CHAPTER III
"I have been thinking and thinking," said Rosanna, "and not an idea haveI had until just now. Here is what I just thought up.
"You know Uncle Bob was telling me about benefit performances thatactors and musicians have. I think they get them up themselves mostly,when they want some money, but I was talking to Minnie about ityesterday when she came in for a minute and she says in her church theyhave benefits all the time. People sing and play and recite poetry, andit is lovely. And I thought up something better still.
"What if you and I, Helen, could make up a sort of play all about theGirl Scouts and give it?"
"Write it out of our heads?" said Helen, quite aghast.
"Yes," said Rosanna. "It is easy. Before grandmother used to let me havelittle girls to play with, I used to make up plays, oh lots of times!"
"With conversations?" pressed Helen.
"Yes, made up of conversations and coming on the stage and going offagain, and people dying, and everything."
"Dear me!" said Helen with the air of one who never suspected such athing of a friend. "_Dear me!_" she said again. "I am sure I could_never_ do it. You will have to do it yourself. What is it going to beabout?"
"Why, I have to have time to think," said Rosanna. "You have to think along time when you are going to be an author. It is very difficult."
"You don't suppose you are all out of practice, do you?" asked Helenanxiously. "Why, Rosanna, that would be too perfectly splendid! A realplay! Where could we give it? We couldn't rent a real theatre."
"Oh, my, no!" said Rosanna, beginning to be rather frightened at thepicture Helen was conjuring up. "We won't have that sort of a play. Wewill have a little one that we can give in grandmother's parlor, or overat Mrs. Hargrave's."
"I wouldn't," said Helen stoutly. "I just know you can write a beautifulplay, Rosanna, and I think we ought to give it in some big place where alot of people can come, and we will have tickets, and chairs all in rowsand a curtain and everything."
"Oh, I don't believe I could write a good enough play for all that,"cried Rosanna.
"Well, just do the best you can and I know it will be perfectly lovely."
"I tell you what," said Rosanna, beginning to be sorry that she hadspoken. "Please don't tell Elise or anyone about it until I see what Ican write, and then after you and I have read it, if it is good enough,we will show it to Uncle Robert and see what he says."
"It _will_ be good enough," said Helen positively. "Just think of thepiece of poetry you wrote to read at the Girl Scout meeting. It was solovely that I 'most cried. All that part about the new moon, and how youfelt when you died. It sounded so true, and yet I don't see how you knowhow you are going to feel when you die. I can't feel it at all. Isuppose that is because you are a poet. Mother says it is a great andbeautiful thing to be a poet, but that you must look out for yourdigestion."
"My digestion is all right so far," said Rosanna. "I am glad to knowthat, though, because if your mother says so, it must be so."
"Of course!" said Helen proudly. "When will you begin your play,Rosanna?"
"Right away after dinner," said Rosanna. "That is, if Uncle Robert goesout. If he stays at home I will have to play cribbage with him. If I gooff to my own room, he comes right up. He says he is afraid that I willget to nursing a secret sorrow."
"What is a secret sorrow?" asked Helen.
"I don't know exactly," said Rosanna. "Uncle Robert looked sort of funnywhen I asked him, and perhaps he made it up because he just said,'Why--er, why--er, a secret sorrow is--don't you know what it is,Rosanna?'"
"Sometimes I wonder if your Uncle Robert really means all he says," saidHelen suspiciously.
"I wonder too," agreed Rosanna, nodding, "but he is a perfect dear,anyway, even if he is old. He is twenty-four, and grandmother is alwayssaying that Robert is old enough to know better."
"I know he will be all sorts of help about our play, anyway," saidHelen.
"I know he will too," said Rosanna. "We will show him the play theminute I finish it."
Rosanna went right to work on her play whenever she had any time tospare.
