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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36485-8.txt b/36485-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f785338 --- /dev/null +++ b/36485-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5707 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road, by +Hildegard G. Frey + + +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: The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + + + +Release Date: June 21, 2011 [eBook #36485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN +ROAD*** + + +E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 36485-h.htm or 36485-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36485/36485-h/36485-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36485/36485-h.zip) + + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD + +Or, Glorify Work + +by + +HILDEGARD G. FREY + +Author of +The Camp Fire Girls Series + + + + + + + +A. L. Burt Company +Publishers New York + + + * * * * * * + + THE + Camp Fire Girls Series + + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + + The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods + or, The Winnebago's Go Camping + + The Camp Fire Girls at School + or, The Wohelo Weavers + + The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + + The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way + + The Camp Fire Girls Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + + The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen's Isle + or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars + + The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit + or, Over The Top With the Winnebago's + + + Copyright, 1918 + By A. L. BURT COMPANY + + * * * * * * + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Oct. 1, 19--. +Dear First-And-Onlys: + +When I got to the post-office to-day and found there was no letter from +you, my heart sank right through the bottom of my number seven boots and +buried itself in the mud under the doorsill. All day long I had had a +feeling that there would be a letter, and that hope kept me up nobly +through the trying ordeal of attempting to teach spelling and geography +and arithmetic to a roomful of children of assorted ages who seem as +determined not to learn as I am determined to teach them. It sustained +and soothed me through the exciting process of "settling" Absalom Butts, +the fourteen-year-old bully of the class, with whom I have a preliminary +skirmish every day in the week before recitations can begin; and through +the equally trying business of listening to his dull-witted sister, +Clarissa, spell "example" forty ways but the right way, and then dissolve +into inevitable tears. When school was out I was as limp as a rag, and so +thankful it was Friday night that I could have kissed the calendar. I +fairly "sic"ed Sandhelo along the road to the post-office, expecting to +revel in the bale of news from my belovéds that was awaiting me, but when +I got there and the post box was bare the last button burst off the +mantle of my philosophy and left me naked to the cold winds of +disappointment. A whole orphan asylum with the mumps on both sides would +have been gay and chipper compared to me when I turned Sandhelo's head +homeward and started on the six-mile drive. + +It had been raining for more than a week, a steady, warmish, sickening +drizzle, that had taken all the curl out of my spirits and left them +hanging in dejected, stringy wisps. I couldn't help feeling how well the +weather matched my state of mind as I drove homeward. The whole landscape +was one gray blur, and the tall weeds that bordered the road on both +sides wept unconsolably on each other's shoulders, their tears mingling +in a stream down their stems. I could almost hear them sob. The muddy +yellow road wound endlessly past empty, barren fields, and seemed to hold +out no promise of ever arriving anywhere in particular. All my life I +have hated that aimlessly winding road, just as I have always hated those +empty, barren fields. They have always seemed so shiftless, so utterly +unambitious. I can't help thinking that this corner of Arkansas was made +out of the scraps that were left after everything else was finished. How +father ever came to take up land here when he had the whole state to +choose from is one of the seven things we will never know till the coming +of the Cocqcigrues. It's as flat as a pancake, and, for the most part, +treeless. The few trees there are seem to be ashamed to be caught growing +in such a place, and make themselves as small as possible. The land is +stony and barren and sterile, neither very good for farming or grazing. +The only certain thing about the rainfall is that it is certain to come +at the wrong time, and upset all your plans. "Principal rivers, there are +none; principal mountains--I'm the only one," as Alice-in-Wonderland used +to say. But father has always been the kind of man that gets the worst of +every bargain. + +Now, you unvaryingly cheerful Winnebagos, go ahead and sniff +contemptuously when you breathe the damp vapors rising from this epistle, +and hear the pitiful moans issuing therefrom. "For shame, Katherine!" I +can hear you saying, in superior tones, "to get low in your mind so soon! +Why, you haven't come to the first turn in the Open Road, and you've gone +lame already. Where is the Torch that you started out with so gaily +flaring? Quenched completely by the first shower! Katherine Adams, you +big baby, straighten up your face this minute and stop blubbering!" + +But oh, you round pegs in your nice smooth, round holes, you have never +been a stranger in a familiar land! You have never known what it was to +be out of tune with everything around you. Oh, why wasn't I built to +admire vast stretches of nothing, content to dwell among untrodden ways +and be a Maid whom there were none to praise and very few to love, and +all that Wordsworth business? Why do crickets and grasshoppers and owls +make me feel as though I'd lost my last friend, instead of impressing me +with the sociability of Nature? Why don't I rejoice that I've got the +whole road to myself, instead of wishing that it were jammed with +automobiles and trolley cars, and swarming with people? Why did Fate set +me down on a backwoods farm when my only desire in life is to dwell in a +house by the side of the road where the circus parade of life is +continually passing? Why am I not like the other people in this section, +with whom ignorance is bliss, grammar an unknown quantity, and culture a +thing to be sneered at? + +Although I can't see them, I know that somewhere to the north, just +beyond the horizon, the mountains lift their great frowning heads, and +ever since I can remember I have looked upon them as a fence which shut +me out from the big bustling world, and over which I would climb some +day. Just as Napoleon said, "Beyond the Alps lies Italy," so I thought, +"Beyond the Ozarks lies my world." + +I don't believe I had my nose out of a book for half an hour at a time in +those early days. I went without new clothes to buy them, and got up +early and worked late to get my chores done so that I might have more +time to read. When I was twelve years old I had learned all that the +teacher in a little school at the cross roads could teach me, and then I +went to the high school in the little town of Spencer, six miles away, +traveling the distance twice every day. When there was a horse available +I rode, if not, I walked. But whether riding or walking, I always had a +book in my hand, and read as I went along. It often happened that, being +deep in the fortunes of my story book friends, I did not notice when old +Major ambled off the road in quest of a nibble of clover, and would +sometimes come to with a start to find myself lying in the ditch. The +neighbors thought my actions scandalous and pitied my father and mother +because they had such a good-for-nothing daughter. + +All this time my father was getting poorer and poorer. He changed from +farming to cotton raising and then made a failure of that, and finally, +in despair, he turned to raising horses, not beautiful race horses like +you read about in stories, but wiry little cow ponies that the cattlemen +use. For some unaccountable reason he had good luck in this line for +three years in succession, and a year or so after I had finished this +little one-horse high school there was enough money for me to climb over +my Ozark fence and go and play in the land of my dreams. One wonderful +year, that surpassed in reality anything I had ever pictured in +imagination, and then the sky fell, and here I am, inside the fence once +more. + +Not that I am sorry I came back, no sirree! Father was so pleased and +touched to think I gave up my college course and came home that he +chirked up right away and started in from the beginning once more to pay +the mortgage off the land and the stock, and mother is feeling well +enough to be up almost all day now; but to-day I just couldn't help +shedding a few perfectly good tears over what I might be doing instead of +what I am. + +A flock of wild geese, headed south, flew above my head in a dark +triangle, and honked derisively at me as they passed. "Not even a goose +would stop off in this dismal country!" I exclaimed aloud. Then, simply +wild for sympathy from someone, I slid off Sandhelo's back and stood +there, ankle deep in the yellow mud, and put my arms around his neck. + +"Oh, Sandhelo," I croaked dismally, "you're all I have left of my +wonderful year up north. You love me, don't you?" + +But Sandhelo looked unfeelingly over my shoulder at the rain splashing +down into the road and yawned elaborately right in my face. There are +times when Sandhelo shows no more feeling than Eeny-Meeny. Seeing there +was no sympathy to be had from him, I climbed on his back again and rode +grimly home, trying to resign myself to a life of school teaching at the +cross roads, ending in an early death from boredom. + +Father was nowhere about when I rode into the stableyard, and the door +into the stable was shut. I slid it back, with Sandhelo nosing at my arm +all the while. + +"Oh, you're affectionate enough now that you want your dinner," I +couldn't help saying a little spitefully. Then my heart melted toward +him, and, with my arm around his neck, we walked in together. Inside of +Sandhelo's stall I ran into something and jumped as if I had been shot. +In the dusk I could make out the figure of a man sitting on the floor and +leaning against the wall. + +"Is that you, Father?" I asked, while Sandhelo blinked in astonishment at +this invasion of his premises. There was no answer from the man on the +floor. Why I wasn't more excited I don't know, but I calmly took the +lantern down from the hook and lit it and held it in front of me. The +light showed the man in Sandhelo's stall to be sound asleep, with his +hand leaned back against the wooden partition. He had a black beard and +his face was all streaked with mud and dirt, and there was mud even in +his matted hair. He had no hat on. His clothes were all covered with mud +and one sleeve of his coat was torn partly out. + +Sandhelo put down his nose and sniffed inquiringly at the stranger's +feet. Without ceremony I thrust the lantern right into the man's face. + +"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I said, loudly and firmly. The +man stirred and opened his eyes, and then sat up suddenly, blinking at +the light. + +"Who are you?" I repeated sternly. The man stared at me stupidly for an +instant; then he passed his hand over his forehead and stumbled to his +feet. + +"Who am I?" he repeated wildly; then his face screwed up into a frightful +grimace and with a groan he crumpled up on the floor. Leaving Sandhelo +still standing there gazing at him in mild astonishment, I ran out +calling for father. + +Father came presently and took a long look at the man in the stall, and +then, without asking any questions, he got a wet cloth and laid it on his +head. That washed some of the mud off and showed a big bruise on his +forehead over his left eye. Father called the man that helps with the +horses. + +"Help me carry this man into the house," he said shortly. + +"But Father," I said, "you surely aren't going to carry that man into the +house? All dirty like that!" + +Father gave me one look and I said no more. Together father and Jim +Wiggin lifted the stranger from the floor and started toward the house +with him, while I capered around in my excitement and finally ran on +ahead to tell mother. They carried him into the kitchen and laid him down +on the old lounge and tried to bring him around with smelling salts and +things. But he just kept on talking and muttering to himself, and never +opened his eyes. + +And that's what he's still doing, while I'm off in my room writing this. +It was five o'clock when we brought him in, and now it's after ten and he +hasn't come to his senses yet. There isn't a thing in his pockets to show +who he is or where he came from. + +I feel so strange since I found that man there. I'm not a bit low in my +mind any more, like I was this afternoon. I have a curious feeling as if +I had passed a turn in the road and come upon something new and +wonderful. + +Forget the lengthy moan I indulged in at the beginning of this letter, +will you, and think of me as gay and chipper as ever. + + Yours in Wohelo, + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Oct. 15, 19--. +Darling Winnies: + +And to think, after all that fuss I made about not getting a letter from +you that day, I didn't have time to open it for three whole days after it +finally arrived! You remember where I left off the last time, with the +strange man I had found in Sandhelo's stable out of his head on the +kitchen lounge? Well, he kept on like that, lying with his eyes shut and +occasionally saying a word or two that didn't make sense, all that night +and all the next day. Then on Sunday he developed a high fever and began +to rave. He shouted at the top of his voice until he was hoarse; always +about somebody pursuing him and whom he was trying to run away from. Then +he began to jump up and try to run outdoors, until we had to bar the +door. It took all father and Jim Wiggin and I could do to keep him on the +lounge. We had a pretty exciting time of it, I can tell you. Of course, +all the uproar upset mother and she had another spell with her heart and +took to her bed, and by Tuesday night things got so strenuous that I had +to dismiss school for the rest of the week and keep all my ten fingers in +the domestic pie. + +I don't know who rejoiced more over the unexpected lapse from lessons, +the scholars or myself. I never saw a group of children who were so +constitutionally opposed to learning as the twenty-two stony-faced +specimens of "hoomanity" that I had to deal with in that little shanty of +a school. They'd rather be ignorant than educated any day. I just can't +make them do the homework I give them. Every day it's the same story. +They haven't done their examples and they haven't learned their spelling; +they haven't studied their geography. The only way I can get them to +study their lessons is to keep them in after school and stand over them +while they do it. Their only motto seems to be, "Pa and ma didn't have no +education and they got along, so why should we bother?" + +The families from which these children come are what is known in this +section as "Hard-uppers," people who are and have always been "hard up." +Nearly everybody around here is a Hard-upper. If they weren't they +wouldn't be here. The land is so poor that nobody will pay any price for +it, so it has drifted into the hands of shiftless people who couldn't get +along anywhere, and they work it in a backward, inefficient sort of way +and make such a bare living that you couldn't call it a living at all. +They live in little houses that aren't much more than cabins--some of +them have only one or two rooms in them--and haven't one of the comforts +that you girls think you absolutely couldn't live without. They have no +books, no pictures, no magazines. It's no wonder the children are +stony-faced when I try to shower blessings upon them in the form of +spelling and grammar; they know they won't have a mite of use for them if +they do learn them, so why take the trouble? + +"What a dreadful set of people!" I can hear you say disdainfully. "How +can you stand it among such poor trash?" + +O my Belovéds, I have a sad admission to make. I am a Hard-upper +myself! My father, while he is the dearest daddy in the world, never +had a scrap of business ability; that's how he came to live in this +made-out-of-the-scraps-after-every-thing-else-was-made corner of +Arkansas. He never had any education either, though it wasn't because he +didn't want it. He doesn't care a rap for reading; all he cares for is +horses. We live in a shack, too, though it has four rooms and is much +better than most around here. We never had any books or magazines, +either, except the ones for which I sacrificed everything else I wanted +to buy. But I wanted to learn,--oh, how I wanted to learn!--and that's +where I differed altogether from the rest of the Hard-uppers. They're +still wagging their heads about the way I used to walk along the road +reading. The very first week I taught school this year I was taking +Absalom Butts (mentioned in my former epistle) to task for speaking +saucily to me, and thinking to impress him with the dignity of my +position I said, "Do you know whom you're talking to?" + +And he answered back impudently, "Yer Bill Adamses good-for-nothing +daughter, that's who you are!" + +You see what I'm up against? Those children hear their parents make such +remarks about me and they haven't the slightest respect for me. Did you +know that I only got this job of teaching because nobody else would take +it? Absalom Butts' father, who is about the only man around here who +isn't a Hard-upper, and is the most influential man in the community +because he can talk the loudest, held out against me to the very end, +declaring I hadn't enough sense to come in out of the rain. As he is +president of the school board in this township--the whole thing is a +farce, but the members are tremendously impressed with their own +dignity--it pretty nearly ended up in your little Katherine not getting +any school to teach this winter, but when one applicant after another +came and saw and turned up her nose, it became a question of me or no +schoolmarm, so they gave me the place, but with much misgiving. I had +become very much discouraged over the whole business, for I really needed +the money, and began to consider myself a regular idiot, but father said +I needn't worry very much about being considered a good-for-nothing by +Elijah Butts; his whole grudge against me rose from the fact that he had +wanted to marry my mother when she was young and had never forgiven +father for beating him to it. That cheered me up considerably, and I +determined to swallow no slights from the family of Butts. + +Since then it's been nip and tuck between us. Young Absalom is a big, +overgrown gawk of fourteen with no brain for anything but mischief. His +chief aim in life just now is to think up something to annoy me. I ignore +him as much as possible so as not to give him the satisfaction of knowing +he can annoy me, but about every three days we have a regular pitched +battle, and it keeps me worn out. His sister Clarissa hasn't enough brain +for mischief, but her constant flow of tears is nearly as bad as his +impudence. + +Taken all in all, you can guess that I didn't shed any tears about having +to close the school that Tuesday to help take care of the sick man. +Anything, even sitting on a delirious stranger, was a relief from the +constant warfare of teaching school. It was in the midst of this mess +that your letter came, and lay three whole days before I had time to open +it. + +On Saturday the sick man stopped raving and struggling and lay perfectly +motionless. Jim Wiggin looked at his white, sunken face, and remarked +oracularly, "He's a goner." + +Even father shook his head and asked me to ride Sandhelo over to Spencer +and fetch the doctor again. I went, feeling queer and shaky. Nobody had +ever died in our house and the thought gave me a chill. I wished he had +never come, because the business had upset mother so. Besides that, the +man himself bothered me. Who was he, wandering around like that among +strangers and dying in the house of a man he had never seen? How could we +notify his family--if he had a family? I couldn't help thinking how +dreadful it would be if my father were to be taken sick away from home +like that, and we never knowing what had become of him. I was quite low +in my mind again by the time I had come back with the doctor. + +But while I had been away a change came over the sick man. He still lay +like dead with his eyes closed, but he seemed to be breathing +differently. The doctor said he was asleep; the fever had left him. He +wasn't going to die under a strange roof after all. When he wakened he +was conscious, but the doctor wouldn't let us ask him any questions. He +slept nearly all day Sunday and on Monday I went back to school. When I +came home Monday night I had the surprise of my young life. When I looked +over at the lounge to see how the sick man was to-day I saw, not a man, +but a boy lying there. A white-faced boy with a sensitive, beautiful +mouth, wan cheeks and great black eyes that seemed to be the biggest part +of his face. My books clattered to the floor in my astonishment. Father +came in just then and laughed at my amazed face. + +"Quite a different-looking bird, isn't he?" he said. "The doctor was in +again to-day and shaved him. It does make quite a difference, now, +doesn't it?" he finished. + +Difference! I should say it did! I had thought all the while that he was +a man, because he wore a beard; it had never occurred to me that the hair +had grown out on his face from neglect, and not because he wanted it +there. + +"I suppose I must have looked frightful," said the boy in a weak voice, +but with a smile of amusement in his eyes. Those were the first words I +had heard him speak to anyone, and that was the first time he had had his +eyes wide open and looked directly at me. For the life of me I couldn't +stop staring at him. I couldn't get over how beautiful he was. He had +been so repulsive before, with his hair all matted and his face +discolored by bruises; now his hair was clipped short and was very soft +and black and shiny. One small transparent hand lay on top of the +blanket. He didn't look a day over eighteen. + +He lay there half smiling at me and suddenly for no reason at all I felt +large and awkward and sloppy. Involuntarily my hand flew to the back of +my belt to see if I was coming to pieces, and I stole a stealthy glance +at my feet to see if the shoes I had on were mates. I was glad when he +closed his eyes and I could slip out of the room unnoticed. I suppose +mother wondered why I was so long getting supper ready that night. But +the truth of the matter is I spent fifteen minutes hunting through my +bureau drawers for that list of rules of neatness that Gladys made out +for me last summer, and which I had never thought of once since coming +home. I unearthed them at last and applied them carefully to my toilet +before reappearing in the kitchen. My hair was very trying; it _would_ +hang down in my eyes until at last in desperation I tucked it under a +cap. As a rule I loathe caps. Just as soon as this letter reaches you, +Gladys, will you send me that recipe for hand lotion you told me you +used? My hands are a fright, all red and rough. Don't wait until the +letters from the other girls are ready, but send the recipe right on by +return mail. + +After supper that night we talked to the man on the couch. At first he +seemed very unwilling to tell anything about himself. We finally got from +him that his name was Justice Sherman; that he was from Texas, where he +had been working on a sheep ranch; that he had left there and gone up +into Oklahoma and had worked at various places; that he had gradually +worked his way into Arkansas; that he had fallen in with bad men who had +attacked and robbed him and left him lying senseless in the road with his +head cut open; that he had wandered around several days in the rain half +out of his head, trying to get someone to take him in, but he looked so +frightful that everyone turned him out and set the dogs on him, until +finally he had stumbled over a stone and broken his ankle and dragged +himself into our stable and crept into Sandhelo's stall. That's what had +made him crumple up on the floor the day I found him when he tried to get +up. He had fainted from the pain. + +We asked him if he wouldn't like us to write to his family or his friends +and he answered wearily that he had no family and no friends in +particular that he would care to notify. Then he closed his eyes and one +corner of his mouth drew up as if with pain. Poor fellow, I suppose that +ankle did hurt horribly. + +Now, you best and dearest of Winnebagos, let the dear Round Robin letter +come chirping along just as soon as you can, and I'll promise not to let +it lie three days this time before I read it. + + Lovingly your + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + Brownell College, Oct. 18, 19--. +Darling Katherine: + +Well, we're settled at last, though it did seem at first as though we +were going to spend all our college life wandering around with our +belongings in our arms. We came a day late and found the room we had +arranged for occupied by someone else. Through a mistake it had been +assigned to us after it had been once assigned to these other two, so we +had to relinquish our claim. The freshman dormitory was full to the eaves +and we realized that there wasn't going to be any place for us. We made +our roomless plight known and to make up for it we were told there was a +vacant double in the sophomore dormitory that we might take provided no +sophomores wanted it. We hadn't expected such an honor and sped like the +wind after our belongings. The sophomore dormitory is right across from +the freshman one; they are called Paradise and Purgatory, respectively. +It sounded awfully funny to us at first to hear the girls asking each +other where they were and to hear them answer, "I'm in Paradise," or, +"I'm in Purgatory." We were overcome with joy when we discovered that +Migwan roomed in Paradise. Our room was way up on the third floor and +hers was down on second, but to be under the same roof with her was such +a comfort that all our troubles seemed over for good. We just had our +things pretty well straightened out and Hinpoha was nailing her shoebag +to the closet door when the sky fell and we were informed that a couple +of sophomores wanted our room, and, as there was now a vacancy in the +freshman dormitory, would we kindly move? So we were thrown out of +Paradise and landed in Purgatory after all, and, for the second time that +day, we trailed across the campus with our arms full of personal +property, strewing table covers and laundry bags in our wake. We didn't +have time to straighten out before exams began and for two days we lived +like shipwrecked sailors with the goods that had been saved from the +wreck piled on the floor and when we wanted anything we had to rummage +for half an hour before we found it. Even after we had survived exams we +were half afraid to begin settling for fear we would be ordered to move +once more. We couldn't quite believe that we were anchored at last. + +The first week went around very fast; we were so busy getting our classes +straightened out and learning our way through the different buildings +that we didn't have time to feel homesick. But by Saturday the first +strangeness had worn off; we had stopped wandering into senior class +rooms and professors' committee meetings, but still we hadn't had time to +get very well acquainted. Saturday afternoon was perfect weather and most +everybody in the house had gone off for a walk, but we had stayed at home +to finish putting our room to rights. When everything was finally in +place we sat down on the bed and looked at each other. Hinpoha's eyes +suddenly filled with tears. + +"I want the other Winnebagos!" she declared. "I can't live without them. +I want Sahwah and Nakwisi and Medmangi, and I want Katherine! Oh-h-h-h, I +want Katherine! How will we ever get along without her here?" + +And we both sat there and wanted you so hard that it seemed as if the +heavens must open up and drop you down on the bed beside us. Katherine, +do you know that you have ruined our whole lives? Why, O why did you come +to us only to go away again? You got us so in the habit of looking to you +to tell us what to do next that now we aren't able to start a thing for +ourselves. We knew that if you had been there with us that first week you +would have had the whole house in an uproar and something wonderful would +have been happening every minute. But for the life of us we couldn't +think of a single thing to do for ourselves. + +We were still sitting there steeped in gloom when Migwan came in to see +how we were getting on. She had some delicious milk chocolate with her +and that cheered Hinpoha up quite a bit. It's going to be a heavenly +comfort to have Migwan just ahead of us in college. She knows all the +ropes and the teachers and the gossip about the upper classmen and tells +us things that keep us from making the ridiculous mistakes so many of the +freshmen make all the time. + +"But just think how _I_ felt here, all alone, last year," said Migwan. +"Perhaps I didn't miss you girls, though! You were still altogether and +had Nyoda, but here there wasn't a soul who had ever heard of the +Winnebagos. Now it seems like old times again. Think of it, three whole +Winnebagos living together almost under the same roof! Didn't we say that +night when we had our last Council Fire with Nyoda that although we +couldn't be together any more, we were still Winnebagos and were loyal +friends and true, and that wherever two Winnebagos should meet, whether +it was in the street, or on mid-ocean, or in a far country, right then +and there would take place a Winnebago meeting? Why, we're having a +Winnebago meeting this very minute!" + +"Let's keep on having meetings, as often as we can, just us three," said +Hinpoha, "and talk over old times and have 'Counts.' We can call +ourselves The Last of the Winnebagos, like the Last of the Mohicans, and +our password will be 'Remember!' That means, 'Remember the old days!'" + +Migwan smiled a little mysteriously, but she agreed that it was a fine +idea. + +We three sat down on the floor in a Wohelo triangle and repeated our +Desire and promised to seek beauty in everything that came along, and to +give service to all the other girls in college whenever we had the +chance, and to pursue knowledge for all we were worth now that there was +so much of it on every side of us, and to be trustworthy and obey all the +rules to the smallest detail and never cheat at exams, and to glorify +work until everybody noticed how well we did everything, and hold on to +health by not sitting up late studying and eating horrible messes, and to +be happy all the time and try to like every girl in college. + +"Let's clasp hands on it," said Hinpoha, and we did, and then stood up +and sang "Wohelo for Aye" until the window rattled. (It's awfully loose +and rattles at the slightest pretext.) + +We had just gotten to the last "Wohelo for Love" when all of a sudden a +face appeared at the window. We were all so surprised we stopped short +and the last syllable of "Wohelo" was chopped off as if somebody had +taken a knife. Our room is on the third floor, and for anyone to look in +at the window they would have to be suspended in the air. So when that +head appeared without any warning we all stood petrified and stared +open-mouthed. It was a girl's head with very black hair and very red +lips. At first the face just looked at us; then when it saw our amazement +it grinned from ear to ear in the widest grin I ever saw. + +"Did I scare you?" said the face in a voice so rich and deep that we +jumped again. "No, I'm not Hamlet, thy father's ghost, I'm Agony, thy +next door neighbor. I heard you singing 'Wohelo for Aye' and I just +looked in to see if I could believe my ears." + +We all ran to the window and then we saw how easily the thing had been +done. Our window is right up against the corner of our room and the +window in the other room is right next to it, so that all the apparition +had to do was lean out of her window and look into ours, which was open +from the bottom. + +"Come on over!" we urged hospitably. + +The apparition withdrew from the window and appeared a moment later in +the doorway, leading a second apparition. + +"I brought my better half along," said the deep, rich voice again, as the +two girls came into the room. + +They looked so much alike that we knew at a glance they were sisters. The +one who had looked in at the window did the introducing. + +"We're the Wing twins," she said, as if she took it for granted that we +had heard about them already. "_She's_ Oh-Pshaw and I'm Agony." + +"Oh-Pshaw and Agony?" we repeated wonderingly, whereupon the twins burst +out laughing. + +"Oh, those are not our real names," said Agony, "but we've been called +that so long that it seems as if they were. Her name's Alta and mine's +Agnes. I've been nicknamed Agony ever since I can remember, and Alta got +the habit of saying 'Oh-Pshaw!' at everything until the girls at the +boarding school where we went always called her that and the name stuck. +You pronounce it this way, '_Oh_-Pshaw,' with the accent on the 'Oh.'" + +We were friends all in a minute. How in the world could you be stiff and +formal with two girls whose names were Agony and _Oh_-Pshaw? + +"We heard you singing 'Wohelo for Aye,'" Agony explained, "and it made us +so homesick we almost went up in smoke. We belonged to the corkingest +group back home. It nearly killed us off to go away and leave them." + +Here _Oh_-Pshaw broke in and took up the tale. "When we heard that song +coming from next door Agony squealed, 'Camp Fire Girls!' and began to +dance a jig. She wouldn't wait until I got my hair done so we could come +over and call; she just stretched her neck until it reached into your +window. Oh, I'm so glad you're next door to us I could just pass away!" +And _Oh_-Pshaw caught Agony around the neck and they both lost their +balance on the foot of the bed and rolled over on the pillows. + +"I'm sorry you have such dandy nicknames," said Migwan. "If you didn't +have them we could call you First Apparition and Second Apparition, like +Macbeth, you know. But the ones you have are far superior to anything we +could think up now." + +Then we told them about the Winnebagos and about you and Sahwah and the +rest of them, and how we had formed THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS and meant +to have meetings right along. Of course, we asked them to come and +"Remember" their lost group with us, and they were perfectly wild about +it. + +"Let's have our first meeting right now," proposed Agony, "and go on a +long hike. It's a scrumptious day." + +We flew to get our hats and Hinpoha was in such a hurry that she knocked +over the Japanese screen that stands gracefully across one corner of our +room and that brought to light the pile of things that we just naturally +couldn't fit into the room anywhere and had chucked behind the screen +until we decided how to get rid of them. There was Hinpoha's desk lamp, +the one with the light green shade with bunches of purple grapes on it--a +perfect beauty, only there was no room for it after we'd decided to use +mine with the two lamps in it; and an extra rug and a book rack and a +Rookwood bowl and quantities of pictures. You see, we'd both brought +along enough stuff to furnish a room twice the size of ours. + +"Whatever will we do with those things?" sighed Hinpoha in despair. + +"Can't you give them to somebody?" suggested Migwan. "That lamp and that +vase are perfect beauties. I'd covet them myself if I didn't have more +now than I know what to do with." + +"The very thing!" said Hinpoha. "Here we promised not a half hour ago to +'Give Service' all the time, and yet we didn't think of sharing our +possessions. To whom shall we give them?" + +"To Sally Prindle," said Agony and Oh-Pshaw in one breath. + +"Who's Sally Prindle?" asked Hinpoha and I, also in chorus. + +"She lives down at the other end of the hall in Purgatory," said Agony, +"in that tiny little box of a room at the head of the stairs. She's +working her way through college and waits on table for her board and does +some of the upstairs work for her room, and she's awfully poor. She +hasn't a thing in her room but the bare furniture--not a rug or a +picture. She'd probably be crazy to get them." + +"Let's give them to her right away," said Hinpoha, beginning to gather +things up in her arms. Hinpoha is just like a whirlwind when she gets +enthusiastic about anything. + +"But how shall we give them to her?" I asked. "We don't know her, and she +might feel offended if she thought we had noticed how bare her room was +and pitied her. How shall we manage it, Migwan?" + +"Don't act as if you pitied her at all," replied Migwan. "Simply knock at +her door and tell her you've got your room all furnished and there are +some things left over and you're going up and down the corridor trying to +find out if anybody has room to take care of them for you until the end +of the year. Of course she has room to take them, so it will be very +simple." + +"Oh, Migwan, what would we do without you?" cried Hinpoha, and nearly +dropped the Rookwood bowl trying to hug her with her arms full. "You +always know the right thing to do and say." + +Agony and Oh-Pshaw stopped into their room on the way up and came out +with a leather pillow and an ivory clock to add to the collection. Their +room wasn't too full, but they wanted to do something for Sally, too. We +had to knock on Sally's door twice before she opened it and we were +beginning to be afraid she wasn't at home. When she did come to the door +she didn't ask us in; but just stood looking at us and our armful of +things as if to ask what we wanted. She was a tall, stoop-shouldered girl +with spectacles and a wrinkle running up and down on her forehead between +her eyes. The room was just as bare as Agony had described; it looked +like a cell. + +"We're making a tour of Purgatory trying to dispose of our surplus +furniture," I said, trying to be offhand, "Have you any room to spare?" + +"No, I haven't," answered Sally with a snap. "You're the third bunch +to-day that's tried to decorate my room for me. When I want any donations +I'll ask for them." And she shut the door right in our faces. + +We backed away in such a hurry that Agony dropped the clock and it went +rolling and bumping down the stairway. + +"Of all things!" said Agony. "I wish poor people wouldn't be so +disagreeable about it. I'm sure I'd be tickled to death to use anybody's +surplus to make up what I lacked. Well, we've tried to 'Give Service' +anyway, and if it didn't work it wasn't our fault. I think there ought to +be a law about 'Taking Service' as well as Giving. Now let's hurry up and +go for our hike before the sun goes down." + +We went out and had the most glorious tramp over the hills and found a +tiny little village that looks the same as it must have a hundred years +ago, and then we came back and had hot chocolate in a darling little shop +that was just jammed with students. Agony and Oh-Pshaw know just +quantities of girls, and introduced us to dozens, and we went back to +Purgatory too happy to think. + +"I told you so," said Migwan, as she came into the room with us for a +minute to get a book. + +"What did you tell us?" asked Hinpoha. + +"I meant about us three trying to have meetings just by ourselves and +trying to do exactly what we did when we were Winnebagos. It won't work. +You'll keep on making new friends all the time that you'll love just as +much as the old ones. Don't forget the old Winnebagos, but don't mourn +because the old days have come to an end. There's more fun coming to you +than you've ever had before in your lives, so be on the lookout for it +every minute. 'Remember!'" + +Oh, Katherine, we just love college, and the only fly in the ointment is +that you aren't here! + + Your loving + Gladys. + +P. S. Medmangi writes that she has passed her exams and entered the +Medical School. Sahwah is going to Business College and having the time +of her life with shorthand. P.P.S. Hinpoha is dying of curiosity to hear +more about the sick man. Please answer by return mail. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Nov. 1, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Well, Justice Sherman may be a sheep herder and a son of the pasture, but +I hae me doots. I know a hawk from a handsaw if I was born and bred in +the backwoods. I know it isn't polite to doubt people's word, and he +seemed to be telling an absolutely straight story when he told how he +beat his way across from Texas, but for all that there's some mystery +about him. His manners betrayed him the first time he ever sat down to +the table with us. Even though he limped badly and was still awfully +wobbly, he stood behind my mother's chair and shoved it in for her and +then hobbled over and did the same for me. + +You can see it, can't you? The table set in the kitchen--for our humble +cot does not boast of a dining room--father and Jim Wiggin collarless and +in their shirtsleeves, and the stranded sheep herder waiting upon mother +and me as if we were queens. For no reason at all I suddenly became +abashed. I felt my face flaming to the roots of my hair, and +absentmindedly began to eat my soup with a fork, whereat Jim Wiggin set +up a great thundering haw! haw! Jim had been a sheep herder before he +came to take care of father's horses, and it struck me forcibly just then +that there was a wide difference between him and the stranger within our +gates. + +I said something to father about it that night when we were out in the +stable together giving Sandhelo his nightly dole. Father rubbed his nose +with the back of his hand, a sign that a thing is of no concern to him. + +"Don't you get to worryin' about the stranger's affairs," he advised +mildly. "If he's got something he doesn't want to tell, you ain't got no +business tryin' to find it out. Tend to your own affairs, I say, and +leave others' alone. There ain't nobody goin' to be pestered with +embarrassing questions while they're under my roof." + +So I promised not to ask any questions. Just about the time the +stranger's foot was well enough to walk on, Jim Wiggin stepped on a rusty +nail and laid himself up. Justice Sherman was a godsend just then because +men were so hard to get, and father hired him to help with the horses +until Jim was about again. Father begged me again at this time not to ask +him anything about his past. + +"Just as soon as he thinks we're gettin' curious he'll up and leave," he +said, "and that would put us in a bad way. Help is so scarce now I don't +know where I _would_ get an extra man. Seems almost as though the hand of +Providence had sent him to us." + +It was perfectly true. Since so many men had gone into the army it was +next thing to impossible to get any help on the farms except +good-for-nothing negroes that weren't worth their salt. It seemed, +indeed, an act of Providence to cast an able man at our door just at this +juncture. So I promised again not to bother the man with questions. + +Indeed, it bade fair to be an easy matter not to ask him any questions. +Beyond a few polite words at meals he never said anything at all, and as +he had moved his sleeping quarters to a small cabin away from the house I +saw very little of him, and I suppose we never would have gotten any +better acquainted if your letter hadn't come that Friday. Friday is the +worst day of the week for me, because after five days of constant +set-to-ing with Absalom Butts my philosophy is at its lowest ebb. This +week was the worst because I had a visitation from the school board to +see how I was getting on, and, of course, none of the pupils knew a thing +and most of them acted as if the very devil of mischief had gotten into +them. Elijah Butts gave me a solemn warning that I would have to keep +better order if I wanted to stay in the school, and Absalom, who had been +hanging around listening, made an impudent grimace at me and laughed in a +taunting manner. If I hadn't needed the money so badly I would have +thrown up the job right there. + +Then, on top of that, came your letter describing the supergorgeousness +of your college rooms, and when I thought of the room I had planned to +have at college this winter, adjoining yours, my heart turned to water +within me and melancholy marked me for its own. I wept large and pearly +tears which Niagara-ed over the end of my nose and sizzled on the hot +stove, as I stood in the kitchen stirring a pudding for supper. Get the +effect, do you? Me standing there with the spoon in one hand and your +letter in the other, doing the Niobe act, quite oblivious to the fact +that I was not the only person in the county. I was just in the act of +swallowing a small rapid which had gotten side-tracked from the main +channel and gone whirlpooling down my Sunday throat, when a voice behind +me said, "Did you get bad news in your letter?" + +I jumped so I dropped the letter right into the pudding. I made a savage +dab at my eyes with the corner of my apron and wheeled around furiously. +There stood the Justice Sherman person looking at me with his solemn +black eyes. I was ready to die with shame at being caught. + +"No, I didn't," I exploded, mopping my face vehemently with my apron, and +thereby capping the climax. For while I had been reading your letter and +absently stirring the pudding it had slopped over and run down the front +of my apron, and, of course, I had to use just that part to wipe my face +with. The pudding was huckleberry, and what it did to my features is +beyond description. I caught one glimpse of myself in the mirror over the +sink and then I sank down into a chair and just yelled. Justice Sherman +doubled up against the door frame in a regular spasm of mirth, although +he tried not to make much noise about it. Finally he bolted out of the +door and came back with a basin of water from the pump, which he set down +beside me. + +"Here," he said, "remove the marks of bloody carnage, before you scare +the wolf from the door." + +So I scrubbed, wishing all the while that he would go away, and still +furious for having made such a spectacle of myself. But he stayed around, +and when I resembled a human being once more (if I ever could be said to +resemble one), he came over and handed me the letter, which he had fished +out of the pudding. + +"Here's the fatal missive," he said, "or would you rather leave it in the +pudding?" + +"Throw it into the fire," I commanded. + +"That's the right way," he said approvingly. "I always burn bad news +myself." + +"It wasn't bad news," I insisted. + +"Then why the tears?" he inquired curiously. "Tears, idle tears, I know +not what they mean----" + +He was smiling, but somehow I had a feeling that he was trying to cheer +me up and not making fun of me. I was so low in my mind that afternoon +that anyone who acted in the least degree sympathetic was destined to +fall a victim. Before I knew it I had told him of my shipwrecked hopes +and how your letter had opened the flood gates of disappointment and +nearly put out the kitchen fire. + +"College--you!" I heard him exclaim under his breath. He stared at me +solemnly for a moment and then he exclaimed, "O tempora, O mores! What's +to hinder?" + +"What's to hinder?" I repeated blankly. + +"Yes," he said, "having the room anyway." + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"Why," he explained, "you have a room of your own, haven't you? Why don't +you fix it up just the way you had planned to have your room in college? +Then you can go there and study and make believe you're in college." + +I stared at him open-mouthed. "Make-believe has never been my long suit," +I said. + +"Come on," he urged. "I'll help you fix it up. If you have any more tears +prepare to shed them now into the paint pot and dissolve the paint." + +Before I knew what had happened we had laid forcible hands on the bare +little cell I had indifferently been inhabiting all these years and +transformed it into the study of my dreams. We cut a window in the side +that faces in the direction of the mountains and made a corking window +seat out of a packing case, on which I piled cushions stuffed with +thistle down. We papered the whole place with light yellow paper, tacked +up my last year's school pennants and put up a book shelf. This last +proved to be a delusion and a snare, because one end of it came down in +the middle of the night not long afterward and all the books came +tobogganing on top of me in bed. As a finishing touch, I brought out the +snowshoes and painted paddle that were a relic of my Golden Age, and +which I had never had the heart to unpack since I came home. When +finished the effect was quite epic, though I suppose it would make +Hinpoha's artistic eye water. + +Of course, it will never make up for not going to college, but it helped +some, and in working at it I got very well acquainted with Justice +Sherman all of a sudden. We had long talks about everything under the +sun, and he continually bubbled over with funny sayings. He confided to +me that he had never been so surprised in all his life as when I told him +I wanted to go to college. You see, he had thought we were like the other +poor whites in the neighborhood, and I was like the other girls he had +seen. He didn't take any interest in me until I bowled him over with the +statement that I had already passed my college entrance exams. + +All this time I never hinted that I suspected he was not the simple sheep +herder he pretended to be. I had given father my word and, of course, had +to keep it. But one afternoon the Fates had their fingers crossed, and +Pandora like, I got my foot in it. I had driven Justice over to Spencer +in the rattledy old cart with Sandhelo. On the way we talked of many +things, and I came home surer than ever that he was no sheep herder. Once +when the conversation lagged and in the silence Sandhelo's heels seemed +to be beating out a tune as they clicked along, I remarked ruminatingly, +"There's a line in Virgil that is supposed to imitate the sound of +galloping horses." + + "_Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit angula campam,_" + +quoted Justice promptly. + +So he was on quoting terms with Virgil! But I remembered my promise and +made no remarks. + +A little later I was telling about the winter hike we had taken on +snowshoes last year. + +"You ought to see the sport they have on snowshoes in Switzerland," he +began with kindling eyes. Then he broke off suddenly and changed the +subject. + +So Texas sheep herders learn their trade in Switzerland! But again I +yanked on the curb rein of my curiosity. I apparently took no notice of +his remark, for just then a negro stepped suddenly from behind the bushes +along the road and startled Sandhelo so that he promptly became +temperamental and sat up on his haunches to get a better look at the +apparition, and the mess he made of the harness furnished us plenty of +theme for conversation for the next ten minutes. + +"Lord, what an ape," remarked Justice, gazing after the departing form of +the negro shambling along the road, "he looks like the things you see in +nightmares." + +Accustomed as I was to seeing low-down niggers, this one struck me as +being the worst specimen nature had ever produced. He had the features of +a baboon, and the flapping rags of the grotesque garments he wore made +him look like a wild creature. + +"Do you have many such intellectual-looking gentlemen around here?" asked +Justice, twisting his neck around for a final look at the fellow. "I'd +hate to meet that professor at the dark of the moon." + +"Oh, they're really not as bad as they look," I replied. "They look like +apes, but they're quite harmless. They're shiftless to the last degree, +but not violent. They're too lazy to do any mischief." + +"Just the same, I'd rather not get into an argument with that particular +brother, if it's all the same to you," answered Justice. "He looks like +mischief to me." + +"He _doesn't_ look like a prize entry in a beauty contest," I admitted. + +With all that talk about the negro Justice's remark about Switzerland +went unheeded, but I didn't forget it just the same. I thought about it +all the rest of the afternoon and it was as plain as the nose on your +face that there was some mystery about Justice Sherman. A sheep herder +who spouted Virgil at a touch, quoted continually from the classics, had +refined manners and had traveled abroad, couldn't hide his light under a +bushel very well. Another thing; he wasn't a Texan as he had led us to +believe. He talked with the crisp, clear accent of the North, and the +fuss he made about the negro in the road that afternoon betrayed the fact +that he was no southerner. Nobody around here pays any attention to +niggers, no matter how tattered they are. We're used to them, but +northerners always make a fuss. + +The question bubbled up and down in my mind, keeping time to the bubbling +of the soup on the stove; why was this educated and refined young man +working for thirty dollars a month as a handy man around horses on a +third-rate stock farm in this God-forsaken part of the country? Then a +suspicion flashed into my mind and at the dreadful thought I stopped +stirring with the upraised spoon frozen in mid-air. Then I gathered my +wits together and started resolutely for the table. I had promised father +I would never ask Justice Sherman anything about his past, but here was +something that swept aside all personal obligations and promises. I found +him with father in the stable working over a sick colt. I marched +straight up to him and began without any preamble. + +"See here, Justice Sherman," I said, "are you hiding yourself to avoid +military service? Are you a slacker?" + +Justice Sherman straightened up and looked at me with flashing eyes. "No, +I'm not!" he shouted in a voice quite unlike his. + +I never saw anyone in such a rage. His face was as red as a beet and his +hair actually stood on end. "I registered for the service," he went on +hotly, "and wasn't called in the draft. I tried to enlist and they +wouldn't take me. I was under weight and had a weak throat. If anyone +thinks I'm a slacker, I'll----" Here he choked and had a violent coughing +spell. + +I stared at him, dazed. I never thought he could get so angry. He looked +at me with hostile, indignant eyes. Then he straightened up stiffly and +walked out of the stable. + +"I won't stay here any longer," he exploded, still at the boiling point. +"I won't be insulted." + +"I apologize," I said humbly. "I spoke in haste. Won't you please +consider it unsaid?" + +No, he wouldn't consider it unsaid. He wouldn't listen to father's +pathetic plea not to leave him without a helper. We suspected him of +being a slacker and that finished it. He would leave immediately. Down +the road he marched as fast as he could go without ever turning his head. + +A worm in the dust was much too exalted to describe the way I felt. With +the best of intentions I had precipitated a calamity, taking away +father's best helper at a critical time, to say nothing of my losing him +as a companion. I was too disgusted with myself to live and chopped wood +to relieve my feelings. After supper I hitched up Sandhelo and drove to +Spencer to post a letter. I am not in the least sentimental--you know +that--but all along the road I kept seeing things that reminded me of +Justice Sherman and the fun we had had together. Now that he was gone the +days ahead of me seemed suddenly very empty, and desolation laid a firm +hand on my ankle. + +Also, I had an uncomfortable recollection that it was right along here we +had met the horrid negro, and I became filled with fear that I would meet +him again. The fear grew, and turned into absolute panic when I +approached that same clump of bushes and in the dusk saw a figure rise +from behind them and lurch toward the road. I pulled Sandhelo up sharply, +thinking to turn around and flee in the opposite direction, but Sandhelo +refused to be turned. When I pulled him up he sat back and mixed up the +harness so he got the bit into his teeth, and then he jumped up and went +straight on forward, with a squeal of mischief. When we were opposite the +figure in the road Sandhelo stopped short and poked his nose forward just +the way he used to do when Justice Sherman came into his stall. + +"Hello," said a voice in the darkness, and then I saw that the figure in +the road was Justice Sherman. His bad ankle had given out on him and he +had been sitting there on the ground waiting for some vehicle to come +along and give him a lift to Spencer. + +"Get in," I said briefly, helping him up, and he got in beside me without +a word. We drove to Spencer in silence and he made no move to get out +when we got there. I mailed my letter and then turned and drove homeward. +About half way home he spoke up and apologized for being so hasty, and +wondered if father would take him back again. I reassured him heartily +and we were on the old footing of intimacy by the time we reached home. + +We found father standing in front of the house talking to a negro whom we +recognized as the one we had met in the road that afternoon. Father +greeted Justice Sherman with joy and relief. + +"You pretty nearly came back too late," he said. "Here I was just hiring +a man to take your place." Then he turned to the negro and said, "It's +all off, Solomon. I don't need you. My own man has come back. You go +along and get a job somewhere else." + +The negro shuffled off and I fancied that he looked rather resentful at +being sent away. + +"Father," I said, when the creature was out of earshot, "you surely +weren't going to hire that ape to work here?" + +"Why not?" answered father. "I have to have a man to help with the +horses, and this fellow came up to the door and asked for work, so I +promised him a job." + +"But he's such a terrible looking thing," I said. + +Father only laughed and dismissed the subject with a wave of his hands. +"I wasn't hiring him for his looks," he answered. "He said he could +handle horses and that was enough for me." + +So Justice Sherman came back to us and the subject of military service +was never broached again. + +About a week after his return, and when Jim Wiggin was able to be about +again, Justice Sherman walked into the kitchen with a mincing air quite +unlike his ordinary free stride. He had been to Spencer for the mail. + +"Tread softly when you see me," he advised. "I'm a perfessor, I am." + +I looked up inquiringly from the potato I was paring. + +"Behold in me," he went on, "the entire faculty of the Spencer High +School. I am instructor in Latin, Greek, mathematics, science, history, +English and dramatics; also civics and economics." + +"You don't mean really?" I asked. + +"Really and truly, for sartain sure," he repeated. "The last faculty got +drafted and left the school in a bad way. I heard about it down at the +post-office this afternoon and went over and applied for the job. The +hardened warriors that compose the school board fell for me to a man. I +recited one line of Latin and they applauded to the echo; I recited a +line of gibberish and told them it was Greek, and they wept with delight +at the purity of my accent. Then they cautiously inquired if I was +qualified to teach any other branches and I told them that I also +included in my repertoire cooking, dressmaking and millinery. This last +remark was intended to be facetious, but those solemn old birds took it +seriously and forthwith broke into loud hosannas. I was somewhat +mystified at the outbreak until I gathered from bits of conversation that +the extravagant township of Spencer had intended to hire two high school +teachers this year, as the last incumbent's accomplishments had been +rather brief and fleeting, but what was the use, as one pious old hairpin +by the name of Butts delicately put it, what was the use of paying two +teachers when one feller could do the hull thing himself? Then he shook +me feelingly by the hand and said he knowed I was a bargain the minute he +laid eyes on me. O Tempora, O Mores! Papers were brought and shoved into +my yielding hands, the writ duly executed, and I passed out of the door a +fully fledged 'perfessor' with a six-months' contract. Smile on me, +please, I'm a bargain!" And he danced a hornpipe in the middle of the +floor until the dishes rattled in the cupboard. + +I stared at him speechless. He teach high school? And the things he +mentioned as being able to teach! History, French, mathematics, physics, +literature, philosophy, Latin, Greek! Quite a well-rounded sheep herder, +this! The mystery about him deepened. It was clear now that he was a +college graduate. Again I revised my estimate as to his age, and decided +he must be about twenty-three or four. Why would he be willing to teach a +farce of a high school like the one in Spencer? + +Then in the midst of my puzzling it came over me that I did not want him +to leave us, and that I would miss him terribly. Of course, he would go +to live in Spencer. + +"Are you going to board with any of the school board?" I asked jealously, +that being what the last "faculty" had done. + +"Board with the Board?" he repeated. "Neat expression, that. Not that I +know of. I haven't been requested to vacate my present quarters yet, or +do I understand that you are even now serving notice?" + +A thrill of joy shot through me. Maybe he would still live in the little +cabin on our farm. + +"I thought of course you would rather live near the school," I said. +"It's six miles from here. Why don't you?" + +"'I would dwell with thee, merry grasshopper,'" he quoted. "That is, if I +am kindly permitted to do so." + +And so we settled it. He is to ride with Sandhelo in the cart every day +as far as my school, then drive on to Spencer, and stop for me on the way +home. What fun it is going to be! + + Yours, _summa cum felicitate_, + Katherine. + +P. S. Sandhelo sends three large and loving hee-haws. + + + + + SAHWAH TO KATHERINE + + + Nov. 10, 19--. +Darling K: + +This big old town is like the Deserted Village since you and the other +Winnies went away. For the first few weeks it was simply ghastly; there +wasn't a tree or a telephone pole that didn't remind me of the good times +we used to have. Do you realize that I am the sole survivor of our once +large and lusty crew? Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys are at Brownell; +Veronica is in New York; Nakwisi has gone to California with her aunt; +Medmangi is in town, but she is locked up in a nasty old hospital +learning to be a doctor in double quick time so she can go abroad with +the Red Cross. Nothing is nice the way it used to be. I like to go to +Business College, of course, and there are lots of pleasant girls there, +but they aren't my Winnies. I get invited to things, and I go and enjoy +myself after a fashion, but the tang is gone. It's like ice cream with +the cream left out. + +I went to the House of the Open Door one Saturday afternoon and poked +around a bit, but I didn't stay very long; the loneliness seemed to grab +hold of me with a bony hand. Everything was just the way we had left it +the night of our last Ceremonial Meeting--do you realize that we never +went out after that? There was the candle grease on the floor where +Hinpoha's emotion had overcome her and made her hand wobble so she +spilled the melted wax all out of her candlestick. There were the +scattered bones of our Indian pottery dish that you knocked off the shelf +making the gestures to your "Wotes for Wimmen" speech. There was the +Indian bed all sagged down on one side where we had all sat on Nyoda at +once. + +It all brought back last year so plainly that it seemed as if you must +everyone come bouncing out of the corners presently. But you didn't come, +and by and by I went down the ladder to the Sandwiches' Lodge. That was +just as bad as our nook upstairs. The gym apparatus was there, just as it +used to be, with the mat on the floor where they used to roll Slim, and +beside it the wreck of a chair that Slim had sat down on too suddenly. + +Poor Slim! He tried to enlist in every branch of the service, but, of +course, they wouldn't take him; he was too fat. He starved himself and +drank vinegar and water for a week and then went the rounds again, hoping +he had lost enough to make him eligible, and was horribly cut up when he +found he had gained instead. He was quite inconsolable for a while and +went off to college with the firm determination to trim himself down +somehow. Captain has gone to Yale, so he can be a Yale graduate like his +father and go along with him to the class reunions. Munson McKee has +enlisted in the navy and the Bottomless Pitt in the Ambulance Corps. The +rest of the Sandwiches have gone away to school, too. + +The boards creaked mournfully under my feet as I moved around, and it +seemed to me that the old building was just as lonesome for you as I was. + +"You ought to be proud," I said aloud to the walls, "that you ever +sheltered the Sandwich Club, because now you are going to be honored +above all other barns," and I hung in the window the Service Flag with +the two stars that I had brought with me. It looked very splendid; but it +suddenly made the place seem strange and unfamiliar. Here was something +that did not belong to the old days. It is so hard to realize that the +boys who used to wrestle around here have gone to war. + +I went out and closed the door, but outside I lingered a minute to look +sadly up at the little window in the end where the candle always used to +burn on Ceremonial nights. + +"Good-bye, House of the Open Door," I said, "we've had lots of good times +in you and nobody can ever take them away from us. We've got to stop +playing now for awhile and Glorify Work. We're going to do our bit, and +you must do yours, too, by standing up proudly through all winds and +weather and showing your service flag. Some day we'll all come back to +you, or else the Winnebago spirit will come back in somebody else, and +you must be ready." + +I said good-bye to the House of the Open Door with the hand sign of fire +and a military salute, and went away feeling a heavy sense of +responsibility, because in all this big lonely city I was the only one +left to uphold the honor of the Winnebagos. + +And hoop-la! I did it, too, all by myself. The week after I had paid the +visit to the House of the Open Door someone called me on the telephone +and wanted to know if this was Miss Sarah Brewster who belonged to the +Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, and when I said yes it was the voice informed +me that she was Mrs. Lewis, the new Chief Guardian for the city, and +President of the Guardians' Association. She went on to say that she +wanted to plan a patriotic parade for all the Camp Fire Girls in the city +to take part in, and as part of the ceremony to present a large flag to +the city. She knew what she wanted all right, but she wasn't sure that +she could carry it out, and as she had seen the Winnebagos the time they +took part in the Fourth of July pageant, she wanted to know if we would +take hold and help her manage the thing. I started to tell her that the +Winnebagos weren't here and couldn't help her; then I reflected that I, +at least, was left and it was up to me to do what you all would have done +if you had been here. So I said yes, I'd be glad to take hold and help +make the parade a success. + +And, believe me, it was! Can you guess how many girls marched? +_Twenty-three hundred!_ Glory! I didn't know there were so many girls in +the whole world! The line stretched back until you couldn't see the end, +and still they kept on coming. And who do you suppose led the parade? +Why, _I_ did, of all people! And on a _horse_! Carrying the Stars and +Stripes on a long staff that fitted into a contrivance on the saddle to +hold it firm. Right in front of me marched the Second Regiment Band, and +my horse pawed the ground in time to the music until I nearly burst with +excitement. After me came the twenty girls, all Torch Bearers, who +carried the big flag we were going to present to the city, and behind +them came the floats and figures of the pageant. + +I must tell you about some of these, and a few of them you'll recognize, +because they are our old stunts trimmed up to suit the occasion. + +GIVE SERVICE was the most impressive, because it is the most important +just now. It was in twelve parts, showing all the different ways in which +Camp Fire Girls could serve the nation in the great crisis. There was the +Red Cross Float, showing the girls making surgical dressings and knitting +socks and sweaters. Another showed them making clothes for themselves and +for other members of the family to cut down the hiring of extra help; and +similar floats carried out the same idea in regard to cooking, washing +and ironing. Yes ma'am! Washing and ironing! You don't need to turn up +your nose. One float was equipped with a complete modern household +laundry and the girls on it had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows +and were doing up fine waists and dresses in great shape, besides +operating electric washing machines and mangles. + +One float was just packed full of good things which the girls had cooked +without sugar, eggs or white flour, and with fruits and vegetables which +they had canned and preserved themselves, while the fertile garden in +which said fruits and vegetables had grown came trundling on behind, the +girls armed with spades, hoes and rakes. I consumed two sleepless nights +and several strenuous afternoons accomplishing that garden on wheels and +I want you to know it was a work of art. The plants were all artificial, +but they looked most lifelike, indeed. + +Besides those things we had groups of girls taking care of children so +their mothers could go out and work; and teaching foreign girls how to +take care of their own small brothers and sisters, so they'll grow up +strong and healthy. + +There really seemed to be no end to our usefulness. + +Behind the wheeled portion of the parade came hundreds of girls on foot, +carrying pennants that stretched clear across the street, with clever +slogans on them like this: + + DON'T FORGET US, UNCLE SAMMY, + WE'RE ALWAYS ON THE JOB + * * * * * * + YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE WE'RE HERE + * * * * * * + AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! + * * * * * * + WE ARE PROUD TO LABOR FOR OUR COUNTRY + +And the people! Oh, my stars! They lined the streets for thirty blocks, +packed in solid from the store fronts to the curb. And the way they +cheered! It made shivers of ecstasy chase up and down my spine, while the +tears came to my eyes and a big lump formed in my throat. If you've never +heard thousands of people cheering at you, you can't imagine how it +feels. + +One time when the procession halted at a cross street I saw a fat old +man, who I'm sure was a dignified banker, balancing himself on a fireplug +so he could see better, and waving his hat like crazy. He finally got so +enthusiastic that he fell off the fireplug and landed on his hands and +knees in the gutter, where some Boy Scouts picked him up and dusted him +off, still feebly waving his hat. + +Our line of march eventually brought us out at Lincoln Square, where the +presentation of the flag was to take place. We stood in the shadow of the +Lincoln Memorial monument, and who do you suppose presented the flag? Me +again. In the name of all the Camp Fire Girls of the city, I +ceremoniously presented it to the Mayor, who accepted it with a flowery +speech that beat mine all hollow. Besides presenting the flag I was to +help raise it. The pole was there already; it had seen many flag raisings +in its long career and many flags had flapped themselves to shreds on its +top. The thing I had to do was fasten our flag to the ropes and pull her +up. In this I was to be assisted by a soldier brother of one of the girls +who was home on furlough. He was to be standing there at the pole waiting +for us, but when the time came he wasn't there. Where he was I hadn't the +slightest idea; nor did I have any time to spend wondering. Mrs. Lewis +had set her heart on having a man in soldier's uniform help raise the +flag; it added so much to the spirit of the occasion. Just at this moment +I saw a man in army uniform standing in the crowd at the foot of the +monument, very close to me. Without a moment's hesitation I beckoned him +imperatively to me. He came and I thrust the rope into his hands, +whispering directions as to what he was to do. It all went without a +hitch and the crowd never knew that he wasn't the soldier we had planned +to have right from the start. We pulled evenly together and the flag +slowly unfolded over our heads and went fluttering to the top, while the +band crashed out the "Star Spangled Banner." It was glorious! If I had +been thrilled through before, I was shaken to my very foundations now. I +felt queer and dizzy, and felt myself making funny little gaspy noises in +my throat. There was a great cheer from the crowd and the ceremonies were +over. The parade marched on to the Armory, where we were to listen to an +address by Major Blanchard of the --th Engineers. + +The girls had all filed in and found seats when Mrs. Lewis, who was to +introduce Major Blanchard, came over to me where I was standing near the +stage and said in a tragic tone, "Major Blanchard couldn't come; I've had +a telegram. What on earth are we going to do? He was going to tell +stories about camp life; the girls will be _so_ disappointed not to hear +him." + +I rubbed my forehead, unable to think of anything that would meet the +emergency. An ordinary speaker wouldn't fill the bill at all, I knew, +when the girls all had their appetites whetted for a Major. + +"We might ask the band to give a concert, and all of us sing patriotic +songs," I ventured finally. + +"I don't see anything else to do," said Mrs. Lewis, "but I'm _so_ +disappointed not to have the Major here. The girls are all crazy to hear +about the camp." + +Just then I caught sight of a uniform outside of the open entrance way. + +"Wait a minute," I said, "there's the soldier who helped us raise the +flag, standing outside the door. Maybe he'll come in and talk to the +girls in place of the Major." I hurried out and buttonholed the soldier. +He declined at first, but I wouldn't take no for an answer. I literally +pulled him in and chased him up the aisle to the stage. + +"But I can't make a speech," he said in an agonized whisper, as we +reached the steps of the stage, trying to pull back. + +"Don't try to," I answered cheerfully. "Speeches are horrid bores, +anyway. Just tell them exactly what you do in camp; that's what they're +crazy to hear about." + +Mrs. Lewis didn't tell the audience that the speaker was one I had +kidnapped in a moment of desperation. She introduced him as a friend of +the Major's, who had come to speak in his place. The applause when she +introduced him was just as hearty as if he had been the Major himself. +The fact that he was a soldier was enough for the girls. + +And he brought down the house! He wasn't an educated man, but he was very +witty, and had the gift of telling things so they seemed real. He told +little intimate details of camp life from the standpoint of the private +as the Major never could have told them. He had us alternately laughing +and crying over the little comedies and tragedies of barracks life. He +imitated the voices and gestures of his comrades and mimicked the +officers until you could see them as plainly as if they stood on the +stage. He talked for an hour instead of the half hour the Major was +scheduled to speak and when he stopped the air was full of clamorings for +more. Private Kittredge had made more of a hit than Major Blanchard could +have done. + +I never saw a person look so astonished or so pleased as he did at the +ovation which followed his speech. He stood there a moment, looking down +at the audience with a wistful smile, then he got fiery red and almost +ran off the stage. + +"I don't know whether to be glad or sorry the Major's not coming," +whispered Mrs. Lewis to me under cover of the applause. "The Major's a +very fine speaker, but he wouldn't have made such a _human_ speech. You +certainly have a knack of picking out able people, Miss Brewster! You +chose just the right girls for each part in the pageant." + +I didn't acknowledge this compliment as I should have, because I was +wondering why our soldier man had looked that way when we applauded him. +He would have slipped out of the side door when he came off the stage, +but I stopped him and made him wait for the rest of the program. A +national fraternity was holding a convention in town that week and +members from all the great colleges were in attendance. As it happened, +our Major is a member of that fraternity, and, as a mark of esteem for +the Camp Fire Girls, he asked the fraternity glee club to sing for us at +the close of our patriotic demonstration. + +The singers came frolicking in from some banquet they had been attending, +in a very frisky mood, and sang one funny song after another until our +sides ached from laughing. I stole a glance now and then at Private +Kittredge, beside me, but he never noticed. He was drinking in the antics +of those carefree college boys with envious, wistful eyes. At the end of +their concert the singers turned and faced the great flag that hung down +at the back of the stage and sang an old college song that we had heard +sung before, but which had suddenly taken on a new, deep meaning. With +their very souls in their voices they sang it: + + "Red is for Harvard in that grand old flag, + Columbia can have her white and blue; + And dear old Yale will never fail + To stand by her color true; + Penn and Cornell amid the shot and shell + Were fighting for that torn and tattered rag, + And our college cheer will be + 'My Country, 'tis of Thee,' + And Old Glory will be our college flag!" + +The effect was electrical. Everybody cheered until they were hoarse. I +looked at Private Kittredge. His head was buried in his hands and the +tears were trickling out between his fingers. I was too much embarrassed +to say anything, and I just sat looking at him until, all of a sudden, he +sat up, and reaching out his hand he caught hold of mine and squeezed it +until it hurt. + +"I'm going back," he said brokenly. + +"Going back?" I repeated, bewildered. "Where?" + +"Back to camp," he replied. Then he began to speak in a low, husky voice. +"I want to tell you something," he said. "I'm not what you think I am. +I'm a deserter. That is, I would have been by tomorrow. My leave expires +to-night. I wasn't going back. I didn't want to go into the army. I +didn't want to fight for the country. I hated the United States. It had +never given me a square deal. My father was killed in a factory when I +was a baby and my mother never got a cent out of it. She wasn't strong +and she worked herself to death trying to support herself and me. I grew +up in an orphan asylum where everybody was down on me and made me do all +the unpleasant jobs, and at twelve I was adrift in the world. I sold +papers in the streets and managed to make a living, but one night I went +out with a crowd of boys and some of the older ones knocked a man down +and stole his money and the police caught the whole bunch and we were +sent to the Reformatory. After that I had a hard time trying to make an +honest living because people don't like to hire anyone that's been in the +Reformatory. I never had any fun the way other boys did. I had to live in +cheap boarding places because I didn't earn much and nobody that was +decent seemed to care to associate with me. I was sick of living that way +and wanted to go away to South America where no one would know about the +Reformatory, and make a clean start. Then I was drafted. I hated army +life, too. All the other fellows got mail and boxes from home and had a +big fuss made over them and I didn't have a soul to write to me or send +me things. I was given a good deal of kitchen duty to do and everybody +looks down on that. I kept getting sorer and sorer all the time and at +last I decided to desert. I got a three-days' leave and made up my mind +that I wouldn't go back. I was just hanging around the street killing +time this afternoon when I saw a crowd and stopped to see what the +excitement was about. Then all of a sudden you looked at me and motioned +me to come over and help you raise the flag. It was the first time I had +ever touched the Stars and Stripes. When the folds fell around my +shoulders before she went sailing up, something wakened in me that I had +never felt before. I couldn't believe it was I, standing there raising +the flag with all those people cheering. It intoxicated me and carried me +along with the parade when it went to the armory. Then again, like the +hand of fate, you came out and pulled me in and made me speak to the +girls. I had never spoken before anyone in my life. I had never 'been in' +anything. It made another man of me. All of a sudden I found I did love +my country after all. I _did_ have something to fight for. I _did_ belong +somewhere. It _did_ thrill me to see Old Glory fluttering out in the +wind. That was my country's flag, _my_ flag. I was willing to die for it. +I'm going back to camp to-night," he finished simply. + +I gripped his hands silently, too moved to speak. + +All the while we were talking there the crowd had been busy getting their +things together and going out and nobody paid any attention to us sitting +there in the shadow under the gallery. Now, however, I was aware of +somebody approaching directly, and along came the Mayor, gracious and +smiling, to shake hands with the speaker of the afternoon. + +"Those were rattling good stories you told," he said in his hearty way. +"I say, won't you be a guest at a little dinner the frat brothers are +giving this evening, and tell them to the boys? That's the kind of stuff +everybody's interested in." + +And off went the man who had never had a chance, arm in arm with the +Mayor, to be guest of honor at a dinner in the finest hotel in the city! + +Jiminy! Do you see what the Winnebagos have gone and done? They've saved +a man from being a deserter! I've promised to write to him and get the +rest of the girls to write and send him things, and I'll bet that he'll +be loyal to the flag to the last gasp. + +Now aren't you glad you're a Winnebago? + + Your loving old pal, + Sahwah. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Nov. 15, 19--. +Dearest Winnebagos: + +You don't happen to know of anyone that would like to employ a good +country schoolma'am for the rest of the term, do you? I'm fired; that is, +I'll wager all my earthly possessions that I will be at the next session +of the Board. The prophet hath spoken truly; and you can't make a +silk-purse-carrying schoolmarm out of Katherine Adams. + +This morning I woke up with a glouch, which is a combination of a gloom +and a grouch, and worse than either. It didn't improve it to have to go +to school on such a crisp, cool, ten-mile-walk day and listen to Clarissa +Butts stammer out a paragraph in the reader about vegetation around +extinct volcanoes, and all the while trying to keep my eye on the rest of +the pupils, who were not listening, but throwing spitballs at each other. +The worst of it was I didn't blame them a bit for not listening. Why on +earth can't they put something interesting into school readers? Even I, +with my insatiable thirst for information, gagged on vegetation around +extinct volcanoes. Clarissa's paragraph drew to a halting close and +finally stopped with a rising inflection, regardless of my oft-repeated +instructions how to behave in the presence of a period, and I had to go +through the daily process of correction, which ended as usual with +Clarissa in tears and me wondering why I was born. + +The next little girl took up the tale in a droning sing-song that was +almost as bad as Clarissa's halting delivery, and fed the Glouch until he +was twice his original size. The climax came when Absalom Butts, by some +feat of legerdemain, pulled the bottom out of his desk and his books +suddenly fell to the floor with a crash that shattered the nerves of the +entire class. Absalom and some of the other boys snickered out loud; the +girls looked at me with anxious expectancy. + +I sat up very straight. "Class attention!" I commanded, rapping with my +ruler. "Close books and put them away," I ordered next. + +Books and papers made a fluttering disappearance, through which the +long-drawn sniffs of Clarissa Butts were plainly audible. + +"Get your hats and form in line for dismissal," was the next order that +fell on their startled ears. + +"She's going to send us home," came to my hearing in a sibilant whisper. +Clarissa's sniffs became gurgling sobs as she took her place in the +apprehensive line. + +"Forward march, and halt outside the door!" I drove them out like sheep +before me and then I came out and banged the door shut with a vicious +slam. Passing between the two files I divided the ranks into sheep and +goats, left and right. + +"Class attention!" I called again. "Do you all see that dark spot over +there?" said I, pointing to the dim line of trees that marked the +beginning of the woods, some seven miles distant. + +"Yes, Miss Adams," came the wondering reply. + +"Well," I continued, "the left half of the line will take the road around +Spencer way, and the right half will take the road around the other way, +and the half that gets there last will have to give a show to amuse the +winners. We're going to have a hike, and a picnic. You all have your +lunch baskets, haven't you?" + +For a minute they stood dazed, looking at me as if they thought I had +lost my senses. Clarissa stopped short in the middle of a sob to gape +open-mouthed. Come to think of it, I don't believe she ever did finish +that sob. I repeated my directions, and taking the youngest girl by the +hand I started one half of the line down the road, calling over my +shoulder to the other line that they might as well make up their stunts +on the way, because they were going to get beaten. But after all it was +our side that got there last, because we were mostly girls and I had to +carry the littlest ones over some of the rough places. + +I sent the boys to gather wood and built up a big fire, and then I +proceeded to initiate the crowd into some of the mysteries of camp +cookery. I daubed a chicken with clay and baked it with the feathers on, +like we used to do last summer on Ellen's Isle, and it would have been +splendid if it hadn't been for one small oversight. I forgot to split the +chicken open and take the insides out before I put the clay on. + +After dinner it was up to me to produce a show in obedience to my own +mandate. None of the rest on my side could help me out, because not one +of the blessed chicks had ever done a "stunt" in their lives. The only +"prop" I had was a bright red tie, so I proceeded to do the stunt about +the goat that ate the two red shirts right off the line--you remember the +way Sahwah used to bring the house down with it? Well, I had just got to +the part where "he heard the whistle; was in great pain----" and, +accompanying the action to the music, was down on all fours giving a +lifelike imitation of a goat tied to a railroad track, while the +delighted boys and girls were doubled up in all stages of mirth, when I +heard a sound that resembled the last gasp of a dying elephant. I jumped +to my feet and whirled around, and there in the offing were +anchored--anchored is the only expression that fits because they were +literally rooted to the spot--the entire school board of Spencer +township, plus two strange men plus Justice Sherman. The board members +and the strangers stood with their jaws dropped down on their chests and +their eyes popping out of their heads; Justice had his handkerchief over +his mouth and was shaking from head to foot like a sapling in a high +wind. I gave a gasp of dismay which resulted in further developments, for +I had the whole red tie stuffed into my mouth with which to flag the +train when the time came, and the minute I opened my mouth it billowed +out in the breeze. That was the finishing touch. I might have explained +away the quadruped attitude as a gymnastic pose, but it takes +considerable of an artist to explain away a mouthful of red tie in a +schoolmarm. Besides that, I was mud from head to foot, having slid about +ten feet for the home plate in a baseball game we had before dinner, so +that I presented a front elevation in natural clay effect, broken here +and there with elderberries in bas-relief, which had adhered when the can +was accidentally spilled over me. + +Being acutely conscious of all these facts in every corner of my anatomy +did not add to my ease of manner, but I said as nonchalantly as I could, +"How do you do, Mr. Butts? How do you do, gentlemen?" Then I added rather +lamely, "Pleasant day, is it not?" + +Mr. Butts exploded into the same sort of snort as had interrupted me in +time to prevent the goat from flagging the train. + +"Miss Adams," he said severely, when he had recovered his breath +sufficiently to speak, "what does this mean? Why ain't you teaching +school to-day? Here comes these here two fellers----" and he jerked his +thumb in the direction of the two strangers--"from the new school board +over to Sabot Junction, to visit our school, and I takes them over to the +schoolhouse and finds it empty and no sign of you or the class. Fine +doin's, them! These fellers had their trip for nothin' and they were +pretty mad about it I can tell you, and so I thinks I'll drive them over +to Kenridge to the schoolhouse there and here on the way I runs into you +in the woods, acting like a lunytic. I always said Bill Adams's daughter +was plumb crazy and now I'm sure of it." + +I stood aghast. How was I to explain to an irate school board that +neither I nor the children had felt like going to school to-day and had +decided to have a picnic instead, and that the "lunytic actin's" was +Sahwah's famous stunt, enacted to add to the hilarity of the occasion? I +threw an appealing glance at Justice Sherman, and he sobered up enough to +speak. + +"You don't understand, Mr. Butts," he said hastily. "Miss Adams _is_ +teaching school to-day. She is teaching the children botany and it is +sometimes necessary to go out into the woods and study right from Nature. +I heard her say that she was going to take the children out the first +fine day." + +This was outrageous fibbing, but nobly done in a good cause. It was of no +avail, however, for Absalom Butts promptly called out importantly, "It +ain't either no botany class; it's a picnic. She made us put our books +away when we didn't want to and come out here." And he made an impudent +grimace at me, accompanied with the usual taunting grin. + +Right here I had another surprise of my young life. No sooner had the +craven Absalom turned state's evidence when there rose from the masses an +unexpected champion. As Elijah Butts began to express his opinion of my +"carryin's on" in no veiled terms, his daughter Clarissa, developing a +hitherto undreamed of amount of spirit, suddenly threw her arms around my +waist and stood there stamping her feet with anger. + +"She ain't a lunatic, she ain't a lunatic," she shrilled above her +father's gruff tones, "she's nice and I love her!" After which astounding +confession she melted into tears and stood there sobbing and hugging the +breath out of me. To my greater astonishment all the other girls +immediately followed suit and gathered around me with shielding caresses, +turning defiant faces to the upbraiding school board members. The boys +made themselves very inconspicuous in the rear, but I caught more than +one glowering look cast in the direction of Absalom. + +Before this demonstration of affection, Mr. Butts paused in astonishment, +and, having hesitated, was lost. He felt he was no longer cock of the +walk, and in dignified silence led the way to the surrey standing in the +road, with the rest of the school board members and the visitors stalking +after. I watched them climb in and drive away, and then the reaction set +in and I sat down on the ground and laughed until I cried, while the +girls, not sure whether I was laughing or crying, alternately giggled +convulsively and soothingly bade me "never mind." I sat up finally and +shook the hair out of my eyes and then I discovered that Justice Sherman +had not departed with the rest of the delegation, but was sitting on the +ground not far away, still shaking with laughter and wiping his eyes on a +red-bordered napkin that had strayed out of a lunch basket. A sudden +suspicion seized me. + +"Justice," I cried severely, "did you do it?" + +"Did I do what?" he asked in a startled tone. + +"Find out I was off on a picnic and bring the Board down to visit me?" + +Justice threw out his hands in a gesture of denial. "'Thou canst not say +I did it, never shake thy gory locks at me,'" he declaimed feelingly. +"Where did they come from? They dropped, fair one, like the gentle rain +from heaven, upon the place beneath. They came first to my humble +dispensary of learning, anxious to show the visiting Solons what a +bargain they had captured, and listened feelingly while I conducted a +Latin lesson, which impressed them so much they invited me to come along +while they gave you the 'once over.' You never saw such an expression in +your life as there was on the face of Mr. Butts when he arrived at your +place and found it empty. I will remember it to my dying day. + +"But what on earth _were_ you doing when we found you in the woods?" he +finished in a mystified tone. + +Then I told him about Sahwah's goat that ate the two red shirts right off +the line, and again he laughed until he was weak. + +"Some schoolma'am you, for visiting committees to make notes on!" he +exclaimed. + +"I'm discharged, of course," I remarked, after a moment's silence. + +"Oh, maybe not," said Justice soothingly, as we reached home, and he +turned off to go to his cabin. + +"I don't care if I am," I cried savagely. "I hate that old Board so I +wouldn't work for them another day." And I stalked into the house with my +head in the air. + +But somehow, after I had eaten my supper and begun to write this letter, +I began to feel differently. The way the girls stood up for me this +afternoon changed my whole attitude toward school teaching. To find out +that they actually loved me was the biggest surprise I had ever had in my +life. I had hated them so thoroughly along with the school teaching that +it had never occurred to me that they did not feel the same way toward +me. I suddenly hated myself for my impatience with their stupidity. Of +course they were stupid--how could they be otherwise, poor, pitiful, +ill-clad, overworked creatures, coming from such homes as they did? I +stopped despising them and was filled only with pity for the narrow, +colorless lives they led. That afternoon when they had told me, shyly and +wistfully, how much they enjoyed my teaching, I was filled with guilty +pangs, because I knew just how much _I_ had enjoyed it. That impromptu +picnic had quite won their hearts and broken down the barriers between +us, and the trouble it had gotten me into crystallized their affection +into expression. Now the ice was broken, and I would be able to get more +out of them than ever before. The prospect of teaching began to have +compensations. + +Then suddenly I remembered. I would be discharged after the next meeting +of the Board. I would have no opportunity of getting better acquainted +with my pupils and leading them in the pleasant paths of knowledge. Just +when the drink began to taste sweet I had to go and upset the cup! + +And your Katherine, who had hated teaching the poor whites so fiercely +all these months, buried her head on her arms and cried bitterly at the +thought of having to give it up! + + Yours, in tears, + Katherine. + + + + + HINPOHA TO KATHERINE + + + Brownell College, Nov. 25, 19--. + +Dearest Katherine: + +At first glance I don't suppose you will recognize this sweet little +creature, but you ought to, seeing you are his own mother. It's the Pig +you drew with your eyes shut in Glady's PIG BOOK last year. Gladys +brought the PIG BOOK along with her and the other day we got it out and +found your poor little Piggy with the mournful inscription under him, +"Where is My Wandering Pig To-night?" He looked so sad and lonesome we +knew he was simply pining away for you. His ink has faded perceptibly and +he is just a shadow of his former emphatic self. Migwan looked at it and +said, "What charade does it make you think of?" + +It was just as plain as the nose on your face, and we all shouted at +once, "Pork-you-pine!" + +We couldn't bear to leave him there to die of grief and longing, so we +transferred him tenderly to this letter and are sending him to his mumsey +by Special Delivery. We hope he will pick up immediately upon arrival. + +We had Lamb's _Dissertation on Roast Pig_ in Literature the other day and +were asked to comment upon it, and Agony wrote that she didn't think much +of a dissertation on Pig that was written by a Lamb; she thought Bacon +could have handled the subject much better! + +As ever, your Hinpoha. + +P. S. Here is Piggy's tail; we found it in a corner of the page after we +had him transferred. