by Oliver Optic
VIII
THE FRINGED GENTIAN LEAGUE
The "Fringed Gentian League" was the girls' favorite club; or it wouldbe truer to say that it was the favorite, partly because it was the onlyregular club at the Mansion, and also because all its doings wereextremely interesting. Anstiss Rowe was the Honorary President and Juliathe Honorary Secretary, and the club had met two or three times beforeit had elected its own officers. In starting, every one of the girls wasinvited to join, and every one accepted. Then Miss South informed themthat a medium-sized room on the second floor in the wing was to be theirclub-room.
"I present the club," she said, when they first met in the room, "withthese chairs and the large library-table, but I hope that you willgradually add to its furnishings from your own earnings."
"Earnings!" At first none of them understood, nor indeed did they learnfor some time later just what she meant by "earnings."
The walls were covered with a cartridge-paper of a curious purplishblue, and that was what suggested to Gretchen the name for the League.Some of the girls rejected this as a poor suggestion.
"That would be a funny reason to give," said Concetta, "to name a clubfor a wall-paper; we ought to have a different reason."
Other girls gave other opinions, but while they were discussing itGretchen had been saying to herself the stanzas of Bryant's poem. Atlast she looked as if she had come to a satisfactory reason, but shehesitated about giving it to the others, lest they should laugh at her.Accordingly she hastened to the honorary officers, who were busy withthe large book that was to contain the names of the members.
"Why, yes, dear, that is a very good reason," responded Julia, whileGretchen blushed at the praise. But although she had had the courage totell her elders, it was harder for the little German maiden to expressher thoughts to those of her own age. She was a curious mixture ofpoetic fancies and practical ideas, and the fancies she always hesitatedto reveal to others. But at last she permitted Julia to tell the girlswhy she thought "Fringed Gentian" a good name for the club. "Becauseit's a looking upward club; that is, a 'look to heaven' club. Recite it,Gretchen," urged Miss Julia, and the little girl began timidly,--
"'I would that thus when I shall see The hour of death draw near to me, Hope blossoming within my heart, May look to heaven, as I depart.'"
"Ugh!" cried Concetta, shaking her dark head. "How solemn; we don't meanto die in this club, Miss Julia."
"No, my dear; but the fringed gentian does not die instantly, as itlooks upward. Blue is the color of hope, and the fringed gentian by thispoem becomes a flower of hope, and so I think that you can give thisreason, if you ever have to give a reason, why this League is called the'Fringed Gentian' League."
It was therefore a following out of Gretchen's suggestion, that whenthey came to draw up the Constitution for the League, its purpose wasdefined in the language of much more important organizations.
"The purpose of this League shall be to encourage good thoughts and goodbooks, and to keep our hearts looking upward." Although some of the morematter-of-fact objected that hearts did not really look up at all, thevote was in favor of the phrase, and the honorary officers said that noclub could have a loftier aim.
The officers were to be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, anda Treasurer. But they were not to be elected until the second meeting.
The honorary officers, indeed, had their hands full in advising themembers as to what should and what should not be put in theConstitution. But at last it was all arranged in paragraphs: one to tellwho should be the members, another to tell how many officers thereshould be and what their duties, and others defining the aims of theclub, and one to state under what conditions a member might be put outof the club. Each girl was perfectly sure that such a thing would neverhappen. "It is always best to be prepared for the worst," said Maggiesagely, and the others acceded. Finally there was a paragraph providingfor amendments, "for you may think of things you may wish to add to thisConstitution, and it would be a pity to find yourselves tied to lawsthat you cannot add to or change."
In fact, it was well that this provision was made, for at the nextweekly meeting the girls wished to add to the numbers of the League byhaving associate members. Maggie, who made the suggestion, was praisedfor it by Julia, who saw that in this way other girls might becomeinterested in the work of the Mansion.
There was much discussion, of course, about the duties and privileges ofthe new members. But at last it was settled that there were to be nomore than twelve associates. Each was to be elected unanimously byMansion members of the League, and they were to have the privilege ofattending all the regular meetings. They could take out books from thelibrary, but unlike the regular members they were not to use theclub-room at other times.
