274 
SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
Then your legs should come up straight from your 
ankles ; don’t stand either on your heels or your toes, but 
right over the highest part of the arch, which is the 
strongest part, and best fitted to bear your weight when 
you are standing still, and brings your hips up to just 
the right place to hold your body.- 
In the lower part of your body are some big heavy 
bones shaped somewhat like a bowl. This bowl is bal- 
anced on the top of your legs, and holds most of your 
organs. If this bowl is balanced just right, the organs 
remain in place, the way they are meant to be, but if it 
is not balanced right, the contents are tipped so that they 
would come tumbling out if the muscles intended for other 
work did not hold them' in. This is hard on these muscles 
which have their own work to do, and if they are used 
to hold up things that should keep their own balance, 
sooner or later they give way, and there is a sad accident, 
or a general slump. Then instead of saying, “That foolish 
person always stood in the wrong position and of course 
her insides got out of place,” we say, “Poor dear so-and- 
so has given out from overwork and has acute indigestion, 
or a ‘floating kidney/ or ‘a bad liver/ How could it 
have happened?” 
If your underpinning is all right it is not difficult to be 
straight above. 
Let your shoulders hang easily in a straight line under 
your ears, in the position they will naturally take if from 
side stretch (fig. 3) the arms drop easily to the side. 
Don’t arch your chest and throw your shoulders back! 
This is not a slump and does not mean to let your back 
bow out. If your shoulders are easy you can straighten 
your back and your head will balance itself, and there 
you are: a straight upstanding Scout, ready for what 
comes next. 
Remember: a) Feet pointing straight ahead. 
