Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer Part 3

There was something so responsive in her words and att.i.tude, although they did not exactly express what she meant to convey, that Helen, with almost boyish frankness, held out her hand, crying, "Good! let's shake.

You are simply immense, Miss Page, or, in the words of our old French professor at school, 'you-haf-much com-pree-henshun!'" This was said in mimic tone with laughing eyes, a shrug of the shoulders, and with outspread hands.

"We have indoor rallies, or Pioneer circles, also, Miss Page, when our Director gives us delightful little talks on ethical culture,-only ten minutes-" she pleaded laughingly, "also on history, astronomy,-we call them our star talks,-and other instructive subjects.

"You will be surprised, perhaps, but these talks are very interesting, not at all tiresome. The girls listen with all their ears and we learn an awful lot. One reason is that Mrs. Morrow loves young girls-for you see, she isn't so very much older than we are-and she knows just how to talk to us, so that we don't feel as if we were being preached at, or having wisdom jammed down our throats. It is just dramatizing serious things through play, so as to make us remember them as well as entertaining us. Then we have spelling-contests, cooking-matches,-I call them trials by fire,-sewing-bees, and all sorts of old-fashioned things."

"But you have outdoor sports, too, do you not?" asked her listener, who was intensely interested.

"Indeed we do, any number of them: swimming, horseback-riding, rowing, canoeing, basket-ball, tennis, dancing, stilt-walking,-we make our own stilts,-kite-flying,-and we make our own kites, too. In fact, we do just about everything that stands for healthful recreation and wholesome fun.

Isn't that comprehensive enough?"

"How did you come to take the name 'Pioneer'?"

"Well, you see it was this way; as the Boy Scouts strive to imitate the chivalry and higher qualities of the knights of olden times, so we, their sister organization, endeavor to emulate the sterling qualities of the early pioneer women. They learned to be courageous, resourceful, and efficient, as the home-makers of the brave men who founded this Republic-"

"Do you mean the wives of the Puritans and Pilgrims?"

"Yes, we mean all those women, North, East, South, and West," Helen declared smilingly, "who helped their good men to build homes in the wilderness, who mothered their children with Spartan-like denial, and who-yes, who knew how to handle an old flintlock when they heard the cry of the Indian. Oh, no, I'm not originating, I am only an echo of Mrs.

Morrow, who is way up on Colonial history.

"The Pioneer Girls," she continued more seriously, "aim, by imitating the many qualities of these splendid women, to be worthy wives and mothers. Who knows?" she broke into a laugh, "the Girl Pioneers may be the mothers of men like Washington, Lincoln-O dear," she stopped suddenly, "I am talking as if I had to speed a thousand words a minute!"

"Oh, go on!" cried Nathalie, inspired by her guest's fervency, "I just love to hear you talk."

"It is very good of you to say that," declared Helen with a slight blush, "but I am almost 'at the finish,' as the boys say. But I must not forget to tell you that we love to gather around the open fire, cheer fires we call them, and tell stories. We generally try to make them stories about the pioneers, or heroic women, and sometimes we run in a story about some brave kiddie, for you know almost every one loves to hear about brave little children. Ah, that reminds me, did you ever hear about Mary Chilton? She was a real pioneer girl you know, for she came over with the Pilgrims." Helen nodded her head impressively.

"No, I have read about Lola Standish, and I believe-yes-I saw her sampler once, and I am quite up on all the points of Priscilla's courtship, but-"

"Who isn't?" replied Miss Dame, "for she was a dear. Mary Chilton was a friend of hers. Why, don't you remember she was the girl who made the bet with John Alden-slow old John-that when the little shallop struck Plymouth Rock (of course they never dreamed that they were going to make that old rock immortal) that she would jump on the rock first; and sure enough she did manage to land a second or so before John Alden."

"Well, the Girl Pioneers aim high," declared Nathalie, "and I certainly think they must be worthwhile girls. I shall love to meet your Pioneer friends-they cheered me up-" she added, "for they made me think of the girls at school, especially Grace Tyson. Why, she is so much like my chum that it almost seemed as if I were talking to her the other day!