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Dec. 3, 19--. +Dear Winnies: + +Hurray! I'm not fired. Why, I wasn't I never will be able to figure out, +but it's so. A week after the Picnic the Board sat, but not on me. For a +while I lived in hourly expectation of forcible eviction, but nothing +happened, and I heard from Justice, who stands high in the favor of +Elijah Butts and gets inside information about school matters, that +nothing was going to be done about it. If Justice had any further details +he wouldn't divulge them. + +Justice is a queer chap. Although he talks nonsense incessantly, you can +get very little information out of him. And the way he puts up with all +kinds of inconveniences without complaint is wonderful to me. He must be +accustomed to far different surroundings, and yet from his attitude you'd +think his little cabin out beyond the stables was the one place on earth +he'd select for an abode. He never even mentioned the fact that the roof +leaked badly until I went out there to fetch him and discovered him on +top patching it. Then I went inside to see what else could be improved, +and the bare, tumble-down-ness of the place struck me forcibly. Light +shone through chinks in the walls, the door sill was warped one way and +the door another, and there was no sign of the pane that had once been in +the window. It was simply a dilapidated cabin, and made no pretence of +being anything else. How he could live in it was more than I could see. +No light at night but a kerosene lamp, no furniture except what he +himself had made from boards, boxes and logs; no carpet on the rough, +rotting floor. Why did he choose to live in this cell when he might have +taken rooms with any of the school board members over in Spencer? + +It was on this occasion that I saw the rough board table under the one +window, strewn with pencils, compasses and sheets of paper covered with +strange lines and figures. + +"What's this?" I asked curiously. + +"Nothing, that amounts to anything," replied Justice, with a queer, dry +little laugh. "Once I was fool enough to believe that it did amount to +something." He swept the papers together and threw them face downward on +the table. + +"Tell me about it," I said coaxingly, scenting a secret, possibly a clue +to his past. + +Justice stared out of the open door for a few moments, his shoulders +slumped into a discouraged curve, his face moody and resentful. Then +suddenly he threw back his head and squared his shoulders. "It's +nothing," he said shortly. "Only, once I thought I had a brilliant idea, +and tried to patent it. Then I found out I wasn't as smart as I thought I +was, that's all." + +"What did you invent?" I asked. + +"Oh, just an old electrical device--you probably wouldn't understand the +workings of it--to be used in connection with wireless apparatus. It was +a thing for recording vibrations and by its use a deaf man could receive +wireless messages. I worked four years perfecting it and then thought my +fortune was made. But nobody would back me on it. They all laughed at the +thing. I got so disgusted one day that I threw the thing into the sad +sea. Four years' work went up at one splash! That was the end of my +career as an inventor." + +Poor Justice! I sympathized with him so hard that I hardly knew what to +say. I knew what that failure must have meant to his proud, sensitive +soul. The first failure is always such a blow. It takes considerable +experience in failing to be able to do it gracefully. I could see that he +didn't want any voluble sympathy from me and that it was such a sore +subject that he'd rather not talk about it. I didn't know what to say. +Then my eye fell on the sheets on the table. "What are you inventing +now?" I asked, to break the silence that was growing awkward. + +"Just working on bits of things," he replied, "to pass the time away. You +can't experiment with wireless now, you know." + +The confidences Justice had made to me almost drove my errand out of my +head. It was rather breathless, this having a new side of him turn up +every little while. I returned to my original quest for information. + +"I came for expert advice," I remarked. + +Justice looked up inquiringly. "Shoot," he said. + +"Do you suppose," I inquired in a perplexed tone, "that they'd enjoy it +just as much if the costumes have to be imaginary?" + +Justice's face suddenly became contorted. "They'd probably enjoy wearing, +ah--er imaginary costumes if the weather is warm enough," he replied, +carefully avoiding my eye. + +"Justice Sherman!" I exploded, laughing in spite of myself. "You know +very well what I mean. I mean can we have a Ceremonial Meeting in blue +calico and imagine it's Ceremonial costumes?" + +Justice scratched his head. "It depends upon how much imagination 'we' +have," he remarked. "Now, for instance, I know someone not a hundred +miles from here who can imagine herself in her college room when it's +only make believe, and can do wonderful work in French and mathematics. +She----" + +"That's enough from you," I interrupted. "The matter is settled. We'll +have a Ceremonial Meeting. We'll pretend we've gone traveling and have +left our Ceremonial dresses at home. We're a war-time group, anyhow, and +ought to do without things." + +There now! The secret is out! Your poor stick of a Katherine is a real +Camp Fire Guardian. I wasn't going to tell you at first, but I'm afraid I +will have to come to you for advice very often. I have organized my girls +into a group and they are entering upon the time of their young lives. +Make the hand sign of fire when you meet us, and greet us with the +countersign, for we be of the same kindred. Magic spell of Wohelo! By its +power even the poor spirited Hard-uppers have become sisters of the +incomparable Winnebagos. Wo-He-Lo for aye! We are the tribe of Wenonah, +the Eldest Daughter, and our tepee is the schoolhouse. + +Of course, as Camp Fire Groups go, we are a very poor sister. We haven't +any costumes, any headbands, any honor beads, or any Camp Fire adornments +of any kind. I advanced the money to pay the dues, and that was all I +could afford. There are so few ways of making money here and most of the +families are so poor that I'm afraid we'll never have much to do with. +But the girls are so taken up with the idea of Camp Fire that it's a joy +to see them. In all their shiftless, drudging lives it had never once +occurred to them that there was any fun to be gotten out of work. It's +like opening up a new world to them. Do you know, I've discovered why +they never did the homework I used to give to them. It's because they +never had any time at home. There were always so many chores to do. Their +people begrudged them the time that they had to be in school and wouldn't +hear of any additional time being taken for lessons afterward. + +As soon as I heard that I changed the lessons around so they could do all +their studying in school. Besides that, I looked some of the schoolbooks +in the face and decided that they were hopelessly behind the times, +Elijah Butts to the contrary. They were the same books that had been used +in this section for twenty-five years. + +"What is the use," I said aloud to the spider weaving a web across my +desk, "of teaching people antiquated geography and cheap, incorrect +editions of history when the thing they need most is to learn how to cook +and sew and wash and iron so as to make their homes livable? Why should +they waste their precious time reading about things that happened a +thousand years ago when they might be taking an active part in the +stirring history that is being made every day in these times? Blind, +stubborn, moth-eaten old fogies!" I exclaimed, shaking my fist in the +direction of Spencer, where the Board sat. + +Right then and there I scrapped the time-honored curriculum and made out +a truly Winnebago one. It kept the fundamentals, but in addition it +included cooking, sewing, table setting, bed making, camp cookery, +singing of popular songs, folk dancing, hiking and stunts. Yes sir, +stunts! I teach them stunts as carefully as I teach them spelling and +arithmetic. Can you imagine anyone who has never done a stunt in all +their lives? + +We rigged up a cook stove inside the schoolhouse--if you'd ever see it! +The stovepipe comes down every day at the most critical moment. Besides +that we have a stone oven outside. Every single day is a picnic. As all +of us have to bring our lunch we turned the noon hour into a cooking +lesson, and two different girls act as hostesses each day. The boys bring +the wood and do the rough work and are our guests at dinner. They all +behave pretty well except Absalom Butts, who is given to practical jokes. +But as the rest of the boys side in with me against him, he gets very +little applause for his pains and very little help in his mischief. The +noon dinners continue to be the chief attraction at the little school at +the cross roads. Hardly anybody is ever absent now. + +I arranged the new schedule so that while I am teaching the girls the +things which are of interest to them alone the boys have something else +to do that appeals to them. I give them more advanced arithmetic, and +have worked out a system of honor marks for those who do extra problems, +with a prize promised at the end of the year. Then I got hold of an old +copy of Dan Beard's _New Ideas for Boys_ and have turned them loose on +that, letting them make anything they choose, and giving credit marks +according to how well they accomplish it. + +You see what a job I have ahead of me as a Camp Fire Guardian? In order +to teach my girls what they must know to win honors, I have had to turn +the whole school system inside out, and then, because I couldn't bear to +leave the boys out in the cold while the girls are having such a good +time, I have to keep thinking up things for them to do, too. It stretches +my ingenuity to the breaking point sometimes to get everything in, and +keep all sides even. + +One afternoon each week I have the girls give to Red Cross work. Every +Saturday I drive all the way over to Thomasville, where the nearest Red +Cross headquarters branch is, for gauze to make surgical dressings, +returning the finished ones the next week. Here's where dull-witted +Clarissa Butts outshines all the brighter girls. She can make those +dressings faster and better than any of us and her face is fairly radiant +while she is working on them. I have made her inspector over the rest to +see that there are no wrinkles and no loose threads, and she nearly +bursts with importance. For once in her life she is head of the class. + +While they fold bandages I read to them about what is going on in the war +and what the Red Cross is doing everywhere, and we have beautiful times. +The worst trouble around here is getting up to date things to read. There +isn't a library within fifty miles and the only books we have are the few +I can manage to buy and those that Justice Sherman has. Would you mind +sending out a magazine once in a while after you have finished reading +it? + +We had our first ceremonial meeting last night in blue calico instead of +ceremonial gowns, but it didn't make a mite of difference. We felt the +magic spell of it just the same and promised with all our hearts to seek +beauty and give service and all the other things in the Wood Gatherers' +Desire. That is the wonderful thing about Camp Fire. It makes you have +exactly the same feelings whether you learn it in a mansion or in a +shack, in an exclusive girls' school or in a third-rate country +schoolhouse. If Nyoda only could have seen us! Of all people to whom I +had expected to pass on the Torch, this group of Arkansas Hard-Uppers +would have been the very last to occur to me. Was this what she meant, I +wonder? + + Yours, trying hard to be a Torch Bearer, + Katherine. + + + + + HINPOHA TO KATHERINE + + + Dec. 15, 19--. +Darling Katherine: + +There's no use talking, I can never be the same again. My life is +wrecked--ruined--blighted; my heart is broken, my faith in Man shattered, +but try as I like I can't forget him. His image is graven on my heart, +and there it will be until I die. But for all that, I hate him--hate +him--hate him! I don't want to be unpatriotic, but I do hope he gets +killed in the very first battle he's in. Then at least _she_ won't have +him! But a few short weeks ago I was a mere child, playing at life, a +schoolgirl, carefree and heedless, with no other thought in the world +beside winning the freshman basketball championship and surviving +midyear's; to-day I am a woman, old in experience, having eaten the fruit +of the tree of knowledge and found it bitter as gall. And I must bear it +all alone, because if I told the girls here they would laugh at me, and +some would be spiteful enough to be glad about it. But I have to tell +somebody or explode, and I know you will neither laugh nor tell anybody, +being a perfect Tombstone on secrets. + +It's really all Agony and Oh-Pshaw's fault anyway, for being born. Not +that that actually had anything to do with it, but if they hadn't been +born they wouldn't have had any birthday, and if they hadn't had any +birthday they wouldn't have given that box party to the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS and I never would have met Captain Bannister. + +You will readily understand, Katherine, how I burn to serve my country at +a time like this. There is nothing I would not do to save her from the +clutches of the enemy. It is all very well to say that woman's part in +the war is to knit socks and sweaters and fold bandages and conserve the +Food Supply, for that is all that the average woman would be capable of +doing anyhow, but as for me, I know that my part is to be a much more +definite and a far nobler one. Of course, I do all the other things, too, +along with the other Winnies and the whole college, for that matter; +joined the Patriotic League, go to Red Cross two nights a week and go +without sugar and wheat as much as possible. When I wrote and told Nyoda +that I hadn't eaten one speck of candy for three months except what was +given me and was sending the money I usually spent for it to the +Belgians, she said I ought to have the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and +that "greater love hath no man than this, that he give up the craving of +his stomach for his country." You see, Nyoda understands perfectly what +it means to have an awful candy hunger gnawing at your vitals like the +vulture at the giant's liver and look the other way when you go past a +window full of your favorite bon-bons. But somehow candy doesn't seem so +satisfying when you know there are little Belgian and French children +suffering from a much worse gnawing than candy hunger, and usually +dropping the price of a box of bonbons into the Relief Fund stops the +craving almost as much as the bonbons themselves would. + +But this is only doing what thousands of other girls all over the country +are doing and there isn't any individual glory in it. What I long to do +is carry the message that saves the army from destruction, or discover +the spy at his nefarious work. If only the chance would come for me to do +something like that I could die happy. + +Agony and Oh-Pshaw's birthday celebration was quite an event. We had +luncheon first at the Golden Dragon, a wonderful new Chinese restaurant +that was recently opened, and had chop suey and chow main and other funny +things in a little stall lit up with a gorgeous blue and gold lantern. Of +course, after that luncheon and the funny toasts we made to the long life +and health of Agony and Oh-Pshaw, we felt pretty frolicsome, and by the +time we got settled in our seats at the Opera House we were ready to +start something. Our seats were in the first row of the balcony, center +aisle, and very prominent. I had my knitting along as usual, intending to +do a few rows between the acts. I always knit in public places; it sets a +good example to other people. Besides, my new knitting bag is too sweet +for anything. + +I had just got started knitting in the intermission between the first and +second acts when the orchestra began to play "Over There," and Agony got +an inspiration. "Let's all stand up," she whispered, "and see how many +people will bite and stand up, too." + +So, stifling our giggles, we sprang promptly to our feet and stood +stiffly at attention. In less than a minute more than half of the +audience, not knowing why they should stand up for that piece, but +blindly following our lead, gathered up their hats, wraps and programs in +their arms and dutifully stood up. Then as soon as they were standing we +sat down and laughed at the poor dupes, who sat down in a hurry when they +saw us, looking terribly foolish. I haven't seen anything so funny in a +long time. + +"Stop laughing," said Gladys, giving me a poke with her elbow. "You're +shaking the seat so I'm getting seasick." But I couldn't stop. + +"Look out, Hinpoha, there goes your knitting," said Migwan. "Catch it, +somebody!" + +But it was too late. When we stood up I had laid the sock and the ball of +yarn on the broad, low rail in front of us, and now the ball had rolled +over the edge and dropped down into the audience below, right into the +lap of a young man who was sitting on the end seat. He looked up in great +surprise and everybody laughed. They just _roared_! There I stood, +leaning over the balcony, hanging on to the sock for dear life and trying +to keep it from raveling, and there he stood down below holding onto the +ball, and plainly puzzled what to do with it. + +"Throw down the sock, silly," whispered Agony, reaching over and pulling +my sleeve. "Do you think he's going to throw up the ball?" + +I dropped the sock and the man caught it in his other hand and stood +there laughing, as he started to wind up the yards and yards of yarn +between the ball and the sock. When he had it wound up he brought it +upstairs to me. I went out into the corridor to get it. Then for the +first time I got a good look at the man. He was dressed in uniform and +wore an officer's cap. He was very tall and slim, with black eyes and +hair and a small black mustache. + +"Here, patriotic little knitting lady," he said, making a deep bow and +handing me my knitting. I looked up into his handsome, smiling face, and +little needle points began pricking in my spine. His eyes met mine, he +smiled, blushed to the roots of his hair and looked away. All in one +instant I knew. I had met my fate. This was my Man, my own. I felt faint +and light-headed and all I could see was his black eyes shining like +stars. His deep, thrilling voice still rang in my ears. With another low +bow he turned to leave me. + +"Captain Bannister, at your service," he said. + +I went back to my seat with my head swimming. "Patriotic little knitting +lady," I found myself whispering under my breath. The girls suddenly +seemed awfully young and silly as they sat there giggling at me and at +each other. My mind was above all such childish things; it was soaring up +in the blue realms of true love. I was glad he was tall and thin. I think +fat girls should marry thin men, don't you? And he was dark, too, just +the right mate for redheaded me. And he was a Captain in the army! How +the other girls would envy me! Some of them had friends who were +lieutenants and were quite uppish about it, but none that I knew had a +Captain. + +Then at another thought my heart stood still. Suppose he should be +killed? I pictured myself in deep mourning, wearing on my breast the +medal he had won for bravery, which with his dying breath he had asked +his comrades to send to "my wife!" I couldn't help brushing away a tear +then and was quite bewildered when Agony poked me and wanted to know if I +wasn't ever going to make a move to go home. The show was over and the +people were streaming out. I hadn't seen a bit of the last two acts. + +Down in the lobby I saw Him again. He was standing by the door talking to +another man in uniform. How he stood out among all other men! He was one +out of a thousand. My heart beat to suffocation and I couldn't raise my +eyes. In a moment more I must pass him. I tried to look straight ahead, +but something I couldn't resist drew my head around and I turned and +looked straight into his eyes. He tilted back his head and gave me one +long, thrilling glance, raised his hand to his cap, then blushed and +looked down. Just then Gladys pulled at my sleeve and dragged me over to +some girls we knew and we were swept out with the crowd to the sidewalk. + +I scarcely knew where I was going. My feet walked along between Gladys +and Migwan, but my soul was in the clouds, listening to strains of +heavenly music, while the others squabbled over ice cream flavors and who +should stand treat after the show. Ice cream! Ye gods! Who could eat ice +cream with their soul seething in love? + +From that hour when I had looked into Captain Bannister's eyes and read +the truth in them, I was a changed being. I listened in silence to the +idle chatter of the girls around me as we walked to and from classes. +Their souls were wrapped up in their knitting, in their lessons, in their +meals. Agony and Oh-Pshaw were trying to learn a new and difficult back +dive and they talked of nothing else night and day. They were constantly +at me to come and try it, too, but I sat loftily apart, hugging my +delicious secret. As it says in the poem we learned in literature class: + + "What were the garden bowers of Thebes to me?" + +Like Semele, I scorned the sports of mortals and thought only of my +Beloved. I didn't envy her a bit because her Love was Jupiter. What was +Jupiter compared to Captain Bannister? + +Twice I had seen him since that day in the theater--had spoken to him, in +fact. He was stationed in the recruiting office and one day I happened to +be walking past with old Professor Remie and he knew him and stopped and +talked and introduced me. As if we needed any introduction! We chatted of +commonplaces, but all the while our eyes told volumes. However, soul +cannot speak to soul in a public recruiting station where curious eyes +are looking on. + +I had an errand uptown every day after that. Only once did I see him as I +passed the recruiting station, however. Then he was throwing out a +Socialist who had tried to stop the recruiting and he didn't see me. + +But the next day there came a perfectly huge box of chocolates, addressed +quaintly to "Miss Bradford, Somewhere in Purgatory." Inside the box was a +card which read: + + "The strand you dropped with careless art + Has wound itself around my heart." + +Underneath was written "Captain Bannister," in a bold, masculine hand. + +I buried the chocolates in the depths of my shirtwaist box where no +profane eye could see them or profane tooth bite into them. I didn't mean +to be selfish, but I just couldn't bear to pass _his_ chocolates around +to the crowd and hear Agony's delighted squeal as she dove into them, + +"Come on, girls, have one on Hinpoha's latest crush!" + +For Agony has absolutely no understanding of affairs of the +heart--everything is a "crush" to her. + +The chocolates were fine and I ate a great many of them, thinking of my +Captain all the while, and wondering when I would see him again. + +"Hinpoha, what on earth is the matter with you?" said Gladys that night. +"You didn't eat a bite of supper and you're as pale as a ghost. Have you +upset your stomach again?" + +I drew myself up haughtily. The idea! To call this delicious turmoil in +my bosom an upset stomach! I was glad I looked pale. I am usually as red +as a beet. It was more in keeping with the way I felt to be pale. + +"I am not myself," I replied loftily, "but it's not my stomach." + +"Go to bed, honey," said Gladys, "and I'll bring you a glass of hot +water." + +I curled up in bed with Captain Bannister's card in my hand under the +pillow. I was so happy I felt dizzy. Gladys came back with the hot water +and made me drink it in spite of my protests, and, strange to say, I felt +much calmer after it. + +Needless to say, I couldn't pin my mind down on my lessons. I did such +queer things that people began to notice it. For instance, mild old +Professor Remie, the chemistry teacher, handed back my paper one day +after he had given us a written lesson on the Atomic Theory, and inquired +in a puzzled tone if I had meant just what I wrote. I glanced at it and +blushed furiously when I realized that I had written down some lines that +had been running through my head all day: + + "Why do I fearfully cling to thee, Maidenhood? + 'Tis but a pearl to be cast in thy waves, O Love!" + +Then one day the word went around that He was coming to make a speech in +the college chapel. How my heart fluttered! I could hardly sit still in +the seat when he came out on the platform. It seemed as if everyone could +hear what my heart was saying. Soon that deep voice of his was filling +the room, thrilling me with unearthly things. Again and again his eyes +sought mine, full of joyous recognition, of love and longing. I smiled +reassuringly, trying to telegraph the message, "Be patient, all will be +well." + +To myself I was singing, "O Captain, my Captain!" + +Unknown to himself, I had seen him before he came into chapel. I was +stooping down in the shadow of the gymnasium steps, tying my shoestring, +when he came along the walk and was met by Dr. Thorn, our President. They +stood there and talked a minute and I heard Captain Bannister say that he +was going to Washington that afternoon on the five o'clock train and that +he was going directly from the college to the station. He carried a small +black handbag, which Dr. Thorn offered to relieve him of, but he said no, +he didn't want to leave it out of his hand even for a minute, there were +valuable papers in it. + +When he came out on the platform I noticed that he had the bag with him. +He set it down on the table while he talked and never got very far away +from it. I looked at that bag with deep interest. What was in it? +Something terribly important, I knew. I thrilled with pride that my +Captain should have such great things to look after, and longed to be of +service to him. + +His speech came to an end all too soon for me, who could have gone on +listening for a week, and he went out before the rest of us were +dismissed. No chance to speak to me or give me one word of farewell for +the brief separation; only one long, lingering look between us that left +me shaken to the soul. Now I knew what the Poet meant when he spoke of +"the troth of glance and glance." + +I wandered around by myself after he had gone. I didn't desire to speak +to any of the girls or have them speak to me. I just wanted to be by +myself. Roaming thus I came to the little rustic summerhouse in the park +behind the college buildings, and stopped in to rest a moment. It was a +lovely mild day, not a bit like winter, and not too cold to sit in a +summerhouse and dream. I didn't sit down, though. For on the bark-covered +bench I spied something that brought my heart up into my mouth. It was +Captain Bannister's bag. No doubt about it. There was his name on a card +tied to the handle. How came it here? They must have shown him around the +grounds after his speech and in some way he had put the bag down in here +and then gone off and forgotten it. How dreadful he would feel when he +found it out! + +My mind was made up in a minute. Here was a real chance to "Give +Service." If I hurried I could get down to the station and catch him +before he got on the train. I made sure from the watchman that he had +left the college grounds. I looked at my wrist watch. It was quarter to +five. Without a moment's hesitation I picked up the bag and ran out to +the street. I caught a car right away and sank down in a seat breathless, +but easy in my mind, because the station was only a ten minutes' ride in +the car. + +Then, of course, something had to happen. A sand wagon was in the +cartrack ahead of us and the motorman jingled his bell so furiously that +the driver got excited and pulled the lever that dumped the whole load of +sand on the car track. + +I jumped out of the car and looked wildly up and down the road to see if +there was a taxi in sight. There wasn't; nothing but a motor truck from +the glue factory. There was something covered with canvas in the back of +it, and I knew instinctively that it was a dead horse. Did I hesitate a +second? Not I. For the sake of my Captain and my country I would have +endured anything. I hailed the driver. "I'll give you a dollar if you'll +take me to the station," I panted. + +The driver laughed out loud. "This is _some_ depoe hack," he said, "but +if _you_ can stand it I guess _I_ can." + +With that he gave me a sidewise glance that was meant to be admiring, I +suppose, but I froze him with a look and climbed gravely up beside him. + +"It is very important that I be there in time for the five o'clock +train," I remarked by way of explanation. + +"You ain't running away from school, are you?" inquired the driver +genially. + +"I am _not_," I replied frigidly, and looked loftily past him for the +remainder of the five minutes' ride to the station. + +I flung the man the dollar and was out of the truck before he had time to +say a word, and raced into the long waiting room of the station. I could +have shouted with relief when I saw on the blackboard the notice that the +five o'clock train for Washington was forty minutes late. I was in time! + +But where was Captain Bannister? Nowhere in sight. I walked up and down +the length of the waiting room several times, growing more nervous every +minute. Suppose that he had discovered that he had left the bag behind +and gone back after it only to find it gone? The thought made my blood +run cold. Would he come down to the train at all without the bag? Would +he not go back and search for it, alarming the whole college? And all the +while I had it safe with me! What should I do? Should I go back and run +the risk of missing him, or stay and see if he came? One thing I could +do. I could telephone back to the college and find out if he had returned +for it. + +I had just gotten inside the telephone booth and was ringing up the +number when there was a commotion in the upper end of the waiting room +and a large party of people entered, men and women and soldiers and young +girls, laughing and shrieking and pelting somebody with rice and old +shoes. Soon they came past the booth and I caught a glimpse of the bride +and groom. The telephone receiver fell out of my hand and my heart +stopped beating. For there, in the midst of that crowd, laughing and +dodging the showers of rice, and hanging for dear life to the arm of a +pretty young girl in a traveling suit, was Captain Bannister, my Captain! +I shrank back into the depths of the telephone booth and struggled to +swallow the lump in my throat. Bits of talk floated in through the closed +door. + +"Thought you'd do it up quietly this morning and then sneak out this +afternoon without anybody finding it out," I heard a voice shout, as a +fresh shower of rice flew through the air. + +"Went out and made a speech this afternoon, too, just as unconcerned as +if it wasn't his wedding day," said another voice. "Pretty sly, Captain. +They ought to put you in the diplomatic service. You'd be an ornament." + +I crouched miserably in the telephone booth, trying to collect my +scattered thoughts. My Captain was married this morning! How I hated that +pretty girl clinging to him and laughing as the showers of rice fell +around her! + +Then all of a sudden my hand touched the bag on the floor. The papers! In +the excitement of his wedding day he had forgotten them! Well, even if he +had, I hadn't. I would still serve my country if it did nearly kill me to +go out there and face Captain Bannister. I shut my eyes and prayed for +strength. It would have been so easy to slip out and throw the bag over +the bridge into the river, and get Captain Bannister into a bad +predicament. But I did not waver in my duty. Opening the door of the +booth softly, I crept out. Resolutely I approached the crowd and walked +right up to Captain Bannister. + +"Here are the papers, Captain Bannister," I said in a voice I tried to +make coldly sarcastic, as is fitting when talking to a man who has let +his wedding make him forget his country's business. + +Captain Bannister whirled around and faced me with a look of astonishment +that changed to annoyance when he saw the bag. He did not offer to take +it from my outstretched hand. He could not look into my eyes. He stood +there, his face getting redder every minute, while the people stared +curiously. At last he pulled himself together and took the bag. "Thank +you," he said in a flat voice. + +A dozen hands pulled the bag away from him. "Let's see the papers, +Banny," called several voices. "Are they the plans of your wedding +journey or your new home?" + +He made a desperate effort to regain possession of the bag, but they kept +it away from him and opened it. Then such a roar of laughter went up as I +have never heard. Everybody was laughing but the bride, and she looked +like a thundercloud. Soon the things from the bag were being handed +around and I saw what they were. They were a girl's ballet dress, very +flimsy and very short and very much bespangled; a pair of light blue silk +stockings and a pair of high-heeled dancing slippers. + +Standing on the edge of the crowd I heard one man explain to another, +between snorts of laughter, how Captain Bannister had taken part in a +show that the soldiers had given a week before and had worn that ballet +dress. His bride-to-be had been at the show, and being a very +straight-laced sort of a person had been very much shocked at the men +dressed as girls. She didn't know that Captain Bannister had been one of +them, and he didn't intend that she should find out. Some of his friends +knew this and for a joke they got hold of the handbag in which he had +packed his clothes for his wedding journey and hid them away, putting in +the ballet dress instead. He found it out on the way out to the college, +and conceived the brilliant idea of leaving it there. He figured that a +suit like that found in a girls' college would cause no commotion; +nothing like what would happen if his bride should find it among his +things. But of all things--here the man who was telling all this nearly +turned inside out--somebody sees him leave the bag behind and chases +after him with it! + +I fled without ever looking behind. My heart was broken, my life wrecked, +my hopes shattered. My Captain, my Man, whose eyes had told me the secret +of his love, was pledged to another! If I hadn't known it beyond any +doubt, I wouldn't have believed such perfidy possible. And the "valuable +papers" he was carrying around were nothing but a girl's dancing dress! +For this I had raced to catch the train, for this I had ridden on a truck +with a dead horse! No doubt he had lied to Dr. Thorn about the bag, +because he was afraid he would find out what really was in it. + +Righteous anger drowned my heartbroken tears. With head high I wandered +down to the swimming pool in the gym and prepared to go in. + +"Oh, Hinpoha, come and watch me do the new back dive," called Agony. She +mounted the diving platform and went off badly, striking the water with +the flat of her back and making a splash like a house falling into the +water. She righted herself and swam around lazily. + +"Hinpoha," she said suddenly, popping her head out of the water like a +devil fish, "what did you ever do with them all? I expected to get at +least one." + +"What did I do with what?" I asked in bewilderment. + +"Chocolates, sweet cherub," said Agony, kicking the water into foam with +her feet. "I sent you five pounds." + +"_You_ sent them?" I echoed blankly. + +"Yes, dearest child, I sent them, and it took the last of my birthday +check. Who did you think sent them?" And with a malicious grin she sank +down under the surface of the water. + +So it had been Agony who had sent the chocolates, and not Captain +Bannister! I might have known---- Oh, what a fool I had been! + +"What did you do with them all?" came Agony's teasing voice from the +other end of the pool, where she had risen to take the air. + +"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said mysteriously. + +Agony looked at me gravely for a minute. "Didn't I hear Gladys putting +you to bed that night and going off for hot water?" she murmured +dreamily. "Seems to me I have a faint, far off recollection." She made +little snorting noises, plainly in imitation of a pig, and sank below the +surface again. + +I was filled with a blind fury at Agony. I wanted to jump on her and +choke her. I had been standing on the diving board and on the spur of the +moment I went off backwards. I had only one thought in my mind; to reach +Agony and duck her as she deserved. There was a great shout as I went +off, followed by a round of applause. + +"What is it?" I asked, coming up and blinking stupidly at the knot of +watchers gathered around the pool. + +"The Hawaiian dive!" they cried. "You did it perfectly. Do it again." + +Agony came up out of the pool and watched enviously. For four weeks she +had been practising that dive and hadn't mastered it yet. I hadn't ever +hoped to learn it. And here I had done it the very first time! They made +me do it again and again, and clapped until the ceiling echoed as I got +the somersault in every time. It was glorious. I forgave Agony for +fooling me about the Captain; I even forgave the Captain for the time +being. _He_ could go off and get married if he wanted to; _I_ could do +the Hawaiian back dive! + +"How did you ever do it?" asked Agony enviously, as we dressed together, +"somersault and all? Do you really think there's any chance of my ever +doing it?" + +"Sure, you'll do it some day," I replied out of the fullness of my +wisdom,--"if you get mad enough." + + Your broken-hearted, + Hinpoha. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Dec. 28, 19--. +Dearest and Best of Winnies: + +Oh, you angels without wings, how am I ever going to thank you? How on +earth did you manage to do it all? Such a Christmas present! + +When I saw that array of boxes in the express office at Spencer all +addressed to me I said to the agent, "There's some mistake. Those can't +possibly be all mine." + +"You're the only Katherine Adams in these parts, aren't you?" said the +agent, eyeing that imposing pile with unconcealed curiosity. + +I admitted that I was, as far as I knew. + +"Then they're yours," said the agent, and mine they proved to be. + +Altogether there was a wagonload. + +"What on earth?" said father and Justice when I drove up to the house. +"Have you gone into the trucking business?" + +"Christmas presents, Father!" I shouted. "All Christmas presents. I've +got the whole of Santa Claus's load. Quick, bring me a hammer and an ax +and a jimmy!" + +Oh, girls, when I saw what was in those first three boxes I just sat down +on the floor and wept for joy. Only the Winnebagos could have thought of +sending me the House of the Open Door. There were the Indian beds and +Hinpoha's bearskin and all the Navajo blankets and the pottery, just as I +had seen it last in the Open Door Lodge, big as life and twice as +natural. And the note from Sahwah that came along with them was a piece +of Sahwah herself. + + "The things are lonesome," she wrote, "and pining for someone to love + them and use them. I am sending them to your new Camp Fire because I + know your girls will love them as they deserve to be loved. The ghosts + of all the good times we had in the House of the Open Door are hovering + around the things, so anyone that gets them can't help falling under + the old spell and learning how to squeeze the most fun out of every + minute. + + "The gymnasium apparatus is the Sandwiches' Christmas present. It was + Slim's and the Captain's idea to send it out to you for your girls and + boys to use. + + "The House of the Open Door is being turned into Red Cross work rooms + for Camp Fire Girls and we need every inch of space for the work + tables. Even our beloved Lodge is Giving Service." + +Gladys Evans, your father is an _angel_! He doesn't need to wait until he +gets to heaven for his halo, it's visible a mile off, this minute! To +think of sending me a graphophone and a hundred records! I simply can't +tell you what that is going to mean to my school. I won't be able to +_drive_ the boys and girls away now! + +And your mother! That lantern machine and the slides showing the Red +Cross work and all the other splendid things is worth its weight in gold. + +Oh, my dears! _Where_ did you ever find time to make those twelve +ceremonial dresses? + + "FROM THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS TO THE FIRST OF THE WENONAHS. LET BIG + SISTER WINNIE SEE THAT LITTLE SISSY WEENIE IS PROPERLY CLOTHED." + +I'll bet anything your friend Agony wrote that. I have a feeling that she +and I are kindred spirits. + +Won't my girls revel in those beads and looms, though? + +BOOKS! Four whole cases of them! What on earth have you done now? + + "THE WINNEBAGO LIBRARY + PASSED ON BY THOSE WHO KNOW AND LOVE GOOD BOOKS TO THOSE WHO WILL + SOON KNOW AND LOVE THEM" + +How did you do it? Asked a hundred girls to give one book apiece? You +don't mean to say that there are a hundred girls interested in us poor +backwoods folks out here in Spencer? I can't believe it! Oh, we'll work +and work and _work_, to prove ourselves worthy of it all! + +And oh, all those little personal pretties just for me! Hinpoha, _where_ +did you find that darling pen-holder with the parrot's head on the end, +and Gladys, who told you that I broke my handglass and was pining for a +white ivory one? + +And even a lump of sugar for Sandhelo and a bow for Piggy's tail! I +admire the artist who drew that bow. + +The last box bore Nyoda's return address. What do you suppose was in it? +Her chafing dish! The very one she used to have in her room, that I used +to admire so much. Dear Nyoda! She knew I would rather have that than +anything else. + +O my dears, there never _was_ such a Christmas! There never _will_ be +such a Christmas! Nobody ever had such friends before. If I live to be a +thousand years old I'll never be able to return one-tenth of your +kindness. + + Yours, swimming in ecstasy, + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + March 25, 19--. +Dearest Katherine: + +Listen, my beloved, while I sing you a song of Migwan. She has awakened +at last to find herself famous, and the rest of us, by reason of +reflected glory, found ourselves looked upon as different from all other +animals, and wonderfully popular and run after by five o'clock in the +afternoon, like Old Man Kangaroo. And, all precepts upon precepts to the +contrary, it wasn't conscientiously applying herself to her task that +turned the trick, but deliberate shirking. After all, though, it was +mostly a matter of chance, because if it hadn't rained so that night last +October, Migwan would have gone to the library as she should have, and +the world would have lost a priceless contribution to Indian lore. + +It happened thusly. One of Migwan's cronies in the sophomore class has a +weak throat and a condition in Indian History. On the night I have +mentioned she trickled tearfully into Migwan's room and confided that she +simply had to have an Indian legend to read in class the following day or +be marked zero. She had had all the week in which to look one up in the +library, but, according to immemorial custom, she had left it for the +last night. Now it was raining pitchforks and she didn't dare go out, +because she got a terrible attack of quinsy every time there was an east +wind. Migwan, like the angel she is, promptly offered to go over and hunt +one up for her. + +"What kind of an Indian legend?" she inquired. + +"Oh, any kind," replied Harriet carelessly, "so long as it's _Indian_. +We're studying the Soul of the Savage as revealed by legend, or something +like that. Slip it under my door when you come back with it. I'm going to +bed and coddle my throat. Be sure you don't get one that's too long," she +called back over her shoulder, "remember there are twenty in the class to +help reveal the Savage Soul." + +Harriet ambled placidly back to her room and Migwan began hunting through +her closet for her raincoat and rubbers. She didn't find them, because +she had lent them to somebody the week before and couldn't remember whom +she lent them to. She looked out of the window at the torrents coming +down and decided that her little rocking chair by the lamp held out more +attraction than a trip to the library. But she didn't have the heart to +disappoint Harriet by not getting her an Indian legend to read in class +the next day, so she sat down and manufactured one, which is as easy as +rolling off a log for Migwan. Harriet would never know the difference, +and neither would the teacher, off hand, and a made-up legend would save +the day for Harriet as well as a genuine one. The chances were she +wouldn't be called upon to read it anyway. You never are, you know, when +you've broken your neck to be ready. Migwan slipped it under Harriet's +door and then forgot all about it. + +Several weeks later, when the _Monthly Morterboard_ came out, there was +Migwan's Indian legend, big as life. It had obviously been used to fill +up space and was not credited to the literary talent of the college; but +to Joseph Latoka, or "Standing Pine," the Penobscot Indian who had +collected the legends of his tribe into a book, which was in the college +library and which was our authority on things Indian. Migwan laughed to +herself over it, but never gave away the fact that she had written it. +She discovered in a roundabout way that the Literary Editor of the +_Morterboard_ had been in despair over lack of material when the October +number was due, and told her tale of woe to Miss Percival, one of the +teachers, and asked her if she had any essays fit to print. Miss Percival +replied that she hadn't had a decent essay this semester, but a girl in +one of her classes had brought in a rather remarkable Indian legend +several days before, which might serve to cast into the breach. The +_Morterboard_ editor promptly hunted up Harriet and demanded the legend. +Harriet still had it among her goods and chattels, and gave it to her +readily, saying that it was one of Joseph Latoka's _Legends of the +Penobscot Indians_, which she honestly believed to be the fact. The +_Morterboard_ editor took her word for it and used the legend to fill up +the chinks in the October issue. + + * * * * * * + +It was not long after this that Very Seldom paid his annual visit to +Brownell. His name really wasn't Very Seldom; it was Jeremiah Selden, but +everybody referred to him as Jerry, and it wasn't long before "Jerry +Selden" became "Very Seldom." He used to be Professor of Sociology at +Brownell, but he had to give up lecturing because he lost his voice. He +was a sad little man with a plaintive droop to his white mustache and +only a whisper of a voice. He had lost his whole family in some kind of a +railroad accident and always went around with such a homeless air that +everybody felt sorry for him. His hobby was Indian History, Indian +Legends and Indian Relics. After he gave up teaching sociology he took to +writing books, dry old essays and that sort of thing. Nobody ever read +them, and he didn't make much out of them, but he kept plodding along, +always hoping that he would make a hit the next time. + +Once every year he came back to Brownell to spend Sunday, to keep alive +the memories of his former life, he used to explain sentimentally. Miss +Allison, his successor as professor of sociology, and who has him beat +forty miles for teaching, always entertained him at tea on the occasion +of his visit, and used to ask him stacks of questions, jollying him along +and making him believe she was in doubt about a lot of things she knew +better than he did. Having his opinion consulted that way made him feel +quite cheerful and important, and his visit to Brownell always put new +life into him. + +It happened that one Sunday afternoon Migwan went to Miss Allison's room +to ask her about something and ran into Very Seldom paying his annual +visit. Miss Allison herself wasn't there. She had been called out of town +the night before and had turned over the job of entertaining Very Seldom +to her room-mate, Miss Lee. Miss Lee taught mathematics and didn't care a +rap about sociology, and still less about Indians. Miss Lee is very fond +of Migwan, and invited her to stay to tea. Migwan is forever getting +asked to tea by the faculty; it's because she always gets her hair parted +so straight in the middle, and never upsets her teacup. + +Migwan had heard about Very Seldom, and was just as anxious to help cheer +him up as anybody, but this time he didn't need any cheering. He was +positively radiant. He was talking about his latest book and was nearly +bursting with enthusiasm. + +It seems that all his life he had been having an argument with another +Indian History shark as to whether, before the coming of the white man to +this continent, the eastern Indians had ever lived on, or visited the +western plains. He maintained that they had, while his friend insisted +that they hadn't. Just recently he had read, in a magazine published by +the Indian Society of North America, a hitherto unpublished legend of +Joseph Latoka's, a curious legend of the White Buffalo. To his mind this +proved beyond a doubt that the Penobscot Indians had, at some time or +other, lived on or visited the Great Plains, and had seen the Buffalo. It +was the only Penobscot legend that mentioned the buffalo as an object of +worship. He had immediately written a monograph on the subject which was +even then in the hands of the publisher. It was a great point to have +discovered. Fame would come to him at last. Very Seldom's air of +desolation had vanished; his hour of triumph had come. + +It was at this point that Migwan, the expert tea drinker, suddenly upset +her cup all over Miss Allison's cherished Mexican drawnwork lunchcloth. +That foolish legend that she had manufactured to save herself a trip to +the library in the rain had been taken as authentic and had been copied +from the _Morterboard_ into other magazines! At the time she wrote it she +was in too much of a hurry to pay attention to any such trifles as the +difference between Eastern and Plains Indians. Anyway, she hadn't _said_ +anywhere that they were Penobscot Indians, it was Harriet who had said so +to the _Morterboard_ editor. + +Several times during the evening she tried to tell poor Very Seldom that +the Legend of the White Buffalo, which proved his point so conclusively, +was not a legend at all, but her own composition, but each time the words +choked her. The little ex-Professor's satisfaction was so great and his +happiness so supreme that she didn't have the heart to blot it out. The +secret was hers. Everybody in college believed that legend to have come +from the collection of Joseph Latoka. All the evening she debated with +herself whether or not she should tell, or let the fake legend go down on +record. In the end the professor's happiness won the day and she decided +not to mar his almost childish glee in his discovery. + +"What does it matter, after all?" she thought. "About three-fourths of +the things that are written about Indians aren't true. Nobody will read +his old monograph anyway, so no harm will be done. If it gives him so +much pleasure to think he's discovered something, why spoil it all?" The +whole matter seemed so trivial to Migwan that it wasn't worth fussing +about. Just what difference did it make to the world, especially at this +time, whether the eastern Indians of the United States had ever visited +the western plains or not? It seemed about as important as whether the +Fourth Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had carrots for dinner or parsnips. So +she went home without revealing the origin of the Legend of the White +Buffalo. + +She thought the incident was decently interred, and had forgotten all +about it, when--pop! out came Jack-in-the-box once more. Along in March +came the celebrated lecturer on Indian costumes, Dr. Burnett. Handbills +announcing his lecture were distributed all over town a week before his +coming. The public was to be admitted and half the proceeds were to go to +the library fund. Migwan picked up one of the handbills and glanced +casually at the subject of the lecture. Then her hair nearly turned +green. It was "The Legend of the White Buffalo," based on the book of the +late Professor Jeremiah Selden! + +The first fact that struck Migwan was that Very Seldom was dead, which +came as a shock of surprise. Poor Very Seldom! He had found a home at +last. But before he went he had had his inning and had died happy that he +had contributed an important link to the chains of Indian History. + +Then Migwan realized what a horrible mess she had started by writing that +legend and keeping still about it. If anybody ever found out about it +now, Dr. Burnett's reputation would be ruined. + +An hour before the lecture was to begin found Migwan sitting in the +parlor of the hotel waiting for Dr. Burnett to come down in answer to the +note she sent up with a bellboy. He came presently, a long-haired, Van +Dyke-y sort of man, who smiled genially at her and inquired affably what +he could do for the charming miss. + +"If you please," said Migwan breathlessly, "could you give some other +lecture just as well?" + +"Could I give some other lecture just as well?" repeated Dr. Burnett in +perplexity. + +"Yes," Migwan went on desperately, trying to get it over with quickly, +"could you? You see, the Legend of the White Buffalo isn't a legend at +all." + +"The Legend of the White Buffalo _isn't_ a legend!" repeated Dr. Burnett +again, looking at Migwan as if he thought she was not in her right mind. +"Pray, what is it?" + +"It's--it's a fake," said Migwan. + +"A fake!" exclaimed Dr. Burnett, in astonishment. "And how do you know it +is a fake?" + +"Because I wrote it myself," said Migwan, trying to break the news as +gently as possible, "because it was simply pouring, and Harriet had a +sore throat." + +"You wrote it yourself because it was simply pouring and Harriet had a +sore throat?" repeated Dr. Burnett, now acting as if he were sure she was +out of her mind. + +Then Migwan explained. + +"But, my dear," said Dr. Burnett, "you _couldn't_ have written that +legend. No white man could have invented it. It is the very breath and +spirit of the Indian. In it the Soul of the Savage stands revealed." + +"But I _did_," insisted Migwan, and finally succeeded in convincing him +that she was telling the truth. + +Dr. Burnett usually spent from one to three months preparing a new +lecture. He prepared one that night in an hour that knocked the shine out +of all his previous ones. His speech entitled, "What Chance Has a Man +When a Woman Takes a Hand" brought down the house. He told the story of +the fake legend, and the audience was alternately laughing at the neat +way Migwan had taken everybody in and weeping at the way she wouldn't +spoil poor Very Seldom's pleasure. + +Migwan was the heroine of the hour. The whole college sought her +acquaintance forthwith. Of course, they found out all about the +Winnebagos, and how Migwan came to know so much about Indian lore, and +Hinpoha and I, being Winnebagos, too, came in for our share of the glory. +Our humble apartment is filled to overflowing all day long with girls who +want to make Migwan's acquaintance and casually drop in on us in the hope +of meeting her in our chamber. It is great to be fellow-Winnebago with a +celebrity. + +But I haven't told you all yet. The day after the lecture Dr. Burnett had +a solemn conference with that portion of the English Department which was +so fortunate to have Migwan in its classes, after which Migwan was called +in. She went with a kind of scary feeling because she thought Dr. Burnett +might be going to have her arrested for perpetrating the fake, but +instead of that she was informed that she showed such budding talent in +composition and had such a positive genius for portraying the soul of the +Indian that he wanted her to work with him in his research work after she +graduated from college. She is to make a grand tour with him among the +real Indians on the reservations and get them to tell tales of the old +days as they remember them from the legends of their fathers and then she +is to write them down to be published in a book. + +Just imagine it! There is Migwan's future all cut out for her with a +cookie cutter, all because she was too lazy to go across the campus in +the rain and get a real legend for a sick friend. Isn't life queer? + + Famously yours, + Gladys. + +P. S. O Katherine, _mon amie_, why aren't you here? But from the tone of +your last letters it seems that you have become reconciled to your lonely +lot. So the "mysterious him" that came to you from out the Vast is +teaching you French and History and reading Literature with you! +Katherine Adams, you sly puss, you'll be better educated yet than we! + + + + + SAHWAH TO KATHERINE + + + April 4, 19--. +Dearest K: + +You don't need to think you're the only one having adventures with your +work. Your little old Sahwah is a sure enough grown up young lady now, a +real wage-earner, making her little track along the Open Road, and +frequently stepping into mud holes and falling flat on her face. I'm +"Miss Brewster" now, in a tailored suit and plain shirtwaist, ready to +conquer the world with a notebook and typewriter. I finished my course at +the business college early in February, and one day while I was in the +last stages of completion as a stenographer and nearly ready to have a +shipping tag pasted on me in the shape of a graduation certificate, I was +summoned into the private office of Mr. Barrett, the head of the school. + +I had a chill when the office girl brought me the message. There were +only two or three things you were ever sent to Mr. Barrett for. One was +failure to pay your tuition; another was doing so poorly in your work +that you were a disgrace instead of a credit to the school; another was +for "skipping school." A number of the girls were in the habit of cutting +classes after lunch several days in the week and either going to the +matinee or running around town with boys from the school. Many complaints +about this had come to Mr. Barrett from the teachers, until he got so +that he sent for everyone who skipped and read them a stiff lecture. He +is a very stern, austere man, and the whole school stands in dread of +him. + +I went over my list of sins when I was summoned to the office. My tuition +was paid up until the end; there was no trouble there. It wouldn't be my +lessons either; for, while I was far from being the eighth wonder of the +world on the typewriter, I still had managed to stay in the "A" division +since the first. But--here my hair began to stand on end--I had "skipped +school" the afternoon before. Slim had come home from college to attend +the funeral of his grandfather, and had called me up and invited me to go +automobiling with him while he was waiting for his train to go back, and +you can guess what happened to Duty. I just naturally skipped school and +went with him. It was the first and only time I had skipped in my whole +career, but I was evidently going to get my trimmings for it. I went into +the office with a sinking heart, for up until this time I had managed to +keep in Mr. Barrett's good graces, and I did pride myself quite a bit on +my unreproved state. But I made up my mind to take it like a good +sport--I had danced and now I would pay the piper. + +Having gone into the office in such a state of mind, I wasn't prepared +for the shock when Mr. Barrett looked up from his desk and greeted me +with a (for him) extremely amiable smile. + +"Sit down, Miss Brewster," he said pleasantly, pulling up a chair for me +beside his own. + +I sat down. It was time, for my knees were giving away under me. + +"Miss Brewster," Mr. Barrett began affably, "I have here"--and he picked +up a paper on which he had made some notations--"a call for a +stenographer which is a little out of the ordinary line." He paused to +let that sink in. + +"Yes, sir," I murmured respectfully. My heart began to beat freely again. +He wasn't going to lecture me about skipping school! + +"Mrs. Osgood Harper," continued Mr. Barrett crisply, "telephoned me this +morning personally, and asked if I had a young lady whom I could send her +every day from nine until one to attend to her personal correspondence. +She is very particular about the kind of person she wants; it must be +someone who is refined and educated, as well as a good stenographer, for +a good deal of her work will be social correspondence. She also intimated +that the girl must be--er, reasonably good looking." + +He paused a second time and again I said meekly, "Yes, sir." There didn't +seem to be anything else to say. + +"I have carefully considered all the girls in the finishing class," +continued Mr. Barrett, "and you seem to be the only one I could consider +for the position. I know Mrs. Harper and know that in some ways she will +be hard to work for. But the pay she offers is generous; better than you +could do as a beginner in a commercial house, and the hours are +excellent, nine to one, leaving your afternoons free. Besides that, there +will be the advantage to yourself of coming in contact with such people +as the Harpers, and the pleasure of working in such beautiful +surroundings. You are a girl who will appreciate such things. You know +who the Harpers are, of course?" + +I had never heard of them, but I was quite willing to be enlightened. The +Harpers, it seemed, were in the first boatload of settlers that landed on +our town site; they had since accumulated such a fortune that it made +Pike's Peak look like an ant hill; and no matter what string Mrs. Harper +harped on, people were sure to sit still and listen. Now she desired a +personal stenographer of maidenly form, and I, Sahwah the Sunfish, had +been measured by the awe-inspiring Mr. Barrett and found fit. + +My feelings as I came out of the office were far different from those +with which I went in. I entered with a guilty droop; I came out with my +head in the air. I hadn't dreamed of getting such a position to start +with. I had pictured myself as beginning at the bottom in some big office +and slowly working to the top. But to begin my career by doing the +private work of Mrs. Osgood Harper! It seemed like some fairy tale. I +tried to think of something to say to Mr. Barrett to thank him for having +recommended me for the position, but the shock had sent my wits +skylarking, and the only thing that came into my head was that song that +we used to sing: + + "Out of a city of six million people, why did you pick upon me?" + +and that, of course, was impossible as a noble sentiment. + +The next morning I set out on my Joyous Venture. The Osgood Harpers lived +on the Heights in a great colonial house set up high on a hill and +approached by long, winding walks. It was more than a mile from the +street-car, but I enjoyed the walk through those beautiful estates. I +couldn't have served a tennis ball in any direction without hitting a +millionaire. + +Mrs. Harper was a stout and tremendously impressive lady about forty +years old. She had steely blue eyes that looked right through me until I +began to have horrible fears that there was something wrong with my +appearance and she would presently say that I would not do at all. But +she didn't; all she said was, "So you are Miss Brewster, are you?" and +motioned me to sit down at a writing table. + +She had received me in a cozy little sitting room which opened out of her +bedroom, and it seemed that this was to be my office. She started right +in to lay out my work for me and I didn't have much time to look around +at the beautiful furnishings. The work was far different from anything we +had had in school, but very interesting, and I took to it from the start. +Mrs. Harper is chairman of countless committees, and secretary of several +societies, and there were quantities of notices to send out to committee +members, and letters to write to business men soliciting subscriptions to +various funds and things like that, all to be written on heavy linen +paper of finest quality, bearing the Harper monogram in embossed gold in +the upper left-hand corner. + +I worked away with a will and the morning hours flew. I would have worked +right on past one o'clock without knowing it if there hadn't been an +interruption. Shortly after noon the door opened and a girl of about +seventeen walked in. She was extremely pretty; that is, at first glance +she was. She was very fair, with bright pink cheeks and big blue eyes. +Her yellow hair was plastered down over her forehead in an exaggerated +style, and monstrous pearl earrings dangled from her ears. She had +evidently just come in from outdoors, for she wore an all mink coat and +held a mink cap in her hand. Without a glance in my direction she began +chatting to Mrs. Harper in a thin, nasal, high-pitched voice. I dropped +my eyes and went on with my work. In a minute I could feel her staring at +me. + +"Ethel," said Mrs. Harper, as soon as she could get the floor, "this is +Miss Brewster, my stenographer. Miss Brewster, my daughter Ethel." + +I acknowledged the introduction pleasantly; Miss Ethel favored me with +another stare, murmured something in an indistinct tone and then +immediately turned her back on me and went on talking to her mother. +Right then and there my admiration for the "first families" got a +setback; I didn't admire Ethel Harper's manners, not a little bit. She +had "snob" written all over her features. I could see that she classed me +with the servants and as such she didn't trouble herself to be polite to +me. + +"A lot there is to be gained by associating with _her_," I said to +myself. "I'll be just as cool and dignified as possible when _she's_ +around. She won't get another chance to snub me." + +But in spite of her I was enthusiastic about the position and could +hardly wait until I got there the next day. Mrs. Harper went out shortly +after I arrived and I worked alone. Ethel Harper came home from school at +noon and went through the room on the way to her mother's, but I rattled +away on the typewriter and never looked up. She came out soon and went +into her own room, which was on the other side. In about fifteen minutes +I heard her call me. + +"Miss Brewster!" I stopped typing. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Come here," she called, and her voice sounded impatient. + +I stepped across the hall into her room. She was standing in front of the +mirror putting on a ruffled taffeta dress, which she was struggling to +adjust. + +"Hook me up!" she commanded, without the formality of saying "Please." + +I had it on the end of my tongue to tell her that I was a stenographer, +not a lady's maid, but I remembered "Give Service" in time, and hooked +her up without a word. She never even said "Thank you!" She just sat down +at her dressing table and began pencilling her eyebrows. Evidently it +must have been the maid's day out, for she called me in again later to +pin her collar. + +"Have I got too much color on my face?" she asked languidly, dabbing away +at her cheeks with some red stuff out of a box in front of her. Then she +put carmine on her lips, a sort of whitewash on her nose and forehead and +finished it with some pencilled shadows under her eyes. All I could think +of was Eeny-Meeny, the time we gave her that coat of war paint. + +"What's that?" asked milady while I was fastening her collar, poking her +finger at my Torch Bearer's pin. + +"It's a Camp Fire pin," I replied. + +"What's Camp Fire?" she demanded idly. + +I explained briefly what Camp Fire was. + +"Gee," said Ethel elegantly, "none of that for mine!" And she picked up +her eyebrow pencil again and did a little more frescoing. + +I went back to my work in disgust. I was so disappointed in Ethel Harper. +I had expected that the daughter of such a fine family would be a real +lady in every sense of the word--cultured, genuine, thoroughbred; and she +had turned out to be nothing but a cheap imitation--slangy, ill-bred, +snobbish, overdressed and made up like an actress. Beyond her pretty, +baby doll face there was nothing to her. There wasn't an ounce of brains +in her poor flat head. + +And yet, she was tremendously popular in her own snobbish set, as I could +gather from conversations around me, and by the invitations she was +constantly receiving to festivities. Although she was not formally out in +society, I knew that she went out to dances with men very often, when her +mother thought that she was spending the night with girl friends. I found +that out from telephone conversations Ethel carried on when her mother +was out of the way. It was plain to be seen that Ethel had only one +ambition in the world, and that was to have a good time, regardless of +how she got it. + +It wasn't any of my business, of course, but I couldn't help wondering +what Mrs. Harper would do if she knew about some of Ethel's little +excursions. Mrs. Harper had a flinty sort of nature and you only had to +look into those cold eyes of hers to know that it would go hard with +anyone who had displeased her. One morning I had a good chance to see her +when she was roused. A Cloisonné locket belonging to Mrs. Harper had +disappeared from her jewel box and she had accused her maid, Clarice, of +taking it. Clarice, frightened out of her wits, was tearfully protesting +her innocence, but Mrs. Harper towered over her like a fury, threatening +to hand her over to the police. Ethel, sitting in a rocking chair +polishing her finger nails, listened indifferently. I felt embarrassed to +witness this painful scene and stood irresolute, unable to decide whether +to go out or stay, when Mrs. Harper turned to me and said, "Make out a +check for Clarice's wages for the month and deduct twenty-five dollars +from it, the value of the locket she stole. Then insert an advertisement +in the papers for a new maid." + +Clarice, with a fresh burst of grief, declared again that she knew +nothing about the locket, and begged not to be sent away with a black +character, because she had a paralyzed sister to support, but Mrs. Harper +was unmoved. Out went Clarice, bag and baggage, crying as she went and +still declaring her innocence. + +"These maids will steal you blind, if you give them a chance," said Mrs. +Harper, still bristling with anger. + +"I never did like Clarice," remarked Ethel with a yawn. + +The next day Mrs. Harper went out during the morning and Ethel called me +to help her pack her visiting bag. She was going to spend the week-end +with a girl friend. No new maid had come to take Clarice's place as yet, +so Ethel took advantage of my not having much work to do for her mother +that morning to press me into service. + +"I can't find my wrist watch," she said as I came in. "I don't know +whether I put it in the bag or not, and I haven't time to look. Will you +look through the bag while I finish dressing?" + +I pawed carefully through the bag, and brought to light, not the wrist +watch, but the Cloisonné locket, which Mrs. Harper had accused Clarice of +taking. + +"Why, Ethel," I said delightedly, "here is your mother's locket! Clarice +didn't steal it after all. It was down in your bag." + +"I know it was," said Ethel coolly. "I put it there." + +"_You_ put it there?" I echoed. "Did you find it, then?" + +Ethel laughed disagreeably. "I had it all the while," she said. "I'm +going to a dance to-night that mamma doesn't know anything about, and +I've set my heart on wearing that locket. Mamma will never let me wear +it; it was brought to her from Paris by an old friend that's dead now, +and she's afraid I'll lose it. So I just took it out of her jewel box the +other day and made her believe Clarice took it." + +"Ethel!" I exclaimed in horror. "How could you? How could you sit there +and hear your mother accuse poor Clarice of taking it?" + +Ethel shrugged her shoulders. "I never did like Clarice," she said. "She +was an impertinent piece. It served her right. Put the locket back in the +bag. I've got to start in a minute." + +But I didn't budge. I stood looking at her until she looked the other +way. With all her millions and all her fine connections, I despised Ethel +Harper as if she had been a crawling worm. I didn't want to get mixed up +in anything that wasn't my business, but I had no intention of letting +poor Clarice remain under a cloud. + +"I'm not going to put it back in the bag," I replied firmly. "I'm going +to take it right back to your mother when she comes home. She must know +that it isn't stolen so she can make things right with Clarice." + +"Don't you dare tell mamma," said Ethel furiously. "She'll kill me if she +knows I've got it. Give it to me, I say." She tried to snatch it out of +my hand, but I kept hold of it. "Give it to me, you impertinent little +stenographer, you!" she shrieked. + +It was getting disgraceful. I tried to save a shred of dignity. I laid +the locket on the dresser and faced Ethel steadily. I still had a vivid +memory of Clarice's distressed face as she went out that day. + +"You have done Clarice a wrong," I said firmly, "and it must be righted. +I'll give you your choice. Either you take the locket back to your mother +or I'll tell her where it is." + +Ethel changed her tactics and tried to bribe me. "I'll give you a dozen +pairs of silk stockings if you don't say anything to mamma about it and +let her go on thinking it's stolen, so I can wear it whenever I please," +she offered. + +I longed to choke her. "Don't you try to bribe me, Ethel Harper," I said +severely. "I've got a code of honor, even if I am a poor stenographer, +which is more than you have, with all your millions." + +"Some more of your Campfire stuff," she said sneeringly. + +"You bet it is 'Campfire stuff,'" I replied hotly. "You see that little +pin? One of things it says is 'Be trustworthy.' If I let Clarice be +unjustly accused I wouldn't be worthy of that pin. Remember! Either you +tell your mother or I do." And I started for the door. + +Ethel changed her tune again and began to cry. "Everybody is so horrid to +me," she sobbed. "Mamma will never let me go anywhere I want to go or +wear what I want to wear, and the servants won't do what I tell them. +Even my mother's stenographer bosses me around! I wish I was dead!" + +But I was firm in my championship of Clarice. "You'll have to tell," I +repeated. "I see your mother coming in now." + +Ethel began to look frightened. "I'll not tell her I took it, she'd kill +me," she whined. "I'll tell her I just found it and she can take back +what she said to Clarice." + +I looked her steadily in the eyes. She flushed and looked down. + +"I suppose you'll go and tell anyway, you old tattletale," she said +savagely. "I'll get even with you for this, see if I don't!" She ran out +of the room and I didn't see her again for several days. + +However, I knew the locket had gone back where it belonged, because Mrs. +Harper had me send Clarice a check for twenty-five dollars, with the +brief statement that the locket had been found. Right there was where I +lost some of my regard for Mrs. Harper. She never apologized to Clarice +for accusing her wrongfully; never offered to do anything to make it up +to her. She just sent that cold little note and the check. A real +thoroughbred would have acknowledged herself to be in the wrong, but Mrs. +Harper couldn't bring herself to apologize to a servant. The affair blew +over and I never heard Clarice mentioned again. + +I grew to like my work more and more, as the days went by, and gradually +learned to handle quite a bit of it myself. Mrs. Harper was very busy; +she did a great deal of Red Cross and other war work, besides keeping up +in all her clubs, and she got into the habit of telling me what to say to +people and letting me write the letters myself. Early in March she went +out of town to a convention and left me with a great many letters to +write to various people, telling me to sign her name for her. I took very +great pains with all those letters so as to be sure to say the right +things to the right people, and I felt satisfied when the week was out +that I had done myself credit. + +Accordingly, it struck me like a thunderbolt when, several days after her +return, Mrs. Harper came to me, blazing with anger, and demanded to know +what I meant by writing such letters in her absence. Startled, I asked +her what she referred to. + +"You wrote Mr. Samuel Butler that if he didn't hurry and pay up his +subscription to the Red Cross Mr. Harper would pay it for him and take it +out of his next bill," said Mrs. Harper furiously. "Mr. Butler is +insulted and has withdrawn his subscription of ten thousand dollars to +the Perkins Settlement House, which I am trying so hard to establish. +Whatever possessed you to write such a letter?" + +"I never wrote a letter like that," I replied with spirit. "I wrote Mr. +Butler a very polite, respectful reminder that his pledge was due this +month; I never mentioned Mr. Harper or anything about paying it and +taking the amount out of any bill." + +I was completely at sea. + +"You _did_ write that letter!" declared Mrs. Harper angrily. "How dare +you deny it? Mr. Butler showed it to me. It was written on this very +stationery, on this typewriter with the green ribbon, and signed with my +name in the way you sign it. You wrote it to be funny, I suppose. Well, I +can tell you that I can't have anything like that. I won't have any +further need for your services." + +She was so positive I had written it that I began to have an awful +feeling that I might have written it in my sleep. You know what strange +things I do in my sleep sometimes. But all the while I knew who had done +it. Ethel Harper had sworn to get even with me for making her tell her +mother about the locket. She had written that letter in place of the one +I had written. I remembered that one day while Mrs. Harper was away I had +been called downstairs and kept talking for over an hour to one of Mrs. +Harper's committee members who had undertaken to distribute some +literature and came for instructions. During that time Ethel would have +had plenty of chance to read through my mail upstairs. + +I started to tell Mrs. Harper that I suspected someone else of writing +it, intending to lead gently up to the subject of Ethel, but Mrs. Harper +scoffed at the idea. + +"There isn't anyone else in the house who can run the typewriter," she +said flatly. + +This was untrue. Ethel could run it; she had done so several times when I +was there. But what was the use of accusing Ethel when her mother +wouldn't believe it anyway? I realized the hopelessness of trying to +convince Mrs. Harper of something she didn't want to believe. + +"And further," continued Mrs. Harper, "I have found that you have not +been attending strictly to business. Ethel tells me that you often go +over to her room when she is there and stand and talk to her instead of +giving your time to my work." + +"Little snake-in-the-grass!" I thought vengefully. I had never gone to +her room unless she had called me to do something. + +I made up my mind I wouldn't stay there another minute. I didn't have to +work for such people. I drew myself up stiffly. "If you believe such +things, Mrs. Harper," I said icily, "there can be no business relations +between us. I shall not even take the trouble to prove the truth about +that letter. I shall go immediately." And go I did. I knew Mr. Barrett +would be very much put out over the affair, because he seemed to think +Mrs. Harper had done his school an honor by hiring one of his pupils, but +what was I to do? Stay there and be the scapegoat for all Ethel's sins. +Not while I had feet to walk away on. + +As I went down the steps I met Ethel coming up. She looked at me with a +meaning expression and a triumphant smile. She had kept her word and +gotten even with me. + +I felt badly over it, of course, for who can lose a good position and not +be cut up about it? I suppose I must have looked pretty doleful for a +couple of days, because I met Mrs. Anderson, that friend of Nyoda's, who +used to lend us so many "props" for our Winnebago performances, on the +street and she asked me right away what was the matter. + +"You're lonesome for those friends of yours," she went on, without giving +me a chance to answer. "I'm lonesome, too," she went on. "My husband has +been in Washington all winter. Come out and spend a few days with me. You +used to be pretty good company, if I remember rightly." + +She persuaded me and I went. You remember the Anderson place out on the +East Shore, don't you? We were all out there once last year. Perfect duck +of a house all made of soft gray shingles and seven acres of garden and +woods around it. I tramped all over the place through the March mud, +looking for signs of spring, and had a perfectly glorious time. + +"There's one sign of spring, over there," said Mrs. Anderson, who was +with me on one of my tramps. + +"Where?" I asked, looking around. + +"Young man's fancy," said Mrs. Anderson with a laugh of tolerant +amusement, "lightly turning to thoughts of love. Look up on the barn +there." + +I looked where she pointed, and saw a boy of about eighteen standing on +the roof of the barn gazing off into space through a field glass. He had +a white flag tied to his right wrist, which he was waving over his head, +like the soldiers do when they signal. + +"Who is he and what is he doing?" I asked. + +"That's Peter, the boy who helps around the stable," replied Mrs. +Anderson. "He's sending messages to his lady love. A certain combination +of flourishes means 'I love you,' and another means 'Meet me to-night,' +and so on. He told John, my chauffeur, about it, and John told me." + +"How silly!" said I, with a laugh for poor lovesick Peter. "Who is the +object of his affection?" + +"Some servant girl from the next estate," replied Mrs. Anderson. "They +carry on their affair through field glasses and with signals. They think +they are having a thrilling romance." + +"Disgusting!" said I. "How could any girl make such a fool of herself +where everybody can see her!" + +Mrs. Anderson laughed indulgently, but I could feel her scorn underneath +it. "Some girls will sell every scrap of dignity they have for what they +consider a good time, my dear," she said, laying her hand on my arm in a +motherly way. + +We left Romeo on the barn flourishing out his messages in the late March +sunshine and wandered over to the next estate. There was a new litter of +prize bull pups over there and Mrs. Anderson had promised that I should +see them before I went home. A creek divided the two estates, which we +crossed on a little foot bridge. The path led along beside the creek for +a while until the little stream widened out into a beautiful pond, big +enough for boating. A pier had been built at one side of the pond, +running out into the water. Someone was standing out on the end of the +pier, and as we came up we saw that we had discovered the other half of +the romance. A girl, with a field glass held to her eyes and a white flag +tied around her right wrist, was signalling in the direction of the +Anderson barn, the roof of which was visible in the distance, beyond Mrs. +Anderson's apple orchard. + +Something about the girl was familiar, even in the distance, and as we +came near I recognized the mink coat that I had seen many times lately. +There was no doubt about it. The girl on the end of the pier was Ethel +Harper. I stood still, too much disgusted to speak. Ethel Harper, the +daughter of one of the "first" families, with the best social position in +the city, her mother prominent in all great uplift movements, carrying on +a vulgar flirtation with Mrs. Anderson's stable boy! So this was the +great romance she had been hinting about at various times! Randall--that +was the name of the girl she was intimate with; this was the Randall +place. She had been coming here so often for the sake of the boy next +door. Did she know he was an ignorant servant? I doubted it. Anything in +men's clothes set her silly head awhirl. I wished her haughty mother +could have seen her then. + +Mrs. Anderson suddenly laughed out loud and at that Ethel turned around +and saw us. She gave a great start as she recognized me, took a step +backward and fell off the end of the pier into the pond, disappearing +with a shriek into the deep water. + +I slipped out of my coat, threw off my shoes and went in after her. The +water was so icy I could hardly swim at first. When I did get hold of her +it was a battle royal to get her back to the pier. She was so weighted +down by the fur coat and she struggled so fiercely that several times I +thought we were both going down. Mrs. Anderson threw us a plank and with +its help I finally got her to the pier. + +"Now run for your life!" I ordered, my own teeth chattering in my head. +"Drop that wet coat and I'll race you to the house." She didn't move +nearly fast enough to avoid a chill and I took hold of her hand and +pulled her along. + +Up in a cosy bedroom in the Randall's house we sat up, some hours later, +wrapped in blankets, and looked at each other gravely. Mrs. Anderson had +been in and talked with Ethel like a big sister about the cheapness of +carrying on flirtations with strange boys. Ethel had seen her little +affair in its true light, robbed of all romance, and shame had taken hold +of her. Mrs. Anderson explained how the gallant Romeo had seen his Juliet +fall into the pond and had fled basely in the other direction for fear he +would be blamed, making no effort to rescue her, and she might have been +drowned if I hadn't fished her out. + +Ethel had been frightened out of her wits when she fell into the water; +she was still suffering from the shock. She flushed hotly as she caught +my glance, and cast down her eyes. + +"Thank you, Miss Brewster, for saving my life," she said rather +shame-facedly. Then she went on in a low tone, "I want to tell you +something. I wrote that letter to Mr. Butler,--the one that made mamma so +angry." + +"I know," I answered gravely. + +"You knew, and you jumped into the water after me anyway?" she said in a +tone of unbelief. "Why, you might have let me drown as easy as not." + +"O no, I mightn't," I answered. "That isn't the way a Camp Fire Girl gets +even." + +Ethel was silent a long while. Then she said, "Will you come back to our +house after I have told mother the whole thing? She misses you a lot, +says she never had anyone do her work so well as you did it, and she has +been in a terrible temper ever since you left." + +"I don't know," I answered slowly. I had been very deeply hurt and my +foolish pride was still on its hind legs. + +"Will you please come?" pleaded Ethel, slipping out of her chair and +putting her arms around me. "We can have such good times after your work +hours. Please, for my sake, I want you. You're the most wonderful girl +I've ever met!" + +Old Mr. Pride and I had a final round and we came out with me sitting on +his head. "I'll come back," I said, slipping my arm around Ethel. + +So you see, Katherine, adventure isn't dead, not by any means, even if +you do have to take it along with your bread and butter. + +Loads of love from your stenographic friend, Sadie Shorthander, once upon +a time your + + Sahwah. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 8, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Daggers and dirks! Did I say it was dull out here? Deluded mortal! For +the past week it's been so strenuous that I have seriously considered +moving to Bedlam for a rest. If I'm not gray by the time I'm thirty it'll +be because I'm bald. + +As Mistress of Ceremonies your humble servant is a rather watery success. +You know from sad experience my fatal fondness for trying new and +startling experiments and also my genius for leaving the most important +things undone. Remember the time I was Lemonade Committee when we climbed +Windy Hill and I carefully provided water and sugar and spoons and +glasses, and no lemons? And the time I hid the unwashed dishes in the +oven at Aunt Anna's and then went home with Gladys and forgot all about +them, and Aunt Anna nearly had spasms because she thought her silverware +had been stolen? And the time we went to Ellen's Isle and I mislaid the +vital portion of my traveling suit half an hour before the train started +and had to go in a borrowed suit that didn't fit? Every time little +Katherine was given something to do she either forgot to do it +altogether, or else did it in such a way as to make herself ridiculous. + +The memory of all those things rose up and oppressed me after I had +undertaken to stage a Patriotic Pageant for the township of Spencer. I +was so afraid I would do something that would turn it into a farce that I +began to have nightmares the minute I sank to weary slumber. It was a +daring idea, this patriotic pageant. Since history began there had never +been a pageant, patriotic or otherwise, in this section. Most of the +folks had never seen a circus, or a show, or a parade; so there was +nobody to give me any help except Justice. I myself would never have +thought of tackling it, but no sooner had my Camp Fire Girls gotten +absorbed in Red Cross work, and been thrilled by reading accounts of what +Camp Fire Girls were doing in other sections, than they begged me to get +up a pageant. I had my misgivings, but, being a Winnebago, I couldn't +back out. A pageant it should be, if it cost my head. (It pretty nearly +did, but not in the way I had feared.) + +Justice Sherman hailed the plan with delight. + +"Go to it," he encouraged. "I'm with you to the bitter end. I've never +done it before but I'll never begin any younger. + + "'There is a tide in the affairs of schoolma'ams, + That, taken at the flood, leads on to Pageants.' + +"Lead on MacDuff! Trot out the order of events." + +At Justice's suggestion I summed up all the possibilities. + +"There isn't much to work with," I said thoughtfully, having counted up +all my assets on the fingers of one hand. "Just ten Camp Fire Girls, +about as many boys, one trick mule, and--you." + +"So glad I know, right at the outset, just where I come in," said Justice +politely, "after the mule." + +"Sandhelo's got his red, white and blue pompom that the girls sent him +for Christmas," I went on, ignoring Justice's gibe. "We could make red, +white and blue harness for him, too." + +"If only he doesn't get temperamental!" said Justice fervently. + +"The girls could wear their Red Cross caps and aprons in one part of it," +I continued, "and flags draped on them when they act out 'The Spirit of +Columbia.' One of the girls can wear her Ceremonial gown and be the +Spirit of Nature that comes to tell the others the secret of the soil +that will help them win the war. Oh, ideas are coming to me faster than +flies to molasses." + +"Would you advise me to wear my Ceremonial gown or my Red Cross apron and +cap?" asked Justice soberly. "I could braid my hair in two pig-tails--" + +"Oh, Justice!" I interrupted, "if you only had a soldier's uniform!" +Then, as I saw Justice wince and the laughter die out of his eyes, I +stopped abruptly and changed the subject. It was an awfully sore point +with him that he had been rejected for the army. + +"We'll have a flag raising, of course, and tableaux," I rushed on. "Would +you put the flag on the schoolhouse, or set up a pole in the ground?" + +"I think on the schoolhouse," said Justice, with a return of interest. +"That's where it belongs." + +Justice and I held more conferences in the next day or so than the King +and his Prime Minister. Lessons in the little schoolhouse were abandoned +while we drilled and rehearsed for the pageant. Justice and I put +together and bought the flag. + +"Who's going to raise it?" asked Justice, shaking the beautiful bright +starry folds out of the package. + +I considered. + +"I think the pupil that has the best record in school should raise it," +suggested Justice. + +"I think," I said slowly, "I'll let Absalom Butts raise it." + +"Absalom Butts!" exclaimed Justice incredulously. "The laziest, meanest, +most mischievous boy in school! I wouldn't let him be in the pageant, if +I had my way, let alone raise the flag." + +"Exactly," I said calmly. "You're just like the rest of them. That's the +whole trouble with Absalom Butts. He's been used to harsh measures all +his life. His father has cuffed him about ever since he can remember. +Everybody considers him a bad boy and a terror to snakes and all that and +now he acts the part thoroughly. He's so homely that nobody will ever be +attracted to him by his looks, and such a poor scholar that he will never +make a name for himself at his lessons, and the only way he can make +himself prominent is through his pranks. He's too old to be in school +with the rest of the children; he should be with boys of his own age. His +father makes him stay there because he is too obstinate to admit that he +will never get out by the graduation route, and Absalom takes out his +spite on the teacher. I can read him like a book. I've tried fighting him +to a finish on every point and it hasn't worked. He's still ready to +break out at a moment's notice. Now I'm going to change my tactics. I'm +going to appoint him, as the oldest pupil, to be my special aid in the +pageant, and help work out the details. I'm going to honor him by letting +him raise the flag. We'll see how that will change his mind about playing +pranks to spoil the pageant." + +"It won't work," said Justice gloomily. "Absalom Butts is Absalom Butts, +the son of Elijah Butts; and a chip off the old block. The old man has a +mean, crafty disposition, and he probably was just like Absalom when he +was young. Absalom is going to do something to spoil that pageant, I see +it in his eye. You watch." + +"It's worth trying, anyhow," I said determinedly. + +"It won't work," reiterated Justice. "You can't change human nature." + +"It worked once," I said, and I told him about the Dalrymple twins, Antha +and Anthony, last summer on Ellen's Isle. + +"So you turned little Cry-baby into a lion of bravery and Sir Boastful +into a modest violet!" said Justice, in a tone of incredulity. + +"Yes, and if you'd ever seen them at the beginning of the summer you +wouldn't have held any high hopes of changing human nature, either," I +remarked, a little nettled at Justice's tone. + +Justice started to reply, but was seized with a violent fit of coughing +that left him leaning weakly against the door. I looked at him in some +alarm. I knew it was throat trouble that had kept him out of the army, +but it hadn't seemed to be anything to worry about--just a dry, hacking +cough from time to time. Now, standing out there in the brilliant +sunshine, he looked very white and haggard. + +"You're all tired out, you've been working too hard," I said, remembering +how he had been putting in time after school hours working in Elijah +Butts' cotton storehouse, because it was impossible to get enough men to +handle the cotton. Then, by drilling my boys and girls by the hour in +military marching and running countless errands for me--poor Justice was +in danger of being sacrificed on the altar of my ambition. + +"I'm a selfish thing!" I said vehemently. + +"Nonsense!" said Justice, holding up his head and beginning to fold up +the flag. "I got choked with dust, that's all." Manlike, he hated to +display any sign of physical weakness before a girl. I decided to say no +more about it, but I knew he needed rest. + +"Sit down a minute," I said artfully, sinking down on the doorsill, "and +keep me 'mused. I'm tired to death. Tell me all the news in the +Metropolis of Spencer." + +Justice fell into the trap. He sat down beside me and launched into a +lively imitation of Elijah Butts convincing the school board that the old +school books were better than the new ones some venturous soul had +suggested. + +"If he only knew how you took him off behind his back, he wouldn't +confide in you so trustingly," said I. + +"That's what comes of being a bargain," replied Justice loftily. "Great +ones linger in my presence, anxious to breathe the same air. The Board +coddles me like a rare bit of old china and proudly exhibits me to +visitors. + +"Oh, by the way," he added, "I hear there's a stranger in town." + +I looked up with interest. "Fine or superfine?" I asked. + +"Superfine," replied Justice. + +"Where from?" I inquired. + +"Like Shelley's immortal soul," replied Justice solemnly, "she cometh +from afar. She cometh to study Rural School Conditions--sent out by some +Commission or other. She's likely to visit your school. Thought I'd tell +you ahead of time so you'd manage to be on the premises when the +delegation arrived. She might object to hunting through the woods for +you." Here we were both overcome with laughter at the remembrance of the +last "visitation" of the school board. + +"I can't figure out yet why I wasn't fired," said I, flicking a sociable +spider off my lap with the stem of a leaf. "I would have been willing to +bet my eyebrows on it that night. What made them change their minds, I +wonder?" + +"Maybe it was because they hated to lose the bargain," answered Justice, +half to himself. + +"Hated to lose what bargain?" I asked innocently. Then suddenly I +understood. + +"Justice Sherman!" I exclaimed, starting up. "Did you threaten to leave +if they discharged me?" + +Justice turned crimson and became reticent. "Well, I don't know as I +threatened them exactly," he replied in a soothing drawl. "I don't look +very threatening, now, do I?" + +"Oh, Justice," was all I could say, for at the thought of what he had +done for me I was stricken dumb. + +Verily the power of the Bargain was great in the land! + +The pageant grew under our hands until it assumed really respectable +proportions. The girls and boys were wild about it and drilled tirelessly +by the hour. + +"I wish we had a better parade ground," sighed Justice regretfully, +squinting at the small level plot of ground in front of the schoolhouse +that was worn bare of grass. "We haven't room to make a really effective +showing with our drill. If only the old schoolhouse wasn't in the way we +could use the space that's behind it and on both sides of it." + +It was then that I had one of my old-time, wild inspirations. "Move the +schoolhouse back," I said calmly. + +Justice shouted. "Why not roll up the road and set it down on the other +side of field?" he suggested. + +"I don't see why we couldn't move the schoolhouse back," I repeated. "Why +not, if it's in the way? It's no ornament, anyway." + +Half-amused, half-serious, Justice looked first at me and then at the +little one-story shack that went by the name of schoolhouse. + +"By Jove! we can do it!" he exclaimed suddenly. "It'll be no trick at +all. Just get her up on rollers and hitch Sandhelo to the pulley rope and +let him wind her up. Just like that. An' zay say ze French have no sense +of ze delicasse!" + +"What will the Board say?" I inquired, half fearfully. + +"We won't ask the Board," replied Justice calmly. "Move first, ask for +orders afterwards, that's the way the great generals win battles. +Remember how General Sherman cut the wires between him and Washington +when he started out on his famous march to the sea, so that no +short-sighted one could wire him to change his plans? Well, we're out to +make this pageant a success, and we aren't going to risk it by stopping +to ask too much permission. We'll move the schoolhouse first and ask +permission afterward. By that time it'll be too late; the pageant is +to-morrow." + +And we did move it. If you had ever seen us! It wasn't such a job as you +might think. I suppose the word "schoolhouse" conjures up in your mind +the brick and granite pile that is Washington High--imagine moving that +out of the way to make room for a military drill! 