Jane L. Stewart

“ I don’t take any credit for the pleasant things that happen to people who are nice to me, so why should I feel satisfied because the hateful ones have some piece of bad luck that I didn’t have anything to do with, either?”
“That’s a perfectly good argument as far as it goes, Dolly. But the trouble is that it doesn’t go far enough. You’ve got a false step in it. Can’t you see where she goes wrong, Bessie?”
“I think I can, Miss Eleanor,” said Bessie. “It’s that we ought not to be glad when people are in trouble, even if they are mean to us, isn’t it? ”

“ You’d soon find that out if you were with us.”
“Well, I’m very glad that so many people have been led to know the truth about us,” said Eleanor, with a smile. “If everyone knew the truth about the Camp Fire, it would soon be as big and as influential as even the most enthusiastic of us hope it will be. And I’m sure that we’ll grow very fast now, because when girls understand us they see that we simply help them to have the sort of good times they enjoy most. Having a good time is a pretty important thing in this life.” ”

“ Pratt seemed too dazed to speak.
“But they can’t finish a whole house in one day!” declared Margery.
“They can’t paint it, and put up wall paper and do everything, Margery,” said Eleanor. “That’s true enough. But they can do a whole lot. You’re used to thinking of city buildings, and that’s different. In the country one or two men usually build a house, and build it well, and when there are twenty or thirty, why, the work just flies, especially when they’re doing the work for friendship, instead of because they’re hired to do it. ”

“ Two or three bungalows and seashore cottages were in sight, but most of the traffic for the Green Cove station came from scattered settlements along the coast. It was a region where people liked to live alone, and they were willing to be some distance from the railroad to secure the isolation that appealed to them. A little pier poked its nose out into the waters of the cove, and beside this pier was a gasoline launch, battered and worn, but amply able, as was soon proved, to carry all the girls and their belongings at a single load. ”

“ If those girls at Camp Halsted could go around and get so many orders just in an hour or so, why shouldn’t we be able to do a lot of it when we get back to the city?”
“Why, that’s so, Bessie! I hadn’t thought of that. My aunt would buy her butter and eggs there, I know. She’s always saying that she can’t get really fresh eggs in the city. And they are delicious. That was one of the things I liked best at Miss Eleanor’s farm. The eggs there were delicious; not a bit like the musty ones we get at home, no matter how much we pay for them.” ”

“ Such work seemed to bring out everything small and mean and sly in Jake’s nature, and Bessie’s thoughts were full of sympathy for his father. After all, Paw Hoover had always been good to her, and when she and Zara had run away from Hedgeville, he had helped them instead of turning them back, as he might so easily have done. It seemed strange to Bessie that so good and kind a man should have such a worthless son.
Twice, as Bessie looked, she saw Jake approach one of the windows of the station building furtively, but each time he was scared away from it before he had a chance to look in. ”

“ Dinner was soon under way, and those who were not called upon by Margery busied themselves about the lean-to, arranging blankets and making everything snug for the night.
The busy hands of the Camp Fire Girls had done much to rid the place of its look of desolation, and now everything spoke of hope and re [87] newed activity instead of despair and inaction. A healthier spirit prevailed, and now the Pratts, encouraged as to their future, were able to join heartily in the laughter and singing with which the Camp Fire Girls made the work seem like play. ”

“ Everyone laughed at that.
“You’re quite right, Dolly,” said Margery. [213] “When you dislike a person anyone who can see you or hear you knows about it. I’ll say that for you—you don’t pretend to be friends with people when you really hate them.”
“Why should I? Come on, Bessie, if we’re going for a walk. If we stay here much longer Margery’ll get so dry from talking that we’ll have to go and get her some more water.”
“Let’s go up the path and get on the bluff again,” said Bessie. ”

“ We’ll have a ceremonial camp fire while we’re here, and it is certainly true that there is no fire half so beautiful as that we get when we use the wood that the sea casts up.”
“Don’t they often find lots of other things beside wood along the coast after a great storm, Miss Eleanor?”
“Yes, indeed! There are people who make their living that way. Wreckers, they call them, you know. Of course, it isn’t as common to find really valuable things now as it was in the old days.”
“Why not? I thought more things were carried at sea than ever,” said Dolly. ”

