A group of girls who lived in the country gave a delightful farewell
party for one of their number who was to move out of town to another
part of the world. They called it a Progressive Rainbow.
At four o'clock one Saturday afternoon they all met at one of the
homes.
The porch was decorated in a red color scheme. A row of red Japanese
lanterns hung from the roof all around. Red cushions were scattered
about in the chairs and on the steps, and a jar of crimson rambler
roses adorned the table.
Everybody sat about and gossiped for a little while, and then fruit
cocktails, to which strawberries gave the touch of red, were served.
A tray of red ribbon streamers was passed, and each girl pinned one on
her blouse, as the beginning of her rainbow badge.
The guest of honor found with her favor a package tied with red tulle,
which she was requested not to open till the end of the afternoon.
After this, two automobiles, owned by members of the group or their
families, whisked the party along two miles of fresh country road to
the home of another girl in the group.
Little tables had been set on the lawn with a bouquet of old-fashioned
marigolds in the center of each one, and a toy orange balloon tied
to the back of each chair by a long string. Here were served jellied
orange soup in cups, and saltines.
The girls received orange-colored favor ribbons to pin next to their
red ones, and the guest of honor received another prize packet, this
time tied with orange tulle.
From there they all jumped again into the waiting cars and were
transported to the home of a third girl for the third course.
This time it was served in the dining-room, which was decorated with
yellow snapdragons. A basket of them filled the center of the table,
and at each place was a scalloped shell containing deviled crab meat
garnished with lemon quarters and accompanied by tartar sauce. Cubes
of hot yellow cornbread were delicious with the crab.
Again the passing of the yellow ribbons to the girls and the
presenting of the yellow-tied package to the guest of honor were the
signals for leaving to go to the next house.
The automobiles quickly took them there, where the main course of the
dinner was to be eaten. Maidenhair ferns were lovely in a green bowl
on the table, and tiny wood ferns were scattered over the white
tablecloth.
The menu consisted of broiled chicken, fresh green peas, small boiled
potatoes with parsley, and rye rolls.
By this time the girls were getting interested in their rainbow of
ribbons, to which the green was now added, and the guest of honor
received her fourth package, green-tied.
Motoring to the salad course, the group found the dining-room lighted
by blue candles, though the guests were begged not to feel blue.
Ragged robins were arranged as a centerpiece, and fluttering blue
tissue butterflies marked the places.
The salad was prunes stuffed with peanuts in hearts of lettuce, served
with French dressing and Dutch cheese balls.
By the time the sixth stop was reached the sun had set and the moon
was coming up, so that the girls sat on the veranda in the moon-light
and sipped grape-juice ice to the music of romantic ditties. Lavender
streamers were added next to the blue ones, and their badges were
complete.
As they finally drove up to the last house, they were greeted by a
rainbow of tulle which arched the entrance to the porch.
With their fluttering rainbow ribbon badges and the armful of rainbow
packages belonging to the guest of honor, they felt very much at home
with the rainbow, and the guest of honor was not even surprised to be
asked to seek the pot of gold at the foot.
In the yellow pottery jar which she discovered were as many
gold nuggets as there were girls, and each nugget was a little
gilt-paper-wrapped joke for the trip.
The real, sure-enough farewell gifts to keep were in the packages
progressively received, and there was a jolly time opening them under
the rainbow.