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CHAPTER XIII – BELLE’S CHOICE OF A PROFESSION
Solomon’s Seal Patrol invited the Tenderfoot members to their camp on the afternoon before the Fourth of July to begin their lessons in scouting. Frances agreed to notify the three Greenville girls of the invitation and then call for them at the time appointed.
Because of the afternoon to be spent at the camp, Natalie planned to give her entire morning to the garden. There had been enough rainfall at intervals, during the time she had first started her garden, to keep the plants sufficiently moist, but for several days, now, the sun had baked the soil and there had been no sign of a cloud in the sky.
At breakfast that Saturday morning Natalie spoke of it. “Jimmy, my garden is as dry as a lime-kiln. What had I better do about it?”
“You might try sprinkling it with a hose. I see there is a hydrant right near the box-hedge – for that very purpose, I guess.”
“I never thought of that! But I will need a hose,” said Natalie.
“I saw one in the cellar, Nat, when I was nosing about for some old flower-pots to cover my transplanted flowers,” now remarked Norma.
“Then I’ll get it out right after breakfast, and see if it will screw onto the hydrant.”
Norma went with Natalie as she went down the outside cellar-steps to the partitioned corner where the hose had been seen. It was wound on an old wooden rack that could be carried up to the grass-plot and turned to unwind the long piece of rubber.
“Isn’t it great to discover this all ready for us?” said Natalie delightedly.
“With a brass cap on one end to screw it to the hydrant, too,” added Norma.
The other girls gathered around to watch the two gardeners manipulate the hose, and when it had been carefully unwound Natalie dragged one end over to the hedge to try and screw the cap to the hydrant.
This was soon accomplished, and Norma then straightened out the length of rubber to allow the water to flow through it more readily when Natalie should turn the faucet. As the unexpected advent of a garden hose was a cause for celebration, the four girls called to Mrs. James to come out and watch the sprinkler work.
Rachel felt that she must be on the spot also, so she hurried out, wiping her wet hands on her apron as she came.
“All ready, Nat, – turn on the water!” called Norma, as she picked up the end with the sprinkler on it.
Natalie turned the brass faucet and instantly the flow of water swelled the hose out, but there were many punctures in its length, and one serious crack, so that the water spurted up through the holes and made graceful fountains. There was enough force of water, however, to cause a fine shower of water to come from the sprinkler, until suddenly, without warning, a sound as of a muffled explosion came, and quite near the sprinkler the rubber burst and shot forth a stream of water.
“Wait a minit, Honey – I’ll run an’ git a piece of mendin’ tape what I foun’ in my kitchen closet,” called Rachel, hurrying up the stoop-steps and disappearing through the doorway.
The girls tried to stop the undesired spurt of water by placing their hands over the crack and on other holes in the length of the tube. Then Rachel appeared with the bicycle tape, and was just coming down the steps when Natalie called to her.
Norma still held the sprinkler in her hand and now turned to see what Rachel had; in so doing, she unconsciously turned the end of the hose also, so that instantly all the girls trying to stop the leakage were thoroughly sprinkled.
Such a screaming and shouting ensued that Norma instantly turned to see what had happened. This time the water drenched Mrs. James, who fled precipitately for the house.
Rachel was haw-hawing loudly at the funny scene when Norma turned to explain the accident to the girls. Without warning, the shower now fell upon Rachel, who had approached within its radius.
But the latter was not as docile about being soaked as were the girls. She dashed forward, caught the hose from Norma’s hands and threw it upon the grass.
“Turn dat water off at d’ hydran’, Natalie Av’rill!” shouted the irate woman.
Natalie had been laughing immoderately at the outcome of the experiment with the hose, but she quickly obeyed Rachel’s order and turned off the water.
“You thought it was awfully funny, Rachie, until you got a soaking yourself,” called Natalie, still giggling.
“Me! I wa’n’t mad, a’tall! I jes’ wants to mend dis pipe, an’ one cain’t do nuthin’ wid water flyin’ through it at such a rate. Now I kin wrap dis tape aroun’ it an’ fix it, so’s you kin water your gardens,” explained Rachel loftily.