“ Jeff went on. “But the boss thinks it’s just as well if we throw them off a bit—guess he wants to have some fun with them.”
“Who is your ‘boss’?” asked Bessie, quickly. “I should think you would be ashamed of yourself, treating girls who can’t fight back this way! Do you call yourself a man?”
“Easy there, sis!” said Jeff, with a roar of laughter. “You can’t make me mad. Orders is orders, you know, and you did wrong when you run away like you did. And I ain’t tellin’ you who the boss is. What you don’t know won’t hurt you—and that goes for your friends, too.” ”

“ It might well be that everyone on board was below, eating supper, and in that case voices would probably not come to them.
“I’d like to own that yacht,” said Dolly, gazing at her enviously. “What a lot of fun you could have with her, Bessie! Think of all the places one could see. And you wouldn’t have to leave a place until you got ready. Steamers leave port just as railroad trains pull out of a station, and you may have to go away when you haven’t half finished seeing all the things you want to look at.”
“Maybe they’ll send a boat ashore soon,” said Margery, hopefully. ”

“ They were just plain snobs, that’s all!”
“I thought Gladys Cooper was pretty mean, after all the trouble we had taken last night to help her and her chum, but I do think the rest were sorry, and felt that they’d been all wrong. They really said so, if you remember.”
“Well, they ought to have been, certainly! What a lot of lazy girls they must be! Do look, Bessie. There isn’t a sign of life over at their camp. I bet not one of them is up yet!”
“You’re a fine one to criticise anyone else for being lazy, Dolly Ransom! ”

“ It’s always the one who knows all about some sin who can preach the best sermon against it, you know.”
“Turning preacher, Dolly?” asked Eleanor Mercer. Both the girls spun around and rushed toward her as soon as they heard her voice, and realized that she had stepped noiselessly out on the porch. They embraced her happily. She was Guardian of the Camp Fire, and no more popular Guardian could have been found in the whole State.
“Dolly’s got something more against the girls from Halsted Camp!” explained Bessie, with a peal of laughter. ”

“ I was sure he’d guess that it was I.”
“He always looks at everyone that way—just as if they owed him money,” said Bessie. “Nasty [188] old man! I don’t blame you for being nervous, Zara.”
“Oh, neither do I,” said Dolly. “But it was funny to think of his being so near you and having no idea of it. That’s what would have made me laugh.”
“It seems funny enough, now,” admitted Zara, with a smile. “But, you see, I was perfectly certain that he did have a very good idea of where I was. I was expecting him to take hold of me any moment, and tell the constable to take me off the train.” ”

“ Only the noise of the light surf disturbed the intense stillness, and that had a soothing, musical quality that made it far from a disturbance to those who slept.
But that peace was to be rudely shattered before the first watch was over. ”

“ These people around here are certainly being as nice as they can be to the poor Pratts. Just think of their coming here to-morrow to build a new house for them!”
“There are more nice, good-hearted people than bad ones all over, Dolly. That’s true of every place, city or country.”
“But it seems to me we always hear more of the bad ones, and those who do nasty things, than we do of the others, in the newspapers.”
“I think that’s because the things that the bad people do are more likely to be exciting and interesting, Dolly. ”

“ Holmes and the rest of them on the platform at Canton,” said Bessie, laughing. “Did they get aboard your train?”
“Did they?” cried Eleanor. “They most certainly did, and when they couldn’t find either you or Zara, they were so angry that I was afraid they were going to burst! I don’t believe I ever saw men so dreadfully disappointed in my life.”
“How did you manage to hide Zara?”
“That was awfully funny, Bessie. I found some friends of mine were on the train, travelling in a private car. As soon as I got your telegram, I went back to see them. ”

“ It’s in the middle ground that the right answer lies. Work a little, and play a little, that’s the way to get on and be happy. When you’ve worked hard, you need some sort of relaxation, and it’s pretty important to know how to enjoy yourself, and have a good time.”
“And you certainly can have bully good times in the Camp Fire,” said Dolly, enthusiastically. “I’ve never enjoyed myself half so much as I have since I’ve belonged. Why, we have bacon bats, and picnics, and all sorts of things that are the best fun you ever dreamed of, Marcia. ”

“ The sun was scarcely up in the morning when Eleanor turned out and aroused the girls.
“We’ve got to get our own breakfast out of the way in a hurry, girls,” she said. “When country people say early, they mean early—EARLY! And we want to have coffee and cakes ready for these good friends of ours when they do come. A good many of them will come from a long way off and I think they’ll all be glad to have a little something extra before they start work. It won’t hurt us a bit to think so, and act accordingly anyhow.” ”

“ It is never easy to confess that one has been in the wrong, and it was particularly hard for these girls, whose whole campaign against the Camp Fire party had been based on pride and a false sense of their own superiority, which, of course, had existed only in their imaginations. ”

