The Woodcraft Girls in the City. Roy Lillian Elizabeth
Eleanor Wilbur wants to join us,” said Nita.
“Mildred Howell told Fiji to tell me not to forget and propose her,” ventured Zan.
“And I know that Ethel Clifford wants to belong to our first Band,” added Elena.
“Well girls, you each have your new member to win a coup, but I haven’t much time out of school to meet the girls, as there is so much work to do at home. Jack Hubert said this noon that May Randall was asking for me before I met him. If she will let me propose her I can keep up with you on this coup,” said Hilda, whose mother was a trained nurse, thus letting most of the care of the home fall upon Hilda’s shoulders.
“She told me that that is why she wants to see you,” said Jane.
“That is very considerate of May Randall,” commended Miss Miller.
“Yes, and it recommends her for membership,” added Zan.
The other girls agreed with this suggestion, and the Guide then said: “That will make eleven girls in all – counting you five. I think that ought to be enough to work with this Fall,” and Miss Miller began to write down the names of the six members proposed.
“But there are loads of other girls who want to join us, Miss Miller,” objected Zan.
“I suppose there are, but better not add too many new members at one time, Zan; it will tend to divert your attention from your own progress, and individual work is most important to you at this period in Woodcraft. Were you all experienced or old members of the organisation, I would approve of enlisting the full number of members required for a Tribe,” explained the Guide.
“How long will we have to wait before we can be a Tribe?” asked Nita, petulantly.
“If this experiment with the new members turns out well by Christmas, I should think we might start the second Band,” replied Miss Miller.
“Goodness, can’t we start a Tribe before that?” cried Jane, impatiently.
“I thought the same as Jane – that we would be Wickeecheokee Band and the new members be Suwanee Band, and then the two Bands get the charter for Wako Tribe,” added Zan, in a disappointed tone.
“Some Woodcrafters have done that and found to their despair that the new Band knew nothing of the work or laws and were continually calling upon the first Band for help, but not being under the old Chief the first Band had nothing to say about disciplining or advising them. If the new members are subject to our Chief, they have to obey orders and can watch our methods of work for their guidance, and that will spare us many useless words and much valuable time.”
“Well, as usual, Miss Miller wins the day! Her reasons are as sensible as helpful,” commented Jane.
“Good-by Suwanee, I’ll meet you next year!” sighed Zan, wafting a kiss with the tips of her fingers to an imaginary Band.
“Girls, wherever did you find that name? I hunted through an Indian Dictionary of names but couldn’t find a thing like it,” asked Miss Miller, laughingly.
“If a simple little symbolic name like that stumps you, Miss Miller, what will happen when you join the Blackfeet Tribe?” laughed Jane.
“Miss Miller, you know the usual formula given in charades – they begin thus: ‘My first is part of a name, you see, my second is also a part, O gee!’ and so on,” explained Zan, while the other girls laughed.
The Guide puckered her brow for a few moments and the visitors watched eagerly for her to catch Zan’s meaning. Then she laughed, too.
“I see! Su – comes from Suzanne, the name of our Chief, but so seldom used that I forgot she ever had another handle to it than just ‘Zan.’ I must give up the rest of the charade, however.”
“Maybe it is buried so deep that the uninitiated cannot dig it up, but we girls thought it quite simple: ‘Su’ for the Chief, as you said; ‘Wa’ for Wako Tribe – plain enough; and ‘nee’ for all the other members who are willing to change their names from white man’s ways to the Indian’s with its wealth of meaning and beauty.”
As Zan explained, the Guide shook her head as if to admit that it certainly had been buried far beyond her power to dig.
“But it sounds pretty, girls,” said she finally.
“Mayhap we will have an improvement on that name before the Band comes into existence, who knows!” sighed Jane.
“The sooner we start with the new members, then, the quicker we will know about the second Band,” retorted Zan.
“Shall we vote now to invite the six girls mentioned?” asked Elena with Tally Book ready to inscribe the names.
The motion was made and seconded that the names of the six applicants be written on the roll and that evening they would be questioned and admitted if acceptable to the Chief and Guide.
“Now Miss Miller, if there is nothing else to consider let us hear about your idea for a camp in the city,” said Zan.
“When I came into this apartment yesterday afternoon, its stuffiness struck me much the same as you girls said: ‘Close and airless.’ The windows were all open but that didn’t seem to make any difference. While still gasping for the cool breezes of Wickeecheokee I went to my den in the back room and as I stood by the window that opens out on the roof of the extension downstairs, I made a discovery! Last night I slept as comfortably out-of-doors as if on the Bluff, and this morning the English sparrows woke me with their chattering under the eaves three stories above.”
“Miss Miller! Do tell us what you did?” exclaimed the curious girls.
“Well, first I took a crex rug from the floor and laid it on the extension roof to protect the tin from the feet of a cot-bed. Then I carried out a four-fold screen and with the smaller three-fold screen from my den, I made suitable protection about the cot. The camp-cot that I keep in case of an unexpected guest remaining over-night was small and light, and provided me a good place to rest. The whole affair, screens, cot, and mat, took up but half of the small roof and early this morning I slipped back through the open window and dressed, having enjoyed a fine cooling breeze all night.”
“Oh!” sounded the surprised five girls.
“You must have slept like a multi-millionaire on his sea-going yacht,” laughed Zan.
“I did, and without fear of going to the bottom by a torpedo from a submarine,” retorted Miss Miller.
“We have a wonderful roof on the back verandah – all decked and railed in,” remarked Jane, mentally picturing a row of tents on that desirable camp-site.
“I could use the rear porch that opens from our dining-room windows,” added Nita.
“We have a box-like porch on the second floor that has a back-stair going down from it. It is screened in and can be used for a sleeping-place, I s’pose,” murmured Elena.
“Our flat-house was built soon after Noah landed so we have no sleeping-porch, but I might hang a cot from the fire-escape – until the police make me take it down,” ventured Hilda, with a thoughtful manner.
The others shouted with merriment at the idea of big muscular Hilda swinging from a fire-escape over the street.
“I have my lodging all planned out,” now said Zan. “I shall utilise that square of side-piazza roof over the entrance to Dad’s office. It has a two-foot high coping about it and that makes it perfectly safe for me in the dark. I can use a screen, too, to hide the cot from the street.”
“You girls have all caught my last-night’s idea so suddenly that I haven’t had an opportunity to continue explaining,” interrupted Miss Miller.
“Proceed, fair lady, and we will hold our peace,” said Jane, giggling.
“As I enjoyed the reviving night-breezes and thought of you poor girls tossing in warm rooms, I wondered how we might have an out-door place and still feel secluded from prying eyes. Then I remembered the small tents