emphatically. "We didn't give a
thing we could not do without. Oh, I feel so mean!"

She looked at the girls tearfully, then drew a slender chain from her
throat, and detached the gold piece which was suspended from it. "There!"
she said, putting it with the bills on the table. "Uncle Joe gave me that
before he went to the army. After he was killed at Shiloh I thought I
would never part with it, but I am going to let it go for the soldiers
too."

"It is good for us," said Nellie wiping her eyes. "We were awfully puffed
up over this fair. I was beginning to think that we had done something
great."

Mr. Vance laughed.

"You need not feel so bad, girls," he said. "If it had not been for you
that poor little fellow wouldn't have thought of giving his crutches."

"I wish he had some though," remarked Jeanne wistfully.

"Make your mind easy on that score, my dear, I'm going to look after that
boy."

"And meantime you girls can go with me to the Association to carry the
money and the crutches, and we'll tell the ladies all about it," said Mrs.
Vance.

CHAPTER II

A GREAT UNDERTAKING

For a time affairs went on in their usual way, and the girls contented
themselves with hemming towels and handkerchiefs and making socks. That
is, all the girls save Jeanne Vance. With her the desire was stronger than
ever to do something more than she had done.

"What makes you so thoughtful, Jeanne?" asked her father one evening
looking up from his paper. "You are as still as a mouse. Come, and tell me
all about it."

"It's the country," said Jeanne settling herself comfortably on his lap
and laying her head on his shoulder. "I was thinking about our army and
how much there was to be done for it."

"I am afraid that you think too much about the war," observed her father
soberly. "It is not good for you."

"I can't help it, father. Dick's letters make me, and the work that you
and mother do keeps it always before me. I am the only one who doesn't do
much."

"I am sure that you carried that fair through admirably, and have made
a number of articles for the soldiers. Best of all you are looking after
yourself so well that your mother and I can devote our whole time to the
cause. And that is a great deal, my little girl."

"But I should like to do something else," persisted Jeanne. "It doesn't
seem as if I were helping one bit."

"Very few of us can see the result of our labors. If you were in the
army it would be the