CHAPTER II--HER NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR
If Nathalie was surprised at the deftness and resourcefulness of theseGirl Pioneers, she was amazed at the ease and comfort she experienced asthe four girls strode forward, two at the head and two at the foot ofthe improvised stretcher.
Notwithstanding the sharp twinges in her foot, she felt as if she couldhave dropped into a doze if a sudden, jarring thought had not caused herto raise her head in search of her next-door neighbor. By the decisionof her voice and her methodical manner of directing her companions asthey prepared the "bed of ease," Nathalie had recognized this girl asthe leader.
But Helen Dame was not to be seen. One of the girls, however, on seeingNathalie's movement, commanded a halt and hastened to her side. "Whatcan I do for you?" she inquired in an anxious tone. "Are you in pain?"
Her ready sympathy brought the tears to Nathalie's eyes, for her nerveswere somewhat under a strain, but she fought them bravely back, andlooking up with a reassuring smile replied, "Oh no, I am all right, butI was looking for Miss Dame. I am afraid if Mother sees me on astretcher, she will think something very dreadful has happened."
"Ah, Helen thought of that," was the quick reply, "and she has goneahead to tell your mother that you have only hurt your foot, and to seeif she can get Dr. Morrow to come over and look at it."
"Oh, how kind of her--and of you all--" there was a slight tremor inNathalie's voice. "I am sure I do not know what would have become of me,alone there in the woods, if you girls had not come to my rescue."
As the girls walked slowly on with their burden, the one walking by theside of the stretcher told Nathalie that they were a group of GirlPioneers, that they had been on a hike, and that her name was GraceTyson. As they chatted pleasantly, Nathalie told of her recent removalfrom the city to Westport. With wise forethought she suppressed allmention of her former wealth and the many luxuries she had been used to,for fear that these suburban girls, not comprehending, might misjudgeher and think that she considered herself above them. She had learnedfrom the girls of her own set in school that when a newcomer tookparticular care to advise them how rich she was, her mates usuallydubbed her a snob. So she only told of her great loss in the death ofher father, how Dick, her older brother, had injured his knee in anaccident and was an invalid, and how she liked her new home.
In the companionship of this new girl she scarcely realized how quicklythe time had passed until she saw her mother's anxious face bending overher, and heard a masculine voice say, "Well, is this the young lady whoreached too high?"
Nathalie looked quickly up and immediately her heart went out to thisbig, bluff man with iron-gray hair and kindly blue eyes who picked herup as if she had been a manikin, carried her into the hall, and laid heron the couch. She recognized the face of the doctor who lived on theopposite corner whom she had often envied as he went chugging down thestreet in his automobile.
After the doctor had pressed her foot here and there with a touch assoft as silk from the gentleness of trained fingers, he brought forthsome surgical plaster from a black case, and strapped the injuredmember, remarking as he did so on the surgeon-like way in which MissDame had bandaged it.
After the "exam," as Dick called it, was over, the doctor explained thecase as a few strained ligaments, and said that with care his patientwould be able to walk in about a week.
"A week?" sprang from the young girl involuntarily. Dismay shone in hereyes, but the doctor, with a fatherly pat, assured her that she hadgreat cause for gratitude, as it might have been much worse.
"The next time you go to gather dogwood blossoms, young lady," headvised jovially, "wear rubber heels, and then you won't slip onstones."
As the doctor bade her good afternoon, promising to come again in a fewdays to see how the foot was progressing, Nathalie thought of herrescuers, and raising her head peered anxiously around.
"The girls have gone, but they left a good-by for you," her motheranswered to her look of inquiry, "and Miss Dame says she will be into-morrow to see how you are."
By to-morrow Nathalie had begun to think it was not at all unpleasant tobe a short-time invalid, and she jokingly requested her mother to seethat her head was not screwed around from sheer conceit at being therecipient of so much attention.
Mrs. Morrow, the doctor's young wife, had sent her a beautiful bunch ofyellow daffodils from the very garden that Nathalie had been admiringall the week, while the little, silver-haired old lady nextdoor--Nathalie could have hugged her, she looked so grand-motherly--hadsent her a snow-frosted nut-cake. Lucille--an unheard-of thing--hadcondescended to alight from her pedestal of self and had played and sungNathalie's favorite selections all the morning. Even Dorothy, whoseengagement book was always brimming over, had darned stockings for her.Of course, Nathalie knew that she would have to rip out every stitch,but that was the child's way of showing that she, too, wanted to besympathetic and kind.
The success of the day, however, was when Helen Dame's dark eyes smiledat her from the adjoining porch, and she asked if Nathalie felt likechatting for a while.
"Indeed I do," answered Nathalie animatedly, "I have been just dying totalk with you ever since you were so kind."
"Oh, how sweet you look!" exclaimed Helen a few moments later as sheshook hands with the patient, "with your pink ribbons--just the color ofyour cheeks." For the girl's color had deepened as her visitor laid abunch of violets on her lap. "These are from the girls, the GirlPioneers--that is our Pioneer song," she added laughingly.
