Blue Robin, the Girl Pioneer

by Rena I. Halsey

A pioneer race was engaged in by two Orioles, one in the costume of a colonial maiden of Plymouth town, while the other closely resembled pictures of that laggard in love, John Alden. The contestants swam to the raft where they attempted in double-quick time to divest themselves of their old-time clothes, the one, of course, who accomplished this feat first having the best chance to win the race.

But shoes would stick, strings would knot, and buttons wouldn’t unfasten. Nannie Plummer at last was free, and jumped back to the water. But alas, her bonnet still clung to her; no, not to her head, but to one of her feet, causing her audience to shout with merriment at her antics to rid herself of this obstacle, while Johnnie the slow was still making futile endeavors to rid herself of her undesirable trousers.

A Japanese race was applauded perhaps as much for its picturesqueness as for the skill displayed, as two daintily gowned figures,—one in a pink and one in a blue flowered kimono, with flowers and fans coquettishly arranged à la Japanese in their hair—with mincing steps hied themselves down to their boats. Here, each one holding an umbrella in one hand and a palm-leaf fan in the other, they paddled out to the stake boat.

“Gee whiz! I’d like to know how they make those fans work!” exclaimed Teddie Hart in puzzled tone, to the joy of a group of girls near by, who giggled unrestrainedly as they saw that they had succeeded in mystifying their scout friends. Perhaps Peter, if he had minded, could have explained that a flat board to which the fans were nailed did the work.

A Silver Race was composed of teams of two, rowing out to the raft and back, each girl holding a silver spoon in her mouth containing an egg. The winners were Nathalie and Edith, who reached shore with their eggs intact, while Lillie Bell and a Bob White raced back to land with streams of yellow dripping from their faces and clothes, the race rules requiring that each racer should return to the shore with what remained of the egg.

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine created yells of laughter, as Helen stepped gingerly along with bare feet on a peeled pine sapling suspended over the shallow water near the shore. It was greased, of course, but the red apple at its end proved an incentive as the girl slipped cautiously towards it. Hurrah, she was almost there! Hadn’t she practiced that feat for days? There was a sudden swerve to one side, the supple figure tottered, and then Miss Helen plunged to her fate in the water below. But she only laughed with the spectators as she wrung out her skirts and scurried for the bank, while Barbara began her greasy career.

Surely she had rosin on her feet! No, she didn’t, for the next moment she too was clawing the air. She swayed for a minute like a reed in the wind, and then went down, not into the water, but on the pole where she gazed with a bewildered stare in her near-sighted eyes at the jeering little prize that had proved so elusive.

The first number of the land sports was a contest in the air, the performers walking on stilts while balancing potatoes on their heads. A tilting joust also took place, and helped to prove that the time the girls had spent in making and walking on the stilts had not been wasted.

The Up Against It Race, turned out to be an obstacle race, one of the obstacles being twelve eggs to be picked up from the ground and placed in a basket. The second obstacle was hailed with deafening shouts, for it was no other than Miss Camphelia sitting on the race-track contentedly sucking a lollipop. She was speedily seized by the contestant and arrayed in a coat and hat, while gazing with wondering eyes at this new red-faced mother. The girl who made the best time as an egg-picker and baby-dresser proved to be an Oriole, and was duly applauded for her speed and deftness.

In the Light that Failed contest the fair racers made a twenty-yard dash carrying lighted candles and pails of water, one in each hand, at the same time. All lights flickered out to be sure, but the one that lasted the longest won the contest for its holder.