FRANCES REBELS
Not only stock-raising and garden trucking progressed wonderfully for
a few days, but the scouting also showed improvement in Patrol Number
Two, after the acquisition of bees, goslings, pigeons, and lawn mower.
When the scouts of Solomon’s Seal were not up at the house with their
tenderfoot scouts, the members of the young patrol were over at the
camp, engaged in scout pursuits.
Each scout had started a small garden patch for herself, accepting
Natalie’s superior experience in such matters to win success and a
badge as a garden scout. And then each scout decided to raise enough
stock, besides the cow and bees they owned jointly, to enable them to
take the test as farmer scout and win a badge for that, too. They were
well along on the way to winning the badges for Dairy Scout and Bee
Scout, by this time, and everyone seemed happy and eager to come out
highest in the tests. All but Frances. She began to act discontented.
Finally Mrs. James asked her if anything was wrong.
“Yes, lots of things are!” admitted Frances.
“Can’t you tell me what it is and maybe I can straighten matters out
for you.”
“Well, I’m sorry I ever selected jitney driving for a profession,
Jimmy. I see Natalie planting and harvesting the results of her
garden—and we, too, enjoy the lettuce every day since it has been big
enough to pull.”
Frances caught the glimmer of a smile at this remark, and questioned
Mrs. James concerning her amusement. “I was thinking when you
mentioned lettuce, Frances, that you can scarcely say we enjoy it so
often as we have to eat it. Natalie planted so many seeds, besides the
plants given her, that I fear we shall ‘go on’ as the brook in the
poem ‘forever’—eating lettuce.”
“Well, it’s better to have too much of a good thing than not enough,”
declared Frances, and Mrs. James agreed silently with that statement
by nodding her head. “Then I see Janet’s kingdom doing so fine! the
pigs expanding like a gas-filled balloon ever since Sue came to the
farm. Susy growing stronger and more mischievous every day. The hens
laying eggs as if for dear life. The chicks and goslings fast
outgrowing their coops and associating with the older chickens when
the corn is scattered in the yard. Even the pigeons are teaching their
squabs how to fly, and Janet’s days are one long dream of success. But
me—ah me!”
“What is wrong with you, Frances?” was Mrs. James’s astonished query.
“Even Norma! Look at quiet, poetical little Norma! She can offer us
sweet posies, sniff at newly opened buds every morning, hoe, rake, and
pat down the soil about the plants she has raised, and realize that
she, as well as Natalie and Janet, is enjoying the fruits of her own
labor. Then look at me!
“A conductor of a jitney! Not even my own motorman. I have to have Sam
drive the car and he gets all the fun out of my life! No, I am going
to strike and resign from business!”
Mrs. James could hardly control her face at such a ludicrous
complaint, but Frances was in earnest and a laugh would end all
further confidences from Frances, so she managed to say: “Don’t you
think you have been as useful, if not more so, than Janet in her stock
work, Natalie with the gardens, and Norma with flowers? What would we
have done, Frances, were it not for your idea of running the car for
us all this summer?”
“It was dad’s plan to leave it here anyway. I really am only a figure
head in the matter,” grumbled Frances.
“But you have been the one always on hand to run errands and carry
anyone who wanted to reach a place in a short time. Just think of the
swarm, Frances. Without you that Sunday, we never would have captured
that wonderful swarm from Babcock.”
Frances laughed at this memory. It was a high light in the otherwise
dun colored days of her jitney life. But only dun to her after several
weeks of driving about the country. Mrs. James understood, perfectly,
that it was merely a case of dissatisfaction from satiation with her
special work for a time being. If she had a change for a week, or so,
everything would appear rosy and bright again.
“I was talking things over with Belle this morning and she agrees with
me that our professions are not crowded as full of thrills as Janet’s,
or Natalie’s, are. Belle says that all the worm-eaten antique
furniture in New York State cannot measure up to the wonderment of
seeking and finding for yourself a strange forest tree, and then
classify it according to scout rules.”
“There is nothing to hinder Belle from taking a test in forestry,”
murmured Mrs. James.
