A GOOD SUGGESTION
August at Boxley Hall proved to be a month of fun and frolic. The Barlow
cousins were much easier to entertain than the St. Clairs. In fact, they
entertained themselves, and as for Nan Allen, she entertained everybody
with whom she came in contact. Mr. Fairfield expressed himself as being
delighted to have Patty under the influence of such a gracious and
charming young woman, and Aunt Alice quite agreed with him. Marian adored
Nan, and though she liked Bumble very much indeed, she took more real
pleasure in the society of the older girl.
But they were a congenial crowd of merry young people, and when Mr.
Hepworth came down from the city, as he often did, and Kenneth Harper
drifted in from next-door, as he very often did, the house party at
Boxley Hall waxed exceeding merry.
And there was no lack of social entertainment. The Vernondale young
people were quite ready to provide pleasures for Patty's guests, and the
appreciation shown by Nan and the Barlows was a decided and very pleasant
contrast to the attitude of Ethelyn and Reginald.
Sailing parties occurred often, and these Nan enjoyed especially, for she
was passionately fond of the water, and dearly loved sailing or rowing.
The Tea Club girls all liked Nan, and though she was older than most of
them, she enjoyed their meetings quite as much as Bumble, Marian, or
Patty herself.
Bob soon made friends with the "Tea Club Annex," as the boys of Patty's
set chose to call themselves. Though not a club of any sort, they were
always invited when the Tea Club had anything special going on, and many
times when it hadn't.
One afternoon the Tea Club was holding its weekly meeting at Marian's.
"Do you know," Elsie Morris was saying, "that the Babies' Hospital is in
need of funds again? Those infants are perfect gormandisers. I don't see
how they can eat so much or wear so many clothes."
"Babies always wear lots of clothes," said Lillian Desmond, with an air
of great wisdom. "I've seen them; they just bundle them up in everything
they can find, and then wrap more things around them."
"Well, they've used up all their wrappings," said Elsie Morris, "and
they want more. I met Mrs. Greenleaf this morning in the street, and
she stopped me to ask if we girls wouldn't raise some more money for
them somehow."
"Oh, dear!" said Florence Douglass. "They just want us to work all the
time for the old hospital; I'm tired of it."
"Why, Florence!" said Patty. "We haven't done a thing since we had that
play last winter. I think it would be very nice to have some
entertainment or something and make some money for them again. We could
have some summery outdoorsy kind of a thing like a lawn party, you know."
"Yes," said Laura Russell, "and have it rain and spoil everything; and
soak all the Chinese lanterns, and drench all the people's clothes, and
everybody would run into the house and track mud all over. Oh, it would
be lovely!"
"What a cheerful view you do take of things, Laura," said Elsie Morris.
"Now, you know it's just as likely not to rain as to rain."
"More likely," said Nan. "It doesn't rain twice as often as it rains. Now
I believe it would be a beautiful bright day, or moonlight night,
whichever you have the party, and nobody will get their clothes spoiled,
and the lanterns will burn lovely, and you will have a big crowd, and it
would be a howling success, and you'd make an awful lot of money."
"That picture sounds very attractive," said Polly Stevens, "and I say
let's do it. But somehow I don't like a lawn party--it's so tame. Let's
have something real novel and original. Nan, you must know of something."
"I don't," said Nan. "I'm stupid as an owl about such things. But if you
can decide on something to have, I'll help all I can with it."
"And Nan's awful good help!" put in Bumble. "She works and works and
works, and never gets tired. I'll help, too; I'd love to, only I'm not
much good."
"We'll take all the help that's offered," said Elsie Morris, "of any
quality whatsoever. But what can the show be?"
No amount of thinking or discussion seemed to suggest any novel
enterprise by which a fortune could be made at short notice, and at last
Nan said: "I should think, Patty, that Mr. Hepworth could help. He's
always having queer sorts of performances in his studio. Don't you know
the Mock Art exhibition he told us about?"
"Oh, yes," said Patty; "he'd be sure to know of something for us to do;
and I think he's coming out with papa to-night. I'll ask him."
"Do," said Elsie; "and tell him it must be something that's heaps of fun,
and that we'll all like, and that's never been done here before."
"All right," said Patty. "Anything else?"
"Yes; it must be something to appeal to the popular taste and draw a big
crowd, so we can make a lot of money for the babies."
"Very well," said Patty; "I'll tell him all that, and I'm sure he'll
suggest just the right thing."
Mr. Hepworth did come down that night, and when the girls asked him for
suggestions he very willingly began to think up plans for them.
"I should think you might make a success," he said, "of an entertainment
like one I attended up in the mountains last summer. It was called a
'County Fair,' and was a sort of burlesque on the county fairs or state
fairs that used to be held annually, and are still, I believe, in some
sections of the country."
"It sounds all right so far," said Patty. "Tell us more about it."
"Well, you know you get everybody interested, and you have a committee
for all the different parts of it."
