The Second Class badge is a green trefoil embroidered on a tan background, and is worn on the left sleeve above the elbow.

The occasion of awarding Second Class badges gives Scouts an opportunity to arrange a ceremony for themselves following more or less the lines of the Tenderfoot investiture.

SIGNALLING

General Service Code

The General Service Code, also called the Continental and the International Morse Code, is the code used by the Army and Navy, cables, wireless telegraphy, and all commercial communications except short distance telegraphing, within the United States. Avoid the term International Morse as both these names apply to other codes. The International code is made up of flags each one of which stands for a letter or other signal, and the Morse is used of the American Morse or telegraph alphabet. There is Visual signalling by hand flag torches, lanterns, etc.; and Sound signalling with buzzer, whistle, drum, etc.

Signalling by Single Flag, or Wig-wagging

The flag used is square with a smaller square of another color in the center. It may be either white with the smaller square red, or red with white. A good size for Girl Scouts to use is 24 inches square with the center 8 inches square, and the pole 42 inches long.

There are but three motions to make with the flag, and all start from POSITION, which means that the signaller stands erect facing the person with whom she is communicating holding the flag perpendicularly in front of her.

Dot.—To make a dot, swing the flag down to the right and bring it back to Position.

Dash.—To make a dash, swing the flag down to the left, and bring it back again to Position.

Front.—The third motion is front, made by swinging the flag down directly in front and returning to Position.

In order to keep the flag from “fouling” when making the motions, make, by a turn of the wrist, a sort of figure 8 with the end of the staff, as shown in the picture.

In learning signalling try to master these motions first; then it is easy to put them together in letters. Make no pause between dots or dashes in a single letter, but have a continuous motion.

Indicate the end of a Letter by a distinct pause at Position.

Indicate the end of a Word by one Front.

Indicate the end of a Sentence by two Fronts.

Indicate the end of a Message by three Fronts.

Many Scouts have found it easier to learn the motions required in flag signalling with a light stick about 18 or 24 inches long; you will be surprised to see how simple it is to handle a flag, when the motions have been mastered with a stick.

Don’t try for speed. Accuracy is the most important thing, for unless the letters are accurately made they may be confused and your message will be read as something quite different from what you intended. Fall into a regular easy rhythm. Speed will come with practice. When signalling a message go slowly enough for the receiver to read it.

Semaphore

The “Semaphore” is really a machine, with two arms which may be moved into various positions to indicate letters. It is especially used on railroads. The semaphore code may also be employed by a person using two flags. It is the quickest method of flag signalling but is only available for comparatively short distances, seldom over a mile, unless extra large flags are used, or there are some extraordinary conditions of backgrounds, atmosphere, etcetera.

The semaphore code is not adapted to all sorts of uses as is the general service code, but for very quick communications over short distances it is most useful.

The regulation Semaphore flag is 18 inches square, divided diagonally into two triangles, a red and a white, with the red one fastened to a staff which is 24 inches long. The staff must be carefully held, to move in one piece with the arm, as a “break” at the wrist would make an entirely different angle.

Pass the arms smoothly from one letter to another. Don’t let them “flop” about between letters. Hold each letter long enough so that it is distinct. At the end of a word make “Interval” hands crossed downward in front of body, right over left. Indicate the end of the sentence by one “chop-chop”—made by placing both arms at the right, horizontal, and moving them up and down in cutting motion. Indicate end of the message by three “chop-chops.” While signalling maintain fixed position, head upright.

Be accurate in making the letters. It is the angle between your arms that counts. Speed will soon come with practice. Don’t look in a mirror, or you will get it all backwards.

Signalling with a Lantern

The motions used in signalling with a lantern are very like those with the single flag. For Position, hold a lantern directly in front of you; for a dot swing it to the right and back; for a dash swing it to the left and back; and for Front move it up and down in a vertical line, directly in front of you. You should have a stationary light, in front of your feet, as a point of reference for the various motions.

Signalling with a Flash Light

Use a short flash for a dot, and a long steady flash for dash. Pause between letters, longer pause between words, still longer at end of sentence.

Signalling by Sound

Whistle:—Use a short blast for a dot, and a long steady blast for a dash. Indicate the end of a letter by a short pause, end of word by a longer pause, and the end of a sentence by a still longer pause.

On the telegraph instrument the dot makes one distinct click. The dash a double click. Try and you will see. Practice tapping with a pencil, a stick or even your fingers, to make the ear familiar with the sound; single tap for a dot, double for a dash.

The code must be absolutely mastered so that you know a letter the minute you see it. Counting off dots and dashes, is a sign of a beginner who doesn’t yet know her code. It is a bad plan to try to learn code by writing it out. You never use it written, and you should learn it as you are going to use it with flags, lights or sounds.

From the very first, practice reading as well as sending. It is harder to do, and requires more practice.

If another Scout facing you will signal the same letter at the same time you are signalling to her, then you read and send that letter simultaneously and thus recognize the letter when receiving a message.

You will find it a curious fact that it is easier to learn the letters by signalling them in words and messages, than by trying to master them singly, in their order in the alphabet.

A good way to learn the general service code is this. Learn first the four letters made all of dots, and then the three made all of dashes.

Fix these in your mind by using them in words like—to, she, some, time, etc. Then take the words “Girl Scouts” and learn them. With the new letters in these added to the dot and dash letters you can make any number of words,—stone, lost, curl, etc. To these add “Be Prepared,” “Come quickly,” “Joyful Scouts never are lazy” and now you can signal all the Scout laws, and you know all the letters of the alphabet except w, x and z. You may learn these separately or in “Buzzing bees make wax.”

The semaphore code may be learned in the same way, and Scouts can easily make up other sentences on the same principle, to suit the semaphore code.

Games.—There are a great many games which will give practice in the signalling tests and the signs. Perhaps a simple one to start with is “Follow the Trail.”

