these
beads on my ceremonial costume, mayn't I?"

Nyoda dumped her burden on the ground and came over to the girls.
"Of course you may if you want to," she said genially. "It's your
dress. But do you want to? What does the ceremonial dress mean
to you? Is it only a sort of masquerade costume to be decorated
up just anyhow to make it look fantastic, or is it a record of
achievements, written in a language that only Camp Fire Girls
understand? Just think what it means to sit in a circle of girls
and be able to tell by their costumes what kind of things they
have done! We'll pretend that a Guardian from another group has
come to look on at our ceremonial. The first one she happens to
see is myself. She looks at my costume, sees the Guardian's
symbol on the back and the border of small symbols around the
bottom. She counts them; there are seven. She says to herself,
'She is the Guardian and there are seven girls in her group.'
She then sees Migwan's costume with the four Wakan honors for
Written Thought. She knows that Migwan has literary ability and
that her symbol is the Quill Pen, because there is a quill sewn
to the front of her dress and feathers are never used for
decoration except in case of a personal symbol. She knows that
Migwan had to work hard for her Wakan honors because above the
first one there are two Shuta buttons and a Keda, showing that
her first efforts won only third and second class honors, but she
persevered until she reached the first class. She knows Sahwah
can swim well because she has a fish on the side seam of her
gown, which is the place for local or national honors. She knows
Chapa must be very dexterous in Handcraft, for she has a great
many green beads on her thong. And then she sees you--with a
number of gaudy and meaningless beads sewn around your collar!
Just what would be her estimate of you? Whereas, if you had no
decoration whatever on your gown she would know at once that you
had lately joined the group and had not yet won honors."

The beads gradually slipped from Gladys's hands. "I guess I
won't put them on, anyhow," she said, not without some regret.

"However," said Nyoda, "there is no need of your costume being
utterly bare of ornamentation. I can suggest several things
which you have a perfect right to wear on your dress."

"What are they?" asked Gladys, looking interested.

"The first thing to do," said Nyoda, "is to get your symbol put
in a conspicuous