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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19834-8.txt b/19834-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac3ccfc --- /dev/null +++ b/19834-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4397 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ethel Morton's Holidays + +Author: Mabell S. C. Smith + +Release Date: November 17, 2006 [EBook #19834] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: THE GIRLS MADE CANDIES AND COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY _Page 73_] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Juvenile Library + +Girls Series + +ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS + +BY +MABELL S. C. SMITH + +THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO. +CLEVELAND--NEW YORK + +MADE IN U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Copyright, 1915 + +PRESS OF +THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. +Cleveland + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + +ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS + +CHAPTER I + +PREPARATIONS + + +The big brown automobile gave three honks as it swung around the corner +from Church Street. Roger Morton, raking leaves in the yard beside his +house, threw down his rake and vaulted over the gate. + +"Good afternoon, sir," he called to his grandfather, saluting, soldier +fashion. + +"Good afternoon, son. I stopped to tell you that those pumpkins are +ready for you. If you'll hop in now we can go out and get them and I'll +bring you back again." + +"Good enough!" exclaimed Roger. "I'll tell Mother I'm going. She may +have some message for Grandmother," and he vaulted back over the gate +and dashed up the steps. + +In a minute he was out again and climbing into the car. + +"Where are the girls this afternoon?" inquired Mr. Emerson, as he threw +in the clutch and started toward the outskirts of Rosemont where he had +land enough to allow him to do a little farming. + +"Helen and Ethel Brown have gone to the West Woods," replied Roger, +accounting for his sisters. "Somebody told them that there was a wild +grapevine there that still had yellow leaves bright enough for them to +use for decorating tomorrow evening." + +"I should be afraid last night's frost would have shriveled them. What +are Ethel Blue and Dorothy up to?" asked Mr. Emerson. + +Ethel Blue was Roger's cousin who had lived with the Mortons since her +babyhood. Dorothy Smith was also his cousin. She and her mother lived in +a cottage on Church Street. + +"They must be over at Dorothy's working up schemes for tomorrow," Roger +answered his grandfather's question. "I haven't seen them since +luncheon." + +"How many do you expect at your party?" + +"Just two or three more besides the United Service Club. James Hancock +won't be able to come, though. His leg isn't well enough yet." + +"Pretty bad break?" + +"He says it's bad enough to make him remember not to cut corners when +he's driving a car. Any break is too bad in my humble opinion." + +"In mine, too. How many in the Club? Ten?" + +"Ten; yes, sir. There'll be nine of us tomorrow evening--Helen and the +Ethels and Dorothy and Dicky and the two Watkinses and Margaret Hancock. +She's going to spend the night with Dorothy." + +"Anybody from school?" + +"George Foster, the fellow who danced the minuet so well in our show; +and Dr. Edward Watkins is coming out with Tom and Della." + +"Isn't he rather old to come to a kids' party?" + +"Of course he's loads older than we are--he's twenty-five--but he said +he hadn't been to a Hallowe'en party for so long that he wanted to come, +and Tom and Della said he put up such a plaintive wail that they asked +if they might bring him." + +"I suspect he hasn't forgotten how to play," chuckled Grandfather +Emerson, speeding up as they entered the long, open stretch of road that +ended almost at his own door. "Any idea what you're going to do?" + +"Not much. Helen and Ethel Brown are the decoration committee and I'm +the jack-o'-lantern committee, as you know, and Ethel Blue and Dorothy +are thinking up things to do and we're all going to add suggestions. I +think the girls had a note from Della this morning with an idea of some +sort in it." + +"You ought to get Burns's poem." + +"On Hallowe'en?" + +"We'll look it up when we get to the house. You may find some 'doings' +you haven't heard of that you can revive for the occasion." + +"We decided that whatever we did do, there were certain stunts we +wouldn't do." + +"Namely?" + +"Swap signs and take off gates and brilliant jokes of that sort." + +"As a Service Club you couldn't very well crack jokes whose point lies +in some one's discomfort, could you?" + +"Those things have looked like dog mean tricks to me and not jokes at +all ever since I saw an old woman at the upper end of Main Street trying +to hang her gate last year the day after Hallowe'en." + +"Too heavy for her?" + +"I should say so. She couldn't do anything with it. I offered to help +her, and she said, 'You might as well, for I suppose you had the fun of +unhanging it last night'." + +"A false accusation, I suppose." + +"It happened to be that time, but I had done it before," confessed +Roger, flushing. + +"You never happened to see the result of it before." + +"That's it. I just thought of the people's surprise when they waked up +in the morning and found their gates gone. I never thought at all of the +real pain and discomfort that it may have given a lot of them." + +"Your Club may be doing a good service to all Rosemont if it proves that +young people can have a good time without making the 'innocent +bystander' pay for it." + +"We're going to prove it; to ourselves, anyway," insisted Roger stoutly, +as he leaped out of the car and took his grandfather's parcels into the +house. + +"The pumpkins are in the barn," Mr. Emerson called after him. "Go down +there and pick them out when you've given those bundles to your +grandmother." + +The big yellow globes were loaded into the car--half a dozen of +them--and Mr. Emerson drove back to the house. As he stopped at the side +porch for a last word with his wife he gave a cry of recognition. + +"Look who comes here!" he exclaimed. + +"Helen and Ethel Brown," guessed Roger. "Don't they look like those +soldiers we read about in 'Macbeth'--the fellows who marched along +holding boughs in their hands so that it looked as if Birnamwood had +come to Dunsinane." + +"Roger is quoting Shakespeare about your personal appearance," laughed +Mr. Emerson as he and his grandson relieved the girls of their burdens. + +They sank down on the steps of the porch and panted. + +"You're tired out," exclaimed their grandmother. "Roger, bring out that +pitcher of lemonade you'll find in the dining-room. How far have you +walked?" + +"About a thousand miles, I should say," declared Helen. "We were bound +we'd get out-of-door decorations if they were to be had, and they +weren't to be had except by hunting." + +"You're like me--I like to use out-of-door things as late as I can; +there are so many months when you have to go to the greenhouse or to +draw on your house plants." + +"Ethel Blue and Dorothy have been educating the Club artistically. +They've been pointing out how much color there is in the fields and the +woods even after the bright autumn colors have gone by." + +"That's quite true. Look at that meadow." + +Mrs. Emerson waved her hand at the field across the road. On it sedges +were waving, softly brown; tufts of mouse-gray goldenrod nodded before +the breeze; chestnut-hued cat-tails stood guard in thick ranks, and a +delicate Indian Summer haze blended all into a harmony of warm, dull +shades. + +"You found your grapevine," said Roger, pouring the lemonade for his +weary sisters, and nodding toward a trail of handsome leaves, splendidly +yellow. + +"It took a hunt, though. What are you doing over here?" + +"Getting the pumpkins Grandfather promised us." + +"You're just in time to have a ride home," said Mr. Emerson. + +"You're in no hurry, Father; let the girls rest a while," urged Mrs. +Emerson. "Can't you make a jack-o'-lantern while you're waiting, Roger?" + +"Yes, _ma'am_, I can turn you out a truly superior article in a +wonderfully short time," bragged Roger. + +"He really does make them very well," confirmed Helen, "but it's because +he always has the benefit of our valuable advice." + +"Here you are to give it if I need it," said Roger good naturedly. +"We'll show Grandmother what our united efforts can do." + +So the girls leaned back comfortably against the pillars at the sides of +the steps and Mrs. Emerson sat in an arm chair at the top of the flight +and Mr. Emerson sat in the car at the foot of the steps and Roger began +his work. + +"It'll be a wonder if I make anything but a failure with so many +bosses," he complained. + +"Keep your hand steady, old man," teased his grandfather. "Don't let +your knife go through the side or you'll let out a crack of light where +you don't mean to." + +"Be sure your knife doesn't slip and cut your fingers," advised Mrs. +Emerson. + +"Save me the inside," begged Ethel Brown. "I'm going to try to make a +pumpkin pie." + +"Save the top for a hat," laughed Helen. "I'll trim it with brown ribbon +and set a new style at school." + +Roger dug away industriously under the spur of these remarks. + +"Is this the first year you've had a Hallowe'en party?" Mrs. Emerson +asked. + +"We used to do a few little things when we were children," Helen +answered; "but for the last few years we've been asked somewhere." + +"And with all due respect to our hosts we did a lot of the stupidest and +meanest things we ever got let in for," declared Roger. "I was telling +Grandfather about some of them coming over." + +"So we made up our minds that we'd celebrate as a club this year, and do +whatever we wanted to. There's a lot more to a party than just the +party," said Ethel Brown wisely. + +Her grandmother nodded. + +"You're right. The preparation is half the fun," she agreed. "And it's +fun to have every part of it perfect--the decorations and the +refreshments as well as whatever it is you do for your main amusement." + +"That's what I think," said Helen. "I like to think that the house is +going to be appropriately dressed for our Hallowe'en party just as much +as we ourselves." + +"Why doesn't your club give a series of holiday parties?" suggested +Grandfather. "Make each one of them a really appropriate celebration and +not just an ordinary party hung on the holiday as an excuse peg. I +believe you could have some interesting times and do some good, too, so +that it could honestly be brought within the scope of your Club's +activities." + +"We seem to have made a start at it without thinking much about it," +said Roger. "The Club had a float, you know, in the Labor Day +procession." + +"I didn't know that!" exclaimed Mrs. Emerson. + +"You were in New York for a day or two. Grandfather supplied the float! +Why, we had just come back from Chautauqua a day or two before Labor +Day, you know, and the first thing that happened was that a collector +called to get a contribution from Mother to help out the Labor Day +procession. I was there and I said I didn't believe in taxation without +representation. He laughed and said, 'All right, come on. We'd be glad +to have you in the procession'." + +"You were rather disconcerted at that, I suspect," laughed Mrs. Emerson. + +"Yes, I was, but I hated to take back water, so I said that I belonged +to a club and that I supposed he was going to have all the clubs in +Rosemont represented in some way. He said that was just what they +wanted. They wanted every activity in the town to be shown in some shape +or other." + +"There wasn't time to call a meeting of the club," Helen took up the +story, "so Roger and I came over and talked with Grandfather, and he +lent us a hay rack and we dressed it up with boughs and got the +carpenters to make some very large cut out letters--U. S. C.--two sets +of them, so they could be read on both sides. They were painted white +and stood up high among the green stuff and really looked very pretty. +Everybody asked what it meant." + +"I think it helped a lot when I went about asking for gifts for the +Christmas Ship," said Roger. "Lots of people said, 'Oh, it's your club +that had a float in the Labor Day parade'." + +"If we should work up Grandfather's idea we might have a parade of our +own another year," said Helen. + +"Always co-operate with what already exists, if it's worthy," advised +Mr. Emerson. "Don't get up opposition affairs unless there's a good +reason for doing it." + +"As there is for our Hallowe'en party," insisted Roger. + +"I believe you're right there. There's no reason why you should enter +into 'fool stunts' that are just 'fool stunts,' not worth while in any +way and not even funny." + +"We'd better move on now if Grandfather is to take us over and get back +in time for his own dinner," said Roger. + +"Come, girls, can you pile in all that shrubbery without breaking it? +Put the pumpkins on the bottom of the car, Roger, and the jacks on top +of them. Now be careful where you put your feet. Back in half an hour, +Mother," and he started off with his laughing car load. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HALLOWE'EN + + +"You're as good as gold to come out and help these youngsters enjoy +themselves," was Mrs. Morton's greeting to Edward Watkins when he +appeared in the evening with Tom and Della. + +"It's they who are as good as gold to let me come," he returned, smiling +pleasantly. He was a handsome young man of about twenty-five, a doctor +whose profession, as yet, did not make serious inroads on his time. +"What are these people going to make us do first," he wondered as Roger +began a distribution of colored bands. + +"These are to tie your eyes with," he explained: "Yellow, you see; +Hallowe'en color. The girls insist on my explaining all their fine +points for fear they won't be appreciated," he said to the doctor. + +"Quite right. I never should have thought about the color." + +"Mother, this is George Foster," said Helen, welcoming a tall boy who +was not a member of the U. S. C. but who had helped at the Club +entertainment by taking part in the minuet. He shook hands with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith and then submitted to having his eyes bandaged. He +was followed by Gregory Patton, another high school lad, and to the +great joy of everybody, James, after all, came on his crutches with +Margaret. + +"Now, then, my blindfolded friends," said Roger, "Grandfather tells me +that it is the custom in Scotland where fairies and witches are very +abundant, for the ceremony that we are about to perform to open every +Hallowe'en party. He has it direct from Bobby Burns." + +"Then it's right," came a smothered voice from beneath James' bandage. + +"James is of Scottish descent and he confirms this statement, so we can +go ahead and be perfectly sure that we're doing the correct thing. Of +course, we all want to know the future and particularly whatever we can +about the person we're going to marry, so that's what we're going to try +to find out at the very start off." + +"Take off my bandage," cried Dicky. "I know the perthon I'm going to +marry." + +A shout of laughter greeted this assertion from the six-year-old. + +"Who is it, Dicky?" asked Helen, her arm around his shoulders. + +"I'm going to marry Mary," he asserted stoutly. + +There was a renewed peal at this, and Roger went on with his +instructions. + +"I'll lead you two by two to the kitchen door and then you'll go down +the flight of steps and straight ahead for anywhere from ten to twenty +steps. That will land you right in the middle of what the frost has left +of the Morton garden. When you get there you'll 'pull kale'." + +"Meaning?" inquired George Foster. + +"Meaning that you'll feel about until you find a stalk of cabbage and +pull it up." + +"I don't like cabbage," complained Tom Watkins. + +"You'll like this because it will give you a lot of information. If it's +long or short or fat or thin your future husband or wife will correspond +to it." + +"That's the most unromantic thing I ever heard," exclaimed Margaret +Hancock. "I certainly hope my future husband won't be as fat as a +cabbage!" + +"You can tell how great a fortune he's going to have--or she--by the +amount of earth that clings to the stem." + +"Watch me pull mine so g-e-n-t-l-y that not a grain of sand slips off," +said Tom. + +"If you've got courage enough to bite the stem you can find out with +perfect accuracy whether your beloved will have a sweet disposition or +the opposite." + +"In any case he'd have a disposition like a cabbage," insisted Margaret, +who did not like cabbage any more than Tom did. + +"Ready?" Roger marshalled his little army. "Two by two. Doctor and Ethel +Blue, Tom and Dorothy, James and Helen, George and Ethel Brown, Gregory +and Margaret. Come on, Della," and he led the way through the kitchen +where Mary and the cook were hugely entertained by the procession. + +With cries and stumbling they went forth into the cabbage patch, where +they all possessed themselves of stalks which they straightway brought +in to the light of the jack-o'-lanterns to interpret. + +"My lady love will be tall and slender--not to say thin," began Dr. +Watkins. "I see no information here as to the color of her hair and +eyes. Fate cruelly witholds these important facts. I regret to say that +I wooed her so vigorously that I shook off any gold-pieces she may have +had clinging about her so I can only be sure of the golden quality of +her character which I have just discovered by biting it." + +Amid general laughter they all began to read their fortunes. Tom +announced that his beloved was so thin that she was really a candidate +for the attentions of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Animals, and that he couldn't find out anything about her character +because there wasn't enough of her to bite. + +Margaret had pulled a stalk that fulfilled all her expectations as to +size, for it was so short and fat that she could see no relation between +it and anything human and threw it out of the window in disgust. The +rest found themselves fitted out with a variety of possibilities. + +"There doesn't seem to be a real tearing beauty among them all," sighed +Roger. "That's what I'd set my heart on." + +"What do you expect from a cabbage?" demanded Margaret scornfully. + +"I want to know whether I'm going to marry a bachelor or a widower or +not marry at all," cried Helen. "Let's try the 'three luggies' next." + +"First cabbages, then 'luggies'," said Della "What are 'luggies'?" + +"'Luggies' are saucers," explained Helen, while James brought a small +table and Ethel Brown arranged three saucers upon it. "In one of them I +put clear water, in another one, sandy water, and nothing at all in the +third. Anybody ready to try? Come, Della." + +Della came forward briskly, but hesitated when she found that she must +be blindfolded. + +"There isn't any trick about it?" she asked suspiciously. "I shouldn't +like to have anything happen to that saucer of sandy water." + +"It won't touch anything but your finger tips, and perhaps not those," +Helen reassured her. "What you are to do is to dip the fingers of your +left hand into one of these saucers. If it proves to be the one with the +clear water you'll marry a bachelor; if it's the sandy one he'll be a +widower, and if it's the empty one you'll be a spinster to your dying +day." + +"You have three tries," cried Ethel Blue, "and the saucers are changed +after each trial, so you have to touch the same one twice to be sure you +really know your fate. Are you ready?" + +"I'm ready," and Della bravely though cautiously dipped the finger tips +of her left hand into the bowl of sandy water. + +A cheer greeted this result. + +"A widower, a widower," they all cried. + +Helen changed the position of the saucers and Della made another trial. +This time the Fates booked her as a spinster. + +"That's the least trouble of anything," decided roly poly Della who took +life carelessly. + +A third attempt proved that a widower was to be her future helpmate, for +her fingers went into the sandy saucer for a second time. + +"I only hope he won't be an oldy old widower," said Della thoughtfully. +"I couldn't bear to think of marrying any one as old as Edward." + +"I'll thank you to take notice that I haven't got a foot in the grave +just yet, young woman," retorted her brother. + +While some of the others tried their fate by the saucer method, the rest +endeavored to learn their future occupations by means of pouring melted +lead through the handle of a key. Roger brought in a tiny kettle of lead +from the kitchen where Mary had heated it for them and set it down on a +small table on a tea pot stand, so that the heat should not injure the +wood. Taking a large key in his left hand he dipped a spoon into the +lead with his right and poured the contents slowly through the ring at +the end of the handle of the key into a bowl of cold water. The sudden +chill stiffened the lead into curious shapes and from them those who +were clever at translating were to discover what the future held for +them in the way of occupation. + +"Mine looks more like a spinning wheel than anything else," said Roger +who had done it first so that the rest might see how it was +accomplished. + +"Perhaps that means that you'll be a manufacturer of cloth," suggested +Margaret. "Mine looks more like a cabbage than anything else. You don't +think it can mean that I shall have to devote myself to that husband I +pulled out of the cabbage patch?" + +"It may. Or it might mean that you'll be a gardener. Lots of women are +going in for gardening now. By the time you're ready to start that may +be a favored occupation for girls," said Dr. Watkins. + +"Here are several things that we can do one at a time while the rest of +us are doing something else," said Helen. "They have to be done alone or +the spell won't work." + +"Let's hear them," begged Gregory, while he and the others grouped +themselves about the open fire in the living room and prepared to burn +nuts. + +"The first one, according to Burns, is to go alone to the kiln and put a +clew of yarn in the kiln pot." + +"What does that mean translated into Rosemont language?" demanded James. + +"James the Scotsman asks for information! However, there's some excuse +for him. Translated into Rosemont language it means that you go to the +laundry and put a ball of yarn into the wash boiler." + +"Easy so far." + +"Take an end of the ball and begin to wind the yarn into a new ball. +When you come near the end you'll find that something or some one will +be holding it--" + +"Roger, I'll bet!" + +"You demand to know the name of your future wife and a hollow voice from +out the wash boiler will tell you her name." + +"I shan't try that one. There's too good a chance for Roger to put in +some of his tricks. What's the next?" + +"Take a candle and go to the Witches' Cave--that's the dining room--and +stand in front of the looking glass that's on a little table in the +corner, and eat an apple. The face of your future wife or husband will +appear over your shoulder." + +"I'll try that. I could stand a face that kept still, but to have an +unknown creature pulling my yarn and bawling my wife's name would upset +my nerves!" + +"Here's the last one. Go into the garden just as we did to pull the +kale. Over at the right hand side there's a stack of barley. It's really +corn, but we've re-christened it for tonight. You measure it three times +round with your arms and at the end of the third round your beloved will +rush into them." + +"If he proves to be my cabbage spouse you'll hear loud shrieks from +little Margaret!" declared that young woman. + +"Here are my nuts to burn," said Ethel Blue, putting two chestnuts side +by side on the hearth. "One is Della and the other is Ethel Blue," and +she tapped them in turn as she gave them their names. + +"What's this for?" asked Della, hearing her name used. + +"This is to see if you and I will always be friends. That right hand nut +is you and the left hand is me--no, I." Conscientious Ethel Blue +interrupted herself to correct her grammar. "If we burn cosily side by +side we'll stay friends a long time, but if one of us jumps or burns up +before the other, she'll be the one to break the friendship." + +"I hope I shan't be the one," and both girls sat down on the rug to +watch their namesakes closely. + +"Here are Margaret and her cabbage man," laughed Tom. "This delicate, +slender chestnut is Margaret and this big round one is Mr. Stalk of the +Cabbage Patch. Now we'll see how that match is going to turn out." + +Margaret laughed good naturedly with the rest and they watched this pair +as well as the others. + +"Roger and I had a squabble yesterday," admitted Ethel Brown. "Here is +Roger and here is Ethel Brown. Let's see how we are going to get on in +the future." + +"Where is Roger really?" some one asked, but at that instant Ethel +Blue's nut and Della's caught fire and burned steadily side by side +without any demonstrations, and every one looking on was so absorbed in +translating the meaning of the blaze that no one pursued the question. + +That is, not until a shriek from the Witches' Cave rang through the +house and sent them all flying to see who was in trouble. Dorothy was +found coming out of the dining room, mirror in hand, and a strange tale +on her lips. + +"If there's any truth in this Hallowe'en prophecy," she said with +trembling voice, "my future husband will be worse than Margaret's +cabbage man. The face that looked over my shoulder was exactly like a +jack-o'-lantern's." + +"It was? Where's Roger?" Dr. Watkins demanded instantly, while James +hobbled to the front door and announced that the jack had disappeared +from the front porch. + +"Did any one ask for Roger?" demanded a cool voice, and Roger was seen +coming down stairs. + +"Yes, sir, numerous people asked for Roger. How did you do it?" + +"Do what? Has anything happened in my absence?" + +"Not a thing has happened in your _absence_. Just tell us how you +managed it." + +"I know," guessed Helen. "He went outside and took the jack from the +porch and carried it through the kitchen, into the dining room where it +smiled over Dorothy's shoulder, and then he went into the kitchen again +and up the back stairs. Wasn't that it, Roger?" + +"Young woman, you are wiser than your years," was all that Roger would +say. + +While they were teasing him a shouting in the garden sent them all to +the back windows and doors. In the dim light of the young moon two +figures were seen wrestling. It was evidently a good natured struggle, +for peals of laughter fell on the ears of the listeners. When one of +them dragged the other toward the house the figures proved to be Tom +Watkins and George Foster. + +"I was measuring the barley stack," explained Tom breathlessly, "and +just as I made the third round and was eagerly expecting my future bride +to rush into my arms, something did rush into my arms, but I'll leave it +to the opinion of the meeting whether _this_ can be my future bride!" +and he held at arm's length by the coat collar the laughing, squirming +figure of George Foster. + +It was unanimously agreed that George did not have the appearance of a +bride, and then they went back to the hall to bob for apples. Roger +spread a rubber blanket on the floor and drew the tub from its hiding +place in the corner where it had been waiting its turn in the games. + +While the boys were making these arrangements Dorothy and Helen were +busily trying to dispose of the two ends of the same string which +stretched from one mouth to the other with a tempting raisin tied in the +middle to encourage them to effort. It was forbidden to use the hands +and tongues proved not always reliable. Now Dorothy seemed ahead, now +Helen. Finally the victory seemed about to be Helen's, when she laughed +and lost several inches of string and Dorothy triumphantly devoured the +prize. + +When the girls turned to see what the boys were doing, Gregory and +James were already bobbing for apples. One knelt at one side of the tub +and the other at the other, and each had his eye, when it was not full +of water, fixed on one of the apples that were bouncing busily about on +the waves caused by their own motions. + +"I speak for the red one," gasped Gregory. + +"All right! I'll go for the greening," agreed James, and they puffed and +sputtered, and were quite unable to fix their teeth in the sides of the +slippery fruit until James drove his head right down to the bottom of +the tub where he fastened upon the apple and came up dripping, but +triumphant. + +Stimulated by the applause that greeted James, Tom and Roger tossed in +two apples and began a new contest. + +"This isn't a girls' game is it?" murmured Helen as Tom won his apple by +the same means that James had used. + +"Not unless you're willing to forget your hair," replied Dr. Watkins. + +"You can't forget it when it takes so long to dry it," Helen answered. +"I'm content to let the boys have this entirely to themselves." + +While the half drowned boys went up to Roger's room to dry their faces +the girls prepared nut boats to set sail upon the same ocean that had +floated the apples. They had cracked English walnuts carefully so that +the two halves fell apart neatly, and in place of the meats they had +packed a candle end tightly into each. + +"We have the comfort of the apple even when we're defeated," said +Gregory, coming down stairs, eating the fruit that he had not been able +to capture without the use of his hands. "What have you got there?" + +"Here's a boat apiece," explained Helen. "We must each put a tiny flag +of some sort on it so that we can tell which is which." + +"This way?" George asked. "I've put a pin through a scrap of corn husk +and stuck it on to the end of this craft." + +"That's right. We must find something different for each one. Mine is a +black-alder berry. See how red and bright it is?" + +It was not hard for each to find an emblem. + +"Watch me hoist the admiral's flag at the mainmast," said Roger, but the +match that he set up for a mast caught fire almost as soon as the +candles were lighted in the miniature fleet. His flag fell overboard, +however, and was not injured. + +"See that?" he commented. "That just proves that the flag of the U. S. A. +can never perish," and the others greeted his words with cheers. + +It was a pretty sight--the whole fleet afloat, each bit of candle +burning clearly and each little craft tossing on the waves that Dr. +Watkins produced by gently tipping the tub. + +"This is also an attempt to gain some knowledge of the future," said +Helen. "We must watch these boats and see which ones stay close together +and which go far apart, and whether any of them are shipwrecked, and +which ones seem to have the smoothest voyage." + +"Della's and mine are sticking together just the way our nuts did," +cried Ethel Blue, and she slipped her hand into Della's and gave it a +little squeeze. + +After the loss of its mainmast at the very beginning Roger's craft had +no more mishaps. It slid alongside of James's and together they bobbed +gently across life's stormy seas. + +"It looks as if you and I were going into partnership, old man," James +interpreted their behavior. + +The other boats seemed to need no especial companionship but floated on +independently, only Gregory's coming to an untimely end from a heavy +wave that washed over it and capsized it. + +"I seem to hear a summons from the Witches' Cave," murmured Helen in an +awed whisper as a sound like the wind whistling through pine trees fell +on their ears, resolving itself as they listened into the words, "Come! +Come! Come!" + +Quietly they arose and tiptoed their way toward the dining room. They +could only enter it by penetrating the thicket of boughs that barred the +door. As they came nearer the voice retreated--"Almost as if it were +going into the kitchen," whispered Margaret to Tom who happened to be +next to her. The only light in the room came from a pan of alcohol and +salt burning greenly in a corner and casting an unnatural hue over their +faces. The black cats, their eyes touched with phosphorus, glared down +from the plate rail. + +Again the voice was heard:--"Gather, gather about the festal board." + +"We must obey the witches," urged Helen, and they sat down in the chairs +which they found placed at the table in just the right number. Into the +dim room from the kitchen came two figures dressed in long black capes +and pointed red hats and bearing each a dish heaped high with cakes of +some sort. + +"I just have to tell you what these are," said Ethel Brown in her +natural voice as she and Ethel Blue marched around the table and placed +one dish before Roger at one end and another before Helen at the other. +"It's sowens." + +"Sowens? What in the world are sowens?" everybody questioned. + +"Grandfather told us that Burns says that sowens eaten with butter +always make the Hallowe'en supper, so we looked up in the Century +Dictionary how to make them and this is the result." + +"Do you think they're safe?" inquired Della. + +"There's a doctor here to take care of us if anything happens," laughed +James. "I'm game. Give me a chance at them." + +Roger and Helen began a distribution of the cakes. + +"Sowens is--or are--good," decided Dr. Watkins, tasting his cake slowly, +and pronouncing judgment on it after due deliberation. + +"We tried them yesterday to make sure they were eatable by Americans, +and we thought they were pretty good, smoking hot, with butter on them, +just as Burns directed." + +"Right. They are," agreed all the boys promptly, and the girls agreed +with them, though they were not quite so enthusiastic in their +expression of appreciation as the boys. + +Baked apples, nuts and raisins, countless cookies of various lands and +hot gingerbread made an appetizing meal. As it was coming to an end +Helen rapped on the table. + +"Please let me pretend this is a club meeting for a minute or two +instead of a party. I want to tell the people here who aren't members of +the U. S. C. what it is we are trying to do." + +"We know," responded George. "You're working for the Christmas Ship. +Didn't I dance in your minuet?" + +"We are working for the Christmas Ship, but that is only one thing that +the Club does." + +"What do the initials mean?" asked Gregory. + +"United Service Club. You see Father is in the Navy and Uncle Richard is +in the Army so we have the United Service in the family. But that is +just a family pun. The real purpose of the Club is to do some service +for somebody whenever we can." + +"Something on the Boy Scout idea of doing a kindness every day," nodded +Dr. Watkins. + +"Just now it's the Christmas Ship and after that sails we'll hunt up +something else. Why I told you about it now is because we planned to go +out in a few minutes and go up and down some of the streets, and--" + +"Lift gates?" asked Gregory. + +"No, not lift gates. That's the point. We couldn't very well be a +service club and do mean things to people just for the fun of it." + +"Oh, lifting gates isn't mean." + +"Isn't it! I don't believe you'd find it enormously entertaining to hunt +up your gate the next day and re-hang it, would you?" + +Gregory admitted that perhaps it would not. + +"So we're going out to play good fairies instead of bad ones, and if any +of you knows anybody we can do a good turn to, please speak up." + +"That's the best scheme I've heard in some time," said Edward Watkins +admiringly. "Let's start. I'm all impatience to be a good fairy." + +So they said "good-night" to Dicky, bundled into their coats and each +one of the boys took a jack-o'-lantern to light the way. Roger also +carried a kit that bulged with queer shapes, and the girls each had a +parcel whose contents was not explained by the president. + +"Lead the way, Roger," she commanded as they left the house. + +"Church Street first," he answered. + +"Church Street? I wonder if he's going to do Mother and me a good turn," +giggled Dorothy. + +It proved that he was not, for he passed the Smith cottage and went on +until he came to the house in which lived the Misses Clark. Roger was +taking care of their furnace, together with his mother's and his Aunt +Louise's, in order to earn money for the expenses of the Club, and he +had discovered that these old ladies were not very happy in spite of +living in a comfortable house and apparently having everything they +needed. + +"These Misses Clark are lonely," he whispered as they gathered before +the door. "They think nobody cares for them--and nobody does much, to +tell the honest truth. So here's where we sing two songs for them," and +without waiting for any possible objections he broke into "The Christmas +Ship" which they all knew, and followed it with "Sister Susie's Sewing +Shirts for Soldiers." + +"Not very appropriate, but they'll do," whispered Roger to Dr. Watkins, +whose clear tenor supported him. Dorothy's sweet voice soared high, +Tom's croak made a heavy background, and the more or less tuneful voices +of the others added a hearty body of sound. There was no response from +the house except that a corner of an upstairs curtain was drawn aside +for an instant. + +"They probably think they won't find anything left on their front porch +when they come down in the morning. They've had Hallowe'en visits +before, poor ladies," said Gregory as they tramped away. + +The next visit was to a different part of the town. Here the girls left +two of their bundles which proved to contain apples and cookies. + +"I don't believe these people ever have a cent they can afford to spend +on foolishness like this," Helen explained to Dr. Watkins, "but they +aren't the sort of people you can give things to openly, so we thought +we'd take this opportunity," and she smiled happily and went on behind +Roger's leadership. + +This time the visit was to the Atwoods, the old couple down by the +bridge. Roger had been interested in them for a long time. They were not +suffering, for a son supported them, but both were almost crippled with +rheumatism and sometimes the old man found the little daily chores about +the house hard to do, and often the old woman longed for a little +amusement of which she was deprived because she could not go to visit +her friends. It was here that Roger's kit came into play. He took from +it several hatchets and distributed them to the boys. + +"We're going to chop the gentleman's kindling and stack up the wood +that's lying round here while the girls sing to the old people," he +announced. + +So the plan was carried out. The girls gathered about the doorstep, and, +led by Dorothy, sang cradle songs and folk songs and a hymn or two, +while the boys toiled away behind the house. Again there was no +response. + +"Probably they've gone to bed," guessed Ethel Brown. + +"I imagine they're lying awake, though," said Ethel Blue softly. + +It is an old adage that "many hands make light work," and it is equally +true that they turn off a lot of it, so at the end of half an hour the +old peoples' wood pile was in apple pie order and the yard was in a +spick and span condition. + +There were two more calls before the procession turned home and at both +houses bundles of goodies were left for children who would not be apt to +have them. On the way back to the house the U. S. C.'s came across the +trail of a Hallowe'en party of the usual kind, and they pleased +themselves mightily by hanging two gates which they found unhung, and by +restoring to their proper places several signs which some village +wit--"or witling," suggested Dr. Watkins--had misplaced. + +The evening ended with the cutting of a cake in which was baked a ring. + +"The one who gets the ring in his slice will be married first," +announced Mrs. Morton, who had prepared the cake as a surprise for those +who had been surprising others. + +They cut it with the greatest care and slowly, one after the other. To +the delight of all Dr. Watkins's slice proved to contain the ring. + +"I rather imagine that's the most suitable arrangement the ring could +have made," laughed Mrs. Smith. + +"If one of these youngsters had found it, it would have meant that I'd +have to wait a long time for my turn," he laughed back. "Wish me luck." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MISS MERRIAM + + +The first fortnight of November rushed by with the final preparations +for the sailing of the Christmas Ship filling every moment of the time +of the members of the United Service Club. When at last their three +packing cases of gifts were expressed to Brooklyn, they drew a sigh of +relief, but when the _Jason_ actually left the pier they felt as if all +purpose had been taken out of their lives. + +This feeling did not linger with them long, however, for it was not many +days later that there appeared at the Morton's a Red Cross nurse, +invalided home from Belgium, bringing with her the Belgian baby which +they had begged their teacher, Mademoiselle Millerand, who had joined +the French Red Cross, to send them. + +Truth to tell, the arrival of the baby was entirely unexpected. It had +come about in this way. When the club went to bid farewell to +Mademoiselle Millerand on the steamer they learned that she hoped to be +sent to some hospital in Belgium. Ethel Blue, who had been reading a +great deal about the suffering of the women and children in Belgium, +cried, "Belgium! Oh, do send us a Belgian baby!" The rest had taken up +the cry and James had had the discomfiture of being kissed by an +enthusiastic French woman on the pier who was delighted with their +warmheartedness. + +At intervals they mentioned the Belgian baby, but quite as a joke and +not at all as a possibility. So when the Red Cross nurse came with her +tiny charge and told them how Mademoiselle Millerand had not been able +to resist taking their offer seriously since it meant help and perhaps +life itself for this little warworn child, they were thoroughly +surprised. + +Their surprise, however, did not prevent them from rising to meet the +situation. Indeed, it would have been hard for any one to resist the +appeal made by the pale little creature whose hands were too weak to do +more than clutch faintly at a finger and whose eyes were too weary to +smile. + +Mrs. Morton took her to her arms and heart at once. So did all the +members of the Club and it was when they gave a cheer for "Elisabeth of +Belgium," that she made her first attempt at laughter. Mademoiselle had +written that her name was Elisabeth and the nurse said that she called +herself that, but, so far as her new friends could find out, that was +the extent of her vocabulary. "Ayleesabet," she certainly was, but the +remainder of her remarks were not only few but so uncertain that they +could not tell whether she was trying to speak Flemish or French or a +language of her own. + +The nurse was obliged to return at once to New York, and the Mortons +found themselves at nightfall in the position of having an unexpected +guest for whom there was no provision. Even the wardrobe of the new +member of the family was almost nothing, consisting of the garments she +was wearing and an extra gingham dress which a woman in the steerage of +the ship had taken from her own much larger child to give to the waif. + +"Ayleesabet" ate her supper daintily, like one who has been so near the +borderland of starvation that he cannot understand the uses of plenty, +and then she went heavily to sleep in Ethel Blue's lap before the fire +in the living room. + +Aunt Louise and Dorothy came over from their cottage to join the +conference. + +"It is really a considerable problem," said Mrs. Morton thoughtfully. +"These children here say they are going to attend to her clothing, and +it's right they should, for she is the Club baby; but there are other +questions that are serious. Where, for instance, is she going to sleep?" + +A laugh rippled over the room as she asked the question, for the +sleeping accommodations of the Morton house were regarded as a joke +since the family was so large and the house was so small that a guest +always meant a considerable process of rearrangement. + +"It isn't any laughing matter, girls. She can have Dicky's old crib, of +course, but where shall we put it?" + +"It's perfectly clear to me," said Mrs. Smith, responding to an +appealing glance from Dorothy, "that the baby must come to us. Dorothy +and I have plenty of room in the cottage, and it would be a very great +happiness to both of us--the greatest happiness that has come to me +since--since--" + +She hesitated and Dorothy knew that she was thinking about the baby +brother who had died years ago. + +"It does seem the best way," replied Mrs. Morton, "but--" + +"'But me no buts'," quoted Mrs. Smith, smiling. "The baby's coming is +equally sudden to all of us, only I happen to be a bit better prepared +for an unexpected guest, because I have more space. Then Dorothy has +been just as crazy as the other girls to have a 'Belgian baby,' and she +shouted just as loudly as anybody at the pier--I heard her." + +"Always excepting James," Ethel Brown reminded them and they all +laughed, remembering James and his Gallic salute. + +"Don't take her tonight, Aunt Louise," begged Ethel Blue. "Let us have +her just one night. We can put Dicky's crib into our room between Ethel +Brown's bed and mine." + +It was finally decided that Elisabeth should not be taken to Dorothy's +until the next day, but Mrs. Morton insisted on keeping her in her own +room for the night. + +"She has such a slight hold on life that she ought to have an +experienced eye watching her for some time to come," she said. + +All the girls assisted at the baby's going to bed ceremonies, and tall +Helen felt a catch in her throat no less than Ethel Blue at sight of the +wasted legs and arms and hollow chest. + +"I wonder, now," said Aunt Louise when they had gone down stairs again, +leaving Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown to sit in the next room until their +own bedtime, so that the faintest whimper might not go unheard. "I +wonder where we are going to find some one competent to take care of +this baby. A child in such a condition needs more than ordinary care; +she needs skilled care." + +"Mary might have some relatives," Dorothy began, when Helen made a +rushing suggestion. + +"Why not go to the School of Mothercraft? You remember, it was at +Chautauqua for the summer? And it's back in New York now. I've been +meaning to ask you or Grandmother or Aunt Louise to take me there some +Saturday, only we've been so busy with the Ship we didn't have time for +anything else. You remember it?" she asked anxiously, for she had +especial reasons for wanting her mother to remember the School of +Mothercraft. + +"Certainly I remember it, and I believe it will give us just what we +want now. It's a new sort of school," she explained to Mrs. Smith. "The +students are young women who are studying the science and art of +home-making. They are working out home problems in a real home in which +there are real children." + +"Babies and all?" + +"Babies and children of other sizes. I'm going to study there when I +leave college. Mother says I may," cried Helen, delighted that her +favorite school was on the point of proving its usefulness in her own +family. + +"Can you get mother helpers from there?" + +"You can, and they're scientifically trained young women. Many of them +are college graduates who are taking this as graduate work." + +"Then I should say that the thing for us to do," said Mrs. Smith, "was +to leave the baby in Mary's care tomorrow and go in to New York and see +what we can find at the School of Mothercraft. Will the students be +willing to break in on their course?" + +"Perhaps not, but the Director of the school is sure to know of some of +her former pupils who will be available. That was a brilliant idea of +yours, Helen," and Helen sank back into her chair pleased at the gentle +stroke of approval that went from her mother's hand to hers. + +Dorothy and Mrs. Smith were just preparing to go home when the bell rang +and Dr. Hancock was announced. + +"James and Margaret came home with a wonderful tale of a foundling with +big eyes," he said when, he had greeted everybody, "and I thought I'd +better come over and have a look at her. I should judge she'd need +pretty close watching for a long time." + +"She will," assented Mrs. Morton, and told him of their plan to secure a +helper from the School of Mothercraft. + +"The very best thing you can do," the doctor agreed heartily. "I'm on +the Advisory Board of the School with several other physicians and I +don't know any institution I approve of more heartily." + +"Ayleesabet" was found to be sleeping deeply, but her breathing was +even and her skin properly moist and the physician was satisfied. + +"I'll run over every day for a week or two," he promised. "We must make +the little creature believe American air is the best tonic in the +world." + +If the U. S. C. had had its way every member would have gone with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith when they made their trip of inquiry on the next +day. As it was, they decided that it was of some importance that Helen +should go with them, and so they went at a later hour than they had at +first intended, so that she might join them. + +"There's no recitation at the last period," she explained, "and I can +make up the study hour in the evening." + +When the news of the baby's arrival was telephoned to Mrs. Emerson she +suggested a farther change of plan. + +"Let me go, too," she said; "I'll call in the car for you and Louise and +we'll pick up Helen at the schoolhouse and we shall travel so fast that +it will make up for the later start." + +Everybody thought that a capital suggestion, and Mrs. Emerson arrived +half an hour early so that she might make the acquaintance of Elisabeth. +The waif was not demonstrative but she was entirely friendly. + +"She seems to have forgotten how to play, if she ever knew," said Mrs. +Morton, "but we hope she'll learn soon." + +"She sees so many new faces it's a wonder she doesn't howl continually," +said Mary to whose kindly finger Elisabeth was clinging steadfastly as +she gazed seriously into Mrs. Emerson's smiling face. Then for the +second time since her arrival she smiled. It was a smile that brought +tears to their eyes, so faint and sad was it, but it was a smile after +all, and they all stood about, happy in her approval. + +"You two have your own children and Father and I are all alone now," +said Grandmother, wiping her eyes. "Let us have Elisabeth. We need +her--and we should love her so." + +"Oh!" cried both of the younger women in tones of such disappointment +that Mrs. Emerson saw at once that if she wanted a nursling she must +look for another, not Elisabeth of Belgium. + +"After all, perhaps it is better for her," she admitted. "Here she will +have the children and will grow up among young people. Are you ready?" + +When they picked up Helen she had a request to make of her grandmother. + +"I telephoned about the baby to Margaret at recess, just to tell her +Elisabeth was well this morning, and she was awfully interested in the +idea of the helper from the School of Mothercraft. She gets out of +school earlier than we do--she'd be just home. I'm sure she wouldn't +keep you waiting. And the house is only a step from the main +street--can't we take her?" + +So Margaret was added to the party that sped on to the ferry. To +everybody's surprise, when they reached the New York end of the ferry +Edward Watkins signalled the chauffeur to stop. + +"Roger telephoned Tom and Della about the baby," he explained, "and +about your coming in today and I thought perhaps I might do something to +help. I don't want to intrude--" + +"We're going to the School of Mothercraft," said Mrs. Morton, "and we'd +be glad to have you go with us. I don't know that we shall need to call +on your professional advice but if you can spare the time we'd like to +have you." + +"Unfortunately, time is the commodity I'm richest in," smiled the young +doctor, taking the seat beside the chauffeur. + +The ride up town was a pleasure to the girls who did not often come to +the city, and then seldom had an opportunity to ride in any automobile +but a taxi-cab. As soon as possible they swung in to Fifth Avenue, whose +brilliant shop windows and swiftly moving traffic excited them. They +were quite thrilled when they drew up before a pretty house, no +different in appearance from any of its neighbors, except that an +unobtrusive sign notified seekers that they had found the right place. + +"It's a school to learn home-making in," Helen explained to Margaret in +a low tone as they followed the elders up the steps, "so it ought to be +in a real house and not a schoolhouse-y place." + +Margaret nodded, for they were being ushered into a cheerful reception +room, simply but attractively furnished. In a minute they were being +greeted by the Director who remembered meeting at Chautauqua all of them +except Edward, and she recalled other members of his family and +especially the Watkins bull-dog, Cupid, who was a prominent figure in +Chautauqua life. + +Mrs. Morton explained their errand, and also the reasons that had +brought so large a number of them to the School. + +"We're a deputation representing several families and a club, all of +which are interested in the baby, but I should like to have the young +woman you select for us understand that we are going to rely on her +knowledge and skill, and that she won't be called to account by a +council of war every time she washes the baby's face." + +The Director smiled. + +"I quite understand," she said. "I think I know just the young woman you +want. She finished her course here last May, and then she went with me +to Chautauqua for the summer and helped me there with the work we did in +measurements and in making out food schedules and so on for children +whose mothers brought them to us for our advice. Miss Merriam--Gertrude +Merriam is her name--is taking just one course here now, and I think +she'll be willing to give it up and glad to undertake the care of a baby +that needs such special attention as your little waif." + +The whole party followed the Director upstairs and looked over with +interest the scientifically appointed rooms. There was a kindergarten +where those of the children in the house who were old enough, together +with a few from outside, were taught in the morning hours. The nursery +with its spotless white beds and furniture and its simple and +appropriate pictures was as good to look at as a hospital ward, "and a +lot pleasanter," said Dr. Watkins. Out of it opened a wee roof garden +and there a few of the children dressed in thick coats and warm hoods +were playing, while a sweet-faced young woman sitting on the floor +seemed quite at home with them. She tried to rise as the Director's +party came out unexpectedly on her. Her foot caught in her skirt and Dr. +Watkins sprang forward to give her a helping hand. + +"This is Miss Merriam of whom I was speaking," said the Director, +introducing her. "Will you ask Miss Morgan to come out here with the +children and will you join us in the study?" she asked. + +Miss Merriam assented and when her successor arrived the flock went in +again to see the children's dining-room and the arrangements made for +doing special cooking for such of them as needed it. + +"We try not to have elaborate equipment," explained the Director. "I +want my young women to be able to work with what any mother provides +for her home and not to be dependent on machines and utensils that are +seldom found outside of hospitals. They are learning thoroughly the +scientific side. Miss Merriam, who, I hope, will go to you, is a college +graduate, and in college she studied biology and food values and +ventilation and sanitation and such matters. Since she has been here she +has reviewed all that work under the physicians who lecture here, and +she has practised first aid and made a special study of infant +requirements. You couldn't have any one better trained for what you +need." + +Dr. Watkins gave his chair to Miss Merriam when she came to join the +conference, and asked Mrs. Morton by a motion of the eyebrows if he +should withdraw. When her reply was negative he sat down again. Miss +Merriam blushed as she faced the group but she was entirely at her ease. +Mrs. Morton explained their need. + +"A Belgian baby!" she cried. "And you want me to take care of her! Why, +Mrs. Morton, there's nothing in the world I should like better. The poor +little dud! When shall I go to you?" + +"Just as soon as you can," replied Mrs. Morton. "We've left her today in +charge of my little boy's old nurse, but as soon as you come we shall +move her to my sister-in-law's." + +Miss Merriam turned inquiringly to Mrs. Smith, who smiled in return. + +"Mrs. Smith has only her daughter and herself in her family so she has +more space in her house than I have." + +"But it's just round the corner from us so we can see the baby every +day," cried Helen. + +"I can go to Rosemont early tomorrow morning," said Miss Merriam. "Tell +me, please, how to reach there." + +She glanced at Mrs. Morton, but Dr. Watkins answered her. + +"If you'll allow me," he said; "I have an errand in Rosemont tomorrow +and I'd be very glad to show you the way." + +Miss Merriam's blue eyes rested on him questioningly. + +"I'm an 'in-law' of the Club," he explained. "My brother and sister, Tom +and Della, are devoted members of the U. S. C. and sometimes they let me +join them." + +"The doctor's bull-dog is an 'in-law,' too," laughed Mrs. Smith. "Don't +you remember him at Chautauqua?" + +"The dog with the perfectly _extraordinary_ face? I do indeed remember +him," and the inquiring blue eyes twinkled. + +"He appeared in an entertainment that the Club gave a few weeks ago for +the Christmas Ship and I think he received more applause than any other +performer." + +"I'm not surprised," exclaimed Miss Merriam. "Thank you, Dr. Watkins, I +shall be glad of your help," and Edward had a comfortable feeling that +he was accepted as a friend, though he was not quite sure whether it was +on his own merits or because he had a share in the ownership of a dog +with an _extraordinary_ face. + +He did not care which it was, however, when he called the next morning +and found Miss Merriam waiting for him. She was well tailored and her +handbag was all that it should be. + +"I hate messy girls with messy handbags," he thought to himself after a +sweeping glance had assured him that there was nothing "messy" about +this Mothercraft girl. The blue eyes were serious this morning, but they +had a laugh in them, too, when he told her of the way the Belgian baby +was first called for, upon a young girl's impulse, and the reward James +Hancock had received for his cordial joining in the cry. + +"I'm going to like them all, every one of them," Miss Merriam said in +the soft voice that was at the same time clear and firm. + +"I'm sure they'll like you," responded Edward. + +"I hope they will. I shall try to make them. But the baby will be a +delight, any way." + +At Rosemont, to Dr. Watkins's disappointment, they found Grandmother +Emerson and the automobile waiting at the station. Edward bowed his +farewell and went off upon his errand, and Mrs. Emerson and Miss Merriam +drove to Mrs. Smith's where they found Elisabeth already installed in a +sunny room out of which opened another for Miss Merriam. The arrangement +had been made by Dorothy's moving into a smaller chamber over the front +door. + +"I don't mind it a bit," she declared to her mother, "and please don't +say a word about it to Miss Merriam--she might feel badly." + +So Gertrude Merriam accepted her room all unconsciously, and rejoiced in +its brightness. The baby was lying before the window of her own room +when Gertrude entered. It moved a listless hand as she knelt beside it. + +"You little darling creature!" she exclaimed and Elisabeth gave her +infrequent smile as if she knew that woman's love and science were going +to work together for her. