A Message From the Founder of Girl Scouts

Happy Halloween and more importantly, Happy Founder’s Day!  This is a message from J-Low from the October 1923 edition of The American Girl:

My dear Girl Scouts:

My message to you today must be a very personal one because it concerns the day of my birth.  So setting modesty aside, I must talk a great deal about myself.

When one thinks of the 31st of October, one associates the day with All Hallow-éen when fairies, imps, and witches fly about.  And on that night I made my first appearance in the world!

Long before I was born, lads and lassies of ancient times celebrated the night by testing their fortunes bobbing for apples, and playing many a joke on the credulous person.  Little did I dream when I, myself, was young and tried these Hallow-éen pranks that I should live to see that day turned into a Girl Scout Founder’s Day.  So you will understand what a thrill of gratitude comes over me.

One’s birthday should be the day for good resolutions.  And there is a suggestion by Arnold Bennett which may be of use to you as it has helped me.  He calls it an aid and says, “The deliberate cultivation of the gift of putting yourself in another’s place is the beginning of wisdom in human relations.”  To put yourself in another’s place requires real imagination, but by so doing each Girl Scout will be able to live among others happily.