How Girls Can Help Their Country :: TESTS FOR MERIT BADGES

TESTS FOR MERIT BADGES

A girl must become a Second Class Scout before she is eligible for the proficiency tests. Merit badges are issued to those who show proficiency in the various subjects listed in this chapter. These badges are registered at Headquarters and are issued from no other source.

The purpose of the various tests is to secure continuity of work and interest on the part of the girls.

The girl who wins one of these merit badges has her interest stimulated and gains a certain knowledge of the subject. It is not to be understood that the knowledge required to obtain a badge is sufficient to qualify one to earn a living in that branch of industry.

Merit Badges 1. Ambulance. (Maltese Red Cross.)

To obtain a badge for First Aid or Ambulance a Girl Scout must have knowledge of the Sylvester or Schaefer methods of resuscitation in cases of drowning.

Must pass examination on first three chapters of Woman's Edition of Red Cross Abridged Text Book on First Aid.

Treatment and bandaging the injured (p. 131).

How to stop bleeding (p. 133).

How to apply a tourniquet (p. 134).

Treatment of ivy poison (p. 134).

Treatment of snake-bite (p. 59).

Treatment of frost-bite (p. 135).

How to remove cinder from eye (p. 124).

2. Artist. (Palette.)

To obtain an artist's badge a Girl Scout must draw or paint in oils or water colors from nature; or model in clay or plasticine or modeling wax from plaster casts or from life; or describe the process of etching, half-tone engraving, color printing or lithographing; or

Arts and Crafts:

Carve in wood; work in metals; do cabinet work.

3. Athletics. (Indian Clubs.)

To obtain this badge a Scout must:

1. Write a 500-word article on value of Athletics to girls, giving proper method of dressing and naming activities most beneficial.

2. Be a member of a gymnasium class of supervised athletics or a member of an active team for field work.

3. Understand the rules of basket ball, volley ball, long ball, tether ball, tennis and captain ball.

4. Must be able to float, swim, dive and undress in water.

5. Know and be able to teach twenty popular games.

4. Attendance. (Annual.) (Badge, Silver Star.)

Must complete one year of regular attendance.

5. Automobiling. (A Wheel.)

1. Must pass an examination equal to that required to obtain a permit or license to operate an automobile in her community.

2. Know how to start a motor and be able to do it and be able to explain necessary precautions.

3. Know how to extinguish burning oil or gasoline.

4. Comply with such requirements as are imposed by body conducting the test for licensing drivers.

6. Aviation. (Monoplane.)

To obtain a merit badge for aviation, a Scout must:

1. Have a knowledge of the theory of the aeroplane, helicopter, and ornithopter, and of the spherical and dirigible balloon.

2. Have made a working model of any type of heavier than air machine, that will fly at least twenty-five yards; and have built a box kite that will fly.

3. Have a knowledge of the types and makes of engines used for aeroplanes, of the best known makes of aeroplanes, and of feats performed or of records made by famous aviators.

4. Have a knowledge of names of famous airships (dirigibles) and some of their records.

5. Understand the difference between aviation and aerostation, and know the types of apparatus which come under these two heads.

7. Bird Study. (Bird.)

To secure this badge a Scout must:

1. Give list of 30 well known wild birds of United States.

2. State game bird laws of her State.

3. Give list of 30 wild birds personally observed and identified in the open.

4. Give list of 10 wild birds sold as cage birds.

5. Name 10 birds that destroy rats and mice.

6. Give list of 25 birds of value to farmers and fruit growers in the destruction of insect pests on crops and trees.

7. Give name and location of 2 large bird refuges, explain the reason for their establishment and the birds they protect.

8. Tell what the Audubon Society is and how it endeavors to conserve the birds of beautiful plumage.

9. What an aigret is, how obtained, and from what bird. (Land Birds and Water Birds, C. A. Reed.) (The Department of Agriculture has a number of bulletins on birds. See list.)

10. What methods to attract birds winter and summer.

8. Boatswain. (Anchor.)

To obtain a badge for seamanship a Girl Scout must:

1. Be able to tie six knots.

2. Be able to row, pole, scull, or steer a boat.

3. Land a boat and make fast.

4. State directions by sun and stars.

5. Swim 50 yards with clothes and shoes on.

6. Box the compass and have a knowledge of tides.

7. Know rules of the road for steamers and power boats, also lights for boats underway. See Pilot Rules, Gov. Ptg. Office, Washington, D. C.

