There was a howl from the boys.
“We don’t want girls bothering around,� said Archie. “Let them stay in the house and sew.�
“They’ve got their Red Cross stuff,� said Steve. “That’s enough for them.�
“We girls have Red Cross work in Washington, and we do war gardening, too. And who suggested this garden, I’d like to know?� Anne asked.
“That’s all right; suggest,� said Joe. “Girls are good at talking; but we don’t want them around in our way when we are working.�
There was a clamor of indignation from the girls.
“Boys! Girls!� Mrs. Wilson said in her schoolroom voice. In the silence that it brought, she went on: “Of course the girls may have a garden, if they wish. I’ll give them the strip of land by the rose garden.�
But the girls scornfully rejected this offer.
“We don’t want a little ribbon like that,� said Patsy. “We want a real garden or none at all. We don’t care if you give us a bigger place than the boys have—I’m sure we can manage it—but we don’t want an inch less. There are more of us than there are of them; two more, counting Anne, who’s coming back in June.�
“Give us the square by the one the b-b-boys have,� said Ruth.