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diff --git a/27343.txt b/27343.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea5c0f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/27343.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4552 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Fireside Stories for Girls in Their Teens, by +Margaret White Eggleston + + +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: Fireside Stories for Girls in Their Teens + + +Author: Margaret White Eggleston + + + +Release Date: November 27, 2008 [eBook #27343] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRESIDE STORIES FOR GIRLS IN +THEIR TEENS*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +FIRESIDE STORIES FOR GIRLS IN THEIR TEENS + +by + +MARGARET W. EGGLESTON + +Instructor in Story Telling, School of Religious +Education and Social Service, Boston University + +Author of "The Use of the Story in Religious Education," Etc. + + + + + + + +New York +George H. Doran Company + +Copyright, 1921, +by George H. Doran Company + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +TO THE GIRLS OF +KEEWAYDIN CAMP FIRE +OF CLEVELAND +AND +ICACAYA CAMP FIRE +OF BOSTON + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Given a Camp-fire, a group of friendly girls and a good story-teller who +knows and loves the girls, and the ideals of a whole community may be +lifted in a night." + +The teen age girl is a great problem and at the same time a great +opportunity. Her ideals seem low, yet there is no time in her life when +she will more gladly follow a great ideal. She seems fickle, yet she is +putting her friends to a test that is most worth while. She is +misunderstood and she can not understand herself. She is searching for +something, yet she does not know what it is. + +Her problems are many, and most of them she must solve alone. If she +follows the crowd and goes in the way of least resistance, there is a big +chance that she will fall by the way. If she does not follow the crowd, it +is because somewhere, some time, she has found a compelling ideal and is +following it. Sometimes that ideal comes to her in the form of a friend. +Sometimes she is fortunate enough to have found that ideal in her mother. +But often and often it comes to her through a little story that lives with +her, and works for her, and helps her to hold to the best, in spite of the +manifold temptations to do otherwise. + +Recently I met a young woman whom I had seen only once and that was twelve +years ago. She came to me after a service and said, "Will you tell Van +Dyke's 'Lump of Clay' to-night? Twelve years ago I heard you tell it. I +was so discouraged at the time, for everything seemed going wrong and life +seemed so useless. But I dropped into a church and heard you tell the +story. You have no idea what it has done for me. I am teaching in the +college near by and I should like to have my girls hear the story. Perhaps +they need it as I did." + +Many of the workers with girls have seen this need and have wanted to meet +it and yet have been unable to find the story that was needed by the girl. +It is because of this very need in my own work that I am sending out these +stories, most of which I have told over and over to my girls. Many of them +have been written because of special problems that needed to be +met--problems peculiar to adolescence--problems found in every class and +club of girls the country over. + +The stories are not to amuse, for we have no time to amuse girls in the +story hour. We have little enough time, at the best, for implanting ideals +and every story hour should leave a vital message. That is the thing the +girls want and why should we give them less. + +The stories are not to be read. They need the personal touch, the +sympathetic voice, the freedom of eye that tells the story-teller which +girls are finding the message of the story. Some of them will hurt--but +experience has shown me that these are the very ones that one has to tell +over and over. Can you imagine the Master reading to the groups gathered +about him the stories that you and I love to read in his word? When you go +into the heart life of a girl, let all your personality help you to carry +the message. It was the Master's way of story-telling. + + "'Twas only a little story, + Yet it came like a ray of light; + And it gave to the girl who heard it + Real courage to do the right." + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + I Would Be True 15 + The Appeal to the Great Spirit 22 + A Parable of Girlhood 29 + The House of Truth 32 + Marked for a Mast 39 + Her Need 44 + The Message of the Mountain 47 + The Winning of an Honor 51 + Daddy Gray's Test 56 + Wanted--A Real Mother 61 + The Fir Tree and the Willow Wand 69 + The Two Searchers 73 + Why Elizabeth Was Chosen 77 + Janie's School Days 81 + Self-Made Men 89 + On The Road to Womanhood 92 + Her Prayer 97 + The Best Day 105 + In the Way 108 + An Old, Old Story 114 + His Debt 119 + How Kagigegabo Became a Brave 123 + The White Flower of Happiness 129 + The Speaking Picture 134 + The Quest 138 + The Treasure 141 + + + + +FIRESIDE STORIES FOR GIRLS IN THEIR TEENS + + + + +I WOULD BE TRUE + + +'Twas a beautiful day in the late fall and the roadside was lined with the +late asters and goldenrod. The sun was shining so brightly and the sky was +as blue as a New Hampshire sky could be, yet the girl, walking along the +winding, climbing road, saw none of them. The little brook by the roadside +whispered and chattered as it ran along, yet she did not hear; a few late +birds still twittered to her from the trees, but she did not notice; a +chipmunk called to her from a dead tree by the roadside, but she paid not +the least attention. She was alone with her thoughts and they were far +from pleasant. + +How different it all seemed from what it had seemed six months before! +Then she had stood in the office of a great doctor in Philadelphia and +heard him say to her father, "Unless you leave the city at once and go +where there is pure air and simple food and real quiet, there is no help +for you." + +The father had looked at the doctor for a moment in silence and then +answered, "Well, if that is the case, I am sorry, for I cannot leave the +city. My business needs me; Katherine is in college and she must be here. +I shall stay." + +But with flashing eyes the girl had stepped to the doctor and said, +"Father is mistaken, doctor. His business can do without him and there is +no need at all why he should stay here for me. There is a dear little old +place in the hills of New Hampshire that belongs to us, where grandfather +used to live. We can go there and have all the things that you have said +he must have. You may leave the matter with me. We shall be out of the +city within two weeks." + +Then turning to her father she had put her arms about his neck and said, +"Of course we can go, daddy, for what is college and money and friends +compared with your health? Gladly will I give them up for you. We shall +have a wonderful time there in the hills--just you and mother and I." + +So they had come. Then it was early in the spring and the country was +beginning to show green. Into the little old farmhouse under the hill they +moved. Of course there were no electric lights, and no telephones, and no +faucets out of which the water could be drawn. But there were the quaint +old candle holders on the big mantels; there was the fireplace so large +that a log could be drawn into it; there was a well in the yard with water +as cold as ice. And outside the home--oh, there were the most wonderful +things to see. The trailing arbutus trailed everywhere; the lady slippers +grew even in the front dooryard. The old trees in the yard were soon +filled with nesting birds; the apple and pear trees in bloom were a sight +never to be forgotten. + +So the days fled by and the little family under the hill were so happy to +see the color coming back to the face of the sick one and the smile once +more on his face. Katherine loved it all--the home--the flowers--the +mountains and even the quiet of the little hamlet. + +Then the summer had come and with it the stream of visitors who come +every year to the New Hampshire mountains. Within a short distance of the +home were large hotels, and the guests soon learned of the cool water in +the well in front of the house; of the father who was such a pleasant +companion; of the pretty girl who could sing, and climb, and play so well. +So there had been picnics, and parties, and auto rides, and the summer had +fled. + +And when the people had gone, there were the wonderful colors in the +trees, the gorgeous sunsets in the sky, the fun of the harvest time and +still the life in the country was full of wonder and satisfaction. + +But now--oh, now the days had begun to grow cold, the trees were bare, the +birds had flown to the south, and her friends had all gone away. Here and +there a family was left in the farmhouses that dotted the little, winding +road but none of them were people for whom she cared. And so as the days +had come and gone, there had crept into the heart of the girl a loneliness +that would not be forced down, a longing that she could not stifle, a +dissatisfaction that grew with the days. + +How could she pass the long winter nights that were ahead? How could she +stay away from the friends who were gathering at the college? How could +she live without her piano? How could she keep a smile so that the dear +ones at home would not see how unhappy she was becoming? The house seemed +so big and bare; the trees in the yard seemed to sigh instead of sing; the +way ahead seemed full of blackness. She longed for all that had gone; she +longed for her friends, especially the one who had been her ideal during +her college days; she longed to run back to him for always. + +But on this October morning, she had risen early to keep the quiet hour +before the rest were up. Usually she read in the gospels, but this +morning her Bible opened to the Psalms and she read, "I will lift up mine +eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the +Lord who made heaven and earth." She stopped and looked from the window at +Mt. Kearsarge in the distance. + +Then she read again, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence +cometh my help." "Ah!" said the girl, "I need help. God knows I need help. +I wonder if there is any help for me. 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the +hills from whence cometh my help.' Perhaps if I should go out into the +hills for the day, God would help me. I think I will try it." + +To the mother she had said, "I think I should like to go for a long walk +to-day if you do not mind. I feel like having a tramp," and then with +lunch box in hand and book under her arm, she had started. + +As long as father and mother could see, she had smiled and waved to them, +but when the turn in the road had come, the light faded from her eyes and +her problem was still before her. The night before had been endless, yet +there were longer ones to come. No wonder she saw no sunshine, heard no +bird and saw no brook as she walked along the country road. + +On and on she went; mile after mile was put behind her, till the sun was +high in the heaven and she was weary and hungry. Then a sudden turn in the +road brought her to the foot of a little lake--one of those mountain lakes +that make New Hampshire so beautiful. All around it were hills; the water +was very, very blue and its surface was as calm as could be. A +moss-covered stone was very near and the girl sank beside it and, leaning +her head on her hand, she looked at the quiet waters. + +"Ah!" she said to herself, "how I wish my life were as calm as the lake. +One would never dream that it ever were rough and troubled. I wish God +could send peace to me as He sends it to the little lake." + +Her eyes wandered to the shores and then to the hills about the lake. How +beautiful the tall pines and spruces were! How fragrant the resinous +balsams! How bleak and cold the trees with no leaves! + +Then her eyes turned to the top of the hills when suddenly--it seemed as +if by magic--there stood out before her, as if outlined in the sky, the +giant face of a man. What could it be? Had it been carved there? How +strong and noble the face seemed to be! How had it come to be there at the +very top of the hill? Then she remembered a story she had heard when first +she had come to the valley. This must be the "Old Man of the Mountain." +For centuries and centuries he had stood here guarding the little lake. + +When the wonder of finding the Great Stone Face had passed by, she studied +it. The forehead was high and the face of noble mien. The mouth showed +much of strength. It was a face one would like to see often. God had put +it there--the God who made the heaven and earth. Then there came to her +mind again the verse of the morning, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the +hills from whence cometh my help." Perhaps the Old Man of the Mountain +could help her. He had stood here for years and years. He must know what +it meant to be weary with the long days and the longer nights. He must +have seen the multitude pass by and still leave him in the mountains. +Perhaps he would understand how lonely and full of unrest she was. + +So leaning her head on the moss-covered stone, she said dreamily, "Old Man +of the Mountains, if you were I and were longing to go back to your work +and your friends, if you were afraid of the long winter that is coming, if +you had a duty to do right here when you longed to be there, if you had a +father who needed you and a mother who is brave as can be, and still there +burned within you the longing to get back to the others, what would you +do? Are you never weary with it all? Do you never long to run away from +your task that God has given you to do? Are you never discontented? Oh, +Old Man of the Mountain, if you were I and had my burden to carry, what +would you do?" + +A silence was everywhere as she listened for his answer. Not a bird sang, +not a ripple crossed the lake. For a moment she watched the face--then +another, and then she was sure that she saw the face begin to relax. A +sign of a twinkle came across the great stone eyes and the lips smiled as +there came to her heart this answer: + +"Oh, little girl from the city with a burden to carry! What would I do if +I had a father who was surely growing strong and a mother who had smiled +through the days of the sickness? What would I do if I longed to go back +to the life of pleasure and happiness when my duty lay here? What would I +do if I had forgotten the books that might be read during the long winter +nights for which there had been no time in the city; the lessons of +patience and loyalty that might be learned in doing the hard thing; the +happiness of really being needed? What would I do if I were you and were +lonely and discouraged and heartsick? + + I would be true, for there are those that trust me; + I would be pure, for there are those who care; + I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; + I would be brave, for there is much to dare. + + I would be friend of all--the foe, the friendless; + I would be giving, and forget the gift; + I would be humble, for I know my weakness; + I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.[A] + +"Aye, little girl from the city, I would go back into the little home +under the hill with all its comfort, and home-likeness, and wealth of +love, and I would look up to God for help; I would laugh at the hard +things and help them to vanish from sight; I would love the dear ones who +are dearer to you than life itself; and I would lift, not only their +burden, but that of others who need you in this beautiful valley." + +Slowly the face was again set into the lines that others saw and the head +of the girl dropped deeper into the moss. For a long time there was no +sign that she had heard. Then she lifted a face, full of light, to that of +the Old Man of the Mountain. + +"Thank you, my friend," she said. "I have lifted my eyes unto the hills +and help has come. I will go back to the little white house and, with +God's help, I will look up, and I will laugh, and I will love, and I will +lift." + +So she ate her lunch by the calm, little mountain lake and the tiny +breezes whispered in her ears. Then she walked again the winding road that +led down to the home. But the sky was blue and full of beauty; the birds +heard an answering call; the little brook gave her to drink, and the +chipmunk found on his stump a little piece of the cake from the box. Her +face was smiling and her heart full of courage, for she had looked unto +the hills--and God had answered. + +----- + + [A] Poem by Harold Arnold Walter. + + + + +THE APPEAL TO THE GREAT SPIRIT + + +Owaissa, the Indian Squaw, sat before the tepee watching little Litahni +play with the colored stones. The child was the idol of the tribe, for was +not her father the great chief Black Hawk who had done so much for his +people? So, lest anything should happen to the little one, Owaissa made it +her chief task to be where the child was and to teach her the things she +wanted her to know. + +Three years before, the good missionary who was leaving the encampment had +said to Owaissa, "Soon there will come to your tepee a little child. +Should it be a little girl, teach her to see herself in the things about +her, so that the birds, and the trees, and the flowers, and the winds may +all help her to grow true and fine, even as they help the young braves to +grow brave and strong. The girls of your Indian tribes are not given half +a chance to see the helpers all about them. Teach her to see, as I have +taught you to see, what a woman can do." + +And the words of the missionary had burned into the very soul of Owaissa. +Her child should have a chance. So when the little girl had come to her +wigwam, she had named her Litahni--a little light--and she had sought for +ways to help her to see what nature meant that man should see. + +"Catch a little raindrop," she said to the little girl as she played near +the wigwam. "Every raindrop helps some plant, even though it is so little. +You are tiny, too, but you can help every day just as the raindrop does." + +"See the beautiful sunset," she said to the older girl, as they tramped +home from gathering the wood for the fire. "The colors are creeping all +over the sky. We see the sunset here and we are happy because it is so +beautiful, but away over the mountains in the far away the sunset is just +as beautiful and they are happy there as they see it. You can bring +happiness, too, both here and far away, if your life is beautiful. + +"Listen to the wind in the trees," she said to the girl of fourteen who +was eager to do that which father wanted her to leave undone. "You cannot +see the wind, yet it sways the great trees and sometimes fells them. You +can bend the will of the strong men of the tribe but you cannot do it by +talk and by ugly words. Learn to bend by gentleness and quietly. Learn to +steal into their lives as the wind steals through the trees." + +When the girl was sixteen, the young men of the tribe were beginning to +love her and to want to take her to their wigwams. Then the mother knew +she must show her how to choose. So she sought for ways to help her as +they hunted the mountains for the wild berries. Often they sat by the +lakeside for their midday meal. Sometimes it was rough and sometimes +calm. + +"See, daughter," said Owaissa. "The little lake is very rough to-day. +Sometimes our lives are like the little lake. Not always are they calm. +Storms sweep over the life. But take the lesson from the lake. Be +beautiful through it all. Down beneath the surface, the water is calm and +untroubled even though the white caps are above." + +Once they were caught in the mountains in a terrific storm. Litahni crept +close to the mother when the thunder rolled loud and long, but she loved +to see the long streaks of lightning flash across the sky. + +Then Owaissa said, "The thunder cannot hurt you, dear. Seldom does that +which comes with a big noise do the harm, for one can run from it and be +safe. Fear that which comes silently and swiftly and which strikes at the +heart. The lightning yonder is far from us but it may strike at the heart +of a giant pine and fell it to the ground. That which should have stood +long and sturdy is then rendered useless and laid low." + +With the coming of the winter the good squaw died and there were evil days +ahead for the Black Hawk tribe. They were having quarrels with the white +men, and the chief was very busy. So Litahni was left much alone and the +days were long and lonely. Now she was glad for all that her mother had +taught her, for the birds, and the flowers, and the trees, and the animals +all helped her to pass the days and they spoke to her of the things that +her mother had taught her. She tried hard to help her father, and often +she knew that she had helped him, but she longed to do more. + +"No squaw has ever done it, but I believe I can. I shall teach my people +to love the white man's God, for then we should not have wars and +quarrels," said the girl. + +So she taught the little children; she told stories to the squaws and she +won the confidence of the young men of the tribe who would soon be in the +council fires. And all the tribe loved Litahni, the beautiful daughter of +Black Hawk and Owaissa. + +One day, across the plain, there came a white man. He was tall and dark +and sturdy-looking. He had education and he could talk well. Litahni saw +much of him for a few days and she came to honor the white man as she +listened to him drive the bargains for the furs and the blankets and the +baskets. + +Now, as the white man watched the little Indian teacher, he saw how far +above the tribe she was. He loved her pretty face, her sweet way and her +gentle spirit. Then the white man wanted to win the Indian girl. In the +far East, he had left a girl who loved him but he wanted the Indian +girl,--so he began silently to make love to her. Of course he knew that +her father would never consent. He knew that he would be driven from the +encampment if ever they found what he was doing, so hastily and quietly he +worked to win her. + +He told her of the wonderful land from which he had come; of the beautiful +houses in which his friends lived; of the lives of ease which they lived; +then he told her of his love for her and begged her to flee with him to +his land and his people. To Litahni, it was all so wonderful that she +listened happily. How she would love to see it all! If she went there, she +could see again the missionary of whom the mother had told her so often. + +And when he had finished, she told him of her dreams--how she wanted to +help the tribe to learn to love the great God, and to make the tribe of +Black Hawk the finest tribe in all the land around. + +But when she, too, had finished, he loved her all the more for her +beautiful wish, so he held her closely to him and said: + +"But, Litahni, to love and to be loved is a far greater happiness than to +lift, or to bend, or to lead the tribe. Leave that to your father. All +these things you can do to me and to my people. Would you waste your life +here on the plains? Think what I can give you. Your mother longed to go +beyond the mountains into the sunrise. Come with me and I will take you +there. To love and to be loved is the best that ever comes into a life. +And I love you, Litahni! Why should you think of your father? He has many +things to think of and has little time for you. I will make you my queen. +To-morrow I must go. So to-night, I shall come for my answer after the +sun has set. Meet me, dear, by the giant tree near the spring and we will +go together. The train leaves not long after the sunset and I will have a +horse at the spring on which we can get to the train. Come with me, dear. +Forget your people and be my Litahni." + +There was a noise near by--and the white man was gone. But Litahni sat +deep in thought. While he had been with her, she longed to go with him. +But as she sat now and looked down into the valley at the encampment, she +was not so sure. Her mind was all awhirl. Was this the way to happiness? +What would mother have said? She wanted her to have the best, but what was +the best? It was only a few hours till the sunset and what should she do? +Was there no one to help her? + +Suddenly from the roadway below she heard a neigh. It was Fleetfoot, and +he was tired of being tied to a sapling. Now Litahni loved Fleetfoot, her +horse, for they had grown up together, so she hurried to the tree where +she had left him, untied his bridle, jumped on his back and whispered, + +"Fly, Fleetfoot! Fly into the sunset. Go fast and go far and let me think +as we fly." + +Then the horse sped away toward the north. As they passed the little lake +in the valley it whispered, "Life is not always calm. There must be +tempests. But you can be calm in your inner life and you can be beautiful +through it all." + +Up the hill she went, and as the wind blew over her face it seemed to say, +"Why be bent? Why not bend?" At the top, looking far across a distant +plain, her mother's voice seemed to whisper, "Look far ahead, little girl. +Look far ahead. What seems wonderful may prove to be only a shadow." + +On they flew. The girl's face was flushed and thoughtful. Soon she must +turn if she would be at the meeting place. Where was Fleetfoot taking her? +Perhaps he knew best what she should do. + +Suddenly at a bend in the road Fleetfoot gave a great leap, startling the +girl and almost making her lose her balance. Across the path, a giant tree +had been felled by the lightning and there it lay, prone and helpless. + +Then she shuddered. "Fear that which comes quickly and silently and which +strikes at the heart." Only a week before she had not known the white +man--even now her father did not know that she knew