Part 1 (2/2)
”No, indeed! We must keep right on with those, but this fair will be all our own effort. I believe that we will feel as if we were really doing something worth while if we can manage it. What do you say?”
”It is the very thing,” cried they. ”When shall we begin?”
”This afternoon,” said Jeanne energetically. ”There is no time like the present. This is May. We ought to be ready by the last of June. We can do a great deal in that time if we work hard.”
”And we can get our mothers to help us too,” suggested Nellie Drew.
”We ought not to do that, Nellie,” replied Jeanne seriously. ”They are so busy themselves, and it would not be truly ours if we have the older ones to help. Don't you think we ought to do just the very best we can without them?”
”Oh, yes, yes!” chorused the girls.
”I can make pretty pin cus.h.i.+ons,” said a girl about Jeanne's age. ”I will make as many of them as I can.”
”I can do pen wipers very nicely, mamma says,” spoke Nellie modestly.
”Mother always lets me help dress the dolls for Christmas,” cried another.
”Where will we have it, Jeanne?”
Jeanne looked puzzled for a moment. ”I'll tell you, girls. Let's have it on our steps. We'll have a big card telling all about it printed and put up. Then people will stop and buy things when they know it is for the soldiers.”
”On your steps,” cried Nellie. ”Oh, Jeanne, will your mother let you? It is right on Fifth Avenue.”
”Why, mother won't care!” answered Jeanne, surprised at the question.
”Fifth Avenue is the best place in New York for anything of the sort, because so many well-to-do people pa.s.s, and they will be sure to be generous for the soldiers' sake.”
”Mercy, Jeanne, where did you learn so much about things?” gasped Nellie in admiration. ”I wouldn't have thought of that.”
”Well,” said Jeanne, flus.h.i.+ng at the praise, ”I hear mother and the ladies talking, you know. They say that such things must always be taken into consideration. If you have anything to sell, or you want money, you must go where there is money to be had. I know the ladies do that in their fairs.”
”Then of course that is the way to do,” remarked a tall girl decidedly.
”Let's take our handkerchiefs and socks to the Relief rooms and begin right away.”
The girls set to work joyfully, and labored zealously for their fair.
Their parents were amused at their earnestness, but seeing them happy and contented encouraged them in their efforts. The days were busy ones, but the knowledge that every boat and train was bringing hundreds of wounded soldiers into the hospitals from the disastrous Yorktown campaign spurred them to greater exertion, until at last they declared themselves ready to open the sale.
Handkerchiefs, ap.r.o.ns, homemade candies, dolls, with all the paraphernalia belonging to them, pin cus.h.i.+ons, pen wipers, and books, presented a goodly appearance as they were spread enticingly upon the steps of the mansion in lower Fifth Avenue. A large card, which Mr. Vance had had printed for them with the inscription, ”For the relief of our wounded and sick soldiers. Please buy,” reared its head imposingly over the articles, and five little maids, neatly dressed, stood in expectant att.i.tude eagerly watching each pa.s.ser-by in the hope of a customer.
The placard caught the eyes of an elderly man, and the little girls could scarcely conceal their delight as he paused before them.
”Well, my little ladies, what have we here?” he asked kindly. ”For the soldiers, eh? Who put you up to this?”
”No one, sir,” answered Jeanne as the other girls shrank back abashed.
”We are doing it ourselves to help buy things for the boys.”
”But who made the articles?” queried the old gentleman. ”I am a poor judge of such things, but these handkerchiefs seem to be very neatly done. They are not of your making, I presume.”
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