After this incident the hose was mended and Natalie soon had her young vegetables well watered and left to the mercy of the sun that day. No one at Green Hill Farm knew enough to advise her not to water the plants while the sun was shining upon them, and Natalie fondly fancied she had done a good thing.
Norma sprinkled her flowers well when Natalie had done with the hose, but the flower beds were sheltered from the noonday sun, so they did not fare as badly as did the vegetables.
Sam was in the barnyard helping Janet construct a new shed for the calf which she wanted to buy the next week, and he was not so well versed in farm-lore, so Natalie never understood why all her tender seedlings should wilt so quickly and seem to dry away before the afternoon heat.
The tomato plants, that had been transplanted from Mr. Ames’s farm, had grown wonderfully well, and were large enough to warrant Natalie’s starting the frames which would be needed when the red fruit appeared on the vines. So she planned how to make the best kind of square frame for them, as she loosened the soil about the potato plants that morning.
Her thoughts were so filled with the vision of the lath frames that she failed to see something crawling on a tiny leaf of the potato vine where she was hoeing. When her eye was attracted to the movement, she gave a slight shudder and screamed.
“Wat’s d’ matter now?” called Rachel from the kitchen steps.
“Ooh! A horrid bug on one of my dear little potato vines!” cried Natalie, standing still to watch the crawling beetle.
Rachel hurried over to the garden. “Da’s onny a tater-bug, Honey. Ain’t chew ever hear tell of tater-bugs? Ef you’se let ’em go, dey will eat up all your taters in no time.”
As she explained, Rachel took the Colorado beetle between her fat thumb and forefinger and soon crushed it. Natalie shivered as she watched the remains flung away, but Rachel meant business and had no time for dainty shudderings.
In a few minutes she had turned over other tiny leaves and revealed many bugs eating away at the juicy food. These were quickly caught and killed, but a few of them managed to get away by flying up out of Rachel’s reach.
Natalie stood by and watched, and when Rachel said: “Now you’se kin go on wid dis job. Ebery vine has to be hunted on and dem tater-bugs killed off.”
“Rachie, I just can’t crush them the way you do!” complained Natalie.
Rachel looked at the girl for a moment, then said: “Neber mind dis way, Honey. I’ll git Sam to fix you up a tin can on a stick. You kin have some kerosene in it and brush dese pests into t’ can by using a short stick. Dey can’t fly away, when once dey fall in dat kerosene.”
“But Rachel, isn’t there a way to keep the horrid pests away from my garden?” asked Natalie anxiously.
“Yeh – we’se will have to squirt Paris Green or hellebore on the leaves, I rickon,” returned Rachel thoughtfully.
“Then tell Frances to buy some next time she drives past Si Tompkins’ store,” said Natalie, turning her back on the potato-beds and starting work on the bean-plants.
The weeding had all been finished, and most of the potato-vines had been cleaned of the beetles, before the noonday meal was announced to the busy workers. They were half famished, as was usual nowadays, and hastened to the house to wash and clean up before appearing in the dining-room.
Frances drove to the Corners and not only got the powder for Natalie’s plants, but also got the two girls who were to attend the Scout meeting that day. Having left them at the house, she drove on to Ames’s farm for Dorothy.
Mr. Ames came out of the corn-house when he saw the car and walked over to speak to Frances. Dorothy was almost ready, so while there were a few minutes to fill, Frances told the farmer about Natalie’s potato-bugs and the powder she bought.
“Tell her to use it when the leaves are damp with dew in the mornin’ – it has better results that time. Ef she squirts it on dry, an’ the leaves are dry, too, the eggs won’t die. It is the wet paste made on the leaves when the powder melts in the dew that chokes off the young so they can’t breathe.”
“I’ll tell her what you say,” replied Frances thankfully.
“An’ warn her to keep an eye open fer cutworms, too, ’cause they will appear about these times, when beans an’ young vines are becomin’ hearty. I’ve hed many a fine plant of cabbitch chopped down through the stem, jus’ as it was goin’ to head.”
