Annie Roe Carr

“ The others laughed at that.
"Oh, you girls!" said Walter. "To hear you talk, one would think you were hounded like slaves at Lakeview Hall. You should have such a strict teacher as my tutor, for instance. He's the fellow for driving one. He says he'll have me ready for college in two years; but if he does, I know I shall feel as stuffed as a Strasburg goose."
"This learning so much that one will be glad to forget when one grows up," sighed Bess, "is an awful waste of time."
"Why, Bess!" cried Grace Mason, "don't you ever expect to read or write or spell or cipher when you grow up?" ”

“ Out of the doorway plunged little Inez, one arm over her eyes to defend them from the stinging smoke; one hand pulling at Nan's jacket, to guide her; for Nan came stumbling backward from the burning theatre, dragging Pearl Graves with her.
Both girls fell on the flagging as they reached the alley. The policeman and Walter raised Nan quickly. She did not lose consciousness; but she was scorched and breathless. Pearl, however, had not recovered her senses at all from the moment the shock had made her faint.
"She's—she's safe!" gasped Nan. "I covered her face so she should not breathe the smoke." ”

“ Only tears I ever heard of Linda's shedding! And they may prove to be crocodile tears at that."
"Oh, hush, Bess!" said Nan. "Let's not be cruel."
"We'll see how she treats you hereafter," Grace said. "I, for one, hope Linda has had a change of heart. She'll be so much happier if she stops quarreling with everybody."
"And the other girls will have a little more peace, too, I fancy; eh?" threw in her brother, slyly. "But how about this place you want to go to this afternoon, Nan?" ”

“ When Nan rather timidly opened the door of the smoking car a burst of sound rushed out, almost startling in its volume—piercing cries of children, shrill tones of women's voices, the guttural scolding of men, the expostulations of the conductor himself, who had a group of complainants about him, and the thunderous snoring of a fat man in the nearest seat, who slept with his feet cocked up on another seat and a handkerchief over his face.
"Goodness!" gasped Bess, pulling back. "Let's not go in. It's a bear garden."
"Why, I don't understand it," murmured Nan. "Women and children in the smoker? ”

“ The girls ventured farther forward. When they opened the door of the car at that end, Bess screamed outright.
"Why! it's a tunnel, Nan," she ejaculated. "Do you see?"
"What a lot of snow there must be above us," her chum rejoined, with gravity.
"Why, this is just the greatest adventure that ever happened," Bess continued. "The men have tunneled through the drift from one car to the other. I wonder how thick the roof is, Nan? Suppose it falls on us!" ”

“ The girls shrieked in chorus—all but Nan herself. The stubborn, fat man, at last awakened to his danger, plunged ahead. There was a mighty collision!
The fat man dived head-first into a soft snow bank on one side of the slide; the bobsled plunged into another soft bank on the other side, and all the girls were buried, some of them over their heads, in the snow.
They were not hurt—
"Save in our dignity and our pompadours!" cried Laura Polk, the red-haired girl, coming to the surface like a whale, "to blow." ”

“ While Walter was inquiring in some of the little neighboring stores, Nan saw a child pop out of a narrow alley beside the warehouse and look sharply up and down the street. It was the furtive, timid glance of the woods creature or the urchin of the streets; both expect and fear the attack of the strong.
The Lakeview Hall girls were across the street. The little girl darted suddenly toward them. Her head was covered by an old shawl, which half blinded her. Her garments were scanty for such brisk winter weather, and her shoes were broken.
"Oh, the poor little thing!" murmured Grace Mason. ”

“ The actress raised her eyes and clasped her hands, invoking invisible spirits to hear. "At last! a girl who is not tainted by the universal craze for the movies—and who does not know me! There are still worlds for me to conquer," murmured the woman. "Yes, my child," she added, to the rather abashed Nan, "I am a maker of films."
"You—you must excuse me," Nan hastened to say. "I expect I ought to know all about you; but I lived quite a long time in the Michigan woods, and then, lately, I have been at boarding school, and we have no movies there." ”

“ The black horse driven by Walter Mason was more sure-footed than the policeman's mount. The latter slipped and lost its stride. Prince went past the floundering horse like a flash.
The swaying sleigh was just ahead now. Walter drew Prince to one side so that the cutter would clear the sleigh in passing.
The chums could see poor, frightened Linda crouching in the bottom of the sleigh, clinging with both hands to one of the straps from which the plumes streamed. Her face was white and she looked almost ready to faint. ”

“ Nan and Bess were timid, and they hesitated for some moments in the paved yard, uncertain which of the several doors to enter. They saw a number of girls and men enter through the gate as they had, and watched the men hurry to one door, and the women and girls to another.
"Lets follow those girls," suggested Bess, as a chattering trio went into the building. "We can't go far wrong, for the sheep and the goats seem to be separated," and she giggled. ”

“ Not I!" cried Bess, gaily. "I am Queen Bess, monarch of all I survey. Katie!"—the neat little maid had just entered the room—"will you hand me the book I was reading in the other room? I'm too weak to rise. Oh, thanks!"
Grace laughed; but Nan looked a little grave as Katie disappeared again.
"Don't, honey," Nan said to her thoughtless chum. "It isn't nice. The poor girl has necessary work enough without your making up thing's for her to do. She is on her feet from morning till night. She tells me that her ankles swell dreadfully sometimes, and that is awful for a young girl like her." ”

