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[Illustration: "What can I do for you? Are you in pain?"]
BLUE ROBIN,
THE GIRL PIONEER
BY
RENA I. HALSEY
_ILLUSTRATED BY NANA FRENCH BICKFORD_
BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
Published, March, 1917
Copyright, 1917
By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.
_All rights reserved_
BLUE ROBIN, THE GIRL PIONEER
Norwood Press
BERWICK & SMITH CO.
NORWOOD, MASS.
U. S. A.
BLUE ROBIN THE GIRL PIONEER
IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO
MISS LINA BEARD
FOUNDER
AND
CHIEF PIONEER
OF
THE NATIONAL INCORPORATED
ORGANIZATION OF
THE GIRL PIONEERS OF AMERICA
WHAT ARE "GIRL PIONEERS"?
The first public meeting of the National Organization of the Girl
Pioneers of America was held by the founder, Miss Lina Beard, in the
quaint old Pioneer meeting-house on Broadway, in Flushing, New York,
February 8, 1912.
The aim of the Organization of Girl Pioneers is: To cultivate in girls
the sterling qualities displayed by our early pioneer women; to create a
desire in them for a happy, broad, and useful life and to show them how
to attain it; to give them things to do that are interesting, wholesome,
and that will strengthen character; and to develop a love for
out-of-door life by showing them how to live it.
The watchword of the Girl Pioneer is, "I Can."
The principles upon which the organization is founded are not simply
taught as precepts, they are found and practiced in all the delightful
activities of the movement. Outdoor life with its limitless avenues of
interest: camping, trailing, woodcraft, learning to know the wild life
of the open, its plants, its flowers, birds, common wild animals and
insects; the stars and the meaning of the shadows, the use of nature's
material in handicraft; all these and many more are opened to the Girl
Pioneer, and by actual contact she is finding the beauty of truth and
the wonder of reality. By her membership in this large organization she
is learning to be less self-centered, learning to work with others and
for others, and to share her enjoyments with others. By the joyous
participation in field-sports, and such recreation as rowing, swimming,
fishing, riding, kite-flying, stilt-walking, and the more conventional
games, such as basket-ball, service-ball, tennis, and archery, she is
learning to play honestly and fairly, and _is building up bodily health
and strength_ to keep pace with the mental and moral health that is
being developed within her.
By her indoor life, lived as truly in the pioneer spirit as her life in
the open, she is bringing into play the faculties of resourcefulness, of
adaptability, of thoroughness, and the virtue of helpful kindness. She
learns to do all household tasks, to do them well, and to be interested
in them. She is taught in charming ways the use of her five senses, and
is delighted to find that she can develop them and consciously enjoy
them. She learns to care for the sick and the young children; she is
proud of being able to render "first aid" according to the latest and
best methods; she learns how to avoid accidents as well as what to do in
case of accidents. She has a system of signs for blazing the trail which
belongs solely to the Girl Pioneers, and she learns what to do in case
she is lost when camping or trailing. In short, the Girl Pioneer's
teaching makes her efficient in all fields. The mind and imagination of
the Girl Pioneer are stimulated by true stories of heroism and the
adventures of the early pioneers. Her merit badges are given the names
of the women pioneers, including besides the early settlers those who
were in helpful work for humanity. Her honors are shown by stars worn on
the sleeve, which indicate the tests successfully passed and lead up to
the final merit badge.
The Girl Pioneer colors, red, white, and blue, not only signify that the
organization is national in extent but hold a still further meaning for
the Girl Pioneers; red standing for courage, white for purity, and blue
for truth. The graceful salute symbolizes a brave heart, an honest mind,
a resourceful hand. The motto of the Girl Pioneer is, "Brave, Honest,
Resourceful."
The Girl Pioneers have their khaki uniform with red tie and red hatband,
which is practical, adaptable, and pleasing. They have their banners,
their Pioneer sign, their initiation, with its ceremony and membership
certificate; their rallies, field-days, and other general meetings
indoors and out. They have their Pioneer cheer, and each Band and each
group has a cheer of its own. There is the official song which all the
Pioneers sing, and there are songs composed by the Bands.
Each Band is under the leadership of a volunteer director who furnishes
acceptable credentials. The Band is composed of one group, or several
groups, of from six to ten girls in each. The name of an American wild
bird is chosen for the name of each group, and the Band is known by its
number. The bird cheers of the groups are very breezy and inspiring.