Natalie was given these advices and felt that she was being well looked after, with two interested farmers at hand to keep her right.
The afternoon at Solomon’s Seal Patrol Camp was spent in interesting ways. Miss Mason first read the principles of the Girl Scouts, then repeated the motto. Most of the girls knew the slogan, which they gave in unison, and then said the pledge aloud.
Miss Mason then read the letter from National Headquarters which was a reply to her application for a Troop registration. The members of the first Patrol had heard its news – that they might begin their ceremonies as a Troop, because the application had been filed and accepted, and the registration would soon reach them.
The new Patrol heard this with delight, and the fact that they were going to be actual members of a Troop made them feel that they had become more important to the public than ever, in the last few minutes.
The new Scouts were put through several tests that afternoon, and were then permitted to watch the Scouts of Patrol No. 1 do many thrilling First Aid demonstrations. The afternoon ended with refreshments, all prepared and served by the girls. The cakes, wild berries and lemonade tasted delicious as the girls sat under the great oak tree and chatted.
On the homeward walk, Nancy Sherman said to Natalie: “There are a few more girls at the Corners who are crazy to join the Scouts this summer. But I told them I thought our Patrol was full. Was that right?”
“Who are the girls – and how old are they, Nancy?”
“Oh, most of them are about thirteen or fourteen, but one girl is past fifteen. There are six, in all, and they say that they know some more girls who will join when they hear of it.”
“Why can’t they start Patrol No. 3, and belong to this same Troop,” suggested Janet.
“That’s just what I was thinking,” said Natalie.
Then Mrs. James spoke. “Nancy, you invite all these girls to our farm some day and we will entertain them. After we have shown them what we can do in Scout work we will accept them as candidates, if they consent to become our Tenderfoot Scouts. In this way, girls, you all can win the needed test to enroll as a First Class Scout when the time is at hand.”
This was an excellent idea, and the girls felt greatly encouraged at the hope of being able to take the examinations as First Class Scouts, of Patrol No. 2, of Solomon’s Seal Troop.
Nancy was entrusted with the invitation to the girls, and warned to keep secrecy about the plan to secure the approval as First Class Scouts on their Tenderfoot training.
Sam and the car were nowhere in sight when the girls reached the house, but Rachel came out and explained.
“A telerphone call come f’om Noo York f’om dat antique woman, sayin’ fer Belle t’ git dat ol’ chest of drawers oveh by Tarrytown road, right now. It war to be expressed at onct to her shop in Noo York, what Belle had an address of, so I had Sam go along to git it an’ fetch it back so’s we coul’ pack an’ ship it right off.”
“Oh, Rachel! He need not have done that! I made all arrangements with a man near there to get the chest to the railroad station and express it to the city. I was only awaiting orders,” exclaimed Belle, annoyed at the way her well-laid plans were upset.
“I wuz thinkin’, Honey, dat mebbe dat man would cost somethin’ to do t’ wuk, an’ Sam ain’t doin’ nuthin’ whiles he’s waitin’ fer orders. So yuh oughta get dat money foh yo’se’f.”
Belle had not thought of this, and now she saw that Sam and Rachel were planning for her benefit. But Frances said: “How is he ever going to carry the chest if it is a big affair?”
“It isn’t, Frans,” said Belle. “It is a low-boy that will easily go in the tonneau, and no harm come to the car.”
“Then I think Sam’s plan was good. It saved you time and expense,” said Mrs. James.
“Yes, and I must share the charges the man would have asked me, with Sam,” said Belle.
This pleased Rachel immensely, – that her kin should be commended and given a share in the profits. She felt amply repaid for all the solicitude she had felt about the order.
The Solomon’s Seal Tenderfoot Scouts had to walk home that day to the Corners, as Sam was not expected back in time to drive them home. The Green Hill girls accompanied their fellow-members to the gate and watched them depart.
That evening Sam told Belle that he would build her a strong crate from some old wood found in the barn, and the chest could be taken to White Plains station early Monday. This plan would save time, and also the cost of crating and expressage if done at Tarrytown. So the chauffeur was highly commended for the suggestion and told to do it as soon as he could.