“ Bess murmured.
"An' you?" asked the flower-seller of Nan.
"I always like the sunny-side of everything," our Nan admitted.
"Hi, Mother Beasley!" shouted Inez, to the woman in the kitchen. "Two of them eggs sunny-side up, flop the other."
Nan burst out laughing again at this. Bess was too funny for anything—to look at!
There were other girls in the long room, but none near where Nan and Bess and their strange little friend sat. Plainly the strangers were working girls, somewhat older than the chums, and as they finished their late dinners, one by one, they went out. ”

“ Of course, you have never posed?"
"For moving pictures?" gasped Nan, at last waking up to what the woman meant. "Oh, no, indeed!"
"You are not like most other young girls, then?" said the woman. "You haven't the craze to act in the silent drama?"
"I never thought of such a thing," Nan innocently replied. "Film companies do not hire girls of my age, do they?"
"Not unless they are wonderfully well adapted for the work," agreed the actress. "But I am approached every week—I was going to say, every day—by girls no older than you, who think they have genius for the film-stage." ”

“ CHAPTER VI A SERIOUS PROBLEM The chums from Tillbury looked at each other in awed amazement. Nothing just like this had ever come to their knowledge before. The healthy desire of a vigorous appetite for food was one thing; but this child's whimpering need and its mother's patient endurance of her own lack of food for nearly twenty-four hours, shook the two girls greatly.
"Why, the poor little fellow!" gasped Nan, and sank to her knees to place her cheek against the pale one of the little French boy.
"They—they're starving!" choked Bess Harley. ”

“ Nan suddenly cried. "What's that over there?"
"A picture palace; goodness knows they're common enough," said Bess.
"But see what the sign says. Look, girls! Look, Walter!" and Nan excitedly pointed out the sheet hung above the arched entrance of the playhouse. "'A Rural Beauty'!" she cried. "That's the very picture those two girls took part in. It's been released."
"We must see it," Bess cried. "I'm just crazy to see how Sallie and Celia look on the screen."
"Why! you never saw them. Do you think they will be labeled?" scoffed Walter. ”

“ Down the driveway came a heavy auto-truck and although the little girl saw the approach of this, she could not well see what followed the great vehicle.
She escaped the peril of the truck, but came immediately in the path of a touring car that shot out from behind to pass the truck. With a nerve-racking "honk! honk!" the swiftly moving car was upon the child.
Bess and Grace did scream; but Nan, first aware of the little one's danger, was likewise first to attempt her rescue. And she needed her breath for that effort. ”

“ Grace said. "But it makes me actually ill to go near them. How mother can delve as she does in the very slums—well, I can't do it! Walter is like mother; he doesn't mind."
"I guess you're like your father," said Bess. "He believes in putting poor people into jails, otherwise institutions, instead of giving them a chance to make good where they are. And there aren't enough institutions for them all. I never supposed there were so many poor people in this whole world as we have seen in Chicago.
"I used to just detest the word 'poor'—Nan'll tell you," confessed Bess. ”

“ His engine was stopped and there was no possibility of escape with the car.
Crash! the truck-wheel clashed against the frail cab, and the latter vehicle was crushed as though made of paper. The driver went out on his head. Screams of fear issued from the interior of the cab as it went over in a heap of wreckage and the ladder-truck thundered on.
Nan saw a fat face with bulging eyes set in it appear at the window of the cab. She was obliged to spring away to escape being caught in the wreck. But she ran back instantly, for there were more than the owner of the fat face in the overturned taxi. ”

“ Here Professor Krenner interfered, and he spoke quite sharply.
"You've said enough, Bulson. Are you hurt?"
"I don't know," grumbled the fat man.
"He can't tell till he's seen his lawyer," whispered Laura Polk, beginning to giggle.
"Are any of you girls hurt?" queried the professor, his red and white cap awry.
"I don't think so, Professor," Bess replied. "Only Nan's feelings. That man ought to be ashamed of himself for speaking so of Mr. Sherwood." ”

“ Nan's love for dolls foreshadowed her love for babies. She never could pass a baby by without trying to make friends with it. The little girls at Lakeview Hall found a staunch friend and champion in Nan Sherwood. It was a great grief to Mrs. Sherwood and Nan that there were no babies in the "little dwelling in amity." Nan could barely remember the brother that had come to stay with them such a little while, and then had gone away forever.
Nan's heart was touched by the apparent needs of this street girl who had come to the rescue of Bess and herself when they arrived in Chicago. ”

“ But Nan did not comment upon this at all. She only said, with confidence:
"Of course you can let this poor doggy out of the cage and we will be good to him."
"Well, Miss, that altogether depends upon the conductor, you know. It's against the rules for a dog to be taken into a passenger coach."
"I do think," cried Bess, "that this is the very meanest railroad that ever was. I am sure that Linda Riggs' father owns it. To keep a poor, dear, little dog like that, freezing and starving, in an old baggage car." ”