"NOW DON'T FORGET!"
It was well on in June, and Mrs. Ashford was very busy making
preparations to go to the country with the children.
Two successive summers they had spent at a very pleasant mountain
farmhouse, but the last year they had gone to the seashore. This summer
Mrs. Ashford decided for the farmhouse again, to Marty's great delight,
for it was a perfect paradise to her.
She herself had many preparations to make--deciding which dolls to take
and which to leave at home, and getting them all ready for whatever was
to be their fate. It also took a good deal of time to choose from her
little library the few books her mamma allowed her to take for rainy
days. It was a weighty matter, too, to select a suitable present for
Evaline, the little girl at the farmhouse, as her father suggested she
should do, and gave her money to buy it.
Then Jennie was very much on her mind.
"What will she do for soup and jelly and things when we are away,
mamma?" she asked anxiously.
"I shall tell Katie to carry her something now and then," Mrs. Ashford
replied. "Besides, Cousin Alice will be in town until August, and she
will look out for Jennie. Then Mrs. Scott told me the other day that she
had got all her back rent paid up now, and she expects to have three
days' work every week all summer; so they will get on very well."
Another day Marty came home from Jennie's in distress.
"Mamma," she said, "the doctor says Jennie may soon begin to sit up in
an easy-chair; and they haven't got any. Their two chairs are the most
_uneasy_ things I ever saw in my life. Now, how is she going to sit up?"
Mrs. Ashford laughed as she said, "Well, I was going to give you a
surprise, but I may as well tell you now that I have sent that old
rocking-chair that was up in the storeroom to be mended, and am going to
give it to Mrs. Scott."
Marty was overjoyed to hear this.
"And, oh! mamma, wont you give them the small table that stands in the
third-story hall? You always say it is only in the way there, and it
would be so nice beside Jennie's bed to put her things on, instead of a
chair."
"Yes, I suppose they might as well have it."
"And the red cover that belongs to it, mamma?"
"O Marty, Marty!" exclaimed her mother, laughing. "How many more things
will you want for Jennie? But the red cover may go too."
These things were sent, together with some of Marty's underclothing, a
pair of half-worn slippers, and a couple of Mrs. Ashford's cast-off
gingham dresses, to be made into wrappers for Jennie. Edith and Cousin
Alice also brought some articles for Jennie's comfort.
"She will need a footstool with that chair," said Cousin Alice. "I have
an extra hassock in my room; I'll bring that."
Mrs. Howell sent an old but soft and pretty comfort to spread over the
chair, and which would also be handy for an additional covering in case
of a cold night.
"A curtain on the window would soften the light on hot afternoons," Miss
Alice thought. So she made one of some white barred muslin she had and
put it up. She also thought that as Jennie still had not much appetite,
some prettier dishes than those Mrs. Scott had--they were very few, and
very coarse and battered--might make the food taste better.
"I know, when I am ill," she said to Mrs. Ashford, "the way my food is
served makes a great difference."
So she brought a cheap but pretty plate, cup, and saucer, with which
Jennie was extremely delighted.
"After we all go away there wont be anybody to take flowers to Jennie,"
said Edith, "and I'm afraid she'll miss them. She does enjoy them so
much. I've a great mind to buy her a geranium. May I, mamma? They're
only ten cents."
"Of course you may. I think it would be very nice for Jennie and her
mother to have something of the kind growing in their room," said Mrs.
Howell.
She went with Edith to the florist's, and after helping her to select a
scarlet geranium, she bought a pot of mignonette and another of sweet
alyssum for Edith to give to Jennie.
Marty helped Edith to carry their plants to their destination, and what
rejoicing there was over that window-garden!
"It's too much! too much!" exclaimed Mrs. Scott, wiping her eyes as she
looked around the now really comfortable room.
Then when Miss Alice came in, as she did presently, with four
bright-colored Japanese fans which she proceeded to fasten on the bare
walls, that seemed to cap the climax.
"There never were kinder ladies--never!" exclaimed Mrs. Scott, while
Jennie was too much overcome to say anything.
"It wont be so hard for Jennie to be shut up here, and she wont miss
Marty and Edith so much, if she has these little bits of bright things
to look at," said Miss Alice.
Marty took the greatest interest in helping to arrange all these things
for Jennie's comfort and happiness, and in thinking, too, how much
pleasure they would bring into poor Mrs. Scott's hard-working life. When
she went home after her final visit to Landis Court, she said with a
sigh of relief,
"Now they're fixed comfor'ble, and we can go as soon as we like."
