The Morning Glory Club Part 21

"Well, let us get on to the track and go ahead," said Mrs. Tweedie, sneeringly.

"What's this meetin' for, anyway?" asked Mrs. Stout.

The ladies looked inquiringly at Miss Sawyer, who had called them together.

"There are many details," she began, "to be worked out in regard to our entertainment: programmes, tickets, music, advertising--"

She was interrupted by Mrs. Stout who was suddenly overcome by a spasm of laughter.

"Advertisin'!" she choked, "people for ten miles--" another burst of laughter prevented her from continuing for a moment. "People for ten miles 'round are talkin' about nothin' else. Don't spend a cent for advertisin'."

"Quite true," added Mrs. Tweedie, "our club and entertainment are in the mouths of everybody."

"And I'm 'fraid they've got a hard pill to swaller," said Mrs. Stout, wiping her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Tweedie quickly demanded.

"Oh, nothin' against anybody in pertic'ler, only it has struck me that some of us old women in the show are goin' to be dreadful funny when we ain't s'posed to be."

"The people know that we do not pretend to be more than amateurs,"

pleaded Miss Sawyer.

"I know that," replied Mrs. Stout, "but there are good and bad amatoors."

"It is too bad of you to say such things, Mrs. Stout," said Mrs. Blake.

"I am sure that we shall do quite as well as we are expected to do."

"Of course," smiled Mrs. Stout, "but we're bound to make mistakes, and we don't want to be any bigger fools than we can help."

"Fools indeed!" snapped Mrs. Tweedie, "I am sure that the ladies who are to take part in our entertainment are of exceptional intelligence and ability--with one or two exceptions."

"And I'm prob'ly the biggest exception," said Mrs. Stout.

"I mentioned no names," replied Mrs. Tweedie, haughtily.

"You don't have to," retorted Mrs. Stout.

Mrs. Tweedie's face was flushed with anger. The others looked frightened, they feared that the open rupture between Mrs. Stout and Mrs. Tweedie, which had been brewing since the first meeting of the club, was about to take place. But Mrs. Tweedie's anger was too intense for words, and after glaring at the cause of her wrath for a moment, she sank back in her chair with the last word trembling on her lips--unspoken.

To dictate, to be absolute, was Mrs. Tweedie's joy--her life; but her power was waning, though she did not realize it. A mild spirit of rebellion had crept into the minds of some of the members which promised to bear fruit before the expiration of her term of office. Mrs. Stout, the only outspoken rebel, caused Mrs. Tweedie more annoyance than any other member because she would speak truths that were certain to hit somebody, and Mrs. Tweedie always presented the most tempting mark.

"What have you learned concerning the orchestra, Mrs. Jones?" asked Miss Sawyer when the temporary cessation of talk had cleared away the clouds.

"Orchestra!" exclaimed Mrs. Stout, without giving Mrs. Jones a chance to reply. "An orchestra will cost too much. Can't we get somebody to play the piano for nothing? We're tryin' to make money--anybody can spend it."

Mrs. Tweedie had set her heart upon having an orchestra, and immediately trained her guns on Mrs. Stout's economical proposition and opened fire.

"Money is not the only thing," she said, epigrammatically. "We must not forget what we owe to art. To my mind orchestral music is an absolutely essential adjunct to a Thespian production."

"Perhaps that's so," replied Mrs. Stout, doubtfully. "I ain't quite pos'tive."

Mrs. Tweedie smiled. With her big words she had scored a bull's-eye.

"As for the money," Mrs. Stout continued, "maybe it ain't the 'only thing,' but it comes precious near it."

"But, Mrs. Stout," said f.a.n.n.y Tweedie, "we've just _got_ to make a 'hit' with our first entertainment."

"f.a.n.n.y, we are not talking about baseball," remonstrated Mrs. Tweedie, who had absorbed unconsciously some knowledge of the national game from her son Thomas, and for the moment forgot the application to the stage of the word in question.

"The word 'hit' means success on the stage," replied f.a.n.n.y. "Does it not, Miss Sawyer?"

"I have seen the word so used in the newspapers," answered Miss Sawyer.

"The newspapers," said Mrs. Tweedie, sharply, "are not written in the best English."

"Perhaps they ain't," interposed Mrs. Stout, "but they're written the way most of us talk and so that we can understand 'em."

"The word has little to do with the business before us," snapped Mrs.

Tweedie, dismissing the subject. "You mentioned programmes and tickets, Miss Sawyer, what about them?"

"The expense will be only a trifle; I suppose Mr. Hunter will do the printing," replied Miss Sawyer.

"Of course," said Mrs. Tweedie, in a positive way that the ladies did not like, because Mr. Hunter was Mrs. Tweedie's cousin, a descendant of the famous ancestor. "And now," she continued, "is there anything else that has not been attended to?"

"Has the hall been hired?" asked Mrs. Jones.

"Really!" exclaimed Miss Sawyer, "I had wholly forgotten it!"

"You'd better get after it quick, or some of the men folks will get ahead of us with some kind of a political meetin'," said Mrs. Stout.

"Then we'll have to 'stoop to conquer' all right."

"You will attend to the matter to-day, Miss Sawyer?" Mrs. Tweedie asked, and upon receiving an affirmative nod continued, "And now, if there is--"

"Oh," interrupted Mrs. Jones, "what shall we do about Mr. Flint? He is so firmly opposed to our entertainment that--"

"He's our advertisin' agent," remarked Mrs. Stout, irreverently.

"What _can_ we do?" said Miss Sawyer.

"What can _he_ do?" asked f.a.n.n.y.

"It grieves me," Mrs. Tweedie began, "to think that we are engaged upon an enterprise to which our worthy pastor is so much opposed, but I do not see my way clear to yield to his opposition. Surely the club cannot give up the entertainment."

"All we can do," said Mrs. Stout, "is to go ahead with the show and pay no attention to what he says."

"Mrs. Stout, our entertainment is not to be a 'show' in any sense,"

replied Mrs. Tweedie, indignantly.

"As I said once before to-day, it may be for some of us," retorted Mrs.