'Vantage number one for +our school. We also have our points of superiority, it seems. + +The old shack looked vastly better where we finally let it rest. There +was a clump of bushes alongside that hid some of its battered boards +beautifully. The parade ground seemed about three times as big as it had +been before. + +"That's more like it," said Justice approvingly. "Now we can turn around +without stubbing our toes against the schoolhouse." + +"What will Mr. Butts say?" I asked, beginning to have cold chills. + +"Just wait until that gets between the wind and his nobility!" chuckled +Justice. "Never mind, I'll take all the blame." + +Nevertheless, when the crisis came, and Elijah Butts came driving up on +the afternoon of the great occasion, I was there to face the music alone, +Justice being nowhere in sight. + +Mr. and Mrs. Butts arrived in state, bringing with them a strange lady, +who I figured out must be the one Justice had told me about, the one who, +like Shelley's immortal soul, had come from afar and was sent by a +Commission to study rural school conditions. + +I glanced wildly about to see if Justice were not hovering protectingly +near, but there was no sign of him. However, I knew my duties as hostess. +Nonchalantly I strolled over to the road to welcome the newcomers. Elijah +Butts had just finished tying his horse and, bristling with importance, +had turned to help the Commission Lady out of the rig. + +"Ah-h, Miss Fairlee," he said in smooth tones, "this is--ah--Miss Adams, +our teacher at the Corners school." + +Then he suddenly jumped half out of his boots and stared over my shoulder +as if he had seen a ghost. "Where's that schoolhouse?" he demanded, in a +voice which seemed to indicate he thought I had it in my pocket. + +"It's right over there," I said calmly, pointing toward the bushes. + +Elijah Butts' eyes followed my fingers in a fascinated way; he could +hardly believe his senses. "How did it get there?" he demanded. + +"We moved it back," I replied casually. "It was in the way of the +maneuvers." + +Elijah Butts sputtered, choked, and was speechless. + +But Miss Fairlee, the Commission lady, laughed until she had to grip the +side of the buggy for support. "It's the funniest thing I ever heard," +she gasped. "I've heard of the Mountain coming to Mahomet, but I never +heard of the Mountain getting out of the road for Mahomet. Oh, Mr. Butts, +I think the West is delightful. You people are _so_ original and +forceful!" + +That took the wind out of Mr. Butts' sails. What could he do after that +neat little speech but take the compliment to himself and pass the matter +off lightly? + +The pageant was a wonderful success in spite of my misgivings. I didn't +forget to hand the torch to Columbia at the right moment and I didn't +forget to bring the brown stockings for little Lizzie Cooper, who was the +Spirit of Nature, and I made fire with the bow and drill without any +mishap. But one thing was a dreadful disappointment to me. Absalom Butts +was not there, and I had no chance to work out my experiment on him. +Where he was I couldn't imagine. I had taken Clarissa home with me the +night before to help me finish some things and she hadn't seen him since +he went home from school; Mr. Butts also said he didn't know. He added, +in a voice loud enough for Miss Fairlee to hear, that he would lick the +tar out of him for not being in the patriotic pageant. + +No one knew that I had picked Absalom in my mind to raise the flag. There +had been much speculation about who was to have this honor and in order +to keep everybody happy I said I would not announce this until the moment +came. Then I planned to make a speech and award the honor to Absalom, +thus singling him out for something besides punishment for once in his +life. I had had him helping me for several days, and given him certain +definite things to do on the great occasion and was much disappointed +that he didn't come to do them. Justice's warning came back and I had an +uneasy feeling that he was in hiding somewhere, plotting mischief. + +I had a real inspiration, though, in regard to the flag raising. In a +flowery speech I called upon Mr. Elijah Butts, the "President of the +School Board and the most influential man in Spencer Township," to +perform that rite. He swelled up until he almost burst, like the frog in +the fable, as he stood there, conscious of Miss Fairlee's eye on him, +with his great hairy hand on the pulley rope. Round the corner of the +schoolhouse and hidden from view by the bush, I caught Justice Sherman's +eye and he applauded silently with his two forefingers, meaning to say +that it was a master stroke on my part. Then he dropped his eye +decorously and started the singing of the National Anthem. + +The pageant ended up in a picnic supper eaten on the erstwhile parade +ground, and then the people began to go home through the softly falling +dusk. Miss Fairlee came to me and complimented me on the success of the +pageant and asked to take some notes for future use; and Elijah Butts was +quite cordial as he departed. I've discovered something to-day; if you +want to win a person's undying affection, single him out as the most +important member of the bunch. He'll fall for it every time. You note +that I am talking about male persons, now. + +"Well, the show's over," said Justice, when the last of the audience had +departed. "Now the actors can take it easy. Come on, let's get Sandhelo +and go for a ride." + +We climbed into the little cart, still covered with its pageant finery, +and drove slowly down the dusty road, discussing the events of the day. + +"O Justice," said I, "did you ever see anything so touching as the pride +some of those poor women took in their boys and girls? They fairly +glowed, some of them. And did you see that one poor woman who tried to +fix herself up for the occasion? She had nothing to wear but her faded +old blue calico dress, but she had pinned a bunch of roses on the front +of it to make herself look festive." + +"We've started something, I think," said Justice thoughtfully. "We've +taught the people how to get together and have a good time, and they like +it. They'll be doing it again." + +"I hope so," I replied. Then I added, "I wonder where Absalom was?" + +"You see, your scheme didn't work after all," said Justice, in an +I-told-you-so tone of voice. "Absalom wasn't impressed with the honor of +being your right-hand man. He took the occasion to play hookey. It's a +wonder he didn't try to play some trick on the rest of us; but I suppose +he didn't dare, with his father there. He's afraid to draw a crooked +breath when the old man's around." + +"I'm disappointed," I said pensively, leaning my head back and letting +the cool wind blow the hair away from my face. It had been a strenuous +day and I was tired out. The strain of being afraid every minute that I +would do something ridiculous or had left something undone that was of +vital importance had nearly turned my hair grey. Now that it was all over +without mishap, the people had enjoyed it and my Camp Fire girls had +covered themselves with glory, I relaxed into a delicious tranquillity +and gave myself over to enjoyment of the quiet drive in the sweet evening +air. + +"Why so deucedly pensive?" inquired Justice, after we had jogged along +for some minutes in silence. + +"Just thanking whatever gods there be that I didn't make a holy show of +myself somehow," I replied lazily. "Isn't this evening peaceful, though? +Who would ever think that down around the other side of this sweet +smelling earth men are killing each other like flies, and the night is +hideous with the din of warfare?" + +Above us the big white stars twinkled serenely, approvingly; all nature +seemed in tune with my placid mood. Justice fell under the spell of it, +too, and leaned back in silent enjoyment. + +What was that sudden glare that shone out against the sky, over to the +south? That red, lurid glare that dimmed the glory of the stars and threw +buildings and barns into black relief? + +"The cotton storehouse!" exclaimed Justice in a horrified voice. "Hurry!" + +For once Sandhelo responded to my urging without argument, and we soon +arrived on the scene of the blaze. Elijah Butts' plantation is about +three miles from Spencer, and no water but the well and the cistern. +"This is going to be a nice mess," said Justice, jumping out of the car +and charging into the throng of gaping negroes who stood around watching +the spectacle. The family of Butts had not returned from the pageant yet, +having taken Miss Fairlee for a drive in the opposite direction. A few +neighbors had gathered, but they stood there, gaping like the negroes and +not lifting a hand to save the cotton. + +"Here you, get busy!" shouted Justice, taking command like a general. +Under his direction a bucket brigade was formed to check the flames as +much as possible and keep the surrounding sheds from taking fire. "Go +through the barn and bring out the horses and cows, if there are any +there," he called to me. + +I obeyed, and brought out one poor trembling bossy, the only livestock I +found. Then Justice turned the command of the bucket brigade over to me +and started in with one or two helpers to remove the cotton from the end +of the storehouse that was not yet ablaze. He worked like a Trojan, his +face blackened with smoke until it was hard to tell him from the negroes, +the remains of his pageant costume hanging about him in tatters. + +"Somebody started this fire on purpose," he panted as he paused beside me +a moment to clear his lungs of smoke. "There's been oil poured on the +cotton!" + +Just at that moment the Butts family returned, driving into the yard at a +gallop. Mr. Butts' wrath and excitement knew no bounds and he was hardly +able to help effectively; he ran around for all the world like a chicken +with its head off. Assistance came swiftly as people began to arrive from +far and near, attracted by the blaze, but if it hadn't been for Justice's +timely taking hold of the situation not a bit of the cotton would have +been saved, and the house, barn and sheds would have gone up, too. + +Conjectures began to fly thick and fast on all sides as to how the fire +had started, and a whisper began going the rounds that soon became an +open accusation. One of the negroes that works for Mr. Butts swore he saw +Absalom going into the storehouse that afternoon. My heart skipped a +beat. He had not been at the celebration. Was this where he had been and +what he had done the while? Elijah Butts was stamping up and down in such +a fury as I had never seen. + +"He couldn't get out!" he shouted hoarsely to the group that stood around +him. "He's locked in the woodshed, I locked him in there myself, and +there isn't even a window he could get out of!" + +I started at his words. So that was where Absalom had been that +afternoon. He hadn't deliberately disappointed me, then. But--Elijah +Butts hadn't said that afternoon that he had locked Absalom up at home. +He had pretended to be much mystified over the non-appearance of his son. +Why had he done so? The answer came in a flash of intuition. Elijah Butts +had probably had a set-to with Absalom over some private affair and had +locked him up as punishment, but he didn't want Miss Fairlee to know that +he had kept him out of the patriotic pageant and so he had denied any +knowledge of Absalom's whereabouts. "The old hypocrite!" I said to myself +scornfully. + +"Your woodshed's wide open," said someone from the crowd. "We were in +there looking for a bucket. The door was open and there wasn't nobody in +it." + +"He got out!" shouted Elijah Butts in still greater fury. "He got out and +set fire to the cotton to spite me! Wait until I catch him! Wait till I +get my hands on him!" He stamped up and down, shouting threats against +his son, awful to listen to. + +"I thought he'd drive that boy to turn against him yet," said Justice, +drawing me away to a quiet spot, and mopping his black forehead with a +damp handkerchief. "I can't say but that it served him right. After all, +Absalom is a chip off the old block. That's his idea of getting even. He +didn't stop to think that it was the government's loss as well as his +father's. Well, it's all over but the shouting; we might as well go +home." + +We drove home in silence. Justice was tuckered out, I could see that, and +I began to worry for fear his strenuous efforts would lay him up. I was +still too much excited to feel tired. That would come later. All my +energy was concentrated into disappointment over Absalom Butts. I +couldn't believe that he was really as bad as this. I didn't want to +believe he had done it, and yet it seemed all too true. Why had he run +away if he hadn't? I shook my head. It was beyond me. + +Silently we drove into the yard and unhitched Sandhelo. + +"Good night," said Justice, starting off in the direction of his cabin. + +"Good night," I replied absently. I did not go right into the house. I +was wide awake and knew I could not go to sleep for some time. Instead I +sat in the doorway and blinked at the moon, like a touseled-haired owl. +It was after midnight and everything was still, even the wind. Out of the +corner of my eye I watched Justice wearily plodding along to his sleeping +quarters, saw him open the screen door and vanish from sight within. +Then, borne clearly on the night air, I heard an exclamation come from +his lips, then a frightened cry. I sped down the path like the wind to +the little cabin. A lamp flared out in the darkness just as I reached it +and by its light I saw Justice bending over something in a corner. + +"What's the matter?" I called through the screen door. + +Justice turned around with a start. "Oh, it's you, is it?" he said. "Come +in here." + +I went in. There, crouched in a corner on the floor, was Absalom Butts, +his eyes blinking in the sudden light, his face like a scared rabbit's. +It was he who had cried out, not Justice. + +"What's the trouble, Absalom," said I, trying to speak in a natural tone +of voice, "can't you find your way home?" + +"Dassent go home," replied Absalom. + +"Why not?" + +"Pa'll kill me." + +"What for?" + +"Because I ran away." + +"So you've run away, have you?" said I. "Why?" + +"Because pa licked me and locked me in the woodshed and wouldn't let me +come to the doin's this afternoon, and I just wouldn't stand it, so I got +out and cut." + +"When did you get out?" I asked, leaning forward a trifle. + +"This afternoon," replied Absalom. "I thought first I'd come to the +doin's anyhow and help you with those things I'd promised, but I was +scared to come with pa there, so I went the other way. I walked and +walked and walked, till I was tired out and most starved, because I +hadn't brought anything along to eat, and I didn't know where I was +headed for, anyway, and then I came along here and saw this shack and +came in and sat down to rest. I must a fell asleep." + +"You didn't do it, then?" said I, eagerly. + +"Do what?" Absalom's tone was plainly bewildered. + +"Set fire to your father's cotton storehouse." + +"Whee-e-e-e-e!" Absalom's whistle of astonishment was clearly genuine. "I +should say not!" + +"Do you know who did?" asked Justice, watching him keenly. + +"_Did_ somebody?" asked Absalom innocently. + +"I should say they did," said Justice, puzzled in his turn. "Are you sure +you don't know anything about it?" + +Absalom shook his head vigorously. "I don't know anything about it," he +said straightforwardly. + +"I was sure you didn't do it," I said triumphantly. "I had a feeling in +my bones." + +"How does it happen that you weren't at the fire?" asked Justice +wonderingly. "You must have seen the glare in the sky. People came for +miles around. Didn't you see it?" + +Absalom shook his head. "I must a slept through it," he said simply, and +followed it with such a large sigh of regret for what he had missed that +Justice and I both had to smile. + +"Well, there's one thing about it," said Justice, "and that is, if you +_didn't_ set fire to it, you'd better streak it for home about as fast as +you can and clear yourself up. Everybody thinks you did it and your +running away made it look suspicious. Besides, one of your father's men +says he saw you coming out of the storehouse this afternoon. By the way, +what _were_ you doing in there?" + +Absalom met his gaze unwaveringly. "Me? Why, I went in there to get my +knife, that I'd left in there yesterday. I couldn't go away without my +knife, could I?" He pulled it from his pocket and gazed on it fondly,--an +ugly old "toad stabber." + +"See here, you weren't smoking any cigarettes in there, and dropped a +lighted stub, perhaps?" asked Justice. + +"No," replied Absalom, "I wasn't smokin' to-day. I do sometimes, though," +he admitted. + +"Well, you don't seem to be the villain, after all," said Justice, "and +I'm mighty glad to hear it. So will a lot of people be. Things looked +pretty bad for you this afternoon, Absalom." + +"Honest?" asked Absalom. "Do folks really think I set fire to it? What +did pa say?" + +Justice laughed. "What he isn't going to do to you when he catches you +won't be worth doing," he said. + +Absalom began to look apprehensive. "I'm afraid to go back," he said. + +"What are you afraid of, if you didn't do it?" asked Justice. + +"Pa wouldn't believe me," said Absalom nervously. + +"Oh, I guess he'll believe you all right," I said soothingly. + +"You go with me," begged Absalom, eyeing us both beseechingly. "He'll +believe you. He never believes me." + +"Maybe we had better," said I. "He can stay here with you the rest of the +night and we'll drive over the first thing in the morning." + +The next morning bright and early found us again on the scene of the +fire. Early as we were, we found Elijah Butts poking in the ashes of his +cotton crop with a wrathful countenance. When he saw us coming he strode +to meet us and without a word laid hold of Absalom's collar. His +expression was like that of a fox who has caught his goose after many +hours of waiting. + +"I've got you, you rascal," he sputtered, shaking Absalom until his teeth +chattered. "Where did you find him?" he demanded of Justice. + +"In my bunk," replied Justice, laying a hand on Mr. Butts' arm and trying +to separate him from his son. "He had been there all evening, and knew +nothing about the fire. He didn't do it." + +"Didn't do it!" shouted Mr. Butts. "Don't tell me he didn't do it. Of +course he did it! Who else did?" + +We weren't prepared to answer. + +"I'm sure Absalom didn't do it, Mr. Butts," said Justice earnestly. "I'd +stake a whole lot on it." + +"Well, I wouldn't, you can better believe!" answered Mr. Butts. "He did +it, and I'm going to take it out of him." He began to march Absalom off +toward the house, urging him along with a box on the ear that nearly +felled him to the ground. + +Justice did it so quickly that I never will be able to tell just what it +was, but in a minute there stood Elijah Butts rubbing his wrist and +wearing the most surprised look I ever saw on the face of a man, and +there sat Absalom on the ground half a dozen yards away. + +"Beat it back to our shack, Absalom," called Justice. "I guess the +climate's a little too hot around here for you just yet." + +Absalom needed no second bidding. He sped down the road away from his +paternal mansion as if the whole German army was after him. + +"When you can treat your son like a human being he'll come back," said +Justice to Mr. Butts. + +"He don't need to come back," said Mr. Butts sourly, but with fury +carefully toned down. Justice's use of an uncanny Japanese wrestling +trick to wrench Absalom out of his vise-like grasp had created a vast +respect in him. He wasn't quite sure what Justice was going to do next, +and eyed him warily for a possible attack in the rear. "He don't need to +come back," he mumbled stubbornly, "until he either says he did it and +takes what's coming to him, or finds out who did do it." Growling to +himself he went toward the house and we drove off to overtake Absalom. + +"Daggers and dirks!" exclaimed Justice. "Old Butts sure is some knotty +piece of timber to drive screws into!" + +It was a rather dejected trio that Sandhelo, frisking in the morning air, +carried back to the house. Justice, I could see, was trying to figure out +by calculus the probable result of having jiu-jitsu-ed the president of +the school board; I was sorry for Absalom and Absalom was sorry for +himself. Once I caught him looking at me pleadingly. + +"_You_ don't think I done it?" he asked anxiously. + +"Not for a minute!" I answered heartily, smiling into his eyes. + +He looked down, in a shame-faced way, and then he suddenly put his arm +around my neck. "I'm sorry I treated you so horrid," he murmured. Think +of it! Absalom, the bully, the one-time bane of my existence, the fly in +the ointment, riding down the road with his arm around my neck, and me +standing up for him against the world! Don't things turn out queerly, +though? Who would ever have thought it possible, six months ago? + +Absalom and I had quite a few long talks in the days that followed. He +confided to me his hatred of lessons and his ambition to raise horses. +Father let him help him as much as he liked, and promised him a job on +the place any time he wanted it. Absalom seemed utterly transformed. He +fooled around the horses day and night and showed a knack of handling +them that proved beyond a doubt that he had chosen his profession wisely. +I did not insist upon his going to school and was glad I hadn't; for in a +day or two came the "visitation" of the Board, bringing Miss Fairlee to +see my school. + +She was absolutely enchanted with the way we conducted things; gasped +with astonishment at the graphophone and the lantern slides; exclaimed in +wonder at the library; listened approvingly to the reading lesson, which +was from one of the current magazines; partook generously of our dinner, +cooked and served in the most approved style, and laughed heartily at the +stunts we did afterward by way of entertainment. I took a naughty +satisfaction in showing off my changed curriculum for her approval and +watching the effect it had on the august Board members. None of them knew +exactly what I had been doing all this time, and their amazement was +immense. Mr. Butts did not come with the board this time, so I was spared +the embarrassment of meeting him. Without him the rest of the Board were +like sheep that had gotten separated from the bell-wether; they didn't +know which direction to head into until Miss Fairlee expressed her +unqualified approval of my methods; then they all endorsed it +emphatically. + +"I wish I were a pupil again, so I could have you for a teacher!" said +Miss Fairlee when school was out, and I considered that the highest +compliment I had ever received. I immediately invited her to attend our +Ceremonial Meeting that night and she accepted the invitation eagerly. We +held it on the old parade ground in front of the school. In honor of our +guest we acted out the pretty Indian legend of Kir-a-wa and the +Blackbirds and when we came to the place where we rush out looking for +the two crows we found two real ones sitting on the fence, only, instead +of attacking us as the ones did in the legend, these two applauded +vigorously. They were Justice and Absalom, come with Sandhelo and the +cart to take me home, or rather what was left of me after the blackbirds +had picked me to pieces. + +"Another day gone without mishap!" I said, as Justice slid back the +stable door and I walked in with my arm around Sandhelo's neck. "Sandhelo +will have to have a lump of sugar and an extra soft bed to celebrate. +Come on, Sandy, let me tuck you in." + +But Sandhelo would not enter his stall. He stuck his head in, sniffed the +air, and then, with a squeal that always heralds an outbreak of +temperament, he rose on his hind legs and began to dance. + +"Whatever has gotten into him?" I began, tugging at his tail, which was +the nearest thing I could get my hand onto, when suddenly a wild shriek +rose up from under our very feet and in the dimness of the stall we saw +something roll over and crouch in a corner. + +"Quick, the lantern!" said Justice. + +But we couldn't find it. + +Then from the depths of the stall there came a voice, crying in terrified +tones, "Don' take me, mister Debble; don' take me, mister Debble, I done +it, I done it; I set fiah to 'at ole cotton to get even with old Mister +Butts fer settin' de dawgs on me; I done it, I done it; go 'way, Mister +Debble, don' take me, I'll tell dem; only don' take me, Mister Debble!" + +Justice and Absalom and I stood frozen to the spot, listening to this +remarkable outcry. Then Justice raised the lantern, which he just spied +on the floor, and lighting it held it in the stall. By its flickering +rays we saw a negro crouching in the corner, whose rolling eyes and +trembling limbs showed him to be beside himself with fright. + +"Glory!" exclaimed Justice. "It's the same old bird we saw in the road +that day, the one I said looked like mischief!" + +Here Sandhelo, nosing me aside, looked inquisitively over my shoulder and +the darky immediately went into another spasm of fright, covering his +face with his hands and imploring "Mister Debble" not to take him this +time. + +"Whee-e-e-e-!" said Justice, whistling in his astonishment. "He's the one +that fired the cotton and now he thinks Sandhelo is the devil coming +after him!" + +"Mercy, what an awful creature!" said I, shuddering and looking the other +way. "If Sandhelo gets a good look at him I'm afraid he'll return the +compliment about taking him for His Satanic Nibs." + +"There's only one way you can keep him from getting you," said Justice to +the darky gravely. "That's by going to Mr. Butts and telling him yourself +that you did it. Otherwise, it's good-bye, Solomon." + +Here Sandhelo, as if he understood what was going on, suddenly snapped at +the black legs stretched out across his stall. + +"I'll tell him, I'll tell him!" shuddered Solomon, and with a prolonged +howl of terror he fled from the stable and down the road in the direction +of the Butts plantation. + +"He'll tell him all right," chuckled Justice. "He'll face a dozen Elijah +Buttses, before he lets the devil get him. Poor Sandhelo! Rather rough on +him, though, to have his name used as a terror to evil doers!" + +Talk about nothing ever happening around here! O you darling Winnebagos, +with your ladylike advantages, and your mildly eventful lives, you don't +know what real excitement is! + + Worn out, but happily yours, + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + April 10, 19--. +Dearest old K: + +The Winnebagos have scored again, although it did take us nearly all year +to make this particular basket. I know that if you had been here, you old +miracle worker, you would have found the way before the first month had +passed, but, not having your gift for seeing right through people's +starched shirtwaists and straight into their hearts, we had to wait for +chance to show us the way. And it turned out the way it usually does for +the Winnebagos--we stooped to pick up a common little stone and found a +pearl of great price. Of course, now there are lots of people who would +like to be the setting for that pearl, but she belongs to the Winnebagos +by right of discovery and we mean to keep her for our very own. For, +after all, who but the Winnebagos could have discovered Sally Prindle, +when up to that very week, day, hour and minute she hadn't even +discovered herself? The chances are that she never would have, either, +and what a shame it would have been! + +You remember my telling about Sally Prindle long ago, the time we tried +to fix up her room for her and she wouldn't let us? Of course she hurt +our feelings, because we hadn't been trying to patronize her and didn't +deserve to be snubbed, but we got over it in a day or two and saw her +side of it. It probably _was_ annoying to have three separate delegations +take notice of your poverty in one day, and there was no telling how +tactless the first two had been. At the second meeting of the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS, held on and around Oh-Pshaw's bed, we formally decided, with +much speechifying by Agony and Oh-Pshaw, that Sally would be the special +object of our Give Service Pledge. We would make her feel that we didn't +care a rap whether she was poor or not; that it was she herself we cared +about. We would ask her to share all our good times and would drop in to +see her often, as good neighbors should, and would finally bring her +around to the point where she would begin to Seek Beauty for herself, see +that her bare room was too ugly for any good use, and gladly share our +overflow with us. Oh, we planned great things that night! + +"Let's go over and call on her right away," suggested Hinpoha, who was +fired with enthusiasm at the plan and couldn't wait to begin the program +of Give Service. + +Off we went down the hall, filled with virtuous enthusiasm. Sally was at +home because we could see the light shining through the transom. + +"Wait a minute, don't knock," whispered Agony with a giggle. "I know a +lot more Epic way." She pulled a candy kiss from her pocket, scribbled an +absurd note on a piece of paper about weary travelers waiting at the +gate, tied it to the kiss and threw it through the transom. + +We heard it strike the floor and heard Sally rise from a creaking chair +and pick it up. Giggling, we waited for her to come and let us in. In a +minute her footsteps came toward the door and with comradely smiles we +stepped forward. The door was opened a very small crack, and out flew the +kiss, much faster than it had gone in. It just missed Hinpoha's nose by a +hair's breadth and fell on the floor with a spiteful thud. Then the door +slammed emphatically. We looked at each other in consternation. + +"Whee-e-e-e-e-!" said Agony in a long-drawn whistle. + +"Horrid--old--thing!" said Hinpoha, picking up the kiss from the floor +and holding it up for us to see that the note had never been opened. +Feeling both foolish and hurt we trailed back home and sadly gave up the +idea of Giving Service to Sally Prindle. + +"Let her alone, she isn't worth worrying about," said Hinpoha, beginning +to be just as cross as she had been enthusiastic before. "She hasn't a +spark of sociability in her." + +"There are Hermit Souls----" began Oh-Pshaw, and Agony cut in with + + "Twinkle, twinkle, little Sal, + How we'd like to be your pal, + But you hold your nose so high + You don't see us passing by." + +That ended Sally Prindle as far as the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS were +concerned. But I had an uncomfortable feeling all the time that if Nyoda +had been there she would have managed to become friendly with Sally in +some way, and that we had failed to "warm the heart" of this "lonely +mortal" who "stood without our open portal." Sally haunted me. How any +girl could live and not be friendly with the people she saw every day was +more than I could understand. She just grubbed away at her lessons, paid +no attention to what went on around her, snubbed any girl who tried to +make advances and lived a life of lofty detachment. She was a good +student and invariably recited correctly when called upon, but beyond +that none of the teachers could get a particle of warmth out of her, not +even fascinating Miss Allison, who has all her classes worshipping at her +feet. + +Sally worried me for a while; then she moved out of Purgatory and took a +room with some private family in town and as I hardly ever saw her any +more I forgot her after a time. Life is so _very_ full here, Katherine +dear, that you can't bother much about any one person. + +Of course, the big thought that runs through everything this year, all +our work and all our play, is the War and what we can do to help. At the +beginning of the year Brownell pledged herself to raise five thousand +dollars for the Red Cross by various activities; this was outside of the +personal subscription fund. A big Christmas bazaar and several benefit +performances brought the total close to four thousand, but the last +thousand proved to be a sticker. Various committees were called to +discuss ways and means of raising the money, but they never could agree +on anything for the whole college to do together, and finally abandoned +the quest for a bright idea and decided to let everybody raise money in +any way they could think of and put it all together to make up the total. +The Board of Trustees offered a silver loving cup to the individual, +club, sorority, group or clique of any kind that raised the largest +amount inside of a month. + +The day that was announced there was a hastily called meeting of the LAST +OF THE WINNEBAGOS. + +"We're going to win that loving cup," declared Hinpoha in a tone of +finality. "This is our chance to show what we're made of. Up until now +we've been doing little easy 'Give Services.' At last we're up against +something big. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of +their party. The WINNEBAGOS have never fallen down on anything yet that +they undertook and they're not going to now. We're going to win that +contest. Won't Nyoda be proud of us?" + +We cheered until the windows rattled and then Migwan brought us to earth +with a thud. "How are we going to do it?" she asked soberly. We all fell +silent and donned our thinking caps. Minutes passed but nobody sprouted a +bright idea. Suggestion after suggestion was made, only to be turned down +flat. + +"We might give a circus," suggested Hinpoha rather doubtfully. "Remember +the circus we gave at home last year?" + +"There have been nine circuses of various kinds already this year," +wet-blanketed Agony. "You couldn't hire anybody to attend another." + +"Masquerade as seeresses and give select parlor readings of people's +futures," suggested Oh-Pshaw. "We could charge five dollars for a +reading." + +"Been done already," said Migwan. "Anyway, the faculty have forbidden it. +The girls that did it last year scandalized a prominent Trustee's wife by +telling her that her daughter was going to elope with an Italian count +before the month was out. The daughter had married a minister the week +before, only the girls didn't know it, and the Trustee's wife got so +excited she sat down on a two-hundred-dollar Satsuma vase and smashed it +and tried to sue the seeresses for damages. Then, of course, she found +out they were students and the faculty put an end to parlor seeresses." + +That's the way it went. Not a plan was suggested but what turned out to +be old stuff or not practicable. + +"Oh, for an idea!" groaned Agony, beating her white brow with the palm of +her hand. + +"We might go round with a hand organ," suggested Oh-Pshaw in desperation. +"Gladys could be the monkey and pass around a tin cup." + +"Thanks, I wouldn't think of aspiring to such an honor," I replied +modestly. + +"What we want," said Migwan decidedly, "is a fad--something that will +take the college by storm and separate them from their cash. I remember +last year some of the seniors started the fad of taking impressions of +the palm of your hand on paper smoked with camphor gum and sending them +away to have the lines read by some noted palmist, and they made oceans +of money at twenty-five cents an impression." + +We talked possible fads until we were green in the face, but nobody got +an inspiration and we finally adjourned with our heads in a whirl. + +The next day I went into a deserted classroom for a book I had left +behind and found Sally Prindle with her head down on one of the desks, +crying. By that time I had forgotten how disagreeable she had been to us +and hastened over to see what was the matter. + +"What's the trouble, Sally?" I asked, laying my hand on her shoulder. + +Sally started up and tried to wipe the tears away hastily. "Nothing," she +answered in a flat voice. + +"There is too something," I said determinedly, and sat down on the desk +in front of her. + +She looked at me sort of defiantly for a minute and then she broke down +altogether. Between sobs she told me that she wasn't going to be able to +come back to college next year because she hadn't won the big Andrews +prize in mathematics she had counted confidently on winning, and she had +worked so hard for it that she had neglected her other work, and the +first thing she knew she had a condition in Latin. Besides, she was sick +and couldn't do the hard work she had been doing outside to pay her +board. + +I never saw anyone so broken up over anything. I wouldn't have expected +her to care whether she came back to college or not; I couldn't see what +fun she had ever gotten out of it, but I suppose in her own queer way she +must have enjoyed it. I tried to comfort her by telling her that the way +would probably be found somehow if she took it up with the right people, +but Sally wasn't the kind of girl that took comfort easily. Life was +terribly serious to her. She felt disgraced because she hadn't won the +prize and was sure nobody would want to lend her money to finish her +course. I left her at last with my heart aching because of the uneven way +things are distributed in this world. + +Our room was a mess when I got back. Our floor was entertaining the floor +below that night and Hinpoha was in the show. She was standing in the +middle of the room draping my dresser scarf around her shoulders for a +fichu, while Agony was piling her hair high on her head for her and +Oh-Pshaw was pinning on a train made of bath towels. + +"Have you a blue velvet band?" Hinpoha demanded thickly, as I entered, +through the pins she was holding in her mouth. + +"No, I haven't," I replied, retiring to a corner to escape the sweeping +strokes of the hair brush in Agony's hand. + +"Why haven't you?" lamented Hinpoha. "I just _have_ to have one." + +"What for?" I asked. + +"To put around my neck, of course," explained Hinpoha impatiently. "It's +absolutely necessary to finish off this costume. Go out and scrape one up +somewhere, Gladys, there's a dear." + +I obediently made the rounds, but nowhere did I find the desired blue +band. Not even a ribbon of the right shade was forthcoming. + +"Paint one on," suggested Agony, with an inspiration born of despair. +"Then you'll surely have it the right shade." + +"The paint box is in the bottom dresser drawer," said Hinpoha, warming to +the plan at once. "Hurry up, Agony." + +"Oh, I'll not have time to do it," said Agony, moving toward the door. +"I've got just fifteen minutes left to sew the ruffle back on the bottom +of my white dress to wear in chapel to-morrow when we sing for the +bishop, and it's really more important for the country's cause that I +have a white dress to wear to-morrow than that you have a blue band +around your neck to-night. My green and purple plaid silk would look +chaste and retiring among the spotless white of the choir, now, wouldn't +it?" And swinging her hairbrush she went out. Oh-Pshaw had already +disappeared. + +"Here, Gladys," said Hinpoha, holding out the box to me, "mix the +turquoise with a little ultramarine." + +"I'm awfully sorry, 'Poha, but I can't stop," said I. "I've an interview +with Miss Allison in five minutes. Get somebody else, dear." + +"Everybody's rushed to death," grumbled Hinpoha. + +I went off to keep my appointment and Hinpoha took up her watch for a +passer-by whom she could bully into painting a blue band on her neck. +Being part of the surprise for the guests she couldn't very well go out +and risk being seen; she just had to stay in the room and wait for +someone from our floor to come along. For a long while nobody came, and +then, when she was about ready to give up, she did hear footsteps coming +down the corridor. It was dark by that time and she couldn't see who it +was, but she pounced out like a cat on a mouse and dragged the girl into +her room. + +"Paint a blue band on my neck, quick!" she commanded, thrusting out the +paint box and switching on the light. + +Then she saw who it was. It was Sally Prindle. Hinpoha was a little taken +aback, but she had about exhausted her patience waiting for someone to +come by and help her. + +"Will you, please?" she pleaded, holding out the paints enticingly. + +"What is it?" asked Sally dully, looking at Hinpoha in that crazy costume +as if she thought she was not in her right mind. + +Hinpoha explained the urgent and immediate need of a blue band of a +certain shade on her neck. + +"But I never painted anything before," objected Sally. + +"You'll never learn any younger," said Hinpoha, jubilant that Sally +hadn't walked out with her nose in the air. "Here, take the brush, I'll +show you what to mix; see, this and this and this." + +Under Hinpoha's direction Sally painted the blue band and then regarded +her handiwork with critical eyes. + +"Thanks, that's fine," said Hinpoha, holding out her hand for the paints. + +"It needs something more," said Sally slowly, squinting at Hinpoha's +neck. "Do you mind if I use any more paint?" + +"Go as far as you like," said Hinpoha, surprised into flippancy, "let +your conscience be your guide!" + +Sally made swift dabs at the little color squares, her face all puckered +up in a deep frown of concentration. + +"Now, how do you like it?" she asked anxiously, after a few minutes, +leading Hinpoha to the mirror. + +Hinpoha says she screamed right out when she looked, she was so surprised +and delighted. For on the front of the band Sally had painted the most +wonderful ornament. It was an enormous ruby, set in a gold frame, the +design of which simply took your breath away. How she ever did it with +the colors in Hinpoha's box is beyond us. + +"Oh, wonderful!" raved Hinpoha, hugging Sally in her extravagant way. "I +can't wait until the girls see it. Won't I make a sensation, though! Come +to the party, won't you please, Sally? We'd love to have you." + +Sally shook her head and prepared to depart. "I have to go," she said +with a return to her old brusque manner. "I have another engagement." + +But Hinpoha saw the wistful look that came into her face and she knew +that Sally's "other engagement" was waiting on table in the boarding +house where she lived. + +Hinpoha's painted jewelry created a sensation all right. Cries of +admiration rose on every side, and the fact that the stony-faced Sally +Prindle had done it only added to the sensation. Who would ever have +suspected that the most inartistic-looking girl in the whole college had +such a talent up her sleeve? + +Two days later there was another excited meeting of the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS. + +"Our fortune's made!" shrieked Agony joyfully, dancing around the room +and waving a Japanese umbrella over her head. + +"Why? How?" we all cried. + +"The fad! The fad!" shouted Agony. + +"What fad?" I asked. "Do stop capering, Agony, and put down that umbrella +before you break the lamp shade. We've smashed three already this year." + +"Don't you see," continued Agony, breathless, dropping down on the bed +and fanning herself with the handle of the umbrella. "Hinpoha's started a +fad with that painted jewelry--blessings on that fool notion of hers of +painting a band on her neck, anyway! Half a dozen girls came to classes +this morning with bands painted on their necks and ornaments in front +that they'd gotten Sally to paint for them. In another day the whole +college will be after her to paint ornaments on their necks. Don't you +see what I mean? We've got to join forces with Sally, set up in business +for the Benefit of the Red Cross--and the cup is ours. Whoop-la! Oh, +girls, don't you _see_!" + +We saw, all right. Inside of two minutes Sally was voted a member of the +LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS and in a few hours business was in full swing. +Sally, of course, was the star of the cast, but the rest of us worked +just as hard as press agents. We placarded the whole college with posters +announcing that Mme. Sallie Prindle, the distinguished painter of +jewelry, would create, for the benefit of the Red Cross, any combination +of precious stones desired by the paintee--charges twenty-five cents and +up. Students were urged to show their patriotism by appearing in +classroom adorned with one of the masterpieces of the above-mentioned +Prindle. + +It was a success from the word go. The fad spread like wildfire, and +Sally spent all her waking hours that were not actually taken up with +recitations painting jewelry on fair necks and arms. Lessons were almost +forgotten in the fascinating business of admiring designs and comparing +effects, and many were the wails because the wonderful things had to be +washed off all too soon. We had offered our room as studio because +Sally's was too far away from the center of things, and most of the time +it was so crowded with eager customers that we couldn't get in ourselves. +Prices rose as business increased, and the candy box we were using for a +bank showed signs of collapsing. + +The next week the juniors gave a dance and they all ordered dog collars +for the occasion. Everybody else had to stand aside. Prices for these +were to be one dollar and up, according to how elaborate they were. How +Sally ever got them all on without fainting in her tracks will always be +a mystery. She did a lot of them the night before and then the girls +wound their necks with gauze bandages to keep them clean. Miss Allison, +who dropped in during the performance, folded up on the bed and laughed +until she was weak. + +"I never saw anything to equal it, never," she declared. "There's never +been such a fad in the history of the college." Then she sat up and +demanded a dog collar herself. + +"Why on earth didn't you tell us you could paint jewelry, Sally Prindle?" +she asked, as she watched those swift fingers doing their wonderful work. +"Of all things, wasting your time specializing in mathematical figures, +when all the time you had designs like these in your head!" + +"I never knew I could do it," said Sally in a funny, bewildered fashion +that set the girls all a-laughing. "I never had a paint brush in my hand +before. _She_,"--pointing to Hinpoha--"put the things into my hands and +ordered me to paint, and I painted. It came to me all of a sudden." + +Did we get the loving cup? I should say we did! By the end of the month +we had raised five hundred and some odd dollars, more than half of the +total, and by far the largest amount raised by any group. We were all +wrecks by the time it was over, because we had to take turns waiting on +table down at Sally's boarding house to hold her job for her while she +worked up in our room; besides getting the paint off the girls' necks +again. That wasn't always an easy job because sometimes she had to use +things beside water colors to get certain effects. + +But it was well worth our while, for the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS have +achieved undying fame. Migwan started it with her fake Indian legend and +the rest of us surely carried it to a grand finish. The best of the whole +business, though, was getting Sally. + +Do you know why she was so queer and stand-offish to people all this +while? She told us in a burst of confidence that night after we had been +given the loving cup. O Katherine, it would almost break your heart. It +seems she has a brother who forged a note last year and was sent to +prison. She considered that money a debt of honor which she must pay +back, and so she came away to college, planning to work her way through +and become a teacher of mathematics, which was her strong subject. But +she had taken her brother's disgrace so to heart that she thought the +people in college would consider her an outcast if they found it out, +and, rather than go through the misery of having people drop her after +they had been friendly with her she made up her mind to make no friends +at all, and then she didn't need to worry about their finding it out and +cutting her. It broke her all up to turn down our offers of friendship +last fall and she left Purgatory because she couldn't bear to see us +after that. + +Think of it, Katherine, what she must have suffered, and nobody to tell +it to! And everybody calling her a prune! We all cried over her and +assured her a million times we didn't care a rap what her brother had +done; we loved her and were proud to have her for a friend. She was a +different girl after that. All the stiffness came out of her like magic +and she looked like a person who has been let out of prison after being +shut up for years. Her great dread all the time had been that somebody +would find out about her brother; now that we actually knew it and it +didn't make a bit of difference, the big load was off her spirits. From +being the most unpopular girl in the class she suddenly became one of the +most popular. + +All her money troubles faded too, because she got work making designs for +a big Art Craft jewelry shop that paid her enough so she didn't have to +borrow any more money. + +The nicest part of it all, though, was what Agony did. The night that +Sally Prindle told us about her brother Agony wrote to her father, who, I +imagine, must be a very influential man, and asked if he could get +Sally's brother pardoned. Just how Agony's father went about it we will +never know, but not long afterward Sally got a letter from her brother +saying that he had been pardoned on the condition that he would enlist in +the army, which he had done. + +Think what that meant to Sally! Instead of being afraid anyone would find +out she had a brother she could now speak of him as proudly as the other +girls did who had brothers in the army; could take her place with the +proudest of them. + +Oh, Katherine, if we could only see right through people and know just +why they do things the way they do, what a wonderful world this would be! + + Lovingly yours, + Gladys. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 25, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +I thought it had all happened, that is, everything that was going to +happen for the next ten years, but it seemed that the excitement of the +last few weeks was but a beginning, and a very humble beginning at that! +We had just gotten over the sensation of the fire and the arrest of the +negro, and school was in running order again and life in general had +resumed the even tenor of its ways, when, without warning, the sky fell +on the house of Adams. They say that coming events cast their shadows +before, and that everything works out according to a fixed rule, but this +could only have been the exception that proved the rule. Having battered +around this wicked world for twenty years I thought I was prepared for +all the shocks that human flesh is heir to, and that no matter what +happened there was a special rule of etiquette to fit it, but there was +nothing in all my experience, nor in the Ten Commandments, nor Hoyle, nor +Avogadro's Hypothesis, nor Grimm's Law, that prepared me for what +happened next. + +Saturday was the fateful day. Saturday is the day on which everything +happens to me. I was born on Saturday; it was on Saturday I met you and +landed headfirst into the Winnebago circus; it was on Saturday I heard +the news that I was not to go to college, and, I suppose, in the order of +human events, I shall die on Saturday. + +On this Saturday morning--can it be only yesterday?--I sat in the doorway +peacefully knitting and occasionally gazing off into space as my thoughts +wandered, flitting from subject to subject like the yellow butterflies +that flashed from flower to flower. The sunshine sprayed over the roof +and glinted on my amber needles, until it seemed that I was knitting +sunshine right into the socks. I was filled with a vast contentment that +throbbed in my temples and quivered in my toes; from head to foot I was +"in tune with the infinite." That morning father and I had gone over our +accounts and our balance was so satisfactory that we figured in another +year we could finish paying off the mortgage. + +When I complimented father on his talent for stock farming, he said +simply: "It's all owing to you. You put new life into us again. We never +could have done it alone. Besides, I reckon most of the sharp bargaining +in horseflesh was done by you. You got more out of people than I ever +did. You've kept up the collections, too. You never got cheated once. +You're certainly worth your salt as a business manager, child." + +Imagine it! Calling me his business manager! I wasn't an absolute +good-for-nothing, then. + +All these things went serenely through my mind as I sat there knitting in +the sunshine, and laying my plans for summer pleasures. I would take the +Wenonahs and go off camping somewhere in the woods for a week or two and +give them a taste of real life in the open. The picture of that little +camp rose vividly before me, and I planned out the details minutely. We +would have to have a tent--somewhere or other I must acquire this +necessary article. A humorous thought came to me of moving the +schoolhouse out into the woods for a camper's dwelling, and in +imagination I saw it bumping along behind us on our journey, with Justice +walking along beside it, carrying the chimney in his arms. I laughed +aloud at my incongruous fancies, startling a hen that was clucking at my +feet so that she fled with a scandalized squawk, stopping a few yards +away to look around at me inquiringly, as if trying to figure out what +was coming from me next. The hen broke up my fancies and I returned to my +knitting with a start to find I had dropped several stitches and had a +place in the heel of my sock that looked like the stem end of an apple. I +raveled back and painstakingly re-knitted the heel, then I laid my +knitting in my lap and gazed dreamily up the road, resting my eyes on the +tender greenness of the fields. + +Sitting thus I saw an automobile coming into view along the road. I +watched it idly, glittering in the sunlight. To my surprise it turned +into our lane and approached the house. I went down to the drive to meet +it; tourists frequently stopped at the houses for water or for +directions, and I would save these people the trouble of getting out of +the car. The big machine rolled up to the drive and came to a standstill +with a soft sliding of brakes. + +Then a loud, hearty voice called out, "Why here she is now! Katherine +Adams, don't you know me? Don't suppose you do, with these infernal +glasses on." + +I looked hard at the man in the long linen dust coat and tourist cap who +sat alone in the car; then my eyes nearly popped out of my head. + +"Why, Judge Dalrymple!" I exclaimed, starting forward with a cry of joy +and seizing the outstretched hand. "Where did you come from? Are you +touring? How did you ever happen to stop here?" I tumbled the questions +out thick and fast. + +"I didn't 'happen' to stop here," said the Judge in his decisive way. +"I've been rolling over these endless roads for three days on purpose to +get here. Lord, what a God-forsaken country! And now that I _am_ here at +last," he added, "aren't you going to ask me in? Where's your father?" + +"Excuse me," said I, blushing furiously. "I was so taken by surprise at +seeing you that I even forgot my own name, to say nothing of my manners. +Come right in." + +I settled him in the best chair in the house, brought him a glass of +water and left him talking to mother in his hearty way while I went out +in search of father. Father was painting a shed when I found him, and he +came just the way he was, with streaks of paint on his jumper and +overalls. If he had had any inkling of what he was being summoned to----! + +Judge Dalrymple was just as pleased to meet father in his paint-streaked +jumper as if he had been a senator in a silk hat, and after the first +moment of embarrassment father felt as if the Judge were an old-time +friend. + +Then the Judge began to explain why he had come, and the bomb dropped on +the roof of the house of Adams. I couldn't comprehend it at first any +more than father could. It sounded like a page out of Grimm's Fairy +Tales. But it seemed that he knew all about the company my father had +lost his money in last summer, and he and some other men bought it up and +set it on its feet again. War orders had suddenly boomed it and it was +now solid as a rock. The original stockholders still held their shares +and would draw their dividends as soon as they were declared, which Judge +Dalrymple prophesied would be soon. Our days of struggling were over. We +were "hard-uppers" no longer; we were "well off" at last. I left the +Judge and father talking over the details of the business and wandered +aimlessly around the dooryard, trying to comprehend the meaning of what +had happened to us, and capering as each new thing occurred to me. My +narrow horizon had suddenly rolled back and the whole world lay before +me. College--travel--study--return to my beloved friends in the +east--best doctors for mother--all those things kaleidoscoped before me, +leaving me giddy and faint. I seized a hoe and began to demolish an ant +hill for sheer exuberance of spirits. + +"What's the matter, have you had a sunstroke?" asked Justice Sherman, +suddenly appearing beside me from somewhere. + +"Worse than that, it's an earthquake," I replied. "Take a deep breath, +Justice Sherman, because you're going to need it in a minute." + +Then I told him about father's investing his money in the western oil +company last summer and apparently losing it, and how the company had +unexpectedly come to life again. + +"Whew!" said Justice, looking dazed for a minute; then he expressed the +sincerest joy at our good fortune I have ever heard one mortal express at +the prosperity of another. But after his congratulations were all made he +stopped short as if he had just thought of something and then he said +slowly, "I suppose you'll be going away from here now; moving out west, +possibly to San Francisco?" It seemed to me that he looked very sober at +the thought. + +"Not if I know it," I replied decisively. "It'll be the east for me, if I +go anywhere, where the Winnebagos have their hunting grounds." + +"You _are_ going away then?" asked Justice composedly. + +"I don't know," I replied truthfully. "Nothing is settled yet. Give us +time to catch our breath. In the meantime, come in and meet our guest, +the new president of the Pacific Refining Company, who came to tell us +the good news." + +Justice assumed an exaggerated air of dignity and formality that upset my +composure so I could hardly keep my face straight as I walked into the +house. + +"Oh, Judge," I called blithely, "here is the rest of the happy family. +Justice, this is Judge Dalrymple." + +Then the second bomb dropped. + +For, at the sight of Justice, Judge Dalrymple sprang out of his chair +with a hoarse sound in his throat as if he were choking, and stood +staring at him as if he had seen a ghost. Justice looked fit to drop. + +"Father!" he said weakly. + +"Justice!" said Judge Dalrymple with dry lips. "How did you get here? +Where have you been all this time?" + +"Out west," replied Justice. + +"Why didn't you tell us where you were??" asked the Judge, sitting down +heavily again. + +"I merely followed your instructions," replied Justice with dignity. "You +told me to get out; that you didn't ever want to hear from me again, and +I took you at your word." + +"I was a fool, a blind fool, and in a great rage when I said that. I +didn't mean it," said the Judge, in a choking voice. + +"But you said it, nevertheless," replied Justice, "and I was hot-headed +and went." + +"What have you been doing all this time?" asked the Judge curiously. + +"Roughing it," replied Justice, in the tone of one who has great +adventures to tell, "until I came here and turned into a professor." A +humorous twinkle lit up his eye as he mentioned the word "Professor." + +In a daze of astonishment father, mother and I watched this unexpected +meeting and reconciliation between father and son. In due time we had all +the story. Judge Dalrymple had set his heart on having his oldest son, +Justice, become a lawyer like himself, and go into his law firm as junior +partner. But Justice had no liking for the law. All he wanted to do was +tinker with electrical things. It was the only thing in the world he +cared for. When he got through college and his father insisted upon his +entering the law school he flatly refused. There was a scene and he and +his father quarreled bitterly. His father told him he could either go to +law school or get out and hoe for himself and he chose the latter. He +left home. All the while he had been in college he had been working on an +electrical device to enable deaf men to receive wireless messages. He now +went to work on this and finished it, and, boylike, thought his fortune +was made. But it seemed fortune had turned her back on him. He had no +money himself to market the device and he could not succeed in +interesting anyone with capital. He spent many weary days, going from one +place to another with his invention, only to meet with failure on all +sides. He had always had delicate health and the long hours he had spent +indoors working on his beloved experiments finally told on him and he +developed a throat trouble which made it impossible for him to stay in +the north. One day, in a moment of great discouragement, he threw his +invention into the New York harbor and sorrowfully gave up his dream of +being an inventor. He was down and out but still too proud to write home +and ask help from his father. He had a chance to act as chauffeur for a +party of ladies who wanted to tour the west and in this manner he made +his way to Texas. He worked there on a sheep ranch for a number of +months; then, seized with a desire to see the country, he worked his way +through the Territory and into Arkansas, and finally into the township of +Spencer, where he was attacked by robbers one night on the road, robbed +of all his belongings and left lying there with his head cut open. Then +it was that he had wandered into our stable, was found, and nursed back +to health. + +Our climate agreed with him so well that he decided to stay for a while, +and got the position of teaching in the high school at Spencer, which +wasn't very hard work. The long walk or drive in the open, back and forth +every day, and his sleeping in the airy shack, gradually worked a cure to +his throat, and brought back the health he had lost through overwork and +disappointment. + +Besides--just listen to this, will you--he said that I had given him such +an amazing new outlook on life that he wanted to stay as near to me as he +could and learn my philosophy. He had been utterly discouraged when he +came, had lost his grip on things, and didn't care a hang what became of +him, but I had put new life and ambition back into him. Imagine it! My +philosophy! + +He had resolved to have nothing more to do with his father after he had +turned him out, and dropped the name of Dalrymple, going by the name of +Justice Sherman. His full name was Justice Sherman Dalrymple. + +Thus ended the mystery of the scholarly sheep herder. The son of _my_ +Judge Dalrymple! I couldn't believe it, but it was true beyond a doubt. I +_did_ know a hawk from a handsaw, after all. No wonder he had looked so +sad sometimes when he thought no one was watching him, with such memories +to brood over! No wonder he had acted so queerly when I told him what we +had done to Antha and Anthony up on Ellen's Isle. They were his younger +brother and sister! + +Judge Dalrymple was speaking to Sherman again. "So you threw your +invention into the New York Harbor, did you?" he said regretfully. "It's +too bad, because some one to whom you showed it has been writing and +writing to the house about it. I couldn't forward the letter because I +had no idea where you were. The Government wants to try out your +invention. I never dreamed that those fool experiments you were forever +making amounted to anything. I see now you were wiser than I. Come home, +boy, and tinker all you like. We'll throw the lawyer business into the +discard. Could you build up your thingummyjig again?" + +At this astonishing news Justice began whooping like a wild Indian. +"Could I build it up again?" he shouted. "Just give me a chance. Just +watch me!" He seized me around the waist and began jigging with me all +over the floor. + +"Save the pieces," I panted, sinking into a chair and making a vain +attempt to smooth back my flying hair. + +Then I noticed that Judge Dalrymple was looking at me with eyes filled +with awe, not to say fear. + +"Girl, what are you?" he asked in a strange voice. "Are you Fate? Every +time I come in touch with you, you work some miracle in my household. +First you perform a magic in my two younger children, and then when I +attempt to make some slight return for your great service and seek you +out, I find that you have also drawn my other child to you from out of +the Vast and worked as great a miracle in him. Are you human or +superhuman, that you can play with people's destinies like that? Under +what star were you born, anyway?" + +"Weren't any stars at all," I replied, laughing. "The sun was shining!" + +O my Winnies, what a day this has been! The sun rose exactly as on any +other day, without any warning of what was coming, and yet before he set +the world had been turned topsy turvy for five people! Isn't life +glorious, though? Mercy, but I'm glad I was born! + + Breathlessly yours, + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 27, 19--. +Oh, My Winnies: + +How can I tell it? Father died to-day. Heart failure, brought on by +excitement over the fire and the coming of Judge Dalrymple. Think of it! +After all these years of hard work and grinding poverty and bitter +disappointment, to fall just at the moment when success and prosperity +were within reach. Oh, the terrible irony of Life! + + Your broken-hearted + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + May 9, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Thanks, a thousand times, for all the beautiful, comforting letters you +wrote. When did anyone ever have such friends as I? Everyone has been so +kind, so sympathetic. The whole countryside turned out to help us. Judge +Dalrymple and Justice are still here, straightening up father's affairs. +The farm and the stock are to be sold. Mother is sick; father's death was +a great shock to her. As soon as she is better she and I are going home +with Judge Dalrymple for a visit. We are going to motor back with him and +Justice--won't it be glorious? Justice is going back home to live. He and +his father have become great pals; it is perfect joy to watch them going +about like two boys, arm in arm. You never see one without the other any +more. Now that they are together it is possible to see quite a +resemblance, but Justice is much handsomer than his father ever could +have been. Sandhelo acted just as though he remembered the Judge from +last summer; he squealed when he saw him and put his nose into his +pocket. We had a council about what should become of Sandhelo and finally +decided that he was to be sent home to Judge Dalrymple's to be a pet for +Antha and Anthony. Sandhelo nodded solemnly when we told him, as much as +to say it was all right with him. I have a queer feeling all the time +that that mule is more than half human. He has such an uncanny way of +taking people's affairs into his own hands, sometimes. Did he not +recognize Justice in the road that night when I would have fled from him, +thinking he was the negro, Solomon, and didn't he scare Solomon into +confessing that he had set fire to Elijah Butts' cotton storehouse? + +To-morrow is May 10th, the date that school closes in this district, and +I have planned a farewell celebration for the scholars. I am going to +give them "for keeps" all the things that came from the House of the Open +Door, besides all the splendid things that came for Christmas, to be the +property of the Corners schoolhouse from that time on henceforward, to +make of it another House of the Open Door. + + May 10th, Evening. + +Another amazing day! Do you know, I half believe that I have been +transported in a dream back to the land of witches and fairies, and have +to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm still myself, Katherine Adams, +and not some other girl who has gotten into my shoes by mistake. I have a +dreadful fear that I will find my real self sitting in the road +somewhere, tumbled off old Major's back as he ambled along, reading in +some book of romance the wonderful things that are happening to this new, +strange self. And presently it will be time to go home and help with +supper, and romance will come to an end with the closing of the book. + +But I guess I'm real, all right. Before the door stands Judge Dalrymple's +car, latest model; its loud, raucous voice containing no hint of elfin +horns as it announces the return of Justice and his father from a spin in +the country. Beside me on the table is the deed of sale of our property, +made out to one Jim Wiggin, and drawn up on very substantial-looking +paper; and on my wrist sparkles the beautiful little gold watch which is +a very tangible souvenir of this last amazing day. It ticks away +companionably, as if to reassure me of its realness. I have named it +Thomas Tickle, and we are going to be inseparable friends. + +You remember I told you I had planned a little last-day-of-school +celebration for the scholars? Well!!! As it turned out, it made the +Pageant look like five cents' worth of laundry soap by comparison. When I +got to school in the morning I found the schoolhouse draped with flags +and bunting, inside and outside, and my desk piled a foot high with great +red roses. + +Then the people began to arrive. It seemed the whole county was there. My +eyes began to pop out of my head as one after another of the celebrities +began to arrive. The School Board from Spencer came _en phalanx_, and in +marching order behind them came the high school pupils with Justice at +their head. The parents of the pupils were all there in state and it soon +became evident that we would have to hold our closing exercises outdoors, +as the schoolhouse would not hold one-tenth of the crowd. + +I was rushing around like a fire engine with the steering gear gone, +trying to find things for various mothers to sit on, when I was conscious +of a solemn hush, and with a flourish the county school commissioners +drove up and with them came Miss Fairlee, the Commission Lady. + +Then there broke loose a sound of revelry by day. My scholars did the +folk dances and gave the little play I taught them; the Camp Fire Girls +held a ceremonial meeting and gave demonstrations of poncho rolling, camp +cooking, etc., while the boys had an exhibition of the articles they had +made from wood, out of the Dan Beard book. + +Then in a speech, which was more earnest than eloquent, I gave to the +school the furnishings from the House of the Open Door, together with the +graphophone, the lantern and the slides, to have and to hold, to be the +foundation of a new House of the Open Door. There was tumultuous +applause, and I sat down, red and perspiring, and my part of the show was +over. + +Thereupon, up rose Absalom Butts, punched in the back as I could see by +three or four of the other boys, and, swallowing his fourteen-year-old +embarrassment as well as he could, he thrust into my hands a little blue +velvet case, mumbling the while, "It's yours. From the school. In token +of our--of our----" + +Here he forgot his speech, looked around wildly, and then burst out: + +"We're givin' it to you because you showed us such a good time, and we're +sorry you're goin' away!" Then he fled to his place and hid his blushes +behind Henry Smoot's red head. + +I opened the case and took out a dear little gold wrist watch. I started +to thank them, but choked utterly when I thought of the sacrifices it +must have cost some of those people to help buy that watch. + +But this was no time for tears. The main dish of the feast was being +brought in. The chief of the County school commissioners, the guest of +honor, rose pompously and made his way to the front after being +ceremoniously introduced by Elijah Butts. After much clearing of the +throat he began a flowery speech about the fame that had been gained +throughout the county by the little schoolhouse at our Corners on account +of its Red Cross activities and Patriotic Pageants; how it had been made +the social center for the people all around and had helped educate them +to better things; how the boys and girls had learned more useful things +from me than from anyone else who had ever taught there; and how Miss +Fairlee, who had come from the East to study rural school conditions in +our section had been quite carried away with my work, and so on, _ad +infinitum_. + +Then, having loaded his cannon very carefully, so to speak, he proceeded +to fire it into the crowd with telling effect. The County school +commissioners, he announced with a fine air of jocularity, had heard that +I was carrying the schoolhouse around with me wherever I went, and as +they were afraid it might get mislaid some day they had voted to build a +new brick schoolhouse on a foundation; one that couldn't be moved. A new +schoolhouse for our district! Nobody had ever dared hope for such a +thing, not even in their wildest dreams. And it seems that I had +precipitated all this good fortune! + +Later on I happened to hear this same commissioner congratulating Elijah +Butts on the good teacher he had picked, and Elijah swelled up like a +pouter pigeon and replied: + +"Yes, sir, I spotted her for a good one the minute I laid eyes on her. It +was me that persuaded the Board to hire her when some of them was holdin' +back, favorin' a different kind of female. Yessir, it was me that picked +her!" + +Justice, who had also overheard the conversation, winked solemnly and we +both fled where we could have our laugh out unnoticed. + +But the best part of it all came after the Big Show was over. Miss +Fairlee came up and took me by the arm and strolled away with me. + +"My dear," she said, "would you consider leaving this place and coming +East with me? I need an assistant in my Social Settlement work for the +summer, and there's no one I've met in the whole country that would fill +the bill as well as you. For handling difficult situations you are a +perfect marvel. Your talents are wasted out here--anyone can carry on the +work that you have started so wonderfully. Won't you please come?" + +We talked about it a bit, and where do you suppose this Social Settlement +is? Where but in the one spot on earth that I'd rather be than any other! +The same city, my dears, that has the honor of being your home! It's all +settled now, and I am to go, after my visit to the Dalrymples. Mother is +going into a big Sanitarium, and I am going to work with Miss Fairlee +through the summer. + +Clear the track! The Winnebago Special is about to start once more! O my +Winnies, don't you see the miracle of it all? Here I was, pining to live +in a House by the Side of the Road, when all the time I _was_ living in a +House by the Side of the Road! It was my little despised schoolhouse. I +was sent here by fate to prove myself worthy or unworthy of what she had +in store for me. I was taken away from you that I might come back to a +richer, fuller life than I had dreamed of in the old days. It is all part +of a Plan, so big and wonderful that I lose my breath when I think of it. +But whatever the Plan may turn out to be in the future, there's only one +thing about it that interests me now, and that is, I'm coming back to +you. I'm coming back! Back to my Winnies! Hang out the latchstring and +remove everything breakable, for the wanderer is coming home! + + Your thrice-blessed + Katherine. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Punctuation and obvious typographical errors were corrected +without comment. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN +ROAD*** + + +******* This file should be named 36485-8.txt or 36485-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/8/36485 + + + +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. 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margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t13,div.t13,.t13 { margin-left:17em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t14,div.t14,.t14 { margin-left:18em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t15,div.t15,.t15 { margin-left:19em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +.clear { clear:both; } +.htab { margin-left:8em; } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road, by +Hildegard G. Frey</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p class="pg">Title: The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road</p> +<p class="pg"> or, Glorify Work</p> +<p class="pg">Author: Hildegard G. Frey</p> +<p class="pg">Release Date: June 21, 2011 [eBook #36485]</p> +<p class="pg">Language: English</p> +<p class="pg">Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> +<p class="pg">***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div id="cover" class="img"> +<img src="images/cover.png" alt="The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road" width="505" height="754" /> +</div> +<div class="box"> +<div class="subbox"> +<h1>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS +<br />ON THE OPEN ROAD</h1> +<p class="center">OR, GLORIFY WORK</p> +</div> +<div class="subbox"> +<p class="center">By HILDEGARD G. FREY</p> +</div> +<div class="subbox"> +<p class="center"><span class="sc">Author of</span> +<br />The Camp Fire Girls Series</p> +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/fire.png" alt="A Campfire" width="216" height="173" /> +</div> +</div> +<div class="subbox"> +<p class="center">A. L. BURT COMPANY +<br />Publishers <span class="htab">New York</span></p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="box"> +<p class="center"><b><span class="small">THE</span> +<br /><span class="large"><span class="sc">Camp Fire Girls Series</span></span></b></p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<p class="center">By HILDEGARD G. FREY</p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<dl class="biblio"> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods</dt> +<dd>or, The Winnebago’s Go Camping</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls at School</dt> +<dd>or, The Wohelo Weavers</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House</dt> +<dd>or, The Magic Garden</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring</dt> +<dd>or, Along the Road That Leads the Way</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Larks and Pranks</dt> +<dd>or, The House of the Open Door</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen’s Isle</dt> +<dd>or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road</dt> +<dd>or, Glorify Work</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit</dt> +<dd>or, Over The Top With the Winnebago’s</dd> +</dl> +<hr /> +<p class="center"><span class="small">Copyright, 1918 +<br />By A. L. BURT COMPANY</span></p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<div class="htmlonly"> +<p class="center"><span class="small">THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD</span></p> +</div> +</div> +<div id="front" class="img"> +<img src="images/front.png" alt="Just then a negro stepped suddenly from behind the bushes along the road...." width="500" height="790" /> +<p><span class="small">Just then a negro stepped suddenly from behind +the bushes along the road and startled Sandhelo so that he promptly +sat up on his haunches to get a better look at the apparition. +<a href="#Page_49">Page 49.</a></span></p> +<p class="jr"><span class="small">“The Camp-Fire Girls on the Open Road.”</span></p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_3">[3]</div> +<div class="htmlonly"> +<h2 id="c1">THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS +<br /><span class="small">ON THE OPEN ROAD</span></h2> +</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Oct. 1, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dear First-And-Onlys:</span></p> +<p>When I got to the post-office to-day and found +there was no letter from you, my heart sank right +through the bottom of my number seven boots and +buried itself in the mud under the doorsill. All day +long I had had a feeling that there would be a letter, +and that hope kept me up nobly through the trying +ordeal of attempting to teach spelling and geography +and arithmetic to a roomful of children of +assorted ages who seem as determined not to learn +as I am determined to teach them. It sustained and +soothed me through the exciting process of “settling” +Absalom Butts, the fourteen-year-old bully +of the class, with whom I have a preliminary skirmish +every day in the week before recitations can +begin; and through the equally trying business of +listening to his dull-witted sister, Clarissa, spell “example” +forty ways but the right way, and then dissolve +into inevitable tears. When school was out I +was as limp as a rag, and so thankful it was Friday +night that I could have kissed the calendar. I fairly +“sic”ed Sandhelo along the road to the post-office, +expecting to revel in the bale of news from my belovéds +that was awaiting me, but when I got there +and the post box was bare the last button burst off +the mantle of my philosophy and left me naked to +the cold winds of disappointment. A whole orphan +asylum with the mumps on both sides would have +been gay and chipper compared to me when I +turned Sandhelo’s head homeward and started on +the six-mile drive.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_5">[5]</div> +<p>It had been raining for more than a week, a +steady, warmish, sickening drizzle, that had taken +all the curl out of my spirits and left them hanging +in dejected, stringy wisps. I couldn’t help feeling +how well the weather matched my state of mind as +I drove homeward. The whole landscape was one +gray blur, and the tall weeds that bordered the road +on both sides wept unconsolably on each other’s +shoulders, their tears mingling in a stream down +their stems. I could almost hear them sob. The +muddy yellow road wound endlessly past empty, +barren fields, and seemed to hold out no promise of +ever arriving anywhere in particular. All my life +I have hated that aimlessly winding road, just as I +have always hated those empty, barren fields. They +have always seemed so shiftless, so utterly unambitious. +I can’t help thinking that this corner of +Arkansas was made out of the scraps that were +left after everything else was finished. How father +ever came to take up land here when he had the +whole state to choose from is one of the seven things +we will never know till the coming of the Cocqcigrues. +It’s as flat as a pancake, and, for the most +part, treeless. The few trees there are seem to be +ashamed to be caught growing in such a place, and +make themselves as small as possible. The land is +stony and barren and sterile, neither very good for +farming or grazing. The only certain thing about +the rainfall is that it is certain to come at the wrong +time, and upset all your plans. “Principal rivers, +there are none; principal mountains—I’m the only +one,” as Alice-in-Wonderland used to say. But +father has always been the kind of man that gets +the worst of every bargain.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_6">[6]</div> +<p>Now, you unvaryingly cheerful Winnebagos, go +ahead and sniff contemptuously when you breathe +the damp vapors rising from this epistle, and hear +the pitiful moans issuing therefrom. “For shame, +Katherine!” I can hear you saying, in superior tones, +“to get low in your mind so soon! Why, you +haven’t come to the first turn in the Open Road, and +you’ve gone lame already. Where is the Torch that +you started out with so gaily flaring? Quenched +completely by the first shower! Katherine Adams, +you big baby, straighten up your face this minute +and stop blubbering!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_7">[7]</div> +<p>But oh, you round pegs in your nice smooth, +round holes, you have never been a stranger in a +familiar land! You have never known what it was +to be out of tune with everything around you. Oh, +why wasn’t I built to admire vast stretches of nothing, +content to dwell among untrodden ways and +be a Maid whom there were none to praise and very +few to love, and all that Wordsworth business? +Why do crickets and grasshoppers and owls make +me feel as though I’d lost my last friend, instead of +impressing me with the sociability of Nature? Why +don’t I rejoice that I’ve got the whole road to myself, +instead of wishing that it were jammed with +automobiles and trolley cars, and swarming with +people? Why did Fate set me down on a backwoods +farm when my only desire in life is to dwell in a +house by the side of the road where the circus parade +of life is continually passing? Why am I not +like the other people in this section, with whom ignorance +is bliss, grammar an unknown quantity, and +culture a thing to be sneered at?</p> +<p>Although I can’t see them, I know that somewhere +to the north, just beyond the horizon, the +mountains lift their great frowning heads, and ever +since I can remember I have looked upon them as a +fence which shut me out from the big bustling world, +and over which I would climb some day. Just as +Napoleon said, “Beyond the Alps lies Italy,” so I +thought, “Beyond the Ozarks lies my world.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_8">[8]</div> +<p>I don’t believe I had my nose out of a book for +half an hour at a time in those early days. I went +without new clothes to buy them, and got up early +and worked late to get my chores done so that I +might have more time to read. When I was twelve +years old I had learned all that the teacher in a little +school at the cross roads could teach me, and then +I went to the high school in the little town of Spencer, +six miles away, traveling the distance twice +every day. When there was a horse available I rode, +if not, I walked. But whether riding or walking, I +always had a book in my hand, and read as I went +along. It often happened that, being deep in the +fortunes of my story book friends, I did not notice +when old Major ambled off the road in quest of a +nibble of clover, and would sometimes come to with +a start to find myself lying in the ditch. The neighbors +thought my actions scandalous and pitied my +father and mother because they had such a good-for-nothing +daughter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_9">[9]</div> +<p>All this time my father was getting poorer and +poorer. He changed from farming to cotton raising +and then made a failure of that, and finally, in +despair, he turned to raising horses, not beautiful +race horses like you read about in stories, but wiry +little cow ponies that the cattlemen use. For some +unaccountable reason he had good luck in this line +for three years in succession, and a year or so after +I had finished this little one-horse high school there +was enough money for me to climb over my Ozark +fence and go and play in the land of my dreams. +One wonderful year, that surpassed in reality anything +I had ever pictured in imagination, and then +the sky fell, and here I am, inside the fence once +more.</p> +<p>Not that I am sorry I came back, no sirree! +Father was so pleased and touched to think I gave +up my college course and came home that he chirked +up right away and started in from the beginning +once more to pay the mortgage off the land and the +stock, and mother is feeling well enough to be up +almost all day now; but to-day I just couldn’t help +shedding a few perfectly good tears over what I +might be doing instead of what I am.</p> +<p>A flock of wild geese, headed south, flew above +my head in a dark triangle, and honked derisively +at me as they passed. “Not even a goose would stop +off in this dismal country!” I exclaimed aloud. +Then, simply wild for sympathy from someone, I +slid off Sandhelo’s back and stood there, ankle deep +in the yellow mud, and put my arms around his +neck.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_10">[10]</div> +<p>“Oh, Sandhelo,” I croaked dismally, “you’re all +I have left of my wonderful year up north. You +love me, don’t you?”</p> +<p>But Sandhelo looked unfeelingly over my shoulder +at the rain splashing down into the road and +yawned elaborately right in my face. There are +times when Sandhelo shows no more feeling than +Eeny-Meeny. Seeing there was no sympathy to be +had from him, I climbed on his back again and rode +grimly home, trying to resign myself to a life of +school teaching at the cross roads, ending in an early +death from boredom.</p> +<p>Father was nowhere about when I rode into the +stableyard, and the door into the stable was shut. +I slid it back, with Sandhelo nosing at my arm all +the while.</p> +<p>“Oh, you’re affectionate enough now that you +want your dinner,” I couldn’t help saying a little +spitefully. Then my heart melted toward him, and, +with my arm around his neck, we walked in together. +Inside of Sandhelo’s stall I ran into something and +jumped as if I had been shot. In the dusk I could +make out the figure of a man sitting on the floor +and leaning against the wall.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_11">[11]</div> +<p>“Is that you, Father?” I asked, while Sandhelo +blinked in astonishment at this invasion of his premises. +There was no answer from the man on the +floor. Why I wasn’t more excited I don’t know, +but I calmly took the lantern down from the hook +and lit it and held it in front of me. The light +showed the man in Sandhelo’s stall to be sound +asleep, with his hand leaned back against the wooden +partition. He had a black beard and his face was +all streaked with mud and dirt, and there was mud +even in his matted hair. He had no hat on. His +clothes were all covered with mud and one sleeve +of his coat was torn partly out.</p> +<p>Sandhelo put down his nose and sniffed inquiringly +at the stranger’s feet. Without ceremony I +thrust the lantern right into the man’s face.</p> +<p>“Who are you and what are you doing here?” I +said, loudly and firmly. The man stirred and opened +his eyes, and then sat up suddenly, blinking at the +light.</p> +<p>“Who are you?” I repeated sternly. The man +stared at me stupidly for an instant; then he passed +his hand over his forehead and stumbled to his feet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_12">[12]</div> +<p>“Who am I?” he repeated wildly; then his face +screwed up into a frightful grimace and with a groan +he crumpled up on the floor. Leaving Sandhelo still +standing there gazing at him in mild astonishment, +I ran out calling for father.</p> +<p>Father came presently and took a long look at +the man in the stall, and then, without asking any +questions, he got a wet cloth and laid it on his head. +That washed some of the mud off and showed a big +bruise on his forehead over his left eye. Father +called the man that helps with the horses.</p> +<p>“Help me carry this man into the house,” he said +shortly.</p> +<p>“But Father,” I said, “you surely aren’t going to +carry that man into the house? All dirty like that!”</p> +<p>Father gave me one look and I said no more. Together +father and Jim Wiggin lifted the stranger +from the floor and started toward the house with +him, while I capered around in my excitement and +finally ran on ahead to tell mother. They carried +him into the kitchen and laid him down on the old +lounge and tried to bring him around with smelling +salts and things. But he just kept on talking and +muttering to himself, and never opened his eyes.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_13">[13]</div> +<p>And that’s what he’s still doing, while I’m off in +my room writing this. It was five o’clock when we +brought him in, and now it’s after ten and he hasn’t +come to his senses yet. There isn’t a thing in his +pockets to show who he is or where he came from.</p> +<p>I feel so strange since I found that man there. +I’m not a bit low in my mind any more, like I was +this afternoon. I have a curious feeling as if I had +passed a turn in the road and come upon something +new and wonderful.</p> +<p>Forget the lengthy moan I indulged in at the beginning +of this letter, will you, and think of me as +gay and chipper as ever.</p> +<p><span class="center">Yours in Wohelo,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_14">[14]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Oct. 15, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Darling Winnies:</span></p> +<p>And to think, after all that fuss I made about not +getting a letter from you that day, I didn’t have +time to open it for three whole days after it finally +arrived! You remember where I left off the last +time, with the strange man I had found in Sandhelo’s +stable out of his head on the kitchen lounge? +Well, he kept on like that, lying with his eyes shut +and occasionally saying a word or two that didn’t +make sense, all that night and all the next day. +Then on Sunday he developed a high fever and began +to rave. He shouted at the top of his voice +until he was hoarse; always about somebody pursuing +him and whom he was trying to run away +from. Then he began to jump up and try to run +outdoors, until we had to bar the door. It took all +father and Jim Wiggin and I could do to keep him +on the lounge. We had a pretty exciting time of +it, I can tell you. Of course, all the uproar upset +mother and she had another spell with her heart and +took to her bed, and by Tuesday night things got +so strenuous that I had to dismiss school for the rest +of the week and keep all my ten fingers in the domestic +pie.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_15">[15]</div> +<p>I don’t know who rejoiced more over the unexpected +lapse from lessons, the scholars or myself. +I never saw a group of children who were so constitutionally +opposed to learning as the twenty-two +stony-faced specimens of “hoomanity” that I had +to deal with in that little shanty of a school. They’d +rather be ignorant than educated any day. I just +can’t make them do the homework I give them. +Every day it’s the same story. They haven’t done +their examples and they haven’t learned their spelling; +they haven’t studied their geography. The only +way I can get them to study their lessons is to keep +them in after school and stand over them while they +do it. Their only motto seems to be, “Pa and ma +didn’t have no education and they got along, so why +should we bother?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_16">[16]</div> +<p>The families from which these children come are +what is known in this section as “Hard-uppers,” +people who are and have always been “hard up.” +Nearly everybody around here is a Hard-upper. If +they weren’t they wouldn’t be here. The land is +so poor that nobody will pay any price for it, so it +has drifted into the hands of shiftless people who +couldn’t get along anywhere, and they work it in a +backward, inefficient sort of way and make such a +bare living that you couldn’t call it a living at all. +They live in little houses that aren’t much more than +cabins—some of them have only one or two rooms +in them—and haven’t one of the comforts that you +girls think you absolutely couldn’t live without. +They have no books, no pictures, no magazines. It’s +no wonder the children are stony-faced when I try +to shower blessings upon them in the form of spelling +and grammar; they know they won’t have a mite +of use for them if they do learn them, so why take +the trouble?</p> +<p>“What a dreadful set of people!” I can hear you +say disdainfully. “How can you stand it among +such poor trash?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_17">[17]</div> +<p>O my Belovéds, I have a sad admission to make. +I am a Hard-upper myself! My father, while he is +the dearest daddy in the world, never had +a scrap of business ability; that’s how he came +to live in this made-out-of-the-scraps-after-every-thing-else-was-made +corner of Arkansas. He never +had any education either, though it wasn’t because +he didn’t want it. He doesn’t care a rap for reading; +all he cares for is horses. We live in a shack, +too, though it has four rooms and is much better +than most around here. We never had any books +or magazines, either, except the ones for which I +sacrificed everything else I wanted to buy. But I +wanted to learn,—oh, how I wanted to learn!—and +that’s where I differed altogether from the rest of +the Hard-uppers. They’re still wagging their heads +about the way I used to walk along the road reading. +The very first week I taught school this year I was +taking Absalom Butts (mentioned in my former +epistle) to task for speaking saucily to me, and +thinking to impress him with the dignity of my position +I said, “Do you know whom you’re talking +to?”</p> +<p>And he answered back impudently, “Yer Bill +Adamses good-for-nothing daughter, that’s who you +are!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_18">[18]</div> +<p>You see what I’m up against? Those children +hear their parents make such remarks about me +and they haven’t the slightest respect for me. Did +you know that I only got this job of teaching because +nobody else would take it? Absalom Butts’ +father, who is about the only man around here who +isn’t a Hard-upper, and is the most influential man +in the community because he can talk the loudest, +held out against me to the very end, declaring I +hadn’t enough sense to come in out of the rain. As +he is president of the school board in this township—the +whole thing is a farce, but the members are +tremendously impressed with their own dignity—it +pretty nearly ended up in your little Katherine not +getting any school to teach this winter, but when one +applicant after another came and saw and turned +up her nose, it became a question of me or no schoolmarm, +so they gave me the place, but with much +misgiving. I had become very much discouraged +over the whole business, for I really needed the +money, and began to consider myself a regular idiot, +but father said I needn’t worry very much about +being considered a good-for-nothing by Elijah +Butts; his whole grudge against me rose from the +fact that he had wanted to marry my mother when +she was young and had never forgiven father for +beating him to it. That cheered me up considerably, +and I determined to swallow no slights from the +family of Butts.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_19">[19]</div> +<p>Since then it’s been nip and tuck between us. +Young Absalom is a big, overgrown gawk of fourteen +with no brain for anything but mischief. His +chief aim in life just now is to think up something +to annoy me. I ignore him as much as possible so +as not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he +can annoy me, but about every three days we have +a regular pitched battle, and it keeps me worn out. +His sister Clarissa hasn’t enough brain for mischief, +but her constant flow of tears is nearly as bad as his +impudence.</p> +<p>Taken all in all, you can guess that I didn’t shed +any tears about having to close the school that Tuesday +to help take care of the sick man. Anything, +even sitting on a delirious stranger, was a relief +from the constant warfare of teaching school. It +was in the midst of this mess that your letter came, +and lay three whole days before I had time to open +it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_20">[20]</div> +<p>On Saturday the sick man stopped raving and +struggling and lay perfectly motionless. Jim Wiggin +looked at his white, sunken face, and remarked +oracularly, “He’s a goner.”</p> +<p>Even father shook his head and asked me to ride +Sandhelo over to Spencer and fetch the doctor again. +I went, feeling queer and shaky. Nobody had ever +died in our house and the thought gave me a chill. +I wished he had never come, because the business had +upset mother so. Besides that, the man himself bothered +me. Who was he, wandering around like that +among strangers and dying in the house of a man +he had never seen? How could we notify his family—if +he had a family? I couldn’t help thinking +how dreadful it would be if my father were to be +taken sick away from home like that, and we never +knowing what had become of him. I was quite low +in my mind again by the time I had come back with +the doctor.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_21">[21]</div> +<p>But while I had been away a change came over +the sick man. He still lay like dead with his eyes +closed, but he seemed to be breathing differently. +The doctor said he was asleep; the fever had left +him. He wasn’t going to die under a strange roof +after all. When he wakened he was conscious, but +the doctor wouldn’t let us ask him any questions. +He slept nearly all day Sunday and on Monday I +went back to school. When I came home Monday +night I had the surprise of my young life. When I +looked over at the lounge to see how the sick man +was to-day I saw, not a man, but a boy lying there. +A white-faced boy with a sensitive, beautiful mouth, +wan cheeks and great black eyes that seemed to be +the biggest part of his face. My books clattered to +the floor in my astonishment. Father came in just +then and laughed at my amazed face.</p> +<p>“Quite a different-looking bird, isn’t he?” he said. +“The doctor was in again to-day and shaved him. +It does make quite a difference, now, doesn’t it?” +he finished.</p> +<p>Difference! I should say it did! I had thought +all the while that he was a man, because he wore a +beard; it had never occurred to me that the hair had +grown out on his face from neglect, and not because +he wanted it there.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_22">[22]</div> +<p>“I suppose I must have looked frightful,” said +the boy in a weak voice, but with a smile of amusement +in his eyes. Those were the first words I had +heard him speak to anyone, and that was the first +time he had had his eyes wide open and looked directly +at me. For the life of me I couldn’t stop staring +at him. I couldn’t get over how beautiful he +was. He had been so repulsive before, with his hair +all matted and his face discolored by bruises; now +his hair was clipped short and was very soft and +black and shiny. One small transparent hand lay +on top of the blanket. He didn’t look a day over +eighteen.</p> +<p>He lay there half smiling at me and suddenly +for no reason at all I felt large and awkward and +sloppy. Involuntarily my hand flew to the back of +my belt to see if I was coming to pieces, and I stole +a stealthy glance at my feet to see if the shoes I +had on were mates. I was glad when he closed his +eyes and I could slip out of the room unnoticed. I +suppose mother wondered why I was so long getting +supper ready that night. But the truth of the +matter is I spent fifteen minutes hunting through +my bureau drawers for that list of rules of neatness +that Gladys made out for me last summer, and which +I had never thought of once since coming home. I +unearthed them at last and applied them carefully +to my toilet before reappearing in the kitchen. My +hair was very trying; it <i>would</i> hang down in my +eyes until at last in desperation I tucked it under a +cap. As a rule I loathe caps. Just as soon as this +letter reaches you, Gladys, will you send me that +recipe for hand lotion you told me you used? My +hands are a fright, all red and rough. Don’t wait +until the letters from the other girls are ready, but +send the recipe right on by return mail.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_23">[23]</div> +<p>After supper that night we talked to the man on +the couch. At first he seemed very unwilling to tell +anything about himself. We finally got from him +that his name was Justice Sherman; that he was +from Texas, where he had been working on a sheep +ranch; that he had left there and gone up into +Oklahoma and had worked at various places; that +he had gradually worked his way into Arkansas; +that he had fallen in with bad men who had attacked +and robbed him and left him lying senseless in the +road with his head cut open; that he had wandered +around several days in the rain half out of his head, +trying to get someone to take him in, but he looked +so frightful that everyone turned him out and set +the dogs on him, until finally he had stumbled over +a stone and broken his ankle and dragged himself +into our stable and crept into Sandhelo’s stall. +That’s what had made him crumple up on the floor +the day I found him when he tried to get up. He +had fainted from the pain.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_24">[24]</div> +<p>We asked him if he wouldn’t like us to write to +his family or his friends and he answered wearily +that he had no family and no friends in particular +that he would care to notify. Then he closed his +eyes and one corner of his mouth drew up as if with +pain. Poor fellow, I suppose that ankle did hurt +horribly.</p> +<p>Now, you best and dearest of Winnebagos, let the +dear Round Robin letter come chirping along just +as soon as you can, and I’ll promise not to let it lie +three days this time before I read it.</p> +<p><span class="center">Lovingly your</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_25">[25]</div> +<h3>GLADYS TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">Brownell College, Oct. 18, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Darling Katherine:</span></p> +<p>Well, we’re settled at last, though it did seem at +first as though we were going to spend all our college +life wandering around with our belongings in +our arms. We came a day late and found the room +we had arranged for occupied by someone else. +Through a mistake it had been assigned to us after +it had been once assigned to these other two, so we +had to relinquish our claim. The freshman dormitory +was full to the eaves and we realized that there +wasn’t going to be any place for us. We made our +roomless plight known and to make up for it we +were told there was a vacant double in the sophomore +dormitory that we might take provided no +sophomores wanted it. We hadn’t expected such +an honor and sped like the wind after our belongings. +The sophomore dormitory is right across from +the freshman one; they are called Paradise and Purgatory, +respectively. It sounded awfully funny to +us at first to hear the girls asking each other where +they were and to hear them answer, “I’m in Paradise,” +or, “I’m in Purgatory.” We were overcome +with joy when we discovered that Migwan roomed +in Paradise. Our room was way up on the third +floor and hers was down on second, but to be under +the same roof with her was such a comfort that all +our troubles seemed over for good. We just had +our things pretty well straightened out and Hinpoha +was nailing her shoebag to the closet door when the +sky fell and we were informed that a couple of +sophomores wanted our room, and, as there was now +a vacancy in the freshman dormitory, would we +kindly move? So we were thrown out of Paradise +and landed in Purgatory after all, and, for the second +time that day, we trailed across the campus with +our arms full of personal property, strewing table +covers and laundry bags in our wake. We didn’t +have time to straighten out before exams began and +for two days we lived like shipwrecked sailors with +the goods that had been saved from the wreck piled +on the floor and when we wanted anything we had +to rummage for half an hour before we found it. +Even after we had survived exams we were half +afraid to begin settling for fear we would be ordered +to move once more. We couldn’t quite believe that +we were anchored at last.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_27">[27]</div> +<p>The first week went around very fast; we were +so busy getting our classes straightened out and +learning our way through the different buildings that +we didn’t have time to feel homesick. But by Saturday +the first strangeness had worn off; we had +stopped wandering into senior class rooms and professors’ +committee meetings, but still we hadn’t had +time to get very well acquainted. Saturday afternoon +was perfect weather and most everybody in +the house had gone off for a walk, but we had stayed +at home to finish putting our room to rights. When +everything was finally in place we sat down on the +bed and looked at each other. Hinpoha’s eyes suddenly +filled with tears.</p> +<p>“I want the other Winnebagos!” she declared. “I +can’t live without them. I want Sahwah and Nakwisi +and Medmangi, and I want Katherine! +Oh-h-h-h, I want Katherine! How will we ever get +along without her here?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_28">[28]</div> +<p>And we both sat there and wanted you so hard +that it seemed as if the heavens must open up and +drop you down on the bed beside us. Katherine, do +you know that you have ruined our whole lives? +Why, O why did you come to us only to go away +again? You got us so in the habit of looking to +you to tell us what to do next that now we aren’t +able to start a thing for ourselves. We knew that +if you had been there with us that first week you +would have had the whole house in an uproar and +something wonderful would have been happening +every minute. But for the life of us we couldn’t +think of a single thing to do for ourselves.</p> +<p>We were still sitting there steeped in gloom when +Migwan came in to see how we were getting on. +She had some delicious milk chocolate with her and +that cheered Hinpoha up quite a bit. It’s going to +be a heavenly comfort to have Migwan just ahead +of us in college. She knows all the ropes and the +teachers and the gossip about the upper classmen +and tells us things that keep us from making the +ridiculous mistakes so many of the freshmen make +all the time.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_29">[29]</div> +<p>“But just think how <i>I</i> felt here, all alone, last +year,” said Migwan. “Perhaps I didn’t miss you +girls, though! You were still altogether and had +Nyoda, but here there wasn’t a soul who had ever +heard of the Winnebagos. Now it seems like old +times again. Think of it, three whole Winnebagos +living together almost under the same roof! Didn’t +we say that night when we had our last Council Fire +with Nyoda that although we couldn’t be together +any more, we were still Winnebagos and were loyal +friends and true, and that wherever two Winnebagos +should meet, whether it was in the street, or +on mid-ocean, or in a far country, right then and +there would take place a Winnebago meeting? +Why, we’re having a Winnebago meeting this very +minute!”</p> +<p>“Let’s keep on having meetings, as often as we +can, just us three,” said Hinpoha, “and talk over +old times and have ‘Counts.’ We can call ourselves +The Last of the Winnebagos, like the Last of the +Mohicans, and our password will be ‘Remember!’ +That means, ‘Remember the old days!’”</p> +<p>Migwan smiled a little mysteriously, but she +agreed that it was a fine idea.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_30">[30]</div> +<p>We three sat down on the floor in a Wohelo +triangle and repeated our Desire and promised to +seek beauty in everything that came along, and to +give service to all the other girls in college whenever +we had the chance, and to pursue knowledge for all +we were worth now that there was so much of it on +every side of us, and to be trustworthy and obey all +the rules to the smallest detail and never cheat at +exams, and to glorify work until everybody noticed +how well we did everything, and hold on to health +by not sitting up late studying and eating horrible +messes, and to be happy all the time and try to like +every girl in college.</p> +<p>“Let’s clasp hands on it,” said Hinpoha, and we +did, and then stood up and sang “Wohelo for Aye” +until the window rattled. (It’s awfully loose and +rattles at the slightest pretext.)</p> +<p>We had just gotten to the last “Wohelo for Love” +when all of a sudden a face appeared at the window. +We were all so surprised we stopped short and the +last syllable of “Wohelo” was chopped off as if +somebody had taken a knife. Our room is on the +third floor, and for anyone to look in at the window +they would have to be suspended in the air. So +when that head appeared without any warning we +all stood petrified and stared open-mouthed. It was +a girl’s head with very black hair and very red lips. +At first the face just looked at us; then when it saw +our amazement it grinned from ear to ear in the +widest grin I ever saw.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_31">[31]</div> +<p>“Did I scare you?” said the face in a voice so +rich and deep that we jumped again. “No, I’m not +Hamlet, thy father’s ghost, I’m Agony, thy next +door neighbor. I heard you singing ‘Wohelo for +Aye’ and I just looked in to see if I could believe my +ears.”</p> +<p>We all ran to the window and then we saw how +easily the thing had been done. Our window is right +up against the corner of our room and the window +in the other room is right next to it, so that all the +apparition had to do was lean out of her window +and look into ours, which was open from the bottom.</p> +<p>“Come on over!” we urged hospitably.</p> +<p>The apparition withdrew from the window and +appeared a moment later in the doorway, leading a +second apparition.</p> +<p>“I brought my better half along,” said the deep, +rich voice again, as the two girls came into the +room.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_32">[32]</div> +<p>They looked so much alike that we knew at a +glance they were sisters. The one who had looked +in at the window did the introducing.</p> +<p>“We’re the Wing twins,” she said, as if she took +it for granted that we had heard about them already. +“<i>She’s</i> Oh-Pshaw and I’m Agony.”</p> +<p>“Oh-Pshaw and Agony?” we repeated wonderingly, +whereupon the twins burst out laughing.</p> +<p>“Oh, those are not our real names,” said Agony, +“but we’ve been called that so long that it seems as +if they were. Her name’s Alta and mine’s Agnes. +I’ve been nicknamed Agony ever since I can remember, +and Alta got the habit of saying ‘Oh-Pshaw!’ +at everything until the girls at the boarding +school where we went always called her that +and the name stuck. You pronounce it this way, +‘<i>Oh</i>-Pshaw,’ with the accent on the ‘Oh.’”</p> +<p>We were friends all in a minute. How in the +world could you be stiff and formal with two girls +whose names were Agony and <i>Oh</i>-Pshaw?</p> +<p>“We heard you singing ‘Wohelo for Aye,’” +Agony explained, “and it made us so homesick we almost +went up in smoke. We belonged to the corkingest +group back home. It nearly killed us off to +go away and leave them.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_33">[33]</div> +<p>Here <i>Oh</i>-Pshaw broke in and took up the tale. +“When we heard that song coming from next door +Agony squealed, ‘Camp Fire Girls!’ and began to +dance a jig. She wouldn’t wait until I got my hair +done so we could come over and call; she just +stretched her neck until it reached into your window. +Oh, I’m so glad you’re next door to us I +could just pass away!” And <i>Oh</i>-Pshaw caught +Agony around the neck and they both lost their balance +on the foot of the bed and rolled over on the +pillows.</p> +<p>“I’m sorry you have such dandy nicknames,” +said Migwan. “If you didn’t have them we could +call you First Apparition and Second Apparition, +like Macbeth, you know. But the ones you have are +far superior to anything we could think up now.”</p> +<p>Then we told them about the Winnebagos and +about you and Sahwah and the rest of them, and +how we had formed THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS +and meant to have meetings right along. +Of course, we asked them to come and “Remember” +their lost group with us, and they were perfectly +wild about it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_34">[34]</div> +<p>“Let’s have our first meeting right now,” proposed +Agony, “and go on a long hike. It’s a scrumptious +day.”</p> +<p>We flew to get our hats and Hinpoha was in such +a hurry that she knocked over the Japanese screen +that stands gracefully across one corner of our room +and that brought to light the pile of things that we +just naturally couldn’t fit into the room anywhere +and had chucked behind the screen until we decided +how to get rid of them. There was Hinpoha’s desk +lamp, the one with the light green shade with +bunches of purple grapes on it—a perfect beauty, +only there was no room for it after we’d decided to +use mine with the two lamps in it; and an extra rug +and a book rack and a Rookwood bowl and quantities +of pictures. You see, we’d both brought along +enough stuff to furnish a room twice the size of +ours.</p> +<p>“Whatever will we do with those things?” sighed +Hinpoha in despair.</p> +<p>“Can’t you give them to somebody?” suggested +Migwan. “That lamp and that vase are perfect +beauties. I’d covet them myself if I didn’t have +more now than I know what to do with.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_35">[35]</div> +<p>“The very thing!” said Hinpoha. “Here we +promised not a half hour ago to ‘Give Service’ all +the time, and yet we didn’t think of sharing +our possessions. To whom shall we give +them?”</p> +<p>“To Sally Prindle,” said Agony and Oh-Pshaw +in one breath.</p> +<p>“Who’s Sally Prindle?” asked Hinpoha and I, +also in chorus.</p> +<p>“She lives down at the other end of the hall in +Purgatory,” said Agony, “in that tiny little box of +a room at the head of the stairs. She’s working her +way through college and waits on table for her +board and does some of the upstairs work for her +room, and she’s awfully poor. She hasn’t a thing +in her room but the bare furniture—not a rug or a +picture. She’d probably be crazy to get them.”</p> +<p>“Let’s give them to her right away,” said Hinpoha, +beginning to gather things up in her arms. +Hinpoha is just like a whirlwind when she gets enthusiastic +about anything.</p> +<p>“But how shall we give them to her?” I asked. +“We don’t know her, and she might feel offended if +she thought we had noticed how bare her room was +and pitied her. How shall we manage it, Migwan?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_36">[36]</div> +<p>“Don’t act as if you pitied her at all,” replied +Migwan. “Simply knock at her door and tell her +you’ve got your room all furnished and there are +some things left over and you’re going up and down +the corridor trying to find out if anybody has room +to take care of them for you until the end of the +year. Of course she has room to take them, so it +will be very simple.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Migwan, what would we do without you?” +cried Hinpoha, and nearly dropped the Rookwood +bowl trying to hug her with her arms full. “You +always know the right thing to do and say.”</p> +<p>Agony and Oh-Pshaw stopped into their room on +the way up and came out with a leather pillow and +an ivory clock to add to the collection. Their room +wasn’t too full, but they wanted to do something +for Sally, too. We had to knock on Sally’s door +twice before she opened it and we were beginning to +be afraid she wasn’t at home. When she did come +to the door she didn’t ask us in; but just stood looking +at us and our armful of things as if to ask what +we wanted. She was a tall, stoop-shouldered girl +with spectacles and a wrinkle running up and down +on her forehead between her eyes. The room was +just as bare as Agony had described; it looked like +a cell.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_37">[37]</div> +<p>“We’re making a tour of Purgatory trying to dispose +of our surplus furniture,” I said, trying to be +offhand, “Have you any room to spare?”</p> +<p>“No, I haven’t,” answered Sally with a snap. +“You’re the third bunch to-day that’s tried to decorate +my room for me. When I want any donations +I’ll ask for them.” And she shut the door right in +our faces.</p> +<p>We backed away in such a hurry that Agony +dropped the clock and it went rolling and bumping +down the stairway.</p> +<p>“Of all things!” said Agony. “I wish poor people +wouldn’t be so disagreeable about it. I’m sure +I’d be tickled to death to use anybody’s surplus to +make up what I lacked. Well, we’ve tried to ‘Give +Service’ anyway, and if it didn’t work it wasn’t our +fault. I think there ought to be a law about ‘Taking +Service’ as well as Giving. Now let’s hurry up +and go for our hike before the sun goes down.