“ Dolly smacked her lips.
“You bet there is!” she said. “Best sea bass you ever tasted, and about all you can catch, too! And it tastes delicious, because the fish down there get cooked almost as soon as they’re caught. And there are lobsters and crabs—and it’s good fun to go crabbing. Then at low tide we dig for clams, and they’re good, too—I’ll bet you never dreamed how good a clam could be!”
“How about the other things—milk, and eggs, and all those?”
“Oh, that’s easy! There are a lot of farms a little way inland, and we get all sorts of fine things from them.” ”

“ Salters,” said Eleanor. “I hope you [192] didn’t sell the fish and clams you promised us to someone else?”
“No, indeed,” said old Salters. “They’re waitin’ for you at the camp, ma’am, and I fixed up the place, too, all shipshape. The tents is all ready, though why anyone should sleep in such contraptions when they can have a comfortable house is more’n I can guess.”
“Each to his taste, you know,” laughed Eleanor. “I suppose we’ll be able to get you to take us out in the launch sometimes while we’re here?”
“Right, ma’am! As often as you like,” he answered. ”

“ I’ve sent word on ahead to have the tents ready for us, but, even so, there will be a good many things to do.”
“There always are,” sighed Dolly. “That’s the one thing I don’t like about camping out.”
“I expect really, if you only knew the truth, Dolly, it’s the one thing you like best of all,” smiled Eleanor. “That’s one of the great differences between being at home, where everything [150] is done for you, and camping out, where you have to look after yourself.” ”

“ The people in the road were staring, with drawn faces, at a scene of ruin and desolation that far outdid the burnt wastes beside the road, since what they were looking at represented human work and the toil of hands. ”

“ I don’t want to be hard on you. Come out here in the passageway, and you can have a look at the shore as we go off.”
He led them to the stern, and to the little cabin, in which was a porthole. Looking out, Bessie saw the beach indistinctly. The ruined tents were there, and several of the girls, in bathing suits. And, swimming slowly to the shore she saw a girl in a red cap, which, as she knew, belonged to Dolly. How she longed to be able to call to her! But Jeff was at her side, and she knew that the attempt would be useless, since he was watching her as if he had been a cat and she a mouse. ”

“ Why, that fire is going to turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us, I’m sure!”
“I think we can often turn our misfortunes into blessings if we take them the right way, Mrs. Pratt. The thing to do is always to try to look on the bright side, and, no matter how black [125] things seem, to try to see if there isn’t some way that we can turn everything to account.”
“Well, I would never have done it if you hadn’t come along, Miss Mercer. You gave us all courage in the first place, and then you got Jud Harkness and all the others to come and help me this way.” ”

“ I guess that in the city men who work in offices don’t use their bodies enough—they don’t get enough exercise, and they eat as much as if they did.”
“I love cooking for men who enjoy their food [119] the way these do,” said Margery happily. “They don’t have to say it’s good—they show they think so by the way they eat. It’s fine to think that people really enjoy what you do. ”

“ There are so many other things to do here that it’s a pity to waste time doing the same thing over and over again when you don’t really need to.”
“I suppose that’s so, too. It’s always foolish to do work that you don’t need to do—I mean that can be done in some easier way. If your time’s worth anything at all, you can find some better use for it.” ”

“ I hate mysteries. Do you know, Bessie, that if this train only makes one [176] or two stops, we shall be at Plum Beach very soon after Miss Eleanor and the other girls get there?”
“I’m glad of it, Dolly. Tell me, there isn’t any station at Plum Beach, is there?”
“No, we’ll go to Bay City, and then go back on another train to a little station called Green Cove, and that’s within a mile of the beach. It’s on a branch railroad that runs along the coast from Bay City.”
Then the train came along, and they climbed aboard, happy in having outwitted the enemies of Bessie and Zara. ”

“ Eleanor asked next.
“Yes, ma’am, we do.”
“Well, if you made fresh, sweet butter, and didn’t salt it at all, do you know that you could sell it to people in the city for fifty cents a pound?”
Mrs. Pratt gasped.
“Why, no one in the world ever paid that much for butter!” she said, amazed. “And, anyhow, butter without salt’s no good.”
“Lots of people don’t agree with you, and they’re willing to pay pretty well to have their own way, too,” she said, with a laugh. “In the city rich families think fresh butter is a great luxury, and they can’t get enough of it that’s [81] really good. ”