Julia Cloud said nothing more to her boy about that Christian Endeavor
Society, but she said much to her Lord, praying continually that he
might be led to see his duty and want to do it, and that through it he
might be led to know Christ.
In the meantime she went sunnily about setting the new home to rights
and getting the right maid to fit into their household régime. Julia
Cloud had never had a maid in her life, but she had always had ideas
about one, and she put as much thought and almost as much care into
preparing the little chamber the maid was to occupy as she had put
upon the other rooms. To begin with, the room itself was admirably
adapted to making the right maid feel at home and comfortable. It had
three windows looking into gardens on the next block, and a blaze of
salvia and cosmos and geraniums would greet her eyes the first time
she looked out from her new room. Then it had a speck of a bathroom
all its own, which Julia Cloud felt would go a long way toward making
any maid the right maid, for there would be no excuse for her not
being clean and no excuse for her keeping her tooth-brush down on the
edge of the kitchen sink or taking a bath in the laundry tubs, as she
had heard that some of her neighbors' maids had done at various
times.
The windows were shrouded with white curtains of the same kind as
those all over the house, and within were draperies with bright flower
borders. The bureau was daintily fitted out, and the bed was spotless
and inviting-looking. A cushioned rocking-chair stood beside a small
table, with a dainty work-basket on the shelf below; and against the
wall were some shelves with a few interesting books and magazines. A
droplight with a pretty shade gave a home-like air, and the room was
as attractive as any other in the house. Any maid might think her
lines had fallen in pleasant places who was fortunate enough to occupy
that room. As a last touch Julia Cloud laid a neat coarse-print
Testament on the table, and then knelt beside the rocking-chair and
asked God to make the unknown comer a blessing to their house, and
help them all to be a blessing to her. Then she went down to the car,
and let Allison take her out to the addresses that had been given her.
As a result, by Wednesday the little gay chamber half-way up the
stairs was occupied by a pleasant-faced, sturdy colored girl about
eighteen years old, who rejoiced in the name of Cherry, and was at
once adopted as part of the new household with the same spirit with
which everything else had been done. Perhaps if every household would
go about it in the same way it would go far toward settling the
much-mooted servant question.
When Cherry was introduced into her bedchamber the look on her face
was worth seeing. It was in the early evening when she arrived, riding
on the front seat of the wagon that brought her trunk; and, when she
was ushered in by Julia Cloud, with Leslie in the offing to see what
the newcomer would say to it, the girl stepped in, gave a wild glance
around, then backed off, and rolled her eyes at her new mistress.
"This ain't--you-all ain't puttin' me inta dis year fine bedroom!" she
exclaimed in a kind of horror.
"Yes, this is your room," said Julia Cloud kindly, stepping in and
moving a chair a little farther from the bed, that there might be room
for the girl's trunk. "You can put your trunk right here, I should
think; and here is your closet," swinging open the closet door and
showing a plenitude of hooks and hangers, "and that is your bathroom."
She pushed back the crash curtain that shut off the tiny bathroom, and
stood back smiling. But the girl was not looking at her. She had cast
one wild look around, and then her eyes had been riveted on the little
vase on her bureau, containing a single late rose that Leslie had
found blooming in the small garden at the rear, and put there for good
luck, she said. Could it be that any one had cared to pick a flower
for a servant's room? Her eyes filled with tears; she dropped her
bundles on the floor, and came over to where her new mistress stood.
"Oh!" she said in a choked voice. "If you-all is goin' to treat me
like comp'ny, I'se jest goin' to wuk my fingahs to de bone for
youse!"
After the advent of Cherry things began to settle down into something
like routine. The inn was abandoned entirely, and each meal was a
festive occasion. Cherry took kindly to the cooking-lessons that Julia
Cloud knew well how to give. Light, wonderful white bread came forth
from the white-enamel gas-range oven, sweet, rich, nutty loaves of
brown bread, even more delectable. Waffles and muffins and pancakes
vied with one another to make one meal better than another; apple
dumpling, cherry pie, and blackberry roly-poly varied with chocolate
steamed pudding, lemon custard, and velvet whip made the desserts an
eagerly awaited surprise.
Leslie hovered over everything new that was made, and wanted to have a
hand in it. Each day she learned some new and wholesome fact about
housekeeping, and seemed to take to the knowledge readily. Her first
attempt at real cooking was learning to make bread; and, when she
succeeded so well that Allison thought it was his aunt's baking, she
declared her intention of making it once a week just to keep her hand
in.
