“I’d never miss a quarter, either,” affirmed Jerry Macy. “That’s letting us off easy. Don’t you think so, Marjorie?”
Marjorie was about to answer in the affirmative. Sudden remembrance of Lucy Warner checked her reply. Among the fourteen girls present that evening, Lucy Warner alone would be unable to spare that weekly sum. Hastily dividing 52 by 4 she realized that thirteen dollars would be a rather large slice out of Lucy’s savings toward a college education. She wondered now whether she had been wholly wise in even asking Lucy to make one of an organization of girls who squandered weekly perhaps more than poor Lucy could save in a month.
“I think it would be better to set the dues at ten cents per week,” she said slowly. “We will always be sure to pay that much. At that rate we’d be paying $5.20 a year apiece, and in many clubs the yearly dues are not more than that. Of course, we are anxious to put some money in our treasury as soon as we can. If any of you feel like paying a year’s dues in advance, so much the better for the club treasury. What we ought to do is to give an entertainment of some kind and earn quite a lot of money all at once. Almost any one in Sanford would be willing to contribute to a good cause. The Rebellious Princess netted us over five hundred dollars for the library. We could give a fair or a play or something and have a splendid time doing it, not to mention the money we’d earn.”
“But suppose we do something like that and make a lot of money, what are we going to do with the money?” asked Florence Johnston.
“Give it to anyone who needs it,” responded Marjorie. “As Lookouts we must poke around and find some good use for our money. There are always plenty of very poor people in Sanford who need help. Captain and Mrs. Macy went this evening to see a man who was hurt in an explosion. Now that he is so sick, he can’t work and he and his family have nothing to live on. There are lots of such cases right here in this city. For two years at Christmas time a number of we girls have tried to give the very poor folks a Merry Christmas. The club can do things like that. There might be some girl in our own school who would some day need our help. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open and find out where our help is needed.”
After a little further discussion, the girls agreed that the weekly sum of ten cents each would be satisfactory, at least for a beginning. Secretly two or three of them wondered at Marjorie’s unwillingness to give more than that. They had always supposed her to be very generous. Mignon, in particular, was delighted at discovering, at last, what she regarded as a great flaw in Marjorie Dean’s character. She mentally stored it away as a delectable bit of gossip to be circulated at her pleasure.
Having been provided with notebook and fountain pen, Irma busied herself with setting down the results of the various discussions regarding rules and regulations, which followed rapidly upon that of the dues. Once these points had been finally settled they were to be incorporated in a typed list and each girl was to receive a copy of the list.
Thus far during the meeting, nothing save the actual business of the club had been talked over. The object of the Lookouts, their dues, the time and place of meeting, these and other similarly important details had been gone over, each assuming the form of a set rule. The ethical side of the club had not yet been touched upon. As president it now became Jerry’s duty to introduce the delicate subject which she and Marjorie had confidentially gone over together on the previous day. This was a contingency on which blunt, good-humored Jerry had not reckoned. She had had a fixed idea that Marjorie would be elected president of the club, and had depended on her to lay down that one special rule of conduct that was intended to quiet Mignon’s too-garrulous tongue. Now it appeared that the task devolved upon herself. Yet she did not feel equal to it. She knew that her brusque fashion of speaking was likely to arouse instant aggression on Mignon’s part.
Her round, blue eyes significantly fixed on Marjorie, she now addressed the gathering with: “Is there anything else you can think of that ought to be added to the rules of our club? If there is——” She paused, continuing to stare at Marjorie with an expression of positive pleading on her plump face.
Marjorie read the glance aright and rose to Jerry’s aid. Drawing a long breath she said with a gravity that brought all eyes to bear upon her: “Girls, there is one rule that we ought to make and live up to if we hope to become useful to others. It is the good old Golden Rule. ‘Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.’ It means to be absolutely loyal in thought, word and deed, to everyone with whom we come in contact. Then we may hope for an equal amount of loyalty in return. Of course we expect to be loyal to one another. Otherwise there would be no use in forming this club. But we must be specially careful to give outsiders a perfectly square deal. If ever we expect to hand down our sorority to those who come after us, we must offer them an unblurred escutcheon. After all, it is the little things we say and do that often amount to the most for or against us.