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"So you want me to come to your show, do you?" said Mr. Harriman. 
 
Girl Scouts Series, Volume 2 
 
 The 
 Girl Scouts Rally 
 
 or 
 Rosanna Wins 
 
 BY 
 
 Katharine Keene Gait 
 
 THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK 
 
 MADE IN U. S. A. 
 
Univ. Lst: 
 
 22004 
 
 Copyright, 1921, by 
 THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 THE 
 GIRL SCOUTS SERIES 
 
 1 THE GIRL SCOUTS AT HOME 
 
 2 THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 3 THE GIRL SCOUT'S TRIUMPH 
 
! 
 
 7 
 
 THE 
 GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THREE little girls sat in a row on the top step of 
 a beautiful home in Louisville. At the right was 
 a dark-haired, fairylike child on whose docked hair 
 a velvet bere"t, or French officer's cap, sat jauntily. 
 Her dark eyes were round and thoughtful as she 
 gazed into space. There was a little wrinkle be- 
 tween her curved black brows. 
 
 Beside her, busily knitting on a long red scarf, 
 sat a sparkling little girl whose hazel eyes danced 
 under a fringe of blond curls. Her dainty motions 
 and her pretty way of tossing back her beautiful 
 hair caused people to stop and look at her as they 
 passed, but Elise was all unconscious of their ad- 
 miration. Indeed, she was almost too shy, and few 
 knew how full of fun and laughter she could be. 
 
 The third girl wore a businesslike beaver hat over 
 her blond docked hair, and her great eyes, blue and 
 steady, were levelled across Elise, who knitted on 
 in silence, to the dark girl in the velvet cap. 
 
 Helen Culver spoke at last. " Well, Eosanna, 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 I 
 
 what are you thinking? Have you any plan at 
 all?" 
 
 The dark child spoke. " No, Helen, I can't think 
 of a thing. It makes me so provoked ! " 
 
 "Tell me, will you not?" asked Elise in her 
 pretty broken English. She was trying so hard to 
 speak like Rosanna and Helen that she could 
 scarcely be prevailed upon to say anything in 
 French. 
 
 Many months had passed since Elise, in the care 
 of the kind ladies of the American Red Cross, had 
 come over from France to her adopted guardian, 
 young Mr. Horton. She had grown to be quite 
 American during that time, and was very proud 
 of her attainments. The dark and dreadful past 
 was indeed far behind, and while she sometimes 
 wept for her dear grandmother, who had died in 
 Mr. Horton's tender arms in the old chateau at 
 home, she loved her foster mother, Mrs. Hargrave, 
 with all her heart. And with Elise laughing and 
 dancing through it, the great old Hargrave house 
 was changed indeed. While Elise was crossing the 
 ocean, Mrs. Hargrave had fitted up three rooms 
 for her. There was a sitting-room, that was like 
 the sunny outdoors, with its dainty flowered 
 chintzes, its ivory wicker furniture, its plants and 
 canaries singing in wicker cages. Then there was 
 a bedroom that simply put you to sleep just to look 
 at it: all blue and silver, like a summer evening. 
 Nothing sang here, but there was a big music box, 
 
fHE GIRL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 I 
 
 old as Mrs. Hargrave herself, that tinkled Elise to 
 sleep if she so wished. And the bathroom was 
 papered so that you didn't look at uninteresting 
 tiles set like blocks when you splashed around in 
 the tub. No; there seemed to be miles and mi] 
 of sunny sea-beach with little shells lying on th< 
 wet sand and sea gulls swinging overhead. 
 
 Mrs. Hargrave was so delighted with all this 
 when it was finished that it made her discontented 
 with her own sitting-room with its dim old hangings 
 and walnut furniture. 
 
 " No wonder I was beginning to grow old," she 
 said to her lifelong friend, Mrs. Horton. "No 
 wonder at all ! All this dismal old stuff is going 
 up in the attic. I shall bring down my great great- 
 grandmother's mahogany and have all my wicker 
 furniture cushioned with parrots and roses." 
 
 " It sounds dreadful," said Mrs. Horton. 
 
 " It won't be," retorted her friend. " It will be 
 perfectly lovely. Did you know that I can play 
 the piano?- I can, and well. I had forgotten it. 
 I am going to have birds too not canaries, but 
 four cunning little green love-birds. They are go- 
 ing to have all that bay window for themselves. 
 And I shall have a quarter grand piano put righi 
 there." 
 
 " I do think you are foolish," said Mrs. Horton, 
 who was a cautious person. "What if this child 
 turns out to be a failure? All you have is my son's 
 word for it, and what does a boy twenty-four years 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 old know about little girls? You ought to wait 
 and see what sort of a child she is." 
 
 " I have faith, my dear," said her friend. " I 
 have been so lonely for so many long years that I 
 feel sure that at last the good Lord is going to send 
 me a real little daughter." 
 
 " Cross-eyed perhaps and with a frightful dis- 
 position," said Mrs. Horton. "All children look 
 like angels to Robert." 
 
 Mrs. Hargrave was plucky. "Very well, then; 
 I can afford to have her eyes straightened, and I 
 will see what I can do about the temper." 
 
 " I won't tease you any more," said Mrs. Horton. 
 " Robert says the child is charming and good as 
 gold. I know you will be happy with her, and if 
 you find that she is too much of a care for you, you 
 can simply throw her right back on Robert's hands. 
 I don't like to have him feel that he has no responsi- 
 bility in the matter." 
 
 Elise proved to be all that Mrs. Hargrave had 
 dreamed, and more. She sang like a bird and Mrs. 
 Hargrave found her old skill returning as she 
 played accompaniments or taught Elise to play on 
 the pretty piano. And the little girl, who was 
 perfectly happy, repaid her over and over in love 
 and a thousand sweet and pretty attentions. Dear 
 Mrs. Hargrave, who had been so lonely that she 
 had not cared particularly whether she lived or 
 died, found herself wishing for man^ jears of 
 life. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 The three little girls, Elise, Rosanna, of whom 
 you have perhaps read, and her friend Helen Cul- 
 ver were great friends. 
 
 They went to school and studied and played to- 
 gether, and Rosanna and Helen were both Girl 
 Scouts. Elise was to join too, as soon as she could 
 qualify. At present, as Uncle Robert said slangily, 
 she was " stuck on pie." She could not make a 
 crust that could be cut or even saived apart al- 
 though she tried to do so with all the earnestness in 
 the world. 
 
 Perhaps you girls who are reading this remember 
 Rosanna. If so, you will be glad to know that she 
 grew well and strong again after her accident and 
 continued to be a very happy little girl who was 
 devoted to her grandmother, who in turn was de- 
 voted to Rosanna. The beautiful hair that Ro- 
 sanna had cut off was allowed to stay docked, and 
 that was a great relief to Rosanna, who was always 
 worried by the weight of the long curls that hung 
 over her shoulders like a dark glistening cape. It 
 seemed such fun to be able to shake her head like 
 a pony and send the short, thick mane flying now 
 that it was cut off. 
 
 There were three people in Rosanna's home : her 
 stately grandmother Mrs. Horton, Uncle Robert, 
 of whom you have heard, and Rosanna herself. 
 Rosanna had had a maid, of Y/hom she was very 
 fond, but Minnie was at home preparing to marry 
 the young man to whom she had been engaged all 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 through the war. He was at home again, and to- 
 gether they were fitting out a cunning little bunga- 
 low in the Highlands. As soon as everything was 
 arranged quite to their satisfaction, they were going 
 to be married, and Minnie vowed that she could 
 never get married unless she could have a real 
 wedding with bridesmaids and all, and she had a 
 scheme! By the way she rolled her eyes and her 
 young man chuckled, it seemed as though it must 
 be a very wonderful scheme indeed, but although 
 all three girls hung around her neck and teased, 
 not another word would she say. Minnie had two 
 little sisters who were about the ages of Rosanna 
 and Elise and Helen, but they did not know what 
 the scheme was either. It was very trying. 
 
 Helen Culver no longer lived over Mrs. Horton's 
 garage and her father no longer drove the Horton 
 cars, but her home was very near in a dear little 
 apartment as sweet and clean and dainty as it 
 could be. Mr. Culver and Uncle Robert were often 
 together and did a good deal of figuring and draw- 
 ing but other than guessing that it was something 
 to do with Uncle Robert's business, the children did 
 not trouble their heads. 
 
 Helen was ahead of Rosanna in school. She had 
 had a better chance to start with, as Rosanna had 
 only had private teachers and so had had no rea- 
 son to strive to forge ahead. There had been no 
 one to get ahead of! Now, however, she was study- 
 ing to such good purpose that she hoped soon to 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 overtake Helen. But it was a hard task, because 
 Helen was a very bright little girl who could and 
 would and did put her best effort in everything 
 she did. 
 
 These, then, were the three little girls who sat 
 on Rosanna's doorstep and smelled the burning 
 leaves and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. 
 
 " Rosanna is so good at making plans," said 
 Helen, smiling over at her friend. 
 
 "What shall your good plan be for?" asked 
 Elise. 
 
 " Don't you remember, Elise, our telling you 
 about the picnic we had once, and the children who 
 took supper with us? " 
 
 "Oh, oui yess, yess!" said Elise, correcting 
 herself hastily. 
 
 " And we told you how we took them home and 
 saw poor Gwenny, their sister, who is so lame that 
 she cannot w r alk at all, and is so good and patient 
 about it? We mean to take you over to see her, 
 now that you can speak English so nicely. She 
 wants to see you so much." 
 
 " I would be charm to go," declared Elise, nod- 
 ding her curly head. 
 
 " Well," continued Rosanna, " Gwenny's mother 
 says that Gwenny could be cured, but that it would 
 cost more than she could ever pay, and it is 
 nothing that she could get done at the free dis- 
 pensaries. Those are places where very, very 
 poor people can go and get good doctors and nurses 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 and advice without paying anything at all, but 
 Gwenny could not go there. 
 
 " She would have to go to a big hospital in Cin- 
 cinnati and stay for a long while. I thought about 
 asking my grandmother if she would like to send 
 Gwenny there, but just as I was going to speak 
 of it last night, she commenced to talk to Uncle 
 Robert about money, and I heard her tell him that 
 she was never so hard up in her life, and what with 
 the Liberty Loan drives taking all her surplus out 
 of the banks, and the high rate of taxes, she didn't 
 know what she was going to do. So I couldn't say 
 a thing." 
 
 " The same with ma maman," said Elise. " She 
 calls those same taxes robbers. So you make the 
 plan?" 
 
 " That's just it : I don't," said Rosanna rue- 
 fully. " I wish I could think up some way to earn 
 money, a lot of it ourselves." 
 
 " Let's do it ! " said Helen in her brisk, decided 
 way. 
 
 " But how? " questioned Rosanna. " It will take 
 meh a lot of money, Helen. Hundreds and hun- 
 dreds of dollars, maybe thousands." 
 
 " I should think the thing to do would be to ask 
 a doctor exactly how much it would cost, first of 
 all," said the practical Helen. 
 
 " Another thing," said Rosanna, " Gwenny's 
 family is very proud. They don't like to feel that 
 people are taking care of them. The Associated 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 Charities gave Gwenny a chair once, so she could 
 wheel herself around, but it made them feel badly, 
 although Gwenny's mother said she knew that it 
 was the right thing to accept it." 
 
 " She will feel that it is the thing to do if we 
 can pay to have Gwenny cured too," said Helen. 
 "You know how sensible she is, Rosanna. She 
 must realize that everybody knows that she does 
 all she can in this world for her family. I heard 
 mother say she never saw any woman work so hard 
 to keep a home for her children. 
 
 " Mother says she never rests. And she is not 
 trained, you know, to do special work like type- 
 writing, or anything that is well paid, so she has 
 to be practical nurse and things like that." 
 
 "Aren't all nurses practical?" asked Kosanna, 
 a frown of perplexity on her brow. 
 
 " Trained nurses are not," replied Helen. 
 " Trained nurses get thirty and forty dollars a week 
 and a practical nurse gets seven or eight, and works 
 harder. But you see she never had a chance to 
 get trained. It takes a long time, like going to 
 school and graduating, only you go to the hospital 
 instead." 
 
 " I know," said Rosanna. " There were what 
 they called undergraduate nurses at the Norton 
 Infirmary and they wore a different uniform. But 
 they were all pretty, and so good to me." 
 
 " Wll, you can't do much on what Gwenny's 
 mother makes," said Helen. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Elise sighed. " It is so sad/' she declared. " Do 
 the robber Taxes attack her also? " 
 
 " No ; she has nothing to attack," laughed Helen. 
 
 " Is Mees Gwenny a Girl Scout? " asked Elise. 
 
 " No, but her sister Mary is. She went in about 
 the time Rosanna joined, but she does not belong 
 to oui?, group. They live in another part of the 
 city." 
 
 "Will my allowance help?" asked Elise. "I 
 will give it so gladly. Ma maman is so good, so gen- 
 erous! I never can spend the half. I save it to 
 help a little French child, but surely if Mees 
 Gwenny is your dear friend and she suffers " 
 
 " She suffers all right," declared Helen. " Oh, 
 Rosanna, we have got to think up some way to help 
 her! I am going to ask mother." 
 
 " Helen, do you remember what our Captain said 
 at the very last meeting? No, you were not there; 
 I remember now. She said that we must learn to 
 act for ourselves and not forever be asking help 
 from our families. She said that we should always 
 consult them before we made any important move, 
 but she wanted us to learn to use our own brains. 
 Now it does look to me as though this was a time 
 to use all the brains we have. Think how wonder- 
 ful it would be if we could only do this ourselves ! " 
 
 " What do you mean by we? Just us three, or 
 the Girl Scouts in our group? " asked Helen. 
 
 " I don't know," said Rosanna dismally. " I 
 really haven't the first idea! Let's all think." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THREE in a row, they sat and thought while the 
 leaf piles smouldered and the afternoon went by. 
 Plan after plan was offered and discussed and cast 
 aside. At last Elise glanced at her little silver 
 wrist watch, and wound up her scarf. 
 
 " Time for maman to come home," she said. 
 " She likes it when I meet her at the door with my 
 love, and myself likes it too." 
 
 " Of course you do, you dear ! " said Helen. 
 " Good-bye ! We will keep on thinking and per- 
 haps tomorrow we will be able to get hold of some 
 plan that will be worth acting on. I must go too, 
 Rosanna." 
 
 " I will walk around the block with you," said 
 Rosanna, rising and calling a gay good-bye after 
 Elise. She went with Helen almost to the door 
 of her apartment and then returned very slowly. 
 How she did long to help Gwenny! There must 
 be some way. Poor patient, uncomplaining 
 Gwenny! Rosanna could not think of her at all 
 without an ache in her heart. She was so thin and 
 her young face had so many, many lines of pain. 
 
 She was so thoughtful at dinner time that her 
 Uncle Robert teased her about it. He wanted to 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 know if she had robbed a bank or had decided to 
 run off and get married and so many silly things 
 that his mother told him to leave Rosanna alone. 
 Rosanna smiled and simply went on thinking. 
 After dinner she slipped away and went up to her 
 own sitting-room. Then Uncle Robert commenced 
 to worry in earnest. He had his hat in his hand 
 ready to go over and see Mr. Culver, but he put it 
 down again and went up to Rosanna 1 s room, three 
 steps at a time. 
 
 Rosanna called " Come,' 7 in answer to his knock 
 in quite her usual tone of voice, and Uncle Robert 
 heaved a sigh of relief. 
 
 He stuck his head in the door, and said in a meek 
 tone : " I thought I would come up to call on you, 
 Princess. Mother is expecting a bridge party, and 
 it is no place for me." 
 
 " That is what I thought," said Rosanna. " Be- 
 sides, I wanted to think." 
 
 " Well, I am known as a hard thinker myself," 
 said Uncle Robert. " If you will invite the part 
 of me that is out here in the hall to follow my head, 
 I will be glad to help you if I can." 
 
 " I don't see why I shouldn't tell you about things 
 anyway," mused Rosanna. " You are not a parent, 
 are you?" 
 
 " No, ma'am, I am not" said Uncle Robert. 
 Nary a parent ! Why? " 
 
 He came in without a further invitation and sat 
 down in Rosanna's biggest chair. At that it 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 squeaked in an alarming manner, and Uncle Robert 
 made remarks about furniture that wouldn't hold 
 up a growing boy like himself. When he appeared 
 to be all settled and comfortable, and Rosanna had 
 shoved an ash tray over in a manner that Uncle 
 Robert said made him feel like an old married man, 
 he said, " Now fire ahead ! " and Rosanna did. 
 
 She told him all about Gwenny and her family 
 her mother and Mary and selfish Tommy, and good 
 little Myron, and Luella and the heavy baby, and 
 the story was so well told that Uncle Robert had 
 hard work holding himself down. He felt as 
 though the check book in his pocket was all full 
 of prickers which were sticking into him, and in 
 another pocket a bank book with a big, big deposit, 
 put in it that very day, kept shouting, " Take care 
 of Gwenny yourself ! " so loudly that he was sure 
 Rosanna must hear. 
 
 But Uncle Robert knew that that was not the 
 thing for him to do. He could not take all the 
 beauty and generosity out of their effort when 
 their dear little hearts were so eagerly trying to 
 find a way to help. 
 
 He hushed the bank book up as best he could and 
 said to Rosanna, " I don't worry a minute about 
 this thing, Rosanna. I know perfectly well that 
 you will think up some wonderful plan that will 
 bring you wads of money, and as long as I am not 
 a parent, I don- 1 see why I can't be your councillor. 
 There might be things that I could attend to. I 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 could take the tickets at the door or something 
 like that." 
 
 " Tickets ! " said Rosanna, quite horrified. 
 " Why, Uncle Bob, we can't give a show! " 
 
 " I don't see why not, if you know what you want 
 to show," answered Uncle Robert. " You see bene- 
 fit performances given all the time for singers and 
 pianists and actors who want to retire with a good 
 income. Some of them have one every year, but 
 you couldn't do that for Gwenny. However I'll 
 stand by whenever you want me, you may feel sure 
 of that, and if I can advance anything in the way of 
 a little money " he tapped the bank book, which 
 jumped with joy. 
 
 " Oh, thank you ! " said Rosanna. " We will be 
 sure to tell you as soon as we can hit on a plan, and 
 we will have you to go to for advice, and that will 
 be such a help ! " 
 
 After Uncle Bob had taken himself off, Rosanna 
 went slowly to bed. She thought while she was 
 undressing and after she had put out the light 
 and was waiting for her grandmother to come in 
 and kiss her good-night. And the last thing before 
 she dropped off to sleep her mind was whirling 
 with all sorts of wild ideas, but not one seemed to 
 be just what was wanted. One thing seemed to 
 grow clearer and bigger and stronger, and that was 
 the feeling that Gwenny must be helped. 
 
 The first thing that she and Helen asked each 
 other the next day when they met on the way to 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 school was like a chorus. They both said, " Uid 
 you think of anything? " and neither one had. 
 
 Sad to relate, neither Eosanna nor Helen made 
 brilliant recitations that day, and coming home 
 from school Helen said gravely, " What marks di(J 
 you get today, Rosanna? " 
 
 " Seventy/' answered Rosanna with a flush. 
 
 " I got seventy-two, and it was a review. Oh 
 dear, this won't do at all! I was thinking about 
 Gwenny, and trying to work up a plan so hard that 
 I just couldn't study. Either we have positively 
 got to think up something right away, or else we 
 will have to make up our minds that we must do 
 our thinking on Saturdays only. Can't you think 
 of a single thing? " 
 
 "I seem to have glimmers of an idea," said 
 Rosanna, " but not very bright ones." 
 
 " All I can think of is to get all the girls in our 
 group to make fancy things and have a fair." 
 
 " That is not bad," said Rosanna, " but would 
 we make enough to count for much? Even if all 
 the girls in our group should go to work and work 
 every single night after school we would not be 
 able to make enough fancy articles to make a whole 
 sale." 
 
 " I suppose not," sighed Helen. " This is Thurs- 
 day. If we can't think of something between now 
 and Saturday afternoon, let's tell the girls about 
 it at the meeting and see what they suggest, and 
 ask if they would like to help Gwenny. But oh, 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 I wish we could be the ones to think up something ! 
 You see Gwenny sort of belongs to us, and I feel 
 as though we ought to do the most of the work." 
 
 That night at dinner there was a guest at 
 Rosanna's house, young Doctor MacLaren, who had 
 been in service with Uncle Robert. Rosanna quite 
 lost her heart to him, he was so quiet and so gentle 
 and smiled so sweetly at her grandmother. She 
 sat still as a mouse all through the meal, listening 
 and thinking. 
 
 After dinner when they had all wandered into 
 the lovely old library that smelled of books, she 
 sat on the arm of her Uncle Robert's chair, and 
 while her grandmother was showing some pictures 
 to the doctor, she whispered to her uncle, " Don't 
 you suppose the doctor could tell us how much it 
 would cost to cure Gwenny?" 
 
 " You tickle my ear ! " he said, and bit Rosanna's. 
 
 " Behave ! " said Rosanna sternly. " Don't you 
 suppose he could?" 
 
 " I am sure he could, sweetness, but I sort o' 
 think he would have to see Gwenny first. Shall 
 we ask him about it? " 
 
 "Oh, please let's!" begged Rosanna. 
 
 "Th' deed is did!" said Uncle Robert, and as 
 soon as he could break into the conversation, he 
 said : " Rick, Rosanna and I want to consult you/ 7 
 
 Rosanna squeezed his hand for that; it was so 
 much nicer than to put it all off on her. 
 
 Doctor MacLaren laughed his nice, friendly 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 laugh. " Well, if you are both in some scheme, I 
 should say it was time for honest fellows like me 
 to be careful. Let's hear what it is." 
 
 " You tell, Rosanna," said Uncle Robert. " I 
 can't talk and smoke all at the same time." 
 
 So Rosanna, very brave because of Uncle Robert's 
 strong arm around her, commenced at the begin- 
 ning and told all about Gwenny and her family, 
 and her bravery in bearing the burden of her lame- 
 ness and ill health. And she went on to tell him 
 about the Girl Scouts and all the good they do, 
 and that she was sure that they would help, but 
 they (she and Helen) hated to put it before the 
 meeting unless they had some idea of the amount 
 of money it would be necessary for them to earn. 
 And another thing; what if they should start to 
 get the money, and couldn't? What a dreadful 
 disappointment it would be for Gwenny and indeed 
 all the family down to Baby Christopher! 
 
 The two young men heard her out. Then Uncle 
 Robert said: 
 
 " I don't know the exact reason, but it seems 
 that you cannot work with these Girl Scouts if 
 you are a parent. Are you a parent, Rick? " 
 
 " Please don't tease, Uncle Bobby,' 7 said Rosanna 
 pleadingly. "It is only that we Scout girls are 
 supposed to try to do things ourselves without ex- 
 pecting all sorts of help from our mothers and 
 fathers and grandmothers and uncles," she 
 added rather pitifully. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Robert patted her hand. Rosanna was an 
 orphan. 
 
 " I see now how it is," he said. " Tell us, Rick, 
 what you think about this/' 
 
 " I think that Saturday morning, when there is 
 no school, Rosanna might take me to call on Miss 
 Gwenny and we will see about what the trouble is. 
 And I think as she does, that it would be very wise 
 to say nothing at all about this plan until we know 
 something about the case. It would be cruel to 
 get the child's hopes up for nothing. If there is 
 anything that I dare do, I will promise you now 
 that I will gladly do it, but I cannot tell until I 
 see her." 
 
 " Thank you ever and ever so much ! " said 
 Rosanna. " We won't tell anyone a thing about 
 it!" 
 
 " Can you drive over to Gwenny's tomorrow and 
 tell her mother that a doctor friend of mine is com- 
 ing to see her? " asked Uncle Robert. 
 
 " Indeed I can if grandmother is willing ! " said 
 Rosanna. " Oh, I do feel as though we will think 
 up some way of earning the money ! " 
 
 Rosanna was so happy that she overslept next 
 morning and was nearly late getting to school, so 
 she did not see Helen until they were dismissed. 
 They walked slowly home and sat down on their fa- 
 vorite place on the top step. They had been sitting 
 quietly, watching a group of children playing in the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 leaves, when Rosanna jumped to her feet and com- 
 menced to dance up and down. 
 
 "Oh, Helen, Helen," she cried. "I believe I 
 have it! I believe I have it! Oh, I am so ex- 
 cited!" 
 
 " Well, do tell me ! " exclaimed Helen. 
 
 "That is just what I am going to do," said 
 Rosanna, still dancing. " Let's go around in the 
 garden and sit in the rose arbor where no one will 
 disturb us." 
 
 " That is the thing to do," agreed Helen, and 
 together they went skipping through the iron gate- 
 way that led into the lovely old garden. Once upon 
 a time that gate had been kept locked and little 
 Rosanna had been almost a prisoner among the 
 flowers and trees that made the garden so lovely. 
 But now the gate swung on well-oiled hinges and 
 all the little Girl Scouts were welcome to come 
 and play with Rosanna in her playhouse or ride 
 her fat little pony around the gravelled paths. 
 
 The children banged the gate shut behind them 
 and went to the most sheltered spot in the garden, 
 the rose arbor, where they were hidden from 
 view. They threw their school books on the rustic 
 table and settled themselves in two big chairs. 
 
 " Now do go on" said Helen with a little thrill 
 in her voice. "Oh, I do feel that you have thought 
 up something splendid ! " 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 " I HAVE been thinking and thinking," said Ros- 
 anna, " and not an idea have I had until just now. 
 Here is what I just thought up. 
 
 "You know Uncle Bob was telling me about 
 benefit performances that actors and musicians 
 have. I think they get them up themselves mostly, 
 when they want some money, but I was talking to 
 Minnie about it yesterday when she came in for a 
 minute and she says in her church they have bene- 
 fits all the time. People sing and play and recite 
 poetry, and it is lovely. And I thought up some- 
 thing better still. 
 
 " What i* you and I, Helen, could make up a 
 sort of play all about the Girl 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 have little girls to 
 play with, I used to make up plays, oh lots of 
 times!" 
 
 " With conversations? " pressed Helen. 
 