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ELISABETH MAKES FRIENDS + + +Under Miss Merriam's skilful care Elisabeth of Belgium slowly climbed +the hill of health. She had grown so weak that she required to be +treated like a child much younger than she really was. Miss Merriam gave +her extremely nourishing food in small amounts and often; she made her +rest hours as long as those of a baby of a year and her naps were always +taken in the open air, where she lay warmly curled up in soft rugs like +a little Eskimo. At night she and her care-taker slept on an upper porch +where she drew deep draughts of fresh air far down into the depths of +her tiny relaxed body. + +"Ayleesabet"--everybody adopted her own pronunciation--was napping in +Dicky's old perambulator on the porch of Dorothy's cottage one Saturday +morning early in December. The Ethels, their coat collars turned up and +rugs wrapping their knees, were keeping guard beside her. Both of them +were alternately knitting and warming their fingers. + +"When she wakes up we can roll her down the street a little way," said +Ethel Blue. + +"Did Miss Merriam say so?" + +"Yes, she said we might keep her out until twelve." + +"Are the Hancocks and Watkinses coming early to the Club meeting?" + +"About half past two. The afternoons are so short now that they thought +they'd better come early so it wouldn't be pitch black night when they +got home." + +"We ought to do some planning for Christmas this afternoon. There's a +lot to think about." + +"There's one Christmas gift I wish Aunt Marian would give us." + +"What's that?" asked Ethel Brown expectantly for she had great faith in +the ideas that Ethel Blue brought forth now and then. + +"Don't you think it would be nice if she would let us have a visit from +Katharine Jackson for one of our presents?" + +Katharine Jackson was the daughter of an army officer stationed at Fort +Edward in Buffalo. Her father and Ethel Blue's father had been in the +same class at West Point and her mother had known Ethel Blue's mother +who had died when she was a tiny baby. The two Ethels had had a week-end +with Katharine the previous summer, going to Buffalo from Chautauqua for +the purpose of spending a glorious Saturday at Niagara Falls. + +"O-oh!" cried Ethel Brown, "that's one of the finest things you ever +thought of! Let's speak to Mother as soon as we go home and write to +Mrs. Jackson and Katharine this afternoon if she says 'yes'." + +"I'm almost sure she will say 'yes'." + +"So am I. If Katharine comes we can save all our Christmas festivities +for the time she's here so there'll be plenty to entertain her." + +"Ayleesabet is waking. Hullo, sweet lamb," and both girls leaned over +the carriage, happy because their nursling condescended to smile on them +when she opened her eyes. Miss Merriam brought out a cup of warm food +when it was reported to her that her charge had finished her nap, and +when the luncheon was consumed with evidences of satisfaction the Ethels +took the carriage out on to the sidewalk. Elisabeth sat up, still +sleepy-eyed and rosy from her nap, and gazed about her seriously at the +road that was already becoming familiar. + +"Oh, dear," sighed Ethel Blue under her breath, "there are the Misses +Clark coming out of their house." + +"I hope they aren't going to complain of Roger," Ethel Brown said, for +Roger acted as furnace man for these elderly ladies who had gained for +themselves a reputation of being ill-natured. + +"It's too late to cross the street. They look as if they were coming +expressly to speak to us. See, they haven't got their hats on." + +It did indeed look as if the little procession was being waylaid, for +the Misses Clark stood inside their gate waiting for the Ethels to come +up. + +"We saw you coming," they said when the carriage came near enough, "and +we came out to see the baby. This is the Belgian baby?" + +"Yes; this is Ayleesabet." + +"Ayleesabet? Elisabeth, I suppose. Why do you call her that?" + +"That's what she calls herself, and it seems to be the only word she +remembers so we thought we'd let her hear it instead of giving her a new +name." + +"Ayleesabet," repeated the elder Miss Clark, coming through the gate. +"Will you shake hands with me, Ayleesabet?" + +She held out her hand to the solemn child who sat staring at her with +unmoved expression. Ethel Blue hesitatingly began to explain that the +baby did not yet know how to shake hands, when to their amazement +Elisabeth extended a tiny mittened paw and laid it in Miss Clark's hand. + +"The dear child!" exclaimed both women, and the elder flushed warmly as +if the delicate contact had touched an intimate chord. She gave the +mitten a pressure and held it, Elisabeth making no objection. + +"Won't you bring her in to see us once in a while?" begged the younger +Miss Clark. "We should like so much to have you. We've watched her go by +with that charming looking young woman who takes care of her." + +"Miss Merriam. She's from the School of Mothercraft," and Ethel Brown +explained the work of the school. + +"How fortunate you were to know about the school. It would have been +anxious work for Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith if they had had full +responsibility for such a feeble baby." + +"We all love Miss Merriam," said Ethel Blue. "Say 'Gertrude,' +Elisabeth," and Elisabeth obediently repeated "Gertrude" in her soft +pipe, and looked about for the owner of the name. + +"We'll bring her in to call on you," promised the Ethels, saying +"Good-bye," and they went on feeling far more gently disposed toward +their cross-patch neighbors than they ever had before. As for the +"cross-patches," they looked after the carriage as long as it was in +sight. + +When the girls returned to Dorothy's they found Edward Watkins there. + +"It's very nice of you to come out to see how the baby is getting +along," said Ethel Brown, going in to the living room, while Ethel Blue +helped Miss Merriam take Elisabeth out of the carriage. + +"I mean to keep an eye on her," replied Edward gravely. + +"You don't really have to do it if it isn't convenient, you know," +returned Ethel. "Of course we appreciate it tremendously, but Dr. +Hancock is nearer and he's been coming over quite regularly." + +"I shan't try to compete with Dr. Hancock," promised Dr. Watkins; "but +Elisabeth is the Club baby, you know, and Tom and Della are members so +as their brother I feel almost a personal interest." + +"It's lovely of you to feel so. I just didn't want you to be bothered," +explained Ethel conscientiously. + +When Miss Merriam brought the baby in he examined her carefully as one +tiny hand after another was released from its mitten and one slender leg +after the other emerged from the knitted trousers. + +"She isn't what you'd call really fat yet, is she?" he commented. + +"She's a porpoise compared with what she was at the beginning," insisted +Ethel Blue stoutly. "Miss Merriam can tell you how many ounces she has +gained." + +"She's gained in happiness, any way," smiled the young physician as the +baby murmured "Gertrude" and patted Gertrude's flushing cheek. + +There was a full meeting of the United Service Club when Helen called it +to order at a quarter of three and informed the members that it was high +time for them to discuss what they were going to do as a club for +Christmas. + +"To tell the truth, I was awfully ashamed about our forgetting to do +anything for anybody on Thanksgiving. It all came out right, because our +'show' for the Home went off well and the old ladies were pleased, but +we didn't originate the idea and I feel as if we ought to make up for +our forgetfulness by doing something extra at Christmas. Now who has any +suggestions?" + +"I'd like to know first," asked James, the treasurer, "just how we stand +with regard to Elisabeth. I know we can't afford to pay Miss Merriam's +salary; I am afraid we've got to call on the grownups for that--but we +can do something and we must, and we ought to find out about it +exactly." + +"Mrs. Emerson is paying half Miss Merriam's salary," explained Dorothy. + +"And Aunt Louise the other half," added Ethel Brown. + +"I wrote to Father about Elisabeth," said Ethel Blue, "and he said he'd +send us a hundred dollars a year for her. We could put it in the bank +for her, he said, if we didn't need to use it for doctors' bills or +anything else." + +"Here's my pay from the Misses Clark; they forked over this morning," +said Roger elegantly, as he in turn "forked over" a bill to James. +"Madam President, may the treasurer report, please?" + +"The treasurer will kindly tell us what there is at the Club's +disposal," directed Helen. + +"The treasurer is obliged to confess that there isn't very much," +admitted James. "The Christmas Ship just about cleaned us out, and the +cost of some of the material for costumes for 'Miles Standish' nearly +used up what was left. This greenback of Roger's is the best looking +thing I've seen for some days." + +"I haven't paid my dues for December," confessed Ethel Blue. "Here they +are." + +It proved that one or two of the others were also delinquent, but even +after all had paid there was a very small sum in hand compared with what +they needed. + +"There isn't any use getting gloomy over the situation," urged Helen. +"If we haven't got the money, we haven't, that's all, and we must do +the best we can without it. Mother and Aunt Louise will wait to be +paid. It isn't as if we had been extravagant and run into debt. The baby +came unexpectedly and had to be made comfortable right off. We can +assume that responsibility and pay up when we are able. I don't think +that we ought to let that interrupt any plans we have to make Christmas +pleasant for anybody." + +"I believe you're right," agreed Tom, "but I think we must limit +ourselves somewhat." + +"You'll be limited by the low state of the treasury, young man," growled +James. + +"Wait and hear me. I imagine that what the president has in mind for our +Christmas work is doing something for the children in the Glen Point +orphanage." + +Helen and Margaret nodded. + +"What do you say, then, if we decide to limit our Christmas work as a +club to doing something for the orphanage and for Elisabeth? And I +should like to suggest that no one of us gives a personal present that +costs more than ten cents to any relative or friend. Then we can place +in the club treasury whatever we had intended to spend more than that, +and do the best we can with whatever amount that puts into James's hands +for the Glen Point orphans and Elisabeth. Am I clear?" and he sank back +in his chair in seeming exhaustion. + +"You're very long-winded, Thomas," pronounced Roger, patting his friend +on the shoulder, "but we get your idea. I second the motion, Madam +President. We'll give ten cent presents to our relatives and friends and +put all the rest of our stupendous fortunes into giving the orphans a +good time and getting some duds for Ayleesabet or paying for what she +has already." + +The motion was carried unanimously, and each one of them handed to James +a calculation of how much he would be able to contribute to the +Christmas fund. + +"It will come pretty near being ten cent presents for the orphans," +James pronounced after some work with pencil and paper. "We can't give +them anything that the wildest imagination could call handsome." + +"There are plenty of people interested in the orphanage who give +the children clothes and all their necessities, you know," Margaret +reminded her brother. "Don't you remember when we talked this over before +we said that what we'd do for them would be to give them some +foolishnesses--just silly things that all children enjoy and that no one +ever seems to think it worth while to give to youngsters in an +institution." + +"Will they have a tree?" + +"Our church always sends a tree over there, but I must say it's a pretty +lean tree," commented James. "It has pretty lights and a bag of candy +apiece for the kids, and they stand around and sing carols before +they're allowed to take a suck of the candy, and that's all there is to +it." + +"The Young Ladies' Guild has an awfully good time dressing it," +testified Margaret. + +"So did I winding up Dicky's mechanical toys last Christmas," said Roger +rather shamefacedly. "I'm afraid the poor kid didn't get much of a +look-in until I got tired of them." + +"In view of these revelations, Madam President," began Tom, "I move that +whatever we do for the orphans shall be something that they can join in +themselves, and not just look at. Anybody got an idea?" + +"Our minds have been so full of the Christmas Ship that it has squeezed +everything else out, I'm afraid," admitted Della, with a delicate frown +drawing her eyebrows. + +"Why can't we continue to make the Christmas Ship useful somehow?" +inquired Dorothy. + +"Meaning?" + +"I hardly know. Perhaps we could have our presents for the children in a +Christmas Ship instead of on a tree." + +"That's good. They'll have one tree anyway; this will be a novelty, and +it can be made pretty." + +"Can we get enough stuff to fill a ship?" + +"Depends on the size of the ship." + +"It wouldn't have to be full; just the deck could be heaped with +parcels." + +"And the rigging could be lighted." + +"How can we ring in the children so they can have more of a part than +singing carols?" + +"Why not make them do the work themselves--the work of distributing the +gifts?" + +"I know," cried Helen. "Why not tell them about the real Christmas Ship +and then tell them that they are to play that they all went over with it +on its Christmas errand. We can dress up some of the boys as sailors--" + +"Child, you don't realize what you're suggesting," exclaimed Margaret. +"Do you know there are twenty or twenty-five boys there? We couldn't +make all those costumes!" + +"That's true," agreed Helen, dismayed. Her dismay soon turned to +cheerfulness, however. "Why couldn't they wear an arm band marked +SAILOR? They can use their imaginations to supply the rest of the +costume." + +"That would do well enough. And have another group of them marked +LONGSHOREMAN." + +"We can pick out the tallest boy to represent Commander Courtney and +some of the others to be officers." + +"You're giving all the work to the boys; what can the girls do?" + +"Don't let's have any of them play orphan. That would come too near +home. They won't follow the story too far. They'll be contented to +distribute the gifts to each other." + +"Here's where the girls can come in. The officers can bring the good +ship into port, and the sailors can make a handsome showing along the +side as she comes up to the pier, and the longshoremen can stagger +ashore laden with big bundles. On the shore there can be groups of girls +who will undo the large bundles and take out the small ones that they +contain. Other groups of girls can go about giving out the presents." + +"I'll bet they'll have such a good time playing the game they won't +notice whether the presents are ten centers or fifties," shouted Roger. +"I believe we've got the right notion." + +"We must do everything up nicely so they'll have fun opening the +parcels," insisted Helen. + +"Here's where James begins pasting again. Where's my pastepot, Dorothy?" +inquired James who had done wonders in making boxes to contain the gifts +that went in the real Ship. + +"Here are all your arrangements in the corner, and I'll make you some +paste right off," said Dorothy, pointing out the corner of the attic +where a table held cardboard and flowered paper and scissors. + +Unless there was some especial reason for a meeting elsewhere the Club +always met in Dorothy's attic, where the afternoon sun streamed in +cheerfully through the low windows. There the members could leave their +unfinished work and it would not be disturbed, and the place had proved +to be so great a comfort during the autumn months, that Mrs. Smith had +had a radiator put in so that it was warm and snug for winter use. +Electric lights had made it possible for them to work there occasionally +during the evening and it was as cheerful an apartment as one would care +to see, even though its furniture was made largely of boxes converted +into useful articles by Dorothy's inventive genius. + +"Some time during Christmas week we ought to cheer up the old couple by +the bridge," urged Roger. + +"The same people we chopped wood for?" asked Tom. + +"The Atwoods--yes. It gets on my nerves to see them sitting there so +dully, every day when I pass by on my way to school." + +"We certainly won't forget them. We can do something that won't make any +demand on our treasury, so Tom won't mind our adding them to our +Christmas list." + +"I dare say we'll think of others before we go much farther. What we +need to do now is to decide on things to make for the Glen Pointers," +and the talk went off into a discussion which proved to be merely a +selection from what they had learned to do while they were making up +their parcels for the real Christmas Ship. Now, with but a short time +before Christmas, they chose articles that could be made quickly. The +girls also decided on the candies that each should make to fill the +boxes, and they made requisition on the treasury for the materials so +that they could go to work at once upon the lasting kinds. Before the +afternoon was over the attic resumed once more the busy look it had worn +for so many weeks before the sailing of the _Jason_. + +"Ethel Blue!" came a call up the attic stairs. + +Ethel Blue ran down to see what her aunt wanted, and came back beaming, +two letters in her hand. + +"Here's a letter from Mrs. Jackson to Aunt Marian saying that Katharine +may come to us for a fortnight, and another one from Katharine to me +telling how crazy she is to come. Isn't it fine!" + +Ethel threw her arm over Ethel Brown's shoulder and pulled her into the +march that was the Mortons' expression of great pleasure: "One, two, +three, back; one, two, three, back," around the attic. + +"When is she coming?" asked Roger, who had never seen Katharine and so +was able to endure calmly the prospect of her visit. + +"Two days before Christmas--that's Wednesday in the afternoon." + +"We'll ask grandmother to let us have the car to go and get her; it's so +much more fun than the train," proposed Ethel Brown. + +"Um, glorious." + +The attic rang with the Ethels' delight--at which they looked back +afterwards with some wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GOOD SHIP "JASON" + + +The Rosemont schools closed for the holidays at noon of the Wednesday +before Christmas, so all the Mortons and Dorothy were free to avail +themselves of Mrs. Emerson's offer of her car to bring Katharine from +Hoboken. It was a pleasant custom of the family to regard any guests as +belonging not to one or another member in particular but to all of them. +All felt a responsibility for the guest's happiness and all shared in +any amusement that he or she might give. + +According to this custom, not the Ethels alone went to meet Katharine, +but Helen and Roger and Dorothy, too. Mrs. Morton chaperoned them and +Dicky was added for good measure. It was a sharp day and the Rosemont +group were rosy with cold when they reached the station and lined +themselves up on the platform just before the Buffalo train drew in. +Katharine and the Jacksons' German maid, Gretchen, were among the first +to get off. + +"Gretchen is going to make a holiday visit, too," Katharine explained +when she had greeted the Ethels, whom she knew, and had been introduced +to the other members of the party. + +Mrs. Morton and Roger instructed Gretchen how to reach Staten Island +where her friends lived and then they got into the car and sped toward +home. + +Katharine did not seem so much at ease as she had done when she played +hostess to the Ethels at Fort Edward. She was accustomed to meeting many +people, but she was an only child and being plunged into a big family, +all chattering at once, it seemed to her, caused her some embarrassment. +In an effort not to show it she was not always happy in her remarks. + +"Is this your car?" she asked. + +"It's Grandmother Emerson's," replied Ethel Brown. "She lets us have it +very often." + +"I don't care for a touring car in cold weather. My grandmother has a +limousine." + +"We're glad to have a ride in any kind of car," responded Ethel Blue +happily. + +"Roger, get out that other rug for Katharine," directed Mrs. Morton, +"she's chilly." + +"Oh, no," demurred Katharine, now ashamed at having made a remark that +seemed to reflect upon the comfort of her friends' automobile. "I'm used +to a Ford, any way." + +"I'm afraid you don't know much about cars if you do come from an +automobile city," commented Roger dryly. "This car would make about +three Fords--though I don't sneeze at a Ford myself. I'd be mighty glad +if we had one, wouldn't you, Mother?" + +Mrs. Morton shook her head at him, and he subsided, humming merrily, + + He took four spools and an old tin can + And called it a Ford and the strange thing ran. + +The Ethels had not paid much attention to the conversation but +nevertheless it had struck the wrong note and no one felt entirely at +ease. They found themselves wondering whether their guest would find her +room to her liking and they remembered uneasily that they had said "I +guess she won't mind" this and that when they had left some of their +belongings in the closet. + +The Morton's house was not large and in order to accommodate a guest the +Ethels moved upstairs into a tiny room in the attic, where they were to +camp for the fortnight of Katharine's stay. They had thought it great +fun, and were more than willing to endure the discomfort of crowded +quarters for the sake of having the long-desired visit. Now, however, +Ethel Brown murmured to Ethel Blue as they went into the house, "I'm +glad we had one of the beds taken upstairs; it will give her more +space," and Ethel Blue replied, "I believe we can hang our dancing +school dresses in the east corner of the attic if we put a sheet around +them." + +Indeed, Ethel Blue made a point of running upstairs while Katharine was +speaking to Dorothy in the living room and removing the dresses from the +closet. She looked around the room with new sight. It had seemed +pleasant and bright to her in the morning when she and Ethel Brown had +added some last touches to the fresh muslin equipment of the bureau, but +now she wished that they had had a perfectly new bureau cover, and she +was sorry she had not asked Mary to give the window another cleaning +although it had been washed only a few days before. + +"Perhaps she won't notice," she murmured hopefully, but in her heart of +hearts she was pretty sure she would. + +Katharine made no comment, however, beyond lifted eyebrows when she +noticed anything different from what she had been accustomed to in a +house where there was a small family, and, in consequence, plenty of +space. She unpacked her trunk and hung up her clothes with care and +neatness which the Ethels admired. Ordinarily they would have praised +her frankly for doing well what they sometimes failed to do well, but +they had not yet recovered from the constraint that her remarks on the +way home had thrown over them. It was not lessened when she mentioned +that usually Gretchen did her unpacking for her. + +"Mary would love to unpack for us," said Ethel Brown, "but if she did +that we'd have to do some of her work, so we'd rather hang up our duds +ourselves." + +Katharine was greatly interested in the Club plans for the Glen Point +orphans. She had lived in garrisons in the remote West and in or near +large cities, but her experience never had placed her in a comparatively +small town like Rosemont or Glen Point where people took a friendly +interest in each other and in community institutions. She entered +heartily into the final preparations for the imitation Christmas Ship +and she and the girls forgot their mutual embarrassment in their work +for some one else. + +Roger went to Glen Point in the morning of the day before Christmas to +meet the other Club boys and build the Ship in the hall of the +orphanage. They worked there for several hours and lunched with James +and Margaret at the Hancocks'. The rest of the Mortons and Katharine +took over the parcels in the early afternoon in the car and arranged +them on the deck as had been planned, and then all the young people +came back together, for they were to have a part in the lighting of the +Rosemont Christmas Tree. + +The tree was a huge Norway spruce and it was set up in front of the high +school which had a lawn before it large enough to hold a goodly crowd of +observers. The choirs of all the churches had volunteered their services +for the occasion. They were placed on a stand elevated above the crowd +so that they could lead the singing and be heard at a distance. + +Except for murmurs of admiration and a long-drawn breath of delight +there was no sound from the throng. It was too beautiful for speech; +the meaning was too laden with brotherly love and cheer for it to be +mistaken. A sad-eyed girl smiled to herself and gazed with new hope in +her face; a pickpocket took his hand out of his neighbor's bag that had +opened like magic under his practised touch. Babies stretched out their +arms to the glitter; grown men stared silently with unaccustomed tears +wetting their eyes. The school children sang on and on, "Oh, come all ye +faithful, joyful and triumphant;" then "Hark, the herald angels sing, +Glory to the new-born King;" and "It came upon the midnight clear." The +fresh young voices rang gloriously, strengthened by the more mature +voices of the choirs. + +The stars were coming out before the first person turned away, and all +through the night watchers of the tree's resplendent glory were found by +the patrolling policeman gazing, gazing, with thoughts of peace +reflected on faces that had long been unknown to peace. + +It was after six when the Emerson car whirled the U. S. C. back to the +Mortons' for a dinner that had to be eaten hastily, for they were due at +the Glen Point orphanage soon after seven so that all might be in order +for the doors to be opened to the children at half past. Helen was +always urging punctuality as Tom was commanding promptness. + +"If we were small youngsters and had had to wait all day for our +Christmas party we'd be wild at having it delayed a minute longer than +necessary," the President insisted, and Tom added his usual exhortation, +"Run the thing along briskly; don't let it drag. You can 'put over' lots +of stupid stuff by rushing it on gayly, and a good 'stunt' may be good +for nothing if it goes slowly." + +"Helen and Tom can't say that they 'never sing the old, old songs,' can +they?" laughed Ethel Brown. "The Club has never done anything yet that +we haven't heard these same sweet strains from both of them." + +"You're very likely to hear them again--my chant, any way," declared her +sister firmly. + +"It won't do us any harm," Ethel Brown yielded good-naturedly. + +The boys had made the good ship _Jason_ with some ingenuity. The matron +had let them have a table, long and so old that the marks of boots upon +it would do no harm. This was important for it was to be used as the +forward deck. Because in the days of its youth it had been used in the +dining room of the smaller children it was lower than an ordinary table. +This made it just the right height, for the ship's rail was to rise +above it, and if it had been higher the people on the floor could not +have seen the deck comfortably. + +At the end of the table was tied the mast--a broom stick with electric +light wires strung with tiny bulbs going from its top to the deck. This +electrical display was a contribution from Roger who had asked his +grandfather to give it to him for his Christmas gift and had requested +that he might have it in time for him to lend it to the _Jason_. It was +run by a storage battery hidden in a box that was safely bestowed under +the deck. Aft of the mainmast were two kitchen chairs placed side by +side to give the craft the needed length. + +The outside of the boat was made by stretching a double length of +war-gray cambric from the bow--two hammock stretchers fastened to the +end of the table--along the deck, past the chairs and across their end. +The cloth was raised a trifle above the deck by laths nailed on to the +edge of the table. The name, "Jason," in black letters, was pinned along +the bow. + +"It isn't a striking likeness of a boat," confessed Roger, "but any +intelligent person would be able to guess what it was meant to be." + +When the children and a few other people who had begged to be allowed to +come entered the hall they found the ship lighted and with its deck +piled high with wooden boxes and parcels of good size. The members of +the U. S. C. were gathered beside the ship. When all had entered Helen, +as president of the Club, mounted one of the chairs which represented +the after part of the boat and told the story of the real ship _Jason_. + +"Children from all over the United States sent Christmas gifts to the +European children who otherwise would not have any because of the war. +Tonight we are going to pretend that we are all sailing on the _Jason_ +to carry the gifts to Europe. We've all got to help--every one of us. +First of all we want a captain. I think that boy over there near the +door will be the captain, because he's the tallest boy I see here." + +Embarrassed but pleased the tall boy came forward and Della fastened on +his arm a band marked CAPTAIN. Following instructions he mounted the +chair from which Helen descended. Two under officers were chosen in the +same way, and the Ethels raised them to the ranks of first and second +lieutenants by the simple method of fastening on suitable arm bands. + +"Now we want some sailors," cried Roger, and he selected ten other boys, +who were all rapidly adorned with SAILOR bands by the U. S. C. gifts. +The ship was about as full as she could be now, with her officers +standing, one on the deck and the others on the two chairs, and the +sailors manning the rail. Everybody was beginning to enjoy the game by +this time, and the faces that looked out over the gray cambric sides of +the _Jason_ were beaming with eagerness to find out what was coming +next, while the children who had not yet been assigned to any task were +equally curious to find out how they were to help. + +"Now we're on the pier at the Bush Terminal at Brooklyn," explained Tom. +"Look out there; don't get in the way of the ropes," and he pushed the +crowd back from the imaginary ropes, and whistled a shrill call on his +fingers. + +"See, she's moving! She's starting!" cried Ethel Blue. "Wave your +handkerchief! Wave it!" she directed the children near her, who fell +into the spirit of the pretense and gave the Christmas Ship a noisy +send-off. + +"Now we'll all turn our backs while the ship is crossing the Atlantic," +directed James. + +It required only a minute for the boat to make the crossing, and when +the onlookers turned about after this trip of unparalleled swiftness +they were told that now they were not Americans any longer; they were +English people at Devonport gathered to watch the arrival of the _Jason_ +and to help unload the presents sent to the children of England and +Belgium. + +"I want some longshoremen to help unload these boxes," said Helen, "and +a set of sorters and a set of distributors. Who'll volunteer as +longshoremen?" + +There was a quick response, and this group exhausted all the boys. They +were designated by arm bands each marked LONGSHOREMAN. Then she called +for girls for the other two detachments and divided them into two +sections, one marked SORTERS and the other DISTRIBUTORS. + +Under Roger's direction a chair, turned over on its face, made a +sloping gangplank down which the bundles could be slid. + +"Have your lieutenants place their men around the deck and on each side +of this plank," he instructed the captain. "Then order a few +longshoremen to go aboard and hand the bundles from one to another and +slide them down the plank to the men on the pier who will take them over +to the sorters. You," he called to the girls, "you stay at that side of +the room and open these large parcels when they are brought to you, and +you read what it says on the packages and make two piles, one of those +marked 'Boy' and the other of those marked 'Girl'. Then there are +bundles marked with the children's names. Give them out. See that +everybody has one package marked with his name and one package just +marked 'Boy' or 'Girl'." + +The Ethels had proposed this arrangement so that all the children should +feel that the distribution of gifts had been made by chance. The parcels +bearing the children's names were filled with candy and goodies and were +all alike. + +"Didn't I tell you they'd like foolishnesses!" she said to Helen in an +undertone. "Look at those boys with jumping jacks. They love them!" + +"See those youngsters with those silly twirling things Tom made," said +Della. "He's right about the charm of those little flat objects. They'll +twirl them by the hour I really believe." + +All the gifts were of the simplest sort. There were the Danish twins +that Ethel Blue had made for the real Ship--little worsted elves +fastened together by a cord; and rubber balls covered with crocheting to +make them softer; dolls, small and inexpensive, but each with an outfit +of clothes that would take off; a stuffed kitten or two; several +baskets, each with a roll of ribbon in it. + +"They can fit them up for work baskets afterwards, if they want to," +said Margaret, "but I'm not going to suggest sewing to these youngsters +who have to do it every day of their lives whether they want to or not." + +There were various kinds of candy in boxes covered with bright colored +and flowered paper, for James had outdone himself in developing new +pasting ideas. There were cookies, too, and tiny fruit cakes. + +The faces of the Club members were as joyous as the faces of the +children as they looked about them and saw evidences of the success of +their plan. If they needed confirmation it was given them by the matron. + +"I've never seen them so happy," she said. "I can't thank you enough for +giving them this pleasure." + +"It was lovely," approved Katharine. "I'm so glad you let me help." + +It was still early when the merry party reached home, but Mrs. Morton +bundled them off to bed promptly. + +"You've all made a sacrifice to Dicky's Christmas habits," she +explained. "He's been in bed for hours and he's preparing to get up long +before dawn, so we all might as well go to bed ourselves or we'll be +exhausted by this time tomorrow night." + +"Hang your stocking on your outside door knob, Katharine," cried the +Ethels. "We have Santa Claus trained to look there for it in this +house." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHRISTMAS DAY + + +Mrs. Morton's prophecy was fulfilled. It was still black night when +Dicky roused from his bed and sent a "Merry Christmas" ringing through +the house. There was no response to his first cry, but, undaunted, he +uttered a second. To this there came a faint "Merry Christmas" from the +top story where the Ethels were snuggled under the roof, and another +from Helen's room beside his own. Katharine said nothing and not a word +came from Roger, though there was a sound of heavy, regular breathing +through his door. + +"Let's put on our wrappers and go down stairs into Katharine's room," +suggested Ethel Brown. + +"It's lots too early. Let's wait a while," replied Ethel Blue, so they +lay still for another hour in spite of increasing sounds of ecstasy from +Dicky. After all they decided to follow the usual family custom and take +their stockings into the living room before breakfast instead of going +to Katharine's room. As they passed her door they knocked on it and +begged her to hurry so that they could all begin the opening at once. +She said that she was up and would soon join them, but it proved to be +fully three quarters of an hour before she appeared. + +All the Mortons except Dicky had waited for her before opening their +bundles. + +"We thought you would excuse Dicky for not waiting; it's rather hard on +a small boy to have such tantalizing parcels right before him and not +attack them," apologized Mrs. Morton. + +Katharine looked somewhat embarrassed to find that she had been the +cause of so long a delay but she offered no excuse. + +"Let's all look at our stockings first," said Ethel Brown, and every +hand dived in and brought out candy, nuts, raisins, an apple, an orange, +dates and figs and candy animals. + +There were gifts among the goodies, or instructions where to find them. +Roger discovered a pocket book that had been his desire for a long time, +and a card that advised him to look under the desk in the library and +see what was waiting for him. He dashed off in a high state of curiosity +and came back whooping, with a typewriter in his arms. + +"Aren't Grandfather and Grandmother the best ever!" he exclaimed +rapturously, and he paid no further attention to his other gifts or to +those of the rest of the family while he hunted out a small table and +arranged the machine for immediate action. + +Helen's chief presents were a ring with a small pearl, from her +grandmother and a set of Stevenson from her grandfather. The Ethels had +each a tennis racquet and each a desk of a size suitable for their +bedroom. + +"They'll go one on each side of the window," exclaimed Ethel Brown, +while Ethel Blue at once began to store away in hers the supply of +stationery that came with it. + +Katharine's gifts were quite as numerous as the Mortons', for her mother +had forwarded to Mrs. Morton's care all those of suitable size that came +to Buffalo for her. She opened one after another: books, hair ribbons, a +pair of silk stockings for dancing school, a tiny silver watch on a long +chain. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson had added to her store a racquet like the +Ethels'. + +More numerous than those of any of the others were Dicky's presents, and +they were varied, indeed. A velocipede was his grandfather's offering +and was received with shouts of delight. Blocks of a new sort occupied +him when his mother stopped his travels on three wheels. A train of cars +made its way under Katharine's feet and nearly threw her down, to her +intense disgust, and a pair of roller skates brought Dicky himself in +her way so often that she spoke to him more sharply than he had ever +been spoken to in his life. He drew away and stared at her solemnly. + +"You're a cross girl," he announced after a disconcerting pause, and +Katharine flushed deeply at the accusation, realizing that it was not +polite to rebuke your hostess's brother and regretting her hasty speech. + +"Are you good for a long walk?" Roger asked Katharine after breakfast. + +Katharine said she was. + +"Then help me do up these things for Grandfather and Grandmother and +we'll be off," and he threw down a handful of red paper and green ribbon +and ran to get the shears. + +Roger and Helen together had given Grandfather Emerson a whole desk set, +Roger hammering the metal and Helen providing and making up the pad and +roller blotter and ink bottle. It was a handsome set. The blotter was +green and the Ethels had made a string basket out of which came the end +of a ball of green twine, and a set of filing envelopes, neatly arranged +in a portfolio of heavy green cardboard. + +All of the family had helped make the Chautauqua scrapbook that was Mrs. +Emerson's principal gift from her grandchildren. Helen had written the +story of their summer at Chautauqua, Roger had typed it on a typewriter +at school, and the others had chosen and pasted the pictures that +illustrated it. Ethel Blue had added an occasional drawing of her own +when their kodaks gave out or they were unable to find anything in old +magazines that would answer their purpose, and the effect was excellent. +Katharine looked it over with the greatest interest. + +"Here you are, all of you, going over from Westfield to Chautauqua in +the trolley," she exclaimed, for she had made the same trip herself. + +"And here are the chief officers of Chautauqua Institution--Bishop +Vincent and some of the others." + +"And here's the Spelling Match--my, that Amphitheatre is an enormous +place!" + +"This is the hydro-aeroplane that we flew in, Ethel Brown and I." + +"These are different buildings on the grounds--I recognize them. This is +a splendid present," complimented Katharine. + +"It was heaps of fun making it. Did you notice this picture of Mother's +and Grandfather's class on Recognition Day? See, there's Mother herself. +She happened to be in the right spot when the photographer snapped." + +"How lucky for you! It's perfect. I know Mrs. Emerson will be awfully +pleased." + +"We hope she will. Are you infants ready?" and Roger swung the parcels +on to his back and opened the door for the girls. + +"We're going to stop at Dorothy's, aren't we?" asked Ethel Blue. + +"Certainly we are. We want to see her presents and to give Elisabeth +hers and to say 'Merry Christmas' to Aunt Louise and Miss Merriam." + +"You seem very fond of Miss Merriam," said Katharine to Ethel Brown as +they turned the corner into Church Street. + +"We are. She's splendid. She knows just what to do for Elisabeth and +she's lovely any way." + +"You act as if she belonged to the family." + +"Why shouldn't we?" asked Ethel in amazement. + +"Don't you pay her for taking care of the baby?" + +"Certainly we pay her. We'd pay a doctor for taking care of her, too, +only we happen to have two doctors related to the Club so they give us +their services free. Why shouldn't we pay her?" + +Ethel Brown was quite breathless. She could not entirely understand +Katharine's point of view, but she seemed to be hinting that Miss +Merriam was serving in a menial capacity. The idea made loyal Ethel +Brown, who had not a snobbish bone in her body, extremely angry. Service +she understood--her father and her uncle and Katharine's father, too, +for that matter, were serving their country and were under orders. One +kind of service might be less responsible than another kind, but that +any service that was honest and useful could be unworthy was not in her +creed. + +"No reason, of course," replied Katharine, who saw that she had offended +Ethel. "Any way, her work is more than a nursemaid's work." + +"I should say it was," answered Ethel warmly; "she's taken several +years' training to fit her for it. But even if she were just a nursemaid +I should love her. I love Mary. She was Dicky's nurse and Mother says +she saved him from becoming a sick, nervous child by her wisdom and +calmness. Mary's skilful, too." + +Katharine did not pursue the discussion, and Ethel Brown, when Miss +Merriam came into the room to wish them a "Merry Christmas," threw her +arms around her neck and kissed her. + +"You're a perfectly splendid person," she exclaimed. + +Elisabeth was at her very best this morning. Never before had they seen +her so beaming. She had a special smile for every one of them, so that +each felt that he had been singled out for favors. She shook hands with +Roger, walked a few steps, clinging to the Ethels' fingers, patted +Helen's cheek, rippled all over when Dicky danced before her, and even +permitted Katharine to take her on her lap. This was a concession on +Katharine's part as well as on Elisabeth's, for Katharine was not much +interested in a stray baby. She saw, however, that the Mortons all were +in love with the little creature so she did her best to be amiable +toward her. + +"You're all so good to me," she cried. "I love all these things that +you've made for me with your own fingers." + +"We'd do more than that if we could," answered Ethel Blue as they all, +including Dorothy, swept out of the front door to take up their journey +to the Emersons'. + +At the Emersons' there was a renewal of greetings and "Thank yous" and +laughter, and a rehearsing of all the gifts that had been received. Mrs. +Smith had sent Mrs. Emerson an unusual pair of richly decorated wax +candles which she had found at an Italian candlemaker's in New York, and +Miss Merriam had sent her and Mrs. Morton each a tiny brass censer and a +supply of charcoal and Japanese incense to make fragrant the house. + +"Mother gave us handkerchiefs all around," said Roger, "and Mary baked +us each a cake and the cook made candy enough for an army." + +"You're dining at your Aunt Louise's, dear?" + +"We're going right from here to carry some bundles for Mother and then +to church, and then to Aunt Louise's for an early dinner. After dinner +we are to call on the old ladies at the Home for a half hour and then we +go back to a tree for Dicky--just a little shiny one; we've had all our +presents. After supper the thing we're going to do is a secret." + +"That sounds like a program that will keep you busy while it lasts. +They're not tiring you out, I hope?" Mr. Emerson asked Katharine, who +listened to Roger's list without displaying much enthusiasm. + +"I'm enjoying it all very much," responded Katharine politely, but not +in a tone that carried conviction. + +"How would it please you if the car took you back and helped you carry +those parcels for your mother?" + +There was a general whoop of satisfaction. + +"Your grandmother and I are going to church, but we won't mind starting +earlier than we usually do." + +"Which means right now, I should say," said Roger, looking at his watch. + +At the Mortons' the car added Mrs. Morton and Dicky to its occupants and +several large baskets containing Christmas dinners for people in whom +the Mortons had an interest. The young Mortons all had had a hand in +packing these baskets and in adding a touch of holly and red ribbon at +the top to give them a holiday appearance. + +"This first one is for old Mrs. Jameson," Mrs. Morton explained to her +mother. "Everything in it is already cooked because she is almost blind +and cooking is harder for her than it is for most people. There is a +roast chicken and the vegetables are all done and put in covered bowls +packed around with excelsior so that their heat won't be lost." + +"Like a fireless cooker." + +"The Ethels and Dorothy made enough individual fruit cakes for all our +baskets, and we've put in hard pudding sauce so that they can be eaten +as puddings instead of cakes." + +"The girls have made candies and cookies for everybody. That basket for +the Flynns has enough cookies for eight children besides the father and +mother." + +"If their appetites are like Roger's there must be a good many dozen +cookies stowed away there." + +"You can see it's the largest of all," laughed Mrs. Morton. + +Roger played Santa Claus at each house and his merry face and pleasant +jokes brought smiles to faces that did not look happy when their owners +opened their doors. The Flynns' was the last stop and everybody in the +car laughed when all the Flynns who could walk, and that meant nine of +them, fairly boiled out of the door to receive the visitor. Roger jumped +the small fry and joked with the larger ones, and left them all in a +high state of excitement. + +It was a very merry party that gathered around the Smiths' table, the +largest dinner party that Dorothy and her mother had given since they +came to Rosemont to live after they had met their unknown Morton +relatives at Chautauqua the summer before. To Mrs. Smith it gave the +greatest happiness to see the children of her brothers sitting at her +table and to know that her sister-in-law was her very dear friend as +well as her relative by marriage. + +After dinner they all snapped costume crackers and adorned themselves +with the caps that they discovered inside them, and they set the new +Victrola going and danced the butterfly dance that they had learned at +Chautauqua and had given at their entertainment for the Christmas Ship. +Dusk was coming on when the Ethels said that they must go to the Old +Ladies' Home or they would have to run all the way. Grandfather Emerson +offered to whirl all of them over in the car, and they were glad to +accept the offer. + +They stopped at home to get the boxes of candy which they had prepared. +It was while they were running up stairs to gather them together that +Katharine asked Ethel Blue if Mary might press a dress for her. + +"I want to wear it this evening," she said. + +Ethel Blue gasped. Mary had not yet come back from Mrs. Smith's where +she had served dinner for the large party and was still occupied in +clearing up after it. Supper at home was yet to come. Mrs. Morton had +always urged upon the girls to be very careful about asking to have +extra services rendered at inconvenient hours, and a more inconvenient +time than this hardly could have been selected. + +"Why, I don't know," Ethel Blue hesitated. + +"Oh, if you don't care to have her--" replied Katharine stiffly. + +"It isn't that," returned Ethel miserably. "Mary's always willing to do +things for us, but you see she's had a hard day and it isn't over yet +and she won't have any holiday at all if she has to do this." + +"Very well," returned Katharine in a tone that made Ethel feel that her +friend considered that she was being discourteous to her guest. "I can +find something else to wear this evening, I suppose." + +She looked so like a martyr that Ethel was most unhappy. + +"If you'll let me try it, I can use the stove in our own little +kitchen," she offered, referring to the small room where Mrs. Morton +allowed the girls to cook so that they should not be in the way of the +servants. + +"No, indeed, I could not think of letting you," responded Katharine. + +"I don't know that I could do it. I never have pressed anything +nice--but I'd like to try if you'll trust me." + +"No, indeed," repeated Katharine, and the girls entered the automobile +each in a state of mental discomfort, Katharine because she felt that +she was not being treated with proper consideration, and Ethel Blue +because she had been obliged to refuse the request of a friend and +guest. The ride to the Home was uncomfortably silent. On Roger's part +the cause was turkey, but the girls were quiet for other reasons. + +The visit to the old ladies was not long. They distributed their +packages and wished everybody a "Merry Christmas" and shook hands with +their especial favorites and ran back to the car. + +The supper was not really a party meal. It merely served as a gathering +place for the U. S. C. before they went to the Christmas tree at the +church. It also served as a background for Dick's little shining tree. +This small tree had been a part of Dick's Christmas ever since he had +had a Christmas, and to him it was quite as important as his dinner, +although there never were any presents on it. + +It stood now on a small table at the side of the dining room. It was +lighted by means of the storage battery and the strings of tiny electric +lights that had been used for the Christmas Ship at the Glen Point +orphanage. There were all sorts of balls and tinsel wreaths and tiny, +glistening cords. It glowed merrily while the supper went on, Dicky, at +intervals of five minutes, calling everybody's attention to its +beauties. There were favors at each plate, each a joke of some sort on +the person who received it. Every one held up his toy for the rest to +see and each provoked a peal of laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NEW YEAR'S EVE + + +"Where is Katharine?" asked Mrs. Morton of the Ethels as Mary announced +luncheon on the day before New Year's. + +"She went over to Dorothy's. Shall I call her?" + +"Give her a minute or two. She knows the luncheon hour," replied +Katharine's hostess. + +But a minute or two and more passed and no Katharine appeared. + +"She must be lunching with Dorothy," suggested Ethel Blue. + +"I'm sure Dorothy would have telephoned to ask if we had any plans that +would interfere." + +"It's twenty minutes past the hour; you'd better call and see if she's +still there," said Mrs. Morton, "and we may as well sit down." + +Helen was still at the telephone and the family was seated when +Katharine came in. + +"You didn't wait for me," she remarked with apparent surprise. + +"Of course you didn't realize that the luncheon hour had struck," Mrs. +Morton apologized for her. "Helen is calling Dorothy now to inquire +about you." + +Katharine made no reply and sat down with the injured air that she was +in the habit of wearing when she thought that not sufficient deference +had been paid her. She offered no apology or explanation and seemed to +think, if any conclusion could be drawn from her manner, that she had a +grievance instead of Mrs. Morton, whose family arrangements were +continually being upset by her guest's dilatoriness and lack of +consideration. The visit which had been looked forward to with such +delight was not proving successful. For themselves the Ethels did not +mind occasional delays, but they knew that all such matters interfered +with the smooth running of the house, and they could not help wondering +that Katharine should seem to think that her hostess should rearrange +the daily routine to suit her. + +The evening meal was to be supper and not dinner and it was to be +especially early because it was to be cooked entirely by the young +people. The Hancocks and the Watkinses were at the Mortons' by five +o'clock. Dr. Watkins came out, too, by special invitation, but he asked +if he might be permitted to pay a visit to Elisabeth while the rest were +preparing the meal, in view of the fact that he was not skilled as a +cook, and felt himself to be too old to learn in one lesson. He was +allowed to go with strict injunctions to be back at half past six and to +bring Miss Merriam with him. + +The Ethels had planned beforehand what they were going to have for +supper and the part that each was to take in the preparations. + +When the aprons had been taken off and the guests were all seated at the +table the supper went swimmingly. The oysters were delicious, the salad +sufficiently "chunky" to please Roger, the biscuits as light as a +feather and the fruit mélange as good to look at as if it was to eat. + +The table decorations hinted at the New Year that was upon them. High in +a belfry made of small sticks piled on each other criss-cross hung a +small bell. Silver cords ran from it to each place so that every guest +might in turn "Ring out the old, ring in the new." Beside the tower on +one side stood the Old Year bending with the weight of his twelve-month +of experience; on the other side was the fresh New Year, too young to +know experience. Both were dolls dressed by Dorothy and Ethel Blue. + +"I move you, Madam President," said Tom when the meal was nearly over, +"that we extend a vote of thanks to the cooks for this delicious +nourishment." + +"I was just on the point of making that motion," laughed Edward Watkins. + +"And I of seconding it," cried Miss Merriam. "It would come more +appropriately from us." + +"You were far too slow," retorted Tom. "I couldn't wait for you." + +"As the president was one of the cooks she ought to place some one else +in the chair to put a motion complimentary in part to herself, but as +the maker of the motion and the seconder were also cooks we're all in +the same box and I don't believe it's necessary. All in favor say +'Aye'." + +A shout of "Ayes" followed. + +"Contrary minded." + +Silence. + +"Madam President." + +"Mrs. Morton has the floor." + +"I don't want to seem inhospitable, but if you're going to reach the +Atwoods' on time you'd better be starting." + +There was a general scattering and a donning of outer garments. The boys +picked up the bags and the Club started for the bridge, Dr. Watkins and +Miss Merriam going with them. + +When the Ethels had called on Mrs. Atwood and had asked her if the Club +might visit her on New Year's Eve the old lady had been not only +surprised but somewhat alarmed. She grew more cordial, however, when +Ethel Brown explained it to her. + +"Would you mind our asking some of our friends?" + +"Not at all. We'd be glad to do the few small things that we've planned +for just as many people as you can get in here." + +"That isn't many," replied Mrs. Atwood, looking about her sitting room. +"But there's one of my neighbors hardly ever gets to the stores or to a +movie show, and I'd love to ask her in; and there's another one is just +getting up from a sickness." + +So the room was quite filled with guests when the Club members arrived. + +"That's the boy that hung my gate for me last year the day after +Hallowe'en," whispered one old woman as Roger made his way through the +room, and several of them said, "Those are the young folks that went +round after the regular Hallowe'en party this year and put back the +signs and things the other people had pulled down." + +The audience was so much larger than the Club had expected that Helen, +as president, felt called upon to make a short explanation. + +"We're very glad to see you here," she said, "but we don't want you to +expect anything elaborate from us. We've just come to entertain our +friends for a short time in a simple way. So please be kind to us." + +Helen was wearing a pale pink dress that was extremely becoming, and her +cheeks were flushed when she realized that these people had seen or +heard of their more pretentious undertakings and might be expecting +something similar from them now. + +There was a reassuring nodding all over the room, and then the young +people began their performance. Edward Watkins first played on the +violin, giving some familiar airs with such spirit that toes went +tapping as he drew his bow back and forth. + +Dorothy followed him with Kipling's "I Keep Six Honest Serving Men." The +music was Edward German's, and Helen played the accompaniment on Mrs. +Atwood's little organ. The introduction was spirited and then Dorothy +sang softly. + +Dicky's turn came next on the program. He was introduced as the Honorary +Member of the United Service Club, and the name of the poem that he was +to recite was given as "Russian and Turk." + +"We don't know who wrote these verses," Helen explained. + +Dicky was helped to the top of a box which served as a stage and bobbed +his bobbed hair at the audience by way of a bow. Every S he pronounced +TH, which added to the pleasure of the hearers of the following lines: + + There was a Russian came over the sea, + Just when the war was growing hot; + And his name it was Tjalikavakaree-- + Karindobrolikanahudarot-- + Shibkadirova-- + Ivarditztova + Sanilik + Danevik + Varagobhot. + +Dicky rattled off these names and two other similar stanzas with +astonishing glibness to the amazement of his hearers. His first public +appearance with the Club was undeniably a success. + +The next number on the program necessitated the disappearance behind a +sheet drawn across the end of the room of almost all the members of the +Club. Helen, who was making the announcements, stayed outside. A light +came into view behind the curtain and the lights in the room were put +out. + +"This is the last day of the year," began Helen when a muffled whisper +had told her that all was ready, "and everybody is eager to know what is +going to happen next year. We all would like to know, how the war is +going to turn out, and what is going to be the result of the troubles in +Mexico, and whether Rosemont will get its new park--" + +She was interrupted by laughter, for Rosemont's new park was still a +live subject although it never seemed to approach settlement one way or +the other. + +"What you are going to see now on the screen we call 'Prophecies.' The +poet Campbell said that 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and +we might take that line for our motto. The first prophecy is one of +trouble. It comes to almost every person at one time or another of his +life." + +Silence fell on the darkened room. On the sheet came the figure of +Dicky. It was recognized by all and greeted with a round of applause. He +looked around him as if hunting for something; then seized what was +unmistakably a jam pot and began to eat from it with a spoon. His figure +grew larger and larger and faded away as he walked back toward the light +and disappeared beyond it. In his place came the figure of Edward +Watkins, and those who knew that he was a doctor and those who guessed +it from his physician's bag understood that his appearance was prophetic +of Dicky's deliverance from the suffering caused by jam. + +The light behind the sheet was moved close to the curtain while the +table and chairs were set in place. When it went back to its proper spot +there were seen the silhouettes of a group of men sitting around the +table arguing earnestly. + +"This," said Helen, "is the Rosemont Board of Aldermen talking about the +park." + +The argument grew excited. One man sprang to his feet and another +thumped the table with his fist. Suddenly they all threw back their +heads and laughed, rose and left the stage arm in arm. + +"They're wondering why they never agreed before," Helen decided. "It's +the Spring getting into their bones; and here are some of the people who +are benefited by the park." + +The table and chairs disappeared and a bench took their place. There +followed a procession of folk apparently passing through the park. A +workman, shovel and pick over his shoulder, stopped to look up at the +trees. That was James. A young man and his sweetheart--Roger and Ethel +Brown--strolled slowly along. Dicky rolled a hoop. Margaret, carrying a +baby borrowed from the audience, sat down on a bench and put it to +sleep. + +The onlookers approved highly of this prophecy which was of a state of +affairs which they all wanted. + +"The other day," went on Helen in her gentle voice, "I found a prophecy +that was not written for this war but for another, yet it is just as +true for the great war that is devastating the homes and hearts of men +today. It was written by Miss Bates who wrote 'America the Beautiful,' +which we all sing in school, and it is called 'The Great Twin Brethren.' +You remember that the Great Twin Brethren were Castor and Pollux. They +were regarded as gods by the Romans. They fought for the Romans in the +battle of Lake Regillus, and the high priest said about it, according to +Macaulay: + + Back comes the Chief in triumph + Who, in the hour of fight, + Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren + In harness on his right. + +These are the divine helpers to whom Miss Bates refers in her poem." + +On the screen there came into view the shadows of Castor and Pollux +dressed like Roman knights--with a corselet over a loose shirt, a short +plaited skirt, greaves to protect their legs, a helmet on the head and a +spear in the hand. While Ethel Brown, who had stepped forward, read the +poem, the two figures--really Roger and Tom, who were nearly of a +height--stood motionless. As it ended they glided backward and faded +from view. + + THE GREAT TWIN BRETHREN + + The battle will not cease + Till once again on those white steeds ye ride + O Heaven-descended Twins, + Before Humanity's bewildered host. + Our javelins + Fly wide, + And idle is our cannon's boast. + Lead us, triumphant Brethren, Love and Peace. + + A fairer Golden Fleece + Our more adventurous Argo fain would seek, + But save, O Sons of Jove, + Your blended light go with us, vain employ + It were to rove + This bleak + Blind waste. To unimagined joy + Guide us, immortal Brethren, Love and Peace. + +These beautiful lines were read with great seriousness and their +profound meaning went to the hearts of the hearers. Its gravity was +counterbalanced by the next prophecy which gave hope of immediate +fulfilment. Across the screen passed a procession of Club members, the +first carrying a plate full of something that proved to be doughnuts +when one was held up so that its hole was visible. The second person in +the row bore a basket heaped high with apples, the third a dish of +cookies. Then came more doughnuts, nuts and raisins, corn balls, and +oranges. The lights were turned on, and the silhouettes, changed by +simple magic into laughing boys and girls, passed among the people +distributing their eatables. Every one had a word of praise for them. +The Atwoods, for whom the effort had been made, said little, but shook +hands almost tearfully with each performer. + +At home they found a rousing fire and something to eat awaiting them, +with Mrs. Morton smiling a cheerful welcome. They sat before the fire +and cracked nuts and ate apples until the chimes rang their notice that +1927 was vanishing into the past and giving way to the New Year of hope +and promise. Clasping hands they stood quite still until the chimes +stopped and the slow strokes of the town clock fell on their ears. With +the last they broke into the hymn: + + Now a new year opens, + Now we newly turn + To the holy Saviour, + Lessons fresh to learn. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +KATHARINE LEAVES + + +Katharine ended her visit a few days later and returned to Buffalo under +the care of Gretchen. She was escorted to the train, but the farewells +of the Morton's were not intermixed with expressions of regret at her +departure. She had not been a considerate guest and she had not seemed +appreciative of efforts that had been made especially to give her +pleasure. + +It was on the way to the Atwoods' on New Year's Eve. Katharine and Della +were walking together. + +"It must be rather awful," said Katharine, "to have a family scandal +such as the Morton's have." + +"A family scandal!" repeated Della. "What do you mean?" + +"About Dorothy. Her father was shot, you know." + +"I know. But it wasn't a scandal. It was awful for Mrs. Smith and +Dorothy but there was nothing scandalous about it--nothing at all. +Dorothy has spoken to me about it quite frankly." + +"She has?" returned Katharine skeptically. "I shouldn't think she would +want to." + +"I could see that it was very painful for her; but I think she and the +Mortons, too, would be much more pained now if they knew that a guest +was discussing their affairs." + +Katharine dropped Della's arm and the two girls hardly spoke during the +remainder of Katharine's stay. + +When weeks passed and no "bread and butter letter" came from Katharine +to thank Mrs. Morton and the family, the rudeness set the capstone to +her sins against hospitality. + +"Any letter from Katharine?" became a daily question from Roger when he +came in from school and when he received a negative he sometimes opened +his lips as if to say something in condemnation. + +"Take care," his mother warned him when this happened; "because a guest +makes mistakes is no reason that her host should copy them." + +With the coming of the new year the younger people all settled down to +serious work. Not only Roger but James and Tom also were to graduate in +June, and all of them wanted to do themselves credit. James was going to +Harvard and later to the Harvard Medical School. Tom was booked for Yale +and then for business. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +VALENTINE'S DAY + + +It was the day after Lincoln's birthday, and Saturday. Edward Watkins +had come out for his weekly visit to Elisabeth and was sitting in Mrs. +Smith's living room surveying her and talking to Miss Merriam. Elisabeth +was walking with a fair degree of steadiness now, and made her way about +all the rooms of the house without assistance. She still preferred to +crawl upstairs and she could do that so fast that the person who was +supposed to watch her had to be faithful or she would disappear while an +eye lingered too long on the page of an interesting book or on the face +of a friend. + +Downstairs Edward leaned forward from his chair in front of Gertrude and +picked up the ball from which she was knitting a soldier's scarf. He +paid out the yarn to her as she needed it. + +"You're happy here, aren't you?" he asked softly. + +"Happy! I should say so! Next to having your very own home I can't +imagine anything lovelier than this, with dear people and a pretty house +and a darling baby. It's beautiful." + +"You'd hate to leave it, wouldn't you?" + +"Leave it? Why should I leave it? I think they like me. I think they +want me to stay." + +She looked at him piercingly, evidently disturbed at the suggestion. + +"Want you to stay! I should think they would!" ejaculated the young +physician. "I was just wondering what inducement would make you leave +these dear people and this pretty house and this darling baby. If any +one should--" + +"Hullo," cried Ethel Brown, entering at this instant. "Do you know where +Aunt Louise is?" + +"She went out," replied Miss Merriam, somewhat nervously. + +"Dorothy has gone to Della's this afternoon to help her get ready for +tonight," Ethel said. + +"She arrived before I left," admitted Edward--a confession that drew a +long look from Gertrude. + +"Where's Ayleesabet?" + +"Playing under the table," answered Gertrude in cheerful ignorance that +Ayleesabet had departed to more stimulating regions over the stairs. + +Ethel lifted the table cover to investigate. + +"She isn't here." + +Gertrude jumped up and the doctor followed her into the hall. Ethel +Brown ran into the dining room and then upstairs, with Miss Merriam in +pursuit. + +It was a moment of relief for everybody when Ethel gave a shout of +discovery. + +"Here she is!" she called, "and O, what will Dorothy say when she comes +back and sees her room!" + +"What's the modern way of dealing with that situation?" Edward asked +when Miss Merriam re-appeared with Elisabeth under one arm. + +"Do you mean ought she to be punished? Why should she? She was only +following out her instinct to learn. How could she know that that was a +time and place where it would inconvenience somebody else if she did? +I'm the one to be punished for letting her have the opportunity." + +"I suppose that's true. She'd never learn much if she didn't +investigate, would she? And, as you say, she isn't yet conscious that +she has any especial duty toward any one else's comfort." + +"The Misses Clark are always saying 'No, no,' to her. I should think +she'd think of their house as 'No, no Castle'." + +"They love her, though," defended Ethel Brown. + +"That's why I let her go there. A baby knows when she's loved and those +two old ladies make her feel it even above the 'No, Nos'." + +"I went in there yesterday when I saw Elisabeth's carriage outside their +door," said Ethel, "and I found the older Miss Clark sitting on the +floor clapping her hands and the baby trying to dance and sitting down, +bang, every four or five steps." + +Elisabeth was in a coquettish mood and played like a kitten with Edward. + +"She is the very sweetest thing I ever saw!" exclaimed Ethel Brown. "I +do wish I could take her to Washington." + +"Take her to Washington! What on earth do you mean?" asked Miss Merriam. + +"Nothing, only I hate to go away from her for even a few days. I came +over to tell Dorothy that Grandfather Emerson is going to send us all to +Washington with Mr. Wheeler's party for Washington's Birthday. Do you +think Aunt Louise will let her go?" + +"I think it will depend on who are going." + +"There'll be lots of older people and teachers from our church and both +the other churches, too." + +"Any of your mother's particular friends?" + +"I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Grandmother and Grandfather went +themselves." + +"Then your mother won't have any objection." + +"That would settle the question for Dorothy, too, I should think," said +Edward. "Are you taking outsiders along?" + +"Outsiders?" + +"New Yorkers. Della and Tom, for instance?" + +"Oh, is there any chance of Mrs. Watkins's letting them go?" + +"I'll suggest it if you think they'd be welcome." + +"I don't see why they wouldn't be. Mr. Wheeler wants to have as many as +possible because the more there are the better rates he can make with +the railroad and at the hotel." + +"Why don't you stir up the Hancock's?" + +"The whole U. S. C.? Why not? It would be just too glorious," and Ethel +proceeded to dance her butterfly dance around the room. + +"Talk it over this evening," advised Edward, taking up his hat. + +"Going?" inquired Ethel. + +"I might as well--I mean, I must go, thank you," responded the doctor +automatically, for she had said nothing to be thanked for. + +It was a charming table around which the Club seated itself at the +Watkinses'. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins sat at the head and foot and Della and +Tom in the center of the sides. + +"I ran in to see the baby a minute before I left," Ethel Blue explained +to Mrs. Watkins, "and Dr. Watkins was there and he asked me to tell you +that Aunt Louise had invited him to stay to dinner." + +"Edward is becoming a very uncertain character, like all doctors," said +Edward's mother. + +"I think he is," remarked Ethel Brown to Ethel Blue who sat beside her. +"He was just saying 'Good-bye' to Miss Gertrude when I left, and he must +have stayed on after all." + +Everybody had contributed something to the table decorations, but no one +had seen them all assembled and they all paid themselves and each other +compliments on the prettiness of the various parts and Della and Dorothy +on the effectiveness of the whole. + +In the center was a glowing centerpiece made of three scarlet paper +hearts, each about eight inches high placed with the pointed ends up and +the lower corners touching so that they made a three-sided cage over the +electric light. From the top a tiny Cupid aimed his arrow at the guests +before him. Della and Tom had designed this warm-hearted lantern. + +Half way between the centerpiece and the plates a line of dancing +figures ran around the table linked to each other by chains made of wee +golden hearts. Ethel Blue had drawn and painted these paper dolls, so +that each represented one of the Club members and they served as place +cards as well as ornaments. + +"I seem to see myself in Miles Standish's armor," said James. "Does that +mean that I'm to sit here where I can admire my warlike appearance?" + +"It does," said Della, "and I've put Priscilla next you so that for once +you can cut out John Alden. Here's John Alden--that's you, Roger, and +here's a little Russian for you to take home to Dicky." + +"Where am I?" + +"And I?" + +"And I?" cried one after the other. + +"Can't you guess? This is the Muse of History," pointing to a +white-robed figure holding a scroll. + +"Helen, of course," they all shouted. "And isn't this Hallowe'en witch +Ethel Brown?" + +"It really looks like her!" + +"And what do you guess about this songstress?" + +"Dorothy, and the young lady knitting is Della." + +"Right." + +"I hate to think that that's my face looking out of that cabbage," +protested Margaret, "but Ethel Blue has a wonderful ability to catch +likenesses." + +"That's you, Mrs. Stalk of the Cabbage Patch, just as clearly as if it +were your photograph." + +"One of these two is mine and the other is for Edward," guessed Tom. "Am +I one of the Great Twin Brethren and is Edward's the Pied Piper?" + +"Right again. And this is Ayleesabet herself, and the Guardian Angel is +Miss Merriam." + +"She _is_ an angel, isn't she!" exclaimed Della. "Look at these dozens +of tiny hearts. Ethel Brown cut out those and James made them into the +chains." + +"Paste, paste," groaned James melodramatically. "My future calling is +that of bill-poster." + +Everything that could be was pink at the dinner. The soup was tomato +bisque, the fish was salmon, the roast was beef, rare, the salad, tomato +jelly, the dessert, strawberry ice cream, and with it small cakes +heart-shaped and covered with pink icing. + +In the drawing room a Cupid whirling on a card pointed with his arrow to +a number, and the person who took from Mrs. Watkins's hand the envelope +marked with the number indicated was instructed where to look for his +valentine. Helen found hers inside of the piano. The Ethels turned up +diagonal corners of the rug in the northwest corner of the library and +discovered two flat packages. Margaret sought out a small bundle tied to +the electrolier on the right hand side of the hall. So it went. + +Each of them had prepared a valentine for every other member of the +Club, so each had nine, for Dicky had sent his in to be distributed with +the rest. Each had made all his nine of the same sort though not all +alike. James, for instance, had made prettily decorated boxes and filled +them with candy. Tom, who had a knack at cutting paper, had cut lacy +designs out of lily white barred paper which he mounted on colored +cardboard, and out of thin colored sheets whose patterns were thrown +into relief by a background of white. Ethel Blue had drawn comical +Cupids, each performing an acrobatic act. Ethel Brown had baked +heart-shaped cookies and tied them into pretty boxes with pink ribbon. +Dorothy's knowledge of basket making led her to experiment with some +little heart-shaped trays, useful for countless purposes. She made them +of different materials and they proved successful. Della stencilled +hearts on to handkerchiefs, decorating some with a border of hearts +touching, some with a corner wreath of interlaced hearts, the boys' with +a single corner heart large enough for an initial. Each one was +different. + +Roger's contributions were heart-shaped watch charms of copper, each +with a raised initial and mounted on a stray of colored leather and +furnished with a bar and snapper of gun metal. Margaret's little +heart-shaped pincushions were suitable for boys and girls alike. Some of +them were small, for the pocket or the handbag; others were larger and +were meant to be placed on the bureau. They were of varied colors, the +girls' being of silk to match the colors of their rooms and the boys of +darker hues. + +Dicky's offerings were woven paper book marks made like Roger's blotter +corners and intended to keep the place in a book by slipping over the +corner of the leaf. Helen, who had been learning from Dorothy how to +model in clay, had attempted paper weights. The family cat had served as +a model, and each was a cat in a different position. Some were more +successful than others, but, as Roger said, "You'd recognize them as +cats." + +When the search was over and every one had admired his own and his +neighbor's valentines, Ethel Brown recited Hood's sonnet, "For the 14th +of February," and Ethel Blue read part of Lamb's essay, "Valentine's +Day," and they all felt that Saint Valentine's star was setting and that +of the Father of his Country was rising resplendent. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND THE FIRST OF APRIL + + +The Misses Clark had borrowed Elisabeth for the afternoon. It was +becoming a custom with them, and as Miss Merriam insisted that her +little charge should have her naps out of doors with unbroken +regularity, the old ladies found themselves almost every day sitting, +rug-enwrapped, on Mrs. Smith's veranda or their own while the baby dozed +luxuriously in her carriage. Elisabeth grew pink in the fresh air and if +her self-appointed attendants did not do likewise they at least found +themselves benefiting by the unaccustomed treatment. + +In early March a brother came to visit them. He was a dignified elderly +man, "just like the sisters before Elisabeth made them human," Roger +declared, "except that he has whiskers a foot long." At first he paid no +attention to the child, though the story of its escape from Belgium +interested him. But no one resisted Elisabeth long and it was not many +days before Mr. Clark was holding his book with one hand and playing +ball with the other. + +On this particular day Mrs. Smith and Miss Merriam had both needed to go +to New York, and the Misses Clark had seized the opportunity to have an +unusually long call from Ayleesabet. They had sat on their veranda with +her while she napped; but when she came in, fresh and wide awake, their +older eyes were growing sleepy from the cold and they went upstairs for +forty winks, leaving their nursling in charge of their brother. + +Ayleesabet was goodness itself. She sat on the floor and rolled a ball +to her elderly playmate, chuckling when it struck the edge of a rug and +went out of its course so that he had to plunge after it. She walked +around the edge of the same rug, evidently regarding it as an island to +be explored, Crusoe fashion. Her explorations were thorough. If she had +been old enough to know what mines were one would have thought that she +was playing miner, for she lay on her back, pushed up the rug and rolled +under it. + +"Upon my word," ejaculated Mr. Clark, adjusting his spectacles and +examining the hump made by the baby's round little Belgian body. "Upon +my word, that doesn't seem the thing for her to do." + +But Elisabeth seemed entirely contented and made no response to the old +gentleman's cluckings and other blandishments. + +"Come out," he whispered in beguiling tones. "Come out and play." + +No answer. + +"Come and play horsey. Don't you want to climb up? That's it. Up she +goes! Steady now. Hold tight." + +As he started on a slow tour of the room on all fours his rider lurched +unsteadily. + +"Take hold of my collar," cried the aged war-horse. + +Ayleesabet fell forward, her arms went around his neck and her hands +buried themselves in his whiskers. With a chirrup of delight she righted +herself, a bridle-rein of hair in each hand. On went the charger, his +speed increasing from a walk to an amble. Louder and louder laughed +Elisabeth. Steed and rider were in that perfect accord wherein man seems +akin to the Centaur. + +At the height of the race the drawing room door opened and in walked +Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown Morton. The horse stopped suddenly and wiped +his forehead with one of his forefeet, but maintained his horizontal +position in order not to throw his rider. Elisabeth's equilibrium was +somewhat disturbed by the abrupt cessation of her charger's advance but +she kept a firm hold on her bridle and restored herself. + +"Go, go," she chortled, thumping the prostrate form of Mr. Clark with +her slippered feet and smiling with excusable vanity at the new +arrivals. + +The Ethels stood side by side so stricken with amazement and amusement +that for an instant it seemed that apoplexy would overtake them. Thanks +to their natural politeness they did not laugh, though they agreed later +that it had been the hardest struggle of their lives not to do so. + +"We've come to take Ayleesabet home," they said. "It's awfully good of +you to entertain her so long." + +They lifted the protesting equestrian to the floor and put on her outer +garments while the late steed resumed an upright position and dusted his +knees. + +"A very good child," he observed. "A very intelligent child. She does +Miss Merriam great credit." + +"She's growing splendidly," replied Ethel Brown. + +"Too bad she can't continue under her care. Too bad." + +"Can't continue under her care!" repeated the Ethels in unison. "Why +can't she? What do you mean?" + +"Why, on account of Miss Merriam's leaving. Of course you know. I hope I +haven't betrayed any confidence." + +"Miss Merriam's leaving!" exclaimed the Ethels as one girl. + +"We don't know anything about it!" + +"Where is she going?" + +"When is she going?" + +The questions poured thick and fast and Mr. Clark seemed distinctly +taken aback by the excitement he had created. + +"Why, Dr. Watkins said that he thought she wasn't going to stay with +Elisabeth much longer. That's what I understood him to say. I don't +think I'm mistaken," and the old gentleman passed his hand nervously +over the top of his head. + +"That's perfectly terrible if it's really so," declared Ethel Blue, who +was an especial admirer of Gertrude Merriam's and a devout believer in +her ability to turn Elisabeth from a skeleton into a robust little +maiden. + +"We must find out at once," and Ethel Brown put Elisabeth into her coat +with a speed that so disregarded all orderly procedure as to bring a +frown to the young Belgian's brow. + +The two girls talked about the news in low, horrified tones on the way +back to Dorothy's, and down they sat, prepared not only to amuse +Elisabeth but to amuse her until the return of Miss Merriam, no matter +how late that proved to be. + +It seemed an eternity but it was only half past five when she and Mrs. +Smith came back. The Ethels sat before the fire in the sitting room like +judges on the bench. They made their accusation promptly. Gertrude sat +down as if her knees were unable to support her. Her blue eyes stared +amazedly from one to the other. + +"Mr. Clark says I am going away? That Dr. Watkins said he thought I was +going away?" + +Her complete wonderment proved her not guilty. + +"But I'm not going away! I haven't any idea of going away--unless you +want me to," and she turned appealingly to Mrs. Smith. + +"My dear child, of course we don't want you to," and Mrs. Smith bent and +kissed her. "We love you dearly and we like your work. I can't think +what Mr. Clark could have meant--or Dr. Watkins--" + +"It was Edward Watkins who told Mr. Clark," repeated Ethel Brown. + +Gertrude sat stupefied. + +"Unless the wish were father to the thought," ended Mrs. Smith softly. + +"Unless he wanted it to be true?" translated Gertrude inquiringly. +"Unless--Oh!" + +A blush burned its way from her chin to her brow and lost itself in the +soft hair that swept back from her temples. + +"He wanted it to be true, and he said he thought it was going to happen. +Well, he's altogether too sure! It's humiliating," and she threw up her +chin and walked firmly out of the room, for the first time forgetting +Elisabeth. + +"What does she mean?" Ethel Blue asked her aunt. + +"Why is she humiliated?" asked Ethel Brown. + +"What is she going to do?" was Dorothy's question. + +"I don't know," Mrs. Smith replied to Dorothy. "We'd better not bother +her. Don't tease her with questions." + +The girls obeyed, but they talked the matter over a great deal among +themselves and they would have asked Edward Watkins about it the first +time they saw him except that their Aunt Louise guessed their plan and +forestalled it by telling them that any mention of the matter would be +an intrusion upon other people's affairs which would be wholly +unwarranted. + +The first time they saw Edward was the next day, when the Rosemont +Charitable Society gave a bazaar for the benefit of its treasury, +depleted by the demands upon it of an uncommonly hard winter. The seats +were all taken out of the high school hall and the big room became the +scene of a Donnybrook Fair on St. Patrick's Day. Of course the U. S. C. +had been called on to help; it had made a name for itself and outsiders +looked to it for ideas and assistance. + +In fact, the idea of the fair was Ethel Brown's. She heard her mother +talking with one of the Directors of the R. C. S. one afternoon about +the unending need for money and suggested the Irish program as a +possible means of making some. + +"The child is right," fat Mrs. Anderson promptly agreed. "Rosemont never +had anything of the sort." + +"It wouldn't be harder to get up than any other kind of fair," said Mrs. +Morton. + +"And St. Patrick's Day will be here so soon that it's a good excuse for +hurrying it." + +So it had been hurried, and the day after the strange encounter with Mr. +Clark and the disturbing conversation with Miss Merriam the scholastic +American precincts of the high school were converted into an Irish fair +ground. Every one who had anything to do with the tables or the conduct +of the bazaar was dressed in an Irish peasant costume, the girls with +short, full skirts with plain white shirt waists showing beneath a +sleeveless jacket of dark cloth. Heavy low shoes and thick stockings +would have been the appropriate wear for the feet, but all the girls +rebelled. + +"This footgear was meant for the earth floor of a cabin and not for a +steam-heated room," declared Helen. "I'll wear green stockings, but thin +ones, and my own slippers, even if they aren't suitable." + +The boys were less inconvenienced by their garb, which included, to be +sure, heavy shoes and long stockings, but also tight knee breeches and, +instead of jackets, waistcoats with sleeves. + +Every one in Rosemont who had any green furnishings lent them for the +occasion. Mrs. Anderson robbed her library of a huge green rug to place +before the stationery booth over whose writing paper and green +place-cards and novelties, all in green boxes, she presided robustly. + +Mrs. Morton, with Helen and Margaret to assist her, ruled over a table +shaped like a shamrock and laden with articles carved from bog oak, and +with china animals and photographs of Ireland and of Irish colleens. + +Dorothy told fortunes in the lower part of Blarney Castle, built of +canvas but sufficiently realistic, in a corner of the hall. On top Tom +was ready to hold over the battlements by the heels any one who was +"game" for the adventure of kissing the Blarney Stone. + +In the restaurant, which was a corner of the hall shut off by screens +covered with green paper, Mrs. Anderson superintended the serving of +supper by her assistants--Ethel Blue and Della and some of their +friends. They offered a hearty meal of Irish stew, or of cold ham and +potato salad, followed by pistachio ice cream and small cakes covered +with frosting of a delicate green. At one side Ethel Brown controlled +the "Murphy Table" and sold huge hot baked Irish potatoes and paper +plates of potato salad and crisp potato "chips" ready to be taken home. +Before the evening was many minutes old she had so many orders set aside +on the shelves that held books in the hall's ordinary state that she had +to replenish her stock. + +James acted as cashier for the whole room. Roger, armed with a +shillelagh, ran around for every one until the time came for him to +mount the stage and show what he knew about an Irish jig. Under the +coaching of George Foster's sister, he and his sisters had learned it in +such an incredibly short time that they were none too sure of their +steps, but they managed to get through it without discredit to +themselves or their teacher. + +Then Mrs. Smith played the accompaniments for a set of familiar Irish +songs--"The Harp that once through Tara's Halls," "Erin go Bragh," +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "The Wearing of the Green." Dorothy led the +choruses, the whole U. S. C., including Dicky, sang their best, and +Edward Watkins's tenor rose so pleadingly in "Kathleen Mavourneen" that +Mrs. Smith was touched. + +"I'm going home now," she said to him, "to stay with the baby so that +Gertrude can come to the bazaar. You may go with me if you like." + +Edward did like. He glowed with eagerness. He hardly could carry on an +intelligent conversation with Mrs. Smith, so eager was he to test the +possibilities of the walk back when he should be escorting Miss Merriam. + +When they entered the house and he saw her reading before the fire his +heart came into his throat, so demure she looked and so lovely. + +"I've come home, dear, so that you can go," explained Mrs. Smith. "Dr. +Watkins will take you back." + +Gertrude had given Mrs. Smith's escort one startled glance as they +entered. + +"Thank you very much indeed," she answered. "You are always so +thoughtful. But I'm not going out again tonight. It's quite out of the +question; please don't urge me," and she left the room without a look at +the disappointed face of the young doctor. + +"Now, what does that mean?" he inquired in amazement. + +"You ought to know." + +"I don't know. Do you?" + +"I think I do." + +"Won't you tell me?" + +"If you think over any conversations you have had recently about Miss +Merriam perhaps it will come to you." + +"And you won't tell me?" + +"I may be a wrong interpreter. At any rate I'm not an interferer. Your +affairs are your own." + +"That's a very slender hint you've given me, but I'll do my best with +it." + +His best was of small avail. Miss Merriam would not see him when he +called, did not go anywhere where she would be likely to meet him, bowed +to him so coldly when she passed him one day going into the house, that +he actually did not have the courage to stop her, but rang the bell and +asked for Mrs. Smith. + +The Ethels and Dorothy felt that the part of courtesy was to preserve a +civil silence, but they were consumed with curiosity to know just what +was going on. Certainly Miss Gertrude was not happy, for she often +looked as if she had been weeping, and certainly Dr. Watkins was +wretched, for Tom and Della quite immediately reported him as being "so +solemn you can't do anything with him." Indeed, at the April Fool party +which the Hancocks gave to the U. S. C., he indulged in an outburst that +startled them all. + +Margaret and James had asked him because the Club had formed the habit +of doing so when they were undertaking anything special. The Ethels were +quite right when they guessed that he accepted the invitation because he +hoped to see Miss Merriam there. She did not go, offering as an excuse +that Ayleesabet needed her. + +The April Fool party might have been named the Party of Surprises. There +were no practical jokes;--"a joke of the hand is a joke of the vulgar" +had been trained into all of them from their earliest days;--but there +were countless surprises. The opening of a candy box disclosed a toy +puppy; a toy cat was filled not with the desired candy but with popcorn. +The candy was handed about in the brass coal scuttle, beautifully +polished and lined with paraffin paper. Each guest received a present. A +string of jet beads proved to be small black seeds, and a necklace of +green jade resolved itself on inspection into a collar of green string +beans strung by one end so that they lay at length like a verdant +fringe. + +The early evening was spent in the dining-room--no one knew why. When +supper was served in the library it became evident that it was just a +part of the program to have everything topsy turvy. It was evident, too, +that a raid had been made on Dr. Hancock's supplies, for the lemonade +was served in test tubes and the Charlotte Russe in pill boxes. + +It was after supper when Edward Watkins had grown sure that Miss Merriam +surely was not coming that he indulged in a burst of sarcasm. After a +consultation with Margaret he drew the curtains across the door leading +into the hall. + +"Are you ready?" he called to Margaret. + +"Yes," came in reply. + +"Then here, my friends, you see the portrait of the original April +Fool." + +He swept back the portière and the laughing group, silenced by the +energy of his announcement, saw Edward himself reflected in a mirror +that Margaret had set up on a chair. They all laughed, but it was uneasy +laughter, and Tom tried to reassure his brother by clapping him on the +shoulder and exclaiming, "You do yourself an injustice, old man, you +really do," with a touch of earnestness in it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +APRIL 19 AND 23 + + +Ethel Blue took no part in the historical program that Helen put on the +stage of the Glen Point Orphanage on April 19th, "Patriots' Day," when +Massachusetts folk celebrated the Revolutionary battle of Concord and +Lexington. The reason was that she was just getting over a cold that had +come upon her at the very time when the others were making ready for the +performance, and had made her feel so wretched that she could do nothing +outside of her school work. This was how it happened that she was +sitting at the rear of the room when Edward Watkins came in, looked +searchingly over the audience and then slipped into a chair beside her. + +"Miss Merriam not here?" he murmured under cover of a duet that Dorothy +and Della were playing on the piano. + +"No." + +"Do you know why she won't speak to me?" + +Ethel Blue fairly trembled. What was she to say? She had been warned not +to interfere in other people's affairs. Yet she did not know how to +answer without telling the truth. So she said: + +"I know how it began--her getting mad with you. I don't understand why." + +"How did it begin?" + +Ethel Blue looked about wildly. Dorothy and Della were thumping away +vigorously. There was no possibility for escape. + +"Mr. Clark told us--Ethel Brown and me--that you said you thought Miss +Merriam was going away soon. We were wild, because we love her so--" + +There was a strange mumble from the Doctor. + +--"and she's so splendid with Ayleesabet. We asked her the minute we +saw her if she was going away. She said she hadn't any idea of it and +she asked us how we came to think so, and we told her what Mr. Clark had +said." + +"Great Scott! What did she say then?" + +"Oh, Miss Gertrude and Aunt Louise said, 'why should Edward have said +such a thing?' And Aunt Louise said, 'unless he wanted it to be true'." + +"Ah, your Aunt Louise is a woman of intelligence!" + +Edward smiled, though somewhat miserably. Ethel Blue was warming to her +subject. + +"Miss Gertrude said you were too sure and it was humiliating, and she +went up stairs and she's never been the same since then. I don't know +why it was humiliating, but she was angry right through." + +"I've noticed that," said Edward reminiscently. "Now let me see just +what she meant. She was told that I said I thought she was going away +soon. 'Thought' or 'hoped'?" + +"'Thought.' Did you say it?" + +"And your Aunt Louise said that I must have wanted it to be true," went +on Edward slowly, unheeding Ethel Blue's question. "And Gertrude--Miss +Merriam said I was too sure and that it was humiliating. Is that +straight?" + +"Yes. Did you say it?" + +Ethel Blue was beginning to think that if she was giving so much +information she ought to be given a little in return. + +"Do you know what I think about it?" asked Edward, again ignoring +Ethel's question. "I don't wonder a bit that she was as mad as hops. Any +girl would have been." + +"Why?" + +"Do you really want me to tell you? Well," continued Edward in her ear, +"I dare say you've guessed that I'm in love with Miss Merriam." + +Ethel drew a deep breath and stared open-mouthed at Dr. Watkins, who +nodded at her gravely. + +"I love her very much, and one day she was especially kind to me and I +went walking down the street like a peacock and plumped right on to Mr. +Clark. We walked along together and he said something about Miss +Merriam, and I was jackass enough to say that I hoped--not _thought_, +Ethel Blue, but _hoped_; do you see the difference?" + +Ethel Blue nodded. + +"I _hoped_ that before long she would leave Rosemont. Don't you see, +Ethel Blue? I said it out of the fullness of my heart because I hoped +that before long she would marry me and go away." + +Ethel gasped again. + +"I was riding such a high horse that I hardly knew what I said, but I +can see that when that was repeated to her with 'thought' instead of +'hoped' it looked as if I was mighty sure she was going to have me, and +I hadn't even asked her. Yes, any girl would be indignant, wouldn't +she?" + +Edward scanned Ethel's face, hoping to find some comfort there, but +there was none. Ethel's discomfiture and bewilderment had passed and she +was putting an unusually acute mind on the situation. She understood +perfectly that it looked to Miss Gertrude as if Dr. Watkins had made so +sure that she returned his affection that he had gone about talking of +it to strangers even before he had told her of his own love. + +"I don't wonder that she felt humiliated," was Ethel's verdict. + +The program on the stage was going on swiftly. Helen had made the +historical introduction, telling the circumstances that led to the +affair of April 19th. Tom had recited "Paul Revere's Ride." + +It was while the whole Club was singing some quaint Revolutionary songs +and winding up with "Yankee Doodle" that Dr. Watkins made his appeal to +Ethel Blue. + +"She won't listen to a word from me," he said. "She won't let me speak to +her. Do you think you could find a chance to tell her how it was? It was +bad enough but it wasn't as bad as she thinks. Will you tell her I'd +like to apologize before I go to Oklahoma?" + +"Oklahoma!" + +"A friend of Dr. Hancock's is settled in a flourishing town there. He +has a bigger practice than he can attend to, and he sent East for Dr. +Hancock to find him an assistant. He has offered the chance to me." + +"But it's so far away!" + +"I hesitated a long while on that account. You see I didn't know whether +Miss Merriam would care for the West." + +"Weren't you taking a good deal for granted?" + +"You're finding me guilty just as she has. But of course a man has to +think about what he has to offer a wife. I suppose you think I'm queer +to talk about this with you," he broke off his story to say, "but I +haven't said a word about it to any one and it has been driving me wild +so it's a great relief if you'll let me talk." + +Ethel nodded. + +"You see, my practice in New York is so small it's ridiculous. You can't +ask a girl to marry you when you aren't making enough money to support +even yourself. But suppose I should go to Oklahoma where I shall soon +make a good living, and then come back and ask her, and find out that +she hates the West. Don't you see that I'm not all to blame?" + +"Perhaps she wouldn't like you enough to marry you no matter where you +lived," suggested Ethel. + +Edward heaved a sigh that seemed to come from his very boots and leaned +back weakly in his chair. + +"There's a certain brutal frankness about you, Ethel Blue, that I never +suspected." + +"I thought you were thinking about all sides of the question," Ethel +defended herself. + +"Um, yes. I suppose I must admit that there is that possibility. Any way +if you'll try to get her to let me talk to her I'll be grateful to you +evermore," and Edward got up and strolled away to compliment the +participants in the program, leaving Ethel Blue more excited than she +had ever been in her life, even just before she went up in an aeroplane, +because she was touching the edges of an adventure in real life. + +It was embarrassing to broach the subject to Miss Merriam. She was +sweetness itself, but she was dignified to a degree that forbade any +encroachment upon her private affairs, and twice when Ethel Blue's lips +were actually parted to plead in Edward's behalf her courage failed her. + +"Mr. Clark is deaf," said Ethel Blue abruptly. "Edward Watkins didn't +say he 'thought' you were going away; he said he 'hoped' you were going +away." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Miss Gertrude, turning a startled face toward Ethel. + +"He hoped so because he loves you and he wants to ask you to marry him +but he can't until he has a good practice, and he doesn't know whether +you would like Oklahoma." + +"Whether I'd like Oklahoma!" repeated Gertrude slowly. + +"He wants to explain it all to you but you won't let him speak to you. +He's had a good practice offered him in Oklahoma, but he won't go if you +don't like Oklahoma; he'll try to work up a practice here, but it will +take such a long time." + +"Ethel Blue, do you really know what you're talking about?" + +"Yes, Miss Gertrude," replied Ethel, blushing uncomfortably, but keeping +on with determination. "Please don't think I'm awful, 'butting in' like +this. Dr. Watkins asked me to ask you to let him see you. He tried a +long time without telling any one; he told me when he couldn't think of +anything else to do. He didn't really know why you were mad until I told +him; he just knew you wouldn't see him when he called." + +Miss Gertrude's eyes were on her fragile pink work as Ethel Blue +blundered on. + +"What shall I tell him?" she said, breaking the silence. + +"You may tell him," said Gertrude slowly, "that I have a school friend +in Oklahoma who tells me that Oklahoma is a very good place to live." + +Ethel Blue clapped her hands noiselessly. + +"But tell him, also," Gertrude went on, her blue eyes stern, "that I +shall be too busy to see him before he goes." + +"Oh, Miss Gertrude!" ejaculated Ethel, disappointed. "I don't quite know +whether you care or not." + +"Neither do I," replied Gertrude, and she leaned over and kissed Ethel +Blue with lips that smiled sadly. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WEST POINT + + +Ethel Blue gave Gertrude Merriam's message to Edward Watkins who was as +much puzzled by it as she had been. + +"What does she mean?" he asked. "Does she care for me or doesn't she?" + +"She doesn't know herself. I asked her." + +Edward whistled a long, soft whistle. + +"Aren't girls the queerest things ever made!" he ejaculated in wonder. + +"I don't think it's queer," defended Ethel. "First, it was all guesswork +with her because you never had told her that you cared. And then she was +angry at your having talked _about_ her when you hadn't talked _to_ her. +Her feelings were hurt badly. And now she doesn't know what she does +feel." + +"She isn't strong against Oklahoma, anyway. I guess I'll accept that +offer." + +Ethel Blue nodded. + +"I want to tell you one thing more before you go," she said. "I haven't +told any one a word about this, even Ethel Brown. It's the first thing +in all my life I haven't told Ethel Brown." + +"I suspect it's been pretty hard for you not to. You know I appreciate +it. If things work out as I hope, it will be you who have helped me +most," and he shook hands with her very seriously. "There's one thing +more I wish you'd do for me," he pleaded. + +Ethel Blue nodded assent. + +"If I can." + +"I know you Club people will be hanging May baskets on May Day morning. +Will you hang this one on Miss Gertrude's door--the door of her room, so +that there won't be any mistake about her getting it?" + +"Certainly I will." + +"It's just a little note to say 'good-bye.' See, you can read it." + +"I don't want to," responded Ethel Blue stoutly, though it was hard to +let good manners prevail over a desire to see the inside of the very +first letter she had ever seen the outside of to know as the writing of +a lover to his lass. + +"You'd better tell your Aunt Marian that I've told you all this," he +went on. "I shouldn't want her to think that I was asking you to do +something underhand." + +"She wouldn't think it of you. She likes you." + +"Tell her about it all, nevertheless. I insist." + +Ethel felt relieved. It had seemed queer to be doing something that no +one knew about. + +"Thank you," she said. + +The May basket was duly hung, and Miss Gertrude's eyes wore the traces +of tears all the rest of the day, but Ethel Blue was not to learn for a +long time what was in the note. + +May passed swiftly. All the boys were so busy studying that they could +give but little time to Club meetings and there was nothing done beyond +the making of some plans for the summer and the taking of a few long +walks. The Ethels and Dorothy and Della were doing their best to make a +superlative record, also. With Helen and Margaret life went more easily, +for graduation days were yet two years off with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GRADUATION AND FOURTH OF JULY + + +With the coming of June thoughts of graduation filled the minds of all +the prospective graduates. The boys were able to get through their +examinations quite early in the month, and as they all did better than +they expected the last days of the month were days of joy to them. The +girls had to wait longer to have the weight removed from their minds, +but they, too, passed their examinations well enough to earn special +congratulation from the principals of their respective schools. + +The graduation exercises of the Rosemont graded schools were held in the +hall of the high school and all the schools were represented there. The +Ethels and Dorothy all sang in the choruses, and each one of them had a +part in the program. Ethel Brown described the character of Northern +France and Belgium, the land in which the war was being carried on. +Although no mention of the war was allowed every one listened to this +unusual geography lesson with extreme interest. Ethel Blue recited a +poem on "Peace" and Dorothy sang a group of folk songs of different +countries. It was all very simple and unpretentious, and they were only +three out of a dozen or more who tried to give pleasure to the assembled +parents and guardians. + +Roger's graduation was more formal. A speaker came out from New York, a +man of affairs who had an interest in education and who liked to say a +word of encouragement to young people about to step from one stage of +their education into another. + +"Of course education never ends as long as you live," Roger said +thoughtfully to Ethel Brown, "but there is a big feeling of jump when +you go from one school to another, and you can't deny it." + +"I don't want to deny it," retorted Ethel Brown. "I'm all full of +excitement at the idea of going into the high school next autumn." + +The graduating class of the high school was going to inaugurate a plan +for the decoration of the high school hall. They were to have a banner +which was to be used at all the functions, connected with graduation and +in after years was to be carried by any of the alumni who came back for +the occasion of the graduation and alumni dinner. During the year this +banner and those which should follow it were to be stacked in the hall, +their handsome faces encouraging the scholars who should see them every +day by the thought that their school was a place in which every one who +had passed through was interested. The power of a body of interested +alumni is a force worth having by any school. + +The graduating class found the idea of the banner most attractive, but +when it came to the making they were aghast at the expense. A committee +examined the prices at places in New York where such decorations were +made and returned horrified. + +It was then that the Ethels offered to do their best to help out the +Class of 1915. + +"We'll do what we can, and I know Helen and Margaret and Della will help +us," they said and fell to work. + +Ethel Blue drew the design and submitted it to the class and to the +principal of the school. With a few alterations they approved it. The +girls had seen many banners at Chautauqua and they had talked with the +ladies who had made the banner of their mother's class, so that they +were not entirely ignorant of the work they were laying out for +themselves. Nevertheless, they profited by the experience of others and +did not have to try too many experiments themselves. + +They had learned, for instance, that they must secure their silk from a +professional banner-making firm, for the silk of the department store +was neither wide enough nor of a quality to endure the hard wear that a +banner must endure. From this same banner house they bought linen canvas +to serve as interlining for both the front and the back of the banner. + +Several tricks that were of great help to them they had jotted down when +they discussed banner making at Chautauqua and now they were more than +ever glad that they had the notebook habit. + +The front of their banner was to be white and to bear the letters "R. H. +S." for Rosemont High School, and below it "1915." They remembered that +in padding the lettering they must make it stand high in order to look +effective, but they must never work it tight or it would draw. Another +point worth recalling was that while the banner was still in the +embroidery frame and was held taut they should put flour paste on the +back of the embroidery to replace the pressing which was not possible +with letters raised so high. + +When it came to putting the banner together they found that their work +was not easy or near its end. They cut the canvas interlining just like +the outside, and then turned back the edge of the canvas. This was to +prevent the roughness cutting through the silk when that should be +turned over the canvas. Back and front were stitched and the edges +pressed separately, and then they were laid back to back and were +stitched together. The row of machine stitching was covered by gimp. + +A heavy curtain pole tipped with a gilt ball served as a standard and +was much cheaper than the pole offered by the professionals. The cross +bar, tipped at each end by gilt balls, was fastened to the pole by a +brass clamp. The banner itself was held evenly by being laced on to the +crossbar. + +The cord had been hard to find in the correct shade and the girls had +been forced to buy white and have it dyed. A handsome though worn pair +of curtain tassels which they found in Grandmother Emerson's attic had +been re-covered with finer cord of the same color. The entire effect was +harmonious and the work was so shipshape as to call forth the admiration +of Mr. Wheeler and all the teachers who had a private view on the day +when it was finished. The girls were mightily proud of their +achievement. + +"It has been one of the toughest jobs I ever undertook," declared Ethel +Brown, "but I'm glad to do it for Roger and for the school." + +With the graduation past all Rosemont, young and old, gave their +attention to preparing for a safe and sane Fourth of July. Of course the +U. S. C. were as eager as any not only to share in the fun but to help +in the work. + +One piece of information was prominently advertised; it was a method of +rendering children's garments fire-proof. "If garments are dipped in a +solution of ammonium phosphate in the proportion of one pound to a +gallon of cold water, they are made fire-proof," read a leaflet that was +handed in at every house in the town. "Ammonium phosphate costs but 25 +cents a pound," it went on. "A family wash can be rendered fire-proof at +an expense of 15 cents a week." + +The U. S. C. boys handed out hundreds of these folders when they went +about among the business men and arranged for contributions for the +celebration. The girls took charge of the patriotic tableaux that were +to be given on the steps of the high school, with the onlookers +gathered on the green where the Christmas tree and the Maypole had +stood. + +"We must have large groups," said Helen. "In the first place the +Rosemonters must be getting tired of seeing us time after time, and in +the next place this is a community affair and the more people there are +in it the more interested the townspeople will be." + +The selection of the people who would be suitable and the inviting of +them to take part required many visits and much explanation, but the U. +S. C. had learned to be thorough and there was no neglect, no leaving of +matters until the last minute in the hope that "it will come out right." + +"It seems funny not to be waked up at an unearthly hour by a fierce +racket," commented Roger on the morning of the Fourth. "I'm not quite +sure that I like it." + +"That's because you've always helped make the racket. As you grow older +you'll be more and more glad every year that there isn't anything to +rouse you to an earlier breakfast on Fourth of July morning." + +The family ate the morning meal in peace and then prepared for the +procession that was to gather in the square. This procession was to be +different from the Labor Day procession, which was one advertising the +trades and occupations of Rosemont. Today was a day for history, and the +floats were to represent episodes in the town's history. Roger was to be +an Indian, George Foster one of the early Swedish settlers, and Gregory +Patton a Revolutionary soldier. None of the girls were to be on the +floats. The procession was to be given over to the men and boys. + +It was long and as each float had been carefully arranged and the +figures strikingly posed the whole effect was one that gave great +pleasure to all who saw it. + +A community luncheon followed on the green. Tables were set on the +grass, and the girls from every part of town unpacked baskets and laid +cloths and waited on the guests who came to this new form of picnic +quite as if they never had ceased to do these agreeable neighborly acts. + +The girls had tired feet after all their running around, but they rested +for an hour and were fresh again when it was time for the tableaux as +the sun was sinking. + +The high school was approached by a wide flight of steps and on these +Helen posed her scenes. The people below sat on the grass in the front +rows and stood at the back. The floats of the morning had been scenes of +local history. These were scenes from the life of Washington. +Washington, the young surveyor, strode into the woods with his +companions and his Indian attendants. Washington became +commander-in-chief of the Continental army. Washington crossed the +Delaware--and the U. S. C. boys were glad that they had built the +_Jason_ at the Glen Point orphanage and did not have to study out the +entire construction anew. Washington and Lafayette and Steuben shook +hands in token of eternal friendship. Washington reviewed his troops +under an elm at Cambridge. Washington suffered with his ragged men at +Valley Forge. Then Cornwallis surrendered, and last of all, the great +general bade farewell to his officers and retired to the private life +from which he was soon to be summoned to take the presidential chair. + +There were a hundred people in the various pictures, but the winter's +experiences had taught the Club so much that they found no trouble in +managing the whole affair. Each person had been made responsible for +furnishing his costumes, a sketch of which had been made for him by +Ethel Blue, and every one was appropriately dressed. + +"This is another success for you young people," exclaimed Mr. Wheeler, +shaking hands with them all. "I always know where to go when I want +help." + +Ethel Blue walked home with Miss Merriam, who was wheeling Elisabeth. +She seemed much gayer than she had been for a long time. + +Ethel kissed her as well as her sleepy little charge as she went into +the house to put on a warmer dress before she should go out in the +evening to see the community fireworks. + +"You and Elisabeth are my helpers," she whispered gratefully. "You make +everybody happy--except, perhaps--" + +Ethel hesitated, for Gertrude had never mentioned Edward to her since he +left for Oklahoma. + +"Do you want to know what was in my May basket?" + +Ethel clasped her hands. + +"Oh, yes!" + +Gertrude took out of her cardcase a tattered bit of paper. It read: +"When you know that you really like Oklahoma and all the people there, +please telegraph me. Good-bye." + +"I telegraphed this morning," she said, almost shyly. "I said 'Oklahoma +interests me'." + +"Here comes the telegraph boy down the street now," cried Ethel. + +Gertrude took the yellow envelope from him, and, before she opened it, +signed the book painstakingly. When she had read the message she handed +it to Ethel Blue. + +"I start for Rosemont on the tenth to investigate the truth of the +rumor." + +Gertrude bubbled joyously. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ethel Blue softly. "That means you're engaged!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19834-8.zip b/19834-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cbc3ee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/19834-8.zip diff --git a/19834-h.zip b/19834-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e16cdb --- /dev/null +++ b/19834-h.zip diff --git a/19834-h/19834-h.htm b/19834-h/19834-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1efe88e --- /dev/null +++ b/19834-h/19834-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4532 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. Smith. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + <!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + p.titleblock {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: center;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; + position: absolute; right: 2%; border:1px solid white; + padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; + color: #444; background-color: #EEE;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + td.pr {padding-right:10px;} + hr.full {width:100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.major {width:75%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.minor {width:30%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ethel Morton's Holidays + +Author: Mabell S. C. Smith + +Release Date: November 17, 2006 [EBook #19834] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 350px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a> +<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='THE GIRLS MADE CANDIES AND COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY--Page 73' title='' width = '350' height = '546'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>THE GIRLS MADE CANDIES AND COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY <i>Page 73</i></span> +</div> + +<hr class='full' /> + +<table width='450' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' border='1'><tr><td> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 120%; margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px;'> Juvenile Library</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 120%; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 60px;'> Girls Series</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 200%; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'> ETHEL MORTON'S</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 200%; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 90px;'> HOLIDAYS</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'> BY</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 120%; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 130px;'> MABELL S. C. SMITH</p> +<p class='titleblock'> THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 80%;'> CLEVELAND NEW YORK</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-size: 60%; margin-bottom: 30px;'> MADE IN U. S. A.</p> +</td></tr></table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width='300' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' ><tr><td> +<p class='titleblock' style=' margin-bottom: 6px;'> Copyright, 1915</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-variant: small-caps;'> Press of</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-variant: small-caps;'> THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO.</p> +<p class='titleblock' style=' font-variant: small-caps;'> Cleveland</p> +</td></tr></table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:20%;" /> +<col style="width:70%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">I</td> + <td align="left">PREPARATIONS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">7</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">II</td> + <td align="left">HALLOWE'EN</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">III</td> + <td align="left">MISS MERRIAM</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">32</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IV</td> + <td align="left">ELISABETH MAKES FRIENDS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">V</td> + <td align="left">THE GOOD SHIP "JASON"</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">56</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VI</td> + <td align="left">CHRISTMAS DAY</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">66</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VII</td> + <td align="left">NEW YEAR'S EVE</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VIII</td> + <td align="left"><span class="smcap">Katharine Leaves</span></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">85</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IX</td> + <td align="left">VALENTINE'S DAY</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">X</td> + <td align="left">ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND THE FIRST OF APRIL</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XI</td> + <td align="left">APRIL 19 AND 23</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XII</td> + <td align="left">WEST POINT</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIII</td> + <td align="left">GRADUATION AND FOURTH OF JULY</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">112</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h1>ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS</h1> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h3>PREPARATIONS</h3> +</div> + +<p>The big brown automobile gave three honks as it swung around the corner +from Church Street. Roger Morton, raking leaves in the yard beside his +house, threw down his rake and vaulted over the gate.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, sir," he called to his grandfather, saluting, soldier +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, son. I stopped to tell you that those pumpkins are +ready for you. If you'll hop in now we can go out and get them and I'll +bring you back again."</p> + +<p>"Good enough!" exclaimed Roger. "I'll tell Mother I'm going. She may +have some message for Grandmother," and he vaulted back over the gate +and dashed up the steps.</p> + +<p>In a minute he was out again and climbing into the car.</p> + +<p>"Where are the girls this afternoon?" inquired Mr. Emerson, as he threw +in the clutch and started toward the outskirts of Rosemont where he had +land enough to allow him to do a little farming.</p> + +<p>"Helen and Ethel Brown have gone to the West Woods," replied Roger, +accounting for his sisters. "Somebody told them that there was a wild +grapevine there that still had yellow leaves bright enough for them to +use for decorating tomorrow evening."</p> + +<p>"I should be afraid last night's frost would have shriveled them. What +are Ethel Blue and Dorothy up to?" asked Mr. Emerson.</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue was Roger's cousin who had lived with the Mortons since her +babyhood. Dorothy Smith was also his cousin. She and her mother lived in +a cottage on Church Street.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span></p> + +<p>"They must be over at Dorothy's working up schemes for tomorrow," Roger +answered his grandfather's question. "I haven't seen them since +luncheon."</p> + +<p>"How many do you expect at your party?"</p> + +<p>"Just two or three more besides the United Service Club. James Hancock +won't be able to come, though. His leg isn't well enough yet."</p> + +<p>"Pretty bad break?"</p> + +<p>"He says it's bad enough to make him remember not to cut corners when +he's driving a car. Any break is too bad in my humble opinion."</p> + +<p>"In mine, too. How many in the Club? Ten?"</p> + +<p>"Ten; yes, sir. There'll be nine of us tomorrow evening—Helen and the +Ethels and Dorothy and Dicky and the two Watkinses and Margaret Hancock. +She's going to spend the night with Dorothy."</p> + +<p>"Anybody from school?"</p> + +<p>"George Foster, the fellow who danced the minuet so well in our show; +and Dr. Edward Watkins is coming out with Tom and Della."</p> + +<p>"Isn't he rather old to come to a kids' party?"</p> + +<p>"Of course he's loads older than we are—he's twenty-five—but he said +he hadn't been to a Hallowe'en party for so long that he wanted to come, +and Tom and Della said he put up such a plaintive wail that they asked +if they might bring him."</p> + +<p>"I suspect he hasn't forgotten how to play," chuckled Grandfather +Emerson, speeding up as they entered the long, open stretch of road that +ended almost at his own door. "Any idea what you're going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Not much. Helen and Ethel Brown are the decoration committee and I'm +the jack-o'-lantern committee, as you know, and Ethel Blue and Dorothy +are thinking up things to do and we're all going to add suggestions. I +think the girls had a note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> from Della this morning with an idea of some +sort in it."</p> + +<p>"You ought to get Burns's poem."</p> + +<p>"On Hallowe'en?"</p> + +<p>"We'll look it up when we get to the house. You may find some 'doings' +you haven't heard of that you can revive for the occasion."</p> + +<p>"We decided that whatever we did do, there were certain stunts we +wouldn't do."</p> + +<p>"Namely?"</p> + +<p>"Swap signs and take off gates and brilliant jokes of that sort."</p> + +<p>"As a Service Club you couldn't very well crack jokes whose point lies +in some one's discomfort, could you?"</p> + +<p>"Those things have looked like dog mean tricks to me and not jokes at +all ever since I saw an old woman at the upper end of Main Street trying +to hang her gate last year the day after Hallowe'en."</p> + +<p>"Too heavy for her?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so. She couldn't do anything with it. I offered to help +her, and she said, 'You might as well, for I suppose you had the fun of +unhanging it last night'."</p> + +<p>"A false accusation, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"It happened to be that time, but I had done it before," confessed +Roger, flushing.</p> + +<p>"You never happened to see the result of it before."</p> + +<p>"That's it. I just thought of the people's surprise when they waked up +in the morning and found their gates gone. I never thought at all of the +real pain and discomfort that it may have given a lot of them."</p> + +<p>"Your Club may be doing a good service to all Rosemont if it proves that +young people can have a good time without making the 'innocent +bystander' pay for it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span></p> + +<p>"We're going to prove it; to ourselves, anyway," insisted Roger stoutly, +as he leaped out of the car and took his grandfather's parcels into the +house.</p> + +<p>"The pumpkins are in the barn," Mr. Emerson called after him. "Go down +there and pick them out when you've given those bundles to your +grandmother."</p> + +<p>The big yellow globes were loaded into the car—half a dozen of +them—and Mr. Emerson drove back to the house. As he stopped at the side +porch for a last word with his wife he gave a cry of recognition.</p> + +<p>"Look who comes here!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Helen and Ethel Brown," guessed Roger. "Don't they look like those +soldiers we read about in 'Macbeth'—the fellows who marched along +holding boughs in their hands so that it looked as if Birnamwood had +come to Dunsinane."</p> + +<p>"Roger is quoting Shakespeare about your personal appearance," laughed +Mr. Emerson as he and his grandson relieved the girls of their burdens.</p> + +<p>They sank down on the steps of the porch and panted.</p> + +<p>"You're tired out," exclaimed their grandmother. "Roger, bring out that +pitcher of lemonade you'll find in the dining-room. How far have you +walked?"</p> + +<p>"About a thousand miles, I should say," declared Helen. "We were bound +we'd get out-of-door decorations if they were to be had, and they +weren't to be had except by hunting."</p> + +<p>"You're like me—I like to use out-of-door things as late as I can; +there are so many months when you have to go to the greenhouse or to +draw on your house plants."</p> + +<p>"Ethel Blue and Dorothy have been educating the Club artistically. +They've been pointing out how much color there is in the fields and the +woods even after the bright autumn colors have gone by."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's quite true. Look at that meadow."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Emerson waved her hand at the field across the road. On it sedges +were waving, softly brown; tufts of mouse-gray goldenrod nodded before +the breeze; chestnut-hued cat-tails stood guard in thick ranks, and a +delicate Indian Summer haze blended all into a harmony of warm, dull +shades.</p> + +<p>"You found your grapevine," said Roger, pouring the lemonade for his +weary sisters, and nodding toward a trail of handsome leaves, splendidly +yellow.</p> + +<p>"It took a hunt, though. What are you doing over here?"</p> + +<p>"Getting the pumpkins Grandfather promised us."</p> + +<p>"You're just in time to have a ride home," said Mr. Emerson.</p> + +<p>"You're in no hurry, Father; let the girls rest a while," urged Mrs. +Emerson. "Can't you make a jack-o'-lantern while you're waiting, Roger?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>ma'am</i>, I can turn you out a truly superior article in a +wonderfully short time," bragged Roger.</p> + +<p>"He really does make them very well," confirmed Helen, "but it's because +he always has the benefit of our valuable advice."</p> + +<p>"Here you are to give it if I need it," said Roger good naturedly. +"We'll show Grandmother what our united efforts can do."</p> + +<p>So the girls leaned back comfortably against the pillars at the sides of +the steps and Mrs. Emerson sat in an arm chair at the top of the flight +and Mr. Emerson sat in the car at the foot of the steps and Roger began +his work.</p> + +<p>"It'll be a wonder if I make anything but a failure with so many +bosses," he complained.</p> + +<p>"Keep your hand steady, old man," teased his grandfather. "Don't let +your knife go through the side or you'll let out a crack of light where +you don't mean to."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span></p> + +<p>"Be sure your knife doesn't slip and cut your fingers," advised Mrs. +Emerson.</p> + +<p>"Save me the inside," begged Ethel Brown. "I'm going to try to make a +pumpkin pie."</p> + +<p>"Save the top for a hat," laughed Helen. "I'll trim it with brown ribbon +and set a new style at school."</p> + +<p>Roger dug away industriously under the spur of these remarks.</p> + +<p>"Is this the first year you've had a Hallowe'en party?" Mrs. Emerson +asked.</p> + +<p>"We used to do a few little things when we were children," Helen +answered; "but for the last few years we've been asked somewhere."</p> + +<p>"And with all due respect to our hosts we did a lot of the stupidest and +meanest things we ever got let in for," declared Roger. "I was telling +Grandfather about some of them coming over."</p> + +<p>"So we made up our minds that we'd celebrate as a club this year, and do +whatever we wanted to. There's a lot more to a party than just the +party," said Ethel Brown wisely.</p> + +<p>Her grandmother nodded.</p> + +<p>"You're right. The preparation is half the fun," she agreed. "And it's +fun to have every part of it perfect—the decorations and the +refreshments as well as whatever it is you do for your main amusement."</p> + +<p>"That's what I think," said Helen. "I like to think that the house is +going to be appropriately dressed for our Hallowe'en party just as much +as we ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't your club give a series of holiday parties?" suggested +Grandfather. "Make each one of them a really appropriate celebration and +not just an ordinary party hung on the holiday as an excuse peg. I +believe you could have some interesting times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> and do some good, too, so +that it could honestly be brought within the scope of your Club's +activities."</p> + +<p>"We seem to have made a start at it without thinking much about it," +said Roger. "The Club had a float, you know, in the Labor Day +procession."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that!" exclaimed Mrs. Emerson.</p> + +<p>"You were in New York for a day or two. Grandfather supplied the float! +Why, we had just come back from Chautauqua a day or two before Labor +Day, you know, and the first thing that happened was that a collector +called to get a contribution from Mother to help out the Labor Day +procession. I was there and I said I didn't believe in taxation without +representation. He laughed and said, 'All right, come on. We'd be glad +to have you in the procession'."</p> + +<p>"You were rather disconcerted at that, I suspect," laughed Mrs. Emerson.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I was, but I hated to take back water, so I said that I belonged +to a club and that I supposed he was going to have all the clubs in +Rosemont represented in some way. He said that was just what they +wanted. They wanted every activity in the town to be shown in some shape +or other."</p> + +<p>"There wasn't time to call a meeting of the club," Helen took up the +story, "so Roger and I came over and talked with Grandfather, and he +lent us a hay rack and we dressed it up with boughs and got the +carpenters to make some very large cut out letters—U. S. C.—two sets +of them, so they could be read on both sides. They were painted white +and stood up high among the green stuff and really looked very pretty. +Everybody asked what it meant."</p> + +<p>"I think it helped a lot when I went about asking for gifts for the +Christmas Ship," said Roger. "Lots of people said, 'Oh, it's your club +that had a float in the Labor Day parade'."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p> + +<p>"If we should work up Grandfather's idea we might have a parade of our +own another year," said Helen.</p> + +<p>"Always co-operate with what already exists, if it's worthy," advised +Mr. Emerson. "Don't get up opposition affairs unless there's a good +reason for doing it."</p> + +<p>"As there is for our Hallowe'en party," insisted Roger.</p> + +<p>"I believe you're right there. There's no reason why you should enter +into 'fool stunts' that are just 'fool stunts,' not worth while in any +way and not even funny."</p> + +<p>"We'd better move on now if Grandfather is to take us over and get back +in time for his own dinner," said Roger.</p> + +<p>"Come, girls, can you pile in all that shrubbery without breaking it? +Put the pumpkins on the bottom of the car, Roger, and the jacks on top +of them. Now be careful where you put your feet. Back in half an hour, +Mother," and he started off with his laughing car load.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h3>HALLOWE'EN</h3> +</div> + +<p>"You're as good as gold to come out and help these youngsters enjoy +themselves," was Mrs. Morton's greeting to Edward Watkins when he +appeared in the evening with Tom and Della.</p> + +<p>"It's they who are as good as gold to let me come," he returned, smiling +pleasantly. He was a handsome young man of about twenty-five, a doctor +whose profession, as yet, did not make serious inroads on his time. +"What are these people going to make us do first," he wondered as Roger +began a distribution of colored bands.</p> + +<p>"These are to tie your eyes with," he explained: "Yellow, you see; +Hallowe'en color. The girls insist on my explaining all their fine +points for fear they won't be appreciated," he said to the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Quite right. I never should have thought about the color."</p> + +<p>"Mother, this is George Foster," said Helen, welcoming a tall boy who +was not a member of the U. S. C. but who had helped at the Club +entertainment by taking part in the minuet. He shook hands with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith and then submitted to having his eyes bandaged. He +was followed by Gregory Patton, another high school lad, and to the +great joy of everybody, James, after all, came on his crutches with +Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, my blindfolded friends," said Roger, "Grandfather tells me +that it is the custom in Scotland where fairies and witches are very +abundant, for the ceremony that we are about to perform to open every +Hallowe'en party. He has it direct from Bobby Burns."</p> + +<p>"Then it's right," came a smothered voice from beneath James' bandage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span></p> + +<p>"James is of Scottish descent and he confirms this statement, so we can +go ahead and be perfectly sure that we're doing the correct thing. Of +course, we all want to know the future and particularly whatever we can +about the person we're going to marry, so that's what we're going to try +to find out at the very start off."</p> + +<p>"Take off my bandage," cried Dicky. "I know the perthon I'm going to +marry."</p> + +<p>A shout of laughter greeted this assertion from the six-year-old.</p> + +<p>"Who is it, Dicky?" asked Helen, her arm around his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to marry Mary," he asserted stoutly.</p> + +<p>There was a renewed peal at this, and Roger went on with his +instructions.</p> + +<p>"I'll lead you two by two to the kitchen door and then you'll go down +the flight of steps and straight ahead for anywhere from ten to twenty +steps. That will land you right in the middle of what the frost has left +of the Morton garden. When you get there you'll 'pull kale'."</p> + +<p>"Meaning?" inquired George Foster.</p> + +<p>"Meaning that you'll feel about until you find a stalk of cabbage and +pull it up."</p> + +<p>"I don't like cabbage," complained Tom Watkins.</p> + +<p>"You'll like this because it will give you a lot of information. If it's +long or short or fat or thin your future husband or wife will correspond +to it."</p> + +<p>"That's the most unromantic thing I ever heard," exclaimed Margaret +Hancock. "I certainly hope my future husband won't be as fat as a +cabbage!"</p> + +<p>"You can tell how great a fortune he's going to have—or she—by the +amount of earth that clings to the stem."</p> + +<p>"Watch me pull mine so g-e-n-t-l-y that not a grain of sand slips off," +said Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you've got courage enough to bite the stem you can find out with +perfect accuracy whether your beloved will have a sweet disposition or +the opposite."</p> + +<p>"In any case he'd have a disposition like a cabbage," insisted Margaret, +who did not like cabbage any more than Tom did.</p> + +<p>"Ready?" Roger marshalled his little army. "Two by two. Doctor and Ethel +Blue, Tom and Dorothy, James and Helen, George and Ethel Brown, Gregory +and Margaret. Come on, Della," and he led the way through the kitchen +where Mary and the cook were hugely entertained by the procession.</p> + +<p>With cries and stumbling they went forth into the cabbage patch, where +they all possessed themselves of stalks which they straightway brought +in to the light of the jack-o'-lanterns to interpret.</p> + +<p>"My lady love will be tall and slender—not to say thin," began Dr. +Watkins. "I see no information here as to the color of her hair and +eyes. Fate cruelly witholds these important facts. I regret to say that +I wooed her so vigorously that I shook off any gold-pieces she may have +had clinging about her so I can only be sure of the golden quality of +her character which I have just discovered by biting it."</p> + +<p>Amid general laughter they all began to read their fortunes. Tom +announced that his beloved was so thin that she was really a candidate +for the attentions of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Animals, and that he couldn't find out anything about her character +because there wasn't enough of her to bite.</p> + +<p>Margaret had pulled a stalk that fulfilled all her expectations as to +size, for it was so short and fat that she could see no relation between +it and anything human and threw it out of the window in disgust.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> The +rest found themselves fitted out with a variety of possibilities.</p> + +<p>"There doesn't seem to be a real tearing beauty among them all," sighed +Roger. "That's what I'd set my heart on."</p> + +<p>"What do you expect from a cabbage?" demanded Margaret scornfully.</p> + +<p>"I want to know whether I'm going to marry a bachelor or a widower or +not marry at all," cried Helen. "Let's try the 'three luggies' next."</p> + +<p>"First cabbages, then 'luggies'," said Della "What are 'luggies'?"</p> + +<p>"'Luggies' are saucers," explained Helen, while James brought a small +table and Ethel Brown arranged three saucers upon it. "In one of them I +put clear water, in another one, sandy water, and nothing at all in the +third. Anybody ready to try? Come, Della."</p> + +<p>Della came forward briskly, but hesitated when she found that she must +be blindfolded.</p> + +<p>"There isn't any trick about it?" she asked suspiciously. "I shouldn't +like to have anything happen to that saucer of sandy water."</p> + +<p>"It won't touch anything but your finger tips, and perhaps not those," +Helen reassured her. "What you are to do is to dip the fingers of your +left hand into one of these saucers. If it proves to be the one with the +clear water you'll marry a bachelor; if it's the sandy one he'll be a +widower, and if it's the empty one you'll be a spinster to your dying +day."</p> + +<p>"You have three tries," cried Ethel Blue, "and the saucers are changed +after each trial, so you have to touch the same one twice to be sure you +really know your fate. Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>"I'm ready," and Della bravely though cautiously dipped the finger tips +of her left hand into the bowl of sandy water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span></p> + +<p>A cheer greeted this result.</p> + +<p>"A widower, a widower," they all cried.</p> + +<p>Helen changed the position of the saucers and Della made another trial. +This time the Fates booked her as a spinster.</p> + +<p>"That's the least trouble of anything," decided roly poly Della who took +life carelessly.</p> + +<p>A third attempt proved that a widower was to be her future helpmate, for +her fingers went into the sandy saucer for a second time.</p> + +<p>"I only hope he won't be an oldy old widower," said Della thoughtfully. +"I couldn't bear to think of marrying any one as old as Edward."</p> + +<p>"I'll thank you to take notice that I haven't got a foot in the grave +just yet, young woman," retorted her brother.</p> + +<p>While some of the others tried their fate by the saucer method, the rest +endeavored to learn their future occupations by means of pouring melted +lead through the handle of a key. Roger brought in a tiny kettle of lead +from the kitchen where Mary had heated it for them and set it down on a +small table on a tea pot stand, so that the heat should not injure the +wood. Taking a large key in his left hand he dipped a spoon into the +lead with his right and poured the contents slowly through the ring at +the end of the handle of the key into a bowl of cold water. The sudden +chill stiffened the lead into curious shapes and from them those who +were clever at translating were to discover what the future held for +them in the way of occupation.</p> + +<p>"Mine looks more like a spinning wheel than anything else," said Roger +who had done it first so that the rest might see how it was +accomplished.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that means that you'll be a manufacturer of cloth," suggested +Margaret. "Mine looks more like a cabbage than anything else. You don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +think it can mean that I shall have to devote myself to that husband I +pulled out of the cabbage patch?"</p> + +<p>"It may. Or it might mean that you'll be a gardener. Lots of women are +going in for gardening now. By the time you're ready to start that may +be a favored occupation for girls," said Dr. Watkins.</p> + +<p>"Here are several things that we can do one at a time while the rest of +us are doing something else," said Helen. "They have to be done alone or +the spell won't work."</p> + +<p>"Let's hear them," begged Gregory, while he and the others grouped +themselves about the open fire in the living room and prepared to burn +nuts.</p> + +<p>"The first one, according to Burns, is to go alone to the kiln and put a +clew of yarn in the kiln pot."</p> + +<p>"What does that mean translated into Rosemont language?" demanded James.</p> + +<p>"James the Scotsman asks for information! However, there's some excuse +for him. Translated into Rosemont language it means that you go to the +laundry and put a ball of yarn into the wash boiler."</p> + +<p>"Easy so far."</p> + +<p>"Take an end of the ball and begin to wind the yarn into a new ball. +When you come near the end you'll find that something or some one will +be holding it—"</p> + +<p>"Roger, I'll bet!"</p> + +<p>"You demand to know the name of your future wife and a hollow voice from +out the wash boiler will tell you her name."</p> + +<p>"I shan't try that one. There's too good a chance for Roger to put in +some of his tricks. What's the next?"</p> + +<p>"Take a candle and go to the Witches' Cave—that's the dining room—and +stand in front of the looking glass that's on a little table in the +corner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> and eat an apple. The face of your future wife or husband will +appear over your shoulder."</p> + +<p>"I'll try that. I could stand a face that kept still, but to have an +unknown creature pulling my yarn and bawling my wife's name would upset +my nerves!"</p> + +<p>"Here's the last one. Go into the garden just as we did to pull the +kale. Over at the right hand side there's a stack of barley. It's really +corn, but we've re-christened it for tonight. You measure it three times +round with your arms and at the end of the third round your beloved will +rush into them."</p> + +<p>"If he proves to be my cabbage spouse you'll hear loud shrieks from +little Margaret!" declared that young woman.</p> + +<p>"Here are my nuts to burn," said Ethel Blue, putting two chestnuts side +by side on the hearth. "One is Della and the other is Ethel Blue," and +she tapped them in turn as she gave them their names.