Allison had said no more about Christian Endeavor; and, when Thursday
afternoon came, he asked his aunt to ride to the city after a few
little articles that were still needed to make the house complete.
They had a pleasant trip, and Julia Cloud entirely forgot that the
young people had been asked to attend the committee meeting that
evening. Perhaps Allison was waiting for her to speak about it; for he
looked at his watch uneasily several times, and glanced back at his
aunt suspiciously; but she sat serenely enjoying the ride, and said
nothing. At last, just as they were nearing home he burst forth with,
"Cloudy, do you really think we ought to go to that bl-looming thing
to-night?"
Julia Cloud lifted quiet eyes and smiled.
"I didn't say you ought to go; did I, dear?"
"Well, yes, you sorta did, Cloudy."
Julia Cloud shook her head.
"I don't think I did. I said it wasn't a matter for me to meddle
with."
"Well, don't you?"
"No, Allison, not unless you feel that God has called you and you are
willing to do what He wants you to. If you just went because you
thought I wanted you to go, I don't believe it would be worth while,
because you wouldn't be working with the right spirit. But, as I said
before, that is something you have got to account for to God, not to
me."
Allison drew his brows in a frown, and said no more; but he was almost
silent at supper, and ate with an abstracted air. At quarter to eight
he flung down the magazine he had been reading, and got up.
"Well, I s'pose I've got to go to that bloomin' thing," he said half
angrily. "Come on, kid; you going?"
Leslie hurried into her hat and cape, and they went off together,
Allison grumbling in a low, half-pleasant voice all the time. Julia
Cloud sat apparently reading, watching the little byplay, and praying
that God would strengthen the young heart.
"Dear Moses!" she murmured with a smile on her lips as the front door
banged behind the children and she was left reading alone.
Two hours later the two returned full of enthusiasm. Leslie was
brimming over.
"O Cloudy, we're going to give this sleepy old town the surprise of a
lifetime! We're going to have a grand time to-morrow night, just
getting all the members together and doping it out what to do. And you
ought to hear Allison talk! He's just like a man! He made a wonderful
speech telling them how they ought to get together, and everybody do
teamwork and all that, like they do in football; and they asked him to
make it over again to-morrow night, and he's going to!"
Leslie's eyes were shining with pride, and she looked at her brother
lovingly. He flushed embarrassedly.
"Well, what could you do, Cloudy? There they were sitting like a lot
of boobs, and nobody knowing what to do except that Jane Bristol.
She's the only sensible one of the bunch, and they don't listen to
her. They made me mad, ignoring her suggestions the way they did; so I
had to speak up and say she was right; and I guess I talked a lot more
when I got started, because she really had the right dope, all right,
and they ought to have had sense enough to know it. She's been in this
work before, and been to big State conventions and things. Say,
Cloudy, that Christian Endeavor stuff must be a pretty big thing. It
seems to have members all over the world, and it's really a kind of
international fraternity. I rather like their line. It's stiff all
right, but that's the only way if you're going into a thing like
that."
"And how did the praying go?" asked Julia Cloud, watching her boy's
handsome, eager face as he talked.
"All right," he evaded reticently.
"_He_ prayed, Cloudy!" announced Leslie proudly. "It was _regular_!"
"Well, what could a fellow do?" said Allison apologetically, as if he
had done something he was half ashamed of. "That poor girl prayed
something wonderful, and then they all sat and sat like a parcel of
boobs until you could feel her cheeks getting red, and nobody opening
their mouths; so I started in. I didn't know what to say, but I
thought somebody ought to say something. I did the best I knew how."
"It was regular, Cloudy!" repeated Leslie with shining eyes.
"Well, it got 'em started, anyhow," said Allison. "That was all that
mattered."
Julia Cloud with lips trembling joyously into a smile of thanksgiving
listened, and felt her heart glad. Somehow she knew that her boy had
yielded himself to the call of his God to lead this band of young
people out of an Egypt into a promised land, and she saw as by faith
how he himself would be led to talk with God on the mount before the
great work was completed.
"It really was regular, Cloudy," reiterated Leslie. "I didn't know my
brother could pray like that, or talk, either. After he prayed
everybody prayed, just a sentence or two, even that little baby doll
Lila that was here the other night. They didn't say much, but you
could see they wanted to do the right thing and be right in it. But
everybody was in earnest; they really were, Cloudy. That Jane Bristol
is wonderful! The president had told her she was chairman, and all
about the meeting; and she read some verses out of the Bible about
Christ's being always in a meeting where there were just two or three,
and about two or three agreeing to ask for something and always
getting it. I never knew there were such verses in the Bible, did you?