Your friends all have such happy faces, and 'it is such a relief to see good red cheeks as made by Mother Nature,' as Mother says. Some of the girls one sees in the cities nowadays have such a made-up appearance, especially those on the avenue Sat.u.r.day afternoons in New York."

"Yes, they have regular clown faces with their splashes of red, and their powdered noses," returned her neighbor laughingly. "I always feel as if I wanted to tell them they had forgotten to rub the flour off. It doesn't seem possible that any well-bred girl could think she looks nice all dabbed up in that way. But there, I am tiring you," she added hastily, "so I am going to say good-by. Oh, I came very near forgetting to ask if you would like to have the girls call on you-I mean the girls of our group?" she hesitated. "I think you would like them, although they may not be as fashionable as your city friends."

"Oh, but they are the kind of girls I like," protested Nathalie hurriedly, "for I do not care for girls who are nothing but fuss and feathers. Please do bring your friends, for I know I shall like them, and then, too, they may tell me more about the good times you have."

"Indeed they will," said Helen with decision; "they will be only too pleased. When shall we come, will Thursday be a good day for you?"

"Yes, indeed; I shall be here-still in this old chair I presume; I shall watch for them with great impatience, for you know," she added a little sadly, "they remind me of my schoolmates in the city. Oh, I have missed them dreadfully! Now, be sure to come-all of you!"

She rose in her chair to wave a good-by to her new friend, who, as she reached the gate, had turned and waved her hand.

Nathalie sank back in her chair with tear-dimmed eyes, for somehow that friendly salute had brought it all back-the faces of her merry comrades, and the happy care-free hours they had spent together. She swallowed hard, for Helen had waved her hand just the way the girls used to do when they came in afternoons for a chatty little visit, and then hurried away with just such a parting salute.

CHAPTER III-GIRL PIONEERS

"Oh, I wish you would tell me something about your school life in New York," begged Helen wistfully; "I had a friend who used to go to one of the high schools. I hear they are very fine."

It was Thursday, the day the Girl Pioneers were to call on Nathalie, and Helen Dame had run over a few moments before their arrival to have a short chat with her new friend.

"Oh-I," Nathalie hesitated with rising color, "I did not go to high school. Yes, I know they are very fine, but I attended a private school kept by Madame Chemidlin."

An "oh!" escaped Helen involuntarily, as her eyes gloomed a little, but her companion plunged recklessly on.

"It is considered one of the finest schools in the city, because, well, for one thing, Madame is adorable, her father was one of the n.o.bility, a political refugee from France, and then because the girls who attend come from the best families in New York. They were just dears-" with a sigh of regret-"Nellie Blinton, she was my chummiest chum, she's the one I told you Miss Tyson reminded me of, she has the same kind of a face as Nell, with big, dark eyes and the same gentle, ladylike way about her that my friend has.

"Then there was Puss Davidson, she's awfully clever. She writes stories, and last year won a gold medal from St. Nicholas. She was Valedictorian of our cla.s.s last Spring. You know I graduated then, but took a post-graduate course last winter and expected to enter college this fall, but now, of course, things are different." She spoke a little sadly.

Helen could not help feeling somewhat disappointed as she heard about these rich schoolmates of Nathalie's; she had taken a great liking to this girl with the daintily colored face with its rounding curves, lighted by eyes that held you captive with their frank, direct gaze.

Although bright and clever-looking, this Girl Pioneer possessed no claim to beauty, for, as she ruefully commented at times, she had a nose with a k.n.o.b on it. For that reason, perhaps, being free from that enviousness that characterizes so many girls, she was a beauty-lover. Too often she had made friends with girls just because they appealed to her love for the beautiful, only to realize when it was too late that good looks do not always mean pleasing traits of character. In fact, Helen was somewhat tired of being disappointed, and had vowed to her mother that she was never again going to care for a pretty girl. She was not sure that Nathalie was a real beauty, but surely, with her lovely brown eyes and the gracious little way she had, not at all self-conscious, but just real "self," she was in a fair way to become very popular with the girls.