All this time that she had been so engaged with Jennie she had not
neglected the mission band, but attended the meetings regularly and
became more and more interested in what she heard there.
She still pursued the plan of giving to missions at least a tenth of all
the money she got. During the spring and early summer she had had two or
three "windfalls"--one or two small presents of money, and once her
father had given her a quarter for hunting out from an enormous pile
certain numbers of a magazine he wished to consult. Besides she had made
a little money solely for the missionary-box by hemming dusters for her
mother.
The meeting on the third Saturday in June was very important, as it was
the last regular meeting that would be held until September, and there
were many arrangements to be made.
Most of the girls and Miss Walsh herself expected to be away two months,
but several members were to be at home all summer and a few were only
going away for a short time. Miss Walsh said she did not think it fair
that those remaining in town should be deprived of their missionary
meetings. It had therefore been decided that the meetings should be
continued, though not just in the same way as during the rest of the
year. No business was to be transacted and the girls were not to sew
unless they wished.
At this "good-by" meeting, as they called it, Miss Walsh had a few words
to say both to the stay-at-homes and to those who were going away. To
the first she said,
"Dear girls, we leave the band in your hands knowing you will do all you
can for its best interests. Mrs. Cresswell has kindly invited you to
hold your meetings at her house. I have appointed four of the older
girls to lead these meetings--Mary Cresswell and Hannah Morton in July,
Ella Thomas and Mamie Dascomb in August. I have given each of these
leaders some missionary reading in case you run short, but I dare say
you will find plenty of things yourselves. I also intend to write you a
little letter for each meeting, and should be glad to have any or all of
you write to me."
To the others she said,
"Now when you are away having a good time, don't forget missions. Keep
up your interest and come home ready to work more earnestly and
faithfully than ever. There are many ways of keeping the subject fresh
in your minds and of helping along with the work even in vacation times.
But you know this as well as I do, and I should like the suggestions as
to how to do it to come from you."
After a pause Edith said, "We all know the subjects for the next four
meetings, and we might study and read just as we should do at home."
"That is a good suggestion," said Miss Walsh, "and one I hope you will
all adopt; for if you don't, I'm afraid the go-aways will be far behind
the stay-at-homes."
"We might remember what we hear about missions and tell it when we come
back," said one of the others.
"That would be very instructive and pleasant," said their leader; "and
you may have plenty of opportunity to hear, as in these days very
interesting missionary meetings are often held at summer resorts.
Besides you may meet individuals who can give you much information."
"We might do as you are going to do and write letters to the band at
home," said another.
"I know the band at home would like that very much, but you must
remember that they must be letters suited to a missionary meeting."
"We might join with others in holding meetings," suggested Rosa
Stevenson. "In the cottage where I was last summer there were four other
girls and two boys who belonged to mission-bands, and we had a meeting
every Sunday."
"Good!" cried Miss Walsh.
"If we meet any children who don't know about missions, we might tell
them about our band and what we do," said Daisy Roberts timidly.
"The very thing, Daisy!" exclaimed Miss Walsh, patting the tiny girl on
the shoulder. "And you think that might start them up to become mission
workers, do you?"
"Yes, ma'am," replied Daisy.
"I think," said Marty, after various other suggestions had been made,
and she wondered that no one had thought of this, "I think we all should
take our missionary boxes and banks and barrels and jugs along with us,
and put money in regularly as we do at home."
"That is _very_ important," said Miss Walsh, "because if we neglect to
lay by our contributions at the right time, trusting to make up the
amount when we return home, we may find ourselves in a tight place and
our treasury will suffer. And now, dear missionary workers, wherever you
may be, at home or abroad, don't forget to pray every day for the
success of this work. Remember what we are working for is the
advancement of the kingdom of our blessed Lord and Saviour."
And then before the closing prayer they all stood up and sang,
"The whole wide world for Jesus."
This meeting filled Marty with the greatest enthusiasm and she felt as
though she could do anything for missions. _She_ would not forget the
subject for a single day, she was sure.
"Oh Miss Agnes," she said, "I sha'n't forget missions. I'll study the
subjects every week and learn lots of missionary verses. I'll save all
the money I can; and I'll tell _somebody_, if it's only Evaline, all I
know about missionary work. I'll tell her the first thing when I get
there. To be sure she can't have a band all by herself, but it may do
good somehow."