Juliette Low loved new technologies and in her spirit, I embarked on the adventure of blogging while I completed the book. On 22 June 2010, I commenced by asking the question “Why This Blog?” There, in my first post, I wrote that “I hope this blog will be a chronicle of the writing process, a way to share discoveries with readers and to learn from your comments.” Two years and seven months later, the blog has done all that–and so much more. It would be difficult to convey how much I have appreciated the questions, the prodding, and the cheerleading from all of you who read and commented on my blog. I’ve said it before, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

My blog appeared on http://juliettegordonlow.blogspot.com until October 2011, when I moved it over to my new website, www.stacycordery.com. That was also the moment I stepped into the big world of Facebook. That has been an education! I will continue to post at my Stacy Cordery, Author Facebook page, where I can put photos from the book tour, news of good things happening in the world of Girl Scouting, and soon, news about my new book project.

Yes, it’s time for me to move on. I am a lifelong, card-carrying member of the GSUSA and a lifelong fan of Daisy Low–but I am also a professional writer and a college professor and it’s time to begin my fifth book.

What can you do to spread the word about Juliette Gordon Low, to help her take her rightful place in social studies and history textbooks? You can buy my book! Really–the sales of my biography will help pave the way for other authors and historians because their potential publishers will first ask how the sales (read: interest) were on my book. If Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts sells well, then publishers will perceive a reading audience out there and will be more likely to take a gamble on the next book about Low or Girl Scouts. If you don’t own a copy, please consider purchasing one, and then buy another to give to troop leaders, Council members, nursing homes, your local library–I would like every American to know all about Juliette Gordon Low.

You can read through my blog. I will leave it up and accessible through www.stacycordery.com. If you have questions, write and I’ll do my best to answer them.

You can get involved with your own Girl Scout Council. There will be a group of historians and archivists who surely could use your energy and time. Girl Scouting will take its rightful place in the history books once the raw data of Girl Scouting history–documents, photographs, diaries, account books, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, oral interviews–are preserved and made available to the public.

You can go see every Girl Scout exhibit out there. There’s almost certainly a group of dedicated and enthusiastic Girl Scouts behind it who are bubbling over with joy in the telling of their story. They need you (your troop,  your class of students, your church group, your book club) to be an audience.

You can visit the fabulous Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, Georgia. It is an exceptional experience. Learn about Daisy and her world by walking in her footsteps, seeing her home, understanding her world from the inside out. While you are there, take time to thank the incredible docents and the hardworking, committed staff led by Fran Harold and Katherine Keena–two women who know everything there is to know about Daisy Low and who are thrilled to share it. While you are in Savannah, go see the Girl Scout First Headquarters and the Andrew Low House. And before you leave, consider helping the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace continue its good work by becoming a member of the Birthplace Circle of Friends, as I have.

It is a bittersweet moment for me–bringing this blog to a close. But, as Juliette herself reportedly said, “The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.” I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to immerse myself in the life of Juliette Gordon Low, and to have met so many lovely women and men who share my passion. But my work on Daisy Low is now, well, the history of tomorrow. I hope it has/will prove helpful.

And since a Girl Scout is honest and fair…
Katherine Knapp Keena, I could not have written this book without your guidance, your patience, your wisdom. Your sense of humor buoyed me when I was sinking. Your support made all the difference, every day. You truly were the midwife for the biography. I remain so, so grateful. This public thanks is only a downpayment on my tremendous debt to you.

Fran Harold and Katherine Keena

Thanks to the kindness of Juliette Gordon Low’s great-niece, Margaret M. Seiler, I can make available to you this marvelous photograph of taken at the White House when Juliette  Gordon Low was awarded the Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012.

On the left is Anna Maria Chavez, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. To the right of President Obama are Richard Platt (Juliette’s great-nephew), Margaret M. Seiler (Juliette’s great-niece), Audrey Platt (Richard’s wife) and Connie Lindsey, Chair of the National Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. With them are five really lucky girls!

At the ceremony, President Obama had this to say about Juliette Gordon Low:

“Growing up in Georgia in the late 1800s, Juliette Gordon Low was not exactly typical.  She flew airplanes.  She went swimming.  She experimented with electricity for fun.  (Laughter.)  And she recognized early on that in order to keep up with the changing times, women would have to be prepared.  So at age 52, after meeting the founder of the Boy Scouts in England, Juliette came home and called her cousin and said, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world.  And we’re going to start it tonight!”  A century later, almost 60 million Girl Scouts have gained leadership skills and self-confidence through the organization that she founded.  They include CEOs, astronauts, my own Secretary of State.  And from the very beginning, they have also included girls of different races and faiths and abilities, just the way that Juliette would have wanted it.”

As he awarded the Medal of Freedom, President Obama said this:

“Richard Platt, accepting on behalf of his great aunt, Juliette Gordon Low.  An artist, athlete and trailblazer for America’s daughters, Juliette Gordon Low founded an organization to teach young women self-reliance and resourcefulness.  A century later, during the “Year of the Girl,” the Girl Scouts’ more than 3 million members are leaders in their communities and are translating new skills into successful careers.  Americans of all backgrounds continue to draw inspiration from Juliette Gordon Low’s remarkable vision, and we celebrate her dedication to empowering girls everywhere.” [1]

Thanks to Margaret Seiler for the use of the photo. Please don’t use it without her permission.

_____

[1] The President’s remarks can be found on the White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/29/remarks-president-presidential-medal-freedom-ceremony

She remembered how Miss Daisy began by teaching all eighteen members of the White Rose Patrol the Girl Scout Promise and the Laws, and then she showed them how “to tie twelve knots, blaze a trail, light a fire with one match.” [1]

___________________

The twelve knots in the first Girl Scout Handbook:
1. Bowline
2. Running Bowline
3. Reef Knot
4.  Clove Hitch
5. Half-Hitch
6. Fisherman’s Knot
7. Round Turn and Two Half-Hitches
8. Sheet Bend
9. Sheep-Shank
10. Middleman’s Knot
11. Slip Knot
12. Overhand Loop Knot [2]

___________________

Because Miss Daisy thought the girls ought to get some exercise–but that exercise should be fun–the earliest troops played basketball or tennis at each meeting. The girls also had to “be able to cook one dish.” [3]What did they cook? Peppermint drops!

 ___________________

Peppermint Drop recipe

Put three and a half ounces of sugar and a tablespoonful of water in a small granite saucepan, add three drops of essence of peppermint. Stand the saucepan over the fire, and, when the mixture begins to melt, stir with a small wooden paddle for two minutes, then take it from the fire. Have ready large sheets of oiled fool’s-cap paper. Take the saucepan in the left hand, and your candy dipper in the right. Pour the candy in drops about the size of large peas, in close rows on the oiled paper, using the handle of the candy dipper to cut off, as it were, each one from the saucepan. When the drops are firm and cold, dip a paste brush in warm water and lightly brush the under side of the paper, then with a limber knife remove the drops, and place them on a sieve in a warm place to dry. Keep in air-tight boxes.[4]

 ___________________

Marian stayed with Girl Scouting for many years. In 1922, she and the other members of the White Rose Patrol lined up in Miss Daisy’s Savannah home, right next to their Founder, to meet the new president of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Lou Henry Hoover.

Lou Henry Hoover

Years later, Marian told a Washington Post interviewer that “one thing the Girl Scouts did for me was to give me a terrific yen for traveling.” [5]  She and her husband saw much of the world together. In the Philippines, in China, in Europe, wherever she went, Marian sought out Girl Scouts because she believed that once among Girl Scouts, “you’re never among strangers.” While living in Peru, she began a Girl Scout troop that consisted of American expatriates and Peruvian girls. Marian Aslakson also created a troop in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and consulted briefly with a troop in Bogata, Columbia. Her work continued when she returned to the Washington, D.C. area and took charge of the Juliette Low Memorial Fund. Its purpose was one she about deeply: to underwrite the travel of American girls to Our Chalet in Switzerland, “so,” as Marian explained, “they could get to know each other.” [6]

Marian Aslakson died in 1991 after a full seventy years of service to Girl Scouting. Her story can be found on the website of the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital Archives Committee.