</p> + +<p>"What's this for?" asked Della, hearing her name used.</p> + +<p>"This is to see if you and I will always be friends. That right hand nut +is you and the left hand is me—no, I." Conscientious Ethel Blue +interrupted herself to correct her grammar. "If we burn cosily side by +side we'll stay friends a long time, but if one of us jumps or burns up +before the other, she'll be the one to break the friendship."</p> + +<p>"I hope I shan't be the one," and both girls sat down on the rug to +watch their namesakes closely.</p> + +<p>"Here are Margaret and her cabbage man," laughed Tom. "This delicate, +slender chestnut is Margaret and this big round one is Mr. Stalk of the +Cabbage Patch. Now we'll see how that match is going to turn out."</p> + +<p>Margaret laughed good naturedly with the rest and they watched this pair +as well as the others.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></p> + +<p>"Roger and I had a squabble yesterday," admitted Ethel Brown. "Here is +Roger and here is Ethel Brown. Let's see how we are going to get on in +the future."</p> + +<p>"Where is Roger really?" some one asked, but at that instant Ethel +Blue's nut and Della's caught fire and burned steadily side by side +without any demonstrations, and every one looking on was so absorbed in +translating the meaning of the blaze that no one pursued the question.</p> + +<p>That is, not until a shriek from the Witches' Cave rang through the +house and sent them all flying to see who was in trouble. Dorothy was +found coming out of the dining room, mirror in hand, and a strange tale +on her lips.</p> + +<p>"If there's any truth in this Hallowe'en prophecy," she said with +trembling voice, "my future husband will be worse than Margaret's +cabbage man. The face that looked over my shoulder was exactly like a +jack-o'-lantern's."</p> + +<p>"It was? Where's Roger?" Dr. Watkins demanded instantly, while James +hobbled to the front door and announced that the jack had disappeared +from the front porch.</p> + +<p>"Did any one ask for Roger?" demanded a cool voice, and Roger was seen +coming down stairs.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, numerous people asked for Roger. How did you do it?"</p> + +<p>"Do what? Has anything happened in my absence?"</p> + +<p>"Not a thing has happened in your <i>absence</i>. Just tell us how you +managed it."</p> + +<p>"I know," guessed Helen. "He went outside and took the jack from the +porch and carried it through the kitchen, into the dining room where it +smiled over Dorothy's shoulder, and then he went into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> kitchen again +and up the back stairs. Wasn't that it, Roger?"</p> + +<p>"Young woman, you are wiser than your years," was all that Roger would +say.</p> + +<p>While they were teasing him a shouting in the garden sent them all to +the back windows and doors. In the dim light of the young moon two +figures were seen wrestling. It was evidently a good natured struggle, +for peals of laughter fell on the ears of the listeners. When one of +them dragged the other toward the house the figures proved to be Tom +Watkins and George Foster.</p> + +<p>"I was measuring the barley stack," explained Tom breathlessly, "and +just as I made the third round and was eagerly expecting my future bride +to rush into my arms, something did rush into my arms, but I'll leave it +to the opinion of the meeting whether <i>this</i> can be my future bride!" +and he held at arm's length by the coat collar the laughing, squirming +figure of George Foster.</p> + +<p>It was unanimously agreed that George did not have the appearance of a +bride, and then they went back to the hall to bob for apples. Roger +spread a rubber blanket on the floor and drew the tub from its hiding +place in the corner where it had been waiting its turn in the games.</p> + +<p>While the boys were making these arrangements Dorothy and Helen were +busily trying to dispose of the two ends of the same string which +stretched from one mouth to the other with a tempting raisin tied in the +middle to encourage them to effort. It was forbidden to use the hands +and tongues proved not always reliable. Now Dorothy seemed ahead, now +Helen. Finally the victory seemed about to be Helen's, when she laughed +and lost several inches of string and Dorothy triumphantly devoured the +prize.</p> + +<p>When the girls turned to see what the boys were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> doing, Gregory and +James were already bobbing for apples. One knelt at one side of the tub +and the other at the other, and each had his eye, when it was not full +of water, fixed on one of the apples that were bouncing busily about on +the waves caused by their own motions.</p> + +<p>"I speak for the red one," gasped Gregory.</p> + +<p>"All right! I'll go for the greening," agreed James, and they puffed and +sputtered, and were quite unable to fix their teeth in the sides of the +slippery fruit until James drove his head right down to the bottom of +the tub where he fastened upon the apple and came up dripping, but +triumphant.</p> + +<p>Stimulated by the applause that greeted James, Tom and Roger tossed in +two apples and began a new contest.</p> + +<p>"This isn't a girls' game is it?" murmured Helen as Tom won his apple by +the same means that James had used.</p> + +<p>"Not unless you're willing to forget your hair," replied Dr. Watkins.</p> + +<p>"You can't forget it when it takes so long to dry it," Helen answered. +"I'm content to let the boys have this entirely to themselves."</p> + +<p>While the half drowned boys went up to Roger's room to dry their faces +the girls prepared nut boats to set sail upon the same ocean that had +floated the apples. They had cracked English walnuts carefully so that +the two halves fell apart neatly, and in place of the meats they had +packed a candle end tightly into each.</p> + +<p>"We have the comfort of the apple even when we're defeated," said +Gregory, coming down stairs, eating the fruit that he had not been able +to capture without the use of his hands. "What have you got there?"</p> + +<p>"Here's a boat apiece," explained Helen. "We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> must each put a tiny flag +of some sort on it so that we can tell which is which."</p> + +<p>"This way?" George asked. "I've put a pin through a scrap of corn husk +and stuck it on to the end of this craft."</p> + +<p>"That's right. We must find something different for each one. Mine is a +black-alder berry. See how red and bright it is?"</p> + +<p>It was not hard for each to find an emblem.</p> + +<p>"Watch me hoist the admiral's flag at the mainmast," said Roger, but the +match that he set up for a mast caught fire almost as soon as the +candles were lighted in the miniature fleet. His flag fell overboard, +however, and was not injured.</p> + +<p>"See that?" he commented. "That just proves that the flag of the U. S. A. +can never perish," and the others greeted his words with cheers.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty sight—the whole fleet afloat, each bit of candle +burning clearly and each little craft tossing on the waves that Dr. +Watkins produced by gently tipping the tub.</p> + +<p>"This is also an attempt to gain some knowledge of the future," said +Helen. "We must watch these boats and see which ones stay close together +and which go far apart, and whether any of them are shipwrecked, and +which ones seem to have the smoothest voyage."</p> + +<p>"Della's and mine are sticking together just the way our nuts did," +cried Ethel Blue, and she slipped her hand into Della's and gave it a +little squeeze.</p> + +<p>After the loss of its mainmast at the very beginning Roger's craft had +no more mishaps. It slid alongside of James's and together they bobbed +gently across life's stormy seas.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if you and I were going into partnership, old man," James +interpreted their behavior.</p> + +<p>The other boats seemed to need no especial companionship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> but floated on +independently, only Gregory's coming to an untimely end from a heavy +wave that washed over it and capsized it.</p> + +<p>"I seem to hear a summons from the Witches' Cave," murmured Helen in an +awed whisper as a sound like the wind whistling through pine trees fell +on their ears, resolving itself as they listened into the words, "Come! +Come! Come!"</p> + +<p>Quietly they arose and tiptoed their way toward the dining room. They +could only enter it by penetrating the thicket of boughs that barred the +door. As they came nearer the voice retreated—"Almost as if it were +going into the kitchen," whispered Margaret to Tom who happened to be +next to her. The only light in the room came from a pan of alcohol and +salt burning greenly in a corner and casting an unnatural hue over their +faces. The black cats, their eyes touched with phosphorus, glared down +from the plate rail.</p> + +<p>Again the voice was heard:—"Gather, gather about the festal board."</p> + +<p>"We must obey the witches," urged Helen, and they sat down in the chairs +which they found placed at the table in just the right number. Into the +dim room from the kitchen came two figures dressed in long black capes +and pointed red hats and bearing each a dish heaped high with cakes of +some sort.</p> + +<p>"I just have to tell you what these are," said Ethel Brown in her +natural voice as she and Ethel Blue marched around the table and placed +one dish before Roger at one end and another before Helen at the other. +"It's sowens."</p> + +<p>"Sowens? What in the world are sowens?" everybody questioned.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather told us that Burns says that sowens eaten with butter +always make the Hallowe'en supper,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> so we looked up in the Century +Dictionary how to make them and this is the result."</p> + +<p>"Do you think they're safe?" inquired Della.</p> + +<p>"There's a doctor here to take care of us if anything happens," laughed +James. "I'm game. Give me a chance at them."</p> + +<p>Roger and Helen began a distribution of the cakes.</p> + +<p>"Sowens is—or are—good," decided Dr. Watkins, tasting his cake slowly, +and pronouncing judgment on it after due deliberation.</p> + +<p>"We tried them yesterday to make sure they were eatable by Americans, +and we thought they were pretty good, smoking hot, with butter on them, +just as Burns directed."</p> + +<p>"Right. They are," agreed all the boys promptly, and the girls agreed +with them, though they were not quite so enthusiastic in their +expression of appreciation as the boys.</p> + +<p>Baked apples, nuts and raisins, countless cookies of various lands and +hot gingerbread made an appetizing meal. As it was coming to an end +Helen rapped on the table.</p> + +<p>"Please let me pretend this is a club meeting for a minute or two +instead of a party. I want to tell the people here who aren't members of +the U. S. C. what it is we are trying to do."</p> + +<p>"We know," responded George. "You're working for the Christmas Ship. +Didn't I dance in your minuet?"</p> + +<p>"We are working for the Christmas Ship, but that is only one thing that +the Club does."</p> + +<p>"What do the initials mean?" asked Gregory.</p> + +<p>"United Service Club. You see Father is in the Navy and Uncle Richard is +in the Army so we have the United Service in the family. But that is +just a family pun. The real purpose of the Club is to do some service +for somebody whenever we can."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p> + +<p>"Something on the Boy Scout idea of doing a kindness ever day," nodded +Dr. Watkins.</p> + +<p>"Just now it's the Christmas Ship and after that sails we'll hunt up +something else. Why I told you about it now is because we planned to go +out in a few minutes and go up and down some of the streets, and—"</p> + +<p>"Lift gates?" asked Gregory.</p> + +<p>"No, not lift gates. That's the point. We couldn't very well be a +service club and do mean things to people just for the fun of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, lifting gates isn't mean."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it! I don't believe you'd find it enormously entertaining to hunt +up your gate the next day and re-hang it, would you?"</p> + +<p>Gregory admitted that perhaps it would not.</p> + +<p>"So we're going out to play good fairies instead of bad ones, and if any +of you knows anybody we can do a good turn to, please speak up."</p> + +<p>"That's the best scheme I've heard in some time," said Edward Watkins +admiringly. "Let's start. I'm all impatience to be a good fairy."</p> + +<p>So they said "good-night" to Dicky, bundled into their coats and each +one of the boys took a jack-o'-lantern to light the way. Roger also +carried a kit that bulged with queer shapes, and the girls each had a +parcel whose contents was not explained by the president.</p> + +<p>"Lead the way, Roger," she commanded as they left the house.</p> + +<p>"Church Street first," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Church Street? I wonder if he's going to do Mother and me a good turn," +giggled Dorothy.</p> + +<p>It proved that he was not, for he passed the Smith cottage and went on +until he came to the house in which lived the Misses Clark. Roger was +taking care of their furnace, together with his mother's and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> his Aunt +Louise's, in order to earn money for the expenses of the Club, and he +had discovered that these old ladies were not very happy in spite of +living in a comfortable house and apparently having everything they +needed.</p> + +<p>"These Misses Clark are lonely," he whispered as they gathered before +the door. "They think nobody cares for them—and nobody does much, to +tell the honest truth. So here's where we sing two songs for them," and +without waiting for any possible objections he broke into "The Christmas +Ship" which they all knew, and followed it with "Sister Susie's Sewing +Shirts for Soldiers."</p> + +<p>"Not very appropriate, but they'll do," whispered Roger to Dr. Watkins, +whose clear tenor supported him. Dorothy's sweet voice soared high, +Tom's croak made a heavy background, and the more or less tuneful voices +of the others added a hearty body of sound. There was no response from +the house except that a corner of an upstairs curtain was drawn aside +for an instant.</p> + +<p>"They probably think they won't find anything left on their front porch +when they come down in the morning. They've had Hallowe'en visits +before, poor ladies," said Gregory as they tramped away.</p> + +<p>The next visit was to a different part of the town. Here the girls left +two of their bundles which proved to contain apples and cookies.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe these people ever have a cent they can afford to spend +on foolishness like this," Helen explained to Dr. Watkins, "but they +aren't the sort of people you can give things to openly, so we thought +we'd take this opportunity," and she smiled happily and went on behind +Roger's leadership.</p> + +<p>This time the visit was to the Atwoods, the old couple down by the +bridge. Roger had been interested in them for a long time. They were not +suffering,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> for a son supported them, but both were almost crippled with +rheumatism and sometimes the old man found the little daily chores about +the house hard to do, and often the old woman longed for a little +amusement of which she was deprived because she could not go to visit +her friends. It was here that Roger's kit came into play. He took from +it several hatchets and distributed them to the boys.</p> + +<p>"We're going to chop the gentleman's kindling and stack up the wood +that's lying round here while the girls sing to the old people," he +announced.</p> + +<p>So the plan was carried out. The girls gathered about the doorstep, and, +led by Dorothy, sang cradle songs and folk songs and a hymn or two, +while the boys toiled away behind the house. Again there was no +response.</p> + +<p>"Probably they've gone to bed," guessed Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"I imagine they're lying awake, though," said Ethel Blue softly.</p> + +<p>It is an old adage that "many hands make light work," and it is equally +true that they turn off a lot of it, so at the end of half an hour the +old peoples' wood pile was in apple pie order and the yard was in a +spick and span condition.</p> + +<p>There were two more calls before the procession turned home and at both +houses bundles of goodies were left for children who would not be apt to +have them. On the way back to the house the U. S. C.'s came across the +trail of a Hallowe'en party of the usual kind, and they pleased +themselves mightily by hanging two gates which they found unhung, and by +restoring to their proper places several signs which some village +wit—"or witling," suggested Dr. Watkins—had misplaced.</p> + +<p>The evening ended with the cutting of a cake in which was baked a ring.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span></p> + +<p>"The one who gets the ring in his slice will be married first," +announced Mrs. Morton, who had prepared the cake as a surprise for those +who had been surprising others.</p> + +<p>They cut it with the greatest care and slowly, one after the other. To +the delight of all Dr. Watkins's slice proved to contain the ring.</p> + +<p>"I rather imagine that's the most suitable arrangement the ring could +have made," laughed Mrs. Smith.</p> + +<p>"If one of these youngsters had found it, it would have meant that I'd +have to wait a long time for my turn," he laughed back. "Wish me luck."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h3>MISS MERRIAM</h3> +</div> + +<p>The first fortnight of November rushed by with the final preparations +for the sailing of the Christmas Ship filling every moment of the time +of the members of the United Service Club. When at last their three +packing cases of gifts were expressed to Brooklyn, they drew a sigh of +relief, but when the <i>Jason</i> actually left the pier they felt as if all +purpose had been taken out of their lives.</p> + +<p>This feeling did not linger with them long, however, for it was not many +days later that there appeared at the Morton's a Red Cross nurse, +invalided home from Belgium, bringing with her the Belgian baby which +they had begged their teacher, Mademoiselle Millerand, who had joined +the French Red Cross, to send them.</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, the arrival of the baby was entirely unexpected. It had +come about in this way. When the club went to bid farewell to +Mademoiselle Millerand on the steamer they learned that she hoped to be +sent to some hospital in Belgium. Ethel Blue, who had been reading a +great deal about the suffering of the women and children in Belgium, +cried, "Belgium! Oh, do send us a Belgian baby!" The rest had taken up +the cry and James had had the discomfiture of being kissed by an +enthusiastic French woman on the pier who was delighted with their +warmheartedness.</p> + +<p>At intervals they mentioned the Belgian baby, but quite as a joke and +not at all as a possibility. So when the Red Cross nurse came with her +tiny charge and told them how Mademoiselle Millerand had not been able +to resist taking their offer seriously since it meant help and perhaps +life itself for this little warworn child, they were thoroughly +surprised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p> + +<p>Their surprise, however, did not prevent them from rising to meet the +situation. Indeed, it would have been hard for any one to resist the +appeal made by the pale little creature whose hands were too weak to do +more than clutch faintly at a finger and whose eyes were too weary to +smile.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morton took her to her arms and heart at once. So did all the +members of the Club and it was when they gave a cheer for "Elisabeth of +Belgium," that she made her first attempt at laughter. Mademoiselle had +written that her name was Elisabeth and the nurse said that she called +herself that, but, so far as her new friends could find out, that was +the extent of her vocabulary. "Ayleesabet," she certainly was, but the +remainder of her remarks were not only few but so uncertain that they +could not tell whether she was trying to speak Flemish or French or a +language of her own.</p> + +<p>The nurse was obliged to return at once to New York, and the Mortons +found themselves at nightfall in the position of having an unexpected +guest for whom there was no provision. Even the wardrobe of the new +member of the family was almost nothing, consisting of the garments she +was wearing and an extra gingham dress which a woman in the steerage of +the ship had taken from her own much larger child to give to the waif.</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet" ate her supper daintily, like one who has been so near the +borderland of starvation that he cannot understand the uses of plenty, +and then she went heavily to sleep in Ethel Blue's lap before the fire +in the living room.</p> + +<p>Aunt Louise and Dorothy came over from their cottage to join the +conference.</p> + +<p>"It is really a considerable problem," said Mrs. Morton thoughtfully. +"These children here say they are going to attend to her clothing, and +it's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> right they should, for she is the Club baby; but there are other +questions that are serious. Where, for instance, is she going to sleep?"</p> + +<p>A laugh rippled over the room as she asked the question, for the +sleeping accommodations of the Morton house were regarded as a joke +since the family was so large and the house was so small that a guest +always meant a considerable process of rearrangement.</p> + +<p>"It isn't any laughing matter, girls. She can have Dicky's old crib, of +course, but where shall we put it?"</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly clear to me," said Mrs. Smith, responding to an +appealing glance from Dorothy, "that the baby must come to us. Dorothy +and I have plenty of room in the cottage, and it would be a very great +happiness to both of us—the greatest happiness that has come to me +since—since—"</p> + +<p>She hesitated and Dorothy knew that she was thinking about the baby +brother who had died years ago.</p> + +<p>"It does seem the best way," replied Mrs. Morton, "but—"</p> + +<p>"'But me no buts'," quoted Mrs. Smith, smiling. "The baby's coming is +equally sudden to all of us, only I happen to be a bit better prepared +for an unexpected guest, because I have more space. Then Dorothy has +been just as crazy as the other girls to have a 'Belgian baby,' and she +shouted just as loudly as anybody at the pier—I heard her."</p> + +<p>"Always excepting James," Ethel Brown reminded them and they all +laughed, remembering James and his Gallic salute.</p> + +<p>"Don't take her tonight, Aunt Louise," begged Ethel Blue. "Let us have +her just one night. We can put Dicky's crib into our room between Ethel +Brown's bed and mine."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span></p> + +<p>It was finally decided that Elisabeth should not be taken to Dorothy's +until the next day, but Mrs. Morton insisted on keeping her in her own +room for the night.</p> + +<p>"She has such a slight hold on life that she ought to have an +experienced eye watching her for some time to come," she said.</p> + +<p>All the girls assisted at the baby's going to bed ceremonies, and tall +Helen felt a catch in her throat no less than Ethel Blue at sight of the +wasted legs and arms and hollow chest.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, now," said Aunt Louise when they had gone down stairs again, +leaving Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown to sit in the next room until their +own bedtime, so that the faintest whimper might not go unheard. "I +wonder where we are going to find some one competent to take care of +this baby. A child in such a condition needs more than ordinary care; +she needs skilled care."</p> + +<p>"Mary might have some relatives," Dorothy began, when Helen made a +rushing suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Why not go to the School of Mothercraft? You remember, it was at +Chautauqua for the summer? And it's back in New York now. I've been +meaning to ask you or Grandmother or Aunt Louise to take me there some +Saturday, only we've been so busy with the Ship we didn't have time for +anything else. You remember it?" she asked anxiously, for she had +especial reasons for wanting her mother to remember the School of +Mothercraft.</p> + +<p>"Certainly I remember it, and I believe it will give us just what we +want now. It's a new sort of school," she explained to Mrs. Smith. "The +students are young women who are studying the science and art of +home-making. They are working out home problems in a real home in which +there are real children."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span></p> + +<p>"Babies and all?"</p> + +<p>"Babies and children of other sizes. I'm going to study there when I +leave college. Mother says I may," cried Helen, delighted that her +favorite school was on the point of proving its usefulness in her own +family.</p> + +<p>"Can you get mother helpers from there?"</p> + +<p>"You can, and they're scientifically trained young women. Many of them +are college graduates who are taking this as graduate work."</p> + +<p>"Then I should say that the thing for us to do," said Mrs. Smith, "was +to leave the baby in Mary's care tomorrow and go in to New York and see +what we can find at the School of Mothercraft. Will the students be +willing to break in on their course?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, but the Director of the school is sure to know of some of +her former pupils who will be available. That was a brilliant idea of +yours, Helen," and Helen sank back into her chair pleased at the gentle +stroke of approval that went from her mother's hand to hers.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Mrs. Smith were just preparing to go home when the bell rang +and Dr. Hancock was announced.</p> + +<p>"James and Margaret came home with a wonderful tale of a foundling with +big eyes," he said when, he had greeted everybody, "and I thought I'd +better come over and have a look at her. I should judge she'd need +pretty close watching for a long time."</p> + +<p>"She will," assented Mrs. Morton, and told him of their plan to secure a +helper from the School of Mothercraft.</p> + +<p>"The very best thing you can do," the doctor agreed heartily. "I'm on +the Advisory Board of the School with several other physicians and I +don't know any institution I approve of more heartily."</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet" was found to be sleeping deeply, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> her breathing was +even and her skin properly moist and the physician was satisfied.</p> + +<p>"I'll run over every day for a week or two," he promised. "We must make +the little creature believe American air is the best tonic in the +world."</p> + +<p>If the U. S. C. had had its way every member would have gone with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith when they made their trip of inquiry on the next +day. As it was, they decided that it was of some importance that Helen +should go with them, and so they went at a later hour than they had at +first intended, so that she might join them.</p> + +<p>"There's no recitation at the last period," she explained, "and I can +make up the study hour in the evening."</p> + +<p>When the news of the baby's arrival was telephoned to Mrs. Emerson she +suggested a farther change of plan.</p> + +<p>"Let me go, too," she said; "I'll call in the car for you and Louise and +we'll pick up Helen at the schoolhouse and we shall travel so fast that +it will make up for the later start."</p> + +<p>Everybody thought that a capital suggestion, and Mrs. Emerson arrived +half an hour early so that she might make the acquaintance of Elisabeth. +The waif was not demonstrative but she was entirely friendly.</p> + +<p>"She seems to have forgotten how to play, if she ever knew," said Mrs. +Morton, "but we hope she'll learn soon."</p> + +<p>"She sees so many new faces it's a wonder she doesn't howl continually," +said Mary to whose kindly finger Elisabeth was clinging steadfastly as +she gazed seriously into Mrs. Emerson's smiling face. Then for the +second time since her arrival she smiled. It was a smile that brought +tears to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> eyes, so faint and sad was it, but it was a smile after +all, and they all stood about, happy in her approval.</p> + +<p>"You two have your own children and Father and I are all alone now," +said Grandmother, wiping her eyes. "Let us have Elisabeth. We need +her—and we should love her so."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried both of the younger women in tones of such disappointment +that Mrs. Emerson saw at once that if she wanted a nursling she must +look for another, not Elisabeth of Belgium.</p> + +<p>"After all, perhaps it is better for her," she admitted. "Here she will +have the children and will grow up among young people. Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>When they picked up Helen she had a request to make of her grandmother.</p> + +<p>"I telephoned about the baby to Margaret at recess, just to tell her +Elisabeth was well this morning, and she was awfully interested in the +idea of the helper from the School of Mothercraft. She gets out of +school earlier than we do—she'd be just home. I'm sure she wouldn't +keep you waiting. And the house is only a step from the main +street—can't we take her?"</p> + +<p>So Margaret was added to the party that sped on to the ferry. To +everybody's surprise, when they reached the New York end of the ferry +Edward Watkins signalled the chauffeur to stop.</p> + +<p>"Roger telephoned Tom and Della about the baby," he explained, "and +about your coming in today and I thought perhaps I might do something to +help. I don't want to intrude—"</p> + +<p>"We're going to the School of Mothercraft," said Mrs. Morton, "and we'd +be glad to have you go with us. I don't know that we shall need to call +on your professional advice but if you can spare the time we'd like to +have you."</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately, time is the commodity I'm richest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> in," smiled the young +doctor, taking the seat beside the chauffeur.</p> + +<p>The ride up town was a pleasure to the girls who did not often come to +the city, and then seldom had an opportunity to ride in any automobile +but a taxi-cab. As soon as possible they swung in to Fifth Avenue, whose +brilliant shop windows and swiftly moving traffic excited them. They +were quite thrilled when they drew up before a pretty house, no +different in appearance from any of its neighbors, except that an +unobtrusive sign notified seekers that they had found the right place.</p> + +<p>"It's a school to learn home-making in," Helen explained to Margaret in +a low tone as they followed the elders up the steps, "so it ought to be +in a real house and not a schoolhouse-y place."</p> + +<p>Margaret nodded, for they were being ushered into a cheerful reception +room, simply but attractively furnished. In a minute they were being +greeted by the Director who remembered meeting at Chautauqua all of them +except Edward, and she recalled other members of his family and +especially the Watkins bull-dog, Cupid, who was a prominent figure in +Chautauqua life.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morton explained their errand, and also the reasons that had +brought so large a number of them to the School.</p> + +<p>"We're a deputation representing several families and a club, all of +which are interested in the baby, but I should like to have the young +woman you select for us understand that we are going to rely on her +knowledge and skill, and that she won't be called to account by a +council of war every time she washes the baby's face."</p> + +<p>The Director smiled.</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," she said. "I think I know just the young woman you +want. She finished her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> course here last May, and then she went with me +to Chautauqua for the summer and helped me there with the work we did in +measurements and in making out food schedules and so on for children +whose mothers brought them to us for our advice. Miss Merriam—Gertrude +Merriam is her name—is taking just one course here now, and I think +she'll be willing to give it up and glad to undertake the care of a baby +that needs such special attention as your little waif."</p> + +<p>The whole party followed the Director upstairs and looked over with +interest the scientifically appointed rooms. There was a kindergarten +where those of the children in the house who were old enough, together +with a few from outside, were taught in the morning hours. The nursery +with its spotless white beds and furniture and its simple and +appropriate pictures was as good to look at as a hospital ward, "and a +lot pleasanter," said Dr. Watkins. Out of it opened a wee roof garden +and there a few of the children dressed in thick coats and warm hoods +were playing, while a sweet-faced young woman sitting on the floor +seemed quite at home with them. She tried to rise as the Director's +party came out unexpectedly on her. Her foot caught in her skirt and Dr. +Watkins sprang forward to give her a helping hand.</p> + +<p>"This is Miss Merriam of whom I was speaking," said the Director, +introducing her. "Will you ask Miss Morgan to come out here with the +children and will you join us in the study?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Miss Merriam assented and when her successor arrived the flock went in +again to see the children's dining-room and the arrangements made for +doing special cooking for such of them as needed it.</p> + +<p>"We try not to have elaborate equipment," explained the Director. "I +want my young women to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> be able to work with what any mother provides +for her home and not to be dependent on machines and utensils that are +seldom found outside of hospitals. They are learning thoroughly the +scientific side. Miss Merriam, who, I hope, will go to you, is a college +graduate, and in college she studied biology and food values and +ventilation and sanitation and such matters. Since she has been here she +has reviewed all that work under the physicians who lecture here, and +she has practised first aid and made a special study of infant +requirements. You couldn't have any one better trained for what you +need."</p> + +<p>Dr. Watkins gave his chair to Miss Merriam when she came to join the +conference, and asked Mrs. Morton by a motion of the eyebrows if he +should withdraw. When her reply was negative he sat down again. Miss +Merriam blushed as she faced the group but she was entirely at her ease. +Mrs. Morton explained their need.</p> + +<p>"A Belgian baby!" she cried. "And you want me to take care of her! Why, +Mrs. Morton, there's nothing in the world I should like better. The poor +little dud! When shall I go to you?"</p> + +<p>"Just as soon as you can," replied Mrs. Morton. "We've left her today in +charge of my little boy's old nurse, but as soon as you come we shall +move her to my sister-in-law's."</p> + +<p>Miss Merriam turned inquiringly to Mrs. Smith, who smiled in return.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Smith has only her daughter and herself in her family so she has +more space in her house than I have."</p> + +<p>"But it's just round the corner from us so we can see the baby every +day," cried Helen.</p> + +<p>"I can go to Rosemont early tomorrow morning," said Miss Merriam. "Tell +me, please, how to reach there."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span></p> + +<p>She glanced at Mrs. Morton, but Dr. Watkins answered her.</p> + +<p>"If you'll allow me," he said; "I have an errand in Rosemont tomorrow +and I'd be very glad to show you the way."</p> + +<p>Miss Merriam's blue eyes rested on him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"I'm an 'in-law' of the Club," he explained. "My brother and sister, Tom +and Della, are devoted members of the U. S. C. and sometimes they let me +join them."</p> + +<p>"The doctor's bull-dog is an 'in-law,' too," laughed Mrs. Smith. "Don't +you remember him at Chautauqua?"</p> + +<p>"The dog with the perfectly <i>extraordinary</i> face? I do indeed remember +him," and the inquiring blue eyes twinkled.</p> + +<p>"He appeared in an entertainment that the Club gave a few weeks ago for +the Christmas Ship and I think he received more applause than any other +performer."</p> + +<p>"I'm not surprised," exclaimed Miss Merriam. "Thank you, Dr. Watkins, I +shall be glad of your help," and Edward had a comfortable feeling that +he was accepted as a friend, though he was not quite sure whether it was +on his own merits or because he had a share in the ownership of a dog +with an <i>extraordinary</i> face.</p> + +<p>He did not care which it was, however, when he called the next morning +and found Miss Merriam waiting for him. She was well tailored and her +handbag was all that it should be.</p> + +<p>"I hate messy girls with messy handbags," he thought to himself after a +sweeping glance had assured him that there was nothing "messy" about +this Mothercraft girl. The blue eyes were serious this morning, but they +had a laugh in them, too, when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> told her of the way the Belgian baby +was first called for, upon a young girl's impulse, and the reward James +Hancock had received for his cordial joining in the cry.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to like them all, every one of them," Miss Merriam said in +the soft voice that was at the same time clear and firm.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure they'll like you," responded Edward.</p> + +<p>"I hope they will. I shall try to make them. But the baby will be a +delight, any way."</p> + +<p>At Rosemont, to Dr. Watkins's disappointment, they found Grandmother +Emerson and the automobile waiting at the station. Edward bowed his +farewell and went off upon his errand, and Mrs. Emerson and Miss Merriam +drove to Mrs. Smith's where they found Elisabeth already installed in a +sunny room out of which opened another for Miss Merriam. The arrangement +had been made by Dorothy's moving into a smaller chamber over the front +door.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind it a bit," she declared to her mother, "and please don't +say a word about it to Miss Merriam—she might feel badly."</p> + +<p>So Gertrude Merriam accepted her room all unconsciously, and rejoiced in +its brightness. The baby was lying before the window of her own room +when Gertrude entered. It moved a listless hand as she knelt beside it.</p> + +<p>"You little darling creature!" she exclaimed and Elisabeth gave her +infrequent smile as if she knew that woman's love and science were going +to work together for her.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h3>ELISABETH MAKES FRIENDS</h3> +</div> + +<p>Under Miss Merriam's skilful care Elisabeth of Belgium slowly climbed +the hill of health. She had grown so weak that she required to be +treated like a child much younger than she really was. Miss Merriam gave +her extremely nourishing food in small amounts and often; she made her +rest hours as long as those of a baby of a year and her naps were always +taken in the open air, where she lay warmly curled up in soft rugs like +a little Eskimo. At night she and her care-taker slept on an upper porch +where she drew deep draughts of fresh air far down into the depths of +her tiny relaxed body.</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet"—everybody adopted her own pronunciation—was napping in +Dicky's old perambulator on the porch of Dorothy's cottage one Saturday +morning early in December. The Ethels, their coat collars turned up and +rugs wrapping their knees, were keeping guard beside her. Both of them +were alternately knitting and warming their fingers.</p> + +<p>"When she wakes up we can roll her down the street a little way," said +Ethel Blue.</p> + +<p>"Did Miss Merriam say so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she said we might keep her out until twelve."</p> + +<p>"Are the Hancocks and Watkinses coming early to the Club meeting?"</p> + +<p>"About half past two. The afternoons are so short now that they thought +they'd better come early so it wouldn't be pitch black night when they +got home."</p> + +<p>"We ought to do some planning for Christmas this afternoon. There's a +lot to think about."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's one Christmas gift I wish Aunt Marian would give us."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Ethel Brown expectantly for she had great faith in +the ideas that Ethel Blue brought forth now and then.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it would be nice if she would let us have a visit from +Katharine Jackson for one of our presents?"</p> + +<p>Katharine Jackson was the daughter of an army officer stationed at Fort +Edward in Buffalo. Her father and Ethel Blue's father had been in the +same class at West Point and her mother had known Ethel Blue's mother +who had died when she was a tiny baby. The two Ethels had had a week-end +with Katharine the previous summer, going to Buffalo from Chautauqua for +the purpose of spending a glorious Saturday at Niagara Falls.</p> + +<p>"O-oh!" cried Ethel Brown, "that's one of the finest things you ever +thought of! Let's speak to Mother as soon as we go home and write to +Mrs. Jackson and Katharine this afternoon if she says 'yes'."</p> + +<p>"I'm almost sure she will say 'yes'."</p> + +<p>"So am I. If Katharine comes we can save all our Christmas festivities +for the time she's here so there'll be plenty to entertain her."</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet is waking. Hullo, sweet lamb," and both girls leaned over +the carriage, happy because their nursling condescended to smile on them +when she opened her eyes. Miss Merriam brought out a cup of warm food +when it was reported to her that her charge had finished her nap, and +when the luncheon was consumed with evidences of satisfaction the Ethels +took the carriage out on to the sidewalk. Elisabeth sat up, still +sleepy-eyed and rosy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> from her nap, and gazed about her seriously at the +road that was already becoming familiar.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," sighed Ethel Blue under her breath, "there are the Misses +Clark coming out of their house."</p> + +<p>"I hope they aren't going to complain of Roger," Ethel Brown said, for +Roger acted as furnace man for these elderly ladies who had gained for +themselves a reputation of being ill-natured.</p> + +<p>"It's too late to cross the street. They look as if they were coming +expressly to speak to us. See, they haven't got their hats on."</p> + +<p>It did indeed look as if the little procession was being waylaid, for +the Misses Clark stood inside their gate waiting for the Ethels to come +up.</p> + +<p>"We saw you coming," they said when the carriage came near enough, "and +we came out to see the baby. This is the Belgian baby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; this is Ayleesabet."</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet? Elisabeth, I suppose. Why do you call her that?"</p> + +<p>"That's what she calls herself, and it seems to be the only word she +remembers so we thought we'd let her hear it instead of giving her a new +name."</p> + +<p>"Ayleesabet," repeated the elder Miss Clark, coming through the gate. +"Will you shake hands with me, Ayleesabet?"</p> + +<p>She held out her hand to the solemn child who sat staring at her with +unmoved expression. Ethel Blue hesitatingly began to explain that the +baby did not yet know how to shake hands, when to their amazement +Elisabeth extended a tiny mittened paw and laid it in Miss Clark's hand.</p> + +<p>"The dear child!" exclaimed both women, and the elder flushed warmly as +if the delicate contact had touched an intimate chord. She gave the +mitten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> a pressure and held it, Elisabeth making no objection.</p> + +<p>"Won't you bring her in to see us once in a while?" begged the younger +Miss Clark. "We should like so much to have you. We've watched her go by +with that charming looking young woman who takes care of her."</p> + +<p>"Miss Merriam. She's from the School of Mothercraft," and Ethel Brown +explained the work of the school.</p> + +<p>"How fortunate you were to know about the school. It would have been +anxious work for Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith if they had had full +responsibility for such a feeble baby."</p> + +<p>"We all love Miss Merriam," said Ethel Blue. "Say 'Gertrude,' +Elisabeth," and Elisabeth obediently repeated "Gertrude" in her soft +pipe, and looked about for the owner of the name.</p> + +<p>"We'll bring her in to call on you," promised the Ethels, saying +"Good-bye," and they went on feeling far more gently disposed toward +their cross-patch neighbors than they ever had before. As for the +"cross-patches," they looked after the carriage as long as it was in +sight.</p> + +<p>When the girls returned to Dorothy's they found Edward Watkins there.</p> + +<p>"It's very nice of you to come out to see how the baby is getting +along," said Ethel Brown, going in to the living room, while Ethel Blue +helped Miss Merriam take Elisabeth out of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"I mean to keep an eye on her," replied Edward gravely.</p> + +<p>"You don't really have to do it if it isn't convenient, you know," +returned Ethel. "Of course we appreciate it tremendously, but Dr. +Hancock is nearer and he's been coming over quite regularly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span></p> + +<p>"I shan't try to compete with Dr. Hancock," promised Dr. Watkins; "but +Elisabeth is the Club baby, you know, and Tom and Della are members so +as their brother I feel almost a personal interest."</p> + +<p>"It's lovely of you to feel so. I just didn't want you to be bothered," +explained Ethel conscientiously.</p> + +<p>When Miss Merriam brought the baby in he examined her carefully as one +tiny hand after another was released from its mitten and one slender leg +after the other emerged from the knitted trousers.</p> + +<p>"She isn't what you'd call really fat yet, is she?" he commented.</p> + +<p>"She's a porpoise compared with what she was at the beginning," insisted +Ethel Blue stoutly. "Miss Merriam can tell you how many ounces she has +gained."</p> + +<p>"She's gained in happiness, any way," smiled the young physician as the +baby murmured "Gertrude" and patted Gertrude's flushing cheek.</p> + +<p>There was a full meeting of the United Service Club when Helen called it +to order at a quarter of three and informed the members that it was high +time for them to discuss what they were going to do as a club for +Christmas.</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, I was awfully ashamed about our forgetting to do +anything for anybody on Thanksgiving. It all came out right, because our +'show' for the Home went off well and the old ladies were pleased, but +we didn't originate the idea and I feel as if we ought to make up for +our forgetfulness by doing something extra at Christmas. Now who has any +suggestions?"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know first," asked James, the treasurer, "just how we stand +with regard to Elisabeth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> I know we can't afford to pay Miss Merriam's +salary; I am afraid we've got to call on the grownups for that—but we +can do something and we must, and we ought to find out about it +exactly."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Emerson is paying half Miss Merriam's salary," explained Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"And Aunt Louise the other half," added Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"I wrote to Father about Elisabeth," said Ethel Blue, "and he said he'd +send us a hundred dollars a year for her. We could put it in the bank +for her, he said, if we didn't need to use it for doctors' bills or +anything else."</p> + +<p>"Here's my pay from the Misses Clark; they forked over this morning," +said Roger elegantly, as he in turn "forked over" a bill to James. +"Madam President, may the treasurer report, please?"</p> + +<p>"The treasurer will kindly tell us what there is at the Club's +disposal," directed Helen.</p> + +<p>"The treasurer is obliged to confess that there isn't very much," +admitted James. "The Christmas Ship just about cleaned us out, and the +cost of some of the material for costumes for 'Miles Standish' nearly +used up what was left. This greenback of Roger's is the best looking +thing I've seen for some days."</p> + +<p>"I haven't paid my dues for December," confessed Ethel Blue. "Here they +are."</p> + +<p>It proved that one or two of the others were also delinquent, but even +after all had paid there was a very small sum in hand compared with what +they needed.</p> + +<p>"There isn't any use getting gloomy over the situation," urged Helen. +"If we haven't got the money, we haven't, that's all, and we must do +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> best we can without it. Mother and Aunt Louise will wait to be +paid. It isn't as if we had been extravagant and run into debt. The baby +came unexpectedly and had to be made comfortable right off. We can +assume that responsibility and pay up when we are able. I don't think +that we ought to let that interrupt any plans we have to make Christmas +pleasant for anybody."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're right," agreed Tom, "but I think we must limit +ourselves somewhat."</p> + +<p>"You'll be limited by the low state of the treasury, young man," growled +James.</p> + +<p>"Wait and hear me. I imagine that what the president has in mind for our +Christmas work is doing something for the children in the Glen Point +orphanage."</p> + +<p>Helen and Margaret nodded.</p> + +<p>"What do you say, then, if we decide to limit our Christmas work as a +club to doing something for the orphanage and for Elisabeth? And I +should like to suggest that no one of us gives a personal present that +costs more than ten cents to any relative or friend. Then we can place +in the club treasury whatever we had intended to spend more than that, +and do the best we can with whatever amount that puts into James's hands +for the Glen Point orphans and Elisabeth. Am I clear?" and he sank back +in his chair in seeming exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"You're very long-winded, Thomas," pronounced Roger, patting his friend +on the shoulder, "but we get your idea. I second the motion, Madam +President. We'll give ten cent presents to our relatives and friends and +put all the rest of our stupendous fortunes into giving the orphans a +good time and getting some duds for Ayleesabet or paying for what she +has already."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span></p> + +<p>The motion was carried unanimously, and each one of them handed to James +a calculation of how much he would be able to contribute to the +Christmas fund.</p> + +<p>"It will come pretty near being ten cent presents for the orphans," +James pronounced after some work with pencil and paper. "We can't give +them anything that the wildest imagination could call handsome."</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of people interested in the orphanage who give +the children clothes and all their necessities, you know," Margaret +reminded her brother. "Don't you remember when we talked this over before +we said that what we'd do for them would be to give them some +foolishnesses—just silly things that all children enjoy and that no one +ever seems to think it worth while to give to youngsters in an +institution."</p> + +<p>"Will they have a tree?"</p> + +<p>"Our church always sends a tree over there, but I must say it's a pretty +lean tree," commented James. "It has pretty lights and a bag of candy +apiece for the kids, and they stand around and sing carols before +they're allowed to take a suck of the candy, and that's all there is to +it."</p> + +<p>"The Young Ladies' Guild has an awfully good time dressing it," +testified Margaret.</p> + +<p>"So did I winding up Dicky's mechanical toys last Christmas," said Roger +rather shamefacedly. "I'm afraid the poor kid didn't get much of a +look-in until I got tired of them."</p> + +<p>"In view of these revelations, Madam President," began Tom, "I move that +whatever we do for the orphans shall be something that they can join in +themselves, and not just look at. Anybody got an idea?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our minds have been so full of the Christmas Ship that it has squeezed +everything else out, I'm afraid," admitted Della, with a delicate frown +drawing her eyebrows.</p> + +<p>"Why can't we continue to make the Christmas Ship useful somehow?" +inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Meaning?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know. Perhaps we could have our presents for the children in a +Christmas Ship instead of on a tree."</p> + +<p>"That's good. They'll have one tree anyway; this will be a novelty, and +it can be made pretty."</p> + +<p>"Can we get enough stuff to fill a ship?"</p> + +<p>"Depends on the size of the ship."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't have to be full; just the deck could be heaped with +parcels."</p> + +<p>"And the rigging could be lighted."</p> + +<p>"How can we ring in the children so they can have more of a part than +singing carols?"</p> + +<p>"Why not make them do the work themselves—the work of distributing the +gifts?"</p> + +<p>"I know," cried Helen. "Why not tell them about the real Christmas Ship +and then tell them that they are to play that they all went over with it +on its Christmas errand. We can dress up some of the boys as sailors—"</p> + +<p>"Child, you don't realize what you're suggesting," exclaimed Margaret. +"Do you know there are twenty or twenty-five boys there? We couldn't +make all those costumes!"</p> + +<p>"That's true," agreed Helen, dismayed. Her dismay soon turned to +cheerfulness, however. "Why couldn't they wear an arm band marked +SAILOR? They can use their imaginations to supply the rest of the +costume."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p> + +<p>"That would do well enough. And have another group of them marked +LONGSHOREMAN."</p> + +<p>"We can pick out the tallest boy to represent Commander Courtney and +some of the others to be officers."</p> + +<p>"You're giving all the work to the boys; what can the girls do?"</p> + +<p>"Don't let's have any of them play orphan. That would come too near +home. They won't follow the story too far. They'll be contented to +distribute the gifts to each other."</p> + +<p>"Here's where the girls can come in. The officers can bring the good +ship into port, and the sailors can make a handsome showing along the +side as she comes up to the pier, and the longshoremen can stagger +ashore laden with big bundles. On the shore there can be groups of girls +who will undo the large bundles and take out the small ones that they +contain. Other groups of girls can go about giving out the presents."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet they'll have such a good time playing the game they won't +notice whether the presents are ten centers or fifties," shouted Roger. +"I believe we've got the right notion."</p> + +<p>"We must do everything up nicely so they'll have fun opening the +parcels," insisted Helen.</p> + +<p>"Here's where James begins pasting again. Where's my pastepot, Dorothy?" +inquired James who had done wonders in making boxes to contain the gifts +that went in the real Ship.</p> + +<p>"Here are all your arrangements in the corner, and I'll make you some +paste right off," said Dorothy, pointing out the corner of the attic +where a table held cardboard and flowered paper and scissors.</p> + +<p>Unless there was some especial reason for a meeting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> elsewhere the Club +always met in Dorothy's attic, where the afternoon sun streamed in +cheerfully through the low windows. There the members could leave their +unfinished work and it would not be disturbed, and the place had proved +to be so great a comfort during the autumn months, that Mrs. Smith had +had a radiator put in so that it was warm and snug for winter use. +Electric lights had made it possible for them to work there occasionally +during the evening and it was as cheerful an apartment as one would care +to see, even though its furniture was made largely of boxes converted +into useful articles by Dorothy's inventive genius.</p> + +<p>"Some time during Christmas week we ought to cheer up the old couple by +the bridge," urged Roger.</p> + +<p>"The same people we chopped wood for?" asked Tom.</p> + +<p>"The Atwoods—yes. It gets on my nerves to see them sitting there so +dully, every day when I pass by on my way to school."</p> + +<p>"We certainly won't forget them. We can do something that won't make any +demand on our treasury, so Tom won't mind our adding them to our +Christmas list."</p> + +<p>"I dare say we'll think of others before we go much farther. What we +need to do now is to decide on things to make for the Glen Pointers," +and the talk went off into a discussion which proved to be merely a +selection from what they had learned to do while they were making up +their parcels for the real Christmas Ship. Now, with but a short time +before Christmas, they chose articles that could be made quickly. The +girls also decided on the candies that each should make to fill the +boxes, and they made requisition on the treasury for the materials so +that they could go to work at once upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> the lasting kinds. Before the +afternoon was over the attic resumed once more the busy look it had worn +for so many weeks before the sailing of the <i>Jason</i>.</p> + +<p>"Ethel Blue!" came a call up the attic stairs.</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue ran down to see what her aunt wanted, and came back beaming, +two letters in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Here's a letter from Mrs. Jackson to Aunt Marian saying that Katharine +may come to us for a fortnight, and another one from Katharine to me +telling how crazy she is to come. Isn't it fine!"</p> + +<p>Ethel threw her arm over Ethel Brown's shoulder and pulled her into the +march that was the Mortons' expression of great pleasure: "One, two, +three, back; one, two, three, back," around the attic.</p> + +<p>"When is she coming?" asked Roger, who had never seen Katharine and so +was able to endure calmly the prospect of her visit.</p> + +<p>"Two days before Christmas—that's Wednesday in the afternoon."</p> + +<p>"We'll ask grandmother to let us have the car to go and get her; it's so +much more fun than the train," proposed Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"Um, glorious."</p> + +<p>The attic rang with the Ethels' delight—at which they looked back +afterwards with some wonder.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h3>THE GOOD SHIP "JASON"</h3> +</div> + +<p>The Rosemont schools closed for the holidays at noon of the Wednesday +before Christmas, so all the Mortons and Dorothy were free to avail +themselves of Mrs. Emerson's offer of her car to bring Katharine from +Hoboken. It was a pleasant custom of the family to regard any guests as +belonging not to one or another member in particular but to all of them. +All felt a responsibility for the guest's happiness and all shared in +any amusement that he or she might give.</p> + +<p>According to this custom, not the Ethels alone went to meet Katharine, +but Helen and Roger and Dorothy, too. Mrs. Morton chaperoned them and +Dicky was added for good measure. It was a sharp day and the Rosemont +group were rosy with cold when they reached the station and lined +themselves up on the platform just before the Buffalo train drew in. +Katharine and the Jacksons' German maid, Gretchen, were among the first +to get off.</p> + +<p>"Gretchen is going to make a holiday visit, too," Katharine explained +when she had greeted the Ethels, whom she knew, and had been introduced +to the other members of the party.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morton and Roger instructed Gretchen how to reach Staten Island +where her friends lived and then they got into the car and sped toward +home.</p> + +<p>Katharine did not seem so much at ease as she had done when she played +hostess to the Ethels at Fort Edward. She was accustomed to meeting many +people, but she was an only child and being plunged into a big family, +all chattering at once, it seemed to her, caused her some embarrassment. +In an effort not to show it she was not always happy in her remarks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is this your car?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It's Grandmother Emerson's," replied Ethel Brown. "She lets us have it +very often."</p> + +<p>"I don't care for a touring car in cold weather. My grandmother has a +limousine."</p> + +<p>"We're glad to have a ride in any kind of car," responded Ethel Blue +happily.</p> + +<p>"Roger, get out that other rug for Katharine," directed Mrs. Morton, +"she's chilly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," demurred Katharine, now ashamed at having made a remark that +seemed to reflect upon the comfort of her friends' automobile. "I'm used +to a Ford, any way."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you don't know much about cars if you do come from an +automobile city," commented Roger dryly. "This car would make about +three Fords—though I don't sneeze at a Ford myself. I'd be mighty glad +if we had one, wouldn't you, Mother?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morton shook her head at him, and he subsided, humming merrily,</p> + +<p> +He took four spools and an old tin can<br /> +And called it a Ford and the strange thing ran.<br /> +</p> + +<p>The Ethels had not paid much attention to the conversation but +nevertheless it had struck the wrong note and no one felt entirely at +ease. They found themselves wondering whether their guest would find her +room to her liking and they remembered uneasily that they had said "I +guess she won't mind" this and that when they had left some of their +belongings in the closet.</p> + +<p>The Morton's house was not large and in order to accommodate a guest the +Ethels moved upstairs into a tiny room in the attic, where they were to +camp for the fortnight of Katharine's stay. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> had thought it great +fun, and were more than willing to endure the discomfort of crowded +quarters for the sake of having the long-desired visit. Now, however, +Ethel Brown murmured to Ethel Blue as they went into the house, "I'm +glad we had one of the beds taken upstairs; it will give her more +space," and Ethel Blue replied, "I believe we can hang our dancing +school dresses in the east corner of the attic if we put a sheet around +them."</p> + +<p>Indeed, Ethel Blue made a point of running upstairs while Katharine was +speaking to Dorothy in the living room and removing the dresses from the +closet. She looked around the room with new sight. It had seemed +pleasant and bright to her in the morning when she and Ethel Brown had +added some last touches to the fresh muslin equipment of the bureau, but +now she wished that they had had a perfectly new bureau cover, and she +was sorry she had not asked Mary to give the window another cleaning +although it had been washed only a few days before.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she won't notice," she murmured hopefully, but in her heart of +hearts she was pretty sure she would.</p> + +<p>Katharine made no comment, however, beyond lifted eyebrows when she +noticed anything different from what she had been accustomed to in a +house where there was a small family, and, in consequence, plenty of +space. She unpacked her trunk and hung up her clothes with care and +neatness which the Ethels admired. Ordinarily they would have praised +her frankly for doing well what they sometimes failed to do well, but +they had not yet recovered from the constraint that her remarks on the +way home had thrown over them. It was not lessened when she mentioned +that usually Gretchen did her unpacking for her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mary would love to unpack for us," said Ethel Brown, "but if she did +that we'd have to do some of her work, so we'd rather hang up our duds +ourselves."</p> + +<p>Katharine was greatly interested in the Club plans for the Glen Point +orphans. She had lived in garrisons in the remote West and in or near +large cities, but her experience never had placed her in a comparatively +small town like Rosemont or Glen Point where people took a friendly +interest in each other and in community institutions. She entered +heartily into the final preparations for the imitation Christmas Ship +and she and the girls forgot their mutual embarrassment in their work +for some one else.</p> + +<p>Roger went to Glen Point in the morning of the day before Christmas to +meet the other Club boys and build the Ship in the hall of the +orphanage. They worked there for several hours and lunched with James +and Margaret at the Hancocks'. The rest of the Mortons and Katharine +took over the parcels in the early afternoon in the car and arranged +them on the deck as had been planned, and then all the young people +came back together, for they were to have a part in the lighting of the +Rosemont Christmas Tree.</p> + +<p>The tree was a huge Norway spruce and it was set up in front of the high +school which had a lawn before it large enough to hold a goodly crowd of +observers. The choirs of all the churches had volunteered their services +for the occasion. They were placed on a stand elevated above the crowd +so that they could lead the singing and be heard at a distance.</p> + +<p>Except for murmurs of admiration and a long-drawn breath of delight +there was no sound from the throng. It was too beautiful for speech; +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> meaning was too laden with brotherly love and cheer for it to be +mistaken. A sad-eyed girl smiled to herself and gazed with new hope in +her face; a pickpocket took his hand out of his neighbor's bag that had +opened like magic under his practised touch. Babies stretched out their +arms to the glitter; grown men stared silently with unaccustomed tears +wetting their eyes. The school children sang on and on, "Oh, come all ye +faithful, joyful and triumphant;" then "Hark, the herald angels sing, +Glory to the new-born King;" and "It came upon the midnight clear." The +fresh young voices rang gloriously, strengthened by the more mature +voices of the choirs.</p> + +<p>The stars were coming out before the first person turned away, and all +through the night watchers of the tree's resplendent glory were found by +the patrolling policeman gazing, gazing, with thoughts of peace +reflected on faces that had long been unknown to peace.</p> + +<p>It was after six when the Emerson car whirled the U. S. C. back to the +Mortons' for a dinner that had to be eaten hastily, for they were due at +the Glen Point orphanage soon after seven so that all might be in order +for the doors to be opened to the children at half past. Helen was +always urging punctuality as Tom was commanding promptness.</p> + +<p>"If we were small youngsters and had had to wait all day for our +Christmas party we'd be wild at having it delayed a minute longer than +necessary," the President insisted, and Tom added his usual exhortation, +"Run the thing along briskly; don't let it drag. You can 'put over' lots +of stupid stuff by rushing it on gayly, and a good 'stunt' may be good +for nothing if it goes slowly."</p> + +<p>"Helen and Tom can't say that they 'never sing the old, old songs,' can +they?" laughed Ethel Brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> "The Club has never done anything yet that +we haven't heard these same sweet strains from both of them."</p> + +<p>"You're very likely to hear them again—my chant, any way," declared her +sister firmly.</p> + +<p>"It won't do us any harm," Ethel Brown yielded good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>The boys had made the good ship <i>Jason</i> with some ingenuity. The matron +had let them have a table, long and so old that the marks of boots upon +it would do no harm. This was important for it was to be used as the +forward deck. Because in the days of its youth it had been used in the +dining room of the smaller children it was lower than an ordinary table. +This made it just the right height, for the ship's rail was to rise +above it, and if it had been higher the people on the floor could not +have seen the deck comfortably.