Somebody called Katherine away then, and Nyoda said to the others, “You were telling me about Katherine’s having such a tremendous fit of the blues some time ago. Tell me, is she having one now? She seems changed somehow since last June. Isn’t she feeling well?”
And then they told her how Katherine’s plans to go to college had been shipwrecked and that she was going back to her home on the farm when the summer was over. Nyoda listened sympathetically, and as soon as she could she sought out Katherine and led her away for a walk with her alone. In the long, intimate talk which followed she made her see that this disappointment was an opportunity and not a calamity; an opportunity to develop strength of 245 character which would enable her to surmount whatever difficulties would lie in her path through life. She testified to her that the lives of most great people showed they had become great, not because of the opportunities which were strewn in their paths, but because of the obstacles they had overcome.
Katherine nodded dumbly. “But, how am I going to ‘pass on the light that has been given to me,’ if I am to be away from people?” she said sadly after a moment.
“By doing the duty that lies nearest you,” replied Nyoda, pressing her shoulder with a gentle hand. “You can be just as much of a Torch Bearer at home as anywhere. I know the prospect seems empty, even with the knowledge that you are doing your duty. By all the tokens, your place in life seems to be out in the busy world, rubbing elbows with people on all sides. Your great dream of social settlement work seemed one which was destined to be fulfilled with singular success. But, my dear, remember this, no success in life is worth as much as a happy home and a loving father and mother, and in taking over the task of home-making you have undertaken the greatest and noblest piece of work that any woman can do. If you succeed in making home happy your life will not be wasted and your torch will shine undimmed.”
“I hadn’t thought about it in that way before,” said Katherine slowly. “You see, I had spent my 246 whole life waiting for the day when I could get away from home and get out among educated people. My one dream as long as I can remember has been college in the East, and I spent every minute studying. I never cared how the house looked or how anything went on the farm. I just lived in my books, and in day dreams of the future. That’s what makes it so hard to go back now. Oh, I was going back all right, I never thought for a moment of not going, but I don’t believe I was planning to be very happy about it. Now I see the meaning of the Camp Fire Girls’ law, ‘Be happy.’ It doesn’t mean be happy when everything is coming your way, but in spite of everything when things are going wrong. Just so when we learned to say, ‘For I will bring ... my joy and sorrow to the fire.’ There is more than one way to make a fire. If you haven’t a joyful match handy to scratch and make an instant blaze, you can start one with the slow rubbing sticks of sorrow. But either one will kindle the torch that you can pass on to others. I see it now!”
“You certainly have put it in a nutshell!” said Nyoda.
“So now I’m going home,” continued Katherine, “and tackle the housekeeping the way I used to go at my lessons. I’m going to make that old shack that was always a blot on the landscape such a marvel of beauty that it won’t know itself. I’m going to 247 begin right there to seek beauty and give service and pursue knowledge and be trustworthy and glorify work, and above all, I’m going to Be Happy. Thank you so much, Nyoda, for telling me the things you did. You’ve straightened everything out for me, the way you always do.”
“Spoken like a true Winnebago!” said Nyoda, gripping her hand. “I knew you wouldn’t show the white feather. Now I must go. Don’t you hear Sherry calling me? Never get married, my dear, if you wish to be mistress of your own time!”
After that confidential talk with Nyoda Katherine’s soul was once more serene and the old spring was back in her step and the characteristic air of enthusiasm about everything she did. Once more the future seemed full of possibilities.
That night Nyoda gathered the Winnebagos together for a confidential council meeting. “Well, Torch Bearer,” she asked, “how goes the torch bearing?”