d. You
know I never liked him any more than I liked Mattie nor Nora. Now I like
Mattie and I am beginning to like Harvey. I hope I shall change towards
Nora, but I see no sign now. Well, Harvey began.

"'Miss Ethel,' he said, 'I've determined to become a physician. I presume
you've heard that, and I'm determined to become a good one, too. You may
not know it, but I have always liked boys. I don't say that I dislike
girls,--but I do like boys. (Harvey is developing a sense of humor.)
When I visited my college chum--Joe Atkinson--this last summer, I was
surprised to learn that he was the Scout Master to a troop of eight boys.
He lives in Springfield, Illinois. I had a corking visit and a fine time
with the kids, two of whom are his young brothers.

"'Do you know, I became mightily interested in the movement. I have
studied and watched it and I think it's the finest thing ever started.
I came home quite enthusiastic and I talked of it to the two younger
Kip boys and Alan McAllister,--Grace's brother. If you'll believe it,
before I realized what I'd done, these boys had formed a troop and began
to importune me to be the Scout Master of it. There's the two Kips, Tom
Wilder (Sara Judson's cousin), a brother of Grace McAllister, Tommy
Westcott, and my cousin, Jack Atwater, besides two other boys from the
East Side Y.M.C.A. Miss Westcott, the Guardian of the Camp Fire Girls,
asked that they might be allowed to join, making eight in all.'

"I caught him by the hand and I said:

"'Harvey Bigelow, I take off my hat to you. I never liked you so well in
my life."

"He blushed awfully and seemed embarrassed, but he simply said:

"'Don't you think it about time that I became in earnest over something
in life? The opportunity presented itself and I grasped it--that's all.'

"Well, to make a long story short, several of these boys are desirous
of going West next summer and spending their vacations instead of East,
and he called to ask me about the Muskingum Camp. He is going there,
Kate, and he'll be near us. I made him write to Mr. Adams--your father's
man--who did everything for us, and ask him to reserve a place for the
Scouts. I'm just wild for summer to come. I'm going to bring Mother and
Grandmother. Grandmother will visit Aunt Susan, and Mother can spend her
time between Aunt Susan's, your house, and the Camp. She doesn't say
much but I really think the change is a relief to her--poor dear little
mother. I was the selfish