9. Child-Nurse. (Green Cross.)

To obtain this badge a Girl Scout must:

1. Take care of a child for two hours each day for a month, or care for a baby for one hour a day for a month.

2. Know how to bathe and dress a baby.

(Examination should be made with infant present, if possible.)

3. Should understand care of children, have elementary knowledge as to their food, clothing, etc.

4. Know three kindergarten games and describe treatment of simple ailments.

5. Be able to make poultices, and do patching and darning.

6. Know how to test bath heat and use of thermometer; count the pulse (p. 123).

10. Clerk. (Pen and Paper.)

1. Must have legible handwriting; ability to typewrite; a knowledge of spelling and punctuation; a library hand; or, as an alternative, write in shorthand from dictation at twenty words a minute as a minimum.

2. Ability to write a letter from memory on a subject given verbally five minutes previously.

3. Knowledge of simple bookkeeping and arithmetic.

4. Keep complete account of personal receipts and expenditure for six months, or household accounts for three months.

11. Civics. (Eight-point Star.)

To obtain this badge a Scout must:

1. Be able to recite the preamble to the Constitution.

2. Be able to state the chief requirements of citizenship of a voter, in her state, territory or district.

3. Be able to outline the principal points in the naturalization laws in the United States.

4. Know how a president is elected and installed in office, also method of electing vice-president, senators, representatives, giving the term of office and salary of each.

5. Be able to name the officers of the President's Cabinet and their portfolios.

6. The number of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the method of their appointment and the term of office.

7. Know how the Governor of her state, the lieutenant-governor, senators and representatives are elected and their term of office. Also explain the government of the District of Columbia and give the method of filling the offices.

8. Know the principal officers in her town or city and how elected and the term of office.

9. Know the various city departments, and their duties, such as fire, police, board of health, charities and education.

10. Be able to name and give location of public buildings and points of interest in her city or town.

11. Tell the history and object of the Declaration of Independence.

12. Cook. (Gridiron.)

1. Must know how to wash up, wait on table, light a fire, lay a table for four, and hand dishes correctly at table.

2. Clean and dress fowl.

3. Clean a fish.

4. How to make a cook place in the open.

5. Make tea, coffee or cocoa, mix dough and make bread in oven and state approximately cost of each dish.

6. Know how to make up a dish out of what was left over from the meals of the day before.

7. Know the order in which a full course dinner is served.

8. Know how to cook two kinds of meat.

9. Boil or bake two kinds of vegetables successfully.

10. How to make two salads.

11. How to make a preserve of berries or fruit, or how to can them.

12. Estimate cost of food per day for one week.

13. Invalid Cooking. (A palm leaf.)

1. How to make gruel, barley water, milk toast, oyster or clam soup, beef tea, chicken jelly.

14. Cyclist. (A Wheel.)

1. Own a bicycle.

2. Be able to mend a tire.

3. Pledge herself to give the services of her bicycle to the government in case of need.

4. If she ceases to own a bicycle, she must return the badge.

5. Read a map properly.

6. Know how to make reports if sent out scouting on a road.

15. Dairy. (Sickle.)

1. Know how to test cow's milk with Babcock Test (p. 119).

2. To make butter.

3. How to milk.

4. Know how to do general dairy work, such as cleaning pans, etc., sterilizing utensils.

5. Know how to feed, kill, and dress poultry.

6. Test five cows for ten days each with Babcock Test and make proper reports.

16. Electricity. (Lightning.)

To obtain a merit badge for Electricity, a Scout must:

1. Illustrate the experiment by which the laws of electrical attraction and repulsion are shown.

2. Understand the difference between a direct and an alternating current, and show uses to which each is adapted. Give a method of determining which kind flows in a given circuit.

3. Make a simple electro-magnet.

4. Have an elementary knowledge of the construction of simple battery cells, and of the working of electric bells and telephones.

5. Be able to replace fuses and to properly splice, solder, and tape rubber-covered wires.

6. Demonstrate how to rescue a person in contact with a live electrical wire, and have a knowledge of the method of resuscitation of a person insensible from shock.

17. Farmer. (Sun.)

1. Incubating chickens, feeding and rearing chickens under hens.

2. Storing eggs (p. 116).

3. Knowledge of bees.

4. Swarming, hiving and use of artificial combs.

5. Care of pigs.

6. How to cure hams (p. 120).

7. Know how to pasteurize milk (page 116).

18. Gardening. (A Trowel.)

1. Participate in the home and school garden work of her community.

2. Plan, make and care for either a back-yard garden, or a window garden for one season.

3. Give plan of her work, the flowers or vegetables planted, the size and cost of her plot and the profit gained therefrom.