Marian Aslakson receiving her 70 Years Service Award c. 1982

As an historian, I know how absent Girl Scouts and Girl Scouting are from the historical record–from textbooks, from films, even from novels. The more Girl Scout documents we can locate, preserve, store, digitize and put on line, and the more oral histories we collect, the greater the likelihood of all Americans understanding the full extent of what Girl Scouts have done for the U.S. and what Girl Scouting has done for girls and women. If you are a Girl Scout and need a project, consider seeking out former Girl Scouts in your area to record their stories. Whether or not you’ve ever been a Girl Scout, think about volunteering with the History and Archives section of your local Girl Scout Council. You can find your local council by clicking here. Help enrich our nation’s history! Make a difference!

“[The Lows]  had the first motor car ever seen in Wellesbourne—a De Dion Bouton—and the village children used to earn pennies by pushing it up the hill to Ettington—once with the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) inside.”

I have been to Wellesbourne, in Warwickshire, England, and with the generous assistance of Peter and Rosalind Bolton, two local historians, I toured the area. We saw the garage on the Wellesbourne property that Willy Low built to house his automobiles. The Boltons’ research had uncovered some of the other cars that fascinated Willy Low–including a Golnon and a Meteor. One of the several cars the Lows owned was large enough to ferry a number of guests from the train station to their home in comfort. It is certain that the first automobiles in a small, sleepy village would have caused quite the stir. Willy and Juliette had buckets of money. He loved luxury and she loved new gadgets. Their motor cars surely made them the talk of the county.

What, I wondered did this De Dion Bouton look like?

We cannot know for sure, because we don’t have the records of sale, but I know the window of time in which the Lows would have purchased their autos. So, below are my educated guesses. Imagine, when you look at them, how extraordinary they would have appeared in Wellesbourne…how they would have sounded…what people would have thought as they jumped out of the way when walking their dogs, or steered nervous horses to the side of the lane when the Bouton zoomed in sight. Juliette makes no mention of the Low cars in her letters to her family. Probably they were mostly Willy’s toys, as he purchased them during the time their marriage was falling apart. Still, they were in some measure a part of Daisy’s world, and after his death she was known to have one of the early cars in Savannah. Driving  in Georgia, in London, and in Scotland posed no fears for her; indeed, she had rather a reckless reputation as a driver! And the 1920 Girl Scout Handbook contained a “Motorist” badge.

Here is a postcard featuring a 1898 De Dion Bouton:

and here is a little later De Dion-Bouton, from 1903:

This is a photo of a 1905 De Dion-Bouton to give you a sense of its size (that is not Willy Low driving!):

Here is where the Lows kept their motor cars at Wellesbourne:

This is the front of the garage, with the Boltons on the left.

Above the white garage door, Willy Low had this engraved nearly 110 years ago:

For me, however, this document verifies that the rice thrown into Daisy’s ear went in the same ear as the one harmed earlier by the silver nitrate. This is critical for understanding Daisy Low’s deafness. Yet the rice incident is buried near the end of Nellie’s letter, which might mean one or more of several possible things. Discerning, weighing, and verifying all the potential meanings of the way Nellie wrote about her daughter’s painful episode is the job of a good biographer. At some point, the biographer must also decide upon the most likely interpretation.

Was Nellie trying to remain positive for her cousin? Was Daisy’s ear so often sore that one more earache was not worth mentioning immediately? In my biography of Juliette Gordon Low, you can read about other ailments that plagued Daisy around the time of her wedding. These, Nellie did not mention to Cousin Laura. In the interests of time, I’ll just provide the text of the letter, and you can make up your own mind!

____
Savannah, Jan. 13^th 1887

My dearest Laura,

The last relay of visitors departed yesterday, and “a great calm has burst upon us.” I take the very first moment to write you, and tell you all about the wedding, etc., etc., In the first place, we had for a number of days, 18 people to sit down to every meal. Providing food for them was an undertaking I assure you, beside which, there was all the necessary preparations of the home for the wedding–Daisy’s preparations, the breakfast etc., etc. I had 2 cooks, 2 butlers 2 chambermaids—innumerable laundresses, 15 fires going all the time plus 21 beds to make up every day!

Daisy had insisted on my inviting Mary Clarke and her husband Hyde Clarke from Cooperstown. They came with a baby, 7 weeks old, who was being brought up on the bottle—and with a nurse only 16 yrs old—a green country girl who had never seen gas or been on a R.R. train! The baby became very ill immediately on its arrival, with a threatening of dysentery and then of cholera infantum. The Doctor ordered a wet nurse, at once, to save its life. I had to send a buggy 4 times a day for the wet nurse—until we could find a proper nurse who would come to the house and stay. Then the baby began to mend—but screeched night and day till it left here yesterday—having been here nearly 4 weeks.

I had besides, Willy’s sister Gulie [Gordon] Harrison—with her daughter Gulie who was one of the bridesmaids and two younger children; Nelly Kinzie from Chicago;…Mary Stiles; Wayne, Nell, Baby and Nurse; Abby Lippitt; Grace Carter; Courty Parker; and all our own family! I broke down once and went to bed. [My husband]…was absent at the Legislature the whole time except the very day of the wedding! So I had no aid from him. And…he had to go off twice to New York to see about the [Central of Georgia Railroad] Election….

The wedding was a grand success. The day was beautiful, the Breakfast delicious, and the house looked lovely. Daisy never appeared handsomer and her dress was exquisite—thanks to the superb lace you and Uncle gave her. The bridesmaids were all so pretty and their dresses so becoming.  Everything went off without a hitch. At four o’clock the Bride and Groom left for St. Catherine’s Island, where they spent 6 days. There is a lovely house there all furnished and they sent down servants and provisions in advance, so that they were very comfortable down there.

Daisy’s [Savannah] house is a model of elegance and comfort.* [Daisy and Willy] gave their first entertainment [the] night before last—had about 75 young people—fine music, an elegant supper, and ended up [with a dance called a] German—The “favors” in the latter were beautiful, having been sent out from Philadelphia. They had 4 rooms open and the piazza all enclosed and hung with Chinese lanterns. It was a great success.

The wedding presents were beautiful. Willy Low gave her a [illegible] and star of diamonds from Tiffany and an immense travelling bag or dressing case with about 100 articles of solid silver in it, each one with her monogram J.M.L. on it, such as hair brushes, Railway lamp, scent bottles, mirrors, sandwich box, etc., etc., etc. Then the Low girls gave her a pair of magnificent bracelets—diamonds and sapphires and pearls.

We gave [Daisy] a…silver…Kettle, a chafing dish, gravy boat, and ice cream bowl—a silver mustard pot from Mabel, a tea strainer from Arthur, a grape scissors from Willy, a cream pitcher from Alice, a large Doulton China vase from Wayne and Nell. Then she had everything in silver on could mention and quantities of beautiful things for her house. She was delighted at the sweet letter from you and Uncle and is going to write you in a day or two.

Only one untoward accident occurred. Some fool undertook to throw rice into the carriage as the bridal pair drove away—a grain went directly into Daisy’s ear—the same she had such trouble with before. Her ear pained her so on her return from St. Catherine’s Island that Willy Low took her up to Atlanta and Dr. Calhoun^ with great difficulty extracted the grain which was already partly overgrown by a sort of fungus of flesh, and would have produced serious results if it had remained any longer. All the fools, you see, are not dead yet!

