THE ELDERFLOWERS
Edna's account of the G. R. club, to which she and most of her friends
belonged, had quite excited the ambition of the little girls at Overlea
to have a similar one.
"I told my father about it," said Reba to Edna when they met at Jetty's
party, "and he thought it was a most beautiful club, didn't he, Esther
Ann, and he ought to know. He said we could have one just like it."
"Oh, we don't want to do that," put in Esther Ann scornfully. "We don't
want to be copy-cats. We want to have something all our ownty downty
selves, and not just like somebody else."
"That's just what I think," spoke up Emma Hunt. "Not that I don't think
yours is the best I ever heard of, and I don't see why we couldn't have
one something like it, just a little different."
"There aren't so very many girls of us, for there are more old people
than children in this place," said Alcinda. "Would that make any
difference, Edna? Yours is such a big club."
"It wasn't big when we began; there were only six of us to begin with."
"Oh, were there? Then we could do it easily. Let me see how many are
here; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
and there is Mattie Bond who couldn't come because she is sick; she
would make twelve."
"How many are there in your club?" asked Reliance.
"Oh, I don't know just how many by now. Uncle Justus has a pretty big
school and almost every girl belongs to it," replied Edna.
"The real big girls?"
"Yes, and we have one very grown-up lady, an honorary member; I'll tell
you all about Miss Eloise some day. Agnes Evans was our first president,
and she is really grown up, for she is at college."
"I think a little club would be nicer," Esther Ann spoke her mind.
"But what shall it be and what shall we call it?" asked Alcinda.
"I'll tell you what," proposed Edna, "you all ask your mothers what they
think and I will ask my mother what she thinks, and we can meet
somewhere to-morrow to talk it over."
"I haven't any mother," came a sorrowful little voice from the corner.
Big Reliance put her arm around the younger girl. "Never mind, Letty,"
she whispered; "neither have I, but we can ask somebody else's mother."
"I'll lend both of you my mother," whispered Edna from the other side.
So it was that the company of little girls went home from Jetty's party
with quite a new plan. Even Edna, who would really have no part in the
club, was much interested, and could scarcely wait to talk it over with
her mother at bedtime. She began as soon as they were upstairs together.
"Mother," she said, "do you think grandma would let Reliance come up
while I am getting ready for bed?"
"Why, dearie, I don't know, I am sure. Why do you want her on this
special night?"
"Because there is something we girls are going to talk over with our
mothers, and Reliance hasn't any mother, neither has Letty Osgood, and I
told them I would lend them my mother. You don't mind, do you, mother
dear?" Edna put her two hands on each of her mother's cheeks and looked
at her very earnestly.
"Why, my darling, of course not," returned Mrs. Conway, kissing her.
"You know mother is always very glad to mother any little girl who may
need her. What is this wonderful something you are to talk over?"
"I think we'd better not begin until we know about Reliance though. I
wish I had asked grandma before I came up, but I wanted to speak to you
first, mother dear."
"Then I will go down and ask her. Where is Reliance?"
"I suppose she is in the kitchen with Amanda; I don't believe she has
gone to bed yet."
Her mother left the room, and while Edna unlaced her shoes, she listened
for her return. In a few minutes she heard voices on the stair and
realized that Reliance was coming up. "We haven't said a word about it
yet," she nodded to Reliance who came in behind Mrs. Conway. "You begin,
Reliance."
"No, you," said Reliance drawing back shyly.
"Well," began Edna, addressing her mother, "you see the girls want to
get up a club something like ours, only not just like it, and they don't
want the same name either. There aren't such a lot of girls here,
because there are so many more old people than young ones in this
village, and so you see--what kind of club would be nice, mother?"
"Why, dearie, I shall have to think it over."
"We ought to decide very soon," said Edna, "for I should hate to go away
without knowing. Could Reliance bring Letty Osgood home with her from
school to-morrow? I lent you to her, too, and maybe by that time you
might think of something?"
"We'll ask grandma about it, dear, though I am sure she will not object.
Is that all now?"
Edna thought it was, and now that she was ready to pop into bed,
Reliance left her with a happy "Good-night!" It was like sunshine in the
house to have such a dear little girl as Edna, she thought as she went
downstairs, and though Amanda reprimanded her sharply for not being in
bed, she did not answer back, for, in fact, she scarcely heard her, so
busy was she with pleasant thoughts, and so excited over the idea of the
club.
The next morning, Edna and her mother did a great deal of talking about
the new club, so much, in fact, that when it was time for Reliance to
return from school, Edna was on the lookout for her, feeling that she
had so much to tell that there should be no time wasted. "Here they
come, mother," she sang out. "Reliance and Letty. May I bring them
right up here?"
"To be sure you may."
"I'm going down to tell Amanda to 'scuse Reliance for just a few
minutes." She flew downstairs to the kitchen. "'Manda," she said,
"mother is going to talk over something very important with Reliance and
Letty, so will you please not call her for a few minutes? I'll help her
set the table."