 " Yes, made up of convex-salons and coming on 
 the stage and going off a^ain, and people dying, 
 and everything." 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 <l Dear me ! " said Helen with the air of one who 
 never suspected such a thing of a friend. "Dear 
 me! 33 she said again. "I am sure I could never 
 do it. You will have to do it yourself. What 
 is it going to be about? " 
 
 "Why, I have to have time to think," said 
 Rosanna. " You have to think a long 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 Helen anxiously. "Why, Ro- 
 sanna, that would be too perfectly splendid! A 
 real play! Where could we give it? We couldn't 
 rent a real theatre." 
 
 " Oh, my, no ! " said Rosanna, beginning to be 
 rather frightened at the picture Helen was con- 
 juring up. "We won't have that sort of a play. 
 We will have a little one that we cai- give in grand- 
 mother's parlor, or over at Mrs. Hargrave's." 
 
 " I wouldn't," said Helen stoutly. " I just know 
 you can write a beautiful play, Rosanna, and I 
 think we ought to give it in some big place where 
 a lot of people can come, and we will have tickets, 
 and chairs all in rows and a curtain and every- 
 thing." 
 
 " 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 had spoken. " Please don't tell 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Elise or anyone about it until I see what I can 
 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/ 5 said Helen positively. 
 " Just think of the piece of poetry you wrote to 
 read at the Girl Scout meeting. It was so lovely 
 that I 'most cried. All that part about the new 
 moon, and how you felt when you died. It sounded 
 so true, and yet I don't see how you know how you 
 are going to feel when you die. I can't feel it at 
 all. I suppose that is because you are a poet. 
 Mother says it is a great and beautiful thing to 
 be a poet, but that you must look out for your 
 digestion." 
 
 " My digestion is all right so far," said Rosanna, 
 " I am glad to know that, 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 goes out. If he stays 
 at home I will have to play cribbage with him. 
 If I go off to my own room, he comes right up. 
 He says he is afraid that I will get to nursing a 
 secret sorrow." 
 
 " What is a secret sorrow? " asked Helen. 
 
 " I don't know exactly," said Rosanna. " Uncle 
 Robert looked sort of funny when I asked him, and 
 perhaps he made it up because he just said, ' Why 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 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," said Helen suspi- 
 ciously. 
 
 " 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 always saying 
 that Robert is old enough to know better." 
 
 " I know he will be all sorts of help about our 
 play, anyway," said Helen. 
 
 " I know he will too," said Rosanna. " We will 
 show him the play the minute I finish it." 
 
 Rosanna went right to work on her play when- 
 ever she had any time to spare. 
 
 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 in the automobile with Mary and Luella 
 and Myron and Baby Christopher to talk to. But 
 she scarcely knew what she was saying because she 
 was so busy wondering what the doctor would do 
 to poor Gwenny, whose back nearly killed her if 
 anyone so much as touched it. 
 
 The doctor stayed a long, long time, and when 
 he came out he stood and talked and talked with 
 Gwenny's mother. He smiled his kind, grave smile 
 at her very often, but when he turned away and 
 came down the little walk Rosanna fancied that he 
 looked graver than usual. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 " Is she very bad? " Eosanna asked when the 
 raachine was started. 
 
 "Pretty bad, Rosanna dear," said the doctor. 
 " She will need a very serious operation that can- 
 not be done here. She will have to go to a hospital 
 in Cincinnati where there is a wonderful surgeon, 
 Doctor Branshaw, who specializes in troubles of the 
 spine. He will help her if anyone can. She is 
 in a poor condition anyway, and we will have to 
 look after her pretty sharply to get her in as good 
 a shape physically as we can. If she goes, I will 
 take her myself, and will have her given the best 
 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 you think, I dca't see 
 but what we will just have to earn the money 
 some way or other ! " Rosanna was very silent 
 all the way home, and that afternoon she retired 
 to the rose arbor and worked as hard as ever she 
 could on the play. It was really taking shape. 
 Rosanna would not show the paper to Helen or to 
 Elise, who had been told the great secret. She 
 wanted to finish it and surprise them. 
 
 By four o'clock she was so tired that she could 
 write no longer. She put her tablet away and 
 started to the telephone to call Helen. As she 
 went down the hall the door bell rang. She could 
 see a familiar figure dancing up and down outside 
 the glass door. It was Elise, apparently in a great 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 state of excitement. Rosanna ran and opened the 
 door. 
 
 Elise danced in. She caught Rosanna around 
 the waist and whirled her round and round. 
 
 " Behold I have arrive, I have arrive ! " she sang. 
 
 " Of course you have arrived ! " said Rosanna. 
 " What makes you feel like this about it? " 
 
 " Behold ! " said Elise again with a sweeping 
 gesture toward the front door. 
 
 Mrs. Hargrave's house-boy, grinning from ear to 
 ear, was coming slowly up the steps bearing a large 
 covered tray. Elise took it from him with the 
 greatest care and set it carefully on a table. 
 
 " Approach ! " she commanded, and Rosanna, 
 really curious, drew near the mysterious article. 
 Slowly Elise drew off the cover. Under it in all 
 the glory of a golden brown crust, little crinkles 
 all about the edge, sat a pie looking not only good 
 enough to eat, but almost too good. 
 
 " Peench off a tiny, tiny bit of ze frill," said Elise, 
 pointing to the scallopy edge. "A very tiny 
 peench, and you will see how good. Now I can 
 be 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 flaky and dry. 
 
 " Perfectly delicious, Elise ! " she pronounced it. 
 " Did you do it all yourself? " 
 
 " Of a certainty ! " said Elise proudly. " I would 
 not do the which otherwise than as it is so required 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 by the Girl Scouts. And now I am most proud. 
 If you will so kindly take me when you go to the 
 meeting this afternoon, I will offer this to the most 
 adorable little Captain as one more reason the why 
 I should be allowed to join." 
 
 " Of course I will take you/' said Rosanna. " I 
 was just going to telephone for Helen. If she is 
 ready we will start at once." 
 
 " I will go for my hat," said Elise. Then anx- 
 iously, " Will the beautiful pie 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 and pretty and she 
 was so full of life. Her curls danced and her eyes, 
 and her red lips smiled, and it seemed as though 
 her feet wanted to dance instead of going in a hum- 
 drum walk. The Scout Captain and the committee 
 on pie decided that Elise had made the most deli- 
 cious of its kind. 
 
 At the close of the business part of the meeting, 
 the Captain asked as usual if anyone had any news 
 of interest to offer or any requests or questions 
 to ask. It was all Rosanna could do to keep from 
 telling them all about Gwenny and asking for ad- 
 vice and help, but she decided to keep it all to her- 
 self until she had finished the play. Then if it 
 turned out to be any good (and it would be easy 
 to tell that by showing it to Uncle Bob ) she would, 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 take it to the Captain, and if she approved, Rosanna 
 would bring the whole thing up before the next 
 meeting. 
 
 On the way home, Helen said to Rosanna, " How 
 are you getting on with your play, Rosanna? Did 
 you work on it this afternoon as you expected to? " 
 
 " 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 put 
 in a couple of songs about the Girl Scouts, and 
 perhaps a dance?" 
 
 " Simply splendid ! " said Helen. " Oh, Rosanna, 
 do hurry! I can scarcely wait for you to finish 
 it. Girl Scout songs and a Girl Scout dance ! Do 
 you know the Webster twins can dance beautifully? 
 Their mother used to be a dancer on the stage before 
 she married their father, and she has taught them 
 the prettiest dances. They do them together. 
 They are awfully poor, and I don't know if they 
 could afford to get pretty dancing dresses to wear, 
 but I should think we could manage somehow." 
 
 " Oh, we will," said Rosanna. " I do wish we 
 could have our families help us ! " 
 
 " Think how surprised they will be if we do this 
 all by ourselves except what Uncle Bob does, and 
 our Scout Captain." 
 
 " I don't see that Uncle Bob can do very much," 
 rejoined Rosanna. " But he is real interested and 
 wants to help." 
 
 " We ought to let him do^hatever he can," said 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Helen. " Father often tells mother that he hopes 
 she notices how much she depends on his superior 
 intellect, but she just laughs and says ' Nonsense! 
 Helen, don't listen to that man at all ! ' But we 
 must depend on our own superior intellects 
 now." 
 
 " It won't take me long to finish the play/' said 
 Kosanna. " It is only going to be a one-act play, 
 and if it isn't long enough to make a whole enter- 
 tainment, we will have to have some recitations 
 and songs before and 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 I couldn't finish it if 
 I should show it to anyone before it is done. I 
 will show it to you the very first one, Helen. Here 
 is one thing you can hear." 
 
 She took a crumpled piece of paper from her 
 pocket, and while Helen walked very close beside 
 her commenced : " This is a song sung by two 
 sisters 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 re- 
 gretfully, " and, anyhow, I think it would come 
 easier to use a tune everybody knows. This goes 
 to the tune of Reuben, Reuben, I've been Thinking. 
 You know that? " 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Of course," said Helen. " Now let's hear the 
 poetry." 
 
 Kosanna 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. The rich 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 gro and take a walk; 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 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. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WHEN Rosanna finished, Helen gave a sigh of 
 delight. 
 
 " Rosanna," she said, " it is perfectly beautiful ; 
 perfectly beautiful! Shall you have the Webster 
 girls sing that? " 
 
 " I had not thought of them," confessed Rosanna. 
 "I thought it would be nice for Elise and you, 
 Helen. You both sing so sweetly and you can both 
 dance too." 
 
 " I shall be frightened to death," said Helen, 
 trying to imagine herself on a real little stage; at 
 least on a make-believe stage with a curtain 
 stretched across Mrs. Horton's or Mrs. Hargrave's 
 parlor. But frightened or not, she was more than 
 pleased that Rosanna had thought of her, and she 
 had no intention of giving up the part. 
 
 She and Elise commenced to practice on the song, 
 and between them made up the prettiest little 
 dance. Mrs. Culver and Mrs. Hargrave were de- 
 lighted to play their accompaniments and suggest 
 steps. Of course they had to be told something of 
 what was going on, but they were very nice and 
 asked no questions. 
 
 A week later Rosanna's little play was finished 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 and ready to show Uncle Eobert. Eosanna was as 
 nervous as a real playwright when he has to read 
 his lines to a scowly, faultfinding manager. She 
 invited Helen over to spend the night with her so 
 she could attend the meeting. 
 
 Her grandmother was out to a dinner-bridge 
 party, so Eosanna and Helen and Uncle Eobert 
 went up to Eosanna' s sitting-room and prepared to 
 read her play. And if the truth must be told, 
 Uncle Eobert prepared to be a little bored. But 
 as Eosanna read on and on in her pleasant voice, 
 stopping once in awhile to explain things, Uncle 
 Eobert's expression changed from a look of patient 
 listening to one of amusement and then to admira- 
 tion. By the time Eosanna had finished he was 
 sitting leaning forward in his chair and listening 
 with all his might. He clapped his hands. 
 
 " Well done, Eosanna ! " he said heartily. " I 
 am certainly proud of you! Why, if you can do 
 things of this sort at your age, Eosanna, we will 
 have to give you a little help and instruction once 
 in awhile. Well, well, that is a play as is a play ! 
 Don't you think so, Helen? " 
 
 " It's just too beautiful ! " said Helen with a 
 sigh of rapture. " Just too beautiful ! Which is 
 my part, Eosanna? " 
 
 " I thought you could be the little girl who dis- 
 covers the lost paper so the other little Girl Scout's 
 brother will not have to go to prison. That is, if 
 you like that part." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 "It is the nicest part of all," sighed Helen. 
 w tWhat part are you going to take? " 
 
 " I didn't think I would take any," said Rosanna. 
 
 " Oh, you must be in it ! " cried Helen. 
 
 " No, Rosanna is right," declared Uncle Robert. 
 " It is her play, you see, and she will have to be 
 sitting out front at all the rehearsals to see that it 
 is being done as she wants it." 
 
 " That is what I thought," said Rosanna. " But 
 you are going to help with everything, are you not, 
 Uncle Robert? " 
 
 " Surest thing in the world ! " declared Uncle 
 Robert heartily. " But as long as this is all about 
 the Girl Scouts, won't you have to show it to your 
 Girl Scout Captain, or leader, before you go on 
 with it?'" 
 
 " Of course," said Rosanna. 
 
 " Who is she? " asked Uncle Robert carelessly. 
 
 " Why, you saw her, Uncle Robert," replied 
 Rosanna. " Have you forgotten the dear sweet 
 little lady who called when I was sick when we 
 were looking for someone very fierce and large? " 
 
 " Sure enough ! " said Uncle Robert after some 
 thought. If Rosanna had noticed she would have 
 seen a very queer look in his eyes. He had liked 
 the looks of that young lady himself. " Well, what 
 are you going to do about it? " 
 
 ic I suppose I will have to go around to her house, 
 and tell her all about it and read it to her." 
 
 "Is it written so I can read it?" said Uncle 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Robert, glancing over the pages. "Very neat in- 
 deed. Now I will do something for you, if you 
 want me to save you the bother. Just to be oblig- 
 ing, I will take your play and will go around and 
 tell Miss Hooker that I am Rosanna's uncle, and 
 read it to her myself." 
 
 " Why, you know her name ! " said Rosanna. 
 
 " Um yes," said Uncle Robert. " I must have 
 heard it somewhere. For goodness' sake, Rosanna, 
 this place is like an oven ! " 
 
 "You are red," admitted Rosanna. "Well, I 
 wish you would do that, please, because it makes 
 me feel so queer to read it myself. It won't take 
 you long so we will wait up for you to tell us what 
 she thinks." 
 
 " I wouldn't wait up," advised Uncle Robert, 
 getting up. " If she likes me, it may take some 
 time." 
 
 " Likes you ? " said Rosanna. 
 
 " I mean likes the way I read it, and likes the 
 play, and likes the idea, and likes everything about 
 it," said Uncle Robert. He said good-bye and hur- 
 ried off, bearing the precious paper. 
 
 The girls sat and planned for awhile, when the 
 doorbell rang. Rosanna could hear the distant 
 tinkle, and saying " Perhaps he is back," ran into 
 the hall to look over the banisters. 
 
 She returned with a surprised look on her face. 
 
 " What do you suppose? " she demanded of Helen 
 who sat drawing a plan of a stage. " It is Uncle 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Robert, and Miss Hooker is with him. Oh, dear 
 me, I feel so fussed ! " 
 
 " Come down ! " called Uncle Robert, dashing in 
 the door. " I have a surprise for you both." 
 
 " No, you haven't ! I looked over the banisters," 
 said Rosanna, as the three went down the broad 
 stairs. 
 
 Miss Hooker thought the play was so good and 
 she was so proud to think that one of her girls had 
 written it that she was anxious to talk it over at 
 once, and had asked Uncle Robert to bring her right 
 around to see Rosanna and Helen. 
 
 They all drew up around the big library table, 
 and Uncle Robert sat next Miss Hooker where 
 he could make suggestions. And Miss Hooker and 
 the girls made a list of characters, and fitted them 
 to different girls in their group. Finally Miss 
 Hooker said there were several places that needed 
 a little changing and would Rosanna trust her to 
 do it with Mr. Horton's help? At this Uncle Rob- 
 ert looked most beseechingly at Rosanna, who, of 
 course, said yes. 
 
 "Where will we give it?" asked Helen. "As 
 long as it is a benefit we want a place large enough 
 for lots of people to come. All our families will 
 want to come, and all the Girl Scouts' families, 
 and perhaps some other people besides." 
 
 "We will give it here, won't we, Uncle Robert? 
 Grandmother will let us, I'm sure. In the big 
 drawing-room, you know." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 " Not big enough," declared Uncle Robert, while 
 both girls exclaimed. " Now this is the part I can 
 help about and I have just had a great idea. You 
 all know that big barn of Mrs. Hargrave's? We 
 boys used to play there on rainy days when we were 
 little. The whole top floor is one immense room. 
 We can give our entertainment there. Mrs. Har- 
 grave will give the barn, I know. And for my 
 contribution or part of it, I w r ill see that you have 
 a stage and a curtain and all that." 
 
 " How dear of you, Mr. Horton ! " said Miss 
 Hooker. 
 
 " Oh, Uncle Robert, a curtain that goes up and 
 down?" 
 
 " Of course," said Uncle Robert, " and footlights 
 and everything." 
 
 " O-o-o-o-h ! " sighed both girls, and Miss Hooker 
 looked at Uncle Robert and smiled and he seemed 
 real pleased. 
 
 " I think I must go if you will be kind enough 
 to take me home," said Miss Hooker. " Rosanna, 
 you must tell the Girl Scouts about Gwenny at 
 the next meeting, and read your play. Then we 
 will get right to work, for the sooner this is staged, 
 the better. We don't want to interfere with the 
 Christmas work." 
 
 After Mr. Horton had taken the tiny little lady 
 home, the girls raced upstairs and went to bed, but 
 it was a long, long time before they could get to 
 sleep. They finally went off, however, and did not 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 tear Uncle Robert when he came home whistling 
 gaily. They dreamed, however, both of them, of 
 acting before vast audiences that applauded all 
 their speeches. And at last Rosanna woke up with 
 a start to find that Helen was clapping her hands 
 furiously and stamping her feet against the foot- 
 board. After Rosanna succeeded in awakening 
 her, they had a good laugh before they went to 
 sleep again. 
 
 At breakfast Uncle Robert was full of plans for 
 the Benefit. " Miss Hooker and I went all over 
 your play last night, Rosanna," he said, " and 
 smoothed out the rough places. You know every 
 manuscript has to be corrected. It is on the table 
 in my room. You had better read it over after 
 school, and if it suits your highness I will have it 
 typewritten for you, and you can go ahead. I am 
 going to see about the barn now, on my way down 
 town, and if Mrs. Hargrave is willing and I am 
 sure she will be I will get a carpenter to measure 
 for the staging. I suppose," he added, " I ought to 
 ask Miss Hooker to look at the place and get some 
 suggestions from her? " 
 
 " Oh, I wouldn't bother to wait for her," said 
 Rosanna, who was wild to see the stage built. 
 " She won't care what you do. If you like, I will 
 tell her how busy you are and that you won't bother 
 to come around to her house any more because you 
 can attend to things just as well yourself." 
 
 Uncle Robert looked hard at Rosanna. It was 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 a queer look; sort of the look you would expect 
 from a cannibal uncle who has a little niece that 
 he wants to eat. Rosanna, catching the look, was 
 surprised and quite disturbed. But when Uncle 
 Robert spoke, he merely said, " Thank you, Ro- 
 sanna ; but you see I do need Miss Hooker's advice 
 very much indeed. The fact is I will never be 
 able to put this thing through as well as I want 
 to put it through unless I can consult with her 
 every day or so. In fact, if I cannot consult as 
 often as I need to, I will certainly have to give it 
 up. And that would be awful, wouldn't it? " 
 
 " Of course it would, Uncle Robert/' answered 
 Rosanna. " I just hated to have you bothered." 
 
 " I will stagger along under the burden/' said 
 Uncle Robert, trying to look like a martyr. " The 
 thing for you to do is to forget how hard I am 
 working and how much help I have to have doing 
 this, and get your girls to studying on their parts." 
 
 " Miss Hooker says I am to read it at the Scout 
 meeting next week and then we will give out the 
 parts and let them be learning them." 
 
 "All right, sweetness; get after them," said 
 Uncle Robert, kissing Rosanna, and Helen, too, 
 " for luck " he said, and going off whistling. 
 
 " I think the play is making Uncle Robert very 
 happy," said Rosanna as the front door slammed 
 and she heard a merry whistle outside. " He is 
 a changed person these last few days." 
 
 " That is what often happens/' said Helen. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Probably he did not have anything to occupy his 
 mind after business hours, so he was unhappy. 
 Mother says it is a serious condition to allow one- 
 self to be in. Now that he has our play to think 
 about, he feels altogether different. I do myself. 
 Do you know it is time to start for school? Let's 
 be off so we won't have to hurry, and we will have 
 time to stop for Elise." 
 
 Elise was ready and the three girls sauntered 
 down the street together. 
 
 As they passed a great imposing stone house, 
 Elise said, " It is a chateau what you call castle, 
 isn't it ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Rosanna, " and a cross old ogre lives 
 in it. He and his sister live there all alone, with 
 lots of maids and men to serve them, and he is so 
 growly-wowly that Minnie says even the grocer 
 boys are afraid of him. That is his car in front 
 of the door. Did you ever see anything so large? " 
 
 " Or so lovely? " added Elise. " If he was not 
 so ze what you just call growlee-wowlee, he might 
 carry us to school; not?" 
 
 " There he comes," said Rosanna. " Does he look 
 as though he would carry any little girls am/where 
 unless he carried them off to eat? " 
 
 The great carved door opened and an old gentle- 
 man came down the steps. He walked with a cane 
 and to the children he seemed very old indeed with 
 his snow white hair and fierce moustaches. He 
 scowled as he came and stopped to switch with his 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 cane at a vine that had straggled up the step. He 
 noticed the three girls approaching, and scowled 
 at them so fiercely that they involuntarily stopped 
 to let him pass. But he was in no hurry to do 
 so. When he had looked them over sufficiently, he 
 looked past them and snorted loudly at something 
 he saw up the street, but when the girls looked 
 around to see what was the matter, there was only 
 a little baby girl playing with a little woolly dog; 
 so they all looked back again at the old gentleman. 
 He seemed to fascinate them. 
 
 Three pair of round eyes fixed on him caught 
 the old gentleman's attention. 
 
 "Well, well, well! " he said testily. " What do 
 you see? Come, come, speak out!" 
 
 Elise drew back but the other two stood their 
 ground, and Rosanna, who had seen him all her life 
 and was at least accustomed to him, said gently : 
 
 " We see you, sir." 
 
 " Ha hum ! " sputtered the old gentleman, draw- 
 ing his fierce white eyebrows together. "What 
 about me, young woman, what about me to stare 
 at?" 
 
 Rosanna was distressed. There seemed nothing 
 to do but tell him the truth and that was almost 
 too awful. She smoothed it down as well as she 
 could. 
 
 " If you will excuse me for saying so, you looked 
 a little cross," she said, " and and something 
 must be making you very unhappy." 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " It is," said the ogre. " It makes me unhappy 
 to see what a silly no-account world this is; full 
 of small children, and woolly dogs, and things. 
 Kittens! Babies! Chickens! Bah! All making 
 noises! All getting up at daybreak to play and 
 meow and crow. Bah! Of course I am un- 
 happy ! " 
 
 He crossed the walk, waved the footman back 
 with his cane, stepped painfully into the car, and 
 with his own hand slammed the door shut. But 
 his anger blinded him. He did not take his hand 
 away soon enough, and the heavy door caught it. 
 With a cry of pain, he dropped back on the cush- 
 ions. The middle finger was crushed and bleeding 
 profusely. 
 
 " Heaven protect us ! " cried Elise. 
 
 The old gentleman was almost fainting. Bo- 
 sanna did not hesitate. The Girl Scouts had to 
 understand First Aid. She ran up to the car and 
 entered it, tearing up her handkerchief as she did 
 so. Helen, close behind her, was doing the same 
 thing with hers. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 GENTLY but firmly taking the bleeding finger in 
 her little hand, Rosanna bound it up in the strips 
 of linen, folding them back and forth in quite a 
 professional manner. Helen helped her to tie the 
 bandages. Not until they had finished did they 
 take time to glance up at the old gentleman. He 
 was deathly white and leaned heavily against the 
 cushions. 
 
 " Now, sir," said Rosanna, " if you will have 
 your man drive you to a doctor, he will treat it 
 with an antiseptic and it will soon be all right." 
 
 The old gentleman commenced to brace up as 
 he saw that the bleeding at least was checked. The 
 girls got out of the car, and the old gentleman with 
 a muttered, " Thank you, thank you," gave an order 
 and the chauffeur drove rapidly away. 
 
 " He said thank you once for each of us any- 
 way," said Helen. 
 
 Elise shuddered. " Your dress ! " she said, point- 
 ing to Rosanna. Sure enough, Rosanna was spat- 
 tered with blood. 
 
 " Oh, dear, I will have to be late," she said. 
 " Just look at jne ! I will have to go back and put 
 on a clean dress." She turned reluctantlv and 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 ran back home, while the others went on to school 
 and the automobile carried the old gentleman rap- 
 idly to the office of his doctor. 
 
 While the physician was attending to the hand, 
 the old gentleman, whose name was Harriman, 
 sat and sputtered: 
 
 " First time I ever saw any children with a grain 
 of common sense ! " he declared. " Little girl acted 
 in a fairly intelligent manner. Suppose it wouldn't 
 happen again. Children never know anything, 
 especially girls. Bah ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, they do, Mr. Harriman," said Doctor 
 Greene soothingly. " Oh, yes, they do ! Now I 
 have two little girls of my own, and I can tell 
 you 
 
 " Don't ! " said Mr. Harriman. " I make it a 
 point never to listen to fond parents. I am sure 
 the two girls who fixed me up were unusual 
 very unusi^l." 
 
 "Yes, they were," said the doctor. "You will 
 have an easier time with this hand of yours, thanks 
 to their skill." 
 
 " Queer ! " said Mr. Harriman. " Seemed to 
 know just what to do." 
 
 " Must have been Girl Scouts," said the doctor 
 musingly. 
 
 " Girl Scouts? What foolishness is that? " said 
 Mr. Harriman. 
 
 The doctor smiled. He thought of his own two 
 daughters. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Ask them about it," he said, rising, and would 
 say no more. 
 
 Mr. Harriman limped out. 
 
 "What are Girl Scouts?" Mr. Harriman asked 
 his chauffeur as they drove to his office. 
 
 " I dunno, sah," said the colored man, starting. 
 He always jumped when Mr. Harriman spoke. 
 Everyone wanted to. 
 
 " Idiot ! " said Mr. Harriman. 
 
 " Yes, sah," said the chauffeur cheerfully. 
 
 There seemed nothing else to say. 
 