A party of cowboys are to start off for a long journey across the prairie. They are expecting a party of their mates to follow them in a week’s time. So they agree to make scout signs and leave messages all the way. The Scouts, having divided into two parties, one starts away across the fields and woods—preferably along a path or track. They make arrows pointing in the direction they are following, either on the ground or on fences or stones. They hide messages, written on paper or on white stones or pieces of wood, saying how they are getting on; where water may be found; or warning their pals of various dangers. “Don’t follow this road,” (X) is also made when necessary. Meanwhile the second party of Scouts start (having given the cowboys ten minutes’ start) not as the expected friends, but as a party of Indians, who have picked up the trail and are hot on the track of the “palefaces.” They follow, destroying all the cowboys’ tracks and signs, and reading their messages. Indian scouts may be sent on, singly (fast runners) to reconnoitre, and report on the number and deportment of the cowboys. But the Indian scout does this at her own peril. If she is seen by the palefaces she becomes their prisoner, and must go on with them. (Any cowboy seeing an enemy scout calls out her name, whereupon the Indian must play fair and surrender.) The palefaces eventually run short of provisions, at the end of a half a mile (or more) and are obliged to halt. Believing Indians to be following them, they take cover. The Indians, finding that the trail has come to an end, search for the cowboys (seeing and calling out the name being equal to killing), but any paleface who manages to creep out of her cover and touch an Indian before she is seen herself kills her (puts her out of action). The game is won by the party having the largest number of survivors when the Captain blows her whistle.

A game by which reading Morse may be practised is as follows:

About twelve Scouts can play at it. The Scouts each choose a letter of the alphabet. This (printed large in ink on a card) is pinned on her chest. Each then is allotted a place to stand, in a field or open space (her distance away can be arranged by the Captain to suit the capability of the Scout). The Captain stands so that the Scouts are before her in a large semicircle, and all can see her. Her object is to signal in Morse and move the Scouts—two changing places (as in the game of “General Post”). If she sends A, P,—A and P each start forward, and run across the field, taking up each other’s positions. This means that every Scout must have her eyes fixed very attentively on the Captain. Each Scout has five “lives.” If she starts forward when her letter has not been sent she loses one “life”: if she fails to start before the Captain has counted six from signalling the second letter, she loses a life. At the end of a given time, Scouts who have lost least lives are considered the winners. Of course all speaking must be strictly forbidden during this game. The Captain must arrange to give each Scout an equal number of chances to move. It should not be played too long at a time. More than twelve should not play, or the letters cannot each be sent often enough to keep up the interest. This game teaches the Scouts to read Semaphore, and also absolute concentration and alertness. (Notice that this concentration is not an undue strain, as it is relaxed while the two Scouts are running across to change places.) If the Leaders are sufficiently good signallers they may be allowed to do the sending, the Captain acting as umpire and scorer.

It is difficult to describe any actual games which will incorporate signals by smoke, sound, movement, etc. But picnics and outings in the country may be treated as one great “make believe.” The party becomes a band of marooned sailors, an exploring expedition, survivors from a torpedoed ship, or nurses on the battlefield, and the picnic turns into a bivouac, the fire being used to send smoke signals (either to another pack or to a party sent out for this purpose). All communications with this party should be carried on by signal—flag, whistle, etc.

For simple practice of the sound and movement signals the Scouts should be scattered over a field, while the Captain gives the signal, which is to be obeyed promptly. She should watch carefully, and might call out the name (or number) of the Scout last in obeying the order. This will make for alertness. It would be a good plan to arrange some “as you were” signal, to give after each command has been obeyed (say, two sharp notes).

WOODCRAFT: OR, KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS AND NATURE

Habits of Animals.—If you live in the country it is, of course quite easy to observe and watch the habits of all sorts of animals great and small. But if you are in a town there are many difficulties to be met with. But at the same time if you can keep pets of any kind, rabbits, rats, mice, dogs or ponies you can observe and watch their habits and learn to understand them well; but generally for Scouts it is more easy to watch birds, because you see them both in town and country; and especially when you go into camp or on walking tours you can observe and watch their habits, especially in the spring-time.

Then it is that you see the old birds making their nests, hatching out their eggs and bringing up their young; and that is of course the most interesting time for watching them. A good observant scout will get to know the different kinds of birds by their cry, by their appearance, and by their way of flying. She will also get to know where their nests are to be found, what sort of nests they are, what are the colors of the eggs and so on. And also how the young appear. Some of them come out fluffy, others covered with feathers, others with very little on at all. The young pigeon, for instance, has not feathers at all, whereas a young moorhen can swim about as soon as it comes out of the egg; while chickens run about and hunt flies within a few minutes; and yet a sparrow is quite useless for some days and is blind, and has to be fed and coddled by his parents.

Then it is an interesting sight to see the old birds training their young ones to fly by getting up above them and flapping their wings a few times until all the young ones imitate them. Then they hop from one twig to another, still flapping their wings, and the young ones follow suit and begin to find that their wings help them to balance; and finally they jump from one branch to another for some distance so that the wings support them in their effort. The young ones very soon find that they are able to use their wings for flying, but it is all done by degrees and by careful instruction.

If you think there is no natural history or observation of bird life possible in the city, get hold of that delightful book “Lives of the Hunted,” by Ernest Seton Thompson. There you will find a ripping story of Randy and Biddy, the two sparrows, who built a nest between them after wonderful differences of opinion. Randy started to make it of sticks, and Biddy almost declined to live with him in consequence, so he carefully pulled every stick out and dropped them on the pavement and gave in to her preferring for hay and straw. Then they used string. But when she brought feathers he drew the line and argued the point. However, the story should be read to be enjoyed as it stands in that book.

Then a large number of our birds do not live all the year round in England, but they go off to Southern climes such as Africa when the winter comes on. In September you will see the migrating birds collecting to go away, the starlings in their crowds and the swallows for the South, and the warblers, the flycatchers, and the swifts. And yet about the same time the large are arriving, so there is a good deal of travelling to and from among the birds in the air at all times of the year.

How to draw.—By the way, talking of birds, every Scout ought to be able to draw one.

First, of course, you lay the egg. Then put a watch on it, with the second dial to show the time. But before you put in the hands it becomes a bird. Then you add the outline, thus:—

Try it yourself. It is quite easy.

Reptiles.—There is a lot of interest to be got out of watching reptiles, such as frogs, which begin as tadpoles, eating weeds, and gradually lose their tails and gills, which they begin with, and end up as frogs, eating worms and slugs as food.

Insects.—Insects, too, are very interesting little people when you get to know their ways and habits. Among them you can generally find moths, ants, gnats, butterflies, bees, beetles, ladybirds, and all such. Though most girls do not care very much about them, Scouts who have studied them get to like them, even spiders and daddy-longlegs, and to take a close interest in them.

Caddis worms, for instance, build the most beautiful houses of mosaic work, all formed of tiny stones and bits of shell glued on to a silken lining which the caddis worms make themselves.

