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Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low: Founder of the Girl Scouts

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As a young Southern debutante, Juliette Gordon Low seemed to have little purpose in life other than entertaining herself and her friends. At age fifty-two, however, Juliette, nicknamed Daisy, founded the Girl Scouts of America. Finally she had found her purpose and she devoted the rest of her life to making the Girl Scouts a successful organization.

Despite her love of parties as a young woman, Daisy always had an eccentric side that made her different from other girls. She adopted stray dogs and cats as a child. As an adult, she even had a pet bird that sat on her shoulder. Instead of paying attention in school, Daisy would often draw in her notebooks. Eventually she took art classes, which she loved. Though there were few athletic competitions for girls in the nineteenth century, Daisy was a good swimmer and even became captain of a rowing team.

After she finished school, Daisy traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe. She married an Englishman and went to even more extravagant parties but the marriage wasn’t happy. After her husband died, Daisy wandered aimlessly, trying to find a purpose for her life. She found it after meeting Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in England. She thought girls in America would also benefit from a similar program. After creating a few Girl Guide patrols in England, she took the idea to her native Georgia.

On March 12, 1912, eighteen girls over age twelve became America’s first Girl Guides. Activities included playing basketball on a vacant lot near Daisy’s home in Savannah, going on hikes, and attending formal teas at Daisy’s house. Daisy thought girls should be self-reliant inside and outside the home. “Her girls” as Daisy called them, learned first aid and cooking, but they were also taught that women could do men’s jobs. The first Girl Scout handbook gave examples of women doctors and airplane pilots. “The numbers of women who have taken up aviation prove that women’s nerves are good enough for flying,” the handbook said. When the handbook was published in 1913, Daisy received letters asking about the newly named Girl Scouts from across the U.S. Soon she set up a national headquarters for the organization in Washington.

Daisy was a role model to her scouts, whose meetings she happily attended until the very end of her life. Though she had lost most of her hearing in her twenties, she never allowed her disability to keep her from participating in activities. Her organization allowed girls with disabilities to participate in scouting at a time when they were excluded from other clubs.

Though Girl Scouts started with just eighteen girls, membership today has grown to 3.7 million members. Amazingly, the organization began thanks to the efforts of a Southern belle.

 

The History of the Christmas Card

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If you celebrate Christmas, you’re probably giving and receiving Christmas cards in the mail or in person. But do you know who sent the very first Christmas card?

In 1843, an Englishman named Sir Henry Cole wanted to send Christmas greetings to his friends, but he had so many people on his list that he couldn’t write letters to all of them. Instead of sending letters, he asked artist John Horsley to create a card. The middle of the card showed a family celebrating the holiday with wine. The left and right sides showed people giving to the poor. The message on the card read “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” Horsley’s card was criticized because the family scene showed a child sipping wine, which was considered “fostering the moral corruption of children.”

Sir Henry didn’t send any cards the next year, but the Christmas card became a tradition in England. By 1847, more people sent Christmas cards to each other and additional artists designed them. Holiday cards became more elaborate. Some were shaped like desserts or bells; some were pop-ups that revealed tiny skaters; others made noise or came in pieces as puzzles.

Americans imported Christmas cards for more than thirty years, until German immigrant Louis Prang published the first U.S. Christmas cards. He held contests for artists to design cards and offered the winners thousands of dollars. Prang produced the winning cards in bulk. The first cards showed only flowers and birds, but Prang’s line of cards began to include beautiful scenes of children playing in the snow and Christmas trees. In 1881, Harper’s Weekly wrote that “the American Christmas cards excel the imported cards this season, and many of them are framed and presented as separate gifts.” The high quality of Prang’s cards made them expensive to produce, and he was forced out of business with the appearance of cheaply made cards.

Although Christmas cards have changed over the years to include cartoon characters and jokes, the tradition of sending cards at Christmas remains popular. Over 2.6 billion Christmas cards are mailed each year—more than the number of Valentine’s Day cards.

So when you gather with your family this Christmas, see if they can guess how the tradition of sending Christmas cards began.