 Mr. Harriinan's hand healed very quickly for so 
 old a man, and the doctor stubbornly gave all the 
 credit to Rosanna's first-aid treatment. Mr. Har- 
 riman could say " Stuff and nonsense ! " as many 
 times as he liked, but it made no difference to the 
 doctor, who smiled and refused to discuss the mat- 
 ter. Mr. Harriman commenced to have a trouble- 
 some conscience. He felt as though he should call 
 and thank the little girl who had befriended him 
 to such good purpose, especially as he had known 
 Rosanna's grandmother all her life, but he could 
 not bring himself to do it and contented himself 
 with sending two immense wax dolls and a huge 
 box of candy to Rosanna's house addressed to " The 
 two girls who recently bound up my hand." Ro- 
 sanna and Helen were quite embarrassed, but Mrs. 
 Horton, who was immensely amused, told them that 
 all that was necessary was a note of thanks, which 
 they wrote and sent off in a great hurry. Thev 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 didn't want to keep Mr. Harriman waiting. No 
 one did. But he couldn't find out anything about 
 the Girl Scouts because the only persons he asked 
 were the very persons who would never know any- 
 thing much about anything that had to do with 
 girls or good times or youth or happiness. He 
 asked his old friends at the club, when he felt like 
 talking at all, and so the time went on. 
 
 In the meantime, at a Scout meeting Rosanna 
 found herself telling the girls all about Gwenny 
 and the play and the plans for sending the poor 
 little cripple to Cincinnati for the operation which 
 might make her well. It was only might. Doctor 
 MacLaren and the other doctors whom he had taken 
 to see Gwenny would only say that it could be tried. 
 And the great surgeon, Dr. Branshaw, had written 
 Dr. MacLaren that as soon as the child was in a fit 
 condition she could be brought to him and he would 
 do what he could. He said nothing about the cost, 
 Rosanna noticed, when she read his letter, so she 
 could not tell the girls what the operation would 
 cost. They were all as interested as they could 
 be and promised to work as hard as they could 
 selling tickets, and the ones who were chosen to 
 take parts in the play were very happy about it. 
 As a matter of fact, all of them were to come on 
 the stage, for those who had no speaking parts came 
 on and marched and so had a share in the glory. 
 
 And the way they learned their parts ! They al- 
 most mastered them over m'^ht. Rehearsals went 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 on, and the day was set for the entertainment. 
 
 There was a great deal of hammering up in Mrs. 
 Hargrave's barn. Mrs. Hargrave and Miss Hooker 
 and Uncle Robert spent a good deal of time up 
 there, but they would not let anyone else in. Even 
 Elise was barred out, and although she wrung her 
 little hands and talked a funny mixture of French 
 and English in her pretty coaxing way, not one of 
 the three would relent and let her peek in. " Wait 
 until it comes time for the dress rehearsals," was 
 all they would say. 
 
 A week before the play, a big box came for Uncle 
 Robert. He opened it in Rosanna's room. It was 
 full of tickets nicely printed on yellow pasteboard. 
 Rosanna read them with rapture: the name of the 
 play, lier play, and at the top in large print, 
 
 BENEFIT PERFORMANCE 
 
 "You have not said anything about what the 
 performance is to be a benefit for" said Rosanna. 
 
 " That's all right," said her uncle. 
 
 " And you have forgotten to say the price of the 
 tickets," wailed Helen, who was again spending 
 the night. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Horton, " when I went to order 
 those tickets for you, I had an idea. And it was 
 this. I thought as long as this was a benefit per- 
 formance, why not let it benefit everybody present? " 
 
 " How can it do that? " asked Rosanna. 
 
 " In this way," said Uncle Robert. " There will 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 be all sorts of people there, because some of the 
 Girl Scouts, Miss Hooker says, are very poor in- 
 deed, and some of them belong to families who 
 have plenty of money. So Miss Hooker suggested 
 a very good scheme. Tell the girls when they sell 
 tickets to say that as it is a benefit and so forth 
 and so forth, that the tickets are simply to let the 
 people into the hall. As they go out they are to 
 pay whatever they think it is worth, from five cents 
 up." 
 
 " Perfectly splendid ! " said Helen, catching the 
 idea at once. 
 
 " I don't know," answered Eosanna. " They will 
 have seen the performance and suppose everybody 
 will feel as though it is worth only a nickel? " 
 
 " Oh, they won't feel like that at all, Rosanna," 
 said Helen. " I think every single person will 
 think it is worth a quarter. Think if they would 
 all pay twenty-five cents ! " 
 
 " I know several who expect to pay a dollar," 
 said Uncle Robert. 
 
 " If they only will," cried Rosanna, almost sob- 
 bing, " Gwenny can go to Cincinnati this very 
 winter! I think it is a good idea, Uncle Robert. 
 After all, it is a good thing that you did consult 
 with Miss Hooker, even if it has taken a lot of your 
 time. I think you have been so kind." 
 
 " Oh, I haven't minded," said Uncle Robert in a 
 generous way. 
 
 "Why, you must have minded," went oia Ro- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 sanna. " I have kept track all I could, because I 
 was so much obliged to you, and you have been 
 over there at Miss Hooker's house consulting 
 well, you had to go over five nights last week, and 
 Miss Hooker is always saying, ' I had a telephone 
 today from your uncle.' You must be tired to 
 death. I nearly told Miss Hooker so, but I thought 
 it might sound rude." 
 
 " Ycu are right about that, Rosanna; it would 
 have been very rude indeed, excessively rude I may 
 say," said Mr. Horton with some haste. " I can 
 scarcely think of anything worse for you to say. 
 My sainted Maria ! " 
 
 " I didn't say it," Rosanna assured him, " and the 
 thing is so nearly over now, only a week more, that 
 it really doesn't matter." 
 
 "Not a particle!" said Mr. Horton. " But I 
 wish you would promise me that you won't say any- 
 thing of the sort. Not that it matters, but I seem 
 to feel nervous." 
 
 "Of course I will promise," agreed Rosanna. 
 " I love Miss Hooker but of course I love you more, 
 and I just do hate to have you bothered." 
 
 " It is mighty nice of you, sweetness, but you 
 must not worry about me at all. Now to change 
 the conversation, as the man said when he had 
 nearly been hanged by mistake, you give these 
 tickets out to your Girl Scouts and tell them to 
 orrer tnem to the people who would be most likely ^ 
 co give more than a nickel. It ought to be easy. 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 They are to say that the benefit will cost them five 
 cents or up as they leave the hall. With your 
 permission, I will make a few remarks and tell 
 them about Gwenny. But we will not mention 
 her by name, because if there should be a newspaper 
 reporter lurking around he would put it in the 
 papers and that would be very embarrassing." 
 
 After Uncle Robert had gone out the girls made 
 the tickets up in little bundles, one for each girl 
 in the group. Their own they spread out on the 
 table, planning how they would dispose of them. 
 
 " Whom shall you sell to first? " asked Helen. 
 
 " Mr. Harriman," said Rosanna quietly. 
 
 Helen dropped her tickets. "Dear me, Ro- 
 sanna ! " she cried. " I would be too afraid to offer 
 him a ticket." 
 
 " I am not," said Rosanna. " I would do more 
 than that for Gwenny, and I am not afraid of him 
 at all. Not even if he roars. And he has lots and 
 lots of money. I shouldn't wonder at all that he 
 will be one of the dollar ones if he comes. And he 
 has got to come if I go after him." 
 
 " Dear me! " said Helen again, quite awed. 
 "You are brave. Shall I come w r ith you?" 
 
 " If you like," replied Rosanna. " We will go 
 right after school tomorrow." 
 
 The interview with Mr. Harriman took place as 
 planned the first thing after school. School let 
 out at two o'clock, and it was half-past when the 
 girls mounted the steps of the grim old fortress in 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 which Mr. Harriman lived. Now it happened that 
 half past two was a very dark hour for Mr. Harri- 
 man because at about that time he was always in 
 the clutch of a bad attack of indigestion brought 
 on daily because he would not mind his doctor and 
 omit pickles and sweets from his bill of fare. At 
 this time he read the morning paper and reviled 
 the world at large. His sister always left him 
 with the excuse that she wanted to lie down, and he 
 was alone with his abused stomach and his pepsin 
 tablets and his thoughts. 
 
 The two girls entered the room and waited for 
 him to speak. 
 
 Mr. Harriman looked up from his reading with 
 a dark scowl. Most of the newspaper was on the 
 floor where he had thrown it to stamp on. He 
 always felt better when he stamped on the editorials 
 that displeased him most. It seemed to soothe his 
 feelings. H^ managed to grunt, " 'Dafternoon ! 
 'Dafternoon ! " when he saw the two girls advance 
 across his library, and then he waited, looking over 
 the tops of a very grubby pair of glasses for them 
 to state their errands. It was Rosanna who spoke 
 first, although generally Helen was the spokesman. 
 But Helen was frankly afraid of the grouchy old 
 gentleman, while Rosanna was too anxious to help 
 Gwenny to be afraid of anyone. So she said, 
 "Please excuse us, Mr. Harriman, if we have in- 
 terrupted your reading." 
 
 " Well, you have ! " said Mr. Harriman gruffly. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 " Wliadder you want? Sell me chances on a dolPs 
 carriage or sofy pillow? Who's getting up your 
 fair? Meth'dist, Tiscopal? Here's a dime." 
 
 He held out the money, which Eosanna took 
 gently and laid on the table beside him. 
 
 "Thank you," she said. "We don't want any 
 money today. W T e have come to tell you about an 
 entertainment we are going to give. First if you 
 don't mind I think I will just shine up your glasses. 
 You can't see to think through them the way they 
 are," and as Helen looked on, expecting to see Ro- 
 sanna snapped in two any second, she held out her 
 hand for the glasses, shaking out a clean pocket 
 handkerchief as she did so. No one was more sur- 
 prised than Mr. Harriman himself when he took 
 off the smeary spectacles and handed them to Ro- 
 sanna, who silently polished them and handed them 
 back. They were better; Mr. Harriman acknowl- 
 edged it with a grunt. 
 
 " Girls are real handy," said Rosanna with her 
 sweet smile. 
 
 " Grrrrrr ! " from Mr. Harriman. " Whadded 
 you want to tell me? " but his voice certainly 
 seemed a shade less gruff. 
 
 Rosanna, speaking distinctly and as carefully as 
 though she was explaining to a small child, told the 
 old man about Gwenny and the benefit and after 
 that, as he sat perfectly still looking at her through 
 unnaturally shiny glasses, she went on to tell him 
 about the Girl Scouts. You couldn't tell whether 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 lie cared a snap about it, but at all events he list- 
 ened, and Helen and Rosanna both thought it was 
 a good sign. They did not dare to glance at each 
 other, but Rosanna went on talking until she felt 
 that she had told him all that he would want to 
 know if he had been a regular sort of a human 
 being instead of a grouchy, cross old man who 
 seemed to delight in scaring everyone away from 
 him. 
 
 " That's all," said Rosanna finally, smiling up 
 into the scowling old face. 
 
 There was a long silence. 
 
 " Grrrrrr ! " said Mr. Harrinian again. " So you 
 want me to come to your show, do you? Haven't 
 been to a show for forty years ! No good ! Silly ! " 
 
 " Ours isn't," declared Helen, suddenly finding 
 her voice. " Our entertainment is perfectly splen- 
 did!" 
 
 " Perfectly splendid ! " mimicked Mr. Harriman. 
 " Sounds just like a woman ! All alike, regardless 
 of age. Grrrrrr ! " 
 
 "You will come, won't you?" asked Rosanna. 
 " Please do ! You see it is only a nickel if you do 
 not think it is worth more." 
 
 " A great many persons are going to pay a quar- 
 ter," hinted Helen. 
 
 " All right, all right ! " said Mr. Harriman. 
 " You are less objectionable than most children. 
 I will come if I can remember it." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Suppose I come after you? " suggested Rosanna, 
 reniemberiDg what she had said to Helen about 
 getting Mr. Harriman if she had to come after him. 
 
 " All right, all right ! Let it go at that ! I know 
 your sex! You will forget all about your agree- 
 ment by the time you reach the next corner. If 
 you come after me, I will go to your show. In 
 the Hargrave barn, eh? Anything to sit on, or 
 shall I bring a chair? " 
 
 " No, sir ; Uncle Robert has fixed seats and every- 
 thing. And I will come for you quite early be- 
 cause I have to be there doing my part.' 1 
 
 " That's nuff ! " grunted Mr. Harriman, nodding 
 curtly. " 'Dafternoon ! " He resumed his paper, 
 and as he caught the opening sentences of the ar- 
 ticle before him, there came a sound like the grat- 
 ing of teeth and the noise of a large boiler that 
 is about to explode. 
 
 The girls said, " Good afternoon ! " in two small 
 voices and went out as quickly as they could. 
 
 Helen breathed a sigh of relief when she reached 
 the outer air. 
 
 " Rosanna, you are certainly a very brave girl," 
 she said. " I am glad to get out alive. Every 
 minute I expected to hear him say, ' Fee-fi-fo-fum, 
 I smell the breath of an English-mun ! ' " 
 
 Rosanna laughed. 
 
 " He is pretty awful/' she granted. " But I 
 mean to make him come. I think it will do him 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 good to see that play, and I shall certainly go after 
 him. If he thinks I am going to forget about him, 
 he is greatly mistaken." 
 
 " Let's try to get rid of all our tickets this after- 
 noon. You know we are to meet Uncle Robert at 
 the barn at five o'clock to see the theatre he has 
 fixed up. Oh, Helen, I am so excited! " 
 
 For a couple of hours the girls repeated the story 
 of Gwenny and the benefit until they could say 
 it by heart. The tickets went so fast that they 
 were sorry that they did not have twice as many. 
 At a quarter of five they hurried back to Mrs. Har- 
 grave's, where Elise was waiting for them and 
 Uncle Robert soon joined them. There was a short 
 wait then, because he refused to unlock the door 
 before Miss Hooker arrived although the girls 
 begged and begged, assuring him that she wouldn't 
 mind. 
 
 Finally they heard the tap, tap, tap of her tiny 
 shoes on the old brick walk, and round the corner 
 she came, looking more dimply and dainty and alto- 
 gether beautiful than ever. Uncle Robert looked 
 as though he could eat her, but somehow it was 
 not the sort of look he had given Rosanna that other 
 time. Not at all! Rosanna noticed it. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE stairs were broad and easy, and the girls 
 ran up after Uncle Robert who proceeded to fit 
 a large key in the lock of the big door at the head 
 of the stairs. It was a very fine stable, built many, 
 many years ago, and finished outside and inside 
 with great care. The walls were all sealed or fin- 
 ished with narrow strips of varnished wood. As 
 the door swung open, the three girls stood dumb 
 with amazement. Then " Oh, darling Uncle Rob- 
 ert ! " cried Rosanna, and threw herself into his 
 arms. 
 
 Uncle Robert looked over her head at Miss 
 Hooker and smiled. 
 
 " Glad if you like it, kiddie," he said. " It is 
 my contribution to little Gwenny. And Doctor 
 Rick told me to tell you that he would send some 
 music for his share." 
 
 "Oh, Helen, Helen, isn't that splendid?" cried 
 Rosanna. " Now we won't have to have a Victrola ! 
 It will be like a real theatre." 
 
 " Just exactly," said Helen absently. She could 
 not give very much thought to the orchestra when 
 the little theatre claimed her attention. 
 
 There was a real stage, and before it a long green 
 tin that the girls knew concealed the footlights. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 A splendid curtain hung before them, painted in a 
 splashy way with a landscape. To the girls it 
 seemed a rare work of art. Well, the sign painter 
 who had done it was rather proud of himself, so 
 it must have been all right. 
 
 They walked down the aisle between rows of 
 nice new benches, made with comfortable backs. 
 Mr. Horton left them and went around back of the 
 stage. Immediately there was a sound of ropes 
 squeaking, and the curtain rose as majestically as 
 though it was the curtain of a real theatre. And 
 there was the stage! The same accommodating 
 sign painter had painted a back drop and " flies " 
 as they are called. It was a woodland scene. 
 Trees were the thing that accommodating sign 
 painter could do best, and he had made lots of them, 
 as green as green! He had also painted two can- 
 vas covered boxes so that you could scarcely tell 
 them from real rocks. 
 
 " Isn't that pretty nifty looking scenery? " asked 
 Uncle Robert proudly. " It only goes to show that 
 there is a lot of kindness floating around loose in 
 this work-a-day old world. The man who painted 
 all this knew Gwenny's mother when she was a girl, 
 and when I asked for his bill he said he had done 
 it all Sundays and nights and it was his contribu- 
 tion. He wouldn't take a cent. Doing it nights is 
 why some of the trees look sort of bluish but I 
 don't think it hurts, do you? " 
 
 " What a nice, nice man ! '' exclaimed Miss 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Hooker. " I should say it doesn't hurt! To think 
 of his working nights after painting all day long. 
 I should admire those trees if they were a bright 
 purple! " 
 
 " Of course you would/' said Uncle Robert softly. 
 " You are like that." 
 
 Rosanna was hurt. " Why, Uncle Robert ! She 
 doesn't mean that she would just as soon like a 
 purple tree as a green one. She means how nice 
 it was of the man." 
 
 " Thank you, Rosanna ; it is all perfectly clear to 
 me now," smiled Uncle Robert. "Perfectly clear." 
 He looked again at Miss Hooker and she smothered 
 a little smile behind her little handkerchief. 
 
 They hated to go out of the theatre and see Uncle 
 Robert lock the door. Then they separated. Elise 
 danced off to the house. Miss Hooker and Helen 
 went down the street together, and Uncle Robert 
 and Rosanna cut across the garden. Rosanna's 
 heart was full. She wanted everybody to be happy. 
 
 " Uncle Robert," she said, " sometimes I wish 
 that you were going to get married after awhile. 
 If you were only going to marry Miss Hooker or 
 some young lady just like her, so little and sweet! " 
 
 " Well, it is worth considering," said Uncle Rob- 
 ert. " I wonder now, just for the sake of argu- 
 ment, that is, if I should do it to accommodate you, 
 I wonder if Miss Hooker would marry me." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Rosanna. " She wouldn't think 
 of it." 
 
THE GIEL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 "Ugh!" said Uncle Robert. It sounded as 
 though someone had knocked all the air out of him. 
 
 " No," continued Rosanna. " We were talking 
 about Minnie getting married one day, and I said 
 it was the only wedding I was ever apt to have 
 anything to do with because I had heard you say 
 many times that you were not a marrying man." 
 
 " What did she say? " asked Uncle Robert in a 
 sort of strangled voice which Rosanna, skipping 
 along at his side, failed to notice. 
 
 " Oh, she said, ( How interesting ! ' and I said, 
 6 Isn't it? Because he is nicer than anyone I know, 
 but he says that girls never cut any figure in his 
 young life except to play with.' " 
 
 "What did she say then?" demanded Mr. Hor- 
 ton. 
 
 " Nothing at all," answered Rosanna, " but she 
 is sensible too, because the next time I was there, 
 she asked more about Minnie, and then she said she 
 had decided never to marry. She said she liked to 
 be polite to men and help them pass the time, and 
 to assist them in worthy works, but further than 
 that she despised the whole lot of them, especially 
 blonds." Rosanna looked up to see what color hair 
 Uncle Robert had, and noticed a very queer look 
 on his face. 
 
 " You look so queer, Uncle Robert," she said 
 tenderly. "Don't you feel well?" 
 
 " No, I don't," said Uncle Robert. " I think if 
 you will excuse me I will take a walk." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 "How do you feel? " persisted Rosanna. 
 
 " I feel I feel queer" said Uncle Robert. " I 
 feel sort of as though I had been gassed." 
 
 He turned abruptly and went down the walk, 
 leaving Rosanna staring after him. At dinner, 
 however, Uncle Robert declared that he was all 
 right, so Rosanna stopped worrying. 
 
 Everything went rushing along. And everything 
 went beautifully, thanks to the energy everybody 
 put into their work. A couple of days before the 
 day of the entertainment Uncle Robert appeared 
 with a copy of the programs that he had had 
 printed. All the Girl Scouts, when Rosanna 
 brought it to the rehearsal, read it until the paper 
 was quite worn out. At the bottom of the page, 
 after the program part, was printed plainly, Given 
 ~by the Oirl Scouts of Group II. Whoever saw the 
 program at all could not fail to see that they were 
 all in it, one as much as another. 
 
 At last the great day came! It was Saturday, 
 of course. No other day would be possible for busy 
 school girls. Directly after supper, the Scouts 
 commenced to file into the theatre by ones and 
 twos and threes. They gathered in the dressing- 
 rooms back of the stage, where they sat or stood 
 in solemn groups. Helen and Elise had arrived, 
 and as Rosanna started across the garden she hap< 
 pened to think of Mr. Harriman. She could not 
 suppress a groan of dismay as she remembered her 
 promise to go after him. There was no time to get 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Helen or Elise to go. She looked wildly up and 
 down for some other Girl Scout, but there was not 
 one in sight. If she did not go, Mr. Harriman 
 would indeed think that all women were alike. So 
 she flitted down the street looking like a good fairy 
 in her shimmering blue dress, with the tiny wreath 
 of forget-me-nots banding her dark hair. She had 
 not taken time to put on her blue evening coat, with 
 its broad bands of white fox fur, but held it round 
 her shoulders with both hands as she ran. 
 
 Mr. Harriman was at home, the footman said, but 
 he was engaged ; had company for dinner, and they 
 liad not quite finished. Would she wait? 
 
 Rosanna said she was sorry but she would have 
 to go right in and speak to Mr. Harriman. So 
 she passed the pompous servant and at the dining- 
 room door a still more pompous butler, and stepped 
 into the presence of Mr. Harriman and his guests. 
 
 Miss Harriman, a thin, scared little old lady, sat 
 at the head of the table. Opposite her, busy with 
 a large dish of plum pudding, sat Mr. Harriman. 
 His two guests sat on either side of him. They 
 were old too, so three white-haired old gentlemen 
 turned and looked at Rosanna as she entered and 
 dropped a curtsey. 
 
 " 'Devening ! There you are again ! Grrrrrr ! 
 Didn't forget, did you? Bah! Want I should go 
 to show? " said Mr. Harriman, partly to Rosanna 
 and partly to the others. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; this is the night," said Rosanna. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " What's this? " asked one of the gentlemen, who 
 looked as though he could not have said grrmr 
 or bah to save his life. 
 
 " That's a Girl Scout," said Mr. Harriman. 
 " Told you at the club that I would find out about 
 'em. Here's a live one. Caught her myself." He 
 acted quite pleased. 
 
 " Shall I wait and walk over with you, Mr. Harri- 
 man," asked Rosanna, " or will you come as soon 
 as you can? You see I must be over there very 
 early." 
 
 " I will come m'self," said Mr. Harriman. 
 "Want piece puddin'? No? S'good! I will 
 come later. Won't break my word. Didn't break 
 yours. Bring these fellows along if they have any 
 money." 
 
 "How much will we need?" said the third old 
 gentleman, laughing. 
 
 "Anything from a nickel up," replied Rosanna. 
 
 " Cost you a quarter," said Mr. Harriman. 
 " Cosgrove, here, will have to pay thirty-five cents. 
 Based on income tax ! " 
 
 Rosanna, watching him, thought she saw a real 
 twinkle in Mr. Harriman's eye. She warned them 
 to be on time and promised to save three seats for 
 them in the front row. Then she went skipping 
 happily off. Three instead of one to come to the 
 play, two quarters, and thirty-five cents made 
 eighty-five cents right there! It was enough to 
 make anyone skip. When she reached the barn 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 people were filing up the broad stairs, and the room 
 was already half full. Uncle Robert stood near 
 the door nodding and smiling and telling the Girl 
 Scout ushers where to seat one and another. Ro- 
 sanna hurriedly wrote " Taken " on the backs of 
 three tickets, and laid them on three spaces on the 
 bench nearest the stage. As people kept coming, 
 she commenced to wonder if there would be seats 
 enough. She whispered her fear to Uncle Robert. 
 
 " That's all right," he said. " I have one of the 
 box stalls downstairs full of camp chairs, and the 
 sign painter is here to help me bring them up if 
 chey are needed." 
 
 " You think of everything," said Rosanna fondly, 
 then set herself to watch the door for Mr. Harri- 
 man. It was not long before she heard the clump, 
 clump, clump of his cane and the heavy footsteps 
 of his two friends. She escorted them proudly to 
 their seats, and left them nodding appreciatively 
 at the bright curtain and all the fittings of the little 
 theatre. Then she hurried around back of the 
 stage. 
 
 " They came, eighty-five cents' worth ! " she whis- 
 pered to Helen. 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 " Mr. Harriman is here and two of his friends," 
 said Rosanna. " And Mr. Harriman and one 
 friend will give twenty-five cents, and the other 
 will give thirty-five." 
 
 " Good ! " said Helen. " How do I look? Is the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 place filling up? Have you seen the music Doctor 
 Rick sent? Five pieces! They have just come. 
 They are down in the feed room getting their in- 
 struments out. Oh, I am so excited! And it is 
 all to make Gwenny well." 
 
 " I am going out now," said Rosanna. " I wish 
 you could all sit out in front. It does not seem 
 fair for me to do so." 
 
 " It is fair," Helen assured her. " Didn't you 
 write the whole play? Of course you must see 
 that it is played right." 
 
 When Rosanna appeared she glanced at Mr. 
 Harriman and was surprised to have him beckon 
 her to him. 
 
 " Sit here," he said, making a small but sufficient 
 space between himself and one of his friends 
 the thirty-five cent one, Rosanna noticed. She sat 
 down, and as she did so the music started off with 
 a flourish. How splendidly it sounded! It quite 
 drowned the sound of people entering. Uncle Rob- 
 ert, and the sign painter, and a couple of brothers 
 belonging to one of the girls were busy bringing 
 camp chairs and placing them in the wide aisle and 
 along the sides. Two bright red spots burned on 
 Rosanna's cheeks. 
 
 She looked at her wrist watch. In five minutes 
 it would begin. And it did. 
 
 A row of Girl Scouts in crisp, natty looking 
 uniforms, marching according to size, so that the 
 large girls were in the center of the stage, came 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 out before the curtain and sang one of their best 
 Girl Scout songs. Their voices were so sweet and 
 they sang so well that they had to return and give 
 an encore. Mr. Harriman pounded with his cane. 
 