The caddis worm has extraordinary jaws which he can fold up when they are in the way, and he can also push himself along in the water by squirting out a strong jet of water all round him. A caddis worm is really only the larva of a large sort of dragon fly; so when he wants to change into a winged insect, he cleverly spins a silken door across each end of his tubular house, and fixes it on to the stalk of a plant near the water. Then he waits till his wings have grown, and at last he crawls out and runs up the plant out of the water, and flies away into the sunshine.

Butterfly-hunting is a most exciting pastime. You go out with your net and your box, and chase the pretty creatures over field and swamp, and hedge and ditch. If possible, try not to spoil the wings, and then keep them alive in a cage or a greenhouse. You can keep the eggs they lay, and bring up a large family for next year. You can make your own net if you buy a yard of stout wire, and bend it round, and bind the ends tightly and neatly to a cane or stick.

Make your net long enough to hang across the wire, when your butterfly is caught, thus:—

Examine the wings carefully with a magnifying glass, as the tiny scarlet and yellow feathers are easily rubbed off and spoilt, especially if the creature flutter about.

Personally I don’t use a net; I catch them by drawing their portraits in my sketch-book. It saves a lot of trouble to them and to me.

Trees.—Then Scouts should know all about the different trees in their country and know their names by their appearance in summer and also in winter; and what they are good for, and what their leaves are like and their flower or their fruit as the case may be. It helps you very much in camp to know what kind of wood burns well, such as pine wood or sugar bush or gum tree. Also which kinds of wood are best for carving, for making walking sticks, for painting on.

The common trees which a Scout should know by sight are:

• Oak
• Elm
• Plane
• Cedar
• Fir
• Poplar
• Pine
• Sycamore
• Larch
• Willow
• Holly
• Horse Chestnut
• Ash
• Lime
• Beech
• Birch
• Spanish Chestnut
• Walnut

Flowers.—Flowers, of course, interest girls as much as any kind of plant, because they are easily cultivated, and every Scout ought to know the names of most of the common flowers and to understand how they live and how they ought to be treated; when to plant them and when to expect them coming up; and how they produce their seed and how they send it about and re-plant themselves in different parts near them.

For instance, if you have a magnifying glass you can examine a dandelion seed with it. Few things are more beautiful. It is much the same as a thistle seed, tucked away cleverly till it is ripe, and it all opens into a delicate feathery kind of parachute each carrying a seed. This blows about with the wind many miles before it actually falls to the ground and there sows itself.

Most flowers seem to have the wish to scatter their seed far away from them. Even the modest little violet sows its seed out of a little boat-shaped pod with great force and a loud report to a distance of some three feet; and so does the iris, the pansy, the wall-flower, and many others. Many flowers and plants produce berries and fruits which are good to eat, others produce those that are poisonous; and a Scout should know which are which, since when you[109]
[110] are in camp some of them may come in very useful, whereas others which look tempting to eat may cause you a great deal of trouble and illness.

Eatable Plants

But especially you ought to know what kind of plants are useful to you in providing you with food. Supposing you were out in a jungle without any food, as very often happens; if you knew nothing about plants you would probably die of starvation, or of poisoning, from not knowing which fruit or roots were wholesome and which dangerous to eat.

There are numbers of berries, nuts, roots, barks, and leaves that are good to eat.

The same with crops of different kinds of corn and seed, vegetable roots, and even grasses and vetches. Seaweed is much eaten in Ireland and Scotland. Such as laver, sloke, dulse, ulva, etc.

No less than fifteen kinds of fungi (that’s the plural of fungus!), or mushrooms, are good to eat if you can only tell them from the poisonous kinds.

Dandelions, nettles, rose berries, bracken roots, lime buds, and many other common plants make useful foods.

But you have to know which is which when you see them, and then know how to cook or prepare them.

Woodland cooking is great fun when you care to do it.

Nature Study in Towns

Many people seem to think that you cannot get Nature study unless you are out in the fields or woods studying the animals or noticing the plants, but you can do a great deal in town and even in your own room with others, or even by yourself.

For one thing, just think of the wonder of your own eye if you study it in the glass, and the delicacy of its construction; how it is like a bubble which a very slight blow would destroy altogether. Then from the eye go the nerves carrying back what it has seen of visible things to the brain, where the thoughts which are invisible take it over, the thought then gives the desire or the power to move. That is to say, your eyes show you something on the table and the invisible thought comes in your mind that you would like to catch hold of it, and the thought then makes the material sinews of your arm get to work and grasp it.

You cannot see your thought, but you know it is there, and you see the result of your thought when you grasp the thing. In the same way God is not visible, but all the same he is there, and you see the result when you do a good act. Sometimes you don’t do that good act, or you may do one that is not suggested by God. You may well feel ashamed when this happens and refuse to let yourself do it again. Therefore, try and think before doing a thing and ask yourself the question “Does God want me to do this?” If the reply in your mind says “Yes,” then do it; and if it says “No,” then don’t do it. It is not a difficult thing to live a straight and clean life if you only REMEMBER to think first and do after.

Stalking

How to Hide Yourself.—When you want to observe wild animals you have to stalk them, that is, creep up to them without their seeing or smelling you.

A hunter when he is stalking wild animals keeps himself entirely hidden, so does the war scout when watching or looking for the enemy; a policeman does not catch pickpockets by standing about in uniform watching for them; he dresses like one of the crowd, and as often as not gazes into a shop window and sees all that goes on behind him reflected as if in a looking-glass.

If a guilty person finds himself being watched, it puts him on his guard, while an innocent person becomes annoyed. So, when you are observing people, don’t do so by openly staring at them, but notice the details you want to at one glance or two, and if you want to study them more, walk behind them; you can learn just as much from a back view, in fact more than you can from a front view, and, unless they are scouts and look round frequently, they do not know that you are observing them.

War scouts and hunters stalking game always carry out two important things when they don’t want to be seen.

Background.—One is—they take care that the ground behind them, or trees, or buildings, etc., are of the same color as their clothes.

And the other is—if an enemy or a deer is seen looking for them, they remain perfectly still without moving so long as he is there.

“Freezing.”—In that way a scout, even though he is out in the open, will often escape being noticed. This is called by scouts “Freezing.”

Tracking

“Sign” is the word used by Scouts to mean any little details, such as footprints, broken twigs, trampled grass, scraps of food, old matches, etc.

