Why “Guides”?

Excerpt from: Baden-Powell, Agnes and Sir Robert Baden-Powell, “Camp Fire Yarn No. 1”, How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire. Thomas Nelson & Sons: London, 1912. pp16-17.

On the Indian frontier the mountain tribes are continually fighting, and our troops there are renowned for their splendid achievements and gallant conduct.

The best known of all is the corps known as “The Guides.” These are a force trained to take up any duties that may be required of them, and to turn their hand to anything. They are the “handy men” of India. To be a Guide out there means you are one who can be relied upon for pluck, for being able to endure difficulty and danger, for being able to take up any job that may be required, and for readiness to sacrifice yourself for others. Girls can be just as good as men in these points if they like. The Guides are the frontier force, and have to do a great deal of “roughing it,” living far away from towns, and so have to be able to turn their hands to anything.

Guides can do almost anything that is wanted in the camp; they can set to work cooking the dinner, or pitching and arranging the tent, or signaling to their comrades in the distance. They can sew up a tear or even make clothes, when none can be bought; or make a cupboard or a useful table out of any wood that is handy. The Guides in India are distinguished for their keenness and courage, and for their general handiness and resourcefulness under difficulties; in fact, the word GUIDE has come to mean one who embodies all of these desirable qualities, including industry, practical common sense, and self-reliance.

The Guides live in the wildest parts of the earth, and understand the best way of living out in the jungles, and they can find their way anywhere, through mountains and deserts, by maps or by the stars; they can get information by reading the meaning of the smallest signs – foot-tracks, broken sticks, or torn leaves; the Guides know how to look after their own health and other people’s illnesses when far away from doctors and chemists; they are strong and plucky. Lastly, they have to BE PREPARED to face danger at any moment in doing their duty for their country.