Part 5

Other things that can be sold in the canteen are stationery, stamps, plain postal cards, picture postal cards, hair pins, pins, shoe laces, needles and thread, kodak films, bathing caps, soap, and pencils.

The best time for having the canteen open is determined by the rule that Scouts do not eat between meals. For this reason it is better to sell fruit and candy either directly after dinner or directly after supper. For many reasons it is much more convenient and fully as well for the child to have the canteen open after supper, especially when that meal is served at half-past five.

The question as to whether Scouts should be allowed to receive packages of food from home is one which every camp Director has to decide. Probably nothing causes more unhappiness than the fact that some girls receive no packages while others have many. The most serious phase is that boxes often contain food which is not best for the girl. Then, too, packages have been sent by parcel post so badly wrapped and packed that when received at the local post office the authorities have complained to the camp Director. The condition of fruit or other food was such as to be a menace.

The problem of caring for the boxes of food which are sent to campers is sometimes a serious question. If labelled and put into the storeroom they take up valuable space; also much time is spent taking them out at canteen hour and in putting them away. If a child is allowed to keep food of any kind in her tent, it is quite impossible to have the blankets, cots, or pillows in absolutely perfect condition.

All things considered, it seems best not to allow food including fruit or candy to be sent or brought into camp.

EQUIPMENT FOR SWIMMING AND BOATING

The average child who enters camp does not know how to swim and knows less about boating. What is more, it is probably the only place for many to learn to do these things. Taking a dip for the sake of having a good time, splashing in the water, and so forth, is one thing, but to really learn to swim, to dive, to throw a life line, to rescue, to resuscitate, is quite a different matter. These things must be learned, for as a matter of fact, human beings do none of them naturally.

When possible a crib for beginners is a very desirable thing to have. (p. 69.) Unless there is a safe beach or shallow water and a good bottom there is more or less danger attending the teaching of swimming to a group of children even though the group be small. With the crib, for use especially in deep lakes and ponds, this danger is practically overcome, and in consequence much anxiety on the part of those in charge of the camp eliminated. The child seems to fear less, therefore learns to swim sooner. A crib 20 x 85 feet is large enough for a group of twenty children (Cut H.) It is built partially on land by the water's edge, is made of logs and planks and pulled into the water over logs used as rollers. A floor is made of 6 inch planks placed half an inch apart and nailed on to a rectangular frame work of logs with lengthwise supports under the planks. Uprights of logs are placed at intervals along the sides and ends and at the corners. Two and a half feet from either end a second row of uprights is placed. The sides and inner ends are built up to a height of 5 feet, the outer ends to 3 feet. The crib is pulled into the water and towed to its position by a pier or wharf. It is sunk with stones between the double ends until the floor is 3-1/2 feet below the surface of the water at the pier end, and 4 feet below the surface at the other end. It is held in position by being fastened to piles placed at intervals around the edge. Steps lead down into the crib either from the end of a pier, or from a wharf. As soon as a child can swim three times around the crib without touching her foot to the bottom of the crib or her hands to the sides, and can demonstrate three strokes, she should be allowed to go into deep water, but should be carefully watched for a while.

Land drill preceding the swimming lesson is very helpful. An expert person should be made responsible for not more than twenty girls at one time unless the girls are competent swimmers, and no one should be allowed to interfere with the rules and regulations laid down by the person in charge. Absolute obedience to all signals, rules and regulations must be observed. An assistant counsellor should always be in attendance at swimming lessons.

Deep water swimmers should be able to pass the following requirements: demonstrate three different strokes, breast, overarm and back stroke. Swim under water. Demonstrate resuscitation. Throw a life-line twenty-five feet for accuracy. Demonstrate diving, shallow, deep and fancy diving. Rescue a drowning person twenty-five feet away from a raft. Swim 50 yards with clothes on.

It is always advisable during a swimming period to have a boat well manned near at hand. Bathing in fresh water, especially in spring-fed lakes is not as exhilarating as salt water bathing, and twenty minutes is considered the longest time a girl should stay in fresh water. Great care should be taken that no child is allowed to get chilled. At the first sign of pinchedness, shivering, or blue lips the child should be called out of the water, and instructed to rub herself briskly and dress at once.

Bathers should always be counted immediately before going into the water, and immediately after being called out. It is well to have assembly and roll call for this.