 Then the Webster girls, dressed as fairies, came 
 out and danced what the program called the Moon- 
 beam Dance, and behold, Uncle Robert had fixed 
 a spot light so they looked pink and white and 
 purple and blue by turns and it was like a real 
 theatre. 
 
 There was so much applause alter this that Ro- 
 sanna could not help wondering if it was a good 
 strong barn ! 
 
 Then there was a short pause while the orchestra 
 played. 
 
 As it ended, Uncle Robert appeared before the 
 curtain. He looked so beautiful to Rosanna in his 
 evening dress with his merry eyes and pleasant 
 smile, that her eyes filled with tears of pride. And 
 he made a beautiful simple little speech. He told 
 the audience a great deal about the Girl Scouts 
 and all the good the organization was doing for 
 the girls and others as well, and then he told of 
 the little lame girl, suffering so hopelessly and so 
 patiently, and how these Girl Scouts had deter- 
 mined to help her. He told them there was no 
 price set on the tickets, because some might feel 
 like giving ten cents or even a quarter or so but 
 that no one was asked to leave more than a nickel. 
 And then he called their attention to the beautiful 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 curtain and told them that that and the scenery was 
 the gift of a friend who was a sign painter, who 
 had done it Sundays and nights after work as his 
 contribution to the benefit, and everybody clapped 
 furiously, and Mr. Harriman and the thirty-five 
 cent gentleman commenced to nudge each other 
 behind Rosanna. She was sitting on the very front 
 edge of the bench. 
 
 Then Uncle Robert said: 
 
 tc After another short selection by the orchestra 
 there will be a play written by one of the Girl 
 Scouts. We hope that you will enjoy it." He 
 bowed, and stepped behind the curtain, while every- 
 body clapped and Mr. Harriman thumped with his 
 cane. 
 
 As the orchestra struck up, the thirty-five cent 
 gentleman leaned over to Mr. Harriman and said, 
 " What are you going to do about it, Dick? " 
 
 " Do 'swell 's you do," said Mr. Harriman. 
 
 "Just as much?" questioned the thirty-five cent 
 gentleman. 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Harriman, snorting. "And 
 fifty over ! " 
 
 " I will break even with you both," said the third 
 gentleman, leaning across. 
 
 Mr. Cosgrove took out a check book and a foun- 
 tain pen and commenced to write. Mr. Harriman 
 leaned behind Rosanna and watched. 
 
 " Poh ! Hum ! Grrrrrr ! Piker ! " he said, and 
 Mr. Cosgrove, laughing, tore up his check and wrote 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 another which he handed to Mr. Harriman. Ro- 
 sanna did not think it would be polite to look, but 
 wondered what in the world they were doing when 
 they should have been listening to the music. 
 
 "S'all right/' said Mr. Harriman. "Girl's 
 pretty lame, isn't she, Rosanna? " 
 
 " Gwenny can't walk at all," replied Rosanna, 
 "and even at night her back hurts so she can't 
 sleep." 
 
 " Poor little broken pot," said the third gentle- 
 man softly. " A pity that the hand of the Potter 
 slipped." 
 
 " Save your poetry, Bristol ! " grunted Mr. Harri- 
 man. " This talks better." He struck the check 
 book with his pen, and Mr. Bristol, borrowing a 
 page, wrote busily as the curtain rose. 
 
 Rosanna, hoping they would forget business for 
 awhile, bent her eyes on the stage. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 As the play progressed Rosanna commenced to 
 doubt her own senses. It did not seem possible 
 that she could have written anything so good and 
 so interesting. 
 
 When the act ended, there was a louder burst 
 of applause than at any other time, and to Ro- 
 sanna's horror some one in the back of the room 
 commenced to cry, "Author, author !" Rosanna 
 did not realize at first that they meant her and was 
 looking around the room with a great deal of in- 
 terest when she felt both Mr. Harriman and Mr. 
 Cosgrove pushing her to her feet. She stood up 
 because they shoved her up, and she did not know 
 what to do next. 
 
 Then the most amazing thing of all happened. 
 
 Mr. Harriman rose to his feet and taking Ro- 
 sanna firmly by the arm as though she might dash 
 off any instant, he started toward the three little 
 steps at one side of the stage. Up these steps he 
 sternly piloted Rosanna, while everyone in the room 
 clapped and clapped again. All of Louisville knew 
 Mr. Harriman, and when everybody saw that he 
 was escorting the little girl who had written the 
 play, they sat quite still to see what would 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 next. When they reached the stage and stood fac- 
 ing the audience, someone called, " Speech, 
 speech ! " but that was Vay, Vay beyond Rosanna, 
 who was perfectly overcome anyway. She looked 
 pleadingly at Mr. Harriman, who knew what she 
 meant, and took pity on her. 
 
 " Hum, grrrrrr," he commenced. " Ladies and 
 gentlemen, this little lady, who is the author and 
 producer of the play you have just seen, asks me 
 to speak for her. She thanks you for your appre- 
 ciation, and for the help you are giving to herself 
 and these other generous Girl Scouts in their efforts 
 to assist a girl less fortunate than themselves. 
 You have heard about the little cripple who is to 
 be benefited by the work of these girls, and I think 
 we, the audience fortunate enough to be present 
 at this memorable occasion, will esteem it a pleas- 
 ure to do what we can toward making it possible for 
 this little sufferer to obtain a possible cure through 
 a very serious and expensive operation. We thank 
 you. Grrrrrr ! " He glared at Mr. Cosgrove and 
 Mr. Bristol, and bowed. Rosanna dipped a hasty 
 curtsey, and they went off the stage again as every- 
 body clapped and the music struck up the j oiliest 
 piece they knew. The entertainment was over! 
 
 Back with Mr. Cosgrove and Mr. Bristol, each 
 old gentleman shook hands with Rosanna and 
 started for the door, where Uncle Robert, intent 
 on the most important part of all, sat at the table 
 on which was a shoe box with a slot cut in the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 cover. He was smiling and beaming and saying, 
 " Thank you ! " over and over as people congratu- 
 lated him on Rosanna's play. Miss Hooker stood 
 beside him looking so sweet and true and pretty 
 that when Mr. Harriman came up and looked at 
 her, and started to say " Grrrrrr," it actually 
 sounded like a purr! He hastily shoved something 
 white through the slot, and Mr. Cosgrove and Mr. 
 Bristol followed him, looking very guilty. 
 
 Then Mr. Harriman turned back. 
 
 "Absolutely confidential, Horton! No news- 
 papers ! " he said. 
 
 " Absolutely, sir, and thank you," said Uncle Rob- 
 ert, bowing to the three. He commenced to suspect 
 something ! 
 
 Miss Hooker stooped to whisper something to 
 Robert. As soon as the last person had left the 
 hall, he obeyed the whisper, and taking the precious 
 box, which was sealed with red sealing wax where 
 the cover went on, he went behind the scenes. All 
 the girls were there, as well as the sign-painter 
 and the two brothers. These three looked im- 
 mensely relieved when a fourth member of their 
 sex appeared. Mrs. Hargrave was there too, and 
 she was inviting everyone to walk over to her house 
 and have something to eat. She said she believed 
 it was customary after the first presentation of a 
 play. 
 
 When some of the girls said they would have to 
 go home with their folks on account of getting home 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 with escort, Mrs. Hargrave at once added that she 
 had arranged with Mrs. Horton to send the girls 
 home in their automobiles. 
 
 So very soon they were all in Mrs. Hargrave's im- 
 mense dining-room, sitting in chairs ranged round 
 the room and being served chicken bouillon and 
 sandwiches, and fruit salad, and olives, and cocoa, 
 and ice-creain with whipped cream on top. All 
 they could eat of each thing too! 
 
 " I can't wait to see the inside of that box," said 
 Mrs. Hargrave after all the Girl Scouts and the 
 sign painter and the two brothers had said good 
 night and thank you, and had gone. "What if 
 these children of ours do have to sleep half the 
 day tomorrow? Telephone your mother, Miss 
 Hooker, that you are here with me, and that you 
 will be home presently, and we will go into the 
 library and watch Robert count the money. And 
 whatever is lacking, when it comes to settling for 
 that operation, Mrs. Horton and I intend to make 
 up." 
 
 Robert Horton laughed. 
 
 " I have an idea that you are on the safe side 
 of the bargain, dear lady," he said. " I think this 
 box will surprise us." 
 
 " How much do you suppose is in it? " asked 
 Miss Hooker as she started for the telephone. " A 
 hundred dollars? " 
 
 " Five hundred at the least," answered Uncle 
 Robert. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Everybody started to hurry for the library at 
 that as though the money in the box would have 
 to be counted as rapidly as possible for fear it might 
 fly away. 
 
 Uncle Robert happened to sit beside Miss Hooker 
 again, but Rosanna sat on the other side. He cut 
 the sealing wax and opened the box. There was 
 all sorts of silver money there except nickels! 
 There was not one nickel. Dimes, quarters, fifty- 
 cent pieces, and silver dollars, but not a nickel. 
 
 Uncle Robert placed the coins in neat piles, then 
 he commenced to stack the paper money. After he 
 had done this, he sorted out five checks, which he 
 laid by themselves quite respectfully, face down. 
 
 Then he drew out a pencil and paper and com- 
 menced to count. No one spoke. At the last, still 
 keeping the faces of the five checks out of sight, he 
 added them in, covered the paper with his hand, 
 and looked up. He seemed dazed. 
 
 " HOTV much do you think? " he demanded. 
 
 " Don't make us guess, Robert," said his mother. 
 
 " Two thousand, two hundred and thirty -four dol- 
 lars and twenty-five cents," he said slowly. 
 
 " Impossible ! " exclaimed Mrs. Hargrave sharply. 
 
 Miss Hooker gave a gasp. The girls, perfectly 
 round-eyed, sat silent. 
 
 " There it is ! " said Mr. Horton. " Mr. Bristol 
 and Mr. Cosgrove each gave a check for five hun- 
 dred dollars, and Mr. Harriman wrote his for five 
 hundred and fifty." 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Mrs. Horton sniffed. 
 
 " Dick Harriman never gave twenty-five dollars 
 to anything like this in his life," she said. 
 
 " Well, here is his check," declared her son. 
 
 " So that is where the fifty came in," said Ro- 
 sanna, finding her voice. She repeated the conver- 
 sation she had heard. Everybody laughed. 
 
 " Poor Dick ! " said Mrs. Hargrave. " He doesn't 
 feel well, and his bark is so bad that I doubt if 
 anyone ever before stopped to see what his bite was 
 like until Rosanna tried. I reckon he is happier 
 tonight than he has been for a long while. He 
 would think it was a great joke, too, to cajole Henry 
 Bristol and Clinton Cosgrove into giving that 
 money. Well, they can afford it many times over, 
 so it will do them all good." 
 
 " Too bad Rick MacLaren isn't here," said Uncle 
 Robert. " He has a sick patient on hand, and 
 couldn't come. I will tell him the first thing in 
 the morning." 
 
 " And these girls must go to bed," said Mrs. Hor- 
 ton. "Are you going to stay with Rosanna, 
 Helen?" 
 
 " I think I will just have to go home and tell 
 mother and father about it if there is any w r ay for 
 me to get there," replied Helen. 
 
 " If Miss Hooker feels like the extra walk, we 
 will take you on our way to her house," said Uncle 
 Robert easrerlv. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " I would love it," said Miss Hooker obligingly. 
 
 Rosanna marvelled. 
 
 Miss Hooker lived blocks away from Helen, in 
 the opposite direction, but as the older people said 
 nothing, Rosanna kept silence. At all events the 
 benefit was over, and her Uncle Robert would no 
 longer feel obliged to spend all his time with a mere 
 girl, because no matter how lovely, Rosanna knew 
 that he didn't care for girls. 
 
 A number of girls ranging in age from twelve 
 to sixteen were busy repeating in a number of 
 homes that night just how they had felt at different 
 times during the evening, and explaining to less 
 fortunate brothers and sisters how good everything 
 had tasted afterwards. And Sunday morning, a 
 great many mothers had a difficult time getting 
 their Girl Scout daughters awake. 
 
 Rosanna had a long talk with Uncle Bob. She 
 wanted to know what was going to be done about 
 the money. 
 
 "I have been thinking about that," said Uncle 
 Robert. " I will put it in the bank the first thing 
 tomorrow morning. I shall put it in the office bank 
 for safe keeping until then." 
 
 " Do you suppose it will take all of it for 
 Gwenny's operation? " asked Rosanna. 
 
 " No, I do not," Robert replied, " but of course 
 Doctor Branshaw is a very high priced specialist, 
 and he sets his own fees." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " If he knew that Gwenny was a poor little girl 
 and that the Girl Scouts were taking care of her, 
 I wonder if it would make any difference? " 
 
 Uncle Robert shook his head. " I don't believe 
 I would ask a favor of anyone, now that you have 
 earned such a lot of money. Just go ahead and 
 pay her way like good sports. At that, with the 
 hospital charges and nurses paid, I think you may 
 have a little left over. If we have, we will have 
 to find the best way to spend it for Gwenny. I 
 want to consult with Miss Hooker about it later 
 if she is not too tired." 
 
 " Consult again ! Oh, poor Uncle Robert ! " said 
 Rosanna compassionately. " I thought that was 
 all over with." 
 
 " It is not as painful as you seem to think," said 
 Uncle Robert dryly. " At all events, my health is 
 not breaking under the strain. I never knew you 
 to fuss so, Rosanna. Just what have you up your 
 sleeve anyhow? Don't you like your Captain after 
 all?" 
 
 " Oh, I perfectly love her," cried Rosanna 
 warmly. " You don't know how sweet she is, Uncle 
 Robert! And she is such a good Captain. Every 
 girl in the patrol loves her and will do anything 
 in the world for her." 
 
 Seeing that Uncle Robert appeared to be listen- 
 ing, Rosanna went on warming to her subject. 
 
 " At the Rally, I heard one of the ladies say that 
 our Captain was considered the best one in all the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 city. And she looks so young; just like one of the 
 girls when she gets into her Scout uniform. When 
 we are on hikes, she runs around and plays with 
 us and joins all our games. Oh, yes, Uncle Robert, 
 I do love her dearly ! " 
 
 " I don't know but what I do myself," admitted 
 Uncle Robert unexpectedly. 
 
 "Why, Uncle Robert!" said Rosanna in a 
 shocked tone. " What a thing for you to ^ay ! " 
 
 Uncle Robert wondered if he had made a mistake. 
 It was not the sort of a remark he would want 
 repeated. So he made another mistake. 
 
 "Wasn't it? A joke, Rosanna; just a merry 
 jest. Thought you would laugh over it. Ha ha! 
 Ha ha!" 
 
 " Ha ha ! " repeated Rosanna to be agreeable. 
 Sometimes Uncle Robert was rather disappointing. 
 " But she is lovely anyway, and has loads and 
 loads of friends, and, Uncle Robert, I think she 
 has a sweetheart because boxes and boxes of flowers 
 come to her, and she just keeps a little one to wear, 
 and sends all the rest to the hospital. And lovely 
 books come by mail and the fattest letters! One 
 had poetry in it, too. I could tell by the shape of 
 the writing down the page." 
 
 " Don't snoop, Rosanna," said Uncle Robert 
 sharply. 
 
 " I didn't, Uncle Robert," said Rosanna in a hurt 
 tone. " She was sitting close to me on the sofa, 
 and I couldn't help seeing. She liked it too, be- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 cause she smiled so sweetly and showed all her 
 dimples, even the one that almost never comes out." 
 
 "What a little ray of sunshine you are, Ro- 
 sanna ! " said her uncle strangely. 
 
 " Thank you ; a Girl Scout ought to be/' replied 
 Rosanna. 
 
 " Well, you are, all right, sweetness," said Uncle 
 Robert. He sighed deeply almost as though the 
 ray of sunshine had not come his way at all. He 
 kissed Rosanna and then sat her down rather hard 
 in a deep chair. " I don't know when I have felt 
 so cheered up. And now, if you would like to call 
 the garage and order the little car for me, I will 
 go around to see Doctor MacLaren and tell him 
 the good news of our fortune. And on second 
 thoughts, I don't believe I will have to consult with 
 Miss Hooker at all. I think perhaps you are right. 
 I have bothered her enough." 
 
 " She has been very polite and kind about it all, 
 hasn't tshe?" asked Rosanna. 
 
 " Most polite and kind," Mr. Horton agreed. 
 " But we don't want to wear her kindness out, do 
 we, Rosanna? I will go see Rick, and in a day 
 or two my part of this affair will be finished. And 
 I won't have to bother anybody. I am thinking 
 of a little trip out West, Rosanna. I wish you 
 could go with me." 
 
 " I wish I could ! " said Rosanna, " but grand- 
 mother wouldn't want me to leave school, and be- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 sides I couldn't leave the Scouts just now. Where 
 do you think of going, Uncle Robert? " 
 
 " Nowhere in particular, unless " he thought 
 a moment. " It might be fun to look up some place 
 where they had never heard of the Girl Scouts." 
 
 "Perfectly splendid!" said Rosanna. " That 
 would be doing a good deed. You could tell the 
 people about us, and start a patrol. I must tell 
 Miss Hooker about this ; she will think it is so nice 
 of you. She appreciates kind acts, even if she 
 doesn't like men." 
 
 " It is not worth mentioning, Rosanna," answered 
 Uncle Robert. " Besides, I didn't have just that 
 in mind. However, I hear the car and will leave 
 you before before I do anything I regret." 
 
 He went off, and Rosanna watched him through 
 the window as he started his car. He was real 
 jerky with it, and it sputtered and missed, and went 
 off with a leap. 
 
 " He is all tired out/' thought Rosanna, 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TIME passed, a great many things happening. 
 Gwenny, accompanied by her mother (there being- 
 plenty of money for everything), was taken away 
 to the place of her great trial. When the question 
 arose as to what should be done with Mary and 
 Tommy and Myron and Luella and Baby Christo- 
 pher, Rosanna thought of Minnie, always so good 
 and kind. She went to see her, and the result was 
 that Minnie volunteered to stay at Gwenny's and 
 run the little house and take care of the children 
 as long as Mrs. Harter was needed in Cincinnati. 
 Both Doctor MacLaren and Mr. Horton went with 
 Mrs. Harter and Gwenny, and made the journey 
 as comfortable as they possibly could. The great 
 Doctor Branshaw, after seeing his patient, said that 
 she must have at least a week of rest under his 
 own eye before he would be willing to try the op- 
 eration. So Gwenny was settled in a sunny room 
 at the hospital where she at once became the pet 
 of the ward and Doctor MacLaren and Mr. Horton 
 came home. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, the very next Sunday, 
 Mr. Horton came into the house looking the picture 
 of gloom. He scarcely spoke to his mother and 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Rosanna but rushed up to his room and immedi- 
 ately there was a sound of things being dragged 
 around, and many footsteps. And the door opened 
 and shut a great many times. Mrs. Horton won- 
 dered what that boy was up to now and went on 
 reading. But Rosanna listened with a black sus- 
 picion growing in her mind. 
 
 And, sure enough, Mr. Horton came down pres- 
 ently to announce that he was going away for a 
 few weeks. He was getting stale, he said, and 
 needed a little change. When he saw Rosanna's 
 round eyes fixed on him, he looked away but re- 
 peated that he felt stale. 
 
 " It is that War," said his mother, as though 
 the war should be severely reprimanded. " Before 
 you went into that war, you were always contented. 
 Now nothing contents you for long." 
 
 " Perhaps you are right/' admitted Robert ab- 
 sently. " At all events I can be spared from the 
 office just now better than at any other time, and 
 I am going to go away." 
 
 And go he did an hour later. Mrs. Hargrave 
 and Elise came in presently to take Sunday night 
 luncheon. 
 
 "Where is Robert?" asked Mrs. Hargrave, see- 
 ing that no place was set for him. 
 
 " Gone off for a vacation," said his mother. 
 
 " Dear me, isn't he well? " asked Mrs. Hargrave. 
 
 " Perfectly, but he just took one of his notions 
 and went." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Anything er happened, do you suppose? " 
 questioned Mrs. Hargrave. " Anything er, you 
 know. Misunderstanding? " 
 
 " Possibly," answered Mrs. Horton. " That is 
 what I suspect. But I don't know anything." 
 
 " Oh dear, oh dear ! " cried Mrs. Hargrave, fold- 
 ing her fine old hands together. " It is too bad ! 
 Can't something be done? Why, Robert is the 
 finest boy in this world ! He is just what I dream 
 my son would have been if I had had one. Do 
 you suppose one could say anything to the other 
 person ? " 
 
 " No, indeed," said Mrs. Horton. " I don't know, 
 you see. I only suspect." 
 
 So Uncle Robert went away, and Gwenny was 
 off at the hospital, and Rosanna and Helen spent 
 all their time drilling Elise in r the requirements 
 of the Tenderfoot examination. Elise was quick 
 to learn, but she found more difficulty in learning 
 this because her knowledge of English was of course 
 limited. The girls were anxious to make a brilliant 
 showing with their recruit. 
 
 Over and over they drilled her in the Tenderfoot 
 examination, at the last requiring her to write the 
 answers to the examination paper which read as 
 follows : 
 
 TENDERFOOT EXAMINATION, 
 
 WRITTEN. 
 
 "* a Give the Scout promise. 
 
 b What does the Scout motto mean? 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 2 Give the Scout laws in order. 
 
 3 a What is the purpose of the Scout movement? 
 b What does a Scout's honor mean? 
 
 c Give the meaning of one law. 
 
 d How and when should the Scout salute be given? 
 
 e Explain the Scout badge. 
 
 4 a Who made the American flag? 
 b Why was a flag needed? 
 
 c In what city was it made? What year? 
 d Name the committee appointed to design it. 
 
 5 a Quote General Washington's words about the flag. 
 b When was the flag officially adopted? 
 
 c Describe the first official flag of the stars and stripes. 
 
 6 a What do the stars represent? The stripes? 
 
 b For what do the colors, red, white and blue stand? 
 
 C How many stars has the flag now? What day is Flag 
 
 day? 
 d When is a new star added and why? 
 
 7 Give fully the respect due the flag. 
 
 8 a What should Scouts do when the National Anthem is 
 
 played ? 
 b What should Civilians do at Retreat? Scouts? 
 
 9 a What is the United States Government? 
 b Who is at its head? 
 
 c Name the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. 
 10 a Write America. 
 
 b Write The Star Spangled Banner (omitting 3rd stanza). 
 
 Then followed the demonstration of knots and 
 knot tying. Over and over they drilled her, and 
 Elise was an apt pupil. Her delicate little fingers 
 seemed to know of themselves what to do. 
 
 " I am glad she is to write that examination," 
 sighed Helen the day before Elise was to go to Cap- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALL? 
 
 tain Hooker and take her examination formally. 
 She was to be examined on Friday afternoon, 
 and at the meeting Saturday night she was to 
 become a Tenderfoot Scout member of their 
 patrol. 
 
 "What difference does it make whether she 
 writes the exam, or recites her answers? " returned 
 Kosanna. " She speaks brokenly, of course, but 
 that does not matter." 
 
 " All it matters is that no one could hear her 
 speak of General Washington the way she does in 
 her funny broken English, without wanting to 
 scream. It is so funny." 
 
 Funny or not, Elise went through her examina- 
 tion most successfully and Saturday night accom- 
 panied Helen and Eosanna to the meeting at Miss 
 Hooker's house. Their little Captain had fitted up 
 a room specially for her girls, where they could 
 keep their various documents and where the seats, 
 the neat desk for the secretary, and the standard 
 for the big silk flag did not need to be disturbed 
 in the intervals between meetings. 
 
 Elise was thrilled beyond words. 
 
 As they entered the room she saw that the two 
 girls saluted their little Captain. Not knowing if 
 she was expected to salute before becoming a Scout, 
 Elise dropped a shy curtsey and followed Rosanna 
 to a seat where they awaited the full number of 
 Scouts and the shrill whistle from the Lieutenant 
 which brought the meeting to order. 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 " The first whistle means Attention/' whispered 
 Helen. 
 
 Once again it sounded. 
 
 " That is for Assembly," whispered Eosanna on 
 the other side, as all the girls rose. 
 
 Leaving Elise in her seat, the Scouts formed in 
 double ranks at a distance of forty inches between 
 ranks and an interval of sixty inches between 
 patrols. 
 
 The eight girls who formed a patrol took their 
 places in groups as signified by the crosses. 
 
 Patrol Patrol Patrol 
 
 XXXX XXXX XXXX 
 
 XXXX XXXX XXXX 
 
 Captain X X Lieutenant 
 
 Elise found out afterward that number one in 
 the front rank of each patrol is the Patrol leader, 
 and number four the Corporal. 
 
 At the command "Company, attention!" from 
 the little Captain, now standing so straight and so 
 stern that Elise scarcely recognized her, the Com- 
 pany as a whole stiffened to attention. 
 
 The Lieutenant, a tall, pretty girl of nineteen, 
 then commanded, " Corporals from Patrols ! " and 
 the three Corporals stepped forward two paces, 
 made two right turns, and stood facing the center of 
 the patrol. The Corporals then snapped out to- 
 gether, " Attention ! Right Dress ! " after which 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 they faced left, took two paces, made right turn, 
 right face, and looked critically down the line to see 
 that it was perfectly straight. After two short left 
 steps to straighten the rear line, they faced right, 
 took four paces forward, and with two right turns 
 got back in position facing patrol and called the 
 command " Front ! Count off ! " 
 
 The Corporals then one after the other called 
 the roll of her Patrol, and finishing that, turned 
 and reported to the Lieutenant that the Patrol 
 was formed, after which they returned to their 
 places in the ranks, and the Lieutenant, saluting 
 the Captain, reported, " Captain, the Company is 
 formed." 
 
 Inspection then followed. Each girl, saluting, 
 stepped forward and her hair, teeth, hands, nails, 
 shoes and general appearance was scrutinized. 
 
