body, mind, and
spirit for the consecrated labor of sewing on her star. All the time
that her needle cautiously, conscientiously formed the tiny stitches she
was making rhymes "in her head," her favorite achievement being this:

"Your star, my star, all our stars together, They make the dear old
banner proud To float in the bright fall weather."

There was much discussion as to which of the girls should impersonate
the State of Maine, for that was felt to be the highest honor in the
gift of the committee.

Alice Robinson was the prettiest child in the village, but she was very
shy and by no means a general favorite.

Minnie Smellie possessed the handsomest dress and a pair of white
slippers and open-work stockings that nearly carried the day. Still, as
Miss Delia Weeks well said, she was so stupid that if she should
suck her thumb in the very middle of the exercises nobody'd be a dite
surprised!

Huldah Meserve was next voted upon, and the fact that if she were not
chosen her father might withdraw his subscription to the brass band fund
was a matter for grave consideration.

"I kind o' hate to have such a giggler for the State of Maine; let her
be the Goddess of Liberty," proposed Mrs. Burbank, whose patriotism was
more local than national.

"How would Rebecca Randall do for Maine, and let her speak some of her
verses?" suggested the new minister's wife, who, could she have had her
way, would have given all the prominent parts to Rebecca, from Uncle Sam
down.

So, beauty, fashion, and wealth having been tried and found wanting, the
committee discussed the claims of talent, and it transpired that to
the awe-stricken Rebecca fell the chief plum in the pudding. It was a
tribute to her gifts that there was no jealousy or envy among the other
girls; they readily conceded her special fitness for the role.

Her life had not been pressed down full to the brim of pleasures, and
she had a sort of distrust of joy in the bud. Not until she saw it in
full radiance of bloom did she dare embrace it. She had never read
any verse but Byron, Felicia Hemans, bits of "Paradise Lost," and the
selections in the school readers, but she would have agreed heartily
with the poet who said:

"Not by appointment do we meet delight And joy; they heed not our
expectancy; But round some corner in the streets of life They on a
sudden clasp us with a smile."

For many nights before the raising, when she went to her bed she said to
hersel