The Girl Pioneer ranks are open to all girls, and the work is very
helpful in Sunday-schools, public schools, private schools, camps, and
all large societies for girls, such as Young Women's Christian
Association, Young Women's Christian Temperance Union, playgrounds, etc.
The Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, and like
organizations seek to preserve the historical records and objects
connected with the early life of our country, while the Girl Pioneers
seek to revive and perpetuate the spirit that dominated the invincible
men and women who made our nation possible.
The Girl Pioneer organization is governed by an Executive Board, of
which the Chief Pioneer, Lina Beard, is the head. There is also a
National Council composed of eminent and influential men and women
living in various parts of the United States, to be called upon when
needed.
The Pioneer folder will be sent upon application, and the Manual will be
sent upon receipt of price, thirty-five cents, and seven cents for
postage. For further information and for literature, address:
Secretary of Girl Pioneers of America,
Flushing, New York.
FOREWORD
A few summers ago I had the pleasure of being entertained by several
Bands of The Girl Pioneers of America, on the wooded shores of one of
Long Island's noted bays, at Camp Laff-a-Lot. As I watched these
wholesome-looking, happy girls in their attractive uniforms, and saw
their bright, animated faces as they made merry in joyous sport under
God's blue, and then turned to the more serious employment of making
bayberry candles, building camp fires, gathering wildflowers in their
study of Nature, or blazing the trail as they made the woodland resound
to their wonderful imitation of bird-notes, in the various calls of
their groups, my interest was awakened. Later, as I gathered with them
in the red glow of their Cheer Fire and heard their rousing Pioneer
cheer, and their inspiring Band songs, and saw how a love for history
and the true meaning of patriotism was engendered, while their minds and
imaginations were being stimulated by their stories of the heroism of
the women Pioneers, I realized that as our patriotic organizations were
seeking to honor the Founders of our Nation by preserving historical
records and objects, these Pioneer daughters were seeking to revive and
perpetuate the spirit that dominated the men and women who brought to
these shores, the grand principles of a civilization that has made our
Republic the greatest in the world! It was in recognition of the
nobleness of the aims of The Girl Pioneers of America, as well as in
appreciation of the worthy Founder's efforts to bring out the best in
them, that inspired me to set forth if only in a limited way these many
truths, and so I was emboldened to write "Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer!"
Rena I. Halsey.
_Brooklyn,_
_January 1, 1917._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The Nest in the Old Cedar 11
II Her Next-door Neighbor 27
III Girl Pioneers 40
IV Nathalie Is Asked to Become a Blue Robin 55
V The Gray Stone House 72
VI Working into Harness 90
VII The Mayflower Feast 108
VIII The Motto, "I Can" 126
IX Searching for Rosy 143
X Nathalie as the Story Lady 159
XI The Princess in the Tower 179
XII The Wild-flower Hike 194
XIII Around the Cheer Fire 213
XIV Overcomes 230
XV A Chapter of Surprises 250
XVI Pioneer Stunts 270
XVII Liberty Banners 289
XVIII The Princess Makes Two More Friends 308
XIX The Fagot Party 330
XX The Dutch _Kraeg_ 348
XXI An Invitation 366
XXII Camp Laff-a-Lot 385
XXIII Miss Camphelia 403
XXIV The Wireless Operator 421
XXV Good-by to Eagle Lake 438
ILLUSTRATIONS
"What can I do for you? Are you in pain?" _Frontispiece_
"Polly Green, her reel," announced Helen 122
"Why, how did you get there?" 172
"Oh, don't be frightened!" exclaimed the princess,
with a merry laugh 194
The rope had broken in her grasp 228
Up went two hands in pretended subjugation 290
With an unearthly shriek was flying across the lawn 338
She dropped the ashes of Miss Dummy into the placid water 436
BLUE ROBIN, THE GIRL PIONEER
CHAPTER I--THE NEST IN THE OLD CEDAR
Nathalie came running up the steps of the veranda her brown eyes alight
with excitement as she cried, "Oh, Mother, what do you think? Down in
the old cedar-tree on the lawn is a nest of tiny blue robins--they're
just the cutest things--do come and see them!"
"Blue robins?" quizzed her brother Dick from where he lay reading in the
hammock. "Who ever heard of blue robins?"
"I think she means bluebirds," ventured Mrs. Page, looking up from the
morning paper and smiling at the earnest young face of her daughter.
