CHAPTER XIV
After the usual formalities of a meeting, Captain Hooker desired thegirls' full attention. She held a formidable sheaf of notes in her hand,and it looked to the Scouts as though there was going to be a good dealof work parcelled out to them.
"In the first place," said their Captain, "I have asked the approval ofthe National Headquarters, and you are at liberty to send a Thanks badgeto Doctor Branshaw. Now you have not yet sent him any formal thanks forwhat he did for Gwenny and I wonder if any of you have an idea of someattractive way of expressing your gratitude."
"I thought of something, Captain," said Lucy Breen, "but perhaps itwouldn't do."
"Let us hear it," said the Captain.
"How would it be to write him, each of us, a short letter of thanks,just a few words, and at the top of each letter paste a snapshot of thegirl who has written it? Then bind them all in a sort of cover or folderwith our motto and a print of our flower on the outside."
"I think that is simply a splendid idea," cried the Captain. "Don't youthink so, girls?"
Of course everyone did, and it was settled that Rosanna should go andbuy the paper for the letters so they should all be alike. As for thecover, Miss Hooker, who was an artist of more than ordinary talent andskill, offered to illuminate the cover with the cornflower as the motif;and she decided to illuminate it on parchment, with the deep blue of theflowers and dull gold lettering. The girls who had no snapshot ofthemselves promised to have one taken at once. Before they finished, the"Thanks Book" as they called it, promised to become a beautiful and veryattractive affair. Miss Hooker warned them all to write natural andsimple letters.
"How many of you have been over to see Gwenny in her new home?" askedthe Captain. "After the holidays, I think it would be a very kind thingfor you to each give up an afternoon once in so often (you can decidehow often you can spare the time), and go spend the afternoon withGwenny. Her mother feels that she should do a little work now and thatfaithful little Mary is taking care of a couple of children over here onThird Street every afternoon, to earn her share of the householdexpenses. So Gwenny is left very much alone."
"My mother has been in the Norton Infirmary for a month," said one ofthe girls, "and she said the nurse told her that it would mean a greatdeal to some of these patients if we girls would only come in once inawhile, and talk to some of the patients who get so lonely. Mother saidthere was a boy there with a broken hip, and he was always going to belame, and he grieved so about it all the time that it kept him fromgetting well. And there was another patient, a girl about my age, withsomething wrong with her back. She is in a plaster cast, and her onlyrelative is a father who travels, and he is in California."
"Now there is an idea for you all," said Miss Hooker. "I want to talkall these things over today, because if I am away at any time I want tofeel that I know just about what you are doing. I should think that itwould do a lot of good to visit those poor young people. There is justone thing to remember if you want to be popular with the nurses andhelpful to the patients: always stay just a little _shorter_ time thanyou are expected to. Then the nurses feel that you are wise enough to betrusted without tiring the patients, and the patients are left with thedesire to see you soon again."
"That is just what my mother said," said the girl who had spoken. "Shesays so many people come who just stay and stay and if the nurse doesnot get around in time to send them home, why, they have the patient ina fever."
"Perfectly true," said Miss Hooker. "Make your visits short--and often.Next," said the Captain, "I want to tell you that Lucy Breen has passedthe examinations successfully in two subjects. She is now entitled towear the Merit badge for Horsemanship and Clerk."
All the girls clapped.
"_Bon bon_, dear Lucee!" whispered Elise.
Lucy smiled back at the dear girl who had befriended her at a momentwhen she needed a friend so badly.
"I want to ask how many of you girls are taking regular exercises everymorning?" asked Captain Hooker. "It does not seem as though you had asgood color as you should have. I want my girls to be the finest lookingtroop at the great meeting in the spring. It is to be in Washington; didI tell you? And I want every one of you to go. Now, there is anincentive to work. The rally is in June just after school is over, and Iwant you to earn the money for your railroad tickets. Of course we willall get special rates, and it will not cost us anything after we arrivethere, as we will be the guests of the Washington Scouts, or some of thewomen's organizations. But you should all of you be able to earn tendollars before that time. It will take that much, but no more. If any ofyou girls belong to families who could send you, you are at liberty tohelp some other girl who is less fortunate, but you must each one of youearn the sum I have mentioned."
"What if we earn more?" asked Lucy Breen.
"I am sure you will be glad to have a little spending money when you getto Washington," said Miss Hooker.
"Some of us will earn more and some less," said Helen. "After we earnthe ten dollars, why couldn't we put everything else we earn in yourhands, and then it could be evenly divided at the end, and we would eachhave the same amount to spend, and when we come home we can each tellwhat we spent it for."
"Splendid!" exclaimed Miss Hooker. "What do you girls think of that? Ithink it would be quite a test of your ability to get a good deal ofpleasure or profit out of a stated amount."
Again everybody clapped, and with a little more discussion the subjectwas left settled.
One of the Webster girls raised a hand.
"What would you suggest that we could do to earn money?" she said. "Allwe can do is dance, and mamma won't let us dance in public until we aregrown up. We don't know how to do anything else."