him. Ought she to be +afraid? If she met him, it must be silently, in the cover of the dark. + +At last Fleetfoot stood, panting and breathless, on the great rock that +topped the cliff. Often had he come here with his mistress, so he waited +for her to dismount. The sky was aflame with color--all red and gold and +yellow. Far to the North there were blues and pinks. What a wonderful +sunset it was! Surely it must be the home of a great, great God. + +Litahni sat motionless for a time, drinking in all the glory of the scene. +Then she threw her arms high over her head and, lifting her face into the +sunset, she cried, + +"Oh, thou Great Spirit to whom my people have always prayed, though they +knew thee not as the great God; oh thou to whom my mother taught me to +pray, show me the way to happiness. I would my life should be as my mother +wished it to be--a little light. I would do my best in the right place. Is +love for the white man the way to happiness? Is it the way in which I +should go? Answer as by fire. I beg of thee. Answer me as by fire, oh, +thou great God of the Indian." + +Motionless the horse and his rider stood as the moments passed by, one, +two, three. The red of the sunset enfolded them and God was very near. + +Suddenly far to the south there rose a tiny black cloud. Very tiny it was, +yet it grew and it grew. It blotted out the red and then the yellow and +then the gold, and then the whole sky was dark and the wind blew chill. + +Slowly Litahni's arms relaxed and her head fell to the mane of the horse. +When she lifted it, her face looked tired and worn, but over it there was +a look of peace. Patting the mane of the horse, she said: + +"Thank you for bringing me here, Fleetfoot. The Great Spirit has answered +and I shall stay here with Father and with you. To love selfishly is to +blot out all the beautiful. He who would be my chief must not want me to +run away from helping and giving. He must help me to serve my people. The +Great Spirit has answered by fire and I am content. I will stay here and +serve my people in the way my mother taught me to do, and I will wait for +the one whom the Great Spirit will send to me some day to be my Chief." + +Then slowly Fleetfoot picked his way over the narrow trail in the +darkness, and, because it was late, the white man had come and gone away +alone. But Litahni, bending low over the couch where her father should +sleep, smiled as she stretched the skins in place for the night. Even as +the animals had given their skins that her father might be warm, so she +was ready to give her little light to make him happy and comfortable, even +as Owaissa, her noble mother, had done. + +And Litahni was content. + + + + +A PARABLE OF GIRLHOOD + + +Behold a girl went forth to walk on the highway leading to life. And as +she walked there grew up beneath her feet flowers of every kind and +color. + +"Ah!" she said, "I will gather a sheaf of flowers to carry with me, for +then, surely, I shall be welcome when I come to the gate at the end of +this way. I will gather what seemeth to me to be the most beautiful of all +the flowers that grow about me. They shall be my gift to the one who +guards the way." + +And as she plucked, the one that seemed to be most wonderful was the one +most bright, gleaming yellow as the sun. "It is yellow like gold," she +said. "If I come with the sign of gold, I shall be welcome. I will pluck +it everywhere I can and carry only yellow flowers." And soon her arms were +full, but somehow her fingers seemed hot and unpleasant and her arms were +heavy, so she dropped some by the way and carried only those that seemed +most desirable. + +But some were blue--blue as the sky. "Blue for blue blood," she said. +"Those of royal birth are always to be desired. I shall make my sheaf +largely of blue." So she added one here and another there till she was +satisfied that the sheaf would be of all the sheaves the most beautiful. +But the odor was sickening, and again one after another was dropped till +only a few remained. + +And some flowers there were in the path that were red. "One needs fewer of +these," she said, "but surely some must be red. I shall put red flowers +for courage where they shall be seen, for courage is of all the virtues +to be desired." But there were thorns on the red flowers and, try as she +would, she could not hide the thorns so that they might not pierce her +flesh. So there could be few of the red in the sheaf. + +Some plants there were that bore no blossoms but the leaves were +beautiful, so she added leaves of this and of that, even though she knew +that in some there was deadly poison. "I can hide it among the rest. It is +so beautiful that it must be a part of my sheaf," thought the girl. + +But along the way, there had been many flowers that had been passed +unnoticed. White they were. Often they were small but always they were +pure and sweet. Only once had she plucked one and then she had added it +because of its fragrance. "Oh, yes," she said, "I know white is for purity +but white flowers are old-fashioned. Of course I must have a few but many +would spoil my sheaf. It must be bright with color." + +So the days flew by and her sheaf was nearly complete. She had thought it +the most beautiful thing she could possibly make. But one day as she +walked, suddenly she saw, standing erect by the road, a beautiful, stately +lily. Its beauty startled her. She stooped to smell of its fragrance. Then +she glanced from it to the flowers in her sheaf. + +If she plucked the lily and tried to place it in the sheaf, its beauty +would be spoiled. What should she do? With all her heart she longed to +take the lily with her to the end of the way. Should she throw the rest +away? Would she be welcome with only the one flower? Long she hesitated. + +Then she laid the yellow, and the blue, and the red, and the rest aside +and carefully gathered it. So in her hand she carried the lily with the +petals of pure white and the heart of gold. + +And lo, she had come to the stile which endeth the way of girlhood. +There, standing guard over the way ahead, was a woman in white, holding by +the hand a tiny, little child. Looking straight into the eyes of the girl, +she said sweetly, + +"Welcome, my child, from the beautiful way of girlhood. What hast thou +brought as thy gift to coming generations?" + +Then the girl feared to answer. But she held the lily toward the little +child as she said, "I have brought purity and a heart of gold." + +"Thou hast done well," said the mother spirit. "Take thou the child as thy +reward. With this as thy gift, thou art worthy to enter the way of +motherhood. Lo, here are some of the flowers that were left by the way. +Well may they go with thee, for they are very beautiful. But the gift that +thou didst choose was far more valuable and beautiful than they. It was +the gift that the Great desire." + +Then the girl and the child went together into the new way. But the child +was carrying the gift and she smiled as she went. + + + + +THE HOUSE OF TRUTH + + +It was plain to be seen that Bess Keats was very much disturbed about +something. She sat in the couch hammock on the porch, talking to herself +and occasionally giving a sharp punch to the sofa pillow by her side. + +"Mother is so old-fashioned," she said to herself, "and she gets worse +every year. Last year she wouldn't let me wear the kind of dresses I +wanted to and I looked different from the rest of the girls all the year. +Then she wouldn't let me go camping with the party because only one mother +was going to take care of us. Surely one woman can take care of twenty +boys and girls. Of course I was glad I hadn't gone when they had the +accident and partly burned the cottage, but she wouldn't let me go just +because she had old-fashioned notions. Girls these days don't do as they +did when she was young. + +"I just can't see a reason in the world why I shouldn't invite Henry Mann +to take me to the leap-year party at the beach. Every girl in the crowd is +asking a fellow to take her. Of course if George were here, mother might +let me go with him; but he isn't and all the girls want Henry to go +because he spends his money in such a dandy way; so I said I would invite +him to take me, never thinking for a minute that mother would object. And +now she says, not only that I can't ask him, but that I can't go. Well, I +will, anyway. So there! I just will go." + +Then Bess pushed her head far down in the pillow to think out a way. If +grandmother were only alive she would help her. She had always found a +way to get what Bess wanted. But grandmother was dead and Bess must work +it out alone, so she began to think. + +Suddenly she heard a voice saying, + +"Why, Bessie dear, whatever is the matter? You look very unhappy. Tell me +all about it." + +And there was grandmother with the neat, black silk dress and the dainty +white collar, and even the pretty white apron that she used to wear. Oh! +Oh! how glad Bess was to see her! + +Hand in hand, they went away from the house to where the trees in the +orchard were bending with fruit, and, sitting there on a stone, Bess told +her all about her trouble. Whatever would the girls think of her when she +had promised to invite the boy they all wanted? And after she had told it +every bit, she squeezed grandma's hand very hard and said, + +"And now, Granny dear, you will help me, won't you? It is perfectly all +right to ask him for all the girls do it. I want him to take me." + +"Well, well, dear," said the grandmother, "if we find that it is all +right, I shall be glad to find a way to help you. But we must see. We must +see." + +"See what, grandmother?" asked the girl. "There is nothing to see." + +"Indeed there is, child," said Granny. "In times of trouble one must +always see the Truth. Then the way is easy. After I see the Truth, I shall +be able to tell what to do. Come and we shall soon find out. You see you +belong to my family and my family is proud of the fact that its girls have +all been ladies. So we must go to the keeper of the book and see what a +lady can do in this case." + +On and on they went till they came to a queer little old man standing +before a big, big book. Granny went daintily up to him and said, + +"Will you tell me if it is ever right for a young lady to ask a strange +young man to take her to a dance, and pay out his money for her, when he +has not even been to her home or met her mother? My grandchild says all +the girls do it, so I suppose it must be a new thing that has been written +in the book since I was a girl. I want her to be sure to be a lady, so +before I help her to ask the boy to take her, I want you to look for the +rule." + +The little old man began slowly to shake his head but he never said a +word. He just looked and looked and looked. His finger went up one page +and down another. Finally he looked straight at Bess and said to Granny, + +"Your granddaughter is mistaken. That is not done by ladies. It is not +here. It is not here." + +"Oh, you are old-fashioned just like my mother," began Bess. "It may not +be there but it is true just the same that all ladies do it nowadays." + +"Hush, child," said Granny. "What is written there is true--but it is only +half the truth even then. Let us go and see the rest. If it is right for +you to ask him, then let us see the truth about the boy. Is he one that +our family would like to have specially chosen for your friend? We must +know about him." + +"Oh, Granny, he is all right. He doesn't study much and he doesn't do what +mother believes is right on Sunday. But he has a car, and a motor boat, +and he is all right. Let me ask him," begged Bess. + +"Tut, tut, child," said Granny. "Perhaps you do not know. This is the +House of Truth and we can tell." + +Then they entered a very large house and Granny walked to a man who stood +near the door. + +"May I go to the M room?" she asked, with a smile. + +"I will show you the way, lady," said the man, and Bess noted how the man +had spoken the word "lady." Somehow every one knew as soon as they looked +at Granny that she was a lady. 'Twas very strange! + +Down a long hall they went and then they stood before a large wall of +mirrors. What a strange place this was! Before them in the mirror were +many, many men and boys, all struggling to get up a very steep hill. Some +had a few strings ahead of them to help them up and many, many strings +behind that were pulling them back to the foot of the hill. Others had +only a few in back and many in front. Some were hopelessly entangled and +seemed not able to move. Who were they and what were they doing? + +Curiosity led Bess to study the scene in front of her. On the very top of +the hill there was a bright sign, "Christian Manhood." This, then, was the +thing for which they were struggling. But what were the strings? She +pushed and reached but she just couldn't read the words. + +"Did you want to know the truth about a friend?" said a voice. "I will +gladly help you for you are young and need to know. I am old and to know +the truth may only make me more unhappy. Take my place." And she was given +a nearer stand. + +Now she could read the words on the strings that held the men back. One +said "Drink" and another "Bad Companions," and another "Bad Temper." Bess +was very much interested, so she began to study the faces of the men who +were pushing to the top. + +Why! Away up there with the first was George Meyer, her good friend from +childhood. He had many, many strings to help and only a few to hinder. And +there was Edward Mead. He was such a goody-goody at school that she +didn't care much for him. Why, he wouldn't whisper at all! + +Near the middle of the hill was Philip Marks. She knew him well and he had +many things to help and many to hinder but he was surely trying. But +Granny had brought her here to see the truth about Henry Mann. Was he +here? She hadn't seen him. + +First she searched among those near the top. He was such a bright boy when +out with the crowd and he had so many good things in his life that surely +he must be near the top. But he wasn't there. Neither was he near the +middle. Surely he must be there somewhere for his name began with M. +Finally she asked the man who had given her his place if he could see a +boy named Henry Mann on the hill. + +"I should say I could," was the answer. "There he is near the foot of the +hill, hopelessly entangled in his drawbacks. It isn't hard to find that +young man here." + +Sure enough, there he was and Bess's face grew very red as she saw all the +strings behind him. She was glad Granny had gone to sit down so that she +wouldn't see him. Perhaps she could read what some of his drawbacks were, +for he was quite near. There was, "Too much money," "Lazy," "Unkind to his +mother," "Little schooling," "Drinks and smokes and swears," "A friend of +careless girls".... + +Oh, dear! Bess didn't want to read any more. What a list he had! There +were one or two good strings but they could not do much against so many +others to pull him back. + +Up there very near to the top, George, her old friend, was moving on and +his face was so earnest. How different it looked as she compared him with +Henry at the foot! She had never known before that he was so handsome. +What were the strings that were pulling him forward? She leaned far +forward to see. Just then she heard Granny's voice close at her elbow. + +"Were you trying to look at George, Bess? He is a long way toward manhood, +isn't he? Suppose you use my little glass to help you." + +"Oh, now I can see," she answered. There is "A good mother," "A keen +mind," "A strong body," "Love of right and truth," "A good girl +friend".... + +"But, Granny dear," said Bess, "one of his helps is 'A good girl friend.' +Has George a girl? I thought he didn't care for girls." + +"This is the House of Truth, dear," said the old lady. "I think perhaps +that good girl friend means you, for you have been a good friend to him. +You know our family have always been proud of their education and their +habits of life. I am sure it must have been a good thing for George to +grow up all these years with a good chum like you. He must be a gentleman +if he would be fit to play with the daughter of a lady like your mother. +When I was here before, George had several other pull-backs, but I see he +has conquered them. But come, dear, it is time we were going if I am to +help you out of your difficulty. + +"Let me see, you wanted to ask Henry Mann to take you to a party at the +beach. Did you find him there? Do you think your mother will change her +mind when we tell her the truth about the new friend whom you wish to +make? If so, I am ready to try, even though I am not at all sure that a +lady does those things. But things change--things change very much and +perhaps you are right. What said the House of Truth? Shall we invite +him?" + +"Oh, Granny, never, never!" cried the girl. "I could never ask any one who +was known as the friend of careless girls. He has so many drawbacks--oh, +no, never." + +Just then a voice said, "Good evening, Miss Keats. I hope I haven't +disturbed your nap. One of the girls told me you were very anxious to see +me, so I came up." + +And there stood Henry Mann. + +For a moment the girl could not answer. The face that had looked so +handsome when it was pointed out to her on the street yesterday now looked +careless and insolent. She wanted to run away and not even answer. + +But just at that moment the door opened and her mother came out. She was +dressed so prettily and her voice was soft and sweet as she said, "I think +I haven't met you, but you must be one of my daughter's friends. Will you +be seated?" + +"A man must be a gentleman if he would be fit to play with the daughter of +a lady like your mother," thought Bess. + +Then she straightened her shoulders and, smiling, said, "Mother, this is +Henry Mann, of whom I spoke to you." + +Turning to the boy, who still stood at the top of the steps, she said, +"Thank you so much for calling, Mr. Mann. There has been a mistake. Mother +prefers that I should not go to the party at the beach and of course I +want to do as she thinks best. I am sorry to have made you this trouble. +Perhaps one of the other girls will be asked to fill my place so that you +can still be one of the party." + +Then Henry Mann tipped his hat and went down the street thinking how +beautiful the mother and daughter were. But Bess and her mother stood +there with their arms about each other, waiting for father to come home to +tea. And Bess was no longer unhappy. + + + + +MARKED FOR A MAST + + +Mary had just come from the little post-office in the town where she was +spending the summer, and in her hand she held a bunch of letters. Mail +time was the event of the day, and all the summer people flocked about the +office as soon as the little boat carrying the mail was heard blowing her +whistle below the bend. + +To-day Mary had been very impatient as the old postmaster had slowly +sorted the mail. She had watched him look carefully at one address after +another, and, knowing him as she did, she was sure that many in the town +would know by night how many interesting letters had come to people in the +town. She had been almost the first at the little window for her mail and +then had had to brave the laugh of the rest when Mr. Blake had said, + +"Here's your letter and it's a fat one that took four cents. My, but he +must like you." + +Mary had been waiting for this very letter because in the last one George +had said, "I have a big surprise in store for you but I can't tell you +yet--maybe in the next letter." + +So this long one must be the surprise. Eagerly she tore it open and read +the first two pages that told of things happening in the home town and +good times the young people were having. Then she read, + +"And now for my secret. You know we are going to our camp for a whole +month of fun in August. Mother likes you and you are such good company for +us all that she tells me to write in her name and ask you to spend the +first two weeks with us there. Don't say no for we--no, I--must surely +have you to share our good times." + +The first two weeks! Those were the weeks she had planned to go to the +conference and train for some special work for the church during the +coming winter. The church had said they would pay her expenses if she +cared to go, and already she had made application. Oh, dear! Now what +should she do? She had said to her pastor, "I want to go to the conference +more than anything I have ever wanted but I can't afford to go." Now she +wanted to go with her friends and she would have to say to him, "I want a +good time more than I want the conference." The conference would come +again the next year, but this invitation might never come again. + +To be sure, she had many, many good times. Maybe she would have a good +time at the conference. Which did she want the more? If she went with her +friends, she could not do the winter work at the church as it ought to be +done. But there was the last sentence. "We--no, I--must have you to share +our good times." That meant a lot to her as she read it. Should she go to +the conference or should she go to the camp? + +Mechanically she turned the other letters over. There was one from mother, +and one from a school friend, and a business letter--oh, here was a +correspondence card from Mrs. Lane, her teacher in the Church School. + +"Dear Mrs. Lane," thought Mary. "How I should love to see her! She was +going to Maine. I wonder if this little snapshot is a picture of some +pines where she is staying." + +After looking long at the beautiful, tall pines in the picture, she turned +to the card and read, + + "Dear Mary: + + "As we came up the beautiful Sebago Lake last week, I saw something + that reminded me of you so strongly that I must tell you of it. Away + off in the distance, we saw some wonderful pines that towered high + above the rest. They seemed so tall that we spoke to the pilot of the + boat about them and he told us this story about them. + + "'Years and years ago, before this land was settled by any but the + Indians, King George of England sent men to this country to look for + tall trees that would make good masts for his ships. They went up the + rivers and lakes looking everywhere for the special trees. Here on + these hills they found these great trees. So the men marked "K.G." on + the trees, charted them on a map which they carried, and went on + their way. But for some reason they were never cut and carried away + to be used on his ships. There they stand to-day, strong and + straight, marked for masts.' + + "After the old man had finished his story and had left us, I said to + my friend, 'Marked for a mast because it is straight and strong. I + have a girl who also is marked for a mast and some day she will carry + with her, under her colors, many boys and girls. We are sending her + to the leaders' conference this summer so that she may begin to make + ready for her work.' Mary, dear, it is wonderful to have been chosen + by the King of England and to have been marked for use with his + initials, but it is more wonderful to have been chosen by a greater + king and marked with his name. Perhaps you can guess what the mark I + see on you might be--It is C. L. Write and tell me all about the + conference, won't you? + + "Lovingly your friend, + + "Margaret Lane." + +'Twas a very thoughtful girl who went down the street. In one hand a long +letter and in the other a closely written card. The one said, "Come and +have a real jolly, good time." The other said, "Get ready for service." +Which should it be? + +As she sat in the hammock thinking of her good friend in Maine, there came +again to her mind the last night Mrs. Lane had been with them. They had +been talking over plans for the summer and Mrs. Lane had quietly said, "I +like to think that a good time is one which you carry with you and which +means more to you as the weeks go by than it did when you were enjoying +it." Which good time would she carry with her longer? Which would make of +her the finer girl? Which did she want most to carry with her? And as she +thought, the way became clearer. + +Finally she went to her room and returned in a few minutes with a writing +case and pen. + + "Dear George," she began. "Weren't you good to ask me to go with the + family to the camp! I can't think of any camp where I would enjoy + myself more and I surely appreciate the invitation. But I can't + accept it this time for that is the time set for the conference to + which I am really going this year. Our church has made it possible + for me to go, and I know it will do much in getting me ready to be of + help to those who have helped me so much. I shall have so much more + to give when I have studied for the two weeks with those who know, + and have given their lives to the service of others. 'Tis an + opportunity that I couldn't miss--not even for two weeks with you + all. Thank you just the same." + +Mary read the letter, then as she sealed it, she said with a smile, +"Marked for a mast! Marked for a mast! Surely I mustn't bend or break if I +can be a mast some day and carry a king's colors. C. L.?... C. L.?... Ah, +I have it. 'Tis the word that Mrs. Lane uses so often--a Christian +Leader! 