Brenda, Her School and Her Club

<h2><SPAN name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></SPAN>XXXI</h2> <h3>THE SHILOH PICNIC</h3> <p>Miss South and Julia were the leaders in the work of removing the Rosas from the city. Julia showed remarkable ability, and the more she had to do the better she seemed to do it. Nor did her lessons suffer because of this outside interest. The day of removal was continually changing. It was put off from week to week with one feeble excuse or another on the part of Mrs. Rosa. Miss South was more patient with the poor woman than were her young helpers. She realized that the poor woman could not be expected to appreciate all the advantages to result from the change, and she sympathized with Mrs. Rosa's reluctance to leave her old neighbors to go among strangers. Indeed it was the end of May before they were really off. On the Saturday before their departure The Four, and two or three of the other girls who had been especially interested, went out to Shiloh to see the little cottage which had been fitted up for the Rosas. It had only six rooms, and these were not very large, but what fun the girls had in exploring every nook and corner! Floors and walls had all been newly painted,&mdash;some in rather bright colors. There were small mats in front of each bed, and one in the centre of the room intended for dining-room, but besides these, there were no floor coverings. The bedsteads were iron, painted brown, and all the other furniture was of the simplest possible style.</p> <p>"I am afraid," said Julia, "that Angelina will be disappointed in not finding a piano; she has an idea that we are considering her education as much as her mother's health in making this change, and as she happens to be very anxious to take music lessons she will expect some kind of a musical instrument if not a piano."</p> <p>"What nonsense!" cried Belle. "Angelina ought to be thankful that she has not been sent away as a servant. She is certainly old enough to live out."</p> <p>"If it were not for her mother's being so weak, undoubtedly we should make some effort to put her at service. But with all those younger children, for the present Angelina will have sufficient practice in house-work, and she is to work every day for a boarding-house keeper; if the family stays out here I have a plan that will be of great value not only to Angelina, but to the rest of them. In fact," concluded Miss South, "Angelina, if she takes kindly to the scheme, may serve as a model for a number of other girls at the North End, who stand sadly in need of such training as she will be able to get in this comfortable house."</p> <p>"Oh, do tell us about it now," begged Nora, "I know that you have some plan to carry out&mdash;Domestic Science&mdash;isn't that what you call it,&mdash;but I haven't the least idea what you really intend to do."</p> <p>Miss South smiled at the eagerness which Nora displayed, smiled indulgently, but in reply, said merely,</p> <p>"I am afraid that there will hardly be time now, but in the early autumn, if there is no opportunity before you go away, I am going to have a special meeting to which you will all be invited, at which I will tell you of a scheme which with your co�peration as well as that of some other interested persons I hope to carry out next season. There really is not time to say much about it now, for Philip and his friends will soon be here and we must all go to work to prepare our tea."</p> <p>Then the girls set to work with a will, and in addition to the delicious things sent out in hampers, they prepared several dainty dishes. Many of these delicacies were the result of the practice they had had in the cooking class of the past two seasons. Julia set the table with the new dishes that filled Mrs. Rosa's corner closet,&mdash;the closet, that is, that was to be Mrs. Rosa's. No one criticised the thickness of the cups, nor the crudeness of the colors with which the cups and plates were decorated, for by the time the boys came they were all so hungry that they could have eaten and drunk from plates and cups of tin.</p> <p>It was rather a picnic supper on the whole, as the table was not large enough for the group of merry young people who wished to gather around it. Some of them, therefore, sat out on the steps, and on the tiny little piazza at the corner, and laughed and talked in at the top of their voices in the intervals between courses. Though each course consisted of little more than a sandwich, or a stuffed egg, or a salad, those who in turn took the part of waiters and waitresses served them with all the pomp that might have had its proper place at a great feast. It was all in fun, and the fun was of the heartiest kind. Then when the supper was over, boys and girls&mdash;the dignified Philip, the serious Will, as well as fun loving Brenda and Nora, set to work with energy, and washed and wiped dishes, and put things in order, so that the little house showed not the slightest trace of "invasion of the Goths and Vandals," as Brenda said, with an unusual correctness of historical allusion. There was a delightful drive, to wind up the evening, around the borders of the lake which forms one of the attractions of Shiloh, and when just at dark they stepped aboard the train they all declared that it was the pleasantest expedition that they had known for&mdash;well for a long, long time.</p> <p>"If Mrs. Rosa were to take summer boarders, I am sure that I should love to come out here for a month," said Ruth, "I mean if she only hadn't so many children to fill up the house, so completely."</p> <p>"If you were to come," said Will, in an undertone, "I am sure that I should wish to spend the summer in Shiloh, too. I made friends with the owner of the omnibus that brought us up, and I rather think that I could get him to take me in."</p> <p>Ruth blushed as Will made this speech, for even she could not help noticing the decided preference that he showed for her society. It had been his actions rather than his words that had attracted the attention of the others, for he seemed in no way afraid of having his preference known. Ruth was neither foolish, nor vain, but she had to admit to herself that Will's little attentive ways were rather gratifying.</p> <p>In the cars on the way home, Philip and Julia happened to sit together. Philip was still somewhat conscious in his manner, for he could not forget that he was a sophomore. Yet with Julia he always got on capitally, and they had really become very good friends.