Then her eyes dimmed, but she winked her lashes quickly as if to
restrain a sudden rush of tears, rose in answer to the note of appeal in
the girl's voice, and stepped to her side.
A moment later they were strolling across the new-grown grass of the
lawn, the girl of sixteen supporting the slender, black-gowned figure of
her mother, whose delicate, high-bred face with its impress of recent
sorrow defined the youthful glow of the one that smiled upon her so
tenderly.
"Now, Mumsie, look!" whispered the girl as she pointed to a dark cavity
in the trunk of the cedar but a short distance from the ground; "see,
are they not robins?"
Mrs. Page's tired eyes brightened as she watched with keen interest the
five bobbing heads with open bills, turweeing in hungry clamor, "Why no,
Nathalie," she replied laughingly, "they are bluebirds."
At this instant they spied the mother bird as she flitted excitedly
among the upper branches of the tree. Drawing her mother to one side,
Nathalie whispered tensely, "Oh, there's the mother bird--she wants to
feed them! Let's see what she will do!" Nathalie's eyes sparkled
expectantly.
It was quite evident what Mrs. Bluebird was going to do, for she
immediately jumped to the edge of the nest and dropped a fat, squirming
worm into an open bill. As she poised over her nestlings she caught
sight of the two figures under the tree. In another instant she had set
up such a vigorous scolding that the interlopers were quite disturbed.
Seeing, however, that they did not offer to molest her little ones, Mrs.
Birdie finally subsided, cocked her head perkily on one side, and
watched them with eyes that shone like two fireflies.
Father bird now came flying up with another good-sized wriggler in his
beak, which mother bird, with an eye to business, hastily snatched and
dropped into a wide-open bill.
"Why, Mother," commented Nathalie, "do you see that the father bird is
much the handsomer of the two, for he is of a deep blue color, while
mother bird's feathers are grayish-blue."
Her mother nodded as she answered, "Yes, and his beautiful coat is in
striking contrast to his throat and breast, which are reddish-brown."
"And the white feathers below," continued Nathalie, with keen eyes,
"look like a white apron."
"But come, dear," interposed her mother, "we must go back, for I hear
Dick whistling--he is getting impatient--I promised to get him a sofa
pillow for the hammock."
As they stepped on the veranda, Dick inquired, with sarcastic
inflection, balancing himself on the edge of the hammock and pushing it
to and fro with his crutch, "Well, how many blue robins did you find?"
"We found five tiny bluebirds," responded his mother with unwonted
animation as she seated herself in a low rocker, and then she continued
in lower tone as her daughter disappeared in quest of the pillow, "Oh,
Dick! I am so glad to see some color in Nathalie's cheeks again, for she
has been looking very wan and pale. The poor child has not only suffered
the loss of her father, but she has had to give up so many things--the
very things, too, that a girl of her age longs for so much!" Mrs. Page
sighed drearily.
"Giving up college was the hardest," added her son, his face expressing
the sympathy he hardly knew how to voice; "but she's a corker, for she
has faced every disappointment like a little hero. I didn't know she had
so much pluck in her."
"She takes after her father, he was always so cheerful about facing the
inevitable--" His mother's lips quivered; she paused as if to gain
control of her voice and then resumed brokenly, "Oh, Dick, to think he
has gone--it seems as if it could not be true--"
"True enough," retorted Dick gruffly; and then he added, in a softer
voice, "but after all, Mother, every one has to have trouble. We're
having ours just now--that's all--and we've got to bear it. Things might
have been worse, I suppose--we've got enough left to live on--oh, if it
wasn't for this confounded knee of mine--to be helpless when--"
"Hush, Dick, don't say that," cried his mother in a pained voice; "just
have patience, and you will be all right; have patience with me, too,
dear, because I am such a coward to allow myself to get so depressed."
She made a brave attempt at a smile. "It will be as you say, all right
soon."
