Part 11 (1/2)

”There is one thing I hope you won't mind my saying,” said Margaret; ”mother says please not to wear party frocks, and not to dress up much, on account of the Friendlessers, you know, for of course they won't have any.”

”Of course not,” agreed the girls.

”Mother says we can have just as good a time if we are not dressed up and as long as it is going to be in the daytime it won't make so much difference.”

”Let's go tell the other girls,” suggested Edna.

They hunted up Agnes, Celia and the rest of the club members and did not find one who objected to the presence of the ”Friendlessers.”

However, when the news of Margaret's party was noised abroad, there was much scorn on the part of the Neighborhood Club. ”The idea,” said Clara, ”of going to a party with orphan asylum children! I'd like to see my mother allowing me to a.s.sociate with such creatures. I can't think what Jennie Ramsey's mother can be thinking of to allow her to go. Besides, Margaret is an orphan asylum girl herself and no better than the rest!

I'm sure I wouldn't be seen at her party.”

”And they're not even going to wear party frocks, nor so much as white ones,” said Gertrude Crane. ”I don't see what fun it will be.”

”And I suppose there are to be no boys,” put in Clara.

”I haven't heard whether there are to be or not,” returned Gertrude.

The question of boys did come up later when Mrs. MacDonald asked Margaret if she did not think it would be well to invite Frank and Charley Conway, as one of the ”Friendlessers” was a boy. The two Porter boys who came out often to play with the Conway boys, were thought of and were invited, and when Edna returned home on Friday evening Cousin Ben informed her that he, too, was going.

”Why, Cousin Ben,” she said in pleased surprise, ”how does that happen, when you are such a big boy, really a man, you know?”

”I must confess I fished for an invitation,” he told her. ”Mrs.

MacDonald was over here to ask if Charlie and Frank could come and I said, 'What's the matter with asking me, too?' and so I got my invite. I wouldn't miss it for a six-pence.” Cousin Ben and Mrs. MacDonald were great friends and he was quite intimate at the big gray house so it was no wonder that he wanted to be at Margaret's first party.

It was as Ben said ”a queer mix-up.” The first to arrive were the four children from the Home of the Friendless, three little girls and one little boy. One of the teachers brought them out and remained in order to take them back again. The big gray house looked cheerful and more attractive than usual, for flowers were Mrs. MacDonald's great pleasure and they were everywhere, making up for the plainness of the furnis.h.i.+ngs, for Mrs. MacDonald did not believe in showiness. Her house was thoroughly comfortable but not elegant.

These first arrivals were very shy, quite awe-stricken and sat on the edges of their chairs scarce daring to move until Margaret took them out to see the greenhouses. After that they were a little more at their ease for each came back with a flower. By a little after three all had arrived, the Porter boys with their Punch and Judy show which they had promised to bring, and Ben with his banjo. All the girls wore plain frocks with no extra ornaments, Margaret herself being not much better dressed than her friends from the Home.

The Punch and Judy show was given first as a sort of prelude to the games which were to follow, and in these even the older girls joined with spirit. The main idea seemed to be that everyone should do his or her best to make the party a success and to give the poorer children as good a time as possible. Ben, be it said, was the life of the occasion.

He kept everyone going, never allowed a dull moment, and if nothing else was planned, he would pick up his banjo and give a funny c.o.o.n song, so that it was no wonder Mrs. MacDonald was glad to have invited him.

Probably in all their lives the Friendlessers never forgot the wonderful table to which they were led when refreshments were served, and which they talked of for weeks afterward. Here there was no stint and the decorations were made as beautiful as possible. There were pretty little favors for everyone, and such good things to eat as would have done credit to any entertainment. It was all over at six o'clock, but not one went away with a feeling of having had a stupid time, for even the older girls agreed among themselves that it had been great fun.

”Did you ever see anything like those children's eyes when they saw that table,” said Agnes smiling at the recollection.

”It must have been like a fairy tale to them, poor little things,”

replied Helen Darby. ”I think it was a perfectly lovely thing for Mrs.

MacDonald to do. Won't I have fun telling father about it, and how interested he will be. He has been quizzing me all day about my orphan asylum party, but I know he liked my going.”

”I liked that little Nettie Black,” Florence remarked. ”She has such a nice quaint little face, like an old-fas.h.i.+oned picture. Her name ought to be Prudence or Charity or some of those queer old names. Where did you pick her up, Edna?”

”Oh, she is the little girl that I kept house with at the time of the blizzard,” Edna told her. ”She lives just a short way up the side road, and she is a very nice child.”

”I found that out,” returned Florence. ”Why doesn't she belong to our club?”

”Because she doesn't go to our school.”

”To be sure, I forgot that. Well, she could be made an honorary member or something, couldn't she Agnes?”