</p> + +<p>At the end of the table was tied the mast—a broom stick with electric +light wires strung with tiny bulbs going from its top to the deck. This +electrical display was a contribution from Roger who had asked his +grandfather to give it to him for his Christmas gift and had requested +that he might have it in time for him to lend it to the <i>Jason</i>. It was +run by a storage battery hidden in a box that was safely bestowed under +the deck. Aft of the mainmast were two kitchen chairs placed side by +side to give the craft the needed length.</p> + +<p>The outside of the boat was made by stretching a double length of +war-gray cambric from the bow—two hammock stretchers fastened to the +end of the table—along the deck, past the chairs and across their end. +The cloth was raised a trifle above the deck by laths nailed on to the +edge of the table. The name, "Jason," in black letters, was pinned along +the bow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span></p> + +<p>"It isn't a striking likeness of a boat," confessed Roger, "but any +intelligent person would be able to guess what it was meant to be."</p> + +<p>When the children and a few other people who had begged to be allowed to +come entered the hall they found the ship lighted and with its deck +piled high with wooden boxes and parcels of good size. The members of +the U. S. C. were gathered beside the ship. When all had entered Helen, +as president of the Club, mounted one of the chairs which represented +the after part of the boat and told the story of the real ship <i>Jason</i>.</p> + +<p>"Children from all over the United States sent Christmas gifts to the +European children who otherwise would not have any because of the war. +Tonight we are going to pretend that we are all sailing on the <i>Jason</i> +to carry the gifts to Europe. We've all got to help—every one of us. +First of all we want a captain. I think that boy over there near the +door will be the captain, because he's the tallest boy I see here."</p> + +<p>Embarrassed but pleased the tall boy came forward and Della fastened on +his arm a band marked CAPTAIN. Following instructions he mounted the +chair from which Helen descended. Two under officers were chosen in the +same way, and the Ethels raised them to the ranks of first and second +lieutenants by the simple method of fastening on suitable arm bands.</p> + +<p>"Now we want some sailors," cried Roger, and he selected ten other boys, +who were all rapidly adorned with SAILOR bands by the U. S. C. gifts. +The ship was about as full as she could be now, with her officers +standing, one on the deck and the others on the two chairs, and the +sailors manning the rail. Everybody was beginning to enjoy the game by +this time, and the faces that looked out over the gray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> cambric sides of +the <i>Jason</i> were beaming with eagerness to find out what was coming +next, while the children who had not yet been assigned to any task were +equally curious to find out how they were to help.</p> + +<p>"Now we're on the pier at the Bush Terminal at Brooklyn," explained Tom. +"Look out there; don't get in the way of the ropes," and he pushed the +crowd back from the imaginary ropes, and whistled a shrill call on his +fingers.</p> + +<p>"See, she's moving! She's starting!" cried Ethel Blue. "Wave your +handkerchief! Wave it!" she directed the children near her, who fell +into the spirit of the pretense and gave the Christmas Ship a noisy +send-off.</p> + +<p>"Now we'll all turn our backs while the ship is crossing the Atlantic," +directed James.</p> + +<p>It required only a minute for the boat to make the crossing, and when +the onlookers turned about after this trip of unparalleled swiftness +they were told that now they were not Americans any longer; they were +English people at Devonport gathered to watch the arrival of the <i>Jason</i> +and to help unload the presents sent to the children of England and +Belgium.</p> + +<p>"I want some longshoremen to help unload these boxes," said Helen, "and +a set of sorters and a set of distributors. Who'll volunteer as +longshoremen?"</p> + +<p>There was a quick response, and this group exhausted all the boys. They +were designated by arm bands each marked LONGSHOREMAN. Then she called +for girls for the other two detachments and divided them into two +sections, one marked SORTERS and the other DISTRIBUTORS.</p> + +<p>Under Roger's direction a chair, turned over on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> its face, made a +sloping gangplank down which the bundles could be slid.</p> + +<p>"Have your lieutenants place their men around the deck and on each side +of this plank," he instructed the captain. "Then order a few +longshoremen to go aboard and hand the bundles from one to another and +slide them down the plank to the men on the pier who will take them over +to the sorters. You," he called to the girls, "you stay at that side of +the room and open these large parcels when they are brought to you, and +you read what it says on the packages and make two piles, one of those +marked 'Boy' and the other of those marked 'Girl'. Then there are +bundles marked with the children's names. Give them out. See that +everybody has one package marked with his name and one package just +marked 'Boy' or 'Girl'."</p> + +<p>The Ethels had proposed this arrangement so that all the children should +feel that the distribution of gifts had been made by chance. The parcels +bearing the children's names were filled with candy and goodies and were +all alike.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you they'd like foolishnesses!" she said to Helen in an +undertone. "Look at those boys with jumping jacks. They love them!"</p> + +<p>"See those youngsters with those silly twirling things Tom made," said +Della. "He's right about the charm of those little flat objects. They'll +twirl them by the hour I really believe."</p> + +<p>All the gifts were of the simplest sort. There were the Danish twins +that Ethel Blue had made for the real Ship—little worsted elves +fastened together by a cord; and rubber balls covered with crocheting to +make them softer; dolls, small and inexpensive, but each with an outfit +of clothes that would take off; a stuffed kitten or two; several +baskets, each with a roll of ribbon in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> + +<p>"They can fit them up for work baskets afterwards, if they want to," +said Margaret, "but I'm not going to suggest sewing to these youngsters +who have to do it every day of their lives whether they want to or not."</p> + +<p>There were various kinds of candy in boxes covered with bright colored +and flowered paper, for James had outdone himself in developing new +pasting ideas. There were cookies, too, and tiny fruit cakes.</p> + +<p>The faces of the Club members were as joyous as the faces of the +children as they looked about them and saw evidences of the success of +their plan. If they needed confirmation it was given them by the matron.</p> + +<p>"I've never seen them so happy," she said. "I can't thank you enough for +giving them this pleasure."</p> + +<p>"It was lovely," approved Katharine. "I'm so glad you let me help."</p> + +<p>It was still early when the merry party reached home, but Mrs. Morton +bundled them off to bed promptly.</p> + +<p>"You've all made a sacrifice to Dicky's Christmas habits," she +explained. "He's been in bed for hours and he's preparing to get up long +before dawn, so we all might as well go to bed ourselves or we'll be +exhausted by this time tomorrow night."</p> + +<p>"Hang your stocking on your outside door knob, Katharine," cried the +Ethels. "We have Santa Claus trained to look there for it in this +house."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2><h3>CHRISTMAS DAY</h3> +</div> + +<p>Mrs. Morton's prophecy was fulfilled. It was still black night when +Dicky roused from his bed and sent a "Merry Christmas" ringing through +the house. There was no response to his first cry, but, undaunted, he +uttered a second. To this there came a faint "Merry Christmas" from the +top story where the Ethels were snuggled under the roof, and another +from Helen's room beside his own. Katharine said nothing and not a word +came from Roger, though there was a sound of heavy, regular breathing +through his door.</p> + +<p>"Let's put on our wrappers and go down stairs into Katharine's room," +suggested Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"It's lots too early. Let's wait a while," replied Ethel Blue, so they +lay still for another hour in spite of increasing sounds of ecstasy from +Dicky. After all they decided to follow the usual family custom and take +their stockings into the living room before breakfast instead of going +to Katharine's room. As they passed her door they knocked on it and +begged her to hurry so that they could all begin the opening at once. +She said that she was up and would soon join them, but it proved to be +fully three quarters of an hour before she appeared.</p> + +<p>All the Mortons except Dicky had waited for her before opening their +bundles.</p> + +<p>"We thought you would excuse Dicky for not waiting; it's rather hard on +a small boy to have such tantalizing parcels right before him and not +attack them," apologized Mrs. Morton.</p> + +<p>Katharine looked somewhat embarrassed to find that she had been the +cause of so long a delay but she offered no excuse.</p> + +<p>"Let's all look at our stockings first," said Ethel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> Brown, and every +hand dived in and brought out candy, nuts, raisins, an apple, an orange, +dates and figs and candy animals.</p> + +<p>There were gifts among the goodies, or instructions where to find them. +Roger discovered a pocket book that had been his desire for a long time, +and a card that advised him to look under the desk in the library and +see what was waiting for him. He dashed off in a high state of curiosity +and came back whooping, with a typewriter in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Aren't Grandfather and Grandmother the best ever!" he exclaimed +rapturously, and he paid no further attention to his other gifts or to +those of the rest of the family while he hunted out a small table and +arranged the machine for immediate action.</p> + +<p>Helen's chief presents were a ring with a small pearl, from her +grandmother and a set of Stevenson from her grandfather. The Ethels had +each a tennis racquet and each a desk of a size suitable for their +bedroom.</p> + +<p>"They'll go one on each side of the window," exclaimed Ethel Brown, +while Ethel Blue at once began to store away in hers the supply of +stationery that came with it.</p> + +<p>Katharine's gifts were quite as numerous as the Mortons', for her mother +had forwarded to Mrs. Morton's care all those of suitable size that came +to Buffalo for her. She opened one after another: books, hair ribbons, a +pair of silk stockings for dancing school, a tiny silver watch on a long +chain. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson had added to her store a racquet like the +Ethels'.</p> + +<p>More numerous than those of any of the others were Dicky's presents, and +they were varied, indeed. A velocipede was his grandfather's offering +and was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> received with shouts of delight. Blocks of a new sort occupied +him when his mother stopped his travels on three wheels. A train of cars +made its way under Katharine's feet and nearly threw her down, to her +intense disgust, and a pair of roller skates brought Dicky himself in +her way so often that she spoke to him more sharply than he had ever +been spoken to in his life. He drew away and stared at her solemnly.</p> + +<p>"You're a cross girl," he announced after a disconcerting pause, and +Katharine flushed deeply at the accusation, realizing that it was not +polite to rebuke your hostess's brother and regretting her hasty speech.</p> + +<p>"Are you good for a long walk?" Roger asked Katharine after breakfast.</p> + +<p>Katharine said she was.</p> + +<p>"Then help me do up these things for Grandfather and Grandmother and +we'll be off," and he threw down a handful of red paper and green ribbon +and ran to get the shears.</p> + +<p>Roger and Helen together had given Grandfather Emerson a whole desk set, +Roger hammering the metal and Helen providing and making up the pad and +roller blotter and ink bottle. It was a handsome set. The blotter was +green and the Ethels had made a string basket out of which came the end +of a ball of green twine, and a set of filing envelopes, neatly arranged +in a portfolio of heavy green cardboard.</p> + +<p>All of the family had helped make the Chautauqua scrapbook that was Mrs. +Emerson's principal gift from her grandchildren. Helen had written the +story of their summer at Chautauqua, Roger had typed it on a typewriter +at school, and the others had chosen and pasted the pictures that +illustrated it. Ethel Blue had added an occasional drawing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> her own +when their kodaks gave out or they were unable to find anything in old +magazines that would answer their purpose, and the effect was excellent. +Katharine looked it over with the greatest interest.</p> + +<p>"Here you are, all of you, going over from Westfield to Chautauqua in +the trolley," she exclaimed, for she had made the same trip herself.</p> + +<p>"And here are the chief officers of Chautauqua Institution—Bishop +Vincent and some of the others."</p> + +<p>"And here's the Spelling Match—my, that Amphitheatre is an enormous +place!"</p> + +<p>"This is the hydro-aeroplane that we flew in, Ethel Brown and I."</p> + +<p>"These are different buildings on the grounds—I recognize them. This is +a splendid present," complimented Katharine.</p> + +<p>"It was heaps of fun making it. Did you notice this picture of Mother's +and Grandfather's class on Recognition Day? See, there's Mother herself. +She happened to be in the right spot when the photographer snapped."</p> + +<p>"How lucky for you! It's perfect. I know Mrs. Emerson will be awfully +pleased."</p> + +<p>"We hope she will. Are you infants ready?" and Roger swung the parcels +on to his back and opened the door for the girls.</p> + +<p>"We're going to stop at Dorothy's, aren't we?" asked Ethel Blue.</p> + +<p>"Certainly we are. We want to see her presents and to give Elisabeth +hers and to say 'Merry Christmas' to Aunt Louise and Miss Merriam."</p> + +<p>"You seem very fond of Miss Merriam," said Katharine to Ethel Brown as +they turned the corner into Church Street.</p> + +<p>"We are. She's splendid. She knows just what to do for Elisabeth and +she's lovely any way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> + +<p>"You act as if she belonged to the family."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't we?" asked Ethel in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Don't you pay her for taking care of the baby?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly we pay her. We'd pay a doctor for taking care of her, too, +only we happen to have two doctors related to the Club so they give us +their services free. Why shouldn't we pay her?"</p> + +<p>Ethel Brown was quite breathless. She could not entirely understand +Katharine's point of view, but she seemed to be hinting that Miss +Merriam was serving in a menial capacity. The idea made loyal Ethel +Brown, who had not a snobbish bone in her body, extremely angry. Service +she understood—her father and her uncle and Katharine's father, too, +for that matter, were serving their country and were under orders. One +kind of service might be less responsible than another kind, but that +any service that was honest and useful could be unworthy was not in her +creed.</p> + +<p>"No reason, of course," replied Katharine, who saw that she had offended +Ethel. "Any way, her work is more than a nursemaid's work."</p> + +<p>"I should say it was," answered Ethel warmly; "she's taken several +years' training to fit her for it. But even if she were just a nursemaid +I should love her. I love Mary. She was Dicky's nurse and Mother says +she saved him from becoming a sick, nervous child by her wisdom and +calmness. Mary's skilful, too."</p> + +<p>Katharine did not pursue the discussion, and Ethel Brown, when Miss +Merriam came into the room to wish them a "Merry Christmas," threw her +arms around her neck and kissed her.</p> + +<p>"You're a perfectly splendid person," she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Elisabeth was at her very best this morning. Never before had they seen +her so beaming. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> had a special smile for every one of them, so that +each felt that he had been singled out for favors. She shook hands with +Roger, walked a few steps, clinging to the Ethels' fingers, patted +Helen's cheek, rippled all over when Dicky danced before her, and even +permitted Katharine to take her on her lap. This was a concession on +Katharine's part as well as on Elisabeth's, for Katharine was not much +interested in a stray baby. She saw, however, that the Mortons all were +in love with the little creature so she did her best to be amiable +toward her.</p> + +<p>"You're all so good to me," she cried. "I love all these things that +you've made for me with your own fingers."</p> + +<p>"We'd do more than that if we could," answered Ethel Blue as they all, +including Dorothy, swept out of the front door to take up their journey +to the Emersons'.</p> + +<p>At the Emersons' there was a renewal of greetings and "Thank yous" and +laughter, and a rehearsing of all the gifts that had been received. Mrs. +Smith had sent Mrs. Emerson an unusual pair of richly decorated wax +candles which she had found at an Italian candlemaker's in New York, and +Miss Merriam had sent her and Mrs. Morton each a tiny brass censer and a +supply of charcoal and Japanese incense to make fragrant the house.</p> + +<p>"Mother gave us handkerchiefs all around," said Roger, "and Mary baked +us each a cake and the cook made candy enough for an army."</p> + +<p>"You're dining at your Aunt Louise's, dear?"</p> + +<p>"We're going right from here to carry some bundles for Mother and then +to church, and then to Aunt Louise's for an early dinner. After dinner +we are to call on the old ladies at the Home for a half hour and then we +go back to a tree for Dicky—just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> a little shiny one; we've had all our +presents. After supper the thing we're going to do is a secret."</p> + +<p>"That sounds like a program that will keep you busy while it lasts. +They're not tiring you out, I hope?" Mr. Emerson asked Katharine, who +listened to Roger's list without displaying much enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"I'm enjoying it all very much," responded Katharine politely, but not +in a tone that carried conviction.</p> + +<p>"How would it please you if the car took you back and helped you carry +those parcels for your mother?"</p> + +<p>There was a general whoop of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Your grandmother and I are going to church, but we won't mind starting +earlier than we usually do."</p> + +<p>"Which means right now, I should say," said Roger, looking at his watch.</p> + +<p>At the Mortons' the car added Mrs. Morton and Dicky to its occupants and +several large baskets containing Christmas dinners for people in whom +the Mortons had an interest. The young Mortons all had had a hand in +packing these baskets and in adding a touch of holly and red ribbon at +the top to give them a holiday appearance.</p> + +<p>"This first one is for old Mrs. Jameson," Mrs. Morton explained to her +mother. "Everything in it is already cooked because she is almost blind +and cooking is harder for her than it is for most people. There is a +roast chicken and the vegetables are all done and put in covered bowls +packed around with excelsior so that their heat won't be lost."</p> + +<p>"Like a fireless cooker."</p> + +<p>"The Ethels and Dorothy made enough individual fruit cakes for all our +baskets, and we've put in hard pudding sauce so that they can be eaten +as puddings instead of cakes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span></p> + +<p>"The girls have made candies and cookies for everybody. That basket for +the Flynns has enough cookies for eight children besides the father and +mother."</p> + +<p>"If their appetites are like Roger's there must be a good many dozen +cookies stowed away there."</p> + +<p>"You can see it's the largest of all," laughed Mrs. Morton.</p> + +<p>Roger played Santa Claus at each house and his merry face and pleasant +jokes brought smiles to faces that did not look happy when their owners +opened their doors. The Flynns' was the last stop and everybody in the +car laughed when all the Flynns who could walk, and that meant nine of +them, fairly boiled out of the door to receive the visitor. Roger jumped +the small fry and joked with the larger ones, and left them all in a +high state of excitement.</p> + +<p>It was a very merry party that gathered around the Smiths' table, the +largest dinner party that Dorothy and her mother had given since they +came to Rosemont to live after they had met their unknown Morton +relatives at Chautauqua the summer before. To Mrs. Smith it gave the +greatest happiness to see the children of her brothers sitting at her +table and to know that her sister-in-law was her very dear friend as +well as her relative by marriage.</p> + +<p>After dinner they all snapped costume crackers and adorned themselves +with the caps that they discovered inside them, and they set the new +Victrola going and danced the butterfly dance that they had learned at +Chautauqua and had given at their entertainment for the Christmas Ship. +Dusk was coming on when the Ethels said that they must go to the Old +Ladies' Home or they would have to run all the way. Grandfather Emerson +offered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> to whirl all of them over in the car, and they were glad to +accept the offer.</p> + +<p>They stopped at home to get the boxes of candy which they had prepared. +It was while they were running up stairs to gather them together that +Katharine asked Ethel Blue if Mary might press a dress for her.</p> + +<p>"I want to wear it this evening," she said.</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue gasped. Mary had not yet come back from Mrs. Smith's where +she had served dinner for the large party and was still occupied in +clearing up after it. Supper at home was yet to come. Mrs. Morton had +always urged upon the girls to be very careful about asking to have +extra services rendered at inconvenient hours, and a more inconvenient +time than this hardly could have been selected.</p> + +<p>"Why, I don't know," Ethel Blue hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you don't care to have her—" replied Katharine stiffly.</p> + +<p>"It isn't that," returned Ethel miserably. "Mary's always willing to do +things for us, but you see she's had a hard day and it isn't over yet +and she won't have any holiday at all if she has to do this."</p> + +<p>"Very well," returned Katharine in a tone that made Ethel feel that her +friend considered that she was being discourteous to her guest. "I can +find something else to wear this evening, I suppose."</p> + +<p>She looked so like a martyr that Ethel was most unhappy.</p> + +<p>"If you'll let me try it, I can use the stove in our own little +kitchen," she offered, referring to the small room where Mrs. Morton +allowed the girls to cook so that they should not be in the way of the +servants.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, I could not think of letting you," responded Katharine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't know that I could do it. I never have pressed anything +nice—but I'd like to try if you'll trust me."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," repeated Katharine, and the girls entered the automobile +each in a state of mental discomfort, Katharine because she felt that +she was not being treated with proper consideration, and Ethel Blue +because she had been obliged to refuse the request of a friend and +guest. The ride to the Home was uncomfortably silent. On Roger's part +the cause was turkey, but the girls were quiet for other reasons.</p> + +<p>The visit to the old ladies was not long. They distributed their +packages and wished everybody a "Merry Christmas" and shook hands with +their especial favorites and ran back to the car.</p> + +<p>The supper was not really a party meal. It merely served as a gathering +place for the U. S. C. before they went to the Christmas tree at the +church. It also served as a background for Dick's little shining tree. +This small tree had been a part of Dick's Christmas ever since he had +had a Christmas, and to him it was quite as important as his dinner, +although there never were any presents on it.</p> + +<p>It stood now on a small table at the side of the dining room. It was +lighted by means of the storage battery and the strings of tiny electric +lights that had been used for the Christmas Ship at the Glen Point +orphanage. There were all sorts of balls and tinsel wreaths and tiny, +glistening cords. It glowed merrily while the supper went on, Dicky, at +intervals of five minutes, calling everybody's attention to its +beauties. There were favors at each plate, each a joke of some sort on +the person who received it. Every one held up his toy for the rest to +see and each provoked a peal of laughter.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2><h3>NEW YEAR'S EVE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Where is Katharine?" asked Mrs. Morton of the Ethels as Mary announced +luncheon on the day before New Year's.</p> + +<p>"She went over to Dorothy's. Shall I call her?"</p> + +<p>"Give her a minute or two. She knows the luncheon hour," replied +Katharine's hostess.</p> + +<p>But a minute or two and more passed and no Katharine appeared.</p> + +<p>"She must be lunching with Dorothy," suggested Ethel Blue.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure Dorothy would have telephoned to ask if we had any plans that +would interfere."</p> + +<p>"It's twenty minutes past the hour; you'd better call and see if she's +still there," said Mrs. Morton, "and we may as well sit down."</p> + +<p>Helen was still at the telephone and the family was seated when +Katharine came in.</p> + +<p>"You didn't wait for me," she remarked with apparent surprise.</p> + +<p>"Of course you didn't realize that the luncheon hour had struck," Mrs. +Morton apologized for her. "Helen is calling Dorothy now to inquire +about you."</p> + +<p>Katharine made no reply and sat down with the injured air that she was +in the habit of wearing when she thought that not sufficient deference +had been paid her. She offered no apology or explanation and seemed to +think, if any conclusion could be drawn from her manner, that she had a +grievance instead of Mrs. Morton, whose family arrangements were +continually being upset by her guest's dilatoriness and lack of +consideration. The visit which had been looked forward to with such +delight was not proving successful. For themselves the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> Ethels did not +mind occasional delays, but they knew that all such matters interfered +with the smooth running of the house, and they could not help wondering +that Katharine should seem to think that her hostess should rearrange +the daily routine to suit her.</p> + +<p>The evening meal was to be supper and not dinner and it was to be +especially early because it was to be cooked entirely by the young +people. The Hancocks and the Watkinses were at the Mortons' by five +o'clock. Dr. Watkins came out, too, by special invitation, but he asked +if he might be permitted to pay a visit to Elisabeth while the rest were +preparing the meal, in view of the fact that he was not skilled as a +cook, and felt himself to be too old to learn in one lesson. He was +allowed to go with strict injunctions to be back at half past six and to +bring Miss Merriam with him.</p> + +<p>The Ethels had planned beforehand what they were going to have for +supper and the part that each was to take in the preparations.</p> + +<p>When the aprons had been taken off and the guests were all seated at the +table the supper went swimmingly. The oysters were delicious, the salad +sufficiently "chunky" to please Roger, the biscuits as light as a +feather and the fruit mélange as good to look at as if it was to eat.</p> + +<p>The table decorations hinted at the New Year that was upon them. High in +a belfry made of small sticks piled on each other criss-cross hung a +small bell. Silver cords ran from it to each place so that every guest +might in turn "Ring out the old, ring in the new." Beside the tower on +one side stood the Old Year bending with the weight of his twelve-month +of experience; on the other side was the fresh New Year, too young to +know experience. Both were dolls dressed by Dorothy and Ethel Blue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p> + +<p>"I move you, Madam President," said Tom when the meal was nearly over, +"that we extend a vote of thanks to the cooks for this delicious +nourishment."</p> + +<p>"I was just on the point of making that motion," laughed Edward Watkins.</p> + +<p>"And I of seconding it," cried Miss Merriam. "It would come more +appropriately from us."</p> + +<p>"You were far too slow," retorted Tom. "I couldn't wait for you."</p> + +<p>"As the president was one of the cooks she ought to place some one else +in the chair to put a motion complimentary in part to herself, but as +the maker of the motion and the seconder were also cooks we're all in +the same box and I don't believe it's necessary. All in favor say +'Aye'."</p> + +<p>A shout of "Ayes" followed.</p> + +<p>"Contrary minded."</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>"Madam President."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Morton has the floor."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to seem inhospitable, but if you're going to reach the +Atwoods' on time you'd better be starting."</p> + +<p>There was a general scattering and a donning of outer garments. The boys +picked up the bags and the Club started for the bridge, Dr. Watkins and +Miss Merriam going with them.</p> + +<p>When the Ethels had called on Mrs. Atwood and had asked her if the Club +might visit her on New Year's Eve the old lady had been not only +surprised but somewhat alarmed. She grew more cordial, however, when +Ethel Brown explained it to her.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind our asking some of our friends?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. We'd be glad to do the few small things that we've planned +for just as many people as you can get in here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span></p> + +<p>"That isn't many," replied Mrs. Atwood, looking about her sitting room. +"But there's one of my neighbors hardly ever gets to the stores or to a +movie show, and I'd love to ask her in; and there's another one is just +getting up from a sickness."</p> + +<p>So the room was quite filled with guests when the Club members arrived.</p> + +<p>"That's the boy that hung my gate for me last year the day after +Hallowe'en," whispered one old woman as Roger made his way through the +room, and several of them said, "Those are the young folks that went +round after the regular Hallowe'en party this year and put back the +signs and things the other people had pulled down."</p> + +<p>The audience was so much larger than the Club had expected that Helen, +as president, felt called upon to make a short explanation.</p> + +<p>"We're very glad to see you here," she said, "but we don't want you to +expect anything elaborate from us. We've just come to entertain our +friends for a short time in a simple way. So please be kind to us."</p> + +<p>Helen was wearing a pale pink dress that was extremely becoming, and her +cheeks were flushed when she realized that these people had seen or +heard of their more pretentious undertakings and might be expecting +something similar from them now.</p> + +<p>There was a reassuring nodding all over the room, and then the young +people began their performance. Edward Watkins first played on the +violin, giving some familiar airs with such spirit that toes went +tapping as he drew his bow back and forth.</p> + +<p>Dorothy followed him with Kipling's "I Keep Six Honest Serving Men." The +music was Edward German's, and Helen played the accompaniment on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> Mrs. +Atwood's little organ. The introduction was spirited and then Dorothy +sang softly.</p> + +<p>Dicky's turn came next on the program. He was introduced as the Honorary +Member of the United Service Club, and the name of the poem that he was +to recite was given as "Russian and Turk."</p> + +<p>"We don't know who wrote these verses," Helen explained.</p> + +<p>Dicky was helped to the top of a box which served as a stage and bobbed +his bobbed hair at the audience by way of a bow. Every S he pronounced +TH, which added to the pleasure of the hearers of the following lines:</p> + +<p> +There was a Russian came over the sea,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Just when the war was growing hot;</span><br /> +And his name it was Tjalikavakaree—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Karindobrolikanahudarot—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shibkadirova—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Ivarditztova</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sanilik</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Danevik</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Varagobhot.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Dicky rattled off these names and two other similar stanzas with +astonishing glibness to the amazement of his hearers. His first public +appearance with the Club was undeniably a success.</p> + +<p>The next number on the program necessitated the disappearance behind a +sheet drawn across the end of the room of almost all the members of the +Club. Helen, who was making the announcements, stayed outside. A light +came into view behind the curtain and the lights in the room were put +out.</p> + +<p>"This is the last day of the year," began Helen when a muffled whisper +had told her that all was ready, "and everybody is eager to know what is +going to happen next year. We all would like to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> know, how the war is +going to turn out, and what is going to be the result of the troubles in +Mexico, and whether Rosemont will get its new park—"</p> + +<p>She was interrupted by laughter, for Rosemont's new park was still a +live subject although it never seemed to approach settlement one way or +the other.</p> + +<p>"What you are going to see now on the screen we call 'Prophecies.' The +poet Campbell said that 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and +we might take that line for our motto. The first prophecy is one of +trouble. It comes to almost every person at one time or another of his +life."</p> + +<p>Silence fell on the darkened room. On the sheet came the figure of +Dicky. It was recognized by all and greeted with a round of applause. He +looked around him as if hunting for something; then seized what was +unmistakably a jam pot and began to eat from it with a spoon. His figure +grew larger and larger and faded away as he walked back toward the light +and disappeared beyond it. In his place came the figure of Edward +Watkins, and those who knew that he was a doctor and those who guessed +it from his physician's bag understood that his appearance was prophetic +of Dicky's deliverance from the suffering caused by jam.</p> + +<p>The light behind the sheet was moved close to the curtain while the +table and chairs were set in place. When it went back to its proper spot +there were seen the silhouettes of a group of men sitting around the +table arguing earnestly.</p> + +<p>"This," said Helen, "is the Rosemont Board of Aldermen talking about the +park."</p> + +<p>The argument grew excited. One man sprang to his feet and another +thumped the table with his fist. Suddenly they all threw back their +heads and laughed, rose and left the stage arm in arm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> + +<p>"They're wondering why they never agreed before," Helen decided. "It's +the Spring getting into their bones; and here are some of the people who +are benefited by the park."</p> + +<p>The table and chairs disappeared and a bench took their place. There +followed a procession of folk apparently passing through the park. A +workman, shovel and pick over his shoulder, stopped to look up at the +trees. That was James. A young man and his sweetheart—Roger and Ethel +Brown—strolled slowly along. Dicky rolled a hoop. Margaret, carrying a +baby borrowed from the audience, sat down on a bench and put it to +sleep.</p> + +<p>The onlookers approved highly of this prophecy which was of a state of +affairs which they all wanted.</p> + +<p>"The other day," went on Helen in her gentle voice, "I found a prophecy +that was not written for this war but for another, yet it is just as +true for the great war that is devastating the homes and hearts of men +today. It was written by Miss Bates who wrote 'America the Beautiful,' +which we all sing in school, and it is called 'The Great Twin Brethren.' +You remember that the Great Twin Brethren were Castor and Pollux. They +were regarded as gods by the Romans. They fought for the Romans in the +battle of Lake Regillus, and the high priest said about it, according to +Macaulay:</p> + +<p style="margin-left:2em;"> +Back comes the Chief in triumph<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who, in the hour of fight,</span><br /> +Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In harness on his right.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>These are the divine helpers to whom Miss Bates refers in her poem."</p> + +<p>On the screen there came into view the shadows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> of Castor and Pollux +dressed like Roman knights—with a corselet over a loose shirt, a short +plaited skirt, greaves to protect their legs, a helmet on the head and a +spear in the hand. While Ethel Brown, who had stepped forward, read the +poem, the two figures—really Roger and Tom, who were nearly of a +height—stood motionless. As it ended they glided backward and faded +from view.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:6em;">THE GREAT TWIN BRETHREN</p> + +<p style="margin-left:2em;"> +The battle will not cease<br /> +Till once again on those white steeds ye ride<br /> +O Heaven-descended Twins,<br /> +Before Humanity's bewildered host.<br /> +Our javelins<br /> +Fly wide,<br /> +And idle is our cannon's boast.<br /> +Lead us, triumphant Brethren, Love and Peace.<br /> +<br /> +A fairer Golden Fleece<br /> +Our more adventurous Argo fain would seek,<br /> +But save, O Sons of Jove,<br /> +Your blended light go with us, vain employ<br /> +It were to rove<br /> +This bleak<br /> +Blind waste. To unimagined joy<br /> +Guide us, immortal Brethren, Love and Peace.<br /> +</p> + +<p>These beautiful lines were read with great seriousness and their +profound meaning went to the hearts of the hearers. Its gravity was +counterbalanced by the next prophecy which gave hope of immediate +fulfilment. Across the screen passed a procession of Club members, the +first carrying a plate full of something that proved to be doughnuts +when one was held up so that its hole was visible. The second person in +the row bore a basket heaped high with apples, the third a dish of +cookies. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> came more doughnuts, nuts and raisins, corn balls, and +oranges. The lights were turned on, and the silhouettes, changed by +simple magic into laughing boys and girls, passed among the people +distributing their eatables. Every one had a word of praise for them. +The Atwoods, for whom the effort had been made, said little, but shook +hands almost tearfully with each performer.</p> + +<p>At home they found a rousing fire and something to eat awaiting them, +with Mrs. Morton smiling a cheerful welcome. They sat before the fire +and cracked nuts and ate apples until the chimes rang their notice that +1927 was vanishing into the past and giving way to the New Year of hope +and promise. Clasping hands they stood quite still until the chimes +stopped and the slow strokes of the town clock fell on their ears. With +the last they broke into the hymn:</p> + +<p style="margin-left:2em;"> +Now a new year opens,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now we newly turn</span><br /> +To the holy Saviour,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lessons fresh to learn.</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2><h3><span class="smcap">Katharine Leaves</span></h3> +</div> + +<p>Katharine ended her visit a few days later and returned to Buffalo under +the care of Gretchen. She was escorted to the train, but the farewells +of the Morton's were not intermixed with expressions of regret at her +departure. She had not been a considerate guest and she had not seemed +appreciative of efforts that had been made especially to give her +pleasure.</p> + +<p>It was on the way to the Atwoods' on New Year's Eve. Katharine and Della +were walking together.</p> + +<p>"It must be rather awful," said Katharine, "to have a family scandal +such as the Morton's have."</p> + +<p>"A family scandal!" repeated Della. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"About Dorothy. Her father was shot, you know."</p> + +<p>"I know. But it wasn't a scandal. It was awful for Mrs. Smith and +Dorothy but there was nothing scandalous about it—nothing at all. +Dorothy has spoken to me about it quite frankly."</p> + +<p>"She has?" returned Katharine skeptically. "I shouldn't think she would +want to."</p> + +<p>"I could see that it was very painful for her; but I think she and the +Mortons, too, would be much more pained now if they knew that a guest +was discussing their affairs."</p> + +<p>Katharine dropped Della's arm and the two girls hardly spoke during the +remainder of Katharine's stay.</p> + +<p>When weeks passed and no "bread and butter letter" came from Katharine +to thank Mrs. Morton and the family, the rudeness set the capstone to +her sins against hospitality.</p> + +<p>"Any letter from Katharine?" became a daily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> question from Roger when he +came in from school and when he received a negative he sometimes opened +his lips as if to say something in condemnation.</p> + +<p>"Take care," his mother warned him when this happened; "because a guest +makes mistakes is no reason that her host should copy them."</p> + +<p>With the coming of the new year the younger people all settled down to +serious work. Not only Roger but James and Tom also were to graduate in +June, and all of them wanted to do themselves credit. James was going to +Harvard and later to the Harvard Medical School. Tom was booked for Yale +and then for business.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h3>VALENTINE'S DAY</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was the day after Lincoln's birthday, and Saturday. Edward Watkins +had come out for his weekly visit to Elisabeth and was sitting in Mrs. +Smith's living room surveying her and talking to Miss Merriam. Elisabeth +was walking with a fair degree of steadiness now, and made her way about +all the rooms of the house without assistance. She still preferred to +crawl upstairs and she could do that so fast that the person who was +supposed to watch her had to be faithful or she would disappear while an +eye lingered too long on the page of an interesting book or on the face +of a friend.</p> + +<p>Downstairs Edward leaned forward from his chair in front of Gertrude and +picked up the ball from which she was knitting a soldier's scarf. He +paid out the yarn to her as she needed it.</p> + +<p>"You're happy here, aren't you?" he asked softly.</p> + +<p>"Happy! I should say so! Next to having your very own home I can't +imagine anything lovelier than this, with dear people and a pretty house +and a darling baby. It's beautiful."</p> + +<p>"You'd hate to leave it, wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Leave it? Why should I leave it? I think they like me. I think they +want me to stay."</p> + +<p>She looked at him piercingly, evidently disturbed at the suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Want you to stay! I should think they would!" ejaculated the young +physician. "I was just wondering what inducement would make you leave +these dear people and this pretty house and this darling baby. If any +one should—"</p> + +<p>"Hullo," cried Ethel Brown, entering at this instant. "Do you know where +Aunt Louise is?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span></p> + +<p>"She went out," replied Miss Merriam, somewhat nervously.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy has gone to Della's this afternoon to help her get ready for +tonight," Ethel said.</p> + +<p>"She arrived before I left," admitted Edward—a confession that drew a +long look from Gertrude.</p> + +<p>"Where's Ayleesabet?"</p> + +<p>"Playing under the table," answered Gertrude in cheerful ignorance that +Ayleesabet had departed to more stimulating regions over the stairs.</p> + +<p>Ethel lifted the table cover to investigate.</p> + +<p>"She isn't here."</p> + +<p>Gertrude jumped up and the doctor followed her into the hall. Ethel +Brown ran into the dining room and then upstairs, with Miss Merriam in +pursuit.</p> + +<p>It was a moment of relief for everybody when Ethel gave a shout of +discovery.</p> + +<p>"Here she is!" she called, "and O, what will Dorothy say when she comes +back and sees her room!"</p> + +<p>"What's the modern way of dealing with that situation?" Edward asked +when Miss Merriam re-appeared with Elisabeth under one arm.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean ought she to be punished? Why should she? She was only +following out her instinct to learn. How could she know that that was a +time and place where it would inconvenience somebody else if she did? +I'm the one to be punished for letting her have the opportunity."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's true. She'd never learn much if she didn't +investigate, would she? And, as you say, she isn't yet conscious that +she has any especial duty toward any one else's comfort."</p> + +<p>"The Misses Clark are always saying 'No, no,' to her. I should think +she'd think of their house as 'No, no Castle'."</p> + +<p>"They love her, though," defended Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"That's why I let her go there. A baby knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> when she's loved and those +two old ladies make her feel it even above the 'No, Nos'."</p> + +<p>"I went in there yesterday when I saw Elisabeth's carriage outside their +door," said Ethel, "and I found the older Miss Clark sitting on the +floor clapping her hands and the baby trying to dance and sitting down, +bang, every four or five steps."</p> + +<p>Elisabeth was in a coquettish mood and played like a kitten with Edward.</p> + +<p>"She is the very sweetest thing I ever saw!" exclaimed Ethel Brown. "I +do wish I could take her to Washington."</p> + +<p>"Take her to Washington! What on earth do you mean?" asked Miss Merriam.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, only I hate to go away from her for even a few days. I came +over to tell Dorothy that Grandfather Emerson is going to send us all to +Washington with Mr. Wheeler's party for Washington's Birthday. Do you +think Aunt Louise will let her go?"</p> + +<p>"I think it will depend on who are going."</p> + +<p>"There'll be lots of older people and teachers from our church and both +the other churches, too."</p> + +<p>"Any of your mother's particular friends?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Grandmother and Grandfather went +themselves."</p> + +<p>"Then your mother won't have any objection."</p> + +<p>"That would settle the question for Dorothy, too, I should think," said +Edward. "Are you taking outsiders along?"</p> + +<p>"Outsiders?"</p> + +<p>"New Yorkers. Della and Tom, for instance?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, is there any chance of Mrs. Watkins's letting them go?"</p> + +<p>"I'll suggest it if you think they'd be welcome."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why they wouldn't be. Mr. Wheeler wants to have as many as +possible because the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> there are the better rates he can make with +the railroad and at the hotel."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you stir up the Hancock's?"</p> + +<p>"The whole U. S. C.? Why not? It would be just too glorious," and Ethel +proceeded to dance her butterfly dance around the room.</p> + +<p>"Talk it over this evening," advised Edward, taking up his hat.</p> + +<p>"Going?" inquired Ethel.</p> + +<p>"I might as well—I mean, I must go, thank you," responded the doctor +automatically, for she had said nothing to be thanked for.</p> + +<p>It was a charming table around which the Club seated itself at the +Watkinses'. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins sat at the head and foot and Della and +Tom in the center of the sides.</p> + +<p>"I ran in to see the baby a minute before I left," Ethel Blue explained +to Mrs. Watkins, "and Dr. Watkins was there and he asked me to tell you +that Aunt Louise had invited him to stay to dinner."</p> + +<p>"Edward is becoming a very uncertain character, like all doctors," said +Edward's mother.</p> + +<p>"I think he is," remarked Ethel Brown to Ethel Blue who sat beside her. +"He was just saying 'Good-bye' to Miss Gertrude when I left, and he must +have stayed on after all."</p> + +<p>Everybody had contributed something to the table decorations, but no one +had seen them all assembled and they all paid themselves and each other +compliments on the prettiness of the various parts and Della and Dorothy +on the effectiveness of the whole.</p> + +<p>In the center was a glowing centerpiece made of three scarlet paper +hearts, each about eight inches high placed with the pointed ends up and +the lower corners touching so that they made a three-sided cage over the +electric light. From the top a tiny Cupid aimed his arrow at the guests +before him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> Della and Tom had designed this warm-hearted lantern.</p> + +<p>Half way between the centerpiece and the plates a line of dancing +figures ran around the table linked to each other by chains made of wee +golden hearts. Ethel Blue had drawn and painted these paper dolls, so +that each represented one of the Club members and they served as place +cards as well as ornaments.</p> + +<p>"I seem to see myself in Miles Standish's armor," said James. "Does that +mean that I'm to sit here where I can admire my warlike appearance?"</p> + +<p>"It does," said Della, "and I've put Priscilla next you so that for once +you can cut out John Alden. Here's John Alden—that's you, Roger, and +here's a little Russian for you to take home to Dicky."</p> + +<p>"Where am I?"</p> + +<p>"And I?"</p> + +<p>"And I?" cried one after the other.</p> + +<p>"Can't you guess? This is the Muse of History," pointing to a +white-robed figure holding a scroll.</p> + +<p>"Helen, of course," they all shouted. "And isn't this Hallowe'en witch +Ethel Brown?"</p> + +<p>"It really looks like her!"</p> + +<p>"And what do you guess about this songstress?"</p> + +<p>"Dorothy, and the young lady knitting is Della."</p> + +<p>"Right."</p> + +<p>"I hate to think that that's my face looking out of that cabbage," +protested Margaret, "but Ethel Blue has a wonderful ability to catch +likenesses."</p> + +<p>"That's you, Mrs. Stalk of the Cabbage Patch, just as clearly as if it +were your photograph."</p> + +<p>"One of these two is mine and the other is for Edward," guessed Tom. "Am +I one of the Great Twin Brethren and is Edward's the Pied Piper?"</p> + +<p>"Right again. And this is Ayleesabet herself, and the Guardian Angel is +Miss Merriam."</p> + +<p>"She <i>is</i> an angel, isn't she!" exclaimed Della.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> "Look at these dozens +of tiny hearts. Ethel Brown cut out those and James made them into the +chains."</p> + +<p>"Paste, paste," groaned James melodramatically. "My future calling is +that of bill-poster."</p> + +<p>Everything that could be was pink at the dinner. The soup was tomato +bisque, the fish was salmon, the roast was beef, rare, the salad, tomato +jelly, the dessert, strawberry ice cream, and with it small cakes +heart-shaped and covered with pink icing.</p> + +<p>In the drawing room a Cupid whirling on a card pointed with his arrow to +a number, and the person who took from Mrs. Watkins's hand the envelope +marked with the number indicated was instructed where to look for his +valentine. Helen found hers inside of the piano. The Ethels turned up +diagonal corners of the rug in the northwest corner of the library and +discovered two flat packages. Margaret sought out a small bundle tied to +the electrolier on the right hand side of the hall. So it went.</p> + +<p>Each of them had prepared a valentine for every other member of the +Club, so each had nine, for Dicky had sent his in to be distributed with +the rest. Each had made all his nine of the same sort though not all +alike. James, for instance, had made prettily decorated boxes and filled +them with candy. Tom, who had a knack at cutting paper, had cut lacy +designs out of lily white barred paper which he mounted on colored +cardboard, and out of thin colored sheets whose patterns were thrown +into relief by a background of white. Ethel Blue had drawn comical +Cupids, each performing an acrobatic act. Ethel Brown had baked +heart-shaped cookies and tied them into pretty boxes with pink ribbon. +Dorothy's knowledge of basket making led her to experiment with some +little heart-shaped trays, useful for countless purposes. She made them +of different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> materials and they proved successful. Della stencilled +hearts on to handkerchiefs, decorating some with a border of hearts +touching, some with a corner wreath of interlaced hearts, the boys' with +a single corner heart large enough for an initial. Each one was +different.</p> + +<p>Roger's contributions were heart-shaped watch charms of copper, each +with a raised initial and mounted on a stray of colored leather and +furnished with a bar and snapper of gun metal. Margaret's little +heart-shaped pincushions were suitable for boys and girls alike. Some of +them were small, for the pocket or the handbag; others were larger and +were meant to be placed on the bureau. They were of varied colors, the +girls' being of silk to match the colors of their rooms and the boys of +darker hues.</p> + +<p>Dicky's offerings were woven paper book marks made like Roger's blotter +corners and intended to keep the place in a book by slipping over the +corner of the leaf. Helen, who had been learning from Dorothy how to +model in clay, had attempted paper weights. The family cat had served as +a model, and each was a cat in a different position. Some were more +successful than others, but, as Roger said, "You'd recognize them as +cats."</p> + +<p>When the search was over and every one had admired his own and his +neighbor's valentines, Ethel Brown recited Hood's sonnet, "For the 14th +of February," and Ethel Blue read part of Lamb's essay, "Valentine's +Day," and they all felt that Saint Valentine's star was setting and that +of the Father of his Country was rising resplendent.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2><h3>ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND THE FIRST OF APRIL</h3> +</div> + +<p>The Misses Clark had borrowed Elisabeth for the afternoon. It was +becoming a custom with them, and as Miss Merriam insisted that her +little charge should have her naps out of doors with unbroken +regularity, the old ladies found themselves almost every day sitting, +rug-enwrapped, on Mrs. Smith's veranda or their own while the baby dozed +luxuriously in her carriage. Elisabeth grew pink in the fresh air and if +her self-appointed attendants did not do likewise they at least found +themselves benefiting by the unaccustomed treatment.</p> + +<p>In early March a brother came to visit them. He was a dignified elderly +man, "just like the sisters before Elisabeth made them human," Roger +declared, "except that he has whiskers a foot long." At first he paid no +attention to the child, though the story of its escape from Belgium +interested him. But no one resisted Elisabeth long and it was not many +days before Mr. Clark was holding his book with one hand and playing +ball with the other.</p> + +<p>On this particular day Mrs. Smith and Miss Merriam had both needed to go +to New York, and the Misses Clark had seized the opportunity to have an +unusually long call from Ayleesabet. They had sat on their veranda with +her while she napped; but when she came in, fresh and wide awake, their +older eyes were growing sleepy from the cold and they went upstairs for +forty winks, leaving their nursling in charge of their brother.</p> + +<p>Ayleesabet was goodness itself. She sat on the floor and rolled a ball +to her elderly playmate, chuckling when it struck the edge of a rug and +went out of its course so that he had to plunge after it. She walked +around the edge of the same rug, evidently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> regarding it as an island to +be explored, Crusoe fashion. Her explorations were thorough. If she had +been old enough to know what mines were one would have thought that she +was playing miner, for she lay on her back, pushed up the rug and rolled +under it.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word," ejaculated Mr. Clark, adjusting his spectacles and +examining the hump made by the baby's round little Belgian body. "Upon +my word, that doesn't seem the thing for her to do."</p> + +<p>But Elisabeth seemed entirely contented and made no response to the old +gentleman's cluckings and other blandishments.</p> + +<p>"Come out," he whispered in beguiling tones. "Come out and play."</p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>"Come and play horsey. Don't you want to climb up? That's it. Up she +goes! Steady now. Hold tight."</p> + +<p>As he started on a slow tour of the room on all fours his rider lurched +unsteadily.</p> + +<p>"Take hold of my collar," cried the aged war-horse.</p> + +<p>Ayleesabet fell forward, her arms went around his neck and her hands +buried themselves in his whiskers. With a chirrup of delight she righted +herself, a bridle-rein of hair in each hand. On went the charger, his +speed increasing from a walk to an amble. Louder and louder laughed +Elisabeth. Steed and rider were in that perfect accord wherein man seems +akin to the Centaur.</p> + +<p>At the height of the race the drawing room door opened and in walked +Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown Morton. The horse stopped suddenly and wiped +his forehead with one of his forefeet, but maintained his horizontal +position in order not to throw his rider. Elisabeth's equilibrium was +somewhat disturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> by the abrupt cessation of her charger's advance but +she kept a firm hold on her bridle and restored herself.</p> + +<p>"Go, go," she chortled, thumping the prostrate form of Mr. Clark with +her slippered feet and smiling with excusable vanity at the new +arrivals.</p> + +<p>The Ethels stood side by side so stricken with amazement and amusement +that for an instant it seemed that apoplexy would overtake them. Thanks +to their natural politeness they did not laugh, though they agreed later +that it had been the hardest struggle of their lives not to do so.</p> + +<p>"We've come to take Ayleesabet home," they said. "It's awfully good of +you to entertain her so long."</p> + +<p>They lifted the protesting equestrian to the floor and put on her outer +garments while the late steed resumed an upright position and dusted his +knees.</p> + +<p>"A very good child," he observed. "A very intelligent child. She does +Miss Merriam great credit."</p> + +<p>"She's growing splendidly," replied Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"Too bad she can't continue under her care. Too bad."</p> + +<p>"Can't continue under her care!" repeated the Ethels in unison. "Why +can't she? What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Why, on account of Miss Merriam's leaving. Of course you know. I hope I +haven't betrayed any confidence."</p> + +<p>"Miss Merriam's leaving!" exclaimed the Ethels as one girl.</p> + +<p>"We don't know anything about it!"</p> + +<p>"Where is she going?"</p> + +<p>"When is she going?"</p> + +<p>The questions poured thick and fast and Mr. Clark seemed distinctly +taken aback by the excitement he had created.</p> + +<p>"Why, Dr. Watkins said that he thought she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> wasn't going to stay with +Elisabeth much longer. That's what I understood him to say. I don't +think I'm mistaken," and the old gentleman passed his hand nervously +over the top of his head.</p> + +<p>"That's perfectly terrible if it's really so," declared Ethel Blue, who +was an especial admirer of Gertrude Merriam's and a devout believer in +her ability to turn Elisabeth from a skeleton into a robust little +maiden.</p> + +<p>"We must find out at once," and Ethel Brown put Elisabeth into her coat +with a speed that so disregarded all orderly procedure as to bring a +frown to the young Belgian's brow.</p> + +<p>The two girls talked about the news in low, horrified tones on the way +back to Dorothy's, and down they sat, prepared not only to amuse +Elisabeth but to amuse her until the return of Miss Merriam, no matter +how late that proved to be.</p> + +<p>It seemed an eternity but it was only half past five when she and Mrs. +Smith came back. The Ethels sat before the fire in the sitting room like +judges on the bench. They made their accusation promptly. Gertrude sat +down as if her knees were unable to support her. Her blue eyes stared +amazedly from one to the other.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Clark says I am going away? That Dr. Watkins said he thought I was +going away?"</p> + +<p>Her complete wonderment proved her not guilty.</p> + +<p>"But I'm not going away! I haven't any idea of going away—unless you +want me to," and she turned appealingly to Mrs. Smith.</p> + +<p>"My dear child, of course we don't want you to," and Mrs. Smith bent and +kissed her. "We love you dearly and we like your work. I can't think +what Mr. Clark could have meant—or Dr. Watkins—"</p> + +<p>"It was Edward Watkins who told Mr. Clark," repeated Ethel Brown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span></p> + +<p>Gertrude sat stupefied.</p> + +<p>"Unless the wish were father to the thought," ended Mrs. Smith softly.</p> + +<p>"Unless he wanted it to be true?" translated Gertrude inquiringly. +"Unless—Oh!"</p> + +<p>A blush burned its way from her chin to her brow and lost itself in the +soft hair that swept back from her temples.</p> + +<p>"He wanted it to be true, and he said he thought it was going to happen. +Well, he's altogether too sure! It's humiliating," and she threw up her +chin and walked firmly out of the room, for the first time forgetting +Elisabeth.</p> + +<p>"What does she mean?" Ethel Blue asked her aunt.</p> + +<p>"Why is she humiliated?" asked Ethel Brown.</p> + +<p>"What is she going to do?" was Dorothy's question.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Mrs. Smith replied to Dorothy. "We'd better not bother +her. Don't tease her with questions."</p> + +<p>The girls obeyed, but they talked the matter over a great deal among +themselves and they would have asked Edward Watkins about it the first +time they saw him except that their Aunt Louise guessed their plan and +forestalled it by telling them that any mention of the matter would be +an intrusion upon other people's affairs which would be wholly +unwarranted.</p> + +<p>The first time they saw Edward was the next day, when the Rosemont +Charitable Society gave a bazaar for the benefit of its treasury, +depleted by the demands upon it of an uncommonly hard winter. The seats +were all taken out of the high school hall and the big room became the +scene of a Donnybrook Fair on St. Patrick's Day. Of course the U. S. C. +had been called on to help; it had made a name for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> itself and outsiders +looked to it for ideas and assistance.</p> + +<p>In fact, the idea of the fair was Ethel Brown's. She heard her mother +talking with one of the Directors of the R. C. S. one afternoon about +the unending need for money and suggested the Irish program as a +possible means of making some.</p> + +<p>"The child is right," fat Mrs. Anderson promptly agreed. "Rosemont never +had anything of the sort."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be harder to get up than any other kind of fair," said Mrs. +Morton.</p> + +<p>"And St. Patrick's Day will be here so soon that it's a good excuse for +hurrying it."</p> + +<p>So it had been hurried, and the day after the strange encounter with Mr. +Clark and the disturbing conversation with Miss Merriam the scholastic +American precincts of the high school were converted into an Irish fair +ground. Every one who had anything to do with the tables or the conduct +of the bazaar was dressed in an Irish peasant costume, the girls with +short, full skirts with plain white shirt waists showing beneath a +sleeveless jacket of dark cloth. Heavy low shoes and thick stockings +would have been the appropriate wear for the feet, but all the girls +rebelled.</p> + +<p>"This footgear was meant for the earth floor of a cabin and not for a +steam-heated room," declared Helen. "I'll wear green stockings, but thin +ones, and my own slippers, even if they aren't suitable."</p> + +<p>The boys were less inconvenienced by their garb, which included, to be +sure, heavy shoes and long stockings, but also tight knee breeches and, +instead of jackets, waistcoats with sleeves.</p> + +<p>Every one in Rosemont who had any green furnishings lent them for the +occasion. Mrs. Anderson robbed her library of a huge green rug to place +before the stationery booth over whose writing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> paper and green +place-cards and novelties, all in green boxes, she presided robustly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morton, with Helen and Margaret to assist her, ruled over a table +shaped like a shamrock and laden with articles carved from bog oak, and +with china animals and photographs of Ireland and of Irish colleens.</p> + +<p>Dorothy told fortunes in the lower part of Blarney Castle, built of +canvas but sufficiently realistic, in a corner of the hall. On top Tom +was ready to hold over the battlements by the heels any one who was +"game" for the adventure of kissing the Blarney Stone.</p> + +<p>In the restaurant, which was a corner of the hall shut off by screens +covered with green paper, Mrs. Anderson superintended the serving of +supper by her assistants—Ethel Blue and Della and some of their +friends. They offered a hearty meal of Irish stew, or of cold ham and +potato salad, followed by pistachio ice cream and small cakes covered +with frosting of a delicate green. At one side Ethel Brown controlled +the "Murphy Table" and sold huge hot baked Irish potatoes and paper +plates of potato salad and crisp potato "chips" ready to be taken home. +Before the evening was many minutes old she had so many orders set aside +on the shelves that held books in the hall's ordinary state that she had +to replenish her stock.</p> + +<p>James acted as cashier for the whole room. Roger, armed with a +shillelagh, ran around for every one until the time came for him to +mount the stage and show what he knew about an Irish jig. Under the +coaching of George Foster's sister, he and his sisters had learned it in +such an incredibly short time that they were none too sure of their +steps, but they managed to get through it without discredit to +themselves or their teacher.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Smith played the accompaniments for a set of familiar Irish +songs—"The Harp that once through Tara's Halls," "Erin go Bragh," +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "The Wearing of the Green." Dorothy led the +choruses, the whole U. S. C., including Dicky, sang their best, and +Edward Watkins's tenor rose so pleadingly in "Kathleen Mavourneen" that +Mrs. Smith was touched.</p> + +<p>"I'm going home now," she said to him, "to stay with the baby so that +Gertrude can come to the bazaar. You may go with me if you like."</p> + +<p>Edward did like. He glowed with eagerness. He hardly could carry on an +intelligent conversation with Mrs. Smith, so eager was he to test the +possibilities of the walk back when he should be escorting Miss Merriam.</p> + +<p>When they entered the house and he saw her reading before the fire his +heart came into his throat, so demure she looked and so lovely.</p> + +<p>"I've come home, dear, so that you can go," explained Mrs. Smith. "Dr. +Watkins will take you back."