Yet
| they would not for one moment allow
me to make the tests any easier, and
as a result the girls are quite I'D to
| standard
You will appreciate that our loca-
ton makes it harder for the people
| here to realize their connection with
the rest of the country. We are sur
rounded by mountains on all sides over
which we must climb to reach the out
| side world. The nearest station is four
miles across Pine Mt. over a steep,
| rough and dangerous trail, and the
| nearest town Of any size is some ten
or twelve miles farther. Most of the
| children come from places even less
| accessible. and it is therefore not sur
prising if to most of them New York
| and Baltimore, England and the Alps
are all "out yonder" or away off
| there"-generally in the direction of
the nearest station, which happens to
be southwest of here. To be sure the
older children are somewhat more en-
| lightened than this and those who
| have been here for several years have
| a fairly good theoretical knowledge OF
| the geography or the country and even
of their relation to the government as
| citizens of the United States. But
even so the rest Of the country hardly
seems real to a child whose experience
has taught her that thirty miles is a
| good, hard days trip.
Our daily life is interesting We
| rise at $50 O'Clock in the morning
| that is to say. most of US do; the girls
who are working in the kitchen and
| the girls and boys who have charge of
| making fires in the morning have to
get up an hour earlier. Breakfast is at
s and Immediately after breakfast
| every child in the school except those
in the lowest grades starts work on