</p> <p>"Do you see much of Madame Du Launy now?" he asked. "I hear that you and she were great friends for a time."</p> <p>"Oh, we are now," answered Julia, "only naturally since she and Miss South have discovered their relationship, I do not go there as often as I did earlier in the spring."</p> <p>"Then this story about Miss South is really true, she actually <i>is</i> the old lady's granddaughter!" said Philip. "I heard a lot about it just after the Bazaar, but in some way I thought that it would prove to be a mistake. You know that things like that do not often happen out of books."</p> <p>"Oh, this is perfectly true," answered Julia, "and the whole thing is just as interesting as it can be. It seems very sad that Madame Du Launy should have lived a lonely life for so long when here was a granddaughter close at hand, and a grandson not so very far away. She could have been such a help to them, and they to her."</p> <p>"It shows that an old lady can't afford not to know who her grandchildren are, and where they live," responded Philip, "especially if one of them is as pretty and clever as Miss South."</p> <p>"Oh, well, there were special reasons in this case," answered Julia.</p> <p>"Then doesn't it seem queer," continued Philip, "that you yourself should have had the credit all winter of being a poor dependent&mdash;isn't that what they say in novels? How do you feel now when you know that every one knows that you are an heiress?" he concluded, mischievously.</p> <p>"Oh, pretty well, I thank you," answered Julia, adopting his tone. "You see I never imagined for a moment that people attached any importance to my having or not having money. Indeed, to be perfectly fair, I cannot see any change in any one since the discovery was made."</p> <p>"Whew!" whistled Philip, "not even in Belle?"</p> <p>After a moment of silence, Julia replied, "I do not suppose that under any circumstances Belle and I could ever have been great friends. Our tastes are so unlike. In the early winter many little things troubled me. I often felt neglected when The Four left me out of their plans, especially while they were working for the Bazaar. But at length I decided that I ought not to expect Brenda to treat me at once like an intimate friend. I knew that in time she would understand me better, and this is what has really happened. But Nora and Edith were always so kind to me that I had a delightful winter."</p> <p>"Then pity," said Philip, with a smile, "would be utterly wasted on Brenda's cousin?"</p> <p>"It would be utterly wasted on her," replied Julia, cheerfully, "especially since she has been permitted to make a fifth in Brenda's Four Club."</p> <h3>THE END</h3> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2><SPAN name="RECENT_BOOKS_FOR_THE_YOUNG" id="RECENT_BOOKS_FOR_THE_YOUNG"></SPAN>RECENT BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG</h2> <h3>FIFE AND DRUM AT LOUISBOURG.<br/> By <span class="smcap">J. Macdonald Oxley</span>.<br/> Illustrated by Clyde O. De Land.</h3> <p>No true American boy with lively blood in his veins can read "Fife and Drum at Louisbourg" without wishing to read it again and again. The book is filled to the brim with historical information.&mdash;<i>Denver Republican.</i></p> <h3>THE BOYS OF MARMITON PRAIRIE.<br/> By <span class="smcap">Gertrude Smith</span>, author of "Ten Little Comedies," etc.<br/> Illustrated by Bertha C. Day.</h3> <p>One of the best boys' stories in current literature.&mdash;<i>Boston Journal.</i></p> <p>It is full of the free, wild life of the frontier, and of the adventures which befall healthy, strong boys.&mdash;<i>Pittsburg Times.</i></p> <h3>THE ISLAND IMPOSSIBLE.<br/> By <span class="smcap">Harriet Morgan</span>.<br/> Illustrated by Katharine Pyle.</h3> <p>What Frank Stockton has done for older people, Harriet Morgan does for boys and girls.&mdash;<i>Commercial Advertiser.</i></p> <h3>MADAM MARY OF THE ZOO.<br/> By <span class="smcap">Lily F. Wessel-hoeft</span>, author of "Sparrow the Tramp," "Torpeanuts the Tomboy," etc.<br/> With pictures by L. J. Bridgman, and from photographs.</h3> <p>A delightful story of animals in and outside of the Zoo, and of a little girl who is their friend.&mdash;<i>The Outlook.</i></p> <p>The amusing way in which the elephant and the other big animals, as well as the little ones, are brought in is sure to charm the childish mind.&mdash;<i>Denver Times.</i></p> <h3>THE IRON STAR, AND WHAT IT SAW IN ITS JOURNEY THROUGH THE AGES FROM MYTH TO HISTORY.<br/> A Wonder Story for Girls and Boys. By <span class="smcap">John Preston True</span>.<br/> Illustrated by Lilian Crawford True.</h3> <p>A capital idea, worked out in the best possible manner. "The Iron Star" does not fall far short of being a work of genius.&mdash;<i>Church Standard</i>, Philadelphia.</p> <h3>A FLOWER OF THE WILDERNESS.<br/> By <span class="smcap">A. G. Plympton</span>, author of "Dear Daughter Dorothy," etc.<br/> Illustrated by the author.</h3> <p>A most delightful story.&mdash;<i>Denver Times.</i></p> <p>Merits nothing but praise.&mdash;<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p> <h3>THE YOUNG PURITANS IN CAPTIVITY.<br/> By <span class="smcap">Mary P. Wells Smith</span>.<br/> Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.</h3> <p>The reader will be for the nonce a Puritan, and will follow the adventures of the children taken captive by the Indians, feeling that he is a participant in the scenes so well portrayed. He will sleep in the Indians' wigwam and breathe the odor of the pines.&mdash;<i>Sacramento Bee.</i></p> <h3>THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF BRANTHAM.<br/> By <span class="smcap">Evelyn Raymond</span>, author of "The Little Lady of the Horse," "Among the Lindens," etc.<br/> Illus.</h3> <p>A very bright and interesting story of life at a military academy in which it has been decided to admit girls for co-education.</p> <p>There is a healthy, stirring atmosphere about the entire book.&mdash;<i>New York Commercial Advertiser.</i></p> <h3>ROB AND KIT.<br/> By the author of "Miss Toosey's Mission."<br/> With illustrations.</h3> <h3>'TWIXT YOU AND ME.<br/> A Story for Girls. By <span class="smcap">Grace Le Baron</span>.<br/> With pictures by Ellen B. 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