"I just love violets!" Nathalie sniffed at the purple petals. "And thegirls, do you mean the ones who so kindly came to my aid the other day?Oh, Miss Dame, I hardly know how to express my appreciation of yourkindness," her voice trembled slightly, "in hurrying home to tellMother."
"Oh, that was nothing," replied Helen with assumed indifference,although her eyes darkened in appreciation of Nathalie's gratefulness,"that was only courtesy; you know we are Girl Pioneers, and kindness isone of the laws of the organization."
"Do you know," Nathalie broke in impulsively, "Mother thinks the girlsvery clever in making that stretcher; do tell me about the GirlPioneers!" She hesitated for a moment. "Perhaps I am very ignorant, butI never heard of them until your mother told mine that you were a GirlPioneer."
Helen laughed with a gratified gleam in her eyes. "Oh, Mother!--shethinks it just the dandiest thing going. Mrs. Morrow, our Director,introduced the movement here. The founder is a friend of hers, so she issteeped to her finger-tips with it.
"She started me going--enthusiasm is contagious, you know--and I organizedthe first group. A group means six or eight girls; several groups formwhat is called a band."
"Do you mean Mrs. Morrow, the doctor's wife?" inquired her companion."She must be lovely, for she looks so pretty flitting about the garden,"turning wistful eyes toward the corner house with its flower beds andgreen lawn. "I often watch her from my window."
"Yes, she is a dear," assented Helen, "and we girls adore her. Have youseen the twins?"
"The kiddies who go about in khaki uniforms and carry little poles."
"Yes, baby Boy Scouts. You should hear them call themselves 'the twims';they both lisp. But there, I must tell you about the Pioneers--but Idon't want to tire you," she paused abruptly, "for Mother says there isno end to me when I get talking on that subject."
"But I want to hear about them!" pleaded Nathalie.
"Well, after I organized the group, the girls elected me leader, andGrace Tyson--that's the girl who walked beside you coming home--myassistant. You see every group has to have a leader and an assistantfrom the group, and then when a band is formed there is a Director. Anyone over twenty-one years of age can be a Director. After we formed ourgroup, we had to get busy and qualify."
"Qualify?" repeated her hostess, "that sounds big."
"Yes, every Girl Pioneer has to qualify, that is to pass several teststo prove that she is competent to do the work. It is no end of funtraining a girl to qualify, for you know she h
as to recite the GirlPioneer pledge, and the Pioneer laws; she must give the names of thePresident and Vice-President of the United States, the name of theGovernor of the State in which she lives, and then tell all about ourcountry's flag. She must know how to sew a button on properly," Helenmade a grimace, "to tie a square knot and to do several other things.After a girl has passed these tests, she becomes a third-class Pioneer;then after a month she can qualify for a second-class Pioneer, andfinally for a first-class Pioneer. We can win merit badges, too, forproficiency in certain lines. Yes, you are right, it is a big thing tobe a Girl Pioneer, for every true Pioneer's aim is to be courageous,resourceful, and upright, under all circumstances and in allemergencies.
"You know, we have to pledge ourselves to speak the truth at all times,to be honest in all things, and to obey the Pioneer law." Helen's facegrew serious. "Yes, and our laws mean something, too, for they stand forthe doing of things that are worth while, the things that developnobility of character, for, as Mrs. Morrow tells us, it is characterthat makes the great men and women of the world.
"But don't think we are serious all the time," she continued, her eyesbrightening, "for we have heaps of fun. We take hikes; sometimes just agroup go with their leader, but generally our Director takes the band.On these hikes we study woodcraft; that means we study the birds, theirhabits, and learn to know their songs and call-notes. We gather wildflowers, ferns, and grasses, and each girl reads up about the particularthing she finds and passes the information along. We study the trees,and the animals also by tracking their footmarks--well, to sum it all up,we study nature from growing things and living creatures.
"To read about things in a book is all right, Mrs. Morrow says, as it ishelpful in identification and suggestion, but we strive to know thingsthrough personal experience. We are taught to find nature, too, in thecrowded cities. That's big, isn't it?"
"Big!" echoed Nathalie, "the word _big_ isn't big enough to express it.I should say it meant--well"--she held out her arms, "the universe."
There was something so responsive in her words and attitude, althoughthey did not exactly express what she meant to convey, that Helen, withalmost boyish frankness, held out her hand, crying, "Good! let's shake.You are simply immense, Miss Page, or, in the words of our old Frenchprofessor at school, 'you--haf--much com--pree--henshun!'" This was said inmimic tone with laughing eyes, a shrug of the shoulders, and withoutspread hands.
"We have indoor rallies, or Pioneer circles, also, Miss Page, when ourDirector gives us delightful little talks on ethical culture,--only tenminutes--" she pleaded laughingly, "also on history, astronomy,--we callthem our star talks,--and other instructive subjects.
