GIRL GUIDES. The object of the Girl Guide movement is to promote among girls the elements of good citizenship, and the sense of service to others. These are inculcated through means which appeal to the girl and lead her to train herself. Member ship is extended to all girls, irrespective of class, creed or country. It has no political or sectarian aims.
The Girl Guides movement became by 1928 the widest of all organizations for girls, numbering some 700,00o members through out the world. It was originally a spontaneous effort, promoted by the girls themselves in imitation of their brothers, the Boy Scouts. In order to give this movement some sort of organization, Sir Robert (later Lord) Baden-Powell, with his sister, Miss Agnes Baden-Powell, devised in 191 o the Girl Guide scheme. After her marriage to the Chief Scout in 1915 Lady Baden-Powell became commissioner for the county of Sussex and organized that county on the lines of the Boy Scout organization, with commissioners to direct the work in the different districts and to form a link with headquarters; local committees were formed in each town or village to give the required local impetus, encouragement, and financial support to the young officers who were carrying on the work.
In 1917 Lady Baden-Powell was appointed chief commissioner, and from that time onwards the organization of the movement went ahead by leaps and bounds. Commissioners were appointed in every cuunty in Great Britain and in the British dominions and provinces overseas. By the end of 1918 every county was com plete with its network of organization.
At a big gathering of commissioners that year (1918) Lady Baden-Powell was unanimously elected permanent Chief Guide. Two years later Princess Mary became president, and in 1923 the movement was granted a royal charter of incorporation.
The aim is to form character in the oncoming generation, through activities which appeal to the girls themselves. The Guides are organized in patrols of six or eight under a leader, two or more patrols forming a company under a captain. The affairs of the company are managed by a court of honour consisting of the patrol leaders who meet periodically under the chairmanship of their captain.
The movement is broadly subdivided into three sections, to meet the needs of the children at the various stages of their devel opment : Brownies, from 8 to 1 1 years of age ; Guides, from I r to 16 years of age; Rangers, over 16. Under the term Guides is included Guides in ordinary companies, and also "Lone Guides," i.e., girls who wish to be members of the movement but are out of reach of a company or who for some reason have been obliged to give up active company work; and also "Post Guides," i.e., those who, on account of some physical defect, are unable to join ordinary companies, and carry out their Guiding by post.
Under the term Rangers are included Rangers, Cadet Rangers and Sea Rangers. Cadet Rangers are those girls in schools and colleges who take up Guiding with the special object in view of becoming "Guiders" later on; and Sea Rangers, as the name implies, are those girls of 16 and over who might not have been attracted by the ordinary Guide and Ranger activities, but to whom the "call of the sea" has appealed.
Through a system of badges the girls are encouraged to edu cate themselves to proficiency in some 6o different subjects. The badges particularly encouraged are those which promote among the girls efficiency as home-keepers, wives and mothers. Camping and outdoor pursuits are encouraged ; swimming and life-saving are taught.
The officers, whether commissioners, secretaries or captains, are grouped under one name "Guiders." At Foxlease park, in the New Forest, presented by Mrs. Anne Archbold and endowed by Princess Mary, Guiders are trained in the different aspects of their work; a similar training school for the north of England has been opened at Waddow, near Clitheroe.
An international conference is held biennially when questions affecting the movement throughout the world are brought for ward for discussion. Visits of Guides to all countries are encour aged. The first world camp was held at Foxlease in 1924, and was attended by representatives of every nation. These Guides came together from all corners of the world, bound in friendship and good will by the ties of membership of one great sisterhood. That the Guide training has been taken up with such enthusiasm in every civilized country cannot fail to have its effect on future international relations and so eventually upon the peace of the world. (E. K. W.)