…Did you get a lot of Photographs? I sent some. If not, I will send more—so let me know. I will send some of the Wedding cake when Daisy and Willy go to England in February.

Well, good bye. I hope you are not tired out reading this long epistle. Willy joins me in ever so much love to you both. When Arch returns to his school our family will be reduces to three! Do write soon to,

Your loving Nell

[P.S. ] While I had my house so full you may know how little consideration the young people had and how little politeness when I tell you I had sometimes 5 separate breakfasts served!
_____
 ____

* Today this is the Andrew Low House, a must-see for any Girl Scout or Juliette Low fan.
^ The ear specialist who treated Daisy after the silver nitrate incident.

Note: I have organized the letter into paragraphs and clarified some of the punctuation.
The photograph of Daisy and Willy Low on their wedding day is used with the kind permission of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah, Georgia.

The original letter is from the Gordon Family Papers, MS 2235, housed at the Southern Historical Collection in the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

It should come as no surprise then, that her niece, Alice Gordon Parker, the daughter of Eleanor Gordon Parker and Wayne Parker, recalled assisting her “Aunt Daisy” with the famous gates Juliette Low made for the Wellesbourne House in Warwickshire, England:

“[W]hen I was twelve years old I helped her to cut from sheets of copper the flowers and leaves to decorate those gates. The edges were filled; veins were made by hammering them over a grooved instrument; then they were shaped and bent on an anvil. I think I could make them again now, so well was the lesson learned thirty years ago.”

Juliette Low encouraged Alice in her love for art, and Alice did grow up to be an artist in her own right. If you visit the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace in Savannah today, you will see a pair of portraits of Nellie Kinzie Gordon and William Washington Gordon II, Juliette’s parents (Alice’s maternal grandparents) painted by Alice in 1910.

Alice was effulgent in her praise of Daisy. She appreciated that her aunt left a peaceful, regulated life in England to enter willingly into the chaos of creation connected to the launch and growth of Girl Scouting in the U.S. She believed that one of her aunt’s best qualities was the “ability to put herself in another’s place.” And by “another,” Alice meant adults, children, and animals.

Of course, Juliette Low’s goodness to animals is well known, but Alice tells the story of the time her aunt was desperate to find a home for some dogs. Juliette cunningly sent a crate full of five adorable puppies to her sister Eleanor’s home. The collies arrived just as a dinner party was underway. Even though Eleanor protested mightily to the delivery man, the guests begged her to let Alice and her young sisters see the puppies. In the middle of the oohs and aahs, cuddles and kisses, Juliette appeared. Of course, the puppies all had homes from that moment on!

Alice summed up her Aunt Daisy: “Hers was a constructive love, a constructive energy, a constructive ideal. It was not only a particular person’s happiness that she wanted…it was everyone’s. She was as much tormented by the unhappiness of the world as by that of someone near and dear to her….

“Juliette Low knew what it was to be unhappy. She knew what it was to have others fail her. But that did not shake her faith in people or in life. Instead she turned the strength forged by suffering to noble use. She realized that pain endured gives one the power of accomplishment. Not only does it allow us to reach the sufferings of others; it actually endows us with the capacity to surmount obstacles….

“That is faith. Juliette Low had faith. It was through her faith and her courage that she was able to accomplish a great and lasting work.”

____

All quotes from “Juliette Low,” n.a., n.d., “Juliette Gordon Low–Biographical Info” File, National Historic Preservation Center, GSUSA, New York. The remembrance is almost certainly by Alice Gordon Parker Hoyt, and the “received” stamp from the GSUSA reads 21 July 1942.

Alice was born in January 1885. If her memory was correct, then Juliette Gordon Low made the Wellesbourne gates in 1897.

Photo of gates taken by author; puppies from /www.borderstorm.co.uk/Puppies.htm; Juliette Low photo from the Athens Banner-Herald http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-04-26/obama-awards-girl-scouts-founder-posthumous-medal.

Many of you have seen the cartoon that Juliette Gordon Low drew on the topic of women’s suffrage. It contains a phrase that we today don’t use much anymore, and thus it seems difficult to understand. Under her cartoon, Juliette Low wrote “If other things fail / Put salt on his tail.”

Pen and ink sketch by Juliette Gordon Low.

The phrase was an old folk tale. It can be found in the earliest versions of Mother Goose from the late eighteenth century, from the rhyme “Simple Simon:”

He went to catch a dicky bird,
And thought he could not fail,
Because he had a little salt
To put upon its tail.

Simple Simon putting salt on the dickey bird’s tail.

Of course, if you are close enough to sprinkle salt on a bird’s tail, then you are probably close enough to catch that bird. Sir Walter Scott, a novelist whose works Juliette Low often read, incorporated the folk belief into his book Redgauntlet, and it turns up in other pieces of literature as well. [1]

Hmmmm….so, what did she mean exactly? Suffragists should get closer to the men in Parliament who were denying women the vote?  My guess, as her biographer, is that Juliette Low was probably reading Redgauntlet at the time, or had remembered the phrase given her life-long love for birds, and simply made the sketch to amuse herself. She never intended it for publication. She was not a deep intellectual, and so I doubt it was the result of months of reading, analyzing, and pondering suffrage strategies.

What is most interesting about the sketch is that Juliette Low has drawn herself as the woman in the cartoon. This seems to place her solidly in a pro-suffrage position, quietly but purposefully stalking the legislator in order to capture him. And, in England, she did know several members of Parliament and other influential people.

She may have created her sketch near the time that U.S. women gained the vote with the 19th amendment (passed in 1920). Or, it may have been earlier. Juliette was friends with Agnes Anstruther, who was part of the pro-suffrage movement in England.

Agnes Anstruther, 1898

In 1908 Juliette Low attended a “Suffragette meeting” with Anstruther. Before they went, Juliette wrote to her sister, “You know I do sympathize with their desire to make laws for women workers which will protect the women against unjust employers.” [2]  She did not say that she sympathized with their cause to bring about women’s suffrage. Most women of her class, in Britain and in the U.S., considered the vote to be beside the point–perhaps necessary to help working-class women protect themselves, but not important for women of means.

Was Juliette Low a committed suffragist?  There is the evidence of  her undated cartoon. In 1915 Juliette wrote, “I believe the theory of the justice of women having the vote.” [3] But there is little evidence beyond that. Juliette’s mother, Nellie Kinzie Gordon, was a strong anti-suffragist. “I am not anxious,” Nellie said more than once, “to hear a hen attempt to crow.” [4]

By the time suffrage became front-page news in the United States, Juliette Low was already immersed in Girl Scouting. As president of an organization that she meant to be open to all girls, Low had to remain aloof from contentious topics. Her rationale was clear, as she explained in a 1915 letter. “[T]he welfare of the Girl Scouts must come first,” she wrote. “If it is thoroughly understood by everybody that the Girl Scouts are neutral we will be left out of all practical & religious controversies. [T]o leave any one in doubt means  in this instance to arouse the suspicion & perhaps the enmity of 800 suffragettes in Savannah…Neither you nor I nor any representative of Girl Scouts has any option about handling a question on suffrage because we have no right to vote at all.” [5]

In short, to embrace the suffrage movement was to alienate anti-suffragists. To speak out against votes for women was to anger the suffragists. So, in the interests of Girl Scouting, Juliette Gordon Low made an executive decision for her organization to remain neutral. For the same reasons, she could not broadcast her personal views. As founder, she was too closely associated with Girl Scouts.

Many Girl Scouts want to know that Juliette Gordon Low was a suffragist. She may have been. But, as she wrote, “the welfare of the Girl Scouts must come first.” She could not have been outwardly pro-suffrage if her primary goal was to bring in girls from families of all political persuasions.

