We have various laws, various regulations, many departments in the Woodcraft League and all the work that is done by the girls is progressive. You graduate, as it were, from one rank to another, and you graduate not merely by what you learn, but by what you do with what you learn. You not only must know Nature Intimately; but you must know how to live with her in a peaceful, comfortable way; and when you have learned how to live with Nature you will find that you are a very well educated girl along practical, wholesome, democratic lines. You will also learn very much in the way of fine character building, such things as reticence, courage, unselfishness, obedience, respect for wild life. the sacredness of truth, deference, interest in work, and, perhaps most of all, the joy of being alive, because these things which should be fundamental in every life are fundamental in the Woodcraft life.
There are Twelve Laws for the Regulation of Life for the girls who join the Voodcraft League. just as there are the Twelve Secrets of the Woods to stimulate and illumine the mind. At the very start, you are taught to be brave, rather you want to be brave because you are enabled to see how fine and necessary it is; you are taught the value of silence. of cleanliness. not only personal, but the need of a clean environment for yourself and your spirit; you are taught not only to love the woods, but to preserve the woods; you learn to respect all worship, and then in addition you must he kind and you want to be; there is no other spirit among the Woodcraft Girls, just as there is no other spirit except to be helpful. And, strangely enough, you are also taught the value of good nature. You realize after a very short time among your Woodcraft friends that it is better for your spirit, for your health, for your achievement to be amiable, whether you are sick or well, whether you are in the midst of comfort or discomfort. And in a very short time you learn also that work is a very good thing because it helps to make you and your friends happier and more comfortable.
If you happen to he a young girl well taken are of in a city home, you can be made very comfortable without doing anything for yourself or for anyone else; but if you are a Woodcraft Girl living in the woods you cannot be comfortable for a single minute if you have not worked and planned for your own comfort as well as for others. In other vords, I am striving to make it clear that in all the work and study of the League you are not entitled to comfort or happiness unless you have given the equivalent, unless you have earned it, that every person must pay their way in life for everything they have. Grown people learn this soon enough, but the cared-for young people are sometimes not allowed to learn it by the thoughtlessly affectionate ..text pokračuje
