The fourth and last officer to be elected was the secretary, and this
honor fell to gentle Irma Linton. Ever modest and self-effacing, Irma
was even more greatly surprised at her own election than Mignon had been
when Constance Stevens had suddenly declared herself.
"Will the four distinguished officers please come forward and stand in a
row and receive the congratulations of the humble members?" requested
Marjorie gaily. "After that I will conduct them to their official
stations and let them run the meeting."
Several minutes of merry talk and handshaking went on before Jerry
assumed the scepter of office and called the meeting to order again.
Mignon and Irma had now been given seats at the big library table at one
end of the room. Muriel had moved her chair to the front, placing it a
little to one side of where Jerry stood.
"Ahem!" ejaculated Jerry, then giggled. "As president of this club, it
now becomes my duty to discuss with you a number of rules and
regulations to which this distinguished organization must pledge
themselves to live up. In the first place, you will all be taxed with
dues. You are lucky to be charter members and thus avoid the payment of
initiation fees. Now the question is how much are you willing to pay per
week or per year or any other old per for your glorious privilege of
membership. Now don't all speak at once, and don't be stingy. Remember,
we are as yet a very poor and struggling concern. We have only one
consolation. We needn't hire a hall. We can meet at one another's houses
and thus practice thrift. Now let's have a little informal discussion
about it."
"I think the per week idea would be nice." Harriet Delaney rose promptly
to the financial situation. "We could give so much each week when we
came to the meeting. Mignon could have our names on a book just as the
grammar school teachers keep a register. Then when we first came into
the room where the meeting is held we could give her our money and she
could credit us with it on her book. It's easier to give a little each
week than to have to save it up and pay it all at one time. We wouldn't
even miss it, for we are always spending small sums for candy and ice
cream and moving pictures and such things. We ought to look at our club
as an amusement and be willing to pay for it accordingly. Then, too, the
money will be used to do good with."
"That is a very sensible plan," agreed Muriel Harding. "How much do you
suppose we ought to give? I am willing to spend at least a quarter a
week on the club."
"I'd never miss a quarter, either," affirmed Jerry Macy. "That's letting
us off easy. Don't you think so, Marjorie?"
Marjorie was about to answer in the affirmative. Sudden remembrance of
Lucy Warner checked her reply. Among the fourteen girls present that
evening, Lucy Warner alone would be unable to spare that weekly sum.
Hastily dividing 52 by 4 she realized that thirteen dollars would be a
rather large slice out of Lucy's savings toward a college education. She
wondered now whether she had been wholly wise in even asking Lucy to
make one of an organization of girls who squandered weekly perhaps more
than poor Lucy could save in a month.
"I think it would be better to set the dues at ten cents per week," she
said slowly. "We will always be sure to pay that much. At that rate we'd
be paying $5.20 a year apiece, and in many clubs the yearly dues are not
more than that. Of course, we are anxious to put some money in our
treasury as soon as we can. If any of you feel like paying a year's dues
in advance, so much the better for the club treasury. What we ought to
do is to give an entertainment of some kind and earn quite a lot of
money all at once. Almost any one in Sanford would be willing to
contribute to a good cause. The Rebellious Princess netted us over five
hundred dollars for the library. We could give a fair or a play or
something and have a splendid time doing it, not to mention the money
we'd earn."
"But suppose we do something like that and make a lot of money, what are
we going to do with the money?" asked Florence Johnston.
"Give it to anyone who needs it," responded Marjorie. "As Lookouts we
must poke around and find some good use for our money. There are always
plenty of very poor people in Sanford who need help. Captain and Mrs.
Macy went this evening to see a man who was hurt in an explosion. Now
that he is so sick, he can't work and he and his family have nothing to
live on. There are lots of such cases right here in this city. For two
years at Christmas time a number of we girls have tried to give the very
poor folks a Merry Christmas. The club can do things like that. There
might be some girl in our own school who would some day need our help.
We'll just have to keep our eyes open and find out where our help is
needed."
After a little further discussion, the girls agreed that the weekly sum
of ten cents each would be satisfactory, at least for a beginning.
Secretly two or three of them wondered at Marjorie's unwillingness to
give more than that. They had always supposed her to be very generous.
Mignon, in particular, was delighted at discovering, at last, what she
regarded as a great flaw in Marjorie Dean's character. She mentally
stored it away as a delectable bit of gossip to be circulated at her
pleasure.
