"SHOWING" THE ELDER
No millionaire library-giver had found Poketown on the map. Or else, the
hard-headed and tight-fisted voters of that Green Mountain community
were too sharp to allow anybody to foist upon them a granite mausoleum,
the upkeep of which would mainly advertise the name of the donor.
The Union Sunday School had a library; but its list of volumes was open
to the same objections as are raised to many other institutions of its
kind. Nor was a circulating library so much needed in Poketown as a
reading and recreation room for the youth of the village.
Aside from her brief talk with Mr. Middler, Janice Day advised with no
adult at first as to how the establishment of the needed institution
should be brought about.
The girl had studied Marty, if she had had little opportunity of
becoming acquainted with other specimens of the genus _boy_. She knew
they were as bridle-shy as wild colts.
The idea of the club-room for reading and games must seem to come from
the boys themselves. It must appear that they accepted adult aid
perforce, but with the distinct understanding that the room was _theirs_
and that there was not to be too much oversight or control by the
supporting members of the institution.
The scheme was not at all original with Janice. The nucleus of many a
successful free library and village club has been a similar idea.
"Marty, why don't you and your chums have a place of your own where you
can read and play checkers these cold nights? I hear Josiah Pringle has
chased you out of his shop again."
"Ya-as--mean old hunks!"
"But didn't somebody spoil a whole nest of whips for him by pouring
liquid glue over the snappers?"
"Well! that was only one feller. An' Pringle put us all out," complained
the boy, but grinning, too.
"You wouldn't have let that boy do such a thing in your own
club-room--now, would you?"
"Huh! how'd we ever git a club-room, Janice? We had Poley Haskin's
father's barn one't; but when we tried to heat it with a three-legged
cookstove, Poley's old man put us out in a hurry."
"Oh, I mean a real _nice_ place," said the wily Janice. "Not a place to
smoke those nasty cigarettes in, and carry on; but a real reading-room,
with books, and papers, and games, and all that."
"Oh, that would be fine! But where'd we get that kind of a place in
Poketown?" queried Marty.
That was the start of it.
There was an empty store on High Street next to the drug store. It was a
big room which could be easily heated by a pot stove and a few lengths
of stovepipe. It was owned by the drug-store man, and had been empty a
long time. He asked six dollars a month rent for it.
It was just about this time that Janice learned she possessed powers of
persuasive eloquence. The druggist was the first person she "tackled" in
her campaign.
"It's a secret, Mr. Massey," she told him; "but some of the boys want a
reading-room, and some of the rest of us are anxious to help them get
it. Only it mustn't be talked of at first, or it will be all spoiled.
You know how 'fraid boys are that there is going to be a trap set for
them."
"Ain't that so?" chuckled the druggist.
"And we want your empty room next door."
"Wa-al--I dunno!" returned the man, finding the matter suddenly serious,
when it was brought so close home to him.
"Of course, we expect to pay for it. Only we'd like to have you cut the
rent in two for the first three months," said Janice, quickly.
"Say! that might be all right," the druggist observed, more briskly.
"But I don't know about all these harum-scarums collecting around this
corner. I have been glad heretofore that they have hung around
Pringle's, or Joe Henderson's, or the hotel, instead of up here. They've
been up to all sorts of mischief."
"If they don't behave reasonably they'll lose the reading-room. Of
course that will be understood," said Janice.
"You can't trust some of 'em," growled the druggist. "Never!"
"We'll make those who want the reading-room make the mischievous ones
behave," laughed Janice.
"Well," agreed the druggist, "we'll try it. Three dollars a month for
three months; then six dollars. I can afford no more."
"So much for so much!" whispered Janice, when she came away from the
store. "At least, it's a beginning."
But it was a very small beginning, as she soon began to realize. She had
no money to give toward the project herself, and it was very hard to beg
from some people, even for a good cause.
There was needed at least one long table and two small ones, as well as
some sort of a desk for whoever had charge of the room; and shelves for
the books, and lamps, and a stove, and chairs, beside curtains at the
windows. These simple furnishings would do to begin with. But how to
get any, or all, of these was the problem.
Janice went to several people able to help in the project, before she
said anything more to Marty. Some of these people encouraged her; some
shook their heads pessimistically over the idea.
She wished Elder Concannon to agree to pay the rent of the room for the
first three months. It would be but nine dollars, and the old gentleman
could easily do it. Since closing his pastorate of the Union Church,
years before, Mr. Concannon had become (for Poketown) a rich man. He had
invested a small legacy received about that time in abandoned marble
quarries and sugar-maple orchards. Both quarries and orchards had taken
on a new lease of life, and had enriched the shrewd old minister.
But Elder Concannon let go of a dollar no more easily now than when he
had been dependent upon a four-hundred-dollar salary and a donation
party twice a year.