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_38">[38]</div> +<p>We went out and had the most glorious tramp +over the hills and found a tiny little village that +looks the same as it must have a hundred years ago, +and then we came back and had hot chocolate in a +darling little shop that was just jammed with students. +Agony and Oh-Pshaw know just quantities +of girls, and introduced us to dozens, and we went +back to Purgatory too happy to think.</p> +<p>“I told you so,” said Migwan, as she came into +the room with us for a minute to get a book.</p> +<p>“What did you tell us?” asked Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“I meant about us three trying to have meetings +just by ourselves and trying to do exactly what we +did when we were Winnebagos. It won’t work. +You’ll keep on making new friends all the time that +you’ll love just as much as the old ones. Don’t forget +the old Winnebagos, but don’t mourn because the +old days have come to an end. There’s more fun +coming to you than you’ve ever had before in your +lives, so be on the lookout for it every minute. +‘Remember!’”</p> +<p>Oh, Katherine, we just love college, and the only +fly in the ointment is that you aren’t here!</p> +<p><span class="center">Your loving</span> +<br /><span class="author">Gladys.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_39">[39]</div> +<p>P. S. Medmangi writes that she has passed her +exams and entered the Medical School. Sahwah is +going to Business College and having the time of her +life with shorthand. P.P.S. Hinpoha is dying of +curiosity to hear more about the sick man. Please +answer by return mail.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_40">[40]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Nov. 1, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Winnies:</span></p> +<p>Well, Justice Sherman may be a sheep herder and +a son of the pasture, but I hae me doots. I know +a hawk from a handsaw if I was born and bred in +the backwoods. I know it isn’t polite to doubt people’s +word, and he seemed to be telling an absolutely +straight story when he told how he beat his way +across from Texas, but for all that there’s some +mystery about him. His manners betrayed him the +first time he ever sat down to the table with us. +Even though he limped badly and was still awfully +wobbly, he stood behind my mother’s chair and +shoved it in for her and then hobbled over and did +the same for me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_41">[41]</div> +<p>You can see it, can’t you? The table set in the +kitchen—for our humble cot does not boast of a +dining room—father and Jim Wiggin collarless and +in their shirtsleeves, and the stranded sheep herder +waiting upon mother and me as if we were queens. +For no reason at all I suddenly became abashed. I +felt my face flaming to the roots of my hair, and +absentmindedly began to eat my soup with a fork, +whereat Jim Wiggin set up a great thundering haw! +haw! Jim had been a sheep herder before he came +to take care of father’s horses, and it struck me +forcibly just then that there was a wide difference +between him and the stranger within our gates.</p> +<p>I said something to father about it that night +when we were out in the stable together giving Sandhelo +his nightly dole. Father rubbed his nose with +the back of his hand, a sign that a thing is of no +concern to him.</p> +<p>“Don’t you get to worryin’ about the stranger’s +affairs,” he advised mildly. “If he’s got something +he doesn’t want to tell, you ain’t got no business +tryin’ to find it out. Tend to your own affairs, I +say, and leave others’ alone. There ain’t nobody +goin’ to be pestered with embarrassing questions +while they’re under my roof.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_42">[42]</div> +<p>So I promised not to ask any questions. Just +about the time the stranger’s foot was well enough +to walk on, Jim Wiggin stepped on a rusty nail and +laid himself up. Justice Sherman was a godsend +just then because men were so hard to get, and +father hired him to help with the horses until Jim +was about again. Father begged me again at this +time not to ask him anything about his past.</p> +<p>“Just as soon as he thinks we’re gettin’ curious +he’ll up and leave,” he said, “and that would put us +in a bad way. Help is so scarce now I don’t know +where I <i>would</i> get an extra man. Seems almost as +though the hand of Providence had sent him to us.”</p> +<p>It was perfectly true. Since so many men had +gone into the army it was next thing to impossible +to get any help on the farms except good-for-nothing +negroes that weren’t worth their salt. It +seemed, indeed, an act of Providence to cast an +able man at our door just at this juncture. So I +promised again not to bother the man with questions.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_43">[43]</div> +<p>Indeed, it bade fair to be an easy matter not to +ask him any questions. Beyond a few polite words +at meals he never said anything at all, and as he +had moved his sleeping quarters to a small cabin +away from the house I saw very little of him, and +I suppose we never would have gotten any better +acquainted if your letter hadn’t come that Friday. +Friday is the worst day of the week for me, because +after five days of constant set-to-ing with Absalom +Butts my philosophy is at its lowest ebb. This +week was the worst because I had a visitation from +the school board to see how I was getting on, and, +of course, none of the pupils knew a thing and most +of them acted as if the very devil of mischief had +gotten into them. Elijah Butts gave me a solemn +warning that I would have to keep better order if +I wanted to stay in the school, and Absalom, who +had been hanging around listening, made an impudent +grimace at me and laughed in a taunting +manner. If I hadn’t needed the money so badly I +would have thrown up the job right there.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_44">[44]</div> +<p>Then, on top of that, came your letter describing +the supergorgeousness of your college rooms, +and when I thought of the room I had planned to +have at college this winter, adjoining yours, my +heart turned to water within me and melancholy +marked me for its own. I wept large and pearly +tears which Niagara-ed over the end of my nose and +sizzled on the hot stove, as I stood in the kitchen +stirring a pudding for supper. Get the effect, do +you? Me standing there with the spoon in one +hand and your letter in the other, doing the Niobe +act, quite oblivious to the fact that I was not the +only person in the county. I was just in the act of +swallowing a small rapid which had gotten side-tracked +from the main channel and gone whirlpooling +down my Sunday throat, when a voice behind +me said, “Did you get bad news in your letter?”</p> +<p>I jumped so I dropped the letter right into the +pudding. I made a savage dab at my eyes with the +corner of my apron and wheeled around furiously. +There stood the Justice Sherman person looking +at me with his solemn black eyes. I was ready to +die with shame at being caught.</p> +<p>“No, I didn’t,” I exploded, mopping my face vehemently +with my apron, and thereby capping the +climax. For while I had been reading your letter +and absently stirring the pudding it had slopped +over and run down the front of my apron, and, of +course, I had to use just that part to wipe my face +with. The pudding was huckleberry, and what it +did to my features is beyond description. I caught +one glimpse of myself in the mirror over the sink +and then I sank down into a chair and just yelled. +Justice Sherman doubled up against the door frame +in a regular spasm of mirth, although he tried not +to make much noise about it. Finally he bolted out +of the door and came back with a basin of water +from the pump, which he set down beside me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_45">[45]</div> +<p>“Here,” he said, “remove the marks of bloody +carnage, before you scare the wolf from the door.”</p> +<p>So I scrubbed, wishing all the while that he would +go away, and still furious for having made such a +spectacle of myself. But he stayed around, and +when I resembled a human being once more (if I +ever could be said to resemble one), he came over +and handed me the letter, which he had fished out +of the pudding.</p> +<p>“Here’s the fatal missive,” he said, “or would +you rather leave it in the pudding?”</p> +<p>“Throw it into the fire,” I commanded.</p> +<p>“That’s the right way,” he said approvingly. “I +always burn bad news myself.”</p> +<p>“It wasn’t bad news,” I insisted.</p> +<p>“Then why the tears?” he inquired curiously. +“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean——”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_46">[46]</div> +<p>He was smiling, but somehow I had a feeling that +he was trying to cheer me up and not making fun +of me. I was so low in my mind that afternoon that +anyone who acted in the least degree sympathetic +was destined to fall a victim. Before I knew it I +had told him of my shipwrecked hopes and how your +letter had opened the flood gates of disappointment +and nearly put out the kitchen fire.</p> +<p>“College—you!” I heard him exclaim under his +breath. He stared at me solemnly for a moment and +then he exclaimed, “O tempora, O mores! What’s +to hinder?”</p> +<p>“What’s to hinder?” I repeated blankly.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, “having the room anyway.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” I asked.</p> +<p>“Why,” he explained, “you have a room of your +own, haven’t you? Why don’t you fix it up just the +way you had planned to have your room in college? +Then you can go there and study and make believe +you’re in college.”</p> +<p>I stared at him open-mouthed. “Make-believe +has never been my long suit,” I said.</p> +<p>“Come on,” he urged. “I’ll help you fix it up. +If you have any more tears prepare to shed them +now into the paint pot and dissolve the paint.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_47">[47]</div> +<p>Before I knew what had happened we had laid +forcible hands on the bare little cell I had indifferently +been inhabiting all these years and transformed +it into the study of my dreams. We cut a window +in the side that faces in the direction of the mountains +and made a corking window seat out of a +packing case, on which I piled cushions stuffed with +thistle down. We papered the whole place with +light yellow paper, tacked up my last year’s school +pennants and put up a book shelf. This last proved +to be a delusion and a snare, because one end of it +came down in the middle of the night not long afterward +and all the books came tobogganing on top of +me in bed. As a finishing touch, I brought out the +snowshoes and painted paddle that were a relic of +my Golden Age, and which I had never had the heart +to unpack since I came home. When finished the +effect was quite epic, though I suppose it would +make Hinpoha’s artistic eye water.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_48">[48]</div> +<p>Of course, it will never make up for not going +to college, but it helped some, and in working at it +I got very well acquainted with Justice Sherman +all of a sudden. We had long talks about everything +under the sun, and he continually bubbled over +with funny sayings. He confided to me that he had +never been so surprised in all his life as when I told +him I wanted to go to college. You see, he had +thought we were like the other poor whites in the +neighborhood, and I was like the other girls he had +seen. He didn’t take any interest in me until I +bowled him over with the statement that I had already +passed my college entrance exams.</p> +<p>All this time I never hinted that I suspected he +was not the simple sheep herder he pretended to be. +I had given father my word and, of course, had to +keep it. But one afternoon the Fates had their fingers +crossed, and Pandora like, I got my foot in it. +I had driven Justice over to Spencer in the rattledy +old cart with Sandhelo. On the way we talked of +many things, and I came home surer than ever that +he was no sheep herder. Once when the conversation +lagged and in the silence Sandhelo’s heels +seemed to be beating out a tune as they clicked along, +I remarked ruminatingly, “There’s a line in Virgil +that is supposed to imitate the sound of galloping +horses.”</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“<i>Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit angula campam,</i>”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>quoted Justice promptly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_49">[49]</div> +<p>So he was on quoting terms with Virgil! But I +remembered my promise and made no remarks.</p> +<p>A little later I was telling about the winter hike +we had taken on snowshoes last year.</p> +<p>“You ought to see the sport they have on snowshoes +in Switzerland,” he began with kindling eyes. +Then he broke off suddenly and changed the subject.</p> +<p>So Texas sheep herders learn their trade in Switzerland! +But again I yanked on the curb rein of my +curiosity. I apparently took no notice of his remark, +for <a href="#front">just then a negro stepped suddenly from +behind the bushes along the road and startled Sandhelo +so that he promptly became temperamental and +sat up on his haunches to get a better look at the +apparition</a>, and the mess he made of the harness +furnished us plenty of theme for conversation for +the next ten minutes.</p> +<p>“Lord, what an ape,” remarked Justice, gazing +after the departing form of the negro shambling +along the road, “he looks like the things you see in +nightmares.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_50">[50]</div> +<p>Accustomed as I was to seeing low-down niggers, +this one struck me as being the worst specimen nature +had ever produced. He had the features of a +baboon, and the flapping rags of the grotesque garments +he wore made him look like a wild creature.</p> +<p>“Do you have many such intellectual-looking gentlemen +around here?” asked Justice, twisting his +neck around for a final look at the fellow. “I’d +hate to meet that professor at the dark of the +moon.”</p> +<p>“Oh, they’re really not as bad as they look,” I replied. +“They look like apes, but they’re quite +harmless. They’re shiftless to the last degree, but +not violent. They’re too lazy to do any mischief.”</p> +<p>“Just the same, I’d rather not get into an argument +with that particular brother, if it’s all the same +to you,” answered Justice. “He looks like mischief +to me.”</p> +<p>“He <i>doesn’t</i> look like a prize entry in a beauty +contest,” I admitted.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_51">[51]</div> +<p>With all that talk about the negro Justice’s remark +about Switzerland went unheeded, but I didn’t +forget it just the same. I thought about it all the +rest of the afternoon and it was as plain as the nose +on your face that there was some mystery about +Justice Sherman. A sheep herder who spouted Virgil +at a touch, quoted continually from the classics, +had refined manners and had traveled abroad, +couldn’t hide his light under a bushel very well. Another +thing; he wasn’t a Texan as he had led us to +believe. He talked with the crisp, clear accent of the +North, and the fuss he made about the negro in the +road that afternoon betrayed the fact that he was +no southerner. Nobody around here pays any attention +to niggers, no matter how tattered they are. +We’re used to them, but northerners always make a +fuss.</p> +<p>The question bubbled up and down in my mind, +keeping time to the bubbling of the soup on the +stove; why was this educated and refined young man +working for thirty dollars a month as a handy man +around horses on a third-rate stock farm in this +God-forsaken part of the country? Then a suspicion +flashed into my mind and at the dreadful +thought I stopped stirring with the upraised spoon +frozen in mid-air. Then I gathered my wits together +and started resolutely for the table. I had +promised father I would never ask Justice Sherman +anything about his past, but here was something that +swept aside all personal obligations and promises. +I found him with father in the stable working over +a sick colt. I marched straight up to him and began +without any preamble.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_52">[52]</div> +<p>“See here, Justice Sherman,” I said, “are you +hiding yourself to avoid military service? Are you +a slacker?”</p> +<p>Justice Sherman straightened up and looked at +me with flashing eyes. “No, I’m not!” he shouted +in a voice quite unlike his.</p> +<p>I never saw anyone in such a rage. His face was +as red as a beet and his hair actually stood on end. +“I registered for the service,” he went on hotly, “and +wasn’t called in the draft. I tried to enlist and they +wouldn’t take me. I was under weight and had a +weak throat. If anyone thinks I’m a slacker, +I’ll——” Here he choked and had a violent coughing +spell.</p> +<p>I stared at him, dazed. I never thought he could +get so angry. He looked at me with hostile, indignant +eyes. Then he straightened up stiffly and +walked out of the stable.</p> +<p>“I won’t stay here any longer,” he exploded, still +at the boiling point. “I won’t be insulted.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_53">[53]</div> +<p>“I apologize,” I said humbly. “I spoke in haste. +Won’t you please consider it unsaid?”</p> +<p>No, he wouldn’t consider it unsaid. He wouldn’t +listen to father’s pathetic plea not to leave him without +a helper. We suspected him of being a slacker +and that finished it. He would leave immediately. +Down the road he marched as fast as he could go +without ever turning his head.</p> +<p>A worm in the dust was much too exalted to describe +the way I felt. With the best of intentions I +had precipitated a calamity, taking away father’s +best helper at a critical time, to say nothing of my +losing him as a companion. I was too disgusted with +myself to live and chopped wood to relieve my +feelings. After supper I hitched up Sandhelo and +drove to Spencer to post a letter. I am not in the +least sentimental—you know that—but all along +the road I kept seeing things that reminded me of +Justice Sherman and the fun we had had together. +Now that he was gone the days ahead of me seemed +suddenly very empty, and desolation laid a firm hand +on my ankle.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_54">[54]</div> +<p>Also, I had an uncomfortable recollection that it +was right along here we had met the horrid negro, +and I became filled with fear that I would meet him +again. The fear grew, and turned into absolute +panic when I approached that same clump of bushes +and in the dusk saw a figure rise from behind them +and lurch toward the road. I pulled Sandhelo up +sharply, thinking to turn around and flee in the opposite +direction, but Sandhelo refused to be turned. +When I pulled him up he sat back and mixed up the +harness so he got the bit into his teeth, and then he +jumped up and went straight on forward, with a +squeal of mischief. When we were opposite the +figure in the road Sandhelo stopped short and poked +his nose forward just the way he used to do when +Justice Sherman came into his stall.</p> +<p>“Hello,” said a voice in the darkness, and then +I saw that the figure in the road was Justice Sherman. +His bad ankle had given out on him and he +had been sitting there on the ground waiting for +some vehicle to come along and give him a lift to +Spencer.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_55">[55]</div> +<p>“Get in,” I said briefly, helping him up, and he +got in beside me without a word. We drove to +Spencer in silence and he made no move to get out +when we got there. I mailed my letter and then +turned and drove homeward. About half way home +he spoke up and apologized for being so hasty, and +wondered if father would take him back again. I +reassured him heartily and we were on the old footing +of intimacy by the time we reached home.</p> +<p>We found father standing in front of the house +talking to a negro whom we recognized as the one +we had met in the road that afternoon. Father +greeted Justice Sherman with joy and relief.</p> +<p>“You pretty nearly came back too late,” he said. +“Here I was just hiring a man to take your place.” +Then he turned to the negro and said, “It’s all off, +Solomon. I don’t need you. My own man has come +back. You go along and get a job somewhere else.”</p> +<p>The negro shuffled off and I fancied that he looked +rather resentful at being sent away.</p> +<p>“Father,” I said, when the creature was out of +earshot, “you surely weren’t going to hire that ape +to work here?”</p> +<p>“Why not?” answered father. “I have to have +a man to help with the horses, and this fellow came +up to the door and asked for work, so I promised +him a job.”</p> +<p>“But he’s such a terrible looking thing,” I said.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_56">[56]</div> +<p>Father only laughed and dismissed the subject +with a wave of his hands. “I wasn’t hiring him for +his looks,” he answered. “He said he could handle +horses and that was enough for me.”</p> +<p>So Justice Sherman came back to us and the subject +of military service was never broached again.</p> +<p>About a week after his return, and when Jim +Wiggin was able to be about again, Justice Sherman +walked into the kitchen with a mincing air +quite unlike his ordinary free stride. He had been +to Spencer for the mail.</p> +<p>“Tread softly when you see me,” he advised. +“I’m a perfessor, I am.”</p> +<p>I looked up inquiringly from the potato I was +paring.</p> +<p>“Behold in me,” he went on, “the entire faculty +of the Spencer High School. I am instructor in +Latin, Greek, mathematics, science, history, English +and dramatics; also civics and economics.”</p> +<p>“You don’t mean really?” I asked.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_57">[57]</div> +<p>“Really and truly, for sartain sure,” he repeated. +“The last faculty got drafted and left the school +in a bad way. I heard about it down at the post-office +this afternoon and went over and applied for +the job. The hardened warriors that compose the +school board fell for me to a man. I recited one +line of Latin and they applauded to the echo; I recited +a line of gibberish and told them it was Greek, +and they wept with delight at the purity of my accent. +Then they cautiously inquired if I was qualified +to teach any other branches and I told them +that I also included in my repertoire cooking, dressmaking +and millinery. This last remark was intended +to be facetious, but those solemn old birds +took it seriously and forthwith broke into loud hosannas. +I was somewhat mystified at the outbreak +until I gathered from bits of conversation that the +extravagant township of Spencer had intended to +hire two high school teachers this year, as the last +incumbent’s accomplishments had been rather brief +and fleeting, but what was the use, as one pious old +hairpin by the name of Butts delicately put it, what +was the use of paying two teachers when one feller +could do the hull thing himself? Then he shook me +feelingly by the hand and said he knowed I was a +bargain the minute he laid eyes on me. O Tempora, +O Mores! Papers were brought and shoved into +my yielding hands, the writ duly executed, and I +passed out of the door a fully fledged ‘perfessor’ +with a six-months’ contract. Smile on me, please, +I’m a bargain!” And he danced a hornpipe in the +middle of the floor until the dishes rattled in the +cupboard.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_58">[58]</div> +<p>I stared at him speechless. He teach high school? +And the things he mentioned as being able to teach! +History, French, mathematics, physics, literature, +philosophy, Latin, Greek! Quite a well-rounded +sheep herder, this! The mystery about him deepened. +It was clear now that he was a college graduate. +Again I revised my estimate as to his age, +and decided he must be about twenty-three or four. +Why would he be willing to teach a farce of a high +school like the one in Spencer?</p> +<p>Then in the midst of my puzzling it came over me +that I did not want him to leave us, and that I would +miss him terribly. Of course, he would go to live +in Spencer.</p> +<p>“Are you going to board with any of the school +board?” I asked jealously, that being what the last +“faculty” had done.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_59">[59]</div> +<p>“Board with the Board?” he repeated. “Neat expression, +that. Not that I know of. I haven’t been +requested to vacate my present quarters yet, or do +I understand that you are even now serving notice?”</p> +<p>A thrill of joy shot through me. Maybe he would +still live in the little cabin on our farm.</p> +<p>“I thought of course you would rather live near +the school,” I said. “It’s six miles from here. Why +don’t you?”</p> +<p>“‘I would dwell with thee, merry grasshopper,’” +he quoted. “That is, if I am kindly permitted to do +so.”</p> +<p>And so we settled it. He is to ride with Sandhelo +in the cart every day as far as my school, then +drive on to Spencer, and stop for me on the way +home. What fun it is going to be!</p> +<p><span class="center">Yours, <i>summa cum felicitate</i>,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<p>P. S. Sandhelo sends three large and loving hee-haws.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_60">[60]</div> +<h3>SAHWAH TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">Nov. 10, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Darling K:</span></p> +<p>This big old town is like the Deserted Village +since you and the other Winnies went away. For +the first few weeks it was simply ghastly; there +wasn’t a tree or a telephone pole that didn’t remind +me of the good times we used to have. Do you +realize that I am the sole survivor of our once large +and lusty crew? Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys +are at Brownell; Veronica is in New York; Nakwisi +has gone to California with her aunt; Medmangi +is in town, but she is locked up in a nasty +old hospital learning to be a doctor in double quick +time so she can go abroad with the Red Cross. +Nothing is nice the way it used to be. I like to go +to Business College, of course, and there are lots of +pleasant girls there, but they aren’t my Winnies. +I get invited to things, and I go and enjoy myself +after a fashion, but the tang is gone. It’s like ice +cream with the cream left out.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_61">[61]</div> +<p>I went to the House of the Open Door one Saturday +afternoon and poked around a bit, but I didn’t +stay very long; the loneliness seemed to grab hold +of me with a bony hand. Everything was just the +way we had left it the night of our last Ceremonial +Meeting—do you realize that we never went out +after that? There was the candle grease on the +floor where Hinpoha’s emotion had overcome her +and made her hand wobble so she spilled the melted +wax all out of her candlestick. There were the +scattered bones of our Indian pottery dish that you +knocked off the shelf making the gestures to your +“Wotes for Wimmen” speech. There was the Indian +bed all sagged down on one side where we had +all sat on Nyoda at once.</p> +<p>It all brought back last year so plainly that it +seemed as if you must everyone come bouncing out +of the corners presently. But you didn’t come, and +by and by I went down the ladder to the Sandwiches’ +Lodge. That was just as bad as our nook upstairs. +The gym apparatus was there, just as it used to be, +with the mat on the floor where they used to roll +Slim, and beside it the wreck of a chair that Slim had +sat down on too suddenly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_62">[62]</div> +<p>Poor Slim! He tried to enlist in every branch +of the service, but, of course, they wouldn’t take +him; he was too fat. He starved himself and drank +vinegar and water for a week and then went the +rounds again, hoping he had lost enough to make +him eligible, and was horribly cut up when he found +he had gained instead. He was quite inconsolable +for a while and went off to college with the firm +determination to trim himself down somehow. Captain +has gone to Yale, so he can be a Yale graduate +like his father and go along with him to the class +reunions. Munson McKee has enlisted in the navy +and the Bottomless Pitt in the Ambulance Corps. +The rest of the Sandwiches have gone away to +school, too.</p> +<p>The boards creaked mournfully under my feet +as I moved around, and it seemed to me that the old +building was just as lonesome for you as I +was.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_63">[63]</div> +<p>“You ought to be proud,” I said aloud to the +walls, “that you ever sheltered the Sandwich Club, +because now you are going to be honored above all +other barns,” and I hung in the window the Service +Flag with the two stars that I had brought with me. +It looked very splendid; but it suddenly made the +place seem strange and unfamiliar. Here was something +that did not belong to the old days. It is so +hard to realize that the boys who used to wrestle +around here have gone to war.</p> +<p>I went out and closed the door, but outside I +lingered a minute to look sadly up at the little window +in the end where the candle always used to burn +on Ceremonial nights.</p> +<p>“Good-bye, House of the Open Door,” I said, +“we’ve had lots of good times in you and nobody +can ever take them away from us. We’ve got to +stop playing now for awhile and Glorify Work. +We’re going to do our bit, and you must do yours, +too, by standing up proudly through all winds and +weather and showing your service flag. Some day +we’ll all come back to you, or else the Winnebago +spirit will come back in somebody else, and you must +be ready.”</p> +<p>I said good-bye to the House of the Open Door +with the hand sign of fire and a military salute, and +went away feeling a heavy sense of responsibility, +because in all this big lonely city I was the only one +left to uphold the honor of the Winnebagos.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_64">[64]</div> +<p>And hoop-la! I did it, too, all by myself. The +week after I had paid the visit to the House of the +Open Door someone called me on the telephone and +wanted to know if this was Miss Sarah Brewster +who belonged to the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, +and when I said yes it was the voice informed me +that she was Mrs. Lewis, the new Chief Guardian +for the city, and President of the Guardians’ Association. +She went on to say that she wanted to plan +a patriotic parade for all the Camp Fire Girls in the +city to take part in, and as part of the ceremony to +present a large flag to the city. She knew what she +wanted all right, but she wasn’t sure that she could +carry it out, and as she had seen the Winnebagos +the time they took part in the Fourth of July pageant, +she wanted to know if we would take hold and +help her manage the thing. I started to tell her that +the Winnebagos weren’t here and couldn’t help her; +then I reflected that I, at least, was left and it was +up to me to do what you all would have done if you +had been here. So I said yes, I’d be glad to take +hold and help make the parade a success.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_65">[65]</div> +<p>And, believe me, it was! Can you guess how +many girls marched? <i>Twenty-three hundred!</i> +Glory! I didn’t know there were so many girls in +the whole world! The line stretched back until you +couldn’t see the end, and still they kept on coming. +And who do you suppose led the parade? Why, <i>I</i> +did, of all people! And on a <i>horse</i>! Carrying the +Stars and Stripes on a long staff that fitted into a +contrivance on the saddle to hold it firm. Right in +front of me marched the Second Regiment Band, +and my horse pawed the ground in time to the music +until I nearly burst with excitement. After me came +the twenty girls, all Torch Bearers, who carried the +big flag we were going to present to the city, and +behind them came the floats and figures of the pageant.</p> +<p>I must tell you about some of these, and a few of +them you’ll recognize, because they are our old +stunts trimmed up to suit the occasion.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_66">[66]</div> +<p>GIVE SERVICE was the most impressive, because +it is the most important just now. It was in +twelve parts, showing all the different ways in which +Camp Fire Girls could serve the nation in the great +crisis. There was the Red Cross Float, showing the +girls making surgical dressings and knitting socks +and sweaters. Another showed them making clothes +for themselves and for other members of the family +to cut down the hiring of extra help; and similar +floats carried out the same idea in regard to cooking, +washing and ironing. Yes ma’am! Washing and +ironing! You don’t need to turn up your nose. One +float was equipped with a complete modern household +laundry and the girls on it had their sleeves +rolled up to their elbows and were doing up fine +waists and dresses in great shape, besides operating +electric washing machines and mangles.</p> +<p>One float was just packed full of good things +which the girls had cooked without sugar, eggs or +white flour, and with fruits and vegetables which +they had canned and preserved themselves, while +the fertile garden in which said fruits and vegetables +had grown came trundling on behind, the girls +armed with spades, hoes and rakes. I consumed +two sleepless nights and several strenuous afternoons +accomplishing that garden on wheels and I +want you to know it was a work of art. The plants +were all artificial, but they looked most lifelike, indeed.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_67">[67]</div> +<p>Besides those things we had groups of girls taking +care of children so their mothers could go out and +work; and teaching foreign girls how to take care +of their own small brothers and sisters, so they’ll +grow up strong and healthy.</p> +<p>There really seemed to be no end to our usefulness.</p> +<p>Behind the wheeled portion of the parade came +hundreds of girls on foot, carrying pennants that +stretched clear across the street, with clever slogans +on them like this:</p> +<p class="center">DON’T FORGET US, UNCLE SAMMY, +<br />WE’RE ALWAYS ON THE JOB +<br /><span class="gs">* * * * * *</span> +<br />YOU’RE HERE BECAUSE WE’RE HERE +<br /><span class="gs">* * * * * *</span> +<br />AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! +<br /><span class="gs">* * * * * *</span> +<br />WE ARE PROUD TO LABOR FOR OUR COUNTRY</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_68">[68]</div> +<p>And the people! Oh, my stars! They lined the +streets for thirty blocks, packed in solid from the +store fronts to the curb. And the way they cheered! +It made shivers of ecstasy chase up and down my +spine, while the tears came to my eyes and a big +lump formed in my throat. If you’ve never heard +thousands of people cheering at you, you can’t imagine +how it feels.</p> +<p>One time when the procession halted at a cross +street I saw a fat old man, who I’m sure was a dignified +banker, balancing himself on a fireplug so +he could see better, and waving his hat like crazy. +He finally got so enthusiastic that he fell off the +fireplug and landed on his hands and knees in the +gutter, where some Boy Scouts picked him up and +dusted him off, still feebly waving his hat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_69">[69]</div> +<p>Our line of march eventually brought us out at +Lincoln Square, where the presentation of the flag +was to take place. We stood in the shadow of the +Lincoln Memorial monument, and who do you suppose +presented the flag? Me again. In the name of +all the Camp Fire Girls of the city, I ceremoniously +presented it to the Mayor, who accepted it with a +flowery speech that beat mine all hollow. Besides +presenting the flag I was to help raise it. The pole +was there already; it had seen many flag raisings in +its long career and many flags had flapped themselves +to shreds on its top. The thing I had to do was +fasten our flag to the ropes and pull her up. In this +I was to be assisted by a soldier brother of one of +the girls who was home on furlough. He was to be +standing there at the pole waiting for us, but when +the time came he wasn’t there. Where he was I +hadn’t the slightest idea; nor did I have any time to +spend wondering. Mrs. Lewis had set her heart on +having a man in soldier’s uniform help raise the flag; +it added so much to the spirit of the occasion. Just +at this moment I saw a man in army uniform standing +in the crowd at the foot of the monument, very +close to me. Without a moment’s hesitation I beckoned +him imperatively to me. He came and I +thrust the rope into his hands, whispering directions +as to what he was to do. It all went without +a hitch and the crowd never knew that he wasn’t the +soldier we had planned to have right from the start. +We pulled evenly together and the flag slowly unfolded +over our heads and went fluttering to the +top, while the band crashed out the “Star Spangled +Banner.” It was glorious! If I had been thrilled +through before, I was shaken to my very foundations +now. I felt queer and dizzy, and felt myself +making funny little gaspy noises in my throat. +There was a great cheer from the crowd and the +ceremonies were over. The parade marched on to +the Armory, where we were to listen to an address +by Major Blanchard of the —th Engineers.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_70">[70]</div> +<p>The girls had all filed in and found seats when +Mrs. Lewis, who was to introduce Major Blanchard, +came over to me where I was standing near the +stage and said in a tragic tone, “Major Blanchard +couldn’t come; I’ve had a telegram. What on earth +are we going to do? He was going to tell stories +about camp life; the girls will be <i>so</i> disappointed +not to hear him.”</p> +<p>I rubbed my forehead, unable to think of anything +that would meet the emergency. An ordinary +speaker wouldn’t fill the bill at all, I knew, +when the girls all had their appetites whetted for a +Major.</p> +<p>“We might ask the band to give a concert, and all +of us sing patriotic songs,” I ventured finally.</p> +<p>“I don’t see anything else to do,” said Mrs. Lewis, +“but I’m <i>so</i> disappointed not to have the Major here. +The girls are all crazy to hear about the camp.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_71">[71]</div> +<p>Just then I caught sight of a uniform outside of +the open entrance way.</p> +<p>“Wait a minute,” I said, “there’s the soldier who +helped us raise the flag, standing outside the door. +Maybe he’ll come in and talk to the girls in place of +the Major.” I hurried out and buttonholed the soldier. +He declined at first, but I wouldn’t take no +for an answer. I literally pulled him in and chased +him up the aisle to the stage.</p> +<p>“But I can’t make a speech,” he said in an agonized +whisper, as we reached the steps of the stage, +trying to pull back.</p> +<p>“Don’t try to,” I answered cheerfully. “Speeches +are horrid bores, anyway. Just tell them exactly +what you do in camp; that’s what they’re crazy +to hear about.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Lewis didn’t tell the audience that the +speaker was one I had kidnapped in a moment of +desperation. She introduced him as a friend of the +Major’s, who had come to speak in his place. The +applause when she introduced him was just as hearty +as if he had been the Major himself. The fact that +he was a soldier was enough for the girls.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_72">[72]</div> +<p>And he brought down the house! He wasn’t an +educated man, but he was very witty, and had the +gift of telling things so they seemed real. He told +little intimate details of camp life from the standpoint +of the private as the Major never could have +told them. He had us alternately laughing and +crying over the little comedies and tragedies of barracks +life. He imitated the voices and gestures of +his comrades and mimicked the officers until you +could see them as plainly as if they stood on the +stage. He talked for an hour instead of the half +hour the Major was scheduled to speak and when +he stopped the air was full of clamorings for more. +Private Kittredge had made more of a hit than +Major Blanchard could have done.</p> +<p>I never saw a person look so astonished or so +pleased as he did at the ovation which followed his +speech. He stood there a moment, looking down at +the audience with a wistful smile, then he got fiery +red and almost ran off the stage.</p> +<p>“I don’t know whether to be glad or sorry the +Major’s not coming,” whispered Mrs. Lewis to me +under cover of the applause. “The Major’s a very +fine speaker, but he wouldn’t have made such a +<i>human</i> speech. You certainly have a knack of picking +out able people, Miss Brewster! You chose just +the right girls for each part in the pageant.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_73">[73]</div> +<p>I didn’t acknowledge this compliment as I should +have, because I was wondering why our soldier man +had looked that way when we applauded him. He +would have slipped out of the side door when he +came off the stage, but I stopped him and made him +wait for the rest of the program. A national fraternity +was holding a convention in town that week +and members from all the great colleges were in attendance. +As it happened, our Major is a member +of that fraternity, and, as a mark of esteem for the +Camp Fire Girls, he asked the fraternity glee club +to sing for us at the close of our patriotic demonstration.</p> +<p>The singers came frolicking in from some banquet +they had been attending, in a very frisky mood, and +sang one funny song after another until our sides +ached from laughing. I stole a glance now and then +at Private Kittredge, beside me, but he never noticed. +He was drinking in the antics of those carefree +college boys with envious, wistful eyes. At the +end of their concert the singers turned and faced the +great flag that hung down at the back of the stage +and sang an old college song that we had heard sung +before, but which had suddenly taken on a new, deep +meaning. With their very souls in their voices they +sang it:</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_74">[74]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Red is for Harvard in that grand old flag,</p> +<p class="t0">Columbia can have her white and blue;</p> +<p class="t0">And dear old Yale will never fail</p> +<p class="t0">To stand by her color true;</p> +<p class="t0">Penn and Cornell amid the shot and shell</p> +<p class="t0">Were fighting for that torn and tattered rag,</p> +<p class="t0">And our college cheer will be</p> +<p class="t0">‘My Country, ‘tis of Thee,’</p> +<p class="t0">And Old Glory will be our college flag!”</p> +</div> +<p>The effect was electrical. Everybody cheered +until they were hoarse. I looked at Private Kittredge. +His head was buried in his hands and the +tears were trickling out between his fingers. I was +too much embarrassed to say anything, and I just +sat looking at him until, all of a sudden, he sat up, +and reaching out his hand he caught hold of mine +and squeezed it until it hurt.</p> +<p>“I’m going back,” he said brokenly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_75">[75]</div> +<p>“Going back?” I repeated, bewildered. “Where?”</p> +<p>“Back to camp,” he replied. Then he began to +speak in a low, husky voice. “I want to tell you +something,” he said. “I’m not what you think I am. +I’m a deserter. That is, I would have been by tomorrow. +My leave expires to-night. I wasn’t going +back. I didn’t want to go into the army. I didn’t +want to fight for the country. I hated the United +States. It had never given me a square deal. My +father was killed in a factory when I was a baby +and my mother never got a cent out of it. She +wasn’t strong and she worked herself to death trying +to support herself and me. I grew up in an +orphan asylum where everybody was down on me +and made me do all the unpleasant jobs, and at +twelve I was adrift in the world. I sold papers in +the streets and managed to make a living, but one +night I went out with a crowd of boys and some +of the older ones knocked a man down and stole +his money and the police caught the whole bunch +and we were sent to the Reformatory. After that I +had a hard time trying to make an honest living +because people don’t like to hire anyone that’s been +in the Reformatory. I never had any fun the way +other boys did. I had to live in cheap boarding +places because I didn’t earn much and nobody that +was decent seemed to care to associate with me. I +was sick of living that way and wanted to go away +to South America where no one would know about +the Reformatory, and make a clean start. Then I +was drafted. I hated army life, too. All the other +fellows got mail and boxes from home and had a +big fuss made over them and I didn’t have a soul +to write to me or send me things. I was given a +good deal of kitchen duty to do and everybody looks +down on that. I kept getting sorer and sorer all the +time and at last I decided to desert. I got a three-days’ +leave and made up my mind that I wouldn’t go +back. I was just hanging around the street killing +time this afternoon when I saw a crowd and stopped +to see what the excitement was about. Then all of +a sudden you looked at me and motioned me to come +over and help you raise the flag. It was the first time +I had ever touched the Stars and Stripes. When the +folds fell around my shoulders before she went sailing +up, something wakened in me that I had never +felt before. I couldn’t believe it was I, standing +there raising the flag with all those people cheering. +It intoxicated me and carried me along with the +parade when it went to the armory. Then again, +like the hand of fate, you came out and pulled me in +and made me speak to the girls. I had never spoken +before anyone in my life. I had never ‘been in’ +anything. It made another man of me. All of a +sudden I found I did love my country after all. I +<i>did</i> have something to fight for. I <i>did</i> belong somewhere. +It <i>did</i> thrill me to see Old Glory fluttering +out in the wind. That was my country’s flag, <i>my</i> +flag. I was willing to die for it. I’m going back to +camp to-night,” he finished simply.</p> +<p>I gripped his hands silently, too moved to +speak.</p> +<p>All the while we were talking there the crowd +had been busy getting their things together and going +out and nobody paid any attention to us sitting +there in the shadow under the gallery. Now, however, +I was aware of somebody approaching directly, +and along came the Mayor, gracious and smiling, to +shake hands with the speaker of the afternoon.</p> +<p>“Those were rattling good stories you told,” he +said in his hearty way. “I say, won’t you be a guest +at a little dinner the frat brothers are giving this +evening, and tell them to the boys? That’s the kind +of stuff everybody’s interested in.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_78">[78]</div> +<p>And off went the man who had never had a +chance, arm in arm with the Mayor, to be guest of +honor at a dinner in the finest hotel in the city!</p> +<p>Jiminy! Do you see what the Winnebagos have +gone and done? They’ve saved a man from being +a deserter! I’ve promised to write to him and get +the rest of the girls to write and send him things, +and I’ll bet that he’ll be loyal to the flag to the last +gasp.</p> +<p>Now aren’t you glad you’re a Winnebago?</p> +<p><span class="center">Your loving old pal,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Sahwah.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_79">[79]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Nov. 15, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Winnebagos:</span></p> +<p>You don’t happen to know of anyone that would +like to employ a good country schoolma’am for the +rest of the term, do you? I’m fired; that is, I’ll +wager all my earthly possessions that I will be at the +next session of the Board. The prophet hath spoken +truly; and you can’t make a silk-purse-carrying +schoolmarm out of Katherine Adams.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_80">[80]</div> +<p>This morning I woke up with a glouch, which is +a combination of a gloom and a grouch, and worse +than either. It didn’t improve it to have to go to +school on such a crisp, cool, ten-mile-walk day and +listen to Clarissa Butts stammer out a paragraph in +the reader about vegetation around extinct volcanoes, +and all the while trying to keep my eye on the +rest of the pupils, who were not listening, but throwing +spitballs at each other. The worst of it was +I didn’t blame them a bit for not listening. Why +on earth can’t they put something interesting into +school readers? Even I, with my insatiable thirst +for information, gagged on vegetation around extinct +volcanoes. Clarissa’s paragraph drew to a +halting close and finally stopped with a rising inflection, +regardless of my oft-repeated instructions how +to behave in the presence of a period, and I had to +go through the daily process of correction, which +ended as usual with Clarissa in tears and me wondering +why I was born.</p> +<p>The next little girl took up the tale in a droning +sing-song that was almost as bad as Clarissa’s halting +delivery, and fed the Glouch until he was twice +his original size. The climax came when Absalom +Butts, by some feat of legerdemain, pulled the bottom +out of his desk and his books suddenly fell to +the floor with a crash that shattered the nerves of +the entire class. Absalom and some of the other +boys snickered out loud; the girls looked at me with +anxious expectancy.</p> +<p>I sat up very straight. “Class attention!” I commanded, +rapping with my ruler. “Close books and +put them away,” I ordered next.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_81">[81]</div> +<p>Books and papers made a fluttering disappearance, +through which the long-drawn sniffs of Clarissa +Butts were plainly audible.</p> +<p>“Get your hats and form in line for dismissal,” +was the next order that fell on their startled ears.</p> +<p>“She’s going to send us home,” came to my hearing +in a sibilant whisper. Clarissa’s sniffs became +gurgling sobs as she took her place in the apprehensive +line.</p> +<p>“Forward march, and halt outside the door!” I +drove them out like sheep before me and then I +came out and banged the door shut with a vicious +slam. Passing between the two files I divided the +ranks into sheep and goats, left and right.</p> +<p>“Class attention!” I called again. “Do you all +see that dark spot over there?” said I, pointing to the +dim line of trees that marked the beginning of +the woods, some seven miles distant.</p> +<p>“Yes, Miss Adams,” came the wondering +reply.</p> +<p>“Well,” I continued, “the left half of the line will +take the road around Spencer way, and the right +half will take the road around the other way, and +the half that gets there last will have to give a show +to amuse the winners. We’re going to have a hike, +and a picnic. You all have your lunch baskets, +haven’t you?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_82">[82]</div> +<p>For a minute they stood dazed, looking at me as +if they thought I had lost my senses. Clarissa +stopped short in the middle of a sob to gape open-mouthed. +Come to think of it, I don’t believe she +ever did finish that sob. I repeated my directions, +and taking the youngest girl by the hand I started +one half of the line down the road, calling over my +shoulder to the other line that they might as well +make up their stunts on the way, because they were +going to get beaten. But after all it was our side +that got there last, because we were mostly girls and +I had to carry the littlest ones over some of the +rough places.</p> +<p>I sent the boys to gather wood and built up a big +fire, and then I proceeded to initiate the crowd into +some of the mysteries of camp cookery. I daubed a +chicken with clay and baked it with the feathers on, +like we used to do last summer on Ellen’s Isle, and +it would have been splendid if it hadn’t been for one +small oversight. I forgot to split the chicken open +and take the insides out before I put the clay on.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_83">[83]</div> +<p>After dinner it was up to me to produce a show +in obedience to my own mandate. None of the rest +on my side could help me out, because not one of the +blessed chicks had ever done a “stunt” in their +lives. The only “prop” I had was a bright red tie, +so I proceeded to do the stunt about the goat that +ate the two red shirts right off the line—you remember +the way Sahwah used to bring the house down +with it? Well, I had just got to the part where “he +heard the whistle; was in great pain——” and, accompanying +the action to the music, was down on +all fours giving a lifelike imitation of a goat tied to +a railroad track, while the delighted boys and girls +were doubled up in all stages of mirth, when I heard +a sound that resembled the last gasp of a dying elephant. +I jumped to my feet and whirled around, +and there in the offing were anchored—anchored is +the only expression that fits because they were literally +rooted to the spot—the entire school board of +Spencer township, plus two strange men plus Justice +Sherman. The board members and the strangers +stood with their jaws dropped down on their chests +and their eyes popping out of their heads; Justice +had his handkerchief over his mouth and was shaking +from head to foot like a sapling in a high wind. +I gave a gasp of dismay which resulted in further +developments, for I had the whole red tie stuffed +into my mouth with which to flag the train when the +time came, and the minute I opened my mouth it billowed +out in the breeze. That was the finishing +touch. I might have explained away the quadruped +attitude as a gymnastic pose, but it takes considerable +of an artist to explain away a mouthful of red tie +in a schoolmarm. Besides that, I was mud from +head to foot, having slid about ten feet for the +home plate in a baseball game we had before dinner, +so that I presented a front elevation in natural clay +effect, broken here and there with elderberries in +bas-relief, which had adhered when the can was accidentally +spilled over me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_84">[84]</div> +<p>Being acutely conscious of all these facts in every +corner of my anatomy did not add to my ease of +manner, but I said as nonchalantly as I could, “How +do you do, Mr. Butts? How do you do, gentlemen?” +Then I added rather lamely, “Pleasant day, +is it not?”</p> +<p>Mr. Butts exploded into the same sort of snort +as had interrupted me in time to prevent the goat +from flagging the train.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_85">[85]</div> +<p>“Miss Adams,” he said severely, when he had recovered +his breath sufficiently to speak, “what does +this mean? Why ain’t you teaching school to-day? +Here comes these here two fellers——” and he +jerked his thumb in the direction of the two +strangers—“from the new school board over to +Sabot Junction, to visit our school, and I takes them +over to the schoolhouse and finds it empty and no +sign of you or the class. Fine doin’s, them! These +fellers had their trip for nothin’ and they were pretty +mad about it I can tell you, and so I thinks I’ll drive +them over to Kenridge to the schoolhouse there and +here on the way I runs into you in the woods, acting +like a lunytic. I always said Bill Adams’s daughter +was plumb crazy and now I’m sure of it.”</p> +<p>I stood aghast. How was I to explain to an irate +school board that neither I nor the children had felt +like going to school to-day and had decided to have +a picnic instead, and that the “lunytic actin’s” was +Sahwah’s famous stunt, enacted to add to the hilarity +of the occasion? I threw an appealing glance at +Justice Sherman, and he sobered up enough to speak.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_86">[86]</div> +<p>“You don’t understand, Mr. Butts,” he said hastily. +“Miss Adams <i>is</i> teaching school to-day. She is +teaching the children botany and it is sometimes +necessary to go out into the woods and study right +from Nature. I heard her say that she was going +to take the children out the first fine day.”</p> +<p>This was outrageous fibbing, but nobly done in a +good cause. It was of no avail, however, for Absalom +Butts promptly called out importantly, “It +ain’t either no botany class; it’s a picnic. She made +us put our books away when we didn’t want to and +come out here.” And he made an impudent grimace +at me, accompanied with the usual taunting grin.</p> +<p>Right here I had another surprise of my young +life. No sooner had the craven Absalom turned +state’s evidence when there rose from the masses an +unexpected champion. As Elijah Butts began to express +his opinion of my “carryin’s on” in no veiled +terms, his daughter Clarissa, developing a hitherto +undreamed of amount of spirit, suddenly threw her +arms around my waist and stood there stamping her +feet with anger.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_87">[87]</div> +<p>“She ain’t a lunatic, she ain’t a lunatic,” she +shrilled above her father’s gruff tones, “she’s nice +and I love her!” After which astounding confession +she melted into tears and stood there sobbing +and hugging the breath out of me. To my greater +astonishment all the other girls immediately followed +suit and gathered around me with shielding +caresses, turning defiant faces to the upbraiding +school board members. The boys made themselves +very inconspicuous in the rear, but I caught more +than one glowering look cast in the direction of Absalom.</p> +<p>Before this demonstration of affection, Mr. Butts +paused in astonishment, and, having hesitated, was +lost. He felt he was no longer cock of the walk, +and in dignified silence led the way to the surrey +standing in the road, with the rest of the school +board members and the visitors stalking after. I +watched them climb in and drive away, and then the +reaction set in and I sat down on the ground and +laughed until I cried, while the girls, not sure +whether I was laughing or crying, alternately giggled +convulsively and soothingly bade me “never +mind.” I sat up finally and shook the hair out of +my eyes and then I discovered that Justice Sherman +had not departed with the rest of the delegation, +but was sitting on the ground not far away, still +shaking with laughter and wiping his eyes on a red-bordered +napkin that had strayed out of a lunch +basket. A sudden suspicion seized me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_88">[88]</div> +<p>“Justice,” I cried severely, “did you do it?”</p> +<p>“Did I do what?” he asked in a startled tone.</p> +<p>“Find out I was off on a picnic and bring the +Board down to visit me?”</p> +<p>Justice threw out his hands in a gesture of denial. +“‘Thou canst not say I did it, never shake +thy gory locks at me,’” he declaimed feelingly. +“Where did they come from? They dropped, fair +one, like the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place +beneath. They came first to my humble dispensary +of learning, anxious to show the visiting Solons what +a bargain they had captured, and listened feelingly +while I conducted a Latin lesson, which impressed +them so much they invited me to come along +while they gave you the ‘once over.’ You never +saw such an expression in your life as there was on +the face of Mr. Butts when he arrived at your place +and found it empty. I will remember it to my dying +day.</p> +<p>“But what on earth <i>were</i> you doing when we +found you in the woods?” he finished in a mystified +tone.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_89">[89]</div> +<p>Then I told him about Sahwah’s goat that ate the +two red shirts right off the line, and again he +laughed until he was weak.</p> +<p>“Some schoolma’am you, for visiting committees +to make notes on!” he exclaimed.</p> +<p>“I’m discharged, of course,” I remarked, after a +moment’s silence.</p> +<p>“Oh, maybe not,” said Justice soothingly, as we +reached home, and he turned off to go to his +cabin.</p> +<p>“I don’t care if I am,” I cried savagely. “I hate +that old Board so I wouldn’t work for them another +day.” And I stalked into the house with my head +in the air.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_90">[90]</div> +<p>But somehow, after I had eaten my supper and +begun to write this letter, I began to feel differently. +The way the girls stood up for me this afternoon +changed my whole attitude toward school teaching. +To find out that they actually loved me was the +biggest surprise I had ever had in my life. I had +hated them so thoroughly along with the school +teaching that it had never occurred to me that they +did not feel the same way toward me. I suddenly +hated myself for my impatience with their stupidity. +Of course they were stupid—how could they be +otherwise, poor, pitiful, ill-clad, overworked creatures, +coming from such homes as they did? I +stopped despising them and was filled only with pity +for the narrow, colorless lives they led. That afternoon +when they had told me, shyly and wistfully, +how much they enjoyed my teaching, I was filled +with guilty pangs, because I knew just how much +<i>I</i> had enjoyed it. That impromptu picnic had quite +won their hearts and broken down the barriers between +us, and the trouble it had gotten me into +crystallized their affection into expression. Now +the ice was broken, and I would be able to get more +out of them than ever before. The prospect of +teaching began to have compensations.</p> +<p>Then suddenly I remembered. I would be discharged +after the next meeting of the Board. I +would have no opportunity of getting better acquainted +with my pupils and leading them in the +pleasant paths of knowledge. Just when the drink +began to taste sweet I had to go and upset the +cup!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_91">[91]</div> +<p>And your Katherine, who had hated teaching the +poor whites so fiercely all these months, buried her +head on her arms and cried bitterly at the thought +of having to give it up!</p> +<p><span class="center">Yours, in tears,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_92">[92]</div> +<h3>HINPOHA TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">Brownell College, Nov. 25, 19—.</span></p> +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/pig.png" alt="Clumsy Line Drawing of a Pig" width="372" height="157" /> +</div> +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Katherine:</span></p> +<p>At first glance I don’t suppose you will recognize +this sweet little creature, but you ought to, seeing +you are his own mother. It’s the Pig you drew +with your eyes shut in Glady’s PIG BOOK last +year. Gladys brought the PIG BOOK along with +her and the other day we got it out and found your +poor little Piggy with the mournful inscription +under him, “Where is My Wandering Pig To-night?” +He looked so sad and lonesome we knew +he was simply pining away for you. His ink has +faded perceptibly and he is just a shadow of his +former emphatic self. Migwan looked at it and +said, “What charade does it make you think of?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_93">[93]</div> +<p>It was just as plain as the nose on your face, and +we all shouted at once, “Pork-you-pine!”</p> +<p>We couldn’t bear to leave him there to die of +grief and longing, so we transferred him tenderly +to this letter and are sending him to his mumsey by +Special Delivery. We hope he will pick up immediately +upon arrival.</p> +<p>We had Lamb’s <i>Dissertation on Roast Pig</i> in +Literature the other day and were asked to comment +upon it, and Agony wrote that she didn’t think +much of a dissertation on Pig that was written by +a Lamb; she thought Bacon could have handled the +subject much better!</p> +<p>As ever, your +Hinpoha.</p> +<p>P. S. Here is Piggy’s tail; +<img src="images/tail.png" alt="Line Drawing of Pig’s Tail" width="58" height="39" /> +we found it in a corner of the page after we had him transferred.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_94">[94]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Dec. 3, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dear Winnies:</span></p> +<p>Hurray! I’m not fired. Why, I wasn’t I never +will be able to figure out, but it’s so. A week after +the Picnic the Board sat, but not on me. For a +while I lived in hourly expectation of forcible eviction, +but nothing happened, and I heard from Justice, +who stands high in the favor of Elijah Butts +and gets inside information about school matters, +that nothing was going to be done about it. If +Justice had any further details he wouldn’t divulge +them.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_95">[95]</div> +<p>Justice is a queer chap. Although he talks nonsense +incessantly, you can get very little information +out of him. And the way he puts up with all +kinds of inconveniences without complaint is wonderful +to me. He must be accustomed to far +different surroundings, and yet from his attitude +you’d think his little cabin out beyond the stables +was the one place on earth he’d select for an abode. +He never even mentioned the fact that the roof +leaked badly until I went out there to fetch him and +discovered him on top patching it. Then I went +inside to see what else could be improved, and the +bare, tumble-down-ness of the place struck me forcibly. +Light shone through chinks in the walls, the +door sill was warped one way and the door another, +and there was no sign of the pane that had once been +in the window. It was simply a dilapidated cabin, +and made no pretence of being anything else. How +he could live in it was more than I could see. No +light at night but a kerosene lamp, no furniture except +what he himself had made from boards, boxes +and logs; no carpet on the rough, rotting floor. +Why did he choose to live in this cell when he might +have taken rooms with any of the school board +members over in Spencer?</p> +<p>It was on this occasion that I saw the rough board +table under the one window, strewn with pencils, +compasses and sheets of paper covered with strange +lines and figures.</p> +<p>“What’s this?” I asked curiously.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_96">[96]</div> +<p>“Nothing, that amounts to anything,” replied Justice, +with a queer, dry little laugh. “Once I was +fool enough to believe that it did amount to something.” +He swept the papers together and threw +them face downward on the table.</p> +<p>“Tell me about it,” I said coaxingly, scenting a +secret, possibly a clue to his past.</p> +<p>Justice stared out of the open door for a few +moments, his shoulders slumped into a discouraged +curve, his face moody and resentful. Then suddenly +he threw back his head and squared his shoulders. +“It’s nothing,” he said shortly. “Only, once +I thought I had a brilliant idea, and tried to patent +it. Then I found out I wasn’t as smart as I thought +I was, that’s all.”</p> +<p>“What did you invent?” I asked.</p> +<p>“Oh, just an old electrical device—you probably +wouldn’t understand the workings of it—to be used +in connection with wireless apparatus. It was a +thing for recording vibrations and by its use a deaf +man could receive wireless messages. I worked four +years perfecting it and then thought my fortune was +made. But nobody would back me on it. They all +laughed at the thing. I got so disgusted one day +that I threw the thing into the sad sea. Four +years’ work went up at one splash! That was the +end of my career as an inventor.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_97">[97]</div> +<p>Poor Justice! I sympathized with him so hard +that I hardly knew what to say. I knew what that +failure must have meant to his proud, sensitive soul. +The first failure is always such a blow. It takes +considerable experience in failing to be able to do it +gracefully. I could see that he didn’t want any voluble +sympathy from me and that it was such a sore +subject that he’d rather not talk about it. I didn’t +know what to say. Then my eye fell on the sheets +on the table. “What are you inventing now?” I +asked, to break the silence that was growing awkward.</p> +<p>“Just working on bits of things,” he replied, “to +pass the time away. You can’t experiment with +wireless now, you know.”</p> +<p>The confidences Justice had made to me almost +drove my errand out of my head. It was rather +breathless, this having a new side of him turn up +every little while. I returned to my original quest +for information.</p> +<p>“I came for expert advice,” I remarked.</p> +<p>Justice looked up inquiringly. “Shoot,” he said.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_98">[98]</div> +<p>“Do you suppose,” I inquired in a perplexed tone, +“that they’d enjoy it just as much if the costumes +have to be imaginary?”</p> +<p>Justice’s face suddenly became contorted. +“They’d probably enjoy wearing, ah—er imaginary +costumes if the weather is warm enough,” he replied, +carefully avoiding my eye.</p> +<p>“Justice Sherman!” I exploded, laughing in spite +of myself. “You know very well what I mean. I +mean can we have a Ceremonial Meeting in blue +calico and imagine it’s Ceremonial costumes?”</p> +<p>Justice scratched his head. “It depends upon how +much imagination ‘we’ have,” he remarked. “Now, +for instance, I know someone not a hundred miles +from here who can imagine herself in her college +room when it’s only make believe, and can do wonderful +work in French and mathematics. She——”</p> +<p>“That’s enough from you,” I interrupted. “The +matter is settled. We’ll have a Ceremonial Meeting. +We’ll pretend we’ve gone traveling and have +left our Ceremonial dresses at home. We’re a war-time +group, anyhow, and ought to do without +things.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_99">[99]</div> +<p>There now! The secret is out! Your poor stick +of a Katherine is a real Camp Fire Guardian. I +wasn’t going to tell you at first, but I’m afraid I +will have to come to you for advice very often. I +have organized my girls into a group and they are +entering upon the time of their young lives. Make +the hand sign of fire when you meet us, and greet +us with the countersign, for we be of the same kindred. +Magic spell of Wohelo! By its power even +the poor spirited Hard-uppers have become sisters +of the incomparable Winnebagos. Wo-He-Lo for +aye! We are the tribe of Wenonah, the Eldest +Daughter, and our tepee is the schoolhouse.</p> +<p>Of course, as Camp Fire Groups go, we are a very +poor sister. We haven’t any costumes, any headbands, +any honor beads, or any Camp Fire adornments +of any kind. I advanced the money to pay +the dues, and that was all I could afford. There +are so few ways of making money here and most +of the families are so poor that I’m afraid we’ll +never have much to do with. But the girls are so +taken up with the idea of Camp Fire that it’s a +joy to see them. In all their shiftless, drudging +lives it had never once occurred to them that there +was any fun to be gotten out of work. It’s like +opening up a new world to them. Do you know, I’ve +discovered why they never did the homework I +used to give to them. It’s because they never had +any time at home. There were always so many +chores to do. Their people begrudged them the time +that they had to be in school and wouldn’t hear of +any additional time being taken for lessons afterward.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_100">[100]</div> +<p>As soon as I heard that I changed the lessons +around so they could do all their studying in school. +Besides that, I looked some of the schoolbooks in the +face and decided that they were hopelessly behind +the times, Elijah Butts to the contrary. They were +the same books that had been used in this section +for twenty-five years.</p> +<p>“What is the use,” I said aloud to the spider +weaving a web across my desk, “of teaching people +antiquated geography and cheap, incorrect editions +of history when the thing they need most is to learn +how to cook and sew and wash and iron so as to +make their homes livable? Why should they waste +their precious time reading about things that happened +a thousand years ago when they might be +taking an active part in the stirring history that is +being made every day in these times? Blind, stubborn, +moth-eaten old fogies!” I exclaimed, shaking +my fist in the direction of Spencer, where the Board +sat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_101">[101]</div> +<p>Right then and there I scrapped the time-honored +curriculum and made out a truly Winnebago one. +It kept the fundamentals, but in addition it included +cooking, sewing, table setting, bed making, camp +cookery, singing of popular songs, folk dancing, +hiking and stunts. Yes sir, stunts! I teach them +stunts as carefully as I teach them spelling and arithmetic. +Can you imagine anyone who has never done +a stunt in all their lives?</p> +<p>We rigged up a cook stove inside the schoolhouse—if +you’d ever see it! The stovepipe comes +down every day at the most critical moment. Besides +that we have a stone oven outside. Every single +day is a picnic. As all of us have to bring our +lunch we turned the noon hour into a cooking lesson, +and two different girls act as hostesses each +day. The boys bring the wood and do the rough +work and are our guests at dinner. They all behave +pretty well except Absalom Butts, who is given +to practical jokes. But as the rest of the boys side +in with me against him, he gets very little applause +for his pains and very little help in his mischief. +The noon dinners continue to be the chief attraction +at the little school at the cross roads. Hardly +anybody is ever absent now.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_102">[102]</div> +<p>I arranged the new schedule so that while I am +teaching the girls the things which are of interest to +them alone the boys have something else to do that +appeals to them. I give them more advanced arithmetic, +and have worked out a system of honor marks +for those who do extra problems, with a prize promised +at the end of the year. Then I got hold of an +old copy of Dan Beard’s <i>New Ideas for Boys</i> and +have turned them loose on that, letting them make +anything they choose, and giving credit marks according +to how well they accomplish it.</p> +<p>You see what a job I have ahead of me as a Camp +Fire Guardian? In order to teach my girls what +they must know to win honors, I have had to turn +the whole school system inside out, and then, because +I couldn’t bear to leave the boys out in the cold +while the girls are having such a good time, I have +to keep thinking up things for them to do, too. It +stretches my ingenuity to the breaking point sometimes +to get everything in, and keep all sides even.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_103">[103]</div> +<p>One afternoon each week I have the girls give to +Red Cross work. Every Saturday I drive all the +way over to Thomasville, where the nearest Red +Cross headquarters branch is, for gauze to make +surgical dressings, returning the finished ones the +next week. Here’s where dull-witted Clarissa Butts +outshines all the brighter girls. She can make those +dressings faster and better than any of us and her +face is fairly radiant while she is working on them. +I have made her inspector over the rest to see that +there are no wrinkles and no loose threads, and she +nearly bursts with importance. For once in her +life she is head of the class.</p> +<p>While they fold bandages I read to them about +what is going on in the war and what the Red Cross +is doing everywhere, and we have beautiful times. +The worst trouble around here is getting up to date +things to read. There isn’t a library within fifty +miles and the only books we have are the few I can +manage to buy and those that Justice Sherman has. +Would you mind sending out a magazine once in a +while after you have finished reading it?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_104">[104]</div> +<p>We had our first ceremonial meeting last night in +blue calico instead of ceremonial gowns, but it +didn’t make a mite of difference. We felt the magic +spell of it just the same and promised with all our +hearts to seek beauty and give service and all the +other things in the Wood Gatherers’ Desire. That +is the wonderful thing about Camp Fire. It makes +you have exactly the same feelings whether you learn +it in a mansion or in a shack, in an exclusive girls’ +school or in a third-rate country schoolhouse. If +Nyoda only could have seen us! Of all people to +whom I had expected to pass on the Torch, this +group of Arkansas Hard-Uppers would have been +the very last to occur to me. Was this what she +meant, I wonder?</p> +<p><span class="center">Yours, trying hard to be a Torch Bearer,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_105">[105]</div> +<h3>HINPOHA TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">Dec. 15, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Darling Katherine:</span></p> +<p>There’s no use talking, I can never be the same +again. My life is wrecked—ruined—blighted; my +heart is broken, my faith in Man shattered, but try +as I like I can’t forget him. His image is graven +on my heart, and there it will be until I die. But +for all that, I hate him—hate him—hate him! I +don’t want to be unpatriotic, but I do hope he gets +killed in the very first battle he’s in. Then at least +<i>she</i> won’t have him! But a few short weeks ago I +was a mere child, playing at life, a schoolgirl, carefree +and heedless, with no other thought in the world +beside winning the freshman basketball championship +and surviving midyear’s; to-day I am a woman, +old in experience, having eaten the fruit of +the tree of knowledge and found it bitter as gall. +And I must bear it all alone, because if I told the +girls here they would laugh at me, and some would +be spiteful enough to be glad about it. But I have +to tell somebody or explode, and I know you will +neither laugh nor tell anybody, being a perfect +Tombstone on secrets.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_106">[106]</div> +<p>It’s really all Agony and Oh-Pshaw’s fault anyway, +for being born. Not that that actually had +anything to do with it, but if they hadn’t been born +they wouldn’t have had any birthday, and if they +hadn’t had any birthday they wouldn’t have given +that box party to the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS +and I never would have met Captain Bannister.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_107">[107]</div> +<p>You will readily understand, Katherine, how I +burn to serve my country at a time like this. There +is nothing I would not do to save her from the +clutches of the enemy. It is all very well to say that +woman’s part in the war is to knit socks and sweaters +and fold bandages and conserve the Food Supply, +for that is all that the average woman would be +capable of doing anyhow, but as for me, I know that +my part is to be a much more definite and a far +nobler one. Of course, I do all the other things, +too, along with the other Winnies and the whole +college, for that matter; joined the Patriotic League, +go to Red Cross two nights a week and go without +sugar and wheat as much as possible. When I +wrote and told Nyoda that I hadn’t eaten one speck +of candy for three months except what was given +me and was sending the money I usually spent for +it to the Belgians, she said I ought to have the +Cross of the Legion of Honor, and that “greater +love hath no man than this, that he give up the +craving of his stomach for his country.” You see, +Nyoda understands perfectly what it means to have +an awful candy hunger gnawing at your vitals like +the vulture at the giant’s liver and look the other +way when you go past a window full of your favorite +bon-bons. But somehow candy doesn’t seem so +satisfying when you know there are little Belgian +and French children suffering from a much worse +gnawing than candy hunger, and usually dropping +the price of a box of bonbons into the Relief Fund +stops the craving almost as much as the bonbons +themselves would.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_108">[108]</div> +<p>But this is only doing what thousands of other +girls all over the country are doing and there isn’t +any individual glory in it. What I long to do is +carry the message that saves the army from destruction, +or discover the spy at his nefarious work. If +only the chance would come for me to do something +like that I could die happy.</p> +<p>Agony and Oh-Pshaw’s birthday celebration was +quite an event. We had luncheon first at the Golden +Dragon, a wonderful new Chinese restaurant that +was recently opened, and had chop suey and chow +main and other funny things in a little stall lit up +with a gorgeous blue and gold lantern. Of course, +after that luncheon and the funny toasts we made to +the long life and health of Agony and Oh-Pshaw, +we felt pretty frolicsome, and by the time we got +settled in our seats at the Opera House we were +ready to start something. Our seats were in the first +row of the balcony, center aisle, and very prominent. +I had my knitting along as usual, intending to do +a few rows between the acts. I always knit in public +places; it sets a good example to other people. +Besides, my new knitting bag is too sweet for anything.</p> +<p>I had just got started knitting in the intermission +between the first and second acts when the orchestra +began to play “Over There,” and Agony got an +inspiration. “Let’s all stand up,” she whispered, +“and see how many people will bite and stand up, +too.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_109">[109]</div> +<p>So, stifling our giggles, we sprang promptly to +our feet and stood stiffly at attention. In less than +a minute more than half of the audience, not knowing +why they should stand up for that piece, but +blindly following our lead, gathered up their hats, +wraps and programs in their arms and dutifully +stood up. Then as soon as they were standing we +sat down and laughed at the poor dupes, who sat +down in a hurry when they saw us, looking terribly +foolish. I haven’t seen anything so funny in a long +time.</p> +<p>“Stop laughing,” said Gladys, giving me a poke +with her elbow. “You’re shaking the seat so I’m +getting seasick.” But I couldn’t stop.</p> +<p>“Look out, Hinpoha, there goes your knitting,” +said Migwan. “Catch it, somebody!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_110">[110]</div> +<p>But it was too late. When we stood up I had laid +the sock and the ball of yarn on the broad, low rail +in front of us, and now the ball had rolled over +the edge and dropped down into the audience below, +right into the lap of a young man who was sitting +on the end seat. He looked up in great surprise and +everybody laughed. They just <i>roared</i>! There I +stood, leaning over the balcony, hanging on to the +sock for dear life and trying to keep it from raveling, +and there he stood down below holding onto +the ball, and plainly puzzled what to do with it.</p> +<p>“Throw down the sock, silly,” whispered Agony, +reaching over and pulling my sleeve. “Do you think +he’s going to throw up the ball?”</p> +<p>I dropped the sock and the man caught it in his +other hand and stood there laughing, as he started +to wind up the yards and yards of yarn between the +ball and the sock. When he had it wound up he +brought it upstairs to me. I went out into the corridor +to get it. Then for the first time I got a good +look at the man. He was dressed in uniform and +wore an officer’s cap. He was very tall and slim, +with black eyes and hair and a small black mustache.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_111">[111]</div> +<p>“Here, patriotic little knitting lady,” he said, making +a deep bow and handing me my knitting. I +looked up into his handsome, smiling face, and little +needle points began pricking in my spine. His eyes +met mine, he smiled, blushed to the roots of his +hair and looked away. All in one instant I knew. +I had met my fate. This was my Man, my own. +I felt faint and light-headed and all I could see +was his black eyes shining like stars. His deep, +thrilling voice still rang in my ears. With another +low bow he turned to leave me.</p> +<p>“Captain Bannister, at your service,” he said.</p> +<p>I went back to my seat with my head swimming. +“Patriotic little knitting lady,” I found myself whispering +under my breath. The girls suddenly seemed +awfully young and silly as they sat there giggling at +me and at each other. My mind was above all such +childish things; it was soaring up in the blue realms +of true love. I was glad he was tall and thin. I +think fat girls should marry thin men, don’t you? +And he was dark, too, just the right mate for redheaded +me. And he was a Captain in the army! +How the other girls would envy me! Some of them +had friends who were lieutenants and were quite +uppish about it, but none that I knew had a Captain.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_112">[112]</div> +<p>Then at another thought my heart stood still. +Suppose he should be killed? I pictured myself in +deep mourning, wearing on my breast the medal he +had won for bravery, which with his dying breath +he had asked his comrades to send to “my wife!” +I couldn’t help brushing away a tear then and was +quite bewildered when Agony poked me and wanted +to know if I wasn’t ever going to make a move +to go home. The show was over and the people +were streaming out. I hadn’t seen a bit of the last +two acts.</p> +<p>Down in the lobby I saw Him again. He was +standing by the door talking to another man in +uniform. How he stood out among all other men! +He was one out of a thousand. My heart beat to +suffocation and I couldn’t raise my eyes. In a moment +more I must pass him. I tried to look straight +ahead, but something I couldn’t resist drew my head +around and I turned and looked straight into his +eyes. He tilted back his head and gave me one long, +thrilling glance, raised his hand to his cap, then +blushed and looked down. Just then Gladys pulled +at my sleeve and dragged me over to some girls we +knew and we were swept out with the crowd to the +sidewalk.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_113">[113]</div> +<p>I scarcely knew where I was going. My feet +walked along between Gladys and Migwan, but my +soul was in the clouds, listening to strains of +heavenly music, while the others squabbled over ice +cream flavors and who should stand treat after the +show. Ice cream! Ye gods! Who could eat ice +cream with their soul seething in love?</p> +<p>From that hour when I had looked into Captain +Bannister’s eyes and read the truth in them, I was a +changed being. I listened in silence to the idle +chatter of the girls around me as we walked to and +from classes. Their souls were wrapped up in their +knitting, in their lessons, in their meals. Agony and +Oh-Pshaw were trying to learn a new and difficult +back dive and they talked of nothing else night and +day. They were constantly at me to come and try +it, too, but I sat loftily apart, hugging my delicious +secret. As it says in the poem we learned in literature +class:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“What were the garden bowers of Thebes to me?”</p> +</div> +<p>Like Semele, I scorned the sports of mortals and +thought only of my Beloved. I didn’t envy her a +bit because her Love was Jupiter. What was Jupiter +compared to Captain Bannister?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_114">[114]</div> +<p>Twice I had seen him since that day in the theater—had +spoken to him, in fact. He was stationed in +the recruiting office and one day I happened to be +walking past with old Professor Remie and he knew +him and stopped and talked and introduced me. As +if we needed any introduction! We chatted of commonplaces, +but all the while our eyes told volumes. +However, soul cannot speak to soul in a public recruiting +station where curious eyes are looking on.</p> +<p>I had an errand uptown every day after that. +Only once did I see him as I passed the recruiting +station, however. Then he was throwing out a +Socialist who had tried to stop the recruiting and he +didn’t see me.</p> +<p>But the next day there came a perfectly huge +box of chocolates, addressed quaintly to “Miss Bradford, +Somewhere in Purgatory.” Inside the box +was a card which read:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“The strand you dropped with careless art</p> +<p class="t0">Has wound itself around my heart.”</p> +</div> +<p>Underneath was written “Captain Bannister,” in a +bold, masculine hand.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_115">[115]</div> +<p>I buried the chocolates in the depths of my shirtwaist +box where no profane eye could see them or +profane tooth bite into them. I didn’t mean to be +selfish, but I just couldn’t bear to pass <i>his</i> chocolates +around to the crowd and hear Agony’s delighted +squeal as she dove into them,</p> +<p>“Come on, girls, have one on Hinpoha’s latest +crush!”</p> +<p>For Agony has absolutely no understanding of +affairs of the heart—everything is a “crush” to +her.</p> +<p>The chocolates were fine and I ate a great many +of them, thinking of my Captain all the while, and +wondering when I would see him again.</p> +<p>“Hinpoha, what on earth is the matter with you?” +said Gladys that night. “You didn’t eat a bite of +supper and you’re as pale as a ghost. Have you upset +your stomach again?”</p> +<p>I drew myself up haughtily. The idea! To call +this delicious turmoil in my bosom an upset stomach! +I was glad I looked pale. I am usually as red +as a beet. It was more in keeping with the way I +felt to be pale.</p> +<p>“I am not myself,” I replied loftily, “but it’s not +my stomach.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_116">[116]</div> +<p>“Go to bed, honey,” said Gladys, “and I’ll bring +you a glass of hot water.”</p> +<p>I curled up in bed with Captain Bannister’s card +in my hand under the pillow. I was so happy I felt +dizzy. Gladys came back with the hot water and +made me drink it in spite of my protests, and, +strange to say, I felt much calmer after it.</p> +<p>Needless to say, I couldn’t pin my mind down on +my lessons. I did such queer things that people +began to notice it. For instance, mild old Professor +Remie, the chemistry teacher, handed back my paper +one day after he had given us a written lesson on +the Atomic Theory, and inquired in a puzzled tone +if I had meant just what I wrote. I glanced at it +and blushed furiously when I realized that I had +written down some lines that had been running +through my head all day:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Why do I fearfully cling to thee, Maidenhood?</p> +<p class="t0">’Tis but a pearl to be cast in thy waves, O Love!”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_117">[117]</div> +<p>Then one day the word went around that He was +coming to make a speech in the college chapel. How +my heart fluttered! I could hardly sit still in the +seat when he came out on the platform. It seemed +as if everyone could hear what my heart was saying. +Soon that deep voice of his was filling the room, +thrilling me with unearthly things. Again and +again his eyes sought mine, full of joyous recognition, +of love and longing. I smiled reassuringly, +trying to telegraph the message, “Be patient, all will +be well.”</p> +<p>To myself I was singing, “O Captain, my Captain!”</p> +<p>Unknown to himself, I had seen him before he +came into chapel. I was stooping down in the +shadow of the gymnasium steps, tying my shoestring, +when he came along the walk and was met +by Dr. Thorn, our President. They stood there and +talked a minute and I heard Captain Bannister say +that he was going to Washington that afternoon on +the five o’clock train and that he was going directly +from the college to the station. He carried a small +black handbag, which Dr. Thorn offered to relieve +him of, but he said no, he didn’t want to leave it out +of his hand even for a minute, there were valuable +papers in it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_118">[118]</div> +<p>When he came out on the platform I noticed that +he had the bag with him. He set it down on the +table while he talked and never got very far away +from it. I looked at that bag with deep interest. +What was in it? Something terribly important, I +knew. I thrilled with pride that my Captain should +have such great things to look after, and longed to +be of service to him.</p> +<p>His speech came to an end all too soon for me, +who could have gone on listening for a week, and he +went out before the rest of us were dismissed. No +chance to speak to me or give me one word of farewell +for the brief separation; only one long, lingering +look between us that left me shaken to the soul. +Now I knew what the Poet meant when he spoke of +“the troth of glance and glance.”</p> +<p>I wandered around by myself after he had gone. +I didn’t desire to speak to any of the girls or have +them speak to me. I just wanted to be by myself. +Roaming thus I came to the little rustic summerhouse +in the park behind the college buildings, and +stopped in to rest a moment. It was a lovely mild +day, not a bit like winter, and not too cold to sit in +a summerhouse and dream. I didn’t sit down, +though. For on the bark-covered bench I spied +something that brought my heart up into my mouth. +It was Captain Bannister’s bag. No doubt about it. +There was his name on a card tied to the handle. +How came it here? They must have shown him +around the grounds after his speech and in some way +he had put the bag down in here and then gone off +and forgotten it. How dreadful he would feel when +he found it out!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_119">[119]</div> +<p>My mind was made up in a minute. Here was a +real chance to “Give Service.” If I hurried I could +get down to the station and catch him before he got +on the train. I made sure from the watchman that +he had left the college grounds. I looked at my +wrist watch. It was quarter to five. Without a +moment’s hesitation I picked up the bag and ran +out to the street. I caught a car right away and sank +down in a seat breathless, but easy in my mind, because +the station was only a ten minutes’ ride in the +car.</p> +<p>Then, of course, something had to happen. A +sand wagon was in the cartrack ahead of us and +the motorman jingled his bell so furiously that the +driver got excited and pulled the lever that dumped +the whole load of sand on the car track.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_120">[120]</div> +<p>I jumped out of the car and looked wildly up and +down the road to see if there was a taxi in sight. +There wasn’t; nothing but a motor truck from the +glue factory. There was something covered with +canvas in the back of it, and I knew instinctively +that it was a dead horse. Did I hesitate a second? +Not I. For the sake of my Captain and my country +I would have endured anything. I hailed the +driver. “I’ll give you a dollar if you’ll take me to +the station,” I panted.</p> +<p>The driver laughed out loud. “This is <i>some</i> depoe +hack,” he said, “but if <i>you</i> can stand it I guess <i>I</i> +can.”</p> +<p>With that he gave me a sidewise glance that was +meant to be admiring, I suppose, but I froze him +with a look and climbed gravely up beside him.</p> +<p>“It is very important that I be there in time for +the five o’clock train,” I remarked by way of explanation.</p> +<p>“You ain’t running away from school, are you?” +inquired the driver genially.</p> +<p>“I am <i>not</i>,” I replied frigidly, and looked loftily +past him for the remainder of the five minutes’ ride +to the station.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_121">[121]</div> +<p>I flung the man the dollar and was out of the +truck before he had time to say a word, and raced +into the long waiting room of the station. I could +have shouted with relief when I saw on the blackboard +the notice that the five o’clock train for Washington +was forty minutes late. I was in time!</p> +<p>But where was Captain Bannister? Nowhere in +sight. I walked up and down the length of the waiting +room several times, growing more nervous every +minute. Suppose that he had discovered that he had +left the bag behind and gone back after it only to +find it gone? The thought made my blood run cold. +Would he come down to the train at all without the +bag? Would he not go back and search for it, +alarming the whole college? And all the while I had +it safe with me! What should I do? Should I go +back and run the risk of missing him, or stay and +see if he came? One thing I could do. I could +telephone back to the college and find out if he had +returned for it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_122">[122]</div> +<p>I had just gotten inside the telephone booth and +was ringing up the number when there was a commotion +in the upper end of the waiting room and a +large party of people entered, men and women and +soldiers and young girls, laughing and shrieking and +pelting somebody with rice and old shoes. Soon +they came past the booth and I caught a glimpse of +the bride and groom. The telephone receiver fell +out of my hand and my heart stopped beating. For +there, in the midst of that crowd, laughing and +dodging the showers of rice, and hanging for dear +life to the arm of a pretty young girl in a traveling +suit, was Captain Bannister, my Captain! I shrank +back into the depths of the telephone booth and +struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. Bits of +talk floated in through the closed door.</p> +<p>“Thought you’d do it up quietly this morning and +then sneak out this afternoon without anybody finding +it out,” I heard a voice shout, as a fresh shower +of rice flew through the air.</p> +<p>“Went out and made a speech this afternoon, too, +just as unconcerned as if it wasn’t his wedding day,” +said another voice. “Pretty sly, Captain. They +ought to put you in the diplomatic service. You’d +be an ornament.”</p> +<p>I crouched miserably in the telephone booth, trying +to collect my scattered thoughts. My Captain +was married this morning! How I hated that pretty +girl clinging to him and laughing as the showers of +rice fell around her!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_123">[123]</div> +<p>Then all of a sudden my hand touched the bag +on the floor. The papers! In the excitement of his +wedding day he had forgotten them! Well, even if +he had, I hadn’t. I would still serve my country if +it did nearly kill me to go out there and face Captain +Bannister. I shut my eyes and prayed for +strength. It would have been so easy to slip out +and throw the bag over the bridge into the river, +and get Captain Bannister into a bad predicament. +But I did not waver in my duty. Opening the door +of the booth softly, I crept out. Resolutely I approached +the crowd and walked right up to Captain +Bannister.</p> +<p>“Here are the papers, Captain Bannister,” I said +in a voice I tried to make coldly sarcastic, as is +fitting when talking to a man who has let his wedding +make him forget his country’s business.</p> +<p>Captain Bannister whirled around and faced me +with a look of astonishment that changed to annoyance +when he saw the bag. He did not offer to +take it from my outstretched hand. He could not +look into my eyes. He stood there, his face getting +redder every minute, while the people stared curiously. +At last he pulled himself together and took +the bag. “Thank you,” he said in a flat voice.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_124">[124]</div> +<p>A dozen hands pulled the bag away from him. +“Let’s see the papers, Banny,” called several voices. +“Are they the plans of your wedding journey or +your new home?”</p> +<p>He made a desperate effort to regain possession +of the bag, but they kept it away from him and +opened it. Then such a roar of laughter went up +as I have never heard. Everybody was laughing +but the bride, and she looked like a thundercloud. +Soon the things from the bag were being handed +around and I saw what they were. They were a +girl’s ballet dress, very flimsy and very short and +very much bespangled; a pair of light blue silk stockings +and a pair of high-heeled dancing slippers.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_125">[125]</div> +<p>Standing on the edge of the crowd I heard one +man explain to another, between snorts of laughter, +how Captain Bannister had taken part in a show that +the soldiers had given a week before and had worn +that ballet dress. His bride-to-be had been at the +show, and being a very straight-laced sort of a person +had been very much shocked at the men dressed +as girls. She didn’t know that Captain Bannister +had been one of them, and he didn’t intend that she +should find out. Some of his friends knew this and +for a joke they got hold of the handbag in which he +had packed his clothes for his wedding journey and +hid them away, putting in the ballet dress instead. +He found it out on the way out to the college, and +conceived the brilliant idea of leaving it there. He +figured that a suit like that found in a girls’ college +would cause no commotion; nothing like what would +happen if his bride should find it among his things. +But of all things—here the man who was telling +all this nearly turned inside out—somebody sees him +leave the bag behind and chases after him with it!</p> +<p>I fled without ever looking behind. My heart +was broken, my life wrecked, my hopes shattered. +My Captain, my Man, whose eyes had told me the +secret of his love, was pledged to another! If I +hadn’t known it beyond any doubt, I wouldn’t have +believed such perfidy possible. And the “valuable +papers” he was carrying around were nothing but +a girl’s dancing dress! For this I had raced to catch +the train, for this I had ridden on a truck with a +dead horse! No doubt he had lied to Dr. Thorn +about the bag, because he was afraid he would find +out what really was in it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_126">[126]</div> +<p>Righteous anger drowned my heartbroken tears. +With head high I wandered down to the swimming +pool in the gym and prepared to go in.</p> +<p>“Oh, Hinpoha, come and watch me do the new +back dive,” called Agony. She mounted the diving +platform and went off badly, striking the water with +the flat of her back and making a splash like a house +falling into the water. She righted herself and +swam around lazily.</p> +<p>“Hinpoha,” she said suddenly, popping her head +out of the water like a devil fish, “what did you ever +do with them all? I expected to get at least one.”</p> +<p>“What did I do with what?” I asked in bewilderment.</p> +<p>“Chocolates, sweet cherub,” said Agony, kicking +the water into foam with her feet. “I sent you five +pounds.”</p> +<p>“<i>You</i> sent them?” I echoed blankly.</p> +<p>“Yes, dearest child, I sent them, and it took the +last of my birthday check. Who did you think sent +them?” And with a malicious grin she sank down +under the surface of the water.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_127">[127]</div> +<p>So it had been Agony who had sent the chocolates, +and not Captain Bannister! I might have +known—— Oh, what a fool I had been!</p> +<p>“What did you do with them all?” came Agony’s +teasing voice from the other end of the pool, where +she had risen to take the air.</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I said mysteriously.</p> +<p>Agony looked at me gravely for a minute. +“Didn’t I hear Gladys putting you to bed that night +and going off for hot water?” she murmured dreamily. +“Seems to me I have a faint, far off recollection.” +She made little snorting noises, plainly in +imitation of a pig, and sank below the surface again.</p> +<p>I was filled with a blind fury at Agony. I wanted +to jump on her and choke her. I had been standing +on the diving board and on the spur of the moment +I went off backwards. I had only one thought in my +mind; to reach Agony and duck her as she deserved. +There was a great shout as I went off, followed by +a round of applause.</p> +<p>“What is it?” I asked, coming up and blinking +stupidly at the knot of watchers gathered around +the pool.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_128">[128]</div> +<p>“The Hawaiian dive!” they cried. “You did it +perfectly. Do it again.”</p> +<p>Agony came up out of the pool and watched enviously. +For four weeks she had been practising +that dive and hadn’t mastered it yet. I hadn’t ever +hoped to learn it. And here I had done it the very +first time! They made me do it again and again, +and clapped until the ceiling echoed as I got the +somersault in every time. It was glorious. I forgave +Agony for fooling me about the Captain; I +even forgave the Captain for the time being. <i>He</i> +could go off and get married if he wanted to; <i>I</i> +could do the Hawaiian back dive!</p> +<p>“How did you ever do it?” asked Agony enviously, +as we dressed together, “somersault and all? +Do you really think there’s any chance of my ever +doing it?”</p> +<p>“Sure, you’ll do it some day,” I replied out of +the fullness of my wisdom,—“if you get mad +enough.”</p> +<p><span class="center">Your broken-hearted,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Hinpoha.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_129">[129]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">Dec. 28, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest and Best of Winnies:</span></p> +<p>Oh, you angels without wings, how am I ever going +to thank you? How on earth did you manage +to do it all? Such a Christmas present!</p> +<p>When I saw that array of boxes in the express +office at Spencer all addressed to me I said to the +agent, “There’s some mistake. Those can’t possibly +be all mine.”