____

[1] Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, in The Complete Works of Sir Walter Scott, Vol. IV (New York: Conner & Cooke, 1833), 81. Just by way of interesting factoids, Redgauntlet contains a story entitled “Wandering Willie’s Tale.”
[2] Juliette Gordon Low to Mabel Gordon Leigh, 8 November 1908, Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Savannah, Georgia.
[3] Juliette Gordon Low to Mabel Gordon Leigh, 2 May 1915, Georgia Historical Society, MS318/15.161.
[4] “Not a Sympathizer of Equal Suffragists,” 1914 clipping from MS 318, Scrapbook 5636, Box 35, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.
[5] See this letter in full on the Georgia Historical Society website: www.georgiahistory.com/containers/1417

Photos:
Juliette Gordon Low sketch used with permission from the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Savannah, Georgia.
Photo of Simple Simon from Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (New York: McLoughlin Brothers, n.d.) at http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/16200/16254/simple-simon_16254.htm.
Photo of John Singer Sargeant  painting of Agnes Anstruther from wikipaintings.
U.S. pro-suffrage poster from www.lva.virginia.gov/public/archivesmonth/2007/img/photos/lva/08_0358_01.jpg.
British anti-suffrage poster from www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/image/0007/97468/treasures-61-8-No-Votes.jpg

The Drake Hotel, 1920.

She presented a formal lecture at the Chicago Historical Society on the topic of “Why the Girl Scouts of Today are the Pioneers of Tomorrow.” The pioneer theme swirled around her because she was a member of the first white family that settled Chicago–the Kinzies.

Reporters like Genevieve Forbes liked to play up the connection. “The 1924 girl plus the girl of the covered wagon days equals the Girl Scout,” she decided. [2] Forbes listened in as Juliette Low and Girl Scout President Lou Henry Hoover discussed the aims of the organization and summarized them succinctly: “A girl should be taught to help her mother without thinking she’s a saint. Wiping dishes doesn’t entitle one to the crown of martyrdom. Hammer, nails, and even an ax have no monopoly on masculine clients. Every girl should be able to build a shelter for herself.” [3] While nicely encapsulating the blend of the traditionally female and male spheres that Girl Scouting offered, Juliette Low probably would have added something about friendship, leadership, and civic duties.

But it was with the five hundred leaders and two thousand girls that Juliette Low really concerned herself.  Her dear friend Jane Deeter Rippin, the national director of the organization, was there; so was her goddaughter Anne Hyde Choate. Choate had come to explain “the new order of the Golden Eaglet, which is the highest rank in Girl Scouting” and to award the Golden Eaglet to two hard-working girls. [4]

Juliette Gordon Low with two Girl Scouts in 1924.

Today’s leaders will not be surprised that the other order of business was fund raising–$50,000 to be exact. [5] That was an enormous amount of money then.

But if you look closely at that photo, you will see that Juliette Low looks ill. She was. The breast cancer that would overtake her in less than three years had been diagnosed. Nevertheless, she remained determined. She never wanted anyone to pity her and she told very few people the truth about her illness. Thus, returning to Chicago in 1924–where her mother grew up, where she had relatives and memories and a sense of place–must have been bittersweet. She knew her own mortality, and despite her preternatural optimism, she could not always keep her pain hidden. But hers was an unconquerable spirit. Despite the cloud that her cancer cast over that convention, Juliette Gordon Low carried on.

Cool, huh?! But as a historian, I don’t know nearly enough about this document. The date, for one thing, is missing, although I can guess. Nor do I know precisely why it’s in the family papers, but I can concoct a scenario. It is a grand and glorious thing to be dependent upon the documents as historians are, especially when the documents are this awesome. But it is troublesome when there are gaps. Because of that, I did not cite this document in my book. If I knew all I needed to, and if I could have illustrated Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts with even more photos, I would have included this, and I would have put it right around page 94. I think this document was from early 1885, and fits in with the story about the silver nitrate that opens Chapter Six.

Here’s my best educated guess as to the background on this document:

The terrible ear ache of 19 January 1885, struck. After local physician James Houston treated Daisy with silver nitrate, her ear did not improve. She told a friend that it was Dr. Houston’s fault because he had “burned a hole through the [ear]drum.” Her ear continued to bleed and to hurt, and so Dr. Houston, with the assistance of Dr. James B. Read, suggested that Daisy see a specialist in Atlanta, the well-known ear, nose, and throat doctor, Abner Wellborn Calhoun.

Dr. Calhoun, a Confederate veteran, was a respected medical lecturer and writer, trained in Philadelphia and Europe. At the time he met Daisy, he was also the president of the Medical Association of Georgia. He taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Atlanta, and his star was rising. In his future was the presidency of the College and the vice-presidency of the American Medical Association. It was natural that Dr. Houston would send Daisy Gordon to Dr. Calhoun.

Dr. A. W. Calhoun

In late January, Daisy’s father, Willie Gordon, ferried her to Atlanta as her mother, Nellie Gordon, was in New Jersey welcoming the first Gordon grandchild into the world. What happened when Daisy became Dr. Calhoun’s patient? He sedated and treated her, and then tried to explain to the anxious father what was wrong. This is where I think the document comes in. I imagine:

Dr. Calhoun sitting across his big mahogany desk from Willie Gordon. Dispensing with the jargon, Dr. Calhoun reaches for a sheet of stationary and leans in to draw the worried father a picture of what he seems incapable of actually hearing–even though the news is positive. Focusing on Willie, Calhoun ignores the fact that his paper is upside down. Here, he says, grasping the nearby pencil and sketching a rough circle, “is the natural size of [Daisy's] ear drum.” And here is “a small bone running down across the drum.” This (he shades in a shape like a large lima bean) is “the hole as it was on Daisy’s arrival.” And this (he cordons off a much smaller circle inside the lima bean) is the “hole as it now is.” Then Dr. Calhoun pushes the drawing toward Willie.

Slowly, the realization dawns upon Willie that his daughter is improving. He sighs as one brought back from the gallows. “Doctor,” he says slowly, “would you please label this for my wife, so that when she arrives I can explain it to her as you did to me?” The courtly Dr. Calhoun reaches into his coat, removes and uncaps his pen, dips it into the inkwell, and methodically adds a written description, complete with steps “A” through “D.” Willie stands, shakes the physician’s hand gratefully, and hurries off to cheer up his daughter with the evidence of her recovery.

The supporting evidence for my interpretation is in a letter that Daisy wrote to a friend, in which she herself drew a picture somewhat similar to Dr. Calhoun’s.

Daisy’s letter to her friend

What does this tell us? That the great Dr. Abner W. Calhoun did indeed treat Daisy Gordon, and that he saw improvement from the original hole made by the silver nitrate–if I am correct about the date. I think I am. It fills in more details about the perplexing hearing loss that shaped so much of Daisy’s life. And it provides one of those “matters of less moment” that help us construct the best biographies.

Close-up of Daisy’s letter to her friend.

If we wanted to push the interpretation a bit further, we could compare the drawings. Calhoun’s hole is considerably smaller than Daisy’s. Does that mean that Daisy exaggerated? That Calhoun, the professional, had a better understanding of the exact size of an actual eardrum? Or that Daisy’s pain just felt that big? Hmmmmm…..

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For more on Dr. Calhoun, see his obituary in the Atlanta Constitution, 22 August 1910, page 3. See also the Atlanta Journal-Record of Medicine, July 1900, p. 235, for his being vice president of the AMA; Calhoun’s “Polyps in the External Auditory Canal,” the Atlanta Journal-Record of Medicine, May 1885, pp. 137-139; outgoing president of the Medical Association of Georgia, from the Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal, May 1885, p. 146;  Calhoun’s “Irido-Choroiditis Following Meningitis,” the Atlanta Medical and Surgial Journal, June 1885, pp. 233-234; Calhoun’s “Glaucoma,” the Atlanta  Medical and Surgical Journal, August 1885, p. 348; for his being president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Atlanta, see http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/taylor/history/physicians.txt; for his expertise in cataract operations, see the Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal, February 1885, 699. The photo of Dr. Calhoun is from http://www.electricscotland.com.