4. She must also supervise or directly care for the home lawns, flower beds; attend to the watering, the mowing of the grass, keeping yards free from waste paper and rubbish, to the clipping of shrubbery and hedges.

This test is open to scouts already in the Girls' Garden and Canning Clubs throughout the country and a duplicate of their reports, sent in for their season's work, to the state agricultural agents, or agricultural colleges, in co-operation with the Department of Agriculture of the United States, may be submitted as their test material for this badge.

Farmers' Bulletins, 218, 185, 195.

19. Personal Health. (Dumb-bells.)

To obtain a badge for personal health, a Scout must:

1. Eat no sweets, candy, or cake between meals for three months.

2. Drink nothing but water, chocolate, or cocoa for a year.

3. Walk a mile daily for three months.

4. Sleep with open window.

5. Take a bath daily for a year, or sponge bath.

6. Write a statement of the care of the teeth, and show that her teeth are in good condition as a result of proper care.

7. Tell the difference in effect of a cold bath and a hot bath.

8. Describe the effect of lack of sleep and improper nourishment on the growing girl.

9. Tell how to care for the feet on a march.

10. Describe a good healthful game and state its merits.

11. Tell the dangers of specialization and over-training in the various forms of athletics, and the advantages of an all-around development.

12. Give five rules of health which if followed will keep a girl healthy (page 96).

20. Public Health. (U. S. A. Flag.)

1. Write an article, not over 500 words, about the country-wide campaign against the housefly, and why, giving the diseases it transmits and make a diagram showing how the fly carries diseases, typhoid, tuberculosis and malaria. (See Public Health Service Bulletins on these subjects.)

(Also see page 117.)

2. Tell how to cleanse and purify a house after the presence of contagious disease.

3. State the laws of her community for reporting contagious disease.

4. Tell how a city should protect its supplies of milk, meat and exposed foods.

5. Tell how these articles should be cared for in the home. (See Farmers' Bulletin—"Care of Food in the Home.") (Also see pages 115 and 116.)

6. Tell how her community cares for its garbage.

7. State rules for keeping Girl Scout camp sanitary—disposal of garbage, rubbish, etc.

21. Horsemanship. (Spur.)

1. Demonstrate riding at a walk, trot and gallop.

2. Know how to saddle and bridle a horse correctly, and how to groom a horse properly.

3. Know how to harness correctly in a single or double harness, and how to drive.

4. Know how to tether and hobble and when to give feed and drink.

5. State lighting up time, city law.

6. How to stop run-away horse (page 135).

22. Home-Nursing. (Red Cross, Green Ring.)

1. Must pass tests recommended by American Red Cross Text Book and Elementary Hygiene and Home Care of the Sick, by Jane A. Delaro, Department of the American Red Cross. These tests may be had from Headquarters, upon request.

2. Know how to make invalid's bed.

3. Know how to take temperature; how to count pulse and respirations.

4. Know how to prepare six dishes of food suitable to give an invalid.

23. Housekeeper. (Crossed Keys.)

1. Tell how a house should be planned to give efficiency in housework.

2. Know how to use a vacuum cleaner, how to stain and polish hardwood floors, how to clean wire window screens, how to put away furs and flannels, how to clean glass, kitchen utensils, brass and sinks.

3. Marketing.

Know three different cuts of meat and prices of each.

Know season for chief fruits and vegetables, fish and game.

Know how flour, sugar, rice, cereals and vegetables are sold; whether by packages, pound, or bulk, quarts, etc.

4. Tell how to choose furniture.

5. Make a list of table and kitchen utensils, dishes for dining-room and glasses necessary for a family of four people.

6. How to make a fireless cooker, small refrigerator and window box for winter use.

7. Prepare a budget showing proper per cent of income to be used for food, shelter, clothing, savings, etc.

24. Interpreter. (Clasped Hands.)

1. Be able to carry on a simple conversation in any other language than her own.

2. Write a letter in a foreign language.

3. Read or translate a passage from a book or newspaper in French, German, Italian, or in any other language than her own.

