THE CHRISTMAS SHIP
"THE meeting will come to order," commanded Helen, her face bubbling
with the conflict between her dignity and her desire to laugh at her
dignity.
"We haven't any secretary, so there can't be any minutes of the last
meeting."
Helen glanced sidewise at James, for she was talking about something she
never had had occasion to mention in all her life before and she
wondered if he were being properly impressed with the ease with which
she spoke of the non-existent minutes.
James responded to her look with an expression of surprise so comical
that Helen almost burst into laughter most unsuitable for the presiding
officer of so distinguished a gathering.
"Oughtn't we to have a secretary?" asked Tom. "If we're going to have a
really shipshape club this winter it seems to me we ought to have some
record of what we do."
"And there may be letters to write," urged Roger, "and who'd do them?"
"Not old Roger, I'll bet!" cried James in humorous scorn.
"I don't notice that anybody is addressing the chair," remarked Helen
sternly, and James flushed, for he had been the president's instructor
in parliamentary law at the meeting when the Club was organized, and he
did not relish being caught in a mistake.
"Excuse me, Madam President," he apologized.
"I don't see any especial need for a secretary, Miss President," said
Margaret, "but can't we tell better when we're a little farther along
and know what we're going to do?"
"Perhaps so," agreed Helen. "There isn't any treasurer's report for the
same reason that there isn't any secretary's," she continued.
"Just to cut off another discussion I'd like to repeat my remark," said
Margaret.
"If we become multi-millionaires later on we can appoint a treasurer
then," said Della, her round face unusually grave.
"Instead of a secretary's report it seems to me it would be interesting
to remember what the Club did last summer to live up to its name,"
suggested Tom. "You know Della and I weren't elected until after you'd
been going some time, and I'm not sure that I know everything that
happened."
The Mortons and Dorothy and the Hancocks looked around at each other
rather vaguely, and no one seemed in a hurry to begin.
"It looks to me as if a secretary is almost a necessity," grinned Tom,
"if nobody remembers anything you did!"
"There were lots of little things that don't seem to count when you look
back on them," began Ethel Blue.
"We did some things as a Club," said Roger, "and we can tell Watkins
about those without embarrassing anybody."
"Our first effort was on Old First Night," said Margaret thoughtfully.
"Don't you remember we went outside the gate and picked flowers and
decorated the stage?"
"In the evening James and Roger passed the baskets to collect the
offering in the Amphitheatre," Ethel Blue said. "And then we all did
things that helped along in the Pageant and on Recognition Day."
"I don't think those really counted for much as service," said Helen,
"because they were all of them mighty good fun."
"I think we ought to do whatever will help somebody, whether we like it
or not," declared Ethel Blue, "but I don't see why we shouldn't hunt up
pleasant things to do."
"What are we going to do, anyway?" asked Della. "Has anybody any ideas?
Oh, please excuse me, Helen--Miss President--perhaps it wasn't time to
ask that question."
"I was just about to ask for suggestions," said Helen with dignity. "Has
any one come across anything that we can do here in Rosemont or in Glen
Point or in New York? Anything that will be an appropriate beginning for
the United Service Club? We want to do something that would be suitable
for the children of our father and uncle who are serving in the Army and
Navy trying to keep peace in Mexico, and of a man like Doctor Hancock,
who is serving his fellowmen in the slums every day, and of a clergyman
who is helping people to do right all the time."
Helen flushed over this long speech.
"Rosemont, Glen Point, and New York--a wide field," said Tom dryly. "It
seems as if we might find something without much trouble."
"I thought of the orphanage in Glen Point," said Margaret.
"What is there for us to do for the kids there that the grown people
don't do?" asked Roger.
"The grown people contribute clothes and food and all the necessaries,
but sometimes when I've been there it seemed as if the children didn't
have much of any of the little nothings that boys and girls in their own
homes have. It seemed to me that perhaps we could make a lot of things
that weren't especially useful but were just pretty; things that we'd
like to have ourselves."
"I know just how they feel, I believe," said Margaret. "One of my aunts
thinks that perfectly plain clothes are all that are necessary and she
won't let my cousins have any ruffles or bows. It makes them just
miserable. They're crazy for something that 'isn't useful.'"
"How would it do to get together a lot of things for Christmas for the
orphans? We might offer to trim a tree for them. Or to give each one of
them a foolish present or a pretty one to offset the solid things the
grown-ups will give."
"When I was a kid," observed James, "I used to consider it a mean fraud
if I had clothing worked off on me as Christmas presents. My parents had
to clothe me anyway; why should they put those necessities among my
Christmas gifts which were supposed to be extras!"
"There you are again; what people want in this world of pain and woe,
ye-ho, he-ho," chanted Roger, "is the things they can go without."
"Has any one thought of anybody else we can benefit?" questioned Helen.
"We might as well have all the recommendations we can."
"There's an old couple down by the bridge on South Street," said Roger.
"I've often noticed them. They're all bent up and about a thousand years
old. We might keep an eye on them."
"I know about them," contributed Ethel Brown. "I asked about them. They
have a son who takes care of them. He gives them money every week, so
they aren't suffering, but they both have the rheumatism frightfully so
they can't go out much and I shouldn't wonder if they'd like a party
some time, right in their own house. If we could go there and sing them
some songs and Dicky could speak his piece about the cat and we could do
some shadow pantomimes on a sheet and then have a spread, I believe
they'd have as good a time as if they'd been to the movies."
"We'll do it." Tom slapped his leg. "I'll sing 'em a solo myself."