The drawing from Dr. Calhoun comes from the Gordon Family Papers, 1810-1968, MS2235, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The letter from Daisy is Juliette Gordon Low to Mary Carter Clarke, 8 February 1885, MS2800/6/15, George Hyde Clarke Family Papers, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

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As a professional historian, I am very interested in the public memorialization of Low. Who is doing it? What tone or slant does it have? Of what does it consist? Who is the audience? How many people do these memorials reach? What will the effect be? I have spoken to various audiences over the past year expressing my hope that someday Juliette Gordon Low will appear in every high school and college textbook. I believe she has been overlooked by history, and as a woman’s historian I hope to, as we used to put it, “write women back into history.” The more public exhibits of her life and legacy, the more likely that is to happen.

Historians strive for objectivity and balance in our treatment of our subjects–hagiography makes us uncomfortable and we prefer to present all sides of a life as supported by evidence we’ve located in the primary and secondary sources. Of course there are many ways to interpret those documents, and skilled historians of good heart can come to very different conclusions when presented with the very same evidence. Honest historians can disagree and both present compelling cases (within reason).

Obviously, the Girl Scouts of the USA have a significant stake in how Juliette Gordon Low is portrayed in exhibits. No organization wants to see its founder be demonized or trivialized–especially when that happens for malicious reasons or because half the facts are missing or the historical context is incomplete. Not that this has happened to Low, in part because the Girl Scouts of the USA keep a close eye on the field. Yet they also understand the importance of free access to the historical record. I was welcomed into Girl Scout archives from Savannah to New York to London. No one at GSUSA authorized my biography, nor did anyone ask me to remove or include information. In contrast, the Boy Scouts would not even let me into their archives.

Public history is a hot field in my profession right now, and surely all historians share the public history goal of making history accessible to everyone. There is also a sub-specialty concerning the history of memorializing, and it seeks to analyze how humans interpret and remember people and events. These two fields come together at the Centennial Exhibition at the Texas State Fair, “Follow the Girls” at the Michigan Historical Museum, and “100  Years and S’More” at the Midland County, Michigan, Historical Society, for example.

What is so compelling about such exhibits? They are fun. They’re interesting. We love learning from the “stuff” of history–from the sorts of things that the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace had on display at the Houston convention:

Juliette Gordon Low’s hat.

Juliette Gordon Low’s sculpting tools.

How cool is it to think that she actually wore that hat and sculpted with those exact tools?

Juliette Gordon Low’s signature in an autograph book.

Our understanding of Juliette Gordon Low changes subtly when we see artifacts connected with her life, just as our sense of her is deepened when we read her biography. She becomes more real, more human.

What we use to remember her life (in exhibits and in books) depends, of course, on what is available–what has managed to survive. We don’t have her pearls, but we have the story of what happened to them. We do have her hat. We don’t have her car, but we know how she drove. Sometimes, the written word (diaries, letters, meeting minutes, etc.) is all we do have. Fortunately, in Juliette Gordon Low’s case, we also have riches like those pictured above. Crafting them into an exhibit that makes logical sense to the viewer, is honest, visually compelling, historically correct, not too abbreviated and not too wordy, and that also conveys a sense of her personality takes a rare talent. Writing is hard work, but those who create the public history exhibits are unsung heroes. We are all engaged in the same effort of writing Juliette Gordon Low back in to history. Professional historians know that public history sparks people’s interest in reading more about the subject.

It has been my privilege to see several marvelous exhibits during this centennial year, and I take my historian’s hat off to the creative curators and dedicated museum experts who make history come alive in this tangible and thrilling way. Particularly during this special birthday month, during this unique centennial year, I’d like to say thanks to each and every one of them.

Just inside the Hall of State, looking toward the main hall.

GSNETX CEO Colleen Walker and Member Relations Liaison Emilie Anderson invited me to give one of their “Girl Scout Moments” on the topic of why I wrote Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts.

The hard-working Emilie Anderson.

I was especially glad to return to Texas because my father lives in Dallas. He accompanied me to the talk–it was the first time he’s ever heard me give a presentation, and the first time he’s been introduced to my Girl Scout world since the days he ferried me to Brownie meetings!

That’s my handsome dad!

We arrived in good time to see the exhibits, which ranged from a room dedicated to two Dallas-area camps, Camp Bette Perot and Camp Whispering Cedars, and to the capital campaigns on their behalf…

Camp Whispering Cedars

to AT&T-sponsored STEM exhibits…

to historical exhibits…

including Juliette Gordon Low’s home! Here’s a lovely Girl Scout as Juliette, phoning Nina Pape to set it all in motion:

There  was a cookie timeline…

and there were early cookie cutters used by institutional bakers:

There was a campfire with a singalong, multi-media displays, and even a horse:

STEM information, camping exhibits, enthusiastic GSNETX volunteers, and the horse!

There was much, much more on exhibit than these photos show. It was really well done!  Such hard work! Over 110,000 people have been to tour it so far.

I had to tear myself away to give my talk.

Then, after terrific questions from a great audience, I signed some books:

and located the fried Samoas:

Fried Samoas—of course they have to be eaten at the Texas State Fair!

I said my goodbyes to a whole lot of Girl Scouts who could not have been friendlier or more welcoming, and strolled off across the fairgrounds with my father as the Texas sky began its slow fade to black:

It was a great night. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, hearing Girl Scouting stories, and viewing the exhibit. What a wonderful way to commemorate one hundred years of strong, active, creative, dedicated Girl Scouts in Texas any beyond.

How lucky am I?

Want to see more photos of the Texas State Fair centennial exhibit? Visit my Facebook pages: Stacy A. Cordery, Author or Juliette Gordon Low.

As part of the celebration of the one hundredth birthday of the Girl Scouts, the U.S. Mint has issued a commemorative silver dollar inscribed “courage, confidence, character,” which come from the GSUSA mission statement: “We build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.” This blog is the third in my series considering Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low in light of those words. Her character was exceptional, but it was also hard won.

Front of the commemorative coin.

If Helen Keller is correct, then there are three important times of “trial and suffering” in Juliette’s life that strengthened her soul, cleared her vision, inspired her to be ambitious, and ultimately allowed her to achieve success. In her response to her hearing loss, the betrayal of her husband, and the professionalism of the Girl Scouts, one can see her willfully choose to be positive and grow stronger as a result.

Severe earaches that compromised her hearing troubled Juliette Low throughout her childhood. When she was a young adult the treatment of a local physician may have caused her to lose nearly all the hearing in one ear. It is impossible to tell from this many years later what actually occurred, but at the time her parents certainly blamed the doctor. In her wretchedness and pain, Juliette wanted to blame him, too–and she did, for a short while. But she was not much of a grudge-holder. She remained friendly with his family. She did not attempt to destroy his reputation. She did not spend the rest of her life decrying the doctor. Instead, she soldiered on….even when, less than a year later, a piece of wedding rice lodged in the same ear. When it became infected, the hearing loss in that ear was probably complete. She did not blame the physician in that case, either, although she might have had cause.

Juliette Low suffered with deafness for the rest of her life. It is a testimony to her character that she hid her despair –even from those who loved her dearly. She sought cures with stubborn optimism. She made light of her hearing loss, telling jokes about herself and using those jokes to decrease people’s discomfort. In short, although she struggled with this disability every minute of every day for over forty years, Juliette Gordon Low never let it overcome her. It was a badge of honor to keep her sufferings to herself.

