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The applicant must know the object and requirements of
the organization, and at the monthly meeting of the
Council Fire shall announce her desire to become a Camp
Fire Girl by repeating: "It is my desire to become a Camp Fire Girl, and
to obey the Law of the Camp Fire, which is to
Seek beauty
Give service
Pursue knowledge
Be trustworthy
Hold on to health
Glorify work
Be happy.
This Law of the Camp Fire I will strive to
follow."
The Guardian explains the Law, phrase by phrase. The
applicant is then received on probation as a member of
the Camp Fire, until she has fulfilled the six
requirements necessary to attain the rank of Wood
Gatherer.
To Become a Wood Gatherer. To complete her membership
and receive the silver ring she must fulfill the
following six requirements:
- Be a member of a Camp Fire for at least two
months.
- Attend at least six weekly meetings and two
ceremonial meetings.
- Select a name and symbol.
- Make a headband.
- Have the ceremonial dress.
- Win in addition at least ten elective honors.
Upon meeting these requirements, a girl becomes a
Wood Gatherer and receives the Wood Gatherer's ring as a
token of her membership in the Camp Fire Girls. When she
receives her ring at a Council Fire, she must repeat the
Wood Gatherer's desire.
The ring is given without cost and belongs to the
girl even when her membership ceases. It represents the
seven points of the Law in seven fagots bound together,
and Work, Health and Love in three raised circles on
either side of the fagots. Lost rings may be replaced
upon application by the Guardian for fifty cents each.
As soon as a girl has completed the requirements for
a Wood Gatherer, record of her membership is filed in
the National Office. Except under unusual conditions if
a girl does not complete her membership and so become a
Wood Gatherer in four months, she should be dropped from
the Camp Fire.
The ceremonial dress and head-band are required
before a girl may become a Wood Gatherer, because
experience has shown that in them is found the democracy
of spirit, the artistic unity, and the beauty of form,
which are so desirable in the activities of the Camp
Fire Girls. To this end only the official ceremonial
dress should be worn. The materials have been carefully
selected because of beauty of color, durability and
inexpensiveness. The decorations on the ceremonial dress
should be a symbolic or pictographic record of the
attainments, relationships, ideals and hopes of the
owner. Thus it should grow as she does. It will become a
beautiful symbolic record of what is most precious in
the life of the girl, and may be passed on as a
priceless inheritance to her children.
The importance of the ceremonial gown has grown
during the two years since the Camp Fire Girls was
started. At first the girls put on decoration simply to
make it look pretty, but now no decoration has a place
that has not a meaning. The gown is simplicity itself,
and yet it offers wonderful opportunities for telling
stories. All the things a girl loves can be symbolized
and wrought into beautiful decoration
.
One Guardian has all the symbols of her girls
embroidered on the bottom of her costume, and above each
girl's symbol she has embroidered stitches of different
colors to represent each honor won by that individual
girl.
Two drawings are given, showing how a tall girl can
use decoration to make her appear shorter, and a short
girl taller. Color, form and line can all be used to
attain these effects.
The real significance of the ceremonial gown was not
appreciated until a Grand Council Fire was held. Then
girls from every station in life came together all clad
alike. It was just as becoming to the poor girl as to
the rich girl. Its value as bringing about a true
democratic feeling between girls of all classes cannot
be estimated. They are all one in this great sisterhood.
Care should be taken that the ceremonial gown should
not grow common and of little significance by being worn
on the street, in parades, etc. Camp Fire symbols,
insignia and banners can be made a distinguishing mark
of the Camp Fire Girls and save exploiting the
ceremonial gown, for it should be kept for the more
private Camp Fire activities.
In the matter of partisan parades, such as woman's
suffrage, the Camp Fire organization cannot take sides
either for or against, although individual members among
the girls and Guardians are entirely free to identify
themselves as they please. In such cases the ceremonial
gown should not appear.
The case of pageant floats is a little different, and
many Camp Fires have decorated floats with beautiful
woodland scenes in which they appeared in their
ceremonial dresses without sacrificing any of the
delicate personal feeling which should cling to them.
To Become a Fire Maker.
I. The candidate must be at least thirteen
years old. The Guardian must use her best judgment in
determining how long a girl should be a Wood Gatherer
before allowing her to become a Fire Maker. It is not
merely a matter of winning the required and elective
honors. Earnestness and maturity must also count. Any
girl who is faithful ought to be able to win the rank in
a year. If a girl is approaching the twenties, is deeply
in earnest and has time for the work, she might be
allowed to present her claim in as short a period as
three months. But this should be regarded as the rare
exception. If she is living in a Camp Fire Girls' camp,
giving her entire time to the work, is mature, loyal and
really understands the spirit, the Guardian may allow
her to become a candidate in six weeks.
2. The candidate shall further indicate her
love and under standing of the Camp Fire ideal by
learning and expressing--
THE FIRE MAKER'S DESIRE
As fuel is brought to the fire
So I purpose to bring
My strength
My ambition
My heart's desire
My Joy
And my sorrow
To the fire
Of humankind.