'Tis wonderful to have her think I have been chosen to bear such a +splendid name. I can hardly wait to meet the rest of the girls, who also +wear the mark of the King, who will be there at the conference. I may +be--oh, I hope I am--marked for a mast." + + + + +HER NEED + + +She was just a girl with a foreign name, a foreign face and a bit still of +a foreign dress. But she was a girl, just the same, and her face was full +of longing. Her home was near to a settlement where many girls came for +lessons and for play. But somehow they had never asked her to come, though +often she had sat on the steps at night where they must pass her. She had +seen them come with their arms about each other, talking and laughing and +singing--and when they had passed, she had gone to her lonely hall bedroom +and hidden her face in the pillow. + +Oh, no, she didn't cry. She was too brave to cry. She just suffered alone +and longed for help. + +It had been a year since she had left the home across the sea and had come +to join her father in the land where "work was plenty and friends were +easily made." But she had found her father living where she could not and +would not live. The friends he had made in America she could not and would +not have for hers. So when she had grown proficient enough in the factory, +she had gone to live in that loneliest of all lonely places--a boarding +house. + +The days had passed one by one. Some of the boarders called her fussy; +some said she was cold; some said she was "stuck-up" and none of them had +found that beneath the surface there was a sweet, gentle, lonely heart. + +Then came the strike--and she was out of work. In the bank she had a few +dollars but they had soon fled and now--oh, what could she do? The way was +so black ahead. She couldn't go to her father and his friends. What could +she do? + +The girls passed her as they went to the settlement house but no one +noticed her sad little face. So she slowly rose and wended her way down +the street. Out of the poorer section she went, then down a long avenue +till she came to a great church. The altar lights were lighted. All was +quiet and restful, so she sat, and looked, and listened for the still, +small voice that she longed to hear. + +A long, long time she sat there, counting her beads. Then she slowly rose +and entered the confessional, but when she came out there was still the +look of longing in her face. Toward the altar she went. Perhaps in the +communion she might find help for her troubled soul, and again she counted +her beads. + +But, somehow, there was no prayer on the beads that seemed just what she +wanted to say. Again, she went to the altar. But this time she lifted a +face, white with suffering and thin from lack of food, to the face of the +Christ above the altar and from the depths of her heart she prayed, + +"O God! My God! I do not ask for money, though I am hungry. I do not ask +for a home, though I am oh! so very lonely. I do not ask for work, though +I have none. For only one thing I ask. Give me a friend. Oh, give me a +friend! For Jesus' sake. Amen." + +Again she walked back through the avenue and down the narrow street to her +only home. The doors of the settlement were opened and the girls came out, +happy as birds in the springtime. Quietly she watched them as they came +nearer. Then suddenly one of them stopped. + +"Excuse me for speaking to you," she said, "but our guardian heard that +you lived in this house, so she asked us to come and invite you to come to +Camp Fire with us next Tuesday. We are to have a supper together so that +you will soon know us all and then we are to go for a hike together. Shall +we stop for you as we go?" + +For a moment she could not answer. In her throat was a lump so big that +she could not swallow. Then she said in a low, sweet voice, + +"Indeed I should like to go. Thank you for asking me." + +And the girls passed down the street, singing their Camp Fire song. + +But up in the little hall bedroom there was a girl with a foreign name, +and a foreign face, and a bit of a foreign dress. She was on her knees, +looking up at the heavens full of stars and over and over she was saying, +"Oh, I thank thee. I thank thee. I have a chance to be a friend." + +And her heart was content. + + + + +THE MESSAGE OF THE MOUNTAIN + + +"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."... "Lo, I am with +you alway, even unto the end of the world." These were the two sentences +that were neatly written on two pieces of paper on Marcia Loran's desk and +the girl sat looking at them while the minutes went steadily by. How could +they be? How could a power that made the earth be also in her life? How +could it be? + +Marcia had always been a reader of her Bible; she had always loved her +mother's God and she loved Him now, but she was longing for help and no +one seemed near to give it. And the reason for the need of this help was +easy to give. The new girl who had moved into the next room had been +laughing at her belief in God and Marcia knew no way to answer. She had +hoped that her course in Bible at college would help her but somehow she +seemed less able than ever to answer it now. + +Who was God? Where was God? How could she know that these two verses could +both be true? It was an honest doubt and she knew she must answer it +before her mind could be at rest. She felt she could never ask the +question in a letter to her mother, for mother must never know that she +was questioning. Oh, if only some one knew how much she needed help! + +But it was time for the picnic which the members of her class were to +have, so she slipped the papers again into her Bible and went to the +campus. They were to climb one of the mountains near by and dear old +Professor Hastings was to be their guide. Old in years but young in heart +and lithe still in limb, he stood out among the students as one of the +best of the companions. As they climbed, Marcia kept near to him. + +"I am looking," he said, "for a rare little flower which grows on this +mountainside. Perhaps you can help me find it. It is very tiny and it +grows in the crevice of the rock. But I am needing a specimen of it for my +collection." + +So together they looked in every crevice but not a bit of the little white +blossom did they see. + +Up, and up, and up they went. Some were tired and waited for the rest to +climb and return. Some even went back down the mountainside. But when the +top was reached, what a wonderful view spread out before them! Mountains +and lakes and streams; villages and cities and lonely farms; beauty and +calmness and majesty, all seemed to flood in at once on the minds and +hearts of those who looked. + +After they had rested a while, the old man lightly touched the hand of the +girl and said, + +"I have heard it said that one of my blossoms has been found on that cliff +not far away. Will you come with me to see?" + +So they began to search the cliff; then they found a hidden cave and +explored that; Marcia heard a tiny stream of water trickling in the cave, +and when she had found the water, she found also, close to the water's +edge, a beautiful clump of waxy white blossoms, sweet and fragrant, and +hanging tightly to the rock. + +"Oh! oh! Come, sir," called the girl. "I am sure these are what you seek. +Oh, how beautiful they are!" And they stooped to gather them. + +But just at that moment a flash of lightning lighted the cave and the +thunder rolled. In a moment the rain was coming in torrents, and the noise +of the thunder as it rolled from cliff to cliff was terrifying. A giant +pine tree which stood just before the entrance of the cave was rent from +top to bottom and went crashing down the mountainside. The noise of the +wind and storm was deafening. Pale and trembling, the girl pushed farther +and farther into the cave till, crouching down, she touched something +cool. It was the little white flowers. + +They were not afraid. The rain might fall as hard as it would but it would +not blast their beauty. They were protected by a bit of overhanging rock. +The lightning might flash about the cave but it was calm inside. Who had +made the tiny blossoms to grow here in the rock, protected from storm and +blast? God! She, too, was being cared for while her companions might be in +the fury of the storm. Who was caring for her? Her friend? No, he was +interested in something at the entrance of the cave. God was caring for +her even as he cared for the little blossom. + +"Come, Marcia, come and watch the storm," called the professor. "I have +never seen such a beautiful one. Isn't it strange that that electricity +was all there in the clouds as we came up the mountain though we knew it +not? I love to watch a storm for it shows so clearly the power and majesty +of our God. Watch the trees bend with the wind! Listen to the rocks send +back the sound of the thunder! See the little bird on yonder nest +snuggling close to keep the little ones safe! And see, far away, the sun +shining on the little village of the plain. We are in the storm, child, +yet we are safe and sheltered." + +With her hand held fast in that of her old friend, the fear gradually died +away, and when the storm was over she, too, was glad she had seen from the +mountaintop the wonder of a mountain storm. + +Soon they gathered the little white blossoms, but not all of them found +their way into the collection at the college. A little spray was tenderly +pressed between the leaves of Marcia Loran's Bible and a third little slip +of paper was fastened to the other two. It read: "God is great but God is +love. I will trust him and not be afraid." + + + + +THE WINNING OF AN HONOR + + +Barbara Lewis was very much puzzled. All the girls in her camp fire were +winning the right to embroider their symbol on the dress of their guardian +and she wanted to do the same. But how could she? She had chosen for her +name, "Chante--I _serve_," and she wanted to really win the right to have +the name, but how could she? She was not allowed to go into the kitchen to +help there at home, for the cook would leave if she were disturbed, so she +couldn't do as some of her friends were doing and learn to cook. She +couldn't serve mother, for mother was always away at the club or doing +work about the country for the suffrage cause. There were maids to do the +mending and the sewing, so how could she serve there? + +Some of the girls could serve at their church, but her teacher had never +asked her to do one thing, though she was always ready. Her teacher had +not formed a club of her girls, so of course she knew them only on +Sundays. There was no chance to serve the church. If she only knew the +minister, perhaps he would suggest a way, but he was very tall and very +dignified, so she just couldn't ask him. Whatever could she do? + +It had been weeks since their guardian had told them that when they had +earned the right to their names, they could embroider the symbol on her +dress, and every day since then she had wished she knew what to do. Mary +had chosen the name "Aka--I _can_," and when she had proved that she could +break herself of using slang by using none for a whole month, she put a +tiny little white flower on the dress, for she was using pure speech. + +"Frilohe" was the name Grace had chosen and it meant, "_A friend who loves +to help_." Grace's mother had been in the hospital and Grace had taken +care of the brothers and sisters all the time, so, of course, they all +agreed that she had earned the right. + +And now Barbara felt that she just must think of a way. She would go to +the library and ask her friend there if she knew what she could do to +serve. + +Now it chanced that from that library there were going out almost every +day girls to tell stories to groups of children about the city. Sometimes +they went to the orphan homes, sometimes to the hospitals, sometimes to +the crowded streets. Into many needy places they were sent, and already +the children were beginning to look for the gypsy-girls who were +story-tellers. As Barbara entered the library, one of the girls was just +leaving, so she stopped for a moment and told about her new work and how +much she loved it. + +"Aha," said Barbara, "I believe I could do that. I have read such lots and +lots of stories, I am sure I could do that. I should love to try. But they +haven't asked me. I couldn't volunteer, for mother would think me very +bold. Oh dear, I am sure I could serve in that way." + +All the way home she thought the matter over and then a plan came to her. +Just back of the house there was an alley and the little children there +were always looking through the fence at the flowers in her beautiful +garden. She would tell stories to these little children and see what she +could do. So she went into the house to find the stories she would use. +All the afternoon she looked in her old books. Then she was sure she was +ready. + +For a long time she hesitated the next morning as she dressed. She must +look her very best if she was to win the children. Finally she chose a +little blue gingham dress that she liked much--perhaps they would like it +too. It was only ten o'clock when she went into the garden to wait. Dear +me! Weren't they coming this morning? One hour passed and then another +half. + +Just then Tommy, the boy who threw stones, and chased the cats, and did +all sorts of things that were naughty, pushed his dirty face against the +fence. Oh my, she could never tell stories to him! But Tommy saw her there +in the garden and said: + +"Wisht you would give me a posy. Mom's sick and she hain't got none." + +Then the gate of the garden was opened and Barbara said: + +"Of course I will give you some flowers for your mother. Choose what you +would like and I will cut it with these shears." + +"Um! Um!" said Tommy. "Um! I'd like some of them blue flowers. Say, I like +blue flowers, and blue sky, and I like that blue dress. I wish Mary had a +blue dress." + +"And who is Mary?" said Barbara. + +"Oh, she is one of my sisters," said Tommy. "You see, there is six of us +and Mary is the pretty one. She has blue eyes and curls. Um! Um! I wish +you could see her." + +"I'd like to see her," said Barbara. "If you will go and bring her here I +will tell you both a story. Would you like that?" + +"Sure," said Tommy. "Sure I would. Kin I bring them all?" and off he ran +with his precious flowers. + +In five minutes he was back, followed by Mary and Katie and Jimmie and +Mike and Susan--all dirty, all barefoot, and all in a hurry to see the +flowers and hear the story. About this time Barbara began to feel queer +inside. How could she ever keep them still? Suppose they should begin to +run over her father's flowers! She almost wished she had not asked them to +come. But she remembered for what she was working, and she said to +herself, "Chante, _I serve_; Chante--_I serve_," over and over till her +courage came back. + +Then she seated them all on the steps and began. Susie wanted "Red Riding +Hood," and Katie wanted "Goldilocks," so these were first. Then Mary +wanted "Cinderella," but Tommy was not to be forgotten. + +"I want a boy's story. Tell me the one you promised me or I'll push the +rest all home," he said. + +What could she do? She never remembered having read a boy's story. Oh +dear, maybe she couldn't win Tommy. + +Over and over in her mind went the stories she had gotten ready. Then she +remembered one that she had loved years ago. It was about Cedric, the +Knight. This was just the one for Tommy. So she told it to him while his +eyes grew bigger and bigger. When the story was done, Barbara and Tommy +were friends and Tommy had a new hero. + +When the dinner bell rang, she was still telling stories to the dirty +little group but she had forgotten why she was doing it, for she was +living the stories with the children. + +The days went by and every morning found Barbara out in the garden, if +only for one story, but now the Lowinskys were not the only ones. They had +brought their neighbors and friends till the group sometimes numbered +forty. The steps had grown too small, so they had moved to the wall. Then +that had not been satisfactory, so they had moved out under the trees away +down by the little brook. Here the birds sang, the little brook whispered, +and everything was just right for the little story-teller. Over and over +she had told the stories with a new one now and then, but Cedric, the +Knight, was the favorite one. Tommy always stood near Barbara and saw to +it that all the boys were listening, so he had a fine chance to whisper, +"Now my story. Please tell mine." + +And she was telling it again one morning when she realized that some one +stood near who was not a child. It was Miss Rose, her guardian, who +listened for a moment and then drew back where the children could not see +her. When the story hour was over, she was nowhere to be seen. But later +in the evening a package was left at the door for Barbara. It contained +that precious dress for which she had longed. + +Pinned to the dress was a card which said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of these, my little ones, ye have done it unto me." And below was +written, "I shall be glad to have you put your symbol on my dress before +Friday night so that we may tell the girls at the Ceremonial about your +story-group." + +Later when Barbara had finished the embroidery, it showed a tiny figure of +a primitive woman surrounded by little children. And the little lady was +telling them a story. She had found her way to serve. + + + + +DADDY GRAY'S TEST + + +May Langley had spent four happy years at the University, and now +Commencement time had come. It had been easy for her to get her lessons, +so she had had time to herself. She was pretty and was always well +dressed; she could dance well and sing well, so of course she had been a +favorite, especially with the boys. + +But the coming of the end of the school life had brought to her a real +problem. She knew some of the boys would want to write to her. Deep in her +heart she knew that some of them already liked her more than a little. She +could not write to all of them. Whom should she choose? Perhaps the one +she chose would eventually be the one she should marry, so it was wise to +choose with care. Over and over she turned the question in her mind. + +There was Tom,--gay, careless Tom with a big heart and plenty of money. +His father was an oil man and there was no other child. He had done little +with his studies but he had given her many a good time. His life would +probably be one of ease. Tom was really quite attractive. + +Then there was Bob, the football player. Already his name was known +throughout the country. It was great fun to go to games where he was to +play, for she shared the honors with him afterward. He was rough and +ready, and, at times, a bit too boisterous, but withal a good fellow. + +Then there was Earl, the student. He had ranked first in his class but his +books were all in all to him. A good position was waiting for him in a +neighboring college and he had told her that he should marry so that he +could have a home of his own to which the students might come. + +There were others, too, but these three seemed to stand out first in her +thoughts. How could she decide? She and her mother were alone in the world +and mother was a helpless cripple and so could not come to the +Commencement. For the first time in her life, she began to face the future +seriously. + +'Twas the Sunday of Commencement week and she was strolling across the +campus when she saw in the distance dear, old Professor Gray--Daddy Gray, +the girls called him. + +"He is the very person to help me," she said to herself, and hurried to +catch him before he left the campus. + +"Daddy Gray," she began, "I have a queer question to ask you. I am +choosing some boy friends whom I wish to have as friends after I leave. +Tell me some principles on which to base my choice." + +A rare smile crossed the face of the old man as he patted her golden +hair. + +"Good for you! I am glad you are thinking. Long, long ago when my own +girlies were choosing their friends I asked them to remember two things as +they chose--not only that the one they chose might be their husband, but +that he also might be my son, and the father of their children. One thinks +much more about the principles of the man who is to be father of their +children than about the man whom they love and want to marry. You know +what a high ideal your mother holds. Test your friends by that also. Never +mind yourself--think of others." + +Then he left her to think. + +And she did think! If Tom ignored her mother as he did his own, she could +never bring him into their home. Tom drank sometimes--oh, that would never +do. Bob was strong and healthy--but Bob had no use for God and the church. +Her children must have a Christian home. Earl was a wonderful student, but +he had undermined his health. He stooped in his shoulders and there were +signs of a breakdown. Oh dear, what a hard test Daddy Gray had given her! + +So the days wore away and she found herself watching as she had never +watched before for marks of strength--mental, moral and physical. Over and +over the words rang in her ears: "Never mind yourself--think of others." + +'Twas the afternoon of Commencement Day and her room had many beautiful +flowers. Tom's bunch was of great American Beauty roses and the card had +made her suddenly blush as she read it. But there had come in the mail a +great bunch of beautiful forget-me-nots, all fresh with the dew in the +grass. Who had sent them? She loved them the best of all the flowers in +the room. There was no card to be found, so she tucked a few in her dress +beneath the cap and gown and ran away to the chapel. + +There on the steps stood a young man and his mother, and they were waiting +for her. + +"May, I want you to meet my mother, for I have told her so much about you. +To get her to come, I had to drive all the way home to-day. But it is +worth it, even if I did have to get up before the sun did. She is the very +best mother in all the world," said the boy, and he squeezed the arm of +the timid little lady. + +"Maybe! Maybe! I am so glad to meet you," said the mother, "for I owe you +much. You have helped Gene such a lot. I am sure he would never have been +able to keep from smoking had it not been for you. He had promised me to +try. Then when you told him you did not like it, why, we worked together, +you see. And it has been so kind of you to go for the hikes when he has +asked you, for you see he couldn't have afforded to go to places that cost +money, dear." + +May Langley opened her eyes wide. She had had no idea that she had been +helping. To be sure, she had gone on many hikes with him after the geology +class had thrown them together. And she had enjoyed it, too, for he was +such good company. Always courteous, always hunting for ways to make the +trip more worth while and always good natured, no matter what the weather, +he had been a companion worth while. + +So she stood and talked with the mother and son for a moment. How sweet +the mother was and how proud he was of her! It was a joy to watch them. + +Suddenly he spied the bit of forget-me-not. + +"Ah," he said, "I had nearly forgotten to speak of them. I passed a brook +lined with them just before time for the mail train to pass the station, +so I just hopped out of the car, emptied my lunch from the box and sent +them to you. But I never dreamed you would get them in time to wear them. +Maybe the little flowers will tell you that I am hoping you are going to +remember our happy days here after we leave the campus. I want much to +feel that you have a little interest in me. I have told mother much about +you, for mother and I have no secrets. May I write to you sometimes?" + +Just then the bell rang for the line to form and she hurried away, while +he took his mother into the chapel. All afternoon they were busy and there +was little time to think. But when May came to dress for the ball in the +evening, she stood long before the flowers on the table. Then a sprig of +the forget-me-not went into her hair and a bunch was fastened to her belt. +And when he asked her for her answer as they stood on the veranda of the +fraternity house, she said simply, "I have enjoyed the time spent with +you; I am quite sure that I should like to know you better. You may write +to me if you care to do so." + +But under her breath she was saying: + +"Daddy Gray is right. The greatest test of a man is not what he might be +to you, but what he is and will be to others. I'm quite sure Gene Powell +can stand his test and mine also." + + + + +WANTED--A REAL MOTHER + + +Mary King sat before the dressing-table in her bedroom holding in her hand +a string of beads--pearls they were, but they showed signs of much wear, +and as Mary looked at them her eyes blazed with anger. + +To-morrow was her graduation day from the High School. All day she had +been at the class picnic and she had had such a glorious time. They had +danced and played; they had rowed on the lake and sung their school songs +in the moonlight. She had been as happy as a girl could be, and to have it +spoiled in this way was cruel. + +Why should her mother give her a string of old beads for a graduation +present? Other girls had wrist watches and pretty dresses and checks and +all sorts of beautiful things. When they asked her what her mother's gift +had been, how could she say, "A string of old beads"? Mother would expect +her to wear them at her graduation and how could she? + +She had found them on her table when she had come into her room and with +them was a note saying: + + "Dear Mary: + + "I waited for you to come home so that I could give you my gift, but + it is so late and I am too tired to wait longer, so I will leave them + for you. I could not buy you a real gift, so I have given you the + dearest thing I have. Every bead has a story which some day I will + tell you--perhaps on the day that you graduate from college, but not + now. I hope you will love them as I do. I shall see them to-morrow + on your pretty new dress. Good night, girlie. I hope you had a good + time. + + "MOTHER." + +Why was mother so queer? All her life long it had been hard for Mary to +have her mother so different. Her mother worked for Mr. Morse and so she +could never bring her friends to their rooms lest she should annoy the +Morses. Other girls' mothers had pretty faces and her mother's face was +all red and cross-looking. Other girls' mothers had pretty hair, but her +mother had straight hair and little of it. She had tried to get her to +wear false hair, but instead of doing it her mother had gone to her room +and