Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl ScoutsGirl Scouts of the United States of America
History
Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts
Girl Scouts of the United States of America
Girl Scouts -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
If you saw "Public Health" at the head of a chapter, you might not think
it looked very interesting; but when you once get the idea that if your
mother had had her say on the Public Health Board you would have had a
fine skating pond with a good skate-house, last winter, and sunny,
well-aired school rooms to study in, with a big gymnasium for basket
ball in bad weather, you may be more interested in the merit badge for
Public Health called "Health Guardian!"
Remember that Public Health is simply good housekeeping, applied to the
community.
It is a subject which women are sure to take up more and more, and a
Girl Scout who has given the matter a little thought and study is going
to make a good citizen later on, and will be certain to have her advice
asked--and taken--in the matter of making her town healthy and happy.
For instance, if the desks in the public schools are not of the right
height and shape, the children are bound to suffer in their health and
hygiene.
It is the business of the State to see that all public buildings,
schools, theatres, factories, etc., have a certain amount of light and
air to the cubic foot, because so much is necessary for health.
It is the business of the State to see that only a certain number of
hours a day should constitute a day's work. This is because a certain
amount of rest is a necessity for all citizens.
It is the business of the State to see that food and water can be
brought into the community. Also that they be kept pure, both in
transportation and after they reach the community. This includes the
policing of all reservoirs and the filtering of the water; the
refrigerating of meat and milk; the condemning of rotten fruit and
vegetables; the collecting and disposal of all garbage and waste.
It is the business of the state to prevent spitting in public places,
(one of the greatest sources of public infection); to prevent the use of
common drinking utensils, towels, etc.; to insist on the isolation of
contagious diseases and the placarding of the houses where they occur.
In order to carry on these great wise policies the state should offer
free clinics where citizens can find out what is the matter with them
and how to prevent it, and trained community nurses for the sick.
Do you see what a wonderful power an intelligent woman can be in the
community she lives in? Women ought to be much better, really, in this
public housekeeping than men, because most of them have had to learn to
do it on a small scale, and know how necessary light, air, rest,
exercise and cleanliness are.
But, you may say, as yet, I am too young to vote, anyway; what can I do?
The answer is very simple: every citizen, whether she is young or old,
whether she has a vote or not, can find out the laws of the town she
lives in and help to enforce them!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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