to
the electrolier on the right hand side of the hall. So it went.

Each of them had prepared a valentine for every other member of the
Club, so each had nine, for Dicky had sent his in to be distributed with
the rest. Each had made all his nine of the same sort though not all
alike. James, for instance, had made prettily decorated boxes and filled
them with candy. Tom, who had a knack at cutting paper, had cut lacy
designs out of lily white barred paper which he mounted on colored
cardboard, and out of thin colored sheets whose patterns were thrown
into relief by a background of white. Ethel Blue had drawn comical
Cupids, each performing an acrobatic act. Ethel Brown had baked
heart-shaped cookies and tied them into pretty boxes with pink ribbon.
Dorothy's knowledge of basket making led her to experiment with some
little heart-shaped trays, useful for countless purposes. She made them
of different materials and they proved successful. Della stencilled
hearts on to handkerchiefs, decorating some with a border of hearts
touching, some with a corner wreath of interlaced hearts, the boys' with
a single corner heart large enough for an initial. Each one was
different.

Roger's contributions were heart-shaped watch charms of copper, each
with a raised initial and mounted on a stray of colored leather and
furnished with a bar and snapper of gun metal. Margaret's little
heart-shaped pincushions were suitable for boys and girls alike. Some of
them were small, for the pocket or the handbag; others were larger and
were meant to be placed on the bureau. They were of varied colors, the
girls' being of silk to match the colors of their rooms and the boys of
darker hues.

Dicky's offerings were woven paper book marks made like Roger's blotter
corners and intended to keep the place in a book by slipping over the
corner of the leaf. Helen, who had been learning from Dorothy how to
model in clay, had attempted paper weights. The family cat had served as
a model, and each was a cat in a different position. Some were more
successful than others, but, as Roger said, "You'd recognize them as
cats."

When the search was over and every one had admired his own and his
neighbor's valentines, Ethel Brown recited Hood's sonnet, "For the 14th
of February," and Ethel Blue read part of Lamb's essay, "Valentine's
Day," and they all felt that Saint Valentine's star was setting and that
of the Father of his Country was rising resplendent.