cried because Mary had suggested it. Other girls' mothers let them +wear pretty clothes, but hers were always plain, though they were always +very neat. Most of the girls had fancy graduation dresses, but hers was +only a little dimity that her mother had made--and now these dreadful +beads were more than she could stand and she threw them on the bed in +anger. She wished she had a real mother of whom she could be proud. + +As she started to take down her long, wavy hair, she saw a letter in Mr. +Morse's handwriting on her desk. Perhaps this was a check for her +graduation present, so she hastily tore it open. But no check dropped out. +Instead, there was a long letter, and she sat down to read. + + "My dear Mary," it began. "A few days ago, I chanced to be on the + beach when you were there with your friend, and I heard you say to + her, 'I wish my mother were as beautiful as yours. Mother can't even + go down the street with me for she drags her foot so that everybody + turns and looks at us and it makes me feel so conspicuous. You must + be very proud of your mother.' So I have decided that for your + graduation gift, I shall give you a story instead of the check that + I intended to give you. The check can wait." + +"A story," said Mary to herself. "That is worse than the old beads. What a +house of queer people this is! Anyway, I am curious to see what sort of a +story he could write." So she read on. + + "Seventeen years ago there came to a town in the eastern part of + Pennsylvania a young man and his bride. Just a slip of a girl she + was, but her face was full of sunshine and every one soon loved her. + She had beautiful wavy hair and bright, blue eyes and a cheery smile. + After they had been there for a while, their story came to be known, + for his father was the great mill owner in a near-by town. When the + young man had married the High School girl instead of the wealthy one + whom the father had chosen for him, there had been a lot of trouble + and the young man had been told to leave home with his bride and + expect no more help from the father. + + "Now the young man had never worked, so it was very hard for him, but + she also worked and, little by little, they bought the things needed + in the tiny home on the hill, and they were very happy. Then, one + day, a scaffold fell and they brought the young husband to the little + wife all bruised and bleeding, and that very night a tiny girl came + to the home to live. The neighbors helped all they could, but in a + few days the father of the baby was gone, and the little girl-wife + was left alone to care for the baby. + + "When the mill owner heard of the death of the son and the birth of + the little girl, he sent to the mother and said: 'We will take the + little girl and bring it up as our own if you will give it to us and + have no more to do with it.' But the brave little woman sent back + answer, 'As long as I have a mind with which to think and two hands + with which to work, I can and will support my little girl. I thank + you for your offer, but I love my baby too much to accept it.' + + "But it was a hard pull. She worked in an office; she worked on a + farm. Then a position was offered her as a teacher in a Home for + Little Children. Here she could have her own room and keep the baby + with her when she was not teaching. And while she was teaching, it + would be cared for with the rest. Gladly the mother took the position + and for more than a year she was very, very happy. + + "One night when the baby was nearly three years old, she sat reading + in the parlor of the home when some one called, 'Fire! Fire! Fire in + the left wing!' Oh! that was where her baby was, on the very top + floor. Like a bird she flew across the hall where the smoke already + was pouring out. Up the first flight, choking, she went. Up the + second. Then she had to fall to the floor to creep along. She could + see the fire. It was on the fourth floor where her Mary was. Could + she ever reach it? Would the fire block her way? + + "Ten minutes after the call of fire had been given, the workers saw + some one staggering through the lower hall. In her arms she carried a + bundle wrapped tightly in a bed-quilt. And dangling from her hands + was a long string of beads. Her face was burned. There was no hair on + her head. She was writhing in agony, but she reached the door, handed + the burden to a worker, saying quietly, 'I am badly burned, but I + have saved my two treasures. Keep them safely for me.' Then she fell + in a heap on the floor. + + "For months and months and months she tossed on a bed of pain. No one + thought she could possibly live. But she did, for she was living for + her baby. When at last she came from the hospital, her beautiful + face was scarred and red; only in spots had the hair grown; her hands + were stiff and painful, and one leg dragged as she walked. But she + was alive, and that was all she asked. + + "While she had been ill, I had gone to see the mill owner to ask for + help for the brave little woman who had shown us all what a heroine + she was. But his answer had been, 'She took my son from me and I will + have nothing to do with her. If she will give the child to me, I will + bring it up in luxury, but I will not have her here.' + + "So when she was ready to go back to work, I told her that another + offer had come from the grandfather of the child to adopt it and I + said to her, 'Don't you feel that you had better give them the + baby?' + + "For answer, she patted the curly head and said, 'If I can fight + death for my baby, I can conquer in the fight to live. I shall keep + her. You may tell him that the child will not live in luxury but that + she shall know no want, and she shall have both the education and + culture which befits her father's child.' + + "But the mother's heart was sore when she looked in the glass and saw + what a pitiful change had come to the pretty face. 'I am so glad it + came while Mary was little,' she said. 'Had it come later, she would + have minded my ugly face. Now she knows no better and she will grow + used to it.' + + "So she was glad when I offered to have her come to live with us in + the distant city where none had known of her or of the awful fight + she was planning to make. We had taken a large house and there were + many things the mother could do with her stiff hands which gradually, + because of the long hours she spent on them, were beginning to limber + a bit. I gave her rooms for herself and the child and there she + lived, keeping away from all so that none might see her shrunken, + changed body. She lived only for the child, hoarding carefully the + little money that she could save lest there be not enough to send her + to college when the High School should be over. + + "Often have I heard her praying for strength to fight through the + battle; often have I heard her pray that the little girl should grow + to be an honor to the family who would not help her; often have I + begged her to let me tell the child the story of the days that had + gone, but her answer was always the same, 'No. Let her live the + happy, care-free life. Some day I will tell her, but not now. It + would kill me to have her pity me. She must love me for myself and + not for what I did. My only happiness is to live and work for her.' + + "So the heroine has spent the fifteen years and to my way of thinking + she is a mother of whom you may be proud. + + "She must never know I have told you. But not for the world would I + have you add to her burden by thinking she was not all that you + wanted your mother to be. + + "Sincerely, + + "A. E. Morse." + +When Mary had finished the letter, she sat as one stunned. Her mind seemed +on fire. Mechanically she picked up the pearls that she had thrown on the +bed. Her mother had carried them with her through that awful fire. They +were one of her two treasures and now she had almost said she would not +wear them. Oh, what a selfish girl she had been! She had thought only of +herself. + +Once she had asked her mother why the scar was upon her face and she had +answered, "Just an accident, child, when I was a young woman." Then she +had talked of something else. The lame foot, the misshapen hands, the red +face, the queer little knot of hair--all were the price paid for her own +life. Every minute since she was born, she had been a burden to her +mother. + +Now she understood why the little bank account which she had accidentally +found was being so carefully saved. She had not known that she was to go +to college. + +Now she remembered that it had been years since mother had had a new +dress, but she had thought it was because she was queer. There had been +many days when mother had seemed cross--was it because she was suffering? +Oh, how sorry she was! What could she do to make her happy now that she +knew? + +Slowly she undressed for bed. She must be in the dark to think. When she +knelt in prayer, she asked God to forgive her--but she remembered that she +could not ask mother to do so. She remembered the words of her mother to +Mr. Morse, + +"It would kill me to have her sorry for me. She must love me for myself +and not for what I did." + +So she tossed and tumbled as the time slipped by. Suddenly she heard a +foot dragging across the hall, and a big lump came into her throat. How +often she had rebelled at that foot! Then her mother came quietly into the +room. + +"Mother," said Mary, "why are you here? Aren't you asleep yet?" + +"No, dear," said the mother, and the girl thought she had never heard a +more beautiful voice. "I heard you tossing in the bed and I thought +perhaps you were ill. So I came to see. What is the trouble, dear?" + +"Oh, to-morrow is my graduation day and I think I am sorry to leave +school," said the girl. "I love these dear little beads which I have under +the pillow, mother. Have you had them long? I never saw them before." + +"Many, many years, girlie. Your father gave them to me and how hard he +worked to earn them! I love every little bead on the string. But I shall +love to see you wear them for his sake. I saved them for you once in the +long ago because I wanted you to have something that he had earned for us. +And now you must go to sleep, for you must look bright and pretty +to-morrow. Oh! I shall be so proud of you when you start for the school." + +Then a white arm drew the mother down close to the bed and a sweet girlish +voice said, + +"Be all ready when the carriage comes for me to-morrow, mother dear, for +you are going with me, even though it is early. No other girl has a mother +who has worked so hard as you have to keep her in school. You are the best +mother in the whole world and I am so proud of you." + +"Well, if you are as proud of me as I am of you, we are the happiest +little family in the whole world," said the mother, kissing her on both +cheeks. And two people were happy because real love was there. + + + + +THE FIR TREE AND THE WILLOW WAND[B] + + +All this happened years ago when the red men lived along the lake shores +and hunted in the woods. The Indians still tell the tale and shake their +heads sadly, whether because of the sadness of the story or because they +sigh for the old days, I do not know. + +Willow Wand was the daughter of old Chief Seafog. She was not like the +other girls of the tribe. She was straight and lithe like a willow, and +she looked more like a beautiful boy than she did like an Indian maiden. +This is not strange when you think that she wore the leather leggins and +the short jacket of the Indian boy and carried a bow and quiver of arrows +thrown over her shoulder. And in spite of the fact that she shot a +straighter arrow than most of the lads about her, they all loved her, for +she would run with them and hunt with them, and at night, by the fire, she +would tell them strange and beautiful stories. In her face they saw a +light that they did not see in the faces of the other girls and squaws of +the village, for Willow Wand had a secret which made her full of +mysteries. + +As Willow Wand grew taller, the time came when she thought of wedding. +Young Fir Tree, the most daring of the young braves, loved her, and Willow +Wand knew that she loved him. And when Fir Tree went to old Chief Seafog, +Willow Wand went with him, which made it not difficult for them to receive +the old man's blessing. + +So on one brilliant day in Indian summer, Fir Tree and Willow Wand were +married. The fallen leaves danced at their wedding feast and the blue +mists of autumn were the bridal veil. Every one was as happy as an Indian +could be. And in the starlight, Fir Tree took Willow Wand to his tepee. He +brought a great buffalo robe from the tent and spread it on the hillside, +and they sat down close together and looked up at the stars. + +"I love you, my brave Fir Tree," said Willow Wand. + +Fir Tree put his arm about her. "And I love you, my little Willow Wand," +he said. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world. I would not have +you like the rest. They are good; they grind the corn; they do the work, +but their faces are like stones. Yours is full of secrets and lovely +memories. What makes you so different, my love?" + +"My secret, Fir Tree. My father says that a woman's secret is her +beauty." + +"But a woman must tell her secret to her love," and Fir Tree looked off +into the distance. + +"Willow Wand must not tell her secret even to her love," she said very, +very softly. + +"You cannot trust me nor love me then, Willow Wand," said Fir Tree, +growing stiff and cold. + +"I love you, Fir Tree. I will tell you my secret." + +Fir Tree continued to look off in the darkness, but he bent his head a +little so that he might not miss anything she said. + +"One night, long ago, I sat out in the evening like this with my father. +'Father, I want to shoot your bow, your smallest bow,' I said. 'You +haven't the strength to draw it, even my smallest bow, little Willow +Wand,' he said. 'Oh, but I have. I have tried it,' and I ran into the tent +and brought the little bow with the red bear painted on it. 'See, I shall +shoot that star, the red one there.' I pulled the string and the arrow +was off. We waited to hear it fall. 'It takes a long time to reach the +stars,' I said. Just then there was a splash in the jar by the tepee door. +'There it is,' said my father, 'your star has fallen into the rain jar.' + +"I looked, and, sure enough, there was the little red star, lying on the +bottom of the crock, and shining so brightly that we could see it through +the water. 'My star!' I said. 'We shall always keep it here, my father. I +brought it down with my arrow.' + +"The next day my father took me hunting, and he gave orders that that jar +was never to be moved from beside his door until I should leave him, and +then it was to go with me. And always he has kept fresh water from the +spring in the jar. See, he has brought it up here beside your tepee that +it would be waiting for me. Yes, my Fir Tree, see, here is my own star +still shining brightly--more brightly to-night because of my great +happiness with you." + +"Dear little Willow Wand, what a beautiful child you are," said Fir Tree, +and he brushed back her black hair and looked into her eyes. "Don't you +know that the star in the crock is only a reflection of a real star above +your dear head in the sky? No one can really shoot a star, Willow Wand." + +"But of course it is a real star, Fir Tree; we heard it splash as it fell +into the jar, my father and I. And I see it now; it has always been here +since that night. You are mistaken, Fir Tree." + +Fir Tree rose and lifted up the jar, and, tipping the water out, said, +"See, I shall show you that Fir Tree is never mistaken. I shall empty the +crock. See, there is no star left in the jar, nor has any red star tumbled +out with the water onto the grass. Ah, your secret was very beautiful, +little Willow Wand, but now you know the truth. The truth, too, is +beautiful." + +There was a little moan of anguish, and Willow Wand disappeared into the +darkness. + +The next morning a tall squaw came out of Fir Tree's tepee. She picked up +the empty rain jar and with tired footsteps walked down to the spring for +water. She was dressed in the conventional clothing of her tribe, and her +face was dull and expressionless like the stones on the path over which +she walked. Down the long trail to the spring she walked. It was very, +very early, so the moon still shone and the little stars twinkled in the +sky. Often she looked at them, longing for her little red star. + +Slowly she stooped, filled the jar, and lifted it to place it on her head +when suddenly she stopped, looked--then gave a cry of surprise and +delight, for there, shining clear as crystal in the water of the pail, was +the little red star. + +Willow Wand set the jar carefully on the ground and then knelt long beside +it. How she loved the little red star! How happy she was to have it once +more beside her! And as she looked, the tired look left her face and a +smile of joy and peace took its place. + +Picking up the jar, she looked once more into the clear cold water. Then +she said, + +"Come, little star. Come with me to the wigwam of brave, strong Fir Tree. +Together we will make it the happiest wigwam in the encampment. You shall +still help me to be my best, for I shall still have a star." + +----- + + [B] Reprinted from the _Camp Fire Girls' Magazine_ by + permission. Revised by permission of the author. + + + + +THE TWO SEARCHERS + + +Peter was tired of doing the same thing over and over and he wanted a +change. Ever since he could remember he had fished and sold the fish he +had caught. He had made nets and mended them. First he had done it for his +father, and now he owned the boats and nets and fishing implements. But he +stood on that bright summer day close by the beautiful Lake of Gennesaret +in Galilee, wishing over and over that he could do something that was more +worth while. + +There was a reason why Peter was more discouraged than ever on this +morning. He had fished all through the night before in the hope of getting +a good catch so that he might skip a day's work and go to hear the great +teacher about whom men were talking and whom Andrew, his brother, had +seen. But though he had worked hard, not a fish had he caught. So now he +was mending the holes in the net with a very discontented look on his +face. What was the use of it all, anyway? He twisted the rope this way and +that, showing by the pulls that he made that his mind was full of +trouble. + +Suddenly he heard Andrew talking to him. "Peter," he said. "Peter, see the +crowd coming over the hilltop. Perhaps the teacher is coming. I do hope +so, for I would hear more of the words he was telling us yesterday. Come, +let's go and meet him." + +"No," said Peter, "I must finish this net. What will he care for us? We +are only poor fishermen." + +But Andrew had not waited to hear his answer--he had already begun to +ascend the hill. How eager he was to hear another story from the great +story-teller! + +Peter mended one hole after another, keeping his eye on the crowd that was +coming closer and closer to the lakeside. Then he heard a kindly voice +say, "Would you mind letting me take your boat, for the multitude press +upon me and I have many things to say to them. If I can get away from the +shore, they can all hear and understand." + +Silently Peter brought the fishing boat to shore. The Master wanted to use +something that he had. After all, a fishing boat was useful sometimes, +even if he were tired of it. Of course he would be glad to help him. So +Jesus, the teacher, sat in the end of the boat and Peter rowed him out in +front of the crowd. Then Peter sat and listened and looked. + +What a wonderful face the teacher had! Peter had never seen the like. It +was browned by the sun but in the eyes there was a kindly light that made +Peter love to look at him. When he smiled, somehow Peter felt the smile go +all through him. How gentle his voice was! What made it so? How eagerly +the people were listening, yet he was only telling them a little story +about the love of his father, God. + +"I wish I had a face like that and a voice like that and could teach like +that," thought Peter. "But I am only a poor fisherman. Oh dear, I wish I +could be worth something." + +But Jesus had finished teaching and had bidden the people go to their +homes. Peter turned to row to the shore, but Jesus was not ready for that. +He had been teaching the multitude and now he wanted a chance to talk with +Peter and Andrew. So he said to Peter, + +"Launch out into the deep and let us fish for a while." + +Peter thought of the long night of useless toil, but Jesus had asked him +to go. This was a chance to stay longer with the teacher, so he said to +him frankly, + +"Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at +your word, I will let down the net." + +So together the brothers let down the net and Peter began to row. + +This was a good chance for Jesus to study Peter. How strong and +weatherbeaten he looked! His was a good honest face, and Jesus saw there +determination and courage and trustworthiness. Jesus was searching for men +who could be trusted to carry in their minds and lives the most precious +thing he had--his message to the world--so as he rowed out into the +fishing grounds of Lake Gennesaret that day, he was searching Peter's +face. It would take courage, for some of his followers would even have to +die for him. It would take determination, for there would be many things +against them. Yes, Jesus liked Peter as he watched him and talked to him. +Peter was one of the men for whom he was searching. + +Suddenly the net was full of fishes--so full that Peter and Andrew could +not manage it. Quickly they called to their partners, James and John, to +come and help them. And when Peter saw the multitude of fishes that were +in the net, he was overpowered with the greatness of the man who had +helped them. Quickly he fell on his knees before the Christ and said, +"Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." + +Then Jesus turned to Peter and with a whole world of meaning said, + +"Peter, it is a great multitude of fishes that you have caught, but you +can do greater things than that. You can do far greater things than catch +fish from the water. If you will come with me, I will teach you how to +catch men and you shall be my worker. I need you, Peter. Will you come?" + +Would he come? Peter, who had been longing to make his life worth while; +Peter, who had been longing to know what it was that made Jesus so +wonderful as he went among men. Would he go and let Jesus teach him? Would +he be a follower of the Master and go out in the big world to help win +men? + +A great happiness filled the mind of Peter and when he lifted his face to +the Christ, the answer to the question of the Teacher was written on it. + +So Jesus found a helper and Peter found a task that was worth while. + +"And when he had brought his boat to land, he gladly forsook all and +followed Christ." So well did he follow that we read in the Book of Acts +that after Peter had talked to the multitude on the day of Pentecost, +there were added to the church, at one time, three thousand persons who +believed the word that he had spoken to them. + + + + +WHY ELIZABETH WAS CHOSEN + + +The Triangle Club of Center High School were all busily engaged in +choosing the girls whom they should invite to go to the house party which +Mrs. Warren was giving them. Mrs. Warren had a cottage on a lake, fifteen +miles from the city, and she had written to the club saying that she +wanted them all to spend a week with George, her son, there in the camp. +And better still, she was ready to invite any ten girls whom they might +choose. Mrs. Warren was the wife of the minister, so all the boys knew +that the mothers of the girls would be glad to have them spend a week with +her at the dear little camp in the pines, about which they had heard so +much. + +One by one they had chosen the girls, each boy having a choice, and now +all that was left to be done was for Carl Green, their president, to +choose. But Carl was in an examination, so they must wait for him. + +"I think he will choose Charlotte Morey," said one. "She is so pretty and +Carl has taken her to several dances this winter." + +"Not a bit of it," said another. "He will ask Helen Keats, for she makes +such good marks in school that he is glad to be seen out with her. She is +fine company and I hope he asks her." + +"I think he will ask his sister, Jane. Carl is always thinking of her and +if she is at home, he will ask her first, I am sure," said a third. + +While they were talking, they saw the boy coming across the lawn in front +of the school. Every boy smiled and eagerly leaned forward to greet him, +for Carl Green was easily their hero. He could lead in sports of all +kinds, he was cheery and patient, he was a good student in school--he was +an all-round boy and what he did was right in the eyes of the boys. + +"Come on, Carl," they called. "Here is a letter from Mrs. Warren telling +us we can invite the girls up for the house party. Isn't she a dear to +think of it? We have chosen part of the girls and here is our list, but +you still have a choice. Of course we know whom you will choose, but we +thought we had better let you write the name. Come on! Hurry up." + +Carl took the list and looked carefully through it. Then he said, + +"That will be a fine party, fellows. I like that list. Let me see. That is +the last week in June, so Jane will be away. I'm sorry, for I should have +liked to have given her the fun. Well, as long as she can't go, I should +like to ask Elizabeth Wyman to go with us." + +A chorus of boys' voices sounded as soon as the name was spoken. + +"Elizabeth Wyman! Why do you want her? She doesn't go with our set. She +refused to go to the dance at the beach with us, though the whole club was +going. Said she didn't like the movie we were going to see. She wouldn't +vote for the Sunday picnic that we wanted. Oh, Carl, you don't want her. +She would spoil our fun. Choose another." + +Carl let the boys talk all they chose and then he said, + +"Fellows, if you insist, I will choose another, but I should prefer to +take Elizabeth. I'll be frank with you, I'm going to go with her if she +will let me and this would be a fine opportunity to get to know her." + +"If she will let you--that is a joke. As if any girl would not let you," +said John. + +"No," said Carl, "I mean what I say. I am going to be her friend if she +will let me. And I'll tell you why--though I am not sure that she would +want me to do it. Still she told me the story in a very frank way, so I +don't think she would mind. At least I hope not. But I want you to know +her in the way I do, for if she is my friend you will be often with her. +After I tell you, you will understand why I say, 'If she will let me.'" + + "It was the night of the snowstorm and I was coming up the street + when I caught up with her. It was very cold and she was snuggling + into a beautiful little neckpiece of ermine. I am fond of furs and so + I said to her, + + "'I like the little ermine that you have about your neck. It is so + simple, yet so beautiful. It is very different from the large ones + that most people wear these days.' + + "'Oh,' she said, 'I like it too. Uncle sent it to me this winter and + I love it because of the story he told me about the little animal + whose fur it is.' + + "'Tell me the story,' I said. + + "But she smiled and patted the fur as she said, 'I don't think I + could, for it is very personal. It was a message from Uncle to me, so + it means much to me. To you, it might not mean anything.' + + "'But I should like to hear it,' I said. 