“I’m sure I don’t care. You may if you like,” she said at length.
“Oh, let’s give those Pilgrim Fathers a rest!” cried the exasperated Dorothy. “I’m tired to death of them, and there won’t be a cake left. Come on!”
Priscilla gave her a warning nudge and a sly wink. “No, let’s hear Virginia first,” she said. “It won’t take five minutes, and her oration’s a peach! Go on, Virginia!”
Virginia mounted the nearest chair, and drawing a crumpled paper from her blouse pocket, began to read in a voice filled with emotion:
“How the very breaking waves of rockbound Cape Cod were thrilled when our Pilgrim forefathers first landed on the stern shores of our vast continent, then unrevealed. Methinks the ocean eagle himself burst into a paean of praise! How the giant branches of the woods against a stormy sky waved banners of praise! No trumpet that sings of fame announced their coming! No roll of stirring drums saluted them! But their gospel hymns of cheer burst upon the naked solitude!
“They did not seek thus afar the jewels from the bowels of the earth, nor did they seek king’s wealth or war’s spoils, but rather the pure shrine of a truly childlike faith.
“Aye, classmates, let us in sooth call this soil of our dear State holy ground, for they trod here, and they left us an unstained freedom to worship the God of our Fathers, known of old!”
With a quiver in her voice Virginia finished, bowed to her audience and descended. Lucile was not blessed with a keen sense of humor. Still, as eloquent as it sounded, it might be a joke. She glanced at Virginia’s and Priscilla’s serious faces, and was reassured.
“Oh, I wish I could do something like that!” she breathed.
“Isn’t it fine?” Priscilla asked excitedly. “I told Virginia it had a real Patrick Henry ring. Don’t you think so, Dorothy?”
“Elegant!” said Dorothy, emerging crimson from the depths of the closet. “Come on. Let’s hurry!”
Virginia threw the piece of mangled paper in the waste basket. “I’ve another copy,” she said carelessly, as they hurried down-stairs and out-of-doors. At the steps Lucile hesitated.