“My! But you must have read very quickly to have reached the thirteenth section already. I have only read up to the ninth,” returned Mrs. James.
Natalie laughed. “To tell the truth, Jimmy, I skipped some of the chapters that looked dry and educational. I saw the pictures of these mushrooms, and the little creatures of the wood, and I glanced at the opening words of the chapter. After that, I kept right on, and couldn’t stop.”
Mrs. James smiled and shook her head. “That is a bad habit to form—skipping things that seem dry and hard to do.”
Natalie heard the gentle rebuke but smiled as she read the woodcraft chapter to its end. Then, instead of repenting of the habit of “skipping,” she turned the pages of the book and read where she found another interesting chapter. This happened to be Section XVI on a Girl Scout’s Garden. She read this part way through and then had a brilliant idea.
“Jimmy! Janet Wardell says I ought to start a vegetable garden at once, and not only raise enough for us all to live on this summer, but have some to send to the city to sell to my friends.”
“I spoke to Rachel about that plan, Natalie, and she is of the same opinion: we really ought to garden and thus save cost of living.”
“You know, Jimmy, that Janet is crazy over the war-garden she had for two years, and she told me it was the most fun! Digging and seeding down the soil, and weeding or harvesting was as much fun as playing croquet or tennis,—and a lot more remunerative. But then Janet always was ambitious. We all say she should have been a boy instead of a girl—with her go-a-headness.”
“I don’t see why a boy should be accredited with all the ambitions, and energy, or activity of young folks!” protested Mrs. James. “Girls are just as able to carry on a successful career as a boy,—and that is one thing the Girl Scouts will teach the world in general,—there is no difference in the Mind, and the ambitions and work that that Mind produces, whether it be in boy or girl. So I’m glad Janet is so positive a force with you four girls: she will urge you to accomplish more than you would, if left to your own indolent devices.”
“I’ll grant you that, Jimmy, but let’s talk about the possibilities of a garden, without losing any more time. Do you think we might start in at once? To-morrow, say?”
“Of course we can! In fact, I wrote our next-door neighbor, Mr. Ames, to bring his plough and horse in the morning and turn over the soil so we could see what its condition is.”