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Copyright, 1999, by David C. Cook Publishing Company.
Vor. VIII. No. 34, {Pumas
DAVID C. cook PUBLISHING CO., Exc1n, ILLINoIs, AND 86 WASHINGTON Sr., Cricaco.
August 21,1909.
Leona Vindall’s Obligations
By Arthar Chamberlain :
Y
cile: Mindon nodded towards a
bbe \ NO’ MIER present, Leona?” Ce-
that upon
. ae ~dainty ~ yase
~ Leona Vindall’s dresser.
“ Yes—but ‘that’s only a little one.”
Leona laughed, but with a somewhat. con-
scious air. “One can’t very well refuse
‘to accept anything from Geraldine Bricker,
» she is so supplicating. Why, she makes
one fee] that it would.be positively unkind
«to refuse, and that one confers a favor by
Se “accepting.”
“Um! returned Cecile, - thoughtfully.
. “Geraldine tried me—once. I told her
that I never accepted gifts except from my
* most intimate friends, and then only those
of little intrinsic value. She's let me alone
~ ever since.’
“She has said that she thinks you were
very stiff about it, Cecile, and. has even
“. “hinted that you didn’t care to spend money
> in order to reciprocate.” * Leona spoke in a
somewhat rebuking tone.
stood
- Cecile laughed _unconcernedly. “It’s
~\; better to be stiff than. soft. As to the
=" “money, Geraldine’s quite. right. I don’t
care to waste cash in swapping gifts—giv-
5: \ing.to people whom I scarcely know, and
getting from them what I neither waut nor
~. need.” >
“T do not swap.”
Leona’s tone was dry
~ almost to offense. “Geraldine says she is
opposed to it, on principle. She says she
likes to. make little gifts where she feels
2 =-"the motive won’t be mistaken, merely for
csp the pleasure she finds in giving.’
2o.° “Then she’s selfish.” Cecile spoke with
- decision. “ She’s thinking only of herself ;
he likes to pose as a Lady Bountiful,
~~ and—”
“1 think you are very unkind and cen-
~-\-sorious,” interrupted Leona, hotly, “ and—
=) «and I’m rather busy just now, anyway,
-“. Cecile, so if you don’t mind—
ny ‘My room’s better than my company?
Very well, Leona.”. | Cecile went “put “|
the door with a fair degree of dig
‘though her cheeks were burning. She mi
s* Leona, and had. meant well, but now
Leona. was offended, and her warning
“seemed wasted.
As Cecile came into the lower hall, Miss
w innerton, the school principal, beckoned
her.’ “My dear,” she said, as Cecile
tame up to her, “I know that you are a
“ good friend of Leona. Vindall, and that I
‘ean trust you. Leona is falling behind in
“het, work, her recitations have been very
deficient all this quarter, showing a lack of
“proper preparation. Yet her deportment
-has been excellent; she has not broken any
rules, and it is only fair to say that she
_Seems studious and attentive. If I call
her to account, I can do nothing unless she
‘gives me. her confidence, and Leona has
“ never been over-ready to do that. I know
“that sometimes a word from a companion
goes further with a girl than the most
areful. rebuke from a teacher—won't you
_ speak a word in season to. Leona for her
y own good, Cecile?
. “Oh, Miss Winnerton, I—” Cecile hesi-
tated. _
“Surely you are willing to do as much
is that for Leona’s sake?” queried Miss
Winnerton.
“Tye just tried.” Cecile flushed as she
spoke. “Leona was offended ; perhaps F
‘was too blunt. ”
Miss Winnerton smiled.
to be ‘ wise as serpents’
less as doves,’ Cecile.
and try again.”
“We do. have
as well as * harm-
Wait a while, dear;
She dismissed Cecile with
a friendly nod, and Cecile walked soberly,
away. She was really fond of Leona, and
was all the more desirous to aid her after
Miss Winnerton’s appeal. So wrapped was
she in her own thoughts that she nearl
ran down a girl as she went around a
corner, sending a package flying from tl
girl’s hand.
“Oh, please excuse me!” she exclaimed,
hurrying to pick up a manuscript neatly
bound in covers,
“Don’t mention it!” returned a voice,
affectedly ; and Cecile, looking up, saw that
the girl was Geraldine.
“Oh, it’s you, is’ it?” replied Cecile,
with perhaps more aggressiveness than she
realized, .
“Yes, my dear.” Geraldine’s tone was
cloyingly sweet. “I’m afraid that I
startled you.” She took the package with
a smile, but the leaves opened, and Cecile
could see that it was typewritten.
“You must have spent a lot of
time on that,” she returned with
an effort at graciousness. “Tis
beautifully done.
“Oh, I didn’t do it!” Geraldine
ass sumed a pensive air, “I haven’t
a typewriter—I never felt that I
could afford one. Leona Vindall
positively insisted on doing it for
me, when I happened to say how
much more convenient it was to
read a paper if it’s typewritten.
Leona is so thoughtful, you know !”
“A paper?” queried Cecile.
“Yes, I’m to read it at the next
meeting of the Bird Lovers’ Asso-
ciation. . Leona is president, you
know. It was dear of her to invite
me.”
“Yes,” returned Cecile, slowly,
almost srimly, “yes, I should say
—it was.” . She turned’ abruptly
and went on her way, still meditat-
ing. She came at, last to-a little
summer house, almost .hidden by
the shrubbery in one corner of the
garden; it went by the name of
The Growlery, being. so secluded
that it was a favorite rendezvous
of pupils for the r of
troubles. Cecile
held aloof, from a. sturdy convic-
tion that troubles grow by telling,
but.this time she heard the sound
of sobbing, so persistent and discon-
solate that it seemed hard-hearted
to go by.