Well, and after that it seemed awfully solemn, just as if we had all
come into God's reception-room and were waiting to ask Him as a big
favor to help this little Christian Endeavor Society to be worth
something in His kingdom. Those aren't my words, Cloudy; you needn't
look surprised. That's the way Jane Bristol put it, and it made me
feel queer all down my back when she said it, as it did the first time
I went to hear some great music. And--why, after that you couldn't
help praying just a little, so the promise would hold good. It wasn't
square not to help them out, you see."
"And we're not going to have anybody to-morrow night but the regular
members until we get them all to understand and be ready to help,"
went on Allison.
"Yes, they asked Allison to take charge and help plan it all out;
and Allison is going to hunt up some of the big Christian Endeavor
people in the city, and get them to come out one or two at a time
to our meetings,"--Julia Cloud noted the pronoun "our" with
satisfaction,--"and stir things up on Sundays; and we'll drive in
and get them, and bring them to our house to supper, maybe, and put
them wise to things so they'll know best how to help; and then we'll
drive them home after church that night, see? And Allison suggested
that we have pretty soon a series of parties or receptions, just for
the young people to get together and bring new ones in one at a time,
just as the boys in college have rushing-parties, you know. We'll
have a reception, real formal, with regular eats from a caterer,
and flowers and invitations and everything, for the first one; and a
Hallowe'en party for the October meeting, and a banquet for the
November meeting, just about Thanksgiving time, you know. Oh, it's
going to be lots of fun. And, Cloudy, I told them we'd make a hundred
sandwiches for to-morrow night; you don't mind, do you? We can buy
the bread, and it won't take long to make them. I know how to cut
them in pretty shapes, and I thought I'd tie them with ribbons to
match the lemonade."
Julia Cloud with radiant face entered into the plans eagerly, and to
have heard them talk one would never have imagined that twenty-four
hours before these two young people had been exceedingly averse to
having anything to do with that little dying Christian Endeavor Young
People's Society.
"And, Cloudy, that Jane Bristol is real pretty. She had on a charming
collar to-night, and her hair fixed all soft around her face. She has
beautiful hair! I think they were all surprised at the easy way she
talked; I don't believe she is a day older than I am, either. And she
_is_ going to college. I'm awfully glad, for I want to get to know
her. We'll invite her down here sometimes, won't we? I want you to
know her, Cloudy. You'll like her, I'm sure."
So Julia Cloud went to her pretty gray bed that night, and lay
marvelling at the goodness of God to answer her prayers. As for the
children, they could hardly settle down to sleep, so full of plans
were they for the revivifying of that Christian Endeavor Society. They
kept calling back and forth from room to room, and after everything
had been quiet for a long time and Julia Cloud was just dropping off
to sleep, Leslie woke them all up calling to know if it wouldn't be a
good plan to have the Hallowe'en party there at the house and have
everybody come in costume. Then they had to begin all over again, and
decide what they would wear and who they would be. Allison declared he
was going to be a firecracker; he had a "dandy" costume for it in
California, and he would write to-morrow morning to the housekeeper to
look it up.
Leslie wanted to have a candy-pull, with apples and nuts and raisins
for refreshments. Julia Cloud began to wonder whether it was just as
acceptable to God to have play mixed up with the religion as these
children were doing it.
"You must look out that your festivities don't get ahead of your
righteousness," she warned half laughingly; but Allison took her in
earnest.
"You're right there, Cloudy. That's one of the things we have to look
out for in frats. We have to see we don't have too many social things.
If we do, the marks suffer; and right away we lose ground. We'll have
to keep those Sunday meetings up to the mark--see, kid?--or the other
things will only bring in a lot of dead-wood that won't count. They
must come to the Sunday meetings, or they don't get invited to the
parties. That's the way we'll fix 'em."
"There's no use saying 'must,'" said Leslie wisely. "If you don't have
your meetings interesting, they won't come anyhow you fix it."
"That's a girl for you!" scorned Allison. "No loyalty in the whole
bunch. They've got to _like_ everything. Now, the real spirit is to
come and _make_ the meetings good, just because they're _your_
meetings. See, kid?"
