Ethel Morton's HolidaysSmith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)
General
Ethel Morton's Holidays
Smith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)
Children -- Societies and clubs -- Juvenile fiction; Holidays -- Juvenile fiction
"Church Street first," he answered.
"Church Street? I wonder if he's going to do Mother and me a good turn,"
giggled Dorothy.
It proved that he was not, for he passed the Smith cottage and went on
until he came to the house in which lived the Misses Clark. Roger was
taking care of their furnace, together with his mother's and his Aunt
Louise's, in order to earn money for the expenses of the Club, and he
had discovered that these old ladies were not very happy in spite of
living in a comfortable house and apparently having everything they
needed.
"These Misses Clark are lonely," he whispered as they gathered before
the door. "They think nobody cares for them--and nobody does much, to
tell the honest truth. So here's where we sing two songs for them," and
without waiting for any possible objections he broke into "The Christmas
Ship" which they all knew, and followed it with "Sister Susie's Sewing
Shirts for Soldiers."
"Not very appropriate, but they'll do," whispered Roger to Dr. Watkins,
whose clear tenor supported him. Dorothy's sweet voice soared high,
Tom's croak made a heavy background, and the more or less tuneful voices
of the others added a hearty body of sound. There was no response from
the house except that a corner of an upstairs curtain was drawn aside
for an instant.
"They probably think they won't find anything left on their front porch
when they come down in the morning. They've had Hallowe'en visits
before, poor ladies," said Gregory as they tramped away.
The next visit was to a different part of the town. Here the girls left
two of their bundles which proved to contain apples and cookies.
"I don't believe these people ever have a cent they can afford to spend
on foolishness like this," Helen explained to Dr. Watkins, "but they
aren't the sort of people you can give things to openly, so we thought
we'd take this opportunity," and she smiled happily and went on behind
Roger's leadership.
This time the visit was to the Atwoods, the old couple down by the
bridge. Roger had been interested in them for a long time. They were not
suffering, for a son supported them, but both were almost crippled with
rheumatism and sometimes the old man found the little daily chores about
the house hard to do, and often the old woman longed for a little
amusement of which she was deprived because she could not go to visit
her friends. It was here that Roger's kit came into play. He took from
it several hatchets and distributed them to the boys.
"We're going to chop the gentleman's kindling and stack up the wood
that's lying round here while the girls sing to the old people," he
announced.
So the plan was carried out. The girls gathered about the doorstep, and,
led by Dorothy, sang cradle songs and folk songs and a hymn or two,
while the boys toiled away behind the house. Again there was no
response.
"Probably they've gone to bed," guessed Ethel Brown.
"I imagine they're lying awake, though," said Ethel Blue softly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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