Suits

A word as to bathing suits may not be amiss. Care should be taken that the shoulder straps are tight enough and the under arm seam sewed up high enough to keep the top part of the suit in place. It is recommended that camps adopt a uniform style of bathing suit and that all classified groups wear bathing caps of the same color, as for instance, first class swimmers wear white caps, second class blue caps, third class green caps, and fourth class, red caps.

The Float

Probably there is more fun experienced by the Scouts who are privileged to use a raft or float, than by all the other campers put together. To get out of the crib group and go for the first time to the float is a thrilling experience and one that is much discussed and enjoyed. Water sports without a float cannot be imagined, neither can a camp really be called a Girl Scout camp unless it possesses this important piece of floating property, which may be large or small, but must be properly built to be safe. For a camp of 150 or more, a float 20 x 40 feet is none too large. It should be equipped with spring board, diving tower and life lines, and moored in deep water, not too long a swim from shore.

Bath houses are not always considered necessary to campers but the use of them does much toward keeping tents and tent equipment in good condition. Wet floors, cots, blankets and so forth are always a detriment and should not be allowed. If bath houses are impossible, erect a large tent with a clothes line running from pole to pole and low benches under it to serve as racks for clothing. Have pails at hand for holding rinsing water. This kind of bath house is easily arranged.

Where possible it is an excellent idea for girls to be able to take a quick dip before dressing for breakfast, but in a large camp this is not always possible, and other arrangements have to be made for the morning ablutions, as have been suggested in another part of this book.

Boats

Only first class swimmers should be allowed the use when alone, of boats of any kind. The flat bottomed boats are the safest and it is almost impossible to tip them over. They are, however, much heavier and harder to manage than the round bottomed boats. Care should be taken that not too many girls go in one boat at one time and that whoever is put in charge of the group must be obeyed. Girls should be taught to row, how to enter a boat and leave it, how to tie it, how to seat passengers so that the boat will be well balanced, how to row alone, and how to keep stroke with another.

Camp Supplies

A list of firms handling approved equipment for camps will be furnished upon request to National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc.

WATER FRONT PROTECTION FOR SUMMER CAMPS

_By_

Captain Fred. C. Mills, Red Cross Life Saving Corps, Atlantic Division.

Every camp that is situated on water or has a near-by bathing place, should organize its water front protection system before the camp opens.

Choice of Bathing Place

The swimming place should be so chosen as to combine, if possible, deep water swimming for the experienced swimmers and a shallow bathing place for beginners. The non-swimmers' pool should never be over four and one-half feet deep at its deepest point.

Equipment

_For Beginners._ The non-swimmers' pool should be enclosed on three sides by life lines, (1" to 1-1/2" manila rope, depending on weather conditions), buoyed up every fifteen feet by cork floats or balsa wood buoys, painted white and made fast at the corners to piles driven into the sand, or to buoys moored with rocks or cement moorings. No beginners should be allowed to go beyond these lines.

_For Swimmers._ The area to be used by Swimmers should then be plainly marked off with white floats moored to the bottom, with a flag placed at top. No swimmer, no matter how expert, should be allowed to go beyond these floats, unless permission is obtained from the Master of Aquatics.

Great care should be taken that all diving platforms and spring boards are safely situated and that the water surrounding these diving arrangements is clear of all rocks, stumpage, etc., to the depth of at least 10 feet. Ladders should be placed at the float to allow swimmers to climb from the water easily.

_Tower._ A small tower, eight to twelve feet high, should be erected on the shore so as to overlook the bathing place. A warning signal, such as a bell or gong, should be placed in the tower.

_Life Boats._ Two or more boats, depending on the size of the camp, should be set aside for life-saving patrol. These should be equipped with life lines looped around the outside of the gunwhale, ring rowlocks, and an air tank placed under the bow and stern seats. A hole should be cut in the top of the stern board for sculling.

Life boats should be chosen that are light and easy to handle, and care should be used in picking boats that are sea-worthy and have good beam.

One life boat should always be at the dock, ready for instant use, while the other boat or boats are on patrol.

Under no circumstances should these boats be used for anything but life-saving duty.

_Ring Buoys._ Ring buoys should be placed on every dock. These should not be over nineteen inches in diameter, and should be equipped with sixty feet of 1/4" line with a float or "lemon" on end. Ring buoys are valueless unless ready at all times for use, so should be mounted on a rack the shape of a cross, painted red, having a peg, 5" long, on the end of each arm, for the rope to be loosely coiled around. The top loop of the buoy hangs on the top peg. By this arrangement, the buoy is always ready for use.

