by ,harvard ,university ,library's ,open
 ,collections ,program1 ,women ,working 
#ahjj - #aicj7          ,why ,i ,believe
 in ,scouting for ,girls  ,by ,,mary    
,,roberts ,,rinehart   ,illustration    
,series ,no4 #aj   ,,girl ,,scouts      
,,national ,,headquarters #ahi          
,lexington ,avenue ,new ,york ,city     
,why ,i ,believe in ,scouting  ,by ,mary
 ,roberts ,rinehart   ,girls are great  
idealists4 ,no one familiar with the    
working of the girl mind can fail to    
recognize how quickly they respond to   
ideals4 ,they dream dreams1 not of      
success1 but of happiness4 ,they look up
 rather than out4  ,but they are vague  
and uncertain1 full of wistful yearnings
 that lead nowhere4 ,given a cause and a
 leader1 and they will bring to it an   
almost pathetic eagerness1 staunchness1 
loyalty1 enthusiasm and unselfish       
effort4  ,there comes a critical time in
 a girl's mental and spiritual life1    
when she is waiting impatiently for     
young womanhood4 ,the things of her     

childhood have lost their interest4 ,she
 has abandoned her dolls4 ,the little   
boys she played with have deserted her1 
and found the girl-less associations of 
the 'teens4 ,they have their clubs1     
their sports1 their meeting places4 ,but
 to the young girl there is nothing but 
that period of waiting4 ,she is         
peculiarly isolated4 ,her family often  
finds her strange4 ,she is moody and    
dreamy4 ,she begins to spend an almost  
alarming amount of time and thought upon
 her appearance4 ,the family says3 ,what
 in the world is the matter with ,jane8 
,and her father suggests it is too much 
going to the moving pictures4  ,but the 
truth is that ,jane is idle4 ,she does  
not belong1 between babyhood and        
womanhood1 anywhere in the social       
organization4 ,she is active and        
romantic4 ,her days are a long waiting  
for maturity1 and with maturity the     
fulfilment of her dreams1 of love1 of   
marriage1 of motherhood4 ,she haunts the
 movies because she finds there         

vicarious romance and vicarious         
adventure4 ,the great out-doors is hers 
to play in--on the screen4  ,and at the 
same time1 with no increased outlet for 
her activities1 her imagination is being
 stimulated as never before4 ,books1    
magazines1 automobiles1 moving pictures1
 all are revealing to her this strange  
thing we call life1 which is hers to    
observe but not yet to live4 ,she is a  
yearning onlooker4  ,it is time to      
realize that hundreds of thousands of   
young girls in this country--doubly     
important now that they are future      
citizens as well as the potential       
mothers of future citizens--must be     
given occupation1 a feeling of          
responsibility1 a practical ideal to    
which they may bring their innate       
loyalty and enthusiasm4 ,they need      
organized play and athletics4 ,they need
 something concrete to tie to4 ,they    
need to be taught1 if you please1 what  
is the gang spirit among boys4 ,they    
need to learn that their young bodies   

are to be used1 instead of decorated4   
,until they learn that1 we shall have   
sickly mothers and puny babies4 ,no     
single movement for the improvement of  
,american people as a race1 no advance  
of science or sanitation1 can compare in
 importance with the necessity for      
building up morally1 spiritually and    
bodily1 our future mothers4  ,they need 
to be taught certain loyalties1 sex     
loyalty4 ,loyalty to ideals4 ,loyalty to
 country4 ,this last1 loyalty to        
country1 has to be taught4 ,when a man  
learns to take off his hat to the flag1 
he has a new respect for it4  ,some of  
our girls need to be taught honesty4    
,they cover their dreams with small     
deceits4 ,they seek romance out of sheer
 boredom1 and are driven into hypocrisy4
 ,the boy has fewer dreams to conceal1  
and he is honest with the honesty of    
fresh air and the great out-doors4 ,when
 we give our girls occupation1 when we  
get them out of doors1 when we give them
 organized play in the open1 there will 

be fewer morbid women4  ,give them      
something to do that interests them4    
,get them out into the air4 ,fill in the
 waiting years with work and play4 ,give
 them some rules of life which will     
appeal alike to their imaginations and  
to their instinctive desire for         
something better4 ,let them look out as 
well as up4  ,nearest of all the        
proposed plans to cope with what an     
increasing number of families are       
finding to be their problem1 the        
adolescent girl1 the ,girl ,scout       
movement fulfills all these             
requirements4 ,it is sane1 healthy and  
normal4 ,it teaches honesty1 purity1    
vigor and love of country4 ,and it takes
 the girl in her 'teens and gives her a 
live interest in the present instead of 
the future4  ,it should have nation-wide
 support4