Driving through the winding roads of beautiful Iroquois Park, or Jacobs
Park as it is better known to the people of Louisville, they found a
lovely glade where the grass was smooth and where the trees grew close
all about. They were screened from the passersby, and it looked as
though the little place had just been waiting for a couple of little
girls to come there and enjoy a treat.
For a long time they played while Minnie sat comfortably at the foot of
a tree and sewed on one of her doilies. Suddenly they were interrupted
by the sound of crying.
Both girls stood motionless in amazement. Minnie put down her work. The
crying continued. It was no feeble wail, but a good hearty roar with a
running accompaniment of sobs in another key. Two children were being as
miserable and unhappy as they knew how. As they came close to the leafy
screen that protected Rosanna and Helen, the girls were able to see as
well as hear the sobbing pair.
The most noise was made by a chubby, red-faced little fellow wearing a
cap. He was dragging an empty box by a string, like a little wagon, and
his roars did not prevent an air of lively interest in his
surroundings. His face was tear streaked, and he cried with the air of
one who never intends to stop. A girl, rather smaller, followed. She
clutched her brother firmly by the back of the blouse and allowed him to
drag her forward.
Her eyes were screwed tight shut, her head was thrown back and she
shuffled along, the very picture of woe. Three other children completed
the mournful group. A larger girl, who staggered along under the weight
of the fat baby she was carrying, and another small boy who stalked
along, scowling unhappily, but with firm steps and squared shoulders as
though he would not let himself be overcome by misfortune.
"Oh, oh, _oh_!" cried the little girl. "Oh, oh, _oh_!" It seemed all she
could say.
"L--let l-loose of me!" roared the boy whose blouse she was clutching.
"Please stop your crying," begged the older girl, setting the baby on
his feet and shifting him to the other arm. "The police will come if you
don't."
"I don't care! Ow, ow, ow!" yelled the boy.
Rosanna backed up to Minnie and stood there quite overcome. Not so with
Helen, however. After a good look, she pushed through the leafy screen,
jumped down the low bank and proceeded to ask questions. At the sound of
her voice the small girl opened her eyes and her sobs dwindled to a
steady sniffle. The boy stopped instantly. He looked ashamed. The big
girl once more put down the baby, setting it on the bank, and the boy
who had not cried stared off down the road, never giving Helen a glance.
Presently the girl sat down with the baby and Helen dropped down beside
her. Rosanna was filled with curiosity.
"I am going down to see what it is all about," she said to Minnie.
"Don't go too close, dearie; you might catch something," said Minnie,
intent on her cross-stitching and not caring much what the matter was.
Rosanna slipped shyly down the bank and stood beside Helen.
"She is telling me about it," said Helen, turning to Rosanna. "She
earned the carfare to bring them out here for the afternoon by digging
weeds on lawns. Go on!"
"Well," said the strange girl, "we took the car, and got out here, and I
had to carry the baby and help Luella there, so I couldn't carry
anything else. And Tommy wanted to carry the supper because he said he
was the biggest, and he wouldn't let Myron even take hold of the basket.
And when we got off the car Luella fell down and bumped herself, and the
car went off, and then I asked Tommy where was the lunch, and he had
left it on the car! He always forgets everything. I oughtn't to have let
him have it, but, you see, I had the baby and had to help Luella. Tommy
wanted to run after the car, but it was 'most out of sight. He couldn't
ever catch it."
"So that's all the trouble. They want their supper, and there isn't any.
I have a bottle of milk in my bag for the baby, but that is all there is
except carfare home, and I'm sorry but p'raps next time Tommy will think
how he leaves good suppers on street cars. We were going to have bread
and butter and doughnuts and three plums apiece."
At the mention of the lost feast, Tommy burst out with even greater
noise. Luella's eyes closed and her sniffles changed to a low howl.
"I'm hungry!" roared Tommy. "I didn't go to lose the supper. I gotta
have sumpin' to eat!"
"No, you haven't either," said the girl. "You haven't got to have
anything to eat any more than Myron has. Why don't you act like Myron?
I'd be ashamed of myself, and you a whole year older!"
"That's just it!" said Tommy, stopping long enough to talk. "Myron's
littler and thinner, and he don't need it so much."
"Well, I bet he does!" said his sister. "Now you come along down to the
playgrounds, and you can each have a good big drink of water and then
you won't mind missing your supper."
She stood up wearily and shouldered the baby. She was a sweet looking
little girl, but careworn as though she had carried the baby most of his
life. And so she had. The other children started down the road, Tommy
and Luella silent for the time. It had been a comfort to tell their
troubles to someone.
"Good-by," said the strange girl, smiling over her shoulder. She kissed
the baby. "Shake a paddy good-by," she said, and a little dimpled hand
wagged a farewell at Rosanna and Helen.
"We're very sorry," said Helen. "Good-by!"
"Good-by!" echoed Rosanna.
They scrambled up the bank and stopped, staring. In the middle of the
grassy lawn that they had chosen for their picnic ground stood the lunch
hamper. It looked as big as a house!
"Bread and butter and three plums apiece," said Helen under her breath.
"Bread and butter and three plums apiece," echoed Rosanna. "Helen," she
said solemnly, "this is the reason we packed such a lot of lunch. Come
on!" She turned and dashed down the bank and along the shady road. For
the first time in her life Rosanna was doing something that had not been
suggested to her; something that was out of the regular order of things.
She did not ask herself if the children belonged to nice families. She
rather knew they had no family at all in the sense her grandmother
always used. She did not stop to remember how shocked and horrified her
grandmother would be if she could see her racing along trying to
overtake the grubby little group of poor children. With Helen close
behind, she skimmed around the first curve and spied them ahead.