"Marian, I get awfully cross with you sometimes," laughed Miss Hooker."What are those two merit badges on your sleeve?"
"Oh, _those_!" said Marian in a helpless voice. "The gridiron forCooking and the palm leaf for Invalid Cooking. But I can't go out andcook."
"What can you make best?" asked Miss Hooker.
Another girl spoke up. "She makes the loveliest jellies you ever tastedand they always stand right up, never slump over at all."
"And you, Evelyn Webster, what is that on your sleeve?"
"The palette," said Evelyn.
"There you are!" said Miss Hooker. "What is the good of earning thesebadges if you are never going to make use of the things they stand for?"She picked up the Girl Scouts Hand Book that was lying on her lap, andturning over the pages said, "Listen to this:
"Employment.
"'Stick to it,' the thrush sings. One of the worst weaknesses of manypeople is that they do not have the perseverance to stick to what theyhave to do. They are always wanting to change. Whatever you do, take upwith all your might and stick to it. Besides the professions of nursing,teaching, stenography and typewriting and clerking, there are many lesscrowded employments, such as hairdressing, making flowers, coloringphotographs, and assisting dentists, and gardening. There are manyoccupations for women, but before any new employment can be taken up,one must begin while young to make plans and begin collectinginformation. 'Luck is like a street car, the only way to get it, is tolook out for every chance and seize it--run at it, and jump on; don'tsit down and wait for it to pass. Opportunity is a street car which hasfew stopping places.'
"Now there you are, Marian and Evelyn, with your jelly and yourbeautiful lettering. Make some of that jelly, and put it in theprettiest glasses you can find, and tie the tops on with a little ribbonfrom the five-and-ten-cent store, and illuminate some sample cards forwindow displays, and take them down to the Women's Exchange. You,Evelyn, take your cards to the manager of one of the big stores, and askhim if he could use such work. He will probably want a thousand of them.I am glad this came up. If you are all as helpless as Evelyn and Marianwhen it comes to using your knowledge, why, there is really not much usein earning merit badges.
"I think we will talk this over for ten minutes informally, and then
wewill call the roll, and see what each one thinks she can do."
The Captain turned to the Lieutenant and commenced to talk to her in alow tone, and for ten minutes the room buzzed. Then at the sharp commandof the Lieutenant's whistle silence fell, and the roll was called, andeach girl's chosen task was jotted down beside her name. The outlook wasrather black for some of the girls who had chosen to try for merits inunusual rather than in available subjects. For instance, one girl worebadges for proficiency in Swimming, Signaling, Pioneer, Pathfinder, andMarksmanship.
None of these seemed to offer an opening for moneymaking, especiallyduring the winter months. But she was plucky, and merely said that shewould find a way to earn the money. And she did it by going to the Y. W.C. A. and assisting the swimming mistress for a couple of hours everyafternoon. So well did she do that when the money was turned in, she hadtwenty-five dollars to put in the general fund for spending money.
Another girl had a merit badge for Aviation, but she went to work in herworkshop and built box kites that no boy could resist, and sold them bythe dozen.
As Miss Hooker told them, the trick was to make use of what they hadlearned. Of course a good deal of this worked itself out later, but whenthey had finished their discussion, and Miss Hooker had urged them toget to work as soon as they possibly could, she changed the subject bysaying, with just a little hesitation:
"I wonder how many of you know that I am to be married?"
Every hand rose and a voice said, "But we don't know when."
"That is what I want to talk to you about," smiled Miss Hooker. "We aregoing to be married on the fifteenth of February, and I shall not havebridesmaids and all that girls usually have; I want my own Scout girlsas attendants--all of you. Will you all come?"
There was a series of exclamations of "Oh, Miss Hooker!" and "Indeed wewill!"
"Thank you!" said Miss Hooker, quite as though she was asking a favorinstead of conferring one. "Then I will depend on all of you, and alittle later I will tell you the plan I have for the wedding. Of courseyou are to arrange to attend the reception afterwards, and we will haveautomobiles to take you all home."
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" chorused the girls.
Miss Hooker found that after her invitation it was impossible tointerest the girls in anything in the nature of routine work, so shesoon dismissed the meeting, and the girls as usual piling into theautomobiles belonging to Rosanna and Elise and Lucy and one or twoothers, were driven home in a great state of excitement.
A Girl Scout wedding! That was what it amounted to. Miss Hooker,--theirdear Captain, thought so much of them that she had chosen them to attendher rather than her own friends. It was thrilling in the extreme.
It struck about twenty of them about the same time later, that there hadbeen nothing said about clothes. This was an awful thought. Rosannaseemed likely to know more than any of the others, on account of thedistinction of having Miss Hooker marry her uncle, so the twenty anxiousmaidens rushed to as many telephones and gave central a very bad timefor about an hour, saying "Line's busy," while Rosanna talked to eachone as she secured a clear line, and assured her that she knew nothingat all about it.