</p> +<p>“You’re the only Katherine Adams in these parts, +aren’t you?” said the agent, eyeing that imposing +pile with unconcealed curiosity.</p> +<p>I admitted that I was, as far as I knew.</p> +<p>“Then they’re yours,” said the agent, and mine +they proved to be.</p> +<p>Altogether there was a wagonload.</p> +<p>“What on earth?” said father and Justice when +I drove up to the house. “Have you gone into the +trucking business?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_130">[130]</div> +<p>“Christmas presents, Father!” I shouted. “All +Christmas presents. I’ve got the whole of Santa +Claus’s load. Quick, bring me a hammer and an ax +and a jimmy!”</p> +<p>Oh, girls, when I saw what was in those first +three boxes I just sat down on the floor and wept for +joy. Only the Winnebagos could have thought of +sending me the House of the Open Door. There +were the Indian beds and Hinpoha’s bearskin and +all the Navajo blankets and the pottery, just as I +had seen it last in the Open Door Lodge, big as life +and twice as natural. And the note from Sahwah +that came along with them was a piece of Sahwah +herself.</p> +<p class="bq">“The things are lonesome,” she wrote, “and +pining for someone to love them and use them. +I am sending them to your new Camp Fire because +I know your girls will love them as they +deserve to be loved. The ghosts of all the good +times we had in the House of the Open Door +are hovering around the things, so anyone that +gets them can’t help falling under the old spell +and learning how to squeeze the most fun out +of every minute.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_131">[131]</div> +<p class="bq">“The gymnasium apparatus is the Sandwiches’ +Christmas present. It was Slim’s and +the Captain’s idea to send it out to you for your +girls and boys to use.</p> +<blockquote> +<p class="bq">“The House of the Open Door is being +turned into Red Cross work rooms for Camp +Fire Girls and we need every inch of space for +the work tables. Even our beloved Lodge is +Giving Service.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gladys Evans, your father is an <i>angel</i>! He +doesn’t need to wait until he gets to heaven for his +halo, it’s visible a mile off, this minute! To think of +sending me a graphophone and a hundred records! +I simply can’t tell you what that is going to mean +to my school. I won’t be able to <i>drive</i> the boys and +girls away now!</p> +<p>And your mother! That lantern machine and the +slides showing the Red Cross work and all the other +splendid things is worth its weight in gold.</p> +<p>Oh, my dears! <i>Where</i> did you ever find time to +make those twelve ceremonial dresses?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_132">[132]</div> +<blockquote> +<p>“FROM THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS +TO THE FIRST OF THE WENONAHS. LET +BIG SISTER WINNIE SEE THAT LITTLE +SISSY WEENIE IS PROPERLY CLOTHED.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I’ll bet anything your friend Agony wrote that. +I have a feeling that she and I are kindred spirits.</p> +<p>Won’t my girls revel in those beads and looms, +though?</p> +<p>BOOKS! Four whole cases of them! What on +earth have you done now?</p> +<blockquote> +<p class="center">“THE WINNEBAGO LIBRARY +<br />PASSED ON BY THOSE WHO KNOW AND LOVE GOOD BOOKS TO THOSE WHO WILL +SOON KNOW AND LOVE THEM”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>How did you do it? Asked a hundred girls to +give one book apiece? You don’t mean to say that +there are a hundred girls interested in us poor backwoods +folks out here in Spencer? I can’t believe it! +Oh, we’ll work and work and <i>work</i>, to prove ourselves +worthy of it all!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_133">[133]</div> +<p>And oh, all those little personal pretties just for +me! Hinpoha, <i>where</i> did you find that darling pen-holder +with the parrot’s head on the end, and +Gladys, who told you that I broke my handglass +and was pining for a white ivory one?</p> +<p>And even a lump of sugar for Sandhelo and a +bow for Piggy’s tail! I admire the artist who drew +that bow.</p> +<p>The last box bore Nyoda’s return address. What +do you suppose was in it? Her chafing dish! The +very one she used to have in her room, that I used +to admire so much. Dear Nyoda! She knew I +would rather have that than anything else.</p> +<p>O my dears, there never <i>was</i> such a Christmas! +There never <i>will</i> be such a Christmas! Nobody ever +had such friends before. If I live to be a thousand +years old I’ll never be able to return one-tenth of +your kindness.</p> +<p><span class="center">Yours, swimming in ecstasy,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_134">[134]</div> +<h3>GLADYS TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">March 25, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Katherine:</span></p> +<p>Listen, my beloved, while I sing you a song of +Migwan. She has awakened at last to find herself +famous, and the rest of us, by reason of reflected +glory, found ourselves looked upon as different from +all other animals, and wonderfully popular and run +after by five o’clock in the afternoon, like Old Man +Kangaroo. And, all precepts upon precepts to the +contrary, it wasn’t conscientiously applying herself +to her task that turned the trick, but deliberate shirking. +After all, though, it was mostly a matter of +chance, because if it hadn’t rained so that night last +October, Migwan would have gone to the library as +she should have, and the world would have lost a +priceless contribution to Indian lore.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_135">[135]</div> +<p>It happened thusly. One of Migwan’s cronies in +the sophomore class has a weak throat and a condition +in Indian History. On the night I have mentioned +she trickled tearfully into Migwan’s room +and confided that she simply had to have an Indian +legend to read in class the following day or be +marked zero. She had had all the week in which to +look one up in the library, but, according to immemorial +custom, she had left it for the last night. +Now it was raining pitchforks and she didn’t dare +go out, because she got a terrible attack of quinsy +every time there was an east wind. Migwan, like +the angel she is, promptly offered to go over and +hunt one up for her.</p> +<p>“What kind of an Indian legend?” she inquired.</p> +<p>“Oh, any kind,” replied Harriet carelessly, “so +long as it’s <i>Indian</i>. We’re studying the Soul of the +Savage as revealed by legend, or something like that. +Slip it under my door when you come back with it. +I’m going to bed and coddle my throat. Be sure you +don’t get one that’s too long,” she called back over +her shoulder, “remember there are twenty in the +class to help reveal the Savage Soul.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_136">[136]</div> +<p>Harriet ambled placidly back to her room and +Migwan began hunting through her closet for her +raincoat and rubbers. She didn’t find them, because +she had lent them to somebody the week before and +couldn’t remember whom she lent them to. She +looked out of the window at the torrents coming +down and decided that her little rocking chair by the +lamp held out more attraction than a trip to the +library. But she didn’t have the heart to disappoint +Harriet by not getting her an Indian legend to read +in class the next day, so she sat down and manufactured +one, which is as easy as rolling off a log +for Migwan. Harriet would never know the difference, +and neither would the teacher, off hand, +and a made-up legend would save the day for Harriet +as well as a genuine one. The chances were +she wouldn’t be called upon to read it anyway. You +never are, you know, when you’ve broken your neck +to be ready. Migwan slipped it under Harriet’s +door and then forgot all about it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_137">[137]</div> +<p>Several weeks later, when the <i>Monthly Morterboard</i> +came out, there was Migwan’s Indian legend, +big as life. It had obviously been used to fill up +space and was not credited to the literary talent of +the college; but to Joseph Latoka, or “Standing +Pine,” the Penobscot Indian who had collected the +legends of his tribe into a book, which was in the +college library and which was our authority on +things Indian. Migwan laughed to herself over it, +but never gave away the fact that she had written it. +She discovered in a roundabout way that the Literary +Editor of the <i>Morterboard</i> had been in despair +over lack of material when the October number was +due, and told her tale of woe to Miss Percival, one +of the teachers, and asked her if she had any essays +fit to print. Miss Percival replied that she hadn’t +had a decent essay this semester, but a girl in one +of her classes had brought in a rather remarkable +Indian legend several days before, which might serve +to cast into the breach. The <i>Morterboard</i> editor +promptly hunted up Harriet and demanded the legend. +Harriet still had it among her goods and chattels, +and gave it to her readily, saying that it was +one of Joseph Latoka’s <i>Legends of the Penobscot +Indians</i>, which she honestly believed to be the fact. +The <i>Morterboard</i> editor took her word for it and +used the legend to fill up the chinks in the October +issue.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="gs">* * * * * *</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_138">[138]</div> +<p>It was not long after this that Very Seldom paid +his annual visit to Brownell. His name really wasn’t +Very Seldom; it was Jeremiah Selden, but everybody +referred to him as Jerry, and it wasn’t long +before “Jerry Selden” became “Very Seldom.” He +used to be Professor of Sociology at Brownell, but +he had to give up lecturing because he lost his voice. +He was a sad little man with a plaintive droop to his +white mustache and only a whisper of a voice. He +had lost his whole family in some kind of a railroad +accident and always went around with such a +homeless air that everybody felt sorry for him. His +hobby was Indian History, Indian Legends and Indian +Relics. After he gave up teaching sociology +he took to writing books, dry old essays and that +sort of thing. Nobody ever read them, and he didn’t +make much out of them, but he kept plodding along, +always hoping that he would make a hit the next +time.</p> +<p>Once every year he came back to Brownell to +spend Sunday, to keep alive the memories of his +former life, he used to explain sentimentally. Miss +Allison, his successor as professor of sociology, and +who has him beat forty miles for teaching, always +entertained him at tea on the occasion of his visit, +and used to ask him stacks of questions, jollying +him along and making him believe she was in doubt +about a lot of things she knew better than he did. +Having his opinion consulted that way made him +feel quite cheerful and important, and his visit to +Brownell always put new life into him.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_139">[139]</div> +<p>It happened that one Sunday afternoon Migwan +went to Miss Allison’s room to ask her about something +and ran into Very Seldom paying his annual +visit. Miss Allison herself wasn’t there. She had +been called out of town the night before and had +turned over the job of entertaining Very Seldom to +her room-mate, Miss Lee. Miss Lee taught mathematics +and didn’t care a rap about sociology, and +still less about Indians. Miss Lee is very fond of +Migwan, and invited her to stay to tea. Migwan is +forever getting asked to tea by the faculty; it’s because +she always gets her hair parted so straight in +the middle, and never upsets her teacup.</p> +<p>Migwan had heard about Very Seldom, and was +just as anxious to help cheer him up as anybody, but +this time he didn’t need any cheering. He was positively +radiant. He was talking about his latest book +and was nearly bursting with enthusiasm.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_140">[140]</div> +<p>It seems that all his life he had been having an +argument with another Indian History shark as to +whether, before the coming of the white man to this +continent, the eastern Indians had ever lived on, or +visited the western plains. He maintained that they +had, while his friend insisted that they hadn’t. Just +recently he had read, in a magazine published by the +Indian Society of North America, a hitherto unpublished +legend of Joseph Latoka’s, a curious legend +of the White Buffalo. To his mind this proved +beyond a doubt that the Penobscot Indians had, at +some time or other, lived on or visited the Great +Plains, and had seen the Buffalo. It was the only +Penobscot legend that mentioned the buffalo as an +object of worship. He had immediately written +a monograph on the subject which was even then in +the hands of the publisher. It was a great point to +have discovered. Fame would come to him at last. +Very Seldom’s air of desolation had vanished; his +hour of triumph had come.</p> +<p>It was at this point that Migwan, the expert tea +drinker, suddenly upset her cup all over Miss Allison’s +cherished Mexican drawnwork lunchcloth. +That foolish legend that she had manufactured to +save herself a trip to the library in the rain had been +taken as authentic and had been copied from the +<i>Morterboard</i> into other magazines! At the time +she wrote it she was in too much of a hurry to pay +attention to any such trifles as the difference between +Eastern and Plains Indians. Anyway, she hadn’t +<i>said</i> anywhere that they were Penobscot Indians, it +was Harriet who had said so to the <i>Morterboard</i> +editor.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_141">[141]</div> +<p>Several times during the evening she tried to tell +poor Very Seldom that the Legend of the White +Buffalo, which proved his point so conclusively, was +not a legend at all, but her own composition, +but each time the words choked her. The little +ex-Professor’s satisfaction was so great and his happiness +so supreme that she didn’t have the heart to +blot it out. The secret was hers. Everybody in college +believed that legend to have come from the collection +of Joseph Latoka. All the evening she debated +with herself whether or not she should tell, or +let the fake legend go down on record. In the end +the professor’s happiness won the day and she decided +not to mar his almost childish glee in his discovery.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_142">[142]</div> +<p>“What does it matter, after all?” she thought. +“About three-fourths of the things that are written +about Indians aren’t true. Nobody will read his old +monograph anyway, so no harm will be done. If it +gives him so much pleasure to think he’s discovered +something, why spoil it all?” The whole matter +seemed so trivial to Migwan that it wasn’t worth +fussing about. Just what difference did it make to +the world, especially at this time, whether the eastern +Indians of the United States had ever visited the +western plains or not? It seemed about as important +as whether the Fourth Emperor of the Ming +Dynasty had carrots for dinner or parsnips. So she +went home without revealing the origin of the Legend +of the White Buffalo.</p> +<p>She thought the incident was decently interred, +and had forgotten all about it, when—pop! out came +Jack-in-the-box once more. Along in March came +the celebrated lecturer on Indian costumes, Dr. Burnett. +Handbills announcing his lecture were distributed +all over town a week before his coming. The +public was to be admitted and half the proceeds were +to go to the library fund. Migwan picked up one +of the handbills and glanced casually at the subject +of the lecture. Then her hair nearly turned green. +It was “The Legend of the White Buffalo,” based +on the book of the late Professor Jeremiah Selden!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_143">[143]</div> +<p>The first fact that struck Migwan was that Very +Seldom was dead, which came as a shock of surprise. +Poor Very Seldom! He had found a home +at last. But before he went he had had his inning +and had died happy that he had contributed an important +link to the chains of Indian History.</p> +<p>Then Migwan realized what a horrible mess she +had started by writing that legend and keeping still +about it. If anybody ever found out about it now, +Dr. Burnett’s reputation would be ruined.</p> +<p>An hour before the lecture was to begin found +Migwan sitting in the parlor of the hotel waiting +for Dr. Burnett to come down in answer to the note +she sent up with a bellboy. He came presently, a +long-haired, Van Dyke-y sort of man, who smiled +genially at her and inquired affably what he could +do for the charming miss.</p> +<p>“If you please,” said Migwan breathlessly, “could +you give some other lecture just as well?”</p> +<p>“Could I give some other lecture just as well?” +repeated Dr. Burnett in perplexity.</p> +<p>“Yes,” Migwan went on desperately, trying to get +it over with quickly, “could you? You see, the +Legend of the White Buffalo isn’t a legend at all.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_144">[144]</div> +<p>“The Legend of the White Buffalo <i>isn’t</i> a legend!” +repeated Dr. Burnett again, looking at Migwan +as if he thought she was not in her right mind. +“Pray, what is it?”</p> +<p>“It’s—it’s a fake,” said Migwan.</p> +<p>“A fake!” exclaimed Dr. Burnett, in astonishment. +“And how do you know it is a fake?”</p> +<p>“Because I wrote it myself,” said Migwan, trying +to break the news as gently as possible, “because +it was simply pouring, and Harriet had a sore +throat.”</p> +<p>“You wrote it yourself because it was simply +pouring and Harriet had a sore throat?” repeated +Dr. Burnett, now acting as if he were sure she was +out of her mind.</p> +<p>Then Migwan explained.</p> +<p>“But, my dear,” said Dr. Burnett, “you <i>couldn’t</i> +have written that legend. No white man could have +invented it. It is the very breath and spirit of the +Indian. In it the Soul of the Savage stands revealed.”</p> +<p>“But I <i>did</i>,” insisted Migwan, and finally succeeded +in convincing him that she was telling the +truth.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_145">[145]</div> +<p>Dr. Burnett usually spent from one to three +months preparing a new lecture. He prepared one +that night in an hour that knocked the shine out of +all his previous ones. His speech entitled, “What +Chance Has a Man When a Woman Takes a Hand” +brought down the house. He told the story of the +fake legend, and the audience was alternately laughing +at the neat way Migwan had taken everybody +in and weeping at the way she wouldn’t spoil poor +Very Seldom’s pleasure.</p> +<p>Migwan was the heroine of the hour. The whole +college sought her acquaintance forthwith. Of +course, they found out all about the Winnebagos, +and how Migwan came to know so much about Indian +lore, and Hinpoha and I, being Winnebagos, +too, came in for our share of the glory. Our humble +apartment is filled to overflowing all day long +with girls who want to make Migwan’s acquaintance +and casually drop in on us in the hope of meeting her +in our chamber. It is great to be fellow-Winnebago +with a celebrity.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_146">[146]</div> +<p>But I haven’t told you all yet. The day after the +lecture Dr. Burnett had a solemn conference with +that portion of the English Department which was +so fortunate to have Migwan in its classes, after +which Migwan was called in. She went with a kind +of scary feeling because she thought Dr. Burnett +might be going to have her arrested for perpetrating +the fake, but instead of that she was informed that +she showed such budding talent in composition and +had such a positive genius for portraying the soul +of the Indian that he wanted her to work with him +in his research work after she graduated from college. +She is to make a grand tour with him among +the real Indians on the reservations and get them to +tell tales of the old days as they remember them +from the legends of their fathers and then she is to +write them down to be published in a book.</p> +<p>Just imagine it! There is Migwan’s future all +cut out for her with a cookie cutter, all because she +was too lazy to go across the campus in the rain and +get a real legend for a sick friend. Isn’t life queer?</p> +<p><span class="center">Famously yours,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Gladys.</span></p> +<p>P. S. O Katherine, <i>mon amie</i>, why aren’t you +here? But from the tone of your last letters it seems +that you have become reconciled to your lonely lot. +So the “mysterious him” that came to you from out +the Vast is teaching you French and History and +reading Literature with you! Katherine Adams, +you sly puss, you’ll be better educated yet than we!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_147">[147]</div> +<h3>SAHWAH TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">April 4, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest K:</span></p> +<p>You don’t need to think you’re the only one having +adventures with your work. Your little old +Sahwah is a sure enough grown up young lady now, +a real wage-earner, making her little track along the +Open Road, and frequently stepping into mud holes +and falling flat on her face. I’m “Miss Brewster” +now, in a tailored suit and plain shirtwaist, ready to +conquer the world with a notebook and typewriter. +I finished my course at the business college early in +February, and one day while I was in the last stages +of completion as a stenographer and nearly ready to +have a shipping tag pasted on me in the shape of a +graduation certificate, I was summoned into the private +office of Mr. Barrett, the head of the school.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_148">[148]</div> +<p>I had a chill when the office girl brought me the +message. There were only two or three things you +were ever sent to Mr. Barrett for. One was failure +to pay your tuition; another was doing so poorly +in your work that you were a disgrace instead of a +credit to the school; another was for “skipping +school.” A number of the girls were in the habit +of cutting classes after lunch several days in the +week and either going to the matinee or running +around town with boys from the school. Many +complaints about this had come to Mr. Barrett from +the teachers, until he got so that he sent for everyone +who skipped and read them a stiff lecture. He is a +very stern, austere man, and the whole school stands +in dread of him.</p> +<p>I went over my list of sins when I was summoned +to the office. My tuition was paid up until +the end; there was no trouble there. It wouldn’t +be my lessons either; for, while I was far from being +the eighth wonder of the world on the typewriter, +I still had managed to stay in the “A” division +since the first. But—here my hair began to +stand on end—I had “skipped school” the afternoon +before. Slim had come home from college to attend +the funeral of his grandfather, and had called +me up and invited me to go automobiling with him +while he was waiting for his train to go back, and +you can guess what happened to Duty. I just naturally +skipped school and went with him. It was the +first and only time I had skipped in my whole career, +but I was evidently going to get my trimmings for it. +I went into the office with a sinking heart, for up +until this time I had managed to keep in Mr. Barrett’s +good graces, and I did pride myself quite a bit +on my unreproved state. But I made up my mind to +take it like a good sport—I had danced and now +I would pay the piper.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_149">[149]</div> +<p>Having gone into the office in such a state of +mind, I wasn’t prepared for the shock when Mr. +Barrett looked up from his desk and greeted me with +a (for him) extremely amiable smile.</p> +<p>“Sit down, Miss Brewster,” he said pleasantly, +pulling up a chair for me beside his own.</p> +<p>I sat down. It was time, for my knees were giving +away under me.</p> +<p>“Miss Brewster,” Mr. Barrett began affably, “I +have here”—and he picked up a paper on which he +had made some notations—“a call for a stenographer +which is a little out of the ordinary line.” He +paused to let that sink in.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_150">[150]</div> +<p>“Yes, sir,” I murmured respectfully. My heart +began to beat freely again. He wasn’t going to lecture +me about skipping school!</p> +<p>“Mrs. Osgood Harper,” continued Mr. Barrett +crisply, “telephoned me this morning personally, and +asked if I had a young lady whom I could send her +every day from nine until one to attend to her personal +correspondence. She is very particular about +the kind of person she wants; it must be someone +who is refined and educated, as well as a good stenographer, +for a good deal of her work will be social +correspondence. She also intimated that the girl +must be—er, reasonably good looking.”</p> +<p>He paused a second time and again I said meekly, +“Yes, sir.” There didn’t seem to be anything else +to say.</p> +<p>“I have carefully considered all the girls in the +finishing class,” continued Mr. Barrett, “and you +seem to be the only one I could consider for the +position. I know Mrs. Harper and know that in +some ways she will be hard to work for. But the +pay she offers is generous; better than you could do +as a beginner in a commercial house, and the hours +are excellent, nine to one, leaving your afternoons +free. Besides that, there will be the advantage to +yourself of coming in contact with such people as +the Harpers, and the pleasure of working in such +beautiful surroundings. You are a girl who will appreciate +such things. You know who the Harpers +are, of course?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_151">[151]</div> +<p>I had never heard of them, but I was quite willing +to be enlightened. The Harpers, it seemed, were +in the first boatload of settlers that landed on our +town site; they had since accumulated such a fortune +that it made Pike’s Peak look like an ant hill; +and no matter what string Mrs. Harper harped on, +people were sure to sit still and listen. Now she +desired a personal stenographer of maidenly form, +and I, Sahwah the Sunfish, had been measured by +the awe-inspiring Mr. Barrett and found fit.</p> +<p>My feelings as I came out of the office were far +different from those with which I went in. I entered +with a guilty droop; I came out with my head +in the air. I hadn’t dreamed of getting such a position +to start with. I had pictured myself as beginning +at the bottom in some big office and slowly +working to the top. But to begin my career by doing +the private work of Mrs. Osgood Harper! It +seemed like some fairy tale. I tried to think of +something to say to Mr. Barrett to thank him for +having recommended me for the position, but the +shock had sent my wits skylarking, and the only +thing that came into my head was that song that we +used to sing:</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_152">[152]</div> +<blockquote> +<p>“Out of a city of six million people, why did you +pick upon me?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and that, of course, was impossible as a noble sentiment.</p> +<p>The next morning I set out on my Joyous Venture. +The Osgood Harpers lived on the Heights in +a great colonial house set up high on a hill and approached +by long, winding walks. It was more than +a mile from the street-car, but I enjoyed the walk +through those beautiful estates. I couldn’t have +served a tennis ball in any direction without hitting +a millionaire.</p> +<p>Mrs. Harper was a stout and tremendously impressive +lady about forty years old. She had steely +blue eyes that looked right through me until I began +to have horrible fears that there was something +wrong with my appearance and she would presently +say that I would not do at all. But she didn’t; all +she said was, “So you are Miss Brewster, are you?” +and motioned me to sit down at a writing table.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_153">[153]</div> +<p>She had received me in a cozy little sitting room +which opened out of her bedroom, and it seemed +that this was to be my office. She started right in +to lay out my work for me and I didn’t have much +time to look around at the beautiful furnishings. +The work was far different from anything we had +had in school, but very interesting, and I took to it +from the start. Mrs. Harper is chairman of countless +committees, and secretary of several societies, +and there were quantities of notices to send out to +committee members, and letters to write to business +men soliciting subscriptions to various funds and +things like that, all to be written on heavy linen +paper of finest quality, bearing the Harper monogram +in embossed gold in the upper left-hand corner.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</div> +<p>I worked away with a will and the morning hours +flew. I would have worked right on past one o’clock +without knowing it if there hadn’t been an interruption. +Shortly after noon the door opened and +a girl of about seventeen walked in. She was extremely +pretty; that is, at first glance she was. She +was very fair, with bright pink cheeks and big blue +eyes. Her yellow hair was plastered down over her +forehead in an exaggerated style, and monstrous +pearl earrings dangled from her ears. She had evidently +just come in from outdoors, for she wore +an all mink coat and held a mink cap in her hand. +Without a glance in my direction she began chatting +to Mrs. Harper in a thin, nasal, high-pitched +voice. I dropped my eyes and went on with my +work. In a minute I could feel her staring at me.</p> +<p>“Ethel,” said Mrs. Harper, as soon as she could +get the floor, “this is Miss Brewster, my stenographer. +Miss Brewster, my daughter Ethel.”</p> +<p>I acknowledged the introduction pleasantly; Miss +Ethel favored me with another stare, murmured +something in an indistinct tone and then immediately +turned her back on me and went on talking to +her mother. Right then and there my admiration +for the “first families” got a setback; I didn’t admire +Ethel Harper’s manners, not a little bit. She +had “snob” written all over her features. I could +see that she classed me with the servants and as such +she didn’t trouble herself to be polite to me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div> +<p>“A lot there is to be gained by associating with +<i>her</i>,” I said to myself. “I’ll be just as cool and dignified +as possible when <i>she’s</i> around. She won’t get +another chance to snub me.”</p> +<p>But in spite of her I was enthusiastic about the +position and could hardly wait until I got there the +next day. Mrs. Harper went out shortly after I +arrived and I worked alone. Ethel Harper came +home from school at noon and went through the +room on the way to her mother’s, but I rattled away +on the typewriter and never looked up. She came +out soon and went into her own room, which was +on the other side. In about fifteen minutes I heard +her call me.</p> +<p>“Miss Brewster!” I stopped typing.</p> +<p>“What is it?” I asked.</p> +<p>“Come here,” she called, and her voice sounded +impatient.</p> +<p>I stepped across the hall into her room. She was +standing in front of the mirror putting on a ruffled +taffeta dress, which she was struggling to adjust.</p> +<p>“Hook me up!” she commanded, without the formality +of saying “Please.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</div> +<p>I had it on the end of my tongue to tell her that +I was a stenographer, not a lady’s maid, but I remembered +“Give Service” in time, and hooked her +up without a word. She never even said “Thank +you!” She just sat down at her dressing table and +began pencilling her eyebrows. Evidently it must +have been the maid’s day out, for she called me in +again later to pin her collar.</p> +<p>“Have I got too much color on my face?” she +asked languidly, dabbing away at her cheeks with +some red stuff out of a box in front of her. Then +she put carmine on her lips, a sort of whitewash on +her nose and forehead and finished it with some +pencilled shadows under her eyes. All I could think +of was Eeny-Meeny, the time we gave her that coat +of war paint.</p> +<p>“What’s that?” asked milady while I was fastening +her collar, poking her finger at my Torch Bearer’s +pin.</p> +<p>“It’s a Camp Fire pin,” I replied.</p> +<p>“What’s Camp Fire?” she demanded idly.</p> +<p>I explained briefly what Camp Fire was.</p> +<p>“Gee,” said Ethel elegantly, “none of that for +mine!” And she picked up her eyebrow pencil +again and did a little more frescoing.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</div> +<p>I went back to my work in disgust. I was so +disappointed in Ethel Harper. I had expected that +the daughter of such a fine family would be a real +lady in every sense of the word—cultured, genuine, +thoroughbred; and she had turned out to be nothing +but a cheap imitation—slangy, ill-bred, snobbish, +overdressed and made up like an actress. Beyond +her pretty, baby doll face there was nothing to her. +There wasn’t an ounce of brains in her poor flat +head.</p> +<p>And yet, she was tremendously popular in her own +snobbish set, as I could gather from conversations +around me, and by the invitations she was constantly +receiving to festivities. Although she was not formally +out in society, I knew that she went out to +dances with men very often, when her mother +thought that she was spending the night with girl +friends. I found that out from telephone conversations +Ethel carried on when her mother was out +of the way. It was plain to be seen that Ethel had +only one ambition in the world, and that was to have +a good time, regardless of how she got it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</div> +<p>It wasn’t any of my business, of course, but I +couldn’t help wondering what Mrs. Harper would +do if she knew about some of Ethel’s little excursions. +Mrs. Harper had a flinty sort of nature and +you only had to look into those cold eyes of hers to +know that it would go hard with anyone who had +displeased her. One morning I had a good chance +to see her when she was roused. A Cloisonné +locket belonging to Mrs. Harper had disappeared +from her jewel box and she had accused her maid, +Clarice, of taking it. Clarice, frightened out of her +wits, was tearfully protesting her innocence, but +Mrs. Harper towered over her like a fury, threatening +to hand her over to the police. Ethel, sitting in +a rocking chair polishing her finger nails, listened +indifferently. I felt embarrassed to witness this +painful scene and stood irresolute, unable to decide +whether to go out or stay, when Mrs. Harper turned +to me and said, “Make out a check for Clarice’s +wages for the month and deduct twenty-five dollars +from it, the value of the locket she stole. Then insert +an advertisement in the papers for a new maid.”</p> +<p>Clarice, with a fresh burst of grief, declared again +that she knew nothing about the locket, and begged +not to be sent away with a black character, because +she had a paralyzed sister to support, but Mrs. Harper +was unmoved. Out went Clarice, bag and baggage, +crying as she went and still declaring her innocence.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</div> +<p>“These maids will steal you blind, if you give +them a chance,” said Mrs. Harper, still bristling +with anger.</p> +<p>“I never did like Clarice,” remarked Ethel with +a yawn.</p> +<p>The next day Mrs. Harper went out during the +morning and Ethel called me to help her pack her +visiting bag. She was going to spend the week-end +with a girl friend. No new maid had come to take +Clarice’s place as yet, so Ethel took advantage of +my not having much work to do for her mother +that morning to press me into service.</p> +<p>“I can’t find my wrist watch,” she said as I +came in. “I don’t know whether I put it in the bag +or not, and I haven’t time to look. Will you look +through the bag while I finish dressing?”</p> +<p>I pawed carefully through the bag, and brought +to light, not the wrist watch, but the Cloisonné +locket, which Mrs. Harper had accused Clarice of +taking.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</div> +<p>“Why, Ethel,” I said delightedly, “here is your +mother’s locket! Clarice didn’t steal it after all. +It was down in your bag.”</p> +<p>“I know it was,” said Ethel coolly. “I put it +there.”</p> +<p>“<i>You</i> put it there?” I echoed. “Did you find it, +then?”</p> +<p>Ethel laughed disagreeably. “I had it all the +while,” she said. “I’m going to a dance to-night +that mamma doesn’t know anything about, and +I’ve set my heart on wearing that locket. Mamma +will never let me wear it; it was brought to her +from Paris by an old friend that’s dead now, and +she’s afraid I’ll lose it. So I just took it out of +her jewel box the other day and made her believe +Clarice took it.”</p> +<p>“Ethel!” I exclaimed in horror. “How could +you? How could you sit there and hear your mother +accuse poor Clarice of taking it?”</p> +<p>Ethel shrugged her shoulders. “I never did like +Clarice,” she said. “She was an impertinent piece. +It served her right. Put the locket back in the bag. +I’ve got to start in a minute.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</div> +<p>But I didn’t budge. I stood looking at her until +she looked the other way. With all her millions +and all her fine connections, I despised Ethel Harper +as if she had been a crawling worm. I didn’t want +to get mixed up in anything that wasn’t my business, +but I had no intention of letting poor Clarice +remain under a cloud.</p> +<p>“I’m not going to put it back in the bag,” I replied +firmly. “I’m going to take it right back to +your mother when she comes home. She must +know that it isn’t stolen so she can make things +right with Clarice.”</p> +<p>“Don’t you dare tell mamma,” said Ethel furiously. +“She’ll kill me if she knows I’ve got it. +Give it to me, I say.” She tried to snatch it out +of my hand, but I kept hold of it. “Give it to me, +you impertinent little stenographer, you!” she +shrieked.</p> +<p>It was getting disgraceful. I tried to save a +shred of dignity. I laid the locket on the dresser +and faced Ethel steadily. I still had a vivid memory +of Clarice’s distressed face as she went out +that day.</p> +<p>“You have done Clarice a wrong,” I said firmly, +“and it must be righted. I’ll give you your choice. +Either you take the locket back to your mother or +I’ll tell her where it is.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div> +<p>Ethel changed her tactics and tried to bribe me. +“I’ll give you a dozen pairs of silk stockings if you +don’t say anything to mamma about it and let her +go on thinking it’s stolen, so I can wear it whenever +I please,” she offered.</p> +<p>I longed to choke her. “Don’t you try to bribe +me, Ethel Harper,” I said severely. “I’ve got a +code of honor, even if I am a poor stenographer, +which is more than you have, with all your millions.”</p> +<p>“Some more of your Campfire stuff,” she said +sneeringly.</p> +<p>“You bet it is ‘Campfire stuff,’” I replied hotly. +“You see that little pin? One of things it says is +‘Be trustworthy.’ If I let Clarice be unjustly accused +I wouldn’t be worthy of that pin. Remember! +Either you tell your mother or I do.” And I +started for the door.</p> +<p>Ethel changed her tune again and began to cry. +“Everybody is so horrid to me,” she sobbed. +“Mamma will never let me go anywhere I want to +go or wear what I want to wear, and the servants +won’t do what I tell them. Even my mother’s +stenographer bosses me around! I wish I was +dead!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_163">[163]</div> +<p>But I was firm in my championship of Clarice. +“You’ll have to tell,” I repeated. “I see your +mother coming in now.”</p> +<p>Ethel began to look frightened. “I’ll not tell her +I took it, she’d kill me,” she whined. “I’ll tell her I +just found it and she can take back what she said to +Clarice.”</p> +<p>I looked her steadily in the eyes. She flushed +and looked down.</p> +<p>“I suppose you’ll go and tell anyway, you old +tattletale,” she said savagely. “I’ll get even with +you for this, see if I don’t!” She ran out of the +room and I didn’t see her again for several days.</p> +<p>However, I knew the locket had gone back where +it belonged, because Mrs. Harper had me send +Clarice a check for twenty-five dollars, with the +brief statement that the locket had been found. +Right there was where I lost some of my regard +for Mrs. Harper. She never apologized to Clarice +for accusing her wrongfully; never offered to do +anything to make it up to her. She just sent that +cold little note and the check. A real thoroughbred +would have acknowledged herself to be in the +wrong, but Mrs. Harper couldn’t bring herself to +apologize to a servant. The affair blew over and +I never heard Clarice mentioned again.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_164">[164]</div> +<p>I grew to like my work more and more, as the +days went by, and gradually learned to handle quite +a bit of it myself. Mrs. Harper was very busy; +she did a great deal of Red Cross and other war +work, besides keeping up in all her clubs, and she +got into the habit of telling me what to say to +people and letting me write the letters myself. +Early in March she went out of town to a convention +and left me with a great many letters to write +to various people, telling me to sign her name for +her. I took very great pains with all those letters +so as to be sure to say the right things to the right +people, and I felt satisfied when the week was out +that I had done myself credit.</p> +<p>Accordingly, it struck me like a thunderbolt when, +several days after her return, Mrs. Harper came to +me, blazing with anger, and demanded to know +what I meant by writing such letters in her absence. +Startled, I asked her what she referred to.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_165">[165]</div> +<p>“You wrote Mr. Samuel Butler that if he didn’t +hurry and pay up his subscription to the Red Cross +Mr. Harper would pay it for him and take it out +of his next bill,” said Mrs. Harper furiously. “Mr. +Butler is insulted and has withdrawn his subscription +of ten thousand dollars to the Perkins Settlement +House, which I am trying so hard to establish. +Whatever possessed you to write such a letter?”</p> +<p>“I never wrote a letter like that,” I replied with +spirit. “I wrote Mr. Butler a very polite, respectful +reminder that his pledge was due this month; I +never mentioned Mr. Harper or anything about paying +it and taking the amount out of any bill.”</p> +<p>I was completely at sea.</p> +<p>“You <i>did</i> write that letter!” declared Mrs. Harper +angrily. “How dare you deny it? Mr. Butler +showed it to me. It was written on this very stationery, +on this typewriter with the green ribbon, +and signed with my name in the way you sign it. +You wrote it to be funny, I suppose. Well, I can +tell you that I can’t have anything like that. I won’t +have any further need for your services.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_166">[166]</div> +<p>She was so positive I had written it that I began +to have an awful feeling that I might have written +it in my sleep. You know what strange things I +do in my sleep sometimes. But all the while I knew +who had done it. Ethel Harper had sworn to get +even with me for making her tell her mother about +the locket. She had written that letter in place of +the one I had written. I remembered that one day +while Mrs. Harper was away I had been called +downstairs and kept talking for over an hour to one +of Mrs. Harper’s committee members who had undertaken +to distribute some literature and came for +instructions. During that time Ethel would have +had plenty of chance to read through my mail upstairs.</p> +<p>I started to tell Mrs. Harper that I suspected +someone else of writing it, intending to lead gently +up to the subject of Ethel, but Mrs. Harper scoffed +at the idea.</p> +<p>“There isn’t anyone else in the house who can run +the typewriter,” she said flatly.</p> +<p>This was untrue. Ethel could run it; she had +done so several times when I was there. But what +was the use of accusing Ethel when her mother +wouldn’t believe it anyway? I realized the hopelessness +of trying to convince Mrs. Harper of something +she didn’t want to believe.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_167">[167]</div> +<p>“And further,” continued Mrs. Harper, “I have +found that you have not been attending strictly to +business. Ethel tells me that you often go over to +her room when she is there and stand and talk to +her instead of giving your time to my work.”</p> +<p>“Little snake-in-the-grass!” I thought vengefully. +I had never gone to her room unless she had called +me to do something.</p> +<p>I made up my mind I wouldn’t stay there another +minute. I didn’t have to work for such people. +I drew myself up stiffly. “If you believe such +things, Mrs. Harper,” I said icily, “there can be no +business relations between us. I shall not even take +the trouble to prove the truth about that letter. I +shall go immediately.” And go I did. I knew Mr. +Barrett would be very much put out over the affair, +because he seemed to think Mrs. Harper had done +his school an honor by hiring one of his pupils, but +what was I to do? Stay there and be the scapegoat +for all Ethel’s sins. Not while I had feet to +walk away on.</p> +<p>As I went down the steps I met Ethel coming +up. She looked at me with a meaning expression +and a triumphant smile. She had kept her word and +gotten even with me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_168">[168]</div> +<p>I felt badly over it, of course, for who can lose +a good position and not be cut up about it? I suppose +I must have looked pretty doleful for a couple +of days, because I met Mrs. Anderson, that friend +of Nyoda’s, who used to lend us so many “props” +for our Winnebago performances, on the street and +she asked me right away what was the matter.</p> +<p>“You’re lonesome for those friends of yours,” +she went on, without giving me a chance to answer. +“I’m lonesome, too,” she went on. “My husband +has been in Washington all winter. Come out and +spend a few days with me. You used to be pretty +good company, if I remember rightly.”</p> +<p>She persuaded me and I went. You remember +the Anderson place out on the East Shore, don’t +you? We were all out there once last year. Perfect +duck of a house all made of soft gray shingles +and seven acres of garden and woods around it. I +tramped all over the place through the March mud, +looking for signs of spring, and had a perfectly +glorious time.</p> +<p>“There’s one sign of spring, over there,” said +Mrs. Anderson, who was with me on one of my +tramps.</p> +<p>“Where?” I asked, looking around.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_169">[169]</div> +<p>“Young man’s fancy,” said Mrs. Anderson with +a laugh of tolerant amusement, “lightly turning to +thoughts of love. Look up on the barn there.”</p> +<p>I looked where she pointed, and saw a boy of +about eighteen standing on the roof of the barn +gazing off into space through a field glass. He +had a white flag tied to his right wrist, which he +was waving over his head, like the soldiers do when +they signal.</p> +<p>“Who is he and what is he doing?” I asked.</p> +<p>“That’s Peter, the boy who helps around the +stable,” replied Mrs. Anderson. “He’s sending messages +to his lady love. A certain combination of +flourishes means ‘I love you,’ and another means +‘Meet me to-night,’ and so on. He told John, my +chauffeur, about it, and John told me.”</p> +<p>“How silly!” said I, with a laugh for poor lovesick +Peter. “Who is the object of his affection?”</p> +<p>“Some servant girl from the next estate,” replied +Mrs. Anderson. “They carry on their affair +through field glasses and with signals. They think +they are having a thrilling romance.”</p> +<p>“Disgusting!” said I. “How could any girl make +such a fool of herself where everybody can see +her!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_170">[170]</div> +<p>Mrs. Anderson laughed indulgently, but I could +feel her scorn underneath it. “Some girls will sell +every scrap of dignity they have for what they consider +a good time, my dear,” she said, laying her +hand on my arm in a motherly way.</p> +<p>We left Romeo on the barn flourishing out his +messages in the late March sunshine and wandered +over to the next estate. There was a new litter of +prize bull pups over there and Mrs. Anderson had +promised that I should see them before I went home. +A creek divided the two estates, which we crossed +on a little foot bridge. The path led along beside +the creek for a while until the little stream widened +out into a beautiful pond, big enough for boating. +A pier had been built at one side of the pond, running +out into the water. Someone was standing +out on the end of the pier, and as we came up we +saw that we had discovered the other half of the +romance. A girl, with a field glass held to her +eyes and a white flag tied around her right wrist, +was signalling in the direction of the Anderson +barn, the roof of which was visible in the distance, +beyond Mrs. Anderson’s apple orchard.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_171">[171]</div> +<p>Something about the girl was familiar, even in the +distance, and as we came near I recognized the mink +coat that I had seen many times lately. There was +no doubt about it. The girl on the end of the pier +was Ethel Harper. I stood still, too much disgusted +to speak. Ethel Harper, the daughter of one of the +“first” families, with the best social position in the +city, her mother prominent in all great uplift movements, +carrying on a vulgar flirtation with Mrs. +Anderson’s stable boy! So this was the great romance +she had been hinting about at various times! +Randall—that was the name of the girl she was +intimate with; this was the Randall place. She had +been coming here so often for the sake of the boy +next door. Did she know he was an ignorant servant? +I doubted it. Anything in men’s clothes set +her silly head awhirl. I wished her haughty mother +could have seen her then.</p> +<p>Mrs. Anderson suddenly laughed out loud and +at that Ethel turned around and saw us. She gave +a great start as she recognized me, took a step backward +and fell off the end of the pier into the pond, +disappearing with a shriek into the deep water.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_172">[172]</div> +<p>I slipped out of my coat, threw off my shoes and +went in after her. The water was so icy I could +hardly swim at first. When I did get hold of her +it was a battle royal to get her back to the pier. +She was so weighted down by the fur coat and she +struggled so fiercely that several times I thought +we were both going down. Mrs. Anderson threw us +a plank and with its help I finally got her to the +pier.</p> +<p>“Now run for your life!” I ordered, my own +teeth chattering in my head. “Drop that wet coat +and I’ll race you to the house.” She didn’t move +nearly fast enough to avoid a chill and I took hold +of her hand and pulled her along.</p> +<p>Up in a cosy bedroom in the Randall’s house we +sat up, some hours later, wrapped in blankets, and +looked at each other gravely. Mrs. Anderson had +been in and talked with Ethel like a big sister about +the cheapness of carrying on flirtations with strange +boys. Ethel had seen her little affair in its true +light, robbed of all romance, and shame had taken +hold of her. Mrs. Anderson explained how the +gallant Romeo had seen his Juliet fall into the pond +and had fled basely in the other direction for fear +he would be blamed, making no effort to rescue her, +and she might have been drowned if I hadn’t fished +her out.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_173">[173]</div> +<p>Ethel had been frightened out of her wits when +she fell into the water; she was still suffering from +the shock. She flushed hotly as she caught my +glance, and cast down her eyes.</p> +<p>“Thank you, Miss Brewster, for saving my life,” +she said rather shame-facedly. Then she went on +in a low tone, “I want to tell you something. I +wrote that letter to Mr. Butler,—the one that made +mamma so angry.”</p> +<p>“I know,” I answered gravely.</p> +<p>“You knew, and you jumped into the water after +me anyway?” she said in a tone of unbelief. “Why, +you might have let me drown as easy as not.”</p> +<p>“O no, I mightn’t,” I answered. “That isn’t the +way a Camp Fire Girl gets even.”</p> +<p>Ethel was silent a long while. Then she said, +“Will you come back to our house after I have told +mother the whole thing? She misses you a lot, says +she never had anyone do her work so well as you +did it, and she has been in a terrible temper ever +since you left.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” I answered slowly. I had been +very deeply hurt and my foolish pride was still on +its hind legs.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_174">[174]</div> +<p>“Will you please come?” pleaded Ethel, slipping +out of her chair and putting her arms around me. +“We can have such good times after your work +hours. Please, for my sake, I want you. You’re +the most wonderful girl I’ve ever met!”</p> +<p>Old Mr. Pride and I had a final round and we +came out with me sitting on his head. “I’ll come +back,” I said, slipping my arm around Ethel.</p> +<p>So you see, Katherine, adventure isn’t dead, not +by any means, even if you do have to take it along +with your bread and butter.</p> +<p>Loads of love from your stenographic friend, +Sadie Shorthander, once upon a time your</p> +<p><span class="author">Sahwah.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_175">[175]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">April 8, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Winnies:</span></p> +<p>Daggers and dirks! Did I say it was dull out +here? Deluded mortal! For the past week it’s +been so strenuous that I have seriously considered +moving to Bedlam for a rest. If I’m not gray by +the time I’m thirty it’ll be because I’m bald.</p> +<p>As Mistress of Ceremonies your humble servant +is a rather watery success. You know from sad +experience my fatal fondness for trying new and +startling experiments and also my genius for leaving +the most important things undone. Remember +the time I was Lemonade Committee when we +climbed Windy Hill and I carefully provided water +and sugar and spoons and glasses, and no lemons? +And the time I hid the unwashed dishes in the oven +at Aunt Anna’s and then went home with Gladys +and forgot all about them, and Aunt Anna nearly +had spasms because she thought her silverware had +been stolen? And the time we went to Ellen’s Isle +and I mislaid the vital portion of my traveling suit +half an hour before the train started and had to go +in a borrowed suit that didn’t fit? Every time little +Katherine was given something to do she either +forgot to do it altogether, or else did it in such a +way as to make herself ridiculous.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_176">[176]</div> +<p>The memory of all those things rose up and oppressed +me after I had undertaken to stage a Patriotic +Pageant for the township of Spencer. I was +so afraid I would do something that would turn it +into a farce that I began to have nightmares the +minute I sank to weary slumber. It was a daring +idea, this patriotic pageant. Since history began +there had never been a pageant, patriotic or otherwise, +in this section. Most of the folks had never +seen a circus, or a show, or a parade; so there was +nobody to give me any help except Justice. I myself +would never have thought of tackling it, but no +sooner had my Camp Fire Girls gotten absorbed in +Red Cross work, and been thrilled by reading accounts +of what Camp Fire Girls were doing in other +sections, than they begged me to get up a pageant. +I had my misgivings, but, being a Winnebago, I +couldn’t back out. A pageant it should be, if it +cost my head. (It pretty nearly did, but not in the +way I had feared.)</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_177">[177]</div> +<p>Justice Sherman hailed the plan with delight.</p> +<p>“Go to it,” he encouraged. “I’m with you to the +bitter end. I’ve never done it before but I’ll never +begin any younger.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“‘There is a tide in the affairs of schoolma’ams,</p> +<p class="t0">That, taken at the flood, leads on to Pageants.’</p> +</div> +<p>“Lead on MacDuff! Trot out the order of events.”</p> +<p>At Justice’s suggestion I summed up all the possibilities.</p> +<p>“There isn’t much to work with,” I said thoughtfully, +having counted up all my assets on the fingers +of one hand. “Just ten Camp Fire Girls, about as +many boys, one trick mule, and—you.”</p> +<p>“So glad I know, right at the outset, just where +I come in,” said Justice politely, “after the mule.”</p> +<p>“Sandhelo’s got his red, white and blue pompom +that the girls sent him for Christmas,” I went on, +ignoring Justice’s gibe. “We could make red, white +and blue harness for him, too.”</p> +<p>“If only he doesn’t get temperamental!” said +Justice fervently.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_178">[178]</div> +<p>“The girls could wear their Red Cross caps and +aprons in one part of it,” I continued, “and flags +draped on them when they act out ‘The Spirit of +Columbia.’ One of the girls can wear her Ceremonial +gown and be the Spirit of Nature that comes +to tell the others the secret of the soil that will help +them win the war. Oh, ideas are coming to me +faster than flies to molasses.”</p> +<p>“Would you advise me to wear my Ceremonial +gown or my Red Cross apron and cap?” asked +Justice soberly. “I could braid my hair in two pig-tails—”</p> +<p>“Oh, Justice!” I interrupted, “if you only had a +soldier’s uniform!” Then, as I saw Justice wince +and the laughter die out of his eyes, I stopped +abruptly and changed the subject. It was an awfully +sore point with him that he had been rejected for +the army.</p> +<p>“We’ll have a flag raising, of course, and tableaux,” +I rushed on. “Would you put the flag on +the schoolhouse, or set up a pole in the ground?”</p> +<p>“I think on the schoolhouse,” said Justice, with a +return of interest. “That’s where it belongs.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_179">[179]</div> +<p>Justice and I held more conferences in the next +day or so than the King and his Prime Minister. +Lessons in the little schoolhouse were abandoned +while we drilled and rehearsed for the pageant. +Justice and I put together and bought the flag.</p> +<p>“Who’s going to raise it?” asked Justice, shaking +the beautiful bright starry folds out of the package.</p> +<p>I considered.</p> +<p>“I think the pupil that has the best record in +school should raise it,” suggested Justice.</p> +<p>“I think,” I said slowly, “I’ll let Absalom Butts +raise it.”</p> +<p>“Absalom Butts!” exclaimed Justice incredulously. +“The laziest, meanest, most mischievous +boy in school! I wouldn’t let him be in the pageant, +if I had my way, let alone raise the flag.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_180">[180]</div> +<p>“Exactly,” I said calmly. “You’re just like the +rest of them. That’s the whole trouble with Absalom +Butts. He’s been used to harsh measures all +his life. His father has cuffed him about ever +since he can remember. Everybody considers him +a bad boy and a terror to snakes and all that and +now he acts the part thoroughly. He’s so homely +that nobody will ever be attracted to him by his +looks, and such a poor scholar that he will never +make a name for himself at his lessons, and the +only way he can make himself prominent is through +his pranks. He’s too old to be in school with the +rest of the children; he should be with boys of his +own age. His father makes him stay there because +he is too obstinate to admit that he will never get +out by the graduation route, and Absalom takes out +his spite on the teacher. I can read him like a +book. I’ve tried fighting him to a finish on every +point and it hasn’t worked. He’s still ready to break +out at a moment’s notice. Now I’m going to change +my tactics. I’m going to appoint him, as the oldest +pupil, to be my special aid in the pageant, and help +work out the details. I’m going to honor him by +letting him raise the flag. We’ll see how that will +change his mind about playing pranks to spoil the +pageant.”</p> +<p>“It won’t work,” said Justice gloomily. “Absalom +Butts is Absalom Butts, the son of Elijah Butts; +and a chip off the old block. The old man has a +mean, crafty disposition, and he probably was just +like Absalom when he was young. Absalom is going +to do something to spoil that pageant, I see it in +his eye. You watch.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_181">[181]</div> +<p>“It’s worth trying, anyhow,” I said determinedly.</p> +<p>“It won’t work,” reiterated Justice. “You can’t +change human nature.”</p> +<p>“It worked once,” I said, and I told him about +the Dalrymple twins, Antha and Anthony, last +summer on Ellen’s Isle.</p> +<p>“So you turned little Cry-baby into a lion of +bravery and Sir Boastful into a modest violet!” said +Justice, in a tone of incredulity.</p> +<p>“Yes, and if you’d ever seen them at the beginning +of the summer you wouldn’t have held any +high hopes of changing human nature, either,” I +remarked, a little nettled at Justice’s tone.</p> +<p>Justice started to reply, but was seized with a +violent fit of coughing that left him leaning weakly +against the door. I looked at him in some alarm. +I knew it was throat trouble that had kept him +out of the army, but it hadn’t seemed to be anything +to worry about—just a dry, hacking cough +from time to time. Now, standing out there in the +brilliant sunshine, he looked very white and +haggard.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_182">[182]</div> +<p>“You’re all tired out, you’ve been working too +hard,” I said, remembering how he had been putting +in time after school hours working in Elijah Butts’ +cotton storehouse, because it was impossible to get +enough men to handle the cotton. Then, by drilling +my boys and girls by the hour in military marching +and running countless errands for me—poor +Justice was in danger of being sacrificed on the +altar of my ambition.</p> +<p>“I’m a selfish thing!” I said vehemently.</p> +<p>“Nonsense!” said Justice, holding up his head and +beginning to fold up the flag. “I got choked with +dust, that’s all.” Manlike, he hated to display any +sign of physical weakness before a girl. I decided +to say no more about it, but I knew he needed rest.</p> +<p>“Sit down a minute,” I said artfully, sinking +down on the doorsill, “and keep me ’mused. I’m +tired to death. Tell me all the news in the Metropolis +of Spencer.”</p> +<p>Justice fell into the trap. He sat down beside me +and launched into a lively imitation of Elijah Butts +convincing the school board that the old school +books were better than the new ones some venturous +soul had suggested.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_183">[183]</div> +<p>“If he only knew how you took him off behind +his back, he wouldn’t confide in you so trustingly,” +said I.</p> +<p>“That’s what comes of being a bargain,” replied +Justice loftily. “Great ones linger in my presence, +anxious to breathe the same air. The Board coddles +me like a rare bit of old china and proudly exhibits +me to visitors.</p> +<p>“Oh, by the way,” he added, “I hear there’s a +stranger in town.”</p> +<p>I looked up with interest. “Fine or superfine?” +I asked.</p> +<p>“Superfine,” replied Justice.</p> +<p>“Where from?” I inquired.</p> +<p>“Like Shelley’s immortal soul,” replied Justice +solemnly, “she cometh from afar. She cometh to +study Rural School Conditions—sent out by some +Commission or other. She’s likely to visit your +school. Thought I’d tell you ahead of time so you’d +manage to be on the premises when the delegation +arrived. She might object to hunting through the +woods for you.” Here we were both overcome with +laughter at the remembrance of the last “visitation” +of the school board.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_184">[184]</div> +<p>“I can’t figure out yet why I wasn’t fired,” said +I, flicking a sociable spider off my lap with the stem +of a leaf. “I would have been willing to bet my +eyebrows on it that night. What made them change +their minds, I wonder?”</p> +<p>“Maybe it was because they hated to lose the +bargain,” answered Justice, half to himself.</p> +<p>“Hated to lose what bargain?” I asked innocently. +Then suddenly I understood.</p> +<p>“Justice Sherman!” I exclaimed, starting up. +“Did you threaten to leave if they discharged me?”</p> +<p>Justice turned crimson and became reticent. +“Well, I don’t know as I threatened them exactly,” +he replied in a soothing drawl. “I don’t look very +threatening, now, do I?”</p> +<p>“Oh, Justice,” was all I could say, for at the +thought of what he had done for me I was stricken +dumb.</p> +<p>Verily the power of the Bargain was great in the +land!</p> +<p>The pageant grew under our hands until it assumed +really respectable proportions. The girls and +boys were wild about it and drilled tirelessly by the +hour.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_185">[185]</div> +<p>“I wish we had a better parade ground,” sighed +Justice regretfully, squinting at the small level plot +of ground in front of the schoolhouse that was worn +bare of grass. “We haven’t room to make a really +effective showing with our drill. If only the old +schoolhouse wasn’t in the way we could use the space +that’s behind it and on both sides of it.”</p> +<p>It was then that I had one of my old-time, wild +inspirations. “Move the schoolhouse back,” I said +calmly.</p> +<p>Justice shouted. “Why not roll up the road and +set it down on the other side of field?” he suggested.</p> +<p>“I don’t see why we couldn’t move the schoolhouse +back,” I repeated. “Why not, if it’s in the +way? It’s no ornament, anyway.”</p> +<p>Half-amused, half-serious, Justice looked first at +me and then at the little one-story shack that went +by the name of schoolhouse.</p> +<p>“By Jove! we can do it!” he exclaimed suddenly. +“It’ll be no trick at all. Just get her up on rollers +and hitch Sandhelo to the pulley rope and let him +wind her up. Just like that. An’ zay say ze French +have no sense of ze delicasse!”</p> +<p>“What will the Board say?” I inquired, half +fearfully.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_186">[186]</div> +<p>“We won’t ask the Board,” replied Justice +calmly. “Move first, ask for orders afterwards, +that’s the way the great generals win battles. Remember +how General Sherman cut the wires between +him and Washington when he started out on +his famous march to the sea, so that no short-sighted +one could wire him to change his plans? +Well, we’re out to make this pageant a success, and +we aren’t going to risk it by stopping to ask too +much permission. We’ll move the schoolhouse first +and ask permission afterward. By that time it’ll +be too late; the pageant is to-morrow.”</p> +<p>And we did move it. If you had ever seen us! +It wasn’t such a job as you might think. I suppose +the word “schoolhouse” conjures up in your mind +the brick and granite pile that is Washington High—imagine +moving that out of the way to make room +for a military drill! ’Vantage number one for our +school. We also have our points of superiority, it +seems.</p> +<p>The old shack looked vastly better where we +finally let it rest. There was a clump of bushes +alongside that hid some of its battered boards beautifully. +The parade ground seemed about three +times as big as it had been before.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_187">[187]</div> +<p>“That’s more like it,” said Justice approvingly. +“Now we can turn around without stubbing our +toes against the schoolhouse.”</p> +<p>“What will Mr. Butts say?” I asked, beginning +to have cold chills.</p> +<p>“Just wait until that gets between the wind and +his nobility!” chuckled Justice. “Never mind, I’ll +take all the blame.”</p> +<p>Nevertheless, when the crisis came, and Elijah +Butts came driving up on the afternoon of the +great occasion, I was there to face the music alone, +Justice being nowhere in sight.</p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Butts arrived in state, bringing +with them a strange lady, who I figured out must +be the one Justice had told me about, the one who, +like Shelley’s immortal soul, had come from afar +and was sent by a Commission to study rural school +conditions.</p> +<p>I glanced wildly about to see if Justice were not +hovering protectingly near, but there was no sign of +him. However, I knew my duties as hostess. Nonchalantly +I strolled over to the road to welcome the +newcomers. Elijah Butts had just finished tying +his horse and, bristling with importance, had turned +to help the Commission Lady out of the rig.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_188">[188]</div> +<p>“Ah-h, Miss Fairlee,” he said in smooth tones, +“this is—ah—Miss Adams, our teacher at the Corners +school.”</p> +<p>Then he suddenly jumped half out of his boots +and stared over my shoulder as if he had seen a +ghost. “Where’s that schoolhouse?” he demanded, +in a voice which seemed to indicate he thought I +had it in my pocket.</p> +<p>“It’s right over there,” I said calmly, pointing +toward the bushes.</p> +<p>Elijah Butts’ eyes followed my fingers in a fascinated +way; he could hardly believe his senses. +“How did it get there?” he demanded.</p> +<p>“We moved it back,” I replied casually. “It was +in the way of the maneuvers.”</p> +<p>Elijah Butts sputtered, choked, and was speechless.</p> +<p>But Miss Fairlee, the Commission lady, laughed +until she had to grip the side of the buggy for support. +“It’s the funniest thing I ever heard,” she +gasped. “I’ve heard of the Mountain coming to +Mahomet, but I never heard of the Mountain getting +out of the road for Mahomet. Oh, Mr. Butts, +I think the West is delightful. You people are <i>so</i> +original and forceful!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_189">[189]</div> +<p>That took the wind out of Mr. Butts’ sails. +What could he do after that neat little speech but +take the compliment to himself and pass the matter +off lightly?</p> +<p>The pageant was a wonderful success in spite of +my misgivings. I didn’t forget to hand the torch +to Columbia at the right moment and I didn’t forget +to bring the brown stockings for little Lizzie +Cooper, who was the Spirit of Nature, and I made +fire with the bow and drill without any mishap. +But one thing was a dreadful disappointment to me. +Absalom Butts was not there, and I had no chance +to work out my experiment on him. Where he was +I couldn’t imagine. I had taken Clarissa home with +me the night before to help me finish some things +and she hadn’t seen him since he went home from +school; Mr. Butts also said he didn’t know. He +added, in a voice loud enough for Miss Fairlee to +hear, that he would lick the tar out of him for not +being in the patriotic pageant.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_190">[190]</div> +<p>No one knew that I had picked Absalom in my +mind to raise the flag. There had been much speculation +about who was to have this honor and in order +to keep everybody happy I said I would not announce +this until the moment came. Then I +planned to make a speech and award the honor to +Absalom, thus singling him out for something besides +punishment for once in his life. I had had +him helping me for several days, and given him +certain definite things to do on the great occasion +and was much disappointed that he didn’t come to +do them. Justice’s warning came back and I had +an uneasy feeling that he was in hiding somewhere, +plotting mischief.</p> +<p>I had a real inspiration, though, in regard to the +flag raising. In a flowery speech I called upon Mr. +Elijah Butts, the “President of the School Board +and the most influential man in Spencer Township,” +to perform that rite. He swelled up until he almost +burst, like the frog in the fable, as he stood +there, conscious of Miss Fairlee’s eye on him, with +his great hairy hand on the pulley rope. Round the +corner of the schoolhouse and hidden from view by +the bush, I caught Justice Sherman’s eye and he +applauded silently with his two forefingers, meaning +to say that it was a master stroke on my part. +Then he dropped his eye decorously and started the +singing of the National Anthem.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_191">[191]</div> +<p>The pageant ended up in a picnic supper eaten on +the erstwhile parade ground, and then the people +began to go home through the softly falling dusk. +Miss Fairlee came to me and complimented me on +the success of the pageant and asked to take some +notes for future use; and Elijah Butts was quite +cordial as he departed. I’ve discovered something +to-day; if you want to win a person’s undying affection, +single him out as the most important member +of the bunch. He’ll fall for it every time. You +note that I am talking about male persons, now.</p> +<p>“Well, the show’s over,” said Justice, when the +last of the audience had departed. “Now the actors +can take it easy. Come on, let’s get Sandhelo and +go for a ride.”</p> +<p>We climbed into the little cart, still covered with +its pageant finery, and drove slowly down the dusty +road, discussing the events of the day.</p> +<p>“O Justice,” said I, “did you ever see anything so +touching as the pride some of those poor women +took in their boys and girls? They fairly glowed, +some of them. And did you see that one poor +woman who tried to fix herself up for the occasion? +She had nothing to wear but her faded old blue +calico dress, but she had pinned a bunch of roses on +the front of it to make herself look festive.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_192">[192]</div> +<p>“We’ve started something, I think,” said Justice +thoughtfully. “We’ve taught the people how to get +together and have a good time, and they like it. +They’ll be doing it again.”</p> +<p>“I hope so,” I replied. Then I added, “I wonder +where Absalom was?”</p> +<p>“You see, your scheme didn’t work after all,” +said Justice, in an I-told-you-so tone of voice. +“Absalom wasn’t impressed with the honor of being +your right-hand man. He took the occasion to +play hookey. It’s a wonder he didn’t try to play +some trick on the rest of us; but I suppose he didn’t +dare, with his father there. He’s afraid to draw a +crooked breath when the old man’s around.”</p> +<p>“I’m disappointed,” I said pensively, leaning my +head back and letting the cool wind blow the hair +away from my face. It had been a strenuous day +and I was tired out. The strain of being afraid +every minute that I would do something ridiculous +or had left something undone that was of vital +importance had nearly turned my hair grey. Now +that it was all over without mishap, the people had +enjoyed it and my Camp Fire girls had covered +themselves with glory, I relaxed into a delicious +tranquillity and gave myself over to enjoyment of +the quiet drive in the sweet evening air.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_193">[193]</div> +<p>“Why so deucedly pensive?” inquired Justice, +after we had jogged along for some minutes in +silence.</p> +<p>“Just thanking whatever gods there be that I +didn’t make a holy show of myself somehow,” I +replied lazily. “Isn’t this evening peaceful, though? +Who would ever think that down around the other +side of this sweet smelling earth men are killing each +other like flies, and the night is hideous with the din +of warfare?”</p> +<p>Above us the big white stars twinkled serenely, +approvingly; all nature seemed in tune with my +placid mood. Justice fell under the spell of it, too, +and leaned back in silent enjoyment.</p> +<p>What was that sudden glare that shone out +against the sky, over to the south? That red, lurid +glare that dimmed the glory of the stars and threw +buildings and barns into black relief?</p> +<p>“The cotton storehouse!” exclaimed Justice in a +horrified voice. “Hurry!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_194">[194]</div> +<p>For once Sandhelo responded to my urging without +argument, and we soon arrived on the scene of +the blaze. Elijah Butts’ plantation is about three +miles from Spencer, and no water but the well and +the cistern. “This is going to be a nice mess,” said +Justice, jumping out of the car and charging into +the throng of gaping negroes who stood around +watching the spectacle. The family of Butts had +not returned from the pageant yet, having taken +Miss Fairlee for a drive in the opposite direction. +A few neighbors had gathered, but they stood there, +gaping like the negroes and not lifting a hand to save +the cotton.</p> +<p>“Here you, get busy!” shouted Justice, taking +command like a general. Under his direction a +bucket brigade was formed to check the flames as +much as possible and keep the surrounding sheds +from taking fire. “Go through the barn and bring +out the horses and cows, if there are any there,” he +called to me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_195">[195]</div> +<p>I obeyed, and brought out one poor trembling +bossy, the only livestock I found. Then Justice +turned the command of the bucket brigade over to +me and started in with one or two helpers to remove +the cotton from the end of the storehouse +that was not yet ablaze. He worked like a Trojan, +his face blackened with smoke until it was hard to +tell him from the negroes, the remains of his pageant +costume hanging about him in tatters.</p> +<p>“Somebody started this fire on purpose,” he +panted as he paused beside me a moment to clear his +lungs of smoke. “There’s been oil poured on the +cotton!”</p> +<p>Just at that moment the Butts family returned, +driving into the yard at a gallop. Mr. Butts’ wrath +and excitement knew no bounds and he was hardly +able to help effectively; he ran around for all the +world like a chicken with its head off. Assistance +came swiftly as people began to arrive from far +and near, attracted by the blaze, but if it hadn’t +been for Justice’s timely taking hold of the situation +not a bit of the cotton would have been saved, +and the house, barn and sheds would have gone +up, too.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_196">[196]</div> +<p>Conjectures began to fly thick and fast on all +sides as to how the fire had started, and a whisper +began going the rounds that soon became an open +accusation. One of the negroes that works for Mr. +Butts swore he saw Absalom going into the storehouse +that afternoon. My heart skipped a beat. +He had not been at the celebration. Was this where +he had been and what he had done the while? +Elijah Butts was stamping up and down in such a +fury as I had never seen.</p> +<p>“He couldn’t get out!” he shouted hoarsely to +the group that stood around him. “He’s locked in +the woodshed, I locked him in there myself, and +there isn’t even a window he could get out of!”</p> +<p>I started at his words. So that was where Absalom +had been that afternoon. He hadn’t deliberately +disappointed me, then. But—Elijah Butts +hadn’t said that afternoon that he had locked Absalom +up at home. He had pretended to be much +mystified over the non-appearance of his son. Why +had he done so? The answer came in a flash of +intuition. Elijah Butts had probably had a set-to +with Absalom over some private affair and had +locked him up as punishment, but he didn’t want +Miss Fairlee to know that he had kept him out of +the patriotic pageant and so he had denied any +knowledge of Absalom’s whereabouts. “The old +hypocrite!” I said to myself scornfully.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_197">[197]</div> +<p>“Your woodshed’s wide open,” said someone from +the crowd. “We were in there looking for a bucket. +The door was open and there wasn’t nobody in it.”</p> +<p>“He got out!” shouted Elijah Butts in still greater +fury. “He got out and set fire to the cotton to +spite me! Wait until I catch him! Wait till I get +my hands on him!” He stamped up and down, +shouting threats against his son, awful to listen to.</p> +<p>“I thought he’d drive that boy to turn against +him yet,” said Justice, drawing me away to a quiet +spot, and mopping his black forehead with a damp +handkerchief. “I can’t say but that it served him +right. After all, Absalom is a chip off the old +block. That’s his idea of getting even. He didn’t +stop to think that it was the government’s loss as +well as his father’s. Well, it’s all over but the +shouting; we might as well go home.”</p> +<p>We drove home in silence. Justice was tuckered +out, I could see that, and I began to worry for fear +his strenuous efforts would lay him up. I was still +too much excited to feel tired. That would come +later. All my energy was concentrated into disappointment +over Absalom Butts. I couldn’t believe +that he was really as bad as this. I didn’t want to +believe he had done it, and yet it seemed all too +true. Why had he run away if he hadn’t? I shook +my head. It was beyond me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_198">[198]</div> +<p>Silently we drove into the yard and unhitched +Sandhelo.</p> +<p>“Good night,” said Justice, starting off in the +direction of his cabin.</p> +<p>“Good night,” I replied absently. I did not go +right into the house. I was wide awake and knew +I could not go to sleep for some time. Instead I +sat in the doorway and blinked at the moon, like a +touseled-haired owl. It was after midnight and +everything was still, even the wind. Out of the +corner of my eye I watched Justice wearily plodding +along to his sleeping quarters, saw him open the +screen door and vanish from sight within. Then, +borne clearly on the night air, I heard an exclamation +come from his lips, then a frightened cry. I +sped down the path like the wind to the little cabin. +A lamp flared out in the darkness just as I reached +it and by its light I saw Justice bending over something +in a corner.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter?” I called through the screen +door.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_199">[199]</div> +<p>Justice turned around with a start. “Oh, it’s +you, is it?” he said. “Come in here.”</p> +<p>I went in. There, crouched in a corner on the +floor, was Absalom Butts, his eyes blinking in the +sudden light, his face like a scared rabbit’s. It was +he who had cried out, not Justice.</p> +<p>“What’s the trouble, Absalom,” said I, trying to +speak in a natural tone of voice, “can’t you find +your way home?”</p> +<p>“Dassent go home,” replied Absalom.</p> +<p>“Why not?”</p> +<p>“Pa’ll kill me.”</p> +<p>“What for?”</p> +<p>“Because I ran away.”</p> +<p>“So you’ve run away, have you?” said I. +“Why?”</p> +<p>“Because pa licked me and locked me in the woodshed +and wouldn’t let me come to the doin’s this +afternoon, and I just wouldn’t stand it, so I got +out and cut.”</p> +<p>“When did you get out?” I asked, leaning forward +a trifle.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_200">[200]</div> +<p>“This afternoon,” replied Absalom. “I thought +first I’d come to the doin’s anyhow and help you +with those things I’d promised, but I was scared +to come with pa there, so I went the other way. +I walked and walked and walked, till I was tired out +and most starved, because I hadn’t brought anything +along to eat, and I didn’t know where I was +headed for, anyway, and then I came along here +and saw this shack and came in and sat down to +rest. I must a fell asleep.”</p> +<p>“You didn’t do it, then?” said I, eagerly.</p> +<p>“Do what?” Absalom’s tone was plainly bewildered.</p> +<p>“Set fire to your father’s cotton storehouse.”</p> +<p>“Whee-e-e-e-e!” Absalom’s whistle of astonishment +was clearly genuine. “I should say not!”</p> +<p>“Do you know who did?” asked Justice, watching +him keenly.</p> +<p>“<i>Did</i> somebody?” asked Absalom innocently.</p> +<p>“I should say they did,” said Justice, puzzled in +his turn. “Are you sure you don’t know anything +about it?”</p> +<p>Absalom shook his head vigorously. “I don’t +know anything about it,” he said straightforwardly.</p> +<p>“I was sure you didn’t do it,” I said triumphantly. +“I had a feeling in my bones.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_201">[201]</div> +<p>“How does it happen that you weren’t at the +fire?” asked Justice wonderingly. “You must have +seen the glare in the sky. People came for miles +around. Didn’t you see it?”</p> +<p>Absalom shook his head. “I must a slept through +it,” he said simply, and followed it with such a large +sigh of regret for what he had missed that Justice +and I both had to smile.</p> +<p>“Well, there’s one thing about it,” said Justice, +“and that is, if you <i>didn’t</i> set fire to it, you’d better +streak it for home about as fast as you can and +clear yourself up. Everybody thinks you did it and +your running away made it look suspicious. Besides, +one of your father’s men says he saw you +coming out of the storehouse this afternoon. By +the way, what <i>were</i> you doing in there?”</p> +<p>Absalom met his gaze unwaveringly. “Me? +Why, I went in there to get my knife, that I’d left +in there yesterday. I couldn’t go away without +my knife, could I?” He pulled it from his pocket +and gazed on it fondly,—an ugly old “toad stabber.”</p> +<p>“See here, you weren’t smoking any cigarettes in +there, and dropped a lighted stub, perhaps?” asked +Justice.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_202">[202]</div> +<p>“No,” replied Absalom, “I wasn’t smokin’ to-day. +I do sometimes, though,” he admitted.</p> +<p>“Well, you don’t seem to be the villain, after all,” +said Justice, “and I’m mighty glad to hear it. So +will a lot of people be. Things looked pretty bad +for you this afternoon, Absalom.”</p> +<p>“Honest?” asked Absalom. “Do folks really +think I set fire to it? What did pa say?”</p> +<p>Justice laughed. “What he isn’t going to do to +you when he catches you won’t be worth doing,” he +said.</p> +<p>Absalom began to look apprehensive. “I’m +afraid to go back,” he said.</p> +<p>“What are you afraid of, if you didn’t do it?” +asked Justice.</p> +<p>“Pa wouldn’t believe me,” said Absalom nervously.</p> +<p>“Oh, I guess he’ll believe you all right,” I said +soothingly.</p> +<p>“You go with me,” begged Absalom, eyeing us +both beseechingly. “He’ll believe you. He never +believes me.”</p> +<p>“Maybe we had better,” said I. “He can stay +here with you the rest of the night and we’ll drive +over the first thing in the morning.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_203">[203]</div> +<p>The next morning bright and early found us +again on the scene of the fire. Early as we were, +we found Elijah Butts poking in the ashes of his +cotton crop with a wrathful countenance. When +he saw us coming he strode to meet us and without +a word laid hold of Absalom’s collar. His expression +was like that of a fox who has caught his +goose after many hours of waiting.</p> +<p>“I’ve got you, you rascal,” he sputtered, shaking +Absalom until his teeth chattered. “Where did you +find him?” he demanded of Justice.</p> +<p>“In my bunk,” replied Justice, laying a hand on +Mr. Butts’ arm and trying to separate him from +his son. “He had been there all evening, and knew +nothing about the fire. He didn’t do it.”</p> +<p>“Didn’t do it!” shouted Mr. Butts. “Don’t tell +me he didn’t do it. Of course he did it! Who else +did?”</p> +<p>We weren’t prepared to answer.</p> +<p>“I’m sure Absalom didn’t do it, Mr. Butts,” said +Justice earnestly. “I’d stake a whole lot on it.”</p> +<p>“Well, I wouldn’t, you can better believe!” answered +Mr. Butts. “He did it, and I’m going to +take it out of him.” He began to march Absalom +off toward the house, urging him along with a box +on the ear that nearly felled him to the ground.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_204">[204]</div> +<p>Justice did it so quickly that I never will be able +to tell just what it was, but in a minute there stood +Elijah Butts rubbing his wrist and wearing the most +surprised look I ever saw on the face of a man, and +there sat Absalom on the ground half a dozen yards +away.</p> +<p>“Beat it back to our shack, Absalom,” called +Justice. “I guess the climate’s a little too hot +around here for you just yet.”</p> +<p>Absalom needed no second bidding. He sped +down the road away from his paternal mansion as +if the whole German army was after him.</p> +<p>“When you can treat your son like a human being +he’ll come back,” said Justice to Mr. Butts.</p> +<p>“He don’t need to come back,” said Mr. Butts +sourly, but with fury carefully toned down. Justice’s +use of an uncanny Japanese wrestling trick to +wrench Absalom out of his vise-like grasp had created +a vast respect in him. He wasn’t quite sure +what Justice was going to do next, and eyed him +warily for a possible attack in the rear. “He +don’t need to come back,” he mumbled stubbornly, +“until he either says he did it and takes what’s +coming to him, or finds out who did do it.” Growling +to himself he went toward the house and we +drove off to overtake Absalom.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_205">[205]</div> +<p>“Daggers and dirks!” exclaimed Justice. “Old +Butts sure is some knotty piece of timber to drive +screws into!”</p> +<p>It was a rather dejected trio that Sandhelo, frisking +in the morning air, carried back to the house. +Justice, I could see, was trying to figure out by +calculus the probable result of having jiu-jitsu-ed +the president of the school board; I was sorry for +Absalom and Absalom was sorry for himself. Once +I caught him looking at me pleadingly.</p> +<p>“<i>You</i> don’t think I done it?” he asked anxiously.</p> +<p>“Not for a minute!” I answered heartily, smiling +into his eyes.</p> +<p>He looked down, in a shame-faced way, and then +he suddenly put his arm around my neck. “I’m +sorry I treated you so horrid,” he murmured. +Think of it! Absalom, the bully, the one-time bane +of my existence, the fly in the ointment, riding down +the road with his arm around my neck, and me +standing up for him against the world! Don’t +things turn out queerly, though? Who would ever +have thought it possible, six months ago?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_206">[206]</div> +<p>Absalom and I had quite a few long talks in the +days that followed. He confided to me his hatred +of lessons and his ambition to raise horses. Father +let him help him as much as he liked, and promised +him a job on the place any time he wanted it. +Absalom seemed utterly transformed. He fooled +around the horses day and night and showed a +knack of handling them that proved beyond a doubt +that he had chosen his profession wisely. I did not +insist upon his going to school and was glad I +hadn’t; for in a day or two came the “visitation” +of the Board, bringing Miss Fairlee to see my +school.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_207">[207]</div> +<p>She was absolutely enchanted with the way we +conducted things; gasped with astonishment at the +graphophone and the lantern slides; exclaimed in +wonder at the library; listened approvingly to the +reading lesson, which was from one of the current +magazines; partook generously of our dinner, +cooked and served in the most approved style, and +laughed heartily at the stunts we did afterward by +way of entertainment. I took a naughty satisfaction +in showing off my changed curriculum for her +approval and watching the effect it had on the +august Board members. None of them knew +exactly what I had been doing all this time, and +their amazement was immense. Mr. Butts did not +come with the board this time, so I was spared the +embarrassment of meeting him. Without him the +rest of the Board were like sheep that had gotten +separated from the bell-wether; they didn’t know +which direction to head into until Miss Fairlee expressed +her unqualified approval of my methods; +then they all endorsed it emphatically.</p> +<p>“I wish I were a pupil again, so I could have +you for a teacher!” said Miss Fairlee when school +was out, and I considered that the highest compliment +I had ever received. I immediately invited +her to attend our Ceremonial Meeting that night +and she accepted the invitation eagerly. We held +it on the old parade ground in front of the school. +In honor of our guest we acted out the pretty Indian +legend of Kir-a-wa and the Blackbirds and when +we came to the place where we rush out looking +for the two crows we found two real ones sitting +on the fence, only, instead of attacking us as the +ones did in the legend, these two applauded vigorously. +They were Justice and Absalom, come with +Sandhelo and the cart to take me home, or rather +what was left of me after the blackbirds had picked +me to pieces.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_208">[208]</div> +<p>“Another day gone without mishap!” I said, as +Justice slid back the stable door and I walked in +with my arm around Sandhelo’s neck. “Sandhelo +will have to have a lump of sugar and an extra soft +bed to celebrate. Come on, Sandy, let me tuck +you in.”</p> +<p>But Sandhelo would not enter his stall. He stuck +his head in, sniffed the air, and then, with a squeal +that always heralds an outbreak of temperament, +he rose on his hind legs and began to dance.</p> +<p>“Whatever has gotten into him?” I began, tugging +at his tail, which was the nearest thing I could +get my hand onto, when suddenly a wild shriek rose +up from under our very feet and in the dimness of +the stall we saw something roll over and crouch in +a corner.</p> +<p>“Quick, the lantern!” said Justice.</p> +<p>But we couldn’t find it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_209">[209]</div> +<p>Then from the depths of the stall there came a +voice, crying in terrified tones, “Don’ take me, mister +Debble; don’ take me, mister Debble, I done it, +I done it; I set fiah to ’at ole cotton to get even +with old Mister Butts fer settin’ de dawgs on me; I +done it, I done it; go ’way, Mister Debble, don’ +take me, I’ll tell dem; only don’ take me, Mister +Debble!”</p> +<p>Justice and Absalom and I stood frozen to the +spot, listening to this remarkable outcry. Then +Justice raised the lantern, which he just spied on +the floor, and lighting it held it in the stall. By its +flickering rays we saw a negro crouching in the +corner, whose rolling eyes and trembling limbs +showed him to be beside himself with fright.</p> +<p>“Glory!” exclaimed Justice. “It’s the same old +bird we saw in the road that day, the one I said +looked like mischief!”</p> +<p>Here Sandhelo, nosing me aside, looked inquisitively +over my shoulder and the darky immediately +went into another spasm of fright, covering his +face with his hands and imploring “Mister Debble” +not to take him this time.</p> +<p>“Whee-e-e-e-!” said Justice, whistling in his astonishment. +“He’s the one that fired the cotton and +now he thinks Sandhelo is the devil coming after +him!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_210">[210]</div> +<p>“Mercy, what an awful creature!” said I, shuddering +and looking the other way. “If Sandhelo gets +a good look at him I’m afraid he’ll return the compliment +about taking him for His Satanic Nibs.”</p> +<p>“There’s only one way you can keep him from +getting you,” said Justice to the darky gravely. +“That’s by going to Mr. Butts and telling him yourself +that you did it. Otherwise, it’s good-bye, +Solomon.”</p> +<p>Here Sandhelo, as if he understood what was +going on, suddenly snapped at the black legs +stretched out across his stall.</p> +<p>“I’ll tell him, I’ll tell him!” shuddered Solomon, +and with a prolonged howl of terror he fled from +the stable and down the road in the direction of the +Butts plantation.</p> +<p>“He’ll tell him all right,” chuckled Justice. +“He’ll face a dozen Elijah Buttses, before he lets +the devil get him. Poor Sandhelo! Rather rough +on him, though, to have his name used as a terror +to evil doers!”</p> +<p>Talk about nothing ever happening around here! +O you darling Winnebagos, with your ladylike advantages, +and your mildly eventful lives, you don’t +know what real excitement is!</p> +<p><span class="center">Worn out, but happily yours,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_211">[211]</div> +<h3>GLADYS TO KATHERINE</h3> +<p><span class="date">April 10, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest old K:</span></p> +<p>The Winnebagos have scored again, although it +did take us nearly all year to make this particular +basket. I know that if you had been here, you old +miracle worker, you would have found the way +before the first month had passed, but, not having +your gift for seeing right through people’s starched +shirtwaists and straight into their hearts, we had to +wait for chance to show us the way. And it turned +out the way it usually does for the Winnebagos—we +stooped to pick up a common little stone and +found a pearl of great price. Of course, now there +are lots of people who would like to be the setting +for that pearl, but she belongs to the Winnebagos +by right of discovery and we mean to keep her for +our very own. For, after all, who but the Winnebagos +could have discovered Sally Prindle, when up +to that very week, day, hour and minute she hadn’t +even discovered herself? The chances are that she +never would have, either, and what a shame it would +have been!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_212">[212]</div> +<p>You remember my telling about Sally Prindle +long ago, the time we tried to fix up her room for +her and she wouldn’t let us? Of course she hurt +our feelings, because we hadn’t been trying to +patronize her and didn’t deserve to be snubbed, but +we got over it in a day or two and saw her side of +it. It probably <i>was</i> annoying to have three separate +delegations take notice of your poverty in one +day, and there was no telling how tactless the first +two had been. At the second meeting of the LAST +OF THE WINNEBAGOS, held on and around +Oh-Pshaw’s bed, we formally decided, with much +speechifying by Agony and Oh-Pshaw, that Sally +would be the special object of our Give Service +Pledge. We would make her feel that we didn’t +care a rap whether she was poor or not; that it was +she herself we cared about. We would ask her to +share all our good times and would drop in to see +her often, as good neighbors should, and would +finally bring her around to the point where she +would begin to Seek Beauty for herself, see that her +bare room was too ugly for any good use, and gladly +share our overflow with us. Oh, we planned great +things that night!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_213">[213]</div> +<p>“Let’s go over and call on her right away,” suggested +Hinpoha, who was fired with enthusiasm at +the plan and couldn’t wait to begin the program of +Give Service.</p> +<p>Off we went down the hall, filled with virtuous +enthusiasm. Sally was at home because we could +see the light shining through the transom.</p> +<p>“Wait a minute, don’t knock,” whispered Agony +with a giggle. “I know a lot more Epic way.” +She pulled a candy kiss from her pocket, scribbled +an absurd note on a piece of paper about weary +travelers waiting at the gate, tied it to the kiss and +threw it through the transom.</p> +<p>We heard it strike the floor and heard Sally rise +from a creaking chair and pick it up. Giggling, +we waited for her to come and let us in. In a +minute her footsteps came toward the door and with +comradely smiles we stepped forward. The door +was opened a very small crack, and out flew the +kiss, much faster than it had gone in. It just +missed Hinpoha’s nose by a hair’s breadth and fell +on the floor with a spiteful thud. Then the door +slammed emphatically. We looked at each other in +consternation.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_214">[214]</div> +<p>“Whee-e-e-e-e-!” said Agony in a long-drawn +whistle.</p> +<p>“Horrid—old—thing!” said Hinpoha, picking up +the kiss from the floor and holding it up for us to +see that the note had never been opened. Feeling +both foolish and hurt we trailed back home and +sadly gave up the idea of Giving Service to Sally +Prindle.</p> +<p>“Let her alone, she isn’t worth worrying about,” +said Hinpoha, beginning to be just as cross as she +had been enthusiastic before. “She hasn’t a spark +of sociability in her.”</p> +<p>“There are Hermit Souls——” began Oh-Pshaw, +and Agony cut in with</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Twinkle, twinkle, little Sal,</p> +<p class="t0">How we’d like to be your pal,</p> +<p class="t0">But you hold your nose so high</p> +<p class="t0">You don’t see us passing by.”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_215">[215]</div> +<p>That ended Sally Prindle as far as the LAST OF +THE WINNEBAGOS were concerned. But I had +an uncomfortable feeling all the time that if Nyoda +had been there she would have managed to become +friendly with Sally in some way, and that we had +failed to “warm the heart” of this “lonely mortal” +who “stood without our open portal.” Sally +haunted me. How any girl could live and not be +friendly with the people she saw every day was +more than I could understand. She just grubbed +away at her lessons, paid no attention to what went +on around her, snubbed any girl who tried to make +advances and lived a life of lofty detachment. She +was a good student and invariably recited correctly +when called upon, but beyond that none of the +teachers could get a particle of warmth out of her, +not even fascinating Miss Allison, who has all her +classes worshipping at her feet.</p> +<p>Sally worried me for a while; then she moved +out of Purgatory and took a room with some private +family in town and as I hardly ever saw her +any more I forgot her after a time. Life is so <i>very</i> +full here, Katherine dear, that you can’t bother +much about any one person.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_216">[216]</div> +<p>Of course, the big thought that runs through +everything this year, all our work and all our play, +is the War and what we can do to help. At the beginning +of the year Brownell pledged herself to raise +five thousand dollars for the Red Cross by various +activities; this was outside of the personal subscription +fund. A big Christmas bazaar and several +benefit performances brought the total close to +four thousand, but the last thousand proved to be a +sticker. Various committees were called to discuss +ways and means of raising the money, but they +never could agree on anything for the whole college +to do together, and finally abandoned the quest +for a bright idea and decided to let everybody raise +money in any way they could think of and put it +all together to make up the total. The Board of +Trustees offered a silver loving cup to the individual, +club, sorority, group or clique of any kind +that raised the largest amount inside of a month.</p> +<p>The day that was announced there was a hastily +called meeting of the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_217">[217]</div> +<p>“We’re going to win that loving cup,” declared +Hinpoha in a tone of finality. “This is our chance +to show what we’re made of. Up until now we’ve +been doing little easy ‘Give Services.’ At last we’re +up against something big. Now is the time for +all good men to come to the aid of their party. The +WINNEBAGOS have never fallen down on anything +yet that they undertook and they’re not going +to now. We’re going to win that contest. Won’t +Nyoda be proud of us?”</p> +<p>We cheered until the windows rattled and then +Migwan brought us to earth with a thud. “How +are we going to do it?” she asked soberly. We all +fell silent and donned our thinking caps. Minutes +passed but nobody sprouted a bright idea. Suggestion +after suggestion was made, only to be turned +down flat.</p> +<p>“We might give a circus,” suggested Hinpoha +rather doubtfully. “Remember the circus we gave +at home last year?”</p> +<p>“There have been nine circuses of various kinds +already this year,” wet-blanketed Agony. “You +couldn’t hire anybody to attend another.”</p> +<p>“Masquerade as seeresses and give select parlor +readings of people’s futures,” suggested Oh-Pshaw. +“We could charge five dollars for a reading.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_218">[218]</div> +<p>“Been done already,” said Migwan. “Anyway, +the faculty have forbidden it. The girls that did it +last year scandalized a prominent Trustee’s wife by +telling her that her daughter was going to elope +with an Italian count before the month was out. +The daughter had married a minister the week before, +only the girls didn’t know it, and the Trustee’s +wife got so excited she sat down on a two-hundred-dollar +Satsuma vase and smashed it and tried to sue +the seeresses for damages. Then, of course, she +found out they were students and the faculty put +an end to parlor seeresses.”</p> +<p>That’s the way it went. Not a plan was suggested +but what turned out to be old stuff or not +practicable.</p> +<p>“Oh, for an idea!” groaned Agony, beating her +white brow with the palm of her hand.</p> +<p>“We might go round with a hand organ,” suggested +Oh-Pshaw in desperation. “Gladys could be +the monkey and pass around a tin cup.”</p> +<p>“Thanks, I wouldn’t think of aspiring to such an +honor,” I replied modestly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_219">[219]</div> +<p>“What we want,” said Migwan decidedly, “is a +fad—something that will take the college by storm +and separate them from their cash. I remember +last year some of the seniors started the fad of taking +impressions of the palm of your hand on paper +smoked with camphor gum and sending them away +to have the lines read by some noted palmist, and +they made oceans of money at twenty-five cents an +impression.”</p> +<p>We talked possible fads until we were green in +the face, but nobody got an inspiration and we +finally adjourned with our heads in a whirl.