Water glasses, first aid equipment, grappling irons, and extra boat equipment, such as oars, rowlocks, and boat hooks, should be kept on hand ready for instant use.

_Row Boats and Canoes._ All row boats should be placed in first class condition and tested out to find their safety capacity. The way to determine this is to fill the boat full of water and find out how many it will support in the water holding on to sides; this then is the safe number to carry in the boat when free from water. If boats are equipped with a small air-tight compartment of metal in bow and stern, it will increase their buoyancy to a great extent. Every boat should be plainly marked: THE CAPACITY OF THIS BOAT IS..., with white paint on both sides.

The Life Saving Corps

_Choosing the Crew._ Every camp should build up around its Master of Aquatics a Life Saving Corps from among the campers. Choosing the personnel of the Corps is a very important matter. The applicants should understand that it is an honor to be a member of this unit.

It will be found that if the members of the Corps are allowed to have separate sleeping quarters, near the water, over which they fly the Red Cross Life Saving Corps flag, mess together and be relieved of K. P. duty, that they will develop an esprit de corps which will make for efficiency in their work and be of great value to the general morale of the camp.

Everyone trying for membership should first have a medical examination to prove that he is physically able to stand the very difficult work which he may have to perform at any time. The group of applicants should then be tested out as to their swimming ability, especially being required to swim on back without hands, and on side with one arm only.

_Training._ After your applicants have been culled out, the ones that you decide to use should be given a thorough course of training, first being obliged to pass the Red Cross life saving test. They must be instructed in boat handling and the methods of taking another person into the boat, in the proper method of throwing the life buoy, using a 60-foot line and a 19-inch buoy. They should be capable of tying knots needed in their work, such as a square knot, clove hitch, two half hitches, bowline, short splice and eye splice. Much emphasis should be placed on instruction in resuscitation by the Schaefer method, and no attempt should be made to instruct them in the use of any mechanical respiratory devices as they are practically useless.

During the camp season, if possible, members should have thorough instruction in first aid, especially as it applies to water accidents, the most common of which are abrasions, sun burn, seasickness, broken arms from backfire of gasoline engines, sickness from gasoline fumes of motor boat engines, and submersion.

_Duties of Crew._ The Life Saving Corps should be familiar with the water at all points and should buoy any especially dangerous spots, such as submerged tree stumps or very deep holes. This can be done with a line, anchor, and float painted red.

The Life Saving Corps should be in charge of Mates under the command of the Master of Aquatics who is the Captain. A log of each day's work should be kept, recording such events as concern the Corps, such as weather report, officer in charge of day's watch, number of swimmers, name of day's swimming instructor, number taught to swim, etc. Watches should be so arranged that members of crew are not on duty more than two days out of three.

During the bathing periods, which should be at least two hours after meals, the Corps members will be in charge of the protection and discipline of bathers, the instruction of swimming, and supervision of diving.

The following is suggested as a good distribution. Two in each life boat, oarsman and coxswain, one person on the dock, two lookouts and messenger in the tower, one at diving board and one or two instructing swimming (change instructors every third day).

_The Swimming Test._ After every camper has had a medical examination he should have a test in swimming and be graded in one of three classes: Non-Swimmer, red knot on right shoulder; Beginner--the ones that will still bear watching--white knot on right shoulder; Swimmer, American Red Cross Junior Life Saving Corps emblem.

Check your list up every once in a while to see that everybody is in the right class. Hold frequent tests to re-classify two lower grades. The graded Red Cross tests are recommended and arrangements can be made for Red Cross awards.

Supervision of Boating

A Non-Swimmer should never be allowed to take out a boat unless accompanied by a swimmer. The Beginners should be limited in the distance they can go and only the Swimmers should be allowed to go where they please. At least two-thirds of every boat load should be able to swim and take care of those who cannot swim.

Under no circumstances allow more than one boat to be towed behind a motor or sail boat, and then only if boat being towed is in hands of an expert coxswain.

No boating should be allowed during bathing periods.

Detail one of the crew to give instructions in boat handling if necessary.

Have all boats in by "Mess gear" unless special permission is given.

No boating after dark without special permission.

Every camper should know how to tie up a boat, if he wishes to use them. See that he does it.