'Please tell it to me.' + + "'Well,' said Elizabeth, 'Uncle seems very queer to mother because he + wants a message to go with every gift, but I like it. When this came, + his letter said: + + "'"Girlie: I wonder if you wouldn't like to wear this bit of ermine. + When the ermine is pursued by a larger animal and it comes to a + puddle of mud, it will die before it will soil its coat. Wouldn't it + be wonderful if you and all the girls who are your friends would be + as careful of your characters and never, no never, do that which + would soil them?"' + + "We walked part of a block before we spoke after she had told me of + the gift, and then she said, 'I am sure that the girls at school + sometimes think me very particular because I will not do some of the + things that they do. Perhaps they are all right for them but I feel + that they would soil my coat, so I do not do them. I am trying to + keep it white and this little bit of ermine helps a lot. Of course, I + like to wear it, but it would be very uncomfortable if I did not try. + I hope you don't think me foolish, now that you know the story of the + fur.'" + +There was silence as Carl finished speaking. Then Carl Green threw back +the long locks from his forehead as he said, + +"I know a good thing when I see it, fellows, and the girl who would die +rather than soil her character is a mighty good friend for a boy to have. +She is worth asking to our house party. I'm thinking she is worth winning +for a friend. Good-by, I am going to ask her before any of you change the +name on your list." + +So Elizabeth Wyman went to the house party at Mrs. Warren's, and to this +day she wonders why the boys seemed so different from what they had seemed +before. But because she knew no difference, she was sure that it must have +been because she was invited by Carl Green, the leader of the Triangle +Club of Center High School. But you and I know better. + + + + +JANIE'S SCHOOL DAYS + + +Janie was sixteen years old, but she looked as though she might be only +thirteen as she sat on the front seat of the little schoolhouse far up on +the mountainside of Kentucky. Her black hair was plastered tightly to her +head. Her calico dress was much too long and the sleeves were much too +short. Mother had made it long so that she might wear it for several +years, while the sleeves were short so that she might have no excuse for +not getting her hands in the dish water. Her bare feet were very dirty but +her face shone from its recent scrubbing. + +This was a great day for Janie, for the missionary had once again come to +the schoolhouse. It had been three years since she was there before, and +all that time Janie had waited for her. So she had hurried with her work +in order that she might sit on the very front seat and hear every word. +Last time she had told much about the school many miles away and Janie had +said over and over to herself, "I shall go there; I shall go there." But +of course it was foolish to say so, for there wasn't any chance that she +ever could go. Why, there were seven brothers and sisters younger than +she, and she had to work all day long to help to get them enough to eat. +She could never go. + +But she listened eagerly as the missionary told of all that was being done +in the little schoolhouses all about the mountains and of the need of +teachers to do the work. + +"We like best to take a boy or girl from some hamlet and let them work +with us for several years and then send them back to their own homes to +serve there. I am wondering if there isn't a girl here who would like to +be the teacher here and help to make Round Creek what it ought to be. If +there is such a one, send them to us and we will do our best. If you will +pay $10 a term, we will do the rest." + +Janie's little body was leaning far forward and her eyes were big with +excitement. She knew a girl that would like to go. But $10 a term! Why, +one dollar seemed big in their home. So she crept out into the darkness of +the night without saying a word to any one about her great, big longing. +But up in the loft of the log house she lay long after the rest went to +sleep trying to think of a way. Auntie was coming to stay with them in the +fall. If she could just get the ten dollars by that time, maybe she could +be spared for a term. That would help a little, anyway. + +In the morning she loosened one of the boards of the woodshed. Beneath it +she placed a little tin can, and in the can she put the five pennies that +she owned. It was berry time and she thought she knew of a way to earn +some money that should be all her own. Near the mill, there were beautiful +pieces of bark. In the woods there were many rare ferns. She would make +some little baskets like she had made many times for the home, fill them +with ferns and try to sell them when she went into the town with the +berries. It meant getting up at four instead of five, but she could do +that. It meant getting the ferns when the rest of the children were +playing at lunch time--but that wasn't hard. And after her first day in +town she had fifty cents to put into the cup. Oh, how rich she felt! + +An extra quart of berries here and there, some flowers sold from her +little garden patch on the hill, two little kittens sold instead of being +drowned--and so the money in the cup grew very, very slowly and no one +dreamed it was there. But her dream grew with the contents of the cup. She +could see herself all dressed in a neat dress going up the hill to the +school and the little children following her and calling her teacher. + +But in August, George fell from the hay-mow and for days he lay there +white and still. Mother had done all she could and there was no money to +send for the doctor. Then it was that a little black-haired girl went out +in the shed and for the first time counted the money in the cup--one, two, +three, four, five, six, almost seven dollars. Long she looked at it. Then +she went into town to do the errand for her mother and five of the +precious dollars were counted into the hands of the doctor with the +repeated statement, + +"Tell mother that you happened to be going by and just stopped, so all she +needs to pay you is a dollar, for she has that." + +So mother never knew, nor did the sick boy know, of the sacrifice the girl +had made. Auntie came and went, and because it was winter the money in the +cup hardly increased one bit. Sometimes she was almost discouraged, but +then she would say to herself, + +"Why, it took years and years for Abraham Lincoln to get to the White +House. It doesn't matter if it takes twenty years. I am going to get to +that schoolhouse. I will be a teacher." + +She could crochet and she could embroider, so these helped a bit. She +planted more things in her own garden and the money from these was her +own. So again as the summer drew to a close, she knew there must be +several dollars in the cup--but she daren't count it, for if it should be +ten and still she couldn't go--oh, that would be worse than all! + +It was five days before school was to open that there came a letter from +grandmother saying that she was coming to stay for the winter, and while +mother was happy over this, Janie asked if she might not be spared to go +to school. At first there was a firm "No" for an answer. But she begged so +hard to be allowed to go for only one term that she saw signs of relenting +in her mother's face. Then she ran to get the cup--and in it was nearly +nine dollars. + +Where should she get the rest? Mother had none--yet she must have it. +There was only one way. She could sell Biddy, her pet hen whom she loved +so much. She would ask her brother to take her in the morning, for she +could never do it herself. So with tears in her eyes, she patted her pet +and put it into a box ready for the morning. Oh! ten dollars was such a +lot of money for a little girl to get! + +It was thirty miles to the school, so she had only one day to get ready. +But she had few clothes and so it was an easy matter. She put them neatly +in a bundle and with a queer feeling underneath the little red dress, now +too short instead of too long, she started bright and early to walk the +thirty miles to school. Many times she turned to look back at the little +log cabin till it was hidden from her sight by a turn in the road. Then +somehow she felt very much alone in the world. + +On and on she walked till at last, twenty miles from home, she came to the +home of an old neighbor and rested for the night. It was two in the +afternoon of the next day when she saw in the distance the large brick +building which she knew must be the school. She longed to run to it but +her feet were very sore and her body was very tired. So she trudged on +till she came to the office. + +"Please, Miss, I have come to school. I can only stay one term but I came +anyway and here is the money. The missionary lady said you would do the +rest," and she handed her the precious money. + +"And to whom did you write about entering?" said the lady kindly. + +"To nobody. You see I didn't know I could come till Tuesday," said Janie. + +"Well, I am so sorry," said the lady, "but you see we have all the girls +we can possibly take. So we can't have you this term. Perhaps you could +come next term if you leave your name now." + +The whole world seemed to fall from under Janie's feet. She was here, +thirty miles from home. She had all the money--she had sold dear old +Biddy--yet she could not stay. Not a word did she answer. She just stood +and stared into space. + +"I am very tired for I have walked thirty miles to get here. May I stay +just for to-night?" she asked, rolling the ten dollars carefully in her +big handkerchief. + +"School doesn't open till to-morrow but we will tuck you in somewhere for +to-night. I am so sorry for you, but we just haven't a bit of room after +to-morrow. Sit down on the porch and rest yourself," said the lady. + +She brought her a glass of milk and then left her alone with her thoughts. +How could she go home? Perhaps there would never come a time when she +could be spared again. Was there no way in which she could stay? + +Ten minutes later, a little girl in a short red calico dress went down the +steps and along the street, looking for a doctor's sign. When she found +it, she rang the bell and asked for the doctor. + +"Please, sir," she said, "I thought you might know some one who wanted a +girl to work for them. I want to go to school this term and I have earned +the money to come. And now that I am here, there is no place for me and I +must walk the thirty miles back. But I am willing to work. I will work for +nothing if only I can go to the school in the afternoon. Sir, I just must +be a teacher and I just must stay now and get started." + +The doctor whistled a little tune before he answered. "And tell me how you +earned the money to come." Then he whistled another tune as she talked. +"Stay here to-night," he said. "I will find out at the school just how +much they will let you come in the afternoons. I am sure you can find work +enough, so don't worry." + +And sure enough, he found a place for her and so she started with the rest +on the very first morning. She was radiantly happy till she heard a boy +say, + +"Look at the red dress that is coming in! Better loan her a red +handkerchief to piece it down with." + +Then she knew that she was different from the rest. Her shoes were coarse +and rough. Her hair looked, oh, so different. Her hands were red and big. +She was here where she had longed to come but oh, how unhappy she was! She +was almost ready to cry. Instead she shook her head proudly and said to +herself, "I will be a teacher. What do I care if they laugh?" + +The lessons were very hard, for her preparation was not good; every minute +that she could spare she must spend on getting ready for the next day, so +she had little time to be lonely. But she still minded the fact that her +clothes were so very different. Many a good cry she had in the quiet of +her little room as she looked at the red dress laid out for the coming +day. + +The term sped by and she was making good. Oh, if she could only stay! But +she had no money except the little that the good doctor had given her now +and then for doing errands for him. She could take her books home and +perhaps she could do it all by herself. + +So she waited till almost the last day before she told the woman for whom +she worked that she was leaving. + +"Why, girlie," she answered, "you have much more than ten dollars coming +from me. I have never paid you because the doctor told me you would ask +for it if you needed it. I will give it to you and then you can go and pay +your ten dollars. I wouldn't have you go home for anything." + +Clasping her precious money in her hand, she flew up the stairs. Here was +a letter from her brother also. What a happy day! Eagerly she opened it +and read, + +"Mother is counting on your coming home for we need your help badly. The +cow has died and we are without milk till we can get another. Mother +thinks she must spare you at home and let you work out to earn money." + +Oh! Oh! She was needed! She must take the money she had earned to help to +buy a cow and again she must forget school. So she went again to her +mistress, told her story and began to prepare for the long walk. She went +to the school, borrowed the books, and promised them she would surely come +again. Then she went again to the old doctor who had been so kind to her. + +He listened thoughtfully as she told him of her new plans which still had +not changed her vision of being a teacher. + +"I will come back, even though it be after four or five years. I will +come," she said, and she rose to go. + +Then the doctor turned to his desk and took from it the picture of a +girl. + +"That was my little girl," he said. "She, too, wanted to be a teacher and +she was in this very school when sickness and death came. When you came to +me that first morning and said, 'I just must be a teacher,' I could hear +her say to me, 'Help her.' So I did what you asked me to do--got you a +place to work for nothing though I knew you were to be paid. I have +watched you work, I have watched you suffer because of the red dress; I +have watched you try to do your duty at the sacrifice of yourself. And now +that you have done all that you can, I am ready to do the rest. Send the +money that you have earned to your mother to help to buy the cow. Come to +live here and be my office girl. The money that you earn can go to your +mother for I will do for you what I would have done for her and I will do +it for her sake and because you have shown me that you are worth while. +You _shall_ be a teacher." + +So Janie lived in the home of her new friend. There was help on her +lessons, the old red dress went back to the little home in the hills to be +worn by some one whom it would fit and in her new, pretty things she could +see more plainly--Janie, the teacher. + + + + +SELF-MADE MEN + + +The banqueting hall of Hotel Northland was crowded to its limit. There +were noted men and women from all walks of life. There were many from +humble homes. There were those whose beautiful dresses showed that money +meant little to them; there were others to whom the price of the banquet +ticket had meant sacrifice. It was a merry company that awaited the coming +of the guests of the evening. + +Cheer after cheer arose when the tall, fine-looking young man took his +seat near the center of the guest's table. He was the newly elected mayor +of the city--the youngest mayor they had ever had. He had risen from the +ranks and many of the humbler folk knew him well as a boy. Oh, how proud +they were of him! + +Then again the cheers sounded as an old white-haired lady entered and was +placed at the left of the mayor. She it was who had given them their +college, their library, their playground. For years and years she had been +living away from the town, but still she loved them all and gave of her +wealth to make them happy. Her friends were many in the great banqueting +hall. + +The supper was served and the tables cleared and then the mayor rose to +speak. He told of his boyhood, of his struggles at school and college, of +his eagerness to enter the political field, of his happiness at his recent +election. + +"I believe that every man is master of his own fate. I believe in being a +self-made man and I mean during these next years when I am to serve you to +make it possible for every boy to push his way to a career. One can make +himself what he will if only he has grit and courage. I am here to serve +you all," he said. + +Not once during the address had the eyes of the little, white-haired lady +been taken from the speaker. She seemed studying him rather than his +address. So intent was she that she hardly heard the toastmaster +introducing her as the friend whom all delighted to honor. Dreamily she +arose and said, + +"Years and years ago, in this very town there lived a teacher who had ten +bright, happy girls in a club. For four years they had played and worked +together and they loved each other dearly. Then the husband of the teacher +was taken ill and it became necessary for the teacher to go to another +continent to live. + +"How hard it was for the girls to have her go! But it was harder still for +her, for she had wanted to help them through to womanhood. She had tried +to help them to see the best but often she had felt that her efforts were +all too small. The day came nearer for her to leave and she had asked the +girls to spend the last evening with her in her home. + +"And they came, each bringing in their hands a little letter, sealed +tightly. They were steamer letters for their teacher and they had been +written because they had heard her say that she wished she could take with +her some idea as to what the girls wanted to be when they had grown, so +that she might be thinking of their plans, even though she could not be +there to help with them. One by one they laid them on the table till there +were ten little letters--heart-to-heart letters to their dear friend. + +"Five days later, away out in mid-ocean, the teacher opened the letters +and read them over and over to herself. How much they told of the girls! + +"Jennie wanted to be a great singer; she wanted to go to New York and +study and then go into Grand Opera. + +"Katherine wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher. Ah! she had found that +because of helping in the church. + +"Mary wanted to be a lawyer--a criminal lawyer. Perhaps that desire had +grown in their debating club. + +"Louise wanted to be a nurse. What a dear faithful girl she had been in +helping with the bandages after the great fire in the city! + +"So one by one she read their letters and her heart was filled with +gratitude that to her it had been given to mold in a little way their +lives." + +Then turning to the mayor of the city, the little white-haired lady said, + +"Sir, the contents of one of those letters will be of interest to you more +than to the rest. I was the teacher of those girls, so I can give you the +exact wording of the last letter that I read, + +"'Dear friend: You have asked us to give you our dearest wish. I have many +wishes for the future but the wish that I want most of all is to be a fine +woman and some day to be a real mother, the kind you have so often told us +about.' + +"The girl who wrote that letter, sir, became your mother. Fourteen years +before you were born, your character was being formed, your ideals were +being molded, your future was being safeguarded. I congratulate you, sir, +on being elected to the office of mayor; but I congratulate you more for +being the child of my little girl of the long ago who at sixteen could +write, 'I want most of all to be a fine, noble woman and some day to be a +real mother.' To her you owe much. Inspire the girls of the town if you +plan for great men. A self-made man needs a real mother to build the +foundations of his character. There is no other way." + +Then the speaker sat down and there was silence in the banqueting hall. + + + + +ON THE ROAD TO WOMANHOOD + + +In their hands the girls carried a scroll; on their backs they carried a +bundle, and they were five in number--five girls with rosy cheeks and +healthy bodies. But now their cheeks were browned by the sun and their +shoulders drooped as they walked by the way. + +For they had walked and walked and walked as the morning had turned into +noon, and now the afternoon shadows were already falling on the way. Then +as the search seemed almost useless, they saw her--the one for whom they +had come; the one into whose hands they wished to place their scrolls. +Eagerly they watched her as she came slowly toward them dressed in shining +white--the Angel Who Rights Things. + +When she smiled, they found courage to speak. + +"We have come to search for you but we thought we should never find you," +said the oldest of the girls. "We can never grow strong and beautiful if +we carry these heavy burdens on our backs. They are much too large for us +and we do not like them. We have come to ask you to take them away and +make us free. Lo! we have written it all here in our scrolls." + +But the Fairy Who Rights Things drew back as the five handed to her the +scrolls which they carried. + +"Take away the burdens!" said she. "Oh, no, I could never do that. He that +carrieth no burden gaineth no strength. All must carry if they would +grow." + +"But we do not like them. If we must have a burden, might we not exchange +them? Surely all our friends do not have burdens to carry. We have +watched them and we know they have none," said another girl. + +"You are quite mistaken," said the fairy. "All have burdens to carry. But +I can let you choose if you will exchange your own. Let me see what you +have brought." + +"Well," said the first. "Here is mine. I have to go to school. Now father +has plenty of money and I shall never have to work. Why should I study and +do all the hard work of the school? I hate it all and I want to be free +from it. I want to live at home and read, and play, and do as I like." + +"And here is mine," said the second, lifting it from her back. "I have to +go to church every Sunday when I want to sleep. There is nothing there for +me and I am so tired of it. But father and mother insist that I go, at +least in the morning. I want to be free from the church." + +"Oh," said the third. "I don't mind school and I don't mind going to +church but I do mind having to help at home. It is iron and sweep and wash +dishes; then wash dishes and sweep and iron. Always something to do when I +am in the house. I hate housework and I want to be free from doing it. +Mother says all girls should help at home. But it is a big burden." + +"My burden is quite different from the others," said the fourth. "I cannot +dress as I choose. I must wear heavy clothes and low heels. I must dress +my hair as if I were old and tidy. All the girls do differently and I want +to be like them. Really my burden makes me very unhappy. Please let me +change it." + +Then the fairy turned to the last girl, who had been resting her burden +against a stone wall. + +"What have you here, dear?" she said kindly. "Your burden seems weighing +you down. Let me help you open it." + +"Oh dear," said the girl, and the big tears welled up in her eyes. "This +is my home life. Nobody seems to understand me. They scold and fret and +fuss all the time. Mother is cross and the children are always bothering +me. I want to go away from home and work for my living and then board as +the other girls do. I should love to have a little room in a +boarding-house where the girls could come to see me. My burden grows +heavier and heavier and I am also very unhappy." + +"Well, well, well," said the Fairy Who Rights Things. "It looks as if I +had a big task. All of you seem to be unhappy, but then we are usually +unhappy because we look at ourselves instead of others. Let's try what +these magic spectacles can do. They will show you the burdens some of your +friends carry and also show you how they carry them." + +Then she fitted a pair to the eyes of each girl and they looked at the +passers-by. + +There was Kate, who was always