All About You

Do you or your troop have a great story to tell about one of your Girl Scout activities? "Share the News" and send your story to us at share@gogirlsonly.org!

Brownies, what about sending us your Girl Scout Trip Diary (page 103 of your handbook)? "Sharing the News" also counts toward the Junior Girls Scouts Communication badge (p. 47 of the handbook).

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ALL ABOUT ME – JULIETTE GORDON LOW

Some people have called me an "eccentric" (ik-sen-trik), a person who has an unusual personality. I was a very determined—some say stubborn!—person, which had both good and bad effects on my life. Here are some stories about my original "take" on things.

My Watch

I wore my favorite watch most days. The fact that it only had one hand, and couldn't really tell the time, never really bothered me.

Ear Problems

I had a lot of ear infections and was losing patience with "traditional" medicine. I had heard that silver nitrate was the "newest" treatment, and I insisted that the doctor use it on me. Unfortunately, it was too powerful, and it caused me to go deaf in that ear.

Later on, at my wedding, a truly freaky thing happened—some of the rice people threw got stuck in my other ear. I didn't want to take the time to see a doctor, since I was leaving on my honeymoon. Well, the rice caused a bad infection in my good ear. When the rice was finally removed, the instrument they used to take it out made me deaf in that ear too.

The Wrong Fish

I was out trout fishing one night and felt a tug on my line. I fought hard for quite a while to try and "land" my catch. What I didn’t realize was that I hadn't hooked a fish—rather, I had hooked one of my guests straight through the ear. I was too deaf to hear his screams, and I was so determined to land the "fish" I never noticed that it was a person instead.

Fishing with Kipling

I was bored at one of the parties I was attending, and so pulled Rudyard Kipling—the author of the famous book Just So Stories—away from his friends and took him fishing. He kept complaining that we weren't dressed for it (we were both in formal attire), but I never saw what difference that made—it wasn't as if our clothes were the bait we were using! 

Turkey Dinner

When I was little, people raised and killed their own Thanksgiving turkeys. Just before they cut off our turkey's head, I convinced my family that the turkey should be given something to knock him out first, so he wouldn't feel anything. They finally gave in and agreed to do just that. We plucked the turkey and put him in the icebox—an old-fashioned word for refrigerator. When we opened the icebox the next day, the bird was wide awake and hopped right out! The cook, thinking the bird had been dead, freaked out and jumped up on top of the stove. 

Strays

I always loved animals. I was constantly coming home with stray dogs, cats and even horses. Sometimes they weren't strays, but I felt that their owners were neglecting them.

Once I showed up at my sister's with a baby rabbit. I had bought it from some children because I felt sorry for it—its ears were so cold! I put the rabbit on a hot water bottle and massaged its ears for quite a while. After all, I knew that all healthy animals had warm ears.

Taffy

Most girls in my time had very long hair. Because my hair was the same soft brown color as taffy, I let my cousin braid some of the sugary candy into my hair. Mama had to chop it all off. She was so mad!

Do you have a great story to tell about something "eccentric" that you have done? "Share the News" and send your story to the Girls Only Team at share@gogirlsonly.org. Don't forget to include your name and age!

For more about Juliette Gordon Low,
go to www.gogirlsonly.org/spotlight/juliette/.