Ruth Doan MacDougall

Girl Scout Trip

July 25 2010

This spring when my niece wrote me that Hamish, her fourteen-year-old son, was off on his school trip to Washington, I was of course immediately flung back in memory to the trip my Girl Scout troop made when we were a couple of years older and sophomores at Laconia High School.

In The Cheerleader, the Girl Scouts make such a trip, but I didn’t describe it in daily detail, just in general with some highlights.

“The main thing they learned in Washington was to inhale. They’d stayed at a Girl Scout camp; their troop had a troop house where they made breakfasts of juice, powdered scrambled eggs, burned toast, and cocoa, and prepared the sandwiches for their sight-seeing lunches, and, when they didn’t have supper at a Hot Shoppe, cooked Girl Scout suppers like Rum-Tum-Tiddy, but they slept in a colony of tents, four girls to a tent. The first day of sight-seeing, Puddles slipped away and bought a pack of cigarettes, and that night in their tent she and Snowy and Bev and Nancy Gordon got sick and dizzy, but they learned to inhale. The flashbulb picture Snowy had taken of them became notorious; she did not show it to her parents.”

The news of Hamish’s trip sparked a desire to check my memory of our trip, so I got out my 1955 diary and located that week of spring vacation. What I read struck me so funny that I thought you’d enjoy it too.

Gail Jordan, a dear friend and the inspiration for Puddles, made the trip especially funny (though it was Becky, another adventuresome spirit, who bought the cigarettes). Gail had moved to Laconia in junior high, and we immediately hit it off. She and her parents and sister had lived in California before returning to New England, so she possessed a well-traveled background that I envied as much as I admired her uninhibited joie de vivre. With Gail, you never knew what might happen. Looking back, I see us almost always laughing.

Fact and fiction.. . Sally Smith, my best friend, hadn’t joined Girl Scouts so she didn’t go on the trip; Snowy’s best friend, Bev, did in the book.

As with Snowy’s troop, we had worked for years to earn the money for the trip, from putting on plays (I remember directing The Birds’ Christmas Carol) to having rummage and bake sales. The excitement of planning grew and grew, and as I recorded on Saturday night, April 23, 1955, the eve of our departure:

“I’m getting butterflies. I can’t believe that it’s actually happening. I’m not taking this diary along, but I am bringing a notebook, and when I get home I’ll write it all up.”

And so I did.

Sunday, April 24, 1955
I got up about 6:15 this morning. I galloped around collecting last minute items, and, at about twenty minutes of 8, Daddy and Mother took me down to the library. The bus was parked across the street, and parents were milling wildly around. We finally got seats on the bus—Gail and I took the long back seat, with Ronnie and Becky in front of us on one side, and Judy and Woody in front on the other, and Mary and Nancy in front of them. (Before we’d gone very far, Patty and Cilla moved to the back seat with us. We always had a collection there.) And then, at last, we left. Our driver’s name is Joe Houle—very nice and funny. We sang for a while, and then calmed down.

We came into New York at about 5:30. So many people! We all hung out the windows, looking at everything. We stopped, and all of us paraded into a restaurant. We ate cafeteria-style. I had scallops. Then we went across the street to the Radio City Music Hall. The movie The Glass Slipper with Michael Wilding and Leslie Caron was about 1/3 through. We sat in the balcony. The movie was wonderful—and then, there was dancing and singing on the stage, plus the Rockettes. They did one dance which ended in a huge salad. It was spectacular. I still can’t believe it was real. Saw the first of the movie.

We left at about 9:30, heading for Baltimore. Kids began to fall asleep, but I was awake all the way, looking out the window and thinking about all the different people—and Don. We arrived in Baltimore at about 2:30 a.m. at Mrs. Walker’s mother’s house. [Janet Walker was our troop leader, the wife of a Laconia doctor and a terrific woman.] Whata place! Gail, Becky, Ronnie, Judy, Patty, Cilla, Mary, Nancy, and I slept in the small guest house. Becky had some cigarettes—I only had a puff of Gail’s. We went to sleep at about 4:30 a.m.!!

Monday, April 25, 1955
We got up at about 8:30 a.m. Mrs. Walker came around, but I was already awake. We went to the house, after dressing, and I helped make sandwiches for lunch. We ate breakfast and were off for Washington at 10:15. It was sort of damp out—but oh, it was so beautiful! The grass was so green, and the houses so white—and the long white fences. In the woods, the ground seemed to be covered with a sort of misty green carpeting.

We went through Baltimore, and for the first time I realized what it was like for every other person to be black. We passed housing development after housing development, mostly all brick. They were pretty, but there was something morbid about them. So alike. Individuality suppressed. Communistic.

