Mom called me last night and said she woke up in the middle of the night laughing. She had remembered being in the Girl Scouts back in Upper Michigan. Back then girls joined the Girl Scouts. Mom said it was the only game in town. There were about a dozen bunks in the bunk house at Bass Lake, about five miles from their town, Gwinn, and enough girls in their Troop the fill the bunks. The camp belonged to the CCI Mining Camp, and their Scout Troop was given a week there every summer. My Grandpa was the head engineer for the mines, so that might have had something to do with the troop being given free time at the camp. Who knows?
Anyway, Mom said they would put their ruck sacks on their backs and march the whole five miles together. What woke her up laughing was remembering the marching chant that she hadn't thought of in years. Knowing that I like to collect the kind of silly songs and poems that she and Dad always loved to share with us, she had to ask if I remembered the marching chant. I didn't. Here it is for posterity and a few good shakes of the head. Let's all just agree that nobody is writing stuff like this anymore:
Left, Left,
I had a good job and I left
I left my wife and forty-nine kids
On the verge of starvation without any gingerbread
Left, Left
Mom said that those twelve girls would repeat that over and over for the entire five miles. You suppose their leaders had more than one reason to be thrilled when the shores of Bass Lake finally came into view?
Mouse over dots for location and information. (You're the red dot.)
No comments:
Post a Comment