Any one of you might win the reward of $100 for tracing the writer of a typewritten paper which nearly caused the ruin of a large bank. It was noticed by signs that the writer must have used a Remington machine No. 7, because of the shape of the letters. The type was much worn, therefore it is supposed the machine was four or five years old. Now, who bought one at that time? Then you could see that the letter “o” had a bent bar, the letter “r” had a faulty spring, and the top of the capital letter “C” was worn away. So you see that if you found a machine with all these faults you could trace the person who used it, from even such very small signs.

Some native Indian trackers were following up the footprints of a panther that had killed and carried off a young kid. He had crossed a wide bare slab of rock, which, of course, gave no mark of his soft feet. The tracker went at once to the far side of the rock where it came to a sharp edge; he wetted his finger, and just passed it along the edge till he found a few kid’s hairs sticking to it. This showed him where the panther had passed down off the rock, dragging the kid with him. Those few hairs were what Scouts call “sign.”

This tracker also found bears by noticing small “sign.” On one occasion he noticed a fresh scratch in the bark of a tree, evidently made by a bear’s claw, and on the other he found a single black hair sticking to the bark of a tree, which told him that a bear had rubbed against it.

One of the most important things that a Scout has to learn is to let nothing escape her attention; she must notice small points and signs, and then make out the meaning of them; but it takes a good deal of practice before a tenderfoot can get into the habit of really noting everything and letting nothing escape her eye. It can be learnt just as well in a town as in the country, provided that your head is screwed on the right way.

And in the same way you should notice any strange sound or any peculiar smell, and think for yourself what it may mean. Unless you learn to notice “sign” you will have very little of “this and that” to put together, and so you will be of no use as a Girl Scout. It comes by practice. Remember a Scout always considers it a great disgrace if an outsider discovers a thing before she herself does, whether that thing is far away or close by.

Don’t only look at the path before you, but frequently turn and look back. Notice the features of the country behind you, to see what your road will look like in coming back again.

In the streets of a strange town a Girl Scout will mark her way by the principal buildings and side-streets, and in any case she will notice what shops she passes and what is in their windows; also what vehicles pass her, and such details as whether the horses’ harness and shoes are all right; and most especially what people she passes, what their faces are like, their dress, their boots, and their way of walking, so that if, for instance, she should be asked by a policeman, “Have you seen a man with dark overhanging eyebrows, dressed in a blue suit, going down this street?” she should be able to give some such answer as “Yes; he was walking a little lame with the right foot, wore foreign-looking boots, was carrying a parcel in his hand; he turned down Gold Street, the second turning on the left from here, about three minutes ago.”

Information of that kind has often been of the greatest value in tracing out a criminal, but so many people go along with their eyes shut and never notice things.

Horses’ Tracks

Wheel tracks should also be studied till you can tell the difference between the track of a gun, a carriage, a country car, motor-car or a bicycle, and the direction they were going in.

In the story of Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, there is an account of two boys being taught “observation,” in order to become detectives by means of a game in which a trayful of small objects was shown to them for a minute and was then covered over, and they had to describe all the things on it from memory.

We will have that game, as it is excellent practice for Scouts.

Details of People.—It is of interest when you are travelling by train or tram to notice little things about your fellow-travellers—their faces, dress, way of talking, and so on—so that you could describe them each pretty accurately afterwards; and also try and make out from their appearance and behavior whether they are rich or poor (which you can generally tell from their boots), and what is their probable business, whether they are happy, or ill, or in want of help.

But in doing this you must not let them see you are watching them, else it puts them on their guard.

Reading a Meaning in Sign.—It is said that you can tell a man’s character from the way he wears his hat. If it is slightly on one side, the wearer is good-natured; if it is worn very much on one side, he is a swaggerer; if on the back of his head, he is bad at paying his debts; if worn straight on the top, he is probably honest but very dull.

The way a man (or a woman) walks is often a good guide to his character—witness the fussy, swaggering little man paddling along with short steps and much arm-action; the nervous man’s hurried, jerky stride; the slow slouch of the loafer; the smooth, quick, and silent step of the Scout, and so on.

With a little practice in observation you can tell pretty accurately a man’s character from his dress.

How would you recognize that a gentleman was fond of fishing? If you see his left cuff with little tufts of cloth sticking up, you may be sure he fishes. When he takes his flies off the line he will either stick them into his cap to dry, or hook them into his sleeve. When dry he pulls them out, which often tears a thread or two of the cloth.

It is surprising how much of the sole of the shoes you can see when behind a person walking—and it is equally surprising how much meaning you can read from that shoe. It is said that to wear out soles and heels equally is to give evidence of business capacity and honesty; to wear your heels down on the outside means that you are a person of imagination and love of adventure; but heels worn down on the inside signify weakness and indecision of character, and this last sign is more infallible in the case of man than in that of woman.

Remember how “Sherlock Holmes” met a stranger and noticed that he was looking fairly well-to-do, in new clothes with a mourning band on his sleeve, with a soldierly bearing and a sailor’s way of walking, sunburns, with tattoo marks on his hands, and he was carrying some children’s toys in his hand. What would you have supposed that man to be? Well, Sherlock Holmes guessed correctly that he had lately retired from the Marines as a sergeant, that his wife had died, and that he had some small children at home.

Details in the Country.—If you are in the country, you should notice landmarks—that is, objects which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost—such as distant hills and church towers; and nearer objects, such as peculiar buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc.

And remember in noticing such landmarks that you may want to use your knowledge of them some day for telling some one else how to find his way, so you must notice them pretty closely so as to be able to describe them unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember every by-road and footpath.

Remembrance of these things will help you to find your way by night or in fog when other people are losing themselves.

Using your Eyes.—Let nothing be too small for your notice—a button, a match, a hair, a cigar ash, a feather, or a leaf might be of great importance, even a fingerprint which is almost invisible to the naked eye has often been the means of detecting a crime.

Not long ago a lady reported to the police that she was sitting in her room reading quietly in the corner when a ragged-looking man crept in at the open window, seized hold of a silver vase, and was in the act of making off with it when a sound outside disturbed him.

He put down the vase again, ran away across the lawn, jumped a low hedge, and got away.

Detectives came and examined the ground, but could find no footmarks even at the spot where the man had landed from his jump. Then they inspected the vase very carefully, and examined the fingers of the different people in the house.