</p> + +<p>Gertrude had given Mrs. Smith's escort one startled glance as they +entered.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much indeed," she answered. "You are always so +thoughtful. But I'm not going out again tonight. It's quite out of the +question; please don't urge me," and she left the room without a look at +the disappointed face of the young doctor.</p> + +<p>"Now, what does that mean?" he inquired in amazement.</p> + +<p>"You ought to know."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Do you?"</p> + +<p>"I think I do."</p> + +<p>"Won't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"If you think over any conversations you have had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> recently about Miss +Merriam perhaps it will come to you."</p> + +<p>"And you won't tell me?"</p> + +<p>"I may be a wrong interpreter. At any rate I'm not an interferer. Your +affairs are your own."</p> + +<p>"That's a very slender hint you've given me, but I'll do my best with +it."</p> + +<p>His best was of small avail. Miss Merriam would not see him when he +called, did not go anywhere where she would be likely to meet him, bowed +to him so coldly when she passed him one day going into the house, that +he actually did not have the courage to stop her, but rang the bell and +asked for Mrs. Smith.</p> + +<p>The Ethels and Dorothy felt that the part of courtesy was to preserve a +civil silence, but they were consumed with curiosity to know just what +was going on. Certainly Miss Gertrude was not happy, for she often +looked as if she had been weeping, and certainly Dr. Watkins was +wretched, for Tom and Della quite immediately reported him as being "so +solemn you can't do anything with him." Indeed, at the April Fool party +which the Hancocks gave to the U. S. C., he indulged in an outburst that +startled them all.</p> + +<p>Margaret and James had asked him because the Club had formed the habit +of doing so when they were undertaking anything special. The Ethels were +quite right when they guessed that he accepted the invitation because he +hoped to see Miss Merriam there. She did not go, offering as an excuse +that Ayleesabet needed her.</p> + +<p>The April Fool party might have been named the Party of Surprises. There +were no practical jokes;—"a joke of the hand is a joke of the vulgar" +had been trained into all of them from their earliest days;—but there +were countless surprises. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> opening of a candy box disclosed a toy +puppy; a toy cat was filled not with the desired candy but with popcorn. +The candy was handed about in the brass coal scuttle, beautifully +polished and lined with paraffin paper. Each guest received a present. A +string of jet beads proved to be small black seeds, and a necklace of +green jade resolved itself on inspection into a collar of green string +beans strung by one end so that they lay at length like a verdant +fringe.</p> + +<p>The early evening was spent in the dining-room—no one knew why. When +supper was served in the library it became evident that it was just a +part of the program to have everything topsy turvy. It was evident, too, +that a raid had been made on Dr. Hancock's supplies, for the lemonade +was served in test tubes and the Charlotte Russe in pill boxes.</p> + +<p>It was after supper when Edward Watkins had grown sure that Miss Merriam +surely was not coming that he indulged in a burst of sarcasm. After a +consultation with Margaret he drew the curtains across the door leading +into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Are you ready?" he called to Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Yes," came in reply.</p> + +<p>"Then here, my friends, you see the portrait of the original April +Fool."</p> + +<p>He swept back the portière and the laughing group, silenced by the +energy of his announcement, saw Edward himself reflected in a mirror +that Margaret had set up on a chair. They all laughed, but it was uneasy +laughter, and Tom tried to reassure his brother by clapping him on the +shoulder and exclaiming, "You do yourself an injustice, old man, you +really do," with a touch of earnestness in it.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2><h3>APRIL 19 AND 23</h3> +</div> + +<p>Ethel Blue took no part in the historical program that Helen put on the +stage of the Glen Point Orphanage on April 19th, "Patriots' Day," when +Massachusetts folk celebrated the Revolutionary battle of Concord and +Lexington. The reason was that she was just getting over a cold that had +come upon her at the very time when the others were making ready for the +performance, and had made her feel so wretched that she could do nothing +outside of her school work. This was how it happened that she was +sitting at the rear of the room when Edward Watkins came in, looked +searchingly over the audience and then slipped into a chair beside her.</p> + +<p>"Miss Merriam not here?" he murmured under cover of a duet that Dorothy +and Della were playing on the piano.</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Do you know why she won't speak to me?"</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue fairly trembled. What was she to say? She had been warned not +to interfere in other people's affairs. Yet she did not know how to +answer without telling the truth. So she said:</p> + +<p>"I know how it began—her getting mad with you. I don't understand why."</p> + +<p>"How did it begin?"</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue looked about wildly. Dorothy and Della were thumping away +vigorously. There was no possibility for escape.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Clark told us—Ethel Brown and me—that you said you thought Miss +Merriam was going away soon. We were wild, because we love her so—"</p> + +<p>There was a strange mumble from the Doctor.</p> + +<p>—"and she's so splendid with Ayleesabet. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> asked her the minute we +saw her if she was going away. She said she hadn't any idea of it and +she asked us how we came to think so, and we told her what Mr. Clark had +said."</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! What did she say then?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Gertrude and Aunt Louise said, 'why should Edward have said +such a thing?' And Aunt Louise said, 'unless he wanted it to be true'."</p> + +<p>"Ah, your Aunt Louise is a woman of intelligence!"</p> + +<p>Edward smiled, though somewhat miserably. Ethel Blue was warming to her +subject.</p> + +<p>"Miss Gertrude said you were too sure and it was humiliating, and she +went up stairs and she's never been the same since then. I don't know +why it was humiliating, but she was angry right through."</p> + +<p>"I've noticed that," said Edward reminiscently. "Now let me see just +what she meant. She was told that I said I thought she was going away +soon. 'Thought' or 'hoped'?"</p> + +<p>"'Thought.' Did you say it?"</p> + +<p>"And your Aunt Louise said that I must have wanted it to be true," went +on Edward slowly, unheeding Ethel Blue's question. "And Gertrude—Miss +Merriam said I was too sure and that it was humiliating. Is that +straight?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Did you say it?"</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue was beginning to think that if she was giving so much +information she ought to be given a little in return.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I think about it?" asked Edward, again ignoring +Ethel's question. "I don't wonder a bit that she was as mad as hops. Any +girl would have been."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Do you really want me to tell you? Well," continued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> Edward in her ear, +"I dare say you've guessed that I'm in love with Miss Merriam."</p> + +<p>Ethel drew a deep breath and stared open-mouthed at Dr. Watkins, who +nodded at her gravely.</p> + +<p>"I love her very much, and one day she was especially kind to me and I +went walking down the street like a peacock and plumped right on to Mr. +Clark. We walked along together and he said something about Miss +Merriam, and I was jackass enough to say that I hoped—not <i>thought</i>, +Ethel Blue, but <i>hoped</i>; do you see the difference?"</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue nodded.</p> + +<p>"I <i>hoped</i> that before long she would leave Rosemont. Don't you see, +Ethel Blue? I said it out of the fullness of my heart because I hoped +that before long she would marry me and go away."</p> + +<p>Ethel gasped again.</p> + +<p>"I was riding such a high horse that I hardly knew what I said, but I +can see that when that was repeated to her with 'thought' instead of +'hoped' it looked as if I was mighty sure she was going to have me, and +I hadn't even asked her. Yes, any girl would be indignant, wouldn't +she?"</p> + +<p>Edward scanned Ethel's face, hoping to find some comfort there, but +there was none. Ethel's discomfiture and bewilderment had passed and she +was putting an unusually acute mind on the situation. She understood +perfectly that it looked to Miss Gertrude as if Dr. Watkins had made so +sure that she returned his affection that he had gone about talking of +it to strangers even before he had told her of his own love.</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder that she felt humiliated," was Ethel's verdict.</p> + +<p>The program on the stage was going on swiftly. Helen had made the +historical introduction, telling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> the circumstances that led to the +affair of April 19th. Tom had recited "Paul Revere's Ride."</p> + +<p>It was while the whole Club was singing some quaint Revolutionary songs +and winding up with "Yankee Doodle" that Dr. Watkins made his appeal to +Ethel Blue.</p> + +<p>"She won't listen to a word from me," he said. "She won't let me speak to +her. Do you think you could find a chance to tell her how it was? It was +bad enough but it wasn't as bad as she thinks. Will you tell her I'd +like to apologize before I go to Oklahoma?"</p> + +<p>"Oklahoma!"</p> + +<p>"A friend of Dr. Hancock's is settled in a flourishing town there. He +has a bigger practice than he can attend to, and he sent East for Dr. +Hancock to find him an assistant. He has offered the chance to me."</p> + +<p>"But it's so far away!"</p> + +<p>"I hesitated a long while on that account. You see I didn't know whether +Miss Merriam would care for the West."</p> + +<p>"Weren't you taking a good deal for granted?"</p> + +<p>"You're finding me guilty just as she has. But of course a man has to +think about what he has to offer a wife. I suppose you think I'm queer +to talk about this with you," he broke off his story to say, "but I +haven't said a word about it to any one and it has been driving me wild +so it's a great relief if you'll let me talk."</p> + +<p>Ethel nodded.</p> + +<p>"You see, my practice in New York is so small it's ridiculous. You can't +ask a girl to marry you when you aren't making enough money to support +even yourself. But suppose I should go to Oklahoma where I shall soon +make a good living, and then come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> back and ask her, and find out that +she hates the West. Don't you see that I'm not all to blame?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she wouldn't like you enough to marry you no matter where you +lived," suggested Ethel.</p> + +<p>Edward heaved a sigh that seemed to come from his very boots and leaned +back weakly in his chair.</p> + +<p>"There's a certain brutal frankness about you, Ethel Blue, that I never +suspected."</p> + +<p>"I thought you were thinking about all sides of the question," Ethel +defended herself.</p> + +<p>"Um, yes. I suppose I must admit that there is that possibility. Any way +if you'll try to get her to let me talk to her I'll be grateful to you +evermore," and Edward got up and strolled away to compliment the +participants in the program, leaving Ethel Blue more excited than she +had ever been in her life, even just before she went up in an aeroplane, +because she was touching the edges of an adventure in real life.</p> + +<p>It was embarrassing to broach the subject to Miss Merriam. She was +sweetness itself, but she was dignified to a degree that forbade any +encroachment upon her private affairs, and twice when Ethel Blue's lips +were actually parted to plead in Edward's behalf her courage failed her.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Clark is deaf," said Ethel Blue abruptly. "Edward Watkins didn't +say he 'thought' you were going away; he said he 'hoped' you were going +away."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Miss Gertrude, turning a startled face toward Ethel.</p> + +<p>"He hoped so because he loves you and he wants to ask you to marry him +but he can't until he has a good practice, and he doesn't know whether +you would like Oklahoma."</p> + +<p>"Whether I'd like Oklahoma!" repeated Gertrude slowly.</p> + +<p>"He wants to explain it all to you but you won't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> let him speak to you. +He's had a good practice offered him in Oklahoma, but he won't go if you +don't like Oklahoma; he'll try to work up a practice here, but it will +take such a long time."</p> + +<p>"Ethel Blue, do you really know what you're talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Gertrude," replied Ethel, blushing uncomfortably, but keeping +on with determination. "Please don't think I'm awful, 'butting in' like +this. Dr. Watkins asked me to ask you to let him see you. He tried a +long time without telling any one; he told me when he couldn't think of +anything else to do. He didn't really know why you were mad until I told +him; he just knew you wouldn't see him when he called."</p> + +<p>Miss Gertrude's eyes were on her fragile pink work as Ethel Blue +blundered on.</p> + +<p>"What shall I tell him?" she said, breaking the silence.</p> + +<p>"You may tell him," said Gertrude slowly, "that I have a school friend +in Oklahoma who tells me that Oklahoma is a very good place to live."</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue clapped her hands noiselessly.</p> + +<p>"But tell him, also," Gertrude went on, her blue eyes stern, "that I +shall be too busy to see him before he goes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Gertrude!" ejaculated Ethel, disappointed. "I don't quite know +whether you care or not."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," replied Gertrude, and she leaned over and kissed Ethel +Blue with lips that smiled sadly.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2><h3>WEST POINT</h3> +</div> + +<p>Ethel Blue gave Gertrude Merriam's message to Edward Watkins who was as +much puzzled by it as she had been.</p> + +<p>"What does she mean?" he asked. "Does she care for me or doesn't she?"</p> + +<p>"She doesn't know herself. I asked her."</p> + +<p>Edward whistled a long, soft whistle.</p> + +<p>"Aren't girls the queerest things ever made!" he ejaculated in wonder.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's queer," defended Ethel. "First, it was all guesswork +with her because you never had told her that you cared. And then she was +angry at your having talked <i>about</i> her when you hadn't talked <i>to</i> her. +Her feelings were hurt badly. And now she doesn't know what she does +feel."</p> + +<p>"She isn't strong against Oklahoma, anyway. I guess I'll accept that +offer."</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue nodded.</p> + +<p>"I want to tell you one thing more before you go," she said. "I haven't +told any one a word about this, even Ethel Brown. It's the first thing +in all my life I haven't told Ethel Brown."</p> + +<p>"I suspect it's been pretty hard for you not to. You know I appreciate +it. If things work out as I hope, it will be you who have helped me +most," and he shook hands with her very seriously. "There's one thing +more I wish you'd do for me," he pleaded.</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"If I can."</p> + +<p>"I know you Club people will be hanging May baskets on May Day morning. +Will you hang this one on Miss Gertrude's door—the door of her room, so +that there won't be any mistake about her getting it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certainly I will."</p> + +<p>"It's just a little note to say 'good-bye.' See, you can read it."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to," responded Ethel Blue stoutly, though it was hard to +let good manners prevail over a desire to see the inside of the very +first letter she had ever seen the outside of to know as the writing of +a lover to his lass.</p> + +<p>"You'd better tell your Aunt Marian that I've told you all this," he +went on. "I shouldn't want her to think that I was asking you to do +something underhand."</p> + +<p>"She wouldn't think it of you. She likes you."</p> + +<p>"Tell her about it all, nevertheless. I insist."</p> + +<p>Ethel felt relieved. It had seemed queer to be doing something that no +one knew about.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said.</p> + +<p>The May basket was duly hung, and Miss Gertrude's eyes wore the traces +of tears all the rest of the day, but Ethel Blue was not to learn for a +long time what was in the note.</p> + +<p>May passed swiftly. All the boys were so busy studying that they could +give but little time to Club meetings and there was nothing done beyond +the making of some plans for the summer and the taking of a few long +walks. The Ethels and Dorothy and Della were doing their best to make a +superlative record, also. With Helen and Margaret life went more easily, +for graduation days were yet two years off with them.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2><h3>GRADUATION AND FOURTH OF JULY</h3> +</div> + +<p>With the coming of June thoughts of graduation filled the minds of all +the prospective graduates. The boys were able to get through their +examinations quite early in the month, and as they all did better than +they expected the last days of the month were days of joy to them. The +girls had to wait longer to have the weight removed from their minds, +but they, too, passed their examinations well enough to earn special +congratulation from the principals of their respective schools.</p> + +<p>The graduation exercises of the Rosemont graded schools were held in the +hall of the high school and all the schools were represented there. The +Ethels and Dorothy all sang in the choruses, and each one of them had a +part in the program. Ethel Brown described the character of Northern +France and Belgium, the land in which the war was being carried on. +Although no mention of the war was allowed every one listened to this +unusual geography lesson with extreme interest. Ethel Blue recited a +poem on "Peace" and Dorothy sang a group of folk songs of different +countries. It was all very simple and unpretentious, and they were only +three out of a dozen or more who tried to give pleasure to the assembled +parents and guardians.</p> + +<p>Roger's graduation was more formal. A speaker came out from New York, a +man of affairs who had an interest in education and who liked to say a +word of encouragement to young people about to step from one stage of +their education into another.</p> + +<p>"Of course education never ends as long as you live," Roger said +thoughtfully to Ethel Brown, "but there is a big feeling of jump when +you go from one school to another, and you can't deny it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't want to deny it," retorted Ethel Brown. "I'm all full of +excitement at the idea of going into the high school next autumn."</p> + +<p>The graduating class of the high school was going to inaugurate a plan +for the decoration of the high school hall. They were to have a banner +which was to be used at all the functions, connected with graduation and +in after years was to be carried by any of the alumni who came back for +the occasion of the graduation and alumni dinner. During the year this +banner and those which should follow it were to be stacked in the hall, +their handsome faces encouraging the scholars who should see them every +day by the thought that their school was a place in which every one who +had passed through was interested. The power of a body of interested +alumni is a force worth having by any school.</p> + +<p>The graduating class found the idea of the banner most attractive, but +when it came to the making they were aghast at the expense. A committee +examined the prices at places in New York where such decorations were +made and returned horrified.</p> + +<p>It was then that the Ethels offered to do their best to help out the +Class of 1915.</p> + +<p>"We'll do what we can, and I know Helen and Margaret and Della will help +us," they said and fell to work.</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue drew the design and submitted it to the class and to the +principal of the school. With a few alterations they approved it. The +girls had seen many banners at Chautauqua and they had talked with the +ladies who had made the banner of their mother's class, so that they +were not entirely ignorant of the work they were laying out for +themselves. Nevertheless, they profited by the experience of others and +did not have to try too many experiments themselves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> + +<p>They had learned, for instance, that they must secure their silk from a +professional banner-making firm, for the silk of the department store +was neither wide enough nor of a quality to endure the hard wear that a +banner must endure. From this same banner house they bought linen canvas +to serve as interlining for both the front and the back of the banner.</p> + +<p>Several tricks that were of great help to them they had jotted down when +they discussed banner making at Chautauqua and now they were more than +ever glad that they had the notebook habit.</p> + +<p>The front of their banner was to be white and to bear the letters "R. H. +S." for Rosemont High School, and below it "1915." They remembered that +in padding the lettering they must make it stand high in order to look +effective, but they must never work it tight or it would draw. Another +point worth recalling was that while the banner was still in the +embroidery frame and was held taut they should put flour paste on the +back of the embroidery to replace the pressing which was not possible +with letters raised so high.</p> + +<p>When it came to putting the banner together they found that their work +was not easy or near its end. They cut the canvas interlining just like +the outside, and then turned back the edge of the canvas. This was to +prevent the roughness cutting through the silk when that should be +turned over the canvas. Back and front were stitched and the edges +pressed separately, and then they were laid back to back and were +stitched together. The row of machine stitching was covered by gimp.</p> + +<p>A heavy curtain pole tipped with a gilt ball served as a standard and +was much cheaper than the pole offered by the professionals. The cross +bar, tipped at each end by gilt balls, was fastened to the pole by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> a +brass clamp. The banner itself was held evenly by being laced on to the +crossbar.</p> + +<p>The cord had been hard to find in the correct shade and the girls had +been forced to buy white and have it dyed. A handsome though worn pair +of curtain tassels which they found in Grandmother Emerson's attic had +been re-covered with finer cord of the same color. The entire effect was +harmonious and the work was so shipshape as to call forth the admiration +of Mr. Wheeler and all the teachers who had a private view on the day +when it was finished. The girls were mightily proud of their +achievement.</p> + +<p>"It has been one of the toughest jobs I ever undertook," declared Ethel +Brown, "but I'm glad to do it for Roger and for the school."</p> + +<p>With the graduation past all Rosemont, young and old, gave their +attention to preparing for a safe and sane Fourth of July. Of course the +U. S. C. were as eager as any not only to share in the fun but to help +in the work.</p> + +<p>One piece of information was prominently advertised; it was a method of +rendering children's garments fire-proof. "If garments are dipped in a +solution of ammonium phosphate in the proportion of one pound to a +gallon of cold water, they are made fire-proof," read a leaflet that was +handed in at every house in the town. "Ammonium phosphate costs but 25 +cents a pound," it went on. "A family wash can be rendered fire-proof at +an expense of 15 cents a week."</p> + +<p>The U. S. C. boys handed out hundreds of these folders when they went +about among the business men and arranged for contributions for the +celebration. The girls took charge of the patriotic tableaux that were +to be given on the steps of the high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> school, with the onlookers +gathered on the green where the Christmas tree and the Maypole had +stood.</p> + +<p>"We must have large groups," said Helen. "In the first place the +Rosemonters must be getting tired of seeing us time after time, and in +the next place this is a community affair and the more people there are +in it the more interested the townspeople will be."</p> + +<p>The selection of the people who would be suitable and the inviting of +them to take part required many visits and much explanation, but the U. +S. C. had learned to be thorough and there was no neglect, no leaving of +matters until the last minute in the hope that "it will come out right."</p> + +<p>"It seems funny not to be waked up at an unearthly hour by a fierce +racket," commented Roger on the morning of the Fourth. "I'm not quite +sure that I like it."</p> + +<p>"That's because you've always helped make the racket. As you grow older +you'll be more and more glad every year that there isn't anything to +rouse you to an earlier breakfast on Fourth of July morning."</p> + +<p>The family ate the morning meal in peace and then prepared for the +procession that was to gather in the square. This procession was to be +different from the Labor Day procession, which was one advertising the +trades and occupations of Rosemont. Today was a day for history, and the +floats were to represent episodes in the town's history. Roger was to be +an Indian, George Foster one of the early Swedish settlers, and Gregory +Patton a Revolutionary soldier. None of the girls were to be on the +floats. The procession was to be given over to the men and boys.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span></p> + +<p>It was long and as each float had been carefully arranged and the +figures strikingly posed the whole effect was one that gave great +pleasure to all who saw it.</p> + +<p>A community luncheon followed on the green. Tables were set on the +grass, and the girls from every part of town unpacked baskets and laid +cloths and waited on the guests who came to this new form of picnic +quite as if they never had ceased to do these agreeable neighborly acts.</p> + +<p>The girls had tired feet after all their running around, but they rested +for an hour and were fresh again when it was time for the tableaux as +the sun was sinking.</p> + +<p>The high school was approached by a wide flight of steps and on these +Helen posed her scenes. The people below sat on the grass in the front +rows and stood at the back. The floats of the morning had been scenes of +local history. These were scenes from the life of Washington. +Washington, the young surveyor, strode into the woods with his +companions and his Indian attendants. Washington became +commander-in-chief of the Continental army. Washington crossed the +Delaware—and the U. S. C. boys were glad that they had built the +<i>Jason</i> at the Glen Point orphanage and did not have to study out the +entire construction anew. Washington and Lafayette and Steuben shook +hands in token of eternal friendship. Washington reviewed his troops +under an elm at Cambridge. Washington suffered with his ragged men at +Valley Forge. Then Cornwallis surrendered, and last of all, the great +general bade farewell to his officers and retired to the private life +from which he was soon to be summoned to take the presidential chair.</p> + +<p>There were a hundred people in the various pictures,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> but the winter's +experiences had taught the Club so much that they found no trouble in +managing the whole affair. Each person had been made responsible for +furnishing his costumes, a sketch of which had been made for him by +Ethel Blue, and every one was appropriately dressed.</p> + +<p>"This is another success for you young people," exclaimed Mr. Wheeler, +shaking hands with them all. "I always know where to go when I want +help."</p> + +<p>Ethel Blue walked home with Miss Merriam, who was wheeling Elisabeth. +She seemed much gayer than she had been for a long time.</p> + +<p>Ethel kissed her as well as her sleepy little charge as she went into +the house to put on a warmer dress before she should go out in the +evening to see the community fireworks.</p> + +<p>"You and Elisabeth are my helpers," she whispered gratefully. "You make +everybody happy—except, perhaps—"</p> + +<p>Ethel hesitated, for Gertrude had never mentioned Edward to her since he +left for Oklahoma.</p> + +<p>"Do you want to know what was in my May basket?"</p> + +<p>Ethel clasped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!"</p> + +<p>Gertrude took out of her cardcase a tattered bit of paper. It read: +"When you know that you really like Oklahoma and all the people there, +please telegraph me. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>"I telegraphed this morning," she said, almost shyly. "I said 'Oklahoma +interests me'."</p> + +<p>"Here comes the telegraph boy down the street now," cried Ethel.</p> + +<p>Gertrude took the yellow envelope from him, and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> before she opened it, +signed the book painstakingly. When she had read the message she handed +it to Ethel Blue.</p> + +<p>"I start for Rosemont on the tenth to investigate the truth of the +rumor."</p> + +<p>Gertrude bubbled joyously.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Ethel Blue softly. "That means you're engaged!"</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ethel Morton's Holidays + +Author: Mabell S. C. Smith + +Release Date: November 17, 2006 [EBook #19834] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: THE GIRLS MADE CANDIES AND COOKIES FOR EVERYBODY _Page 73_] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Juvenile Library + +Girls Series + +ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS + +BY +MABELL S. C. SMITH + +THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO. +CLEVELAND--NEW YORK + +MADE IN U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Copyright, 1915 + +PRESS OF +THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. +Cleveland + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + +ETHEL MORTON'S HOLIDAYS + +CHAPTER I + +PREPARATIONS + + +The big brown automobile gave three honks as it swung around the corner +from Church Street. Roger Morton, raking leaves in the yard beside his +house, threw down his rake and vaulted over the gate. + +"Good afternoon, sir," he called to his grandfather, saluting, soldier +fashion. + +"Good afternoon, son. I stopped to tell you that those pumpkins are +ready for you. If you'll hop in now we can go out and get them and I'll +bring you back again." + +"Good enough!" exclaimed Roger. "I'll tell Mother I'm going. She may +have some message for Grandmother," and he vaulted back over the gate +and dashed up the steps. + +In a minute he was out again and climbing into the car. + +"Where are the girls this afternoon?" inquired Mr. Emerson, as he threw +in the clutch and started toward the outskirts of Rosemont where he had +land enough to allow him to do a little farming. + +"Helen and Ethel Brown have gone to the West Woods," replied Roger, +accounting for his sisters. "Somebody told them that there was a wild +grapevine there that still had yellow leaves bright enough for them to +use for decorating tomorrow evening." + +"I should be afraid last night's frost would have shriveled them. What +are Ethel Blue and Dorothy up to?" asked Mr. Emerson. + +Ethel Blue was Roger's cousin who had lived with the Mortons since her +babyhood. Dorothy Smith was also his cousin. She and her mother lived in +a cottage on Church Street. + +"They must be over at Dorothy's working up schemes for tomorrow," Roger +answered his grandfather's question. "I haven't seen them since +luncheon." + +"How many do you expect at your party?" + +"Just two or three more besides the United Service Club. James Hancock +won't be able to come, though. His leg isn't well enough yet." + +"Pretty bad break?" + +"He says it's bad enough to make him remember not to cut corners when +he's driving a car. Any break is too bad in my humble opinion." + +"In mine, too. How many in the Club? Ten?" + +"Ten; yes, sir. There'll be nine of us tomorrow evening--Helen and the +Ethels and Dorothy and Dicky and the two Watkinses and Margaret Hancock. +She's going to spend the night with Dorothy." + +"Anybody from school?" + +"George Foster, the fellow who danced the minuet so well in our show; +and Dr. Edward Watkins is coming out with Tom and Della." + +"Isn't he rather old to come to a kids' party?" + +"Of course he's loads older than we are--he's twenty-five--but he said +he hadn't been to a Hallowe'en party for so long that he wanted to come, +and Tom and Della said he put up such a plaintive wail that they asked +if they might bring him." + +"I suspect he hasn't forgotten how to play," chuckled Grandfather +Emerson, speeding up as they entered the long, open stretch of road that +ended almost at his own door. "Any idea what you're going to do?" + +"Not much. Helen and Ethel Brown are the decoration committee and I'm +the jack-o'-lantern committee, as you know, and Ethel Blue and Dorothy +are thinking up things to do and we're all going to add suggestions. I +think the girls had a note from Della this morning with an idea of some +sort in it." + +"You ought to get Burns's poem." + +"On Hallowe'en?" + +"We'll look it up when we get to the house. You may find some 'doings' +you haven't heard of that you can revive for the occasion." + +"We decided that whatever we did do, there were certain stunts we +wouldn't do." + +"Namely?" + +"Swap signs and take off gates and brilliant jokes of that sort." + +"As a Service Club you couldn't very well crack jokes whose point lies +in some one's discomfort, could you?" + +"Those things have looked like dog mean tricks to me and not jokes at +all ever since I saw an old woman at the upper end of Main Street trying +to hang her gate last year the day after Hallowe'en." + +"Too heavy for her?" + +"I should say so. She couldn't do anything with it. I offered to help +her, and she said, 'You might as well, for I suppose you had the fun of +unhanging it last night'." + +"A false accusation, I suppose." + +"It happened to be that time, but I had done it before," confessed +Roger, flushing. + +"You never happened to see the result of it before." + +"That's it. I just thought of the people's surprise when they waked up +in the morning and found their gates gone. I never thought at all of the +real pain and discomfort that it may have given a lot of them." + +"Your Club may be doing a good service to all Rosemont if it proves that +young people can have a good time without making the 'innocent +bystander' pay for it." + +"We're going to prove it; to ourselves, anyway," insisted Roger stoutly, +as he leaped out of the car and took his grandfather's parcels into the +house. + +"The pumpkins are in the barn," Mr. Emerson called after him. "Go down +there and pick them out when you've given those bundles to your +grandmother." + +The big yellow globes were loaded into the car--half a dozen of +them--and Mr. Emerson drove back to the house. As he stopped at the side +porch for a last word with his wife he gave a cry of recognition. + +"Look who comes here!" he exclaimed. + +"Helen and Ethel Brown," guessed Roger. "Don't they look like those +soldiers we read about in 'Macbeth'--the fellows who marched along +holding boughs in their hands so that it looked as if Birnamwood had +come to Dunsinane." + +"Roger is quoting Shakespeare about your personal appearance," laughed +Mr. Emerson as he and his grandson relieved the girls of their burdens. + +They sank down on the steps of the porch and panted. + +"You're tired out," exclaimed their grandmother. "Roger, bring out that +pitcher of lemonade you'll find in the dining-room. How far have you +walked?" + +"About a thousand miles, I should say," declared Helen. "We were bound +we'd get out-of-door decorations if they were to be had, and they +weren't to be had except by hunting." + +"You're like me--I like to use out-of-door things as late as I can; +there are so many months when you have to go to the greenhouse or to +draw on your house plants." + +"Ethel Blue and Dorothy have been educating the Club artistically. +They've been pointing out how much color there is in the fields and the +woods even after the bright autumn colors have gone by." + +"That's quite true. Look at that meadow." + +Mrs. Emerson waved her hand at the field across the road. On it sedges +were waving, softly brown; tufts of mouse-gray goldenrod nodded before +the breeze; chestnut-hued cat-tails stood guard in thick ranks, and a +delicate Indian Summer haze blended all into a harmony of warm, dull +shades. + +"You found your grapevine," said Roger, pouring the lemonade for his +weary sisters, and nodding toward a trail of handsome leaves, splendidly +yellow. + +"It took a hunt, though. What are you doing over here?" + +"Getting the pumpkins Grandfather promised us." + +"You're just in time to have a ride home," said Mr. Emerson. + +"You're in no hurry, Father; let the girls rest a while," urged Mrs. +Emerson. "Can't you make a jack-o'-lantern while you're waiting, Roger?" + +"Yes, _ma'am_, I can turn you out a truly superior article in a +wonderfully short time," bragged Roger. + +"He really does make them very well," confirmed Helen, "but it's because +he always has the benefit of our valuable advice." + +"Here you are to give it if I need it," said Roger good naturedly. +"We'll show Grandmother what our united efforts can do." + +So the girls leaned back comfortably against the pillars at the sides of +the steps and Mrs. Emerson sat in an arm chair at the top of the flight +and Mr. Emerson sat in the car at the foot of the steps and Roger began +his work. + +"It'll be a wonder if I make anything but a failure with so many +bosses," he complained. + +"Keep your hand steady, old man," teased his grandfather. "Don't let +your knife go through the side or you'll let out a crack of light where +you don't mean to." + +"Be sure your knife doesn't slip and cut your fingers," advised Mrs. +Emerson. + +"Save me the inside," begged Ethel Brown. "I'm going to try to make a +pumpkin pie." + +"Save the top for a hat," laughed Helen. "I'll trim it with brown ribbon +and set a new style at school." + +Roger dug away industriously under the spur of these remarks. + +"Is this the first year you've had a Hallowe'en party?" Mrs. Emerson +asked. + +"We used to do a few little things when we were children," Helen +answered; "but for the last few years we've been asked somewhere." + +"And with all due respect to our hosts we did a lot of the stupidest and +meanest things we ever got let in for," declared Roger. "I was telling +Grandfather about some of them coming over." + +"So we made up our minds that we'd celebrate as a club this year, and do +whatever we wanted to. There's a lot more to a party than just the +party," said Ethel Brown wisely. + +Her grandmother nodded. + +"You're right. The preparation is half the fun," she agreed. "And it's +fun to have every part of it perfect--the decorations and the +refreshments as well as whatever it is you do for your main amusement." + +"That's what I think," said Helen. "I like to think that the house is +going to be appropriately dressed for our Hallowe'en party just as much +as we ourselves." + +"Why doesn't your club give a series of holiday parties?" suggested +Grandfather. "Make each one of them a really appropriate celebration and +not just an ordinary party hung on the holiday as an excuse peg. I +believe you could have some interesting times and do some good, too, so +that it could honestly be brought within the scope of your Club's +activities." + +"We seem to have made a start at it without thinking much about it," +said Roger. "The Club had a float, you know, in the Labor Day +procession." + +"I didn't know that!" exclaimed Mrs. Emerson. + +"You were in New York for a day or two. Grandfather supplied the float! +Why, we had just come back from Chautauqua a day or two before Labor +Day, you know, and the first thing that happened was that a collector +called to get a contribution from Mother to help out the Labor Day +procession. I was there and I said I didn't believe in taxation without +representation. He laughed and said, 'All right, come on. We'd be glad +to have you in the procession'." + +"You were rather disconcerted at that, I suspect," laughed Mrs. Emerson. + +"Yes, I was, but I hated to take back water, so I said that I belonged +to a club and that I supposed he was going to have all the clubs in +Rosemont represented in some way. He said that was just what they +wanted. They wanted every activity in the town to be shown in some shape +or other." + +"There wasn't time to call a meeting of the club," Helen took up the +story, "so Roger and I came over and talked with Grandfather, and he +lent us a hay rack and we dressed it up with boughs and got the +carpenters to make some very large cut out letters--U. S. C.--two sets +of them, so they could be read on both sides. They were painted white +and stood up high among the green stuff and really looked very pretty. +Everybody asked what it meant." + +"I think it helped a lot when I went about asking for gifts for the +Christmas Ship," said Roger. "Lots of people said, 'Oh, it's your club +that had a float in the Labor Day parade'." + +"If we should work up Grandfather's idea we might have a parade of our +own another year," said Helen. + +"Always co-operate with what already exists, if it's worthy," advised +Mr. Emerson. "Don't get up opposition affairs unless there's a good +reason for doing it." + +"As there is for our Hallowe'en party," insisted Roger. + +"I believe you're right there. There's no reason why you should enter +into 'fool stunts' that are just 'fool stunts,' not worth while in any +way and not even funny." + +"We'd better move on now if Grandfather is to take us over and get back +in time for his own dinner," said Roger. + +"Come, girls, can you pile in all that shrubbery without breaking it? +Put the pumpkins on the bottom of the car, Roger, and the jacks on top +of them. Now be careful where you put your feet. Back in half an hour, +Mother," and he started off with his laughing car load. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HALLOWE'EN + + +"You're as good as gold to come out and help these youngsters enjoy +themselves," was Mrs. Morton's greeting to Edward Watkins when he +appeared in the evening with Tom and Della. + +"It's they who are as good as gold to let me come," he returned, smiling +pleasantly. He was a handsome young man of about twenty-five, a doctor +whose profession, as yet, did not make serious inroads on his time. +"What are these people going to make us do first," he wondered as Roger +began a distribution of colored bands. + +"These are to tie your eyes with," he explained: "Yellow, you see; +Hallowe'en color. The girls insist on my explaining all their fine +points for fear they won't be appreciated," he said to the doctor. + +"Quite right. I never should have thought about the color." + +"Mother, this is George Foster," said Helen, welcoming a tall boy who +was not a member of the U. S. C. but who had helped at the Club +entertainment by taking part in the minuet. He shook hands with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith and then submitted to having his eyes bandaged. He +was followed by Gregory Patton, another high school lad, and to the +great joy of everybody, James, after all, came on his crutches with +Margaret. + +"Now, then, my blindfolded friends," said Roger, "Grandfather tells me +that it is the custom in Scotland where fairies and witches are very +abundant, for the ceremony that we are about to perform to open every +Hallowe'en party. He has it direct from Bobby Burns." + +"Then it's right," came a smothered voice from beneath James' bandage. + +"James is of Scottish descent and he confirms this statement, so we can +go ahead and be perfectly sure that we're doing the correct thing. Of +course, we all want to know the future and particularly whatever we can +about the person we're going to marry, so that's what we're going to try +to find out at the very start off." + +"Take off my bandage," cried Dicky. "I know the perthon I'm going to +marry." + +A shout of laughter greeted this assertion from the six-year-old. + +"Who is it, Dicky?" asked Helen, her arm around his shoulders. + +"I'm going to marry Mary," he asserted stoutly. + +There was a renewed peal at this, and Roger went on with his +instructions. + +"I'll lead you two by two to the kitchen door and then you'll go down +the flight of steps and straight ahead for anywhere from ten to twenty +steps. That will land you right in the middle of what the frost has left +of the Morton garden. When you get there you'll 'pull kale'." + +"Meaning?" inquired George Foster. + +"Meaning that you'll feel about until you find a stalk of cabbage and +pull it up." + +"I don't like cabbage," complained Tom Watkins. + +"You'll like this because it will give you a lot of information. If it's +long or short or fat or thin your future husband or wife will correspond +to it." + +"That's the most unromantic thing I ever heard," exclaimed Margaret +Hancock. "I certainly hope my future husband won't be as fat as a +cabbage!" + +"You can tell how great a fortune he's going to have--or she--by the +amount of earth that clings to the stem." + +"Watch me pull mine so g-e-n-t-l-y that not a grain of sand slips off," +said Tom. + +"If you've got courage enough to bite the stem you can find out with +perfect accuracy whether your beloved will have a sweet disposition or +the opposite." + +"In any case he'd have a disposition like a cabbage," insisted Margaret, +who did not like cabbage any more than Tom did. + +"Ready?" Roger marshalled his little army. "Two by two. Doctor and Ethel +Blue, Tom and Dorothy, James and Helen, George and Ethel Brown, Gregory +and Margaret. Come on, Della," and he led the way through the kitchen +where Mary and the cook were hugely entertained by the procession. + +With cries and stumbling they went forth into the cabbage patch, where +they all possessed themselves of stalks which they straightway brought +in to the light of the jack-o'-lanterns to interpret. + +"My lady love will be tall and slender--not to say thin," began Dr. +Watkins. "I see no information here as to the color of her hair and +eyes. Fate cruelly witholds these important facts. I regret to say that +I wooed her so vigorously that I shook off any gold-pieces she may have +had clinging about her so I can only be sure of the golden quality of +her character which I have just discovered by biting it." + +Amid general laughter they all began to read their fortunes. Tom +announced that his beloved was so thin that she was really a candidate +for the attentions of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to +Animals, and that he couldn't find out anything about her character +because there wasn't enough of her to bite. + +Margaret had pulled a stalk that fulfilled all her expectations as to +size, for it was so short and fat that she could see no relation between +it and anything human and threw it out of the window in disgust. The +rest found themselves fitted out with a variety of possibilities. + +"There doesn't seem to be a real tearing beauty among them all," sighed +Roger. "That's what I'd set my heart on." + +"What do you expect from a cabbage?" demanded Margaret scornfully. + +"I want to know whether I'm going to marry a bachelor or a widower or +not marry at all," cried Helen. "Let's try the 'three luggies' next." + +"First cabbages, then 'luggies'," said Della "What are 'luggies'?" + +"'Luggies' are saucers," explained Helen, while James brought a small +table and Ethel Brown arranged three saucers upon it. "In one of them I +put clear water, in another one, sandy water, and nothing at all in the +third. Anybody ready to try? Come, Della." + +Della came forward briskly, but hesitated when she found that she must +be blindfolded. + +"There isn't any trick about it?" she asked suspiciously. "I shouldn't +like to have anything happen to that saucer of sandy water." + +"It won't touch anything but your finger tips, and perhaps not those," +Helen reassured her. "What you are to do is to dip the fingers of your +left hand into one of these saucers. If it proves to be the one with the +clear water you'll marry a bachelor; if it's the sandy one he'll be a +widower, and if it's the empty one you'll be a spinster to your dying +day." + +"You have three tries," cried Ethel Blue, "and the saucers are changed +after each trial, so you have to touch the same one twice to be sure you +really know your fate. Are you ready?" + +"I'm ready," and Della bravely though cautiously dipped the finger tips +of her left hand into the bowl of sandy water. + +A cheer greeted this result. + +"A widower, a widower," they all cried. + +Helen changed the position of the saucers and Della made another trial. +This time the Fates booked her as a spinster. + +"That's the least trouble of anything," decided roly poly Della who took +life carelessly. + +A third attempt proved that a widower was to be her future helpmate, for +her fingers went into the sandy saucer for a second time. + +"I only hope he won't be an oldy old widower," said Della thoughtfully. +"I couldn't bear to think of marrying any one as old as Edward." + +"I'll thank you to take notice that I haven't got a foot in the grave +just yet, young woman," retorted her brother. + +While some of the others tried their fate by the saucer method, the rest +endeavored to learn their future occupations by means of pouring melted +lead through the handle of a key. Roger brought in a tiny kettle of lead +from the kitchen where Mary had heated it for them and set it down on a +small table on a tea pot stand, so that the heat should not injure the +wood. Taking a large key in his left hand he dipped a spoon into the +lead with his right and poured the contents slowly through the ring at +the end of the handle of the key into a bowl of cold water. The sudden +chill stiffened the lead into curious shapes and from them those who +were clever at translating were to discover what the future held for +them in the way of occupation. + +"Mine looks more like a spinning wheel than anything else," said Roger +who had done it first so that the rest might see how it was +accomplished. + +"Perhaps that means that you'll be a manufacturer of cloth," suggested +Margaret. "Mine looks more like a cabbage than anything else. You don't +think it can mean that I shall have to devote myself to that husband I +pulled out of the cabbage patch?" + +"It may. Or it might mean that you'll be a gardener. Lots of women are +going in for gardening now. By the time you're ready to start that may +be a favored occupation for girls," said Dr. Watkins. + +"Here are several things that we can do one at a time while the rest of +us are doing something else," said Helen. "They have to be done alone or +the spell won't work." + +"Let's hear them," begged Gregory, while he and the others grouped +themselves about the open fire in the living room and prepared to burn +nuts. + +"The first one, according to Burns, is to go alone to the kiln and put a +clew of yarn in the kiln pot." + +"What does that mean translated into Rosemont language?" demanded James. + +"James the Scotsman asks for information! However, there's some excuse +for him. Translated into Rosemont language it means that you go to the +laundry and put a ball of yarn into the wash boiler." + +"Easy so far." + +"Take an end of the ball and begin to wind the yarn into a new ball. +When you come near the end you'll find that something or some one will +be holding it--" + +"Roger, I'll bet!" + +"You demand to know the name of your future wife and a hollow voice from +out the wash boiler will tell you her name." + +"I shan't try that one. There's too good a chance for Roger to put in +some of his tricks. What's the next?" + +"Take a candle and go to the Witches' Cave--that's the dining room--and +stand in front of the looking glass that's on a little table in the +corner, and eat an apple. The face of your future wife or husband will +appear over your shoulder." + +"I'll try that. I could stand a face that kept still, but to have an +unknown creature pulling my yarn and bawling my wife's name would upset +my nerves!" + +"Here's the last one. Go into the garden just as we did to pull the +kale. Over at the right hand side there's a stack of barley. It's really +corn, but we've re-christened it for tonight. You measure it three times +round with your arms and at the end of the third round your beloved will +rush into them." + +"If he proves to be my cabbage spouse you'll hear loud shrieks from +little Margaret!" declared that young woman. + +"Here are my nuts to burn," said Ethel Blue, putting two chestnuts side +by side on the hearth. "One is Della and the other is Ethel Blue," and +she tapped them in turn as she gave them their names. + +"What's this for?" asked Della, hearing her name used. + +"This is to see if you and I will always be friends. That right hand nut +is you and the left hand is me--no, I." Conscientious Ethel Blue +interrupted herself to correct her grammar. "If we burn cosily side by +side we'll stay friends a long time, but if one of us jumps or burns up +before the other, she'll be the one to break the friendship." + +"I hope I shan't be the one," and both girls sat down on the rug to +watch their namesakes closely. + +"Here are Margaret and her cabbage man," laughed Tom. "This delicate, +slender chestnut is Margaret and this big round one is Mr. Stalk of the +Cabbage Patch. Now we'll see how that match is going to turn out." + +Margaret laughed good naturedly with the rest and they watched this pair +as well as the others. + +"Roger and I had a squabble yesterday," admitted Ethel Brown. "Here is +Roger and here is Ethel Brown. Let's see how we are going to get on in +the future." + +"Where is Roger really?" some one asked, but at that instant Ethel +Blue's nut and Della's caught fire and burned steadily side by side +without any demonstrations, and every one looking on was so absorbed in +translating the meaning of the blaze that no one pursued the question. + +That is, not until a shriek from the Witches' Cave rang through the +house and sent them all flying to see who was in trouble. Dorothy was +found coming out of the dining room, mirror in hand, and a strange tale +on her lips. + +"If there's any truth in this Hallowe'en prophecy," she said with +trembling voice, "my future husband will be worse than Margaret's +cabbage man. The face that looked over my shoulder was exactly like a +jack-o'-lantern's." + +"It was? Where's Roger?" Dr. Watkins demanded instantly, while James +hobbled to the front door and announced that the jack had disappeared +from the front porch. + +"Did any one ask for Roger?" demanded a cool voice, and Roger was seen +coming down stairs. + +"Yes, sir, numerous people asked for Roger. How did you do it?" + +"Do what? Has anything happened in my absence?" + +"Not a thing has happened in your _absence_. Just tell us how you +managed it." + +"I know," guessed Helen. "He went outside and took the jack from the +porch and carried it through the kitchen, into the dining room where it +smiled over Dorothy's shoulder, and then he went into the kitchen again +and up the back stairs. Wasn't that it, Roger?" + +"Young woman, you are wiser than your years," was all that Roger would +say. + +While they were teasing him a shouting in the garden sent them all to +the back windows and doors. In the dim light of the young moon two +figures were seen wrestling. It was evidently a good natured struggle, +for peals of laughter fell on the ears of the listeners. When one of +them dragged the other toward the house the figures proved to be Tom +Watkins and George Foster. + +"I was measuring the barley stack," explained Tom breathlessly, "and +just as I made the third round and was eagerly expecting my future bride +to rush into my arms, something did rush into my arms, but I'll leave it +to the opinion of the meeting whether _this_ can be my future bride!" +and he held at arm's length by the coat collar the laughing, squirming +figure of George Foster. + +It was unanimously agreed that George did not have the appearance of a +bride, and then they went back to the hall to bob for apples. Roger +spread a rubber blanket on the floor and drew the tub from its hiding +place in the corner where it had been waiting its turn in the games. + +While the boys were making these arrangements Dorothy and Helen were +busily trying to dispose of the two ends of the same string which +stretched from one mouth to the other with a tempting raisin tied in the +middle to encourage them to effort. It was forbidden to use the hands +and tongues proved not always reliable. Now Dorothy seemed ahead, now +Helen. Finally the victory seemed about to be Helen's, when she laughed +and lost several inches of string and Dorothy triumphantly devoured the +prize. + +When the girls turned to see what the boys were doing, Gregory and +James were already bobbing for apples. One knelt at one side of the tub +and the other at the other, and each had his eye, when it was not full +of water, fixed on one of the apples that were bouncing busily about on +the waves caused by their own motions. + +"I speak for the red one," gasped Gregory. + +"All right! I'll go for the greening," agreed James, and they puffed and +sputtered, and were quite unable to fix their teeth in the sides of the +slippery fruit until James drove his head right down to the bottom of +the tub where he fastened upon the apple and came up dripping, but +triumphant. + +Stimulated by the applause that greeted James, Tom and Roger tossed in +two apples and began a new contest. + +"This isn't a girls' game is it?" murmured Helen as Tom won his apple by +the same means that James had used. + +"Not unless you're willing to forget your hair," replied Dr. Watkins. + +"You can't forget it when it takes so long to dry it," Helen answered. +"I'm content to let the boys have this entirely to themselves." + +While the half drowned boys went up to Roger's room to dry their faces +the girls prepared nut boats to set sail upon the same ocean that had +floated the apples. They had cracked English walnuts carefully so that +the two halves fell apart neatly, and in place of the meats they had +packed a candle end tightly into each. + +"We have the comfort of the apple even when we're defeated," said +Gregory, coming down stairs, eating the fruit that he had not been able +to capture without the use of his hands. "What have you got there?" + +"Here's a boat apiece," explained Helen. "We must each put a tiny flag +of some sort on it so that we can tell which is which." + +"This way?" George asked. "I've put a pin through a scrap of corn husk +and stuck it on to the end of this craft." + +"That's right. We must find something different for each one. Mine is a +black-alder berry. See how red and bright it is?" + +It was not hard for each to find an emblem. + +"Watch me hoist the admiral's flag at the mainmast," said Roger, but the +match that he set up for a mast caught fire almost as soon as the +candles were lighted in the miniature fleet. His flag fell overboard, +however, and was not injured. + +"See that?" he commented. "That just proves that the flag of the U. S. A. +can never perish," and the others greeted his words with cheers. + +It was a pretty sight--the whole fleet afloat, each bit of candle +burning clearly and each little craft tossing on the waves that Dr. +Watkins produced by gently tipping the tub. + +"This is also an attempt to gain some knowledge of the future," said +Helen. "We must watch these boats and see which ones stay close together +and which go far apart, and whether any of them are shipwrecked, and +which ones seem to have the smoothest voyage." + +"Della's and mine are sticking together just the way our nuts did," +cried Ethel Blue, and she slipped her hand into Della's and gave it a +little squeeze. + +After the loss of its mainmast at the very beginning Roger's craft had +no more mishaps. It slid alongside of James's and together they bobbed +gently across life's stormy seas. + +"It looks as if you and I were going into partnership, old man," James +interpreted their behavior. + +The other boats seemed to need no especial companionship but floated on +independently, only Gregory's coming to an untimely end from a heavy +wave that washed over it and capsized it. + +"I seem to hear a summons from the Witches' Cave," murmured Helen in an +awed whisper as a sound like the wind whistling through pine trees fell +on their ears, resolving itself as they listened into the words, "Come! +Come! Come!" + +Quietly they arose and tiptoed their way toward the dining room. They +could only enter it by penetrating the thicket of boughs that barred the +door. As they came nearer the voice retreated--"Almost as if it were +going into the kitchen," whispered Margaret to Tom who happened to be +next to her. The only light in the room came from a pan of alcohol and +salt burning greenly in a corner and casting an unnatural hue over their +faces. The black cats, their eyes touched with phosphorus, glared down +from the plate rail. + +Again the voice was heard:--"Gather, gather about the festal board." + +"We must obey the witches," urged Helen, and they sat down in the chairs +which they found placed at the table in just the right number. Into the +dim room from the kitchen came two figures dressed in long black capes +and pointed red hats and bearing each a dish heaped high with cakes of +some sort. + +"I just have to tell you what these are," said Ethel Brown in her +natural voice as she and Ethel Blue marched around the table and placed +one dish before Roger at one end and another before Helen at the other. +"It's sowens." + +"Sowens? What in the world are sowens?" everybody questioned. + +"Grandfather told us that Burns says that sowens eaten with butter +always make the Hallowe'en supper, so we looked up in the Century +Dictionary how to make them and this is the result." + +"Do you think they're safe?" inquired Della. + +"There's a doctor here to take care of us if anything happens," laughed +James. "I'm game. Give me a chance at them." + +Roger and Helen began a distribution of the cakes. + +"Sowens is--or are--good," decided Dr. Watkins, tasting his cake slowly, +and pronouncing judgment on it after due deliberation. + +"We tried them yesterday to make sure they were eatable by Americans, +and we thought they were pretty good, smoking hot, with butter on them, +just as Burns directed." + +"Right. They are," agreed all the boys promptly, and the girls agreed +with them, though they were not quite so enthusiastic in their +expression of appreciation as the boys. + +Baked apples, nuts and raisins, countless cookies of various lands and +hot gingerbread made an appetizing meal. As it was coming to an end +Helen rapped on the table. + +"Please let me pretend this is a club meeting for a minute or two +instead of a party. I want to tell the people here who aren't members of +the U. S. C. what it is we are trying to do." + +"We know," responded George. "You're working for the Christmas Ship. +Didn't I dance in your minuet?" + +"We are working for the Christmas Ship, but that is only one thing that +the Club does." + +"What do the initials mean?" asked Gregory. + +"United Service Club. You see Father is in the Navy and Uncle Richard is +in the Army so we have the United Service in the family. But that is +just a family pun. The real purpose of the Club is to do some service +for somebody whenever we can." + +"Something on the Boy Scout idea of doing a kindness every day," nodded +Dr. Watkins. + +"Just now it's the Christmas Ship and after that sails we'll hunt up +something else. Why I told you about it now is because we planned to go +out in a few minutes and go up and down some of the streets, and--" + +"Lift gates?" asked Gregory. + +"No, not lift gates. That's the point. We couldn't very well be a +service club and do mean things to people just for the fun of it." + +"Oh, lifting gates isn't mean." + +"Isn't it! I don't believe you'd find it enormously entertaining to hunt +up your gate the next day and re-hang it, would you?" + +Gregory admitted that perhaps it would not. + +"So we're going out to play good fairies instead of bad ones, and if any +of you knows anybody we can do a good turn to, please speak up." + +"That's the best scheme I've heard in some time," said Edward Watkins +admiringly. "Let's start. I'm all impatience to be a good fairy." + +So they said "good-night" to Dicky, bundled into their coats and each +one of the boys took a jack-o'-lantern to light the way. Roger also +carried a kit that bulged with queer shapes, and the girls each had a +parcel whose contents was not explained by the president. + +"Lead the way, Roger," she commanded as they left the house. + +"Church Street first," he answered. + +"Church Street? I wonder if he's going to do Mother and me a good turn," +giggled Dorothy. + +It proved that he was not, for he passed the Smith cottage and went on +until he came to the house in which lived the Misses Clark. Roger was +taking care of their furnace, together with his mother's and his Aunt +Louise's, in order to earn money for the expenses of the Club, and he +had discovered that these old ladies were not very happy in spite of +living in a comfortable house and apparently having everything they +needed. + +"These Misses Clark are lonely," he whispered as they gathered before +the door. "They think nobody cares for them--and nobody does much, to +tell the honest truth. So here's where we sing two songs for them," and +without waiting for any possible objections he broke into "The Christmas +Ship" which they all knew, and followed it with "Sister Susie's Sewing +Shirts for Soldiers." + +"Not very appropriate, but they'll do," whispered Roger to Dr. Watkins, +whose clear tenor supported him. Dorothy's sweet voice soared high, +Tom's croak made a heavy background, and the more or less tuneful voices +of the others added a hearty body of sound. There was no response from +the house except that a corner of an upstairs curtain was drawn aside +for an instant. + +"They probably think they won't find anything left on their front porch +when they come down in the morning. They've had Hallowe'en visits +before, poor ladies," said Gregory as they tramped away. + +The next visit was to a different part of the town. Here the girls left +two of their bundles which proved to contain apples and cookies. + +"I don't believe these people ever have a cent they can afford to spend +on foolishness like this," Helen explained to Dr. Watkins, "but they +aren't the sort of people you can give things to openly, so we thought +we'd take this opportunity," and she smiled happily and went on behind +Roger's leadership. + +This time the visit was to the Atwoods, the old couple down by the +bridge. Roger had been interested in them for a long time. They were not +suffering, for a son supported them, but both were almost crippled with +rheumatism and sometimes the old man found the little daily chores about +the house hard to do, and often the old woman longed for a little +amusement of which she was deprived because she could not go to visit +her friends. It was here that Roger's kit came into play. He took from +it several hatchets and distributed them to the boys. + +"We're going to chop the gentleman's kindling and stack up the wood +that's lying round here while the girls sing to the old people," he +announced. + +So the plan was carried out. The girls gathered about the doorstep, and, +led by Dorothy, sang cradle songs and folk songs and a hymn or two, +while the boys toiled away behind the house. Again there was no +response. + +"Probably they've gone to bed," guessed Ethel Brown. + +"I imagine they're lying awake, though," said Ethel Blue softly. + +It is an old adage that "many hands make light work," and it is equally +true that they turn off a lot of it, so at the end of half an hour the +old peoples' wood pile was in apple pie order and the yard was in a +spick and span condition. + +There were two more calls before the procession turned home and at both +houses bundles of goodies were left for children who would not be apt to +have them. On the way back to the house the U. S. C.'s came across the +trail of a Hallowe'en party of the usual kind, and they pleased +themselves mightily by hanging two gates which they found unhung, and by +restoring to their proper places several signs which some village +wit--"or witling," suggested Dr. Watkins--had misplaced. + +The evening ended with the cutting of a cake in which was baked a ring. + +"The one who gets the ring in his slice will be married first," +announced Mrs. Morton, who had prepared the cake as a surprise for those +who had been surprising others. + +They cut it with the greatest care and slowly, one after the other. To +the delight of all Dr. Watkins's slice proved to contain the ring. + +"I rather imagine that's the most suitable arrangement the ring could +have made," laughed Mrs. Smith. + +"If one of these youngsters had found it, it would have meant that I'd +have to wait a long time for my turn," he laughed back. "Wish me luck." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MISS MERRIAM + + +The first fortnight of November rushed by with the final preparations +for the sailing of the Christmas Ship filling every moment of the time +of the members of the United Service Club. When at last their three +packing cases of gifts were expressed to Brooklyn, they drew a sigh of +relief, but when the _Jason_ actually left the pier they felt as if all +purpose had been taken out of their lives. + +This feeling did not linger with them long, however, for it was not many +days later that there appeared at the Morton's a Red Cross nurse, +invalided home from Belgium, bringing with her the Belgian baby which +they had begged their teacher, Mademoiselle Millerand, who had joined +the French Red Cross, to send them. + +Truth to tell, the arrival of the baby was entirely unexpected. It had +come about in this way. When the club went to bid farewell to +Mademoiselle Millerand on the steamer they learned that she hoped to be +sent to some hospital in Belgium. Ethel Blue, who had been reading a +great deal about the suffering of the women and children in Belgium, +cried, "Belgium! Oh, do send us a Belgian baby!" The rest had taken up +the cry and James had had the discomfiture of being kissed by an +enthusiastic French woman on the pier who was delighted with their +warmheartedness. + +At intervals they mentioned the Belgian baby, but quite as a joke and +not at all as a possibility. So when the Red Cross nurse came with her +tiny charge and told them how Mademoiselle Millerand had not been able +to resist taking their offer seriously since it meant help and perhaps +life itself for this little warworn child, they were thoroughly +surprised. + +Their surprise, however, did not prevent them from rising to meet the +situation. Indeed, it would have been hard for any one to resist the +appeal made by the pale little creature whose hands were too weak to do +more than clutch faintly at a finger and whose eyes were too weary to +smile. + +Mrs. Morton took her to her arms and heart at once. So did all the +members of the Club and it was when they gave a cheer for "Elisabeth of +Belgium," that she made her first attempt at laughter. Mademoiselle had +written that her name was Elisabeth and the nurse said that she called +herself that, but, so far as her new friends could find out, that was +the extent of her vocabulary. "Ayleesabet," she certainly was, but the +remainder of her remarks were not only few but so uncertain that they +could not tell whether she was trying to speak Flemish or French or a +language of her own. + +The nurse was obliged to return at once to New York, and the Mortons +found themselves at nightfall in the position of having an unexpected +guest for whom there was no provision. Even the wardrobe of the new +member of the family was almost nothing, consisting of the garments she +was wearing and an extra gingham dress which a woman in the steerage of +the ship had taken from her own much larger child to give to the waif. + +"Ayleesabet" ate her supper daintily, like one who has been so near the +borderland of starvation that he cannot understand the uses of plenty, +and then she went heavily to sleep in Ethel Blue's lap before the fire +in the living room. + +Aunt Louise and Dorothy came over from their cottage to join the +conference. + +"It is really a considerable problem," said Mrs. Morton thoughtfully. +"These children here say they are going to attend to her clothing, and +it's right they should, for she is the Club baby; but there are other +questions that are serious. Where, for instance, is she going to sleep?" + +A laugh rippled over the room as she asked the question, for the +sleeping accommodations of the Morton house were regarded as a joke +since the family was so large and the house was so small that a guest +always meant a considerable process of rearrangement. + +"It isn't any laughing matter, girls. She can have Dicky's old crib, of +course, but where shall we put it?" + +"It's perfectly clear to me," said Mrs. Smith, responding to an +appealing glance from Dorothy, "that the baby must come to us. Dorothy +and I have plenty of room in the cottage, and it would be a very great +happiness to both of us--the greatest happiness that has come to me +since--since--" + +She hesitated and Dorothy knew that she was thinking about the baby +brother who had died years ago. + +"It does seem the best way," replied Mrs. Morton, "but--" + +"'But me no buts'," quoted Mrs. Smith, smiling. "The baby's coming is +equally sudden to all of us, only I happen to be a bit better prepared +for an unexpected guest, because I have more space. Then Dorothy has +been just as crazy as the other girls to have a 'Belgian baby,' and she +shouted just as loudly as anybody at the pier--I heard her." + +"Always excepting James," Ethel Brown reminded them and they all +laughed, remembering James and his Gallic salute. + +"Don't take her tonight, Aunt Louise," begged Ethel Blue. "Let us have +her just one night. We can put Dicky's crib into our room between Ethel +Brown's bed and mine." + +It was finally decided that Elisabeth should not be taken to Dorothy's +until the next day, but Mrs. Morton insisted on keeping her in her own +room for the night. + +"She has such a slight hold on life that she ought to have an +experienced eye watching her for some time to come," she said. + +All the girls assisted at the baby's going to bed ceremonies, and tall +Helen felt a catch in her throat no less than Ethel Blue at sight of the +wasted legs and arms and hollow chest. + +"I wonder, now," said Aunt Louise when they had gone down stairs again, +leaving Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown to sit in the next room until their +own bedtime, so that the faintest whimper might not go unheard. "I +wonder where we are going to find some one competent to take care of +this baby. A child in such a condition needs more than ordinary care; +she needs skilled care." + +"Mary might have some relatives," Dorothy began, when Helen made a +rushing suggestion. + +"Why not go to the School of Mothercraft? You remember, it was at +Chautauqua for the summer? And it's back in New York now. I've been +meaning to ask you or Grandmother or Aunt Louise to take me there some +Saturday, only we've been so busy with the Ship we didn't have time for +anything else. You remember it?" she asked anxiously, for she had +especial reasons for wanting her mother to remember the School of +Mothercraft. + +"Certainly I remember it, and I believe it will give us just what we +want now. It's a new sort of school," she explained to Mrs. Smith. "The +students are young women who are studying the science and art of +home-making. They are working out home problems in a real home in which +there are real children." + +"Babies and all?" + +"Babies and children of other sizes. I'm going to study there when I +leave college. Mother says I may," cried Helen, delighted that her +favorite school was on the point of proving its usefulness in her own +family. + +"Can you get mother helpers from there?" + +"You can, and they're scientifically trained young women. Many of them +are college graduates who are taking this as graduate work." + +"Then I should say that the thing for us to do," said Mrs. Smith, "was +to leave the baby in Mary's care tomorrow and go in to New York and see +what we can find at the School of Mothercraft. Will the students be +willing to break in on their course?" + +"Perhaps not, but the Director of the school is sure to know of some of +her former pupils who will be available. That was a brilliant idea of +yours, Helen," and Helen sank back into her chair pleased at the gentle +stroke of approval that went from her mother's hand to hers. + +Dorothy and Mrs. Smith were just preparing to go home when the bell rang +and Dr. Hancock was announced. + +"James and Margaret came home with a wonderful tale of a foundling with +big eyes," he said when, he had greeted everybody, "and I thought I'd +better come over and have a look at her. I should judge she'd need +pretty close watching for a long time." + +"She will," assented Mrs. Morton, and told him of their plan to secure a +helper from the School of Mothercraft. + +"The very best thing you can do," the doctor agreed heartily. "I'm on +the Advisory Board of the School with several other physicians and I +don't know any institution I approve of more heartily." + +"Ayleesabet" was found to be sleeping deeply, but her breathing was +even and her skin properly moist and the physician was satisfied. + +"I'll run over every day for a week or two," he promised. "We must make +the little creature believe American air is the best tonic in the +world." + +If the U. S. C. had had its way every member would have gone with Mrs. +Morton and Mrs. Smith when they made their trip of inquiry on the next +day. As it was, they decided that it was of some importance that Helen +should go with them, and so they went at a later hour than they had at +first intended, so that she might join them. + +"There's no recitation at the last period," she explained, "and I can +make up the study hour in the evening." + +When the news of the baby's arrival was telephoned to Mrs. Emerson she +suggested a farther change of plan. + +"Let me go, too," she said; "I'll call in the car for you and Louise and +we'll pick up Helen at the schoolhouse and we shall travel so fast that +it will make up for the later start." + +Everybody thought that a capital suggestion, and Mrs. Emerson arrived +half an hour early so that she might make the acquaintance of Elisabeth. +The waif was not demonstrative but she was entirely friendly. + +"She seems to have forgotten how to play, if she ever knew," said Mrs. +Morton, "but we hope she'll learn soon." + +"She sees so many new faces it's a wonder she doesn't howl continually," +said Mary to whose kindly finger Elisabeth was clinging steadfastly as +she gazed seriously into Mrs. Emerson's smiling face. Then for the +second time since her arrival she smiled. It was a smile that brought +tears to their eyes, so faint and sad was it, but it was a smile after +all, and they all stood about, happy in her approval. + +"You two have your own children and Father and I are all alone now," +said Grandmother, wiping her eyes. "Let us have Elisabeth. We need +her--and we should love her so." + +"Oh!" cried both of the younger women in tones of such disappointment +that Mrs. Emerson saw at once that if she wanted a nursling she must +look for another, not Elisabeth of Belgium. + +"After all, perhaps it is better for her," she admitted. "Here she will +have the children and will grow up among young people. Are you ready?" + +When they picked up Helen she had a request to make of her grandmother. + +"I telephoned about the baby to Margaret at recess, just to tell her +Elisabeth was well this morning, and she was awfully interested in the +idea of the helper from the School of Mothercraft. She gets out of +school earlier than we do--she'd be just home. I'm sure she wouldn't +keep you waiting. And the house is only a step from the main +street--can't we take her?" + +So Margaret was added to the party that sped on to the ferry. To +everybody's surprise, when they reached the New York end of the ferry +Edward Watkins signalled the chauffeur to stop. + +"Roger telephoned Tom and Della about the baby," he explained, "and +about your coming in today and I thought perhaps I might do something to +help. I don't want to intrude--" + +"We're going to the School of Mothercraft," said Mrs. Morton, "and we'd +be glad to have you go with us. I don't know that we shall need to call +on your professional advice but if you can spare the time we'd like to +have you." + +"Unfortunately, time is the commodity I'm richest in," smiled the young +doctor, taking the seat beside the chauffeur. + +The ride up town was a pleasure to the girls who did not often come to +the city, and then seldom had an opportunity to ride in any automobile +but a taxi-cab. As soon as possible they swung in to Fifth Avenue, whose +brilliant shop windows and swiftly moving traffic excited them. They +were quite thrilled when they drew up before a pretty house, no +different in appearance from any of its neighbors, except that an +unobtrusive sign notified seekers that they had found the right place. + +"It's a school to learn home-making in," Helen explained to Margaret in +a low tone as they followed the elders up the steps, "so it ought to be +in a real house and not a schoolhouse-y place." + +Margaret nodded, for they were being ushered into a cheerful reception +room, simply but attractively furnished. In a minute they were being +greeted by the Director who remembered meeting at Chautauqua all of them +except Edward, and she recalled other members of his family and +especially the Watkins bull-dog, Cupid, who was a prominent figure in +Chautauqua life. + +Mrs. Morton explained their errand, and also the reasons that had +brought so large a number of them to the School. + +"We're a deputation representing several families and a club, all of +which are interested in the baby, but I should like to have the young +woman you select for us understand that we are going to rely on her +knowledge and skill, and that she won't be called to account by a +council of war every time she washes the baby's face." + +The Director smiled. + +"I quite understand," she said. "I think I know just the young woman you +want. She finished her course here last May, and then she went with me +to Chautauqua for the summer and helped me there with the work we did in +measurements and in making out food schedules and so on for children +whose mothers brought them to us for our advice. Miss Merriam--Gertrude +Merriam is her name--is taking just one course here now, and I think +she'll be willing to give it up and glad to undertake the care of a baby +that needs such special attention as your little waif." + +The whole party followed the Director upstairs and looked over with +interest the scientifically appointed rooms. There was a kindergarten +where those of the children in the house who were old enough, together +with a few from outside, were taught in the morning hours. The nursery +with its spotless white beds and furniture and its simple and +appropriate pictures was as good to look at as a hospital ward, "and a +lot pleasanter," said Dr. Watkins. Out of it opened a wee roof garden +and there a few of the children dressed in thick coats and warm hoods +were playing, while a sweet-faced young woman sitting on the floor +seemed quite at home with them. She tried to rise as the Director's +party came out unexpectedly on her. Her foot caught in her skirt and Dr. +Watkins sprang forward to give her a helping hand. + +"This is Miss Merriam of whom I was speaking," said the Director, +introducing her. "Will you ask Miss Morgan to come out here with the +children and will you join us in the study?" she asked. + +Miss Merriam assented and when her successor arrived the flock went in +again to see the children's dining-room and the arrangements made for +doing special cooking for such of them as needed it. + +"We try not to have elaborate equipment," explained the Director. "I +want my young women to be able to work with what any mother provides +for her home and not to be dependent on machines and utensils that are +seldom found outside of hospitals. They are learning thoroughly the +scientific side. Miss Merriam, who, I hope, will go to you, is a college +graduate, and in college she studied biology and food values and +ventilation and sanitation and such matters. Since she has been here she +has reviewed all that work under the physicians who lecture here, and +she has practised first aid and made a special study of infant +requirements. You couldn't have any one better trained for what you +need." + +Dr. Watkins gave his chair to Miss Merriam when she came to join the +conference, and asked Mrs. Morton by a motion of the eyebrows if he +should withdraw. When her reply was negative he sat down again. Miss +Merriam blushed as she faced the group but she was entirely at her ease. +Mrs. Morton explained their need. + +"A Belgian baby!" she cried. "And you want me to take care of her! Why, +Mrs. Morton, there's nothing in the world I should like better. The poor +little dud! When shall I go to you?" + +"Just as soon as you can," replied Mrs. Morton. "We've left her today in +charge of my little boy's old nurse, but as soon as you come we shall +move her to my sister-in-law's." + +Miss Merriam turned inquiringly to Mrs. Smith, who smiled in return. + +"Mrs. Smith has only her daughter and herself in her family so she has +more space in her house than I have." + +"But it's just round the corner from us so we can see the baby every +day," cried Helen. + +"I can go to Rosemont early tomorrow morning," said Miss Merriam. "Tell +me, please, how to reach there." + +She glanced at Mrs. Morton, but Dr. Watkins answered her. + +"If you'll allow me," he said; "I have an errand in Rosemont tomorrow +and I'd be very glad to show you the way." + +Miss Merriam's blue eyes rested on him questioningly. + +"I'm an 'in-law' of the Club," he explained. "My brother and sister, Tom +and Della, are devoted members of the U. S. C. and sometimes they let me +join them." + +"The doctor's bull-dog is an 'in-law,' too," laughed Mrs. Smith. "Don't +you remember him at Chautauqua?" + +"The dog with the perfectly _extraordinary_ face? I do indeed remember +him," and the inquiring blue eyes twinkled. + +"He appeared in an entertainment that the Club gave a few weeks ago for +the Christmas Ship and I think he received more applause than any other +performer." + +"I'm not surprised," exclaimed Miss Merriam. "Thank you, Dr. Watkins, I +shall be glad of your help," and Edward had a comfortable feeling that +he was accepted as a friend, though he was not quite sure whether it was +on his own merits or because he had a share in the ownership of a dog +with an _extraordinary_ face. + +He did not care which it was, however, when he called the next morning +and found Miss Merriam waiting for him. She was well tailored and her +handbag was all that it should be. + +"I hate messy girls with messy handbags," he thought to himself after a +sweeping glance had assured him that there was nothing "messy" about +this Mothercraft girl. The blue eyes were serious this morning, but they +had a laugh in them, too, when he told her of the way the Belgian baby +was first called for, upon a young girl's impulse, and the reward James +Hancock had received for his cordial joining in the cry. + +"I'm going to like them all, every one of them," Miss Merriam said in +the soft voice that was at the same time clear and firm. + +"I'm sure they'll like you," responded Edward. + +"I hope they will. I shall try to make them. But the baby will be a +delight, any way." + +At Rosemont, to Dr. Watkins's disappointment, they found Grandmother +Emerson and the automobile waiting at the station. Edward bowed his +farewell and went off upon his errand, and Mrs. Emerson and Miss Merriam +drove to Mrs. Smith's where they found Elisabeth already installed in a +sunny room out of which opened another for Miss Merriam. The arrangement +had been made by Dorothy's moving into a smaller chamber over the front +door. + +"I don't mind it a bit," she declared to her mother, "and please don't +say a word about it to Miss Merriam--she might feel badly." + +So Gertrude Merriam accepted her room all unconsciously, and rejoiced in +its brightness. The baby was lying before the window of her own room +when Gertrude entered. It moved a listless hand as she knelt beside it. + +"You little darling creature!" she exclaimed and Elisabeth gave her +infrequent smile as if she knew that woman's love and science were going +to work together for her. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ELISABETH MAKES FRIENDS + + +Under Miss Merriam's skilful care Elisabeth of Belgium slowly climbed +the hill of health. She had grown so weak that she required to be +treated like a child much younger than she really was. Miss Merriam gave +her extremely nourishing food in small amounts and often; she made her +rest hours as long as those of a baby of a year and her naps were always +taken in the open air, where she lay warmly curled up in soft rugs like +a little Eskimo. At night she and her care-taker slept on an upper porch +where she drew deep draughts of fresh air far down into the depths of +her tiny relaxed body. + +"Ayleesabet"--everybody adopted her own pronunciation--was napping in +Dicky's old perambulator on the porch of Dorothy's cottage one Saturday +morning early in December. The Ethels, their coat collars turned up and +rugs wrapping their knees, were keeping guard beside her. Both of them +were alternately knitting and warming their fingers. + +"When she wakes up we can roll her down the street a little way," said +Ethel Blue. + +"Did Miss Merriam say so?" + +"Yes, she said we might keep her out until twelve." + +"Are the Hancocks and Watkinses coming early to the Club meeting?" + +"About half past two. The afternoons are so short now that they thought +they'd better come early so it wouldn't be pitch black night when they +got home." + +"We ought to do some planning for Christmas this afternoon. There's a +lot to think about." + +"There's one Christmas gift I wish Aunt Marian would give us." + +"What's that?" asked Ethel Brown expectantly for she had great faith in +the ideas that Ethel Blue brought forth now and then. + +"Don't you think it would be nice if she would let us have a visit from +Katharine Jackson for one of our presents?" + +Katharine Jackson was the daughter of an army officer stationed at Fort +Edward in Buffalo. Her father and Ethel Blue's father had been in the +same class at West Point and her mother had known Ethel Blue's mother +who had died when she was a tiny baby. The two Ethels had had a week-end +with Katharine the previous summer, going to Buffalo from Chautauqua for +the purpose of spending a glorious Saturday at Niagara Falls. + +"O-oh!" cried Ethel Brown, "that's one of the finest things you ever +thought of! Let's speak to Mother as soon as we go home and write to +Mrs. Jackson and Katharine this afternoon if she says 'yes'." + +"I'm almost sure she will say 'yes'." + +"So am I. If Katharine comes we can save all our Christmas festivities +for the time she's here so there'll be plenty to entertain her." + +"Ayleesabet is waking. Hullo, sweet lamb," and both girls leaned over +the carriage, happy because their nursling condescended to smile on them +when she opened her eyes. Miss Merriam brought out a cup of warm food +when it was reported to her that her charge had finished her nap, and +when the luncheon was consumed with evidences of satisfaction the Ethels +took the carriage out on to the sidewalk. Elisabeth sat up, still +sleepy-eyed and rosy from her nap, and gazed about her seriously at the +road that was already becoming familiar. + +"Oh, dear," sighed Ethel Blue under her breath, "there are the Misses +Clark coming out of their house." + +"I hope they aren't going to complain of Roger," Ethel Brown said, for +Roger acted as furnace man for these elderly ladies who had gained for +themselves a reputation of being ill-natured. + +"It's too late to cross the street. They look as if they were coming +expressly to speak to us. See, they haven't got their hats on." + +It did indeed look as if the little procession was being waylaid, for +the Misses Clark stood inside their gate waiting for the Ethels to come +up. + +"We saw you coming," they said when the carriage came near enough, "and +we came out to see the baby. This is the Belgian baby?" + +"Yes; this is Ayleesabet." + +"Ayleesabet? Elisabeth, I suppose. Why do you call her that?" + +"That's what she calls herself, and it seems to be the only word she +remembers so we thought we'd let her hear it instead of giving her a new +name." + +"Ayleesabet," repeated the elder Miss Clark, coming through the gate. +"Will you shake hands with me, Ayleesabet?" + +She held out her hand to the solemn child who sat staring at her with +unmoved expression. Ethel Blue hesitatingly began to explain that the +baby did not yet know how to shake hands, when to their amazement +Elisabeth extended a tiny mittened paw and laid it in Miss Clark's hand. + +"The dear child!" exclaimed both women, and the elder flushed warmly as +if the delicate contact had touched an intimate chord. She gave the +mitten a pressure and held it, Elisabeth making no objection. + +"Won't you bring her in to see us once in a while?" begged the younger +Miss Clark. "We should like so much to have you. We've watched her go by +with that charming looking young woman who takes care of her." + +"Miss Merriam. She's from the School of Mothercraft," and Ethel Brown +explained the work of the school. + +"How fortunate you were to know about the school. It would have been +anxious work for Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith if they had had full +responsibility for such a feeble baby." + +"We all love Miss Merriam," said Ethel Blue. "Say 'Gertrude,' +Elisabeth," and Elisabeth obediently repeated "Gertrude" in her soft +pipe, and looked about for the owner of the name. + +"We'll bring her in to call on you," promised the Ethels, saying +"Good-bye," and they went on feeling far more gently disposed toward +their cross-patch neighbors than they ever had before. As for the +"cross-patches," they looked after the carriage as long as it was in +sight. + +When the girls returned to Dorothy's they found Edward Watkins there. + +"It's very nice of you to come out to see how the baby is getting +along," said Ethel Brown, going in to the living room, while Ethel Blue +helped Miss Merriam take Elisabeth out of the carriage. + +"I mean to keep an eye on her," replied Edward gravely. + +"You don't really have to do it if it isn't convenient, you know," +returned Ethel. "Of course we appreciate it tremendously, but Dr. +Hancock is nearer and he's been coming over quite regularly." + +"I shan't try to compete with Dr. Hancock," promised Dr. Watkins; "but +Elisabeth is the Club baby, you know, and Tom and Della are members so +as their brother I feel almost a personal interest." + +"It's lovely of you to feel so. I just didn't want you to be bothered," +explained Ethel conscientiously. + +When Miss Merriam brought the baby in he examined her carefully as one +tiny hand after another was released from its mitten and one slender leg +after the other emerged from the knitted trousers. + +"She isn't what you'd call really fat yet, is she?" he commented. + +"She's a porpoise compared with what she was at the beginning," insisted +Ethel Blue stoutly. "Miss Merriam can tell you how many ounces she has +gained." + +"She's gained in happiness, any way," smiled the young physician as the +baby murmured "Gertrude" and patted Gertrude's flushing cheek. + +There was a full meeting of the United Service Club when Helen called it +to order at a quarter of three and informed the members that it was high +time for them to discuss what they were going to do as a club for +Christmas. + +"To tell the truth, I was awfully ashamed about our forgetting to do +anything for anybody on Thanksgiving. It all came out right, because our +'show' for the Home went off well and the old ladies were pleased, but +we didn't originate the idea and I feel as if we ought to make up for +our forgetfulness by doing something extra at Christmas. Now who has any +suggestions?" + +"I'd like to know first," asked James, the treasurer, "just how we stand +with regard to Elisabeth. I know we can't afford to pay Miss Merriam's +salary; I am afraid we've got to call on the grownups for that--but we +can do something and we must, and we ought to find out about it +exactly." + +"Mrs. Emerson is paying half Miss Merriam's salary," explained Dorothy. + +"And Aunt Louise the other half," added Ethel Brown. + +"I wrote to Father about Elisabeth," said Ethel Blue, "and he said he'd +send us a hundred dollars a year for her. We could put it in the bank +for her, he said, if we didn't need to use it for doctors' bills or +anything else." + +"Here's my pay from the Misses Clark; they forked over this morning," +said Roger elegantly, as he in turn "forked over" a bill to James. +"Madam President, may the treasurer report, please?" + +"The treasurer will kindly tell us what there is at the Club's +disposal," directed Helen. + +"The treasurer is obliged to confess that there isn't very much," +admitted James. "The Christmas Ship just about cleaned us out, and the +cost of some of the material for costumes for 'Miles Standish' nearly +used up what was left. This greenback of Roger's is the best looking +thing I've seen for some days." + +"I haven't paid my dues for December," confessed Ethel Blue. "Here they +are." + +It proved that one or two of the others were also delinquent, but even +after all had paid there was a very small sum in hand compared with what +they needed. + +"There isn't any use getting gloomy over the situation," urged Helen. +"If we haven't got the money, we haven't, that's all, and we must do +the best we can without it. Mother and Aunt Louise will wait to be +paid. It isn't as if we had been extravagant and run into debt. The baby +came unexpectedly and had to be made comfortable right off. We can +assume that responsibility and pay up when we are able. I don't think +that we ought to let that interrupt any plans we have to make Christmas +pleasant for anybody." + +"I believe you're right," agreed Tom, "but I think we must limit +ourselves somewhat." + +"You'll be limited by the low state of the treasury, young man," growled +James. + +"Wait and hear me. I imagine that what the president has in mind for our +Christmas work is doing something for the children in the Glen Point +orphanage." + +Helen and Margaret nodded. + +"What do you say, then, if we decide to limit our Christmas work as a +club to doing something for the orphanage and for Elisabeth? And I +should like to suggest that no one of us gives a personal present that +costs more than ten cents to any relative or friend. Then we can place +in the club treasury whatever we had intended to spend more than that, +and do the best we can with whatever amount that puts into James's hands +for the Glen Point orphans and Elisabeth. Am I clear?" and he sank back +in his chair in seeming exhaustion. + +"You're very long-winded, Thomas," pronounced Roger, patting his friend +on the shoulder, "but we get your idea. I second the motion, Madam +President. We'll give ten cent presents to our relatives and friends and +put all the rest of our stupendous fortunes into giving the orphans a +good time and getting some duds for Ayleesabet or paying for what she +has already." + +The motion was carried unanimously, and each one of them handed to James +a calculation of how much he would be able to contribute to the +Christmas fund. + +"It will come pretty near being ten cent presents for the orphans," +James pronounced after some work with pencil and paper. "We can't give +them anything that the wildest imagination could call handsome." + +"There are plenty of people interested in the orphanage who give +the children clothes and all their necessities, you know," Margaret +reminded her brother. "Don't you remember when we talked this over before +we said that what we'd do for them would be to give them some +foolishnesses--just silly things that all children enjoy and that no one +ever seems to think it worth while to give to youngsters in an +institution." + +"Will they have a tree?" + +"Our church always sends a tree over there, but I must say it's a pretty +lean tree," commented James. "It has pretty lights and a bag of candy +apiece for the kids, and they stand around and sing carols before +they're allowed to take a suck of the candy, and that's all there is to +it." + +"The Young Ladies' Guild has an awfully good time dressing it," +testified Margaret. + +"So did I winding up Dicky's mechanical toys last Christmas," said Roger +rather shamefacedly. "I'm afraid the poor kid didn't get much of a +look-in until I got tired of them." + +"In view of these revelations, Madam President," began Tom, "I move that +whatever we do for the orphans shall be something that they can join in +themselves, and not just look at. Anybody got an idea?" + +"Our minds have been so full of the Christmas Ship that it has squeezed +everything else out, I'm afraid," admitted Della, with a delicate frown +drawing her eyebrows. + +"Why can't we continue to make the Christmas Ship useful somehow?" +inquired Dorothy. + +"Meaning?" + +"I hardly know. Perhaps we could have our presents for the children in a +Christmas Ship instead of on a tree." + +"That's good. They'll have one tree anyway; this will be a novelty, and +it can be made pretty." + +"Can we get enough stuff to fill a ship?" + +"Depends on the size of the ship." + +"It wouldn't have to be full; just the deck could be heaped with +parcels." + +"And the rigging could be lighted." + +"How can we ring in the children so they can have more of a part than +singing carols?" + +"Why not make them do the work themselves--the work of distributing the +gifts?" + +"I know," cried Helen. "Why not tell them about the real Christmas Ship +and then tell them that they are to play that they all went over with it +on its Christmas errand. We can dress up some of the boys as sailors--" + +"Child, you don't realize what you're suggesting," exclaimed Margaret. +"Do you know there are twenty or twenty-five boys there? We couldn't +make all those costumes!" + +"That's true," agreed Helen, dismayed. Her dismay soon turned to +cheerfulness, however. "Why couldn't they wear an arm band marked +SAILOR? They can use their imaginations to supply the rest of the +costume." + +"That would do well enough. And have another group of them marked +LONGSHOREMAN." + +"We can pick out the tallest boy to represent Commander Courtney and +some of the others to be officers." + +"You're giving all the work to the boys; what can the girls do?" + +"Don't let's have any of them play orphan. That would come too near +home. They won't follow the story too far. They'll be contented to +distribute the gifts to each other." + +"Here's where the girls can come in. The officers can bring the good +ship into port, and the sailors can make a handsome showing along the +side as she comes up to the pier, and the longshoremen can stagger +ashore laden with big bundles. On the shore there can be groups of girls +who will undo the large bundles and take out the small ones that they +contain. Other groups of girls can go about giving out the presents." + +"I'll bet they'll have such a good time playing the game they won't +notice whether the presents are ten centers or fifties," shouted Roger. +"I believe we've got the right notion." + +"We must do everything up nicely so they'll have fun opening the +parcels," insisted Helen. + +"Here's where James begins pasting again. Where's my pastepot, Dorothy?" +inquired James who had done wonders in making boxes to contain the gifts +that went in the real Ship. + +"Here are all your arrangements in the corner, and I'll make you some +paste right off," said Dorothy, pointing out the corner of the attic +where a table held cardboard and flowered paper and scissors. + +Unless there was some especial reason for a meeting elsewhere the Club +always met in Dorothy's attic, where the afternoon sun streamed in +cheerfully through the low windows. There the members could leave their +unfinished work and it would not be disturbed, and the place had proved +to be so great a comfort during the autumn months, that Mrs. Smith had +had a radiator put in so that it was warm and snug for winter use. +Electric lights had made it possible for them to work there occasionally +during the evening and it was as cheerful an apartment as one would care +to see, even though its furniture was made largely of boxes converted +into useful articles by Dorothy's inventive genius. + +"Some time during Christmas week we ought to cheer up the old couple by +the bridge," urged Roger. + +"The same people we chopped wood for?" asked Tom. + +"The Atwoods--yes. It gets on my nerves to see them sitting there so +dully, every day when I pass by on my way to school." + +"We certainly won't forget them. We can do something that won't make any +demand on our treasury, so Tom won't mind our adding them to our +Christmas list." + +"I dare say we'll think of others before we go much farther. What we +need to do now is to decide on things to make for the Glen Pointers," +and the talk went off into a discussion which proved to be merely a +selection from what they had learned to do while they were making up +their parcels for the real Christmas Ship. Now, with but a short time +before Christmas, they chose articles that could be made quickly. The +girls also decided on the candies that each should make to fill the +boxes, and they made requisition on the treasury for the materials so +that they could go to work at once upon the lasting kinds. Before the +afternoon was over the attic resumed once more the busy look it had worn +for so many weeks before the sailing of the _Jason_. + +"Ethel Blue!" came a call up the attic stairs. + +Ethel Blue ran down to see what her aunt wanted, and came back beaming, +two letters in her hand. + +"Here's a letter from Mrs. Jackson to Aunt Marian saying that Katharine +may come to us for a fortnight, and another one from Katharine to me +telling how crazy she is to come. Isn't it fine!" + +Ethel threw her arm over Ethel Brown's shoulder and pulled her into the +march that was the Mortons' expression of great pleasure: "One, two, +three, back; one, two, three, back," around the attic. + +"When is she coming?" asked Roger, who had never seen Katharine and so +was able to endure calmly the prospect of her visit. + +"Two days before Christmas--that's Wednesday in the afternoon." + +"We'll ask grandmother to let us have the car to go and get her; it's so +much more fun than the train," proposed Ethel Brown. + +"Um, glorious." + +The attic rang with the Ethels' delight--at which they looked back +afterwards with some wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GOOD SHIP "JASON" + + +The Rosemont schools closed for the holidays at noon of the Wednesday +before Christmas, so all the Mortons and Dorothy were free to avail +themselves of Mrs. Emerson's offer of her car to bring Katharine from +Hoboken. It was a pleasant custom of the family to regard any guests as +belonging not to one or another member in particular but to all of them. +All felt a responsibility for the guest's happiness and all shared in +any amusement that he or she might give. + +According to this custom, not the Ethels alone went to meet Katharine, +but Helen and Roger and Dorothy, too. Mrs. Morton chaperoned them and +Dicky was added for good measure. It was a sharp day and the Rosemont +group were rosy with cold when they reached the station and lined +themselves up on the platform just before the Buffalo train drew in. +Katharine and the Jacksons' German maid, Gretchen, were among the first +to get off. + +"Gretchen is going to make a holiday visit, too," Katharine explained +when she had greeted the Ethels, whom she knew, and had been introduced +to the other members of the party. + +Mrs. Morton and Roger instructed Gretchen how to reach Staten Island +where her friends lived and then they got into the car and sped toward +home. + +Katharine did not seem so much at ease as she had done when she played +hostess to the Ethels at Fort Edward. She was accustomed to meeting many +people, but she was an only child and being plunged into a big family, +all chattering at once, it seemed to her, caused her some embarrassment. +In an effort not to show it she was not always happy in her remarks. + +"Is this your car?" she asked. + +"It's Grandmother Emerson's," replied Ethel Brown. "She lets us have it +very often." + +"I don't care for a touring car in cold weather. My grandmother has a +limousine." + +"We're glad to have a ride in any kind of car," responded Ethel Blue +happily. + +"Roger, get out that other rug for Katharine," directed Mrs. Morton, +"she's chilly." + +"Oh, no," demurred Katharine, now ashamed at having made a remark that +seemed to reflect upon the comfort of her friends' automobile. "I'm used +to a Ford, any way." + +"I'm afraid you don't know much about cars if you do come from an +automobile city," commented Roger dryly. "This car would make about +three Fords--though I don't sneeze at a Ford myself. I'd be mighty glad +if we had one, wouldn't you, Mother?" + +Mrs. Morton shook her head at him, and he subsided, humming merrily, + + He took four spools and an old tin can + And called it a Ford and the strange thing ran. + +The Ethels had not paid much attention to the conversation but +nevertheless it had struck the wrong note and no one felt entirely at +ease. They found themselves wondering whether their guest would find her +room to her liking and they remembered uneasily that they had said "I +guess she won't mind" this and that when they had left some of their +belongings in the closet. + +The Morton's house was not large and in order to accommodate a guest the +Ethels moved upstairs into a tiny room in the attic, where they were to +camp for the fortnight of Katharine's stay. They had thought it great +fun, and were more than willing to endure the discomfort of crowded +quarters for the sake of having the long-desired visit. Now, however, +Ethel Brown murmured to Ethel Blue as they went into the house, "I'm +glad we had one of the beds taken upstairs; it will give her more +space," and Ethel Blue replied, "I believe we can hang our dancing +school dresses in the east corner of the attic if we put a sheet around +them." + +Indeed, Ethel Blue made a point of running upstairs while Katharine was +speaking to Dorothy in the living room and removing the dresses from the +closet. She looked around the room with new sight. It had seemed +pleasant and bright to her in the morning when she and Ethel Brown had +added some last touches to the fresh muslin equipment of the bureau, but +now she wished that they had had a perfectly new bureau cover, and she +was sorry she had not asked Mary to give the window another cleaning +although it had been washed only a few days before. + +"Perhaps she won't notice," she murmured hopefully, but in her heart of +hearts she was pretty sure she would. + +Katharine made no comment, however, beyond lifted eyebrows when she +noticed anything different from what she had been accustomed to in a +house where there was a small family, and, in consequence, plenty of +space. She unpacked her trunk and hung up her clothes with care and +neatness which the Ethels admired. Ordinarily they would have praised +her frankly for doing well what they sometimes failed to do well, but +they had not yet recovered from the constraint that her remarks on the +way home had thrown over them. It was not lessened when she mentioned +that usually Gretchen did her unpacking for her. + +"Mary would love to unpack for us," said Ethel Brown, "but if she did +that we'd have to do some of her work, so we'd rather hang up our duds +ourselves." + +Katharine was greatly interested in the Club plans for the Glen Point +orphans. She had lived in garrisons in the remote West and in or near +large cities, but her experience never had placed her in a comparatively +small town like Rosemont or Glen Point where people took a friendly +interest in each other and in community institutions. She entered +heartily into the final preparations for the imitation Christmas Ship +and she and the girls forgot their mutual embarrassment in their work +for some one else. + +Roger went to Glen Point in the morning of the day before Christmas to +meet the other Club boys and build the Ship in the hall of the +orphanage. They worked there for several hours and lunched with James +and Margaret at the Hancocks'. The rest of the Mortons and Katharine +took over the parcels in the early afternoon in the car and arranged +them on the deck as had been planned, and then all the young people +came back together, for they were to have a part in the lighting of the +Rosemont Christmas Tree. + +The tree was a huge Norway spruce and it was set up in front of the high +school which had a lawn before it large enough to hold a goodly crowd of +observers. The choirs of all the churches had volunteered their services +for the occasion. They were placed on a stand elevated above the crowd +so that they could lead the singing and be heard at a distance. + +Except for murmurs of admiration and a long-drawn breath of delight +there was no sound from the throng. It was too beautiful for speech; +the meaning was too laden with brotherly love and cheer for it to be +mistaken. A sad-eyed girl smiled to herself and gazed with new hope in +her face; a pickpocket took his hand out of his neighbor's bag that had +opened like magic under his practised touch. Babies stretched out their +arms to the glitter; grown men stared silently with unaccustomed tears +wetting their eyes. The school children sang on and on, "Oh, come all ye +faithful, joyful and triumphant;" then "Hark, the herald angels sing, +Glory to the new-born King;" and "It came upon the midnight clear." The +fresh young voices rang gloriously, strengthened by the more mature +voices of the choirs. + +The stars were coming out before the first person turned away, and all +through the night watchers of the tree's resplendent glory were found by +the patrolling policeman gazing, gazing, with thoughts of peace +reflected on faces that had long been unknown to peace. + +It was after six when the Emerson car whirled the U. S. C. back to the +Mortons' for a dinner that had to be eaten hastily, for they were due at +the Glen Point orphanage soon after seven so that all might be in order +for the doors to be opened to the children at half past. Helen was +always urging punctuality as Tom was commanding promptness. + +"If we were small youngsters and had had to wait all day for our +Christmas party we'd be wild at having it delayed a minute longer than +necessary," the President insisted, and Tom added his usual exhortation, +"Run the thing along briskly; don't let it drag. You can 'put over' lots +of stupid stuff by rushing it on gayly, and a good 'stunt' may be good +for nothing if it goes slowly." + +"Helen and Tom can't say that they 'never sing the old, old songs,' can +they?" laughed Ethel Brown. "The Club has never done anything yet that +we haven't heard these same sweet strains from both of them." + +"You're very likely to hear them again--my chant, any way," declared her +sister firmly. + +"It won't do us any harm," Ethel Brown yielded good-naturedly. + +The boys had made the good ship _Jason_ with some ingenuity. The matron +had let them have a table, long and so old that the marks of boots upon +it would do no harm. This was important for it was to be used as the +forward deck. Because in the days of its youth it had been used in the +dining room of the smaller children it was lower than an ordinary table. +This made it just the right height, for the ship's rail was to rise +above it, and if it had been higher the people on the floor could not +have seen the deck comfortably. + +At the end of the table was tied the mast--a broom stick with electric +light wires strung with tiny bulbs going from its top to the deck. This +electrical display was a contribution from Roger who had asked his +grandfather to give it to him for his Christmas gift and had requested +that he might have it in time for him to lend it to the _Jason_. It was +run by a storage battery hidden in a box that was safely bestowed under +the deck. Aft of the mainmast were two kitchen chairs placed side by +side to give the craft the needed length. + +The outside of the boat was made by stretching a double length of +war-gray cambric from the bow--two hammock stretchers fastened to the +end of the table--along the deck, past the chairs and across their end. +The cloth was raised a trifle above the deck by laths nailed on to the +edge of the table. The name, "Jason," in black letters, was pinned along +the bow. + +"It isn't a striking likeness of a boat," confessed Roger, "but any +intelligent person would be able to guess what it was meant to be." + +When the children and a few other people who had begged to be allowed to +come entered the hall they found the ship lighted and with its deck +piled high with wooden boxes and parcels of good size. The members of +the U. S. C. were gathered beside the ship. When all had entered Helen, +as president of the Club, mounted one of the chairs which represented +the after part of the boat and told the story of the real ship _Jason_. + +"Children from all over the United States sent Christmas gifts to the +European children who otherwise would not have any because of the war. +Tonight we are going to pretend that we are all sailing on the _Jason_ +to carry the gifts to Europe. We've all got to help--every one of us. +First of all we want a captain. I think that boy over there near the +door will be the captain, because he's the tallest boy I see here." + +Embarrassed but pleased the tall boy came forward and Della fastened on +his arm a band marked CAPTAIN. Following instructions he mounted the +chair from which Helen descended. Two under officers were chosen in the +same way, and the Ethels raised them to the ranks of first and second +lieutenants by the simple method of fastening on suitable arm bands. + +"Now we want some sailors," cried Roger, and he selected ten other boys, +who were all rapidly adorned with SAILOR bands by the U. S. C. gifts. +The ship was about as full as she could be now, with her officers +standing, one on the deck and the others on the two chairs, and the +sailors manning the rail. Everybody was beginning to enjoy the game by +this time, and the faces that looked out over the gray cambric sides of +the _Jason_ were beaming with eagerness to find out what was coming +next, while the children who had not yet been assigned to any task were +equally curious to find out how they were to help. + +"Now we're on the pier at the Bush Terminal at Brooklyn," explained Tom. +"Look out there; don't get in the way of the ropes," and he pushed the +crowd back from the imaginary ropes, and whistled a shrill call on his +fingers. + +"See, she's moving! She's starting!" cried Ethel Blue. "Wave your +handkerchief! Wave it!" she directed the children near her, who fell +into the spirit of the pretense and gave the Christmas Ship a noisy +send-off. + +"Now we'll all turn our backs while the ship is crossing the Atlantic," +directed James. + +It required only a minute for the boat to make the crossing, and when +the onlookers turned about after this trip of unparalleled swiftness +they were told that now they were not Americans any longer; they were +English people at Devonport gathered to watch the arrival of the _Jason_ +and to help unload the presents sent to the children of England and +Belgium. + +"I want some longshoremen to help unload these boxes," said Helen, "and +a set of sorters and a set of distributors. Who'll volunteer as +longshoremen?" + +There was a quick response, and this group exhausted all the boys. They +were designated by arm bands each marked LONGSHOREMAN. Then she called +for girls for the other two detachments and divided them into two +sections, one marked SORTERS and the other DISTRIBUTORS. + +Under Roger's direction a chair, turned over on its face, made a +sloping gangplank down which the bundles could be slid. + +"Have your lieutenants place their men around the deck and on each side +of this plank," he instructed the captain. "Then order a few +longshoremen to go aboard and hand the bundles from one to another and +slide them down the plank to the men on the pier who will take them over +to the sorters. You," he called to the girls, "you stay at that side of +the room and open these large parcels when they are brought to you, and +you read what it says on the packages and make two piles, one of those +marked 'Boy' and the other of those marked 'Girl'. Then there are +bundles marked with the children's names. Give them out. See that +everybody has one package marked with his name and one package just +marked 'Boy' or 'Girl'." + +The Ethels had proposed this arrangement so that all the children should +feel that the distribution of gifts had been made by chance. The parcels +bearing the children's names were filled with candy and goodies and were +all alike. + +"Didn't I tell you they'd like foolishnesses!" she said to Helen in an +undertone. "Look at those boys with jumping jacks. They love them!" + +"See those youngsters with those silly twirling things Tom made," said +Della. "He's right about the charm of those little flat objects. They'll +twirl them by the hour I really believe." + +All the gifts were of the simplest sort. There were the Danish twins +that Ethel Blue had made for the real Ship--little worsted elves +fastened together by a cord; and rubber balls covered with crocheting to +make them softer; dolls, small and inexpensive, but each with an outfit +of clothes that would take off; a stuffed kitten or two; several +baskets, each with a roll of ribbon in it. + +"They can fit them up for work baskets afterwards, if they want to," +said Margaret, "but I'm not going to suggest sewing to these youngsters +who have to do it every day of their lives whether they want to or not." + +There were various kinds of candy in boxes covered with bright colored +and flowered paper, for James had outdone himself in developing new +pasting ideas. There were cookies, too, and tiny fruit cakes. + +The faces of the Club members were as joyous as the faces of the +children as they looked about them and saw evidences of the success of +their plan. If they needed confirmation it was given them by the matron. + +"I've never seen them so happy," she said. "I can't thank you enough for +giving them this pleasure." + +"It was lovely," approved Katharine. "I'm so glad you let me help." + +It was still early when the merry party reached home, but Mrs. Morton +bundled them off to bed promptly. + +"You've all made a sacrifice to Dicky's Christmas habits," she +explained. "He's been in bed for hours and he's preparing to get up long +before dawn, so we all might as well go to bed ourselves or we'll be +exhausted by this time tomorrow night." + +"Hang your stocking on your outside door knob, Katharine," cried the +Ethels. "We have Santa Claus trained to look there for it in this +house." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CHRISTMAS DAY + + +Mrs. Morton's prophecy was fulfilled. It was still black night when +Dicky roused from his bed and sent a "Merry Christmas" ringing through +the house. There was no response to his first cry, but, undaunted, he +uttered a second. To this there came a faint "Merry Christmas" from the +top story where the Ethels were snuggled under the roof, and another +from Helen's room beside his own. Katharine said nothing and not a word +came from Roger, though there was a sound of heavy, regular breathing +through his door. + +"Let's put on our wrappers and go down stairs into Katharine's room," +suggested Ethel Brown. + +"It's lots too early. Let's wait a while," replied Ethel Blue, so they +lay still for another hour in spite of increasing sounds of ecstasy from +Dicky. After all they decided to follow the usual family custom and take +their stockings into the living room before breakfast instead of going +to Katharine's room. As they passed her door they knocked on it and +begged her to hurry so that they could all begin the opening at once. +She said that she was up and would soon join them, but it proved to be +fully three quarters of an hour before she appeared. + +All the Mortons except Dicky had waited for her before opening their +bundles. + +"We thought you would excuse Dicky for not waiting; it's rather hard on +a small boy to have such tantalizing parcels right before him and not +attack them," apologized Mrs. Morton. + +Katharine looked somewhat embarrassed to find that she had been the +cause of so long a delay but she offered no excuse. + +"Let's all look at our stockings first," said Ethel Brown, and every +hand dived in and brought out candy, nuts, raisins, an apple, an orange, +dates and figs and candy animals. + +There were gifts among the goodies, or instructions where to find them. +Roger discovered a pocket book that had been his desire for a long time, +and a card that advised him to look under the desk in the library and +see what was waiting for him. He dashed off in a high state of curiosity +and came back whooping, with a typewriter in his arms. + +"Aren't Grandfather and Grandmother the best ever!" he exclaimed +rapturously, and he paid no further attention to his other gifts or to +those of the rest of the family while he hunted out a small table and +arranged the machine for immediate action. + +Helen's chief presents were a ring with a small pearl, from her +grandmother and a set of Stevenson from her grandfather. The Ethels had +each a tennis racquet and each a desk of a size suitable for their +bedroom. + +"They'll go one on each side of the window," exclaimed Ethel Brown, +while Ethel Blue at once began to store away in hers the supply of +stationery that came with it. + +Katharine's gifts were quite as numerous as the Mortons', for her mother +had forwarded to Mrs. Morton's care all those of suitable size that came +to Buffalo for her. She opened one after another: books, hair ribbons, a +pair of silk stockings for dancing school, a tiny silver watch on a long +chain. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson had added to her store a racquet like the +Ethels'. + +More numerous than those of any of the others were Dicky's presents, and +they were varied, indeed. A velocipede was his grandfather's offering +and was received with shouts of delight. Blocks of a new sort occupied +him when his mother stopped his travels on three wheels. A train of cars +made its way under Katharine's feet and nearly threw her down, to her +intense disgust, and a pair of roller skates brought Dicky himself in +her way so often that she spoke to him more sharply than he had ever +been spoken to in his life. He drew away and stared at her solemnly. + +"You're a cross girl," he announced after a disconcerting pause, and +Katharine flushed deeply at the accusation, realizing that it was not +polite to rebuke your hostess's brother and regretting her hasty speech. + +"Are you good for a long walk?" Roger asked Katharine after breakfast. + +Katharine said she was. + +"Then help me do up these things for Grandfather and Grandmother and +we'll be off," and he threw down a handful of red paper and green ribbon +and ran to get the shears. + +Roger and Helen together had given Grandfather Emerson a whole desk set, +Roger hammering the metal and Helen providing and making up the pad and +roller blotter and ink bottle. It was a handsome set. The blotter was +green and the Ethels had made a string basket out of which came the end +of a ball of green twine, and a set of filing envelopes, neatly arranged +in a portfolio of heavy green cardboard. + +All of the family had helped make the Chautauqua scrapbook that was Mrs. +Emerson's principal gift from her grandchildren. Helen had written the +story of their summer at Chautauqua, Roger had typed it on a typewriter +at school, and the others had chosen and pasted the pictures that +illustrated it. Ethel Blue had added an occasional drawing of her own +when their kodaks gave out or they were unable to find anything in old +magazines that would answer their purpose, and the effect was excellent. +Katharine looked it over with the greatest interest. + +"Here you are, all of you, going over from Westfield to Chautauqua in +the trolley," she exclaimed, for she had made the same trip herself. + +"And here are the chief officers of Chautauqua Institution--Bishop +Vincent and some of the others." + +"And here's the Spelling Match--my, that Amphitheatre is an enormous +place!" + +"This is the hydro-aeroplane that we flew in, Ethel Brown and I." + +"These are different buildings on the grounds--I recognize them. This is +a splendid present," complimented Katharine. + +"It was heaps of fun making it. Did you notice this picture of Mother's +and Grandfather's class on Recognition Day? See, there's Mother herself. +She happened to be in the right spot when the photographer snapped." + +"How lucky for you! It's perfect. I know Mrs. Emerson will be awfully +pleased." + +"We hope she will. Are you infants ready?" and Roger swung the parcels +on to his back and opened the door for the girls. + +"We're going to stop at Dorothy's, aren't we?" asked Ethel Blue. + +"Certainly we are. We want to see her presents and to give Elisabeth +hers and to say 'Merry Christmas' to Aunt Louise and Miss Merriam." + +"You seem very fond of Miss Merriam," said Katharine to Ethel Brown as +they turned the corner into Church Street. + +"We are. She's splendid. She knows just what to do for Elisabeth and +she's lovely any way." + +"You act as if she belonged to the family." + +"Why shouldn't we?" asked Ethel in amazement. + +"Don't you pay her for taking care of the baby?" + +"Certainly we pay her. We'd pay a doctor for taking care of her, too, +only we happen to have two doctors related to the Club so they give us +their services free. Why shouldn't we pay her?" + +Ethel Brown was quite breathless. She could not entirely understand +Katharine's point of view, but she seemed to be hinting that Miss +Merriam was serving in a menial capacity. The idea made loyal Ethel +Brown, who had not a snobbish bone in her body, extremely angry. Service +she understood--her father and her uncle and Katharine's father, too, +for that matter, were serving their country and were under orders. One +kind of service might be less responsible than another kind, but that +any service that was honest and useful could be unworthy was not in her +creed. + +"No reason, of course," replied Katharine, who saw that she had offended +Ethel. "Any way, her work is more than a nursemaid's work." + +"I should say it was," answered Ethel warmly; "she's taken several +years' training to fit her for it. But even if she were just a nursemaid +I should love her. I love Mary. She was Dicky's nurse and Mother says +she saved him from becoming a sick, nervous child by her wisdom and +calmness. Mary's skilful, too." + +Katharine did not pursue the discussion, and Ethel Brown, when Miss +Merriam came into the room to wish them a "Merry Christmas," threw her +arms around her neck and kissed her. + +"You're a perfectly splendid person," she exclaimed. + +Elisabeth was at her very best this morning. Never before had they seen +her so beaming. She had a special smile for every one of them, so that +each felt that he had been singled out for favors. She shook hands with +Roger, walked a few steps, clinging to the Ethels' fingers, patted +Helen's cheek, rippled all over when Dicky danced before her, and even +permitted Katharine to take her on her lap. This was a concession on +Katharine's part as well as on Elisabeth's, for Katharine was not much +interested in a stray baby. She saw, however, that the Mortons all were +in love with the little creature so she did her best to be amiable +toward her. + +"You're all so good to me," she cried. "I love all these things that +you've made for me with your own fingers." + +"We'd do more than that if we could," answered Ethel Blue as they all, +including Dorothy, swept out of the front door to take up their journey +to the Emersons'. + +At the Emersons' there was a renewal of greetings and "Thank yous" and +laughter, and a rehearsing of all the gifts that had been received. Mrs. +Smith had sent Mrs. Emerson an unusual pair of richly decorated wax +candles which she had found at an Italian candlemaker's in New York, and +Miss Merriam had sent her and Mrs. Morton each a tiny brass censer and a +supply of charcoal and Japanese incense to make fragrant the house. + +"Mother gave us handkerchiefs all around," said Roger, "and Mary baked +us each a cake and the cook made candy enough for an army." + +"You're dining at your Aunt Louise's, dear?" + +"We're going right from here to carry some bundles for Mother and then +to church, and then to Aunt Louise's for an early dinner. After dinner +we are to call on the old ladies at the Home for a half hour and then we +go back to a tree for Dicky--just a little shiny one; we've had all our +presents. After supper the thing we're going to do is a secret." + +"That sounds like a program that will keep you busy while it lasts. +They're not tiring you out, I hope?" Mr. Emerson asked Katharine, who +listened to Roger's list without displaying much enthusiasm. + +"I'm enjoying it all very much," responded Katharine politely, but not +in a tone that carried conviction. + +"How would it please you if the car took you back and helped you carry +those parcels for your mother?" + +There was a general whoop of satisfaction. + +"Your grandmother and I are going to church, but we won't mind starting +earlier than we usually do." + +"Which means right now, I should say," said Roger, looking at his watch. + +At the Mortons' the car added Mrs. Morton and Dicky to its occupants and +several large baskets containing Christmas dinners for people in whom +the Mortons had an interest. The young Mortons all had had a hand in +packing these baskets and in adding a touch of holly and red ribbon at +the top to give them a holiday appearance. + +"This first one is for old Mrs. Jameson," Mrs. Morton explained to her +mother. "Everything in it is already cooked because she is almost blind +and cooking is harder for her than it is for most people. There is a +roast chicken and the vegetables are all done and put in covered bowls +packed around with excelsior so that their heat won't be lost." + +"Like a fireless cooker." + +"The Ethels and Dorothy made enough individual fruit cakes for all our +baskets, and we've put in hard pudding sauce so that they can be eaten +as puddings instead of cakes." + +"The girls have made candies and cookies for everybody. That basket for +the Flynns has enough cookies for eight children besides the father and +mother." + +"If their appetites are like Roger's there must be a good many dozen +cookies stowed away there." + +"You can see it's the largest of all," laughed Mrs. Morton. + +Roger played Santa Claus at each house and his merry face and pleasant +jokes brought smiles to faces that did not look happy when their owners +opened their doors. The Flynns' was the last stop and everybody in the +car laughed when all the Flynns who could walk, and that meant nine of +them, fairly boiled out of the door to receive the visitor. Roger jumped +the small fry and joked with the larger ones, and left them all in a +high state of excitement. + +It was a very merry party that gathered around the Smiths' table, the +largest dinner party that Dorothy and her mother had given since they +came to Rosemont to live after they had met their unknown Morton +relatives at Chautauqua the summer before. To Mrs. Smith it gave the +greatest happiness to see the children of her brothers sitting at her +table and to know that her sister-in-law was her very dear friend as +well as her relative by marriage. + +After dinner they all snapped costume crackers and adorned themselves +with the caps that they discovered inside them, and they set the new +Victrola going and danced the butterfly dance that they had learned at +Chautauqua and had given at their entertainment for the Christmas Ship. +Dusk was coming on when the Ethels said that they must go to the Old +Ladies' Home or they would have to run all the way. Grandfather Emerson +offered to whirl all of them over in the car, and they were glad to +accept the offer. + +They stopped at home to get the boxes of candy which they had prepared. +It was while they were running up stairs to gather them together that +Katharine asked Ethel Blue if Mary might press a dress for her. + +"I want to wear it this evening," she said. + +Ethel Blue gasped. Mary had not yet come back from Mrs. Smith's where +she had served dinner for the large party and was still occupied in +clearing up after it. Supper at home was yet to come. Mrs. Morton had +always urged upon the girls to be very careful about asking to have +extra services rendered at inconvenient hours, and a more inconvenient +time than this hardly could have been selected. + +"Why, I don't know," Ethel Blue hesitated. + +"Oh, if you don't care to have her--" replied Katharine stiffly. + +"It isn't that," returned Ethel miserably. "Mary's always willing to do +things for us, but you see she's had a hard day and it isn't over yet +and she won't have any holiday at all if she has to do this." + +"Very well," returned Katharine in a tone that made Ethel feel that her +friend considered that she was being