The experiences of Belle that summer in hunting antiques in the Westchester Hill farms were most interesting, but no room can be spared in this book for the telling of her adventures. So that must wait for a volume on her exploits.
As the next day was Sunday, Natalie did not do any garden work, but Janet had to attend to her farmyard stock the same as on week-days. She grumbled a great deal over the cares and endless work of a stock-farmer, but the girls noticed that she was daily planning to add to her troubles by buying additions.
The girls were seated under the large sugar maple on the side lawn, waiting for Janet to finish her feeding of the pigs and chickens, when a siren was heard. Natalie jumped up and saw a car approaching along the road. A party of ladies were with the man who drove the machine.
“Oh, I do believe it is Mr. Marvin, girls!” called Natalie.
“What!” cried Mrs. James in consternation. “Just look at us all – in our old clothes!”
But the automobile was already at the gate, and the girls found to their delight that he had brought out their mothers.
It seemed like ages since they had seen each other. The girls talked eagerly of all that had happened since they came to Green Hill. Norma showed her flower beds, which really were looking good. And Belle told about her antique collecting. Frances displayed with pride the sum of money already earned with her private jitney, and Janet took the greatest satisfaction in escorting her younger sister Helene and the ladies to the barnyard to see her stock. Natalie, last of all, showed her gardens, which looked as neat as a row of pins.
Mr. Marvin complimented the girls on all their work, and then spoke of the roses in Natalie’s cheeks and the difference in her general physical looks.
“I suppose you are going to stay to dinner, aren’t you?” ventured Natalie cautiously.
“No; we are invited to dine with some friends quite near Green Hill Farm, but we thought we ought to stop in and see you before we go on to our hostess’s place,” said Mr. Marvin.
“I never knew you people were acquainted with anyone around here,” said Janet, wonderingly, to her mother.
“We are, however. A young lady we know well in the city is summering in Greenville, and we came to visit her and her family.”
Neither of the girls dreamed that Mrs. Wardell was referring to Miss Mason and her Troop, so they kept guessing who the acquaintance might be. Finally Mr. Marvin laughed and told the secret.
Natalie laughed, too, and said: “Well, we certainly were thick-witted that time. We might have known it was Miss Mason’s camp.”
Mr. Marvin could not take his eyes from Natalie, she was so different from the girl he had always known in the city. As she told of the adventures she and the girls had with their “professions” and the funny experiences with the old garden hose, her face was so alive with healthy interest and her eyes sparkled with such fun, that everyone saw the benefit the country life had been to her.
Later, as they all started for Solomon’s Seal Camp, Mr. Marvin confided to Mrs. James: “She is so changed that I do not dread her return to the city again. She hasn’t spoken one morbid word, nor seemed pessimistic once, since I’ve been here.”
“She isn’t, either,” admitted Mrs. James. “Ever since she started work on that garden she has mentioned nothing that has happened in the past to cause her sorrow. I sometimes wonder if she has forgotten it all.”
“Let’s hope so. These mournful remembrances never do anyone the slightest good. Don’t revive them in her memory.”
CHAPTER XIV – VISITORS AND WELCOME ORDERS
That afternoon at the Scout Camp taught the city visitors many things about the outdoor life that now interested their girls. Then when it was time for Mr. Marvin to drive home, he suddenly remembered something most important.
“How could it have slipped my mind?” said he, as he took several folded papers from his breast pocket.
He adjusted his glasses and read: “Miss Norma Evaston, Floriculturist, Green Hill, Greenville, New York.”
This long paper was handed to Norma who opened it with much curiosity. She glanced at it and then exclaimed in surprise,
“Oh, splendid! What does it mean?”
“Well, I’ll tell you. I told a few friends of your idea of keeping their office desks refreshed with old-fashioned flowers during the summer, and each one signified a desire to be placed on your customer list. So, you see, when the plants blossom, many of us will expect bouquets.”
And then Mr. Marvin handed Belle a paper. She almost forgot her dignity in her joy.