Having been provided with notebook and fountain pen, Irma busied herself
with setting down the results of the various discussions regarding rules
and regulations, which followed rapidly upon that of the dues. Once
these points had been finally settled they were to be incorporated in a
typed list and each girl was to receive a copy of the list.
Thus far during the meeting, nothing save the actual business of the
club had been talked over. The object of the Lookouts, their dues, the
time and place of meeting, these and other similarly important details
had been gone over, each assuming the form of a set rule. The ethical
side of the club had not yet been touched upon. As president it now
became Jerry's duty to introduce the delicate subject which she and
Marjorie had confidentially gone over together on the previous day. This
was a contingency on which blunt, good-humored Jerry had not reckoned.
She had had a fixed idea that Marjorie would be elected president of the
club, and had depended on her to lay down that one special rule of
conduct that was intended to quiet Mignon's too-garrulous tongue. Now it
appeared that the task devolved upon herself. Yet she did not feel equal
to it. She knew that her brusque fashion of speaking was likely to
arouse instant aggression on Mignon's part.
Her round, blue eyes significantly fixed on Marjorie, she now addressed
the gathering with: "Is there anything else you can think of that ought
to be added to the rules of our club? If there is----" She paused,
continuing to stare at Marjorie with an expression of positive pleading
on her plump face.
Marjorie read the glance aright and rose to Jerry's aid. Drawing a long
breath she said with a gravity that brought all eyes to bear upon her:
"Girls, there is one rule that we ought to make and live up to if we
hope to become useful to others. It is the good old Golden Rule. 'Do
unto others as you would that they should do unto you.' It means to be
absolutely loyal in thought, word and deed, to everyone with whom we
come in contact. Then we may hope for an equal amount of loyalty in
return. Of course we expect to be loyal to one another. Otherwise there
would be no use in forming this club. But we must be specially careful
to give outsiders a perfectly square deal. If ever we expect to hand
down our sorority to those who come after us, we must offer them an
unblurred escutcheon. After all, it is the little things we say and do
that often amount to the most for or against us.
"As our club becomes better known, the eyes of the other girls at
Sanford High School will be turned upon us. We can't afford to do or say
anything that will cause them to criticize us. We must carry ourselves
so honorably that we shall be beyond criticism. That's why I think the
Lookouts should adopt the Golden Rule for their very own and try always
to keep it."
A vigorous clapping of hands followed Marjorie's earnest little speech,
accompanied by, "Good for you, Marjorie," "The Golden Rule for the
Lookouts," "You couldn't have chosen a better one," and various other
bursts of girlish enthusiasm. Marjorie's sweet face grew rosy at the
tributes that were hurled at her from all sides. She had guessed that,
with the exception of Mignon, the girls would heartily echo her
sentiments. A swift, uncontrollable flash of curiosity to see in what
spirit the French girl had received her little talk, impelled her
reluctant gaze to center itself upon Mignon.
The latter's face was a study. True her lips were curved in a smile
intended to convey an amiable acceptance of the measures which Marjorie
had so conscientiously advocated, but her black eyes glowed with a
threatening light that belied her smiling lips. Within the guileful
French girl's breast seethed a turmoil of conflicting emotions. Had she
joined this silly club and accepted an office in it only to find that
she had been trapped into pledging herself to become a goody-goody like
Marjorie Dean? It looked very much as though she had done precisely that
very thing. She reflected angrily that she might have known better.
Personally, she was not in the least interested in putting herself out
to help others. If certain persons in Sanford were so poor they hadn't
enough to eat and wear it was none of her concern. The club no doubt
would turn out to be as prosy an affair as all the other regulation
charitable organizations in Sanford. She had a wild desire to spring
from her chair, tell these stupid girls that they were all babies and
rush from the house.
Yet there was her office of treasurer to be considered. At last she was
in a fair way toward becoming popular. Then, too, these same babyish
girls were vastly important pupils of Sanford High. Third, there was the
question of her stern father to be considered. As a member of the
Lookout Club, she would be in high favor with him. Perhaps, after all,
it would pay her to pretend to a loyalty which formed no part of her
tricky, faithless composition. Later on, if she found the club
unendurable, she could easily drop out of it. As for the much-vaunted
Golden Rule, let the others live up to it as much as they chose. It
should not trouble her in the least. She had ever been a law unto
herself and she would always remain one.