Hearing Nathalie's step, she hastily hid her tear-stained face behind
the paper; then, as that young woman threw the sofa pillow at Dick's
head, she exclaimed, "I am so glad, Nathalie, to see you take an
interest in the new home. I think it is a lovely--"
"Doll's house!" interposed the girl laughingly. "But, O dear, I must be
careful, for when I called it a doll's house while Mrs. Morton was here
she looked rather queer, and then I remembered that her house is not
much bigger. But do you know, Mother," she rattled on girlishly, "I
think we are going to be quite comfy in this little home--after a time of
course," she hastened to add, "when we have become used to the
change--and all--" she stopped abruptly, for she, too, was thinking of the
dear father who had gone so suddenly--without even saying good-by, as she
had so often wailed in the darkness of night--leaving Mother with only a
meager income, and with poor Dick to take care of, and her and Dorothy,
who didn't know enough to earn a penny!
A sudden slam of the door was heard, a "How are you, Auntie?" in a
sweet, assured voice, and then with smiling eyes a tall, graceful, young
woman, with shiny, fluffy hair came forward and kissed her aunt
caressingly.
"Oh, Lucille, what do you think?" broke from Nathalie impetuously; "I
found a nest of tiny bluebirds down in the old cedar-tree on the lawn!"
"Um-m, well, you are always finding something to enthuse over," remarked
her cousin with careless indifference, "but I wish you would make that
all-round maid of yours do my room, I want to write a letter." There was
spoiled impatience in the girl's voice.
Mrs. Page looked up with a startled expression as she murmured
apologetically, "Oh, I forgot, Lucille. I will do it--I thought--"
"No, no, Mother," came from Nathalie hurriedly, as with heightened color
and gentle insistence she forced her mother back to her seat. "I will do
it."
Nathalie disappeared within the door. She had smiled sweetly for her
mother's sake, but as she went up the stairs there was an upward lift to
her chin that showed that she had a will and a temper of some weight.
"Why is Lucille so mean," she questioned mutinously, "as not to make her
own bed when she knows that now we shall have to get along with only one
maid? Mother is not going to wait on her!" Her eyes gleamed with angry
decision, and then the curves of her mouth softened as she struggled
silently with her jarring thoughts.
Yes, it must be borne, for was it not a part of the great change that
had come into her life with her first great sorrow? The shock of her
father's death had dazed her, and she had suffered in a dulled,
uncomprehending way until she was aroused from her grief by the many
anxieties and disappointing changes that the financial tangle of her
father's affairs had caused.
Leaving their beautiful city home, giving up the many luxuries and the
pleasures to which she had been accustomed, parting from her school
friends, and coming to the unknown suburban town were bitter
disappointments; the one that cut the deepest was giving up college, but
the hardest to bear was Dick's accident!
The next moment the girl was hard at work picking up Lucille's
disordered room, humming cheerily as she went about her task, for, after
all, her cousin was independent--she paid her board--and now they would
need every penny.
A resolute will and deft fingers can accomplish much in this workaday
world, and so Nathalie soon finished her new job, as she called it, and
sat on the veranda watching the robins as they hopped nimbly over the
lawn, ducking their heads every minute or so to reappear with fat,
dangling worms in their beaks.
Their cheerful twitter, the budding leaves on trees and bushes, and the
many reminders of the revival of life under the warmth and glow of the
spring sunshine thrilled her with exhilaration. Her depression vanished,
she felt happy again, but vaguely perhaps, scarcely comprehending that
the buoyancy of youth and the joy of life were compensations that dulled
the harrowing edge of grief.
With a long breath, as if to capture as much as possible of the spring
balminess, Nathalie turned to see her mother seated in the low chair,
with her basket of mending, wearing the same dazed, worried look on her
face that had haunted the girl ever since their sorrow. She became
keenly aware that her tireless mother, who had always stood ready to do
the thousand and one things that were constantly calling her, was
failing. Something swelled up in her throat, she fought valiantly a
moment, and then jumping up, she grabbed the half-darned sock from her
mother's hand, pitched it into the basket, picked it up and carried it
over to her chair.
"Now, Mumsie," she declared in answer to her mother's startled look,
"you are not to darn any more stockings; henceforth your humble servant
is to be the champion mender." Nathalie's cheeks flushed, for as she
raised her eyes she encountered those of a young girl about her own age
who was just coming out of the adjoining house.
As her neighbor saw Nathalie, she smiled a cheery good-morning, showing
a row of strong, white teeth, and then strode down the walk with the
light step and easy swing of the athletic girl.
"Huh! what a queer rig," commented Lucille, with a supercilious raising
of her eyebrows, as she noted that the girl wore a short brown khaki
skirt over bloomers, a middy with a Turkey red tie, and a broad-brimmed
hat banded with red. "Is that the Salvation Army's summer apparel?" Then
seeing that the girl carried a strong staff in her hand, she added with
a giggle, "Or perhaps she is some aspiring member of the militants."
