This is given to officers and to the United States
flag. (In saluting, the hand is always held upright, never in a
horizontal position.)

HOW TO BEGIN

It is not intended that Girl Scouts should necessarily form a new club
separated from all others. Girls who belong to any kind of existing
organization, such as school clubs or Y. W. C. A.'s may also undertake,
in addition to their other work or play, the Girl Scouts' training and
games, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

It is not meant that girls should play or work on Sunday, but that they
may take walks where they can carry on a study of plants and animals.

Groups or bands of girls not already belonging to any club may be
organized directly as a Girl Scout Patrol or Troop.

How to Start a Patrol

Eight girls in any town, school, or settlement may join together to form
a Patrol. They should have a Captain who must be at least twenty-one
years old. The Captain selects a Lieutenant, or second in command, and
the girls elect a Patrol leader. The girls should be from ten to
seventeen years of age. It is best if all the girls in each Patrol are
about the same age. A less number than eight girls can begin the
movement, but eight girls are required to form a Patrol. A girl may not
become a Lieutenant until she has reached the age of eighteen, or a
Captain until she is twenty-one. In Europe, Girl Scout Patrols are
sometimes formed by grown women who wish to carry out the Girl Scout
program of preparedness. Members of such Patrols are called Senior
Scouts. Senior Scouts make the three promises and accept the Scout law.
They are enrolled as Scouts but do not meet regularly in the same manner
as girls' Troops. They are organized in classes to learn first aid,
signalling, marksmanship, or any other subject of the Girl Scout
program of training. Senior Scouts may well practice what they learn in
such classes by teaching, for one or two months, Patrols of younger Girl
Scouts. Thus they improve their command of what they have learned, and
serve as an example to the younger Scouts, stimulating their interest in
being prepared and especially in the subject taught.

The First Meeting

At the first meeting, the Scout Captain, who has previously studied the
plan, principles, and object of the Girl Scout organization, explains
the laws, promises, and obligations of the Girl Scouts to the members
who are to form the troops. The names and addresses of the girls are