When her husband, William Mackay Low, betrayed and deceived her, Juliette could have become bitter, carping, and vindictive–she certainly had good cause. Instead, she decided to be selfless–until the final breaking point, when she stood up for herself and quietly demanded that Low provide for her as law and custom required. Her selflessness was manifest in her generosity: Juliette wanted a divorce in large measure so that her husband could be free to marry his mistress and pursue his happiness. The sort of divorce she sought initially would have allowed the mistress’s name to remain out of the newspapers–why? So that Willy Low’s next marriage would not be compromised by scandal. It may seem odd today to imagine a wife as loyal and loving as Juliette Low responding in such a fashion, but it speaks volumes about her character that she chose the high road, putting recrimination aside and trying to work with him despite her broken heart. In the end, when Willy Low died before the divorce became final, Juliette carried on as his widow. And because she did not stoop to revenge, for the rest of her life she had the balm of a clear conscience.

Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912. By 1920, her organization was thriving, because of her vision and tenacity. In those eight years, Juliette’s wisdom included the training of leaders at every level, leaders who loved Girl Scouting every bit as much as she did, and whose own special skills and talents increased the membership rolls as they spread Girl Scouting across the nation. When, in 1920, there were rumblings from among her closest advisors–in particular a harsh and damning letter from one important leader–Juliette decided to give up her position as president. It was no doubt the hardest decision she ever made. The letter hurt her deeply, but instead of firing that leader, maligning her to the others, or flouncing off in a huff, Juliette Low looked hard at the accusations made against her to see if there was any truth. That is–as we all know–a tremendously difficult thing to do. She saw merit in her leader’s allegations. After all, one of her great geniuses was the ability to chose excellent volunteers and employees. So, with tremendous sorrow but also with a certainty that she was doing the best thing for her beloved Girl Scouting, Juliette Low stepped down as president. Instead, she became known as Founder. She searched herself to discover her passion and found it in international Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding. From 1920 until her death seven years later, Juliette Low dedicated herself to global understanding though Girl Scouting. It turned out to be a vitally important next step for the organization.

Sir Robert Baden Powell and Juliette Gordon Low

Of course, these three examples are not the only moments when we can see Juliette Gordon Low’s character. If you are interested in her life, I might humbly recommend my biography of her if you have not yet read it: Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts. I remain convinced that she was a woman of rare character, who usually put the welfare and comfort of others above her own, who almost always looked on the bright side, and who valued determination, a cheery outlook, and a kind-hearted response to life. That is why I find it altogether appropriate that the organization she created should encapsulate its mission in three adjectives that so perfectly describe its Founder.

Back of the commemorative coin.

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Photos of Low used gratefully with the permission of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.

It was not a woman’s characteristic, confidence–not in that era. Juliette Low was born in 1860 when society prized women who were, as historian Barbara Welter famously put it, “pious, pure, domestic, and submissive.” (2) While the Civil War loosened some of the strictures of a woman’s life, the changes occurred more slowly in Georgia, Juliette’s home state. Even though she was schooled for a time in New York City, Juliette knew that the goal of every “true woman” of her class and race was to marry and be a good wife and mother. She should not contradict or challenge her husband, nor encroach upon his territory–government, the professions, the military, finance, leadership in most churches. Instead, she should seek to please him, bending her will to his, and creating a peaceful home in which he could shelter from the amoral and capitalistic world of work. Women were honored when they were demure, cheerful, resourceful, kind, compassionate, and thoughtful–but not confident. Confidence smacked of brashness and self-promotion. That was decidedly unfeminine.

By the time she was a young woman, some of these societal expectations had begun to lose their grip…just barely. More women were attending college by the time the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, and more were involved in charitable works outside the home. There were some respectable jobs for women, primarily teaching. Most women were confident in their abilities to raise children, run a household, or provide care to ailing neighbors. Yet these areas are exactly where Juliette Low felt the most insecure. As she was unable to bear children* and her marriage tumbled toward divorce, her confidence in herself sank lower and lower. She knew she had failed at the most important tasks of being a woman.

Yet, as Eleanor Roosevelt would later put it, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” It was her husband’s infidelity that prompted Juliette Gordon Low to assert herself. He had expressed his disdain for female busybodies who dirtied their hands working with the poor and the oppressed. So when his betrayal became clear, she did just that. Juliette volunteered her time with the Camberwell Working Girls Club in downtown London. It was less a desire for revenge than it was being true to the ideals of her upbringing. But through her efforts on behalf of these poor, inner-city girls, Juliette Gordon Low met different people and grew more confident in her abilities to manage on her own.

Thus, when she was widowed (her husband died before the divorce was settled), Juliette took off on world travel, picked up her art again, and searched for something that would allow her to feel that self-satisfaction that came with good work–the satisfaction she felt with the Camberwell girls, or with the invalids she assisted in the hospital during the Spanish-American War that I mentioned last week.

Of course, Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting was the ultimate answer for her. With trepidation but with the certainty of her convictions, Juliette Gordon Low embraced Girl Scouting. She knew the feeling of doing important work and she was unafraid to fail, because she knew how to pick herself up and go forward. The early successes she experienced as a leader in her troops in the United Kingdom made her confident in her own abilities. The positive changes she saw in the lives of the girls made her confident in the worth of Girl Guiding. And as her commitment deepened, she networked with other leaders in  Great Britain. She and the founder of Boy Scouting, Robert Baden-Powell, were dear friends. She was close to his sister, Agnes Baden-Powell, who was in charge of the Girl Guides.

Success begets confidence, and while there were moments of chaos and concern in the early days of Girl Scouting in the U.S., Juliette Gordon Low never looked back. It was a confident and experienced woman who announced the creation of those first Georgia troops in 1912. Even though she had been born in an era when women were supposed to be docile helpmeets for men, Juliette Low had grown into a self-assured woman. She did not let the tribulations of life conquer her. And when she saw that Girl Scouting gave girls a place to learn self-confidence from the acquisition of skills and knowledge–not by having to overcome life’s sorrows–she knew she had to promote such a program.

Juliette Gordon Low gained confidence from Girl Scouting, just like every other Girl Scout did. That was a program worth dedicating her life to–and she did. And so confidence as a trait featured in today’s mission of the Girl Scouts is just perfect, reflecting as it does the personal growth of Girl Scouting’s founder.

Next week: character.

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*Or perhaps her husband was incapable of fathering children.

(1) The mission can be found on the website of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
(2) Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-1860,” American Quarterly, 18:2 (Summer 1966), 155.
Photos courtesy of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, Savannah, Georgia.

Front of the commemorative coin.

Girl Scouting today hopes to instill those traits in girls through its various programs and events. And this is fitting, because “courage, confidence, and character” perfectly describe the woman who founded the Girl Scouts, Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low.

Daisy Gordon was born on the eve of the U.S. Civil War, when courage was required. Her childhood was marked by the privations of war, and she suffered from “brain fever” and malnutrition. She was accident prone but stoic as a girl, and turned her troubles into funny stories to amuse others. When she was four, she narrowly avoided having fingers amputated after they were smashed in a window. “Well,” she said in certain tones, “I do hope we are not going to have any more performances like this one!”  When playing with her cousins, Daisy was the one they stuffed into a hollow tree or hanged from the bedpost. None of the others had her pluck.

As a young woman, Daisy decided she wanted to really learn how to ride a horse–not the genteel way that Southern belles rode–but bareback on spirited horses. Her abilities were tested one day when a train spooked her mount. The terrified horse took off like a cannonball and shot straight through the main street of a town at top speed, unstoppable. Daisy remained seated as long as she could. Her cousin found her in a ditch, shaken but unhurt, and Daisy climbed back on the horse. As they returned, forty townspeople lined the same street, heads uncovered and eyes downcast. They expected to see her mangled corpse and were stunned she had survived.

