“We’ve had such a wonderful summer,” said Winnie, “that we should do something wonderful this winter. I’m ready for anything myself.”
“Same here,” said Betty Streeter. “What can we do, Miss Dodge?”
Miss Dodge thoughtfully tapped the table before her with a pencil. “There are so many calls these days,” she answered at last. “The trouble is to select the most needy cause. For instance I have just had a letter from a friend in France who tells of the need of funds for carrying on an enterprise in which she is deeply interested. You know in some of those war-torn districts the people are still without any other shelter than such as they can make themselves of rocks and the remnants of the houses which were shelled. These places must be something like caves, I imagine, but the people are content to live there, for it means some sort of home, and they cling to the village, devastated as it is. They have not much food, but the children receive a cup of chocolate or cocoa with a biscuit every day. My friend writes that the fund for this food must be kept up by contributions. In many cases this little lunch is the best meal the children get in the twenty-four hours, so you see there is a very worthy cause, for failing of contributions this work must be stopped. Then, of course, there are objects nearer home, the Tuberculosis League, mission schools in mountain districts, Christmas gifts for the poor, and so on ad infinitum.”
She paused and looked around at the thoughtful young faces. Every girl seemed to be thinking deeply. “Well, Winnie,” she said presently, “you look as if you had an idea.”
“Just the beginnings of one. I was wondering if we couldn’t get up some sort of thing like a garden party; it is still quite warm, you know. We could have tea and cakes and every cup of tea we sold would buy a cup of chocolate for those children, wouldn’t it? How much does it cost over there?”
“About six cents, I believe.”
“Then it would more than cover the price.”
“We might have some sort of entertainment besides just a garden party,” spoke up Claudia; “we could have theatricals or a dance, then we could divide up the profits and give to two or three things.”
“That’s an idea,” agreed Miss Dodge.
“But where could we give it?” inquired Esther.