First Girl Scout Page 11

  Daisy's driving continued to be just as awful as her spelling. Only a few states had initiated laws requiring written and behind-the-wheel tests for drivers. Georgia had no such exams. Daisy kept a car in Savannah, and she still had very limited knowledge about her "motor." But she didn't let that stop her from enjoying automobile outings.

  When she was ready to leave for the day, she had a servant back the car out of the driveway and point it in the right direction. Her cook and butler would stop traffic as Daisy started up the engine, a process that was usually accompanied by loud backfiring. Then the car might lurch forward as Daisy headed down the road on the wrong side of the street, often waving enthusiastically to her terrified neighbors.

  Once, Daisy drove her motor through the wall of a house, coming to a stop in the dining room while the family inside was eating a meal. She backed out and later called her brother Bill to explain what happened. She told Bill that she didn't talk to the people in the house because she "didn't think it would be polite to bother them while they were eating!" The citizens of Savannah and Great Britain quickly learned to get out of Daisy's way when she was on the road, and, miraculously, no one was ever hurt.

  Around this time, Daisy hired Bella MacDonald, a Scottish woman who would become a trusted maid and take care of Daisy for the rest of her life. Bella seemed to understand "Miss Daisy." If a group of women showed up for lunch and Daisy had forgotten the date and wasn't around, Bella always invited them in and prepared an elegant meal.

  Daisy drew this picture to illustrate one of her driving mishaps. Her friend Rudyard Kipling commented, "She had ways of her own in driving her Ford in Scotland that chilled my blood and even impressed our daughter. But her own good angels looked after her even when she was on one wheel over a precipice." Girl Scouts of the USA-JGLB

  Despite missing luncheons and trains, Daisy forged ahead with her dreams of expanding the Girl Scout organization, determined to encourage all of America's young girls to get an education, experience a career, and enjoy a family, if they wanted. The organization was growing and changing constantly.

  In 1915, Daisy approached her goddaughter, Anne Hyde Choate, and asked her to become involved in Girl Scouts. Anne, who lived in New York, thought she would "just pin on badges once a year." But before she knew it, she was nominated to be the vice president of the national organization. When Anne tried to protest, Daisy responded, "Well, you [had] ... better accept the position ... or else we will give you a job that really entails some work." Anne reluctantly agreed. She was fond of Daisy, and over the years, she became swept up by the Girl Scout movement, too.

  The first troops for younger girls, ages seven to ten, were formed in 1916. They were initially called Junior Girl Scouts, but were later renamed Brownies. Eventually, there would be six categories of Girl Scouts, and the girls would be divided by their grades in school. Even kindergarteners and first-graders could belong to a group, Daisy Girl Scouts.

  During the war, Daisy moved the national Girl Scout headquarters to the Harriman National Bank Building at 527 Fifth Avenue in New York City. At one meeting there, the all-female board was evaluating what kind of shoes the girls should wear with their uniforms. Daisy had been testing a pair of the shoes all day. She gathered her skirts around her knees and stood on her head. Then she waggled the shoes in the air and claimed they felt quite comfortable. Everyone laughed. Just as Daisy intended, she had reminded the board that Girl Scouting was to be fun. "The girls must always come first," she often said.

  Girl Scouts in Savannah practice first aid techniques, using little Johnny Mercer as the patient, circa 1916. Much later, Johnny became a well-known lyricist, songwriter, and singer. Girl Scouts of the USA-JGLB

  Daisy wanted everyone to support her Girl Scouts. One much-repeated story tells of the time Daisy attended a fancy luncheon wearing a hat decorated with vegetables from her kitchen. "Oh, is my trimming sad?" she asked guests as they stared at her. "I can't afford to have this hat done over—I have to save all my money for Girl Scouts." Then Daisy paused dramatically before continuing, "You know about the Scouts, don't you?"

  As Eleanor Nash recalled, she was bold, brash, and brave on behalf of the organization. Daisy's behavior amazed her.