During the Spanish-American War, Juliette Low nursed sick soldiers, mingling with them in a convalescent hospital that required a her to summon the courage to move past the social norms dividing women and men. She had to be bold enough for the intimate knowledge of strangers infirmaries require. And she needed physical stamina and cleverness, too.

Probably Juliette Gordon Low’s most courageous fight was the hour-by-hour battle against her deafness. It was dispiriting, depressing, and demoralizing, and yet she never complained. The result of two different accidents, her hearing loss separated her from family and friends. It marked her as someone unusual, and wreaked havoc on her personal and private lives. Yet she used her deafness to tell comedic stories about herself, diffusing the discomfort others felt and bridging the awkwardness.

Daisy Low was courageous when confronted with her husband’s infidelity. She was courageous when she asked for a divorce. She was brave–so brave–to nurse him when it appeared he was dying. And she was brave to contest the will when he left most of his estate to his mistress. Women of her background did not divorce, and they certainly did not go to court. She had the courage of her convictions, but nothing in that chapter of her life was easy.

Not even tigers scared Juliette Low. She went hunting–and bagged an enormous one. At a time before airplanes or computers, cell phones or blue jeans, she traveled through India and Sri Lanka. She explored Pompeii and investigated Egypt. When cars were new, she motored through Europe–just herself and another woman. When only daredevils flew newfangled airplanes, Daisy Low went up in them and loved every minute.

And how brave was she to push aside her comfortable life in 1912 and throw her all into a fledgling organization called Girl Guides? Against all odds, the intrepid Juliette Gordon Low took a newish idea, one copy of the handbook, and her experiences in England, sailed for Savannah and bravely announced that she had “something for the girls of Savannah and all America” and she was ready to begin immediately! No hesitation! Girl Scouting was brave. It ran counter to many social mores and to conservative definitions of a woman’s place. Yet Juliette Low persevered, building up Girl Scouting without an MBA or any sort of executive experience, traveling without a network of professional social reformers to lean on, and devoting her time without any sort of certainty about the future.

These are only a few of the ways that Juliette Gordon Low personified “courage.” It seems an eminently fitting thing that her organization prizes courage in Girl Scouts today.

Next week: “confidence.”

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The quote in the third paragraph comes from my book, Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts (New York: Viking, 2012), 29.

Daisy took charge of the trip’s arrangements and they went first class whenever possible. She was an enthusiastic traveler and generally threw herself into every situation with fervor. She never shied away from local delicacies, and thus, for example she enjoyed feasting on peacock and “cold [camel’s] hump.” Even after a twenty hour railway journey with a 5:00 a.m. change of trains, the 47-year-old widow cheerily considered it all “so very interesting” as to dwarf the inconveniences.  And when there was discomfort she dealt with by sleeping, as she always had—sometimes seventeen and thirty hours at a time.

Queens Hotel, near the Temple of the Tooth, in 1910.

Through the Suez Canal they passed into the “vivid color and brilliant sun” of Colombo, Ceylon, on 20 January. It made Daisy think of but quickly reject the line from the hymn “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” that asked “What though the spicy breezes blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle, though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile?” [2] She looked about at the lithe and graceful people around her in Ceylon and asserted, “Man and woman are beautifully made, wonderfully graceful.”  En route to Kandy, on the Mahaweli River, the stunning scenery reminded her both of Scotland and Florida, with tea plants “instead of heather, and rice fields along the railway track.”

In Kandy, Daisy made sure that she and Beth and Grace saw the principal tourist site in the old royal capital, the Temple of the Tooth which contained the sacred relic of the Buddha. She proclaimed the temple “exquisitely decorated” and noted that the shrine itself was “blazing with rubies and precious stones, cat’s eyes a big as plovers’ eggs and one emerald big enough to be carved in [the] image of Buddha.” The temple priests, wearing yellow and with shaved heads, impressed her just as much as the temple’s library. It held, she marveled, “a book 800 years old with doctrines of the Buddha.” Everything was fascinating.

The Temple of the Tooth near the time of Daisy’s visit.

Buddhist monks at the entrance of the Temple of the Tooth.

Contrasted with the jewels decorating the shrine were the fruits and spices growing in the nearby Royal Botanical Garden. “It does seem odd,” she pondered “to pick off cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, allspice, from the trees, and to see pineapples, dates, coconuts, breadfruit, lemons, oranges, bananas…figs, melons, mangoes” ready to be picked and eaten all at the same time. Daisy mused that one of the fly-eating orchids might be very useful at the Gordon home back in Savannah on hot summer nights.

She found Ceylon too “impressive” for words, and chided herself for her inability to describe it all. On 23 January, they left the glorious landscapes, “lavish tropical” plants, and the heady smells of the spices and moved on to India. Juliette Gordon Low was one of few American women to have explored Ceylon. Throughout her travels, she  maintained an open mind and a generous spirit, seldom criticizing the new or the unfamiliar, but taking delight in nearly everything she encountered. Even though it was part of the British empire in 1908, Ceylon was still considered an exotic and extremely unusual place to visit–especially for a woman. But as you know, nothing like that ever stopped Daisy Low.

Reveal! The paperback cover!

If for some reason you don’t own the hardback, then this paperback is for you! If you’re in a book club, I hope that you’ll consider this discussion and invite me to Skype in to answer questions! You can pre-order the paperback from your local independent bookstore, and from amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

New cover, new season, new talks on the horizon–including the State Fair of Texas (hosted by the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas) and the Georgia Literary Festival on beautiful Jekyll Island. As the centennial year wraps up, I’ll be speaking–on 12 March 2013–in Wichita, Kansas, at Watermark Books. I look forward to your ideas for the blog, your comments on the book, and your presence should I make it to your home town. If you would like me to come speak about Juliette Gordon Low at your business or university or  in some other capacity, click on the “contact” tab above and give Anna Baldasty a shout at the Penguin Speakers Bureau.

Back next Friday with more on the remarkable life of Juliette Gordon Low!

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George Arthur Gordon was one of Juliette Low’s brothers. He was born in 1872 and named for his maternal uncles, George and Arthur Kinzie. He was always known as Arthur. Although he was twelve years younger than Daisy, Arthur Gordon was the rock of the family and she and all her siblings depended on him in matters great and small, particularly after their parents passed away.

Arthur took after their father in many ways. Like Mr. Gordon, he graduated from Yale University, entered the cotton business, and earned the goodwill of his neighbors and colleagues who placed him in positions of trust in several civil, educational, and political organizations. Arthur led a life devoted to service. He gave generously of his time and resources to many causes, but one has always stood out to me:  the Negro Employment Exchange.

L. B. Thompson was the manager of the Negro Employment Exchange, and he called Arthur Gordon the “father” of the business. “Had it not been for your advice and encouragement in the beginning,” Thompson wrote, “I never would have taken up the work.”

The Negro Employment Exchange attempted to provide African-American workers with jobs. In segregated Georgia in 1915, most employers were white and few would hire black laborers if whites were available–but in most cases, whole categories of jobs were simply completely closed to African Americans. Arthur Gordon helped L. B. Thompson to start up his company, contributing not just “advice and encouragement,” but financial assistance, too. Like job agencies today, Thompson’s Negro Employment Exchange tried to match would-be employees with employers who needed any of a long list of skilled and semi-skilled African-American workers:  cotton pickers, hotel help, cooks, delivery boys, housemaids, seamstresses, nurses, chauffeurs, porters, house cleaners, and laborers in factories, farms, saw mills, and the railroads.