discourteous to her guest. "I can +find something else to wear this evening, I suppose." + +She looked so like a martyr that Ethel was most unhappy. + +"If you'll let me try it, I can use the stove in our own little +kitchen," she offered, referring to the small room where Mrs. Morton +allowed the girls to cook so that they should not be in the way of the +servants. + +"No, indeed, I could not think of letting you," responded Katharine. + +"I don't know that I could do it. I never have pressed anything +nice--but I'd like to try if you'll trust me." + +"No, indeed," repeated Katharine, and the girls entered the automobile +each in a state of mental discomfort, Katharine because she felt that +she was not being treated with proper consideration, and Ethel Blue +because she had been obliged to refuse the request of a friend and +guest. The ride to the Home was uncomfortably silent. On Roger's part +the cause was turkey, but the girls were quiet for other reasons. + +The visit to the old ladies was not long. They distributed their +packages and wished everybody a "Merry Christmas" and shook hands with +their especial favorites and ran back to the car. + +The supper was not really a party meal. It merely served as a gathering +place for the U. S. C. before they went to the Christmas tree at the +church. It also served as a background for Dick's little shining tree. +This small tree had been a part of Dick's Christmas ever since he had +had a Christmas, and to him it was quite as important as his dinner, +although there never were any presents on it. + +It stood now on a small table at the side of the dining room. It was +lighted by means of the storage battery and the strings of tiny electric +lights that had been used for the Christmas Ship at the Glen Point +orphanage. There were all sorts of balls and tinsel wreaths and tiny, +glistening cords. It glowed merrily while the supper went on, Dicky, at +intervals of five minutes, calling everybody's attention to its +beauties. There were favors at each plate, each a joke of some sort on +the person who received it. Every one held up his toy for the rest to +see and each provoked a peal of laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NEW YEAR'S EVE + + +"Where is Katharine?" asked Mrs. Morton of the Ethels as Mary announced +luncheon on the day before New Year's. + +"She went over to Dorothy's. Shall I call her?" + +"Give her a minute or two. She knows the luncheon hour," replied +Katharine's hostess. + +But a minute or two and more passed and no Katharine appeared. + +"She must be lunching with Dorothy," suggested Ethel Blue. + +"I'm sure Dorothy would have telephoned to ask if we had any plans that +would interfere." + +"It's twenty minutes past the hour; you'd better call and see if she's +still there," said Mrs. Morton, "and we may as well sit down." + +Helen was still at the telephone and the family was seated when +Katharine came in. + +"You didn't wait for me," she remarked with apparent surprise. + +"Of course you didn't realize that the luncheon hour had struck," Mrs. +Morton apologized for her. "Helen is calling Dorothy now to inquire +about you." + +Katharine made no reply and sat down with the injured air that she was +in the habit of wearing when she thought that not sufficient deference +had been paid her. She offered no apology or explanation and seemed to +think, if any conclusion could be drawn from her manner, that she had a +grievance instead of Mrs. Morton, whose family arrangements were +continually being upset by her guest's dilatoriness and lack of +consideration. The visit which had been looked forward to with such +delight was not proving successful. For themselves the Ethels did not +mind occasional delays, but they knew that all such matters interfered +with the smooth running of the house, and they could not help wondering +that Katharine should seem to think that her hostess should rearrange +the daily routine to suit her. + +The evening meal was to be supper and not dinner and it was to be +especially early because it was to be cooked entirely by the young +people. The Hancocks and the Watkinses were at the Mortons' by five +o'clock. Dr. Watkins came out, too, by special invitation, but he asked +if he might be permitted to pay a visit to Elisabeth while the rest were +preparing the meal, in view of the fact that he was not skilled as a +cook, and felt himself to be too old to learn in one lesson. He was +allowed to go with strict injunctions to be back at half past six and to +bring Miss Merriam with him. + +The Ethels had planned beforehand what they were going to have for +supper and the part that each was to take in the preparations. + +When the aprons had been taken off and the guests were all seated at the +table the supper went swimmingly. The oysters were delicious, the salad +sufficiently "chunky" to please Roger, the biscuits as light as a +feather and the fruit melange as good to look at as if it was to eat. + +The table decorations hinted at the New Year that was upon them. High in +a belfry made of small sticks piled on each other criss-cross hung a +small bell. Silver cords ran from it to each place so that every guest +might in turn "Ring out the old, ring in the new." Beside the tower on +one side stood the Old Year bending with the weight of his twelve-month +of experience; on the other side was the fresh New Year, too young to +know experience. Both were dolls dressed by Dorothy and Ethel Blue. + +"I move you, Madam President," said Tom when the meal was nearly over, +"that we extend a vote of thanks to the cooks for this delicious +nourishment." + +"I was just on the point of making that motion," laughed Edward Watkins. + +"And I of seconding it," cried Miss Merriam. "It would come more +appropriately from us." + +"You were far too slow," retorted Tom. "I couldn't wait for you." + +"As the president was one of the cooks she ought to place some one else +in the chair to put a motion complimentary in part to herself, but as +the maker of the motion and the seconder were also cooks we're all in +the same box and I don't believe it's necessary. All in favor say +'Aye'." + +A shout of "Ayes" followed. + +"Contrary minded." + +Silence. + +"Madam President." + +"Mrs. Morton has the floor." + +"I don't want to seem inhospitable, but if you're going to reach the +Atwoods' on time you'd better be starting." + +There was a general scattering and a donning of outer garments. The boys +picked up the bags and the Club started for the bridge, Dr. Watkins and +Miss Merriam going with them. + +When the Ethels had called on Mrs. Atwood and had asked her if the Club +might visit her on New Year's Eve the old lady had been not only +surprised but somewhat alarmed. She grew more cordial, however, when +Ethel Brown explained it to her. + +"Would you mind our asking some of our friends?" + +"Not at all. We'd be glad to do the few small things that we've planned +for just as many people as you can get in here." + +"That isn't many," replied Mrs. Atwood, looking about her sitting room. +"But there's one of my neighbors hardly ever gets to the stores or to a +movie show, and I'd love to ask her in; and there's another one is just +getting up from a sickness." + +So the room was quite filled with guests when the Club members arrived. + +"That's the boy that hung my gate for me last year the day after +Hallowe'en," whispered one old woman as Roger made his way through the +room, and several of them said, "Those are the young folks that went +round after the regular Hallowe'en party this year and put back the +signs and things the other people had pulled down." + +The audience was so much larger than the Club had expected that Helen, +as president, felt called upon to make a short explanation. + +"We're very glad to see you here," she said, "but we don't want you to +expect anything elaborate from us. We've just come to entertain our +friends for a short time in a simple way. So please be kind to us." + +Helen was wearing a pale pink dress that was extremely becoming, and her +cheeks were flushed when she realized that these people had seen or +heard of their more pretentious undertakings and might be expecting +something similar from them now. + +There was a reassuring nodding all over the room, and then the young +people began their performance. Edward Watkins first played on the +violin, giving some familiar airs with such spirit that toes went +tapping as he drew his bow back and forth. + +Dorothy followed him with Kipling's "I Keep Six Honest Serving Men." The +music was Edward German's, and Helen played the accompaniment on Mrs. +Atwood's little organ. The introduction was spirited and then Dorothy +sang softly. + +Dicky's turn came next on the program. He was introduced as the Honorary +Member of the United Service Club, and the name of the poem that he was +to recite was given as "Russian and Turk." + +"We don't know who wrote these verses," Helen explained. + +Dicky was helped to the top of a box which served as a stage and bobbed +his bobbed hair at the audience by way of a bow. Every S he pronounced +TH, which added to the pleasure of the hearers of the following lines: + + There was a Russian came over the sea, + Just when the war was growing hot; + And his name it was Tjalikavakaree-- + Karindobrolikanahudarot-- + Shibkadirova-- + Ivarditztova + Sanilik + Danevik + Varagobhot. + +Dicky rattled off these names and two other similar stanzas with +astonishing glibness to the amazement of his hearers. His first public +appearance with the Club was undeniably a success. + +The next number on the program necessitated the disappearance behind a +sheet drawn across the end of the room of almost all the members of the +Club. Helen, who was making the announcements, stayed outside. A light +came into view behind the curtain and the lights in the room were put +out. + +"This is the last day of the year," began Helen when a muffled whisper +had told her that all was ready, "and everybody is eager to know what is +going to happen next year. We all would like to know, how the war is +going to turn out, and what is going to be the result of the troubles in +Mexico, and whether Rosemont will get its new park--" + +She was interrupted by laughter, for Rosemont's new park was still a +live subject although it never seemed to approach settlement one way or +the other. + +"What you are going to see now on the screen we call 'Prophecies.' The +poet Campbell said that 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and +we might take that line for our motto. The first prophecy is one of +trouble. It comes to almost every person at one time or another of his +life." + +Silence fell on the darkened room. On the sheet came the figure of +Dicky. It was recognized by all and greeted with a round of applause. He +looked around him as if hunting for something; then seized what was +unmistakably a jam pot and began to eat from it with a spoon. His figure +grew larger and larger and faded away as he walked back toward the light +and disappeared beyond it. In his place came the figure of Edward +Watkins, and those who knew that he was a doctor and those who guessed +it from his physician's bag understood that his appearance was prophetic +of Dicky's deliverance from the suffering caused by jam. + +The light behind the sheet was moved close to the curtain while the +table and chairs were set in place. When it went back to its proper spot +there were seen the silhouettes of a group of men sitting around the +table arguing earnestly. + +"This," said Helen, "is the Rosemont Board of Aldermen talking about the +park." + +The argument grew excited. One man sprang to his feet and another +thumped the table with his fist. Suddenly they all threw back their +heads and laughed, rose and left the stage arm in arm. + +"They're wondering why they never agreed before," Helen decided. "It's +the Spring getting into their bones; and here are some of the people who +are benefited by the park." + +The table and chairs disappeared and a bench took their place. There +followed a procession of folk apparently passing through the park. A +workman, shovel and pick over his shoulder, stopped to look up at the +trees. That was James. A young man and his sweetheart--Roger and Ethel +Brown--strolled slowly along. Dicky rolled a hoop. Margaret, carrying a +baby borrowed from the audience, sat down on a bench and put it to +sleep. + +The onlookers approved highly of this prophecy which was of a state of +affairs which they all wanted. + +"The other day," went on Helen in her gentle voice, "I found a prophecy +that was not written for this war but for another, yet it is just as +true for the great war that is devastating the homes and hearts of men +today. It was written by Miss Bates who wrote 'America the Beautiful,' +which we all sing in school, and it is called 'The Great Twin Brethren.' +You remember that the Great Twin Brethren were Castor and Pollux. They +were regarded as gods by the Romans. They fought for the Romans in the +battle of Lake Regillus, and the high priest said about it, according to +Macaulay: + + Back comes the Chief in triumph + Who, in the hour of fight, + Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren + In harness on his right. + +These are the divine helpers to whom Miss Bates refers in her poem." + +On the screen there came into view the shadows of Castor and Pollux +dressed like Roman knights--with a corselet over a loose shirt, a short +plaited skirt, greaves to protect their legs, a helmet on the head and a +spear in the hand. While Ethel Brown, who had stepped forward, read the +poem, the two figures--really Roger and Tom, who were nearly of a +height--stood motionless. As it ended they glided backward and faded +from view. + + THE GREAT TWIN BRETHREN + + The battle will not cease + Till once again on those white steeds ye ride + O Heaven-descended Twins, + Before Humanity's bewildered host. + Our javelins + Fly wide, + And idle is our cannon's boast. + Lead us, triumphant Brethren, Love and Peace. + + A fairer Golden Fleece + Our more adventurous Argo fain would seek, + But save, O Sons of Jove, + Your blended light go with us, vain employ + It were to rove + This bleak + Blind waste. To unimagined joy + Guide us, immortal Brethren, Love and Peace. + +These beautiful lines were read with great seriousness and their +profound meaning went to the hearts of the hearers. Its gravity was +counterbalanced by the next prophecy which gave hope of immediate +fulfilment. Across the screen passed a procession of Club members, the +first carrying a plate full of something that proved to be doughnuts +when one was held up so that its hole was visible. The second person in +the row bore a basket heaped high with apples, the third a dish of +cookies. Then came more doughnuts, nuts and raisins, corn balls, and +oranges. The lights were turned on, and the silhouettes, changed by +simple magic into laughing boys and girls, passed among the people +distributing their eatables. Every one had a word of praise for them. +The Atwoods, for whom the effort had been made, said little, but shook +hands almost tearfully with each performer. + +At home they found a rousing fire and something to eat awaiting them, +with Mrs. Morton smiling a cheerful welcome. They sat before the fire +and cracked nuts and ate apples until the chimes rang their notice that +1927 was vanishing into the past and giving way to the New Year of hope +and promise. Clasping hands they stood quite still until the chimes +stopped and the slow strokes of the town clock fell on their ears. With +the last they broke into the hymn: + + Now a new year opens, + Now we newly turn + To the holy Saviour, + Lessons fresh to learn. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +KATHARINE LEAVES + + +Katharine ended her visit a few days later and returned to Buffalo under +the care of Gretchen. She was escorted to the train, but the farewells +of the Morton's were not intermixed with expressions of regret at her +departure. She had not been a considerate guest and she had not seemed +appreciative of efforts that had been made especially to give her +pleasure. + +It was on the way to the Atwoods' on New Year's Eve. Katharine and Della +were walking together. + +"It must be rather awful," said Katharine, "to have a family scandal +such as the Morton's have." + +"A family scandal!" repeated Della. "What do you mean?" + +"About Dorothy. Her father was shot, you know." + +"I know. But it wasn't a scandal. It was awful for Mrs. Smith and +Dorothy but there was nothing scandalous about it--nothing at all. +Dorothy has spoken to me about it quite frankly." + +"She has?" returned Katharine skeptically. "I shouldn't think she would +want to." + +"I could see that it was very painful for her; but I think she and the +Mortons, too, would be much more pained now if they knew that a guest +was discussing their affairs." + +Katharine dropped Della's arm and the two girls hardly spoke during the +remainder of Katharine's stay. + +When weeks passed and no "bread and butter letter" came from Katharine +to thank Mrs. Morton and the family, the rudeness set the capstone to +her sins against hospitality. + +"Any letter from Katharine?" became a daily question from Roger when he +came in from school and when he received a negative he sometimes opened +his lips as if to say something in condemnation. + +"Take care," his mother warned him when this happened; "because a guest +makes mistakes is no reason that her host should copy them." + +With the coming of the new year the younger people all settled down to +serious work. Not only Roger but James and Tom also were to graduate in +June, and all of them wanted to do themselves credit. James was going to +Harvard and later to the Harvard Medical School. Tom was booked for Yale +and then for business. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +VALENTINE'S DAY + + +It was the day after Lincoln's birthday, and Saturday. Edward Watkins +had come out for his weekly visit to Elisabeth and was sitting in Mrs. +Smith's living room surveying her and talking to Miss Merriam. Elisabeth +was walking with a fair degree of steadiness now, and made her way about +all the rooms of the house without assistance. She still preferred to +crawl upstairs and she could do that so fast that the person who was +supposed to watch her had to be faithful or she would disappear while an +eye lingered too long on the page of an interesting book or on the face +of a friend. + +Downstairs Edward leaned forward from his chair in front of Gertrude and +picked up the ball from which she was knitting a soldier's scarf. He +paid out the yarn to her as she needed it. + +"You're happy here, aren't you?" he asked softly. + +"Happy! I should say so! Next to having your very own home I can't +imagine anything lovelier than this, with dear people and a pretty house +and a darling baby. It's beautiful." + +"You'd hate to leave it, wouldn't you?" + +"Leave it? Why should I leave it? I think they like me. I think they +want me to stay." + +She looked at him piercingly, evidently disturbed at the suggestion. + +"Want you to stay! I should think they would!" ejaculated the young +physician. "I was just wondering what inducement would make you leave +these dear people and this pretty house and this darling baby. If any +one should--" + +"Hullo," cried Ethel Brown, entering at this instant. "Do you know where +Aunt Louise is?" + +"She went out," replied Miss Merriam, somewhat nervously. + +"Dorothy has gone to Della's this afternoon to help her get ready for +tonight," Ethel said. + +"She arrived before I left," admitted Edward--a confession that drew a +long look from Gertrude. + +"Where's Ayleesabet?" + +"Playing under the table," answered Gertrude in cheerful ignorance that +Ayleesabet had departed to more stimulating regions over the stairs. + +Ethel lifted the table cover to investigate. + +"She isn't here." + +Gertrude jumped up and the doctor followed her into the hall. Ethel +Brown ran into the dining room and then upstairs, with Miss Merriam in +pursuit. + +It was a moment of relief for everybody when Ethel gave a shout of +discovery. + +"Here she is!" she called, "and O, what will Dorothy say when she comes +back and sees her room!" + +"What's the modern way of dealing with that situation?" Edward asked +when Miss Merriam re-appeared with Elisabeth under one arm. + +"Do you mean ought she to be punished? Why should she? She was only +following out her instinct to learn. How could she know that that was a +time and place where it would inconvenience somebody else if she did? +I'm the one to be punished for letting her have the opportunity." + +"I suppose that's true. She'd never learn much if she didn't +investigate, would she? And, as you say, she isn't yet conscious that +she has any especial duty toward any one else's comfort." + +"The Misses Clark are always saying 'No, no,' to her. I should think +she'd think of their house as 'No, no Castle'." + +"They love her, though," defended Ethel Brown. + +"That's why I let her go there. A baby knows when she's loved and those +two old ladies make her feel it even above the 'No, Nos'." + +"I went in there yesterday when I saw Elisabeth's carriage outside their +door," said Ethel, "and I found the older Miss Clark sitting on the +floor clapping her hands and the baby trying to dance and sitting down, +bang, every four or five steps." + +Elisabeth was in a coquettish mood and played like a kitten with Edward. + +"She is the very sweetest thing I ever saw!" exclaimed Ethel Brown. "I +do wish I could take her to Washington." + +"Take her to Washington! What on earth do you mean?" asked Miss Merriam. + +"Nothing, only I hate to go away from her for even a few days. I came +over to tell Dorothy that Grandfather Emerson is going to send us all to +Washington with Mr. Wheeler's party for Washington's Birthday. Do you +think Aunt Louise will let her go?" + +"I think it will depend on who are going." + +"There'll be lots of older people and teachers from our church and both +the other churches, too." + +"Any of your mother's particular friends?" + +"I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Grandmother and Grandfather went +themselves." + +"Then your mother won't have any objection." + +"That would settle the question for Dorothy, too, I should think," said +Edward. "Are you taking outsiders along?" + +"Outsiders?" + +"New Yorkers. Della and Tom, for instance?" + +"Oh, is there any chance of Mrs. Watkins's letting them go?" + +"I'll suggest it if you think they'd be welcome." + +"I don't see why they wouldn't be. Mr. Wheeler wants to have as many as +possible because the more there are the better rates he can make with +the railroad and at the hotel." + +"Why don't you stir up the Hancock's?" + +"The whole U. S. C.? Why not? It would be just too glorious," and Ethel +proceeded to dance her butterfly dance around the room. + +"Talk it over this evening," advised Edward, taking up his hat. + +"Going?" inquired Ethel. + +"I might as well--I mean, I must go, thank you," responded the doctor +automatically, for she had said nothing to be thanked for. + +It was a charming table around which the Club seated itself at the +Watkinses'. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins sat at the head and foot and Della and +Tom in the center of the sides. + +"I ran in to see the baby a minute before I left," Ethel Blue explained +to Mrs. Watkins, "and Dr. Watkins was there and he asked me to tell you +that Aunt Louise had invited him to stay to dinner." + +"Edward is becoming a very uncertain character, like all doctors," said +Edward's mother. + +"I think he is," remarked Ethel Brown to Ethel Blue who sat beside her. +"He was just saying 'Good-bye' to Miss Gertrude when I left, and he must +have stayed on after all." + +Everybody had contributed something to the table decorations, but no one +had seen them all assembled and they all paid themselves and each other +compliments on the prettiness of the various parts and Della and Dorothy +on the effectiveness of the whole. + +In the center was a glowing centerpiece made of three scarlet paper +hearts, each about eight inches high placed with the pointed ends up and +the lower corners touching so that they made a three-sided cage over the +electric light. From the top a tiny Cupid aimed his arrow at the guests +before him. Della and Tom had designed this warm-hearted lantern. + +Half way between the centerpiece and the plates a line of dancing +figures ran around the table linked to each other by chains made of wee +golden hearts. Ethel Blue had drawn and painted these paper dolls, so +that each represented one of the Club members and they served as place +cards as well as ornaments. + +"I seem to see myself in Miles Standish's armor," said James. "Does that +mean that I'm to sit here where I can admire my warlike appearance?" + +"It does," said Della, "and I've put Priscilla next you so that for once +you can cut out John Alden. Here's John Alden--that's you, Roger, and +here's a little Russian for you to take home to Dicky." + +"Where am I?" + +"And I?" + +"And I?" cried one after the other. + +"Can't you guess? This is the Muse of History," pointing to a +white-robed figure holding a scroll. + +"Helen, of course," they all shouted. "And isn't this Hallowe'en witch +Ethel Brown?" + +"It really looks like her!" + +"And what do you guess about this songstress?" + +"Dorothy, and the young lady knitting is Della." + +"Right." + +"I hate to think that that's my face looking out of that cabbage," +protested Margaret, "but Ethel Blue has a wonderful ability to catch +likenesses." + +"That's you, Mrs. Stalk of the Cabbage Patch, just as clearly as if it +were your photograph." + +"One of these two is mine and the other is for Edward," guessed Tom. "Am +I one of the Great Twin Brethren and is Edward's the Pied Piper?" + +"Right again. And this is Ayleesabet herself, and the Guardian Angel is +Miss Merriam." + +"She _is_ an angel, isn't she!" exclaimed Della. "Look at these dozens +of tiny hearts. Ethel Brown cut out those and James made them into the +chains." + +"Paste, paste," groaned James melodramatically. "My future calling is +that of bill-poster." + +Everything that could be was pink at the dinner. The soup was tomato +bisque, the fish was salmon, the roast was beef, rare, the salad, tomato +jelly, the dessert, strawberry ice cream, and with it small cakes +heart-shaped and covered with pink icing. + +In the drawing room a Cupid whirling on a card pointed with his arrow to +a number, and the person who took from Mrs. Watkins's hand the envelope +marked with the number indicated was instructed where to look for his +valentine. Helen found hers inside of the piano. The Ethels turned up +diagonal corners of the rug in the northwest corner of the library and +discovered two flat packages. Margaret sought out a small bundle tied to +the electrolier on the right hand side of the hall. So it went. + +Each of them had prepared a valentine for every other member of the +Club, so each had nine, for Dicky had sent his in to be distributed with +the rest. Each had made all his nine of the same sort though not all +alike. James, for instance, had made prettily decorated boxes and filled +them with candy. Tom, who had a knack at cutting paper, had cut lacy +designs out of lily white barred paper which he mounted on colored +cardboard, and out of thin colored sheets whose patterns were thrown +into relief by a background of white. Ethel Blue had drawn comical +Cupids, each performing an acrobatic act. Ethel Brown had baked +heart-shaped cookies and tied them into pretty boxes with pink ribbon. +Dorothy's knowledge of basket making led her to experiment with some +little heart-shaped trays, useful for countless purposes. She made them +of different materials and they proved successful. Della stencilled +hearts on to handkerchiefs, decorating some with a border of hearts +touching, some with a corner wreath of interlaced hearts, the boys' with +a single corner heart large enough for an initial. Each one was +different. + +Roger's contributions were heart-shaped watch charms of copper, each +with a raised initial and mounted on a stray of colored leather and +furnished with a bar and snapper of gun metal. Margaret's little +heart-shaped pincushions were suitable for boys and girls alike. Some of +them were small, for the pocket or the handbag; others were larger and +were meant to be placed on the bureau. They were of varied colors, the +girls' being of silk to match the colors of their rooms and the boys of +darker hues. + +Dicky's offerings were woven paper book marks made like Roger's blotter +corners and intended to keep the place in a book by slipping over the +corner of the leaf. Helen, who had been learning from Dorothy how to +model in clay, had attempted paper weights. The family cat had served as +a model, and each was a cat in a different position. Some were more +successful than others, but, as Roger said, "You'd recognize them as +cats." + +When the search was over and every one had admired his own and his +neighbor's valentines, Ethel Brown recited Hood's sonnet, "For the 14th +of February," and Ethel Blue read part of Lamb's essay, "Valentine's +Day," and they all felt that Saint Valentine's star was setting and that +of the Father of his Country was rising resplendent. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ST. PATRICK'S DAY AND THE FIRST OF APRIL + + +The Misses Clark had borrowed Elisabeth for the afternoon. It was +becoming a custom with them, and as Miss Merriam insisted that her +little charge should have her naps out of doors with unbroken +regularity, the old ladies found themselves almost every day sitting, +rug-enwrapped, on Mrs. Smith's veranda or their own while the baby dozed +luxuriously in her carriage. Elisabeth grew pink in the fresh air and if +her self-appointed attendants did not do likewise they at least found +themselves benefiting by the unaccustomed treatment. + +In early March a brother came to visit them. He was a dignified elderly +man, "just like the sisters before Elisabeth made them human," Roger +declared, "except that he has whiskers a foot long." At first he paid no +attention to the child, though the story of its escape from Belgium +interested him. But no one resisted Elisabeth long and it was not many +days before Mr. Clark was holding his book with one hand and playing +ball with the other. + +On this particular day Mrs. Smith and Miss Merriam had both needed to go +to New York, and the Misses Clark had seized the opportunity to have an +unusually long call from Ayleesabet. They had sat on their veranda with +her while she napped; but when she came in, fresh and wide awake, their +older eyes were growing sleepy from the cold and they went upstairs for +forty winks, leaving their nursling in charge of their brother. + +Ayleesabet was goodness itself. She sat on the floor and rolled a ball +to her elderly playmate, chuckling when it struck the edge of a rug and +went out of its course so that he had to plunge after it. She walked +around the edge of the same rug, evidently regarding it as an island to +be explored, Crusoe fashion. Her explorations were thorough. If she had +been old enough to know what mines were one would have thought that she +was playing miner, for she lay on her back, pushed up the rug and rolled +under it. + +"Upon my word," ejaculated Mr. Clark, adjusting his spectacles and +examining the hump made by the baby's round little Belgian body. "Upon +my word, that doesn't seem the thing for her to do." + +But Elisabeth seemed entirely contented and made no response to the old +gentleman's cluckings and other blandishments. + +"Come out," he whispered in beguiling tones. "Come out and play." + +No answer. + +"Come and play horsey. Don't you want to climb up? That's it. Up she +goes! Steady now. Hold tight." + +As he started on a slow tour of the room on all fours his rider lurched +unsteadily. + +"Take hold of my collar," cried the aged war-horse. + +Ayleesabet fell forward, her arms went around his neck and her hands +buried themselves in his whiskers. With a chirrup of delight she righted +herself, a bridle-rein of hair in each hand. On went the charger, his +speed increasing from a walk to an amble. Louder and louder laughed +Elisabeth. Steed and rider were in that perfect accord wherein man seems +akin to the Centaur. + +At the height of the race the drawing room door opened and in walked +Ethel Blue and Ethel Brown Morton. The horse stopped suddenly and wiped +his forehead with one of his forefeet, but maintained his horizontal +position in order not to throw his rider. Elisabeth's equilibrium was +somewhat disturbed by the abrupt cessation of her charger's advance but +she kept a firm hold on her bridle and restored herself. + +"Go, go," she chortled, thumping the prostrate form of Mr. Clark with +her slippered feet and smiling with excusable vanity at the new +arrivals. + +The Ethels stood side by side so stricken with amazement and amusement +that for an instant it seemed that apoplexy would overtake them. Thanks +to their natural politeness they did not laugh, though they agreed later +that it had been the hardest struggle of their lives not to do so. + +"We've come to take Ayleesabet home," they said. "It's awfully good of +you to entertain her so long." + +They lifted the protesting equestrian to the floor and put on her outer +garments while the late steed resumed an upright position and dusted his +knees. + +"A very good child," he observed. "A very intelligent child. She does +Miss Merriam great credit." + +"She's growing splendidly," replied Ethel Brown. + +"Too bad she can't continue under her care. Too bad." + +"Can't continue under her care!" repeated the Ethels in unison. "Why +can't she? What do you mean?" + +"Why, on account of Miss Merriam's leaving. Of course you know. I hope I +haven't betrayed any confidence." + +"Miss Merriam's leaving!" exclaimed the Ethels as one girl. + +"We don't know anything about it!" + +"Where is she going?" + +"When is she going?" + +The questions poured thick and fast and Mr. Clark seemed distinctly +taken aback by the excitement he had created. + +"Why, Dr. Watkins said that he thought she wasn't going to stay with +Elisabeth much longer. That's what I understood him to say. I don't +think I'm mistaken," and the old gentleman passed his hand nervously +over the top of his head. + +"That's perfectly terrible if it's really so," declared Ethel Blue, who +was an especial admirer of Gertrude Merriam's and a devout believer in +her ability to turn Elisabeth from a skeleton into a robust little +maiden. + +"We must find out at once," and Ethel Brown put Elisabeth into her coat +with a speed that so disregarded all orderly procedure as to bring a +frown to the young Belgian's brow. + +The two girls talked about the news in low, horrified tones on the way +back to Dorothy's, and down they sat, prepared not only to amuse +Elisabeth but to amuse her until the return of Miss Merriam, no matter +how late that proved to be. + +It seemed an eternity but it was only half past five when she and Mrs. +Smith came back. The Ethels sat before the fire in the sitting room like +judges on the bench. They made their accusation promptly. Gertrude sat +down as if her knees were unable to support her. Her blue eyes stared +amazedly from one to the other. + +"Mr. Clark says I am going away? That Dr. Watkins said he thought I was +going away?" + +Her complete wonderment proved her not guilty. + +"But I'm not going away! I haven't any idea of going away--unless you +want me to," and she turned appealingly to Mrs. Smith. + +"My dear child, of course we don't want you to," and Mrs. Smith bent and +kissed her. "We love you dearly and we like your work. I can't think +what Mr. Clark could have meant--or Dr. Watkins--" + +"It was Edward Watkins who told Mr. Clark," repeated Ethel Brown. + +Gertrude sat stupefied. + +"Unless the wish were father to the thought," ended Mrs. Smith softly. + +"Unless he wanted it to be true?" translated Gertrude inquiringly. +"Unless--Oh!" + +A blush burned its way from her chin to her brow and lost itself in the +soft hair that swept back from her temples. + +"He wanted it to be true, and he said he thought it was going to happen. +Well, he's altogether too sure! It's humiliating," and she threw up her +chin and walked firmly out of the room, for the first time forgetting +Elisabeth. + +"What does she mean?" Ethel Blue asked her aunt. + +"Why is she humiliated?" asked Ethel Brown. + +"What is she going to do?" was Dorothy's question. + +"I don't know," Mrs. Smith replied to Dorothy. "We'd better not bother +her. Don't tease her with questions." + +The girls obeyed, but they talked the matter over a great deal among +themselves and they would have asked Edward Watkins about it the first +time they saw him except that their Aunt Louise guessed their plan and +forestalled it by telling them that any mention of the matter would be +an intrusion upon other people's affairs which would be wholly +unwarranted. + +The first time they saw Edward was the next day, when the Rosemont +Charitable Society gave a bazaar for the benefit of its treasury, +depleted by the demands upon it of an uncommonly hard winter. The seats +were all taken out of the high school hall and the big room became the +scene of a Donnybrook Fair on St. Patrick's Day. Of course the U. S. C. +had been called on to help; it had made a name for itself and outsiders +looked to it for ideas and assistance. + +In fact, the idea of the fair was Ethel Brown's. She heard her mother +talking with one of the Directors of the R. C. S. one afternoon about +the unending need for money and suggested the Irish program as a +possible means of making some. + +"The child is right," fat Mrs. Anderson promptly agreed. "Rosemont never +had anything of the sort." + +"It wouldn't be harder to get up than any other kind of fair," said Mrs. +Morton. + +"And St. Patrick's Day will be here so soon that it's a good excuse for +hurrying it." + +So it had been hurried, and the day after the strange encounter with Mr. +Clark and the disturbing conversation with Miss Merriam the scholastic +American precincts of the high school were converted into an Irish fair +ground. Every one who had anything to do with the tables or the conduct +of the bazaar was dressed in an Irish peasant costume, the girls with +short, full skirts with plain white shirt waists showing beneath a +sleeveless jacket of dark cloth. Heavy low shoes and thick stockings +would have been the appropriate wear for the feet, but all the girls +rebelled. + +"This footgear was meant for the earth floor of a cabin and not for a +steam-heated room," declared Helen. "I'll wear green stockings, but thin +ones, and my own slippers, even if they aren't suitable." + +The boys were less inconvenienced by their garb, which included, to be +sure, heavy shoes and long stockings, but also tight knee breeches and, +instead of jackets, waistcoats with sleeves. + +Every one in Rosemont who had any green furnishings lent them for the +occasion. Mrs. Anderson robbed her library of a huge green rug to place +before the stationery booth over whose writing paper and green +place-cards and novelties, all in green boxes, she presided robustly. + +Mrs. Morton, with Helen and Margaret to assist her, ruled over a table +shaped like a shamrock and laden with articles carved from bog oak, and +with china animals and photographs of Ireland and of Irish colleens. + +Dorothy told fortunes in the lower part of Blarney Castle, built of +canvas but sufficiently realistic, in a corner of the hall. On top Tom +was ready to hold over the battlements by the heels any one who was +"game" for the adventure of kissing the Blarney Stone. + +In the restaurant, which was a corner of the hall shut off by screens +covered with green paper, Mrs. Anderson superintended the serving of +supper by her assistants--Ethel Blue and Della and some of their +friends. They offered a hearty meal of Irish stew, or of cold ham and +potato salad, followed by pistachio ice cream and small cakes covered +with frosting of a delicate green. At one side Ethel Brown controlled +the "Murphy Table" and sold huge hot baked Irish potatoes and paper +plates of potato salad and crisp potato "chips" ready to be taken home. +Before the evening was many minutes old she had so many orders set aside +on the shelves that held books in the hall's ordinary state that she had +to replenish her stock. + +James acted as cashier for the whole room. Roger, armed with a +shillelagh, ran around for every one until the time came for him to +mount the stage and show what he knew about an Irish jig. Under the +coaching of George Foster's sister, he and his sisters had learned it in +such an incredibly short time that they were none too sure of their +steps, but they managed to get through it without discredit to +themselves or their teacher. + +Then Mrs. Smith played the accompaniments for a set of familiar Irish +songs--"The Harp that once through Tara's Halls," "Erin go Bragh," +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "The Wearing of the Green." Dorothy led the +choruses, the whole U. S. C., including Dicky, sang their best, and +Edward Watkins's tenor rose so pleadingly in "Kathleen Mavourneen" that +Mrs. Smith was touched. + +"I'm going home now," she said to him, "to stay with the baby so that +Gertrude can come to the bazaar. You may go with me if you like." + +Edward did like. He glowed with eagerness. He hardly could carry on an +intelligent conversation with Mrs. Smith, so eager was he to test the +possibilities of the walk back when he should be escorting Miss Merriam. + +When they entered the house and he saw her reading before the fire his +heart came into his throat, so demure she looked and so lovely. + +"I've come home, dear, so that you can go," explained Mrs. Smith. "Dr. +Watkins will take you back." + +Gertrude had given Mrs. Smith's escort one startled glance as they +entered. + +"Thank you very much indeed," she answered. "You are always so +thoughtful. But I'm not going out again tonight. It's quite out of the +question; please don't urge me," and she left the room without a look at +the disappointed face of the young doctor. + +"Now, what does that mean?" he inquired in amazement. + +"You ought to know." + +"I don't know. Do you?" + +"I think I do." + +"Won't you tell me?" + +"If you think over any conversations you have had recently about Miss +Merriam perhaps it will come to you." + +"And you won't tell me?" + +"I may be a wrong interpreter. At any rate I'm not an interferer. Your +affairs are your own." + +"That's a very slender hint you've given me, but I'll do my best with +it." + +His best was of small avail. Miss Merriam would not see him when he +called, did not go anywhere where she would be likely to meet him, bowed +to him so coldly when she passed him one day going into the house, that +he actually did not have the courage to stop her, but rang the bell and +asked for Mrs. Smith. + +The Ethels and Dorothy felt that the part of courtesy was to preserve a +civil silence, but they were consumed with curiosity to know just what +was going on. Certainly Miss Gertrude was not happy, for she often +looked as if she had been weeping, and certainly Dr. Watkins was +wretched, for Tom and Della quite immediately reported him as being "so +solemn you can't do anything with him." Indeed, at the April Fool party +which the Hancocks gave to the U. S. C., he indulged in an outburst that +startled them all. + +Margaret and James had asked him because the Club had formed the habit +of doing so when they were undertaking anything special. The Ethels were +quite right when they guessed that he accepted the invitation because he +hoped to see Miss Merriam there. She did not go, offering as an excuse +that Ayleesabet needed her. + +The April Fool party might have been named the Party of Surprises. There +were no practical jokes;--"a joke of the hand is a joke of the vulgar" +had been trained into all of them from their earliest days;--but there +were countless surprises. The opening of a candy box disclosed a toy +puppy; a toy cat was filled not with the desired candy but with popcorn. +The candy was handed about in the brass coal scuttle, beautifully +polished and lined with paraffin paper. Each guest received a present. A +string of jet beads proved to be small black seeds, and a necklace of +green jade resolved itself on inspection into a collar of green string +beans strung by one end so that they lay at length like a verdant +fringe. + +The early evening was spent in the dining-room--no one knew why. When +supper was served in the library it became evident that it was just a +part of the program to have everything topsy turvy. It was evident, too, +that a raid had been made on Dr. Hancock's supplies, for the lemonade +was served in test tubes and the Charlotte Russe in pill boxes. + +It was after supper when Edward Watkins had grown sure that Miss Merriam +surely was not coming that he indulged in a burst of sarcasm. After a +consultation with Margaret he drew the curtains across the door leading +into the hall. + +"Are you ready?" he called to Margaret. + +"Yes," came in reply. + +"Then here, my friends, you see the portrait of the original April +Fool." + +He swept back the portiere and the laughing group, silenced by the +energy of his announcement, saw Edward himself reflected in a mirror +that Margaret had set up on a chair. They all laughed, but it was uneasy +laughter, and Tom tried to reassure his brother by clapping him on the +shoulder and exclaiming, "You do yourself an injustice, old man, you +really do," with a touch of earnestness in it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +APRIL 19 AND 23 + + +Ethel Blue took no part in the historical program that Helen put on the +stage of the Glen Point Orphanage on April 19th, "Patriots' Day," when +Massachusetts folk celebrated the Revolutionary battle of Concord and +Lexington. The reason was that she was just getting over a cold that had +come upon her at the very time when the others were making ready for the +performance, and had made her feel so wretched that she could do nothing +outside of her school work. This was how it happened that she was +sitting at the rear of the room when Edward Watkins came in, looked +searchingly over the audience and then slipped into a chair beside her. + +"Miss Merriam not here?" he murmured under cover of a duet that Dorothy +and Della were playing on the piano. + +"No." + +"Do you know why she won't speak to me?" + +Ethel Blue fairly trembled. What was she to say? She had been warned not +to interfere in other people's affairs. Yet she did not know how to +answer without telling the truth. So she said: + +"I know how it began--her getting mad with you. I don't understand why." + +"How did it begin?" + +Ethel Blue looked about wildly. Dorothy and Della were thumping away +vigorously. There was no possibility for escape. + +"Mr. Clark told us--Ethel Brown and me--that you said you thought Miss +Merriam was going away soon. We were wild, because we love her so--" + +There was a strange mumble from the Doctor. + +--"and she's so splendid with Ayleesabet. We asked her the minute we +saw her if she was going away. She said she hadn't any idea of it and +she asked us how we came to think so, and we told her what Mr. Clark had +said." + +"Great Scott! What did she say then?" + +"Oh, Miss Gertrude and Aunt Louise said, 'why should Edward have said +such a thing?' And Aunt Louise said, 'unless he wanted it to be true'." + +"Ah, your Aunt Louise is a woman of intelligence!" + +Edward smiled, though somewhat miserably. Ethel Blue was warming to her +subject. + +"Miss Gertrude said you were too sure and it was humiliating, and she +went up stairs and she's never been the same since then. I don't know +why it was humiliating, but she was angry right through." + +"I've noticed that," said Edward reminiscently. "Now let me see just +what she meant. She was told that I said I thought she was going away +soon. 'Thought' or 'hoped'?" + +"'Thought.' Did you say it?" + +"And your Aunt Louise said that I must have wanted it to be true," went +on Edward slowly, unheeding Ethel Blue's question. "And Gertrude--Miss +Merriam said I was too sure and that it was humiliating. Is that +straight?" + +"Yes. Did you say it?" + +Ethel Blue was beginning to think that if she was giving so much +information she ought to be given a little in return. + +"Do you know what I think about it?" asked Edward, again ignoring +Ethel's question. "I don't wonder a bit that she was as mad as hops. Any +girl would have been." + +"Why?" + +"Do you really want me to tell you? Well," continued Edward in her ear, +"I dare say you've guessed that I'm in love with Miss Merriam." + +Ethel drew a deep breath and stared open-mouthed at Dr. Watkins, who +nodded at her gravely. + +"I love her very much, and one day she was especially kind to me and I +went walking down the street like a peacock and plumped right on to Mr. +Clark. We walked along together and he said something about Miss +Merriam, and I was jackass enough to say that I hoped--not _thought_, +Ethel Blue, but _hoped_; do you see the difference?" + +Ethel Blue nodded. + +"I _hoped_ that before long she would leave Rosemont. Don't you see, +Ethel Blue? I said it out of the fullness of my heart because I hoped +that before long she would marry me and go away." + +Ethel gasped again. + +"I was riding such a high horse that I hardly knew what I said, but I +can see that when that was repeated to her with 'thought' instead of +'hoped' it looked as if I was mighty sure she was going to have me, and +I hadn't even asked her. Yes, any girl would be indignant, wouldn't +she?" + +Edward scanned Ethel's face, hoping to find some comfort there, but +there was none. Ethel's discomfiture and bewilderment had passed and she +was putting an unusually acute mind on the situation. She understood +perfectly that it looked to Miss Gertrude as if Dr. Watkins had made so +sure that she returned his affection that he had gone about talking of +it to strangers even before he had told her of his own love. + +"I don't wonder that she felt humiliated," was Ethel's verdict. + +The program on the stage was going on swiftly. Helen had made the +historical introduction, telling the circumstances that led to the +affair of April 19th. Tom had recited "Paul Revere's Ride." + +It was while the whole Club was singing some quaint Revolutionary songs +and winding up with "Yankee Doodle" that Dr. Watkins made his appeal to +Ethel Blue. + +"She won't listen to a word from me," he said. "She won't let me speak to +her. Do you think you could find a chance to tell her how it was? It was +bad enough but it wasn't as bad as she thinks. Will you tell her I'd +like to apologize before I go to Oklahoma?" + +"Oklahoma!" + +"A friend of Dr. Hancock's is settled in a flourishing town there. He +has a bigger practice than he can attend to, and he sent East for Dr. +Hancock to find him an assistant. He has offered the chance to me." + +"But it's so far away!" + +"I hesitated a long while on that account. You see I didn't know whether +Miss Merriam would care for the West." + +"Weren't you taking a good deal for granted?" + +"You're finding me guilty just as she has. But of course a man has to +think about what he has to offer a wife. I suppose you think I'm queer +to talk about this with you," he broke off his story to say, "but I +haven't said a word about it to any one and it has been driving me wild +so it's a great relief if you'll let me talk." + +Ethel nodded. + +"You see, my practice in New York is so small it's ridiculous. You can't +ask a girl to marry you when you aren't making enough money to support +even yourself. But suppose I should go to Oklahoma where I shall soon +make a good living, and then come back and ask her, and find out that +she hates the West. Don't you see that I'm not all to blame?" + +"Perhaps she wouldn't like you enough to marry you no matter where you +lived," suggested Ethel. + +Edward heaved a sigh that seemed to come from his very boots and leaned +back weakly in his chair. + +"There's a certain brutal frankness about you, Ethel Blue, that I never +suspected." + +"I thought you were thinking about all sides of the question," Ethel +defended herself. + +"Um, yes. I suppose I must admit that there is that possibility. Any way +if you'll try to get her to let me talk to her I'll be grateful to you +evermore," and Edward got up and strolled away to compliment the +participants in the program, leaving Ethel Blue more excited than she +had ever been in her life, even just before she went up in an aeroplane, +because she was touching the edges of an adventure in real life. + +It was embarrassing to broach the subject to Miss Merriam. She was +sweetness itself, but she was dignified to a degree that forbade any +encroachment upon her private affairs, and twice when Ethel Blue's lips +were actually parted to plead in Edward's behalf her courage failed her. + +"Mr. Clark is deaf," said Ethel Blue abruptly. "Edward Watkins didn't +say he 'thought' you were going away; he said he 'hoped' you were going +away." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Miss Gertrude, turning a startled face toward Ethel. + +"He hoped so because he loves you and he wants to ask you to marry him +but he can't until he has a good practice, and he doesn't know whether +you would like Oklahoma." + +"Whether I'd like Oklahoma!" repeated Gertrude slowly. + +"He wants to explain it all to you but you won't let him speak to you. +He's had a good practice offered him in Oklahoma, but he won't go if you +don't like Oklahoma; he'll try to work up a practice here, but it will +take such a long time." + +"Ethel Blue, do you really know what you're talking about?" + +"Yes, Miss Gertrude," replied Ethel, blushing uncomfortably, but keeping +on with determination. "Please don't think I'm awful, 'butting in' like +this. Dr. Watkins asked me to ask you to let him see you. He tried a +long time without telling any one; he told me when he couldn't think of +anything else to do. He didn't really know why you were mad until I told +him; he just knew you wouldn't see him when he called." + +Miss Gertrude's eyes were on her fragile pink work as Ethel Blue +blundered on. + +"What shall I tell him?" she said, breaking the silence. + +"You may tell him," said Gertrude slowly, "that I have a school friend +in Oklahoma who tells me that Oklahoma is a very good place to live." + +Ethel Blue clapped her hands noiselessly. + +"But tell him, also," Gertrude went on, her blue eyes stern, "that I +shall be too busy to see him before he goes." + +"Oh, Miss Gertrude!" ejaculated Ethel, disappointed. "I don't quite know +whether you care or not." + +"Neither do I," replied Gertrude, and she leaned over and kissed Ethel +Blue with lips that smiled sadly. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WEST POINT + + +Ethel Blue gave Gertrude Merriam's message to Edward Watkins who was as +much puzzled by it as she had been. + +"What does she mean?" he asked. "Does she care for me or doesn't she?" + +"She doesn't know herself. I asked her." + +Edward whistled a long, soft whistle. + +"Aren't girls the queerest things ever made!" he ejaculated in wonder. + +"I don't think it's queer," defended Ethel. "First, it was all guesswork +with her because you never had told her that you cared. And then she was +angry at your having talked _about_ her when you hadn't talked _to_ her. +Her feelings were hurt badly. And now she doesn't know what she does +feel." + +"She isn't strong against Oklahoma, anyway. I guess I'll accept that +offer." + +Ethel Blue nodded. + +"I want to tell you one thing more before you go," she said. "I haven't +told any one a word about this, even Ethel Brown. It's the first thing +in all my life I haven't told Ethel Brown." + +"I suspect it's been pretty hard for you not to. You know I appreciate +it. If things work out as I hope, it will be you who have helped me +most," and he shook hands with her very seriously. "There's one thing +more I wish you'd do for me," he pleaded. + +Ethel Blue nodded assent. + +"If I can." + +"I know you Club people will be hanging May baskets on May Day morning. +Will you hang this one on Miss Gertrude's door--the door of her room, so +that there won't be any mistake about her getting it?" + +"Certainly I will." + +"It's just a little note to say 'good-bye.' See, you can read it." + +"I don't want to," responded Ethel Blue stoutly, though it was hard to +let good manners prevail over a desire to see the inside of the very +first letter she had ever seen the outside of to know as the writing of +a lover to his lass. + +"You'd better tell your Aunt Marian that I've told you all this," he +went on. "I shouldn't want her to think that I was asking you to do +something underhand." + +"She wouldn't think it of you. She likes you." + +"Tell her about it all, nevertheless. I insist." + +Ethel felt relieved. It had seemed queer to be doing something that no +one knew about. + +"Thank you," she said. + +The May basket was duly hung, and Miss Gertrude's eyes wore the traces +of tears all the rest of the day, but Ethel Blue was not to learn for a +long time what was in the note. + +May passed swiftly. All the boys were so busy studying that they could +give but little time to Club meetings and there was nothing done beyond +the making of some plans for the summer and the taking of a few long +walks. The Ethels and Dorothy and Della were doing their best to make a +superlative record, also. With Helen and Margaret life went more easily, +for graduation days were yet two years off with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GRADUATION AND FOURTH OF JULY + + +With the coming of June thoughts of graduation filled the minds of all +the prospective graduates. The boys were able to get through their +examinations quite early in the month, and as they all did better than +they expected the last days of the month were days of joy to them. The +girls had to wait longer to have the weight removed from their minds, +but they, too, passed their examinations well enough to earn special +congratulation from the principals of their respective schools. + +The graduation exercises of the Rosemont graded schools were held in the +hall of the high school and all the schools were represented there. The +Ethels and Dorothy all sang in the choruses, and each one of them had a +part in the program. Ethel Brown described the character of Northern +France and Belgium, the land in which the war was being carried on. +Although no mention of the war was allowed every one listened to this +unusual geography lesson with extreme interest. Ethel Blue recited a +poem on "Peace" and Dorothy sang a group of folk songs of different +countries. It was all very simple and unpretentious, and they were only +three out of a dozen or more who tried to give pleasure to the assembled +parents and guardians. + +Roger's graduation was more formal. A speaker came out from New York, a +man of affairs who had an interest in education and who liked to say a +word of encouragement to young people about to step from one stage of +their education into another. + +"Of course education never ends as long as you live," Roger said +thoughtfully to Ethel Brown, "but there is a big feeling of jump when +you go from one school to another, and you can't deny it." + +"I don't want to deny it," retorted Ethel Brown. "I'm all full of +excitement at the idea of going into the high school next autumn." + +The graduating class of the high school was going to inaugurate a plan +for the decoration of the high school hall. They were to have a banner +which was to be used at all the functions, connected with graduation and +in after years was to be carried by any of the alumni who came back for +the occasion of the graduation and alumni dinner. During the year this +banner and those which should follow it were to be stacked in the hall, +their handsome faces encouraging the scholars who should see them every +day by the thought that their school was a place in which every one who +had passed through was interested. The power of a body of interested +alumni is a force worth having by any school. + +The graduating class found the idea of the banner most attractive, but +when it came to the making they were aghast at the expense. A committee +examined the prices at places in New York where such decorations were +made and returned horrified. + +It was then that the Ethels offered to do their best to help out the +Class of 1915. + +"We'll do what we can, and I know Helen and Margaret and Della will help +us," they said and fell to work. + +Ethel Blue drew the design and submitted it to the class and to the +principal of the school. With a few alterations they approved it. The +girls had seen many banners at Chautauqua and they had talked with the +ladies who had made the banner of their mother's class, so that they +were not entirely ignorant of the work they were laying out for +themselves. Nevertheless, they profited by the experience of others and +did not have to try too many experiments themselves. + +They had learned, for instance, that they must secure their silk from a +professional banner-making firm, for the silk of the department store +was neither wide enough nor of a quality to endure the hard wear that a +banner must endure. From this same banner house they bought linen canvas +to serve as interlining for both the front and the back of the banner. + +Several tricks that were of great help to them they had jotted down when +they discussed banner making at Chautauqua and now they were more than +ever glad that they had the notebook habit. + +The front of their banner was to be white and to bear the letters "R. H. +S." for Rosemont High School, and below it "1915." They remembered that +in padding the lettering they must make it stand high in order to look +effective, but they must never work it tight or it would draw. Another +point worth recalling was that while the banner was still in the +embroidery frame and was held taut they should put flour paste on the +back of the embroidery to replace the pressing which was not possible +with letters raised so high. + +When it came to putting the banner together they found that their work +was not easy or near its end. They cut the canvas interlining just like +the outside, and then turned back the edge of the canvas. This was to +prevent the roughness cutting through the silk when that should be +turned over the canvas. Back and front were stitched and the edges +pressed separately, and then they were laid back to back and were +stitched together. The row of machine stitching was covered by gimp. + +A heavy curtain pole tipped with a gilt ball served as a standard and +was much cheaper than the pole offered by the professionals. The cross +bar, tipped at each end by gilt balls, was fastened to the pole by a +brass clamp. The banner itself was held evenly by being laced on to the +crossbar. + +The cord had been hard to find in the correct shade and the girls had +been forced to buy white and have it dyed. A handsome though worn pair +of curtain tassels which they found in Grandmother Emerson's attic had +been re-covered with finer cord of the same color. The entire effect was +harmonious and the work was so shipshape as to call forth the admiration +of Mr. Wheeler and all the teachers who had a private view on the day +when it was finished. The girls were mightily proud of their +achievement. + +"It has been one of the toughest jobs I ever undertook," declared Ethel +Brown, "but I'm glad to do it for Roger and for the school." + +With the graduation past all Rosemont, young and old, gave their +attention to preparing for a safe and sane Fourth of July. Of course the +U. S. C. were as eager as any not only to share in the fun but to help +in the work. + +One piece of information was prominently advertised; it was a method of +rendering children's garments fire-proof. "If garments are dipped in a +solution of ammonium phosphate in the proportion of one pound to a +gallon of cold water, they are made fire-proof," read a leaflet that was +handed in at every house in the town. "Ammonium phosphate costs but 25 +cents a pound," it went on. "A family wash can be rendered fire-proof at +an expense of 15 cents a week." + +The U. S. C. boys handed out hundreds of these folders when they went +about among the business men and arranged for contributions for the +celebration. The girls took charge of the patriotic tableaux that were +to be given on the steps of the high school, with the onlookers +gathered on the green where the Christmas tree and the Maypole had +stood. + +"We must have large groups," said Helen. "In the first place the +Rosemonters must be getting tired of seeing us time after time, and in +the next place this is a community affair and the more people there are +in it the more interested the townspeople will be." + +The selection of the people who would be suitable and the inviting of +them to take part required many visits and much explanation, but the U. +S. C. had learned to be thorough and there was no neglect, no leaving of +matters until the last minute in the hope that "it will come out right." + +"It seems funny not to be waked up at an unearthly hour by a fierce +racket," commented Roger on the morning of the Fourth. "I'm not quite +sure that I like it." + +"That's because you've always helped make the racket. As you grow older +you'll be more and more glad every year that there isn't anything to +rouse you to an earlier breakfast on Fourth of July morning." + +The family ate the morning meal in peace and then prepared for the +procession that was to gather in the square. This procession was to be +different from the Labor Day procession, which was one advertising the +trades and occupations of Rosemont. Today was a day for history, and the +floats were to represent episodes in the town's history. Roger was to be +an Indian, George Foster one of the early Swedish settlers, and Gregory +Patton a Revolutionary soldier. None of the girls were to be on the +floats. The procession was to be given over to the men and boys. + +It was long and as each float had been carefully arranged and the +figures strikingly posed the whole effect was one that gave great +pleasure to all who saw it. + +A community luncheon followed on the green. Tables were set on the +grass, and the girls from every part of town unpacked baskets and laid +cloths and waited on the guests who came to this new form of picnic +quite as if they never had ceased to do these agreeable neighborly acts. + +The girls had tired feet after all their running around, but they rested +for an hour and were fresh again when it was time for the tableaux as +the sun was sinking. + +The high school was approached by a wide flight of steps and on these +Helen posed her scenes. The people below sat on the grass in the front +rows and stood at the back. The floats of the morning had been scenes of +local history. These were scenes from the life of Washington. +Washington, the young surveyor, strode into the woods with his +companions and his Indian attendants. Washington became +commander-in-chief of the Continental army. Washington crossed the +Delaware--and the U. S. C. boys were glad that they had built the +_Jason_ at the Glen Point orphanage and did not have to study out the +entire construction anew. Washington and Lafayette and Steuben shook +hands in token of eternal friendship. Washington reviewed his troops +under an elm at Cambridge. Washington suffered with his ragged men at +Valley Forge. Then Cornwallis surrendered, and last of all, the great +general bade farewell to his officers and retired to the private life +from which he was soon to be summoned to take the presidential chair. + +There were a hundred people in the various pictures, but the winter's +experiences had taught the Club so much that they found no trouble in +managing the whole affair. Each person had been made responsible for +furnishing his costumes, a sketch of which had been made for him by +Ethel Blue, and every one was appropriately dressed. + +"This is another success for you young people," exclaimed Mr. Wheeler, +shaking hands with them all. "I always know where to go when I want +help." + +Ethel Blue walked home with Miss Merriam, who was wheeling Elisabeth. +She seemed much gayer than she had been for a long time. + +Ethel kissed her as well as her sleepy little charge as she went into +the house to put on a warmer dress before she should go out in the +evening to see the community fireworks. + +"You and Elisabeth are my helpers," she whispered gratefully. "You make +everybody happy--except, perhaps--" + +Ethel hesitated, for Gertrude had never mentioned Edward to her since he +left for Oklahoma. + +"Do you want to know what was in my May basket?" + +Ethel clasped her hands. + +"Oh, yes!" + +Gertrude took out of her cardcase a tattered bit of paper. It read: +"When you know that you really like Oklahoma and all the people there, +please telegraph me. Good-bye." + +"I telegraphed this morning," she said, almost shyly. "I said 'Oklahoma +interests me'." + +"Here comes the telegraph boy down the street now," cried Ethel. + +Gertrude took the yellow envelope from him, and, before she opened it, +signed the book painstakingly. When she had read the message she handed +it to Ethel Blue. + +"I start for Rosemont on the tenth to investigate the truth of the +rumor." + +Gertrude bubbled joyously. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ethel Blue softly. "That means you're engaged!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ethel Morton's Holidays, by Mabell S. C. 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