A READING-CLUB
With October came school-days.
There was a fine school for young ladies in Vernondale, which Marian
attended, and Aunt Alice thought it best for Patty to go too.
The cousins, who had become inseparable companions, enjoyed their
school-life together, and the added duties which lessons brought, caused
Aunt Alice to make Patty's household tasks rather fewer.
That lady was by no means an advocate of "all work and no play," and though
some domestic duties were imposed and a cake or a dessert was taught every
Saturday, yet Patty had plenty of time for amusements and plenty of
amusements for her time.
One October day, Patty and Marian and two of their schoolgirl friends sat
on Patty's balcony drinking afternoon tea.
It was getting late in the season to use the pretty balcony, but it chanced
to be a bright, sunny autumn day, and the girls had their wraps on.
Besides, they were talking so busily, that I think they would scarcely have
noticed it, had the mercury suddenly fallen to zero.
"Yes," Elsie Morris was saying, "we'll have a real literary club, and we'll
have a president and constitution and everything. But don't let's have too
many members. About twelve girls, I should say."
"Only girls?" said Marian, "aren't we going to have any boys? I know Frank
would like to join."
"Oh, boys don't like to read," said Polly Stevens, "they're nice at parties
and picnics, but we want this club to be really literary, and not just
fooling."
"I know it," said Marian, "but we thought we'd have little plays and
tableaux, and things like that. And how can we manage those without boys?
What do you say, Patty?"
"I think it's nice to have the boys," said Patty, "but they won't come much
in the afternoons. If we have them, it'll have to be an evening affair.
Let's ask Aunt Alice."
"Yes," said Elsie, "Mrs. Elliott always knows just what to do."
"I'll go after her," said Patty, and away she ran, and returned in triumph
with her aunt.
"Now, my blessed auntie," she said, as she gave her a seat, and wrapped a
fleecy shawl about her shoulders, "let me offer you a cup of tea, for we
are going to give you a weighty question to decide, and you'll need a
stimulant."
"Very well," said Aunt Alice, laughing, "but you'd better ask the question
quickly, for this tea doesn't look very strong and its effects will soon
wear off."
So the girls all talked at once, or at least, two at a time, and explained
that they wanted a literary club, and while they all liked the boys and
would be glad of their assistance in plays and tableaux, yet they knew that
if boys came to the meetings, there'd be little or no serious reading done.
"It may be the effects of your tea," said Mrs. Elliott, "but the solution
of your problem seems to me so easy that I wonder you didn't think it out
for yourselves."
"Oh, what is it?" said Elsie and Marian together.
"Why, have your club of girls only, and have your meetings on Saturday
afternoons, as you proposed, and then occasionally,--say, once a
month,--have an evening meeting and invite the boys and have your dramatic
or musical entertainments then."
"I knew you'd fix it, Aunt Alice," said Patty, beaming, "won't that be just
right, girls?"
They all agreed to this wise plan, and immediately made out a list of
twelve girls, who, if they accepted the invitation, were to attend the
first club meeting at Elsie Morris's house on the following Saturday.
Every one did accept, and the club was formed, and the twelve members went
to work with a will to make rules and plans.
Patty was unanimously elected president.
She hesitated about undertaking to fill such a responsible office, but the
girls, one and all, insisted upon it in a determined if not very
parliamentary way; and so she accepted the position, feeling sure that Aunt
Alice would assist and advise her in any difficulties that might arise.
The Literary Club proved a great success. Patty made a very capable and
graceful little president, and when at a meeting in November, the girls
began to discuss an evening entertainment to be held in December, and Patty
remarked that perhaps she wouldn't be in Vernondale then, a general outcry
was raised.
"What do you mean?"
"Why not?"
"Why, Patty Fairfield, where are you going?"
"I don't know where I'm going," said Patty, "but my visit at Marian's will
be over the first of December, and then I'm going to have a new home, and I
don't know where it will be. But oh, girls, I wish it could be in
Vernondale."
"Why can't it?" said Marian eagerly, "why can't Uncle Fred buy a house
here, and then you can live here all your life. Oh, Patty, wouldn't that be
just fine?"
"Oh, Patty, do!" chorused all the girls, and Patty resolved that if she had
any voice in the matter, Vernondale should be her future home.