FOREWORD
A few summers ago I had the pleasure of being entertained by severalBands of The Girl Pioneers of America, on the wooded shores of one ofLong Island's noted bays, at Camp Laff-a-Lot. As I watched thesewholesome-looking, happy girls in their attractive uniforms, and sawtheir bright, animated faces as they made merry in joyous sport underGod's blue, and then turned to the more serious employment of makingbayberry candles, building camp fires, gathering wildflowers in theirstudy of Nature, or blazing the trail as they made the woodland resoundto their wonderful imitation of bird-notes, in the various calls oftheir groups, my interest was awakened. Later, as I gathered with themin the red glow of their Cheer Fire and heard their rousing Pioneercheer, and their inspiring Band songs, and saw how a love for historyand the true meaning of patriotism was engendered, while their minds andimaginations were being stimulated by their stories of the heroism ofthe women Pioneers, I realized that as our patriotic organizations wereseeking to honor the Founders of our Nation by preserving historicalrecords and objects, these Pioneer daughters were seeking to revive andperpetuate the spirit that dominated the men and women who brought tothese shores, the grand principles of a civilization that has made ourRepublic the greatest in the world! It was in recognition of thenobleness of the aims of The Girl Pioneers of America, as well as inappreciation of the worthy Founder's efforts to bring out the best inthem, that inspired me to set forth if only in a limited way these manytruths, and so I was emboldened to write "Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer!"
Rena I. Halsey. _Brooklyn,_ _January 1, 1917._
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