smiling and happy. Her burden was almost as +large as she. There was a sick mother away back on the little farm in the +country. Kate was trying to support her and still have enough to keep her +own expenses paid. Her days were full of work. In her room, she was sewing +to make extra money. She was very lonely, for she loved the little mother +and longed to be with her, but she must earn money. Oh! what a pile of +worries she had on every side! How could she ever carry them? But beneath +the pile as it rested on her back they saw a little lever that was lifting +all the time--and the lever was _Love_. + +And here was May. They had money and automobiles and everything to make +her happy. She had never seemed to have any burden but now she was +carrying a very large one. She wanted to go to college, she wanted to make +her life worth while, but her parents wanted her to stay at home and play +the hours away. They would not let her go and as the months went by she +longed more and more to study and serve. Did she have a lever to help +carry hers? Indeed she did. It was right under the burden and it was +called _Vision_. + +Then there was Tom, the baseball star. He too carried a burden. They had +never known that he had a father. But he carried the burden of a father +who drank and drank. Oh, what a shame to take him through the streets in +such a helpless condition! Did Tom have a lever? All looked eagerly to see +and they saw _Ideals_--he would have a spotless character and retrieve the +family name. + +And there was Helen. Her people used profane language and she loved the +pure. They loved the world and she loved the ideals of the church. They +made fun of her faith and tried to change it. How heavily she was loaded, +yet they had never dreamed of it when they had seen her teaching her +little class in the Church School. But _Belief in God_ was helping her to +carry her load. + +So they passed along the way before the five girls. All were carrying +something but not all were carrying their load alike. Some smiled, and +some sang as they staggered beneath a heavy load; others groaned and +fretted with the weight of a much lighter one. Some were not only carrying +their own load but helping to carry others. + +"And now," said the Angel Who Rights Things, "do you see a load that you +would prefer? If so, then I will ask the bearer to exchange with you. Will +you choose by the size of the burden or the ease with which it is +carried?" + +But though they searched long and diligently, they found no load easier +than their own. + +At last one turned to the Angel and said, "We find no one to choose. And +since we must carry a burden, will you tell us how best we may carry +these?" + +Then the face of the Angel lighted with pleasure till it glowed like the +sun. "When one asks _how_ to carry and not _why_ he must carry, already +the load is lighter," she replied. "If you will, your school can give to +you a vision that will make your load seem very easy; your church can give +to you a love that will make you eager to go there and learn to serve; +your home cares can give you ideals for your own little home some day; +your mother can show you how to grow into beautiful womanhood if you will +but give her a chance; your troubles at home can give to you a sympathy +that will not only lift your own burden but help with those of others. All +these levers that you have seen helping to lift loads have been right at +your hand to help you if you would only have given them an opportunity. + +"How shall you bear your burdens? With a smile on your face, and love in +your heart, and any _lifter_ that you can find." + +Then the Angel Who Rights Things went on her way to find others who +groaned beneath their burdens because they had never learned how to carry +them. + + + + +HER PRAYER + + +Every time the King automobile went past the little home of Julia Lowe +when Julia was there, she ran eagerly to look into the face of the lady +who sat inside. She had such beautiful clothes; she sat so tall and +stately; she had such a wonderful smile. She was Julia Lowe's ideal +woman. + +Julia had gone with two other girls to ask Mrs. King to help them with +their Liberty Loans and she had not only taken bonds but had given them +flowers from the great garden back of the house, and had invited them to +come again. Every time she saw her go by, Julia wished she, too, might +have such a sweet face and such a heap of good things as Mrs. King had. + +Now Julia worked in an office downtown, so, of course she thought she had +to act and to do as the other girls in the office did. When they wore +their hair very straight, hers was straight also; but when they wore +puffs, she had to get up much earlier in the morning to force her pretty +hair into great puffs over her ears. Mother wanted her to wear serge +dresses in the office, but the other girls wore georgette waists, so of +course she had to wear them also. Some of the girls in the neighborhood +liked to go to the library to read, so they had formed a club for that +purpose and had asked Julia to join. But the girls in the office liked to +go to dances and picture shows, and so she must go to them also--else how +could she talk things over with them at the noon hour, and tell them of +the boys she had been with, and the places where she had gone? Oh, yes, +she just must do as the girls in the office did. But in spite of it all, +she wasn't very happy and sometimes she wished she could run away from it +all and just go back to school again as her mother had wanted her to do. + +When she looked at Mrs. King, somehow her beautiful face seemed to make +her want more than ever to do better. What was there about her that made +Julia love her at a distance and yet be afraid of her when she came near +her? Julia didn't know. But she did know that deep in her heart she wanted +to be like her and didn't know how. If only she had money and beautiful +things, perhaps it would be different. + +One day when the leaves were very beautiful in their fall colors, a dainty +little note was left by the postman for Julia and it read, + + "Dear Julia: + + "I hardly know you but I am going to ask a great favor of you. Mr. + King has been called out of town and he is not willing to have me + stay in the house all alone, for it is very big and lonely since Mary + died. I wish very much that you would let me call for you at the + office this afternoon. Then we will go out in the country to see the + beautiful colors and have our supper at the Country Club. Then, when + we come home in the moonlight, I should like to have you spend the + night with me here. I shall hope that you can come. + + "Sincerely, + + "Margaret L. King." + +Julia was so happy as she read it that she could hardly contain +herself--to go for a ride in the wonderful car; to eat at the Country +Club; to sleep at the home of Mrs. King--why, she had never even dared to +dream of such a thing. It was too good to be true. + +Of course she must look her very best, so she asked for an extra half hour +at noon. She would wear her new thin waist with the very low neck, for the +girls had told her that she looked "too sweet for anything" in that. Her +silk skirt was shabby but it would never do to wear her serge, even if it +were new, when she rode with Mrs. King. As she put on the high-heeled +slippers, she noticed that they were much run over, but they would have to +do. It took her a long, long time to fix her hair just as she wanted to +have it, for one dip must just touch the next at the right angle. + +Finally all was ready but the extra touches to her face. There was the +rouge for which she had spent so much money. The boss at the office had +told them that they would lose their job if they came with it on their +faces again but she must risk it this once. A little penciling of the +eyebrows, a little powder here and there, and Julia felt very sure as she +looked at herself in the glass that she would "do." + +Her shoes needed brushing but she hadn't time for them, for, even now, she +had only time to run as fast as she could to get the car which would bring +her to the office in time. There was a button off her coat which she had +forgotten, but the coat needn't be worn; her fingernails needed attention, +but she never cared much about them. As long as her face, and her hair, +and her clothes were all in style, she was all right to go anywhere. + +Promptly at five, the King car came to the door of the factory and Julia +stepped in, followed by the envious glances of her friends in the office. +What a ride it was through the open country! Miles and miles of beauty +such as Julia had never seen. Mrs. King found so many interesting things +for her to see that all the restraint wore away, and she found herself +talking to her friend and telling her all about her own life and +pleasures. + +Then Mrs. King told her a little about what she did with her time and, to +her surprise, Julia found that Mrs. King was a very busy woman. Over and +over as they talked, Julia noticed how soft and sweet Mrs. King's voice +was and how carefully she used the best of English. And again, Julia found +herself wishing she were like Mrs. King. Somehow she did not care to use +the slang words that seemed so necessary when she talked with the girls. + +When their coats were removed at the Country Club, Julia found that Mrs. +King was very simply dressed in a dark blue serge dress with little white +collar and cuffs. Many other girls and women in the group were dressed in +the same way. Then Julia became suddenly conscious of the run-over heels +and the torn skirt, for she and Mrs. King were in the center of the room, +and she was being introduced as "My friend Julia." How she did wish she +had taken mother's advice and worn the new, pretty serge! + +In one of the corners of the dining-room there was a little table for two +that overlooked the lake, and towards this Mrs. King made her way. Here +they could see every one and yet be quite alone. Then Mrs. King told her a +little of the people in the room. Here was the wife of a noted judge; that +was the High School teacher of whom she must have heard the girls speak if +they had ever been to that school. + +"And who are these two girls in front of us?" asked Julia. "Isn't the +dark-haired one a beauty? Evidently the young man with her thinks so, +too." + +Then Mrs. King's face grew quiet as she said, + +"Those are two girls of whom we are very fond here, but I am so sorry to +see Jessie doing as she is. No, Julia, she is not pretty. She has painted +her face and all her natural beauty is hidden. Usually she is very +attractive. Her friend's face is sweet and clean. Evidently she does not +care to attract attention to herself by the use of paint and rouge. She +believes in being true to her best self even though she is not in the +height of style. When you have lived longer, you will know, dear, the +truth of what I say." + +Poor Julia. Her face burned like fire. Mrs. King had said "My friend +Julia," yet she, too, had paint on her face--not red like the girl in +front, to be sure, but it was there. Why had no one told her before? All +the girls did it and she thought it was the thing to do. Then there came +to her an impulse to ask Mrs. King about it, so she said frankly, + +"Mrs. King, I have some paint on my face, too, but I put it on because I +was coming out with you. I thought you would like to have me look my very +best." + +"Indeed I do, girlie," said Mrs. King, putting her hand on the hand of the +girl opposite her. "Indeed I do want you to look your best. I have liked +you ever since I came to Hillcrest to live and it has hurt me to see you +trying to do as all the other girls did. I have wished so often that you +would be a leader in doing the finer things and help others to see what +real beauty is and how to get it. Real beauty is not put on from the +outside; it grows from within." + +Julia looked at Mrs. King's sweet, loving face very hard for a minute and +then said, + +"I have liked you, too, and I have watched you go back and forth, wishing +I could be like you. Will you show me how? Mother has tried but I thought +she did not know. No one else has ever tried to tell me about your kind of +beauty." + +So they made the compact. Then they sat and watched for well-dressed +women; for women in whose faces there was strength of character and +purpose; for girls whose very manner showed they were ladies; for men who +honored the girls in whose company they were. Such fun as it was! Julia +never knew the time to go so fast. It was so plain now that clothes did +not necessarily make the lady. She was almost sorry when it came time to +go home. + +In the house, a great fire was burning and it looked so cozy. + +"I have looked into your windows many times as I have passed and wished I +could sit before the fire and dream and dream," said the girl. "May I sit +down here for a while?" + +"We will both sit here," said Mrs. King, "then I will tell you about my +little girl who used to sit here with me." + +How Julia's heart ached for her friend as she told her of her love for her +own dear girl, of the plans they had made, of the sudden sickness and +death, and of the loneliness of the big house since she had gone! She had +thought Mrs. King had everything to make her happy, yet the thing she +wanted most she could not have. + +"Her hair was much like yours and sometimes, as you have passed, I have +wished I could comb yours as I did hers. Would you mind if I did?" said +the mother. + +"I should love to have you," said Julia. + +"Well, then, when the fire has died out, we will go up to her room. In the +drawer there I have a little white dress that perhaps you would like. I +will comb your hair just as I did hers and see if the dress will fit you," +said Mrs. King. "If you look sweet and girlish in it, I will give it to +you." + +While Mrs. King slipped away to get the things needed for the +hairdressing, Julia went to the great white bathroom, and when she came +out her face was sweet and clean and every trace of the paint and powder +was gone. Her pretty brown hair was down her back in ringlets and her +face wore a look which the girls at the office had never seen there. + +Then Mrs. King brushed, and brushed, and brushed till the hair was soft +and shiny. Low in her neck she coiled it, making it look girlish and neat, +fastening it with a tiny velvet circlet. Then Julia held her breath as +Mrs. King took from a drawer a little white dress. It was a simple silk +mull but it was prettily made. Below it was a dainty petticoat and at the +bottom of the drawer were white oxfords and fine, lisle stockings. + +"These were ready for her graduation, dear, but she never wore them once +after they were made," said the mother softly, as she fingered the dress +lovingly. + +There were tears in the eyes of the mother and tears in the eyes of the +girl as the dress was put on. And when Julia looked into the mirror she +seemed to see a strange girl. How little she looked like the girls in the +office! But she liked her hair--and she liked the looks of her face--and +she loved the simple, white dress. + +Last of all Mrs. King slipped about her neck a little string of pearls. +"These are my gift to you, Julia," she said. "Wear them when you think you +are dressed as you and I have planned to-night and be as beautiful as the +pearls. Remember, dear, we may put beautiful things on the outside but +they can never make us beautiful. It comes from the inside because of what +we are. It stands the test of study. It is always real. A girl who does +not live up to the best she knows can well be called a coward. Good night, +dear, I am glad there is a girlie who loves me." + +Then with a good-night kiss she was gone--gone, as Julia knew, to be more +than ever lonely for her own little girl. + +For a long time Julia stood looking at the dress, and the slippers, and +the stockings. Mrs. King had plenty of money, yet these were to have been +her daughter's graduation clothes. And she had not finished school because +she could not have clothes like the rest of the girls who were to have +expensive ones. Mrs. King was honored all through the city, yet she was +dressed in a simple serge dress at the Country Club. It was all very +strange! Some one had things very much mixed up concerning what a girl +should wear. How long it seemed since she had left the office in the +afternoon! + +The room was so dainty that it took Julia a long time to get ready for +bed. How she would love to have a room like this! Maybe it would be easy +to be good. She looked at the dress again, as she laid it carefully over +the chair. It was all hers. The girls would laugh at her but she loved it. +Then she lifted the little string of pearls--not cheap, big ones such as +she had worn on Sunday, but dainty, beautiful ones, and they whispered +again to her, + +"Be as beautiful as the beads, girlie. True beauty is never put on from +the outside. It comes from inside because of what you are." + +Long she stood in the moonlight near the window looking at them. Then she +dropped on her knees and said, + +"Dear God, she has shown me the best. Help me not to be a coward as I go +out and try to do it. Help me to be as beautiful as the pearls. I thank +Thee for to-day. I want to show others what real beauty is and how to get +it. Please help me." + +And the Father heard the prayer of the girl kneeling there in her white +night-gown, for it came from a sincere heart--and He answered. + + + + +THE BEST DAY + +By Mrs. Annie G. Freeman + + +One sunny summer afternoon Margaret sat reading beneath the shade of an +old apple tree. Before her stretched a charming view but on her face was a +troubled, dissatisfied look. + +"Oh, dear," she sighed. "Even this book is stupid. It is the dullest, most +stupid day that I ever saw." + +"Stupid day?" said a tiny voice. There on the rock before her sat the +daintiest little golden-haired fairy that she had ever seen. The fairy's +feet were resting on a woodbine vine that was creeping up the wall, and +her wings were as delicate as those of a butterfly. + +"What makes such a bright day as this stupid?" + +"Oh, I suppose it is myself," said the discontented girl. + +"I believe it is," said the fairy. "Now I will take you with me to the +Palace of Time and you shall choose a day that suits you better. Come." + +Over green meadows, through pleasant pastures, beside babbling brooks that +sparkled and played in the sunshine, the fairy led. At last they came to +the Palace of Time. The fairy led the way up the long hall to the throne +on which Time sat, and told her errand. + +"Take the little friend to the Hall of Days," he said, "and give her the +day that pleases her best." + +How delighted the maiden was! Wouldn't you be if a fairy should take you +out of a stupid day and promise you the day that pleased you most? She +just skipped along, her feet scarcely touching the ground in her joy. In +a great room filled with all kinds of bright lights, they stopped. + +"This is the Hall of Days," said the fairy. "Take whichever day pleases +you most." + +Like great balls of glass the days were of many colors and of many kinds. +Some were dark and some were light; some were dim and others clear. + +One was like a crystal and the odor of roses seemed to come from it. Its +colors were soft and Margaret gazed deep into it. Vague dreams seemed to +come from it and memories happy and delightful. But she couldn't live on +dreams and memories. That wouldn't do. She might like that sort of a day +once in a while but her young life demanded something to do on the best +day. This was a day that had gone. + +One other day pleased her much. It shone like the sun on the new fallen +snow. It was so white and so pure that she lifted it carefully lest she +should soil and spot it. + +"It is too bright. It hurts my eyes," said she, putting it back. + +"Yes, little girl," said the fairy. "That is to-morrow. It must be shaded +by many things before one can bear it." + +Then, just between the two, Margaret spied the most beautiful ball of all. +It wavered and shimmered; now it was red, now green, now yellow and now +pink. Oh, there were so many colors that she could not name them all. Wave +upon wave of color swept through it and all seemed shot with the golden +lights. + +"That is the one that I want," she cried happily. "That is the most +beautiful day of all." + +"Take it, then," said the fairy. "It is yours." + +All the way home, the maiden clasped it tightly. + +"With this day," she said, "I can be joyful. With this day I can make so +many people happy, and it is so bright that I can see the best way in +which to go. It is as light as a feather. I can hardly wait to show my +friends the beautiful day that I have chosen, for I love it dearly." + +"Yes, indeed," said the fairy, as she flew off in a different direction. +"It is a wonderful day. Infinite wisdom and love helped you to choose +aright. That is To-day." + +"What a beautiful day!" said the maiden as she sat in the shade of the old +apple tree. "I believe I have been dreaming. But this is too beautiful a +day to idle it away. I will go and do something for some one to make +others see its beauty also." + + + + +IN THE WAY + + +Gladys Mercer sat looking at a snapshot which had come to her from one of +her girl friends. It showed a strong, athletic woman with a blanket rolled +over her back hiking along the road and with her six girls in middies and +bloomers. And as Gladys looked at the picture, she smiled at the memories +which it brought. + +There was the long hike, the tired muscles, the view from the mountaintop, +the wonderful sunset, the stillness of the night and the fear of the dark. +Then there was the voice of the woman in the picture, + +"Girls, you are safer here than in any house you could find. Just remember +that God is over all and sleep as sound as can be." + +Then there was the sunrise, the pancake breakfast on the hill, and the +hike home. Best of all there had been two long days with Mrs. Fuller, the +friend of girls. What a good visit they had had with her! What a fine +story she had told them at the sunset! What a helpful prayer she had made +as they closed their good-night song when the sun went down! + +And then from the thought of the trip, Gladys went to the thought of all +that Mrs. Fuller had meant to her. She was sunny; she was happy in her +work through the day, and happy to give her time to them at night; she was +always ready to advise and help; she seemed to know just what to do when +they did not know; somehow she could always get them to do the thing they +had thought they would not do. She was to Gladys, the motherless girl, a +friend, a companion, a leader and a heroine. + +What was there about her that made her able to lead? Was it her smile? Was +it her ability to do things? What made a leader anyway? + +Gladys leaned far back against the old tree under which she had been +sitting and said to herself, "I wish--I wish----" + +"And what do you wish," said a little voice, and there close to her was a +dear little lady dressed in red and in her hand she carried a lamp. + +"Who are you?" said Gladys. + +"I am the Fairy of Helpful Service," said the little lady. "I heard you +talking about one of my helpers, so I was interested to know what you +wished when you thought of all she had done for you girls. Now tell me. +What do you wish?" + +"If you are a fairy, perhaps you can give me my wish. I wish to be like +Mrs. Fuller. I want to help girls. I want to get the kind of letters she +gets from girls who are far away. I want to see 'my girls' some day giving +service all over the world as she does. I want to be like her. Please, +fairy, give me my wish." + +"I can't make you like her but I can put you in the way of service and +then, if you choose, you can become like her and get the things you are +asking for. Those things are not given--they are earned, and the cost of +them is heavy. I don't really think you mean what you say, for you haven't +even wanted to go to school to learn to help. Perhaps the best way would +be to let you see _her_ in the way and then you can choose for yourself +whether you want your gift. Come and we will watch her climb the way." + +So the Fairy of Helpful Service and the girl who wanted to be a leader +went together into the House of the Past. + +"There," said the fairy, "there is Mrs. Fuller as a little girl. We will +watch her grow and you may see where she earned some of the qualities +which you admire in her." + +There she was, a mischievous little girl of ten, as happy as the day was +long. + +"Here she is laying the foundation for health," said the fairy, "with long +hours of sleep and good food and plenty of play. One begins away back in +girlhood to be a leader. Some who would have been good helpers for me +cannot serve because they did not begin early enough to get ready." + +Then as the little girl played there came into the way a black, black +cloud. Gladys shuddered as it came nearer and nearer to the little girl +and finally enveloped her. It was death--the death of her father, but +after the cloud had passed and the sunshine had come again, the fairy +said, + +"See, her shoulders are broader. She has learned what loneliness means." + +On she went and then she was going to High School. Others had clothes that +she did not have. She must hurry to finish because there was no father in +the home. So, eagerly she pushed through the High School. + +Just here Gladys saw a hand reached out to help and heard a voice saying +to the girl, "Of course it will be hard but you can go to college if you +really want to go. It will do you good to sacrifice for it." 