Arthur Gordon’s sense of duty and his work for the Negro Employment Exchange is a timely reminder that philanthropy need not be the province solely of millionaires. The practical advice and modest sums he (like his father) gave to Savannah’s African Americans would have been welcomed at a time when race relations were terrible and getting worse. Small deeds can make big differences in the lives of their recipients, a lesson Daisy Low took with her into the Girl Scouts.
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L. B. Thompson to G. Arthur Gordon, 19 January 1915, in the Gordon Family Papers, MS2235, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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The 99th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America will be celebrated tomorrow, March 12, 2011. Juliette Gordon Low, the founder, used to tell self-effacing stories about the beginnings of Girl Scouting, accenting how surprised she was that it caught on as rapidly as it did.

As her biographer, I have learned to see past her humility. Juliette Gordon Low was in fact a savvy entrepreneur, possessing most of the characteristics that we would today consider essential for anyone starting their own business or organization. She was a visionary and a risk-taker.

Case in point:  Radio Girl Scouts.

In 1924, Low wrote Laura Peirce Holland, Director of the Western Pennsylvania Girl Scout Council, to inquire about her Radio Scouts. An enthusiastic letter from Holland described the fledgling program which began when one of the nation’s very first commercial radio stations, KDKA of Pittsburgh, asked her to come to their studio to tell listeners something about her Girl Scout troop.

An experienced leader, Holland began with “a series of talks on Camp life.” This was so well received by KDKA and by local girls that Laura Peirce Holland “thought what fun a Radio Troop would be.” When she suggested it over the airwaves, excited girls inundated KDKA with letters clamoring for her to begin.

Radio meetings soon followed. Holland, a Wellesley College graduate, explained to Juliette Low that radio meetings opened with whistle signals and the recitation of the Girl Scout Promise and Laws. After announcements, the work of Girl Scouting commenced. Holland attested to the thoroughness with which they covered knot tying, “First Aid, Fire Prevention, Compass, Flag History, Table Setting and Serving a Meal,” for example.

The Girl Scouting emphasis on fun was not slighted either. Holland’s broadcasts included games and stories which always brought flurries of happy letters. She recruited troops of girls to lead sing-alongs as Radio Girl Scouts joined in at home.

Each girl who passed Tenderfoot registered with National Headquarters as a Lone Scout, and when enough Lone Scouts appeared in a community, Holland made sure they found a leader and formed a traditional troop. “We only enroll in the Radio Troop Scouts from localities where no other Scout troop exists,” she maintained. Girls from isolated ranching, mining, and farming communities wrote nearly two thousand notes to Holland, who told Juliette Low proudly that there were almost 600 official Radio Scouts “from forty States and four Provinces of Canada.”

Radio Scouting was brand-new because commercial radio was less than four years old in 1924. Juliette Low could have shied away from this radical and untried method of including girls. She could have said no because she had little control over Laura Peirce Holland in Pittsburgh. Who knew how many Lone Scouts the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. could sustain?

Instead, Juliette Gordon Low saw the potential of radio for her fledgling organization. She appreciated the technology, supported Holland’s initiative, and decided the risks were worth it. Low’s openness to innovation–even when the idea did not originate with her–was one of the qualities that made her a visionary leader.

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Sources:
Laura Peirce Holland to Juliette Gordon Low, 11 June 1924, File:  Low, Juliette Gordon–Correspondence–1924, National Historic Preservation Center, New York City.
Photo #1: http://msnorris.wikispaces.com/Archives
Photo #2: http://joyfulpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/2010/09
Photo #3:  zazzle.co.uk

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Juliette Low was an extremely creative person.  She wrote poetry, she painted and sculpted.  She could spin, knit, and sew–a little.  Of course the biggest thing she ever created was the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.  But did you know that she was also an inventor?

In 1912, Juliette Low took out a patent for a kind of a trash can for liquids.  She called it “The Pluto Bag.”  She did not name it after the planet, for that was not discovered until after her death.  Presumably, she named it after the Roman god of the underworld.

The Pluto Bag seems never to have been manufactured or sold. I can only speculate as to what prompted her to dream this up and seek a patent.  Does this have camping applications?

Here’s the fine print:

You can read about it yourself (there are two more pages, one text, one drawings) on the U.S. Government patent page, or to find it more simply, click here.

Juliette Low also designed and patented the first U.S. Girl Guide Tenderfoot badge, which will look familiar to some of you:

When the patent for the badge expired in 1921, she signed it over the the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.

Her attorneys stated that she owned the “trade-mark for the letters “G.S.” for clothing, hats, caps, etc., which trade-mark was #123992.”  I cannot locate that one, however.  If you can, let me know!

 

I’ve brought back this post from late 2010 because it reminds me that I want to return this fall to more blogs based upon Juliette Gordon Low’s travel diaries. This one describes her spectacular experiences in and around present-day Pakistan and India. In the meantime, though, as this dry, hot summer lingers, here’s a taste of that diary and of the things that interested the fascinating woman who would go on to create the Girl Scouts of the USA.

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Juliette Gordon Low was an inveterate traveler. In 1908, she was in that part of the British Empire known today as Pakistan. There is much more to be told about her long, remarkable trip than is possible in a single blog post. Today, though, I thought I’d share one comment from the diary she kept at the time. Biographers mine their subject’s words and actions for clues of all sorts, and I found the superlatives Daisy used very striking in her description of the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore:

“These gardens are my idea of art [and] good taste, and they give a feeling of repose, rest, and refreshment unequalled anywhere.”

Daisy was an artist.  She looked at everything–architecture, gardens, even people–with an artist’s appreciation for beauty. Are the aesthetics of the Shalimar Gardens similar to other works of art or architecture that Daisy liked? What exactly was it about the Shalimar Gardens that she found so compelling? What can we infer about her once we know?

The answers are not all forthcoming. A certain amount of educated guesswork is necessary. I think we can infer from her letter that she truly meant the superlatives, for she drew a picture of part of the Gardens, as though frustrated at the inability of words to convey her feelings:

Before personal photography, drawings like this in letters home conveyed an idea of the traveler’s experiences. If that traveler was an artist, the sketch could augment the sense of connectedness, of being understood by the loved one reading the letter. She illustrated very few of her letters, so I pay particular attention to them when I see them.

Daisy’s drawing was a bird’s eye view. We can compare it to this modern photo to see the plants surrounding this pool and the trefoil designs that so interested her:

She drew a close-up of the trefoil that lined the edges of the pool:

The Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, a man famed for his love of art and beautiful architecture, caused the Shalimar Gardens to be built in the seventeenth century. Daisy saw and loved other sites constructed under his aegis, including the Red Fort in Dehli and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Each of these sites have balanced proportions that she found attractive and peaceful.

Daisy’s favorite paintings came from the Renaissance period. Light, symmetry, three-dimensional space, historical and religious subjects that brought forth an emotional response in the viewer–these were some of the characteristics of Renaissance art. There may not seem, at first glance, to be much in common between Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and the Shalimar Gardens, but perhaps an appreciation for the former predisposed her to enjoy the same characteristics in this Mughal idyll.

This could tell us that she preferred her art to inspire through a spiritual dimension. If “one is nearer God’s heart in a garden,” then perhaps Daisy responded to the birdsong and the scented flowers, the long, straight paths of water and the 410 fountains in a way similar to the way she felt contemplating the work of Giotto or Caravaggio.

The three-tiered, uniform, restful Shalimar Gardens, with their artistry in stone and water and plants was a highlight of Daisy’s trip to present-day Pakistan. This post would be much longer if I included the history and the larger layout of the Shalimar Gardens, but I hope you may be inspired to teach yourself more about this spectacular historic site which caused Daisy to marvel.

And how about that trefoil that caught her attention?  Interesting, don’t you think?!!