For I will tend
As my fathers have tended
And my father's fathers
Since time began
The fire that is called
The love of man for man
The love of man for God.
3. In addition the candidate must fulfill the
Required Honors. These honors are symbolized by purple
beads.
4. The candidate shall present also twenty
Elective Honors. At least one honor must be won in each
group, and with the exception of Home Craft not more
than five honors may be presented from any one group.
To Become a Torch Bearer.
I. The candidate must be at least fifteen years of
age, and must be approved by the Guardian as ready to
bear the torch of life and light to guide others. It
should take a good Fire Maker from at least six months
to two years to be ready for this rank and
responsibility. It is not merely nor mainly a matter of
winning the honors. To be a Torch Bearer should really
mean that the girl has shown powers of steady
leadership. This is the most important qualification of
the Torch Bearer.
2. The candidate shall learn and repeat--
THE TORCH BEARER'S DESIRE
That light which has been given to me,
I desire to pass undimmed to others.
A Torch Bearer is an assistant to the Guardian. She
is a leader. That is what carrying the torch means.
3. The candidate must be known to the Guardian
as trust-worthy, happy, unselfish, a good leader, a good
"team worker," and as liked by the other
girls.
4. The candidate shall have led a group of not
less than three girls once a week for not less than
three months, or four times a week for one month. It
might be a group of Blue Birds. She will naturally
select things to do in which she is proficient and which
the girls like. This does not mean that she can organize
them as Camp Fire girls. The real test is the enthusiasm
and success of the girls she teaches.
5. The candidate shall present fifteen honors
from the list of Elective Honors in addition to those
she presented for the rank of Fire Maker.
Specialist Honors. Any Torch Bearer over sixteen
years of age may win Specialist Honors. These are
qualifications in special lines.
Membership Transferable. If a Camp Fire Girl
moves from one city to another she may, when elected,
transfer her membership to a Camp Fire in the city to
which she goes. Or she may help in organizing a Camp
Fire and securing a Guardian. She retains the rank she
held in the group of which she was formerly a member. A
transfer blank will be found in the Record Book.
Choosing Camp Fire Names. The name of the Camp Fire
may be suggested by a primitive legend or custom, by the
natural resources or industries of the locality, by some
woman who has been of special service to the community,
or by the desire of the girls as a group. A Camp Fire in
one of the Western States may be called the Alsea Camp
Fire because it is in the Alsea Valley. The Indian
legend is told that no matter how fierce the war between
neighboring tribes, in this beautiful valley the Indians
were always at peace and so they called the valley Alsea,
meaning peace. The symbol for this Camp Fire is two low
brown triangles with bases touching, to suggest the
valley between the mountains. The Hannah Dustin Camp
Fire, situated near Deerfield, Massachusetts, may have
for its emblem a canoe with the totem of the tribe from
which she saved herself and her little boy. The Sequoia
Camp Fire may have a reddish brown, long trunked,
pointed topped tree for its symbol because it tells of
the giant redwoods. A group of girls in Butte, Montana,
may name themselves the Copper City Camp Fire Girls,
because of the principal industry of their home city,
and they may use the pick and shovel in copper color as
their symbol. The more simple the symbolic design the
more effective it will be and the more varied may be its
use.
A Camp Fire girl chooses or wins her own name and
symbol, which stands for the qualities or
accomplishments by which she wishes to be known. From a
collection of Indian legends the names "Wanaka,"
sun-halo, and "Chelan," clear water, were
taken. One girl had been watching the oven-bird build
its nest and then took the Indian name of that bird.
Another girl took her name from the words, "needed
and cheerful," two things which she wished to be,
and now she is known as "Neachee." "Pakwa"
chose the frog as her symbol, for its skill in diving;
"Kanxi" chose the honey-bee for its sweetness.
"Morning Star" likes to take walks before
breakfast and hopes soon to get breakfast all alone for
the other members of the family. "Evening
Star," her sister, is the one who puts the two
younger children to bed, and she is winning her first
honors in telling folk-stories and Indian legends to
them. "Grey Leaves" found her name in the
poem, "The Master and the Trees," by Sidney
Lanier.
The names and symbols of the Camp Fires or of the
Camp Fire Girls may be suggested from any source,
especially from folk-lore of the different countries,
but are perhaps more often taken from the Indian lore,
because it is suggestive of the spirit of out-of-doors,
of the ingenious use of the materials at hand, and is so
distinctly American.
Often, when names have been too hastily chosen, the
girls are anxious to change them for new names. Many
times a more thoughtful study of the name will reveal
some study of symbolism not before known or realized. If
so, it is wise to hold to the original name. But if the
girl's desires have so changed that a different name is
more appropriate, let the old name be written on a piece
of paper, and at the Council Fire the Guardian may
explain the reason for the change. She then throws the
paper into the flames and tells the girls that, as she
throws the paper into the flames, it is a sign that the
name is gone forever and must never be mentioned by the
girls again; hereafter, the girl is to be known by her
new name.
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