“Mr. Marvin authorizes me to find him an old Colonial secretaire with diamond-paned glass in the upper doors, and the old urn and balls crowning the top. I’m sure I know just where to get such an one!”
“I want a mahogany one, Belle, and I am not particular about the cost, either. The condition of it will govern the price,” explained the lawyer.
Janet frowned over the paper which Mr. Marvin now gave her. “What’s the matter with your order, Janet?” asked Helene.
“Why, here I have orders for fresh eggs and broilers every week, and the horrid old hens won’t lay a single egg. Three of them insist upon setting, and I can’t keep them away from the nests that have China decoy eggs in them. The silly old things just set on them and chuckle with satisfaction. If I shoo them away, they make the most fuss!”
Everyone laughed at Janet’s trials, but Mr. Marvin said, “That order stands good for all season, Janet. When your hens do begin to lay, you’ll have to ship the eggs by the car-load.”
“How about an order for me?” called Natalie, seeing a paper in Mr. Marvin’s hand.
“‘Last but not least,’” laughed he. “We have all voted to turn vegetarians after this, just to order your crops, Natalie. Here is an order for our winter potatoes, all the sweet corn you have left to sell, and other fresh things.”
Natalie laughed and opened her paper. She laughed still louder as she read the orders given her to fill at some future date.
Then the city visitors said good-by. As Mr. Marvin started the engine, he called back over his shoulder: “A month from to-day I am coming out with a truck for deliveries.”
The girls laughed and waved their hands at him, and soon the car was out of sight. Then they sat down to discuss the marvellous opportunity given them by Mr. Marvin.
After a time, Sam sauntered up to the side piazza and waited for an opportunity to speak to Mrs. James. Seeing him anxiously awaiting his chance, she smiled.
“What rests so heavily on your conscience, Sam?”
“I jus’ walked down Miss Natalie’s garden path to have a look at her wegetables, an’ I see dem brush peas is ’way up. She oughta get her brush to-morrer, sure, er she’ll have trouble makin’ t’ vines cling. Ef she says t’ word, I’ll go an’ cut down some good brush in t’ woodland afore she gets up in t’ mornin’ an’ have it ready to use when she comes out.”
“Oh, Sam! Will you, please? I didn’t know those peas needed anything to hold to. I wasn’t sure whether I planted the dwarf peas first, or the climbing variety,” exclaimed Natalie.
“That ain’t all, either, Miss Nat,” added Sam seriously. “I saw you got lima beans planted in one bed, an’ no poles on hand fer ’em. Did you order any bean poles f’om Ames?”
“Bean poles! Why, no!” returned Natalie.
The girls laughed at her surprise, but Sam continued:
“How did you ’speckt the vines to clim’?”
“I never knew they did climb! I thought they just naturally grew and branched out and bore beans,” explained Natalie, to the great amusement of Mrs. James and the girls.
“Well, den, I’d better hunt up some decent poles, too, in t’ woods, eh?” asked Sam.
“Would you have to cut down any good trees?”
“I’d choose any what looked sickly, er maybe some dead young trees. Don’t worry ’bout me choppin’ down any fine ones.”
“Say, Nat, I think it will be fun for us all to go with Sam in the morning before breakfast, and help cut the brush and bean poles,” suggested Janet.
“I’m willin’,” said Sam, smiling at the girls.
So the five girls went with Sam at sunrise the next morning, and by breakfast-time, Natalie had sufficient poles and brush at her garden beds to help all the peas and beans she could find room for that year.
The stock-grower and florist, and even the antiquarian, took such an interest in sticking the brush into the garden for the peas and helping the tendrils cling to their new support, that they left their own tasks undone.
Sam had driven Frances in the car to the store after breakfast, so he was not around when the girls planted the bean poles. He had not pointed out the particular bed where the limas were growing, as he thought, of course, that Natalie knew. But she had not followed Mrs. James’ advice given a few weeks before, when the seed was sown – to register each bed with the ticket of the vegetable that was planted there. Now she had to depend on her own memory to determine which of the different plants were beans.