When Saturday morning came she went with Doctor MacLaren to see Gwenny,and after she had introduced him to Gwenny's mother she went and sat inthe automobile with Mary and Luella and Myron and Baby Christopher totalk to. But she scarcely knew what she was saying because she was sobusy wondering what the doctor would do to poor Gwenny, whose backnearly killed her if anyone so much as touched it.
The doctor stayed a long, long time, and when he came out he stood andtalked and talked with Gwenny's mother. He smiled his kind, grave smileat her very often, but when he turned away and came down the little walkRosanna fancied that he looked graver than usual.
"Is she _very_ bad?" Rosanna asked when the machine was started.
"Pretty bad, Rosanna dear," said the doctor. "She will need a veryserious operation that cannot be done here. She will have to go to ahospital in Cincinnati where there is a wonderful surgeon, DoctorBranshaw, who specializes in troubles of the spine. He will help her ifanyone can. She is in a poor condition anyway, and we will have to lookafter her pretty sharply to get her in as good a shape physically as wecan. If she goes, I will take her myself, and will have her given thebest care she can have. What a dear, patient, sweet little girl she is."
"Yes, she is!" agreed Rosanna absently. "Well, if she is as sick as youthink, I don't see but what we will just _have_ to earn the money someway or other!" Rosanna was very silent all the way home, and thatafternoon she retired to the rose arbor and worked as hard as ever shecould on the play. It was really taking shape. Rosanna would not showthe paper to Helen or to Elise, who had been told the great secret. Shewanted to finish it and surprise them.
By four o'clock she was so tired that she could write no longer. She puther tablet away and started to the telephone to call Helen. As she wentdown the hall the door bell rang. She could see a familiar figuredancing up and down outside the glass door. It was Elise, apparently ina great state of excitement. Rosanna ran and opened the door.
Elise danced in. She caught Rosanna around the waist and whirled herround and round.
"Behold I have arrive, I have arrive!" she sang.
"Of course you have arrived!" said Rosanna. "What makes you feel likethis about it?"
"Behold!" said Elise again with a sweeping gesture toward the frontdoor.
Mrs. Hargrave's house-boy, grinning from ear to ear, was coming slowlyup the steps bearing a large covered tray. Elise took it from him withthe greatest care and set it carefully on a table.
"Approach!" she commanded, and Rosanna, really curious, drew near themysterious article. Slowly Elise drew off the cover. Under it in all theglory of a golden brown crust, little crinkles all about the edge, sat apie looking not only good enough to eat, but almost _too_ good.
"Peench off a tiny, tiny bit of ze frill," said Elise, pointing to thescallopy edge. "A very tiny peench, and you will see how good. Now I canbe the Girl Scout because all the other things I can so well do."
Rosanna took a careful pinch and found the crust light and very flakyand dry.
"Perfectly delicious, Elise!" she pronounced it. "Did you do it allyourself?"
"Of a certainty!" said Elise proudly. "I would not do the whichotherwise than as it is so required by the Girl Scouts. And now I ammost proud. If you will so kindly take me when you go to the meetingthis afternoon, I will offer this to the most adorable little Captain asone more reason the why I should be allowed to join."
"Of course I will take you," said Rosanna. "I was just going totelephone for Helen. If she is ready we will start at once."
"I will go for my hat," said Elise. Then anxiously, "Will the beautifulpie rest here in safety?"
"Yes, indeed; it will be perfectly safe," laughed Rosanna.
Elise was the happiest little girl in all the room at the meeting.Everyone fell in love with her at once, her manners were so gentle andpretty and she was so full of
life. Her curls danced and her eyes, andher red lips smiled, and it seemed as though her feet wanted to danceinstead of going in a humdrum walk. The Scout Captain and the committeeon pie decided that Elise had made the most delicious of its kind.
At the close of the business part of the meeting, the Captain asked asusual if anyone had any news of interest to offer or any requests orquestions to ask. It was all Rosanna could do to keep from telling themall about Gwenny and asking for advice and help, but she decided to keepit all to herself until she had finished the play. Then if it turned outto be any good (and it would be easy to tell that by showing it to UncleBob) she would take it to the Captain, and if she approved, Rosannawould bring the whole thing up before the next meeting.