It was not altogether parsimony that made the old gentleman "hem and
haw" over Janice Day's proposal. Naturally, an innovation of any kind
would have made him shy, but especially one calculated to yield any
pleasure to the boys of Poketown.
"I don't dispute but you may mean all right, Miss Day," he said, shaking
his bristling head at her. "But there's no good in those young
scamps--no good at all. You would waste your time trying to benefit
them. They would turn your reading-room into a bear garden."
"You do not _know_ that, sir," said Janice, boldly. "Let us try them."
"You are very young, Miss Day," said the Elder, stiffly. "You should
yield more easily to the opinions of your elders."
"Why?" demanded the girl, quickly, but smiling. "We young ones have got
to learn through our own experiences, haven't we? When _you_ were young,
sir, you had to learn at first hand--isn't that so? You would not accept
the opinions of the older men as infallible. Now, did you, sir?"
The Elder was a bit staggered; but he was honest.
"Ahem!" he said. "For that very reason I desire to have you accept my
advice, young lady. It will save you much trouble and heartache. These
boys need a stronger hand than yours----"
"Oh, my goodness!" gasped Janice. "_I_ wouldn't undertake to have
anything to do with governing them--no, indeed! I thought of speaking to
Mr. Haley--if I could interest him in the project--and get him to keep
an eye on the reading-room at night. But the boys will have to
understand that they can only have the benefits of the place as long as
they are on their good behavior."
"Ahem!" coughed the Elder again. "Mr. Haley is a very bright young
man--an especially good Latin scholar. But I fancy he finds the boys
quite enough to handle during the daytime, without having the care of
them at night. And--to be frank--I do not approve of the idea at all."
"Then--then you positively will not help us?" asked Janice,
disappointedly.
"You have not proved your case--to _my_ mind--Miss Day," said the old
gentleman, sternly. "It is not a feasible plan that you suggest. The
young rascals would make the place a regular nuisance. They would be
worse than they already are--and that is saying a good deal."
"I am sorry you think that, sir," returned Janice, quietly. "I think
better of them than you do. I believe the boys will appreciate such a
place and--if I can find enough people to help--I hope to see the
reading-room established."
"I disapprove, Miss--I disapprove!" declared Elder Concannon, almost
angrily, for he was not used to being crossed, especially in any
semi-public matter like this. "You will find, too, that my opinion is
the right one. Good-day, Miss. I am sorry to find one so young
impervious to the advice of her elders."
"I'll just _show_ him! That's what I'll do--I'll _show_ him!" was the
determination of the girl from Greensboro. "And I don't believe Poketown
boys are much worse than any other boys--if they only have half a
chance."
Fortunately all those to whom Janice went in her secret canvass were not
like the opinionated old minister. Several subscribed money, and
insisted upon paying their subscription over to her at once so that she
might have a "working fund." Janice set aside three dollars for the
first month's rent of the store and with the remainder purchased a
second-hand table, some plain kitchen chairs, and some lumber. She began
to use this subscribed money with some little trepidation, for--suppose
her scheme fell through, after all?
She got her uncle to agree to the needed carpenter's work; a painter
gave her a brush and sufficient wood-stain to freshen up all the
woodwork of the store. Miss 'Rill came and helped her clean the place
and kalsomine the walls and ceiling. A storekeeper gave her enough
enameled oilcloth to cover neatly the long table. Hopewell Drugg
furnished bracket lamps, and gave her the benefit of the wholesale
discount on a hanging lamp and reflector to light the reading-table.
Walky Dexter did what carting was needed. Janice and her aunt made the
curtains themselves, and they put them up so as to keep out the prying
eyes of all Poketown, for the community now began to wonder what was
going on in the empty room next the drug store. As Walky had been bound
to secrecy, too, the curious had no means of learning what was going on.
It was just as though the printing office of a thriving town newspaper
had burned down and there was no means of disseminating the news. This
was the effect of the muzzle on Walky Dexter!
It was at this point that Janice took Marty, and through him, the other
boys, into the scheme.
"What would you boys each pay in dues to keep up a nice reading-room
such as we talked about, Marty?" she asked her cousin.
"Aw, say!" grunted Marty. "Let's talk about the treasure chest we've
found in our back yard. _That_ sounds more sensible."
"Wouldn't you be glad of such a place?" laughed Janice.
"Say! would a duck swim?" growled the boy, thinking that she was teasing
him. "Bring on your old reading-room, and we'll show ye."
That very afternoon she and Miss 'Rill had given the last touches to the
room. It was as neat as a pin; the lamps were all filled and the
chimneys polished. It was only a bare room, it was true; but there were
possibilities in it, Janice was sure, that would appeal to Marty. She
put on her hat and held her coat out for him to help her into.