Her eyes clouded momentarily and something caused an unpleasant jar. No, she was not jealous of Nathalie, for she was willing to have her know and be liked by the other girls, but as she had been the first one to know her, she wanted to be her special friend. But then if she had always had so many high-toned schoolmates, perhaps she would not care to be a friend to a girl who was learning to be a wage-earner. Helen had always felt proud to think that some day she could be ranked among that cla.s.s of highly regarded women, but would Nathalie think as she did?

There was something so straightforward, however, so honest, about Nathalie as she went on and told of her studies, her friends, and a few of the incidents in her school life in the big city, that Helen forgot her fears, and was compelled to believe that she would be doing her an injustice in fearing that she would choose her companions for what they had and not for what they were.

"Oh, here they come!" cried Nathalie at this moment as she caught a glimpse of a group of girls in brown uniforms coming down the street.

She half rose from her chair and with sparkling eyes watched them as they came, a dozen or more, perhaps, up the steps of the veranda. In another second her eyes grew big as she saw each girl's hand placed quickly over her heart, then up to her forehead, and lastly held with open palm at a level with the right shoulder. It was the Girl Pioneers'

salute to their leader, for Helen with a sudden straightening of the shoulders had responded to the greeting with a similar movement.

Nathalie had already stepped forward, leaning on d.i.c.k's crutch,-he had been relegated to the couch in the hall,-and was crying, as her color came and went in pink flushes, "Oh, I am so glad to see you!" extending her hand to the foremost girl, Grace Tyson. "I think it's just lovely for you all to come to see me!" nodding towards the rest of the group, with eyes that attested the cordiality of her welcome. She stopped abruptly, for the girls had broken forth into

"Hear! hear! hear! Girl Pioneer!

Come, give a cheer, G-i-r-l Pi-o-neer!"

"And a cheer for our hostess!" added Grace Tyson, lifting up her hand as she faced her companions. Before Nathalie could catch her breath there came another ringing cheer as each girl with smiling eyes shouted,

"Hear! hear! a cheer for Nathalie dear!

Girl Pi-o-neer! Girl Pi-o-neer!"

If Nathalie's color had been going and coming, it now flooded her face as she laughingly held out her hand to each one in turn, giving a soft little squeeze that made each girl vote her a comrade.

Grace and Helen now led Nathalie back to her chair, somewhat solicitous as to the sprained foot; but she laughingly a.s.sured them that she was all right. Then with animated eyes she bowed and smiled as Helen, who was spokesman for the group, began to introduce each one of the Pioneers in turn, in an offhand, half quizzing way that relieved the formality of the ceremony.

"This is Miss Jessie Ford, our literary scribe and Editor-in-chief of 'The Pioneer,' a penny newspaper issued monthly, devoted to the news and doings of the Girl Pioneers."

Jessie, a wholesome-looking girl with golden hair worn in a coronet braid, and with bright, keen eyes, shook hands pleasantly, half smiling at the words of their leader. "Yes, she is clever, our Jess, and progressive, too," went on Helen, her eyes twinkling, "which means a lot in these times." There was the suspicion of laughter in her tone.

"That she's progressive can't be denied," interposed Grace Tyson laughingly, "for when we had a Pioneer party a short time ago, Jess wasn't going to be outdone by any newspaper reporter and wrote a detailed description of each girl's costume and sent it to the 'Town Journal.' The paper appeared the afternoon of the 'come-off,' one of the girls saw the article, and suggested as a joke that we all change costumes. O dear, what a laugh we had on Jess!"

Miss Jessie, however, only smiled at all of this chaffing, as if proud of this proof of her alertness and stepped to one side.

"And this bluebird-oh, Miss Page did I tell you that each Pioneer group is named after a bird, and that ours is the Bluebird Group?" Helen had forgotten her teasing tone in her eagerness to impart this information.