"I would advise you," Julia had said, "not to elect more than half yourassociate members at first, for should the list fill up too soon, youmight then find yourselves unable to invite other very desirablemembers."
"Couldn't we have them too?"
"Ah! Concetta, the room is small, and even when the League has twentygirls, you will find it fairly crowded."
Guided partly by this advice, and also moved by the fact that thefounders of the League had difficulty in agreeing on new members, onlyfive associates had been added by Thanksgiving. One of these was afriend of Concetta's from Prince Street, a timid little Italian, andwith her a Portuguese girl from the same house. It was again the adviceof the honorary officers that the girls should be chosen from the sameneighborhood, so that they could come and go together; for though themeetings were on Thursday afternoons, there were certain advantages inhaving the associates neighbors. Two others were Jewish girls fromBlossom Street, and the fifth was a little German from Roxbury, aspecial friend of Gretchen's.
Edith was slow in seeing the advantages of the League, as the girls atthe Mansion already formed practically a large club. But she soonunderstood that it was well for them to learn that organization is agood thing. She saw, too, that it would help interest them in thingsoutside their regular work.
Angelina was honorary associate member, and Julia explained to her thatshe was to be present at all special functions, but that on account ofher greater age--it pleased Angelina to have this set forth as anevidence of her superiority--she might better not attend the regularmeetings, lest her presence should embarrass the younger girls. But"honorary associate member" had such a high and mighty sound thatAngelina regarded the whole arrangement as complimentary to herself, andthus the feelings of all were saved.
In its early meetings the club naturally had its attention set onBryant. Julia was pleased to find that nearly all the girls were willingto commit verses or even long poems to memory, and that there was agood-natured rivalry as to which of them should learn the longest. Shewas surprised, too, to find that these girls who knew so little of thereal country could appreciate many of the beautiful pictures of woodsand flowers and birds presented by the poet. "The Waterfowl" and "GreenRiver" and "The Evening Wind" were especial favorites, and indeed theywere fond of some of the more serious poems.
The girls of the League had other interests besides their reading, andthey were encouraged to enter on certain bits of work that should not beentirely for themselves. One group was busy making scrap-books, to begiven at Christmas to the Children's Hospital, and another was busydressing dolls. The best scrap-book and the best-dressed doll were toreceive a prize, and all were to be exhibited a day or two beforeChristmas. On Anstiss had fallen the task of deciding which girls shouldbelong to the doll group, and which to the book group, and many were herdifficulties in keeping the girls to their first intention. WhenConcetta, who had begun to dress a golden-haired doll, saw what a prettyscrap-book Nellie was making on sheets of blue cambric with edgesbuttonholed in red, she immediately threw down her doll with a gestureof impatience.
"I hate sewing, and it would be much pleasanter to paste pictures in ascrap-book."
"But if you make a scrap-book you must wo
rk at it, just as Nellie did,and you will have to buttonhole the edges." Whereat Concetta, making awry face, protested that in spite of the buttonholing she would rathermake the scrap-book.
"Very well, then; when you have the leaves ready, I will give you somedirections for pasting pictures. What color will you choose for theleaves?"
"Oh, pink, with yellow edges;" and Concetta, turning her back to thediscarded doll, sat down at the table beside Nellie.
A week or two later Anstiss was surprised to have Concetta report thatshe had finished her book. "But you were not to put the pictures inuntil you had shown me the buttonholed edges." Whereupon Concetta, alittle shamefacedly, be it said, displayed her book with the picturesand embossed decorations put in fairly well, but with the edges of theleaves merely cut in scallops.
"A book like this," said Anstiss, "would be of no good to the littlesick children. Almost as soon as they touched it, it would ravel out;"and with a touch or two her fingers fringed the edge of one of thepages.
Concetta hung her head. "I can buttonhole it now, only I'd rather dressmy doll."
"It isn't your doll, Concetta; Gretchen has taken it. If you work theedges of the book now, I'm afraid that you will spoil the freshness ofthe pictures. I shall let the League decide what you are to do."
Upon this the girls were called by Angelina into business session, andthe vote was that Concetta must begin a new book. It was not a unanimousvote, and Concetta, keenly noting the hands that were raised againsther, as she determined it, registered a vow to get even.