"Yes, I see," snapped Leslie; "but I won't come to your old meetings
at all if you are going to talk that way about girls. I guess I've
always been loyal to everything, especially you, and I won't stand for
that!"
"Oh, I didn't mean you, kid; I was talking about girls in general,"
soothed the brother. "You're all right, of course. But those little
fluffy-ruffles that sat in the back seat, now, you'll have to teach
them what loyalty means. See?"
Finally the household settled to sleep.
The next day the little house saw little else done save the making of
marvellous dainty sandwiches in various forms and shapes.
Even Cherry entered into the work with zest, and Julia Cloud proved
herself rich in suggestion for different fillings, till great platters
of the finished product reposed in the big white refrigerator, neatly
tucked about with damp napkins to keep them from drying.
All that day Allison flew hither and yon in his car, carrying some
member of the committee on errands connected with the evening social.
Never had such a stir been made about a mere church social in all the
annals of the society. Every remotest member was hunted out and
persuaded to be present, and Allison agreed to go around in the
evening and pick up at least a dozen who had professed their inability
to get there alone. So the big blue car was enlisted in Christian
Endeavor service, and the young people were as busy and as happy as
ever they had been in getting their little new home settled. They
drove away about seven o'clock after a hasty supper, with their
platters of sandwiches safely guarded on the back seat; and Julia
Cloud watched them, and smiled and was glad. She wondered whether this
work would get such a hold upon them that it would last after they
started their college work, and fervently hoped that it might, so that
there would be another link to bind them to God's house and His work.
She sighed to think how many things there would likely be to draw them
away.
About ten o'clock Leslie telephoned. She wanted to bring Jane Bristol
home for the night, as the people where Jane was living were away, and
she would otherwise have to stay alone in a big house. Julia Cloud
readily assented, and she and Cherry had a pleasant half-hour putting
one of the guest-rooms in order. It was while she was doing this that
she began to wonder seriously what Jane Bristol would be like. Who was
brought intimately into their new home might mean so much to her two
children. And in this room, too, after Cherry had gone to bed, she
knelt and breathed a consecrating prayer. Then she went down-stairs to
wait for the coming of her children, building up the fire and lighting
the porch light so that all would be cheery and attractive for them
and their guest. Only a little, lonesome child who did housework for
her living, but it was good to be able to give her a pleasant
welcome.
In a few minutes the car arrived, and the two girls came chattering
in, while Allison put the car away. At least, Leslie was chattering.
"I think you look so lovely in that soft blue dress!" she was saying.
"It is so graceful, and the color just fits your eyes."
"It's only some old accordion-pleated chiffon I had," answered the
guest half ashamed. "I had to wash it and dye it and make it myself,
and I wasn't sure the pleats would iron out, or that it would do at
all. You know I don't have much use for evening dresses, and I really
couldn't afford to get one. That's the reason I hesitated at your
suggestion about having receptions and parties. But I guess you have
to have them."
"You don't mean to say you made it all yourself! Why you're a wonder!
Isn't she, Cloudy? Just take her in and look for yourself! She made
that dress all herself out of old things that she washed and dyed.
Why, it looks like an imported frock. Doesn't it look like one,
Cloudy? And that girdle is darling, all shirred that way!"
That was Julia Cloud's introduction to the guest as she stood in the
open door and watched the two trip along the brick terrace to the
entrance.
Leslie snatched away the long, dark cloak that covered Jane Bristol's
dress; and she stood forth embarrassed in the firelight, clad in soft,
pale-blue chiffon in simple straight lines blending into the white
throat in a little round neck, and draping the white girlish, arms.
The firelight and lamplight glimmered and flickered over the softly
waved brown hair, the sweet, serious brow, the delicate, refined face;
and Jane Bristol lifted two earnest deep-blue eyes, and looked at
Julia Cloud. Then between them flashed a look of understanding and
sympathy, and each knew at once that she liked the other.
"Isn't she a dear, Cloudy Jewel?" demanded Leslie.
"She is!" responded Julia Cloud, and put her arms softly around the
slender blue-clad shoulders. Then she looked up to see the eyes of
Allison resting upon them with satisfaction.
They turned down the light and sat before the fire for a little while,
telling about the success of the evening and talking of this and that,
just getting acquainted; and, when they finally took Jane Bristol up
to the pretty guest-room, it was with a sense that a new and lasting
friendship had been well begun. Julia Cloud as she lay down to sleep
found herself wondering whether her children would always show so much
good sense in picking out their friends as they had done this time.