 Elise watched all this with great interest, interest 
 which deepened as the Captain commanded " Color 
 guard, march ! " and three girls stepped from the 
 ranks and stood side by side for a moment, then at 
 a word of command marched to the flag. There 
 they saluted and marched back ; when the Captain 
 and the Lieutenant faced about, and the Captain 
 in her silvery voice said : 
 
 " The Flag of your Country ; pledge allegiance ! " 
 
 With one voice the girls united in the beautiful 
 pledge to the flag, " I pledge allegiance to the flag, 
 and to the republic for which it stands ; one nation 
 indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 Elise looked at the silken folds of the glorious 
 red, white and blue with tears in her eyes. How 
 glad she was to make that pledge ! Had not that 
 flag, the flag that was now her own, floated over 
 the shell-racked fields of France? Oh, she loved 
 it! 
 
 The color guard returned, and the fresh young 
 voices rose in the first verse of America. 
 
 " Scouts, your promise ! " said the Captain. 
 
 " To do my duty to God and to my country. 
 To help other people at all times. 
 To obey the laws of the Scouts," 
 
 the voices rang out. 
 
 " The laws ! " said the Captain. 
 Again the chorus of girls repeated : 
 
 A Girl Scout's honor is to be trusted. 
 
 A Girl Scout is loyal. 
 
 A Girl Scout's duty is to be useful, and help others. 
 
 A Girl Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Girl 
 
 Scout. 
 
 A Girl Scout is courteous. 
 A Girl Scout keeps herself pure. 
 A Girl Scout is a friend to animals. 
 A Girl Scout obeys orders. 
 A Girl Scout is cheerful. 
 A Girl Scout is thrifty. 
 
 " Dismissed ! " said the little Captain and, break- 
 ing ranks, the girls went to their seats where they 
 sat talking in low tones until the sharp sound of 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 the Lieutenant's whistle called them to attention 
 again. 
 
 " Now I do come," said Elise to herself, and her 
 heart commenced to hammer in quite an alarming 
 fashion. But it was not quite time for her to rise. 
 Looking at Rosanna, she saw her give a slight shake 
 of the head, and Elise leaned back in her seat while 
 all the business of the meeting was settled and 
 plans made for some aid for a poor family living 
 near. 
 
 One thing Elise noticed particularly. The girls 
 present were widely different in looks, and Elise 
 with her delicate perceptions saw plainly that they 
 belonged in widely differing classes, so called. A 
 few of the girls, Rosanna among them, had the 
 carefully cared for and delicately nurtured look 
 of the very rich. More were like Helen, clean, 
 carefully groomed and almost precise in her dress 
 and accr series. Others were very evidently poor, 
 with rough little hands that already told the story 
 of hard work and few toilet creams. But whoever 
 they were, they saw no difference in each other. 
 They were Girl Scouts in the fullest and best sense 
 of the word : sisters pledged to each other, and liv- 
 ing up to that pledge in all earnestness and honor. 
 
 Elise, waiting for her summons to go forward, 
 and understanding nothing of the business that was 
 going on, threw her thoughts backward. She saw 
 herself the idolized child of the gay, rich young 
 couple in the great chateau, where long painted 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 lines of powdered and frilled and armor-clad an- 
 cestors looked down at her from the long galleries, 
 and where dozens of willing servants danced to 
 do her bidding. Then the picture changed, and 
 with the roll of drums and the thunder of cannon, 
 she saw the hated foe march across her land, de- 
 stroying as they came. Father, mother, grand- 
 mother, home, riches; all went down as under a 
 devouring tide. Then the promises of her Monsieur 
 Bob, and after long, long weary days spent with 
 the ladies of the Red Cross came the journey into 
 the Unknown, that trip across an ocean that was 
 to forever separate her from a past that was too 
 terrible for a little girl to have known. 
 
 To have found refuge in Mrs. Hargrave's tender 
 arms, to have won such love and such friends 
 to be able to be a Girl Scout 
 
 Elise turned her eyes, brimming with sudden 
 tears, to the flag. 
 
 " Never, never will I zem disappoint ! " she whis- 
 pered tenderly, using as best she could the un-' 
 familiar words of her adopted tongue. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 AT last Elise saw the Captain glance in her 
 direction as the whistle blew once more for atten- 
 tion and the Captain commanded, " Fall in ! " A 
 look of serious interest appeared on the faces of 
 the girls as they formed in a horseshoe, the Captain 
 and the Lieutenant standing in the gap and the 
 American flag spread out before them. 
 
 Elise, with Helen beside her, walked to a place 
 just inside the circle and stood facing the Captain. 
 In the Lieutenant's hands were the staff and hat, 
 the shoulder knot, badge and neckerchief of the 
 Tenderfoot Elise. 
 
 She could not refrain from a glance at them. 
 How she had longed to wear all those things; the 
 insignia of everything she had learned to admire 
 and look up to in the girls of America ! 
 
 " Salute! " said the Captain. 
 
 All saluted Elise, who stood waiting for some 
 order, she did not know what. 
 
 " Forward ! " said the Captain to Helen, and the 
 two girls stepped to the center. 
 
 Regarding Elise with a long, careful glance, and 
 speaking carefully, so the little French girl should 
 miss nothing of the full meaning of her words, the 
 Cantain asked: 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 <f Do you know what your honor means? " 
 
 " Yess," said Elise, finding her voice after what 
 seemed to her an endless time. " Yess, it does mean 
 that always I shall be trusted to be faithful and 
 true and honorable." 
 
 " Can I trust you/' asked the Captain, " on your 
 honor, to be loyal to God and your country, to help 
 other people at all times, and to obey the Scout 
 Law?" 
 
 Elise, coached by Helen and Rosanna, made the 
 half salute in unison with the whole company, as 
 she answered, " I do promise on my honor to be 
 loyal to God and my country, to help other people 
 at all times and to obey the Scout Law." 
 
 " I trust you on your honor to keep this promise," 
 answered the Captain. 
 
 The circle of girls listened with respectful and 
 solemn interest. Well they realized that the vow 
 being given was not an empty or idle one. They 
 knew that it entailed hard work, self-denial, and 
 many hardships. Yet they gloried in it, and 
 silently renewed their own vows as they heard the 
 Tenderfoot make her promises. 
 
 " Invest ! " came the Captain's next order. 
 
 Stepping forward, the Lieutenant gave Elise her 
 staff, and put the hat, handkerchief and knot on 
 her, and smiled as Elise said, " I thank you ! " in 
 her pretty way. 
 
 Then, at a. whispered word, she marched up the 
 line to the Captain who pinned on her trefoil badge 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 and explained that it was an emblem of her Scout 
 "life." If for any misbehavior, the trefoil or 
 " life " must be taken away from her, she would 
 become a dead Scout for the time the Captain or- 
 dered and for that time in disgrace. 
 
 The new Scout was then initiated into all the 
 secret passwords, a proceeding which filled Elise 
 with despair; she felt that she would never be able 
 to remember the queer words and phrases. 
 
 Then with the ceremony of marching back to 
 their proper patrols the ceremony was over, and in 
 a moment the formal meeting was dismissed. 
 
 The girls crowded around, all anxious to meet 
 the new Tenderfoot and welcome her. They talked 
 to her so hard that Elise felt her head whirl. She 
 was glad to hear the voice of the little Captain 
 suggesting a song. She handed a leaflet to Elise, 
 but the girls knew the songs, and gathering in a 
 circle they wanted to know which one to sing. 
 
 " Sing The Long, Long Line" suggested the Cap- 
 tain, and the girls sang: 
 
 THE LONG, LONG LINE 
 
 (Tune: The Long, Long Trail) 
 
 Recruiting song. 
 
 Do you feel a little lonely? 
 
 Are your friends too few? 
 
 Would you like to join some jolly girls 
 
 In the things you think and do? 
 
 Don't you know your Country's waiting? 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Have you heard her call? 
 
 See, the Scouts are crowding 1 , crowding in, 
 
 Where there's room for one and all ! 
 
 CHORUS 
 
 There's a long, long line a-growing, 
 From north to south, east to west, 
 There's a place awaiting in it, too, that you'll fill best. 
 We are sure you'd like to join us 
 If you knew what we can do 
 
 And we'd like, how we'd like to make a good Girl Scout of 
 you. 
 
 It certainly sounded sweet as the fresh young 
 voices blended, and Elise thrilled as she listened. 
 She was having such a good time! All the girls 
 seemed so friendly and so sweet, with the excep- 
 tion of one girl who hung back and on whose face 
 there rested the shadow of discontent and dissat- 
 isfaction. Elise found herself wondering about 
 her ; she seemed so out of place in that happy, merry 
 throng. But none of the other girls appeared to 
 notice that one of their number sat apart and oc- 
 cupied herself rather ostentatiously over a book. 
 
 They were all so busy making the evening pass 
 pleasantly for the charming new Tenderfoot who 
 responded so prettily to their advances that no one 
 spoke or looked at the silent Scout, but presently 
 Elise noticed that the little Captain sat down beside 
 her and compelled her attention. Even then the 
 girl looked as though she preferred to be let alone. 
 
 For a long while, the girls sat and told Elise 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 about their work and play and the camping in sum- 
 mer and the delightful hikes all the year. Finally 
 it came time to go home and some one called for 
 another song. 
 
 " Which shall it be, Elise? " asked Helen. " You 
 choose one of the songs. " 
 
 " I see one follows the air of the Old Colored 
 Joe/' said Elise. " I do know that loving song. 
 Please to sing that ; and if I may, I will try to sing 
 it also." 
 
 " Of course we will sing that, you dear," laughed 
 the tall young Lieutenant, and together they sang : 
 
 WE'RE COMING 
 
 (Tune: Old Black Joe) 
 
 Camping Song. 
 
 I 
 
 Come where the lake lies gleaming in the sun; 
 
 Come where the days are filled with work and fun. 
 
 Come where the moon hangs out her evening lamp; 
 
 The Scouts are trooping, trooping, trooping back to camp. 
 
 CHORUS 
 
 We're coming! We're coming! To the lakes, the hills, the 
 
 sea! 
 Old Mother Nature calls her children you and me. 
 
 II 
 
 Come where we learn the wisdom of the wood; 
 Come where we prove that simple things are good, 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Come where we pledge allegiance to our land; 
 America, you've called your daughters here we stand. 
 
 CHORUS 
 
 We're coming! We're coming! 'Til we spread from sea to 
 
 sea, 
 Our country needs us wants us calls us you and me! 
 
 " That is so most lovely/' said Elise as the song 
 was finished, never for a moment realizing that her 
 own pure and bell-like voice had added richness and 
 beauty to the song. 
 
 The other girls looked at each other and smiled. 
 Here was indeed a find. Never had there come a 
 Scout to the council with such a wonderful voice. 
 They felt that the pretty young Tenderfoot was a 
 great acquisition to their number. So they all 
 crowded around and said good night, all but the 
 silent Scout who had not joined in the jollity. 
 Elise and Rosanna and Helen filled the two auto- 
 mobiles that were waiting for them with the girls. 
 Never, never had those big cars been so crowded. 
 Certainly they had never held happier passengers. 
 But there was no noise or boisterousness, no sing- 
 ing or whistling. The girls chatted in tones that 
 were agreeably low and as each one reached her 
 destination, she thanked Rosanna or Elise. When 
 the last passenger in the Hargrave car had been 
 set down, Elise leaned back in a corner and thought 
 deeply. She was happy beyond words. 
 
 To do good to someone every day ; that was part 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 of her pledge. Such an easy part! But it was 
 hard not to be good when everyone was so good 
 to her. Then suddenly she thought of the sulky 
 face of the girl at the meeting. 
 
 All the time she was telling Mrs. Hargrave about 
 the installation and the songs, and trying them 
 over for her, she saw the dark, discontented face 
 before her. She could not feel perfectly happy 
 because somehow the face seemed to send her a 
 message. " Help me ; help me ! " Elise heard in 
 her soul. But what could she, a stranger, a girl 
 who could scarcely speak the new language, what 
 could she do for that girl? And besides, why did 
 she need help? Elise, whose bright eyes saw every- 
 thing, had noted the beautiful silk stockings, the 
 texture of the black hair ribbon, and at the last, 
 the expensive fur that edged her coat. Also a car 
 had come for her, in which she went off alone. It 
 was not poverty, at all events, decided Elise. She 
 could walk; she was not lame like the poor little 
 blond in the corner. As Elise thought it over, she 
 puzzled more and more. She decided to ask Ko- 
 sanna or Helen next day; then a better decision 
 came to her. She would find out for herself. No 
 one should tell her. Then if she made any mistake, 
 why, the mistake would be hers. 
 
 But the next day but one the plot thickened. 
 She went over with Kosanna to see Miss Hooker 
 about some Scout work, and as they stood on the 
 steps waiting for the door to open, it did open with 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 a jerk, and the girl Elise had been worrying about 
 dashed down the steps and into her limousine. 
 Her face was disfigured with tears. 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Rosanna. " What do you sup- 
 pose has happened to Lucy Breen? She has been 
 crying." 
 
 " Assuredly. The petite pauvre one ! " answered 
 Elise sadly. 
 
 Rosanna with her usual directness asked Miss 
 Hooker the moment they entered what was the mat- 
 ter with Lucy. 
 
 Miss Hooker hesitated. " You really ought not 
 ask a question like that, Rosanna," she said finally, 
 " but perhaps I ought to tell you. You will all 
 have to know." 
 
 "Please don't tell me, Miss Hooker," Rosanna 
 begged with a deep flush. " I thought perhaps 
 someone had died or something like that." 
 
 " No, but for a week Lucy must be a dead Scout 
 herself." 
 
 "How awful!" cried both girls, and then were 
 silent. 
 
 " I prefer not to tell you why just now, but of 
 course this will not make you shun her. You must 
 show all the kindness and consideration that you 
 can for her, and be with her all you can." More 
 than that Miss Hooker did not seem to want to 
 say, and the girls, saddened and quiet, finished their 
 errand and left. 
 
 A day or two later, going with Mrs. Hargrave 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 to the Red Cross rooms down town, Elise thought 
 she saw Lucy Breen shrink out of sight behind some 
 portieres at the back of the store that the Red Cross 
 used as a sales room. 
 
 Elise acted on a generous impulse. She went 
 back through the store looking at one thing and 
 another until she in turn came to the portieres. 
 Behind them was a space used for a sort of store- 
 room for articles brought into the shop, and as 
 Elise looked curiously through the curtains as 
 though wondering what lay beyond, she saw Lucy 
 standing in a corner, crowded against the wall. 
 Elise nodded gaily. 
 
 "Are you what they call making the sort of 
 things in here, Lucy? " she cried. " Is it not fun 
 to see what the good kind people give away? " 
 
 She stepped into the store-room as she spoke, 
 smiling and nodding. " Yes, it is droll, some of the 
 things," she chattered on, as though Lucy was do- 
 ing her share in the conversation. Finally, how- 
 ever, like a little clock, Elise ran down. She could 
 not think of a single thing to say further, and 
 she trailed off, looking shyly into Lucy's dark 
 face. 
 
 Lucy was smiling a set and bitter smile. 
 
 " Don't you think you had better get out of this 
 and leave me?" she asked. "Perhaps you don't 
 know that I have lost my badge. I shall be a dead 
 Scout for a week, and I don't care in the least 
 whether I ever wear it again or not." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Elise came close and laid a hand on Lucy's shoul- 
 der, but the girl shook it off. 
 
 "Don't!" she said pettishly. 
 
 " I knew that you had resigned your badge for 
 the so small time of a week/' said Elise gently, 
 " but one week soon passes." 
 
 " Do you know why I lost it? " asked Lucy 
 harshly. 
 
 " No," said Elise, " and I do not so much care. 
 That is for you to know, and our dear Captain. I 
 am just so so sorry that you are unhappy. But 
 you will be happy again. Always unhappiness goes 
 away. We do not forget, but it ceases to wound. 
 And if the fault makes you so unhappy, why, cer- 
 tainly you will never, never so do again ; will you, 
 dear Lucy?" 
 
 To her surprise and dismay, Lucy turned and, 
 hiding her face in her arms, leaned against the 
 cracked old wall and sobbed. 
 
 " Oh, I am unhappy ! " she cried. " I am un- 
 happy, and I don't know what to do! Sometimes 
 I think I will run away ! " 
 
 " Oh, don't do that ; don't do that ! " cried Elise. 
 " Think of your dear mama and your father. Oh, 
 you could never have a fault that would make you 
 need to do anything that would make them so un- 
 happy ! " 
 
 Lucy laughed her bitter little laugh. 
 
 " I think I will tell you what has happened," 
 she said, " and then you can see just how I feel.'' 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Can you not tell to someone more wise than 
 I?" asked Elise, her dismay growing. " I will be 
 so glad to listen, but for advice, I am so ignorant, 
 so what you call it? I speak your English so 
 poorly, that maybe I say to you the wrong thing." 
 
 " You needn't say anything," said Lucy. " You 
 were so good to come and speak to me, and I want 
 to talk to someone. I had advice from Miss Hooker 
 but I shall not take it." 
 
 " Was it not good advice? " asked Elise, who 
 thought every word that Miss Hooker uttered was 
 a pearl of wisdom. 
 
 " I suppose so," said Lucy with a sneer, " but 
 she does not understand. Oh, Elise, I shall die, 
 I am so unhappy." 
 
 " No," said Elise softly, " you will not die so. 
 If it could be, I would be dead long since but I 
 am not, and I am happy so very, very happy 
 just as my most dear ones who are dead would 
 wish me to be. So it will be with you." 
 
 " I want to talk to you," said Lucy. 
 
 " Let us sit here then," said Elise, " where no 
 one comes. There is a what you call ' meeting ' 
 which my maman is here to attend. It goes on 
 in the upstairs, and she told me it would meet 
 for an hour or two. Tell me all your woe." 
 
 She pulled Lucy down on a pile of velvet cur- 
 tains and patting her hot little hand, said softly, 
 " I wait." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 <WHEN I was only two years old, my real 
 mamma died," Lucy commenced, " and papa's sis- 
 ter, who was a great deal older than papa, came to 
 take care of as. I had a brother five years older 
 than I. Aunt Mabel was so kind to us, and let us 
 do just as we pleased about everything. I don't 
 see why things could not have gone on like that 
 always, because as soon as I grew up I intended 
 to take charge of the house and run it for papa. 
 I am thirteen now so it wouldn't have been long 
 before I could have done it. But when I was ten 
 years old, my brother died, and after that, papa 
 stayed away from the house all he could, although 
 Auntie Mabel was always talking to him about his 
 duty to me. 
 
 "Well, one day, when I was eleven years old, 
 papa came home, and the very minute I saw his 
 face I knew something had happened. 
 
 " ' Goodness, papa,' I said, < you look as though 
 you had had good news ! ' ' I have, my dear,' he 
 said, and then somehow as I looked at him I had 
 such a funny feeling. All at once I didn't want 
 to know what made him look so glad. So I just 
 sat there and said nothing. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 " ' Don't you want to know what it is? ' he said, 
 and I said, ' I don't know whether I do or not.' 
 
 " Papa came over and put his head down on ray 
 shoulder the way he used to when he called me his 
 little comforter, and said, < Oh, yes, Lucy, you want 
 to know ! Please say you want to know what your 
 daddy has to tell you/ 
 
 " So I said, ' All right/ and Elise, he was going 
 to get married ! Oh, I just hated it ! He told me 
 lots about the lady. She was from Boston, and 
 that was why I had never seen her, and had never 
 heard about it. She had never been in Louisville. 
 He said she was beautiful, and she did look nice 
 in the picture he had in his pocket case, and he 
 said she was just as lovely as she could be. I just 
 sat there and let him talk, and finally he said, 
 'Well, chicken, what do you think about it?' I 
 don't know what made me say what I did. Some- 
 how it popped out before I thought. I said, ' Are 
 you sure she isn't marrying you for your money? ' 
 
 " And papa sort of stiffened up and looked hard 
 at me, and finally he said in a queer voice, ' Good 
 Lord, how old are you? ' I said, ' I am eleven,' and 
 he said, * Well, you sound like Mrs. Worldly Wise- 
 man, aged fifty. I suppose you will feel better 
 if I say that the lady has more money than I have, 
 and that I will be lucky if people do not claim that 
 7 have been the fortune hunter.' 
 
 " ' Well, what is she going to marry you for? ' 
 I asked. ' She says she loves me,' papa said. I 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 said, 'We don't want her here! We are getting 
 along all right/ Oh, I didn't mean to be so ugly, 
 but somehow I hated to have papa marry anyone, 
 and I didn't know this lady. So papa went off 
 awfully cross at me and the next person was Auntie 
 Mabel. Papa had told me first; he thought he 
 ought to, and then he went up and told Aunt Mabel. 
 She came down pretty soon. I was right there in 
 the big chair, trying to imagine what it would be 
 like to have a stranger in the house. 
 
 " Auntie said, ' Well, Lucy, what do you think 
 of the news? ' I said, * It is nothing to us ; we can 
 keep in our rooms most of the time/ 
 
 " ( I can't,' said Aunt Mabel, ' because I shall 
 leave when she comes. Not that I have the slight- 
 est objection, but all the same off I go. I knew it 
 would happen sooner or later, but Henry waited so 
 long that I hoped he was going to let well enough 
 alone. But men are all alike ! ' And she did go, 
 Elise, the very day before papa brought the lady 
 home. And I couldn't go because there was no 
 place for me to go and Auntie wouldn't take me 
 with her because she said it would make papa 
 angry. So I had to stay whether I wanted to or 
 not. It was perfectly awful !" 
 
 " Poor, poor Lucee ! " murmured Elise, patting 
 the hand she held. 
 
 " I was expecting to see a lady 'most as old as 
 Auntie, and papa came up the steps with somebody 
 young. Why, she was awfully young, and had as 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 much powder on her nose as anybody. I was loot 
 ing through the curtains, and when I saw them 
 coming, I ran upstairs and hid. Papa hunted and 
 called, but I wouldn't answer, and I heard him 
 getting angry, and then she said, ' Don't mind, 
 Henry; it is the most natural thing in the world. 
 Let me find her, I know just where to look/ and 
 papa said in the silliest way, ' Go ahead, darling, 
 the house is yours, and the child too if you will have 
 such a bad one.' 
 
 " Well, Elise, she came up those stairs and 
 straight to the table I was under, as though some- 
 one had told her! The cover went down to the 
 floor, and she lifted it up, and said ' Coop ! ' but 
 I came out crosser than ever, and we had a horrid 
 time. 
 
 " So that is the way it went. Worse and worse 
 all the time. Papa was not cross with me because 
 she wouldn't let him be, and I felt pretty mean 
 to think a stranger had to tell my own father how 
 to treat me. At first she tried to act so sweet to 
 me, and used to want to play with me. I told her 
 I thought it was silly, but she said she had lots 
 of brothers and sisters, and they always romped 
 around together and had a fine time, and she said 
 if I would only be friends we could have such larks. 
 I told her I hoped I was polite and all she said 
 was to wonder where I got my disposition. 
 
 " At first they used to make me stay down with 
 them at night after dinner, but by and by I was 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 allowed to go upstairs. I said I wanted to study. 
 I always kept a study book open on the table, and 
 would go to reading it as soon as they came up. 
 Papa used to come in once in awhile, and she 
 was always asking me if she could help me with 
 my lessons. She said she used to help her 
 brothers. 
 
 " After a year, one of the brothers came to visit. 
 He was a real nice boy, and I would have liked 
 him only he w r as so silly about her; used to want 
 to be with her all the time, and put his arm around 
 her and all that ! We had a real good time though, 
 and I thought that I had been real nice to her 
 before him until the day he went home. I was in 
 the library, and he came in. I was just going to 
 ask him to put his autograph in my album when 
 he said : ' Gee, you are a disagreeable little mutt ! 
 My sister would half kill me for saying it, but hon- 
 est, I don't see how she stands you ! ' 
 
 " Of course I just walked out of the room. I 
 knew then that she had been telling things about 
 me. And I knew that must be the reason why 
 papa was so different to me." 
 
 " But was he? " asked Elise wonderingly. 
 
 " Yes, he was, and Miss Hooker says it is all my 
 fault. I had been coldly polite to her for a good 
 while before that. I read about a girl who was 
 abused by a stepmother and the girl was too noble 
 to abuse her in return. She was just * coldly 
 polite,' the book said, and so was I. But after that 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 horrid boy went home I let myself be as mean as I 
 could." 
 
 Elise nodded. " I saw it in your face," she said. 
 
 "And the more I thought of it, the more I was 
 able to act ugly. It is so funny, Elise, the way she 
 makes everybody like her. Papa just gets worse all 
 the time, and the servants adore her, and she is so 
 popular with all the people who come to the house. 
 She makes them all like her all but me." 
 
 " We will talk about that later," said Elise. 
 
 Lucy sighed " Well, things have been getting 
 worse and worse, but I think we have both tried 
 to keep it from papa. We hate each other, but we 
 don't want him to know how bad things are in the 
 house. Papa is not happy, though. Oh, he has 
 talked and talked to me and threatened to send me 
 to school, and I always tell him I wish he would. 
 But the other day the worst happened. Papa had 
 gone to the office, and I was reading in the library, 
 and she was walking around and around, fussing 
 and singing under her breath and sort of acting 
 happy. It made me so mad. Presently she saw me 
 looking at her, and she said, * Don't you wonder 
 why I am singing? ' and I said, ' No, I had not no- 
 ticed.' She went right on : i I have had some good 
 news, wonderful news, and I wonder if you would 
 like to hear it, Lucy? ' 
 
 " I said, ' I am not at all interested/ and went 
 right on looking at my book. She came over and 
 leaned down on the table close to my face, and 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 stared and stared at me. She said, 'Look at me, 
 you bad, difficult, cruel child, look at me and tell 
 me why you are bound to hate me so ! ' I never 
 saw anyone look so angry. Then her face changed 
 and got pleasant again, and she said, ( What have 
 I done? Your own mother, if she can see this 
 house and its unhappy inmates, knows that I have 
 tried to make friends with you.' 
 
 " I remembered how furious the girl in the book 
 was when her stepmother spoke of her mother, and 
 I raised my hand and slapped her." 
 
 " Oh, oh, oh ! " cried Elise, covering her eyes. 
 " The poor, poor lady ! " 
 
 Lucy went doggedly on. 
 