 

Reindeer in World War II?

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During World War II, reindeer were doing more than helping Santa bring presents to children’s homes. In addition to that task, reindeer from the Artic hauled supplies to the battlefront. Americans shipped guns and other supplies to a port in Murmansk, Russia to aid their Soviet allies. Though many ships didn’t make it to the port, the supplies that did needed to be transported to the battlefield. That’s when the reindeer, along with other pack animals like donkeys, were put to use.

Russian reindeer herders volunteered not only themselves but also their animals to serve in the war. Vladimir Kanev, a reindeer herder who served early in World War II, described the experience. “We rushed to the front, transporting as many shells and mines as we could load on the sledges. After that we spent all winter running between Murmansk and Litsa.”

British and American students of World War II tend to think of the tanks used by their militaries to carry men and supplies, but the Soviets did not have the same resources, especially in the Artic. This fact made reindeer important not only for bringing guns and ammunition to the battlefields but also in caring for the wounded soldiers. Vladimir says, “Often working under fire, we wrapped the wounded in deer skins, tied them down on the sledges and ran them to the hospitals.” Reindeer herders sometimes found pilots who had been shot down, and the reindeer helped carry them out of danger. During the winter of 1941, reindeer and their herders brought 6,000 soldiers to safety. On occasion, reindeer even towed some downed planes so the parts could be reused.

It was dangerous work for the animals and their human leaders. The harsh climate as well as German planes and ships put the supply route under constant threat. Out of eight hundred herders who went to the northern front in 1941, six hundred returned.

Reindeer remained important throughout the war. After 1941, thousands of additional reindeer contributed to the Soviets’ success. One herder recalls the Soviet invasion of Norway in 1944. Both the herders and their reindeer participated in chasing their German enemies. The herder says, “we harnessed all the deer we could and ran with the rest of the Army, swimming the deer across countless rivers and streams…sometimes we even caught isolated German soldiers by lasso!”

Given the contributions of reindeer to Allied victory in World War II, the director of the Lovozero Museum near Murmansk hopes to build a monument in honor of the animals.

 

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt: Champion for Youth

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During the Depression, young people had little hope of finding work or attending college. In 1934 Eleanor Rooseveltshowed concern for 3 million unemployed youth. She said, “I have moments of real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary.”

Eleanor Roosevelt's school portrait

Eleanor Roosevelt’s school portrait

Eleanor’s wish came true through a new government agency—The National Youth Administration. By 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt had received several proposals for youth aid programs. He gave these proposals to a private group, which included the future chairman of the NYA and Eleanor. The group advocated scholarship aid for high school and college students as well as a work program for youth who had graduated or dropped out. FDR established the NYA by Executive Order on June 26, 1935.

There was no greater supporter of the program during its eight year existence than Eleanor Roosevelt. She pressed the head of the NYA to do more during the NYA’s first year and received monthly reports on the status of youth projects.

Eleanor wrote extensively about the NYA in her newspaper column, “My Day.” She kept the country informed of the NYA’s progress by describing her visits to NYA project sites. On a trip to L.A., for example, Eleanor noted that the wood-working and sewing projects were set up like a real factory so that the boys and girls who worked there would be better prepared when they found full-time employment. Her visits to youth projects spanned the country. History Professor Margaret Rung points out that though Eleanor could be a controversial figure, her columns developed generally positive publicity for the NYA. Without her support, the program could have been marginalized.

Her columns reveal that Eleanor was not only interested in observing NYA projects, but she also attended NYA committee meetings. Eleanor invited both administrators and students to her Hyde Park, New York, home to discuss issues within the program. Through her invitations she gave everyone involved in the NYA a chance to be heard by someone who had direct access to the president.

Although Eleanor wanted the NYA to become a permanent organization, she realized its limitations. She wrote, “here, before our eyes, we see the proof that we have learned how to give these youngsters training…Yet, we have only developed this program for a limited number. The  NYA should cover every boy and girl coming out of school who is not able to obtain work in private industry, or who is not called to service under the selective draft.”