  I have seen her come into a room full of people who were complete strangers to her, a trying ordeal to many who have sound hearing, and within the space of ten minutes gather the interest of everyone in the room to herself. She did not live alone in her world of silence. She brought the outer world into it with the force of her personality and wit.

  At the board's suggestion, the Girl Scouts began their first-ever fundraising campaign in 1917 so that Daisy would not have to continue to bear all the organization's expenses. Anne Hyde Choate and another member formed a committee of two, and they wrote letters asking for contributions of any amount. Donations came in from church members, businesses, and friends, and the Girl Scouts soon had enough money for Daisy to stop worrying about her personal finances.

  During this time period, Daisy was also spending as much time as possible with Mamma, who was slowly failing, although she continued to rally after each little spell of illness. Finally, in mid-February 1917, as Nellie Gordon lay in a coma in her upstairs bedroom, her doctor told the family to gather. He thought that she wouldn't last much longer. Everyone rushed to the family home in Savannah. The Gordon children were discussing funeral plans in the downstairs library when suddenly the door opened and Mamma walked in. "I'm not dead yet!" she told her stunned children. "I didn't walk down the stairs," she added. "I slid down the banister!"

  Arthur picked up his mother and carried her back upstairs. A few days later, on February 22, she died peacefully in her bed. Eventually, Bill and his wife, Ellie, decided to move into the Gordon home. This pleased Daisy, because it meant that she could visit another generation of children and their parents in the house.

  In early 1917, Germany began sinking U.S. ships, and President Wilson finally declared war that April. Following the declaration, the Girl Scouts' National Board of Directors held a meeting. Afterward, the members sent telegrams to the president, offering to help in any way they could. The organization also offered the First Lady, Edith B. Wilson, the position of honorary president of the Girl Scouts. She accepted, and every First Lady to come after her has continued the tradition.

  The national headquarters was overwhelmed with requests to start new troops and with ideas for how to help the country during the war. Lou Henry Hoover, who was back in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Herbert, took over as the leader of Troop 8 and instructed her girls to grow vegetables at home in what came to be called victory gardens. As farmers went overseas to fight, food production slowed down, and this caused shortages and even food rationing. Victory gardens helped provide families with low-cost, fresh produce.

  Inspired by Mrs. Hoover and her troop, other Girl Scouts began tending backyard gardens, canning fruits and vegetables, and assisting overworked nurses at armed services hospitals as wounded soldiers began returning from Europe in need of extended medical care. The girls also sold war bonds, government-issued savings bonds that helped finance the war. Buying a war bond or tending a victory garden gave all Americans a chance to help at home while the soldiers were fighting in Europe.

  Some Girl Scouts worked with the Red Cross, sewing and knitting socks and scarves; others volunteered at canteens inside railroad stations, where they greeted returning soldiers with homemade food and welcoming smiles. Daisy's niece Doots drove vehicles for the Red Cross. Many of the other original Girl Scouts in Savannah, who were then eighteen to twenty-two years old, also volunteered for the Red Cross while the country was at war.

  The first known Girl Scout cookie sale took place during this time period, too. The Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked and sold cookies, and they used some of the money to buy handkerchiefs for U.S. soldiers.

  Lou Henry Hoover (left) and her Girl Scout troop tend a victory garden during the Great War. Small plots
of fruits and vegetables flourished in vacant lots, backyards, and container pots across the nation. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

  Daisy was proud to lead the Girl Scouts into community and national service. She had lived through the Civil War and remembered the positive impact of her volunteer work during the Spanish- American War. Now the Great War was devastating many countries. Daisy wanted more and more young people to befriend one another around the world. She believed that international friendships and understanding others' cultures would encourage peace.