A simple set of rules may be drawn up and posted in prominent places so that every camper will know exactly what the bathing regulations are. The following are a few suggestions. No one is allowed to swim for at least two hours after meals. No swimming allowed in the heat of the day. No one is allowed to swim if he has any stomach disorder. A limit set on number allowed in boats. No boats loaded with campers allowed to be towed behind motor boats. Absolutely no swimming to be permitted unless life boat is on hand for protection of bathers.

Of course these rules may be modified to suit each camp's local problems, but if these suggestions are adhered to in the main, it will be almost impossible for any accidents to happen.

One accidental drowning case may ruin the reputation of a camp. Build up the confidence of your campers and their families by making your safety system as near foolproof as possible.

_Send every camper home a swimmer; and, if possible, able to swim for two._

_For information about life saving, write American Red Cross Life Saving Corps, 44 East 23rd St., New York City._

VIII.

THE CAMP PROGRAM

The program is one of the most important factors in the well-organized camp and must be given much thought. It is the thing which gives continuity to the summer's work and holds the entire group together. Without it there would be disorder and confusion.

While including as many activities as possible without causing any feeling of hurry, rush or forcing, it must be planned so that repetition will not prove monotonous. It should provide for periods of work and play, rest and leisure; it must afford ample opportunity for self-expression and development. Parts of the program must necessarily be obligatory for all, others optional, still others optional as to time only.

The fact that the group is composed of Scouts and is living out of doors should bring to the fore, subjects for study which are particularly in keeping with the Scout program, such as nature lore, simple astronomy, woodcraft, campcraft, carpentry, gardening, hiking, map-making, swimming and boating; Scout grade test requirements, and some of the Merit Badge work. Specific directions for teaching these subjects are not given here, as they are covered in the Handbook, "Scouting for Girls," and other publications.

Periods for play may include games, group singing, rowing, hikes, entertainments, and so forth. Leisure moments are for the individual. She should be allowed to follow her own inclination so long as she does not infringe upon the rights of others or break the necessary camp rules which protect the safety and health of the group. Hours of rest which all observe at stated periods are, of course, most essential. While a daily program is absolutely necessary as a basis of work, it should occasionally be put one side to allow the entire group to take advantage of particularly propitious weather conditions for walking and hiking, or for an entertainment or field day. The daily program in every Girl Scout camp should always include the formal ceremony of raising and lowering the flag, inspection, a period of rest directly after dinner, a period for the discussion of the Scout Promise and Laws, and a short period for Setting-up Exercises, preferably the first thing in the morning. On Sundays a simple Scout service should be held.

PROGRAM FOR HOUSEKEEPING SQUAD

3:30 P.M. Report for duty. Change of Squad Work explained Instructions given Off duty

5:00 P.M. Report for duty Prepare for and serve supper Clear table, wash dishes, etc. Light and place lanterns Off duty

7:00 A.M. Report for duty Bring in lanterns Prepare tables, serve breakfast Clear tables, wash dishes Set tables Clean: Mess hall, wash house, latrines, camp grounds, lanterns, fold napkins, burn trash, fill vases with fresh flowers Prepare vegetables Off duty

12:00 M. Report for duty Prepare for and serve dinner Clear tables, wash dishes Wash dish towels

3:30 P.M. Report for change of squad Relieved of duty Swimming and re-enter general program

Housekeeping Squad

A feature of the day's routine is the coming on duty of the housekeeping squad which for a period of twenty-four hours keeps the camp clean, orderly and safe, and performs most if not all of the necessary household duties which must be done in every home or camp. The squad should be under the leadership of a counsellor who is particularly fitted to direct and instruct the squad and be responsible for the work it does.

Going on duty in the middle of the afternoon gives the members an opportunity to have a swim earlier in the day, and after going off duty the next day, which is a privilege not to be despised. The work which this squad does is for the benefit of the entire group and raises or lowers the camp standard each day.

The general program should be posted on the bulletin board and explained to each new group that enters camp. It should be given in detail as to hours, activities and requirements. Whether the program is planned for the group divided into two or three units or for the group as one unit, depends upon the size of the camp. No counsellor can do justice to her work if she has too large a group, and on the other hand, the group if too large will lose interest in the subject. The accompanying program has been tried and may be of value as a suggestion.

DAILY PROGRAM FOR A GIRL SCOUT CAMP