25. Laundress. (Flatiron.)

1. Know how to wash and iron a garment, clear starch and how to do up a blouse.

2. Press a skirt and coat.

3. Know how to use soap and starch, how to soften hard water, and how to use a wringer or mangle.

26. Marksmanship. (Rifles.)

1. Pass tests in judging distances, 300 to 600 yards and in miniature rifle shooting, any position, twenty rounds at 15 or 25 yards, 80 out of 100.

2. Know how to load pistol, how to fire and aim or use it.

3. Or be proficient in fencing or archery.

27. Music. (Harp.)

1. Know how to play a musical instrument. Be able to do sight reading. Have a knowledge of note signs and terms.

2. Name two master composers and two of their greatest works.

3. Be able to name all of the 25 instruments in the orchestra in their proper order.

4. Never play rag time music, except for dancing.

Or, as an alternative:

1. Have a knowledge of singing. Have a pleasing voice.

2. Know two Scout songs and be able to sing them, or lead the Scout Troop in singing.

3. Be able to do sight reading.

4. Have a knowledge of note signs and terms.

Or, as an alternative:

1. Sound correctly on a Bugle the customary army calls of the United States.

28. Naturalist. (Flower.)

1. Make a collection of fifty species of wild flowers, ferns and grasses and correctly name them. Or,

1. Fifty colored drawings of wild flowers, ferns or grasses drawn by herself.

2. Twelve sketches or photographs of animal life.

29. Needlewoman. (Scissors.)

1. Know how to cut and fit. How to sew by hand and by machine.

2. Know how to knit, embroider or crochet.

3. Bring two garments cut out by herself; sew on hooks and eyes and buttons. Make a button-hole.

4. Produce satisfactory examples of darning and patching.

30. Pathfinder. (Hand.)

1. Know the topography of the city, all the public buildings, public schools, and monuments.

2. Know how to use the fire alarm.

3. In the country know the country lanes and roads and by-paths, so as to be able to direct and guide people at any time in finding their way.

4. Know the distance to four neighboring towns and how to get to these towns.

5. Draw a map of the neighborhood with roads leading to cities and towns.

6. Be able to state the points of the compass by stars or the sun, using watch as compass when sun is invisible.

31. Pioneer. (Axes.)

1. Tie six knots. Make a camp kitchen.

2. Build a shack suitable for three occupants.

32. Photography. (Camera.)

1. Know use of lens, construction of camera, effect of light on sensitive films and the action of developers.

2. Be able to show knowledge of several printing processes.

3. Produce 12 photos of scout activities, half indoor and half outdoors, taken, developed and printed by herself, also 3 pictures of either birds, animals, or fish in their natural haunts, 3 portraits and 3 landscapes.

33. Scribe. (Open Book.)

1. Must present a certificate from teacher of her school, showing a year's record of excellence in scholarship, attendance and deportment.

2. Describe in an article, not to exceed a thousand words, how a newspaper is made; its different departments, the functions of its staff; how the local news is gathered; how the news of the world is gathered and disseminated.

3. Define briefly a news item.

4. Define briefly an editorial.

5. Define briefly a special story.

6. Tell how printer's ink is made.

7. Tell how paper is made.

8. Describe evolution of typesetting from hand composition to machine composition.

9. Write 12 news articles (preferably one a month), not to exceed 500 words each, on events that come within the observation of the Scout that are not public news, as for instance, school athletic events, entertainments of Scouts, church or school, neighborhood incidents.

10. Write a special story on some phase of scout-craft, a hike, or camping experience, etc.

Or, as an alternative:

Write a good poem.

Write a good story.

Know principal American authors of prose and verse in the past and present century.

34. Signaling. (Two Flags.)

1. Send and receive a message in two of the following systems of signaling: Semaphore, Morse. Not fewer than twenty-four letters a minute.

2. Receive signals by sound, whistle, bugle or buzzer.

3. Or general service (International Morse Code).

35. Swimmer. (Life-buoy.)

1. Swim fifty yards in clothes, skirt and boots.

2. Demonstrate diving.

3. Artificial respiration.

4. Flinging a life-line.

5. Flinging a life-buoy.

6. Saving the drowning.

Requirements for examination must be sent to parents of candidate for approval. Approval must also be obtained from the family physician or some other doctor.

36. Telegraphy. (Telegraph Pole.)

1. Be able to read and send a message in Morse and in Continental Code, twenty letters per minute, or must obtain a certificate for wireless telegraphy. (These certificates are awarded by Government instructors.) (See p. 77.)

Captain's Badge Captain's Badge

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