IT is mere coincidence that Cooper was born in the year which produced The Power of Sympathy and that when he died Uncle Toms Cabin was passing through its serial stage, and yet the limits of his life mark almost exactly the first great period of American fiction. – Carl Clinton Van Doren

Badges mean nothing in themselves, but they mark a certain achievement and they are a link between the rich and the poor. For when one girl sees a badge on a sister Scouts arm, if that girl has won the same badge, it at once awakens an interest and sympathy between them. – Juliette Gordon Low