By the twentieth of February, the eight candidates had passed their Tenderfoot tests, and were registered at National Headquarters as regular members of the Girl Scouts. After the preliminary exercises of the meeting were over, Captain Phillips asked for a report from the banker.
“All the girls have handed in enough money for the khaki and buttons, Captain,” Ethel Todd announced, after she had given the usual salute. “And some have turned in more than was required. Shall I give that to the treasurer?”
“No,” answered Miss Phillips, “we will keep up our banking system, so that each girl can always have money on hand to purchase the necessary equipment. Now,” she continued, turning to the troop, “I want reports on how the individual Girl Scouts earned their money.”
The accounts that followed were both interesting and original. Ruth had made fudge, and sold it at a profit; Ethel Todd had addressed envelopes in Miss Allen’s office, and had helped with the school records; Frances and Marian had taken care of babies for some Alumnæ members of ΦΑΒ who lived in the village; Lily Andrews and Edith Evans had secured subscriptions for a well-known woman’s magazine; and Helen Stewart and Dorothy Maxwell had advertised their services for “odd jobs” among their school-mates, and had been rewarded with plenty of mending, pressing, darning, and even shoe-shining.
All the girls agreed that the experience had been fun; even Lily admitted that she did not mind it after she had once started.
“And what did you do, Captain Phillips?” she asked.
“I organized a dancing-class for the little tots of the village, which meets one afternoon a week, and I charge each child ten cents a lesson,” she replied.
“Good!” exclaimed Lily, “you lived up to your promise!”
“Girls,” said the Captain, “I am going into the city to-morrow, and I will order the uniforms—the kind that come cut out ready to sew. Then we ought to receive them before next Saturday, and if we do, we can meet up in the sewing-room and give up the day to making them.”
“And when will we go on our hike, Captain?” asked Frances, with the usual formality.