 " Of course I had no- business to do that. She 
 went to her room, and stayed there all day, and 
 when papa came home he went right up. I was 
 on my way to my room, and I heard him say, ' I 
 don't believe it is a headache at all. I think Lucy 
 must have been annoying you/ and she said, ' No,' 
 and papa said, ' I shall send that child away to 
 school.' And she said, ' No, give us one more 
 chance. I am going to see Miss Hooker, her Scout 
 Captain, and see if her influence is strong enough 
 to make Lucy see things in the right way.' As 
 soon as I heard that I made up my mind to see the 
 Captain first, so I went over and that was the day 
 I saw you on the steps. We had had a long, long 
 talk and she said I was all wrong and took away 
 my trefoil. So here I am a dead Scout, and I am 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 so unhappy that I don't know what to do and I 
 am going to run away. I want you to have my 
 pony. I am going to send it over to your house 
 tomorrow." 
 
 " No, no, no ! " cried Elise. " Everything is 
 wrong; so wrong! Oh, let me think! That poor, 
 poor lady ! I am so, so sorry for her." 
 
 " Sorry for her! " cried Lucy. " There is no 
 need to be sorry for her! I am the one to be sorry 
 for. She has everything." 
 
 "Why has she?" asked Elise. " She has noth- 
 ing that you have not. She has your most dear 
 papa; so have you. You both have a most lovely 
 home, everything beautiful, friends, comfort. You 
 are safe in a great land, where no enemy may come 
 and keel all you love. You have both the same 
 things. You share them." She sat thinking. 
 " Yes, she is the one to be sorry for, because she is 
 so disappoint. When she go to marry your pere, 
 she have something promised that she never gets 
 and so she is full of mournsomeness." 
 
 " She has everything papa can get for her," said 
 Lucy bitterly. " I wish you could see the pearls 
 he gave her the other day." 
 
 " Pearls ! " said Elise scornfully. " What are 
 pearls? He promised her something only you could 
 give her, and now she has it not, and she is sad, 
 and you are sad; everybody sad. What do you 
 call her? " 
 
 " I don't call her anything," said Lucy stub- 
 
; THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 bornly. " I wait until she looks at ine and then 
 I say what I want to say." 
 
 " Foolish, foolish one," said Elise. " That is 
 what no one likes. Besides, it is what you call 
 rude not to speak the name. Most rude ! " She 
 saw a frown deepen on Lucy's brow and gently 
 pressed her hand. 
 
 " You wanted to tell me, did you not? " she said 
 softly. " Now I want to tell you what I have not 
 so many times told because I cannot speak of it 
 unless my heart feels like it does bleed. I have 
 had such sorrows, and have seen such dreadfulness ; 
 I have been so cold, and hongry, and frightened. 
 I have lived in the wet underground for so long 
 time that all this makes a differentness in me from 
 you. Something in me feels most old and weary. 
 I keep it shut up because my darling Maman Har- 
 grave wants me a happy child, and I want it for 
 myself, but I do feel the oldness when I see others 
 unhappy when they could so easily be full of joy. 
 No, let me talk ! " she added, as Lucy tried to speak. 
 
 " I must say this, I feel it on me, to save that 
 poor lady her happiness. I shall be sorry for you 
 some other day, but now I am most sad for her. 
 When she marry your papa, she think all the time 
 that she is going to have a most sweet daughter 
 because that is how your dear papa would tell her 
 of you, and then what happens? You know. 
 
 " Oh, Lucee, dear, dear Lucee, there is one thing 
 you must give to her, right now today quick r 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 "What is that?" said Lucy, startled by Elise's 
 vehemence. 
 
 "LOVE!" cried Elise, her sweet voice thrilling. 
 " Love ! So easy, so sweet ! Please, my Lucee, 
 do not turn away. I know I am right on account 
 of the oldness in my heart. That tells me. Think 
 how most glad your own mother is to have the 
 pretty one taking such good care of your papa and 
 of you. Does she select your clothes? " 
 
 "Yes," said Lucy. 
 
 " They are always the prettiest," said Elise. 
 " No other girl is so chic what you call stunning. 
 And so modest, so quiet. And you yourself say 
 everyone but you loves her. You too must love 
 her, and the best of all. You must! You are a 
 Scout, and so you do always the right thing. 
 Where is she now?" 
 
 " Home, I suppose. I came down to bring some 
 of my last winter's dresses. Oh, Elise, even if I 
 could, it is too late. I can't go back to the be- 
 ginning again and start over." 
 
 " Of course not," said Elise wisely. " It is a 
 most bad waste of time when we try going back &> 
 beginnings. It is better to start right from here. 
 Anywhere is the best place to start. When you 
 go home you start then ! You start here by making 
 some new sweet thoughts in your heart. Dear 
 Lucee, please try! Please, for the sake of your 
 Elise who also has to try to be always happy and 
 not remember those blackness behind her. Won't 
 
THE GIRL SCOUYS RALLY 
 
 you, please? I know I am right. Will you try 
 to give her love?" 
 
 Lucy, the tears pouring down her cheeks, leaned 
 her head against the shoulder near her. 
 
 " I don't see how I can," she said huskily. " But 
 I will try. I am so sick of everything the way it 
 is." 
 
 " Of course you are ! " said Elise. " One is al- 
 ways seek of wrong. It makes a blackness over 
 everything." 
 
 " What will I do? How will I begin? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you," said Elise. " You will know 
 what to do. Something will tell you. Something 
 always tells. I think it is le bon Dieu. Just trust 
 and you will know what to do and to say. Come, 
 let us go. I hear the meeting talking itself down 
 the stairs. Is your car waiting? " 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy dully as she allowed Elise to 
 lead her through the store. " Oh, Elise, I don't 
 love her, and I don't know what to do ! " 
 
 " It is because of the hatefulness you put in your 
 heart long ago that you do not love her," said the 
 wise, sad little girl who had suffered beyond her 
 years. She stood at the door of the limousine and 
 smiled at the little girl who sank back so wearily. 
 
 " Don't forget it is now we make those begin- 
 nings. And you owe her what your dear papa 
 promised her, your love." She stepped back with 
 a wave of her hand as the machine started away. 
 
 Lucy's heart throbbed violently as she ap- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 preached her home. Her one hope was that Mrs. 
 Breen was out, so the moment might be delayed. 
 But as she passed the door of the library she saw 
 Mrs. Breen lying in a low lounging chair. How 
 pale she looked! Lucy was quite startled to see 
 the look of suffering and weakness on the beautiful 
 young face. She had been too blind to notice what 
 had been worrying her father of late. Was it her 
 fault? Had her actions brought her self-made 
 enemy so low? Lucy was shocked. 
 
 She went up and put away her wraps. Still she 
 did not know what to do or what to say. Twice 
 she passed the library door. No thought came to 
 her. She went in, not speaking, and selected a book 
 at random from the nearest shelf. Mrs. Breen did 
 not speak but her great blue eyes seemed to follow 
 Lucy appealingly. Then Lucy found her courage. 
 What she said was rough and crude but it came 
 from the heart an honest statement and ap- 
 peal for tolerance and understanding. She came, 
 clutching her book, and stood facing Mrs. Breen. 
 
 Her voice sounded so husky and shaken that 
 she did not know it for hers. 
 
 " Mamma," she said, stumbling over the un- 
 familiar word. " Mamma, you know I do not like 
 jou, but I am going to try to love you ! " 
 
 And then, clasping her book with both hands, 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 YEARS had passed before Mrs. Breen and Lucy 
 ever found the courage to speak of that day when 
 Lucy had hurried from the room, leaving Mrs. 
 Breen too surprised to follow her, or even speak. 
 She sat thinking, so glad and so happy and so proud 
 of the courage shown by Lucy. She heard the front 
 door close softly and was not surprised, a little 
 later, to have one of the maids come and tell her 
 that Miss Lucy had telephoned that she was at 
 Mrs. Hargrave's, and would stay for supper with 
 Elise. 
 
 Mrs. Breen sat thinking for an hour, then the 
 right thought came to her. She hastened to the 
 telephone and had a long talk with her husband, 
 and after a good deal of argument, she went to 
 her room, packed a small trunk, ordered the car, 
 had a talk with the housekeeper, and went out. 
 She drove to her husband's office, and he ushered 
 her into his private room. 
 
 " Now what is all this? " he demanded. 
 
 " I told you over the telephone what happened 
 in the library," Mrs. Breen said. " My dear, I 
 am so happy and so proud of Lucy! But there 
 will be the most distressing awkwardness for a 
 little, unless something out of the ordinary happens 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 to help her out. Now I have never been away with- 
 out you since we were married. So I have de- 
 cided to give the child a chance to regain her poise 
 and strengthen her new resolutions. Something 
 has changed her, and I am contented to accept 
 it without question until the times comes when 
 she will tell me of her own accord. I will go home 
 for a week, and you must spend all the time you 
 can with Lucy. And when you feel like it, speak 
 well of me." 
 
 "That will be a hard job," said her husband, 
 smiling. 
 
 "I suppose so/' said Mrs. Breen. "Another 
 thing, to keep her interest in me, if you should de- 
 cide to repaper my room and want to surprise me, 
 I would be perfectly satisfied with Lucy's taste." 
 
 So when Lucy came in that night, dreading the 
 next step toward the right, she found only her 
 father reading under the library light. 
 
 "Hello, Donna Lucia," he said, looking up. 
 " Did you know that we are orphans? " 
 
 " No," said Lucy. " What has happened? " 
 
 " Mamma decided very suddenly that she had to 
 go home to Boston to attend to some matters, and 
 she did not have time to telephone you or call 
 around at Mrs. Hargrave's. But she managed to 
 stop in at the office, and she has left me in your 
 charge." 
 
 Lucy heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, 
 she would have a little time to herself anyway. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 A couple of days later Mr. Breen approached 
 the subject of the new wall-paper. He merely ap- 
 proached it, because at the first mention Lucy 
 fairly flung herself on it and appropriated it. The 
 very thing, she decided. She thought that room 
 was about as shabby as it could be. Could she 
 select the paper? Of course she could ! She knew 
 exactly what mamma would like. 
 
 At her use of the word mamma, Mr. Breen's 
 heart leaped. He had been a patient, but very un- 
 happy man, and the thought that his little house- 
 hold might become united was the greatest happi- 
 ness he could imagine. So he grumbled out that 
 he was glad of that, because he never could tell 
 the least thing about the silly strips of paper they 
 showed in the stores, and Lucy could go ahead and 
 get whatever she wanted. 
 
 But the following morning, when a van backed 
 up to the door and a couple of men commenced to 
 take away all the prettiest wicker furniture in the 
 house he demanded some explanation. 
 
 " Why, they have to be painted for mamma's new 
 room," said the practical Miss Breen. " You said 
 I could go ahead, and I have gone ! " 
 
 " All our furniture has gone too, I should say," 
 said Mr. Breen. 
 
 " Just the best of the wicker," answered Lucy. 
 " I thought and thought all last night, and I have 
 decided just what would be the loveliest thing in 
 the world for her, with her violet blue eyes and 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 golden hair. So when you were shaving I tele- 
 phoned for the men to come and take the chairs 
 and tables and that chaise-longue and they are all 
 going to be painted. 
 
 " And today you had better write her that you 
 think it would be a good thing, as long as she is 
 there, to stay another week. Don't let her suspect, 
 but don't let her come home." 
 
 " Very well/' said Mr. Breen with a twinkle in 
 his eye, but outwardly very meek. " Just as you 
 say. Send the bills to me." 
 
 " Oh, I was going to," said Lucy with the happiest 
 laugh he had heard from her for months. 
 
 Mr. Breen did not come home for luncheon, and 
 every day Lucy managed to have Elise or Rosanna 
 or Helen take that meal with her. 
 
 Lucy worked like mad and nearly wore the work- 
 men out, she hurried them so. Mrs. Breen decided 
 to make a longer stay, but even then there was but 
 little time, because Lucy fyad decided that all the 
 woodwork must be re-enameled. When that was 
 done and the paper on, she cast aside the old rug 
 with scorn, and took the three girls downtown to 
 buy others. As the days went on, Lucy found that 
 her point of view was wholly changed. She was 
 so intent on the beautiful surprise she was planning 
 that it seemed to sweep her mind clean of all the 
 dark and unworthy feelings that had filled it. She 
 even wrote to Mrs. Breen. at a suggestion from 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Elise, a pleasant friendly letter, ending, "With 
 love, Lucy." 
 
 And to her surprise Mrs. Breen answered the let- 
 ter at once, with a long one all about her visit, and 
 enclosing funny little cartoons of each one of the 
 family, including the boy who had spoken his mind 
 to Lucy. Strange to say, Lucy was able to ac- 
 knowledge the truth of the young man's remark. 
 
 " Some day/' said Lucy to herself, " if this turns 
 out all right, I will tell him that he was perfectly 
 right." 
 
 Lucy was coming to think, with a sense of deep 
 chagrin, that she herself had been the one in the 
 wrong. And being an honest girl and wanting very 
 humbly and deeply to live up to the pledge of the 
 Girl Scouts, she was growing most anxious to make 
 good her faults. 
 
 So she drove the painters and paperhangers and 
 upholsterers almost wild, and had the happiness 
 of seeing the beautiful room all settled and in or- 
 der two days before Mrs. Breen was expected. It 
 had a hard time staying settled however, because 
 Lucy spent all her time after school trying things 
 in new places to see if they looked any better. Her 
 father vowed that he would go up and nail the 
 things down, but he was just as proud and pleased 
 as Lucy. 
 
 With all the planning and plotting, and various 
 jaunts to the shops together, and to some movies 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 and once to the theatre, Lucy and her father had 
 entered a new epoch in their lives. They too 
 seemed to have forgotten the past. 
 
 As Elise said, they found that they could make 
 a beginning anywhere. And once begun, they 
 found that it was like a door that had opened into 
 a beautiful place full of happiness and sunshine 
 a door that closed softly behind them and shut 
 out all the despair and gloom on the other side. 
 
 When the day came for Mrs. Breen's return, Mr. 
 Breen insisted on Lucy coming to meet her, and 
 Lucy, in whom some of the old dread seemed strug- 
 gling to awake, went silently. But when she was 
 suddenly caught in a warm embrace, before even 
 her father was greeted, and when a sweet voice said, 
 " Oh, what a long two weeks it has been, Lucy ! 
 Do say you have missed me ! " Lucy felt that all 
 was indeed well with her world. 
 
 Mrs. Breen had brought another brother with 
 her: a shy, awkward boy, evidently frightened to 
 death of Lucy, a fact which of course set her com- 
 pletely at her ease. They drove home, and Lucy 
 and her father dogged Mrs. Breen's footsteps up 
 the stairs when she said she would go and take off 
 her things. Not for worlds would they have missed 
 seeing her first look at the newly decorated room. 
 And it was worth all the trouble to witness her 
 delight and appreciation. 
 
 So Happiness and Love and Understanding came 
 into the Breen home. Lucy wore her trefoil with 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 a new gratitude and a new understanding. Elise 
 felt a happiness that she had thought she could 
 never feel, for she had helped a sister Scout through 
 a dark and dreadful place in her life. Mrs. Breen 
 was so happy thai she sang and sang all the day 
 long, and when one day a baby boy set up a lusty 
 roar in the beautiful room that Lucy had made, 
 it was Lucy who named him, and Lucy who assumed 
 such airs of superiority in speaking of " my baby 
 brother " that the girls grew to avoid the subject 
 of children in general as it was sure to bring from 
 Lucy some anecdote to prove the vast superiority 
 and beauty of the Breen baby. 
 
 Rosanna was happy too. Uncle Robert had been 
 away longer than Rosanna liked. She was sur- 
 prised to find how much she missed Uncle Robert. 
 And much as she loved him, and wanted him to 
 be happy, she decided that it was really a good 
 thing that he did not care for girls. The various 
 uncles who did like girls she noticed had a way of 
 marrying one of them and leaving home for good. 
 That was a poor plan, thought Rosanna, as she felt 
 the silence in the big old house. No number of 
 girls could make the whistly noises Uncle Robert 
 could when he ran upstairs three steps at a time 
 or dashed down again. No one but Uncle Robert 
 could tootle so entrancingly on the flute, or pick out 
 such funny records for the Victrola. No one in the 
 world would think to bring one a box of candy 
 and leave it hidden in his hat, or just outside the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 door for one to find after dinner. No other Uncle 
 would remember a little girl's birthday once a 
 month with a new dollar bill. 
 
 Rosanna, driven by a real loneliness to confide 
 in someone, spent much time wita Miss Hooker and 
 while Rosanna honestly thought she was attending 
 strictly to Scout business, the conversation was 
 sure to slip around to Uncle Robert. Miss Hooker 
 never appeared to join Rosanna in her talk, but it 
 was surprising what a good listener she proved to 
 be. The only time she said anything was when 
 Rosanna would enlarge on the way Uncle Robert 
 felt about girls. Then Miss Hooker would always 
 assert that she thought he was perfectly right, be- 
 cause she herself thought very little of men. Silly 
 creatures she said they were, at which loyal Ro- 
 sanna would always declare, " But Uncle Robert 
 isn't." 
 
 Miss Hooker would answer, " Possibly not," in a 
 manner that insinuated that perhaps he wasn't, and 
 perhaps he was, but Rosanna let it go. 
 
 However, Rosanna was happy because Uncle Rob- 
 ert had written her that he was coming home in a 
 day or two, and that she might get ready to look 
 in the left hand pocket of his overcoat, and what- 
 ever was there she could have. When she told Miss 
 Hooker she was grieved to hear her say that she 
 was not sure that she would be around to see the 
 surprise, because she was planning to go away her- 
 self, and wasn't it too bad? 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " I should say it was ! " said Rosanna. " Why, 
 then you won't see Uncle Robert either ! " 
 
 " No," said Miss Hooker, " but it really doesn't 
 make any difference. I don't suppose I am any 
 more anxious to see him than he is to see me." 
 
 When Uncle Robert appeared and came up the 
 front steps three at a time as usual, Rosanna was 
 at the door to meet him. She jumped into his 
 arms and hugged him until he begged for mercy. 
 
 As she let him go, she happened to think of the 
 left hand pocket, and had to think which was the 
 left. While she was deciding, she heard a funny 
 noise, and there in the pocket was a fuzzy head. 
 The most adorable little head ! It was a tiny baby 
 collie, looking like a small bear. Rosanna had 
 him out in a second, and Uncle Robert left her with 
 her new pet while he went to speak to his mother. 
 
 That night he came up to show Rosanna how to 
 put her puppy to bed for the night, and when the 
 little fellow at last snuggled down in his basket, 
 and went to sleep, Uncle Robert settled down in 
 his favorite chair and lighted a cigarette and 
 wanted to hear all the news. 
 
 "What shall I start with?" asked Rosanna, lis- 
 tening to the soft breathing of the little collie. 
 
 "Oh, it doesn't matter," said Uncle Robert. 
 "Begin with Miss er Gwenny." 
 
 " Why, yon needn't call her Miss" said Rosanna. 
 "You never used to! I thought first you were 
 going to say begin with Miss Hooker." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Ridiculous ! " laughed Uncle Robert, cocking 
 his eye up at the ceiling. " Begin with Gwenny, 
 of course." 
 
 " Well," said Rosanna, " we have only had two 
 letters from her mother. One was soon after you 
 went away, and said that Gwenny was very comfort- 
 able indeed, and had a fine room, and was making 
 a great many friends. The doctor couldn't tell 
 when he would operate, because he would have to 
 take Gwenny any time she happened to be at her 
 best. That was about all of that letter. The next 
 one was just the other day. And Uncle Robert, 
 they havs operated ! They telegraphed for Doctor 
 Rick, and he is there now. But Mrs. Harter wrote 
 that the operation was over and Doctor Branshaw 
 thinks it will be perfectly successful." 
 
 " Well, that is perfectly splendid ! " said Uncle 
 Robert. " Did she tell you how Gwenny stood it? " 
 
 " Yes. She said for a couple of hours they were 
 afraid her heart was going to stop, but that Doctor 
 Branshaw stood right over her, and had everything 
 ready to start it again if they could. He stayed 
 with her all night. You ought to hear the way 
 Mrs. Harter talks about him. She thinks he is a 
 saint, as well as the greatest doctor in the whole 
 world." 
 
 " He assays pretty well toward solid gold," said 
 Uncle Robert. 
 
 " Mrs. Harter says they don't know when they 
 will be able to get home, but already Gwenny sleeps 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 better and is beginning to want to eat. She never 
 did, you know." 
 
 " That is certainly fine news," said Uncle Robert. 
 "Anything else happened while I was away?" 
 
 "You know that Lucy Breen?" asked Rosanna. 
 
 Uncle Robert shook his head. 
 
 " She has turned out to be a real nice girl, and 
 Helen and Elise and I go over there a lot. And 
 her mother (it's really her stepmother, only Lucy 
 is mad if you call her that) is perfectly lovely. 
 If you could only marry her, Uncle Robert ! " 
 
 " Thank you, Rosanna, but Mr. Breen looks husky 
 and he might object." 
 
 " Oh, that was a joke," said Rosanna. " Like 
 the time you said you pretty near loved Miss 
 Hooker. I wish you could have heard her laugh 
 when I told her that." 
 
 " Oh, you told her, did you? " said Uncle Robert. 
 
 " It was so funny I had to." 
 
 " What did she say? " asked Uncle Robert, sitting 
 up suddenly. 
 
 " She said she thought you were the most amus- 
 ing person she had ever met and that no one could 
 possibly take you seriously. I agreed with her." 
 
 " I'll bet you did! " said Uncle Robert. 
 
 " She has gone away," said Rosanna as an after- 
 thought. " She went today. I told her I was 
 sorry she wouldn't be able to see what you brought 
 me, and wouldn't see you either, but she said it 
 didn't make any difference as she wasn't any more 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 anxious to see you than she supposed you were to 
 see her." 
 
 Uncle Robert laughed a short, queer laugh. 
 
 "Well, Rosanna, just you watch what happens 
 now ! I will just pay her up for that." 
 
 " What do you care? " asked Rosanna. " I don't 
 see what difference it makes. She likes you all 
 right; she thinks you are so funny." 
 
 " I will show her how funny I can be," said Uncle 
 Robert. " Where has she gone? " 
 
 "To Atlantic City," said Rosanna. 
 
 " I may see her there," said Uncle Robert. " The 
 doctor says the sea air would be great for me." 
 
 " What ails you? " said Rosanna anxiously. 
 "You look perfectly well." 
 
 "A little trouble with my heart," said Uncle 
 Robert soberly. " It acts like the very deuce, Ro- 
 sanna. Part of the time it feels sort of sort of, 
 well, sort of empty, and then it has spells when 
 I get to thinking hard and beats as fast as it can. 
 It is awful, Rosanna." 
 
 " I should say it was ! " said Rosanna. " Oh, 
 Uncle Robert, do try to get it well! If anything 
 should happen to you, I would think it was that 
 benefit. You had to work so hard." 
 
 " I think myself that had something to do with 
 it," said Robert, " but of course I only did my duty, 
 and I don't blame a soul." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THERE was a long silence during which Rosanna 
 studied her uncle closely. She even forgot the 
 puppy. What if anything should happen to Uncle 
 Robert? As she looked at him it flashed over her 
 that she cared for him with all her heart. She 
 would not know what to do without him. She felt 
 very sad, and when Uncle Robert looked up and 
 surprised the worried expression on her face he 
 laughed, and said : 
 
 " Cheer up, sweetness ! I am all right, and I 
 want you to promise me that you won't tell mother 
 what I have just told you. I don't want to worry 
 her." 
 
 " I promise, Uncle Robert ; and I always keep 
 my promises," said Rosanna. 
 
 " That is a good thing," said Uncle Robert. " I 
 wish I had known that before. I would have had 
 you make me some." But he wouldn't explain that 
 remark, and soon went out, not seeming to care 
 for the rest of the news which, being all about the 
 Scouts, Rosanna had left until the last as the most 
 important. 
 
 The Girl Scouts were very busy now getting ready 
 for Christmas. There was a cast-iron rule in that 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 particular troop that all Christinas presents should 
 be finished and wrapped up three weeks before 
 Christmas. 
 
 So with all their own work well out of the way, 
 they were busy as bees making tarleton stockings 
 and collecting toys and dolls for the particular 
 orphanage they had assumed the care of. Louis- 
 ville is full of orphanages, and every year the girls 
 were in the habit of choosing one of them for their 
 attention. They dressed a tree, and secured pres- 
 ents for each of the children. These presents were 
 often dolls and toys that had been cast aside by 
 more fortunate children, but the girls took them 
 and mended and painted and dressed them until 
 you would have been surprised at the result. At 
 least they never offered anything that looked 
 shabby. The stockings were filled with popcorn 
 and candy, and a big golden orange gladdened each 
 little heart. 
 
 Rosanna worked harder than anyone. School 
 went right on as it always does whether or not 
 Girl Scouts are busy at other things, and every 
 spare moment was spent with the dear little puppy 
 that her uncle had brought her. Mr. Horton still 
 complained to Rosanna about his heart, but was 
 unable to go east as be had planned. He often 
 asked Rosanna if Miss Hooker had returned, al- 
 though Rosanna had told him a good many times 
 that she did not expect to come back before spring. 
 
 But news came from Gwenny. She was so much 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 better that she could come back. As Miss Hooker 
 was away, and Uncle Kobert always seemed to 
 have time to do things, the Girl Scouts made him 
 a committee to go and pay the doctor and the hos- 
 pital bills, and see that Gwenny and her mother 
 reached home safely. 
 
 Uncle Robert dashed off to Cincinnati that very 
 night. The next day he returned without Gwenny, 
 and with a queer look on his face asked Rosanna 
 to ask their Lieutenant, who was in charge of the 
 troop, to call a meeting that very afternoon or eve- 
 ning. Rosanna called Miss Jamieson up, and be- 
 tween them they were able to get word to all the 
 girls. Rosanna was as excited as any of them, 
 because Uncle Robert would not tell her what the 
 matter was. When the girls all gathered in Ro- 
 sanna's sitting-room, he came in, looking very mys- 
 terious and important. 
 
 " I have news for you girls quite remarkable 
 news, I think. To begin, I went down to Cincin- 
 nati and found Gwenny so improved that I actually 
 did not know her. Of course she is still in a wheel 
 chair, and will have to stay there most of the time 
 for the next year but every day she goes through 
 certain exercises, and soon will begin to take a few 
 steps. Doctor Branshaw assured me that she will 
 some day be as well as any of you. They have 
 taught Mrs. Harter just how to rub her, and help 
 her with her exercises. 
 