"You will be surprised, perhaps, but these talks are very interesting,not at all tiresome. The girls listen with all their ears and we learnan awful lot. One reason is that Mrs. Morrow loves young girls--for yousee, she isn't so very much older than we are--and she knows just how totalk to us, so that we don't feel as if we were being preached at, orhaving wisdom jammed down our throats. It is just dramatizing seriousthings through play, so as to make us remember them as well asentertaining us. Then we have spelling-contests, cooking-matches,--I callthem trials by fire,--sewing-bees, and all sorts of old-fashionedthings."
"But you have outdoor sports, too, do you not?" asked her listener, whowas intensely interested.
"Indeed we do, any number of them: swimming, horseback-riding, rowing,canoeing, basket-ball, tennis, dancing, stilt-walking,--we make our ownstilts,--kite-flying,--and we make our own kites, too. In fact, we do justabout everything that stands for healthful recreation and wholesome fun.Isn't that comprehensive enough?"
"How did you come to take the name 'Pioneer'?"
"Well, you see it was this way; as the Boy Scouts strive to imitate thechivalry and higher qualities of the knights of olden times, so we,their sister organization, endeavor to emulate the sterling qualities ofthe early pioneer women. They learned to be courageous, resourceful, andefficient, as the home-makers of the brave men who founded thisRepublic--"
"Do you mean the wives of the Puritans and Pilgrims?"
"Yes, we mean all those women, North, East, South, and West," Helendeclared smilingly, "who helped their good men to build homes in thewilderness, who mothered their children with Spartan-like denial, andwho--yes, who knew how to handle an old flintlock when they heard the cryof the Indian. Oh, no, I'm not originating, I am only an echo of Mrs.Morrow, who is way up on Colonial history.
"The Pioneer Girls," she continued more seriously, "aim, by imitatingthe many qualities of these splendid women, to be worthy wives andmothers. Who knows?" she broke into a laugh, "the Girl Pioneers may bethe mothers of men like Washington, Lincoln--O dear," she stoppedsuddenly, "I am talking as if I had to speed a thousand words a minute!"
"Oh, go on!" cried Nathalie, inspired by her guest's fervency, "I justlove to hear you talk."
"It is very good of you to say that," declared Helen with a slightblush, "but I am almost 'at the finish,' as the boys say. But I must notforget to tell you that we love to gather around the open fire, cheerfires we call them, and tell stories. We generally try to make themstories about the pioneers, or heroic women, and sometimes we run in astory about some brave kiddie, for you know almost every one loves tohear about brave little children. Ah, that reminds me, did you ever hearabout Mary Chilton? She was a real pioneer girl you know, for she cameover with the Pilgrims." Helen nodded her head impressively.
"No, I have read about Lola Standish, and I believe--yes--I saw hersampler once, and I am quite up on all the points of Priscilla'scourtship, but--"
"Who isn't?" replied Miss Dame, "for she was a dear. Mary Chilton was afriend of hers. Why, don't you remember she was the girl who made thebet with John Alden--slow old John--that when the little shallop struckPlymouth Rock (of course they never dreamed that they were going to makethat old rock immortal) that she would jump on the rock first; and sureenough she did manage to land a second or so before John Alden."
"Well, the Girl Pioneers aim high," declared Nathalie, "and I certainlythink they must be worthwhile girls. I shall love to meet your Pioneerfriends--they cheered me up--" she added, "for they made me think of thegirls at school, especially Grace Tyson. Why, she is so much like mychum that it almost seemed as if I were talking to her the other day!Your friends all have such happy faces, and 'it is such a relief to seegood red cheeks as made by Mother Nature,' as Mother says. Some of thegirls one sees in the cities nowadays have such a made-up appearance,especially those on the avenue Saturday afternoons in New York."
"Yes, they have regular clown faces with their splashes of red, andtheir powdered noses," returned her neighbor laughingly. "I always feelas if I wanted to tell them they had forgotten to rub the flour off. Itdoesn't seem possible that any well-bred girl could think she looks niceall dabbed up in that way. But there, I am tiring you," she addedhastily, "so I am going to say good-by. Oh, I came very near forgettingto ask if you would like to have the girls call on you--I mean the girlsof our group?" she hesitated. "I think you would like them, althoughthey may not be as fashionable as your city friends."
"Oh, but they are the kind of girls I like," protested Nathaliehurriedly, "for I do not care for girls who are nothing but fuss andfeathers. Please do bring your friends, for I know I shall like them,and then, too, they may tell me more about the good times you have."
"Indeed they will," said Helen with decision; "they will be only toopleased. When shall we come, will Thursday be a good day for you?"
"Yes, indeed; I shall be here--still in this old chair I presume; I shallwatch for them with great impatience, for you know," she added a littlesadly, "they remind me of my schoolmates in the city. Oh, I have missedthem dreadfully! Now, be sure to come--all of you!"
She rose in her chair to wave a good-by to her new friend, who, as shereached the gate, had turned and waved her hand.
Nathalie sank back in her chair with tear-dimmed eyes, for somehow thatfriendly salute had br
ought it all back--the faces of her merry comrades,and the happy care-free hours they had spent together. She swallowedhard, for Helen had waved her hand just the way the girls used to dowhen they came in afternoons for a chatty little visit, and then hurriedaway with just such a parting salute.