“We might ‘adopt’ an old lady in some Home, and visit her and do things for her,” suggested Frances Chapin. “There are some lonely ones in the Old Ladies’ Home where I go sometimes.”
But the idea of a pretty baby appealed more to the majority of the girls.
“O, I’d rather take a baby. We could make cute little dresses for her,” Rose Anderson put in, “all lacey, you know.”
“Say—where’s the money comin’ from for the lacey dresses and things you’re talkin’ about?” demanded Lena Barton abruptly.
There was an instant of silence. Then Mary threw back a counter question. “How much did you spend for moving pictures and candy last week, Lena Barton?”
“I d’know—mebbe a quarter, mebbe two. What of it?” Lena retorted, her red head lifted defiantly.
“Well now—couldn’t you give up two picture shows a week, for the Camp Fire baby?” Mary demanded. “If sixteen of us give ten cents a week we shall have a dollar sixty. That would be more than six dollars a month.”
“Gracious! Money talks!” put in Louise. “Think of this crowd dropping over six dollars a month for picture shows and such. No wonder they’re two in a block on the avenue.”
“You see,” Laura said, “we could easily provide for some little child, at least in part. Girls, I’d like to tell you about one I saw at the Children’s Hospital yesterday. Would you care to hear about him?”
“Yes, yes, do tell us,” the girls begged.