"Why, I think the uniform--for I presume it is that--" interposed Mrs.
Page, "is very attractive, and most appropriate for a Girl Pioneer."
"Why, Mother, how do you know she is a Girl Pioneer?" questioned
Nathalie with mild amazement.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you that her mother, Mrs. Dame, called the day you
were out walking. She told me that Helen, her only daughter, belongs to
'The Girl Pioneers of America.'"
"The Girl Pioneers of America!" repeated her daughter; "why, I never
heard of them. Is it a patriotic society?"
"In a way I presume it is," returned her mother, "as it is an
organization which trains girls to emulate the sterling qualities of the
early pioneer women."
"I wonder what they do, and if it is anything like the Boy Scouts!"
continued Nathalie interestedly.
"I think from what Mrs. Dame told me that it must be a sister society to
that organization, for its object is to awaken within the girls a desire
for healthy, outdoor activities, as well as a broad and useful life
along many lines. I am sure in these days, when girls are so shallow and
artificial-looking, and have no higher thought than getting all the
pleasure they can out of life, that it is something which is sadly
needed." Mrs. Page's tones were expressive.
"Oh, Aunt Mary," demurred Lucille, looking up with a frown from her
novel, "one would think that you expected girls to dress and act like
their grandmothers. I am sure one can be young but once, and if one
doesn't have a good time then, what's the use of living? And for putting
a little color on one's face, why, the most fashionable people do it
nowadays."
Mrs. Page's face flushed slightly, but she replied with quiet dignity,
"I am surprised, Lucille, to hear you talk that way, brought up as you
have been, too. It is true," she continued, "that there is no harm in
wanting a good time--as you call it--that is youth's privilege, and no one
wishes to turn youth into age, but back of it all there should be common
sense and a desire for right living. As for putting artificial color on
a face that should represent the freshness and the natural bloom of
youth, why, to me it is demoralizing."
Lucille frowned impatiently and resumed her reading.
"Mrs. Dame," continued her aunt, turning towards Nathalie, "said her
daughter Helen was coming in to call on you; she will probably give you
all the information you want about the new organization. I hope you will
like her, dear, for she seems a pleasant, well-bred girl and surely will
prove companionable to you. We might as well, all of us, try to forget
our city life with its past pleasures, and see if we cannot adapt
ourselves to our surroundings."
"Indeed I will try, Mumsie," replied Nathalie with a slight catch in her
voice, as her thoughts turned back to her chums in the city, and she
wondered what they would think of her humble little home. "But really,
Mother," she spoke aloud, "I think Miss Dame has an awfully bright face,
and I wish she would call, for I should like to know about the Girl
Pioneers."
A few days after the finding of the bluebird's nest, Nathalie, enlivened
by the desire to investigate her surroundings, and curious for new
experiences, set forth on a little exploring tour to the woods on the
outskirts of the town. She had tried to induce her cousin to join her,
but that young lady was absorbed in running over a new ragtime song. Her
sister Dorothy, aged twelve, had also declined on the score that she had
an engagement with a girl neighbor who lived in the big house down the
road.
Sunshine and youth are joy-bearers, and as Nathalie felt the air in
fragrant little whiffs against her cheeks, she thrilled with pleasure as
she strode briskly up the hill. A moment later, however, her shining
eyes shadowed, and she unconsciously shivered as she encountered a cold
glance from a lady, weirdly garbed in gray, who was just passing.
The color flashed to her cheeks; she felt as if some one had slapped her
as the haunting vision of that uncanny stare of aversion from two
steely-gray eyes penetrated her consciousness. Tempted by curiosity she
turned and watched the peculiar-looking figure as it glided with almost
specter-like swiftness down the hill.
"I wonder who she is and why she gave me such a harrowing glance,"
thought Nathalie. "Whew! she has frozen me stiff," and then a laugh
brightened the brown eyes as she continued on her way. She had almost
reached the top of the hill when she saw a large brown card on the walk.
Picking it up she read, "Westport Library," and then the written name,
"Elizabeth Van Vorst." Not a great loss, to be sure, but likely to cause
inconvenience.
