ETHEL'S FIRST LESSON
"Girls," said Kate, after the morning's ceremonies had been performed,
"today we will cook our dinner over a real camp fire. Our menu will
consist of roasted potatoes, green peas, broiled steak, and a lettuce
salad. Sallie Davis is going to make one of her delicious bread
puddings, which she will bake in the oil stove, but the rest will be the
'real thing.'"
The girls were delighted.
"Ethel," said Edith Overman, "in August you shall taste our delicious
roasted corn. You never ate anything so good in your life. When do you
leave for home?"
"August thirtieth," replied the girl. "Do you stay up here until
September?"
"Yes," replied Kate. "We leave about the fifth, but on account of you we
are going home in August this year."
"Oh, how kind!" said Ethel.
Then Kate began:
"Now my little cousin, you have some work to do today. First, you must
learn how to make knots,--the five different styles--but today it shall
be a square knot only. You are to tie it five times in succession without
hesitation. You are to read and be able to tell the chief cause of
infant mortality in the summer, and to what extent it has been reduced
in one American community. That means one city or town. This is your
school and you must attend it before you can play. You must learn what
to do in the following emergencies: Clothing on fire; person in deep
water who can not swim, both in summer and through ice in winter; how to
bandage and attend to an open cut; a frosted foot; what to do with a
person who has fainted; how to use surgeon's plaster; you must commit to
memory a poem of twenty-five lines or more, and you must learn about
yourself--what every girl of your age needs to know. You are not to
learn all of this in one day, but a little every day. Mollie and Nora,
who are proficient in these things, will help teach you. Then you'll
learn to cook, swim, and row a boat. We have a lovely lake about a mile
from here, and there are boats and canoes to hire. All these, and
various other useful things, you are to learn. I want you to be able to
win an Elective Honor in some one of the seven crafts. You must wear
your beads, but you must win them first. Next week we shall remove the
roofs of our tents and sleep in the open. I wish you girls to get a
month or two of it. That counts one honor."
Nora, Mollie and Ethel started in. Ethel quickly learned how to tie the
knot. Then she began to study "first aid to the injured," and the girls
taught her how to adjust a bandage and how to use the plaster.
"It's a shame that ye haven't a real broken bone to work on," laughed
Nora.
"Well, that's a nice thing to say," replied Mollie; "suppose you go and
cut yourself, Nora Casey, or break your leg."
After studying for a couple of hours the girls declared that Ethel was a
promising pupil. She even learned a poem, "The Psalm of Life," by
Longfellow.