The sweet, low voice went on slowly, perhaps a trifle unsteadily, “God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain into the wilderness.”
“Hooray for the Flower!” shouted some one, and then of course they all had to clap, while the editor-in-chief of the “Pioneer,” who was sitting next to the speaker, jotted down this little saying with the air of an expert reporter.
“Now, do you suppose,” went on Helen, “that these picked men—”
“This choice grain,” corrected the Sport softly, who was trying hard to create a laugh.
“Edith, please be serious,” admonished Helen, looking at that young lady with reproving eyes, but she was sitting with folded arms and eyes cast down, the picture of innocent and bland decorum.
Helen, seeing she had subdued the Sport for the time being, continued: “Yes, this choice grain was composed of not only sincere and courageous men, as we know, but the most tolerant of any of the first settlers in this country. But, of course, in serious, solemn times one is not apt to be funny. They were not really sanctimonious, they just got that name because they tried to live up to their convictions.”
“But they got it!” retorted the Sport, who was always hard to convince in an argument. Helen flashed her eyes at her in rebuke, and then, turning toward Nathalie, said, “We are not only going to tell what we have learned about the Pilgrims at the rally, but we are to end with a Mayflower Feast. We do not expect to eat the things the colonists did, of course, but the table is to be decorated with May-flowers—that is with all the flowers that grow in May—so you see, it will really be a May-flower Feast.”
“The Boy Scouts are going to pick the flowers for us!” chimed the Tike, her good-natured face beaming good-fellowship at Nathalie.
“Dr. Homer—he is Mrs. Morrow’s brother—” supplemented Grace, “is the Scout Master of the Eagle Patrol, and as he is very anxious to make the boys chivalrous, he likes to have them help us all they can.”
“But we are to have a great big entertainment,” exclaimed Carol importantly, “very soon, and we’re to sell tickets so that we can make money for the Camping Fund.”