Gretchen, who had the usual German skill with her fingers, was able todress two dolls, a blonde of Concetta's in addition to the brunette thatshe had originally chosen, and Eliza made two scrap-books. But this wasrapid work in proportion to the time that they had before them, andAnstiss did not encourage haste.
Concetta was not the only girl who wished to change her work, for one ortwo outside members absented themselves from several meetings becausethey were dissatisfied with what they accomplished.
Julia, visiting them in their homes, made them understand that there wasonly a friendly rivalry in the whole competition, and that no one wouldbe permitted to criticise the work of another very severely.
The staff of the Mansion, therefore, set itself at work very earnestlyto find reasons why each book and each doll should receive some specialaward. So there were first prizes and second prizes: first for theneatest, then for the prettiest books; and in the same way prizes weregiven for the dolls. Besides these prizes there were honorable mentionawards and certain supplementary awards that Edith had begged to beallowed to present, that no girl need feel that her industry had beenunappreciated.
"For after all, every one has really shown perseverance, and some, I amsure, displayed the greatest taste. Why, some of these dolls are sopretty that I should like to play with them myself."
"I am not so surprised at the dolls," said Miss South, "for most ofthese girls have had sewing lessons in the public schools, and theirfingers have developed considerable skill along this one line. But I aminterested in the skill shown in making the scrap-books. To be sure,some of them are daubed more than is necessary. Maggie's book, forinstance, shows a little glistening halo of dried mucilage around manyof the pictures. But what pleases me the most is their skill in groupingand arranging."
The girls themselves chose two of their number, Inez and Concetta, to beon the jury, and Pamela, Julia, and Nora made up the other three.
The first prize was given for the Bryant scrap-book that Phoebe hadmade. No one certainly could find any fault with it, so neatly were thepictures arranged, and so free from daubs were the broad margins.
Every one wondered where she had found so many pictures that exactlyillustrated the poems chosen, and Phoebe assured them that this hadbeen not at all difficult, since Miss South had let her look over dozensand dozens of old magazines, from which she had been able to choosethose that best suited the words.
No one dissented from the award of a volume of Bryant's poems toPhoebe, but there was more discussion when the second prize, a framedphotograph of Greuze's "Head of the Dauphin," went to Haleema for aflower book. In this she had put a great variety of flower pictures,some of them mere decalcomanie, embossed groups, others coloredlithographs from periodicals of all styles, while not a few were naturepictures from the magazines in which flowers were conspicuous.
Concetta and Gretchen were partly right in thinking that the veryprettiest of all was the book of children that Nellie had made.
"The little sick children in the hospital will like it best, anyway,"said Concetta. She did not happen to like Phoebe very well, and forthe time being Nellie was especially in her favor.
"Nellie's book certainly would be more entertaining to the little sickones in the hospital, and if she had only trimmed the edge of herpictures more carefully, and had kept the margins free from mucilage,she would have had something better than third prize."
But Nellie herself was very well contented with the award, and herbeaming face testified that she did not need a champion to stand up forher rights. Concetta, therefore, found herself a minority on thecommittee in deciding this question, for all the others were in favor ofPhoebe's having the prize.
When it came to the dolls there was less difficulty, for Miss South haddecreed that the award should go to the doll whose clothes showed theneatest sewing. There were no two opinions, and as Concetta herself wasnot on this committee of award, no one objected to her having the prettycase of scissors that the judges handed her, after they had carefullyexamined all the clothes of all the dolls--a piece of work that tookconsiderable time and thought.
But entertaining though the judging and awarding had been, thepleasantest part of this whole work came when they took the books andthe dolls to the hospital.
Naturally the girls did not all go together, but in two or threedetachments, and their sympathies were moved to the utmost by the sightof the helpless little ones. They were delighted when they learned thatthis child or that would be in the hospital but a short time; and someof them--Nellie, for example--were moved to tears on learning that oneor two whom they pitied might never be well.
"There is no harm in having their sympathies touched," said Julia, whensome one remonstrated with her for taking these girls to the hospital,"for we older people at the Mansion intend that the outcome shall besome practical work."