</p> +<p>The next day I went into a deserted classroom +for a book I had left behind and found Sally +Prindle with her head down on one of the desks, +crying. By that time I had forgotten how disagreeable +she had been to us and hastened over to see +what was the matter.</p> +<p>“What’s the trouble, Sally?” I asked, laying my +hand on her shoulder.</p> +<p>Sally started up and tried to wipe the tears away +hastily. “Nothing,” she answered in a flat voice.</p> +<p>“There is too something,” I said determinedly, +and sat down on the desk in front of her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_220">[220]</div> +<p>She looked at me sort of defiantly for a minute +and then she broke down altogether. Between sobs +she told me that she wasn’t going to be able to +come back to college next year because she hadn’t +won the big Andrews prize in mathematics she had +counted confidently on winning, and she had +worked so hard for it that she had neglected her +other work, and the first thing she knew she had +a condition in Latin. Besides, she was sick and +couldn’t do the hard work she had been doing outside +to pay her board.</p> +<p>I never saw anyone so broken up over anything. +I wouldn’t have expected her to care whether she +came back to college or not; I couldn’t see what fun +she had ever gotten out of it, but I suppose in her +own queer way she must have enjoyed it. I tried +to comfort her by telling her that the way would +probably be found somehow if she took it up with +the right people, but Sally wasn’t the kind of girl +that took comfort easily. Life was terribly serious +to her. She felt disgraced because she hadn’t won +the prize and was sure nobody would want to lend +her money to finish her course. I left her at last +with my heart aching because of the uneven way +things are distributed in this world.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_221">[221]</div> +<p>Our room was a mess when I got back. Our +floor was entertaining the floor below that night and +Hinpoha was in the show. She was standing in the +middle of the room draping my dresser scarf around +her shoulders for a fichu, while Agony was piling +her hair high on her head for her and Oh-Pshaw +was pinning on a train made of bath towels.</p> +<p>“Have you a blue velvet band?” Hinpoha demanded +thickly, as I entered, through the pins she +was holding in her mouth.</p> +<p>“No, I haven’t,” I replied, retiring to a corner +to escape the sweeping strokes of the hair brush in +Agony’s hand.</p> +<p>“Why haven’t you?” lamented Hinpoha. “I just +<i>have</i> to have one.”</p> +<p>“What for?” I asked.</p> +<p>“To put around my neck, of course,” explained +Hinpoha impatiently. “It’s absolutely necessary to +finish off this costume. Go out and scrape one up +somewhere, Gladys, there’s a dear.”</p> +<p>I obediently made the rounds, but nowhere did +I find the desired blue band. Not even a ribbon of +the right shade was forthcoming.</p> +<p>“Paint one on,” suggested Agony, with an inspiration +born of despair. “Then you’ll surely have +it the right shade.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_222">[222]</div> +<p>“The paint box is in the bottom dresser drawer,” +said Hinpoha, warming to the plan at once. “Hurry +up, Agony.”</p> +<p>“Oh, I’ll not have time to do it,” said Agony, +moving toward the door. “I’ve got just fifteen minutes +left to sew the ruffle back on the bottom of my +white dress to wear in chapel to-morrow when we +sing for the bishop, and it’s really more important +for the country’s cause that I have a white dress to +wear to-morrow than that you have a blue band +around your neck to-night. My green and purple +plaid silk would look chaste and retiring among the +spotless white of the choir, now, wouldn’t it?” And +swinging her hairbrush she went out. Oh-Pshaw +had already disappeared.</p> +<p>“Here, Gladys,” said Hinpoha, holding out the +box to me, “mix the turquoise with a little ultramarine.”</p> +<p>“I’m awfully sorry, ’Poha, but I can’t stop,” +said I. “I’ve an interview with Miss Allison in +five minutes. Get somebody else, dear.”</p> +<p>“Everybody’s rushed to death,” grumbled Hinpoha.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_223">[223]</div> +<p>I went off to keep my appointment and Hinpoha +took up her watch for a passer-by whom she could +bully into painting a blue band on her neck. Being +part of the surprise for the guests she couldn’t very +well go out and risk being seen; she just had to stay +in the room and wait for someone from our floor +to come along. For a long while nobody came, +and then, when she was about ready to give up, she +did hear footsteps coming down the corridor. It +was dark by that time and she couldn’t see who it +was, but she pounced out like a cat on a mouse and +dragged the girl into her room.</p> +<p>“Paint a blue band on my neck, quick!” she commanded, +thrusting out the paint box and switching +on the light.</p> +<p>Then she saw who it was. It was Sally Prindle. +Hinpoha was a little taken aback, but she had about +exhausted her patience waiting for someone to come +by and help her.</p> +<p>“Will you, please?” she pleaded, holding out the +paints enticingly.</p> +<p>“What is it?” asked Sally dully, looking at Hinpoha +in that crazy costume as if she thought she +was not in her right mind.</p> +<p>Hinpoha explained the urgent and immediate need +of a blue band of a certain shade on her neck.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_224">[224]</div> +<p>“But I never painted anything before,” objected +Sally.</p> +<p>“You’ll never learn any younger,” said Hinpoha, +jubilant that Sally hadn’t walked out with her nose +in the air. “Here, take the brush, I’ll show you +what to mix; see, this and this and this.”</p> +<p>Under Hinpoha’s direction Sally painted the blue +band and then regarded her handiwork with critical +eyes.</p> +<p>“Thanks, that’s fine,” said Hinpoha, holding out +her hand for the paints.</p> +<p>“It needs something more,” said Sally slowly, +squinting at Hinpoha’s neck. “Do you mind if I +use any more paint?”</p> +<p>“Go as far as you like,” said Hinpoha, surprised +into flippancy, “let your conscience be your guide!”</p> +<p>Sally made swift dabs at the little color squares, +her face all puckered up in a deep frown of concentration.</p> +<p>“Now, how do you like it?” she asked anxiously, +after a few minutes, leading Hinpoha to the +mirror.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_225">[225]</div> +<p>Hinpoha says she screamed right out when she +looked, she was so surprised and delighted. For +on the front of the band Sally had painted the most +wonderful ornament. It was an enormous ruby, +set in a gold frame, the design of which simply +took your breath away. How she ever did it with +the colors in Hinpoha’s box is beyond us.</p> +<p>“Oh, wonderful!” raved Hinpoha, hugging Sally +in her extravagant way. “I can’t wait until the +girls see it. Won’t I make a sensation, though! +Come to the party, won’t you please, Sally? We’d +love to have you.”</p> +<p>Sally shook her head and prepared to depart. “I +have to go,” she said with a return to her old +brusque manner. “I have another engagement.”</p> +<p>But Hinpoha saw the wistful look that came into +her face and she knew that Sally’s “other engagement” +was waiting on table in the boarding house +where she lived.</p> +<p>Hinpoha’s painted jewelry created a sensation all +right. Cries of admiration rose on every side, and +the fact that the stony-faced Sally Prindle had +done it only added to the sensation. Who would +ever have suspected that the most inartistic-looking +girl in the whole college had such a talent up her +sleeve?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_226">[226]</div> +<p>Two days later there was another excited meeting +of the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS.</p> +<p>“Our fortune’s made!” shrieked Agony joyfully, +dancing around the room and waving a Japanese +umbrella over her head.</p> +<p>“Why? How?” we all cried.</p> +<p>“The fad! The fad!” shouted Agony.</p> +<p>“What fad?” I asked. “Do stop capering, +Agony, and put down that umbrella before you +break the lamp shade. We’ve smashed three already +this year.”</p> +<p>“Don’t you see,” continued Agony, breathless, +dropping down on the bed and fanning herself with +the handle of the umbrella. “Hinpoha’s started a +fad with that painted jewelry—blessings on that +fool notion of hers of painting a band on her neck, +anyway! Half a dozen girls came to classes this +morning with bands painted on their necks and ornaments +in front that they’d gotten Sally to paint for +them. In another day the whole college will be +after her to paint ornaments on their necks. Don’t +you see what I mean? We’ve got to join forces +with Sally, set up in business for the Benefit of +the Red Cross—and the cup is ours. Whoop-la! +Oh, girls, don’t you <i>see</i>!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_227">[227]</div> +<p>We saw, all right. Inside of two minutes Sally +was voted a member of the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS +and in a few hours business was in full +swing. Sally, of course, was the star of the cast, +but the rest of us worked just as hard as press +agents. We placarded the whole college with posters +announcing that Mme. Sallie Prindle, the +distinguished painter of jewelry, would create, for +the benefit of the Red Cross, any combination of +precious stones desired by the paintee—charges +twenty-five cents and up. Students were urged to +show their patriotism by appearing in classroom +adorned with one of the masterpieces of the above-mentioned +Prindle.</p> +<p>It was a success from the word go. The fad +spread like wildfire, and Sally spent all her waking +hours that were not actually taken up with recitations +painting jewelry on fair necks and arms. Lessons +were almost forgotten in the fascinating business +of admiring designs and comparing effects, +and many were the wails because the wonderful +things had to be washed off all too soon. We had +offered our room as studio because Sally’s was too +far away from the center of things, and most of the +time it was so crowded with eager customers that +we couldn’t get in ourselves. Prices rose as business +increased, and the candy box we were using +for a bank showed signs of collapsing.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_228">[228]</div> +<p>The next week the juniors gave a dance and they +all ordered dog collars for the occasion. Everybody +else had to stand aside. Prices for these were +to be one dollar and up, according to how elaborate +they were. How Sally ever got them all on without +fainting in her tracks will always be a mystery. +She did a lot of them the night before and then +the girls wound their necks with gauze bandages +to keep them clean. Miss Allison, who dropped in +during the performance, folded up on the bed and +laughed until she was weak.</p> +<p>“I never saw anything to equal it, never,” she +declared. “There’s never been such a fad in the +history of the college.” Then she sat up and demanded +a dog collar herself.</p> +<p>“Why on earth didn’t you tell us you could paint +jewelry, Sally Prindle?” she asked, as she watched +those swift fingers doing their wonderful work. +“Of all things, wasting your time specializing in +mathematical figures, when all the time you had +designs like these in your head!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_229">[229]</div> +<p>“I never knew I could do it,” said Sally in a +funny, bewildered fashion that set the girls all +a-laughing. “I never had a paint brush in my hand +before. <i>She</i>,”—pointing to Hinpoha—“put the +things into my hands and ordered me to paint, and +I painted. It came to me all of a sudden.”</p> +<p>Did we get the loving cup? I should say we did! +By the end of the month we had raised five hundred +and some odd dollars, more than half of the total, +and by far the largest amount raised by any group. +We were all wrecks by the time it was over, because +we had to take turns waiting on table down at +Sally’s boarding house to hold her job for her while +she worked up in our room; besides getting the +paint off the girls’ necks again. That wasn’t always +an easy job because sometimes she had to use +things beside water colors to get certain effects.</p> +<p>But it was well worth our while, for the LAST +OF THE WINNEBAGOS have achieved undying +fame. Migwan started it with her fake Indian +legend and the rest of us surely carried it to a grand +finish. The best of the whole business, though, was +getting Sally.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_230">[230]</div> +<p>Do you know why she was so queer and stand-offish +to people all this while? She told us in a +burst of confidence that night after we had been +given the loving cup. O Katherine, it would almost +break your heart. It seems she has a brother who +forged a note last year and was sent to prison. She +considered that money a debt of honor which she +must pay back, and so she came away to college, +planning to work her way through and become a +teacher of mathematics, which was her strong subject. +But she had taken her brother’s disgrace so to +heart that she thought the people in college would +consider her an outcast if they found it out, and, +rather than go through the misery of having people +drop her after they had been friendly with her she +made up her mind to make no friends at all, and +then she didn’t need to worry about their finding +it out and cutting her. It broke her all up to turn +down our offers of friendship last fall and she left +Purgatory because she couldn’t bear to see us after +that.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_231">[231]</div> +<p>Think of it, Katherine, what she must have suffered, +and nobody to tell it to! And everybody +calling her a prune! We all cried over her and +assured her a million times we didn’t care a rap +what her brother had done; we loved her and were +proud to have her for a friend. She was a different +girl after that. All the stiffness came out of +her like magic and she looked like a person who has +been let out of prison after being shut up for years. +Her great dread all the time had been that somebody +would find out about her brother; now that +we actually knew it and it didn’t make a bit of +difference, the big load was off her spirits. From +being the most unpopular girl in the class she suddenly +became one of the most popular.</p> +<p>All her money troubles faded too, because she got +work making designs for a big Art Craft jewelry +shop that paid her enough so she didn’t have to +borrow any more money.</p> +<p>The nicest part of it all, though, was what Agony +did. The night that Sally Prindle told us about +her brother Agony wrote to her father, who, I +imagine, must be a very influential man, and asked +if he could get Sally’s brother pardoned. Just how +Agony’s father went about it we will never know, +but not long afterward Sally got a letter from her +brother saying that he had been pardoned on the +condition that he would enlist in the army, which +he had done.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_232">[232]</div> +<p>Think what that meant to Sally! Instead of being +afraid anyone would find out she had a brother +she could now speak of him as proudly as the other +girls did who had brothers in the army; could take +her place with the proudest of them.</p> +<p>Oh, Katherine, if we could only see right through +people and know just why they do things the way +they do, what a wonderful world this would be!</p> +<p><span class="center">Lovingly yours,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Gladys.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_233">[233]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">April 25, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Winnies:</span></p> +<p>I thought it had all happened, that is, everything +that was going to happen for the next ten years, +but it seemed that the excitement of the last few +weeks was but a beginning, and a very humble beginning +at that! We had just gotten over the +sensation of the fire and the arrest of the negro, +and school was in running order again and life in +general had resumed the even tenor of its ways, +when, without warning, the sky fell on the house of +Adams. They say that coming events cast their +shadows before, and that everything works out according +to a fixed rule, but this could only have +been the exception that proved the rule. Having +battered around this wicked world for twenty years +I thought I was prepared for all the shocks that +human flesh is heir to, and that no matter what +happened there was a special rule of etiquette to +fit it, but there was nothing in all my experience, +nor in the Ten Commandments, nor Hoyle, nor +Avogadro’s Hypothesis, nor Grimm’s Law, that prepared +me for what happened next.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_234">[234]</div> +<p>Saturday was the fateful day. Saturday is the +day on which everything happens to me. I was +born on Saturday; it was on Saturday I met you +and landed headfirst into the Winnebago circus; it +was on Saturday I heard the news that I was not +to go to college, and, I suppose, in the order of +human events, I shall die on Saturday.</p> +<p>On this Saturday morning—can it be only yesterday?—I +sat in the doorway peacefully knitting +and occasionally gazing off into space as my +thoughts wandered, flitting from subject to subject +like the yellow butterflies that flashed from flower +to flower. The sunshine sprayed over the roof and +glinted on my amber needles, until it seemed that I +was knitting sunshine right into the socks. I was +filled with a vast contentment that throbbed in my +temples and quivered in my toes; from head to foot +I was “in tune with the infinite.” That morning +father and I had gone over our accounts and our +balance was so satisfactory that we figured in another +year we could finish paying off the mortgage.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_235">[235]</div> +<p>When I complimented father on his talent for +stock farming, he said simply: “It’s all owing to +you. You put new life into us again. We never +could have done it alone. Besides, I reckon most of +the sharp bargaining in horseflesh was done by you. +You got more out of people than I ever did. You’ve +kept up the collections, too. You never got +cheated once. You’re certainly worth your salt as a +business manager, child.”</p> +<p>Imagine it! Calling me his business manager! +I wasn’t an absolute good-for-nothing, then.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_236">[236]</div> +<p>All these things went serenely through my mind +as I sat there knitting in the sunshine, and laying +my plans for summer pleasures. I would take the +Wenonahs and go off camping somewhere in the +woods for a week or two and give them a taste of +real life in the open. The picture of that little camp +rose vividly before me, and I planned out the details +minutely. We would have to have a tent—somewhere +or other I must acquire this necessary +article. A humorous thought came to me of moving +the schoolhouse out into the woods for a +camper’s dwelling, and in imagination I saw it +bumping along behind us on our journey, with Justice +walking along beside it, carrying the chimney +in his arms. I laughed aloud at my incongruous +fancies, startling a hen that was clucking at my +feet so that she fled with a scandalized squawk, stopping +a few yards away to look around at me inquiringly, +as if trying to figure out what was coming +from me next. The hen broke up my fancies +and I returned to my knitting with a start to find I +had dropped several stitches and had a place in the +heel of my sock that looked like the stem end of +an apple. I raveled back and painstakingly re-knitted +the heel, then I laid my knitting in my lap +and gazed dreamily up the road, resting my eyes on +the tender greenness of the fields.</p> +<p>Sitting thus I saw an automobile coming into +view along the road. I watched it idly, glittering +in the sunlight. To my surprise it turned into our +lane and approached the house. I went down to +the drive to meet it; tourists frequently stopped at +the houses for water or for directions, and I would +save these people the trouble of getting out of the +car. The big machine rolled up to the drive and +came to a standstill with a soft sliding of brakes.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_237">[237]</div> +<p>Then a loud, hearty voice called out, “Why here +she is now! Katherine Adams, don’t you know me? +Don’t suppose you do, with these infernal glasses +on.”</p> +<p>I looked hard at the man in the long linen dust +coat and tourist cap who sat alone in the car; then +my eyes nearly popped out of my head.</p> +<p>“Why, Judge Dalrymple!” I exclaimed, starting +forward with a cry of joy and seizing the outstretched +hand. “Where did you come from? Are +you touring? How did you ever happen to stop +here?” I tumbled the questions out thick and fast.</p> +<p>“I didn’t ‘happen’ to stop here,” said the Judge +in his decisive way. “I’ve been rolling over these +endless roads for three days on purpose to get here. +Lord, what a God-forsaken country! And now that +I <i>am</i> here at last,” he added, “aren’t you going to +ask me in? Where’s your father?”</p> +<p>“Excuse me,” said I, blushing furiously. “I was +so taken by surprise at seeing you that I even forgot +my own name, to say nothing of my manners. +Come right in.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_238">[238]</div> +<p>I settled him in the best chair in the house, +brought him a glass of water and left him talking to +mother in his hearty way while I went out in search +of father. Father was painting a shed when I +found him, and he came just the way he was, with +streaks of paint on his jumper and overalls. If +he had had any inkling of what he was being summoned +to——!</p> +<p>Judge Dalrymple was just as pleased to meet +father in his paint-streaked jumper as if he had been +a senator in a silk hat, and after the first moment +of embarrassment father felt as if the Judge were +an old-time friend.</p> +<p>Then the Judge began to explain why he had +come, and the bomb dropped on the roof of the +house of Adams. I couldn’t comprehend it at first +any more than father could. It sounded like a +page out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. But it seemed +that he knew all about the company my father had +lost his money in last summer, and he and some +other men bought it up and set it on its feet again. +War orders had suddenly boomed it and it was now +solid as a rock. The original stockholders still held +their shares and would draw their dividends as soon +as they were declared, which Judge Dalrymple +prophesied would be soon. Our days of struggling +were over. We were “hard-uppers” no longer; we +were “well off” at last. I left the Judge and father +talking over the details of the business and wandered +aimlessly around the dooryard, trying to comprehend +the meaning of what had happened to us, +and capering as each new thing occurred to me. My +narrow horizon had suddenly rolled back and the +whole world lay before me. College—travel—study—return +to my beloved friends in the east—best +doctors for mother—all those things kaleidoscoped +before me, leaving me giddy and faint. I seized a +hoe and began to demolish an ant hill for sheer +exuberance of spirits.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_239">[239]</div> +<p>“What’s the matter, have you had a sunstroke?” +asked Justice Sherman, suddenly appearing beside +me from somewhere.</p> +<p>“Worse than that, it’s an earthquake,” I replied. +“Take a deep breath, Justice Sherman, because +you’re going to need it in a minute.”</p> +<p>Then I told him about father’s investing his +money in the western oil company last summer and +apparently losing it, and how the company had unexpectedly +come to life again.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_240">[240]</div> +<p>“Whew!” said Justice, looking dazed for a minute; +then he expressed the sincerest joy at our good +fortune I have ever heard one mortal express at +the prosperity of another. But after his congratulations +were all made he stopped short as if he had +just thought of something and then he said slowly, +“I suppose you’ll be going away from here now; +moving out west, possibly to San Francisco?” It +seemed to me that he looked very sober at the +thought.</p> +<p>“Not if I know it,” I replied decisively. “It’ll +be the east for me, if I go anywhere, where the +Winnebagos have their hunting grounds.”</p> +<p>“You <i>are</i> going away then?” asked Justice composedly.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” I replied truthfully. “Nothing is +settled yet. Give us time to catch our breath. In +the meantime, come in and meet our guest, the new +president of the Pacific Refining Company, who +came to tell us the good news.”</p> +<p>Justice assumed an exaggerated air of dignity +and formality that upset my composure so I could +hardly keep my face straight as I walked into the +house.</p> +<p>“Oh, Judge,” I called blithely, “here is the rest +of the happy family. Justice, this is Judge Dalrymple.”</p> +<p>Then the second bomb dropped.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_241">[241]</div> +<p>For, at the sight of Justice, Judge Dalrymple +sprang out of his chair with a hoarse sound in his +throat as if he were choking, and stood staring at +him as if he had seen a ghost. Justice looked fit to +drop.</p> +<p>“Father!” he said weakly.</p> +<p>“Justice!” said Judge Dalrymple with dry lips. +“How did you get here? Where have you been all +this time?”</p> +<p>“Out west,” replied Justice.</p> +<p>“Why didn’t you tell us where you were??” asked +the Judge, sitting down heavily again.</p> +<p>“I merely followed your instructions,” replied +Justice with dignity. “You told me to get out; that +you didn’t ever want to hear from me again, and I +took you at your word.”</p> +<p>“I was a fool, a blind fool, and in a great rage +when I said that. I didn’t mean it,” said the Judge, +in a choking voice.</p> +<p>“But you said it, nevertheless,” replied Justice, +“and I was hot-headed and went.”</p> +<p>“What have you been doing all this time?” asked +the Judge curiously.</p> +<p>“Roughing it,” replied Justice, in the tone of one +who has great adventures to tell, “until I came here +and turned into a professor.” A humorous twinkle +lit up his eye as he mentioned the word “Professor.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_242">[242]</div> +<p>In a daze of astonishment father, mother and I +watched this unexpected meeting and reconciliation +between father and son. In due time we had all +the story. Judge Dalrymple had set his heart on +having his oldest son, Justice, become a lawyer like +himself, and go into his law firm as junior partner. +But Justice had no liking for the law. All he +wanted to do was tinker with electrical things. It +was the only thing in the world he cared for. When +he got through college and his father insisted upon +his entering the law school he flatly refused. There +was a scene and he and his father quarreled bitterly. +His father told him he could either go to law +school or get out and hoe for himself and he chose +the latter. He left home. All the while he had +been in college he had been working on an electrical +device to enable deaf men to receive wireless +messages. He now went to work on this and finished +it, and, boylike, thought his fortune was made. +But it seemed fortune had turned her back on him. +He had no money himself to market the device and +he could not succeed in interesting anyone with capital. +He spent many weary days, going from one +place to another with his invention, only to meet +with failure on all sides. He had always had delicate +health and the long hours he had spent indoors +working on his beloved experiments finally told on +him and he developed a throat trouble which made +it impossible for him to stay in the north. One +day, in a moment of great discouragement, he threw +his invention into the New York harbor and sorrowfully +gave up his dream of being an inventor. +He was down and out but still too proud to write +home and ask help from his father. He had a +chance to act as chauffeur for a party of ladies who +wanted to tour the west and in this manner he made +his way to Texas. He worked there on a sheep +ranch for a number of months; then, seized with a +desire to see the country, he worked his way through +the Territory and into Arkansas, and finally into +the township of Spencer, where he was attacked by +robbers one night on the road, robbed of all his +belongings and left lying there with his head cut +open. Then it was that he had wandered into our +stable, was found, and nursed back to health.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_243">[243]</div> +<p>Our climate agreed with him so well that he decided +to stay for a while, and got the position of +teaching in the high school at Spencer, which wasn’t +very hard work. The long walk or drive in the +open, back and forth every day, and his sleeping +in the airy shack, gradually worked a cure to his +throat, and brought back the health he had lost +through overwork and disappointment.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_244">[244]</div> +<p>Besides—just listen to this, will you—he said +that I had given him such an amazing new outlook +on life that he wanted to stay as near to me as he +could and learn my philosophy. He had been +utterly discouraged when he came, had lost his grip +on things, and didn’t care a hang what became of +him, but I had put new life and ambition back +into him. Imagine it! My philosophy!</p> +<p>He had resolved to have nothing more to do with +his father after he had turned him out, and dropped +the name of Dalrymple, going by the name of Justice +Sherman. His full name was Justice Sherman +Dalrymple.</p> +<p>Thus ended the mystery of the scholarly sheep +herder. The son of <i>my</i> Judge Dalrymple! I +couldn’t believe it, but it was true beyond a doubt. +I <i>did</i> know a hawk from a handsaw, after all. No +wonder he had looked so sad sometimes when he +thought no one was watching him, with such memories +to brood over! No wonder he had acted so +queerly when I told him what we had done to +Antha and Anthony up on Ellen’s Isle. They were +his younger brother and sister!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_245">[245]</div> +<p>Judge Dalrymple was speaking to Sherman again. +“So you threw your invention into the New York +Harbor, did you?” he said regretfully. “It’s too +bad, because some one to whom you showed it has +been writing and writing to the house about it. I +couldn’t forward the letter because I had no idea +where you were. The Government wants to try +out your invention. I never dreamed that those +fool experiments you were forever making amounted +to anything. I see now you were wiser than I. +Come home, boy, and tinker all you like. We’ll +throw the lawyer business into the discard. Could +you build up your thingummyjig again?”</p> +<p>At this astonishing news Justice began whooping +like a wild Indian. “Could I build it up again?” he +shouted. “Just give me a chance. Just watch me!” +He seized me around the waist and began jigging +with me all over the floor.</p> +<p>“Save the pieces,” I panted, sinking into a chair +and making a vain attempt to smooth back my flying +hair.</p> +<p>Then I noticed that Judge Dalrymple was looking +at me with eyes filled with awe, not to say fear.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_246">[246]</div> +<p>“Girl, what are you?” he asked in a strange voice. +“Are you Fate? Every time I come in touch with +you, you work some miracle in my household. First +you perform a magic in my two younger children, +and then when I attempt to make some slight return +for your great service and seek you out, I find that +you have also drawn my other child to you from out +of the Vast and worked as great a miracle in him. +Are you human or superhuman, that you can play +with people’s destinies like that? Under what star +were you born, anyway?”</p> +<p>“Weren’t any stars at all,” I replied, laughing. +“The sun was shining!”</p> +<p>O my Winnies, what a day this has been! The +sun rose exactly as on any other day, without any +warning of what was coming, and yet before he set +the world had been turned topsy turvy for five people! +Isn’t life glorious, though? Mercy, but I’m +glad I was born!</p> +<p><span class="center">Breathlessly yours,</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_247">[247]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">April 27, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Oh, My Winnies:</span></p> +<p>How can I tell it? Father died to-day. Heart +failure, brought on by excitement over the fire and +the coming of Judge Dalrymple. Think of it! +After all these years of hard work and grinding +poverty and bitter disappointment, to fall just at the +moment when success and prosperity were within +reach. Oh, the terrible irony of Life!</p> +<p><span class="center">Your broken-hearted</span> +<br /><span class="author"><span class="sc">Katherine</span>.</span></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_248">[248]</div> +<h3>KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS</h3> +<p><span class="date">May 9, 19—.</span> +<br /><span class="sc">Dearest Winnies:</span></p> +<p>Thanks, a thousand times, for all the beautiful, +comforting letters you wrote. When did anyone +ever have such friends as I? Everyone has been so +kind, so sympathetic. The whole countryside turned +out to help us. Judge Dalrymple and Justice are +still here, straightening up father’s affairs. The +farm and the stock are to be sold. Mother is sick; +father’s death was a great shock to her. As soon +as she is better she and I are going home with Judge +Dalrymple for a visit. We are going to motor back +with him and Justice—won’t it be glorious? Justice +is going back home to live. He and his father have +become great pals; it is perfect joy to watch them +going about like two boys, arm in arm. You never +see one without the other any more. Now that they +are together it is possible to see quite a resemblance, +but Justice is much handsomer than his father ever +could have been. Sandhelo acted just as though he +remembered the Judge from last summer; he +squealed when he saw him and put his nose into his +pocket. We had a council about what should become +of Sandhelo and finally decided that he was to +be sent home to Judge Dalrymple’s to be a pet for +Antha and Anthony. Sandhelo nodded solemnly +when we told him, as much as to say it was all right +with him. I have a queer feeling all the time that +that mule is more than half human. He has such +an uncanny way of taking people’s affairs into his +own hands, sometimes. Did he not recognize Justice +in the road that night when I would have fled +from him, thinking he was the negro, Solomon, and +didn’t he scare Solomon into confessing that he had +set fire to Elijah Butts’ cotton storehouse?</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_249">[249]</div> +<p>To-morrow is May 10th, the date that school +closes in this district, and I have planned a farewell +celebration for the scholars. I am going +to give them “for keeps” all the things that came +from the House of the Open Door, besides all the +splendid things that came for Christmas, to be the +property of the Corners schoolhouse from that time +on henceforward, to make of it another House of +the Open Door.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="sc">May 10th, Evening.</span></p> +<p>Another amazing day! Do you know, I half believe +that I have been transported in a dream back +to the land of witches and fairies, and have to keep +pinching myself to make sure I’m still myself, Katherine +Adams, and not some other girl who has gotten +into my shoes by mistake. I have a dreadful +fear that I will find my real self sitting in the road +somewhere, tumbled off old Major’s back as he +ambled along, reading in some book of romance the +wonderful things that are happening to this new, +strange self. And presently it will be time to go +home and help with supper, and romance will come +to an end with the closing of the book.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_250">[250]</div> +<p>But I guess I’m real, all right. Before the door +stands Judge Dalrymple’s car, latest model; its loud, +raucous voice containing no hint of elfin horns as it +announces the return of Justice and his father from +a spin in the country. Beside me on the table is the +deed of sale of our property, made out to one Jim +Wiggin, and drawn up on very substantial-looking +paper; and on my wrist sparkles the beautiful little +gold watch which is a very tangible souvenir of this +last amazing day. It ticks away companionably, as +if to reassure me of its realness. I have named it +Thomas Tickle, and we are going to be inseparable +friends.</p> +<p>You remember I told you I had planned a little +last-day-of-school celebration for the scholars? +Well!!! As it turned out, it made the Pageant look +like five cents’ worth of laundry soap by comparison. +When I got to school in the morning I found +the schoolhouse draped with flags and bunting, inside +and outside, and my desk piled a foot high with +great red roses.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_251">[251]</div> +<p>Then the people began to arrive. It seemed the +whole county was there. My eyes began to pop out +of my head as one after another of the celebrities +began to arrive. The School Board from Spencer +came <i>en phalanx</i>, and in marching order behind +them came the high school pupils with Justice at +their head. The parents of the pupils were all there +in state and it soon became evident that we would +have to hold our closing exercises outdoors, as the +schoolhouse would not hold one-tenth of the crowd.</p> +<p>I was rushing around like a fire engine with the +steering gear gone, trying to find things for various +mothers to sit on, when I was conscious of a solemn +hush, and with a flourish the county school +commissioners drove up and with them came Miss +Fairlee, the Commission Lady.</p> +<p>Then there broke loose a sound of revelry by day. +My scholars did the folk dances and gave the little +play I taught them; the Camp Fire Girls held a ceremonial +meeting and gave demonstrations of poncho +rolling, camp cooking, etc., while the boys had an +exhibition of the articles they had made from wood, +out of the Dan Beard book.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_252">[252]</div> +<p>Then in a speech, which was more earnest than +eloquent, I gave to the school the furnishings from +the House of the Open Door, together with the +graphophone, the lantern and the slides, to have and +to hold, to be the foundation of a new House of the +Open Door. There was tumultuous applause, and I +sat down, red and perspiring, and my part of the +show was over.</p> +<p>Thereupon, up rose Absalom Butts, punched in +the back as I could see by three or four of the other +boys, and, swallowing his fourteen-year-old embarrassment +as well as he could, he thrust into my hands +a little blue velvet case, mumbling the while, “It’s +yours. From the school. In token of our—of +our——”</p> +<p>Here he forgot his speech, looked around wildly, +and then burst out:</p> +<p>“We’re givin’ it to you because you showed us +such a good time, and we’re sorry you’re goin’ +away!” Then he fled to his place and hid his blushes +behind Henry Smoot’s red head.</p> +<p>I opened the case and took out a dear little gold +wrist watch. I started to thank them, but choked +utterly when I thought of the sacrifices it must have +cost some of those people to help buy that watch.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_253">[253]</div> +<p>But this was no time for tears. The main dish +of the feast was being brought in. The chief of +the County school commissioners, the guest of +honor, rose pompously and made his way to the +front after being ceremoniously introduced by +Elijah Butts. After much clearing of the throat he +began a flowery speech about the fame that had +been gained throughout the county by the little +schoolhouse at our Corners on account of its Red +Cross activities and Patriotic Pageants; how it had +been made the social center for the people all around +and had helped educate them to better things; how +the boys and girls had learned more useful things +from me than from anyone else who had ever taught +there; and how Miss Fairlee, who had come from +the East to study rural school conditions in our section +had been quite carried away with my work, and +so on, <i>ad infinitum</i>.</p> +<p>Then, having loaded his cannon very carefully, +so to speak, he proceeded to fire it into the crowd +with telling effect. The County school commissioners, +he announced with a fine air of jocularity, had +heard that I was carrying the schoolhouse around +with me wherever I went, and as they were afraid +it might get mislaid some day they had voted to +build a new brick schoolhouse on a foundation; one +that couldn’t be moved. A new schoolhouse for +our district! Nobody had ever dared hope for such +a thing, not even in their wildest dreams. And it +seems that I had precipitated all this good fortune!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_254">[254]</div> +<p>Later on I happened to hear this same commissioner +congratulating Elijah Butts on the good +teacher he had picked, and Elijah swelled up like a +pouter pigeon and replied:</p> +<p>“Yes, sir, I spotted her for a good one the minute +I laid eyes on her. It was me that persuaded the +Board to hire her when some of them was holdin’ +back, favorin’ a different kind of female. Yessir, +it was me that picked her!”</p> +<p>Justice, who had also overheard the conversation, +winked solemnly and we both fled where we could +have our laugh out unnoticed.</p> +<p>But the best part of it all came after the Big +Show was over. Miss Fairlee came up and took me +by the arm and strolled away with me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_255">[255]</div> +<p>“My dear,” she said, “would you consider leaving +this place and coming East with me? I need an assistant +in my Social Settlement work for the summer, +and there’s no one I’ve met in the whole country +that would fill the bill as well as you. For handling +difficult situations you are a perfect marvel. +Your talents are wasted out here—anyone can carry +on the work that you have started so wonderfully. +Won’t you please come?”</p> +<p>We talked about it a bit, and where do you suppose +this Social Settlement is? Where but in the +one spot on earth that I’d rather be than any other! +The same city, my dears, that has the honor of being +your home! It’s all settled now, and I am to go, +after my visit to the Dalrymples. Mother is going +into a big Sanitarium, and I am going to work with +Miss Fairlee through the summer.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_256">[256]</div> +<p>Clear the track! The Winnebago Special is about +to start once more! O my Winnies, don’t you see +the miracle of it all? Here I was, pining to live in +a House by the Side of the Road, when all the time +I <i>was</i> living in a House by the Side of the Road! It +was my little despised schoolhouse. I was sent here +by fate to prove myself worthy or unworthy of +what she had in store for me. I was taken away +from you that I might come back to a richer, fuller +life than I had dreamed of in the old days. It is +all part of a Plan, so big and wonderful that I lose +my breath when I think of it. But whatever the +Plan may turn out to be in the future, there’s only +one thing about it that interests me now, and that +is, I’m coming back to you. I’m coming back! +Back to my Winnies! Hang out the latchstring and +remove everything breakable, for the wanderer is +coming home!</p> +<p><span class="center">Your thrice-blessed</span> +<br /><span class="author">Katherine.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> +<ul> +<li>Punctuation and obvious typographical errors were corrected +without comment.</li> +<li>Page numbers were moved to paragraph boundaries; +several page numbers were omitted because there was no convenient +paragraph boundary.</li> +</ul> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p class="pg">***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD***</p> +<p class="pg">******* This file should be named 36485-h.txt or 36485-h.zip *******</p> +<p class="pg">This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/8/36485">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/8/36485</a></p> +<p class="pg">Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p class="pg">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. 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Frey + + +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: The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + + + +Release Date: June 21, 2011 [eBook #36485] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN +ROAD*** + + +E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 36485-h.htm or 36485-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36485/36485-h/36485-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36485/36485-h.zip) + + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD + +Or, Glorify Work + +by + +HILDEGARD G. FREY + +Author of +The Camp Fire Girls Series + + + + + + + +A. L. Burt Company +Publishers New York + + + * * * * * * + + THE + Camp Fire Girls Series + + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + + The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods + or, The Winnebago's Go Camping + + The Camp Fire Girls at School + or, The Wohelo Weavers + + The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + + The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way + + The Camp Fire Girls Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + + The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen's Isle + or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars + + The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit + or, Over The Top With the Winnebago's + + + Copyright, 1918 + By A. L. BURT COMPANY + + * * * * * * + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Oct. 1, 19--. +Dear First-And-Onlys: + +When I got to the post-office to-day and found there was no letter from +you, my heart sank right through the bottom of my number seven boots and +buried itself in the mud under the doorsill. All day long I had had a +feeling that there would be a letter, and that hope kept me up nobly +through the trying ordeal of attempting to teach spelling and geography +and arithmetic to a roomful of children of assorted ages who seem as +determined not to learn as I am determined to teach them. It sustained +and soothed me through the exciting process of "settling" Absalom Butts, +the fourteen-year-old bully of the class, with whom I have a preliminary +skirmish every day in the week before recitations can begin; and through +the equally trying business of listening to his dull-witted sister, +Clarissa, spell "example" forty ways but the right way, and then dissolve +into inevitable tears. When school was out I was as limp as a rag, and so +thankful it was Friday night that I could have kissed the calendar. I +fairly "sic"ed Sandhelo along the road to the post-office, expecting to +revel in the bale of news from my beloveds that was awaiting me, but when +I got there and the post box was bare the last button burst off the +mantle of my philosophy and left me naked to the cold winds of +disappointment. A whole orphan asylum with the mumps on both sides would +have been gay and chipper compared to me when I turned Sandhelo's head +homeward and started on the six-mile drive. + +It had been raining for more than a week, a steady, warmish, sickening +drizzle, that had taken all the curl out of my spirits and left them +hanging in dejected, stringy wisps. I couldn't help feeling how well the +weather matched my state of mind as I drove homeward. The whole landscape +was one gray blur, and the tall weeds that bordered the road on both +sides wept unconsolably on each other's shoulders, their tears mingling +in a stream down their stems. I could almost hear them sob. The muddy +yellow road wound endlessly past empty, barren fields, and seemed to hold +out no promise of ever arriving anywhere in particular. All my life I +have hated that aimlessly winding road, just as I have always hated those +empty, barren fields. They have always seemed so shiftless, so utterly +unambitious. I can't help thinking that this corner of Arkansas was made +out of the scraps that were left after everything else was finished. How +father ever came to take up land here when he had the whole state to +choose from is one of the seven things we will never know till the coming +of the Cocqcigrues. It's as flat as a pancake, and, for the most part, +treeless. The few trees there are seem to be ashamed to be caught growing +in such a place, and make themselves as small as possible. The land is +stony and barren and sterile, neither very good for farming or grazing. +The only certain thing about the rainfall is that it is certain to come +at the wrong time, and upset all your plans. "Principal rivers, there are +none; principal mountains--I'm the only one," as Alice-in-Wonderland used +to say. But father has always been the kind of man that gets the worst of +every bargain. + +Now, you unvaryingly cheerful Winnebagos, go ahead and sniff +contemptuously when you breathe the damp vapors rising from this epistle, +and hear the pitiful moans issuing therefrom. "For shame, Katherine!" I +can hear you saying, in superior tones, "to get low in your mind so soon! +Why, you haven't come to the first turn in the Open Road, and you've gone +lame already. Where is the Torch that you started out with so gaily +flaring? Quenched completely by the first shower! Katherine Adams, you +big baby, straighten up your face this minute and stop blubbering!" + +But oh, you round pegs in your nice smooth, round holes, you have never +been a stranger in a familiar land! You have never known what it was to +be out of tune with everything around you. Oh, why wasn't I built to +admire vast stretches of nothing, content to dwell among untrodden ways +and be a Maid whom there were none to praise and very few to love, and +all that Wordsworth business? Why do crickets and grasshoppers and owls +make me feel as though I'd lost my last friend, instead of impressing me +with the sociability of Nature? Why don't I rejoice that I've got the +whole road to myself, instead of wishing that it were jammed with +automobiles and trolley cars, and swarming with people? Why did Fate set +me down on a backwoods farm when my only desire in life is to dwell in a +house by the side of the road where the circus parade of life is +continually passing? Why am I not like the other people in this section, +with whom ignorance is bliss, grammar an unknown quantity, and culture a +thing to be sneered at? + +Although I can't see them, I know that somewhere to the north, just +beyond the horizon, the mountains lift their great frowning heads, and +ever since I can remember I have looked upon them as a fence which shut +me out from the big bustling world, and over which I would climb some +day. Just as Napoleon said, "Beyond the Alps lies Italy," so I thought, +"Beyond the Ozarks lies my world." + +I don't believe I had my nose out of a book for half an hour at a time in +those early days. I went without new clothes to buy them, and got up +early and worked late to get my chores done so that I might have more +time to read. When I was twelve years old I had learned all that the +teacher in a little school at the cross roads could teach me, and then I +went to the high school in the little town of Spencer, six miles away, +traveling the distance twice every day. When there was a horse available +I rode, if not, I walked. But whether riding or walking, I always had a +book in my hand, and read as I went along. It often happened that, being +deep in the fortunes of my story book friends, I did not notice when old +Major ambled off the road in quest of a nibble of clover, and would +sometimes come to with a start to find myself lying in the ditch. The +neighbors thought my actions scandalous and pitied my father and mother +because they had such a good-for-nothing daughter. + +All this time my father was getting poorer and poorer. He changed from +farming to cotton raising and then made a failure of that, and finally, +in despair, he turned to raising horses, not beautiful race horses like +you read about in stories, but wiry little cow ponies that the cattlemen +use. For some unaccountable reason he had good luck in this line for +three years in succession, and a year or so after I had finished this +little one-horse high school there was enough money for me to climb over +my Ozark fence and go and play in the land of my dreams. One wonderful +year, that surpassed in reality anything I had ever pictured in +imagination, and then the sky fell, and here I am, inside the fence once +more. + +Not that I am sorry I came back, no sirree! Father was so pleased and +touched to think I gave up my college course and came home that he +chirked up right away and started in from the beginning once more to pay +the mortgage off the land and the stock, and mother is feeling well +enough to be up almost all day now; but to-day I just couldn't help +shedding a few perfectly good tears over what I might be doing instead of +what I am. + +A flock of wild geese, headed south, flew above my head in a dark +triangle, and honked derisively at me as they passed. "Not even a goose +would stop off in this dismal country!" I exclaimed aloud. Then, simply +wild for sympathy from someone, I slid off Sandhelo's back and stood +there, ankle deep in the yellow mud, and put my arms around his neck. + +"Oh, Sandhelo," I croaked dismally, "you're all I have left of my +wonderful year up north. You love me, don't you?" + +But Sandhelo looked unfeelingly over my shoulder at the rain splashing +down into the road and yawned elaborately right in my face. There are +times when Sandhelo shows no more feeling than Eeny-Meeny. Seeing there +was no sympathy to be had from him, I climbed on his back again and rode +grimly home, trying to resign myself to a life of school teaching at the +cross roads, ending in an early death from boredom. + +Father was nowhere about when I rode into the stableyard, and the door +into the stable was shut. I slid it back, with Sandhelo nosing at my arm +all the while. + +"Oh, you're affectionate enough now that you want your dinner," I +couldn't help saying a little spitefully. Then my heart melted toward +him, and, with my arm around his neck, we walked in together. Inside of +Sandhelo's stall I ran into something and jumped as if I had been shot. +In the dusk I could make out the figure of a man sitting on the floor and +leaning against the wall. + +"Is that you, Father?" I asked, while Sandhelo blinked in astonishment at +this invasion of his premises. There was no answer from the man on the +floor. Why I wasn't more excited I don't know, but I calmly took the +lantern down from the hook and lit it and held it in front of me. The +light showed the man in Sandhelo's stall to be sound asleep, with his +hand leaned back against the wooden partition. He had a black beard and +his face was all streaked with mud and dirt, and there was mud even in +his matted hair. He had no hat on. His clothes were all covered with mud +and one sleeve of his coat was torn partly out. + +Sandhelo put down his nose and sniffed inquiringly at the stranger's +feet. Without ceremony I thrust the lantern right into the man's face. + +"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I said, loudly and firmly. The +man stirred and opened his eyes, and then sat up suddenly, blinking at +the light. + +"Who are you?" I repeated sternly. The man stared at me stupidly for an +instant; then he passed his hand over his forehead and stumbled to his +feet. + +"Who am I?" he repeated wildly; then his face screwed up into a frightful +grimace and with a groan he crumpled up on the floor. Leaving Sandhelo +still standing there gazing at him in mild astonishment, I ran out +calling for father. + +Father came presently and took a long look at the man in the stall, and +then, without asking any questions, he got a wet cloth and laid it on his +head. That washed some of the mud off and showed a big bruise on his +forehead over his left eye. Father called the man that helps with the +horses. + +"Help me carry this man into the house," he said shortly. + +"But Father," I said, "you surely aren't going to carry that man into the +house? All dirty like that!" + +Father gave me one look and I said no more. Together father and Jim +Wiggin lifted the stranger from the floor and started toward the house +with him, while I capered around in my excitement and finally ran on +ahead to tell mother. They carried him into the kitchen and laid him down +on the old lounge and tried to bring him around with smelling salts and +things. But he just kept on talking and muttering to himself, and never +opened his eyes. + +And that's what he's still doing, while I'm off in my room writing this. +It was five o'clock when we brought him in, and now it's after ten and he +hasn't come to his senses yet. There isn't a thing in his pockets to show +who he is or where he came from. + +I feel so strange since I found that man there. I'm not a bit low in my +mind any more, like I was this afternoon. I have a curious feeling as if +I had passed a turn in the road and come upon something new and +wonderful. + +Forget the lengthy moan I indulged in at the beginning of this letter, +will you, and think of me as gay and chipper as ever. + + Yours in Wohelo, + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Oct. 15, 19--. +Darling Winnies: + +And to think, after all that fuss I made about not getting a letter from +you that day, I didn't have time to open it for three whole days after it +finally arrived! You remember where I left off the last time, with the +strange man I had found in Sandhelo's stable out of his head on the +kitchen lounge? Well, he kept on like that, lying with his eyes shut and +occasionally saying a word or two that didn't make sense, all that night +and all the next day. Then on Sunday he developed a high fever and began +to rave. He shouted at the top of his voice until he was hoarse; always +about somebody pursuing him and whom he was trying to run away from. Then +he began to jump up and try to run outdoors, until we had to bar the +door. It took all father and Jim Wiggin and I could do to keep him on the +lounge. We had a pretty exciting time of it, I can tell you. Of course, +all the uproar upset mother and she had another spell with her heart and +took to her bed, and by Tuesday night things got so strenuous that I had +to dismiss school for the rest of the week and keep all my ten fingers in +the domestic pie. + +I don't know who rejoiced more over the unexpected lapse from lessons, +the scholars or myself. I never saw a group of children who were so +constitutionally opposed to learning as the twenty-two stony-faced +specimens of "hoomanity" that I had to deal with in that little shanty of +a school. They'd rather be ignorant than educated any day. I just can't +make them do the homework I give them. Every day it's the same story. +They haven't done their examples and they haven't learned their spelling; +they haven't studied their geography. The only way I can get them to +study their lessons is to keep them in after school and stand over them +while they do it. Their only motto seems to be, "Pa and ma didn't have no +education and they got along, so why should we bother?" + +The families from which these children come are what is known in this +section as "Hard-uppers," people who are and have always been "hard up." +Nearly everybody around here is a Hard-upper. If they weren't they +wouldn't be here. The land is so poor that nobody will pay any price for +it, so it has drifted into the hands of shiftless people who couldn't get +along anywhere, and they work it in a backward, inefficient sort of way +and make such a bare living that you couldn't call it a living at all. +They live in little houses that aren't much more than cabins--some of +them have only one or two rooms in them--and haven't one of the comforts +that you girls think you absolutely couldn't live without. They have no +books, no pictures, no magazines. It's no wonder the children are +stony-faced when I try to shower blessings upon them in the form of +spelling and grammar; they know they won't have a mite of use for them if +they do learn them, so why take the trouble? + +"What a dreadful set of people!" I can hear you say disdainfully. "How +can you stand it among such poor trash?" + +O my Beloveds, I have a sad admission to make. I am a Hard-upper +myself! My father, while he is the dearest daddy in the world, never +had a scrap of business ability; that's how he came to live in this +made-out-of-the-scraps-after-every-thing-else-was-made corner of +Arkansas. He never had any education either, though it wasn't because he +didn't want it. He doesn't care a rap for reading; all he cares for is +horses. We live in a shack, too, though it has four rooms and is much +better than most around here. We never had any books or magazines, +either, except the ones for which I sacrificed everything else I wanted +to buy. But I wanted to learn,--oh, how I wanted to learn!--and that's +where I differed altogether from the rest of the Hard-uppers. They're +still wagging their heads about the way I used to walk along the road +reading. The very first week I taught school this year I was taking +Absalom Butts (mentioned in my former epistle) to task for speaking +saucily to me, and thinking to impress him with the dignity of my +position I said, "Do you know whom you're talking to?" + +And he answered back impudently, "Yer Bill Adamses good-for-nothing +daughter, that's who you are!" + +You see what I'm up against? Those children hear their parents make such +remarks about me and they haven't the slightest respect for me. Did you +know that I only got this job of teaching because nobody else would take +it? Absalom Butts' father, who is about the only man around here who +isn't a Hard-upper, and is the most influential man in the community +because he can talk the loudest, held out against me to the very end, +declaring I hadn't enough sense to come in out of the rain. As he is +president of the school board in this township--the whole thing is a +farce, but the members are tremendously impressed with their own +dignity--it pretty nearly ended up in your little Katherine not getting +any school to teach this winter, but when one applicant after another +came and saw and turned up her nose, it became a question of me or no +schoolmarm, so they gave me the place, but with much misgiving. I had +become very much discouraged over the whole business, for I really needed +the money, and began to consider myself a regular idiot, but father said +I needn't worry very much about being considered a good-for-nothing by +Elijah Butts; his whole grudge against me rose from the fact that he had +wanted to marry my mother when she was young and had never forgiven +father for beating him to it. That cheered me up considerably, and I +determined to swallow no slights from the family of Butts. + +Since then it's been nip and tuck between us. Young Absalom is a big, +overgrown gawk of fourteen with no brain for anything but mischief. His +chief aim in life just now is to think up something to annoy me. I ignore +him as much as possible so as not to give him the satisfaction of knowing +he can annoy me, but about every three days we have a regular pitched +battle, and it keeps me worn out. His sister Clarissa hasn't enough brain +for mischief, but her constant flow of tears is nearly as bad as his +impudence. + +Taken all in all, you can guess that I didn't shed any tears about having +to close the school that Tuesday to help take care of the sick man. +Anything, even sitting on a delirious stranger, was a relief from the +constant warfare of teaching school. It was in the midst of this mess +that your letter came, and lay three whole days before I had time to open +it. + +On Saturday the sick man stopped raving and struggling and lay perfectly +motionless. Jim Wiggin looked at his white, sunken face, and remarked +oracularly, "He's a goner." + +Even father shook his head and asked me to ride Sandhelo over to Spencer +and fetch the doctor again. I went, feeling queer and shaky. Nobody had +ever died in our house and the thought gave me a chill. I wished he had +never come, because the business had upset mother so. Besides that, the +man himself bothered me. Who was he, wandering around like that among +strangers and dying in the house of a man he had never seen? How could we +notify his family--if he had a family? I couldn't help thinking how +dreadful it would be if my father were to be taken sick away from home +like that, and we never knowing what had become of him. I was quite low +in my mind again by the time I had come back with the doctor. + +But while I had been away a change came over the sick man. He still lay +like dead with his eyes closed, but he seemed to be breathing +differently. The doctor said he was asleep; the fever had left him. He +wasn't going to die under a strange roof after all. When he wakened he +was conscious, but the doctor wouldn't let us ask him any questions. He +slept nearly all day Sunday and on Monday I went back to school. When I +came home Monday night I had the surprise of my young life. When I looked +over at the lounge to see how the sick man was to-day I saw, not a man, +but a boy lying there. A white-faced boy with a sensitive, beautiful +mouth, wan cheeks and great black eyes that seemed to be the biggest part +of his face. My books clattered to the floor in my astonishment. Father +came in just then and laughed at my amazed face. + +"Quite a different-looking bird, isn't he?" he said. "The doctor was in +again to-day and shaved him. It does make quite a difference, now, +doesn't it?" he finished. + +Difference! I should say it did! I had thought all the while that he was +a man, because he wore a beard; it had never occurred to me that the hair +had grown out on his face from neglect, and not because he wanted it +there. + +"I suppose I must have looked frightful," said the boy in a weak voice, +but with a smile of amusement in his eyes. Those were the first words I +had heard him speak to anyone, and that was the first time he had had his +eyes wide open and looked directly at me. For the life of me I couldn't +stop staring at him. I couldn't get over how beautiful he was. He had +been so repulsive before, with his hair all matted and his face +discolored by bruises; now his hair was clipped short and was very soft +and black and shiny. One small transparent hand lay on top of the +blanket. He didn't look a day over eighteen. + +He lay there half smiling at me and suddenly for no reason at all I felt +large and awkward and sloppy. Involuntarily my hand flew to the back of +my belt to see if I was coming to pieces, and I stole a stealthy glance +at my feet to see if the shoes I had on were mates. I was glad when he +closed his eyes and I could slip out of the room unnoticed. I suppose +mother wondered why I was so long getting supper ready that night. But +the truth of the matter is I spent fifteen minutes hunting through my +bureau drawers for that list of rules of neatness that Gladys made out +for me last summer, and which I had never thought of once since coming +home. I unearthed them at last and applied them carefully to my toilet +before reappearing in the kitchen. My hair was very trying; it _would_ +hang down in my eyes until at last in desperation I tucked it under a +cap. As a rule I loathe caps. Just as soon as this letter reaches you, +Gladys, will you send me that recipe for hand lotion you told me you +used? My hands are a fright, all red and rough. Don't wait until the +letters from the other girls are ready, but send the recipe right on by +return mail. + +After supper that night we talked to the man on the couch. At first he +seemed very unwilling to tell anything about himself. We finally got from +him that his name was Justice Sherman; that he was from Texas, where he +had been working on a sheep ranch; that he had left there and gone up +into Oklahoma and had worked at various places; that he had gradually +worked his way into Arkansas; that he had fallen in with bad men who had +attacked and robbed him and left him lying senseless in the road with his +head cut open; that he had wandered around several days in the rain half +out of his head, trying to get someone to take him in, but he looked so +frightful that everyone turned him out and set the dogs on him, until +finally he had stumbled over a stone and broken his ankle and dragged +himself into our stable and crept into Sandhelo's stall. That's what had +made him crumple up on the floor the day I found him when he tried to get +up. He had fainted from the pain. + +We asked him if he wouldn't like us to write to his family or his friends +and he answered wearily that he had no family and no friends in +particular that he would care to notify. Then he closed his eyes and one +corner of his mouth drew up as if with pain. Poor fellow, I suppose that +ankle did hurt horribly. + +Now, you best and dearest of Winnebagos, let the dear Round Robin letter +come chirping along just as soon as you can, and I'll promise not to let +it lie three days this time before I read it. + + Lovingly your + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + Brownell College, Oct. 18, 19--. +Darling Katherine: + +Well, we're settled at last, though it did seem at first as though we +were going to spend all our college life wandering around with our +belongings in our arms. We came a day late and found the room we had +arranged for occupied by someone else. Through a mistake it had been +assigned to us after it had been once assigned to these other two, so we +had to relinquish our claim. The freshman dormitory was full to the eaves +and we realized that there wasn't going to be any place for us. We made +our roomless plight known and to make up for it we were told there was a +vacant double in the sophomore dormitory that we might take provided no +sophomores wanted it. We hadn't expected such an honor and sped like the +wind after our belongings. The sophomore dormitory is right across from +the freshman one; they are called Paradise and Purgatory, respectively. +It sounded awfully funny to us at first to hear the girls asking each +other where they were and to hear them answer, "I'm in Paradise," or, +"I'm in Purgatory." We were overcome with joy when we discovered that +Migwan roomed in Paradise. Our room was way up on the third floor and +hers was down on second, but to be under the same roof with her was such +a comfort that all our troubles seemed over for good. We just had our +things pretty well straightened out and Hinpoha was nailing her shoebag +to the closet door when the sky fell and we were informed that a couple +of sophomores wanted our room, and, as there was now a vacancy in the +freshman dormitory, would we kindly move? So we were thrown out of +Paradise and landed in Purgatory after all, and, for the second time that +day, we trailed across the campus with our arms full of personal +property, strewing table covers and laundry bags in our wake. We didn't +have time to straighten out before exams began and for two days we lived +like shipwrecked sailors with the goods that had been saved from the +wreck piled on the floor and when we wanted anything we had to rummage +for half an hour before we found it. Even after we had survived exams we +were half afraid to begin settling for fear we would be ordered to move +once more. We couldn't quite believe that we were anchored at last. + +The first week went around very fast; we were so busy getting our classes +straightened out and learning our way through the different buildings +that we didn't have time to feel homesick. But by Saturday the first +strangeness had worn off; we had stopped wandering into senior class +rooms and professors' committee meetings, but still we hadn't had time to +get very well acquainted. Saturday afternoon was perfect weather and most +everybody in the house had gone off for a walk, but we had stayed at home +to finish putting our room to rights. When everything was finally in +place we sat down on the bed and looked at each other. Hinpoha's eyes +suddenly filled with tears. + +"I want the other Winnebagos!" she declared. "I can't live without them. +I want Sahwah and Nakwisi and Medmangi, and I want Katherine! Oh-h-h-h, I +want Katherine! How will we ever get along without her here?" + +And we both sat there and wanted you so hard that it seemed as if the +heavens must open up and drop you down on the bed beside us. Katherine, +do you know that you have ruined our whole lives? Why, O why did you come +to us only to go away again? You got us so in the habit of looking to you +to tell us what to do next that now we aren't able to start a thing for +ourselves. We knew that if you had been there with us that first week you +would have had the whole house in an uproar and something wonderful would +have been happening every minute. But for the life of us we couldn't +think of a single thing to do for ourselves. + +We were still sitting there steeped in gloom when Migwan came in to see +how we were getting on. She had some delicious milk chocolate with her +and that cheered Hinpoha up quite a bit. It's going to be a heavenly +comfort to have Migwan just ahead of us in college. She knows all the +ropes and the teachers and the gossip about the upper classmen and tells +us things that keep us from making the ridiculous mistakes so many of the +freshmen make all the time. + +"But just think how _I_ felt here, all alone, last year," said Migwan. +"Perhaps I didn't miss you girls, though! You were still altogether and +had Nyoda, but here there wasn't a soul who had ever heard of the +Winnebagos. Now it seems like old times again. Think of it, three whole +Winnebagos living together almost under the same roof! Didn't we say that +night when we had our last Council Fire with Nyoda that although we +couldn't be together any more, we were still Winnebagos and were loyal +friends and true, and that wherever two Winnebagos should meet, whether +it was in the street, or on mid-ocean, or in a far country, right then +and there would take place a Winnebago meeting? Why, we're having a +Winnebago meeting this very minute!" + +"Let's keep on having meetings, as often as we can, just us three," said +Hinpoha, "and talk over old times and have 'Counts.' We can call +ourselves The Last of the Winnebagos, like the Last of the Mohicans, and +our password will be 'Remember!' That means, 'Remember the old days!'" + +Migwan smiled a little mysteriously, but she agreed that it was a fine +idea. + +We three sat down on the floor in a Wohelo triangle and repeated our +Desire and promised to seek beauty in everything that came along, and to +give service to all the other girls in college whenever we had the +chance, and to pursue knowledge for all we were worth now that there was +so much of it on every side of us, and to be trustworthy and obey all the +rules to the smallest detail and never cheat at exams, and to glorify +work until everybody noticed how well we did everything, and hold on to +health by not sitting up late studying and eating horrible messes, and to +be happy all the time and try to like every girl in college. + +"Let's clasp hands on it," said Hinpoha, and we did, and then stood up +and sang "Wohelo for Aye" until the window rattled. (It's awfully loose +and rattles at the slightest pretext.) + +We had just gotten to the last "Wohelo for Love" when all of a sudden a +face appeared at the window. We were all so surprised we stopped short +and the last syllable of "Wohelo" was chopped off as if somebody had +taken a knife. Our room is on the third floor, and for anyone to look in +at the window they would have to be suspended in the air. So when that +head appeared without any warning we all stood petrified and stared +open-mouthed. It was a girl's head with very black hair and very red +lips. At first the face just looked at us; then when it saw our amazement +it grinned from ear to ear in the widest grin I ever saw. + +"Did I scare you?" said the face in a voice so rich and deep that we +jumped again. "No, I'm not Hamlet, thy father's ghost, I'm Agony, thy +next door neighbor. I heard you singing 'Wohelo for Aye' and I just +looked in to see if I could believe my ears." + +We all ran to the window and then we saw how easily the thing had been +done. Our window is right up against the corner of our room and the +window in the other room is right next to it, so that all the apparition +had to do was lean out of her window and look into ours, which was open +from the bottom. + +"Come on over!" we urged hospitably. + +The apparition withdrew from the window and appeared a moment later in +the doorway, leading a second apparition. + +"I brought my better half along," said the deep, rich voice again, as the +two girls came into the room. + +They looked so much alike that we knew at a glance they were sisters. The +one who had looked in at the window did the introducing. + +"We're the Wing twins," she said, as if she took it for granted that we +had heard about them already. "_She's_ Oh-Pshaw and I'm Agony." + +"Oh-Pshaw and Agony?" we repeated wonderingly, whereupon the twins burst +out laughing. + +"Oh, those are not our real names," said Agony, "but we've been called +that so long that it seems as if they were. Her name's Alta and mine's +Agnes. I've been nicknamed Agony ever since I can remember, and Alta got +the habit of saying 'Oh-Pshaw!' at everything until the girls at the +boarding school where we went always called her that and the name stuck. +You pronounce it this way, '_Oh_-Pshaw,' with the accent on the 'Oh.'" + +We were friends all in a minute. How in the world could you be stiff and +formal with two girls whose names were Agony and _Oh_-Pshaw? + +"We heard you singing 'Wohelo for Aye,'" Agony explained, "and it made us +so homesick we almost went up in smoke. We belonged to the corkingest +group back home. It nearly killed us off to go away and leave them." + +Here _Oh_-Pshaw broke in and took up the tale. "When we heard that song +coming from next door Agony squealed, 'Camp Fire Girls!' and began to +dance a jig. She wouldn't wait until I got my hair done so we could come +over and call; she just stretched her neck until it reached into your +window. Oh, I'm so glad you're next door to us I could just pass away!" +And _Oh_-Pshaw caught Agony around the neck and they both lost their +balance on the foot of the bed and rolled over on the pillows. + +"I'm sorry you have such dandy nicknames," said Migwan. "If you didn't +have them we could call you First Apparition and Second Apparition, like +Macbeth, you know. But the ones you have are far superior to anything we +could think up now." + +Then we told them about the Winnebagos and about you and Sahwah and the +rest of them, and how we had formed THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS and meant +to have meetings right along. Of course, we asked them to come and +"Remember" their lost group with us, and they were perfectly wild about +it. + +"Let's have our first meeting right now," proposed Agony, "and go on a +long hike. It's a scrumptious day." + +We flew to get our hats and Hinpoha was in such a hurry that she knocked +over the Japanese screen that stands gracefully across one corner of our +room and that brought to light the pile of things that we just naturally +couldn't fit into the room anywhere and had chucked behind the screen +until we decided how to get rid of them. There was Hinpoha's desk lamp, +the one with the light green shade with bunches of purple grapes on it--a +perfect beauty, only there was no room for it after we'd decided to use +mine with the two lamps in it; and an extra rug and a book rack and a +Rookwood bowl and quantities of pictures. You see, we'd both brought +along enough stuff to furnish a room twice the size of ours. + +"Whatever will we do with those things?" sighed Hinpoha in despair. + +"Can't you give them to somebody?" suggested Migwan. "That lamp and that +vase are perfect beauties. I'd covet them myself if I didn't have more +now than I know what to do with." + +"The very thing!" said Hinpoha. "Here we promised not a half hour ago to +'Give Service' all the time, and yet we didn't think of sharing our +possessions. To whom shall we give them?" + +"To Sally Prindle," said Agony and Oh-Pshaw in one breath. + +"Who's Sally Prindle?" asked Hinpoha and I, also in chorus. + +"She lives down at the other end of the hall in Purgatory," said Agony, +"in that tiny little box of a room at the head of the stairs. She's +working her way through college and waits on table for her board and does +some of the upstairs work for her room, and she's awfully poor. She +hasn't a thing in her room but the bare furniture--not a rug or a +picture. She'd probably be crazy to get them." + +"Let's give them to her right away," said Hinpoha, beginning to gather +things up in her arms. Hinpoha is just like a whirlwind when she gets +enthusiastic about anything. + +"But how shall we give them to her?" I asked. "We don't know her, and she +might feel offended if she thought we had noticed how bare her room was +and pitied her. How shall we manage it, Migwan?" + +"Don't act as if you pitied her at all," replied Migwan. "Simply knock at +her door and tell her you've got your room all furnished and there are +some things left over and you're going up and down the corridor trying to +find out if anybody has room to take care of them for you until the end +of the year. Of course she has room to take them, so it will be very +simple." + +"Oh, Migwan, what would we do without you?" cried Hinpoha, and nearly +dropped the Rookwood bowl trying to hug her with her arms full. "You +always know the right thing to do and say." + +Agony and Oh-Pshaw stopped into their room on the way up and came out +with a leather pillow and an ivory clock to add to the collection. Their +room wasn't too full, but they wanted to do something for Sally, too. We +had to knock on Sally's door twice before she opened it and we were +beginning to be afraid she wasn't at home. When she did come to the door +she didn't ask us in; but just stood looking at us and our armful of +things as if to ask what we wanted. She was a tall, stoop-shouldered girl +with spectacles and a wrinkle running up and down on her forehead between +her eyes. The room was just as bare as Agony had described; it looked +like a cell. + +"We're making a tour of Purgatory trying to dispose of our surplus +furniture," I said, trying to be offhand, "Have you any room to spare?" + +"No, I haven't," answered Sally with a snap. "You're the third bunch +to-day that's tried to decorate my room for me. When I want any donations +I'll ask for them." And she shut the door right in our faces. + +We backed away in such a hurry that Agony dropped the clock and it went +rolling and bumping down the stairway. + +"Of all things!" said Agony. "I wish poor people wouldn't be so +disagreeable about it. I'm sure I'd be tickled to death to use anybody's +surplus to make up what I lacked. Well, we've tried to 'Give Service' +anyway, and if it didn't work it wasn't our fault. I think there ought to +be a law about 'Taking Service' as well as Giving. Now let's hurry up and +go for our hike before the sun goes down." + +We went out and had the most glorious tramp over the hills and found a +tiny little village that looks the same as it must have a hundred years +ago, and then we came back and had hot chocolate in a darling little shop +that was just jammed with students. Agony and Oh-Pshaw know just +quantities of girls, and introduced us to dozens, and we went back to +Purgatory too happy to think. + +"I told you so," said Migwan, as she came into the room with us for a +minute to get a book. + +"What did you tell us?" asked Hinpoha. + +"I meant about us three trying to have meetings just by ourselves and +trying to do exactly what we did when we were Winnebagos. It won't work. +You'll keep on making new friends all the time that you'll love just as +much as the old ones. Don't forget the old Winnebagos, but don't mourn +because the old days have come to an end. There's more fun coming to you +than you've ever had before in your lives, so be on the lookout for it +every minute. 'Remember!'" + +Oh, Katherine, we just love college, and the only fly in the ointment is +that you aren't here! + + Your loving + Gladys. + +P. S. Medmangi writes that she has passed her exams and entered the +Medical School. Sahwah is going to Business College and having the time +of her life with shorthand. P.P.S. Hinpoha is dying of curiosity to hear +more about the sick man. Please answer by return mail. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Nov. 1, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Well, Justice Sherman may be a sheep herder and a son of the pasture, but +I hae me doots. I know a hawk from a handsaw if I was born and bred in +the backwoods. I know it isn't polite to doubt people's word, and he +seemed to be telling an absolutely straight story when he told how he +beat his way across from Texas, but for all that there's some mystery +about him. His manners betrayed him the first time he ever sat down to +the table with us. Even though he limped badly and was still awfully +wobbly, he stood behind my mother's chair and shoved it in for her and +then hobbled over and did the same for me. + +You can see it, can't you? The table set in the kitchen--for our humble +cot does not boast of a dining room--father and Jim Wiggin collarless and +in their shirtsleeves, and the stranded sheep herder waiting upon mother +and me as if we were queens. For no reason at all I suddenly became +abashed. I felt my face flaming to the roots of my hair, and +absentmindedly began to eat my soup with a fork, whereat Jim Wiggin set +up a great thundering haw! haw! Jim had been a sheep herder before he +came to take care of father's horses, and it struck me forcibly just then +that there was a wide difference between him and the stranger within our +gates. + +I said something to father about it that night when we were out in the +stable together giving Sandhelo his nightly dole. Father rubbed his nose +with the back of his hand, a sign that a thing is of no concern to him. + +"Don't you get to worryin' about the stranger's affairs," he advised +mildly. "If he's got something he doesn't want to tell, you ain't got no +business tryin' to find it out. Tend to your own affairs, I say, and +leave others' alone. There ain't nobody goin' to be pestered with +embarrassing questions while they're under my roof." + +So I promised not to ask any questions. Just about the time the +stranger's foot was well enough to walk on, Jim Wiggin stepped on a rusty +nail and laid himself up. Justice Sherman was a godsend just then because +men were so hard to get, and father hired him to help with the horses +until Jim was about again. Father begged me again at this time not to ask +him anything about his past. + +"Just as soon as he thinks we're gettin' curious he'll up and leave," he +said, "and that would put us in a bad way. Help is so scarce now I don't +know where I _would_ get an extra man. Seems almost as though the hand of +Providence had sent him to us." + +It was perfectly true. Since so many men had gone into the army it was +next thing to impossible to get any help on the farms except +good-for-nothing negroes that weren't worth their salt. It seemed, +indeed, an act of Providence to cast an able man at our door just at this +juncture. So I promised again not to bother the man with questions. + +Indeed, it bade fair to be an easy matter not to ask him any questions. +Beyond a few polite words at meals he never said anything at all, and as +he had moved his sleeping quarters to a small cabin away from the house I +saw very little of him, and I suppose we never would have gotten any +better acquainted if your letter hadn't come that Friday. Friday is the +worst day of the week for me, because after five days of constant +set-to-ing with Absalom Butts my philosophy is at its lowest ebb. This +week was the worst because I had a visitation from the school board to +see how I was getting on, and, of course, none of the pupils knew a thing +and most of them acted as if the very devil of mischief had gotten into +them. Elijah Butts gave me a solemn warning that I would have to keep +better order if I wanted to stay in the school, and Absalom, who had been +hanging around listening, made an impudent grimace at me and laughed in a +taunting manner. If I hadn't needed the money so badly I would have +thrown up the job right there. + +Then, on top of that, came your letter describing the supergorgeousness +of your college rooms, and when I thought of the room I had planned to +have at college this winter, adjoining yours, my heart turned to water +within me and melancholy marked me for its own. I wept large and pearly +tears which Niagara-ed over the end of my nose and sizzled on the hot +stove, as I stood in the kitchen stirring a pudding for supper. Get the +effect, do you? Me standing there with the spoon in one hand and your +letter in the other, doing the Niobe act, quite oblivious to the fact +that I was not the only person in the county. I was just in the act of +swallowing a small rapid which had gotten side-tracked from the main +channel and gone whirlpooling down my Sunday throat, when a voice behind +me said, "Did you get bad news in your letter?" + +I jumped so I dropped the letter right into the pudding. I made a savage +dab at my eyes with the corner of my apron and wheeled around furiously. +There stood the Justice Sherman person looking at me with his solemn +black eyes. I was ready to die with shame at being caught. + +"No, I didn't," I exploded, mopping my face vehemently with my apron, and +thereby capping the climax. For while I had been reading your letter and +absently stirring the pudding it had slopped over and run down the front +of my apron, and, of course, I had to use just that part to wipe my face +with. The pudding was huckleberry, and what it did to my features is +beyond description. I caught one glimpse of myself in the mirror over the +sink and then I sank down into a chair and just yelled. Justice Sherman +doubled up against the door frame in a regular spasm of mirth, although +he tried not to make much noise about it. Finally he bolted out of the +door and came back with a basin of water from the pump, which he set down +beside me. + +"Here," he said, "remove the marks of bloody carnage, before you scare +the wolf from the door." + +So I scrubbed, wishing all the while that he would go away, and still +furious for having made such a spectacle of myself. But he stayed around, +and when I resembled a human being once more (if I ever could be said to +resemble one), he came over and handed me the letter, which he had fished +out of the pudding. + +"Here's the fatal missive," he said, "or would you rather leave it in the +pudding?" + +"Throw it into the fire," I commanded. + +"That's the right way," he said approvingly. "I always burn bad news +myself." + +"It wasn't bad news," I insisted. + +"Then why the tears?" he inquired curiously. "Tears, idle tears, I know +not what they mean----" + +He was smiling, but somehow I had a feeling that he was trying to cheer +me up and not making fun of me. I was so low in my mind that afternoon +that anyone who acted in the least degree sympathetic was destined to +fall a victim. Before I knew it I had told him of my shipwrecked hopes +and how your letter had opened the flood gates of disappointment and +nearly put out the kitchen fire. + +"College--you!" I heard him exclaim under his breath. He stared at me +solemnly for a moment and then he exclaimed, "O tempora, O mores! What's +to hinder?" + +"What's to hinder?" I repeated blankly. + +"Yes," he said, "having the room anyway." + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"Why," he explained, "you have a room of your own, haven't you? Why don't +you fix it up just the way you had planned to have your room in college? +Then you can go there and study and make believe you're in college." + +I stared at him open-mouthed. "Make-believe has never been my long suit," +I said. + +"Come on," he urged. "I'll help you fix it up. If you have any more tears +prepare to shed them now into the paint pot and dissolve the paint." + +Before I knew what had happened we had laid forcible hands on the bare +little cell I had indifferently been inhabiting all these years and +transformed it into the study of my dreams. We cut a window in the side +that faces in the direction of the mountains and made a corking window +seat out of a packing case, on which I piled cushions stuffed with +thistle down. We papered the whole place with light yellow paper, tacked +up my last year's school pennants and put up a book shelf. This last +proved to be a delusion and a snare, because one end of it came down in +the middle of the night not long afterward and all the books came +tobogganing on top of me in bed. As a finishing touch, I brought out the +snowshoes and painted paddle that were a relic of my Golden Age, and +which I had never had the heart to unpack since I came home. When +finished the effect was quite epic, though I suppose it would make +Hinpoha's artistic eye water. + +Of course, it will never make up for not going to college, but it helped +some, and in working at it I got very well acquainted with Justice +Sherman all of a sudden. We had long talks about everything under the +sun, and he continually bubbled over with funny sayings. He confided to +me that he had never been so surprised in all his life as when I told him +I wanted to go to college. You see, he had thought we were like the other +poor whites in the neighborhood, and I was like the other girls he had +seen. He didn't take any interest in me until I bowled him over with the +statement that I had already passed my college entrance exams. + +All this time I never hinted that I suspected he was not the simple sheep +herder he pretended to be. I had given father my word and, of course, had +to keep it. But one afternoon the Fates had their fingers crossed, and +Pandora like, I got my foot in it. I had driven Justice over to Spencer +in the rattledy old cart with Sandhelo. On the way we talked of many +things, and I came home surer than ever that he was no sheep herder. Once +when the conversation lagged and in the silence Sandhelo's heels seemed +to be beating out a tune as they clicked along, I remarked ruminatingly, +"There's a line in Virgil that is supposed to imitate the sound of +galloping horses." + + "_Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit angula campam,_" + +quoted Justice promptly. + +So he was on quoting terms with Virgil! But I remembered my promise and +made no remarks. + +A little later I was telling about the winter hike we had taken on +snowshoes last year. + +"You ought to see the sport they have on snowshoes in Switzerland," he +began with kindling eyes. Then he broke off suddenly and changed the +subject. + +So Texas sheep herders learn their trade in Switzerland! But again I +yanked on the curb rein of my curiosity. I apparently took no notice of +his remark, for just then a negro stepped suddenly from behind the bushes +along the road and startled Sandhelo so that he promptly became +temperamental and sat up on his haunches to get a better look at the +apparition, and the mess he made of the harness furnished us plenty of +theme for conversation for the next ten minutes. + +"Lord, what an ape," remarked Justice, gazing after the departing form of +the negro shambling along the road, "he looks like the things you see in +nightmares." + +Accustomed as I was to seeing low-down niggers, this one struck me as +being the worst specimen nature had ever produced. He had the features of +a baboon, and the flapping rags of the grotesque garments he wore made +him look like a wild creature. + +"Do you have many such intellectual-looking gentlemen around here?" asked +Justice, twisting his neck around for a final look at the fellow. "I'd +hate to meet that professor at the dark of the moon." + +"Oh, they're really not as bad as they look," I replied. "They look like +apes, but they're quite harmless. They're shiftless to the last degree, +but not violent. They're too lazy to do any mischief." + +"Just the same, I'd rather not get into an argument with that particular +brother, if it's all the same to you," answered Justice. "He looks like +mischief to me." + +"He _doesn't_ look like a prize entry in a beauty contest," I admitted. + +With all that talk about the negro Justice's remark about Switzerland +went unheeded, but I didn't forget it just the same. I thought about it +all the rest of the afternoon and it was as plain as the nose on your +face that there was some mystery about Justice Sherman. A sheep herder +who spouted Virgil at a touch, quoted continually from the classics, had +refined manners and had traveled abroad, couldn't hide his light under a +bushel very well. Another thing; he wasn't a Texan as he had led us to +believe. He talked with the crisp, clear accent of the North, and the +fuss he made about the negro in the road that afternoon betrayed the fact +that he was no southerner. Nobody around here pays any attention to +niggers, no matter how tattered they are. We're used to them, but +northerners always make a fuss. + +The question bubbled up and down in my mind, keeping time to the bubbling +of the soup on the stove; why was this educated and refined young man +working for thirty dollars a month as a handy man around horses on a +third-rate stock farm in this God-forsaken part of the country? Then a +suspicion flashed into my mind and at the dreadful thought I stopped +stirring with the upraised spoon frozen in mid-air. Then I gathered my +wits together and started resolutely for the table. I had promised father +I would never ask Justice Sherman anything about his past, but here was +something that swept aside all personal obligations and promises. I found +him with father in the stable working over a sick colt. I marched +straight up to him and began without any preamble. + +"See here, Justice Sherman," I said, "are you hiding yourself to avoid +military service? Are you a slacker?" + +Justice Sherman straightened up and looked at me with flashing eyes. "No, +I'm not!" he shouted in a voice quite unlike his. + +I never saw anyone in such a rage. His face was as red as a beet and his +hair actually stood on end. "I registered for the service," he went on +hotly, "and wasn't called in the draft. I tried to enlist and they +wouldn't take me. I was under weight and had a weak throat. If anyone +thinks I'm a slacker, I'll----" Here he choked and had a violent coughing +spell. + +I stared at him, dazed. I never thought he could get so angry. He looked +at me with hostile, indignant eyes. Then he straightened up stiffly and +walked out of the stable. + +"I won't stay here any longer," he exploded, still at the boiling point. +"I won't be insulted." + +"I apologize," I said humbly. "I spoke in haste. Won't you please +consider it unsaid?" + +No, he wouldn't consider it unsaid. He wouldn't listen to father's +pathetic plea not to leave him without a helper. We suspected him of +being a slacker and that finished it. He would leave immediately. Down +the road he marched as fast as he could go without ever turning his head. + +A worm in the dust was much too exalted to describe the way I felt. With +the best of intentions I had precipitated a calamity, taking away +father's best helper at a critical time, to say nothing of my losing him +as a companion. I was too disgusted with myself to live and chopped wood +to relieve my feelings. After supper I hitched up Sandhelo and drove to +Spencer to post a letter. I am not in the least sentimental--you know +that--but all along the road I kept seeing things that reminded me of +Justice Sherman and the fun we had had together. Now that he was gone the +days ahead of me seemed suddenly very empty, and desolation laid a firm +hand on my ankle. + +Also, I had an uncomfortable recollection that it was right along here we +had met the horrid negro, and I became filled with fear that I would meet +him again. The fear grew, and turned into absolute panic when I +approached that same clump of bushes and in the dusk saw a figure rise +from behind them and lurch toward the road. I pulled Sandhelo up sharply, +thinking to turn around and flee in the opposite direction, but Sandhelo +refused to be turned. When I pulled him up he sat back and mixed up the +harness so he got the bit into his teeth, and then he jumped up and went +straight on forward, with a squeal of mischief. When we were opposite the +figure in the road Sandhelo stopped short and poked his nose forward just +the way he used to do when Justice Sherman came into his stall. + +"Hello," said a voice in the darkness, and then I saw that the figure in +the road was Justice Sherman. His bad ankle had given out on him and he +had been sitting there on the ground waiting for some vehicle to come +along and give him a lift to Spencer. + +"Get in," I said briefly, helping him up, and he got in beside me without +a word. We drove to Spencer in silence and he made no move to get out +when we got there. I mailed my letter and then turned and drove homeward. +About half way home he spoke up and apologized for being so hasty, and +wondered if father would take him back again. I reassured him heartily +and we were on the old footing of intimacy by the time we reached home. + +We found father standing in front of the house talking to a negro whom we +recognized as the one we had met in the road that afternoon. Father +greeted Justice Sherman with joy and relief. + +"You pretty nearly came back too late," he said. "Here I was just hiring +a man to take your place." Then he turned to the negro and said, "It's +all off, Solomon. I don't need you. My own man has come back. You go +along and get a job somewhere else." + +The negro shuffled off and I fancied that he looked rather resentful at +being sent away. + +"Father," I said, when the creature was out of earshot, "you surely +weren't going to hire that ape to work here?" + +"Why not?" answered father. "I have to have a man to help with the +horses, and this fellow came up to the door and asked for work, so I +promised him a job." + +"But he's such a terrible looking thing," I said. + +Father only laughed and dismissed the subject with a wave of his hands. +"I wasn't hiring him for his looks," he answered. "He said he could +handle horses and that was enough for me." + +So Justice Sherman came back to us and the subject of military service +was never broached again. + +About a week after his return, and when Jim Wiggin was able to be about +again, Justice Sherman walked into the kitchen with a mincing air quite +unlike his ordinary free stride. He had been to Spencer for the mail. + +"Tread softly when you see me," he advised. "I'm a perfessor, I am." + +I looked up inquiringly from the potato I was paring. + +"Behold in me," he went on, "the entire faculty of the Spencer High +School. I am instructor in Latin, Greek, mathematics, science, history, +English and dramatics; also civics and economics." + +"You don't mean really?" I asked. + +"Really and truly, for sartain sure," he repeated. "The last faculty got +drafted and left the school in a bad way. I heard about it down at the +post-office this afternoon and went over and applied for the job. The +hardened warriors that compose the school board fell for me to a man. I +recited one line of Latin and they applauded to the echo; I recited a +line of gibberish and told them it was Greek, and they wept with delight +at the purity of my accent. Then they cautiously inquired if I was +qualified to teach any other branches and I told them that I also +included in my repertoire cooking, dressmaking and millinery. This last +remark was intended to be facetious, but those solemn old birds took it +seriously and forthwith broke into loud hosannas. I was somewhat +mystified at the outbreak until I gathered from bits of conversation that +the extravagant township of Spencer had intended to hire two high school +teachers this year, as the last incumbent's accomplishments had been +rather brief and fleeting, but what was the use, as one pious old hairpin +by the name of Butts delicately put it, what was the use of paying two +teachers when one feller could do the hull thing himself? Then he shook +me feelingly by the hand and said he knowed I was a bargain the minute he +laid eyes on me. O Tempora, O Mores! Papers were brought and shoved into +my yielding hands, the writ duly executed, and I passed out of the door a +fully fledged 'perfessor' with a six-months' contract. Smile on me, +please, I'm a bargain!" And he danced a hornpipe in the middle of the +floor until the dishes rattled in the cupboard. + +I stared at him speechless. He teach high school? And the things he +mentioned as being able to teach! History, French, mathematics, physics, +literature, philosophy, Latin, Greek! Quite a well-rounded sheep herder, +this! The mystery about him deepened. It was clear now that he was a +college graduate. Again I revised my estimate as to his age, and decided +he must be about twenty-three or four. Why would he be willing to teach a +farce of a high school like the one in Spencer? + +Then in the midst of my puzzling it came over me that I did not want him +to leave us, and that I would miss him terribly. Of course, he would go +to live in Spencer. + +"Are you going to board with any of the school board?" I asked jealously, +that being what the last "faculty" had done. + +"Board with the Board?" he repeated. "Neat expression, that. Not that I +know of. I haven't been requested to vacate my present quarters yet, or +do I understand that you are even now serving notice?" + +A thrill of joy shot through me. Maybe he would still live in the little +cabin on our farm. + +"I thought of course you would rather live near the school," I said. +"It's six miles from here. Why don't you?" + +"'I would dwell with thee, merry grasshopper,'" he quoted. "That is, if I +am kindly permitted to do so." + +And so we settled it. He is to ride with Sandhelo in the cart every day +as far as my school, then drive on to Spencer, and stop for me on the way +home. What fun it is going to be! + + Yours, _summa cum felicitate_, + Katherine. + +P. S. Sandhelo sends three large and loving hee-haws. + + + + + SAHWAH TO KATHERINE + + + Nov. 10, 19--. +Darling K: + +This big old town is like the Deserted Village since you and the other +Winnies went away. For the first few weeks it was simply ghastly; there +wasn't a tree or a telephone pole that didn't remind me of the good times +we used to have. Do you realize that I am the sole survivor of our once +large and lusty crew? Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys are at Brownell; +Veronica is in New York; Nakwisi has gone to California with her aunt; +Medmangi is in town, but she is locked up in a nasty old hospital +learning to be a doctor in double quick time so she can go abroad with +the Red Cross. Nothing is nice the way it used to be. I like to go to +Business College, of course, and there are lots of pleasant girls there, +but they aren't my Winnies. I get invited to things, and I go and enjoy +myself after a fashion, but the tang is gone. It's like ice cream with +the cream left out. + +I went to the House of the Open Door one Saturday afternoon and poked +around a bit, but I didn't stay very long; the loneliness seemed to grab +hold of me with a bony hand. Everything was just the way we had left it +the night of our last Ceremonial Meeting--do you realize that we never +went out after that? There was the candle grease on the floor where +Hinpoha's emotion had overcome her and made her hand wobble so she +spilled the melted wax all out of her candlestick. There were the +scattered bones of our Indian pottery dish that you knocked off the shelf +making the gestures to your "Wotes for Wimmen" speech. There was the +Indian bed all sagged down on one side where we had all sat on Nyoda at +once. + +It all brought back last year so plainly that it seemed as if you must +everyone come bouncing out of the corners presently. But you didn't come, +and by and by I went down the ladder to the Sandwiches' Lodge. That was +just as bad as our nook upstairs. The gym apparatus was there, just as it +used to be, with the mat on the floor where they used to roll Slim, and +beside it the wreck of a chair that Slim had sat down on too suddenly. + +Poor Slim! He tried to enlist in every branch of the service, but, of +course, they wouldn't take him; he was too fat. He starved himself and +drank vinegar and water for a week and then went the rounds again, hoping +he had lost enough to make him eligible, and was horribly cut up when he +found he had gained instead. He was quite inconsolable for a while and +went off to college with the firm determination to trim himself down +somehow. Captain has gone to Yale, so he can be a Yale graduate like his +father and go along with him to the class reunions. Munson McKee has +enlisted in the navy and the Bottomless Pitt in the Ambulance Corps. The +rest of the Sandwiches have gone away to school, too. + +The boards creaked mournfully under my feet as I moved around, and it +seemed to me that the old building was just as lonesome for you as I was. + +"You ought to be proud," I said aloud to the walls, "that you ever +sheltered the Sandwich Club, because now you are going to be honored +above all other barns," and I hung in the window the Service Flag with +the two stars that I had brought with me. It looked very splendid; but it +suddenly made the place seem strange and unfamiliar. Here was something +that did not belong to the old days. It is so hard to realize that the +boys who used to wrestle around here have gone to war. + +I went out and closed the door, but outside I lingered a minute to look +sadly up at the little window in the end where the candle always used to +burn on Ceremonial nights. + +"Good-bye, House of the Open Door," I said, "we've had lots of good times +in you and nobody can ever take them away from us. We've got to stop +playing now for awhile and Glorify Work. We're going to do our bit, and +you must do yours, too, by standing up proudly through all winds and +weather and showing your service flag. Some day we'll all come back to +you, or else the Winnebago spirit will come back in somebody else, and +you must be ready." + +I said good-bye to the House of the Open Door with the hand sign of fire +and a military salute, and went away feeling a heavy sense of +responsibility, because in all this big lonely city I was the only one +left to uphold the honor of the Winnebagos. + +And hoop-la! I did it, too, all by myself. The week after I had paid the +visit to the House of the Open Door someone called me on the telephone +and wanted to know if this was Miss Sarah Brewster who belonged to the +Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, and when I said yes it was the voice informed +me that she was Mrs. Lewis, the new Chief Guardian for the city, and +President of the Guardians' Association. She went on to say that she +wanted to plan a patriotic parade for all the Camp Fire Girls in the city +to take part in, and as part of the ceremony to present a large flag to +the city. She knew what she wanted all right, but she wasn't sure that +she could carry it out, and as she had seen the Winnebagos the time they +took part in the Fourth of July pageant, she wanted to know if we would +take hold and help her manage the thing. I started to tell her that the +Winnebagos weren't here and couldn't help her; then I reflected that I, +at least, was left and it was up to me to do what you all would have done +if you had been here. So I said yes, I'd be glad to take hold and help +make the parade a success. + +And, believe me, it was! Can you guess how many girls marched? +_Twenty-three hundred!_ Glory! I didn't know there were so many girls in +the whole world! The line stretched back until you couldn't see the end, +and still they kept on coming. And who do you suppose led the parade? +Why, _I_ did, of all people! And on a _horse_! Carrying the Stars and +Stripes on a long staff that fitted into a contrivance on the saddle to +hold it firm. Right in front of me marched the Second Regiment Band, and +my horse pawed the ground in time to the music until I nearly burst with +excitement. After me came the twenty girls, all Torch Bearers, who +carried the big flag we were going to present to the city, and behind +them came the floats and figures of the pageant. + +I must tell you about some of these, and a few of them you'll recognize, +because they are our old stunts trimmed up to suit the occasion. + +GIVE SERVICE was the most impressive, because it is the most important +just now. It was in twelve parts, showing all the different ways in which +Camp Fire Girls could serve the nation in the great crisis. There was the +Red Cross Float, showing the girls making surgical dressings and knitting +socks and sweaters. Another showed them making clothes for themselves and +for other members of the family to cut down the hiring of extra help; and +similar floats carried out the same idea in regard to cooking, washing +and ironing. Yes ma'am! Washing and ironing! You don't need to turn up +your nose. One float was equipped with a complete modern household +laundry and the girls on it had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows +and were doing up fine waists and dresses in great shape, besides +operating electric washing machines and mangles. + +One float was just packed full of good things which the girls had cooked +without sugar, eggs or white flour, and with fruits and vegetables which +they had canned and preserved themselves, while the fertile garden in +which said fruits and vegetables had grown came trundling on behind, the +girls armed with spades, hoes and rakes. I consumed two sleepless nights +and several strenuous afternoons accomplishing that garden on wheels and +I want you to know it was a work of art. The plants were all artificial, +but they looked most lifelike, indeed. + +Besides those things we had groups of girls taking care of children so +their mothers could go out and work; and teaching foreign girls how to +take care of their own small brothers and sisters, so they'll grow up +strong and healthy. + +There really seemed to be no end to our usefulness. + +Behind the wheeled portion of the parade came hundreds of girls on foot, +carrying pennants that stretched clear across the street, with clever +slogans on them like this: + + DON'T FORGET US, UNCLE SAMMY, + WE'RE ALWAYS ON THE JOB + * * * * * * + YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE WE'RE HERE + * * * * * * + AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! + * * * * * * + WE ARE PROUD TO LABOR FOR OUR COUNTRY + +And the people! Oh, my stars! They lined the streets for thirty blocks, +packed in solid from the store fronts to the curb. And the way they +cheered! It made shivers of ecstasy chase up and down my spine, while the +tears came to my eyes and a big lump formed in my throat. If you've never +heard thousands of people cheering at you, you can't imagine how it +feels. + +One time when the procession halted at a cross street I saw a fat old +man, who I'm sure was a dignified banker, balancing himself on a fireplug +so he could see better, and waving his hat like crazy. He finally got so +enthusiastic that he fell off the fireplug and landed on his hands and +knees in the gutter, where some Boy Scouts picked him up and dusted him +off, still feebly waving his hat. + +Our line of march eventually brought us out at Lincoln Square, where the +presentation of the flag was to take place. We stood in the shadow of the +Lincoln Memorial monument, and who do you suppose presented the flag? Me +again. In the name of all the Camp Fire Girls of the city, I +ceremoniously presented it to the Mayor, who accepted it with a flowery +speech that beat mine all hollow. Besides presenting the flag I was to +help raise it. The pole was there already; it had seen many flag raisings +in its long career and many flags had flapped themselves to shreds on its +top. The thing I had to do was fasten our flag to the ropes and pull her +up. In this I was to be assisted by a soldier brother of one of the girls +who was home on furlough. He was to be standing there at the pole waiting +for us, but when the time came he wasn't there. Where he was I hadn't the +slightest idea; nor did I have any time to spend wondering. Mrs. Lewis +had set her heart on having a man in soldier's uniform help raise the +flag; it added so much to the spirit of the occasion. Just at this moment +I saw a man in army uniform standing in the crowd at the foot of the +monument, very close to me. Without a moment's hesitation I beckoned him +imperatively to me. He came and I thrust the rope into his hands, +whispering directions as to what he was to do. It all went without a +hitch and the crowd never knew that he wasn't the soldier we had planned +to have right from the start. We pulled evenly together and the flag +slowly unfolded over our heads and went fluttering to the top, while the +band crashed out the "Star Spangled Banner." It was glorious! If I had +been thrilled through before, I was shaken to my very foundations now. I +felt queer and dizzy, and felt myself making funny little gaspy noises in +my throat. There was a great cheer from the crowd and the ceremonies were +over. The parade marched on to the Armory, where we were to listen to an +address by Major Blanchard of the --th Engineers. + +The girls had all filed in and found seats when Mrs. Lewis, who was to +introduce Major Blanchard, came over to me where I was standing near the +stage and said in a tragic tone, "Major Blanchard couldn't come; I've had +a telegram. What on earth are we going to do? He was going to tell +stories about camp life; the girls will be _so_ disappointed not to hear +him." + +I rubbed my forehead, unable to think of anything that would meet the +emergency. An ordinary speaker wouldn't fill the bill at all, I knew, +when the girls all had their appetites whetted for a Major. + +"We might ask the band to give a concert, and all of us sing patriotic +songs," I ventured finally. + +"I don't see anything else to do," said Mrs. Lewis, "but I'm _so_ +disappointed not to have the Major here. The girls are all crazy to hear +about the camp." + +Just then I caught sight of a uniform outside of the open entrance way. + +"Wait a minute," I said, "there's the soldier who helped us raise the +flag, standing outside the door. Maybe he'll come in and talk to the +girls in place of the Major." I hurried out and buttonholed the soldier. +He declined at first, but I wouldn't take no for an answer. I literally +pulled him in and chased him up the aisle to the stage. + +"But I can't make a speech," he said in an agonized whisper, as we +reached the steps of the stage, trying to pull back. + +"Don't try to," I answered cheerfully. "Speeches are horrid bores, +anyway. Just tell them exactly what you do in camp; that's what they're +crazy to hear about." + +Mrs. Lewis didn't tell the audience that the speaker was one I had +kidnapped in a moment of desperation. She introduced him as a friend of +the Major's, who had come to speak in his place. The applause when she +introduced him was just as hearty as if he had been the Major himself. +The fact that he was a soldier was enough for the girls. + +And he brought down the house! He wasn't an educated man, but he was very +witty, and had the gift of telling things so they seemed real. He told +little intimate details of camp life from the standpoint of the private +as the Major never could have told them. He had us alternately laughing +and crying over the little comedies and tragedies of barracks life. He +imitated the voices and gestures of his comrades and mimicked the +officers until you could see them as plainly as if they stood on the +stage. He talked for an hour instead of the half hour the Major was +scheduled to speak and when he stopped the air was full of clamorings for +more. Private Kittredge had made more of a hit than Major Blanchard could +have done. + +I never saw a person look so astonished or so pleased as he did at the +ovation which followed his speech. He stood there a moment, looking down +at the audience with a wistful smile, then he got fiery red and almost +ran off the stage. + +"I don't know whether to be glad or sorry the Major's not coming," +whispered Mrs. Lewis to me under cover of the applause. "The Major's a +very fine speaker, but he wouldn't have made such a _human_ speech. You +certainly have a knack of picking out able people, Miss Brewster! You +chose just the right girls for each part in the pageant." + +I didn't acknowledge this compliment as I should have, because I was +wondering why our soldier man had looked that way when we applauded him. +He would have slipped out of the side door when he came off the stage, +but I stopped him and made him wait for the rest of the program. A +national fraternity was holding a convention in town that week and +members from all the great colleges were in attendance. As it happened, +our Major is a member of that fraternity, and, as a mark of esteem for +the Camp Fire Girls, he asked the fraternity glee club to sing for us at +the close of our patriotic demonstration. + +The singers came frolicking in from some banquet they had been attending, +in a very frisky mood, and sang one funny song after another until our +sides ached from laughing. I stole a glance now and then at Private +Kittredge, beside me, but he never noticed. He was drinking in the antics +of those carefree college boys with envious, wistful eyes. At the end of +their concert the singers turned and faced the great flag that hung down +at the back of the stage and sang an old college song that we had heard +sung before, but which had suddenly taken on a new, deep meaning. With +their very souls in their voices they sang it: + + "Red is for Harvard in that grand old flag, + Columbia can have her white and blue; + And dear old Yale will never fail + To stand by her color true; + Penn and Cornell amid the shot and shell + Were fighting for that torn and tattered rag, + And our college cheer will be + 'My Country, 'tis of Thee,' + And Old Glory will be our college flag!" + +The effect was electrical. Everybody cheered until they were hoarse. I +looked at Private Kittredge. His head was buried in his hands and the +tears were trickling out between his fingers. I was too much embarrassed +to say anything, and I just sat looking at him until, all of a sudden, he +sat up, and reaching out his hand he caught hold of mine and squeezed it +until it hurt. + +"I'm going back," he said brokenly. + +"Going back?" I repeated, bewildered. "Where?" + +"Back to camp," he replied. Then he began to speak in a low, husky voice. +"I want to tell you something," he said. "I'm not what you think I am. +I'm a deserter. That is, I would have been by tomorrow. My leave expires +to-night. I wasn't going back. I didn't want to go into the army. I +didn't want to fight for the country. I hated the United States. It had +never given me a square deal. My father was killed in a factory when I +was a baby and my mother never got a cent out of it. She wasn't strong +and she worked herself to death trying to support herself and me. I grew +up in an orphan asylum where everybody was down on me and made me do all +the unpleasant jobs, and at twelve I was adrift in the world. I sold +papers in the streets and managed to make a living, but one night I went +out with a crowd of boys and some of the older ones knocked a man down +and stole his money and the police caught the whole bunch and we were +sent to the Reformatory. After that I had a hard time trying to make an +honest living because people don't like to hire anyone that's been in the +Reformatory. I never had any fun the way other boys did. I had to live in +cheap boarding places because I didn't earn much and nobody that was +decent seemed to care to associate with me. I was sick of living that way +and wanted to go away to South America where no one would know about the +Reformatory, and make a clean start. Then I was drafted. I hated army +life, too. All the other fellows got mail and boxes from home and had a +big fuss made over them and I didn't have a soul to write to me or send +me things. I was given a good deal of kitchen duty to do and everybody +looks down on that. I kept getting sorer and sorer all the time and at +last I decided to desert. I got a three-days' leave and made up my mind +that I wouldn't go back. I was just hanging around the street killing +time this afternoon when I saw a crowd and stopped to see what the +excitement was about. Then all of a sudden you looked at me and motioned +me to come over and help you raise the flag. It was the first time I had +ever touched the Stars and Stripes. When the folds fell around my +shoulders before she went sailing up, something wakened in me that I had +never felt before. I couldn't believe it was I, standing there raising +the flag with all those people cheering. It intoxicated me and carried me +along with the parade when it went to the armory. Then again, like the +hand of fate, you came out and pulled me in and made me speak to the +girls. I had never spoken before anyone in my life. I had never 'been in' +anything. It made another man of me. All of a sudden I found I did love +my country after all. I _did_ have something to fight for. I _did_ belong +somewhere. It _did_ thrill me to see Old Glory fluttering out in the +wind. That was my country's flag, _my_ flag. I was willing to die for it. +I'm going back to camp to-night," he finished simply. + +I gripped his hands silently, too moved to speak. + +All the while we were talking there the crowd had been busy getting their +things together and going out and nobody paid any attention to us sitting +there in the shadow under the gallery. Now, however, I was aware of +somebody approaching directly, and along came the Mayor, gracious and +smiling, to shake hands with the speaker of the afternoon. + +"Those were rattling good stories you told," he said in his hearty way. +"I say, won't you be a guest at a little dinner the frat brothers are +giving this evening, and tell them to the boys? That's the kind of stuff +everybody's interested in." + +And off went the man who had never had a chance, arm in arm with the +Mayor, to be guest of honor at a dinner in the finest hotel in the city! + +Jiminy! Do you see what the Winnebagos have gone and done? They've saved +a man from being a deserter! I've promised to write to him and get the +rest of the girls to write and send him things, and I'll bet that he'll +be loyal to the flag to the last gasp. + +Now aren't you glad you're a Winnebago? + + Your loving old pal, + Sahwah. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Nov. 15, 19--. +Dearest Winnebagos: + +You don't happen to know of anyone that would like to employ a good +country schoolma'am for the rest of the term, do you? I'm fired; that is, +I'll wager all my earthly possessions that I will be at the next session +of the Board. The prophet hath spoken truly; and you can't make a +silk-purse-carrying schoolmarm out of Katherine Adams. + +This morning I woke up with a glouch, which is a combination of a gloom +and a grouch, and worse than either. It didn't improve it to have to go +to school on such a crisp, cool, ten-mile-walk day and listen to Clarissa +Butts stammer out a paragraph in the reader about vegetation around +extinct volcanoes, and all the while trying to keep my eye on the rest of +the pupils, who were not listening, but throwing spitballs at each other. +The worst of it was I didn't blame them a bit for not listening. Why on +earth can't they put something interesting into school readers? Even I, +with my insatiable thirst for information, gagged on vegetation around +extinct volcanoes. Clarissa's paragraph drew to a halting close and +finally stopped with a rising inflection, regardless of my oft-repeated +instructions how to behave in the presence of a period, and I had to go +through the daily process of correction, which ended as usual with +Clarissa in tears and me wondering why I was born. + +The next little girl took up the tale in a droning sing-song that was +almost as bad as Clarissa's halting delivery, and fed the Glouch until he +was twice his original size. The climax came when Absalom Butts, by some +feat of legerdemain, pulled the bottom out of his desk and his books +suddenly fell to the floor with a crash that shattered the nerves of the +entire class. Absalom and some of the other boys snickered out loud; the +girls looked at me with anxious expectancy. + +I sat up very straight. "Class attention!" I commanded, rapping with my +ruler. "Close books and put them away," I ordered next. + +Books and papers made a fluttering disappearance, through which the +long-drawn sniffs of Clarissa Butts were plainly audible. + +"Get your hats and form in line for dismissal," was the next order that +fell on their startled ears. + +"She's going to send us home," came to my hearing in a sibilant whisper. +Clarissa's sniffs became gurgling sobs as she took her place in the +apprehensive line. + +"Forward march, and halt outside the door!" I drove them out like sheep +before me and then I came out and banged the door shut with a vicious +slam. Passing between the two files I divided the ranks into sheep and +goats, left and right. + +"Class attention!" I called again. "Do you all see that dark spot over +there?" said I, pointing to the dim line of trees that marked the +beginning of the woods, some seven miles distant. + +"Yes, Miss Adams," came the wondering reply. + +"Well," I continued, "the left half of the line will take the road around +Spencer way, and the right half will take the road around the other way, +and the half that gets there last will have to give a show to amuse the +winners. We're going to have a hike, and a picnic. You all have your +lunch baskets, haven't you?" + +For a minute they stood dazed, looking at me as if they thought I had +lost my senses. Clarissa stopped short in the middle of a sob to gape +open-mouthed. Come to think of it, I don't believe she ever did finish +that sob. I repeated my directions, and taking the youngest girl by the +hand I started one half of the line down the road, calling over my +shoulder to the other line that they might as well make up their stunts +on the way, because they were going to get beaten. But after all it was +our side that got there last, because we were mostly girls and I had to +carry the littlest ones over some of the rough places. + +I sent the boys to gather wood and built up a big fire, and then I +proceeded to initiate the crowd into some of the mysteries of camp +cookery. I daubed a chicken with clay and baked it with the feathers on, +like we used to do last summer on Ellen's Isle, and it would have been +splendid if it hadn't been for one small oversight. I forgot to split the +chicken open and take the insides out before I put the clay on. + +After dinner it was up to me to produce a show in obedience to my own +mandate. None of the rest on my side could help me out, because not one +of the blessed chicks had ever done a "stunt" in their lives. The only +"prop" I had was a bright red tie, so I proceeded to do the stunt about +the goat that ate the two red shirts right off the line--you remember the +way Sahwah used to bring the house down with it? Well, I had just got to +the part where "he heard the whistle; was in great pain----" and, +accompanying the action to the music, was down on all fours giving a +lifelike imitation of a goat tied to a railroad track, while the +delighted boys and girls were doubled up in all stages of mirth, when I +heard a sound that resembled the last gasp of a dying elephant. I jumped +to my feet and whirled around, and there in the offing were +anchored--anchored is the only expression that fits because they were +literally rooted to the spot--the entire school board of Spencer +township, plus two strange men plus Justice Sherman. The board members +and the strangers stood with their jaws dropped down on their chests and +their eyes popping out of their heads; Justice had his handkerchief over +his mouth and was shaking from head to foot like a sapling in a high +wind. I gave a gasp of dismay which resulted in further developments, for +I had the whole red tie stuffed into my mouth with which to flag the +train when the time came, and the minute I opened my mouth it billowed +out in the breeze. That was the finishing touch. I might have explained +away the quadruped attitude as a gymnastic pose, but it takes +considerable of an artist to explain away a mouthful of red tie in a +schoolmarm. Besides that, I was mud from head to foot, having slid about +ten feet for the home plate in a baseball game we had before dinner, so +that I presented a front elevation in natural clay effect, broken here +and there with elderberries in bas-relief, which had adhered when the can +was accidentally spilled over me. + +Being acutely conscious of all these facts in every corner of my anatomy +did not add to my ease of manner, but I said as nonchalantly as I could, +"How do you do, Mr. Butts? How do you do, gentlemen?" Then I added rather +lamely, "Pleasant day, is it not?" + +Mr. Butts exploded into the same sort of snort as had interrupted me in +time to prevent the goat from flagging the train. + +"Miss Adams," he said severely, when he had recovered his breath +sufficiently to speak, "what does this mean? Why ain't you teaching +school to-day? Here comes these here two fellers----" and he jerked his +thumb in the direction of the two strangers--"from the new school board +over to Sabot Junction, to visit our school, and I takes them over to the +schoolhouse and finds it empty and no sign of you or the class. Fine +doin's, them! These fellers had their trip for nothin' and they were +pretty mad about it I can tell you, and so I thinks I'll drive them over +to Kenridge to the schoolhouse there and here on the way I runs into you +in the woods, acting like a lunytic. I always said Bill Adams's daughter +was plumb crazy and now I'm sure of it." + +I stood aghast. How was I to explain to an irate school board that +neither I nor the children had felt like going to school to-day and had +decided to have a picnic instead, and that the "lunytic actin's" was +Sahwah's famous stunt, enacted to add to the hilarity of the occasion? I +threw an appealing glance at Justice Sherman, and he sobered up enough to +speak. + +"You don't understand, Mr. Butts," he said hastily. "Miss Adams _is_ +teaching school to-day. She is teaching the children botany and it is +sometimes necessary to go out into the woods and study right from Nature. +I heard her say that she was going to take the children out the first +fine day." + +This was outrageous fibbing, but nobly done in a good cause. It was of no +avail, however, for Absalom Butts promptly called out importantly, "It +ain't either no botany class; it's a picnic. She made us put our books +away when we didn't want to and come out here." And he made an impudent +grimace at me, accompanied with the usual taunting grin. + +Right here I had another surprise of my young life. No sooner had the +craven Absalom turned state's evidence when there rose from the masses an +unexpected champion. As Elijah Butts began to express his opinion of my +"carryin's on" in no veiled terms, his daughter Clarissa, developing a +hitherto undreamed of amount of spirit, suddenly threw her arms around my +waist and stood there stamping her feet with anger. + +"She ain't a lunatic, she ain't a lunatic," she shrilled above her +father's gruff tones, "she's nice and I love her!" After which astounding +confession she melted into tears and stood there sobbing and hugging the +breath out of me. To my greater astonishment all the other girls +immediately followed suit and gathered around me with shielding caresses, +turning defiant faces to the upbraiding school board members. The boys +made themselves very inconspicuous in the rear, but I caught more than +one glowering look cast in the direction of Absalom. + +Before this demonstration of affection, Mr. Butts paused in astonishment, +and, having hesitated, was lost. He felt he was no longer cock of the +walk, and in dignified silence led the way to the surrey standing in the +road, with the rest of the school board members and the visitors stalking +after. I watched them climb in and drive away, and then the reaction set +in and I sat down on the ground and laughed until I cried, while the +girls, not sure whether I was laughing or crying, alternately giggled +convulsively and soothingly bade me "never mind." I sat up finally and +shook the hair out of my eyes and then I discovered that Justice Sherman +had not departed with the rest of the delegation, but was sitting on the +ground not far away, still shaking with laughter and wiping his eyes on a +red-bordered napkin that had strayed out of a lunch basket. A sudden +suspicion seized me. + +"Justice," I cried severely, "did you do it?" + +"Did I do what?" he asked in a startled tone. + +"Find out I was off on a picnic and bring the Board down to visit me?" + +Justice threw out his hands in a gesture of denial. "'Thou canst not say +I did it, never shake thy gory locks at me,'" he declaimed feelingly. +"Where did they come from? They dropped, fair one, like the gentle rain +from heaven, upon the place beneath. They came first to my humble +dispensary of learning, anxious to show the visiting Solons what a +bargain they had captured, and listened feelingly while I conducted a +Latin lesson, which impressed them so much they invited me to come along +while they gave you the 'once over.' You never saw such an expression in +your life as there was on the face of Mr. Butts when he arrived at your +place and found it empty. I will remember it to my dying day. + +"But what on earth _were_ you doing when we found you in the woods?" he +finished in a mystified tone. + +Then I told him about Sahwah's goat that ate the two red shirts right off +the line, and again he laughed until he was weak. + +"Some schoolma'am you, for visiting committees to make notes on!" he +exclaimed. + +"I'm discharged, of course," I remarked, after a moment's silence. + +"Oh, maybe not," said Justice soothingly, as we reached home, and he +turned off to go to his cabin. + +"I don't care if I am," I cried savagely. "I hate that old Board so I +wouldn't work for them another day." And I stalked into the house with my +head in the air. + +But somehow, after I had eaten my supper and begun to write this letter, +I began to feel differently. The way the girls stood up for me this +afternoon changed my whole attitude toward school teaching. To find out +that they actually loved me was the biggest surprise I had ever had in my +life. I had hated them so thoroughly along with the school teaching that +it had never occurred to me that they did not feel the same way toward +me. I suddenly hated myself for my impatience with their stupidity. Of +course they were stupid--how could they be otherwise, poor, pitiful, +ill-clad, overworked creatures, coming from such homes as they did? I +stopped despising them and was filled only with pity for the narrow, +colorless lives they led. That afternoon when they had told me, shyly and +wistfully, how much they enjoyed my teaching, I was filled with guilty +pangs, because I knew just how much _I_ had enjoyed it. That impromptu +picnic had quite won their hearts and broken down the barriers between +us, and the trouble it had gotten me into crystallized their affection +into expression. Now the ice was broken, and I would be able to get more +out of them than ever before. The prospect of teaching began to have +compensations. + +Then suddenly I remembered. I would be discharged after the next meeting +of the Board. I would have no opportunity of getting better acquainted +with my pupils and leading them in the pleasant paths of knowledge. Just +when the drink began to taste sweet I had to go and upset the cup! + +And your Katherine, who had hated teaching the poor whites so fiercely +all these months, buried her head on her arms and cried bitterly at the +thought of having to give it up! + + Yours, in tears, + Katherine. + + + + + HINPOHA TO KATHERINE + + + Brownell College, Nov. 25, 19--. + +Dearest Katherine: + +At first glance I don't suppose you will recognize this sweet little +creature, but you ought to, seeing you are his own mother. It's the Pig +you drew with your eyes shut in Glady's PIG BOOK last year. Gladys +brought the PIG BOOK along with her and the other day we got it out and +found your poor little Piggy with the mournful inscription under him, +"Where is My Wandering Pig To-night?" He looked so sad and lonesome we +knew he was simply pining away for you. His ink has faded perceptibly and +he is just a shadow of his former emphatic self. Migwan looked at it and +said, "What charade does it make you think of?" + +It was just as plain as the nose on your face, and we all shouted at +once, "Pork-you-pine!" + +We couldn't bear to leave him there to die of grief and longing, so we +transferred him tenderly to this letter and are sending him to his mumsey +by Special Delivery. We hope he will pick up immediately upon arrival. + +We had Lamb's _Dissertation on Roast Pig_ in Literature the other day and +were asked to comment upon it, and Agony wrote that she didn't think much +of a dissertation on Pig that was written by a Lamb; she thought Bacon +could have handled the subject much better! + +As ever, your Hinpoha. + +P. S. Here is Piggy's tail; we found it in a corner of the page after we +had him transferred. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Dec. 3, 19--. +Dear Winnies: + +Hurray! I'm not fired. Why, I wasn't I never will be able to figure out, +but it's so. A week after the Picnic the Board sat, but not on me. For a +while I lived in hourly expectation of forcible eviction, but nothing +happened, and I heard from Justice, who stands high in the favor of +Elijah Butts and gets inside information about school matters, that +nothing was going to be done about it. If Justice had any further details +he wouldn't divulge them. + +Justice is a queer chap. Although he talks nonsense incessantly, you can +get very little information out of him. And the way he puts up with all +kinds of inconveniences without complaint is wonderful to me. He must be +accustomed to far different surroundings, and yet from his attitude you'd +think his little cabin out beyond the stables was the one place on earth +he'd select for an abode. He never even mentioned the fact that the roof +leaked badly until I went out there to fetch him and discovered him on +top patching it. Then I went inside to see what else could be improved, +and the bare, tumble-down-ness of the place struck me forcibly. Light +shone through chinks in the walls, the door sill was warped one way and +the door another, and there was no sign of the pane that had once been in +the window. It was simply a dilapidated cabin, and made no pretence of +being anything else. How he could live in it was more than I could see. +No light at night but a kerosene lamp, no furniture except what he +himself had made from boards, boxes and logs; no carpet on the rough, +rotting floor. Why did he choose to live in this cell when he might have +taken rooms with any of the school board members over in Spencer? + +It was on this occasion that I saw the rough board table under the one +window, strewn with pencils, compasses and sheets of paper covered with +strange lines and figures. + +"What's this?" I asked curiously. + +"Nothing, that amounts to anything," replied Justice, with a queer, dry +little laugh. "Once I was fool enough to believe that it did amount to +something." He swept the papers together and threw them face downward on +the table. + +"Tell me about it," I said coaxingly, scenting a secret, possibly a clue +to his past. + +Justice stared out of the open door for a few moments, his shoulders +slumped into a discouraged curve, his face moody and resentful. Then +suddenly he threw back his head and squared his shoulders. "It's +nothing," he said shortly. "Only, once I thought I had a brilliant idea, +and tried to patent it. Then I found out I wasn't as smart as I thought I +was, that's all." + +"What did you invent?" I asked. + +"Oh, just an old electrical device--you probably wouldn't understand the +workings of it--to be used in connection with wireless apparatus. It was +a thing for recording vibrations and by its use a deaf man could receive +wireless messages. I worked four years perfecting it and then thought my +fortune was made. But nobody would back me on it. They all laughed at the +thing. I got so disgusted one day that I threw the thing into the sad +sea. Four years' work went up at one splash! That was the end of my +career as an inventor." + +Poor Justice! I sympathized with him so hard that I hardly knew what to +say. I knew what that failure must have meant to his proud, sensitive +soul. The first failure is always such a blow. It takes considerable +experience in failing to be able to do it gracefully. I could see that he +didn't want any voluble sympathy from me and that it was such a sore +subject that he'd rather not talk about it. I didn't know what to say. +Then my eye fell on the sheets on the table. "What are you inventing +now?" I asked, to break the silence that was growing awkward. + +"Just working on bits of things," he replied, "to pass the time away. You +can't experiment with wireless now, you know." + +The confidences Justice had made to me almost drove my errand out of my +head. It was rather breathless, this having a new side of him turn up +every little while. I returned to my original quest for information. + +"I came for expert advice," I remarked. + +Justice looked up inquiringly. "Shoot," he said. + +"Do you suppose," I inquired in a perplexed tone, "that they'd enjoy it +just as much if the costumes have to be imaginary?" + +Justice's face suddenly became contorted. "They'd probably enjoy wearing, +ah--er imaginary costumes if the weather is warm enough," he replied, +carefully avoiding my eye. + +"Justice Sherman!" I exploded, laughing in spite of myself. "You know +very well what I mean. I mean can we have a Ceremonial Meeting in blue +calico and imagine it's Ceremonial costumes?" + +Justice scratched his head. "It depends upon how much imagination 'we' +have," he remarked. "Now, for instance, I know someone not a hundred +miles from here who can imagine herself in her college room when it's +only make believe, and can do wonderful work in French and mathematics. +She----" + +"That's enough from you," I interrupted. "The matter is settled. We'll +have a Ceremonial Meeting. We'll pretend we've gone traveling and have +left our Ceremonial dresses at home. We're a war-time group, anyhow, and +ought to do without things." + +There now! The secret is out! Your poor stick of a Katherine is a real +Camp Fire Guardian. I wasn't going to tell you at first, but I'm afraid I +will have to come to you for advice very often. I have organized my girls +into a group and they are entering upon the time of their young lives. +Make the hand sign of fire when you meet us, and greet us with the +countersign, for we be of the same kindred. Magic spell of Wohelo! By its +power even the poor spirited Hard-uppers have become sisters of the +incomparable Winnebagos. Wo-He-Lo for aye! We are the tribe of Wenonah, +the Eldest Daughter, and our tepee is the schoolhouse. + +Of course, as Camp Fire Groups go, we are a very poor sister. We haven't +any costumes, any headbands, any honor beads, or any Camp Fire adornments +of any kind. I advanced the money to pay the dues, and that was all I +could afford. There are so few ways of making money here and most of the +families are so poor that I'm afraid we'll never have much to do with. +But the girls are so taken up with the idea of Camp Fire that it's a joy +to see them. In all their shiftless, drudging lives it had never once +occurred to them that there was any fun to be gotten out of work. It's +like opening up a new world to them. Do you know, I've discovered why +they never did the homework I used to give to them. It's because they +never had any time at home. There were always so many chores to do. Their +people begrudged them the time that they had to be in school and wouldn't +hear of any additional time being taken for lessons afterward. + +As soon as I heard that I changed the lessons around so they could do all +their studying in school. Besides that, I looked some of the schoolbooks +in the face and decided that they were hopelessly behind the times, +Elijah Butts to the contrary. They were the same books that had been used +in this section for twenty-five years. + +"What is the use," I said aloud to the spider weaving a web across my +desk, "of teaching people antiquated geography and cheap, incorrect +editions of history when the thing they need most is to learn how to cook +and sew and wash and iron so as to make their homes livable? Why should +they waste their precious time reading about things that happened a +thousand years ago when they might be taking an active part in the +stirring history that is being made every day in these times? Blind, +stubborn, moth-eaten old fogies!" I exclaimed, shaking my fist in the +direction of Spencer, where the Board sat. + +Right then and there I scrapped the time-honored curriculum and made out +a truly Winnebago one. It kept the fundamentals, but in addition it +included cooking, sewing, table setting, bed making, camp cookery, +singing of popular songs, folk dancing, hiking and stunts. Yes sir, +stunts! I teach them stunts as carefully as I teach them spelling and +arithmetic. Can you imagine anyone who has never done a stunt in all +their lives? + +We rigged up a cook stove inside the schoolhouse--if you'd ever see it! +The stovepipe comes down every day at the most critical moment. Besides +that we have a stone oven outside. Every single day is a picnic. As all +of us have to bring our lunch we turned the noon hour into a cooking +lesson, and two different girls act as hostesses each day. The boys bring +the wood and do the rough work and are our guests at dinner. They all +behave pretty well except Absalom Butts, who is given to practical jokes. +But as the rest of the boys side in with me against him, he gets very +little applause for his pains and very little help in his mischief. The +noon dinners continue to be the chief attraction at the little school at +the cross roads. Hardly anybody is ever absent now. + +I arranged the new schedule so that while I am teaching the girls the +things which are of interest to them alone the boys have something else +to do that appeals to them. I give them more advanced arithmetic, and +have worked out a system of honor marks for those who do extra problems, +with a prize promised at the end of the year. Then I got hold of an old +copy of Dan Beard's _New Ideas for Boys_ and have turned them loose on +that, letting them make anything they choose, and giving credit marks +according to how well they accomplish it. + +You see what a job I have ahead of me as a Camp Fire Guardian? In order +to teach my girls what they must know to win honors, I have had to turn +the whole school system inside out, and then, because I couldn't bear to +leave the boys out in the cold while the girls are having such a good +time, I have to keep thinking up things for them to do, too. It stretches +my ingenuity to the breaking point sometimes to get everything in, and +keep all sides even. + +One afternoon each week I have the girls give to Red Cross work. Every +Saturday I drive all the way over to Thomasville, where the nearest Red +Cross headquarters branch is, for gauze to make surgical dressings, +returning the finished ones the next week. Here's where dull-witted +Clarissa Butts outshines all the brighter girls. She can make those +dressings faster and better than any of us and her face is fairly radiant +while she is working on them. I have made her inspector over the rest to +see that there are no wrinkles and no loose threads, and she nearly +bursts with importance. For once in her life she is head of the class. + +While they fold bandages I read to them about what is going on in the war +and what the Red Cross is doing everywhere, and we have beautiful times. +The worst trouble around here is getting up to date things to read. There +isn't a library within fifty miles and the only books we have are the few +I can manage to buy and those that Justice Sherman has. Would you mind +sending out a magazine once in a while after you have finished reading +it? + +We had our first ceremonial meeting last night in blue calico instead of +ceremonial gowns, but it didn't make a mite of difference. We felt the +magic spell of it just the same and promised with all our hearts to seek +beauty and give service and all the other things in the Wood Gatherers' +Desire. That is the wonderful thing about Camp Fire. It makes you have +exactly the same feelings whether you learn it in a mansion or in a +shack, in an exclusive girls' school or in a third-rate country +schoolhouse. If Nyoda only could have seen us! Of all people to whom I +had expected to pass on the Torch, this group of Arkansas Hard-Uppers +would have been the very last to occur to me. Was this what she meant, I +wonder? + + Yours, trying hard to be a Torch Bearer, + Katherine. + + + + + HINPOHA TO KATHERINE + + + Dec. 15, 19--. +Darling Katherine: + +There's no use talking, I can never be the same again. My life is +wrecked--ruined--blighted; my heart is broken, my faith in Man shattered, +but try as I like I can't forget him. His image is graven on my heart, +and there it will be until I die. But for all that, I hate him--hate +him--hate him! I don't want to be unpatriotic, but I do hope he gets +killed in the very first battle he's in. Then at least _she_ won't have +him! But a few short weeks ago I was a mere child, playing at life, a +schoolgirl, carefree and heedless, with no other thought in the world +beside winning the freshman basketball championship and surviving +midyear's; to-day I am a woman, old in experience, having eaten the fruit +of the tree of knowledge and found it bitter as gall. And I must bear it +all alone, because if I told the girls here they would laugh at me, and +some would be spiteful enough to be glad about it. But I have to tell +somebody or explode, and I know you will neither laugh nor tell anybody, +being a perfect Tombstone on secrets. + +It's really all Agony and Oh-Pshaw's fault anyway, for being born. Not +that that actually had anything to do with it, but if they hadn't been +born they wouldn't have had any birthday, and if they hadn't had any +birthday they wouldn't have given that box party to the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS and I never would have met Captain Bannister. + +You will readily understand, Katherine, how I burn to serve my country at +a time like this. There is nothing I would not do to save her from the +clutches of the enemy. It is all very well to say that woman's part in +the war is to knit socks and sweaters and fold bandages and conserve the +Food Supply, for that is all that the average woman would be capable of +doing anyhow, but as for me, I know that my part is to be a much more +definite and a far nobler one. Of course, I do all the other things, too, +along with the other Winnies and the whole college, for that matter; +joined the Patriotic League, go to Red Cross two nights a week and go +without sugar and wheat as much as possible. When I wrote and told Nyoda +that I hadn't eaten one speck of candy for three months except what was +given me and was sending the money I usually spent for it to the +Belgians, she said I ought to have the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and +that "greater love hath no man than this, that he give up the craving of +his stomach for his country." You see, Nyoda understands perfectly what +it means to have an awful candy hunger gnawing at your vitals like the +vulture at the giant's liver and look the other way when you go past a +window full of your favorite bon-bons. But somehow candy doesn't seem so +satisfying when you know there are little Belgian and French children +suffering from a much worse gnawing than candy hunger, and usually +dropping the price of a box of bonbons into the Relief Fund stops the +craving almost as much as the bonbons themselves would. + +But this is only doing what thousands of other girls all over the country +are doing and there isn't any individual glory in it. What I long to do +is carry the message that saves the army from destruction, or discover +the spy at his nefarious work. If only the chance would come for me to do +something like that I could die happy. + +Agony and Oh-Pshaw's birthday celebration was quite an event. We had +luncheon first at the Golden Dragon, a wonderful new Chinese restaurant +that was recently opened, and had chop suey and chow main and other funny +things in a little stall lit up with a gorgeous blue and gold lantern. Of +course, after that luncheon and the funny toasts we made to the long life +and health of Agony and Oh-Pshaw, we felt pretty frolicsome, and by the +time we got settled in our seats at the Opera House we were ready to +start something. Our seats were in the first row of the balcony, center +aisle, and very prominent. I had my knitting along as usual, intending to +do a few rows between the acts. I always knit in public places; it sets a +good example to other people. Besides, my new knitting bag is too sweet +for anything. + +I had just got started knitting in the intermission between the first and +second acts when the orchestra began to play "Over There," and Agony got +an inspiration. "Let's all stand up," she whispered, "and see how many +people will bite and stand up, too." + +So, stifling our giggles, we sprang promptly to our feet and stood +stiffly at attention. In less than a minute more than half of the +audience, not knowing why they should stand up for that piece, but +blindly following our lead, gathered up their hats, wraps and programs in +their arms and dutifully stood up. Then as soon as they were standing we +sat down and laughed at the poor dupes, who sat down in a hurry when they +saw us, looking terribly foolish. I haven't seen anything so funny in a +long time. + +"Stop laughing," said Gladys, giving me a poke with her elbow. "You're +shaking the seat so I'm getting seasick." But I couldn't stop. + +"Look out, Hinpoha, there goes your knitting," said Migwan. "Catch it, +somebody!" + +But it was too late. When we stood up I had laid the sock and the ball of +yarn on the broad, low rail in front of us, and now the ball had rolled +over the edge and dropped down into the audience below, right into the +lap of a young man who was sitting on the end seat. He looked up in great +surprise and everybody laughed. They just _roared_! There I stood, +leaning over the balcony, hanging on to the sock for dear life and trying +to keep it from raveling, and there he stood down below holding onto the +ball, and plainly puzzled what to do with it. + +"Throw down the sock, silly," whispered Agony, reaching over and pulling +my sleeve. "Do you think he's going to throw up the ball?" + +I dropped the sock and the man caught it in his other hand and stood +there laughing, as he started to wind up the yards and yards of yarn +between the ball and the sock. When he had it wound up he brought it +upstairs to me. I went out into the corridor to get it. Then for the +first time I got a good look at the man. He was dressed in uniform and +wore an officer's cap. He was very tall and slim, with black eyes and +hair and a small black mustache. + +"Here, patriotic little knitting lady," he said, making a deep bow and +handing me my knitting. I looked up into his handsome, smiling face, and +little needle points began pricking in my spine. His eyes met mine, he +smiled, blushed to the roots of his hair and looked away. All in one +instant I knew. I had met my fate. This was my Man, my own. I felt faint +and light-headed and all I could see was his black eyes shining like +stars. His deep, thrilling voice still rang in my ears. With another low +bow he turned to leave me. + +"Captain Bannister, at your service," he said. + +I went back to my seat with my head swimming. "Patriotic little knitting +lady," I found myself whispering under my breath. The girls suddenly +seemed awfully young and silly as they sat there giggling at me and at +each other. My mind was above all such childish things; it was soaring up +in the blue realms of true love. I was glad he was tall and thin. I think +fat girls should marry thin men, don't you? And he was dark, too, just +the right mate for redheaded me. And he was a Captain in the army! How +the other girls would envy me! Some of them had friends who were +lieutenants and were quite uppish about it, but none that I knew had a +Captain. + +Then at another thought my heart stood still. Suppose he should be +killed? I pictured myself in deep mourning, wearing on my breast the +medal he had won for bravery, which with his dying breath he had asked +his comrades to send to "my wife!" I couldn't help brushing away a tear +then and was quite bewildered when Agony poked me and wanted to know if I +wasn't ever going to make a move to go home. The show was over and the +people were streaming out. I hadn't seen a bit of the last two acts. + +Down in the lobby I saw Him again. He was standing by the door talking to +another man in uniform. How he stood out among all other men! He was one +out of a thousand. My heart beat to suffocation and I couldn't raise my +eyes. In a moment more I must pass him. I tried to look straight ahead, +but something I couldn't resist drew my head around and I turned and +looked straight into his eyes. He tilted back his head and gave me one +long, thrilling glance, raised his hand to his cap, then blushed and +looked down. Just then Gladys pulled at my sleeve and dragged me over to +some girls we knew and we were swept out with the crowd to the sidewalk. + +I scarcely knew where I was going. My feet walked along between Gladys +and Migwan, but my soul was in the clouds, listening to strains of +heavenly music, while the others squabbled over ice cream flavors and who +should stand treat after the show. Ice cream! Ye gods! Who could eat ice +cream with their soul seething in love? + +From that hour when I had looked into Captain Bannister's eyes and read +the truth in them, I was a changed being. I listened in silence to the +idle chatter of the girls around me as we walked to and from classes. +Their souls were wrapped up in their knitting, in their lessons, in their +meals. Agony and Oh-Pshaw were trying to learn a new and difficult back +dive and they talked of nothing else night and day. They were constantly +at me to come and try it, too, but I sat loftily apart, hugging my +delicious secret. As it says in the poem we learned in literature class: + + "What were the garden bowers of Thebes to me?" + +Like Semele, I scorned the sports of mortals and thought only of my +Beloved. I didn't envy her a bit because her Love was Jupiter. What was +Jupiter compared to Captain Bannister? + +Twice I had seen him since that day in the theater--had spoken to him, in +fact. He was stationed in the recruiting office and one day I happened to +be walking past with old Professor Remie and he knew him and stopped and +talked and introduced me. As if we needed any introduction! We chatted of +commonplaces, but all the while our eyes told volumes. However, soul +cannot speak to soul in a public recruiting station where curious eyes +are looking on. + +I had an errand uptown every day after that. Only once did I see him as I +passed the recruiting station, however. Then he was throwing out a +Socialist who had tried to stop the recruiting and he didn't see me. + +But the next day there came a perfectly huge box of chocolates, addressed +quaintly to "Miss Bradford, Somewhere in Purgatory." Inside the box was a +card which read: + + "The strand you dropped with careless art + Has wound itself around my heart." + +Underneath was written "Captain Bannister," in a bold, masculine hand. + +I buried the chocolates in the depths of my shirtwaist box where no +profane eye could see them or profane tooth bite into them. I didn't mean +to be selfish, but I just couldn't bear to pass _his_ chocolates around +to the crowd and hear Agony's delighted squeal as she dove into them, + +"Come on, girls, have one on Hinpoha's latest crush!" + +For Agony has absolutely no understanding of affairs of the +heart--everything is a "crush" to her. + +The chocolates were fine and I ate a great many of them, thinking of my +Captain all the while, and wondering when I would see him again. + +"Hinpoha, what on earth is the matter with you?" said Gladys that night. +"You didn't eat a bite of supper and you're as pale as a ghost. Have you +upset your stomach again?" + +I drew myself up haughtily. The idea! To call this delicious turmoil in +my bosom an upset stomach! I was glad I looked pale. I am usually as red +as a beet. It was more in keeping with the way I felt to be pale. + +"I am not myself," I replied loftily, "but it's not my stomach." + +"Go to bed, honey," said Gladys, "and I'll bring you a glass of hot +water." + +I curled up in bed with Captain Bannister's card in my hand under the +pillow. I was so happy I felt dizzy. Gladys came back with the hot water +and made me drink it in spite of my protests, and, strange to say, I felt +much calmer after it. + +Needless to say, I couldn't pin my mind down on my lessons. I did such +queer things that people began to notice it. For instance, mild old +Professor Remie, the chemistry teacher, handed back my paper one day +after he had given us a written lesson on the Atomic Theory, and inquired +in a puzzled tone if I had meant just what I wrote. I glanced at it and +blushed furiously when I realized that I had written down some lines that +had been running through my head all day: + + "Why do I fearfully cling to thee, Maidenhood? + 'Tis but a pearl to be cast in thy waves, O Love!" + +Then one day the word went around that He was coming to make a speech in +the college chapel. How my heart fluttered! I could hardly sit still in +the seat when he came out on the platform. It seemed as if everyone could +hear what my heart was saying. Soon that deep voice of his was filling +the room, thrilling me with unearthly things. Again and again his eyes +sought mine, full of joyous recognition, of love and longing. I smiled +reassuringly, trying to telegraph the message, "Be patient, all will be +well." + +To myself I was singing, "O Captain, my Captain!" + +Unknown to himself, I had seen him before he came into chapel. I was +stooping down in the shadow of the gymnasium steps, tying my shoestring, +when he came along the walk and was met by Dr. Thorn, our President. They +stood there and talked a minute and I heard Captain Bannister say that he +was going to Washington that afternoon on the five o'clock train and that +he was going directly from the college to the station. He carried a small +black handbag, which Dr. Thorn offered to relieve him of, but he said no, +he didn't want to leave it out of his hand even for a minute, there were +valuable papers in it. + +When he came out on the platform I noticed that he had the bag with him. +He set it down on the table while he talked and never got very far away +from it. I looked at that bag with deep interest. What was in it? +Something terribly important, I knew. I thrilled with pride that my +Captain should have such great things to look after, and longed to be of +service to him. + +His speech came to an end all too soon for me, who could have gone on +listening for a week, and he went out before the rest of us were +dismissed. No chance to speak to me or give me one word of farewell for +the brief separation; only one long, lingering look between us that left +me shaken to the soul. Now I knew what the Poet meant when he spoke of +"the troth of glance and glance." + +I wandered around by myself after he had gone. I didn't desire to speak +to any of the girls or have them speak to me. I just wanted to be by +myself. Roaming thus I came to the little rustic summerhouse in the park +behind the college buildings, and stopped in to rest a moment. It was a +lovely mild day, not a bit like winter, and not too cold to sit in a +summerhouse and dream. I didn't sit down, though. For on the bark-covered +bench I spied something that brought my heart up into my mouth. It was +Captain Bannister's bag. No doubt about it. There was his name on a card +tied to the handle. How came it here? They must have shown him around the +grounds after his speech and in some way he had put the bag down in here +and then gone off and forgotten it. How dreadful he would feel when he +found it out! + +My mind was made up in a minute. Here was a real chance to "Give +Service." If I hurried I could get down to the station and catch him +before he got on the train. I made sure from the watchman that he had +left the college grounds. I looked at my wrist watch. It was quarter to +five. Without a moment's hesitation I picked up the bag and ran out to +the street. I caught a car right away and sank down in a seat breathless, +but easy in my mind, because the station was only a ten minutes' ride in +the car. + +Then, of course, something had to happen. A sand wagon was in the +cartrack ahead of us and the motorman jingled his bell so furiously that +the driver got excited and pulled the lever that dumped the whole load of +sand on the car track. + +I jumped out of the car and looked wildly up and down the road to see if +there was a taxi in sight. There wasn't; nothing but a motor truck from +the glue factory. There was something covered with canvas in the back of +it, and I knew instinctively that it was a dead horse. Did I hesitate a +second? Not I. For the sake of my Captain and my country I would have +endured anything. I hailed the driver. "I'll give you a dollar if you'll +take me to the station," I panted. + +The driver laughed out loud. "This is _some_ depoe hack," he said, "but +if _you_ can stand it I guess _I_ can." + +With that he gave me a sidewise glance that was meant to be admiring, I +suppose, but I froze him with a look and climbed gravely up beside him. + +"It is very important that I be there in time for the five o'clock +train," I remarked by way of explanation. + +"You ain't running away from school, are you?" inquired the driver +genially. + +"I am _not_," I replied frigidly, and looked loftily past him for the +remainder of the five minutes' ride to the station. + +I flung the man the dollar and was out of the truck before he had time to +say a word, and raced into the long waiting room of the station. I could +have shouted with relief when I saw on the blackboard the notice that the +five o'clock train for Washington was forty minutes late. I was in time! + +But where was Captain Bannister? Nowhere in sight. I walked up and down +the length of the waiting room several times, growing more nervous every +minute. Suppose that he had discovered that he had left the bag behind +and gone back after it only to find it gone? The thought made my blood +run cold. Would he come down to the train at all without the bag? Would +he not go back and search for it, alarming the whole college? And all the +while I had it safe with me! What should I do? Should I go back and run +the risk of missing him, or stay and see if he came? One thing I could +do. I could telephone back to the college and find out if he had returned +for it. + +I had just gotten inside the telephone booth and was ringing up the +number when there was a commotion in the upper end of the waiting room +and a large party of people entered, men and women and soldiers and young +girls, laughing and shrieking and pelting somebody with rice and old +shoes. Soon they came past the booth and I caught a glimpse of the bride +and groom. The telephone receiver fell out of my hand and my heart +stopped beating. For there, in the midst of that crowd, laughing and +dodging the showers of rice, and hanging for dear life to the arm of a +pretty young girl in a traveling suit, was Captain Bannister, my Captain! +I shrank back into the depths of the telephone booth and struggled to +swallow the lump in my throat. Bits of talk floated in through the closed +door. + +"Thought you'd do it up quietly this morning and then sneak out this +afternoon without anybody finding it out," I heard a voice shout, as a +fresh shower of rice flew through the air. + +"Went out and made a speech this afternoon, too, just as unconcerned as +if it wasn't his wedding day," said another voice. "Pretty sly, Captain. +They ought to put you in the diplomatic service. You'd be an ornament." + +I crouched miserably in the telephone booth, trying to collect my +scattered thoughts. My Captain was married this morning! How I hated that +pretty girl clinging to him and laughing as the showers of rice fell +around her! + +Then all of a sudden my hand touched the bag on the floor. The papers! In +the excitement of his wedding day he had forgotten them! Well, even if he +had, I hadn't. I would still serve my country if it did nearly kill me to +go out there and face Captain Bannister. I shut my eyes and prayed for +strength. It would have been so easy to slip out and throw the bag over +the bridge into the river, and get Captain Bannister into a bad +predicament. But I did not waver in my duty. Opening the door of the +booth softly, I crept out. Resolutely I approached the crowd and walked +right up to Captain Bannister. + +"Here are the papers, Captain Bannister," I said in a voice I tried to +make coldly sarcastic, as is fitting when talking to a man who has let +his wedding make him forget his country's business. + +Captain Bannister whirled around and faced me with a look of astonishment +that changed to annoyance when he saw the bag. He did not offer to take +it from my outstretched hand. He could not look into my eyes. He stood +there, his face getting redder every minute, while the people stared +curiously. At last he pulled himself together and took the bag. "Thank +you," he said in a flat voice. + +A dozen hands pulled the bag away from him. "Let's see the papers, +Banny," called several voices. "Are they the plans of your wedding +journey or your new home?" + +He made a desperate effort to regain possession of the bag, but they kept +it away from him and opened it. Then such a roar of laughter went up as I +have never heard. Everybody was laughing but the bride, and she looked +like a thundercloud. Soon the things from the bag were being handed +around and I saw what they were. They were a girl's ballet dress, very +flimsy and very short and very much bespangled; a pair of light blue silk +stockings and a pair of high-heeled dancing slippers. + +Standing on the edge of the crowd I heard one man explain to another, +between snorts of laughter, how Captain Bannister had taken part in a +show that the soldiers had given a week before and had worn that ballet +dress. His bride-to-be had been at the show, and being a very +straight-laced sort of a person had been very much shocked at the men +dressed as girls. She didn't know that Captain Bannister had been one of +them, and he didn't intend that she should find out. Some of his friends +knew this and for a joke they got hold of the handbag in which he had +packed his clothes for his wedding journey and hid them away, putting in +the ballet dress instead. He found it out on the way out to the college, +and conceived the brilliant idea of leaving it there. He figured that a +suit like that found in a girls' college would cause no commotion; +nothing like what would happen if his bride should find it among his +things. But of all things--here the man who was telling all this nearly +turned inside out--somebody sees him leave the bag behind and chases +after him with it! + +I fled without ever looking behind. My heart was broken, my life wrecked, +my hopes shattered. My Captain, my Man, whose eyes had told me the secret +of his love, was pledged to another! If I hadn't known it beyond any +doubt, I wouldn't have believed such perfidy possible. And the "valuable +papers" he was carrying around were nothing but a girl's dancing dress! +For this I had raced to catch the train, for this I had ridden on a truck +with a dead horse! No doubt he had lied to Dr. Thorn about the bag, +because he was afraid he would find out what really was in it. + +Righteous anger drowned my heartbroken tears. With head high I wandered +down to the swimming pool in the gym and prepared to go in. + +"Oh, Hinpoha, come and watch me do the new back dive," called Agony. She +mounted the diving platform and went off badly, striking the water with +the flat of her back and making a splash like a house falling into the +water. She righted herself and swam around lazily. + +"Hinpoha," she said suddenly, popping her head out of the water like a +devil fish, "what did you ever do with them all? I expected to get at +least one." + +"What did I do with what?" I asked in bewilderment. + +"Chocolates, sweet cherub," said Agony, kicking the water into foam with +her feet. "I sent you five pounds." + +"_You_ sent them?" I echoed blankly. + +"Yes, dearest child, I sent them, and it took the last of my birthday +check. Who did you think sent them?" And with a malicious grin she sank +down under the surface of the water. + +So it had been Agony who had sent the chocolates, and not Captain +Bannister! I might have known---- Oh, what a fool I had been! + +"What did you do with them all?" came Agony's teasing voice from the +other end of the pool, where she had risen to take the air. + +"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said mysteriously. + +Agony looked at me gravely for a minute. "Didn't I hear Gladys putting +you to bed that night and going off for hot water?" she murmured +dreamily. "Seems to me I have a faint, far off recollection." She made +little snorting noises, plainly in imitation of a pig, and sank below the +surface again. + +I was filled with a blind fury at Agony. I wanted to jump on her and +choke her. I had been standing on the diving board and on the spur of the +moment I went off backwards. I had only one thought in my mind; to reach +Agony and duck her as she deserved. There was a great shout as I went +off, followed by a round of applause. + +"What is it?" I asked, coming up and blinking stupidly at the knot of +watchers gathered around the pool. + +"The Hawaiian dive!" they cried. "You did it perfectly. Do it again." + +Agony came up out of the pool and watched enviously. For four weeks she +had been practising that dive and hadn't mastered it yet. I hadn't ever +hoped to learn it. And here I had done it the very first time! They made +me do it again and again, and clapped until the ceiling echoed as I got +the somersault in every time. It was glorious. I forgave Agony for +fooling me about the Captain; I even forgave the Captain for the time +being. _He_ could go off and get married if he wanted to; _I_ could do +the Hawaiian back dive! + +"How did you ever do it?" asked Agony enviously, as we dressed together, +"somersault and all? Do you really think there's any chance of my ever +doing it?" + +"Sure, you'll do it some day," I replied out of the fullness of my +wisdom,--"if you get mad enough." + + Your broken-hearted, + Hinpoha. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + Dec. 28, 19--. +Dearest and Best of Winnies: + +Oh, you angels without wings, how am I ever going to thank you? How on +earth did you manage to do it all? Such a Christmas present! + +When I saw that array of boxes in the express office at Spencer all +addressed to me I said to the agent, "There's some mistake. Those can't +possibly be all mine." + +"You're the only Katherine Adams in these parts, aren't you?" said the +agent, eyeing that imposing pile with unconcealed curiosity. + +I admitted that I was, as far as I knew. + +"Then they're yours," said the agent, and mine they proved to be. + +Altogether there was a wagonload. + +"What on earth?" said father and Justice when I drove up to the house. +"Have you gone into the trucking business?" + +"Christmas presents, Father!" I shouted. "All Christmas presents. I've +got the whole of Santa Claus's load. Quick, bring me a hammer and an ax +and a jimmy!" + +Oh, girls, when I saw what was in those first three boxes I just sat down +on the floor and wept for joy. Only the Winnebagos could have thought of +sending me the House of the Open Door. There were the Indian beds and +Hinpoha's bearskin and all the Navajo blankets and the pottery, just as I +had seen it last in the Open Door Lodge, big as life and twice as +natural. And the note from Sahwah that came along with them was a piece +of Sahwah herself. + + "The things are lonesome," she wrote, "and pining for someone to love + them and use them. I am sending them to your new Camp Fire because I + know your girls will love them as they deserve to be loved. The ghosts + of all the good times we had in the House of the Open Door are hovering + around the things, so anyone that gets them can't help falling under + the old spell and learning how to squeeze the most fun out of every + minute. + + "The gymnasium apparatus is the Sandwiches' Christmas present. It was + Slim's and the Captain's idea to send it out to you for your girls and + boys to use. + + "The House of the Open Door is being turned into Red Cross work rooms + for Camp Fire Girls and we need every inch of space for the work + tables. Even our beloved Lodge is Giving Service." + +Gladys Evans, your father is an _angel_! He doesn't need to wait until he +gets to heaven for his halo, it's visible a mile off, this minute! To +think of sending me a graphophone and a hundred records! I simply can't +tell you what that is going to mean to my school. I won't be able to +_drive_ the boys and girls away now! + +And your mother! That lantern machine and the slides showing the Red +Cross work and all the other splendid things is worth its weight in gold. + +Oh, my dears! _Where_ did you ever find time to make those twelve +ceremonial dresses? + + "FROM THE LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS TO THE FIRST OF THE WENONAHS. LET BIG + SISTER WINNIE SEE THAT LITTLE SISSY WEENIE IS PROPERLY CLOTHED." + +I'll bet anything your friend Agony wrote that. I have a feeling that she +and I are kindred spirits. + +Won't my girls revel in those beads and looms, though? + +BOOKS! Four whole cases of them! What on earth have you done now? + + "THE WINNEBAGO LIBRARY + PASSED ON BY THOSE WHO KNOW AND LOVE GOOD BOOKS TO THOSE WHO WILL + SOON KNOW AND LOVE THEM" + +How did you do it? Asked a hundred girls to give one book apiece? You +don't mean to say that there are a hundred girls interested in us poor +backwoods folks out here in Spencer? I can't believe it! Oh, we'll work +and work and _work_, to prove ourselves worthy of it all! + +And oh, all those little personal pretties just for me! Hinpoha, _where_ +did you find that darling pen-holder with the parrot's head on the end, +and Gladys, who told you that I broke my handglass and was pining for a +white ivory one? + +And even a lump of sugar for Sandhelo and a bow for Piggy's tail! I +admire the artist who drew that bow. + +The last box bore Nyoda's return address. What do you suppose was in it? +Her chafing dish! The very one she used to have in her room, that I used +to admire so much. Dear Nyoda! She knew I would rather have that than +anything else. + +O my dears, there never _was_ such a Christmas! There never _will_ be +such a Christmas! Nobody ever had such friends before. If I live to be a +thousand years old I'll never be able to return one-tenth of your +kindness. + + Yours, swimming in ecstasy, + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + March 25, 19--. +Dearest Katherine: + +Listen, my beloved, while I sing you a song of Migwan. She has awakened +at last to find herself famous, and the rest of us, by reason of +reflected glory, found ourselves looked upon as different from all other +animals, and wonderfully popular and run after by five o'clock in the +afternoon, like Old Man Kangaroo. And, all precepts upon precepts to the +contrary, it wasn't conscientiously applying herself to her task that +turned the trick, but deliberate shirking. After all, though, it was +mostly a matter of chance, because if it hadn't rained so that night last +October, Migwan would have gone to the library as she should have, and +the world would have lost a priceless contribution to Indian lore. + +It happened thusly. One of Migwan's cronies in the sophomore class has a +weak throat and a condition in Indian History. On the night I have +mentioned she trickled tearfully into Migwan's room and confided that she +simply had to have an Indian legend to read in class the following day or +be marked zero. She had had all the week in which to look one up in the +library, but, according to immemorial custom, she had left it for the +last night. Now it was raining pitchforks and she didn't dare go out, +because she got a terrible attack of quinsy every time there was an east +wind. Migwan, like the angel she is, promptly offered to go over and hunt +one up for her. + +"What kind of an Indian legend?" she inquired. + +"Oh, any kind," replied Harriet carelessly, "so long as it's _Indian_. +We're studying the Soul of the Savage as revealed by legend, or something +like that. Slip it under my door when you come back with it. I'm going to +bed and coddle my throat. Be sure you don't get one that's too long," she +called back over her shoulder, "remember there are twenty in the class to +help reveal the Savage Soul." + +Harriet ambled placidly back to her room and Migwan began hunting through +her closet for her raincoat and rubbers. She didn't find them, because +she had lent them to somebody the week before and couldn't remember whom +she lent them to. She looked out of the window at the torrents coming +down and decided that her little rocking chair by the lamp held out more +attraction than a trip to the library. But she didn't have the heart to +disappoint Harriet by not getting her an Indian legend to read in class +the next day, so she sat down and manufactured one, which is as easy as +rolling off a log for Migwan. Harriet would never know the difference, +and neither would the teacher, off hand, and a made-up legend would save +the day for Harriet as well as a genuine one. The chances were she +wouldn't be called upon to read it anyway. You never are, you know, when +you've broken your neck to be ready. Migwan slipped it under Harriet's +door and then forgot all about it. + +Several weeks later, when the _Monthly Morterboard_ came out, there was +Migwan's Indian legend, big as life. It had obviously been used to fill +up space and was not credited to the literary talent of the college; but +to Joseph Latoka, or "Standing Pine," the Penobscot Indian who had +collected the legends of his tribe into a book, which was in the college +library and which was our authority on things Indian. Migwan laughed to +herself over it, but never gave away the fact that she had written it. +She discovered in a roundabout way that the Literary Editor of the +_Morterboard_ had been in despair over lack of material when the October +number was due, and told her tale of woe to Miss Percival, one of the +teachers, and asked her if she had any essays fit to print. Miss Percival +replied that she hadn't had a decent essay this semester, but a girl in +one of her classes had brought in a rather remarkable Indian legend +several days before, which might serve to cast into the breach. The +_Morterboard_ editor promptly hunted up Harriet and demanded the legend. +Harriet still had it among her goods and chattels, and gave it to her +readily, saying that it was one of Joseph Latoka's _Legends of the +Penobscot Indians_, which she honestly believed to be the fact. The +_Morterboard_ editor took her word for it and used the legend to fill up +the chinks in the October issue. + + * * * * * * + +It was not long after this that Very Seldom paid his annual visit to +Brownell. His name really wasn't Very Seldom; it was Jeremiah Selden, but +everybody referred to him as Jerry, and it wasn't long before "Jerry +Selden" became "Very Seldom." He used to be Professor of Sociology at +Brownell, but he had to give up lecturing because he lost his voice. He +was a sad little man with a plaintive droop to his white mustache and +only a whisper of a voice. He had lost his whole family in some kind of a +railroad accident and always went around with such a homeless air that +everybody felt sorry for him. His hobby was Indian History, Indian +Legends and Indian Relics. After he gave up teaching sociology he took to +writing books, dry old essays and that sort of thing. Nobody ever read +them, and he didn't make much out of them, but he kept plodding along, +always hoping that he would make a hit the next time. + +Once every year he came back to Brownell to spend Sunday, to keep alive +the memories of his former life, he used to explain sentimentally. Miss +Allison, his successor as professor of sociology, and who has him beat +forty miles for teaching, always entertained him at tea on the occasion +of his visit, and used to ask him stacks of questions, jollying him along +and making him believe she was in doubt about a lot of things she knew +better than he did. Having his opinion consulted that way made him feel +quite cheerful and important, and his visit to Brownell always put new +life into him. + +It happened that one Sunday afternoon Migwan went to Miss Allison's room +to ask her about something and ran into Very Seldom paying his annual +visit. Miss Allison herself wasn't there. She had been called out of town +the night before and had turned over the job of entertaining Very Seldom +to her room-mate, Miss Lee. Miss Lee taught mathematics and didn't care a +rap about sociology, and still less about Indians. Miss Lee is very fond +of Migwan, and invited her to stay to tea. Migwan is forever getting +asked to tea by the faculty; it's because she always gets her hair parted +so straight in the middle, and never upsets her teacup. + +Migwan had heard about Very Seldom, and was just as anxious to help cheer +him up as anybody, but this time he didn't need any cheering. He was +positively radiant. He was talking about his latest book and was nearly +bursting with enthusiasm. + +It seems that all his life he had been having an argument with another +Indian History shark as to whether, before the coming of the white man to +this continent, the eastern Indians had ever lived on, or visited the +western plains. He maintained that they had, while his friend insisted +that they hadn't. Just recently he had read, in a magazine published by +the Indian Society of North America, a hitherto unpublished legend of +Joseph Latoka's, a curious legend of the White Buffalo. To his mind this +proved beyond a doubt that the Penobscot Indians had, at some time or +other, lived on or visited the Great Plains, and had seen the Buffalo. It +was the only Penobscot legend that mentioned the buffalo as an object of +worship. He had immediately written a monograph on the subject which was +even then in the hands of the publisher. It was a great point to have +discovered. Fame would come to him at last. Very Seldom's air of +desolation had vanished; his hour of triumph had come. + +It was at this point that Migwan, the expert tea drinker, suddenly upset +her cup all over Miss Allison's cherished Mexican drawnwork lunchcloth. +That foolish legend that she had manufactured to save herself a trip to +the library in the rain had been taken as authentic and had been copied +from the _Morterboard_ into other magazines! At the time she wrote it she +was in too much of a hurry to pay attention to any such trifles as the +difference between Eastern and Plains Indians. Anyway, she hadn't _said_ +anywhere that they were Penobscot Indians, it was Harriet who had said so +to the _Morterboard_ editor. + +Several times during the evening she tried to tell poor Very Seldom that +the Legend of the White Buffalo, which proved his point so conclusively, +was not a legend at all, but her own composition, but each time the words +choked her. The little ex-Professor's satisfaction was so great and his +happiness so supreme that she didn't have the heart to blot it out. The +secret was hers. Everybody in college believed that legend to have come +from the collection of Joseph Latoka. All the evening she debated with +herself whether or not she should tell, or let the fake legend go down on +record. In the end the professor's happiness won the day and she decided +not to mar his almost childish glee in his discovery. + +"What does it matter, after all?" she thought. "About three-fourths of +the things that are written about Indians aren't true. Nobody will read +his old monograph anyway, so no harm will be done. If it gives him so +much pleasure to think he's discovered something, why spoil it all?" The +whole matter seemed so trivial to Migwan that it wasn't worth fussing +about. Just what difference did it make to the world, especially at this +time, whether the eastern Indians of the United States had ever visited +the western plains or not? It seemed about as important as whether the +Fourth Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had carrots for dinner or parsnips. So +she went home without revealing the origin of the Legend of the White +Buffalo. + +She thought the incident was decently interred, and had forgotten all +about it, when--pop! out came Jack-in-the-box once more. Along in March +came the celebrated lecturer on Indian costumes, Dr. Burnett. Handbills +announcing his lecture were distributed all over town a week before his +coming. The public was to be admitted and half the proceeds were to go to +the library fund. Migwan picked up one of the handbills and glanced +casually at the subject of the lecture. Then her hair nearly turned +green. It was "The Legend of the White Buffalo," based on the book of the +late Professor Jeremiah Selden! + +The first fact that struck Migwan was that Very Seldom was dead, which +came as a shock of surprise. Poor Very Seldom! He had found a home at +last. But before he went he had had his inning and had died happy that he +had contributed an important link to the chains of Indian History. + +Then Migwan realized what a horrible mess she had started by writing that +legend and keeping still about it. If anybody ever found out about it +now, Dr. Burnett's reputation would be ruined. + +An hour before the lecture was to begin found Migwan sitting in the +parlor of the hotel waiting for Dr. Burnett to come down in answer to the +note she sent up with a bellboy. He came presently, a long-haired, Van +Dyke-y sort of man, who smiled genially at her and inquired affably what +he could do for the charming miss. + +"If you please," said Migwan breathlessly, "could you give some other +lecture just as well?" + +"Could I give some other lecture just as well?" repeated Dr. Burnett in +perplexity. + +"Yes," Migwan went on desperately, trying to get it over with quickly, +"could you? You see, the Legend of the White Buffalo isn't a legend at +all." + +"The Legend of the White Buffalo _isn't_ a legend!" repeated Dr. Burnett +again, looking at Migwan as if he thought she was not in her right mind. +"Pray, what is it?" + +"It's--it's a fake," said Migwan. + +"A fake!" exclaimed Dr. Burnett, in astonishment. "And how do you know it +is a fake?" + +"Because I wrote it myself," said Migwan, trying to break the news as +gently as possible, "because it was simply pouring, and Harriet had a +sore throat." + +"You wrote it yourself because it was simply pouring and Harriet had a +sore throat?" repeated Dr. Burnett, now acting as if he were sure she was +out of her mind. + +Then Migwan explained. + +"But, my dear," said Dr. Burnett, "you _couldn't_ have written that +legend. No white man could have invented it. It is the very breath and +spirit of the Indian. In it the Soul of the Savage stands revealed." + +"But I _did_," insisted Migwan, and finally succeeded in convincing him +that she was telling the truth. + +Dr. Burnett usually spent from one to three months preparing a new +lecture. He prepared one that night in an hour that knocked the shine out +of all his previous ones. His speech entitled, "What Chance Has a Man +When a Woman Takes a Hand" brought down the house. He told the story of +the fake legend, and the audience was alternately laughing at the neat +way Migwan had taken everybody in and weeping at the way she wouldn't +spoil poor Very Seldom's pleasure. + +Migwan was the heroine of the hour. The whole college sought her +acquaintance forthwith. Of course, they found out all about the +Winnebagos, and how Migwan came to know so much about Indian lore, and +Hinpoha and I, being Winnebagos, too, came in for our share of the glory. +Our humble apartment is filled to overflowing all day long with girls who +want to make Migwan's acquaintance and casually drop in on us in the hope +of meeting her in our chamber. It is great to be fellow-Winnebago with a +celebrity. + +But I haven't told you all yet. The day after the lecture Dr. Burnett had +a solemn conference with that portion of the English Department which was +so fortunate to have Migwan in its classes, after which Migwan was called +in. She went with a kind of scary feeling because she thought Dr. Burnett +might be going to have her arrested for perpetrating the fake, but +instead of that she was informed that she showed such budding talent in +composition and had such a positive genius for portraying the soul of the +Indian that he wanted her to work with him in his research work after she +graduated from college. She is to make a grand tour with him among the +real Indians on the reservations and get them to tell tales of the old +days as they remember them from the legends of their fathers and then she +is to write them down to be published in a book. + +Just imagine it! There is Migwan's future all cut out for her with a +cookie cutter, all because she was too lazy to go across the campus in +the rain and get a real legend for a sick friend. Isn't life queer? + + Famously yours, + Gladys. + +P. S. O Katherine, _mon amie_, why aren't you here? But from the tone of +your last letters it seems that you have become reconciled to your lonely +lot. So the "mysterious him" that came to you from out the Vast is +teaching you French and History and reading Literature with you! +Katherine Adams, you sly puss, you'll be better educated yet than we! + + + + + SAHWAH TO KATHERINE + + + April 4, 19--. +Dearest K: + +You don't need to think you're the only one having adventures with your +work. Your little old Sahwah is a sure enough grown up young lady now, a +real wage-earner, making her little track along the Open Road, and +frequently stepping into mud holes and falling flat on her face. I'm +"Miss Brewster" now, in a tailored suit and plain shirtwaist, ready to +conquer the world with a notebook and typewriter. I finished my course at +the business college early in February, and one day while I was in the +last stages of completion as a stenographer and nearly ready to have a +shipping tag pasted on me in the shape of a graduation certificate, I was +summoned into the private office of Mr. Barrett, the head of the school. + +I had a chill when the office girl brought me the message. There were +only two or three things you were ever sent to Mr. Barrett for. One was +failure to pay your tuition; another was doing so poorly in your work +that you were a disgrace instead of a credit to the school; another was +for "skipping school." A number of the girls were in the habit of cutting +classes after lunch several days in the week and either going to the +matinee or running around town with boys from the school. Many complaints +about this had come to Mr. Barrett from the teachers, until he got so +that he sent for everyone who skipped and read them a stiff lecture. He +is a very stern, austere man, and the whole school stands in dread of +him. + +I went over my list of sins when I was summoned to the office. My tuition +was paid up until the end; there was no trouble there. It wouldn't be my +lessons either; for, while I was far from being the eighth wonder of the +world on the typewriter, I still had managed to stay in the "A" division +since the first. But--here my hair began to stand on end--I had "skipped +school" the afternoon before. Slim had come home from college to attend +the funeral of his grandfather, and had called me up and invited me to go +automobiling with him while he was waiting for his train to go back, and +you can guess what happened to Duty. I just naturally skipped school and +went with him. It was the first and only time I had skipped in my whole +career, but I was evidently going to get my trimmings for it. I went into +the office with a sinking heart, for up until this time I had managed to +keep in Mr. Barrett's good graces, and I did pride myself quite a bit on +my unreproved state. But I made up my mind to take it like a good +sport--I had danced and now I would pay the piper. + +Having gone into the office in such a state of mind, I wasn't prepared +for the shock when Mr. Barrett looked up from his desk and greeted me +with a (for him) extremely amiable smile. + +"Sit down, Miss Brewster," he said pleasantly, pulling up a chair for me +beside his own. + +I sat down. It was time, for my knees were giving away under me. + +"Miss Brewster," Mr. Barrett began affably, "I have here"--and he picked +up a paper on which he had made some notations--"a call for a +stenographer which is a little out of the ordinary line." He paused to +let that sink in. + +"Yes, sir," I murmured respectfully. My heart began to beat freely again. +He wasn't going to lecture me about skipping school! + +"Mrs. Osgood Harper," continued Mr. Barrett crisply, "telephoned me this +morning personally, and asked if I had a young lady whom I could send her +every day from nine until one to attend to her personal correspondence. +She is very particular about the kind of person she wants; it must be +someone who is refined and educated, as well as a good stenographer, for +a good deal of her work will be social correspondence. She also intimated +that the girl must be--er, reasonably good looking." + +He paused a second time and again I said meekly, "Yes, sir." There didn't +seem to be anything else to say. + +"I have carefully considered all the girls in the finishing class," +continued Mr. Barrett, "and you seem to be the only one I could consider +for the position. I know Mrs. Harper and know that in some ways she will +be hard to work for. But the pay she offers is generous; better than you +could do as a beginner in a commercial house, and the hours are +excellent, nine to one, leaving your afternoons free. Besides that, there +will be the advantage to yourself of coming in contact with such people +as the Harpers, and the pleasure of working in such beautiful +surroundings. You are a girl who will appreciate such things. You know +who the Harpers are, of course?" + +I had never heard of them, but I was quite willing to be enlightened. The +Harpers, it seemed, were in the first boatload of settlers that landed on +our town site; they had since accumulated such a fortune that it made +Pike's Peak look like an ant hill; and no matter what string Mrs. Harper +harped on, people were sure to sit still and listen. Now she desired a +personal stenographer of maidenly form, and I, Sahwah the Sunfish, had +been measured by the awe-inspiring Mr. Barrett and found fit. + +My feelings as I came out of the office were far different from those +with which I went in. I entered with a guilty droop; I came out with my +head in the air. I hadn't dreamed of getting such a position to start +with. I had pictured myself as beginning at the bottom in some big office +and slowly working to the top. But to begin my career by doing the +private work of Mrs. Osgood Harper! It seemed like some fairy tale. I +tried to think of something to say to Mr. Barrett to thank him for having +recommended me for the position, but the shock had sent my wits +skylarking, and the only thing that came into my head was that song that +we used to sing: + + "Out of a city of six million people, why did you pick upon me?" + +and that, of course, was impossible as a noble sentiment. + +The next morning I set out on my Joyous Venture. The Osgood Harpers lived +on the Heights in a great colonial house set up high on a hill and +approached by long, winding walks. It was more than a mile from the +street-car, but I enjoyed the walk through those beautiful estates. I +couldn't have served a tennis ball in any direction without hitting a +millionaire. + +Mrs. Harper was a stout and tremendously impressive lady about forty +years old. She had steely blue eyes that looked right through me until I +began to have horrible fears that there was something wrong with my +appearance and she would presently say that I would not do at all. But +she didn't; all she said was, "So you are Miss Brewster, are you?" and +motioned me to sit down at a writing table. + +She had received me in a cozy little sitting room which opened out of her +bedroom, and it seemed that this was to be my office. She started right +in to lay out my work for me and I didn't have much time to look around +at the beautiful furnishings. The work was far different from anything we +had had in school, but very interesting, and I took to it from the start. +Mrs. Harper is chairman of countless committees, and secretary of several +societies, and there were quantities of notices to send out to committee +members, and letters to write to business men soliciting subscriptions to +various funds and things like that, all to be written on heavy linen +paper of finest quality, bearing the Harper monogram in embossed gold in +the upper left-hand corner. + +I worked away with a will and the morning hours flew. I would have worked +right on past one o'clock without knowing it if there hadn't been an +interruption. Shortly after noon the door opened and a girl of about +seventeen walked in. She was extremely pretty; that is, at first glance +she was. She was very fair, with bright pink cheeks and big blue eyes. +Her yellow hair was plastered down over her forehead in an exaggerated +style, and monstrous pearl earrings dangled from her ears. She had +evidently just come in from outdoors, for she wore an all mink coat and +held a mink cap in her hand. Without a glance in my direction she began +chatting to Mrs. Harper in a thin, nasal, high-pitched voice. I dropped +my eyes and went on with my work. In a minute I could feel her staring at +me. + +"Ethel," said Mrs. Harper, as soon as she could get the floor, "this is +Miss Brewster, my stenographer. Miss Brewster, my daughter Ethel." + +I acknowledged the introduction pleasantly; Miss Ethel favored me with +another stare, murmured something in an indistinct tone and then +immediately turned her back on me and went on talking to her mother. +Right then and there my admiration for the "first families" got a +setback; I didn't admire Ethel Harper's manners, not a little bit. She +had "snob" written all over her features. I could see that she classed me +with the servants and as such she didn't trouble herself to be polite to +me. + +"A lot there is to be gained by associating with _her_," I said to +myself. "I'll be just as cool and dignified as possible when _she's_ +around. She won't get another chance to snub me." + +But in spite of her I was enthusiastic about the position and could +hardly wait until I got there the next day. Mrs. Harper went out shortly +after I arrived and I worked alone. Ethel Harper came home from school at +noon and went through the room on the way to her mother's, but I rattled +away on the typewriter and never looked up. She came out soon and went +into her own room, which was on the other side. In about fifteen minutes +I heard her call me. + +"Miss Brewster!" I stopped typing. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Come here," she called, and her voice sounded impatient. + +I stepped across the hall into her room. She was standing in front of the +mirror putting on a ruffled taffeta dress, which she was struggling to +adjust. + +"Hook me up!" she commanded, without the formality of saying "Please." + +I had it on the end of my tongue to tell her that I was a stenographer, +not a lady's maid, but I remembered "Give Service" in time, and hooked +her up without a word. She never even said "Thank you!" She just sat down +at her dressing table and began pencilling her eyebrows. Evidently it +must have been the maid's day out, for she called me in again later to +pin her collar. + +"Have I got too much color on my face?" she asked languidly, dabbing away +at her cheeks with some red stuff out of a box in front of her. Then she +put carmine on her lips, a sort of whitewash on her nose and forehead and +finished it with some pencilled shadows under her eyes. All I could think +of was Eeny-Meeny, the time we gave her that coat of war paint. + +"What's that?" asked milady while I was fastening her collar, poking her +finger at my Torch Bearer's pin. + +"It's a Camp Fire pin," I replied. + +"What's Camp Fire?" she demanded idly. + +I explained briefly what Camp Fire was. + +"Gee," said Ethel elegantly, "none of that for mine!" And she picked up +her eyebrow pencil again and did a little more frescoing. + +I went back to my work in disgust. I was so disappointed in Ethel Harper. +I had expected that the daughter of such a fine family would be a real +lady in every sense of the word--cultured, genuine, thoroughbred; and she +had turned out to be nothing but a cheap imitation--slangy, ill-bred, +snobbish, overdressed and made up like an actress. Beyond her pretty, +baby doll face there was nothing to her. There wasn't an ounce of brains +in her poor flat head. + +And yet, she was tremendously popular in her own snobbish set, as I could +gather from conversations around me, and by the invitations she was +constantly receiving to festivities. Although she was not formally out in +society, I knew that she went out to dances with men very often, when her +mother thought that she was spending the night with girl friends. I found +that out from telephone conversations Ethel carried on when her mother +was out of the way. It was plain to be seen that Ethel had only one +ambition in the world, and that was to have a good time, regardless of +how she got it. + +It wasn't any of my business, of course, but I couldn't help wondering +what Mrs. Harper would do if she knew about some of Ethel's little +excursions. Mrs. Harper had a flinty sort of nature and you only had to +look into those cold eyes of hers to know that it would go hard with +anyone who had displeased her. One morning I had a good chance to see her +when she was roused. A Cloisonne locket belonging to Mrs. Harper had +disappeared from her jewel box and she had accused her maid, Clarice, of +taking it. Clarice, frightened out of her wits, was tearfully protesting +her innocence, but Mrs. Harper towered over her like a fury, threatening +to hand her over to the police. Ethel, sitting in a rocking chair +polishing her finger nails, listened indifferently. I felt embarrassed to +witness this painful scene and stood irresolute, unable to decide whether +to go out or stay, when Mrs. Harper turned to me and said, "Make out a +check for Clarice's wages for the month and deduct twenty-five dollars +from it, the value of the locket she stole. Then insert an advertisement +in the papers for a new maid." + +Clarice, with a fresh burst of grief, declared again that she knew +nothing about the locket, and begged not to be sent away with a black +character, because she had a paralyzed sister to support, but Mrs. Harper +was unmoved. Out went Clarice, bag and baggage, crying as she went and +still declaring her innocence. + +"These maids will steal you blind, if you give them a chance," said Mrs. +Harper, still bristling with anger. + +"I never did like Clarice," remarked Ethel with a yawn. + +The next day Mrs. Harper went out during the morning and Ethel called me +to help her pack her visiting bag. She was going to spend the week-end +with a girl friend. No new maid had come to take Clarice's place as yet, +so Ethel took advantage of my not having much work to do for her mother +that morning to press me into service. + +"I can't find my wrist watch," she said as I came in. "I don't know +whether I put it in the bag or not, and I haven't time to look. Will you +look through the bag while I finish dressing?" + +I pawed carefully through the bag, and brought to light, not the wrist +watch, but the Cloisonne locket, which Mrs. Harper had accused Clarice of +taking. + +"Why, Ethel," I said delightedly, "here is your mother's locket! Clarice +didn't steal it after all. It was down in your bag." + +"I know it was," said Ethel coolly. "I put it there." + +"_You_ put it there?" I echoed. "Did you find it, then?" + +Ethel laughed disagreeably. "I had it all the while," she said. "I'm +going to a dance to-night that mamma doesn't know anything about, and +I've set my heart on wearing that locket. Mamma will never let me wear +it; it was brought to her from Paris by an old friend that's dead now, +and she's afraid I'll lose it. So I just took it out of her jewel box the +other day and made her believe Clarice took it." + +"Ethel!" I exclaimed in horror. "How could you? How could you sit there +and hear your mother accuse poor Clarice of taking it?" + +Ethel shrugged her shoulders. "I never did like Clarice," she said. "She +was an impertinent piece. It served her right. Put the locket back in the +bag. I've got to start in a minute." + +But I didn't budge. I stood looking at her until she looked the other +way. With all her millions and all her fine connections, I despised Ethel +Harper as if she had been a crawling worm. I didn't want to get mixed up +in anything that wasn't my business, but I had no intention of letting +poor Clarice remain under a cloud. + +"I'm not going to put it back in the bag," I replied firmly. "I'm going +to take it right back to your mother when she comes home. She must know +that it isn't stolen so she can make things right with Clarice." + +"Don't you dare tell mamma," said Ethel furiously. "She'll kill me if she +knows I've got it. Give it to me, I say." She tried to snatch it out of +my hand, but I kept hold of it. "Give it to me, you impertinent little +stenographer, you!" she shrieked. + +It was getting disgraceful. I tried to save a shred of dignity. I laid +the locket on the dresser and faced Ethel steadily. I still had a vivid +memory of Clarice's distressed face as she went out that day. + +"You have done Clarice a wrong," I said firmly, "and it must be righted. +I'll give you your choice. Either you take the locket back to your mother +or I'll tell her where it is." + +Ethel changed her tactics and tried to bribe me. "I'll give you a dozen +pairs of silk stockings if you don't say anything to mamma about it and +let her go on thinking it's stolen, so I can wear it whenever I please," +she offered. + +I longed to choke her. "Don't you try to bribe me, Ethel Harper," I said +severely. "I've got a code of honor, even if I am a poor stenographer, +which is more than you have, with all your millions." + +"Some more of your Campfire stuff," she said sneeringly. + +"You bet it is 'Campfire stuff,'" I replied hotly. "You see that little +pin? One of things it says is 'Be trustworthy.' If I let Clarice be +unjustly accused I wouldn't be worthy of that pin. Remember! Either you +tell your mother or I do." And I started for the door. + +Ethel changed her tune again and began to cry. "Everybody is so horrid to +me," she sobbed. "Mamma will never let me go anywhere I want to go or +wear what I want to wear, and the servants won't do what I tell them. +Even my mother's stenographer bosses me around! I wish I was dead!" + +But I was firm in my championship of Clarice. "You'll have to tell," I +repeated. "I see your mother coming in now." + +Ethel began to look frightened. "I'll not tell her I took it, she'd kill +me," she whined. "I'll tell her I just found it and she can take back +what she said to Clarice." + +I looked her steadily in the eyes. She flushed and looked down. + +"I suppose you'll go and tell anyway, you old tattletale," she said +savagely. "I'll get even with you for this, see if I don't!" She ran out +of the room and I didn't see her again for several days. + +However, I knew the locket had gone back where it belonged, because Mrs. +Harper had me send Clarice a check for twenty-five dollars, with the +brief statement that the locket had been found. Right there was where I +lost some of my regard for Mrs. Harper. She never apologized to Clarice +for accusing her wrongfully; never offered to do anything to make it up +to her. She just sent that cold little note and the check. A real +thoroughbred would have acknowledged herself to be in the wrong, but Mrs. +Harper couldn't bring herself to apologize to a servant. The affair blew +over and I never heard Clarice mentioned again. + +I grew to like my work more and more, as the days went by, and gradually +learned to handle quite a bit of it myself. Mrs. Harper was very busy; +she did a great deal of Red Cross and other war work, besides keeping up +in all her clubs, and she got into the habit of telling me what to say to +people and letting me write the letters myself. Early in March she went +out of town to a convention and left me with a great many letters to +write to various people, telling me to sign her name for her. I took very +great pains with all those letters so as to be sure to say the right +things to the right people, and I felt satisfied when the week was out +that I had done myself credit. + +Accordingly, it struck me like a thunderbolt when, several days after her +return, Mrs. Harper came to me, blazing with anger, and demanded to know +what I meant by writing such letters in her absence. Startled, I asked +her what she referred to. + +"You wrote Mr. Samuel Butler that if he didn't hurry and pay up his +subscription to the Red Cross Mr. Harper would pay it for him and take it +out of his next bill," said Mrs. Harper furiously. "Mr. Butler is +insulted and has withdrawn his subscription of ten thousand dollars to +the Perkins Settlement House, which I am trying so hard to establish. +Whatever possessed you to write such a letter?" + +"I never wrote a letter like that," I replied with spirit. "I wrote Mr. +Butler a very polite, respectful reminder that his pledge was due this +month; I never mentioned Mr. Harper or anything about paying it and +taking the amount out of any bill." + +I was completely at sea. + +"You _did_ write that letter!" declared Mrs. Harper angrily. "How dare +you deny it? Mr. Butler showed it to me. It was written on this very +stationery, on this typewriter with the green ribbon, and signed with my +name in the way you sign it. You wrote it to be funny, I suppose. Well, I +can tell you that I can't have anything like that. I won't have any +further need for your services." + +She was so positive I had written it that I began to have an awful +feeling that I might have written it in my sleep. You know what strange +things I do in my sleep sometimes. But all the while I knew who had done +it. Ethel Harper had sworn to get even with me for making her tell her +mother about the locket. She had written that letter in place of the one +I had written. I remembered that one day while Mrs. Harper was away I had +been called downstairs and kept talking for over an hour to one of Mrs. +Harper's committee members who had undertaken to distribute some +literature and came for instructions. During that time Ethel would have +had plenty of chance to read through my mail upstairs. + +I started to tell Mrs. Harper that I suspected someone else of writing +it, intending to lead gently up to the subject of Ethel, but Mrs. Harper +scoffed at the idea. + +"There isn't anyone else in the house who can run the typewriter," she +said flatly. + +This was untrue. Ethel could run it; she had done so several times when I +was there. But what was the use of accusing Ethel when her mother +wouldn't believe it anyway? I realized the hopelessness of trying to +convince Mrs. Harper of something she didn't want to believe. + +"And further," continued Mrs. Harper, "I have found that you have not +been attending strictly to business. Ethel tells me that you often go +over to her room when she is there and stand and talk to her instead of +giving your time to my work." + +"Little snake-in-the-grass!" I thought vengefully. I had never gone to +her room unless she had called me to do something. + +I made up my mind I wouldn't stay there another minute. I didn't have to +work for such people. I drew myself up stiffly. "If you believe such +things, Mrs. Harper," I said icily, "there can be no business relations +between us. I shall not even take the trouble to prove the truth about +that letter. I shall go immediately." And go I did. I knew Mr. Barrett +would be very much put out over the affair, because he seemed to think +Mrs. Harper had done his school an honor by hiring one of his pupils, but +what was I to do? Stay there and be the scapegoat for all Ethel's sins. +Not while I had feet to walk away on. + +As I went down the steps I met Ethel coming up. She looked at me with a +meaning expression and a triumphant smile. She had kept her word and +gotten even with me. + +I felt badly over it, of course, for who can lose a good position and not +be cut up about it? I suppose I must have looked pretty doleful for a +couple of days, because I met Mrs. Anderson, that friend of Nyoda's, who +used to lend us so many "props" for our Winnebago performances, on the +street and she asked me right away what was the matter. + +"You're lonesome for those friends of yours," she went on, without giving +me a chance to answer. "I'm lonesome, too," she went on. "My husband has +been in Washington all winter. Come out and spend a few days with me. You +used to be pretty good company, if I remember rightly." + +She persuaded me and I went. You remember the Anderson place out on the +East Shore, don't you? We were all out there once last year. Perfect duck +of a house all made of soft gray shingles and seven acres of garden and +woods around it. I tramped all over the place through the March mud, +looking for signs of spring, and had a perfectly glorious time. + +"There's one sign of spring, over there," said Mrs. Anderson, who was +with me on one of my tramps. + +"Where?" I asked, looking around. + +"Young man's fancy," said Mrs. Anderson with a laugh of tolerant +amusement, "lightly turning to thoughts of love. Look up on the barn +there." + +I looked where she pointed, and saw a boy of about eighteen standing on +the roof of the barn gazing off into space through a field glass. He had +a white flag tied to his right wrist, which he was waving over his head, +like the soldiers do when they signal. + +"Who is he and what is he doing?" I asked. + +"That's Peter, the boy who helps around the stable," replied Mrs. +Anderson. "He's sending messages to his lady love. A certain combination +of flourishes means 'I love you,' and another means 'Meet me to-night,' +and so on. He told John, my chauffeur, about it, and John told me." + +"How silly!" said I, with a laugh for poor lovesick Peter. "Who is the +object of his affection?" + +"Some servant girl from the next estate," replied Mrs. Anderson. "They +carry on their affair through field glasses and with signals. They think +they are having a thrilling romance." + +"Disgusting!" said I. "How could any girl make such a fool of herself +where everybody can see her!" + +Mrs. Anderson laughed indulgently, but I could feel her scorn underneath +it. "Some girls will sell every scrap of dignity they have for what they +consider a good time, my dear," she said, laying her hand on my arm in a +motherly way. + +We left Romeo on the barn flourishing out his messages in the late March +sunshine and wandered over to the next estate. There was a new litter of +prize bull pups over there and Mrs. Anderson had promised that I should +see them before I went home. A creek divided the two estates, which we +crossed on a little foot bridge. The path led along beside the creek for +a while until the little stream widened out into a beautiful pond, big +enough for boating. A pier had been built at one side of the pond, +running out into the water. Someone was standing out on the end of the +pier, and as we came up we saw that we had discovered the other half of +the romance. A girl, with a field glass held to her eyes and a white flag +tied around her right wrist, was signalling in the direction of the +Anderson barn, the roof of which was visible in the distance, beyond Mrs. +Anderson's apple orchard. + +Something about the girl was familiar, even in the distance, and as we +came near I recognized the mink coat that I had seen many times lately. +There was no doubt about it. The girl on the end of the pier was Ethel +Harper. I stood still, too much disgusted to speak. Ethel Harper, the +daughter of one of the "first" families, with the best social position in +the city, her mother prominent in all great uplift movements, carrying on +a vulgar flirtation with Mrs. Anderson's stable boy! So this was the +great romance she had been hinting about at various times! Randall--that +was the name of the girl she was intimate with; this was the Randall +place. She had been coming here so often for the sake of the boy next +door. Did she know he was an ignorant servant? I doubted it. Anything in +men's clothes set her silly head awhirl. I wished her haughty mother +could have seen her then. + +Mrs. Anderson suddenly laughed out loud and at that Ethel turned around +and saw us. She gave a great start as she recognized me, took a step +backward and fell off the end of the pier into the pond, disappearing +with a shriek into the deep water. + +I slipped out of my coat, threw off my shoes and went in after her. The +water was so icy I could hardly swim at first. When I did get hold of her +it was a battle royal to get her back to the pier. She was so weighted +down by the fur coat and she struggled so fiercely that several times I +thought we were both going down. Mrs. Anderson threw us a plank and with +its help I finally got her to the pier. + +"Now run for your life!" I ordered, my own teeth chattering in my head. +"Drop that wet coat and I'll race you to the house." She didn't move +nearly fast enough to avoid a chill and I took hold of her hand and +pulled her along. + +Up in a cosy bedroom in the Randall's house we sat up, some hours later, +wrapped in blankets, and looked at each other gravely. Mrs. Anderson had +been in and talked with Ethel like a big sister about the cheapness of +carrying on flirtations with strange boys. Ethel had seen her little +affair in its true light, robbed of all romance, and shame had taken hold +of her. Mrs. Anderson explained how the gallant Romeo had seen his Juliet +fall into the pond and had fled basely in the other direction for fear he +would be blamed, making no effort to rescue her, and she might have been +drowned if I hadn't fished her out. + +Ethel had been frightened out of her wits when she fell into the water; +she was still suffering from the shock. She flushed hotly as she caught +my glance, and cast down her eyes. + +"Thank you, Miss Brewster, for saving my life," she said rather +shame-facedly. Then she went on in a low tone, "I want to tell you +something. I wrote that letter to Mr. Butler,--the one that made mamma so +angry." + +"I know," I answered gravely. + +"You knew, and you jumped into the water after me anyway?" she said in a +tone of unbelief. "Why, you might have let me drown as easy as not." + +"O no, I mightn't," I answered. "That isn't the way a Camp Fire Girl gets +even." + +Ethel was silent a long while. Then she said, "Will you come back to our +house after I have told mother the whole thing? She misses you a lot, +says she never had anyone do her work so well as you did it, and she has +been in a terrible temper ever since you left." + +"I don't know," I answered slowly. I had been very deeply hurt and my +foolish pride was still on its hind legs. + +"Will you please come?" pleaded Ethel, slipping out of her chair and +putting her arms around me. "We can have such good times after your work +hours. Please, for my sake, I want you. You're the most wonderful girl +I've ever met!" + +Old Mr. Pride and I had a final round and we came out with me sitting on +his head. "I'll come back," I said, slipping my arm around Ethel. + +So you see, Katherine, adventure isn't dead, not by any means, even if +you do have to take it along with your bread and butter. + +Loads of love from your stenographic friend, Sadie Shorthander, once upon +a time your + + Sahwah. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 8, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Daggers and dirks! Did I say it was dull out here? Deluded mortal! For +the past week it's been so strenuous that I have seriously considered +moving to Bedlam for a rest. If I'm not gray by the time I'm thirty it'll +be because I'm bald. + +As Mistress of Ceremonies your humble servant is a rather watery success. +You know from sad experience my fatal fondness for trying new and +startling experiments and also my genius for leaving the most important +things undone. Remember the time I was Lemonade Committee when we climbed +Windy Hill and I carefully provided water and sugar and spoons and +glasses, and no lemons? And the time I hid the unwashed dishes in the +oven at Aunt Anna's and then went home with Gladys and forgot all about +them, and Aunt Anna nearly had spasms because she thought her silverware +had been stolen? And the time we went to Ellen's Isle and I mislaid the +vital portion of my traveling suit half an hour before the train started +and had to go in a borrowed suit that didn't fit? Every time little +Katherine was given something to do she either forgot to do it +altogether, or else did it in such a way as to make herself ridiculous. + +The memory of all those things rose up and oppressed me after I had +undertaken to stage a Patriotic Pageant for the township of Spencer. I +was so afraid I would do something that would turn it into a farce that I +began to have nightmares the minute I sank to weary slumber. It was a +daring idea, this patriotic pageant. Since history began there had never +been a pageant, patriotic or otherwise, in this section. Most of the +folks had never seen a circus, or a show, or a parade; so there was +nobody to give me any help except Justice. I myself would never have +thought of tackling it, but no sooner had my Camp Fire Girls gotten +absorbed in Red Cross work, and been thrilled by reading accounts of what +Camp Fire Girls were doing in other sections, than they begged me to get +up a pageant. I had my misgivings, but, being a Winnebago, I couldn't +back out. A pageant it should be, if it cost my head. (It pretty nearly +did, but not in the way I had feared.) + +Justice Sherman hailed the plan with delight. + +"Go to it," he encouraged. "I'm with you to the bitter end. I've never +done it before but I'll never begin any younger. + + "'There is a tide in the affairs of schoolma'ams, + That, taken at the flood, leads on to Pageants.' + +"Lead on MacDuff! Trot out the order of events." + +At Justice's suggestion I summed up all the possibilities. + +"There isn't much to work with," I said thoughtfully, having counted up +all my assets on the fingers of one hand. "Just ten Camp Fire Girls, +about as many boys, one trick mule, and--you." + +"So glad I know, right at the outset, just where I come in," said Justice +politely, "after the mule." + +"Sandhelo's got his red, white and blue pompom that the girls sent him +for Christmas," I went on, ignoring Justice's gibe. "We could make red, +white and blue harness for him, too." + +"If only he doesn't get temperamental!" said Justice fervently. + +"The girls could wear their Red Cross caps and aprons in one part of it," +I continued, "and flags draped on them when they act out 'The Spirit of +Columbia.' One of the girls can wear her Ceremonial gown and be the +Spirit of Nature that comes to tell the others the secret of the soil +that will help them win the war. Oh, ideas are coming to me faster than +flies to molasses." + +"Would you advise me to wear my Ceremonial gown or my Red Cross apron and +cap?" asked Justice soberly. "I could braid my hair in two pig-tails--" + +"Oh, Justice!" I interrupted, "if you only had a soldier's uniform!" +Then, as I saw Justice wince and the laughter die out of his eyes, I +stopped abruptly and changed the subject. It was an awfully sore point +with him that he had been rejected for the army. + +"We'll have a flag raising, of course, and tableaux," I rushed on. "Would +you put the flag on the schoolhouse, or set up a pole in the ground?" + +"I think on the schoolhouse," said Justice, with a return of interest. +"That's where it belongs." + +Justice and I held more conferences in the next day or so than the King +and his Prime Minister. Lessons in the little schoolhouse were abandoned +while we drilled and rehearsed for the pageant. Justice and I put +together and bought the flag. + +"Who's going to raise it?" asked Justice, shaking the beautiful bright +starry folds out of the package. + +I considered. + +"I think the pupil that has the best record in school should raise it," +suggested Justice. + +"I think," I said slowly, "I'll let Absalom Butts raise it." + +"Absalom Butts!" exclaimed Justice incredulously. "The laziest, meanest, +most mischievous boy in school! I wouldn't let him be in the pageant, if +I had my way, let alone raise the flag." + +"Exactly," I said calmly. "You're just like the rest of them. That's the +whole trouble with Absalom Butts. He's been used to harsh measures all +his life. His father has cuffed him about ever since he can remember. +Everybody considers him a bad boy and a terror to snakes and all that and +now he acts the part thoroughly. He's so homely that nobody will ever be +attracted to him by his looks, and such a poor scholar that he will never +make a name for himself at his lessons, and the only way he can make +himself prominent is through his pranks. He's too old to be in school +with the rest of the children; he should be with boys of his own age. His +father makes him stay there because he is too obstinate to admit that he +will never get out by the graduation route, and Absalom takes out his +spite on the teacher. I can read him like a book. I've tried fighting him +to a finish on every point and it hasn't worked. He's still ready to +break out at a moment's notice. Now I'm going to change my tactics. I'm +going to appoint him, as the oldest pupil, to be my special aid in the +pageant, and help work out the details. I'm going to honor him by letting +him raise the flag. We'll see how that will change his mind about playing +pranks to spoil the pageant." + +"It won't work," said Justice gloomily. "Absalom Butts is Absalom Butts, +the son of Elijah Butts; and a chip off the old block. The old man has a +mean, crafty disposition, and he probably was just like Absalom when he +was young. Absalom is going to do something to spoil that pageant, I see +it in his eye. You watch." + +"It's worth trying, anyhow," I said determinedly. + +"It won't work," reiterated Justice. "You can't change human nature." + +"It worked once," I said, and I told him about the Dalrymple twins, Antha +and Anthony, last summer on Ellen's Isle. + +"So you turned little Cry-baby into a lion of bravery and Sir Boastful +into a modest violet!" said Justice, in a tone of incredulity. + +"Yes, and if you'd ever seen them at the beginning of the summer you +wouldn't have held any high hopes of changing human nature, either," I +remarked, a little nettled at Justice's tone. + +Justice started to reply, but was seized with a violent fit of coughing +that left him leaning weakly against the door. I looked at him in some +alarm. I knew it was throat trouble that had kept him out of the army, +but it hadn't seemed to be anything to worry about--just a dry, hacking +cough from time to time. Now, standing out there in the brilliant +sunshine, he looked very white and haggard. + +"You're all tired out, you've been working too hard," I said, remembering +how he had been putting in time after school hours working in Elijah +Butts' cotton storehouse, because it was impossible to get enough men to +handle the cotton. Then, by drilling my boys and girls by the hour in +military marching and running countless errands for me--poor Justice was +in danger of being sacrificed on the altar of my ambition. + +"I'm a selfish thing!" I said vehemently. + +"Nonsense!" said Justice, holding up his head and beginning to fold up +the flag. "I got choked with dust, that's all." Manlike, he hated to +display any sign of physical weakness before a girl. I decided to say no +more about it, but I knew he needed rest. + +"Sit down a minute," I said artfully, sinking down on the doorsill, "and +keep me 'mused. I'm tired to death. Tell me all the news in the +Metropolis of Spencer." + +Justice fell into the trap. He sat down beside me and launched into a +lively imitation of Elijah Butts convincing the school board that the old +school books were better than the new ones some venturous soul had +suggested. + +"If he only knew how you took him off behind his back, he wouldn't +confide in you so trustingly," said I. + +"That's what comes of being a bargain," replied Justice loftily. "Great +ones linger in my presence, anxious to breathe the same air. The Board +coddles me like a rare bit of old china and proudly exhibits me to +visitors. + +"Oh, by the way," he added, "I hear there's a stranger in town." + +I looked up with interest. "Fine or superfine?" I asked. + +"Superfine," replied Justice. + +"Where from?" I inquired. + +"Like Shelley's immortal soul," replied Justice solemnly, "she cometh +from afar. She cometh to study Rural School Conditions--sent out by some +Commission or other. She's likely to visit your school. Thought I'd tell +you ahead of time so you'd manage to be on the premises when the +delegation arrived. She might object to hunting through the woods for +you." Here we were both overcome with laughter at the remembrance of the +last "visitation" of the school board. + +"I can't figure out yet why I wasn't fired," said I, flicking a sociable +spider off my lap with the stem of a leaf. "I would have been willing to +bet my eyebrows on it that night. What made them change their minds, I +wonder?" + +"Maybe it was because they hated to lose the bargain," answered Justice, +half to himself. + +"Hated to lose what bargain?" I asked innocently. Then suddenly I +understood. + +"Justice Sherman!" I exclaimed, starting up. "Did you threaten to leave +if they discharged me?" + +Justice turned crimson and became reticent. "Well, I don't know as I +threatened them exactly," he replied in a soothing drawl. "I don't look +very threatening, now, do I?" + +"Oh, Justice," was all I could say, for at the thought of what he had +done for me I was stricken dumb. + +Verily the power of the Bargain was great in the land! + +The pageant grew under our hands until it assumed really respectable +proportions. The girls and boys were wild about it and drilled tirelessly +by the hour. + +"I wish we had a better parade ground," sighed Justice regretfully, +squinting at the small level plot of ground in front of the schoolhouse +that was worn bare of grass. "We haven't room to make a really effective +showing with our drill. If only the old schoolhouse wasn't in the way we +could use the space that's behind it and on both sides of it." + +It was then that I had one of my old-time, wild inspirations. "Move the +schoolhouse back," I said calmly. + +Justice shouted. "Why not roll up the road and set it down on the other +side of field?" he suggested. + +"I don't see why we couldn't move the schoolhouse back," I repeated. "Why +not, if it's in the way? It's no ornament, anyway." + +Half-amused, half-serious, Justice looked first at me and then at the +little one-story shack that went by the name of schoolhouse. + +"By Jove! we can do it!" he exclaimed suddenly. "It'll be no trick at +all. Just get her up on rollers and hitch Sandhelo to the pulley rope and +let him wind her up. Just like that. An' zay say ze French have no sense +of ze delicasse!" + +"What will the Board say?" I inquired, half fearfully. + +"We won't ask the Board," replied Justice calmly. "Move first, ask for +orders afterwards, that's the way the great generals win battles. +Remember how General Sherman cut the wires between him and Washington +when he started out on his famous march to the sea, so that no +short-sighted one could wire him to change his plans? Well, we're out to +make this pageant a success, and we aren't going to risk it by stopping +to ask too much permission. We'll move the schoolhouse first and ask +permission afterward. By that time it'll be too late; the pageant is +to-morrow." + +And we did move it. If you had ever seen us! It wasn't such a job as you +might think. I suppose the word "schoolhouse" conjures up in your mind +the brick and granite pile that is Washington High--imagine moving that +out of the way to make room for a military drill! 'Vantage number one for +our school. We also have our points of superiority, it seems. + +The old shack looked vastly better where we finally let it rest. There +was a clump of bushes alongside that hid some of its battered boards +beautifully. The parade ground seemed about three times as big as it had +been before. + +"That's more like it," said Justice approvingly. "Now we can turn around +without stubbing our toes against the schoolhouse." + +"What will Mr. Butts say?" I asked, beginning to have cold chills. + +"Just wait until that gets between the wind and his nobility!" chuckled +Justice. "Never mind, I'll take all the blame." + +Nevertheless, when the crisis came, and Elijah Butts came driving up on +the afternoon of the great occasion, I was there to face the music alone, +Justice being nowhere in sight. + +Mr. and Mrs. Butts arrived in state, bringing with them a strange lady, +who I figured out must be the one Justice had told me about, the one who, +like Shelley's immortal soul, had come from afar and was sent by a +Commission to study rural school conditions. + +I glanced wildly about to see if Justice were not hovering protectingly +near, but there was no sign of him. However, I knew my duties as hostess. +Nonchalantly I strolled over to the road to welcome the newcomers. Elijah +Butts had just finished tying his horse and, bristling with importance, +had turned to help the Commission Lady out of the rig. + +"Ah-h, Miss Fairlee," he said in smooth tones, "this is--ah--Miss Adams, +our teacher at the Corners school." + +Then he suddenly jumped half out of his boots and stared over my shoulder +as if he had seen a ghost. "Where's that schoolhouse?" he demanded, in a +voice which seemed to indicate he thought I had it in my pocket. + +"It's right over there," I said calmly, pointing toward the bushes. + +Elijah Butts' eyes followed my fingers in a fascinated way; he could +hardly believe his senses. "How did it get there?" he demanded. + +"We moved it back," I replied casually. "It was in the way of the +maneuvers." + +Elijah Butts sputtered, choked, and was speechless. + +But Miss Fairlee, the Commission lady, laughed until she had to grip the +side of the buggy for support. "It's the funniest thing I ever heard," +she gasped. "I've heard of the Mountain coming to Mahomet, but I never +heard of the Mountain getting out of the road for Mahomet. Oh, Mr. Butts, +I think the West is delightful. You people are _so_ original and +forceful!" + +That took the wind out of Mr. Butts' sails. What could he do after that +neat little speech but take the compliment to himself and pass the matter +off lightly? + +The pageant was a wonderful success in spite of my misgivings. I didn't +forget to hand the torch to Columbia at the right moment and I didn't +forget to bring the brown stockings for little Lizzie Cooper, who was the +Spirit of Nature, and I made fire with the bow and drill without any +mishap. But one thing was a dreadful disappointment to me. Absalom Butts +was not there, and I had no chance to work out my experiment on him. +Where he was I couldn't imagine. I had taken Clarissa home with me the +night before to help me finish some things and she hadn't seen him since +he went home from school; Mr. Butts also said he didn't know. He added, +in a voice loud enough for Miss Fairlee to hear, that he would lick the +tar out of him for not being in the patriotic pageant. + +No one knew that I had picked Absalom in my mind to raise the flag. There +had been much speculation about who was to have this honor and in order +to keep everybody happy I said I would not announce this until the moment +came. Then I planned to make a speech and award the honor to Absalom, +thus singling him out for something besides punishment for once in his +life. I had had him helping me for several days, and given him certain +definite things to do on the great occasion and was much disappointed +that he didn't come to do them. Justice's warning came back and I had an +uneasy feeling that he was in hiding somewhere, plotting mischief. + +I had a real inspiration, though, in regard to the flag raising. In a +flowery speech I called upon Mr. Elijah Butts, the "President of the +School Board and the most influential man in Spencer Township," to +perform that rite. He swelled up until he almost burst, like the frog in +the fable, as he stood there, conscious of Miss Fairlee's eye on him, +with his great hairy hand on the pulley rope. Round the corner of the +schoolhouse and hidden from view by the bush, I caught Justice Sherman's +eye and he applauded silently with his two forefingers, meaning to say +that it was a master stroke on my part. Then he dropped his eye +decorously and started the singing of the National Anthem. + +The pageant ended up in a picnic supper eaten on the erstwhile parade +ground, and then the people began to go home through the softly falling +dusk. Miss Fairlee came to me and complimented me on the success of the +pageant and asked to take some notes for future use; and Elijah Butts was +quite cordial as he departed. I've discovered something to-day; if you +want to win a person's undying affection, single him out as the most +important member of the bunch. He'll fall for it every time. You note +that I am talking about male persons, now. + +"Well, the show's over," said Justice, when the last of the audience had +departed. "Now the actors can take it easy. Come on, let's get Sandhelo +and go for a ride." + +We climbed into the little cart, still covered with its pageant finery, +and drove slowly down the dusty road, discussing the events of the day. + +"O Justice," said I, "did you ever see anything so touching as the pride +some of those poor women took in their boys and girls? They fairly +glowed, some of them. And did you see that one poor woman who tried to +fix herself up for the occasion? She had nothing to wear but her faded +old blue calico dress, but she had pinned a bunch of roses on the front +of it to make herself look festive." + +"We've started something, I think," said Justice thoughtfully. "We've +taught the people how to get together and have a good time, and they like +it. They'll be doing it again." + +"I hope so," I replied. Then I added, "I wonder where Absalom was?" + +"You see, your scheme didn't work after all," said Justice, in an +I-told-you-so tone of voice. "Absalom wasn't impressed with the honor of +being your right-hand man. He took the occasion to play hookey. It's a +wonder he didn't try to play some trick on the rest of us; but I suppose +he didn't dare, with his father there. He's afraid to draw a crooked +breath when the old man's around." + +"I'm disappointed," I said pensively, leaning my head back and letting +the cool wind blow the hair away from my face. It had been a strenuous +day and I was tired out. The strain of being afraid every minute that I +would do something ridiculous or had left something undone that was of +vital importance had nearly turned my hair grey. Now that it was all over +without mishap, the people had enjoyed it and my Camp Fire girls had +covered themselves with glory, I relaxed into a delicious tranquillity +and gave myself over to enjoyment of the quiet drive in the sweet evening +air. + +"Why so deucedly pensive?" inquired Justice, after we had jogged along +for some minutes in silence. + +"Just thanking whatever gods there be that I didn't make a holy show of +myself somehow," I replied lazily. "Isn't this evening peaceful, though? +Who would ever think that down around the other side of this sweet +smelling earth men are killing each other like flies, and the night is +hideous with the din of warfare?" + +Above us the big white stars twinkled serenely, approvingly; all nature +seemed in tune with my placid mood. Justice fell under the spell of it, +too, and leaned back in silent enjoyment. + +What was that sudden glare that shone out against the sky, over to the +south? That red, lurid glare that dimmed the glory of the stars and threw +buildings and barns into black relief? + +"The cotton storehouse!" exclaimed Justice in a horrified voice. "Hurry!" + +For once Sandhelo responded to my urging without argument, and we soon +arrived on the scene of the blaze. Elijah Butts' plantation is about +three miles from Spencer, and no water but the well and the cistern. +"This is going to be a nice mess," said Justice, jumping out of the car +and charging into the throng of gaping negroes who stood around watching +the spectacle. The family of Butts had not returned from the pageant yet, +having taken Miss Fairlee for a drive in the opposite direction. A few +neighbors had gathered, but they stood there, gaping like the negroes and +not lifting a hand to save the cotton. + +"Here you, get busy!" shouted Justice, taking command like a general. +Under his direction a bucket brigade was formed to check the flames as +much as possible and keep the surrounding sheds from taking fire. "Go +through the barn and bring out the horses and cows, if there are any +there," he called to me. + +I obeyed, and brought out one poor trembling bossy, the only livestock I +found. Then Justice turned the command of the bucket brigade over to me +and started in with one or two helpers to remove the cotton from the end +of the storehouse that was not yet ablaze. He worked like a Trojan, his +face blackened with smoke until it was hard to tell him from the negroes, +the remains of his pageant costume hanging about him in tatters. + +"Somebody started this fire on purpose," he panted as he paused beside me +a moment to clear his lungs of smoke. "There's been oil poured on the +cotton!" + +Just at that moment the Butts family returned, driving into the yard at a +gallop. Mr. Butts' wrath and excitement knew no bounds and he was hardly +able to help effectively; he ran around for all the world like a chicken +with its head off. Assistance came swiftly as people began to arrive from +far and near, attracted by the blaze, but if it hadn't been for Justice's +timely taking hold of the situation not a bit of the cotton would have +been saved, and the house, barn and sheds would have gone up, too. + +Conjectures began to fly thick and fast on all sides as to how the fire +had started, and a whisper began going the rounds that soon became an +open accusation. One of the negroes that works for Mr. Butts swore he saw +Absalom going into the storehouse that afternoon. My heart skipped a +beat. He had not been at the celebration. Was this where he had been and +what he had done the while? Elijah Butts was stamping up and down in such +a fury as I had never seen. + +"He couldn't get out!" he shouted hoarsely to the group that stood around +him. "He's locked in the woodshed, I locked him in there myself, and +there isn't even a window he could get out of!" + +I started at his words. So that was where Absalom had been that +afternoon. He hadn't deliberately disappointed me, then. But--Elijah +Butts hadn't said that afternoon that he had locked Absalom up at home. +He had pretended to be much mystified over the non-appearance of his son. +Why had he done so? The answer came in a flash of intuition. Elijah Butts +had probably had a set-to with Absalom over some private affair and had +locked him up as punishment, but he didn't want Miss Fairlee to know that +he had kept him out of the patriotic pageant and so he had denied any +knowledge of Absalom's whereabouts. "The old hypocrite!" I said to myself +scornfully. + +"Your woodshed's wide open," said someone from the crowd. "We were in +there looking for a bucket. The door was open and there wasn't nobody in +it." + +"He got out!" shouted Elijah Butts in still greater fury. "He got out and +set fire to the cotton to spite me! Wait until I catch him! Wait till I +get my hands on him!" He stamped up and down, shouting threats against +his son, awful to listen to. + +"I thought he'd drive that boy to turn against him yet," said Justice, +drawing me away to a quiet spot, and mopping his black forehead with a +damp handkerchief. "I can't say but that it served him right. After all, +Absalom is a chip off the old block. That's his idea of getting even. He +didn't stop to think that it was the government's loss as well as his +father's. Well, it's all over but the shouting; we might as well go +home." + +We drove home in silence. Justice was tuckered out, I could see that, and +I began to worry for fear his strenuous efforts would lay him up. I was +still too much excited to feel tired. That would come later. All my +energy was concentrated into disappointment over Absalom Butts. I +couldn't believe that he was really as bad as this. I didn't want to +believe he had done it, and yet it seemed all too true. Why had he run +away if he hadn't? I shook my head. It was beyond me. + +Silently we drove into the yard and unhitched Sandhelo. + +"Good night," said Justice, starting off in the direction of his cabin. + +"Good night," I replied absently. I did not go right into the house. I +was wide awake and knew I could not go to sleep for some time. Instead I +sat in the doorway and blinked at the moon, like a touseled-haired owl. +It was after midnight and everything was still, even the wind. Out of the +corner of my eye I watched Justice wearily plodding along to his sleeping +quarters, saw him open the screen door and vanish from sight within. +Then, borne clearly on the night air, I heard an exclamation come from +his lips, then a frightened cry. I sped down the path like the wind to +the little cabin. A lamp flared out in the darkness just as I reached it +and by its light I saw Justice bending over something in a corner. + +"What's the matter?" I called through the screen door. + +Justice turned around with a start. "Oh, it's you, is it?" he said. "Come +in here." + +I went in. There, crouched in a corner on the floor, was Absalom Butts, +his eyes blinking in the sudden light, his face like a scared rabbit's. +It was he who had cried out, not Justice. + +"What's the trouble, Absalom," said I, trying to speak in a natural tone +of voice, "can't you find your way home?" + +"Dassent go home," replied Absalom. + +"Why not?" + +"Pa'll kill me." + +"What for?" + +"Because I ran away." + +"So you've run away, have you?" said I. "Why?" + +"Because pa licked me and locked me in the woodshed and wouldn't let me +come to the doin's this afternoon, and I just wouldn't stand it, so I got +out and cut." + +"When did you get out?" I asked, leaning forward a trifle. + +"This afternoon," replied Absalom. "I thought first I'd come to the +doin's anyhow and help you with those things I'd promised, but I was +scared to come with pa there, so I went the other way. I walked and +walked and walked, till I was tired out and most starved, because I +hadn't brought anything along to eat, and I didn't know where I was +headed for, anyway, and then I came along here and saw this shack and +came in and sat down to rest. I must a fell asleep." + +"You didn't do it, then?" said I, eagerly. + +"Do what?" Absalom's tone was plainly bewildered. + +"Set fire to your father's cotton storehouse." + +"Whee-e-e-e-e!" Absalom's whistle of astonishment was clearly genuine. "I +should say not!" + +"Do you know who did?" asked Justice, watching him keenly. + +"_Did_ somebody?" asked Absalom innocently. + +"I should say they did," said Justice, puzzled in his turn. "Are you sure +you don't know anything about it?" + +Absalom shook his head vigorously. "I don't know anything about it," he +said straightforwardly. + +"I was sure you didn't do it," I said triumphantly. "I had a feeling in +my bones." + +"How does it happen that you weren't at the fire?" asked Justice +wonderingly. "You must have seen the glare in the sky. People came for +miles around. Didn't you see it?" + +Absalom shook his head. "I must a slept through it," he said simply, and +followed it with such a large sigh of regret for what he had missed that +Justice and I both had to smile. + +"Well, there's one thing about it," said Justice, "and that is, if you +_didn't_ set fire to it, you'd better streak it for home about as fast as +you can and clear yourself up. Everybody thinks you did it and your +running away made it look suspicious. Besides, one of your father's men +says he saw you coming out of the storehouse this afternoon. By the way, +what _were_ you doing in there?" + +Absalom met his gaze unwaveringly. "Me? Why, I went in there to get my +knife, that I'd left in there yesterday. I couldn't go away without my +knife, could I?" He pulled it from his pocket and gazed on it fondly,--an +ugly old "toad stabber." + +"See here, you weren't smoking any cigarettes in there, and dropped a +lighted stub, perhaps?" asked Justice. + +"No," replied Absalom, "I wasn't smokin' to-day. I do sometimes, though," +he admitted. + +"Well, you don't seem to be the villain, after all," said Justice, "and +I'm mighty glad to hear it. So will a lot of people be. Things looked +pretty bad for you this afternoon, Absalom." + +"Honest?" asked Absalom. "Do folks really think I set fire to it? What +did pa say?" + +Justice laughed. "What he isn't going to do to you when he catches you +won't be worth doing," he said. + +Absalom began to look apprehensive. "I'm afraid to go back," he said. + +"What are you afraid of, if you didn't do it?" asked Justice. + +"Pa wouldn't believe me," said Absalom nervously. + +"Oh, I guess he'll believe you all right," I said soothingly. + +"You go with me," begged Absalom, eyeing us both beseechingly. "He'll +believe you. He never believes me." + +"Maybe we had better," said I. "He can stay here with you the rest of the +night and we'll drive over the first thing in the morning." + +The next morning bright and early found us again on the scene of the +fire. Early as we were, we found Elijah Butts poking in the ashes of his +cotton crop with a wrathful countenance. When he saw us coming he strode +to meet us and without a word laid hold of Absalom's collar. His +expression was like that of a fox who has caught his goose after many +hours of waiting. + +"I've got you, you rascal," he sputtered, shaking Absalom until his teeth +chattered. "Where did you find him?" he demanded of Justice. + +"In my bunk," replied Justice, laying a hand on Mr. Butts' arm and trying +to separate him from his son. "He had been there all evening, and knew +nothing about the fire. He didn't do it." + +"Didn't do it!" shouted Mr. Butts. "Don't tell me he didn't do it. Of +course he did it! Who else did?" + +We weren't prepared to answer. + +"I'm sure Absalom didn't do it, Mr. Butts," said Justice earnestly. "I'd +stake a whole lot on it." + +"Well, I wouldn't, you can better believe!" answered Mr. Butts. "He did +it, and I'm going to take it out of him." He began to march Absalom off +toward the house, urging him along with a box on the ear that nearly +felled him to the ground. + +Justice did it so quickly that I never will be able to tell just what it +was, but in a minute there stood Elijah Butts rubbing his wrist and +wearing the most surprised look I ever saw on the face of a man, and +there sat Absalom on the ground half a dozen yards away. + +"Beat it back to our shack, Absalom," called Justice. "I guess the +climate's a little too hot around here for you just yet." + +Absalom needed no second bidding. He sped down the road away from his +paternal mansion as if the whole German army was after him. + +"When you can treat your son like a human being he'll come back," said +Justice to Mr. Butts. + +"He don't need to come back," said Mr. Butts sourly, but with fury +carefully toned down. Justice's use of an uncanny Japanese wrestling +trick to wrench Absalom out of his vise-like grasp had created a vast +respect in him. He wasn't quite sure what Justice was going to do next, +and eyed him warily for a possible attack in the rear. "He don't need to +come back," he mumbled stubbornly, "until he either says he did it and +takes what's coming to him, or finds out who did do it." Growling to +himself he went toward the house and we drove off to overtake Absalom. + +"Daggers and dirks!" exclaimed Justice. "Old Butts sure is some knotty +piece of timber to drive screws into!" + +It was a rather dejected trio that Sandhelo, frisking in the morning air, +carried back to the house. Justice, I could see, was trying to figure out +by calculus the probable result of having jiu-jitsu-ed the president of +the school board; I was sorry for Absalom and Absalom was sorry for +himself. Once I caught him looking at me pleadingly. + +"_You_ don't think I done it?" he asked anxiously. + +"Not for a minute!" I answered heartily, smiling into his eyes. + +He looked down, in a shame-faced way, and then he suddenly put his arm +around my neck. "I'm sorry I treated you so horrid," he murmured. Think +of it! Absalom, the bully, the one-time bane of my existence, the fly in +the ointment, riding down the road with his arm around my neck, and me +standing up for him against the world! Don't things turn out queerly, +though? Who would ever have thought it possible, six months ago? + +Absalom and I had quite a few long talks in the days that followed. He +confided to me his hatred of lessons and his ambition to raise horses. +Father let him help him as much as he liked, and promised him a job on +the place any time he wanted it. Absalom seemed utterly transformed. He +fooled around the horses day and night and showed a knack of handling +them that proved beyond a doubt that he had chosen his profession wisely. +I did not insist upon his going to school and was glad I hadn't; for in a +day or two came the "visitation" of the Board, bringing Miss Fairlee to +see my school. + +She was absolutely enchanted with the way we conducted things; gasped +with astonishment at the graphophone and the lantern slides; exclaimed in +wonder at the library; listened approvingly to the reading lesson, which +was from one of the current magazines; partook generously of our dinner, +cooked and served in the most approved style, and laughed heartily at the +stunts we did afterward by way of entertainment. I took a naughty +satisfaction in showing off my changed curriculum for her approval and +watching the effect it had on the august Board members. None of them knew +exactly what I had been doing all this time, and their amazement was +immense. Mr. Butts did not come with the board this time, so I was spared +the embarrassment of meeting him. Without him the rest of the Board were +like sheep that had gotten separated from the bell-wether; they didn't +know which direction to head into until Miss Fairlee expressed her +unqualified approval of my methods; then they all endorsed it +emphatically. + +"I wish I were a pupil again, so I could have you for a teacher!" said +Miss Fairlee when school was out, and I considered that the highest +compliment I had ever received. I immediately invited her to attend our +Ceremonial Meeting that night and she accepted the invitation eagerly. We +held it on the old parade ground in front of the school. In honor of our +guest we acted out the pretty Indian legend of Kir-a-wa and the +Blackbirds and when we came to the place where we rush out looking for +the two crows we found two real ones sitting on the fence, only, instead +of attacking us as the ones did in the legend, these two applauded +vigorously. They were Justice and Absalom, come with Sandhelo and the +cart to take me home, or rather what was left of me after the blackbirds +had picked me to pieces. + +"Another day gone without mishap!" I said, as Justice slid back the +stable door and I walked in with my arm around Sandhelo's neck. "Sandhelo +will have to have a lump of sugar and an extra soft bed to celebrate. +Come on, Sandy, let me tuck you in." + +But Sandhelo would not enter his stall. He stuck his head in, sniffed the +air, and then, with a squeal that always heralds an outbreak of +temperament, he rose on his hind legs and began to dance. + +"Whatever has gotten into him?" I began, tugging at his tail, which was +the nearest thing I could get my hand onto, when suddenly a wild shriek +rose up from under our very feet and in the dimness of the stall we saw +something roll over and crouch in a corner. + +"Quick, the lantern!" said Justice. + +But we couldn't find it. + +Then from the depths of the stall there came a voice, crying in terrified +tones, "Don' take me, mister Debble; don' take me, mister Debble, I done +it, I done it; I set fiah to 'at ole cotton to get even with old Mister +Butts fer settin' de dawgs on me; I done it, I done it; go 'way, Mister +Debble, don' take me, I'll tell dem; only don' take me, Mister Debble!" + +Justice and Absalom and I stood frozen to the spot, listening to this +remarkable outcry. Then Justice raised the lantern, which he just spied +on the floor, and lighting it held it in the stall. By its flickering +rays we saw a negro crouching in the corner, whose rolling eyes and +trembling limbs showed him to be beside himself with fright. + +"Glory!" exclaimed Justice. "It's the same old bird we saw in the road +that day, the one I said looked like mischief!" + +Here Sandhelo, nosing me aside, looked inquisitively over my shoulder and +the darky immediately went into another spasm of fright, covering his +face with his hands and imploring "Mister Debble" not to take him this +time. + +"Whee-e-e-e-!" said Justice, whistling in his astonishment. "He's the one +that fired the cotton and now he thinks Sandhelo is the devil coming +after him!" + +"Mercy, what an awful creature!" said I, shuddering and looking the other +way. "If Sandhelo gets a good look at him I'm afraid he'll return the +compliment about taking him for His Satanic Nibs." + +"There's only one way you can keep him from getting you," said Justice to +the darky gravely. "That's by going to Mr. Butts and telling him yourself +that you did it. Otherwise, it's good-bye, Solomon." + +Here Sandhelo, as if he understood what was going on, suddenly snapped at +the black legs stretched out across his stall. + +"I'll tell him, I'll tell him!" shuddered Solomon, and with a prolonged +howl of terror he fled from the stable and down the road in the direction +of the Butts plantation. + +"He'll tell him all right," chuckled Justice. "He'll face a dozen Elijah +Buttses, before he lets the devil get him. Poor Sandhelo! Rather rough on +him, though, to have his name used as a terror to evil doers!" + +Talk about nothing ever happening around here! O you darling Winnebagos, +with your ladylike advantages, and your mildly eventful lives, you don't +know what real excitement is! + + Worn out, but happily yours, + Katherine. + + + + + GLADYS TO KATHERINE + + + April 10, 19--. +Dearest old K: + +The Winnebagos have scored again, although it did take us nearly all year +to make this particular basket. I know that if you had been here, you old +miracle worker, you would have found the way before the first month had +passed, but, not having your gift for seeing right through people's +starched shirtwaists and straight into their hearts, we had to wait for +chance to show us the way. And it turned out the way it usually does for +the Winnebagos--we stooped to pick up a common little stone and found a +pearl of great price. Of course, now there are lots of people who would +like to be the setting for that pearl, but she belongs to the Winnebagos +by right of discovery and we mean to keep her for our very own. For, +after all, who but the Winnebagos could have discovered Sally Prindle, +when up to that very week, day, hour and minute she hadn't even +discovered herself? The chances are that she never would have, either, +and what a shame it would have been! + +You remember my telling about Sally Prindle long ago, the time we tried +to fix up her room for her and she wouldn't let us? Of course she hurt +our feelings, because we hadn't been trying to patronize her and didn't +deserve to be snubbed, but we got over it in a day or two and saw her +side of it. It probably _was_ annoying to have three separate delegations +take notice of your poverty in one day, and there was no telling how +tactless the first two had been. At the second meeting of the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS, held on and around Oh-Pshaw's bed, we formally decided, with +much speechifying by Agony and Oh-Pshaw, that Sally would be the special +object of our Give Service Pledge. We would make her feel that we didn't +care a rap whether she was poor or not; that it was she herself we cared +about. We would ask her to share all our good times and would drop in to +see her often, as good neighbors should, and would finally bring her +around to the point where she would begin to Seek Beauty for herself, see +that her bare room was too ugly for any good use, and gladly share our +overflow with us. Oh, we planned great things that night! + +"Let's go over and call on her right away," suggested Hinpoha, who was +fired with enthusiasm at the plan and couldn't wait to begin the program +of Give Service. + +Off we went down the hall, filled with virtuous enthusiasm. Sally was at +home because we could see the light shining through the transom. + +"Wait a minute, don't knock," whispered Agony with a giggle. "I know a +lot more Epic way." She pulled a candy kiss from her pocket, scribbled an +absurd note on a piece of paper about weary travelers waiting at the +gate, tied it to the kiss and threw it through the transom. + +We heard it strike the floor and heard Sally rise from a creaking chair +and pick it up. Giggling, we waited for her to come and let us in. In a +minute her footsteps came toward the door and with comradely smiles we +stepped forward. The door was opened a very small crack, and out flew the +kiss, much faster than it had gone in. It just missed Hinpoha's nose by a +hair's breadth and fell on the floor with a spiteful thud. Then the door +slammed emphatically. We looked at each other in consternation. + +"Whee-e-e-e-e-!" said Agony in a long-drawn whistle. + +"Horrid--old--thing!" said Hinpoha, picking up the kiss from the floor +and holding it up for us to see that the note had never been opened. +Feeling both foolish and hurt we trailed back home and sadly gave up the +idea of Giving Service to Sally Prindle. + +"Let her alone, she isn't worth worrying about," said Hinpoha, beginning +to be just as cross as she had been enthusiastic before. "She hasn't a +spark of sociability in her." + +"There are Hermit Souls----" began Oh-Pshaw, and Agony cut in with + + "Twinkle, twinkle, little Sal, + How we'd like to be your pal, + But you hold your nose so high + You don't see us passing by." + +That ended Sally Prindle as far as the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS were +concerned. But I had an uncomfortable feeling all the time that if Nyoda +had been there she would have managed to become friendly with Sally in +some way, and that we had failed to "warm the heart" of this "lonely +mortal" who "stood without our open portal." Sally haunted me. How any +girl could live and not be friendly with the people she saw every day was +more than I could understand. She just grubbed away at her lessons, paid +no attention to what went on around her, snubbed any girl who tried to +make advances and lived a life of lofty detachment. She was a good +student and invariably recited correctly when called upon, but beyond +that none of the teachers could get a particle of warmth out of her, not +even fascinating Miss Allison, who has all her classes worshipping at her +feet. + +Sally worried me for a while; then she moved out of Purgatory and took a +room with some private family in town and as I hardly ever saw her any +more I forgot her after a time. Life is so _very_ full here, Katherine +dear, that you can't bother much about any one person. + +Of course, the big thought that runs through everything this year, all +our work and all our play, is the War and what we can do to help. At the +beginning of the year Brownell pledged herself to raise five thousand +dollars for the Red Cross by various activities; this was outside of the +personal subscription fund. A big Christmas bazaar and several benefit +performances brought the total close to four thousand, but the last +thousand proved to be a sticker. Various committees were called to +discuss ways and means of raising the money, but they never could agree +on anything for the whole college to do together, and finally abandoned +the quest for a bright idea and decided to let everybody raise money in +any way they could think of and put it all together to make up the total. +The Board of Trustees offered a silver loving cup to the individual, +club, sorority, group or clique of any kind that raised the largest +amount inside of a month. + +The day that was announced there was a hastily called meeting of the LAST +OF THE WINNEBAGOS. + +"We're going to win that loving cup," declared Hinpoha in a tone of +finality. "This is our chance to show what we're made of. Up until now +we've been doing little easy 'Give Services.' At last we're up against +something big. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of +their party. The WINNEBAGOS have never fallen down on anything yet that +they undertook and they're not going to now. We're going to win that +contest. Won't Nyoda be proud of us?" + +We cheered until the windows rattled and then Migwan brought us to earth +with a thud. "How are we going to do it?" she asked soberly. We all fell +silent and donned our thinking caps. Minutes passed but nobody sprouted a +bright idea. Suggestion after suggestion was made, only to be turned down +flat. + +"We might give a circus," suggested Hinpoha rather doubtfully. "Remember +the circus we gave at home last year?" + +"There have been nine circuses of various kinds already this year," +wet-blanketed Agony. "You couldn't hire anybody to attend another." + +"Masquerade as seeresses and give select parlor readings of people's +futures," suggested Oh-Pshaw. "We could charge five dollars for a +reading." + +"Been done already," said Migwan. "Anyway, the faculty have forbidden it. +The girls that did it last year scandalized a prominent Trustee's wife by +telling her that her daughter was going to elope with an Italian count +before the month was out. The daughter had married a minister the week +before, only the girls didn't know it, and the Trustee's wife got so +excited she sat down on a two-hundred-dollar Satsuma vase and smashed it +and tried to sue the seeresses for damages. Then, of course, she found +out they were students and the faculty put an end to parlor seeresses." + +That's the way it went. Not a plan was suggested but what turned out to +be old stuff or not practicable. + +"Oh, for an idea!" groaned Agony, beating her white brow with the palm of +her hand. + +"We might go round with a hand organ," suggested Oh-Pshaw in desperation. +"Gladys could be the monkey and pass around a tin cup." + +"Thanks, I wouldn't think of aspiring to such an honor," I replied +modestly. + +"What we want," said Migwan decidedly, "is a fad--something that will +take the college by storm and separate them from their cash. I remember +last year some of the seniors started the fad of taking impressions of +the palm of your hand on paper smoked with camphor gum and sending them +away to have the lines read by some noted palmist, and they made oceans +of money at twenty-five cents an impression." + +We talked possible fads until we were green in the face, but nobody got +an inspiration and we finally adjourned with our heads in a whirl. + +The next day I went into a deserted classroom for a book I had left +behind and found Sally Prindle with her head down on one of the desks, +crying. By that time I had forgotten how disagreeable she had been to us +and hastened over to see what was the matter. + +"What's the trouble, Sally?" I asked, laying my hand on her shoulder. + +Sally started up and tried to wipe the tears away hastily. "Nothing," she +answered in a flat voice. + +"There is too something," I said determinedly, and sat down on the desk +in front of her. + +She looked at me sort of defiantly for a minute and then she broke down +altogether. Between sobs she told me that she wasn't going to be able to +come back to college next year because she hadn't won the big Andrews +prize in mathematics she had counted confidently on winning, and she had +worked so hard for it that she had neglected her other work, and the +first thing she knew she had a condition in Latin. Besides, she was sick +and couldn't do the hard work she had been doing outside to pay her +board. + +I never saw anyone so broken up over anything. I wouldn't have expected +her to care whether she came back to college or not; I couldn't see what +fun she had ever gotten out of it, but I suppose in her own queer way she +must have enjoyed it. I tried to comfort her by telling her that the way +would probably be found somehow if she took it up with the right people, +but Sally wasn't the kind of girl that took comfort easily. Life was +terribly serious to her. She felt disgraced because she hadn't won the +prize and was sure nobody would want to lend her money to finish her +course. I left her at last with my heart aching because of the uneven way +things are distributed in this world. + +Our room was a mess when I got back. Our floor was entertaining the floor +below that night and Hinpoha was in the show. She was standing in the +middle of the room draping my dresser scarf around her shoulders for a +fichu, while Agony was piling her hair high on her head for her and +Oh-Pshaw was pinning on a train made of bath towels. + +"Have you a blue velvet band?" Hinpoha demanded thickly, as I entered, +through the pins she was holding in her mouth. + +"No, I haven't," I replied, retiring to a corner to escape the sweeping +strokes of the hair brush in Agony's hand. + +"Why haven't you?" lamented Hinpoha. "I just _have_ to have one." + +"What for?" I asked. + +"To put around my neck, of course," explained Hinpoha impatiently. "It's +absolutely necessary to finish off this costume. Go out and scrape one up +somewhere, Gladys, there's a dear." + +I obediently made the rounds, but nowhere did I find the desired blue +band. Not even a ribbon of the right shade was forthcoming. + +"Paint one on," suggested Agony, with an inspiration born of despair. +"Then you'll surely have it the right shade." + +"The paint box is in the bottom dresser drawer," said Hinpoha, warming to +the plan at once. "Hurry up, Agony." + +"Oh, I'll not have time to do it," said Agony, moving toward the door. +"I've got just fifteen minutes left to sew the ruffle back on the bottom +of my white dress to wear in chapel to-morrow when we sing for the +bishop, and it's really more important for the country's cause that I +have a white dress to wear to-morrow than that you have a blue band +around your neck to-night. My green and purple plaid silk would look +chaste and retiring among the spotless white of the choir, now, wouldn't +it?" And swinging her hairbrush she went out. Oh-Pshaw had already +disappeared. + +"Here, Gladys," said Hinpoha, holding out the box to me, "mix the +turquoise with a little ultramarine." + +"I'm awfully sorry, 'Poha, but I can't stop," said I. "I've an interview +with Miss Allison in five minutes. Get somebody else, dear." + +"Everybody's rushed to death," grumbled Hinpoha. + +I went off to keep my appointment and Hinpoha took up her watch for a +passer-by whom she could bully into painting a blue band on her neck. +Being part of the surprise for the guests she couldn't very well go out +and risk being seen; she just had to stay in the room and wait for +someone from our floor to come along. For a long while nobody came, and +then, when she was about ready to give up, she did hear footsteps coming +down the corridor. It was dark by that time and she couldn't see who it +was, but she pounced out like a cat on a mouse and dragged the girl into +her room. + +"Paint a blue band on my neck, quick!" she commanded, thrusting out the +paint box and switching on the light. + +Then she saw who it was. It was Sally Prindle. Hinpoha was a little taken +aback, but she had about exhausted her patience waiting for someone to +come by and help her. + +"Will you, please?" she pleaded, holding out the paints enticingly. + +"What is it?" asked Sally dully, looking at Hinpoha in that crazy costume +as if she thought she was not in her right mind. + +Hinpoha explained the urgent and immediate need of a blue band of a +certain shade on her neck. + +"But I never painted anything before," objected Sally. + +"You'll never learn any younger," said Hinpoha, jubilant that Sally +hadn't walked out with her nose in the air. "Here, take the brush, I'll +show you what to mix; see, this and this and this." + +Under Hinpoha's direction Sally painted the blue band and then regarded +her handiwork with critical eyes. + +"Thanks, that's fine," said Hinpoha, holding out her hand for the paints. + +"It needs something more," said Sally slowly, squinting at Hinpoha's +neck. "Do you mind if I use any more paint?" + +"Go as far as you like," said Hinpoha, surprised into flippancy, "let +your conscience be your guide!" + +Sally made swift dabs at the little color squares, her face all puckered +up in a deep frown of concentration. + +"Now, how do you like it?" she asked anxiously, after a few minutes, +leading Hinpoha to the mirror. + +Hinpoha says she screamed right out when she looked, she was so surprised +and delighted. For on the front of the band Sally had painted the most +wonderful ornament. It was an enormous ruby, set in a gold frame, the +design of which simply took your breath away. How she ever did it with +the colors in Hinpoha's box is beyond us. + +"Oh, wonderful!" raved Hinpoha, hugging Sally in her extravagant way. "I +can't wait until the girls see it. Won't I make a sensation, though! Come +to the party, won't you please, Sally? We'd love to have you." + +Sally shook her head and prepared to depart. "I have to go," she said +with a return to her old brusque manner. "I have another engagement." + +But Hinpoha saw the wistful look that came into her face and she knew +that Sally's "other engagement" was waiting on table in the boarding +house where she lived. + +Hinpoha's painted jewelry created a sensation all right. Cries of +admiration rose on every side, and the fact that the stony-faced Sally +Prindle had done it only added to the sensation. Who would ever have +suspected that the most inartistic-looking girl in the whole college had +such a talent up her sleeve? + +Two days later there was another excited meeting of the LAST OF THE +WINNEBAGOS. + +"Our fortune's made!" shrieked Agony joyfully, dancing around the room +and waving a Japanese umbrella over her head. + +"Why? How?" we all cried. + +"The fad! The fad!" shouted Agony. + +"What fad?" I asked. "Do stop capering, Agony, and put down that umbrella +before you break the lamp shade. We've smashed three already this year." + +"Don't you see," continued Agony, breathless, dropping down on the bed +and fanning herself with the handle of the umbrella. "Hinpoha's started a +fad with that painted jewelry--blessings on that fool notion of hers of +painting a band on her neck, anyway! Half a dozen girls came to classes +this morning with bands painted on their necks and ornaments in front +that they'd gotten Sally to paint for them. In another day the whole +college will be after her to paint ornaments on their necks. Don't you +see what I mean? We've got to join forces with Sally, set up in business +for the Benefit of the Red Cross--and the cup is ours. Whoop-la! Oh, +girls, don't you _see_!" + +We saw, all right. Inside of two minutes Sally was voted a member of the +LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS and in a few hours business was in full swing. +Sally, of course, was the star of the cast, but the rest of us worked +just as hard as press agents. We placarded the whole college with posters +announcing that Mme. Sallie Prindle, the distinguished painter of +jewelry, would create, for the benefit of the Red Cross, any combination +of precious stones desired by the paintee--charges twenty-five cents and +up. Students were urged to show their patriotism by appearing in +classroom adorned with one of the masterpieces of the above-mentioned +Prindle. + +It was a success from the word go. The fad spread like wildfire, and +Sally spent all her waking hours that were not actually taken up with +recitations painting jewelry on fair necks and arms. Lessons were almost +forgotten in the fascinating business of admiring designs and comparing +effects, and many were the wails because the wonderful things had to be +washed off all too soon. We had offered our room as studio because +Sally's was too far away from the center of things, and most of the time +it was so crowded with eager customers that we couldn't get in ourselves. +Prices rose as business increased, and the candy box we were using for a +bank showed signs of collapsing. + +The next week the juniors gave a dance and they all ordered dog collars +for the occasion. Everybody else had to stand aside. Prices for these +were to be one dollar and up, according to how elaborate they were. How +Sally ever got them all on without fainting in her tracks will always be +a mystery. She did a lot of them the night before and then the girls +wound their necks with gauze bandages to keep them clean. Miss Allison, +who dropped in during the performance, folded up on the bed and laughed +until she was weak. + +"I never saw anything to equal it, never," she declared. "There's never +been such a fad in the history of the college." Then she sat up and +demanded a dog collar herself. + +"Why on earth didn't you tell us you could paint jewelry, Sally Prindle?" +she asked, as she watched those swift fingers doing their wonderful work. +"Of all things, wasting your time specializing in mathematical figures, +when all the time you had designs like these in your head!" + +"I never knew I could do it," said Sally in a funny, bewildered fashion +that set the girls all a-laughing. "I never had a paint brush in my hand +before. _She_,"--pointing to Hinpoha--"put the things into my hands and +ordered me to paint, and I painted. It came to me all of a sudden." + +Did we get the loving cup? I should say we did! By the end of the month +we had raised five hundred and some odd dollars, more than half of the +total, and by far the largest amount raised by any group. We were all +wrecks by the time it was over, because we had to take turns waiting on +table down at Sally's boarding house to hold her job for her while she +worked up in our room; besides getting the paint off the girls' necks +again. That wasn't always an easy job because sometimes she had to use +things beside water colors to get certain effects. + +But it was well worth our while, for the LAST OF THE WINNEBAGOS have +achieved undying fame. Migwan started it with her fake Indian legend and +the rest of us surely carried it to a grand finish. The best of the whole +business, though, was getting Sally. + +Do you know why she was so queer and stand-offish to people all this +while? She told us in a burst of confidence that night after we had been +given the loving cup. O Katherine, it would almost break your heart. It +seems she has a brother who forged a note last year and was sent to +prison. She considered that money a debt of honor which she must pay +back, and so she came away to college, planning to work her way through +and become a teacher of mathematics, which was her strong subject. But +she had taken her brother's disgrace so to heart that she thought the +people in college would consider her an outcast if they found it out, +and, rather than go through the misery of having people drop her after +they had been friendly with her she made up her mind to make no friends +at all, and then she didn't need to worry about their finding it out and +cutting her. It broke her all up to turn down our offers of friendship +last fall and she left Purgatory because she couldn't bear to see us +after that. + +Think of it, Katherine, what she must have suffered, and nobody to tell +it to! And everybody calling her a prune! We all cried over her and +assured her a million times we didn't care a rap what her brother had +done; we loved her and were proud to have her for a friend. She was a +different girl after that. All the stiffness came out of her like magic +and she looked like a person who has been let out of prison after being +shut up for years. Her great dread all the time had been that somebody +would find out about her brother; now that we actually knew it and it +didn't make a bit of difference, the big load was off her spirits. From +being the most unpopular girl in the class she suddenly became one of the +most popular. + +All her money troubles faded too, because she got work making designs for +a big Art Craft jewelry shop that paid her enough so she didn't have to +borrow any more money. + +The nicest part of it all, though, was what Agony did. The night that +Sally Prindle told us about her brother Agony wrote to her father, who, I +imagine, must be a very influential man, and asked if he could get +Sally's brother pardoned. Just how Agony's father went about it we will +never know, but not long afterward Sally got a letter from her brother +saying that he had been pardoned on the condition that he would enlist in +the army, which he had done. + +Think what that meant to Sally! Instead of being afraid anyone would find +out she had a brother she could now speak of him as proudly as the other +girls did who had brothers in the army; could take her place with the +proudest of them. + +Oh, Katherine, if we could only see right through people and know just +why they do things the way they do, what a wonderful world this would be! + + Lovingly yours, + Gladys. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 25, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +I thought it had all happened, that is, everything that was going to +happen for the next ten years, but it seemed that the excitement of the +last few weeks was but a beginning, and a very humble beginning at that! +We had just gotten over the sensation of the fire and the arrest of the +negro, and school was in running order again and life in general had +resumed the even tenor of its ways, when, without warning, the sky fell +on the house of Adams. They say that coming events cast their shadows +before, and that everything works out according to a fixed rule, but this +could only have been the exception that proved the rule. Having battered +around this wicked world for twenty years I thought I was prepared for +all the shocks that human flesh is heir to, and that no matter what +happened there was a special rule of etiquette to fit it, but there was +nothing in all my experience, nor in the Ten Commandments, nor Hoyle, nor +Avogadro's Hypothesis, nor Grimm's Law, that prepared me for what +happened next. + +Saturday was the fateful day. Saturday is the day on which everything +happens to me. I was born on Saturday; it was on Saturday I met you and +landed headfirst into the Winnebago circus; it was on Saturday I heard +the news that I was not to go to college, and, I suppose, in the order of +human events, I shall die on Saturday. + +On this Saturday morning--can it be only yesterday?--I sat in the doorway +peacefully knitting and occasionally gazing off into space as my thoughts +wandered, flitting from subject to subject like the yellow butterflies +that flashed from flower to flower. The sunshine sprayed over the roof +and glinted on my amber needles, until it seemed that I was knitting +sunshine right into the socks. I was filled with a vast contentment that +throbbed in my temples and quivered in my toes; from head to foot I was +"in tune with the infinite." That morning father and I had gone over our +accounts and our balance was so satisfactory that we figured in another +year we could finish paying off the mortgage. + +When I complimented father on his talent for stock farming, he said +simply: "It's all owing to you. You put new life into us again. We never +could have done it alone. Besides, I reckon most of the sharp bargaining +in horseflesh was done by you. You got more out of people than I ever +did. You've kept up the collections, too. You never got cheated once. +You're certainly worth your salt as a business manager, child." + +Imagine it! Calling me his business manager! I wasn't an absolute +good-for-nothing, then. + +All these things went serenely through my mind as I sat there knitting in +the sunshine, and laying my plans for summer pleasures. I would take the +Wenonahs and go off camping somewhere in the woods for a week or two and +give them a taste of real life in the open. The picture of that little +camp rose vividly before me, and I planned out the details minutely. We +would have to have a tent--somewhere or other I must acquire this +necessary article. A humorous thought came to me of moving the +schoolhouse out into the woods for a camper's dwelling, and in +imagination I saw it bumping along behind us on our journey, with Justice +walking along beside it, carrying the chimney in his arms. I laughed +aloud at my incongruous fancies, startling a hen that was clucking at my +feet so that she fled with a scandalized squawk, stopping a few yards +away to look around at me inquiringly, as if trying to figure out what +was coming from me next. The hen broke up my fancies and I returned to my +knitting with a start to find I had dropped several stitches and had a +place in the heel of my sock that looked like the stem end of an apple. I +raveled back and painstakingly re-knitted the heel, then I laid my +knitting in my lap and gazed dreamily up the road, resting my eyes on the +tender greenness of the fields. + +Sitting thus I saw an automobile coming into view along the road. I +watched it idly, glittering in the sunlight. To my surprise it turned +into our lane and approached the house. I went down to the drive to meet +it; tourists frequently stopped at the houses for water or for +directions, and I would save these people the trouble of getting out of +the car. The big machine rolled up to the drive and came to a standstill +with a soft sliding of brakes. + +Then a loud, hearty voice called out, "Why here she is now! Katherine +Adams, don't you know me? Don't suppose you do, with these infernal +glasses on." + +I looked hard at the man in the long linen dust coat and tourist cap who +sat alone in the car; then my eyes nearly popped out of my head. + +"Why, Judge Dalrymple!" I exclaimed, starting forward with a cry of joy +and seizing the outstretched hand. "Where did you come from? Are you +touring? How did you ever happen to stop here?" I tumbled the questions +out thick and fast. + +"I didn't 'happen' to stop here," said the Judge in his decisive way. +"I've been rolling over these endless roads for three days on purpose to +get here. Lord, what a God-forsaken country! And now that I _am_ here at +last," he added, "aren't you going to ask me in? Where's your father?" + +"Excuse me," said I, blushing furiously. "I was so taken by surprise at +seeing you that I even forgot my own name, to say nothing of my manners. +Come right in." + +I settled him in the best chair in the house, brought him a glass of +water and left him talking to mother in his hearty way while I went out +in search of father. Father was painting a shed when I found him, and he +came just the way he was, with streaks of paint on his jumper and +overalls. If he had had any inkling of what he was being summoned to----! + +Judge Dalrymple was just as pleased to meet father in his paint-streaked +jumper as if he had been a senator in a silk hat, and after the first +moment of embarrassment father felt as if the Judge were an old-time +friend. + +Then the Judge began to explain why he had come, and the bomb dropped on +the roof of the house of Adams. I couldn't comprehend it at first any +more than father could. It sounded like a page out of Grimm's Fairy +Tales. But it seemed that he knew all about the company my father had +lost his money in last summer, and he and some other men bought it up and +set it on its feet again. War orders had suddenly boomed it and it was +now solid as a rock. The original stockholders still held their shares +and would draw their dividends as soon as they were declared, which Judge +Dalrymple prophesied would be soon. Our days of struggling were over. We +were "hard-uppers" no longer; we were "well off" at last. I left the +Judge and father talking over the details of the business and wandered +aimlessly around the dooryard, trying to comprehend the meaning of what +had happened to us, and capering as each new thing occurred to me. My +narrow horizon had suddenly rolled back and the whole world lay before +me. College--travel--study--return to my beloved friends in the +east--best doctors for mother--all those things kaleidoscoped before me, +leaving me giddy and faint. I seized a hoe and began to demolish an ant +hill for sheer exuberance of spirits. + +"What's the matter, have you had a sunstroke?" asked Justice Sherman, +suddenly appearing beside me from somewhere. + +"Worse than that, it's an earthquake," I replied. "Take a deep breath, +Justice Sherman, because you're going to need it in a minute." + +Then I told him about father's investing his money in the western oil +company last summer and apparently losing it, and how the company had +unexpectedly come to life again. + +"Whew!" said Justice, looking dazed for a minute; then he expressed the +sincerest joy at our good fortune I have ever heard one mortal express at +the prosperity of another. But after his congratulations were all made he +stopped short as if he had just thought of something and then he said +slowly, "I suppose you'll be going away from here now; moving out west, +possibly to San Francisco?" It seemed to me that he looked very sober at +the thought. + +"Not if I know it," I replied decisively. "It'll be the east for me, if I +go anywhere, where the Winnebagos have their hunting grounds." + +"You _are_ going away then?" asked Justice composedly. + +"I don't know," I replied truthfully. "Nothing is settled yet. Give us +time to catch our breath. In the meantime, come in and meet our guest, +the new president of the Pacific Refining Company, who came to tell us +the good news." + +Justice assumed an exaggerated air of dignity and formality that upset my +composure so I could hardly keep my face straight as I walked into the +house. + +"Oh, Judge," I called blithely, "here is the rest of the happy family. +Justice, this is Judge Dalrymple." + +Then the second bomb dropped. + +For, at the sight of Justice, Judge Dalrymple sprang out of his chair +with a hoarse sound in his throat as if he were choking, and stood +staring at him as if he had seen a ghost. Justice looked fit to drop. + +"Father!" he said weakly. + +"Justice!" said Judge Dalrymple with dry lips. "How did you get here? +Where have you been all this time?" + +"Out west," replied Justice. + +"Why didn't you tell us where you were??" asked the Judge, sitting down +heavily again. + +"I merely followed your instructions," replied Justice with dignity. "You +told me to get out; that you didn't ever want to hear from me again, and +I took you at your word." + +"I was a fool, a blind fool, and in a great rage when I said that. I +didn't mean it," said the Judge, in a choking voice. + +"But you said it, nevertheless," replied Justice, "and I was hot-headed +and went." + +"What have you been doing all this time?" asked the Judge curiously. + +"Roughing it," replied Justice, in the tone of one who has great +adventures to tell, "until I came here and turned into a professor." A +humorous twinkle lit up his eye as he mentioned the word "Professor." + +In a daze of astonishment father, mother and I watched this unexpected +meeting and reconciliation between father and son. In due time we had all +the story. Judge Dalrymple had set his heart on having his oldest son, +Justice, become a lawyer like himself, and go into his law firm as junior +partner. But Justice had no liking for the law. All he wanted to do was +tinker with electrical things. It was the only thing in the world he +cared for. When he got through college and his father insisted upon his +entering the law school he flatly refused. There was a scene and he and +his father quarreled bitterly. His father told him he could either go to +law school or get out and hoe for himself and he chose the latter. He +left home. All the while he had been in college he had been working on an +electrical device to enable deaf men to receive wireless messages. He now +went to work on this and finished it, and, boylike, thought his fortune +was made. But it seemed fortune had turned her back on him. He had no +money himself to market the device and he could not succeed in +interesting anyone with capital. He spent many weary days, going from one +place to another with his invention, only to meet with failure on all +sides. He had always had delicate health and the long hours he had spent +indoors working on his beloved experiments finally told on him and he +developed a throat trouble which made it impossible for him to stay in +the north. One day, in a moment of great discouragement, he threw his +invention into the New York harbor and sorrowfully gave up his dream of +being an inventor. He was down and out but still too proud to write home +and ask help from his father. He had a chance to act as chauffeur for a +party of ladies who wanted to tour the west and in this manner he made +his way to Texas. He worked there on a sheep ranch for a number of +months; then, seized with a desire to see the country, he worked his way +through the Territory and into Arkansas, and finally into the township of +Spencer, where he was attacked by robbers one night on the road, robbed +of all his belongings and left lying there with his head cut open. Then +it was that he had wandered into our stable, was found, and nursed back +to health. + +Our climate agreed with him so well that he decided to stay for a while, +and got the position of teaching in the high school at Spencer, which +wasn't very hard work. The long walk or drive in the open, back and forth +every day, and his sleeping in the airy shack, gradually worked a cure to +his throat, and brought back the health he had lost through overwork and +disappointment. + +Besides--just listen to this, will you--he said that I had given him such +an amazing new outlook on life that he wanted to stay as near to me as he +could and learn my philosophy. He had been utterly discouraged when he +came, had lost his grip on things, and didn't care a hang what became of +him, but I had put new life and ambition back into him. Imagine it! My +philosophy! + +He had resolved to have nothing more to do with his father after he had +turned him out, and dropped the name of Dalrymple, going by the name of +Justice Sherman. His full name was Justice Sherman Dalrymple. + +Thus ended the mystery of the scholarly sheep herder. The son of _my_ +Judge Dalrymple! I couldn't believe it, but it was true beyond a doubt. I +_did_ know a hawk from a handsaw, after all. No wonder he had looked so +sad sometimes when he thought no one was watching him, with such memories +to brood over! No wonder he had acted so queerly when I told him what we +had done to Antha and Anthony up on Ellen's Isle. They were his younger +brother and sister! + +Judge Dalrymple was speaking to Sherman again. "So you threw your +invention into the New York Harbor, did you?" he said regretfully. "It's +too bad, because some one to whom you showed it has been writing and +writing to the house about it. I couldn't forward the letter because I +had no idea where you were. The Government wants to try out your +invention. I never dreamed that those fool experiments you were forever +making amounted to anything. I see now you were wiser than I. Come home, +boy, and tinker all you like. We'll throw the lawyer business into the +discard. Could you build up your thingummyjig again?" + +At this astonishing news Justice began whooping like a wild Indian. +"Could I build it up again?" he shouted. "Just give me a chance. Just +watch me!" He seized me around the waist and began jigging with me all +over the floor. + +"Save the pieces," I panted, sinking into a chair and making a vain +attempt to smooth back my flying hair. + +Then I noticed that Judge Dalrymple was looking at me with eyes filled +with awe, not to say fear. + +"Girl, what are you?" he asked in a strange voice. "Are you Fate? Every +time I come in touch with you, you work some miracle in my household. +First you perform a magic in my two younger children, and then when I +attempt to make some slight return for your great service and seek you +out, I find that you have also drawn my other child to you from out of +the Vast and worked as great a miracle in him. Are you human or +superhuman, that you can play with people's destinies like that? Under +what star were you born, anyway?" + +"Weren't any stars at all," I replied, laughing. "The sun was shining!" + +O my Winnies, what a day this has been! The sun rose exactly as on any +other day, without any warning of what was coming, and yet before he set +the world had been turned topsy turvy for five people! Isn't life +glorious, though? Mercy, but I'm glad I was born! + + Breathlessly yours, + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + April 27, 19--. +Oh, My Winnies: + +How can I tell it? Father died to-day. Heart failure, brought on by +excitement over the fire and the coming of Judge Dalrymple. Think of it! +After all these years of hard work and grinding poverty and bitter +disappointment, to fall just at the moment when success and prosperity +were within reach. Oh, the terrible irony of Life! + + Your broken-hearted + Katherine. + + + + + KATHERINE TO THE WINNEBAGOS + + + May 9, 19--. +Dearest Winnies: + +Thanks, a thousand times, for all the beautiful, comforting letters you +wrote. When did anyone ever have such friends as I? Everyone has been so +kind, so sympathetic. The whole countryside turned out to help us. Judge +Dalrymple and Justice are still here, straightening up father's affairs. +The farm and the stock are to be sold. Mother is sick; father's death was +a great shock to her. As soon as she is better she and I are going home +with Judge Dalrymple for a visit. We are going to motor back with him and +Justice--won't it be glorious? Justice is going back home to live. He and +his father have become great pals; it is perfect joy to watch them going +about like two boys, arm in arm. You never see one without the other any +more. Now that they are together it is possible to see quite a +resemblance, but Justice is much handsomer than his father ever could +have been. Sandhelo acted just as though he remembered the Judge from +last summer; he squealed when he saw him and put his nose into his +pocket. We had a council about what should become of Sandhelo and finally +decided that he was to be sent home to Judge Dalrymple's to be a pet for +Antha and Anthony. Sandhelo nodded solemnly when we told him, as much as +to say it was all right with him. I have a queer feeling all the time +that that mule is more than half human. He has such an uncanny way of +taking people's affairs into his own hands, sometimes. Did he not +recognize Justice in the road that night when I would have fled from him, +thinking he was the negro, Solomon, and didn't he scare Solomon into +confessing that he had set fire to Elijah Butts' cotton storehouse? + +To-morrow is May 10th, the date that school closes in this district, and +I have planned a farewell celebration for the scholars. I am going to +give them "for keeps" all the things that came from the House of the Open +Door, besides all the splendid things that came for Christmas, to be the +property of the Corners schoolhouse from that time on henceforward, to +make of it another House of the Open Door. + + May 10th, Evening. + +Another amazing day! Do you know, I half believe that I have been +transported in a dream back to the land of witches and fairies, and have +to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm still myself, Katherine Adams, +and not some other girl who has gotten into my shoes by mistake. I have a +dreadful fear that I will find my real self sitting in the road +somewhere, tumbled off old Major's back as he ambled along, reading in +some book of romance the wonderful things that are happening to this new, +strange self. And presently it will be time to go home and help with +supper, and romance will come to an end with the closing of the book. + +But I guess I'm real, all right. Before the door stands Judge Dalrymple's +car, latest model; its loud, raucous voice containing no hint of elfin +horns as it announces the return of Justice and his father from a spin in +the country. Beside me on the table is the deed of sale of our property, +made out to one Jim Wiggin, and drawn up on very substantial-looking +paper; and on my wrist sparkles the beautiful little gold watch which is +a very tangible souvenir of this last amazing day. It ticks away +companionably, as if to reassure me of its realness. I have named it +Thomas Tickle, and we are going to be inseparable friends. + +You remember I told you I had planned a little last-day-of-school +celebration for the scholars? Well!!! As it turned out, it made the +Pageant look like five cents' worth of laundry soap by comparison. When I +got to school in the morning I found the schoolhouse draped with flags +and bunting, inside and outside, and my desk piled a foot high with great +red roses. + +Then the people began to arrive. It seemed the whole county was there. My +eyes began to pop out of my head as one after another of the celebrities +began to arrive. The School Board from Spencer came _en phalanx_, and in +marching order behind them came the high school pupils with Justice at +their head. The parents of the pupils were all there in state and it soon +became evident that we would have to hold our closing exercises outdoors, +as the schoolhouse would not hold one-tenth of the crowd. + +I was rushing around like a fire engine with the steering gear gone, +trying to find things for various mothers to sit on, when I was conscious +of a solemn hush, and with a flourish the county school commissioners +drove up and with them came Miss Fairlee, the Commission Lady. + +Then there broke loose a sound of revelry by day. My scholars did the +folk dances and gave the little play I taught them; the Camp Fire Girls +held a ceremonial meeting and gave demonstrations of poncho rolling, camp +cooking, etc., while the boys had an exhibition of the articles they had +made from wood, out of the Dan Beard book. + +Then in a speech, which was more earnest than eloquent, I gave to the +school the furnishings from the House of the Open Door, together with the +graphophone, the lantern and the slides, to have and to hold, to be the +foundation of a new House of the Open Door. There was tumultuous +applause, and I sat down, red and perspiring, and my part of the show was +over. + +Thereupon, up rose Absalom Butts, punched in the back as I could see by +three or four of the other boys, and, swallowing his fourteen-year-old +embarrassment as well as he could, he thrust into my hands a little blue +velvet case, mumbling the while, "It's yours. From the school. In token +of our--of our----" + +Here he forgot his speech, looked around wildly, and then burst out: + +"We're givin' it to you because you showed us such a good time, and we're +sorry you're goin' away!" Then he fled to his place and hid his blushes +behind Henry Smoot's red head. + +I opened the case and took out a dear little gold wrist watch. I started +to thank them, but choked utterly when I thought of the sacrifices it +must have cost some of those people to help buy that watch. + +But this was no time for tears. The main dish of the feast was being +brought in. The chief of the County school commissioners, the guest of +honor, rose pompously and made his way to the front after being +ceremoniously introduced by Elijah Butts. After much clearing of the +throat he began a flowery speech about the fame that had been gained +throughout the county by the little schoolhouse at our Corners on account +of its Red Cross activities and Patriotic Pageants; how it had been made +the social center for the people all around and had helped educate them +to better things; how the boys and girls had learned more useful things +from me than from anyone else who had ever taught there; and how Miss +Fairlee, who had come from the East to study rural school conditions in +our section had been quite carried away with my work, and so on, _ad +infinitum_. + +Then, having loaded his cannon very carefully, so to speak, he proceeded +to fire it into the crowd with telling effect. The County school +commissioners, he announced with a fine air of jocularity, had heard that +I was carrying the schoolhouse around with me wherever I went, and as +they were afraid it might get mislaid some day they had voted to build a +new brick schoolhouse on a foundation; one that couldn't be moved. A new +schoolhouse for our district! Nobody had ever dared hope for such a +thing, not even in their wildest dreams. And it seems that I had +precipitated all this good fortune! + +Later on I happened to hear this same commissioner congratulating Elijah +Butts on the good teacher he had picked, and Elijah swelled up like a +pouter pigeon and replied: + +"Yes, sir, I spotted her for a good one the minute I laid eyes on her. It +was me that persuaded the Board to hire her when some of them was holdin' +back, favorin' a different kind of female. Yessir, it was me that picked +her!" + +Justice, who had also overheard the conversation, winked solemnly and we +both fled where we could have our laugh out unnoticed. + +But the best part of it all came after the Big Show was over. Miss +Fairlee came up and took me by the arm and strolled away with me. + +"My dear," she said, "would you consider leaving this place and coming +East with me? I need an assistant in my Social Settlement work for the +summer, and there's no one I've met in the whole country that would fill +the bill as well as you. For handling difficult situations you are a +perfect marvel. Your talents are wasted out here--anyone can carry on the +work that you have started so wonderfully. Won't you please come?" + +We talked about it a bit, and where do you suppose this Social Settlement +is? Where but in the one spot on earth that I'd rather be than any other! +The same city, my dears, that has the honor of being your home! It's all +settled now, and I am to go, after my visit to the Dalrymples. Mother is +going into a big Sanitarium, and I am going to work with Miss Fairlee +through the summer. + +Clear the track! The Winnebago Special is about to start once more! O my +Winnies, don't you see the miracle of it all? Here I was, pining to live +in a House by the Side of the Road, when all the time I _was_ living in a +House by the Side of the Road! It was my little despised schoolhouse. I +was sent here by fate to prove myself worthy or unworthy of what she had +in store for me. I was taken away from you that I might come back to a +richer, fuller life than I had dreamed of in the old days. It is all part +of a Plan, so big and wonderful that I lose my breath when I think of it. +But whatever the Plan may turn out to be in the future, there's only one +thing about it that interests me now, and that is, I'm coming back to +you. I'm coming back! Back to my Winnies! Hang out the latchstring and +remove everything breakable, for the wanderer is coming home! + + Your thrice-blessed + Katherine. + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Punctuation and obvious typographical errors were corrected +without comment. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN +ROAD*** + + +******* This file should be named 36485.txt or 36485.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/4/8/36485 + + + +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. 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