  Throughout 1917 and 1918, Daisy was on the road nonstop, delivering speeches about the work of Girl Scouts in nearly every large city in the United States. She had aged, but under her wide-brimmed Scout hat her sparkling dark brown eyes flashed with enthusiasm, and she had an air of authority as powerful as that of any male leader. According to Eleanor Nash, Daisy was "quicksilver and pepper—the whole leavened with humanity and laughter."

  In the early days, the Girl Scouts baked sugar cookies in their own kitchens under the supervision of their mothers. Today, the cookies are produced at large bakeries, and the sales fund many Girl Scout activities. Girl Scouts of the USA-JGLB

  Daisy picked the name for a brand-new magazine for the Girl Scouts, The Rally, which was first published in 1917 and edited by Helen Ferris. Three years later, the magazine adopted a larger format, with more pictures and a colorful cover, and a committee renamed it The American Girl. Daisy graciously admitted that the new name was much better than her original choice. She supervised revisions of the handbook again, too. Each new edition—and there were several during Daisy's lifetime—reflected the ever-changing roles of young women in American society. One early handbook even mentioned an aviation badge, though flying was still new. Progressive topics such as ecology and organic foods would become part of later editions.

  The Great War ended on November 11, 1918. A jubilant Daisy wrote to Mabel from Savannah, saying, "I can see from my front windows crowds and crowds of citizens, on foot, on bicycles, in motors, in street cars with horns, pistols, drums, arching towards the Park! School girls en masse, shipyard laborers, old men and children shouting for joy, women weeping with joy."

  In January 1919, the Girl Scout organization released a promotional black-and-white film, The Golden Eaglet. Movies were silent at the time, yet wildly popular, and The Golden Eaglet was one of the first motion pictures ever produced by a public service organization. It starred real Girl Scouts, and Daisy too, and played before the featured films in theaters across the United States.

  Daisy and the other longtime leaders were excited to see how the movie would be received. They believed it would encourage even more young girls to become Girl Scouts in a peaceful postwar environment.

  Crowds on Wall Street in New York City celebrated Germany's surrender with flags and confetti. Library of Congress

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Busy on Behalf of Girl Scouts

  DURING THE FILM'S RELEASE, Daisy was in England. Agnes Baden-Powell had become vice president of the Girl Guides, and Olave Baden-Powell now headed the organization. Mrs. Baden-Powell suggested that an international body be formed to link the many Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world. As a result, the first International Council of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts met in London in February 1919, with Daisy representing the United States of America as president of the Girl Scouts. Nearly fifty countries sent representatives or messages of friendship and peace. Leaders exchanged ideas and experiences and began to plan trips abroad.

  While in London after the war, Daisy attended numerous parties and dinners and hosted several of her own. She saw Mabel frequently. And, as she had in the past, Daisy threw theater and dinner parties for Mabel's adult children, Peggy and Rowland, and their friends. Daisy loved to wear her elegant evening clothes for these events.

  In a letter to her brother Bill, she wrote, "Everyone [in England] dances ... a reaction from the awful four years. Staid old generals, old lords, and old ladies like myself included" rolled up the rugs and danced to records on the phonograph. Fifty-eight-year-old Daisy enjoyed some of the popular new dances such as the bunny hop and the turkey trot.

  Daisy wearing the Silver Fish. Based on Japanese imagery, the award symbolizes a fish that swims upstream against the current instead of drifting aimlessly downstream. Corbis

  By May, Daisy was back in the United States, along with Robert and Olave Baden-Powell. General Sir Robert Baden-Powell spoke about the Boy Scouts to huge, enthusiastic crowds in Canada and the eastern United States. In Washington, D.C., Mrs. Baden-Powell presented Daisy with the Silver Fish, the highest award given by the Girl Guides in England.

  Days later in New York City's Carnegie Hall, Daisy received a Thanks Badge made of jewels. It was paid for by thousands of Girl Scouts across America who had saved their pennies to show their gratitude to Daisy. She described receiving the honor as "the greatest surprise of my life.... I could not speak for joy."

