get branches. Perhaps you'll let one of the children go
along to show them the way?"
"You go, Sally," said Mrs. Pratt to the oldest girl, a child of
fourteen, who had been listening, wide-eyed, to the conversation. "Now,
ain't there somethin' Ann an' I can do to help?"
"Why, yes, there is, Mrs. Pratt. I think it's going to be dreadfully
hot. Over there, where we unpacked our stores, you'll find a lot of
lemons. I think if you'd make a couple of big pails full of lemonade
we'd all enjoy them while we were working, and they'd make the work go
faster, too."
"The water won't be very cold," suggested Ann.
"Pshaw, Ann! Why not use the ice?" said Mrs. Pratt, whose interest in
small things had been wonderfully revived. "The ice-house wasn't burned.
Do you go and get a pailful of ice, and we'll have plenty for the girls
to drink. They surely will be hot and tired with all they're doing for
us."
"I'm sorry I ever said Mrs. Pratt wasn't nice," said Dolly to Bessie,
when they happened to overhear this, and saw how Mrs. Pratt began
hustling to get the lemonade ready.
"I knew she'd be all right as soon as she began to be waked up a
little," said Bessie. "This is more fun than one of our silly
adventures, isn't it, Dolly? Because it's just as exciting, but there
isn't the chance of things going wrong, and we're doing something to
make other people happy."
"You're certainly right about that, Bessie. And it makes you think of
how much hard luck people have, and how easy it would be for people who
are better off to help them, doesn't it?"
"It _is_ easy, Dolly. You know, I think Miss Eleanor must help an awful
lot of people. It seems to be the first thing she thinks of when she
sees any trouble."
"She makes one understand what Wo-he-lo really means," said Dolly.
"She's often explained that work means service--doing things for other
people, and not just working for yourself."
"That's one of the things I like best about the Camp Fire," said Bessie,
thoughtfully. "Everyone in it seems to be unselfish and to think about
helping others, and yet there isn't someone to preach to you all the
time--they just do it themselves, and make you see that it's the way to
be really happy."
"I wouldn't have believed that I could enjoy this sort of work if anyone
had told me so a year ago. But I do. I haven't had such a good time
since I can remember. Of course, I feel awfully sorry for the Pratts,
but I'm glad that, if it had to h
|