Groans rose from James and Roger.
"Poor old things! What have you got against them?"
"Oh, well, if you're jealous of my voice--of course I wouldn't for the
world arouse any hard feelings, Madam President. I withdraw my offer.
But mark ye, callow youths," he went on dramatically, "the day will come
when I'm a Caruso and you'll be sorry to have to remember that you did
your best to discourage a genius that would not be discouraged!"
"The meeting will come to order." Helen rapped for quiet, for the
entire room was rocking to and fro over Tom's praise of one of the
hoarsest voices ever given to boy or man.
"We'll give the old people a good show, even if Tom does back out,"
cried Roger. "I wish we had a secretary to put down these suggestions.
I'm afraid we'll forget them."
"So am I," agreed Helen. "Let's vote for a secretary. Roger, pass around
some paper and pencils and let's ballot."
Roger did as he was bid, and Ethel Brown and Della collected the ballots
and acted as tellers.
"The tellers will declare the vote," announced Helen, who had been
conferring with James while the balloting was going on, and had learned
the proper parliamentary move. Margaret had coached Ethel Brown so that
she made her report in proper style.
"Total number of votes cast, eight; necessary to a choice, five.
Margaret has one, Dorothy has one, Roger has two, Ethel Brown has one,
Ethel Blue has three. Nobody has enough."
"Have we got to vote over again?" Helen asked of James.
"I move you, Madam President, that we consider the person receiving the
highest number of votes as the person elected and that we make the
election unanimous."
"Is the motion seconded?"
Cries of "Yes," "I second it," "So do I," came from all over the room
and included a call from Ethel Blue. Roger pealed with laughter.
"Ethel Blue means to get there," he shouted.
"I do? What have I done?" demanded Ethel Blue, so embarrassed at this
attack that the tears stood in her eyes.
"Why, you're the person who's receiving a unanimous election," returned
Roger, between gasps. "You've made it unanimous, yourself, all right."
Poor Ethel Blue leaned back in her chair without saying a word.
"Roger, you're too mean," cried Helen. "Don't you mind a word he says,
Ethel Blue. It's very hard to follow votes and it isn't at all
surprising that you didn't understand."
"What does it mean?"
"It means that you're elected secretary."
"But there weren't enough votes."
"You had three and Roger had two, and nobody else had more than one.
When one candidate has more than the rest he may be considered as
elected, even if he didn't get the right number of votes--that is, if
everybody agrees to it."
"And you agreed to it," chuckled Roger.
"Stop, Roger. You're our new secretary, Ethel Blue, and it's very
suitable that you should be, for the club was your idea and you ought to
be an officer. Roger, give Ethel Blue your pencil and the rest of that
paper you had for the ballots. Come and sit next to me, Ethel."
Ethel Blue felt that honors were being thrust upon her much against her
will, but she was afraid that she would make some other mistake if she
objected, so she meekly took the pencil and paper from Roger and began
to note down the proceedings.
"We've had a suggestion from Glen Point and one from Rosemont--let's
hear from New York," said the president. "Della--anything to say?"
"Papa can suggest lots of people that we can help if we ask him," said
Della. "I didn't ask him because I thought that perhaps you'd have some
pet charities out here where there aren't so many helping hands as there
are in New York."
"How about you, Tom?"
"To tell you the truth," responded Tom gravely, "I didn't think up
anything to suggest this afternoon because my mind has been so full of
the war that I can't seem able to think about anything else."
Everybody grew serious at once. The war seemed very close to the
Mortons, although it was a war across the sea, because they knew what it
would mean to their father and uncle if ever our country should be
involved in war. The thought of their own mental suffering and their
anxiety if Captain and Lieutenant Morton should ever be sent to the
front had given them a keen interest in what had been going on in Europe
for six weeks.
"I read the newspapers all the time," went on Tom, "and I dare say I
don't gain much real information from them, but at least I'm having
ground into my soul every day the hideous suffering that all this
fighting is bringing upon the women and children. The men may die, but
at least they can fight for their lives. The women and children have to
sit down and wait for death or destruction to come their way."
"It's too big a situation for us way off here to grasp," said Roger
slowly, "but there are people on the spot who are trying to give
assistance, and if Americans could only get in touch with them it seems
as if help might be handed along the way we handed the water buckets
last summer when the cottage was on fire."
"The Red Cross is working in all the countries that are at war," said
Helen. "There's an American Red Cross and people are sending clothing
and food to the New York branch and they are sending them on to Europe.
That's Roger's bucket brigade idea."
"Why don't we work for the Red Cross?" asked Della.
"I saw in the paper a plan that seems better still for us youngsters,"
said Ethel Blue. "Some people are going to send over a Christmas ship
with thousands and thousands of presents for the orphans and the other
children all over Europe. Why don't we work for that? For the Santa
Claus Ship?"
"'Charity begins at home,'" demurred Margaret.
"We needn't forget the Glen Point orphans. The Christmas Ship is going
to sail early in November and we'll have plenty of time after she gets
off to carry out those other schemes that we've spoken of."
"I'd like to move," said Ethel Brown, getting on to her feet to make her
action more impressive, "that the United Service Club devote itself
first to preparing a bundle to send off on the Christmas Ship. After
that's done we can see what comes next."
"Does any one second the motion, that we work first for the Christmas
Ship?" asked Helen.
Every voice in the room cried "I do."
"All in favor?" There was a chorus of "Ayes."
"Contrary minded?" Not a sound arose.
"It's a unanimous vote that we start right in on the bundle for the
Santa Claus Ship."