"Oh, I wonder if that lady didn't drop it, she had a book under her
arm," flashed into the girl's mind. She hesitated--she did not want to
climb that long hill again--but the next second she had whirled about and
was running lightly down the slope in the direction of a Carnegie
building that glimmered picturesquely between green-boughed trees.
"Oh, I beg your pardon," panted Nathalie as she held out the card to the
gray lady who had just emerged from the library and was looking vexedly
about on the walk in front of the building, "did you not lose your
library card?"
The lady turned sharply, stared suspiciously at the girl a moment, and
then, as her eyes fell upon the extended card, exclaimed coldly, "Oh,
did you find it? Thank you, I am much obliged!" With a haughty glance of
dismissal she turned and ascended the library steps.
Nathalie's eyes gleamed angrily, but with a toss of her head she was off
on her second trudge up the slope. "Well, she is the limit--" she
muttered. "Of all hateful, disagreeable, peculiar, mysterious creatures,
she takes first rank." But when the girl reached the woods where the
new-gowned trees and the white blossoms of the dogwood, which she had
spied the day before, riding in a trolley car, rustled softly in the
sunlight, as if in a spring greeting to the flower-seeker, the
unpleasant incident was forgotten.
With eager eyes and cheeks aglow she began to break off a sprig here and
there, lingering only to caress the snowy petals that tantalizingly
brushed her cheek.
"What a beauty!" she exclaimed as she suddenly halted; "it will be just
the spray to sketch." Up went her arm--a little higher--and then something
went from under her; she tried to regain her footing, but slipped again
on the moist turf. She felt her foot turn, and then came a sharp twinge
that whitened her lips as she dropped, a helpless heap, on the ground.
For a few moments the girl forgot her dogwood blossoms, the slip, and
the pain, and then she opened her eyes to realize, with a pang of
dismay, that she must have fainted. Oh, she must have twisted her ankle,
for when she tried to stand she almost screamed with the knife-like
twinges.
She leaned her head against the tree with closed eyes, trying to think,
but her thoughts seemed to run around in a circle, for she could see no
way out of her dilemma. She was too far from the trolley line to hail a
car, or to beckon to any passer-by who might be on the road.
She thought ruefully of how worried her mother would be if she did not
return before dark. And who was there to look for her? Dick was helpless
with his crutch, Dorothy would not be home until late, and Lucille--well,
whoever heard of Lucille ever doing anything for any one but herself?
She screamed, but when her voice rang out with reverberating shrillness
she clapped her hands to her ears. She would sing; and her fresh young
voice broke forth into ragtime song.
But the ragtime quivered pathetically into a half-wail. What should she
do? At last in sheer desperation she began to sing hymns; but they
sounded so doleful in her nervous state that she desisted with a sound
that was half a sob and half a laugh. She was about to embrace
resignation to fate when she caught the glimmer of a brown skirt between
the low-hung branches of the trees near by. In a moment there was a
sharp crack of a twig, and Nathalie with a sudden exclamation of joy saw
a young girl coming quickly toward her, wearing the same kind of a brown
uniform she had perceived on her neighbor a few days ago.
"Oh, are you hurt?" asked the girl quickly, as she saw Nathalie's white
face resting against the tree.
Nathalie, attempting to smile, told of her mishap, and then with
widening eyes saw the girl run a few steps into the open. Then the
short, staccato whistle of Bob White struck the air.
It was hardly a moment when, in response to this bird-call, several
girls appeared in the opening beyond. A few hurried words with the girl
who had signaled them, and they were around Nathalie, listening to the
story of her accident.
After expressing their sympathy, two of the taller girls quickly slipped
off their khaki skirts, unbuttoned them, and then, to the injured one's
amazement, one of the girls pushed her staff through the belt of one
skirt and hem of the other, while her companion did the same with her
staff. They were improvising a stretcher, as neat and
comfortable-looking as if it had just been removed from an ambulance.
While the stretcher was being made, one of the girls had taken from her
knapsack a small black case from which she extracted a bottle. Hastily
kneeling on the ground, after Nathalie's boot had been removed by her
assistant, she bathed the injured foot, then, as her companion handed
her a roll of white lint she bound it with a cotton compress, while
Nathalie, with much curiosity, watched her as she quickly and skillfully
performed the work of First Aid to the Injured. As she rose to her feet
and turned to direct her companions in the lifting of her patient on the
stretcher, Nathalie recognized her next-door neighbor, Helen Dame, the
Girl Pioneer!