“She’s going to do it!” declared Frances. “But with me—I told Belle
this morning, that speaking of thrills, the only real exciting drive I
have had since I’ve been at Green Hill Farm was the Sunday we rode for
the swarm of bees. In comparison to Janet’s thrills of hatching chicks
from water-glass eggs, and Natalie’s way of killing potato bugs by
killing the plants, too, my infantile thrill is weak!”
Mrs. James could no longer restrain her laughter but she apologized
for it by saying: “I had to laugh at the pictures you brought up by
your remarks.”
“Even the scouts of Patrol Number One have more fun in life than I
get. Look at them; they cook, they build, they do all sorts of stunts
in testing and winning badges for lines of work, then they hike, or
swim, or drill and have other recreations, that I do not share because
I am forever a car conductor!”
“Now, Frances, that is not so!” declared Mrs. James, seriously.
“Patrol Number Two is hardly two weeks old and its members have had so
many things to attend to that they had no time to devote exclusively
to studying the scout customs and work. But once we get affairs
running smoothly and orderly, we will forge ahead in our scout life,
also. Patrol Number Two will cook, and build, and do all sorts of
stunts, too, for tests and badges. And between times we will hike,
swim, or drill, and enjoy other recreations with the scouts of Patrol
Number One so that not even a car conductor will be able to complain
about her dun-colored days.”
Frances smiled appreciatively, but was not silenced.
Mrs. James understood this and said: “What do you want to do beside
the helpful profession you are now following?”
“Well, I have been reading the girl scouts’ handbook very carefully
and I find several things I might group for my work. Nat would say I
was consolidating and merging several lines into one,” laughed
Frances, imitating Natalie’s voice and manner.
Mrs. James smiled too, but silently waited to hear more.
“I have planned to try for the test of motorist as given in ‘Scouting
for Girls.’ When I have that badge, I will begin to study the birds
because I find scores of beautiful and interesting varieties of birds
in Westchester. And a man I know down near the village of Bronxville,
where Belle and I went last week, told me that one can find rare birds
which come North for a short time in summer and stop in the woods
about there, but never travel beyond that section. When I heard that I
wanted to start finding them and photographing each one I could see.
“Driving about the country so much with Belle on her quests for
antiques, I have seen such beautiful bits of scenery and such gorgeous
flowers and ferns, as well as birds, that I feel as if I were
neglecting a wonderful opportunity when I fail to get pictures of them
and study each interesting subject well enough to write it up
afterward.”
“Frances you are quite right! I am so glad you think this way, as it
shows that you have actually found the great thing your so-called
jitney service has done for you. Do you not see that all these
discoveries made by you would never have been made if you stayed at
Green Hill and raised vegetables or stock? You can strive for and win
badges in lines the other girls have not given a thought to. But you
can interest them in these pursuits, just as they have interested you
in stock and vegetables so that you actually wanted to give up
motoring for their studies. Do you see?”
“I think I begin to see a glimmer of the truth,” admitted Frances, her
face lighting up with relief.
“And let me add this bit of advice: If every one in this world wanted
to do the same thing, what an interesting old place it would be. If
every one looked exactly like everyone else, or if all had the same
desires and tastes in everything, can you picture a more tiresome
place to live on than our earth? But, because everyone has an
individual appearance and individual ways and desires, the world is
individual, also.”
Belle had crept up behind Mrs. James as she spoke the last words, and
now she smiled as she said: “You’re right, Jimmy! I’ve told Frances
about the different farm houses I’ve visited in these quests for
furniture, and not only the homes, but the furnishings and owners of
them are so different from each other!”
Frances then explained to Belle what Mrs. James had just said about
selecting lines of work, and Belle nodded and added: “I have found a
number of things I can add to my work of finding antiques, just as
Frances can add those studies she mentioned to her motoring work.
“I come in contact with housewives who can cook and preserve the most
delicious things! Frances has tasted many of them herself. I have been
given recipes of viands that I’d love to try out, not only for the
sake of winning a badge in cooking, but to be able to give others the
benefit of the tests.
“Then I would like to try for a badge as needle-woman, after seeing
girls no older than myself, making dresses and trimming hats for
themselves and their mothers. I believe I can use a paper pattern and
cut a gown out as carefully as those girls do. And I am sure I can
stick a feather in my hat, or tie a ribbon about the crown, with as
much deftness as those girls. But I never stopped to think of these
things in the city where one can go to the shop and try on a
ready-made suit, or buy a hat all made to wear, at once.”