Rosanna and Helen commenced to call and wave their arms. The girl heard
and once more set down the baby. Tommy heard and squeezed out a louder
howl. Luella opened her eyes. Myron glanced at them and again turned
away and stared down the road. Rosanna and Helen dashed up.
"We want you to come and have supper with us," said Rosanna, with her
sweet smile. "We have a lovely supper and we cooked most of it
ourselves, and we brought a whole hamper full."
Tommy shut up suddenly. This was something he could not afford to miss
hearing. Luella showed that her eyes could open and be very large and
round indeed.
"I don't feel we had better," said the older girl slowly. She certainly
looked very tired.
"Oh yes, you must!" said Rosanna. "The basket holds just enough for
eight people--grown-up people at that; and there are only three of us.
Minnie thought we were crazy to pack so much, but the things looked so
nice when they filled the boxes cramful. _Please_ do come!"
"I don't know," she said hesitatingly.
Helen looked at her and made a sign that Rosanna did not see. Then "I
_thought_ you were a Girl Scout," she said. "Now that makes it all right
for you to come to us because, as you see, I am a Girl Scout too, and
you know we must serve each other when in need."
A look of pleasure lighted the girl's face.
"Why, if you are sure there is enough," she said. "I am so tired
carrying the baby, it would seem good just to sit down and rest awhile.
But Tommy eats a lot."
"We don't mind that," said Rosanna. "I don't want a single bit of that
supper left to carry home."
The little procession turned and made its joyful way back to the lunch
basket.
Rosanna and Helen seated their little guests, and Minnie, her kind heart
touched by the tired face and drooping shoulders of the little girl who
had carried the heavy baby so far, took the child and commenced to play
with it.
The girls spread the paper lunch cloth smoothly on the ground and
commenced putting the food on the table. Tommy stared with round eyes.
Myron glanced at the feast and then looked away while, to everyone's
astonishment, Luella commenced to cry.
"My land of love, what's the matter now?" said Minnie, speaking over the
head of the baby, who nestled happily in her lap.
Everybody looked at Luella who mumbled something and sobbed right along.
"What does she say?" asked Helen.
The older girl looked dreadfully embarrassed.
"I'm so ashamed of her," she exclaimed in a low tone. "She does think up
such dreadful things! She is crying because those plums are green, and
she knows I won't let her eat any."
"Plums?" said Helen and Rosanna together.
"Over there," cried Luella, sniffling and pointing.
Both girls began to laugh, then stopped as they noticed the unhappy look
on the large girl's face.
"I don't wonder she thinks those are plums," said Helen. "I thought they
were plums when I was little and always called them plums long after I
knew they were olives. Here, Luella, you can eat one now if you wish,
but I don't believe you will like them at all. I didn't when I was
little."
Luella took the offered dainty and popped it into her mouth. She managed
to eat it, although she made awful faces. Tommy, watching her, did not
ask for a serving.
"Can I help?" said the strange girl politely. "I wish you would let me.
I would feel better to do something when you are going to give us such a
perfectly lovely supper."
"Please sit still and rest," said Rosanna, smiling. "You want to feel
real good and hungry when supper is ready, and I am sure you must be
tired nearly to death. And if you would tell us your name.... We know
which is Tommy, and Myron, and Luella, but we don't know the baby's
name, nor yours."
"The baby is little Christopher," said the guest, reaching over to pat
the little hand, "and my name is Mary. You are Rosanna and you are
Helen, and I heard them call you Minnie."
"Perfectly right," said Minnie. "Will it hurt the baby to crawl around
on the grass?"
"Oh, no, indeed," said Mary. "He crawls all over. He gets some dreadful
tumbles but he never cries. He has fallen out of bed so many times that
we keep the floor all covered with pillows in front of the bed, and last
week he fell down the cellar stairs. Tommy forgot and left the door
open."
"My good land, didn't it kill the poor child?" asked Minnie.
"No, there was a bushel basket partly full of potatoes on the landing,
and he fell into those and never hurt himself at all. He didn't even cry
but a minute. He is the best baby we have ever had."
"My land, you poor chicken, you!" said Minnie. "You talk like you was
the mother of the whole bunch!"
"I help a lot with them," said Mary simply, "and I guess they are 'most
as much mine as mother's. You see she works and somebody has to take
care of them. And it isn't such very hard work, especially since I
joined the Girl Scouts. All the girls are so good, and have such a lot
of good times, and oh, it makes everything different!"
"What are Girl Scouts?" said Rosanna. Both girls looked at her in
amazement. "I know what Boy Scouts are," she said hastily, "but I never
heard of Girl Scouts."
Helen patted her on the arm. "Well, Rosanna, some day I will tell you
all about them, but now we must hurry and get the rest of the things on
the table because I don't think Tommy will ever live if he has to wait
much longer."
"I know Myron is awfully hungry too," said Mary, smiling at her little
brother. "He never says a word, but I can tell what he thinks. Myron is
such a help to me. He is just as good at remembering things as Tommy is
at forgetting them."
"He helped to forget the lunch," said Tommy.
Myron spoke up in self-defence. "No, I didn't! I was helping Mary pick
up Luella and I thought you had it. You had it the last I saw."
"I put it down after that," said Tommy as though that explained
everything.
"I think I will lay the baby down beside this tree and let him have his
bottle," said Mary. "That will keep him quiet all the time we eat."
"Wait a minute until we fix a nice place," said Minnie. She brought a
couple of auto robes and made a smooth, soft bed under the tree.
"There he is!" she said. Mary, who had been unwrapping wads of
newspapers, produced a bottle of milk which she gave the baby. He
settled down to a quiet enjoyment of his meal, and Mary sighed as she
sat down at the edge of the tablecloth.
"I _do_ hope you won't mind if I look at everything," she said. "I never
_saw_ so many _lovely_ things in my life even in a delicatessen
window."