't think I
could, for it is very personal. It was a message from Uncle to me, so
it means much to me. To you, it might not mean anything.'

"'But I should like to hear it,' I said. 'Please tell it to me.'

"'Well,' said Elizabeth, 'Uncle seems very queer to mother because he
wants a message to go with every gift, but I like it. When this came,
his letter said:

"'"Girlie: I wonder if you wouldn't like to wear this bit of ermine.
When the ermine is pursued by a larger animal and it comes to a
puddle of mud, it will die before it will soil its coat. Wouldn't it
be wonderful if you and all the girls who are your friends would be
as careful of your characters and never, no never, do that which
would soil them?"'

"We walked part of a block before we spoke after she had told me of
the gift, and then she said, 'I am sure that the girls at school
sometimes think me very particular because I will not do some of the
things that they do. Perhaps they are all right for them but I feel
that they would soil my coat, so I do not do them. I am trying to
keep it white and this little bit of ermine helps a lot. Of course, I
like to wear it, but it would be very uncomfortable if I did not try.
I hope you don't think me foolish, now that you know the story of the
fur.'"

There was silence as Carl finished speaking. Then Carl Green threw back
the long locks from his forehead as he said,

"I know a good thing when I see it, fellows, and the girl who would die
rather than soil her character is a mighty good friend for a boy to have.
She is worth asking to our house party. I'm thinking she is worth winning
for a friend. Good-by, I am going to ask her before any of you change the
name on your list."

So Elizabeth Wyman went to the house party at Mrs. Warren's, and to this
day she wonders why the boys seemed so different from what they had seemed
before. But because she knew no difference, she was sure that it must have
been because she was invited by Carl Green, the leader of the Triangle
Club of Center High School. But you and I know better.

JANIE'S SCHOOL DAYS

Janie was sixteen years old, but she looked as though she might be only
thirteen as she sat on the front seat of the little schoolhouse far up on
the mountainside of Kentucky. Her black hair was plastered tightly to her
head. Her calico dress was much too long and the sleeves were much too
short. Mother had made it long so