The three other girls carried the poles where she directed, and carefully walked on the boards Natalie laid down for their feet, to keep the beds from being trodden while they dug holes and firmly placed a seven-foot pole in each hill of beans.
“There now, don’t they look business-like?” exulted Natalie, as she surveyed with pride the rows of bean poles.
Sam stopped the automobile near the side porch just after Natalie made this remark, and seeing the girls still at the garden, he hurried there to see if he could help them in any way.
“All done, Sam! Aren’t the poles nice?” exclaimed Natalie.
“Yeh, Miss Natalie, the poles is nice enough, but you ain’t got ’em planted in the lima-bean garden,” said Sam slowly, so as to break the news gently.
“What?” cried three girls in one voice.
“Nah. Them green plants is dwarf string-beans, and t’ lima beans is on the other side.”
“Oh goodness’ sake!” wailed Natalie, sitting down plump on the radish bed. “All that work done for nothing?”
Norma and Belle frowned at the poles, but Janet laughed. “If this isn’t the funniest thing, yet!” she exclaimed.
The greater part of the morning had passed before the error made in the garden had been corrected. Natalie was so tired by the time she reached the house that she dropped wearily upon the steps and sighed.
Mrs. James came out upon the piazza when she saw her approaching the house, and at the sigh she said: “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, that horrid old garden is such a care! I wish to goodness I had chosen stock-raising instead. Then I could have had the pleasure of watching the little things run about and show their gratitude when one feeds them. But lifeless old seeds and expressionless vegetables are such uninteresting things to work for!”
Mrs. James understood that something had gone awry, so she wisely remarked: “Oh, I don’t know! Janet seems to have as much trouble with her stock as anyone has with other work.”
“Well, she doesn’t have to dig holes and plant bean poles for her pigs to climb up on!”
Mrs. James barely kept from laughing outright at the funny excuse given. But she replied: “Janet had a dreadful time just now, trying to catch two of the little pigs that escaped and started to run down the road.”
“No, – really!” exclaimed Natalie, sitting up with great animation. “Where is she now?”
“Trying to repair the fence that they broke down. They are growing so big and strong that the rickety enclosure she made at first will never keep them in, now.”
“I just hope they get away and give her a chase all the way to the Corners!” cried Natalie.
“Why should you wish such hard luck for poor Janet?” asked Mrs. James, laughingly.
“Because she laughed at my bean poles and refused to help us dig them up again.”
“Dig them up again! Did you bury them?”
Then Natalie found she had made an admission that would have to be explained.
“No, not buried them, but we mistook the plants. It was such an easy thing to do – to believe the string-beans were limas, you know.”
“Oh! Then you never followed my advice about tagging the different beds.”
But Natalie did not reply.
The following morning, Janet asked Frances to inquire if there was a package for her at the post-office, as it should have arrived several days before.
“Is it a big package?” asked Frances.
“No, it’s a book that I ordered from the city. It’s all about raising things. Not that I need to find out about chickens and pigs, but I expect to buy that calf from Mr. Ames, and Belle saw some sheep in a pasture up in the Hills the other day, when she was hunting for antiques. I am wondering if they are difficult to raise. That is why I want the book.”
The book arrived that morning, and Janet straightway applied herself to studying its pages, in order to learn what other farmyard animals she could keep that would not give her too much trouble, and repay her for the expense incurred.
The result of that reading was to rouse Janet’s growing ambition to fever-heat. She determined upon a plan by which she could borrow the capital from her father and buy her stock without further loss of time. But her experiences are told in the volume following this one, called “Janet: a Stock-Farm Scout.”
Natalie’s garden beds began to look most flourishing, for every seed had sprouted and the transplanted greens were growing like wildfire. She began to figure ahead to find how soon she might gather crops, but she kept this vision a secret, as she knew the girls would tease if they heard of it.
The very impressive paper that conveyed the rights of Solomon’s Seal Troop to take its place in the Girl Scout Organization arrived that week, also, so that Natalie realized that great things were already growing out of her coming to Green Hill Farm that summer. But how they multiplied and developed thrilling experiences will be narrated in the second volume of this Girl Scout Country Life Series.