"It seems to me you are making too much of Reliance," returned Amanda;
"she can't be brought up to look for nothing but ease and pleasure; she
will have to work for her living."
"But this isn't anything that is going to keep her from doing that,"
explained Edna, "and grandma said she could have a little time to play
while I am here, specially when I help her."
"Oh, well, go 'long," returned Amanda, "only don't keep her too long;
there's more to do than set the table."
Though the permission was accorded rather ungraciously, Edna was
satisfied, and ran to welcome Letty who was just coming in the gate. "I
am so glad you could come," she said. "You are going to stay to dinner,
aren't you? Did you ask your father?"
"Yes, and he said I might."
"Good! Then come right upstairs and take off your things. Oh, girls,
mother has a lovely plan for a club, and the dearest name you ever
heard. You can come, Reliance, grandma said so, and so did Amanda. I'm
going to help set the table."
She led the way up to where her mother was sitting, her face bright with
eagerness as she brought Letty forward. "This is Letty Osgood, mother,
Dr. Osgood's daughter, you know."
Mrs. Conway drew the shy little girl nearer. "It is very nice to see
Letitia Osgood's daughter," she said. "I knew your dear mother very
well, and I am glad to have my little girl making friends with her
little girl."
"Now, mother," began Edna, breaking in, "won't you please not talk much
at first about anything but the club, because Reliance has only a few
minutes to stay."
Her mother smiled and nodded to Letty. "Very well, Letty," she said,
"well have a nice, little, cozy chat all to ourselves after awhile when
this impatient young person has had her subject discussed. I was
thinking, girlies, that as long as there are so many elderly and old
people in the village, some of whom are poor and some who are partial
invalids, that it would be a very sweet thing if you little girls could
form yourselves into a club which would help to make their lives a
little less sad. It would mean a great deal to old Miss Belinda Myers,
for instance, if one of you would drop in once in a while with a flower,
or any little thing for her. She is so crippled up with rheumatism that
she can't leave her room, and must sit there by the window all day long.
She is fond of children, too. Of course she has plenty of this world's
goods, and her old friends do not neglect her, yet I am sure that you
could give something to her by your mere presence which none of the
older persons could. Then there is poor old Nathan Keener."
"Oh, but he is such an old cross patch," interrupted Edna.
"So he is, but he has had enough to make him so. I wonder if any one of
us would be very amiable if she were poverty-stricken, half sick all the
time, had lost all her friends and had been cheated out of the little
which would make old age comfortable? It is very easy to be smiling and
agreeable when everything goes right, but when things go wrong, it isn't
half so easy, especially when one hasn't a good disposition to begin
with."
"But what in the world could we do for him?" asked Reliance. "If we
stopped to speak to him, very likely he would get after us with a
stick."
"Did any of the boys and girls ever try the experiment of speaking to
him pleasantly? I am quite sure the boys do their best to annoy him in
any way they can contrive, and even some of the girls tease him slyly
and call him names, I am told."
"Yes, they do," replied Reliance, doubtfully, who herself was not
entirely innocent in this regard.
"Suppose you were to try the experiment of beginning by smiling when you
go by and saying, pleasantly, 'Good-morning, Mr. Keener?' Then next day,
even if he chased you away the first time, you might say, 'Isn't this a
lovely morning, Mr. Keener?' and you could always make a point of saying
something pleasant to him when you go by. Then some day when it is
raining or too cold for him to sit in his doorway----"
"Like a great big, ugly spider," remarked Letty.
Mrs. Conway paid no heed to the comment, "you could leave a big apple on
the doorsill for him, and so on, till in time I will venture to say he
will learn that you wish him well and are trying to be friends. You must
keep in your mind all the time that he is a poor, neglected, friendless,
unhappy old man and that if you can succeed in bringing even a little
sunshine into his life, you will be doing a great deal."
The girls were very sober for a few minutes, then Reliance said
thoughtfully, "I believe I should like to try it anyway."
"Of course," Mrs. Conway went on, "the girls may have found other and
better ideas for a club, and a better name than I can suggest, but it
seemed to me that this might be made something like the G. R., yet would
not be exactly the same, and it could have quite a different name."
"Oh, mother," exclaimed Edna, "do tell the name you thought of, I think
it is so lovely."
"I thought you might call yourselves 'The Elderflowers,' because your
good deeds would be directed toward your elders, and you would be
cheerful, little flowers to bring sweetness to sad lives."
"I think it is the most beautiful idea," exclaimed Letty earnestly, "and
I shall be dreadfully disappointed if the girls want something
different. I begin to feel sorry for old Nathan Keener already."
"That is an excellent beginning," said Mrs. Conway, with a smile.
Here came a call from Amanda, so Reliance and Edna scampered off leaving
Letty to be entertained by Mrs. Conway.
When Reliance came home from school that afternoon, she brought the
information that the girls were going to meet in Hewlett's old
blacksmith shop that afternoon, and that Edna was to be sure to come. To
her own great disappointment, she could not go herself, for Amanda
declared that she could not get along without her, and that all this
gallivanting about was a mistake, and that if Mrs. Willis was going to
have a bound girl there for her to bother with and get no good of, she
guessed it was time for younger folks to take her place. A girl that
spent half her time at school and the other half skylarking wouldn't
amount to much anyway was her opinion.