"What are the different parts of it?"
"Oh, they're the domestic department, where you exhibit pies and
bed-quilts and spatter-work done by the ladies in charge."
"Of course, these exhibits aren't real, you know, Patty," said her
father; "and you girls would probably be tempted to put up gay jokes on
each other. For instance, that rockery arrangement of Pansy's might be
exhibited as your idea of art work."
"I wouldn't mind the joke on myself, papa," said Patty, "but it might not
please Pansy. But we can get plenty of things to exhibit in the domestic
department. That will be easy enough. I'll borrow Miss Daggett's pumpkin
bed-quilt to exhibit as my latest achievement in the line of applied art,
and I'll make a pie and label it Laura Russell's, which will take the
first prize; but what other departments are there, Mr. Hepworth?"
"Well, the horticulture department can be made very humourous, as well as
lucrative. At this fair I went to, the ladies had a beautiful table full
of pin-cushions and other gimcracks, in the shape of fruits and
vegetables."
"Oh, yes," said Bumble, "I know how to make those. I can make bananas and
potatoes and Nan can make lovely strawberries."
"And I can make paper flowers," said Bob, "honest, I can! Great big
sunflowers and tiger lilies, and you can use them for lampshades if
you like."
"Yes, the horticulture booth will be easy enough," said Nan. "I'll help a
lot with that. Now, what else?"
"Then you can have an art gallery, if you like. Burlesque, of course,
with ridiculous pictures and statues. I know where I can borrow a lot for
you in New York."
"Gorgeous!" cried Patty, clapping her hands. "What a trump you are!
What else?"
"A loan exhibition is of real interest," said Mr. Hepworth. "If you've
never had one of those here, I think one or two of your members could
arrange a very effective little exhibit by borrowing objects of interest
from their friends about town."
"I'm sure of it," said Patty. "Miss Daggett has lovely things, and so has
Mrs. Greenleaf, and Aunt Alice, and lots of people. We'll let Florence
Douglass and Lillian Desmond look after that. It's just in their line."
"And then you must have side shows, you know; funny performances, like
'Punch and Judy,' and a fortune-telling gipsy. And then all the people
who take part in it must wear fancy or grotesque costumes. And the great
feature of the whole show is a parade of these people in their eccentric
garb. Some walk, while others ride on decorated steeds, or in queer
vehicles. Of course, there's lots of detail and lots of work about it,
but if you go into the thing with any sort of enthusiasm, I'm sure you
can make a big success of it."
They did go into the thing with all sorts of enthusiasm, and they did
make a big success of it.
The Tea Club girls declared the scheme a fine one, and the Boys' Annex
announced themselves as ready to help in any and every possible way.
Committees were appointed to attend to the different departments, and as
these committees were carefully selected with a view to giving each what
he or she liked best to do, the whole work went on harmoniously.
The site chosen for the county fair was the old Warner place. As this was
still unoccupied, it made a most appropriate setting for the projected
entertainment. When Mr. Hepworth saw it he declared it was ideal for the
purpose, and immediately began to make plans for utilising the different
rooms of the old house.
A loan exhibition was to be held in one; and, as Patty had foreseen, many
old relics and heirlooms of great interest were borrowed from willing
lenders around town. In another room was the domestic exhibition, and in
another the horticultural show was held.
One room was devoted to amusing the children, and contained a Punch and
Judy show, fish pond, and various games.
There was a candy kitchen, where white-capped cooks could make candy and
sell it to immediate purchasers.
It had been decided to hold the fair during the afternoon and evening of
two consecutive days. As Nan had prophesied, these days showed weather
beyond all criticism. Not too warm to be pleasant, but with bright
sunshine and a gentle breeze.
At three o'clock the grand parade began, and the spectators watched with
glee the grotesque figures that passed them in line.
Patty, whose special department was the candy kitchen, was dressed as the
Queen of Hearts who made the renowned tarts. Mr. Hepworth had designed
her dress, and though it was of simple white cheese-cloth, trimmed with
red-and-gold hearts, it was very effective and becoming. She wore a gilt
crown, and carried a gilt sceptre, and rode in her own little pony cart,
which had been so gaily decorated for the occasion that it was quite
unrecognisable. Kenneth Harper, as the Knave of Hearts, who wickedly
stole the tarts, sat by her side and drove the little chariot.
Nan was dressed as a gipsy. She had a marvellous tent in which to tell
fortunes, and in the parade she rode on a much-bedecked donkey.
Marian was a dame of olden time, and Bumble was a Japanese lady of
high degree.
There were quaint and curious costumes of all sorts, each of which
provoked much mirth or admiration from the enthusiastic audience.
After the parade, the fair was announced open, and the patrons were
requested to spend their money freely for the benefit of the hospital.
So well did they respond that, as a result of their efforts, the Tea Club
girls were able to present Mrs. Greenleaf with the sum of five hundred
dollars toward her good work.