On the way home, Helen said to Rosanna, "How are you getting on withyour play, Rosanna? Did you work on it this afternoon as you expectedto?"
"Yes, I did, and it seems to be coming along beautifully," said Rosanna."I wanted to ask you about it. Don't you think it would be nice to putin a couple of songs about the Girl Scouts, and perhaps a dance?"
"Simply splendid!" said Helen. "Oh, Rosanna, _do_ hurry! I can scarcelywait for you to finish it. Girl Scout songs and a Girl Scout dance! Doyou know the Webster twins can dance beautifully? Their mother used tobe a dancer on the stage before she married their father, and she hastaught them the prettiest dances. They do them together. They areawfully poor, and I don't know if they could afford to get prettydancing dresses to wear, but I should think we could manage somehow."
"Oh, we will," said Rosanna. "I _do_ wish we could have our familieshelp us!"
"Think how surprised they will be if we do this all by ourselves exceptwhat Uncle Bob does, and our Scout Captain."
"I don't see that Uncle Bob can do very much," rejoined Rosanna. "But heis real interested and wants to help."
"We ought to let him do whatever he can," said Helen. "Father oftentells mother that he hopes she notices how much she depends on hissuperior intellect, but she just laughs and says 'Nonsense! Helen, don'tlisten to that man at all!' But we must depend on our own superiorintellects now."
"It won't take me long to finish the play," said Rosanna. "It is onlygoing to be a one-act play, and if it isn't long enough to make a wholeentertainment, we will have to have some recitations and songs beforeand after it."
"I do think you might let me see what you have written," coaxed Helen.
"I would rather not," pleaded Rosanna. "Somehow I feel as though Icouldn't finish it if I should show it to anyone before it is done. Iwill show it to you the very first one, Helen. Here is one thing you canhear."
She took a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket, and while Helenwalked very close beside her commenced: "This is a song sung by twosisters named Elsie and Allis. And you will see what it is all about."
"Is there a tune for it too?" said Helen in great wonder.
"No, I can't make up music," said Rosanna regretfully, "and, anyhow, Ithink it would come easier to use a tune everybody knows. This goes tothe tune of _Reuben, Reuben, I've been Thinking_. You know that?"
"Of course," said Helen. "Now let's hear the poetry."
Rosanna had written:
"Two girls come on the stage, one from the right and one from the left.One is dressed in beautiful clothes, and the other very neat and clean,but in awfully poor things. She has on a thin shawl. She is Elsie. Therich child is Allis. Allis sees Elsie, and sings:
SONG
Air, _Reuben, Reuben, I've Been Thinking_.
_Allis._
Elsie, Elsie, I've been thinking What a pleasure it would be, If we had some friends or sisters Just to play with you and me.
All our time we spend in study There is no place nice to go. After school an hour of practice Oh, I get to hate it so!
_Chorus_
Just an hour or two of practice, One and two and three and four; Add, subtract, or find the tangent; Everything is just a bore!
_Elsie._
Then, dear Allis, when we finish, We can go and take a walk; That, unless the day is rainy, Then we just sit down and talk.
And there's not a thing to talk of, Not a scheme or plan to make, Not a deed of gentle loving, Nothing done for Someone's sake.
_Chorus_
Not a thing for us to aim for-- Not a height for us to climb! Just the stupid task of living; Just the bore of passing time!
_Enter Girl Scout with many Merit Badges on her sleeve._
_Girl Scout._
Did I hear you wish for friendships? Mates to join in work and play? Someone true and good and loving You would chum with every day?
See this uniform? It tells you You can wear it; be a Scout! See the sleeve with all the "Merits"? You could win without a doubt.
_Chorus_
_All--_
Oh, what fun we'll have together! Oh, what work and jolly play! Walks and talks and happy study With the Girl Scouts every day.