The Town Crier

Guest Corner

This article inaugurates a series to be written by residents of the community who are qualified to present topics of current interest. We are particularly gratified at this time, when the White House Conference on Children and Youth is of prominence in the news, to have Mrs. Stanley Montgomery of Welles Drive North as our first contributor.

She is president of the Greater Hartford Girl Scouts, Inc., and has given unstintingly of her time and effort to the service of youth.-- Editor

by Margaret Montgomery

The Constitution of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. states the purpose of Girl Scouting to be: "helping girls develop as happy, resourceful citizens willing to share their abilities as citizens in their homes, their communities, their country and the world"; yet the average person seems only to know about the Girl Scouts through their annual Cookie Sale. The more important part of Girl Scouting is the services they perform, such as bringing cheer to elderly people, entertaining children in Community Centers, baby-sitting for voters during elections, and making cookies and cakes for convalescent homes and hospitals.

The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. have grown from a group of 16 girls in 1912 to over three million in 1960, ranging in age from 7 to 17. They are members of a World Association of Girl Scouts and Guides and help promote international understanding through letters and visits with other girls in 44 nations of the world. In the Greater Hartford area we have at present over 8000 girls and adult Scout members. We are proud that Mrs. Murray Spitzer, our immediate Past President, is at this moment in Washington as a delegate to the White House Conference. Nationally, eight girls and eight adults are delegates to this conference and our national President, Mrs. Charles Culmer, has been a member of the planning committee. We feel we in Scouting have much to contribute to this conference and will learn much to help us in our own program.

Here in Newington the first Girl Scout Day Camp in the United States was held on what is now the High School Athletic Field. More than one third of our membership have since attended Day Camps in all parts of the country. Last summer an International encampment was held in Colorado Springs. Two Newington girls were part of the group representing the Greater Hartford Council.

Another Newington Scout attended an All-States Waterfront Camp in Pennsylvania.

The Federal Civil Defense organization ran nation-wide tests in survival living and thought so highly of the Girl Scout primitive camping program that they used Scout groups to do these tests.

One such test was held at the Greater Hartford Girl Scout camp in East Hartland, Connecticut. Conservation plays an important role in Scouting.

A group of scouts in Wethersfield have been working with the State Forest Department setting up and planning a conservation area at Wethersfield Cove. The Girl Scouts have an important job in the President's "People to People" program to help promote international friendship and understanding. I had the opportunity of hearing the former President of the Austrian Girl Scouts speak on how Scouting returned to Europe after World War II. I was most impressed by a story she told about three girls; one from Italy, one from France, and one from Germany. These girls attended an International Encampment in Great Britain and were quite surprised to find how much they had in common. Their fathers had fought against each other during World War II and were still rather bitter about everything. The girls learned through Scouting to judge people of other countries for themselves and returned to their own countries with more tolerance and a desire to do their part in promoting friendship among their three countries.

In today's world many young people express the desire for a code of ethics by which to live. We in Scouting, whether girl or adult, make the following promise: "On my honor I will try to do my duty to God and my Country, to help other people at all times and to obey the Girl Scout Laws." In the laws we promise to be loyal, obedient, courteous, thrifty, cheerful, helpful and useful trustworthy, friendly to animals, clean in thought, word and deed, and most important of all "a friend to all and a sister to every other Girl Scout." Girl Scouts feel our Promise and Laws give us a "Way of Life" and I, personally, feel if more people in the world lived by a similar code many of our problems would be solved.

I am proud to be an adult member of this great organization devoted to helping all girls grow into responsible citizens ready to take their place as adult members of their community. I know I have gained much more than I have given not only in the inspiration of working with other adults and seeing many girls I first knew as Girl Scouts now working as adult members of the organization but also practical knowledge that has helped me in everyday living. I have often been asked what reward I receive from Scouting and I think the following quotation expresses it best: "The reward I want is the smile of a girl-- the light of sudden understanding sparkling in her eyes, the chance to watch her grow in Scouting as she learns to know and love people, the privilege of helping her to learn and have fun, the opportunity to show to someone else what the deepness of true Scouting is. If I can ever help one girl to feel as I do about Scouting, no matter how long it may take or at what cost this goal must be attained, this will be my reward."