So because the old servant had to be pacified and because it was a day
on which Reliance could really be ill spared, she did not attend the
meeting.
"I am sorry, dear," said Mrs. Willis, when Edna begged to have the
decree altered, "but I am afraid we really cannot spare Reliance this
afternoon. You know she has had a lot of time for play this past week;
we have been very indulgent to her because of your being here." Edna saw
that this was final and went to her mother with rather a grave face.
"Mother," she said, "isn't it too bad that Reliance can't go? She says
she wouldn't mind so much if it were not for the voting, but you see if
she isn't there, she will lose her vote, and we do so want the
Elderflower plan to be the one."
"Why couldn't you be her proxy?" said Mrs. Conway.
"Proxy? What is proxy, mother?"
"It is some one appointed in the place of another to do what would
otherwise be done by the first person; for instance, in this case you
could be proxy for Reliance and vote for her. She could sign a paper
which would make it very plain."
"Oh, mother, will you write the paper and let me take it to her to
sign?"
"Certainly I will." She drew the writing materials to her and wrote a
few lines. "There," she said, "I think that will do."
"Please read it, mother."
Mrs. Conway read: "I hereby appoint Edna Conway to be my proxy and to
vote upon any question which may come up before this meeting.
"Signed--"
"That sounds very important," said Edna, clasping her hands. "Show me
where she is to sign her name, mother. I know she will be perfectly
delighted that I can speak for her."
Reliance truly was pleased, the more that the sending of such an
important legal document gave her a certain position with the others.
She signed her name with a flourish, and Edna, armed with the
indisputable right to take her place, started off for Hewlett's old
blacksmith shop. This sat back some distance from the store, and was
used as a storage place for empty boxes and such things.
Edna found most of the company gathered when she arrived. They were all
chattering away with little idea of what must be done first. "Here comes
Edna Conway," cried Esther Ann; "she can tell us just what to do. Come
along, Edna. What was the first thing you did when you got up a club?"
"We had a president and a secretary the first thing; the president was
called _pro tem._; she wasn't the real president till we elected her."
"Then you be _pro tem._, for you know just what to do."
"Oh, no, I couldn't," Edna shrank from such a public office, and her
little round face took on a look of real distress at such a prospect.
"Somebody's got to be then," said Esther Ann. "I will."
"I will, I will," came from one and another of the girls, too eager for
prominence to care about what was expected of them.
"We can't all be," remarked Milly Somers. "We're wasting time and we
ought to have had this all settled at first. I wish there were some
older person to get us started."
"Everyone isn't here yet," spoke up Alcinda. "Isn't Reliance coming,
Edna?"
"No, she can't. She has too much to do this afternoon, but I am her
proxy. I've got a paper that says so."
The girls giggled. "Isn't she cute?" whispered Esther Ann. "Let's see
the paper, Edna."
Edna solemnly drew it from the small bag she carried, and handed it to
Esther Ann.
"Read it, Esther Ann, read it," clamored the girls. And Esther Ann read
it aloud.
"How in the world did you know about such a thing," said Milly Somers.
"Oh, I didn't think of it," she answered; "it was my mother."
"She must be awfully smart," said Esther Ann admiringly. "I wish she
were here to tell us just what to do, if you won't do it."
"Maybe she would come for just a little while," said Edna, feeling
assured that if her mother were there to tell of her own ideas about the
club that there would be no doubt of its being "The Elderflowers."
"Suppose I go and ask her," she added.
"All right," agreed the girls. "Tell her if she will stay just long
enough to tell us how to get started, it is all we ask."
Edna rushed back to the house and upstairs, where she breathlessly
explained her errand. "You will go? won't you, mother, just for a few
minutes," she begged. "You won't have to change your dress, or even put
a hat on if you don't want to. We need you so very, very much. Nobody
knows what to do, and they all talk at once, and giggle and say silly
things. It ought to be real serious, oughtn't it?"
"Not too serious, I should say," returned her mother. "Very well, dear,
I will come." She threw on a long coat and followed the little girl
across the street to where the prospective club members waited
expectantly.
It did not take long to set the ball in motion, and in less than half an
hour Esther Ann was made president _pro tem._, Milly Somers was
appointed secretary, and the business of choosing came up. There were
not very many original ideas offered. Few of the girls had any. Mrs.
Conway listened to them all, and at last explained her own plan so
clearly and with such earnestness that it was a matter of only a few
minutes before it was decided that "The Elderflower Club" should start
its existence at once.
To cap the climax, Edna was elected an honorary member, "for," said the
girls, "if it hadn't been for you we should never have had a club at
all. And when you come to your grandfather's, you will always know that
you must attend the club meetings."
Therefore, it was a very happy little girl who went back to report to
Reliance the happenings of this first meeting of the club.