The NYA did not become a permanent program and could not cover all youth, but its accomplishments were aided by Eleanor’s enthusiasm. During the NYA’s eight year existence, 2,134,000 youth had the opportunity to continue their education. Students in the school program did clerical work, remodeled buildings, worked in libraries, and became lab assistants to earn money for school supplies and clothes. Students in the out-of-school program were often involved in construction work, but had other options such as clerical and agricultural training.

By 1942 work programs focused on producing materials needed in World War II. Students learned industrial sewing and how to repair planes and radios. In her column Eleanor shared a letter that five girls who worked on radios wrote to the director of the Kansas NYA after finding jobs: “On average we are making $50 a month and for the five of us it doesn’t cost very much for rent or groceries…The spirit of cooperation and working together [from their NYA experience] is largely responsible for the way we are getting along so well up here.”

Eleanor grieved when the NYA ended. She felt that young people would need job training after the war. By supporting the agency during its existence, however, she enabled millions of youth to earn wages during the nation’s worst economy.

Growing up as Samuel Clemens: The Childhood of Mark Twain

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If Mark Twain were still alive, he would be celebrating his birthday this Wednesday. You are probably familiar with his name because of his fiction writing, which included The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But how much do we know about the man behind the writing, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens? (Mark Twain was a pseudonym, or pen name that Clemens used in his writings).

Twain was born in the ironically named town of Florida, Missouri. Although his family left the small town of about 300 people when Twain was a small child, there were some things that he learned there which would influence his writing. His uncle had slaves and Twain would often listen to their stories. One slave in particular, called Uncle Dan, told scary ghost stories. Twain looked up to him as a father figure because his relationship with his own father was strained. While Twain and his mother’s side of the family enjoyed singing, parties and a good joke, Twain’s father had no sense of humor.

Both Twain and his mother felt the loss of their extended family when they left Florida for Hannibal, Missouri; however, Twain’s maternal uncle bought a farm nearby where Twain and his siblings spent their summers. In fact, Twain had so much fun on the farm that he didn’t mind going to school a few days a week though he tried to avoid school at all costs when at home. In his autobiography Twain admits that his younger brother Henry was much better behaved but believed that “the unbroken monotony of his goodness and truthfulness and obedience would have been a burden for her [his mother] but for the relief and variety which I furnished in the other direction.” Given his mother’s sense of humor, that statement might have some truth in it, though she probably didn’t appreciate his daredevil attempt to catch the measles from his friend or his skating adventure on ice that was not completely frozen and might have resulted in his drowning.

During the summers Twain reconnected with Uncle Dan and the other slaves owned by his uncle. In his autobiography, Twain says “we had a faithful and affectionate good friend, ally and advisor in ‘Uncle Dan’l’…whose sympathies were wide and warm, and whose heart was honest and simple and knew no guile.” Later Dan became Twain’s inspiration for the character Jim in Huckleberry Finn. As a child, Twain was taught to accept slavery and saw nothing wrong with it, particularly since his uncle’s slaves were well treated. His father, however, beat a slave in front of his son. Throughout his writings, Twain struggled with these different impressions of slavery.

After his father died, Twain’s older brother Orion had him apprenticed to a printer. Eventually Twain worked for a Missouri paper that his brother owned, but the arrangement didn’t last. Twain wanted to write satire and humor, but Orion had no use for either. Twain felt trapped in a job where he could not express himself. He visited family in St. Louis where he made enough money to travel East. Now Twain was a young man determined to explore the world.

 

 

 

Childbirth in Aztec Society

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If you’ve read about the Aztecs in your textbooks, you are probably familiar with their seemingly strange religious practices, which could include human sacrifice to pacify their gods. What you may not know is that the Aztecs often celebrated life, especially when a child was born. In fact, a Spanish priest who lived among the Aztecs said that he had never seen a society in which children were valued so much. A few months before the birth, the grandparents of the unborn baby would invite family members to a feast, which served as a kind of baby shower. Instead of gifts, however, the future grandparents selected a midwife to help the mother through her labor. They expressed their concern for the survival of the mother and the child to the midwife and urged her to do her duty.