 " After I had seen Gwenny I went down and paid 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 the hospital bill. It came to a little over two 
 hundred dollars. I have the items in my pocket. 
 Then I went to Doctor Branshaw's office, and asked 
 him for his bill. He said, < Sit down. I want to 
 have a talk with you.' Well, girls, he wanted to 
 know all about you, and the work you are doing, 
 and how many there are of you in the troop that is 
 taking care of Gwenny. I told him about the bene- 
 fit, and he said he had heard about that from 
 Gwenny, and her mother as well. 
 
 " I didn't want to bore him, so after we had 
 talked you pretty well out, and over, I asked him 
 again for his bill, and he said, < Ilorton, there is 
 no bill.' I said, l Well, sir, whenever you will have 
 it made out, I will give a check for it. The money 
 the girls made is banked in my name for the sake 
 of convenience.' 
 
 " < How much is there?' asked the doctor. I 
 thought he didn't want to charge over the amount 
 we have so I told him. He fiddled with a pencil 
 for awhile, then he said : 
 
 " ' Ilorton, I make the rich pay, and pay well, 
 but I do not intend to ask those girls of yours a 
 cent for this operation.' ' 
 
 A great " O-o-o-o-h ! " went up from the girls. 
 
 Uncle Robert went on. 
 
 " Then the doctor said, before I could thank him, 
 4 I wonder if the girls would mind if I make a sug- 
 gestion,' and I assured him that you would like it 
 Tery much. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALL1 
 
 " ' Well then/ said the doctor, < here it is. 
 Gwenny will require a great deal of care for many 
 months to come, rubbing and so forth. Why don't 
 those good girls take the money and buy a little 
 house somewhere on the edge of the city, or on a 
 quiet street, where the Harters could live a.nd where 
 Mrs. ETarter would not have to work so hard to earn 
 the rent? From what she says, the boys earn 
 nearly enough to feed the family. What do you 
 think of that?' 
 
 " I told him that I thought it was a splendid idea, 
 and would see what could be done about it. Then 
 he made the finest suggestion of all. He said that 
 another week in the hospital would be of great 
 benefit to Gwenny, and why didn't I come home 
 and see you and if you all approve, we can buy a 
 small house and settle it and Gwenny can be moved 
 right there." 
 
 A shriek of delight went up, and everyone com- 
 menced to talk at once. 
 
 "Order, order!" cried Mr. Horton. He could 
 scarcely make himself heard. 
 
 At last after much talking, it was settled that Mr. 
 Horton should look at a number of houses, and 
 when he had seen them he was to select the three 
 that seemed most promising and take all the girls 
 to see them. But he stipulated that a couple of 
 older ladies should look them over with him, and 
 Mrs. Breen and Mrs. Hargrave were chosen by 
 unanimous vote. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Now, girls, how are you going to thank the 
 Doctor? " he asked. 
 
 No one knew and finally Rosanna suggested that 
 it would be well to think it over. So they all 
 trooped home, Uncle Robert promising to make a 
 report at the end of three days. 
 
 It was a long three days, but it passed finally, and 
 Uncle Robert appeared with an account of three 
 little bungalows that seemed all that he had hoped 
 for, and more. One of them he thought was the 
 one for them to take, as it was right on a good 
 part of Preston Street where the children could 
 easily get to school. It was brand new, and had 
 never been occupied. Indeed it was not finished 
 but would be within two or three days. After the 
 girls had seen the three houses, Mr. Horton said he 
 would tell them which one Mrs. Hargrave and Mrs. 
 Breen liked the best. Of course all the girls piled 
 into the automobiles of the girls who had them, and 
 made the rounds, and equally of course they all 
 decided on the Preston Street house which was 
 the very one that Mrs. Hargrave and Mrs. Breen 
 had liked. It was all done except the plumbing 
 in the kitchen, so Mr. Horton went right over to 
 see Minnie who was still keeping house for the 
 Harter children. Minnie heard all about the new 
 plan, and Mr. Horton asked : 
 
 " Now, Minnie, do you feel like moving these 
 people all over there, before Mrs. Harter and 
 Gwenny come home, or is it too much to ask you? " 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " Just you fetch me a moving van the day you 
 want we should move," said Minnie, "and I will 
 do the rest." She cast an eye around the dilapi- 
 dated, shabby room. " My, my ! What a piece of 
 good luck for the de-serving cst woman ! I tell you, 
 Mr. Robert, the time I've been here has been a 
 lesson to me. The way she has scrimped, and 
 saved, and patched, and turned, and mended, and 
 went without ! My young man and me on his wages 
 ought to put away fifty dollars every month of our 
 lives. And so I told him we was going to do. Of 
 course I will move 'em! And Mr. Robert, if it 
 was so I could go around and see the house, per- 
 haps I could tell better how to pack." 
 
 " That's right, Minnie. Suppose we go over 
 now," said Mr. Horton. 
 
 Minnie was overjoyed when she saw the little 
 house, and at once picked out a room for Gwenny. 
 The other children could double up, but Gwenny 
 should have a room to herself. Minnie seemed 
 thoughtful all the way home, and finally said, " Mr. 
 Horton, up in your garret, there is a pile of window 
 curtains that don't fit anywhere, and they will 
 never be used. I have handled 'em a million times 
 while I worked for your mother. And there's a 
 square table with a marble top that your mother 
 can't abide the sight of, and a couple of brass beds 
 put up there when they went out of date. If your 
 mother would spare any of those things I could fix 
 that house so tasty." 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " I don't suppose she wants any of them," said 
 Robert heartily. " I will speak to her about them 
 when I go home, and after supper Rosanna and I 
 will take a joy ride over here and tell you what 
 her answer is." 
 
 The answer was that Mrs. Horton was only too 
 glad to get rid of the things Minnie had mentioned, 
 and suggested that before settling the house Minnie 
 might go through the attic and see if there was 
 anything else that she thought would be of service. 
 Mrs. Horton, knowing that Minnie would know 
 better than she could, just what the Harters would 
 appreciate, refrained from making any suggestions ; 
 and Minnie found many treasures in the attic. 
 There were portieres, and a soft low couch, the very 
 thing for Gwenny to rest on in the pleasan t sitting- 
 room, and the beds, and a table and two bureaus. 
 And she found two carpet rugs. 
 
 She set Mary and Myron to work with a pot of 
 cream colored paint, and in two days the shabby 
 old dining-room table and shabbier chairs were all 
 wearing bright new coats. 
 
 As soon as ever she could, she called on Mr. Rob- 
 ert for the moving van, and moved everything over 
 to the new house. Settling was a joy, there were 
 so many to help. All the Girl Scouts wanted to 
 do something, and between them they outfitted 
 Gwenny ? s dresser (a "walnut one that was put 
 through the paint test and came out pretty as could 
 be). The two carpet rugs were laid down in the 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 living-room and the dining-room, and looked 
 scarcely worn at all after Minnie had finished 
 scrubbing, and Tommy and Myron had whipped 
 them. The dining-room . rug was dark blue, and 
 how that table and those chairs did show up on it. 
 The springs were broken down in the couch Minnie 
 had picked out, but she turned it over and her 
 young man nailed a new piece of webbing under- 
 neath, and in five minutes it was as good as new. 
 Rosanna helped her as much as she could. When 
 they were busy putting up the curtains Minnie said, 
 " Rosanna dear, I think your Uncle Robert looks 
 thin." 
 
 " I think he does too," said Rosanna, but remem- 
 bering her promise would say no more. 
 
 " In love," said Minnie, wisely nodding her head. 
 
 " Of course not/' said Rosanna. " He doesn't 
 like girls." 
 
 " No, he doesn't. Oh no ! " said Minnie. " Of 
 course he is in love! Do you mean to tell me, 
 Rosanna, that you don't know that he is in love 
 with little Miss Hooker? Don't tell me that! " 
 
 " I do tell you," said Rosanna. " He doesn't 
 even like her, sweet as she is." 
 
 " My good land, hear the child ! " said Minnie, 
 sitting down on the top step of the ladder, and 
 letting the stiffly starched curtain trail to the floor. 
 
 " Do you remember the day she came to see you 
 when you were sick after your accident, and your 
 grandmother had said you could be a Girl Scout? 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Do you remember that your Uncle Robert was 
 there when she came in? Well, believe me, Ro- 
 sanna, your Uncle Robert fell in love with her that 
 very day and hour and minute, and that's the 
 truth." 
 
 " I wish it was," sighed Rosanna. " I do wish 
 it was, but he truly does not like her. I don't 
 know why." 
 
 " Well, that beats me ! " said Minnie, picking up 
 the slack of the curtain again, and sadly hanging 
 it. " I certainly am disappointed, for she is the 
 sweetest little bit I ever hope to see, and it would 
 be a mercy to see that good, kind, nice actin' young 
 man get the likes of her rather than some high 
 nosed madam, who would look down on all his 
 humble friends (as friends we are, Rosanna, as 
 you may w T ell believe)." 
 
 Rosanna did not answer. She was too low in 
 her mind. She knew that Uncle Robert did not 
 care for anyone, but what if someone should grab 
 him anyhow? Rosanna felt that life was full of 
 perils. 
 
 Two days later the little house was in perfect 
 order, and Uncle Robert went again to Cincinnati 
 after Gwenny. It w r as decided that no one should 
 meet them on account of tiring Gwenny after her 
 journey, so Uncle Robert carried Gwenny to the 
 automobile and took her home to the little new 
 house, her mother looking back with her sweet, 
 anxious smile from the front seat of the automobile. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 When they reached the Preston Street house, and 
 Mary and Myron and boisterous Tommy and little 
 Luella all filed out quite quiet, but brimming witb 
 happiness, Mrs. Harter could only stare. 
 
 " This is Gwenny's house, Mrs. Harter, deeded 
 to her. Come in !" said Mr. Horton, as Minnie 
 rushed out and led the dazed woman into all the 
 glories of the new home. 
 
 Mr. Horton carried Gwenny straight to her own 
 room, and laid her down on the sparkling, gleam- 
 ing brass bed, where he left her listening to Mary's 
 rapid explanations. When he went downstairs he 
 found Mrs. Harter in the kitchen, crying silently. 
 
 " Now, now, Mrs. Harter, you must not do that! " 
 he said. " Brace up like a good woman ! Gwenny 
 will need a lot of care for a few days, and you will 
 need all your strength." 
 
 " Oh, but I am so thankful that my heart feels 
 as though it would break!" said Mrs. Harter. 
 
 Mr. Horton laughed. " It won't break," he said. 
 " Minnie, shall I take you home? " 
 
 " Thank you, sir, but my Tom is coming over a 
 little later. I have supper all fixed, so we will 
 have a small feast to celebrate, after Gwenny is 
 attended to and safe in bed, so I will get home 
 nicely, thank you." 
 
 " Good night then," said Mr. Horton. " Don't 
 let those Girl Scouts run over you, Mrs. Harter." 
 He raised his hat and ran down the steps whistling. 
 
 " There goes one good man," said Minnie sol- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 emnly. " Come, dear, and take off your hat in your 
 own house, and see the ducky closet under the stairs 
 to keep it in." 
 
 And so it was that Gwenny came home. 
 
 Mr. Horton sped to his own home as fast as he 
 dared drive the car, the chauffeur sitting silently 
 beside him. Robert was too happy to let anyone 
 else handle the wheel. Once more he dashed up 
 the steps three at a time, whistling. Rosanna was 
 at the door. 
 
 " Be careful of your heart, Uncle Robert," she 
 whispered, looking around to see that her grand- 
 mother was not within hearing. " Were they 
 pleased?" 
 
 "Were they?" said Uncle Robert. "I should 
 say they were! Everybody perfectly happy! 
 Gwenny staring around her pretty room, and Mrs. 
 Harter crying in the sink. Yes, everybody is 
 happy. Teedle-ee, teedle-oo ! " warbled Uncle Rob- 
 ert. 
 
 " How good and kind you are, dear Uncle Rob- 
 ert ! " said Rosanna tenderly. 
 
 "Yes, ain't If" said Uncle Robert, deliberately 
 ungrammatical. "Oh, yes, I "be!" he went on 
 chanting, as he sat down and fished out a cigarette. 
 Then changing to a sober tone, " Rosanna, whom 
 do you think I found in Cincinnati? Up there 
 at that Hospital as large as life? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Rosanna. 
 
 " Well, if you will believe me, there was that bad 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 little bit of a Miss Hooker, who had come back 
 from Atlantic City to see that Gwenny was all 
 right. She helped me bring them home. And 
 Rosanna, perhaps I didn't get even with her, for 
 what she said about my being funny! You know 
 I told you I would. I did ! It was hard, hard 
 work but I done it, I done it ! Tra-la-de-lu-de-lu-de- 
 i-i-i-i-i ! " yodeled Uncle Robert, whisking the ash 
 off his cigarette. 
 
 "What did you do to her?" asked Rosanna in 
 a small, fearful voice. 
 
 Uncle Robert looked very sternly at Rosanna. 
 
 " What did I do? " he asked. " What did I do? 
 Well, I made her promise to marry me ; that's what 
 I did! Pretty smart uncle, hey, Rosanna? " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ROSANNA sank feebly down on the hall bench, 
 and to her own surprise and Uncle Robert's dismay 
 burst into tears. 
 
 " Well, who next? " said Uncle Robert. " Mrs. 
 Harter crying in the sink, and you weeping all over 
 our nice hall. Oh dear, what a wet, wet world ! " 
 
 " Oh, don't mind me," said Rosanna, choking 
 back her sobs. " I am perfectly happy, only every- 
 thing turns out so differently from everything 
 else!" 
 
 " I suppose you are right," granted Uncle Rob- 
 ert. " You must be if you know what you mean." 
 
 " I am not sure what I mean," said Rosanna, 
 "but I am so glad, glad, glad that you are going 
 to marry that dear darling Miss Hooker instead 
 of that high nosed madam ! " 
 
 " What are you talking about? " demanded Rob- 
 ert. "High nosed? Who is she?" 
 
 " I think it is someone Minnie made up," said 
 Rosanna. " She said what a shame if she married 
 you." 
 
 " Well, she didn't and won't," declared Uncle 
 Robert with conviction. " And as far as nose goes, 
 my girl has only enough nose so that one knows 
 it is a nose. Get that, Rosanna?" 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Rosanna giggled. " Have you told grand- 
 mother? " she asked. 
 
 Uncle Robert looked suddenly sobered. 
 
 " No, I didn't, and I should have done so first 
 and I meant to, and it is all your fault, Rosanna." 
 
 " How so? " asked Rosanna in surprise. 
 
 " Well, if it hadn't been for you I would never 
 have been traipsing over the country on errands 
 for the Girl Scouts and you wouldn't have been 
 waiting for me in the hall, and I wouldn't have 
 been so fussed at seeing you that I would forget 
 to tell my mamma first. And she won't like it 
 unless she gets told right quick," added Uncle Rob- 
 ert, getting up. Rosanna wiped her eyes, where- 
 upon Uncle Robert sang : 
 
 " There, little girlie, don't you cry, 
 We'll have a wedding by and by," 
 
 and ran up the stairs, three at a time, whistling 
 as he went in search of his mother. 
 
 Uncle Robert was not one to take chances. After 
 seeing his mother, who was truly pleased and had 
 the good sense to show it, he started to Mrs. Har- 
 grave's, and after a short visit left that dear old 
 lady busy at the telephone. The result was a won- 
 derful announcement luncheon a week later, given 
 by Mrs. Hargrave, at which the little Captain 
 looked dimplier and sweeter than ever. After the 
 luncheon she went over to Rosanna's house, where 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 she found all her Girl Scouts ready to congratulate 
 her. 
 
 " You won't give us up, will you? " they all asked 
 anxiously, and she assured them that she would 
 not. Seeing that they were really anxious, she 
 made them all sit down close around her, and one 
 by one they sang the Scout songs. They were hap- 
 pier after that, and only Rosanna was just a little 
 lonely when she thought of the days when Uncle 
 Robert was away, and reflected that all the days 
 would be like that by-and-by. Just her grand- 
 mother and herself in the great stately old house, 
 not occupying half of the rooms, and making so 
 little noise that it made her lonely just to think 
 of it. However, she put it out of her mind as 
 bravely as she could. 
 
 Miss Hooker stayed to dinner, and Mrs. Horton 
 was so charming that Rosanna could not help 
 thinking what a very lovely young lady she must 
 have been. After dinner, Mrs. Horton calmly car- 
 ried her little guest away to her own sitting-room 
 for what she called a consultation, and Rosanna 
 and Uncle Robert who had nothing whatever to 
 consult about now, sat and read. Upstairs, Mrs. 
 Horton sat down opposite her son's sweetheart, and 
 said smilingly: 
 
 " I want to say something to you that Robert 
 does not dream I am going to say, and if you do 
 not approve, I want you to be frank enough and 
 brave enough to tell me. Will you? " 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 "Yes, indeed I will," Miss Hooker promised. 
 
 " I am an old woman, my dear, and silent. Some- 
 times I fear I am not very agreeable. It is a hard 
 and unchildlike life that our little Rosanna leads 
 here with me. I want you to ask yourself if for 
 her sake you could bring yourself to live here for 
 a few years. I know how dear a new little house is 
 to a bride's heart, and I tremble to ask you such 
 a favor. But Rosanna has a lonely life at best, 
 and with you here this house could be made gay 
 indeed. 
 
 " I would never ask it for myself, but I do for 
 Rosanna. I would gladly do anything I could for 
 her, but I cannot fill the house with the sort of 
 joy and gayety that she should have. She loves 
 you deeply, and her Uncle Robert is her ideal. 
 
 " Wait a moment, dear," she added as she saw 
 her guest was about to speak. " I want to tell you 
 what we could do. There are nine large rooms on 
 this floor. You could select what you want for a 
 suite, and you and Robert could decorate and fur- 
 nish and arrange them to suit yourselves. I would 
 be so glad to do this just as you wish, and then of 
 course, my dear, the house is all yours besides. 
 Could you consider it? " 
 
 " I don't have to consider it," said the little Cap- 
 tain. " I have already thought about it, and was 
 worried about Rosanna, but I knew that she could 
 not come to us and leave you all alone here. I 
 am sure Bob will be glad to arrange it as you sug- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 gest, for he is very devoted to his mother and to 
 Rosanna as well." 
 
 Mrs. Horton gave a sigh of relief. " I can't 
 thank YOU enough, iny dearest girl," she said. " No 
 one wants to make your life as happy as I do, and 
 if there is anything I can ever do for you, you have 
 only to tell me. Now we must have everything 
 new in the rooms you want, so we will go down 
 and tell Robert and Rosanna. How glad that child 
 will be!" 
 
 Rosanna was tired and very nervous, and when 
 Mrs. Horton and Miss Hooker came down with 
 their great plan, Rosanna once more, to her own 
 horror, commenced to cry. 
 
 " Well, for goodness' sake," her uncle cried, " I 
 never did see anything like this! What ails the 
 child? This certainly settles me! I shall never, 
 never plan to get married again. Rosanna is turn- 
 ing into a regular founting; yes, ma'am, a regular 
 Counting! " 
 
 " Oh, I am so sorry no, I mean I am so glad," 
 said Rosanna. 
 
 " You mean you are all tired out, and ought to 
 go to bed," said her grandmother. 
 
 " And if I am to come here to live," said Robert's 
 sweetheart, dimpling, " I may as well see how I 
 shall like putting a girl in her little bed." 
 
 Rosanna, nearly as tall as the little lady, laughed 
 through her tears. She went over and kissed her 
 uncle good-nigrht 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " I am sorry I was so silly," she whispered. " I 
 was so lonely when I thought you were going away 
 that somehow when I found you were not, why, I 
 just couldn't help myself." 
 
 " I know how you felt. It is all right, sweet- 
 ness," Uncle Robert whispered back. Rosanna's 
 clasp tightened round his neck. 
 
 " Uncle Robert, shall I do you suppose will 
 I be your sweetness just the same even after you 
 are married? " 
 
 Uncle Robert kissed her hard. " Before and 
 after, and forever and ever more ! " he said. " Just 
 as soon as I get to be a sober married man, I shall 
 be your uncle and your daddy too, and you are 
 going to be the happiest little girl in the world." 
 
 " Oh, Uncle Robert ! " was all Rosanna could 
 say, but her look thanked him and tears were very 
 near his own eyes as he watched the little orphaned 
 girl skipping off with her arm around the shoul- 
 ders of his future wife. But they were tears of 
 happiness. 
 
 " Don't you love this room, Captain? " asked Ro- 
 sanna, as she switched on the soft flood of light. 
 
 " Indeed I do ! " said Miss Hooker. " I expect 
 to spend a great deal of my time here. Between 
 us, Rosanna, we ought to be able to plan the most 
 wonderful things for our Scout troop. And next 
 summer Bob says he will find a place for us to 
 camp, and fit us out with tents and all that, so 
 we will not have to go to a boarding-house or hotel, 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 but stay right in the open. Won't that be splen- 
 did?" 
 
 " Think of it ! " said Rosanna, " Won't the girls 
 be wild when they hear about it? Oh, dear, I wish 
 I was eighteen so I could be a lieutenant ! " 
 
 " I don't wish you were eighteen," said Miss 
 Hooker. " I like you just as you are." 
 
 " Oh, Miss Hooker, you are so sweet ! " said Ro- 
 sanna. 
 
 Miss Hooker dimpled. " One thing we had bet- 
 ter settle right now," she said. " What are you 
 going to call me? " 
 
 Rosanna looked blank. " I hadn't thought about 
 that at all. Of course I can't go on calling you 
 Miss Hooker, and then Mrs. Horton. And you are 
 too little and too young to be anybody's aunt." 
 
 Miss Hooker watched her with a smile. 
 
 "What are you going to do about it then? I 
 want you to call me just what you like. You are 
 to choose." 
 
 " Then I will tell you what," said Rosanna 
 brightly. " I was reading the sweetest little story 
 the other day about a Spanish family, and they 
 called each other Cita. It means dear." 
 
 " Cita" repeated Miss Hooker. " Why, I think 
 that is just as sweet as it can be, and I should love 
 to have you call me that." 
 
 " Then that is what you are, little Cita," said 
 Rosanna with a kiss. And to her devoted house- 
 hold, Cita she remains to this very day. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Cita and Uncle Robert did not seem able to airree 
 on a date for their wedding. Cita declared that it 
 would take at least six or eight months to get 
 what she mysteriously called her " things " to- 
 gether. Uncle Robert declared with equal fervor 
 that she had everything she needed, and that they 
 were not going to go off and live on a desert isle 
 where there were no shops. 
 
 Finally Uncle Robert had an inspiration. " I 
 tell you what let's do," he said after a long Argu- 
 ment. " Let's leave this to an outsider : someone 
 with no special interest in the affair. And as a 
 business man, I will name the agent." 
 
 " Very well," said Cita. " See that you play 
 fair." 
 
 " I name and nominate Miss Rosanna Horton, 
 and as her aids and assistants I name and nominate 
 Miss Helen Culver and Miss Elise Hargrave." 
 
 " That is not playing fair at all ! " cried Cita. 
 " You know perfectly well that they want us to be 
 married soon." 
 
 Robert shook his head. " Not at all ! Our mar- 
 riage is detrimental to those persons named, inso- 
 much as I shall take you off on a wedding trip, and 
 by so doing shall interfere with the routine of work 
 in your Scout troop. That is a good committee, 
 and I shall trust them. I shall now call them in." 
 
 The three girls w r ere working in the Scout room 
 on the tarleton stockings, filling and tying them. 
 Robert stepped to the door and summoned them. 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Putting the question before them in the most seri- 
 ous manner, he told them that they were to decide. 
 
 " I should think I ought to decide my oivn wed- 
 ding day ! " cried Cita. 
 
 "You don't seem able to do it," said Robert, 
 " You have been trying to decide for the last ten 
 days. You see it is a business proposition with 
 me. Perhaps if these good, kind young ladies suc- 
 ceed in fixing a wedding day, say before Christ- 
 mas, I won't have to buy you any Christmas 
 present." 
 
 " I don't want to be married before Christ- 
 mas/' wailed Cita, looking appealingly at the girls. 
 
 Rosanna nodded her head understandingly, and 
 the three girls left the room. 
 
 " When will we set it? " asked Helen. " Do they 
 really mean that we are to do so? " 
 
 " Tell him we have decided on the fifteenth of 
 February," said Rosanna. " That is the date she 
 has fixed, but he is such a tease that she has been 
 teasing him in return. That will give her all the 
 time she needs, and she won't be all tired out. 
 Everyone loves her, and wants to do things for her 
 and, besides, it is going to take weeks to get those 
 rooms fixed. I never saw grandmother so fussy 
 over anything before. She is going clear to New 
 York and is going to take Cita to select hangings, 
 and she has an artist friend selecting pictures ; that 
 is, a list for Cita to look over. Grandmother wants 
 every last thing to be Cita's own selection. And, 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 girls, it is going to be too lovely. What do you 
 think? You know those ceilings are about twenty 
 feet high, and grandmother has had them all low- 
 ered with plaster board and beams, so it looks so 
 much cozier. Grandmother is really splendid. I 
 never loved her so much." 
 
 " Are you almost ready to report? " demanded 
 Uncle Robert at the door. 
 
 " All ready ! " said Helen as the committee went 
 skipping in. 
 
 " Well, let's hear the verdict," said Uncle Robert. 
 " If this committee is as sensible as it looks, I ex- 
 pect to hear them say that the date is set for next 
 week Tuesday." 
 
 "The fifteenth of February," said Rosanna 
 firmly. 
 
 A look of relief spread over Cita's face. 
 
 " Wha-a-a-t? " said Uncle Robert. " Impossible! 
 Why, / named this committee and by all the rules 
 of politics you should have brought in the report 
 I want." 
 
 " But it wouldn't have been fair," said Rosanna. 
 
 " What has that to do with politics? " groaned 
 Uncle Robert. " All right ! I have been done up ; 
 sold out, and by my own constituents. The fif- 
 teenth of February it is. But don't you dare to 
 make it a day later, young ladies ! " He rose. 
 