They then reported that nobody except the maid had handled the vase and that nobody had gone across the lawn or jumped the hedge.

It was afterwards found that the lady was subject to delusions, and had imagined the whole thing, but the detectives had arrived at the same conclusion through examining the fingermarks and signs.

When out in the country you must keep your eyes about you and not merely notice small signs close to you, but other signs far away as well—such as dust flying, birds startled, unnatural movements of bush or grass, and also keep your ears open for sounds such as cracking of a twig, dogs suddenly barking and so on.

The battle of Boomplatz, fought by the British against the Boers, was successful for us partly because Sir Harry Smith, the Commander, noticed some buck in the distance suddenly startled and running for no apparent reason, but his suspicions being aroused he sent scouts to investigate, and they found a Boer force trying to form an ambush for him, and he was able to defeat their aims in consequence.

By night of course you must use your ears instead of your eyes and practice at this helps to make perfect.

A trained Scout will see little signs and tracks, she puts them together in her mind, and quickly reads a meaning from them such as an untrained woman would never arrive at.

And from frequent practice she gets to read the meaning at a glance, just as you do a book, without the delay of spelling out each word, letter by letter.

I was one day, during the Matabele War [show on map] with a native out scouting near to the Matopo Hills over a wide grassy plain. Suddenly we crossed a track freshly made in grass, where the blades of grass were still green and damp, though pressed down; all were bending one way, which showed the direction in which the people had been travelling. Following up the track for a bit it got on to a patch of sand, and we then saw that it was the spoor of several women (small feet with straight edge, and short steps) and boys (small feet, curved edge, and longer strides), walking, not running, towards the hills, about five miles away, where we believed the enemy to be hiding.

Then we saw a leaf lying about ten yards off the track. There were no trees for miles, but we knew that trees having this kind of leaf grew at a village fifteen miles away, in the direction from which the footmarks were coming. It seemed likely therefore that the women had come from that village, bringing the leaf with them, and had gone to the hills.

On picking up the leaf we found it was damp, and smelled of native beer. The short steps showed that the women were carrying loads. So we guessed that according to the custom they had been carrying pots of native beer on their heads, the mouths of the pots being stopped up with bunches of leaves. One of these leaves had fallen out; but we found it ten yards off the track, which showed that at the time it fell a wind was blowing. There was no wind now, i. e., seven o’clock, but there had been some about five o’clock.

So we guessed from all these little signs that a party of women and boys had brought beer during the night from the village 15 miles away, and had taken it to the enemy on the hills, arriving there soon after six o’clock.

The men would probably start to drink the beer at once (as it goes sour in a few hours), and would, by the time we could get there, be getting sleepy and keeping a bad look-out, so we should have a favourable chance of looking at their position.

We accordingly followed the women’s track, found the enemy, made our observations, and got away with our information without any difficulty.

And it was chiefly done on the evidence of that one leaf. So you see the importance of noticing even a little thing like that.

Games in Stalking

Girl Scout Hunting.—One Scout is given time to go out and hide herself, the remainder then start to find her; she wins if she is not found, or if she can get back to the starting-point within a given time without being touched.

Dispatch Running.—A Scout is told to bring a note to a certain spot or house from a distance within a given time: other hostile Scouts are told to prevent any message getting to this place, and to hide themselves at different points to stop the dispatch carrier getting in with it.

To count as a capture, two Scouts must touch the dispatch runner before she reaches the spot for delivering the message.

Relay Race.—One patrol pitted against another to see who can get a message sent a long distance in shortest time by means of relays of runners or cyclists. The patrol is ordered out to send in three successive notes or tokens (such as sprigs of certain plants), from a point, say, two miles distant or more. The leader in taking her patrol out to the spot, drops Scouts at convenient distances, who will then act as runners from one post to the next and back. If relays are posted in pairs, messages can be passed both ways.

Stalking.—Captain acts as a deer—not hiding, but standing, moving a little now and then if she likes.

Scouts go out to find, and each in her own way tries to get up to her unseen.

Directly the Captain sees a Scout she directs her to stand up as having failed. After a certain time the Captain calls “Time,” all stand up at the spot which they have reached, and the nearest wins.

The same game may be played to test the Scouts in stepping lightly—the umpire being blindfolded. The practice should preferably be carried out where there are dry twigs lying about, and gravel, etc. The Scout may start to stalk the blind enemy at 100 yards’ distance, and she must do it fairly fast—say, in one minute and a half—to touch the blind man before she hears her.

Stalking and Reporting.—The umpire places herself out in the open and sends each Scout or pair of Scouts away in different directions about half a mile off. When she waves a flag, which is the signal to begin, they all hide, and then proceed to stalk her, creeping up and watching all she does. When she waves the flag again, they rise, come in, and report each in turn all that she did, either by handing in a written report or verbally, as may be ordered. The umpire meantime has kept a look-out in each direction, and, every time she sees a Scout, she takes two points off that Scout’s score. She, on her part, performs small actions, such as sitting down, kneeling up, looking through glasses, using handkerchief, taking hat off for a bit, walking round in a circle a few times, to give Scouts something to note and report about her. Scouts are given three points for each act reported correctly. It saves time if the umpire makes out a scoring card beforehand, giving the name of each Scout, and a number of columns showing each act of her, and what mark that Scout wins, also a column of deducted marks for exposing themselves.

The “Spider and Fly” game as described in the English book “Scouting for Boys” is also a proper one and useful for training in observation.

Plant Race.—The Scouts start off either cycling or on foot, to go in any direction they like to get a specimen of any ordered plants, a horseshoe mark from a chestnut tree, a briar rose or something of the kind, whichever the Captain may order, such as will tax their knowledge of plants and will test their memory as to where they noticed one of the kind required, and will also make them quick in getting there and back.

Leaf Trail.—It is supposed that a crime has been done, and in the search for the culprits who have hidden themselves, the police were helped in tracing the track by articles left behind them. The fugitives leave behind a dozen of certain leaves, such as oak, or chestnut or fir, laid in the order in which those trees come on the track. The trackers take note of these during the fifteen minutes start. The trackers must then follow wherever these trees are to be found, in the right order, until they can find the fugitives. Should they not be successful another day may be spent over it.