On the day of the birth, the midwife returned to second feast with promises of her skill. After a successful delivery, the midwife gave the war cry, which meant that the mother had fought a good battle during labor. The Aztecs recognized the difficulty and pain of giving birth by comparing it to capturing an enemy in battle.

Both boys and girls were welcomed joyfully as the midwife compared the baby to precious items like jade and turquoise. Depending on the gender of the baby, the midwife recited their different roles. To a boy she said, “you are pledged, you are promised, you are sent to the field of battle. War is your destiny, your calling.” In contrast, a baby girl was told, “You are to prepare drink, you are to grind corn, you are to toil, you are to sweat, beside the ashes, beside the hearth.”

After the birth, the family brought in a soothsayer to tell the child’s fate. According to the Aztecs, the date and time of birth decided whether the child would be wealthy or poor, or have a good or bad character. If the child’s future seemed bleak, the family could wait to name the child on a more positive day, which would improve the child’s chances for a good life.

The child received its name during a bathing ceremony. During this ceremony, the midwife bathed the child and presented it with small symbols of its future tasks. For example, a boy received a small shield, bow and arrows. A girl was given tools used for spinning and weaving. After the bath, the baby was named. Aztec children were sometimes named for the day of their birth as in Ome Mazatl, which meant Two Deer. Names of flowers and other animals were also used, however. Regardless of their names or genders, all children in Aztec society enjoyed the love of their parents and extended family, as well as aid from their gods.

 

The Education of Aztec children

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Although Aztec children didn’t go to school as quickly as most kids today, they learned a lot from their parents as they grew. By the young age of five, boys carried firewood and accompanied their fathers to the marketplace. The boys watched their parents exchange goods in the market. The market was also a place for boys to meet new people and learn how to behave around both adults and other children. At the age of five, their mothers taught girls how to weave cotton. In their preteen years, boys learned to fish while girls perfected their spinning and cooking skills.

Aztec parents valued hard work and humility. As their children’s first teachers, they tried to pass on these values. The Codex Mendoza, which was painted few years after the Spaniards arrived, says that parents “instructed and engaged them [children] in personal services…this was so that…they did not spend their time in idleness, and to avoid the bad vices that idleness tends to bring.”

The lessons of their parents helped boys endure their formal schooling, which for wealthy sons began at fifteen. They entered a school run by Aztec priests called the calmecac. Most of the boys who attended this school would become priests, though they occasionally chose other professions. Government jobs, for example, required an elite education. Physical work was part of the curriculum. In the mornings, boys swept the temple, collected firewood, and worked in the fields. They fasted and went on pilgrimages to satisfy their gods. Afternoons were devoted to the study of history, astrology, writing, and the law. They also learned some fighting techniques because priests often accompanied soldiers into battle.

Most Aztec boys, including commoners, attended the telpochcalli where they learned military skills. These boys also spent time doing physical work so they would be able to endure battles. One popular task was increasing the load of firewood a boy carried on his back to see if he would be able to carry the shield and other items he needed during a battle. Martial arts were also taught.

Teenage girls continued their education at home, though some had a public role as priestesses, called cihuatlamacazqui. Young priestesses were taught their temple duties and presided over religious ceremonies. Women were essential to certain Aztec religious festivals.  During the ceremony of Quecholli, priestesses dedicated to the goddess of corn dressed in feathers and painted their faces. They sang and paraded through the streets, tossing handfuls of corn into the crowds. The seeds were signs of a good harvest in the coming year. Most girls, however, were married around the age of fifteen. They married young men who had finished their formal education.

 

The Voyage of the Mayflower

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You probably know that the Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Maybe you’ve been told that they left England to gain religious freedom. But Plymouth was not where they planned to live, and the passengers on the Mayflower had many reasons for wanting to leave England.

