As she spoke the last words a strain of music, so low that it was barely audible, breathed through the room, then deepened into one clear note, and instantly the wohelo cheer rose in a joyful chorus.
After the roll-call and reports of the last meeting there was no more ceremony. Miss Laura had set the three candles back on the mantelpiece, where they burned steadily, sending out a faint spicy odor that mingled with the pleasant fragrance of the firs. The fire snapped and sang and blazed merrily, and Laura dropped down on the floor in front of it, gathering the girls closer about her.
“To-night,” she began, “I want to hear about your good times—the ‘fun’ that every girl wants and needs. Tell me, what do you enjoy most?”
“Moving pictures,” shouted Eva Bicknell, a little bundle-wrapper of fifteen.
“Dances,” cried another girl.
“O yes, dances,” echoed pretty Annie Pearson, her eyes shining.
“I like the roller skating at the Arcade,” another declared.
“The gym and swimming pool and tennis.” That was Mary Hastings.
“Hear her, will ye?” Eva Bicknell muttered. “Great chance we have for tennis and gym.!”
“You could have them at the Y.W.C.A. That’s where I go for them when you go to your dances and picture shows,” retorted Mary.