She peered in, catching the eye
of thee occupant, who straightened
suddenly on her appearance, and
she saw it was Leona. Cecile hesi-
tated, but Leona beckoned her to
come in.
“J—I’m sorry I was so snippy
with you, Cecile,” she murmured
between her sniffs. ‘I wouldn’t have been
half so savage if I hadn’t known that what
you said was true. I’m dreadfully upset,
Cecile, but I’m not cross with you any
longer.”
Cecile sat.down on the bench by Leona,
cuddling. her close. “Don’t mind about
that, dear,” she whispered soothingly. “I
the
oughtn’t to have gone at you hammer and
tongs, anyway, as I did. I’ve just seen
Geraldine, Leona,” she went-on, after a
little pause. .
Leona's tears dropped afresh. “I’m
just a perfectly ridiculous goose!’ she
cried. ‘ Geraldine has taken up about all
my time for the last three months; I’ve
been simply ashamed to go to recitations,
and if Miss Winnerton wasn’t as good as
gold she’d have taken my head off! I put
in hours copying that paper of Geraldine’s,
besides giving her a lot of points in writing
it. She hinted and hinted until I. fairly
had to invite her to write it in’the first
place, and it has cost me a good deal more,
in time and class rank, than all her little
presents amount to.”
“She said it was ‘dear’ of you,” ob-
served Cecile, demurely.
Leona laughed, somewhat chokily... “1
don’t know ‘as ‘taffy’ counts, even as a
present,” she quayered. “ Oh, Cecile, if
only I knew what to do!”
“Why, just tell her—” began Cecile;
when Geraldine, hurrying up the path to
the summer house, entered hastily.
“What do you suppose, girls?” she be-
gan excitedly. “‘ Miss Winnerton has
called for volunteers to typewrite some of
the old historical records. It’s a. tremen-
dous piece of work just to read the old
things, anyway; but the Historical Society
wants to mark the places of historical in-
“IM AFRAID. THAT I STARTLED YOU.”
terest around the town, and the first step
is to get the extracts copied so that.they
will be plain when it comes to making the
bronze tablets, and they’ve asked Miss Win-
nerton if some of her pupils couldn’t take
hold with them.”
“T think it’s a splendid idea! y declared
Cecile, warmly.
at last.
“But think of the time it’s going to
take!’ objected Geraldine.
Leona, who had drawn a little aside with
flushed cheeks and wrinkled brows, looked
up quickly. “I agree with Cecile,”’. she
announced. “I’m going to find Miss Win-
nerton, and tell her that I want to have a
finger in the pie.”
“Why, Leona—” began Cecile, protest-
ingly, but. she was interrupted by a wail
from Geraldine.
“What can you be thinking ‘about
Leona? I’ve just promised Medora Ken-
nerton that I’d have a paper for her debat-
ing Club that meets a week from to-mor-
row, and I was depending upon you to type-
write it for me, and—
“ There’s a professional typewriter down
town,. Geraldine,” interposed Leona,
calmly. ©“ She'll bé glad to do it for you at
five cents a hundred words; but now that
Miss Winnerton has called for volun-
teers—” Leona paused, suggestively.
Geraldine drew. herself u “Oh, ve!
well, Leona! I’m sorry —really, you make
me feel as if I had been imposing upon
you. .Good-by!” . She’ turned and __ left
them, her chin in air.
“It’s just as well,” Cecile said, under
her breath. “ But -Leona,” she went on,
“do you_really think you ought to take up
this typewriting, if you’re so far behind in
your school work?”.
-Leona smiled. “I think Miss Winner-—
ton will understand, and arrange
all that. I shall tell her just :
how it’s been, and she'll be fair |
with me. I’ve given in and given
in to Geraldine until she’s made
i Well, I’ve
the strength and
courage to shake her off. I'll be
myself again. I’m glad -you said
what you did, Cecile.’ It hurt
me at the time, but it-was the
wound. of .a friend.” Leona
stretched out both arms as she , >.
drew a long, deep breath. |
“Cecile, I feel as if I were rid
of the Old Man—no, the Young
Woman—of the Sea!”
—+—_
STEADY PLODDING AHEAD,
If you wish to get to a partieu-
Jar destination you
can ° cover
a great deal. of ground with a
single jump. If you should meas-
ure the distance, and compare’ it.
with the ground you cover by a
step, you might. almost ‘feel dis-:
couraged. And yet you have no
reason to be. For that tremendous
jump required a great deal more
strength than would be needed to
cover many.times that distance by
walking” Jf the athlete had five
miles to cover, he would not think
of trying to jump the whole dis-
tance, or any fraction*of it.
We make a mistake when we
allow’ ourselves to fret because we
cannot do things in’ the splendid,
spectacular way that someone else ~
does...We envy the’ schoolmate
who .seems to learn a lesson. by
glancing it over, the popular girl . +
who makes friends © on the first ’
meeting, those gifted people -
who accomplish by a single effort _
that which we achieve only after
patient plodding. . But the
life histories of men and women show plainly °
that it is the steady keeping at it which
wins, in the majority of cases.
It is only now and ae that it ‘Is neces-
sary to take a flying lea Spectacular tal-
ents are not called into requisition every +
day. But in. every phase ‘of life's. activi-
ties steady plodding ahead reaches the Boal:
