* * * * *

I suppose that it is my ignorance of fishing parlance which makes the following sentence a bit hazy: 

“Much has been written about bringing a fish downstream to help drown it, as no doubt it does; still, this is often impracticable.”

I can think of nothing more impracticable than trying to drown a fish under any conditions, upstream or down, but I suppose that Mr. Garrow-Green knows what he is talking about.

And in at least one of his passages I follow him perfectly.  In speaking of the time of day for fly-fishing in the spring he says: 

“‘Carpe diem’ is a good watchword when trout are in the humor.”  At least, I know a good pun when I see one.

LII

“SCOUTING FOR GIRLS”

“Scouting for Girls” is not the kind of book you think it is.  The verb “to scout” is intransitive in this case.  As a matter of fact, instead of being a volume of advice to men on how to get along with girls, it is full of advice to girls on how to get along without men, that is, within reason, of course.

It is issued by the Girl Scouts and is very subtle anti-man propaganda.  I can’t find that men are mentioned anywhere in the book.  It is given over entirely to telling girls how to chop down trees, tie knots in ropes, and things like that.  Now, as a man, I am very jealous of my man’s prerogative of chopping down trees and tying knots in ropes, and I resent the teaching of young girls to usurp my province in these matters.  Any young girl who has taken one lesson in knot-tying will be able to make me appear very silly at it.  After two lessons she could tie me hand and foot to a tree and go away with my watch and commutation ticket.  And then I would look fine, wouldn’t I?  Small wonder to me that I hail the Girl Scout movement as a menace and urge its being nipped in the bud as you would nip a viper in the bud.  I would not be surprised if there were Russian Soviet money back of it somewhere.

A companion volume to “Scouting for Girls” is “Campward, Ho!” a manual for Girl Scout camps.  The keynote is sounded on the first page by a quotation from Chaucer, beginning: 

“When that Aprille with his schowres swoote The drought of March hath perced to the roote, And bathus every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertue engendred is the flour.”

One can almost hear the girls singing that of an evening as they sit around the campfire tying knots in ropes.  It is really an ideal camping song, because even the littlest girls can sing the words without understanding what they mean.

But it really lacks the lilt of the “Marching Song” printed further on in the book.  This is to be sung to the tune of “Where Do We Go From Here, Boys?” Bear this in mind while humming it to yourself: 

  MARCHING SONG

  Where do we go from here, girls, where do we go from here? 
  Anywhere (our Captain[5]) leads we’ll follow, never fear. 
  The world is full of dandy girls, but wait till we appear—­
      Then! 
  Girl Scouts, Girl Scouts, give us a hearty cheer_!