“Ah, these are a few of the things city girls never can find in the
city—the ways and means the country girls have of making two ends
meet,” remarked Mrs. James.
“Another line I should like to study since hearing you mention that
thing about foolish mothers giving their babies a rubber ‘mother’s
comfort’ to suck upon to keep them quiet. I’d like to read up on that
subject of child training, and learn all I can about the proper care
and training of babies, then write a book to help ignorant and lazy or
careless young mothers with their families. Think of all the trouble
and suffering that can be avoided if mothers will use common sense and
better judgment in rearing their children!”
“Bravo! Belle, I’m proud of you for that ambition,” exclaimed Mrs.
James, and Frances smilingly added her applause. “If you will continue
that line of study and work I’m sure that you will not only secure the
badge for child nursing but also win success with a book if it is
sensibly and carefully compiled.”
“I’m glad you agree with us in our wishes to add more studies to our
present one,” said Frances.
“I’d like every scout in our troop to keep on adding to their
knowledge just as long as they live. And even after they fancy their
days of usefulness are past, I should want them to think—and then keep
on working and adding to their understanding, for we have all eternity
before us, and nothing ought to stop our progress and growth once we
remove the limitation to Life.”
That earnest talk with Mrs. James inspired Frances and Belle with the
desires to add to their storehouses of knowledge and intelligence
whatsoever they could find worth while, but the experiences and
successes of the two scouts in their individual works must be told in
separate volumes of this series, as this book deals with Janet and her
stock venture.
The scout members of Patrol Number One had been invited by the girls
of Patrol Number Two, to a knot-tying contest to be held on the side
lawn of the farm house. A post script added the most important item of
the invitation, as is usually the case: “Refreshments served after the
contest.”
At the appointed time the three scouts from Four Corners arrived at
the house and busied themselves in helping the other girl scouts
prepare the refreshments they planned to serve. Rachel was then left
in charge of the goodies and the girls went out to welcome their
guests who could be heard laughing and talking as they approached the
house.
“Are we too early, girls?” asked Miss Mason, of the scouts of Patrol
Number Two.
“Mercy no! We’ve been waiting an hour,” replied Natalie.
Having argued this difference in time to a finish, the two patrols
were called to order by the captain. Then the usual ceremony took
place. Having ended this the scouts waited eagerly for Miss Mason to
announce the rules for the contest.
She addressed the new members of Solomon’s Seal Troop: “Scouts, you
will soon end the second week of probation as Tenderfeet and from
reports as well as demonstrations, I think you will successfully
qualify when the period of probation is over. If you have read and
studied carefully the rules given in the handbook for the tying of
knots, there is no reason why you should not win this contest with the
older members of the troop. But I wish to offer this opportunity for
you to watch my girls in Patrol One demonstrate their ways of tying
knots before the contest takes place. Those in favor of seeing this
work first, rise.”
Of course, every girl stood up and thus voted for a display of ability
in knot tying by the other scouts. And Miss Mason smiled as she asked
them to be seated again while she read from the book:
“On page 484 we learn the uses for knots and the need for every one to
understand how to tie knots.” Then she read aloud the introductory
paragraphs to this chapter. Having finished it she called up her
scouts of Patrol One to come forward.
“Members of Patrol Two will take notice: each one of my camp scouts
has a piece of Manila rope five feet long and about one-quarter of an
inch thick. You see that both ends of the rope are whipped to keep
them from fraying. Have you scouts done the same with your lengths of
rope?”
The scouts of Patrol Number Two replied that they had, so Miss Mason
continued: “Scouts of Patrol One will now demonstrate the different
kinds of knots mentioned in the book and show these Tenderfeet how
quickly and precisely these knots can be made.”
The visiting scouts went through the various forms of knot tying, and
when it ended with vociferous applause from the hostesses, Miss Mason
said:
“Scouts, make a blanket-roll and tie a rope as taught in handbook for
hiking and carrying over mountains, or cross-country.”
In an incredibly short time the scouts had rolled their blankets and
bound the ropes about them, ready to sling over their shoulders for a
march.