House Hunting

It is an interesting thing to take as the object of a walk the selection of a house where you would like to live. Notice the position, estimate the cost of rent, rates, taxes, etc., notice its garden and how you would utilise it, and, inside, what kind of wall-paper, etc., you would select so it would be homely and not merely for show, in good taste and not tawdry, airy and not stuffy with too many hangings, which will clean, and so on. Proximity to the necessary supply shops, doctor, telephone, post office, and so on should all be taken into consideration, and it is rather amusing to compare notes with the rest of your Patrol at the end of your expedition, and see how many got on the same house.

Hints to Instructors

Practices in Observation.—Instructor can take the finger-marks of each girl. Lightly rub the thumb on blacklead or on paper that is blackened with pencil, then press the thumb on paper and examine with magnifying glass. Show that no two people’s prints are alike.

In Towns.—Practice your girls first in walking down a street to notice the different kinds of shops as they pass, and to remember them in their proper sequence at the end.

Then to notice and remember the names of the shops.

Then to notice and remember the contents of a shop window after two minutes’ gaze. Finally, to notice the contents of several shop windows in succession with half a minute at each. Give marks for the fullest list.

The Scouts must also notice prominent buildings as landmarks, and the number of turnings off the street they are using.

In the Country.—Take the patrol out for a walk and teach the girls to notice distant prominent features such as hills, church steeples, and so on; and as nearer landmarks such things as peculiar buildings, trees, rocks, gates, by-roads or paths, nature of fences, crops, different kinds of trees, birds, animals, tracks, people, vehicles, etc. Also any peculiar smells of plants, animals, manure, etc.; whether gates or doors were open or shut, whether any smoke from chimney, etc.

Send Scouts out in pairs.

It adds to the value of the practice if the instructor makes a certain number of small marks in the ground beforehand, or leaves buttons or matches, etc., for the girls to notice or to pick up and bring in (as a means of making them examine the ground close to them as well as distant objects.)

Practices in Natural History.—Take out Scouts to get specimens of leaves, fruits, or blossoms of various trees, shrubs, etc., and observe the shape and nature of the tree both in summer and in winter.

Collect leaves of different trees; let Scouts make tracings of them and write the name of the tree on each.

In the country make Scouts examine crops in all stages of their growth, so that they know pretty well by sight what kind of crop is coming up.

Start gardens if possible; either a patrol garden or individual Scout gardens. Let them grow flowers and vegetables for profit to pay for their equipment, etc. Show all the wild plants which may be made use of for food. Find yew trees; report if any good branches to make archers’ bows of.

Encourage the keeping of live pets, whether birds, animals, reptiles, insects. Show how to keep illustrated diary-records of plants, insects, birds, etc., giving dates when seen for comparison following year and showing their peculiar markings, form, etc.

If in a town take your Scouts to the Zoological Gardens, menagerie, or Natural History Museum, and show them particular animals on which you are prepared to lecture. Not more than half a dozen for one visit.

If in the country get farmer or shepherd to help with information on the habits of farm animals, e.g., how a cow lies down and when. How to milk, stalk rabbits, water voles, trout, birds, etc., and watch their habits.

The aim in your Nature study is to develop a realisation of God the Creator, and to infuse a sense of the beauty of Nature.

CAMPCRAFT

How to make a Fire.—You should learn how to lay and light a fire out of doors.

Remember the usual fault of a “tender-pad” or beginner, is to try to make too big a fire. You will never see a backwoodsman do that—he uses the smallest possible amount of wood for his fire.

First collect your firewood. Green, fresh-cut wood is no good, nor is dead wood that has lain long on the ground. Get permission to break off dead branches for it.

To make your fire you put a few sticks flat on the ground, especially if the ground be damp. On this flooring lay your “punk”—that is, paper, shavings, inner skin of the bark of the tree, splinters, or any other material that will easily catch fire from your match.

On this you pile, in pyramid fashion, thin twigs, splinters, and slithers of dry wood, leaning on the “punk” and against each other. These are called kindling. A few stouter sticks are added over them to make the fire.

A good kind of kindling can easily be made by slitting a stick into several slices or shavings, as shown. This is called a firestick.

If stood up, with the shavings downwards towards the ground, it quickly catches light and flares up.

Set light to this, putting your match under the bottom of the “punk.” When the wood has really got on fire, add more and larger sticks, and finally logs, which should be placed star-shape, like spokes of a wheel.

For a cooking fire you want to make lots of red-hot embers, so use sticks about half or three-quarters of an inch thick.

For a signalling fire to make a flare at night use dry gorse, straw, or dry twigs in large quantities.

For a smoke signalling fire use plenty of thin dry sticks and twigs to give burning flame, and add leaves and grass to make the smoke.

Camping

One of the ripping things about Girl Scout work is the camp life. You go out either to live in farm buildings, or in an empty house, or in tents.

People talk of “roughing it” in tents, but those people are generally Tenderfoots. A wise Scout does not “rough it”; she knows how to look after herself and how to make herself comfortable by a hundred little dodges.

For instance, if the tents have not turned up she doesn’t sit down to shiver and grumble, but at once sets to work to rig up a shelter or hut for herself. She chooses a good spot for it where she is not likely to be flooded out if a rainstorm comes.

Then she lights up a camp fire, cooks her food, and makes herself comfortable on her mattress of ferns or straw.

But to do this she must, of course, have first learnt how to light a fire, how to prepare and cook her food, and how to weave a camp mattress, and so on, all of which she learns in her ordinary training as a Girl Scout.

In camp you learn to make all the different things you want, because there is not always a shop round the corner where you can go and buy them.

The following are a few out of the many things that Scouts learn to do for themselves.

In the Tent.—Scouts are always tidy, whether in camp or not, as a matter of habit. If you are not tidy at home, you won’t be tidy in camp; and if you’re not tidy in camp, you will never be a thorough Scout.

A Scout is tidy alike in her tent, bunk, or room, because she may be suddenly called upon to go off on an alarm, or something unexpected; and if she does not know exactly where to lay her hand on her things, she will be a long time in turning out, especially if called up in the middle of the night. So on going to bed, even when at home, practise the habit of folding up your clothes and putting them where you can at once find them in the dark, and get into them quickly.

Cleaning Camp Ground.—Never forget also that the state of an old camp ground after the camp has finished, tells exactly whether the patrol or troop which has used it was a smart one or not. No Scouts who are any good ever leave a camp ground dirty; they sweep up and bury or burn every scrap of rubbish.