We came to Annapolis at 11:30. We stopped and got out and saw the Naval Academy, the Chapel, the museum of John Paul Jones, and another museum—and men! Then we visited one of the big ships, and as we left, it began to pour. We nearly drowned before we got the bus. God, what a mess!! In the bus, we changed into dungarees [from our Girl Scout uniforms, I assume] and tried to dry off.

At about quarter of 5 we arrived at Camp Rockwood. It’s beautiful—and so large! It was raining lightly, and we swore violently as we carried stuff from the bus. We had a colony of tents and a troop house called “The Oaks.” The assistant director talked to us for a while in the troop house, and then we took our stuff down to the tent we wanted. There were four in a tent—Becky, Ronnie, Gail, and I were together. They juggled tents around and Janice joined us. Ate supper. Got settled. Asleep before 10.

Tuesday, April 26, 1955
Mrs. Walker woke us up at 6:45. We were split into 4 divisions—Gail and I were together, with Nancy, Helen, and Janet. This morning we had to clean up after the kids who had made sandwiches for lunch, so we got dressed [in our uniforms] before breakfast. For breakfast we had juice, scrambled eggs, burned toast, and cocoa. In fact, that was the menu all week, with only the kind of juice changing.

We were off at 8:30, and rode into Washington. The first thing we saw was the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. There was a group from Tennessee behind us while we were waiting in line, and the boys were so funny—singing “Davy Crockett,” etc. When we went into the building they were right behind us. Patty and Nancy flirted and gave them their addresses, but I remembered Don and looked annoyed when one started kidding me and calling me “Bashful.”

Next came the FBI—very interesting, but my feet hurt.

Then the Bureau of Archives and lunch in the bus. Mellon Art Gallery next—found paintings I love by Claude Monet. Smithsonian Museum, National Museum, and finally the Washington Airport. We ate dinner there, in the cafeteria usually used only by pilots and airline hostesses. We spent some time wandering around the “waiting” building, and came home at about 9.

As usual, we had a slew of kids in our tent, but they all left before 10, until only Cilla and Mary remained. We were all supposed to be quiet at 10, so Cilla climbed in Ronnie’s sleeping bag with her and Mary first hid behind me and then behind Gail. Mrs. Cottone and Mrs. O’Connor [our assistant troop leaders] came around, but they didn’t notice our 2 additions. I fell asleep while we waited for Mrs. Walker to make the final rounds, at about 11:30—Becky did too. But Ronnie and Gail had a great time—went over to Cilla and Mary’s tent where they were caught by Mrs. Walker. Gail was awake almost all night.

Wednesday, April 27, 1955
We got up at about 6 a.m.—Gail and I, that is. We went up to the troop house and started the fires like Good Girl Scouts. Gail was brownie-ing, after the trouble she’d gotten into last night. We had to make breakfast. Great sport.

Then we all went to the White House. We got a specialized tour through it, along with a bunch of little kindergarten kids. It was hard to realize, standing there, that President Eisenhower actually lived in the room I was in. We weren’t allowed to see much of the House.

Next we walked through a lot of main streets and came to the Lincoln Museum, made out of the old Ford Theater. I mostly looked at the things connected with Lincoln’s assassination. A man gave a short talk on it, and it was awfully interesting. Especially I liked John Wilkes Booth’s diary. Then we went across the street to the Petersen House, where Lincoln died. Then back to the bus for lunch.

After lunch, damn fools, a bunch of us CLIMBED to the top of the Washington Monument—about 898 steps. Others took the elevator. We took the elevator down.

Then we went to the Lincoln memorial, the Arlington Cemetery (where we saw the changing of the guard) and the Jefferson memorial. Then back to Rockwood. Took a shower at the Manor House.

About 5 girls from a Washington troop came over, plus leader, for supper. Janice had relatives over, too, After supper, we fooled around, and kids from Carolyn Cottage began arriving. We started walking to the Manor House to get cokes, and met some other kids. Woody, Becky, and Judy went with them, but Ronnie, Gail, and I didn’t. We met other kids but finally escaped, got our cokes, came back to the tent. Becky came back, plus a pack of cigarettes, and Nancy, Patty, etc., came over, and we smoked. Fun, huh? Asleep at about 11, I guess.

Thursday, April 28, 1955
We could sleep late this morning—until 8 yet. Gail, etc., and I had to make sandwiches.

We drove into Washington, and first went to the Senate Office Building, where we met Senator Bridges. I think he’s revolting. Becky says he’s crooked as hell. Next we went to hear the Internal Security Subcommitee. There was a one-time military general of Berlin discussing tactics of the Communists, and it was wonderful. He was very nice, and his voice was soothing, and the room was hot and stuffy . . . . .half of the kids nearly fell asleep. We left before he’d finished.