"I'm going down town with you to-night, Marty," she said, smiling. "I've
got something to show you."
"Huh! What's it all about?"
"You come along and see," she told him. "It's just the finest thing that
ever happened--and you'll say so, too, I know."
But she refused to explain further until they turned up High Street and
stopped at the dark and long-empty shop beside the drug store.
"Oh, gee! In Massey's store?" gasped Marty, when his cousin fitted a key
to the lock.
"Come in and shut the door. Now stand right where you are while I light
the lamp," commanded Janice.
She lit the hanging lamp over the table. The soft glow of it was soon
flung down upon the dull brown cloth. Marty stared around with mouth
agape.
His father had built a sort of counter at one end, with a desk and
shelves behind it. Of course, there was not a book, or paper, in the
place as yet--nor a game. But Marty needed no explanation.
"Janice Day! did you do all this?" he demanded, with a gasp.
"Of course not, goosey! Lots of people helped. And they're going to help
more--if you boys show yourselves appreciative."
"What's that 'appreciative' mean?" demanded Marty, suspiciously.
"No fights here; no games that are so boisterous as to disturb those who
want to read. Just gentlemanly behavior while you are in the room.
That's all, besides a small tax each month to help toward the upkeep of
the room. What do you say, Marty?"
"You done this!" declared the boy, with sudden heat. "Don't say you
didn't, for that'll be a lie. I never saw a girl like you, Janice!"
"Why--why--Don't you like it?" queried Janice, disturbed.
"Of course I do! It's bully! It's great!" exclaimed Marty. "Lemme show
it to the boys. They'll be crazy about it. And if they don't behave
it'll be because they're too big for me to lick," concluded Marty,
nodding his head emphatically.
Janice burst out laughing at this, and pressed the key into his hand.
"Until we get organized properly, you will take charge of the room,
won't you, Marty?"
"Sure I will."
"You'll need a stove; I think I can get that for you in a day or two.
And lots of folks have promised books. I've written to friends in
Greensboro for books, too. And several people who take magazines and
papers regularly have promised to hand them over to the reading-room
just as soon as they have read them. And you boys can bring your
checkers, and dominoes, and other games, from home, eh?"
Marty was scarcely listening; but he was looking at her with more
seriousness than his plain face usually betrayed.
"Janice, you're almost as good as a boy yourself!" he declared. "I'm not
sorry a bit that you came to Poketown."
Janice only laughed at him again; yet the boy's awkward earnestness
warmed her heart.
The girl was finding in these busy days the truest balm for her own
worriments. Nothing more was heard of Mr. Broxton Day; yet Janice felt
less need of running alone into the woods and fields to find that
comfort about which she had told the minister.
Besides, it soon grew too cold for frequent jaunts afield. The small
streams and pools were icebound. Then, over the fir-covered heights,
sifted the first snow of winter, and Poketown seemed suddenly tucked
under a coverlet of white.
The reading-room was an established fact. An association to support it
was formed, divided into active and honorary members. The boys, as
active members, themselves contributed twenty-five cents per month each,
towards its support. Tables for games were set up. A goodly number of
books appeared on the shelves. From Greensboro a huge packing-case of
half-worn books was sent; Janice's friends at home had responded
liberally.
Files of daily and weekly papers were established and magazines of the
more popular kind were subscribed for. Nelson Haley gave several
evenings each week to work as librarian, and to keep a general
oversight of the boys. To tell the truth, he did this more because
Janice asked him to than from personal interest in the institution; but
he did it.
Slowly the more pessimistic of the townspeople began to show interest in
the reading-room. Mr. Middler openly expressed his approval of the
institution. Mr. Massey, the druggist, reported that the boys behaved
themselves "beyond belief!"
At length, even old Elder Concannon appeared unexpectedly in the
reading-room one night to see what was going on. He came to criticise
and remained to play a game of "draughts," as he called them, with Marty
Day himself!
"Them young scalawags, Elder," declared Massey, when the old gentleman
dropped into the drug store afterward. "Them young scalawags are
certainly surprising _me_. They behaved themselves more like human
bein's than I ever knowed 'em to before. An' it's a nice, neat, warm
room, too, ain't it, now?"
"Ahem! It appears to be," admitted Elder Concannon, and not so
grudgingly as might have been expected. "But where's that young girl who
had so much to do with it at first--where's that Day girl?"
"Why, pshaw, Elder! _she_ don't have nothing to do with the
reading-room," and the druggist's eyes twinkled. "Don't you know that
she only _starts_ things in this town? She sets folks up in the business
of 'doing for themselves'. Then she goes along about her own business.
"What's _that_? Well, I dunno. I'm wonderin' myself just where she'll
break out next!"