Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Archives and Special Collections, University Libraries, Ball State University and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration] AMERICA FIRST [Illustration: "I wouldn't go when you dared me to," said the tenderfoot, "but this is--different." And he added in his heart: "This is for _my country_." [_Page 23._]] AMERICA FIRST BY FRANCES NIMMO GREENE ILLUSTRATED BY T. DE THULSTRUP CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS TO MY MOTHER'S NAMESAKE AND MY OWN VIRGINIA OWEN GREENE AND FRANCES NIMMO GREENE CONTENTS PAGE CALLED TO THE COLORS 1 UNDER THE FLAG 53 AMERICA FIRST 89 ILLUSTRATIONS "I wouldn't go when you dared me to," said the tenderfoot, "but this is--different." And he added in his heart: "This is for _my country_" _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE A man was sitting over some sort of instrument 36 "You can't touch Rudolph!" she cried. "He's under the flag!" 86 "Riego Yañez," he said, "I am proud to shake hands with an American hero!" 120 CALLED TO THE COLORS This is the story of a "tenderfoot"--of a pink-cheeked, petted lad, and of his first service as a Boy Scout. Danny Harding was what his mother's friends termed "wonderfully fortunate," but Danny himself took quite another view of his life's circumstances as he hurried home from school one afternoon, an hour before the regular time for dismissal. The day was golden with sunshine, but the boy's spirit was dark. There was singing in the air and singing in the tree tops, but in the heart which pounded against his immaculate jacket were silent rage and despair. The Whippoorwill Patrol had been called to the colors, and he the untried, the untested tenderfoot would have to remain at home in luxurious security, while the huskier, browner, less-sheltered lads answered their country's call. It was beyond the power of a boy's heart to endure--the mortification--the wild despair of it! They would call him a slacker, a _coward_! But, worse still, his country needed him, and he could not answer! Danny brushed away the tears which threatened to blind him, and stumbled on.