Scouting for girls

I was rooting around in the library
A swine truffling for pearls
When I found a gem in the leaf-mould
It was “practical scouting for girls’.

The girl on the cover was dated
The dust jacket tatty and tired
She looked from the book in a way to convey
That she knew the I want she inspired.

I knew at once I must find her
For her freshness, her woggle, her curls
And I had just the thing that would help me
It was ‘practical scouting for girls’.

I read it from cover to cover
I learnt how to put up a tent
I learnt how to stop a runaway horse
And what establishment meant.

I read a lot about skipping
Then skipped the chapter on verse
The knitting bit had me in stitches
I am now a competent nurse.

I never did find my scout girl
Her freshness her woggle her curls
But woo'd and won the librarian
Helped by practical scouting for girls