The light which has been given me
I desire to pass undimmed to others.
Mrs. Bryan stepped forward, and threw a string of beads over her head. She had not been in Camp till now, and so the beads had not come one by one as they generally did. She fastened the pin on Winona’s breast, and stepped back, while the girls sang a tempestuous cheer.
Winona sat down on the grass, still bewildered.
“Well, how does it feel to be a Torch-bearer—the only one in Camp?” asked Helen late that night, as the girls were undressing together.
“Wonderful—only I don’t believe it, yet!” said Winona. “Think of all those honors that I never even dreamed I was getting—and to think I was having such fun getting them, too! It seems as if I ought to have worked so hard it was uncomfortable, somehow, to deserve them.”
“It was dreadfully hard to keep the surprise a secret, sometimes,” said Helen. “When your letters were a wee little bit lonesome, sometimes, we had hard work keeping Louise from telling. Oh, Winona, all the girls are so glad!”
“I’m glad, too,” said Winona soberly. “And oh, Helen, I am going to keep on carrying the torch, too—as high as ever I can!”