It is important to get into this habit of cleaning up your camp ground before leaving it, as then farmers don’t have the trouble of having to clean their ground after you leave, and they are, therefore, all the more willing to let you use it.

The Woodpecker.—When you find that the ground round a tree is strewn with tiny chips of wood you may know at a glance that a woodpecker is making her nest there. The woodpecker chips away the bark and makes a deep hollow in the trunk. But she has sense enough to know that the chips which fall are telltales, so you may see her making efforts to tidy up the place, and in the end she will go to the trouble of flying away with every little chip and scrap in her beak to a distance, so that no enemy can see that she has been cutting a hole in that tree.

Bathing.—When in camp, bathing will be one of your joys and one of your duties, a joy because it is such fun, a duty because no Scout can consider herself a full-blown Scout until she is able to swim and to save life in the water.

But there are dangers about bathing for which every sensible Scout will be prepared.

First, there is the danger of cramp. This comes very often from staying in the water too long. Ten minutes is ample time as a rule for a girl to be in the water, five minutes is safer.

If you bathe within an hour and a half of taking a meal, that is before your food is digested, you are very likely to get cramp. Cramp doubles you up in extreme pain so that you cannot move your arms or legs, and down you go and drown.

When bathing is going on there should always be one or two good swimmers on duty as “life savers.” They should not bathe themselves till the others are out of the water, but should be in bathing-dress, ready to jump in at any moment to help any one that they see in difficulties.

This plan is always strictly carried out by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in camp, and has already been the means of saving many lives and from changing a joy-camp into a camp of mourning.

Water Supply.—A Tenderfoot drinks any kind of water that she finds handy, and consequently gets ill after the first day camping out, and has to go home again.

The old campaigner is very careful indeed about getting clean drinking water, and if she is not certain that it is wholesome she will take care to boil it well before drinking it, as this kills all the little germs of disease which exist more or less in all water, however clear it may be.

Cleanliness.—Take special care to keep your kitchen clean, and it will make you more comfortable and more healthy in camp. More comfortable because flies will not infest the place unless they find dirt and scraps to feed upon.

More healthy because if there are flies they always bring poison on to your food. So keep the camp kitchen and ground round it very clean at all times. Dig a small pit a couple of feet deep near the kitchen and throw all refuse that won’t burn into this, and fill in the pit with earth every night.

Tidy up as neatly as the woodpecker does.

Drains.—Also do not neglect to dig a long trench to serve as a latrine. Every camp, even if only for one night, should have a sewer trench two or three feet deep, quite narrow, not more than one foot wide, with screens of canvas or branches on all sides.

Earth should always be thrown in after use, and the trench must be filled up before leaving the place. Even away from camp a small pit should always be dug and filled in with earth after use. It is a cleanly habit for the sake of other people, and also makes the camp healthier.

Neglect of this not only makes a place unhealthy, but it also makes farmers and landowners disinclined to give the use of their ground for Scouts to camp on or to work over. So don’t forget it.

Tidiness.—Tidiness in camp means tidiness in the home and also tidiness in the streets or parks or when out picnicing. Scouts have got a splendid name for cleaning up their camp ground when they leave, although it is not a pleasant duty. They do it because a dirty littered bit of ground is not pleasant for other people to look on or use. Therefore out in the streets or parks or country don’t throw away the bit of paper that held your candy or cake. It not only makes the place look untidy, but it means work for someone else to clear it up. Therefore, carry your paper to the waste-paper bin, or burn or bury it.

How to make a Bed.—To manufacture a bed in camp is a different thing from “making your bed” in a house. To make a bed for camp use the following is the dodge:—

To make a Camp Loom.—Plant a row (1) of five stakes, 2 ft. 6 in. long, firmly in the ground; opposite to them at a distance of 6 ft. to 7 ft., drive in a row of two and a crossbar (2). Fasten a cord or gardener’s twine to the head of each stake in No. 1 row and stretch it to the crossbar in No. 2 and make it fast there, then carry the continuation of it back over No. 1 row for some 5 ft. extra, and fasten it to a loose crossbar or “beam” at exactly the same distance apart from the next cord as it stands at the stakes. This beam is then moved up and down at slow intervals by one Scout, while the others lay bundles of fern, straw, or heather, etc., alternately under and over the stretched strings, which are thus bound in by the rising or falling on to them.

Bleeding.—When a man is bleeding badly from a wound, press the wound or the flesh just above it—that is between the wound and the heart—press it hard with your thumb to try and stop the blood running in the artery. Then make a pad with something like a flat rounded pebble, and bind it over the wound. If bleeding violently, tie a handkerchief loosely round the limb above the wound, and twist it tight with a stick. [Demonstrate this.] Keep the wounded part raised above the rest of the body if possible. Apply cold water, or ice, if possible, wet rags, etc.

Bleeding from the ears and insensibility after a fall mean injury to the skull. The patient should not be moved at all if possible. It is best even to keep him lying on the spot, and put cold water or ice to his head and keep him quiet till a doctor comes.

Spitting or throwing up blood means internal injury or bursting of a small blood-vessel inside the patient. The case often looks more serious than it really is. If the blood is light red in colour and mixed with froth it means injury to the lungs. In either case keep the patient quiet and give ice to suck or cold water to sip.

Don’t be alarmed at the amount of blood that flows from a patient. It used to be a common thing for the barber to bleed a man to the extent of five or six cupfuls of blood, and the patient feels all the better for it.

HOW TO BE HEALTHY—AND WISE

In addition to the exercises for your body which are given earlier in this book you should understand what they do for you and why you are advised to practise them. It is not for MY amusement! It is for your own health and happiness. And here are a few more tips that will help you to be healthy, and possible wealthy, and certainly wise—if you carry them out.

Exercises and Their Object

To make yourself strong and healthy it is necessary to begin with your inside and to get the blood into good order and the heart to work well; that is the secret of the whole thing, physical exercises should be taken with that intention. This is the way to do it:—

(a) Make the heart strong in order to pump the blood properly to every part of the body, and so to build up flesh, bone, and muscle. Exercise: “Swimming” and “Wrist Pushing.”

(b) Make the lungs strong in order to provide the blood with fresh air. Exercise: “Deep breathing.”

(c) Make the skin perspire to get rid of the dirt from the blood. Exercise: Bath, or rub with a damp towel every day.

(d) Make the stomach work to feed the blood. Exercise: “Body bending.”

