GUSSIE'S NEW PLAY
The day following this unexpected meeting of the Gleaners, the invalid
spent in slumber, so exhausted was she by her efforts to get the
obnoxious books completed and out of the way; but the second day she was
herself again and restlessly eager for some new diversion; and here it
was that Gussie came to the rescue. It had been a hard day for them all.
Outside the rain poured down in torrents, driven by a cold, fitful wind
which seemed more like the blast of winter than the herald of returning
spring; and inside even the cheerful glow of the open fires could not
dispel the gloom and dampness of the storm without. It is just such a
day as makes well folks cross and disgusted, and the poor, unwilling
prisoner in the Flag Room upstairs felt forlorn indeed as she gazed down
the deserted, flooded streets and across the soaked, sodden lawns which
only yesterday had whispered of the coming of summer.
She was tired of reading,--the mere thought of it made her sick--the
geographical puzzles which Allee and Cherry had laboriously cut out for
her amusement quacked of school and duty; she could not play games all
by herself and Grandma was too busy; dolls long since had lost their
charm; it was too stormy for callers; and altogether world seemed a
dull and cheerless place. Even when the girls returned from school the
atmosphere did not clear. Peace was plainly out of sorts, and it was
with a sigh of thanksgiving that the household saw the dismal day draw
to a close.
The dinner-bell pealed out its summons, and half-heartedly Allee pulled
out the invalid's little table, covered it with a snowy cloth and sat
down beside the bed. It was her turn to eat dinner in the Flag Room that
night. Such occasions were usually regarded as a great privilege by this
golden-haired fairy, who was a willing slave to every caprice of the
brown-haired sister; but tonight she did not care much. Peace was so
sulky,--not at all her sprightly, cheerful self,--and Allee felt out of
sorts in sympathy.
Marie did not at once put in appearance with the usual covered tray, and
Peace had just reached out an impatient hand to ring the bell when there
was a sound of light steps on the stairs, and Gussie's smiling face
bobbed around the corner.
"Good evening," she laughed, courtesying so low that the tray she bore
tripped threateningly.
"What's happened to Marie?" demanded Peace, ungraciously. Then catching
sight of the quaint garb the new waitress was wearing, her face lighted
expectantly, and she cried in delight, "O, Gussie, how'd you come to
think of that? Ain't that Swede dress pretty, Allee? 'Tis Swede, isn't
it?"
"Yes," laughed Gussie, perfectly satisfied with the reception of her
little surprise. "This is the way women dress in Sweden where I was
born."
"And I'll bet you've got something nice under that napkin, too," Peace
hazarded, her eyes dancing with their old roguish gleam.
"I shouldn't wonder a bit," Gussie retorted, setting down the tray
before the eager duet and carefully lifting off the white towel which
covered it. The girls looked mystified,--a trifle disappointed, it
seemed to the watchful cook,--and she hastily explained, "I've brought
you a Swedish supper."
"A--what?" gasped Peace, still studying the queer dishes on the tray.
"A supper like the boys and girls in Sweden eat."
"Oh-h!" cried both girls in unison. "What fun!"
"Do they have this every night?" asked Allee, privately thinking that if
they did she was glad she was an American.
"Oh, no, not always. This is just a--a sample supper. We have different
dishes in Sweden just as you do here or in France or England."
"Then make us another Swede supper tomorrow night,--and every night
until we've et up all your Swede dishes. Will you, Gussie?" wheedled
Peace.
The older girl hesitated, frowned and said thoughtfully, "You would get
tired of them very soon, girlie. Lots you would not touch at all. For
instance, sour milk and sugar."
"No, I shouldn't like that," Peace confessed, with an expressive shrug
of her shoulders, "but--"
"I'll tell you what I'll do," the obliging Gussie interrupted. "Tomorrow
night we will have a French dinner, and you must tell everything you
know about France."