 " Where are you going? " asked Rosanna. 
 
 "Where?" said Uncle Robert, with a twinkle 
 in his eye. " You ask me where? Well, I am go- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 ing to drag myself downtown to get that Christ- 
 mas present." 
 
 " And now," said Cita after he had gone, " now 
 don't let's think of weddings or anything else but 
 our Scout work. Things have been dragging lately, 
 and I think it is my fault. If we do not do better 
 and snappier work right away, I will know it is 
 my fault, and I shall give the troop over to someone 
 else. Engaged girls have no business trying to run 
 a troop." 
 
 "Don't say that, Cita," said Rosanna. "We 
 have all been working so hard for Christinas that 
 I think we have no energy left." 
 
 " Possibly," said Cita, " but we must put things 
 pretty well in order at the next meeting, and before 
 then I want all these Christmas things marked 
 and in their proper baskets. That meeting, the 
 last before the holidays, will be an important one." 
 
 " Then let us go to work merrilee," said Elise, 
 picking up a stocking, and letting a gumdrop slide 
 down into the toe. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AFTER the usual formalities of a meeting, Captain 
 Hooker desired the girls' 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 deal of work parcelled out to them. 
 
 " In the first place," said their Captain, " I have 
 asked the approval of the National Headquarter^ 
 and you are at liberty to send a Thanks badge to 
 Doctor Branshaw. Now you have not yet sent him 
 any formal thanks for what he did for Gwenny and 
 I wonder if any of you have an idea of some at- 
 tractive way of expressing your gratitude." 
 
 " I thought of something, Captain," said Lucy 
 Breen, " but perhaps it wouldn'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 the girl who 
 has written it? Then bind them all in a sort of 
 cover or folder with our motto and a print of our 
 flower on the outside." 
 
 " I think that is simply a splendid idea," cried 
 the Captain. " Don't you think so, girls? " 
 
 Of course everyone did, and it was settled that 
 Kosanna should go and buy the paper for the letters 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 so they should all be alike. As for the cover. Miss 
 Hooker, who was an artist of more than ordinary 
 talent and skill, offered to illuminate the cover 
 with the cornflower as the motif; and she decided 
 to illuminate it on parchment, with the deep blue 
 of the flowers and dull gold lettering. The girls 
 who had no snapshot of themselves promised to 
 have one taken at once. Before they finished, the 
 " Thanks Book " as they called it, promised to be- 
 come a beautiful and very attractive affair. Miss 
 Hooker warned them all to write natural and 
 simple letters. 
 
 " How many of you have been over to see Gwenny 
 in her new home?" asked the Captain. "After 
 the holidays, I think it would be a very kind thing 
 for you to each give up an afternoon once in so 
 often (you can decide how often you can spare the 
 time), and go spend the afternoon with Gwenny. 
 Her mother feels that she should do a little work 
 now and that faithful little Mary is taking care 
 of a couple of children over here on Third Street 
 every afternoon, to earn her share of the household 
 expenses. So Gwenny is left very much alone." 
 
 " My mother has been in the Norton Infirmary 
 for a month," said one of the girls, " and she said 
 the nurse told her that it would mean a great deal 
 to some of these patients if we girls would only 
 come in once in awhile, and talk to some of the 
 patients who get so lonely. Mother said there was 
 a boy there with a broken hip, and he was always 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 going to be lame, and he grieved so about it all the 
 time that it kept him from getting well. And there 
 was another patient, a girl about my age, with 
 something wrong with her back. She is in a plas- 
 ter cast, and her only relative is a father who 
 travels, and he is in California." 
 
 " Now there is an idea for you all," said Miss 
 Hooker. " I want to talk all these things over 
 today, because if I am away at any time I want to 
 feel that I know just about what you are doing. 
 I should think that it would do a lot of good to 
 visit those poor young people. There is just one 
 thing to remember if you want to be popular with 
 the nurses and helpful to the patients : always stay 
 just a little shorter time than you are expected 
 to. Then the nurses feel that you are wise enough 
 to be trusted without tiring the patients, and the 
 patients are left with the desire to see you soon 
 again." 
 
 " That is just what my mother said," said the 
 girl who had spoken. " She says so many people 
 come who just stay and stay and if the nurse does 
 not get around in time to send them home, why, 
 they have the patient in a 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 
 passed the examinations successfully in two sub- 
 jects. She is now entitled to wear the Merit badge 
 for Horsemanship and Clerk," 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 All the girls clapped. 
 
 " Bon bon, dear Lucee ! " whispered Elise. 
 
 Lucy smiled back at the dear girl who had be- 
 friended her at a moment when she needed a friend 
 so badly. 
 
 " I want to ask how many of you girls are taking 
 regular exercises every morning? " asked Captain 
 Hooker. " It does not seem as though you had as 
 good color as you should have. I want my girls to 
 be the finest looking troop at the great meeting 
 in the spring. It is to be in Washington; did I 
 tell you? And I Haui every one of you to go. Now. 
 there is an incentive to work. The rally is in June 
 just after school is over, and I want you to earn 
 the money for your railroad tickets. Of course we 
 will all get special rates, and it will not cost us 
 anything after we arrive there, as we will be the 
 guests of the Washington Scouts, or some of the 
 women's organizations. But you should all of you 
 be able to earn ten dollars before that time. It 
 will take that much, but no more. If any of you 
 girls belong to families who could send you, you 
 are at liberty to help some other girl who is less 
 fortunate, but you must each one of you earn the 
 sum I have mentioned." 
 
 " What if we earn more? " asked Lucy Breen. 
 
 " I am sure you will be glad to have a little spend- 
 ing money when you get to Washington," said Miss 
 Hooker. 
 
 " Some of us will earn more and some less," said 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Helen. "After we earn the ten dollars, why 
 couldn't we put everything else we earn in your 
 hands, and then it could be evenly divided at the 
 end, and we would each have the same amount to 
 spend, and when we come home we can each tell 
 what we spent it for." 
 
 " Splendid ! " exclaimed Miss Hooker. " What 
 do you girls think of that? I think it would be 
 quite a test of your ability to get a good deal of 
 pleasure or profit out of a stated amount." 
 
 Again everybody clapped, and with a little more 
 discussion the subject was left settled. 
 
 One of the Webster girls raised a hand. 
 
 " What would you suggest that we could do to 
 earn money? " she said. " All we can do is dance, 
 and mamma won't let us dance in public until we 
 are grown up. We don't know how to do anything 
 else." 
 
 " Marian, I get awfully cross with you some- 
 times," laughed Miss Hooker. " What are those 
 two merit badges on your sleeve? " 
 
 " Oh, those! " said Marian in a helpless voice. 
 " The gridiron for Cooking and the palm leaf for 
 Invalid Cooking. But I can't go out and cook." 
 
 " What can you make best? " asked Miss Hooker. 
 
 Another girl spoke up.. " She makes the love- 
 liest jellies you ever tasted and they always stand 
 right up, never slump over at all." 
 
 " And you, Evelyn Webster, what is that on your 
 sleeve? " 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 " The palette/' said Evelyn. 
 
 " There you are ! " said Miss Hooker. " What 
 is the good of earning these badges 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, and turning over the pages said, 
 "Listen to this: 
 
 " Employment. 
 
 " ' Stick to it,' the thrush sings. One of the 
 worst weaknesses of many people is that they do 
 not have the perseverance to stick to what they have 
 to do. They are always wanting to change. What- 
 ever you do, take up with all your might and stick 
 to it. Besides the professions of nursing, teaching, 
 stenography and typewriting and clerking, there 
 are many less crowded employments, such as hair- 
 dressing, making flowers, coloring photographs, 
 and assisting dentists, and gardening. There are 
 many occupations for women, but before any new 
 employment can be taken up, one must begin while 
 young to make plans and begin collecting informa- 
 tion. ' Luck is like a street car, the only way to 
 get it, is to look out for every chance and seize it 
 run at it, and jump on ; don't sit down and wait 
 for it to pass. Opportunity is a street car which 
 has few stopping places/ 
 
 " Now there you are, Marian and Evelyn, with 
 your jelly and your beautiful lettering. Make 
 some of that jelly, and put it in the prettiest glasses 
 you can find, and tie the tops on with a little ribbon 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 rrom the five-and-ten-cent store, and illuminate 
 some sample cards for window displays, and take 
 *,hem down to the Women's Exchange. You, 
 Evelyn, take your cards to the manager of one of 
 the big stores, and ask him 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 Marian when it comes to using your 
 knowledge, why, there is really not much use in 
 earning merit badges. 
 
 " I think we will talk this over for ten minutes 
 informally, and then we will call the roll, and see 
 what each one thinks she can do." 
 
 The Captain turned to the Lieutenant and com- 
 menced to talk to her in a low tone, and for ten 
 minutes the room buzzed. Then at the sharp com- 
 mand of the Lieutenant's whistle silence fell, and 
 the roll was called, and each girl's chosen task was 
 jotted down beside her name. The outlook was 
 rather black for some of the girls who had chosen 
 to try for merits in unusual rather than in avail- 
 able subjects. For instance, one girl wore badges 
 for proficiency in Swimming, Signaling, Pioneer, 
 Pathfinder, and Marksmanship. 
 
 None of these seemed to offer an opening for 
 moneymaking, especially during the winter months. 
 But she was plucky, and merely said that she would 
 find a way to earn the money. And she did it by 
 going to the Y. W. C. A. and assisting the swim- 
 ming mistress for a couple of hours every after' 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 noon. So well did she do that when the money 
 was turned in, she had twenty-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 her workshop and built box 
 kites that no boy could resist, and sold them by the 
 dozen. 
 
 As Miss Hooker told them, the trick was to make 
 use of what they had learned. Of course a good 
 deal of this worked itself out later, but when they 
 had finished their discussion, and Miss Hooker 
 had urged them to get to work as soon as they 
 possibly could, she changed the subject by saying, 
 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 are going to be mar- 
 ried on the fifteenth of February, and I shall not 
 have bridesmaids and all that girls usually have; 
 I want my own Scout girls as attendants all 
 of you. Will you all come? " 
 
 There was a series of exclamations of " Oh, Miss 
 Hooker ! " and " Indeed we will ! " 
 
 " Thank you ! " said Miss Hooker, quite as though 
 she was asking a favor instead of conferring one. 
 " Then I will depend on all of you, and a little later 
 I will tell you the plan I have for the wedding. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 Of course yon are to arrange to attend the recep- 
 tion afterwards, and we will have automobiles to 
 take you all home." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, thank you ! " chorused the girls. 
 
 Miss Hooker found that after her invitation it 
 was impossible to interest the girls in anything in 
 the nature of routine work, so she soon dismissed 
 the meeting, and the girls as usual piling into the 
 automobiles belonging to Rosanna and Elise and 
 Lucy and one or two others, were driven home in 
 a great state of excitement. 
 
 A Girl Scout wedding! That was what it 
 amounted to. Miss Hooker, their dear Captain, 
 thought so much of them that she had chosen them 
 to attend her rather than her own friends. It was 
 thrilling in the extreme. 
 
 It struck about twenty of them about the same 
 time later, that there had been nothing said about 
 clothes. This was an awful thought. Rosanna 
 seemed likely to know more than any of the others, 
 on account of the distinction of having Miss Hooker 
 marry hpr uncle, so the twenty anxious maidens 
 rushed co as many telephones and gave central a 
 very Lad time for about an hour, saying " Line's 
 busy," while Rosanna talked to each one as she 
 secured a clear line, and assured her that she knew 
 nothing at all about it. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE fifteenth of February sparkled all day long. 
 Not half of the Scouts were able to sleep, and they 
 saw the round bright sun bounce out of the east 
 and start blazing up in a cloudless sky. All day 
 it was the same. Not a cloud in the sky, not a 
 shadow on the earth. Automobile horns seemed 
 to take on a joyous toot. The heavy " ding, dong, 
 ding, dong," of the locomotive bell as it crossed 
 Third Street lost its mournful tone and sounded 
 sweetly solemn like a wedding bell. 
 
 All day relays of restless Scouts belonging to 
 Captain Hooker's troop drifted in at the open door 
 of the beautiful old cathedral and watched the 
 silent workmen setting the palms and flowers un- 
 der the direction of a bevy of young ladies who were 
 Miss Hooker's schoolmates and life-long fi iends. 
 They had claimed the right to decorate the church 
 since they were not included in the wedding other 
 than as spectators. 
 
 Oft twenty-four beds twenty^our Girl Scoig^d 
 forms in a terrifying IHMiHfioH & sSarcii Sftfl Cleg!* 
 liness lay stiffly out, with hafe and staffs beside 
 them. And at about three in the afternoon twenty- 
 four Girl Scouts lay down on other beds, so they 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 would be " fresh " for the wedding. All the shades 
 were pulled dowijl, but not one of the twenty-four 
 managed to get t$ sleep. It was awful! Actually 
 painful ! Each 4jie lay wondering ^hai the others 
 were doing, an$< what Miss Hooker ^as doing. 
 Wondered whaf she would we'ar, wondered if she 
 was frightenec^ JThe two Websters hadjrefused to 
 rest in separate rooms, so they talked in ; a cautious 
 undertone, \wnile their mother in the next room 
 pressed imaginary creases out of their tunics, 
 whole troop had beautiful new hair ribbons 
 from Mis^ Hooker and from Mr. Horton a beautiful 
 gold bangle bracelet. A messenger boy had de- 
 livered them all abound just at/rioon, and while 
 they rested twenty-four left a^nis were held up to 
 catch the light on the gleaming band. The idea 
 of anyone sleeping! ^r 
 
 At six o'clock sharp the Lieutenant, Miss Jamie- 
 son, hurried up the steps of the Hargrave house 
 where the girls were to meet, and ten minutes later 
 three patrols marched nervously along and turned 
 in. Then for endless ages, too nervous to talk, they 
 sat waiting for the automobiles that were to carry 
 them to the old cathedral. They were torn with 
 fears. What if Mr. Horton and his best man, Doc- 
 tor MacLaren, had forgotten to order the cars at 
 all? What if they should be late, and the wedding 
 go on without them? The voice of Mrs. Hargrave's 
 house boy announcing " De cahs is heah, 
 sounded like music. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 The cathedral, down in the oldest part of the city, 
 seemed a million miles away, and the cars crawled. 
 Not a traffic policeman but stopped them as they 
 approached but at last they arrived and entered 
 the church. How beaTitiful it was, softly yet bril- 
 liantly lighted through its high arches. White 
 satin with heavy gold embroideries draping altar 
 and desk, tall candles burning at either side of the 
 Cross. And somewhere softly, thrillingly out of 
 space, spoke the most entrancing music. 
 
 People went down the aisles in gaily clad groups, 
 the delicate perfumes of the flowers worn by beauti- 
 ful women wafting to the girls as they passed. 
 Mrs. Breen's two brothers and the brothers of the 
 two Girl Scouts who had helped at the benefit 
 were all acting as ushers and they were certainly 
 busy. 
 
 Standing just inside the door, the girls were 
 aware of a little stir, and a group entered, walking 
 more slowly and carefully than the others. Even 
 the girls were surprised as they stared. For first 
 of all came Gwenny, Gwenny leaning heavily on 
 the arm of the kindly sign painter, but Gwenny was 
 walking! 
 
 Behind, looking very shiny and quite agonized, 
 followed Mary and Tommy and little Myron firmly 
 clutching the still littler Luella, who looked on 
 the verge of tears. After them, to close all avenue 
 of escape, walked Mrs. Harter, and Minnie and 
 Tom. Very slowly, in Gwenny's halting footsteps. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 they went down the aisle down and down until 
 they came to the satin ribbon that fenced off a 
 portion of the seats for Miss Hooker's most particu- 
 lar friends. And even then they did not stop, for 
 Doctor MacLaren, who was with them, led them 
 to the fourth seat from the front. It had evidently 
 been saved for them, for in the corner next the 
 aisle was a big pillow for Gwenny's back. Cita's 
 girl friends kept drifting in, lovely, colorful crea- 
 tures in dancing frocks, and the girls reflected with 
 joy that they too were asked to the reception after- 
 wards. 
 
 Then came the group of the bride's relatives, and 
 close behind, Mrs. Horton, walking with her hand 
 on the arm of the older Breen boy, and looking 
 like a queen in her pale gray satin robe, brocaded 
 with silver. 
 
 And then the Lieutenant, who had been standing 
 outside all this time, returned, looking quite pale, 
 and gave an order in a tone so low that half of the 
 girls did not hear at all, but they were so keyed 
 up that they knew just what to do and formed a 
 double line facing the chancel. 
 
 The music burst suddenly, joyously into the Wed- 
 ding March, and the girls started slowly down the 
 broad aisle, keeping step to the music. So smoothly 
 and so quickly had it been done that they had not 
 had a glimpse of the bride, who was following 
 them on her father's arm, with Rosanna all in 
 white before her as maid of honor. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS KALLY 
 
 Down the aisle, straight and trim, marched the 
 Guard of Honor. When the first two girls reached 
 the foot of the chancel steps, they stopped and 
 turned to face each other, taking two steps back- 
 ward. As the line all formed, the staffs were raised 
 until the tips met, and under this arch, all misty 
 tulle and gleaming satin, her cheeks faintly flushed, 
 her lips softly smiling, passed their little Captain. 
 Mr. Robert who had been waiting just beyond came 
 forward and took her hand, and the Dean stepped 
 down to meet them, while the Bishop waited before 
 the altar. 
 
 The music muted. And in the place of the march 
 came faint sighs of melody. Then in a pause of the 
 ceremony, from somewhere silvery chimes rang out. 
 The little bride stood motionless, her tulle train 
 seeming to melt into the whiteness of the marble 
 on which she stood. 
 
 And then, almost at once it seemed, it was all 
 over. The little Captain had made her new vows, 
 the ring was on her hand, the blessing on her bowed 
 head. Quite solemnly Mr. Robert kissed her, then 
 the organ broke out with a burst that filled the 
 great church, and fairly beat down the rising 
 throngs, as the married couple, passing under the 
 crossed staves, passed down the aisle and out into 
 their new life. 
 
 The Guard of Honor, in their automobiles once 
 more and whirling after the bridal car to the recep- 
 tion, found their tongues and all talked at once. 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 No one listened ; no one cared. They went through 
 a canopied, carpeted tunnel across the sidewalk 
 to the house, and there were firmly handled by a 
 bevy of colored maids who took their staffs and 
 hats and sent them forth with nothing to do with 
 their hands. But Mr. Robert shook all the hands 
 they had, and the little Captain kissed them each 
 and every one. And then she asked them to form 
 just back of her until she had greeted all the guests. 
 This took a long time, but was such fun, because 
 they saw everyone and all the dresses, and every- 
 thing. 
 
 But finally the line thinned out, the congratula- 
 tions were over, and the little Captain, taking her 
 filmy train over her arm, drifted out among the 
 guests and the girls broke up into groups. A little 
 later Rosanna came hurrying around to tell the 
 girls to come to the library. They found the Cap- 
 tain and her husband there, talking to a chubby, 
 smiling, altogether kindly and delightful little 
 gentleman, who stared beamingly at them through 
 immense horn-rimmed spectacles. 
 
 " I want to present you to Doctor Branshaw, 
 girls/' said Mrs. Horton. " He came all the way 
 from Cincinnati to attend our wedding and to meet 
 you." 
 
 The girls stepped up one by one to be presented 
 to the great man. 
 
 " I didn't see any other way of meeting you all," 
 he said. " My time is always so broken, and they 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS BALLY 
 
 keep me so busy down there that I actually didn't 
 have time to write and tell you how greatly I appre- 
 ciated that book you sent me. I think it was quite 
 the nicest thing in the world. I shall always keep 
 it." 
 
 "It was poor thanks for what you did for 
 Gwenny," said Miss Jamieson, finding that some- 
 one had to answer. 
 
 " I was glad to do it," said the Doctor, " after 
 you had led the way. It is an honor to work with 
 the Girl Scouts. When you are twice as old, yes, 
 three times as old as you are now, you will realize 
 what a wonderful work you are doing in the world. 
 I come across evidences of it every day. This 
 Gwenny, for instance. Did you see the way she 
 went down that long aisle tonight? Why, that girl 
 is going to be well, perfectly well! Think of the 
 years of pain and misery you have saved her, the 
 agonizing nights and the untimely death. Whose 
 plan was it, anyway? " 
 
 " Rosanna Horton's," said half a dozen voices. 
 
 Rosanna flushed. " No, don't say that ! " she ob- 
 jected. "It is just as the doctor says. If I 
 thought of it it was because I am a Scout. Call 
 it the Girl Scouts' Plan." 
 
 " Yours or theirs, Miss Rosanna ; it was a divine 
 thought and should make you all happy. You have 
 given the three greatest boons to a fellow creature, 
 life, health, and happiness, and all because your 
 
THiD GIKL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 splendid order teaches you to watch for just such 
 opportunities. Now I will give you an opportunity 
 to do a good deed tonight," and he laughed the 
 jolliest laugh. " There are a couple of very wise 
 gentlemen here tonight, who would like to talk to 
 me, and they would want to talk about operations 
 and anesthetics and all those things that I left 
 locked up in my office at home. But I can't tell 
 them that, so I wish you could just look after me 
 for the next hour, and sort of beau me around, you 
 know, and if you see any bald heads or spectacles 
 bearing down on us,.just close in and protect me." 
 
 " Oh, we will ! " chorused the girls, greatly 
 pleased. 
 
 So the great Dr. Branshaw, quite the greatest 
 and most eminent man present, passed happily 
 from room to room surrounded and tagged by a 
 chatting, smiling throng of uniformed girls. 
 
 When a cheering looking line of waiters appeared 
 with plates and napkins, the great man and his 
 little court settled in a cozy nook and proceeded 
 to fly in the face of all the best health experts. 
 And to see the Doctor shamelessly send for more 
 bouillon, and consume sandwiches, and sliced tur- 
 key, and candied sweet potato and salad, and oh, 
 dear, all sorts of things, was enough to make any 
 Scout hungry, and they just feasted and feasted. 
 
 Although the doctor refused to talk to the wise 
 men, he did talk to the girls, getting on the sub- 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 ject dearest to him, as all professional men will, 
 and telling them many an amusing story and pa- 
 thetic incident. 
 
 Finally he rose. " I must go, girls," he said. 
 " I said good-bye to Mrs. Horton when I came in, so 
 I could just slip out a little side door there is here." 
 
 He shook hands all around and patted each 
 straight shoulder. " Don't forget me," he said, 
 "and remember if there is anything I can do to 
 help, we are all working together. See this? " He 
 smiled and pulled aside his coat. There on his 
 waistcoat was the Thanks Badge they had sent him. 
 " I always wear it," he said, and with a merry good- 
 bye hurried through the little door, and was gone. 
 
 Rosanna went to the hall and looked out. 
 
 " Hurry, hurry ! " she called. " Here she comes ! 
 We nearly missed her ! " 
 
 The bride, in her travelling dress, was coming 
 down the stairs. She paused on the landing and 
 looked down at the sea of smiling faces below. 
 Then suddenly she tossed her bouquet out. A 
 dozen hands reached for it, and the girl who caught 
 it danced up and down. Everyone laughed. 
 
 " What did she do that for? " asked one of the 
 Websters. 
 
 " The one who catches the bride's bouquet," said 
 Miss Jamieson, " will be the next one married." 
 
 " Quick ! " cried Elise. " Let us all form the 
 guard-line for her. Never mind those staves ! " 
 
 Slipping through the throng and out the door, the 
 
THE GIKL SCOUTS EALLY 
 
 girls formed a double line to the automobile wait- 
 ing at the curb. A great white bow was tied on 
 the back, and Rosanna quickly took it off and hid it. 
 " Cita wouldn't like that," she explained. Then 
 she stood with her hand on the door. The house 
 door opened and in a blaze of light, confetti and 
 rice showering about her, rose leaves floating above 
 her, the little bride and her tall young husband 
 ran down the steps and through the double line 
 of Scouts, who closed solidly before the door of 
 the limousine as she entered it. The other guests 
 were shut out. For that moment she was again 
 their little Captain and belonged to them alone. 
 Forming in a solid group, they suddenly shouted 
 the Girl Scout yell, threw her a shower of kisses, 
 and crying .good-bye over and over, watched her 
 little hand wave a farewell as the car sprang for- 
 ward. 
 
 Helen and Elise were Rosanna's guests for the 
 night. A couch had been prepared so the three 
 girls could sleep in the same room. They rolled 
 themselves up in bathrobes, and sat on the edge 
 of the couch just as they had sat on the top step 
 so many months ago, only this time Elise did not 
 knit. She too sat with her chin in her hands, star- 
 ing out of the window. Rosanna had snapped off 
 the light. A million stars in a deep frosty sky 
 looked down on them. The night sparkled. It was 
 very, very late, but Mrs. Horton with surpassing 
 
THE GIRL SCOUTS RALLY 
 
 wisdom had not asked them to go right to bed. 
 She too was awake, dreaming long dreams. 
 
 Presently Elise spoke. " So much of happiness 
 makes me sad/' she said. 
 
 " Well, it is all over," sighed Rosanna. 
 
 "Not at all!" cried Elise. "What could be 
 over? Not Meeses Horton, who is just beginning. 
 Not us, who have so many, many works to do. Not 
 Gwenny who steps into a new life. Just see all 
 those stars. They shine and sparkle always, no 
 matter what goes on down here." 
 
 " You sound like a little sermon, Elise dear," 
 said Helen, smiling. 
 
 " I don't know just yet what it is you call ser 
 mon, but I hope it is nice," replied Elise. 
 
 " Yours is, anyway," said Rosanna, kissing the 
 fair face beside her." 
 
 " All I meant was that this is over, the wedding 
 and all that. Oh, of course I didn't mean that 
 everything was over. It is just as though a beau- 
 tiful day had ended, as it has," Rosanna continued. 
 " Others will come, many, many other busy, beauti- 
 ful days, and on my honor, I will try to do my duty 
 to God and my country, to help other people at 
 all times and to obey the Scout laws," said Rosanna 
 softly, lifting her eyes to the eternal stars. 
 
 THE END 
 
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