by Nell Speed
CHAPTER XXI
LETTERS
Miss Nan Carter from Mr. Thomas Smith
BY WIRELESS FROM THE CLOUDS,
SEPTEMBER .., 19..
MY DEAR WOOD NYMPH:
I have made many flights and many landings but no landing has been sodelightful as the one I made on Helicon and no flight so beautiful aswhen a certain little wood nymph deigned to accompany me.
I think very often of the few happy days I spent at Week-End Camp and ofthe hospitable Carters. The picnic on the fallen tree was the very bestpicnic I ever attended and the game of teakettle the best game I everplayed.
Some day, and not so many years hence I hope it will be, I intend tomake a flight and take my teakettle with me. Guess what that word is!
BELLEROPHON.
Miss Douglas Carter from Mr. Lewis Somerville
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS, SEPTEMBER .., 19..
MY DEAR DOUGLAS:
Your letter telling of the doings of the camp made Bill and me mightyblue. We think maybe we should not have left you when we did, but wefelt we were getting too soft hanging round you girls all the time, andthen, too, we wanted to let Uncle Sam know that we were willing to doany kind of old work that came up to do. If he wanted to ship us fromWest Point, all well and good--that was his own affair, but we feel thatsince he has given us three years' education we must pay him backsomehow, and enlisting is about the only way we can do it. At first wethought perhaps it had better be with the volunteers, and then wethought maybe the regulars could do better service, so regulars it is.It does seem funny to be in the ranks when we had always expected to beofficers, but that is all right--we are not grouching. No doubt it isgood for us. At least we can get the outlook of the private, and ifbecause of bravery or luck we ever rise from the ranks, we can betterunderstand the men under us.
It is awfully hot down here but just when it is so hot that you feel youmust turn over on the other side to keep from burning and to brownevenly, why a wind comes up they call "a norther" and you sizzle like ared hot poker stuck into cold water. A norther is about the coldest andmost penetrating thing I have ever struck. We never seem to catch cold,however. The norther blows all the germs off of one, I fancy.
Bill is fine. Already he is known by his guffaw. He let out a laugh theother day that made General Funston jump, and I can tell you that isgoing some. Not many people can lay claim to the distinction of havingmade that great man jump. I think they ought to send Bill out to huntVilla. If that bandit is hiding in the mountains, I bet Bill could laughloud enough to make him peep out to see what's up. He's mighty soft onTillie Wingo and carries her tin-type around his neck.
I want to tell you, dear Douglas, that I think you were just exactlyright to turn me down the way you did. I am ashamed of myself to haveasked you to think of me when I realize how far I am from success. I maybe a private for the rest of my life and what could I offer a girl likeyou? I know it wasn't that that kept you from being engaged to me, butit would have been very ridiculous for me to have bound you by a promisewhen I may be old and gray-headed before I even get a sergeant'sstripes.
Please write to me when you find time and tell me what the plans are forthe winter. I wish I could help you some, but about all I am good for isto keep the Mexicans from getting into Texas and maybe finding their wayup to Virginia, where you are. I feel about as big as a grain of sandon a Texan prairie. My love to all the Carters.
Your very affectionate cousin, LEWIS SOMERVILLE.
Miss Helen Carter from Dr. George Wright
RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER .., 19..
MY DEAR MISS HELEN:
The thought of having wounded you is very bitter to me. I did not meanto be unkind either to you or your mother. I know you must wish you hadnever seen me. I seem to have spent my time since I first met you makingmyself unpleasant. If you can forgive me, please write and say so. Ihope your mother is better and that her appetite has returned. If I canbe of any service to you at any time and in any way, you must call onme.
Very sincerely, GEORGE WRIGHT.
Miss Lucy Carter from Frank Maury
RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER .., 19..
DEAR LUCY:
Not much on writing but here goes. Skeeter and I took Lil to the movieslast night and we wished for you some. Movies don't touch the tramps inthe mountains but they are better than nothing. When are you going toleave those diggings and come back to the good old burg? Skeeter atethree cream puffs and two ice cream cones after the show and washed themdown with a couple of chocolate milk shakes. Mrs. Halsey says she mayhave to go to boarding to fill her hopeful up. I pity the boardinghousekeeper. The worst thing about Skeeter is that he never shows his keep.After all those weeks in the mountains and all those good eats he is asskinny as ever. Do you ever see Mr. Spring-keeper and Tom Tit? I sentTom Tit a rag time record for his new Victrola. It is a peach and I betit will set him to dancing to beat a jew's-harp. Lil, who is mightymissish, says Tom Tit has too good taste to like such common music but Ijust know he will like it. Skeeter sends his regards. He and I are bothto have military training at the high school so you will see us inskimpy blue gray uniforms when you come back to Richmond. Skeeter lookspowerful skinny in his. I don't know what I look like in mine.
Yours truly, FRANK MAURY.
The silence of September settled down upon Camp Carter. The mountainshad never been more glorious nor a period of rest and recreation morewelcome. Noise, numbers, confusion--all were conspicuously absent. Tolook back was gratifying and to feel an inward sense of "well done!" wassatisfying.
The summer was over for the Carter girls but their work was by no meansfinished. Unforeseen obstacles were no doubt to be met and overcome;many problems were to puzzle them and hard lessons were to be learned.But at the same time happy days were to be in store for them, theirlives, like all of ours, a mixture of sunshine and shadow, work andplay. They looked toward the future with eager hope. In "The CarterGirls' Mysterious Neighbors" we will hear how they came in touch withsome of the wide-reaching events of the world war.
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Transcriber's Note
In this text-version italics has been indicated with _italics_ andbold with =bold=. Small capitals has been changed to all capitals.
A few obvious printer's errors have been corrected. Otherwise theoriginal has been preserved
, including inconsistencies in spelling,hyphenation or accentuation.