'Twas the +Master of the school who was helping her to keep in the way. + +"Can you see her grow?" said the fairy. "She has added concentration, an +appreciation of the girl who has little and who must be with girls who +have much, and now she has been given a vision." + +Then Gladys watched her toil through college, earning her way, often +overtired and worried as to where the means to go on were to come from. +But she pushed ahead. + +"Oh," said Gladys, "how hard she works! I could never do that. I am sorry +for her." + +"You needn't be," said the fairy. "You need never be sorry for those that +sacrifice for an ideal. Be sorry for those who have none and so who live +at ease." And they watched her struggle through temptation and toil to the +graduation day. + +As the college days passed, there came strength of purpose, but there came +also the desire to serve. Gladys watched her lead the little group of +dirty street boys in the slums. + +"How can she do it?" said Gladys. "They are so dirty and so rough." + +But the fairy said, "When one wants to serve, she looks at the heart and +the life--not at the clothes and the actions. The boys are helping her to +keep in the way." + +And after college there were happy days. Days of love and comradeship, +days of work for the fairy; days when opportunity was everywhere. And in +these days of happiness there came lessons of sharing, of winning, of +filling the life with sunshine. The path was so bright that it dazzled. + +Suddenly, Gladys looked ahead in the path. "Look," she said to the fairy. +"Look, oh, how black it is! Oh, I am sorry." + +Then the storm descended and all was black in the way--oh, so black and to +move took all of one's strength. Against it she struggled, but it seemed +as though she must surely be driven from the path. Death and loneliness +and worries seemed overpowering. + +But the storm passed and, when once again there was peace, a great +strength had come in its place, for there was sympathy for others who +suffered, there was an appreciation of the value of friendship, and there +was a knowledge that God helps. + +Little by little the road widened, though often it was lonely and hard. +There were many steep places but each added something. And then Gladys saw +the picture change. + +There was Mrs. Fuller with her girls and she was leading them by the hand. +But it was by no means easy. Some held back; some chose to play by the +way; some looked longingly at the things by the wayside that would harm. +But her one hand reached up and her other hand helped them ahead as she +tried to keep them in the way. + +As the picture faded, Gladys turned to the fairy. "I thought it had been +all sunshine but now I see how hard it has been to learn to understand and +to help. I love her better than I did before, now that I have seen her in +the way. Thank you, fairy." + +"But wait," said the fairy. "You asked me for a gift. Do you still want +it? Do you still want to follow her?" + +"To follow means study, and sacrifice, and temptations conquered, and +sympathy, and all sorts of hard things, doesn't it? I never thought about +it. But I love Mrs. Fuller and I still want to lead girls--I still want +the letters and I still want to be like her. Please, Fairy of Good Works, +put me in the way and I will go back to school and begin to get ready." + +Then the little lady smiled as she waved her wand over the head of the +girl. "Your life may be much more sunny than hers, dear. Not all must have +the same things to overcome. But whatever you meet in the way, you must +struggle against it and come out stronger because you have struggled. Can +you see away off there in the distance the hands of girls--oh, so many of +them--eagerly reached out for help? They are 'your girls.' And here is the +way. Above there is one who helps and I am here though you may not see +me. Push forward or the girls will have no helper. Good-by and good luck +to you." + +But as Gladys reached out to detain her, her hat fell to the ground and +she found herself sitting against the tree. In her hand was the picture of +Mrs. Fuller and her girls. Long she looked at the picture. Then she said +to herself, + +"I never knew the way was so long or so hard to be like you but if just +one girl can love me some day as I love you, then I shall be glad I have +walked in the way. I am ready to try and I hope I can win." + + + + +AN OLD, OLD STORY + + +It was a dark and rainy day when about the inn-fire, close to the great +caravan way that led through Canaan, in the land of Palestine, a group of +camel-drivers and travelers were gathered. They looked very different from +what they do to-day, for nearly four thousand years have passed since +then. But they were all huddled together listening to stories and songs. + +In the group there were men from Egypt; there were men from Babylon, the +great city far to the East; there were men from the land of Canaan; and +then there were some wandering nomads who had lately come from the East +and so were called by the Canaanites "Hebrews," which means, "People from +the Other Side." Most of these men were shepherds, but they loved to meet +with the camel-drivers and learn of the customs and habits of the people +of other lands. 'Twas a strange group of men sitting about the little +fire. + +In those days, as now, men loved to tell stories that had come down to +them from their fathers and grandfathers, and often they found that a +story from Egypt was but little different from one that had been told in +Babylonia. So they loved to listen to the story-tellers. + +But on this day it had rained and rained till the streams were full and +the way was very hard to go. Thus there were very many men in the inn. +'Twas the turn of the Babylonian, so he began, + +"I will tell you one of the very oldest of our stories--about a great +rain-storm. + + "Years and years and years ago the Gods in heaven began to fear that + the men of the earth were going to live forever and so they made a + plan by which to destroy them. There should be a great rain for days + and days and days, and all these men and women and children should be + drowned. Then the Gods would be free from their worries. + + "But one of the Gods named Ea had a friend who lived on the earth, + and so he sent word to him to go with all his family into a big, big + ship and take with him two of every kind of animals. Utnapishtim, the + friend, did as he was told. + + "Then the rain came and for six days and nights there was no let-up + at all. Deeper and deeper it grew till the Gods in heaven grew afraid + and cowered in the highest corner of heaven. By this time every + living thing, except the ones in the big ship, was destroyed. + + "But after six days, the rain ceased. Then the man sent out a dove, + but it returned, for it could find no place to rest. Later he sent + out a raven and it did not come back, so he knew the waters were + going down. Then he made a great sacrifice to the Gods and they came, + they saw the great destruction and they gloated over it, pleased that + their plan had worked so well." + +There was applause when he had finished from many of the group, but the +Hebrews did not applaud. They had been taught that there was one true God, +not many Gods. They had been taught that God was kind to all and not one +that gloated over destruction of men. They were not pleased with the story +of the great flood. + +Then there came nights out under the stars and they heard the stories of +how the earth was made; of how man came to be; of the meaning of many of +the things that they saw all about them. But in every story there were +found Gods who were cruel, who were unkind, who quarreled and fought. +There were many, many Gods, but none was like unto their God. + +As the old Hebrews listened to all these old, old stories from the +countries about them which were told so often, they shook their heads +sadly and said, + +"We have come into this country to live and bring up our children. But if +they hear these stories, they will believe some of them and forget the +true God. They must have stories of their own that show how great and +mighty is the God of Israel. But what shall we do about these stories? If +we say the stories are false, they will laugh at us and say, 'Why, our +people have known these stories since long, long before there was a Hebrew +on the earth. What our fathers have told us as true is surely true.' And +if we say to our children, 'You must not listen to these stories,' they +will be all the more eager to listen. What shall we do?" + +Finally it was decided that the stories of the Egyptians and the +Babylonians must be remade so as to be fit for their children to hear and +they must teach the beliefs of their own religion in stories of their +own. + +So, many weeks later as the men were gathered out under the stars on a +beautiful night, one of the best of the Hebrew story-tellers said +quietly, + +"I have listened to stories about the making of the world from many of you +but I think my story is better than any you have told. Would you like to +hear the story of how the God of Israel made the world?" + +"'Tis a Hebrew who is talking," said one. "I didn't know you people had +any stories. Give it to us. Then we can compare it with our own great +stories." + +And the Hebrew story-teller began: + + "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And these + are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were + created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, + + "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth and every + herb of the field before it grew; for the Lord God had not caused it + to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. + + "But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face + of the ground. + + "And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and + breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a + living soul. + + "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is + pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the + midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. + + "And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to + dress it and to keep it. + + "And out of the ground the Lord God made every beast of the field and + every fowl of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would + call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was + the name thereof." + +There was silence when the story was finished. This God of whom the Hebrew +was telling was wise and mighty enough to make the world, yet he was +thoughtful and kind. He allowed man to be a helper. There was only one +God. They liked the story so well that they began to tell it also and soon +the beautiful story was known all through the land of Canaan. Little by +little it drove out the other stories and became the most loved one. + +And when the old Hebrews saw the power of the story that told of the _one_ +great God rather than the many false Gods, they just took many of the old +stories and made them good and wholesome for their own little children to +hear. + +So great were the stories that the old Hebrews told that you will find +many of them living still. You can read them in your own Bible in the book +of Genesis. + +Ever since that day years and years ago, men have been asking that same +old question, "Who made the world?" The greatest men of science and +history have tried to answer it, but none of them have found a more +beautiful answer to the question than this one which the old sheik told in +the days of the long ago and which you will find in the second chapter of +Genesis in your Bible. + + + + +HIS DEBT + + +It was a hot, sultry day in that little town near the Western coast of +Africa when Afa Bibo came. He had had a long, long journey from his home +among the Ntum people far to the south of Efulen. So he, as well as the +men who had brought him, was glad when they saw the rude little hospital +looming up at the end of the path. + +Years and years before, when Afa Bibo was just a little baby, his mother +and father, because they were superstitious and ignorant, had deliberately +infected the little one with yaws, one of the most loathsome of African +diseases. Little by little the disease had spread through his system till +now, a boy in his teens, he was gradually losing his sight. So they had +brought him to the white doctor who had done so much for boys and girls in +the neighborhood, to see if he could also help Afa Bibo. + +It took only a glance at the one eye to know that the sight was gone +forever. But there was a chance that the other might be saved. To be sure, +the inflammation was there and much damage had been done, but still there +was a chance. So they put him under the care of the nurse and began the +fight that was to tell whether he was to be one of the many African blind +ones who suffer so much and help so little, or whether he was to be like +other boys. + +It was a long, hard time for the little fellow. The eyes must be washed +with a solution that was very painful; he must spend long hours not only +lying in bed but with all light shut from his eye. He grew very weary with +it all. But after the months had gone, Afa Bibo went out of that hospital +with an eye as clean and white in the ball as yours or mine. + +Of course, he was anxious to go back to his people and tell them what +wonderful things had been done for him, but the Doctor said, + +"Afa, you can do much with your one good eye, but if you will stay right +here and go to school with the boys for a time, you can do much, much +more. You can be as good as one man, two men, and perhaps as much as +three. If you will stay, you can be a big man in your own tribe. It may be +you could be a teacher and tell the boys there how to read and write or it +might be--yes, it might be--you could be a doctor and make other boys to +see, just as we have done to you." + +So Afa Bibo stayed in the mission school and learned to study, and to +work, and to think. For a time he felt badly to think he had only one eye +when all his companions had two, but little by little he seemed to have +forgotten it. + +Then came the day when the Christian people of that little African church +were to pledge a definite number of days of service in carrying the +message of the Christ to others. Some were to go out and teach; some were +to carry Testaments and tracts written in Bulu to others; some were to +help about the mission station so that there might be a better place in +which to teach the ones who came. Some were to raise extra crops so they +might have something to give to those who went far out to teach. Every one +could give something, even though it was very different from what another +gave. + +As it neared the time for the service, the black people might be seen +coming from all directions. Some had walked five miles, some ten, and some +even twenty. All had something to eat so that they might stay to hear all +the good news that could be given in a day. They filled the little bare +building which the boys of the school had builded for a church; they +filled the window spaces; then they filled the yard about the church. Oh! +there were very many of them and all were eager for the service to begin. + +Holding the roof of the little church were large poles which had been +painted white and on these the pledges were to be made. So as the service +began, many looked at the poles and thought what a wonderful thing it was +to be allowed to give of themselves to the God who had become their own. + +Soon the pledging began. First to go was the old chief who had given up +his twenty wives that he might become a Christian. He was old. What would +he give? First he made a slanting line and then he crossed it. Ah! that +was ten days of service. + +Then others were ready, and some gave ten days, some one or two weeks, and +some could even give a month. The lines covered one pole and then another +as the people passed down the aisle and out of the building. + +Last of all came the boys of the school. How could they give? They were +only boys. But they could take of their play time till they had gained a +day or more to give. One marked after another and last of all it was the +turn of Afa Bibo. + +Very near to him stood the kind doctor who had made him free from the pain +and able to see the way as he came to the white pole. So he smiled one of +his rare smiles as he passed him. Then he made a slanting line and crossed +it; another and crossed it. That was twenty days. No boy had given as much +as that. But he was making another--twenty-five days. And he crossed the +third. Then with his shoulders square and resolve in his face he went out +with the rest. + +As the missionaries sat before their home on the following day, they saw +Afa Bibo coming across the yard to them. Calling the doctor aside, he +said, + +"Doctor, I am not satisfied with what I pledged yesterday. I want to give +more." + +"But, Afa," said the doctor, "already you have pledged thirty days. That +is a great deal for a boy to give. A pledge to God from you must be as +binding as His promise is to us. Work out the thirty days and then come +back and give Him more if you like." + +"But I am not happy about it," said the boy, "I want to give more." + +"I think you had better leave it just as it is, for I am sure you do not +know how long thirty days will be when you begin to give it all. Run along +and do your lessons. I think you have given much to God," said the +Doctor. + +Then Afa slowly came very near to the doctor. Looking up into his face, he +pulled down the lower lid of the good eye showing it to be white and free +from all soreness and pain. + +"Doctor," he said, "do you see that good eye? Well, God saved me that eye +and I have more to be thankful for than any one else in all that big +churchful yesterday. I owe him more than thirty days. Please, sir, I want +to pay back a little of what I owe him. Let me make it thirty-five." + +So together the doctor, who had given his life for God, and the little +black boy, who was just beginning to give, went to the church and put +another black mark on the tall white pole. And Afa Bibo went out to work +his thirty-five days for God. + +Were you to go among the Ntum people to-day, you would find there a man +who is beloved by all because he has loved to give of himself to his +people. He has a kindly face and a loving heart. It is Afa Bibo, the boy +who is still eager to pay for his one good eye. + + + + +HOW KAGIGEGABO BECAME A BRAVE + + +Kagigegabo sat in front of the wigwam watching the fire slowly die out. +Her heart was full of bitterness. For days she had watched the Braves get +ready for the long chase. They had painted their faces; they had given +their war cries; they had fasted and prayed. + +And now they had gone and the camp seemed very still. Oh! how she had +wanted to go! Why was she born a girl when she did want to be a Brave! +Girls could never do brave things--they had to stay at home, and tend the +fires, and hoe the garden. Everything a girl had to do, she hated. +Everything a boy had to do, she liked. Her name was Kagigegabo, which +meant "One who stands forever." That would be a great name for a Brave, +but she could never do anything that was worth while. She was only a +girl. + +Slowly she rose to bring the corn and grind it. There was little needed, +for the Braves of the wigwam had all gone--even Guka, her brother, had +gone. Before this she had watched the others go and then had had him to +cheer her. Oh, dear! Why was she a girl? + +Hearing a step behind her, she rose to find Wicostu, the oldest squaw of +the tribe, waiting to speak with her. + +"I have heard your thought," she said. "You think that to be a girl is to +be less than a Brave. It is not so. It is not so. To be a squaw one must +be very brave. We cannot go to hunt and to kill, but it takes no less of +courage to stay here and guard the tepees. It takes courage to bear +pain--it takes courage to be tired and not complain. You can be brave, +Kagigegabo, even though you must grow into a Mahala and sit by the fire. +The courage is not in the war paint and feathers--the courage is all in +the heart." + +Kagigegabo sat very still after Wicostu had left her. Over and over she +said to herself those last words of the old squaw--"The courage is all in +the heart." Perhaps after all she could be a Brave, such as Guka was +trying to be. + +Down toward the spring she ran to get the water for the meal when, +suddenly, a hand reached out of the bushes, and she was drawn into them. +When she tried to scream, a heavy band was placed over her mouth, and then +her hands were tied, her eyes were bandaged and she felt herself being +thrown on a pony. Oh! how fast they went!--like the wind it seemed. + +Who had taken her? Where was she going? What did they want? Frightened as +she was, she still was trying to think. + +Then, like a flash, there came to her something that she had heard the old +chief say when she had been trying to get closer to the council fire the +last night. + +"We shall go by the hill trail, for Eagle's Claw will surely have spies +about the camp. We cannot get through the valley alive." + +Perhaps she had been taken by the spies and was on her way to the enemy +camp of Eagle's Claw. Oh! What did they want? If only she were a Brave, +perhaps she would know what to do. Then there came to her the words of +Wicostu: + +"You can be brave. The courage is all in the heart." But to be brave when +one did not know what was going to happen--oh! that was hard. + +When the bandage was taken from her eyes, she was in the center of a +circle of old Braves. Very fierce they looked as she glanced about the +circle. Her knees shook till it seemed she must fall. Then she made a low +bow to the chief and pointed to her feet--a sign that she was ready to be +his slave. + +"Do you see that knife?" he screamed at her. "You shall die unless you +tell us by what path and to what place your Braves went to-day. Speak!" + +What should she do? If she told, the men would die. If she kept silence, +she must die. Her hands trembled. Then she remembered again the words of +Wicostu, "Courage is all in the heart," and smiling at the chief she +said: + +"Kagigegabo will lead you. She knows not the name, but the way." + +For a long time they counseled. Should they go? At last five of the Braves +were ready. They mounted her on a pony. Then they came to her with a great +bow and some poisoned arrows and said: + +"If you try to escape, these are for you. If you lead us wrong, these are +for you. If you lead us right, you shall have this young Brave," and they +led forth one of the strong, young Braves of the tribe. "Go." + +Out of the encampment went the six horses. Where should she go? She must +lead in the way of the hill. But how could she? Once she climbed a tree to +get a look out and so gained a little time. Once she led them where the +rock dropped sheer and bare, and again she gained time. But nearer and +nearer to the meeting place she came. + +Suddenly low at her feet she saw a tiny, white flower. It was the one used +by her mother to make the sweet drink that would make one sleep, and +sleep, and sleep. But if too much was taken, it meant death. A daring plan +came to her mind. Dare she do it? Dare she eat of it? Mother brewed +it--she must eat it as it was. They were still several hours from where +she knew her father was to be found. If her plan succeeded, she could +save him. + +Reaching down, she dug her feet into the sides of the little pony. +Immediately his heels went high in the air and she lay flat on the +ground. + +Quickly she gathered much of the little white flower and pushed it into +her dress. Then when the men came, she was lying with broken ankle on the +ground. The pain was intense, but the happiness that they must stop was +sweet to the girl. Over and over and over she said to herself, "Courage is +all in the heart. I can be a Brave." + +She took some of the little white flower and began to eat of it. + +"What is it?" said the men. "What do you eat?" + +"I eat the sweet flower of this little plant. If you eat of this, you +shall not thirst," said the girl. + +Now they had ridden far and hard and the day was very warm, so when the +men heard this, they bent and gathered bits of the plant. It was sweet and +pleasing to the taste, so they ate more and more of it. And the Indian +girl watched them and smiled when none could see. + +It was decided to get the evening meal while the oldest chief bound the +ankle of the girl. So they hurriedly cooked it. But before it was ready, +the leader leaned against the old tree and he was asleep. Then another and +another slept. Stronger than opium had been the flower that they had +eaten. + + * * * * * + +Kagigegabo watched them while her own eyes began to droop. She must not go +to sleep. Oh! what could she do? She must ride when they were asleep. What +could she do? She turned and twisted the broken ankle. That helped a bit, +for the pain was intense. She pulled great locks of her hair and tied them +about her fingers so that the blood would have to force its way about. And +after what seemed to her to be hours, she was still awake and the five +men were all sleeping. + +Slowly, very slowly, she pulled herself away from the fire out into the +bush where her pony was tied. Her feet seemed determined not to move and +she wanted so much to lie down and sleep. But she kept on till she had led +the pony away from the group. Then she mounted and started on her ride. + +But it was no use. She could not stay awake. Now what was she to do? They +were on the direct road to the valley. For a moment she hesitated. Then +quickly she tore her dress in strips. Taking a sharp stone, she cut her +arm and with the blood she made two pictures on a piece of wood--the one +showed five Indians asleep--the other showed an Indian girl by the road. +Taking the strips from her dress, she fastened the bit of wood to the +saddle. + +She took from her arm the circle of brass which would tell her father from +whom the message had come, and fastened it to the saddle. Then a cut of +the whip across the legs sent the pony flying down the path. + +After he had gone, the girl sat in a dazed way near the path. She was so +tired. If only they would hurry, then she could tell them which way to +go--but sleep came before the pony had gone even one mile. + +Five days later, Kagigegabo opened her eyes slowly and looked about. She +was lying on the skins in the wigwam of her mother. Her ankle was tightly +bound and she felt very stiff and sore. Across her wrist there was an ugly +cut. No one was about so she lay there trying to remember what had +happened. How long had she been there and where was her mother? + +A step sounded outside and an old war chief--her father--looked anxiously +into the tent. When he saw her eyes open, he came slowly in and gazed +long at the Indian girl on the bed and then went as slowly out again. + +When he came back, there were with him five other chiefs. Around the bed +they stood in a silent circle and Kagigegabo wondered what they were going +to do with her. Had she done wrong? Was she to be punished? + +But the old chief spoke: + +"Kagigegabo, you have saved the tribe from ruin, and because of your help, +we have captured the enemy, for whom we were searching. They have told us +of your bravery and of your wisdom. You were more full of courage than any +squaw we have ever known. You shall no longer be called Kagigegabo, but +you shall be called Aotonaka, the daring one." + +Then upon the arm of the girl who had wished she could be a Brave they +bound a red band--the red band of courage. + + + + +THE WHITE FLOWER OF HAPPINESS + +By Persis Richardson + + +The King sat in the library of the palace reading an old, old book--a book +written when the King's great-great-grandfather sat on the throne. The +King had never seen the book before and it was very interesting to him. +For the book told of a strange little plant that had grown in the kingdom +in those days of the old, old king. + +No matter how hard the people had to work, if the little plant was growing +in their homes, they were happy. Indeed, the book said that the flower of +the plant was so beautiful that no garden was complete without it; so in +the days of the long ago, it grew in the gardens of the rich and the poor, +while happiness and prosperity reigned in the land. + +Eagerly the king read the description of the little flower that grew on +this wonderful plant. It was white as the driven snow. It had heart-shaped +petals surrounding a wonderful heart of gold, and it was known as the +White Flower of Happiness. + +Now the King loved flowers dearly and there were many in his garden; but +he was sure he had never seen this little flower. So, because he wanted to +have one for his very own and especially because he wanted happiness and +prosperity for his people, he determined to find it. + +"Surely somewhere in the kingdom there must be a plant left if it grew so +common in the days of my great-great-grandfather," said the King. + +Then calling the heralds to him he said: + +"Ride forth and search. Go East, and West, and North, and South, and say +to my people, 'Search for the White Flower of Happiness, and when you have +found it, bring it to me that I may raise more seeds so that all may have +a chance to own it. 