One group of Pilgrims, who wanted to eliminate some of the religious rituals from the English Church which they felt were unnecessary, left England for Holland. They settled in the town of Leyden, where they expected to stay. Although they could practice their religion as they wished, life in Holland was rough. Most of the Pilgrims were farmers, but they now lived in an urban town. Since they did not have a trade or speak the Dutch language, their jobs did not pay well. Even William Bradford, the future governor of Plymouth, was only an apprentice to a silk weaver.

After over a decade of living in near poverty, the Pilgrims decided to move. William Bradford wrote, “the place they had thoughts on was some of those vast and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruitful and fit for habitation.” The Pilgrims heard of the success of the Jamestown colony in Virginia where colonists profited from growing tobacco so they planned to sail there. Forty-six Pilgrims left Holland on a small ship called the Speedwell in July 1620. Later they met up with a bigger ship, the Mayflower, which brought emigrants from England who would join the group. Not all of these men and women were Pilgrims; some didn’t care about religious freedom and sought only to make money in the New World.

The Speedwell kept leaking and two groups repeatedly stopped so it could be repaired. Finally they decided that the Speedwell couldn’t make the trip to America. Everyone who could fit on the Mayflower did so; others returned to England because there was not enough room. On September 6, the Mayflower set sail again.

Between the passengers and crew, the Mayflower carried about 140 people. Although better accommodations were available for the officers and wealthier passengers, most people slept in hammocks or on beds of canvas filled with straw. When they felt like eating, bacon, biscuits, and smoked fish were on board. Although they brought cabbages, onions, and turnips, they eventually ran out of vegetables and ate boiled mush and oatmeal instead.

The passengers on the Mayflower probably didn’t feel very hungry since, according to Bradford, the ship encountered “many…cross winds and met with many fierce storms, with which the ship was shaken.” Finally on November 10, the passengers sighted land off of Cape Cod. Although they planned to land near the Hudson River, the ship encountered more storms and so they went back to the Cape.

The colonists set foot at Plymouth on December 11. Bradford wrote, “Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.” However, it was winter in Massachusetts and the passengers of the Mayflower would have more trials ahead as they tried to survive in an unfamiliar land.

 

The History of the Jack O’Lantern

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Have you and your family picked a pumpkin to carve for Halloween night? Maybe you’re planning to carve a scary face so the trick-or-treaters who visit your house will be spooked. Although pumpkins are a central part of Halloween celebrations in America, the first Jack O’Lantern was not a pumpkin.

According to Irish legend, a mean drunk known as Stingy Jack was always playing tricks on his neighbors and family members. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing a tree to pick fruit. While the Devil was in the tree, Jack carved a cross into the tree’s trunk. This prevented the Devil from climbing back down. While the Devil was stuck in the tree, Jack made him promise not to take Jack’s soul. The Devil promised and Jack helped him get down.

Though the Devil had sworn not to take his soul, nothing could prevent Jack from eventually dying. First, Jack tried to enter the gates of heaven. He was turned away because he had been so mean to everyone while he was alive. Jack’s only alternative was to go down to hell and see the Devil. Of course, the Devil refused to let Jack enter because he already promised not to take Jack’s soul. The Devil told Jack he must wander around in the darkness between heaven and hell for eternity. At this point, Jack panicked and asked the Devil how he could wander in the dark without any light. In response, the Devil threw Jack a burning ember. Jack had a turnip in his pocket, so he hollowed out the turnip, placed the ember inside, and used it to light his way.  The Irish referred to Jack as “Jack of the Lantern,” and later “Jack O’Lantern.”

Photo by Toby Ord, Oct. 2003

Photo by Toby Ord, Oct. 2003

To ward off evil spirits and keep Jack away, people in Ireland hollowed out turnips, gourds, potatoes and beets and placed a candle in them on All Hallows Eve. When Irish immigrants came to America, they brought the tradition of the Jack O’Lantern with them. They discovered that the pumpkin, which is native to America, was much easier to carve out than a turnip or potato. As a result, pumpkins began to be used as Jack O’Lanterns.