  Daisy continued to charge from city to city to promote the Girl Scouts. She always dressed in her Girl Scout uniform, which consisted of a Norfolk-style jacket belted over a white shirt and black tie. A Scout knife, whistle, and drinking cup dangled from her leather belt, and Daisy topped it all with a large hat. As Josephine Daskam Bacon, first chairwoman of the National Publication Committee, noted, Daisy "loved her whole uniform."

  Many prominent individuals and old friends became increasingly involved in the organization. Lou Henry Hoover accompanied the Girl Scouts on hikes, visited camps, and took part in many ceremonies. She also became a member of the Girl Scout Council in Washington and would later become the third president of the Girl Scouts while her husband served as secretary of commerce under President Warren Harding. However, Anne Hyde Choate saw firsthand that Daisy did everything in the organization's formative years. She observed that Daisy wrote "the Girl Scout literature, acted as its publicity agent, as the one who trained the first captains, as the organizer of the first local councils.... She met every demand because she realized the value of the Girl Scout movement for the girls of this country."

  Perhaps because of Daisy's total dedication to the movement, it wasn't easy for her to look inward, to see her own quirks. In meetings, she often dominated the discussions, partly because it was so difficult for her to hear the conversations. Some of the ladies complained that it was "hard to straighten her out," while also admitting that Daisy was the "rarest of human beings, an original thinker." Nonetheless, Daisy knew it was time to let others direct and manage the organization. "I realize that each year it has changed and grown until I know that, a decade from now, what I might say of it would seem like an echo of what has been instead of what is."

  She resigned as president in 1920, turning over the position to Anne Hyde Choate. Daisy's official title became "founder," which meant that she would continue to represent the Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding movement around the world. Her birthday, October 31, was designated Founder's Day. Girl Scouts are still encouraged to do something special for others on that day, to honor Daisy's lively personality and commitment to the organization.

  A dedicated national board and a small band of volunteers continued to run Girl Scouts after Daisy's "retirement." Mrs. Edith Macy of New York was the chairwoman of the board. Jane Deeter Rippin was the national secretary. And Helen Storrow from Massachusetts, or "Aunt Helen," as the Girl Scouts called her, started the first national training camp for troop leaders. On the advice of Lou Henry Hoover, the board also began to hire people to help them run what had been, up until then, primarily a volunteer organization.

  Arthur Gordon, Daisy's nephew, recalled, "Girl Scouting, to Daisy, was a grand and glorious game. She was the world's worst organizer, and knew it, but she also knew that vitality and humor and fun are just as important as organization."

  When she stepped down as president, there were some 70,000 Girl Scouts nationwide, including the territory of Hawaii. Girls could earn up to twenty-five badges at that time. An
d a troop for physically challenged Girl Scouts was formed in New York City. An African American troop had started in 1917, and the first Native American troop, consisting of girls from the Onondaga Nation, was formed in central New York State in the 1920s. Mexican American girls in Houston, Texas, also established a troop.

  On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. Daisy had been working to empower girls around the world for years, and many of those who supported women's right to vote had also supported Daisy's efforts. The Girl Scout organization continued to provide assistance to female voters in the years to come. For example, the October 1924 issue of Girl Scout Leader asked Girl Scouts to assist during the presidential election by taking care of small children "so that mothers may go to the polls."

  Daisy presents the Founder's Banner to the troop that best upheld the ideals of the Girl Scout organization over the course of the previous year, circa 1922. Girl Scouts of the USA-JGLB

  In the early 1920s, the Girl Scouts were beginning to establish "little houses" or "rest houses" across the United States to use for large meetings and training sessions. And Girl Scout camps were cropping up in many places.

  Daisy decided she wanted to have a camp on Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia. After arriving by mule team, she explored the ten acres on foot, with her Pekingese under one arm, and decided to buy it. Camp Juliette Low featured a flat mountaintop and a swimming hole below a rock-strewn hillside.