Part 18 (1/2)

”This old treasury of ours is almost an empty box,” he growled. ”We can't afford to spend cold cash on printing.”

”It will pay in the end, believe me,” insisted Tom slangily. ”You know there are always a lot of people who think they'll go to a show and then at the last minute think they won't if something more amusing turns up.

If you sell tickets beforehand you've got their contribution to the cause even if they don't appear themselves.”

”Tom's right,” agreed Margaret. ”They won't mind losing so small a sum as a quarter if they don't go.”

”And they'd think it was too small an amount to bother themselves about by hunting up the treasurer and paying it in if they didn't have a ticket,” said Roger.

”And there are some people who'd be sure to come and swell the audience just because they had spent a quarter on a ticket,” said Ethel Brown.

”What does the president think?” asked Ethel Blue.

Helen agreed with Tom and the tickets were printed. After all they came to only a small sum and Roger, peeking through a hole in the curtain, saw with satisfaction that if there were going to be any vacant seats at all they would not be many. When one of the old ladies turned about just before the curtain went up she saw a solid room behind her and people standing against the wall.

There was music before the curtain rose. This enrichment of the program was a surprise to the performers themselves. Young Doctor Edward Watkins had become so interested in the United Service Club when he met them at the French Line Pier that he had insisted on helping with their work for the orphans.

”If Mademoiselle really sends you that Belgian baby you may need a special physician for it,” he said. ”So you'd better stand in with one whose practice isn't big enough yet to take all his time.”

He said this to Helen when he appeared with Tom and Della on the evening of the performance and announced that not only did he know his part in the ”Piper” but he had brought his violin and would be glad to be a part of the orchestra.

”But we haven't an orchestra,” objected Helen. ”I wish we had.”

”Who's going to play for the dances?”

”Aunt Louise.”

”Why can't she and I do something at the beginning? It will seem a little less cold than just having the curtain go up without any preliminaries.”

Mrs. Smith proved to be delighted to go over with Doctor Watkins the music he had brought and they selected one or two lively bits that would set the mood of the audience for the evening. So Mrs. Morton and the Emersons and the younger members of the cast were greatly surprised to hear an overture from a well-played violin accompanied by the piano.

While the applause was dying away the curtain rose on Helen seated at a desk reading from a blank exercise book filled with Ethel Blue's neat writing.

”This is the report of the Secretary of the United Service Club,” began Helen when the applause that greeted her appearance had subsided. She was looking very pretty, wearing a straight, plain pink frock and having her hair bound with a narrow pink fillet.

”Perhaps you don't know what the United Service Club is,” she went on, and then she told in the simplest manner of the beginning of the Club at Chautauqua the summer before.

”What we're trying to do is to help other people whether we want to or not,” she declared earnestly.

A soft laugh went over the audience at this contradictory statement.

”I mean,” continued Helen, somewhat confused, ”that we mean to do things that will help people even if we don't get any fun out of it ourselves.

We want to improve our characters, you see,” she added artlessly. ”So far we haven't had much chance to improve our characters because all the things that have come our way to do have been things that were great fun--like to-night.

”To-night,” she went on earnestly, ”you have come here to see a little entertainment that we've gotten up to make some money so that we could send a bigger bundle to the Christmas s.h.i.+p that is going to sail for Europe early in November. We thought we could make a good many presents for the war orphans but we found that our allowances didn't go as far as we thought they would, although we have a very careful treasurer,” she added with a smiling glance at the wings of the stage where James greeted her compliment with a wry face.

”We made a rule that we would make all the money we needed and not accept presents, so this show is the result, and we hope you'll like it.

Anyway, we've had lots of fun getting it up.”

She bowed her thanks to the applause that greeted her girlish explanation and stepped behind the scenes.

Immediately a gay march sounded from the piano. It was a medley of well-known national songs and in time with its notes a group of children led by Dorothy ran upon the stage. Dorothy stepped to the front and sang a few lines of introduction to the tune of ”Yankee Doodle.”