'Tis a little flower, white as the driven snow, with +petals that are heart-shaped around a heart of gold.'" + +Eagerly the people, both rich and poor, went to work, for they knew of the +wondrous beauty of the flower and wished it for their own. + +Now there were two people who were very sure they would be first to find +the flower. One was a rich woman who loved beautiful things. Her home was +the largest of any on the finest street in the royal city. She had many +and large gardens, cared for by the best gardeners to be found. Yet in the +summer-time, when they were glowing with hundreds of flowers, few there +were who could enjoy them. A high hedge surrounded them all and only her +friends were permitted to go through the iron entrance gate. + +This wealthy woman said to herself: "I will find the flower and it will be +easy to keep it secret from all others if I have it here behind the hedge. +Then I shall be sure of happiness in the future." + +So all of her gardeners were set to work to search for the White Flower of +Happiness. Wherever they found a plant of rare beauty, they bought it +hoping that it might be the plant she sought. Seeds of all kinds also were +planted. And in the blossoming time there were flowers in the gardens by +the thousands--but behind that great wall there was no flower that was +white as the driven snow, with heart-shaped petals surrounding a heart of +gold. + +There was also a man in the kingdom who thought he could surely find the +flower. He was a business man. + +"If I could find it," he said, "I would grow more plants and sell them to +the people at a great profit. Then I should quickly grow rich and there +would be no need for me to work." + +So he set his office force all to work to write letters to the gardeners +and seed-growers of the world. They described the little flower and +offered large sums for one single plant. But he, too, failed in his +search. It was not to be found. + +Down in the heart of the poorer section of the royal city there lived a +little old lady whom every one called Aunt Betsy. She was very poor; she +had only one room that she could call home, and her only companion was a +scrawny cat that every one else had driven away. But it loved her and she +loved it, and was glad to have it share her home. + +She was very lame and had to hobble away to her work every morning, yet +she was the cheeriest little body alive and every one loved her. + +Aunt Betsy, like all of her neighbors, was seeking the White Flower of +Happiness. + +"This old street with its tumble-down houses, and uneven sidewalks, and +tin cans surely needs a heap of something to cheer it," she would say. +"Now, if I could find just one plant, I would make this old alley the +finest place ever. Then the little children here could have some chance. I +wish I might find it." + +But no flowers grew where she lived or where she worked, so she couldn't +hope to find the plant. The only thing she could do was to save every +penny she could so that, if the King found the plant, she might possibly +buy a seed. + +Into an old tin cup she put the pennies, one by one, but it was very slow +work, for Aunt Betsy was very poor. + +One winter night as Aunt Betsy returned from work, she found a queer +looking bundle on her door-step and, on unrolling it, she found Bobby, one +of the neighbor's children. Now Bobby had no mother and only a poor +drunken father, who often beat him. And Aunt Betsy saw, as she unrolled +him, that his face was all tear-stained, so she knew what had been +happening. Bobby had crept away from the blows to come to his best friend +when in trouble--Aunt Betsy. + +Carefully she picked the little fellow up, carried him into her bare +little room, gave him a hot drink, and then tucked him all comfortably on +the couch which served as her bed. Tired from his day of play and work, +the little fellow was soon lost in sleep. + +Not so Aunt Betsy. Sitting by the fire, all she could see were the great +holes in the shoes she was drying. Bobby needed some shoes very badly, but +she had no money with which to buy some. + +"There is the money in the cup," said a voice within. + +"But I couldn't give that, for I want so much to buy a seed to bring +happiness to this alley," thought Aunt Betsy. + +"But a pair of shoes would bring happiness to Bobbie now," said the +voice. + +She looked again at the little swollen feet under the cover on the couch. +Then slowly, yet with a smile of infinite tenderness, she softly stole to +the cupboard, took the money from the little tin cup, drew on her old +shawl, and went out into the night. + +'Twas a very happy Bobbie who went back to his home in the morning, and +behind Aunt Betsy's stove were the little worn shoes. A little later a +little old woman went down the narrow stairs to her work and she sang as +she went. + +That night Aunt Betsy, hurrying past a florist's shop, bumped into a +barrel of waste that stood on the walk. Stopping abruptly, she saw a +wilted-looking plant in an old broken pot on the top of the pile. + +"Why, you poor little plant," said Aunt Betsy. "I'll just take you home +and love you; perhaps you will grow for me in my little upper room." + +So she carried it home, transplanted it into the old tin cup from which +she had taken the money, and then set it where the sunshine would find it +the very first thing in the morning. + +In two days the plant showed signs of life. In a week it stood tall and +firm. In two weeks there was a bud which Aunt Betsy watched with great +care. Would it be pink or red or yellow? She didn't care if only it were a +blossom. + +'Twas night when she came home from her work, but as soon as she opened +the door she knew that the little flower had opened, for the room was full +of the fragrance that it was sending forth. She hurried to the window and +she saw--oh, could she believe her eyes! She saw a little flower, white as +the driven snow. Its petals were heart-shaped and surrounded a heart of +wonderful gold. It was the White Flower of Happiness. + +During the night, the little plant stayed with her in the attic room, but +in the morning she carried it to the palace and gave it to the King. Thus, +through a simple loving old woman, the White Flower of Happiness was given +to a whole kingdom. + +But the strange thing about the plant was this: Whenever its owner kept +the flower only for self and did not share it with others, it withered and +died; but, when lovingly shared, it grew and blossomed and made happy, not +only its owner, but all to whom it went. It was in very truth to all--The +White Flower of Happiness. + + + + +THE SPEAKING PICTURE + + +There had been a great discussion in the High School all the week, and as +Friday drew nearer the excitement grew more and more intense. For Barton +High School had many girls from the Hill section of the town where the +mill owners lived, and also many girls from the River section where the +mill workers lived. + +There was to be an election for the president of the Senior Class and when +the names of the candidates for the presidency had been posted on the +bulletin board by the nominating committee, a mill girl headed the list. + +Such a thing had never been heard of in the school. Always the president +of the class had been the one who could entertain the class, who could +stand out prominently during class week, whose father would help to pay +the bills of the Commencement time. + +But at the beginning of the year, the class had decided to learn to do +things according to parliamentary law and to be democratic, and this was +the result. Never for a moment had the girls and boys of the Hill section +dreamed that a committee would dare to choose a River-section president. + +To be sure, the girl whom they had chosen had led the class both in marks +and in the debating club. Yes, she could make a splendid Commencement Day +speaker, but she was a River-section girl, and they just wouldn't have +it. + +So they argued and pleaded and tried to persuade their friends to make her +fail the election. Why, there would be no fun at all during Commencement +week if she led the class. She had nothing at all to spend for fun. + +Chief among the objectors had been Mary Waite. Her father owned the +largest mill and she had thought surely the place was to be hers. She had +even planned how she would entertain the class on the lawn of her home. +She was ready to do almost anything to upset the plans of the nominating +committee. + +So the group of girls were still scolding when they reached the door of +the museum about four o'clock on Thursday afternoon. Mary had an errand in +the picture gallery and the rest were to wait for her in the corridor +below. + +As she entered the gallery, she pulled from her book the assignment which +had been given to her: + +"Study the pictures in Gallery Nine and bring the name and the artist of +the picture that speaks most plainly to you." + +What an assignment! How could any picture speak to her when she was +feeling in such an unpleasant mood. She passed down one side and then +along the end of the gallery. She liked the children in this and the +flowers in that. But surely none would speak to her. + +Down another side she went, stopping more often to look at the things that +interested her. + +Suddenly she saw a picture of the Christ. It was at the end of the +gallery, and a wonderful light was thrown on it from a globe just above +the picture. The Christ was standing in a room and in his face was such a +tender, thoughtful look. + +Mary sat down in the seat nearest to her. She did not want to move nearer +lest she lose the rare expression of the face of the Christ. It had only +been a few weeks since she had been standing before the altar of the +church, making herself a gift to the Christ. So as she sat and watched +the picture, she thought to herself: + +"What a wonderful man he was! I should have loved to have had him look in +my face as he is looking into theirs. I wish I might have really seen +him." + +After a time she moved nearer. Then she could see the faces of the other +persons in the picture. From where she had been sitting, only the face of +the Christ had seemed to stand out, though one knew the others were there. +They were sitting about the table in a home. + +What a rude table it was! How roughly they were dressed! Why, they were +only poor people, yet the Christ was standing in their midst, giving them +to eat. + +She studied his face. How beautiful it was! How much she loved him! How +eager she was to give him her very best! What could she do to show her +love? And as she looked she heard a voice saying to her: "The poor ye have +always with you, but me ye have not always." + +Then somehow the faces of the men in the picture seemed like those of the +men who worked in her father's mill and in the face of the woman she saw a +likeness to Elizabeth Meeker. But the face of the Christ was still full of +love and tenderness. + +The head of the girl drooped as she sat long before the picture. What had +she against Elizabeth Meeker? Nothing except the fact that she was poor. +She was a girl that Jesus would have loved, for she was always dependable. +Yet Mary was trying to take away the greatest pleasure that might ever +come to that poor girl. + +She had no pretty home, she had little time for play; she hadn't even a +mother. Yet Mary knew she had been very, very unkind to her. + +And now the face of the Christ seemed searching her very soul: "The poor +ye have always with you, but me ye have not always. Inasmuch as ye have +done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." + +There was a sound of a bell and Mary knew she must leave the room. One +last look she gave to the Christ of the picture. Then she smiled and +nodded her head. + +When she came to join the girls below, she said quietly: + +"Girls, let's give the school a surprise to-morrow. Let's go and vote for +Elizabeth Meeker, since so many of the class want her for president, and +then prove to the rest that we can still have a good time during +Commencement week. Father will let us use the grounds when we like and we +can all have a part in the planning of the fun. I should just like to see +if she really can make a class president as well as we girls from the +Hill." + +And though the girls couldn't understand why she had changed, yet they +were glad to follow her lead. + +That night Mary Waite sat before her desk in her pretty room on the Hill +and looked again at the assignment which had been given to her-- + +"Study the pictures in Gallery Nine and bring to me the name of the +picture and the artist who painted the one that speaks most plainly to +you." + +And in no uncertain letters she wrote: + + Christ in the Home of the Lowly. + By L'Hermitte + + Mary Waite. + + + + +THE QUEST + + +Once there came to the land of the Every-day a messenger from the King. In +his hand he carried glasses to help him in the search which he was making. +Under his arm he was carrying a scroll. On his face there was a look of +deep concern. + +How could he ever find the most beautiful thing in all the world? There +were so many beautiful things that he had no idea even where to begin. Yet +this was his commission: "Of all the beautiful things, choose for me the +most beautiful." + +So the messenger called for heralds and sent them forth to ask of the +people of the Every-day their help in choosing for the King. + +"Bring to me your most beautiful thing," he said. "Then I will choose from +these things what I deem most beautiful." + +And one brought a wonderful gem. It was clear as crystal; it sparkled in +the light and seemed to beg to be chosen. The rays of the noonday sun +shone through the stone and all the people cried with one voice: + +"How beautiful! How wonderful! We have never seen the like!" + +"Surely," thought the messenger, "I shall never find anything so rare as +this. I will take it to the King." + +But a voice cried: "Wait, oh, messenger, wait! That which is dead can +never be the most beautiful thing. Surely I have here that which far +exceeds the stone which you have seen. I beg you look at this." + +Then he opened the cover of the great box that he carried. + +In a bed of shimmering white there lay a beautiful rose. Its leaves were +still wet with the dew of the garden. Its petals were as perfect as +perfect could be. Then as the sun shone into the box, the exquisite rose +caught also the rays of the sun and slowly the beautiful petals began to +unfold. + +There was silence in the group of people about the box. What a wonderful +thing the man had brought to the messenger! It had beauty, but it had also +life. + +Yet even as they looked there came another. By his side walked a great +dog. His hair was like silk; his eyes were tender as a child's; his face +was as knowing as a person's. Quietly his owner brought him forward, +saying: "This is to me far more beautiful than the rose. This has beauty +and life, but it has also usefulness. It has saved the lives of many." + +And he patted the head of the faithful animal. + +Then a mother pressed through the crowd and said: "Surely no animal is so +beautiful as a child. See! here is my little one. She has beauty and life +and usefulness--and she has also the magic beauty of innocence. See her +hands, and her little feet, and her golden curls. I am sure there is no +more beautiful thing in all the world than my baby." + +Then the messenger sighed. What could he do? He just could not find the +thing that the King had asked him to find. All were so beautiful. Thinking +to be by himself, he walked away. Into a path alone by himself he went. + +Then he heard voices, and, brushing aside the branches, he saw a young +maiden who played with a little child. Her touch was very tender as she +played the childish game. And when they had finished, the messenger held +his breath, for the child had thrown a tiny arm about her neck and the +yellow curls of the baby were close to the brown ones of the maiden. And +the maiden's face was wreathed in a wondrous smile. + +"That is beauty," said the messenger. "That is rare beauty. But why is she +so beautiful? I must see." + +Quickly he unfastened the glasses from their case and turned them to the +picture before him. Then, because they were magic glasses used only by the +King, he could see why she was beautiful. + +In her mind he found clean thoughts; in her life he found kind deeds; in +her soul he found a high ideal; in her heart he found a mother-love for +little children. + +Then the messenger took from his arm the scroll which he carried and with +his stylus he wrote these words: + +"In all the world I find no more beautiful thing than a maiden who is +reaching toward life's highest goal--a noble womanhood--with love to show +her the way." + + + + +THE TREASURE + + +Four girls they were--four laughing girls from the High School. For three +happy years they had studied together and played together. But now +Ambition had whispered to them. To each the message had been the same: + +"Hidden in the way that is ahead you will find a treasure. It is of all +treasures most valuable. It will bring to you comfort and happiness all +the days of your life. Seek and ye shall find." + +And at once they began to wish to find the treasure. Not to each other +even did they tell the secret that Ambition had whispered, for then +another might find the treasure. Each in her own way began to seek, and +for a time their paths still led in the same direction. + +But one bright, beautiful day they came to a place where the ways parted. +Many roads led from the one road and on every road there were many people. +Now what should be done? In which way was the treasure to be found? If one +chose the wrong way, one might never find it. + +There was little time to stand and think, for the crowds pressed on +behind, always urging them forward. Into one they must go at once. + +"Surely this is the road," said the first, looking down a beautiful, long +roadway. "One would certainly find something worth while in such a +beautiful place as this. Here are lights and music; here are songs and +merriment; here are people who seem as happy as the day. I shall enter +here, and after I have danced and played with the brightly dressed girls +whom I see, I shall hunt diligently for the treasure." + +So she entered the way of Pleasure and, because there was time for naught +else but play, her days passed and she found it not. + +"That road does not appeal to me," said the second. "The red of the +lights, the noise of the music, the laughter of the people seem annoying +to me. I do not care to go with you longer. I like this yellow way. There +must be a great sun to light the way, for it is so beautiful. Here, too, +every one is searching, so I am sure they must have knowledge that the +treasure is here. I will enter and find it." + +Then she, too, entered the way of her choice and it was the way of Gold. +All about her were traces of treasure, but there were many who pushed her +aside. She grew weary with her search; she liked little the people who +were her companions in the way, and she found there no treasure that +brought comfort and happiness all her days. + +"I like little those long, uninteresting roadways where it all is glitter +and noise," said the third. "I like little the great crowds of people. I +shall take this hilly road where few are working. They seem eager to reach +the top. Now all treasure is hidden in the hillsides. I shall climb here +and search." + +So she entered the way of Fame. It was very steep; at first it seemed that +she could find no place to put even one foot. She must cling to very +uncertain bits along the way to help her to move up, yet little by little +she climbed. It took years and years, and one by one her companions +dropped by the way. Those who also neared the top had little of +companionship for her. They envied her her footholds; they tried to get +ahead of her in the way. Then she knew that she could never find the Great +Treasure, for she was lonely, and a lonely heart is never satisfied and +happy. + +"Which shall I choose?" said the fourth girl, looking all about her. "I +think I shall try this"--but just then a voice said: "I am tired and ill. +Will you help me a bit in my way?" + +'Twas an old, old man. His clothes showed signs of travel and his face was +very sad. Taking his hand, she led him for a time till he came to a +resting place. + +Then she was about to go back and choose her road, but a child's voice +said: "Won't you help me up this hill? I fall back when I try to climb." +And she went still farther into the way. + +And then, when the child had been given over to his mother, a boy needed +help in carrying a load, and as she talked with him she forgot the other +road and began to see the beautiful things ahead in the road over which +she was traveling. + +There were flowers to pick and give to the sad; there were cooling springs +where one could find cups of water for the weary; there were resting +places under the trees to which one could lead the aged. And she had +forgotten that she came to seek for a treasure for herself in her +happiness in helping others. + +So the days passed, filled to the brim with loving, helping deeds. The +music which she heard was the song of the birds; the beautiful colors to +cheer came in the flowers and in the sunset; the hills in the way were +easily climbed, for there was much of friendship as she toiled upward. + +One day in her path she saw a bent old lady in whose one hand was a book +and in whose other hand was a basket. She seemed heavily loaded and the +girl hastened to help her. + +"Let me carry your basket," she said cheerily. "Put the book on the top +and I can take them both." + +Then a smile came over the face of the woman as she said: "The basket +seems to be heavy, for in it is a great treasure. But he that hath this +treasure finds no difficulty in carrying it. It is yours, child--all +yours. Let me read to you from the book." + +Very slowly she opened the great book and read: "Inasmuch as ye have done +it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." + +Then the gray cloak fell aside and her raiment was shining as the sun. Her +beautiful face grew more beautiful as she handed the basket to the girl, +saying: + +"'Tis the command of our King--to him that hath shall be given and he +shall have abundance! Take your treasure--the love of the people along the +way, but take also the gift of the King--comfort and happiness all the +days of your life. For you entered the way of Love to seek for your +treasure and where Love is, there God is also." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRESIDE STORIES FOR GIRLS IN THEIR +TEENS*** + + +******* This file should be named 27343.txt or 27343.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/3/4/27343 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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