Obviously Edith Linder came of simple people. Her father and mother had been poor farmers and were now working in a factory in Westhaven. Edith made no pretense of anything else and had not received a great deal of education. She had learned much from her winter with Miss Frean, and was learning through her summer with her Troop of Girl Scouts. Nevertheless, there were ways in which she revealed the difference in her past circumstances from the lives of most of the Girl Scouts with whom she was associated at present.
To Martha, Edith’s lack of social training must have been especially conspicuous. Martha had been reared in a careful fashion. Her family had been wealthy before the war and owners of a large estate.
Nevertheless the English Girl Guide accepted Edith’s efforts toward self-improvement and her evident desire to make friends with perfect tact and good breeding.
Tory knew that social distinctions were more seriously regarded in England than the United States. She concluded if ever the moment were propitious to inquire of Martha if the Girl Guides represented an effort toward real Democracy in the sense the American Girl Scouts trusted that they represented the same purpose.
At length Tory took up her pencil and began drawing.
She was seated in an open place in the woods not far from their dancing ground within the circle of giant beech trees.
Later in the day Evan Phillips’ mother was to give the Girl Scouts of the Eagle’s Wing their first lesson in outdoor dancing.
The thought of this in prospect interrupted Tory’s effort. With an impatient gesture she picked up the paper upon which she was working and tearing it into bits flung the pieces to the winds.
Her father insisted that she draw from still life and she had been using a distant tree as her model.
Is there anything in the world more difficult to represent with its dignity, grace and beneficence than a tree?