“Now pair off and make reef knots of each two lengths of rope, to
demonstrate the way to lengthen a rope which may be too short for the
need it has to be put to.”
The visitors deftly tied these knots, and Miss Mason said: “Now show
the scouts how to make sure it is reliable when put to the test where
safety and security of the knot is necessary.”
When this was proven, the captain said: “Show how a rope must be
adjusted when a victim of accident has to be drawn up or lowered to or
from a height.”
This performance needed a lightweight scout who could climb a tree or
ladder and be saved from fancied danger. So the lightest member of
Patrol One climbed the maple tree on the lawn and was soon sitting
astride the bough. The life-line was flung over the limb and the girl
managed to get into the loop and sit therein while she held to the
rope above her head. The line was then lowered to the ground to show
the efficiency of the knot that held the loop from slipping.
“Some day when Patrol Two visits us at Camp, we will show them how
quickly one can be rescued from the waves. We’ll throw a line to one
of our girls out in the stream and save her life,” said Miss Mason,
after the last trial of the loop-knot.
Miss Mason then asked the members of Patrol Two to reply: “What would
you do if you saw someone drowning, or fallen from a cliff, and the
only way to save him was by means of a rope?”
Janet stood up and answered for the other girls: “We’d make the loop
for the needy one to sit in, or we would tie knots in the length of
rope so he could get a grip hold on the rope until he was drawn up, or
could climb up, hand over hand.”
“That is correct. I suppose you all read the account given in our book
of those people who went over the Lesser Falls of Niagara, who might
have been saved had the rescuers known how to tie these knots. But the
rope that was thrown stripped through the hold of the poor folks.
Again the handbook says that had a bowline been tied in the rope, the
victims of the disaster could have been raised in safety, for each one
could have been seated in the loop and lifted without any struggle.”
After showing the approved methods of tying the bowline, the
sheepshank knot, and other kinds in common use but not so commonly
known to most people, Miss Mason declared the field was free for the
contestants.
Although the scouts of Patrol Two were not as experienced as their
competitors in knot-tying, Miss Mason and Mrs. James were delighted
with their ability and speed in tying the knots.
A tug-of-war was suggested by Janet after the contest was over, and in
this the scouts of Patrol Two showed their muscular development and
strength over the members of the camp patrol. This success cheered the
girls of the house patrol and made up for losing in the knot-tying
contest.
It was now suggested that refreshments would be most acceptable
because the girls were warm and breathless. So the three women, Mrs.
James, the captain, and Rachel, offered their services as waitresses
while the scouts relaxed and visited together.
When the wild-berry tarts and fresh-baked cakes, also the glasses of
birch beer, were passed, the scouts smacked their lips in
appreciation. One of the camp scouts remarked: “What delicious nut
cakes. I love chopped almonds.”
But Belle laughed gayly. “They are not nut cakes, but I made them
according to a recipe a girl gave me one day when I was out hunting
antiques.”
“If they are not nut cakes, what are they?” asked several of the
scouts.
“I used rolled oats such as we get for cereal, and toasted them brown
in a pan sprinkled with sugar and butter. I stirred this in the cake
batter which I had flavored with the meat taken from the cherry stones
found under the trees. This meat was soaked in a teaspoonful of
alcohol for an hour and made the cake taste like almonds.”
“Well, it proves positively that one can find all sorts of
counterfeits,” said one of the camp scouts.
“‘All that glitters is not gold’ is hereby verified,” laughed Janet.
“But the cakes taste good enough to be tried a second time.” This
comment started the cakes around another time.
When one of the camp scouts asked how Belle came to do the baking, it
was learned that not only Belle had added various pursuits to her
chosen line of work that summer, but that Frances also, had decided to
win a badge in several studies mentioned in the handbook.
After the visit was ended, the camp scouts invited the house patrol to
visit them, soon, and try a contest that they would plan. The house
scouts then accompanied their visitors down the road that ran to the
woodland, but stopped at the pathway that crossed it, to go to the
gardens.
Mrs. James and her house scouts watched the camp girls pass out of
sight in the woods, then they walked over to see how Natalie’s new
potato plants which had been given her by Si Tompkins, were growing.