(e) Make the bowels active to remove the remains of food and dirt from the body. Exercise: “Body bending” and “Kneading the abdomen.” Drink plenty of good water. Punctual daily move of bowels.

(f) Work muscles in each part of the body to make the blood circulate to that part, and so increase your strength. Exercise: Walking and special exercises of special muscles.

The blood thrives on simple good food, plenty of exercise, plenty of fresh air, cleanliness of the body both inside and out, and proper rest of body and mind at intervals.

The Japs are particularly strong and healthy. They eat very plain food, chiefly rice and fruit, and not much of it. They drink plenty of water, but no spirits. They take lots of exercise. They make themselves good-tempered. They live in fresh air as much as possible day and night. Their particular exercise is “Ju-Jitsu,” which is more of a game than drill, and is generally played in pairs. By Ju-Jitsu, the muscles and body are developed in a natural way, in the open air as a rule. It requires no apparatus.

The Nose

Always breathe through the nose. Shut your Mouth and Save your Life. Indians for a long time adopted that method with their children to the extent of tying up their jaws at night, to ensure their breathing only through their nose.

Breathing through the nose prevents germs of disease getting from the air into the throat and stomach; it also prevents a growth in the back of the throat called “adenoids,” which are apt to stop the breathing power of the nostrils, and also to cause deafness.

For a Scout nose-breathing is also specially useful.

By keeping the mouth shut you prevent yourself from getting thirsty when you are doing hard work. And also at night, if you are in the habit of breathing through the nose, it prevents snoring. Therefore practise keeping your mouth shut and breathing through your nose.

Ears

A Scout must be able to hear well. Generally the ears are very delicate, and once damaged are apt to become incurably deaf. People are too apt to fiddle about with their ears in cleaning them by using things which are dangerous with such a sensitive organ as the ear, the drum of the ear being a very delicate, tightly-stretched skin which is easily damaged. Very many children have had the drums of their ears permanently injured by getting a box on the ear, or cleaning them out roughly with the hard corner of a towel.

Eyes

A Scout, of course, must have particularly good eye-sight; she must be able to see anything very quickly, and to see at a long way off. By practising your eyes in looking at things at a great distance they will grow stronger. While you are young you should save your eyes as much as possible, or they will not be strong when you get older; therefore avoid reading by lamp-light or in the dusk, and also sit with your back or side to the light when doing any work during the day; if you sit facing the light it strains your eyes.

The strain of the eyes is a very common failure with growing girls, although very often they do not know it, and headaches come most frequently from the eyes being strained; frowning on the part of a girl is very generally a sign that her eyes are being strained. Reading in bed brings headaches.

Teeth

Bad teeth are troublesome, and are often the cause of neuralgia, indigestion, abscesses, and sleepless nights. During the Boer war over three thousand of our soldiers had to be sent away, unfit to fight, because their teeth were so bad that they could not eat the food out there. Good teeth depend greatly on how you look after them when you are young. Attention to the first set of teeth keeps the mouth healthy for the second teeth, which begin to come when a child is seven, and these are meant to last you to the end of your life if you keep them in order.

If one tooth is allowed to decay, it will spread decay in all the others, and this arises from scraps of feed remaining between the teeth and decaying there.

A thorough Scout always brushes her teeth inside and outside and between all, just the last thing at night as well as other times, so that no food remains about them to rot. Scouts in camps or in the wilds of the jungle cannot always buy tooth-brushes, but should a tiger or a crocodile have borrowed yours, you can make your teeth just as bright and white as his are by means of a frayed-out, dry, clean, stick.

CEREMONY FOR INVESTING SECOND CLASS GIRL SCOUTS

The troop forms in horseshoe formation, as in the case of Tenderfoot ceremony, the Captain and Lieutenant standing facing the troop.

Captain: “The Scouts (calling the list of names) have satisfactorily passed all the tests required for a Second Class badge, and are duly qualified to receive that badge.”

The Captain then calls forward, one by one, the girls who are to receive the badge. If there is more than one in a patrol, call all those in the same patrol together with their patrol leader, but go through the form with each individual girl.

Captain: “——————————— (name of girl), do you now pledge yourself to renew your Scout promise, and to fulfill the Scout Law?”

Scout: “On my honor, I now pledge myself to renew the Scout promise and to fulfill the Scout law.”

Captain: “Invest.”

The Scout comes forward and stands at salute while the Captain pins on her sleeve (where it is afterwards to be sewed) the Second Class badge.

Then the Scout salutes and is saluted by the rest of the troop, and returns to her place.

Measurement of the Girl

It is of paramount importance to teach the young citizen to assume responsibility for her own development and health.

Physical drill is all very well as a disciplinary means of development, but it does not give the girl any responsibility in the matter.

It is therefore deemed preferable to tell each girl, according to her age, what ought to be her height, weight, and various measurements (such as chest, waist, arm, leg, etc.). She is then measured and learns in which points she fails to come up to the standard. She can then be shown which exercises to practise for herself in order to develop those particular points. Encouragement must afterwards be given by periodical measurements, say, every three months or so.

Cards can be obtained from the “Girl Scouts” Headquarters, which, besides giving the standard measurements for the various ages, give columns to be filled in periodically, showing the girl’s remeasurements and progress in development. If each girl has her card it is a great incentive to her to develop herself at odd times when she has a few minutes to spare.

Games to Develop Strength

Skipping, rowing, fencing, swimming, tennis, and hand-ball are all valuable aids to developing strength.

Remember that sitting still is one form of exercise. How can that be? Well, if you remember how you ought to sit and keep yourself up to it you will gradually strengthen the muscles of your back so that in a few weeks you will sit upright naturally without any effort or thought.

You may ask why shouldn’t I sit like that if it is more comfortable. Well, do it if you like, but remember that a large part of your time is spent sitting, sitting at lessons, at meals, when reading or talking, and so on. Nearly one-third of each day you are sitting, and therefore forming yourself into one shape or the other. The thing is to form yourself into the right one.

The wrong one makes you look pretty dowdy and sloppy when you are going about, but worse than that it lets your lungs slack down and the muscles of the stomach relax, so that instead of drawing the full breath of air into your chest for renewing your blood you are only breathing in a little driblet almost down in your stomach.

So buck up: correct your position while your muscles are still young and forming themselves; later on, when they are “set” you won’t be able to alter them. So it just depends on you yourself whether you are going to be a fine upstanding healthy woman or a sloppy old thing.