"Oh, how splendid!" Both children clapped their hands gleefully. "And
next night we'll have a German dinner, and then an Italian and a Spanish
and a Denmarkish and a Swiss, and a--a--"
Peace paused to think of some other countries, while Gussie stood
appalled at the result of her suggestion. But a glance at the glowing
face on the pillow was ample reward, and suddenly realizing that she had
given the weary prisoner a new and profitable play to occupy the long
hours while the girls were away at school, she recklessly promised,
"Dinners for every country in the world, if we can find out what each
nation eats. But mind, you must learn all you can about the people and
their land."
"It'll be fun to do that," Peace answered readily. "I wonder why they
don't teach g'ography that way in school. It would be a heap more
interesting."
Thus the long weeks rolled by, and unknown to Peace herself, she was not
only keeping abreast of her classes in school, but forging ahead in her
studies as she had never done before.
"It's so int'resting to learn that way," sighed the little prisoner
blissfully, after a particularly impressive lesson supper one night.
"The only thing is, we're going to run out of countries pretty soon, and
then what _will_ we do? Already we've reached Asia. I ate China last
night and India tonight. Tomorrow 'twill be Japan, and then there is
only Africa and South America left before we get around the world. They
have all been such fun! Some countries know how to cook lots better than
others. Now, I really dreaded getting to China, 'cause the books say
Chinamen eat roasted rats, and I couldn't bear to think of Gussie's
dishing up such horrible things as that; but the _slop chewey_ and rice
she cooked were simply deelicious. I've always heard a lot about the
India folks eating curry, too, and I thought it meant the hair they
scratched off their horses with a curry-comb; so I was much surprised
when Gussie made some for my dinner tonight. It's only soup with some
stuff in it that makes it 'most too hot to eat.
"I can't imagine what she will give me in Africa, 'cause we ain't
cannibals, and she never will even hint what's coming next, but I guess
she will get around it some way. Why, in some countries the people eat
horrible things! In West Indies they bake snakes and fry palm worms!
Think of it! Ugh, it makes me shiver! The folks in Brazil eat ants, and
in New Caledonia it's spiders. The Mexicans cook parrots and eat
dynamite. Do you s'pose they ever 'xplode? And in France where Marie was
born they just _love_ snails--raw! I'd as soon eat angleworms myself.
My! I'm glad I'm a civilised _huming_ being. Course Gussie hasn't fed me
any of that junk, and it's been lots of fun traveling this way. I wish
the world wasn't round, but just stretched away and away. Then there'd
be room for more countries."
"Maybe Gussie will take you around the world again," suggested Allee
comfortingly.
"You'd better take a trip through the United States next," said Cherry,
who privately thought Peace was having the most wonderful experiences
that ever befell mortal man, and rather envied the invalid her easy
lot,--for such it really seemed to her.
"Why, I never thought of that," cried Peace, enchanted with the idea.
"But how could I, so's it would be as interesting as eating in other
countries? We are all Americans here and cook the same things."
"O, there's lots of difference between our own states," Cherry stoutly
maintained. "In Florida they raise oranges mostly, and cotton in
Louisiana--"
"A person can't eat cotton," Peace broke in scornfully.
"I didn't say they could," replied Cherry as indignantly. "But they grow
other things, too. Maine has the best apples in the country, Grandpa
says; and Michigan the best peaches. Georgia grows sweet potatoes--"
"And peanuts," Peace interrupted, aglow with animation.
"Yes, and peanuts," Cherry repeated. "California is noted for its
grapes, and--oh, every state has _something_ it raises 'specially. It
would be as interesting traveling in the United States as in Europe, _I_
think."
"So do I,--now," Peace conceded. "And Gussie does make such a splendid
teacher! That's what she ought to be all right, 'stead of a cook, though
she does know how to cook wonderful things. But I'm glad she has got
'most enough money saved up to take her through Normal College. She can
poke more real education into a fellow's head in a minute than Miss
Phelps can in a day."
So the unique lessons continued, and Peace almost forgot at times that
she was a prisoner unable to romp and play in the sunshiny out-of-doors
which she loved so well. She even whistled occasionally when the play
was most interesting; and the members of the household, watching so
anxiously over their idol, rejoiced that the color still bloomed in the
round cheeks, and the merry sparkle so often danced in the big brown
eyes.