We went to the gallery of the Senate House Chamber and saw them discussing something-or-other. We couldn’t hear them. Next we went to the Rotunda and tried the Whispering Spot. We looked in the door of the House of Representatives.

Lunch on the bus. Then the Supreme Court; then the Library of Congress. That was wonderful. I saw the Hans Andersen display, and the Richard Rodgers collection, and Mrs. Walker took us to see where Daddy’s book [his first novel, The Crystal Years] is—only it’s out. Then we had our picture taken with Bridges; then the Folger Library.

Back to the bus for a ride, and then dinner at a Hot Shoppe. I had fried chicken and custard pie. We shopped a little, and then we went to Cinerama. It was wonderful—I swear the whole theater was moving. The roller coaster part was best. At about 11:30 we arrrived back at Rockwood.

We sat around our tent, Mary, Cilla, Patty, and Nancy visiting, exchanging dirty jokes. Funny as hell. Bed at 1:30.

Friday, April 29, 1955
Our last day. We got up at 7. Gail and I packed our suitcases, picked up the tent to a certain extent, and then Ronnie and I embarked to chop up wood for the purpose of “replenishing the wood supply in the troop house.” I ate breakfast and then dried the dishes while Gail and Helen washed. Lastly, I helped Gail mop the floors of the tents—incidentally, they were on platforms. The tents, that is. We got dressed [in uniforms] and at about 10:20 left Rockwood.

At the Smithsonian Zoological Gardens we were allowed to roam until 12:30. Gail, Becky, Ronnie, and I tried to see as much as possible. There were lions, hippo, rhino, giraffes, mountain lions, and birds. The swans were beautiful, and a peacock was walking around loose.

We ate lunch on the bus and then headed for Mt. Vernon. It was beautiful. I wasn’t so much impressed by Washington living there, as I was by the fact that it was a typical southern plantation. The slave quarters. We saw Washington’s tomb, too.

We left there at 4, and headed for Baltimore, but first stopped at the Hot Shoppe where we ate dinner last night. I had a beef pie and peaches for dessert. We came to Mrs. Walker’s mother’s house at about 7:30. We watched TV for a while, but at about 9 Gail and I were both dead, so we went to the guest house and got into our sleeping bags. I fell asleep almost at once. The kids came in and kept Gail awake, but I slept through everything.

Saturday, April 30, 1955
I really conked out last night. The kids were singing wildly and everything and I slept on peacefully. They tried to get me to talk in my sleep—Gail said she kept saying, “Don’s on the phone! Don’s here!”

Mrs. Walker woke us at 7. And y’know what we had for breakfast? Not scrambled eggs, juice, burned toast, and cocoa, but WAFFLES!

We loaded stuff on the bus and blasted off at 9, Laconia bound. We stopped at a Howard Johnson’s for lunch. I had two grilled cheese sandwiches, a vanilla milkshake, and strawberry shortcake. We stopped again at about 4 p.m.and then at about 6:30 at another Howard Johnson’s for dinner. I had an open hot turkey sandwich, milk, and lime sherbert [spelled the way it’s pronounced in New Hampshire], and ate everything of anyone else’s which was unwanted.

I stayed awake all the way home. We hit Laconia at about 12:30. Joe took some of the kids home, including Gail, but those who lived in East Chemung [that is, not near the center of town], like me, he took to Mrs. Walker’s. There, Cilla’s father took me home. Brother, it was good to be back! Mother was waiting up, and then Ma, Daddy, and Pop appeared. Ma and Pop [my grandparents, my mother’s parents] have been here all week. I staggered around a little, giggling hysterically, and flopped in bed about 1 a.m.

Gail left Laconia High after that year and transferred to Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, so the Washington trip was sort of a grand finale. We stayed in touch, of course, by letters during school years and in person when she came home for summer vacations and worked as a cashier at the A&P. Like Snowy and Puddles, we were in Boston together in college, when she was at Mass. General Nursing School and I was working at Beacon Press during two of Bennington’s Non-Resident Terms and the summer in between.

She met George Russwurm, a University of Connecticut student. After their marriage, they eventually moved to North Carolina with their two daughters. Gail worked at nursing and also at making crafts.

In recent years our correspondence switched into twenty-first-century e-mails, but our topics were often our doings in the 1950s, such as Gail’s chasing me around Woolworth’s waving a giant pair of underpants (probably after she’d purchased her beloved malt balls) and a Girl Scout Jamboree on Lake Winnipesaukee’s Bear Island that was gate-crashed by boat by one of my pre-Don boyfriends and a buddy. These of course became other tales told in The Cheerleader.

Gail’s health had been precarious for several years. She died in December 2008.