Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer

by Rena I. Halsey

Nita, as she heard this invitation, grew white, speechless with surprise, but only for a moment, as the next second, with joy shining in her eyes, she leaned over crying in a tense whisper, “Oh, Mother, tell them yes! Tell them yes!”

But Mrs. Van Vorst had already risen to her feet, eyes smiling but tear dimmed as she gazed down at the bright expectant faces upturned to hers. For a moment she stood, and then in a voice broken by emotion and pleasure thanked the Pioneers for an invitation that she knew had been prompted by kindness and that she appreciated more than she could express. Her little daughter, as they all knew, was a shut-in. She would be delighted to become one of a band of girls who had proved so worthy of the name they bore, but, her face saddened, would she not prove a burden to them, for would it not require too much patience to bear with one who perhaps had been over indulged on account of her misfortune?

At this juncture Madame Stuyvesant stepped to her side crying, “Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst, your little shut-in is just the one I want my girls to be with, so that by the patience they will acquire in her companionship they will become more gentle and considerate to others. And as for Miss Nita, the mingling with healthy, active girls of her own age and the exercise and aid she will derive from the sports, and industries—taken lightly of course—I am sure will brighten her life in many ways.”

A few more words from Helen, Lillie, and one or two of the older girls, and Mrs. Van Vorst’s consent was won, and Nita with bright, happy eyes was clapping her hands very softly under the Starry Banner that fell in folds across her chair.

Each girl in turn was then toasted, under the name of the pioneer she impersonated, being required in response to tell something about herself, as to who and what part she had played in the days of New Amsterdam. When the name of Mrs. Polly Prevoorst was called, Lillie Bell stood up, and had just begun with her usual dramatic gestures and intonations to relate some little incident in the life of that noted lady, when a shrill falsetto voice shrieked, “Pretty Polly! Pretty Polly! Polly want a cobble?”

There was a sudden turning and twisting of heads and necks at this unlooked for interruption, to see who was making sport of the fair lady, but before the speaker could be seen, with a quick flutter of wings Mr. Jimmie landed in the middle of the table. Surprise caused the girls to exclaim and then laugh, as they watched the new guest cocking his head from side to side as he winked at them with his red-rimmed eyes.

All at once his head stopped its restless motion, as with a quick glance he seemed suddenly to spy Lillie Bell, who was still standing, waiting for a chance to deliver her little speech. The girls ceased to giggle and with observant eyes wondered what was going to happen. They did not have to wait long for Jimmie, with another flash of his wings, screeched shrilly, “Polly! Poor Polly! Polly want a petticoat—Polly—want a petticoat?”

But Jimmie’s concern for the “Lady of Petticoat Lane” was drowned in shouts of laughter, while Lillie Bell with a reddened, embarrassed face sat down. Thus Jimmie became the beau of the afternoon, as each girl vainly tried to coax him with a sweetie to notice her, but Jimmie disdained their advances and, flying to the shoulder of Nathalie, evinced his partiality for that young lady by chattering noisily, “Hell Nat! Ah—Blue Robin, pretty Blue Robin!” And then a shrill Tru-al-lee, tru-al-lee! rang through the room.

But this effort to do the wise thing ended Jimmie’s performance, for suddenly noting the applause that greeted him, he set up such a hideous shrieking, interspersed with fiendish laughter, that he was promptly seized by Peter and carried from public sight to muse on his sins in the privacy of his cage.

When Lillie’s tormentor disappeared she was able to act the part of the fair Polly and relate the incident she had striven so vainly to tell. As she finished, finding that all the notables had been duly honored, the girls again turned to the rather novel menus that they had found in front of their plates.