Chapter 5

SecretsThere were a great many clubs in Harmony Village, but as weintend to interest ourselves with the affairs of the young folks only,we need not dwell upon the intellectual amusements of the elders.

　　In summer, the boys devoted themselves to baseball, the girls toboating, and all got rosy, stout, and strong, in these healthfulexercises. In winter, the lads had their debating club, the lasses adramatic ditto. At the former, astonishing bursts of oratory wereheard; at the latter, everything was boldly attempted, from Romeoand Juliet to Mother Goose's immortal melodies. The two clubsfrequently met and mingled their attractions in a really entertainingmanner, for the speakers made good actors, and the youngactresses were most appreciative listeners to the eloquence of eachbudding Demosthenes.

　　Great plans had been afoot for Christmas or New Year, but whenthe grand catastrophe put an end to the career of one of the best"spouters," and caused the retirement of the favorite "singingchambermaid," the affair was postponed till February, whenWashington's birthday was always celebrated by the patriotic town,where the father of his country once put on his nightcap, or tookoff his boots, as that ubiquitous hero appears to have done in everypart of the United States.

　　Meantime the boys were studying Revolutionary characters, andthe girls rehearsing such dramatic scenes as they thought mostappropriate and effective for the 22d. In both of these attemptsthey were much helped by the sense and spirit of Ralph Evans, ayouth of nineteen, who was a great favorite with the young folks,not only because he was a good, industrious fellow, who supportedhis grandmother, but also full of talent, fun, and ingenuity. It wasno wonder everyone who really knew him liked him, for he couldturn his hand to anything, and loved to do it. If the girls were indespair about a fire-place when acting "The Cricket on theHearth," he painted one, and put a gas-log in it that made the kettlereally boil, to their great delight. If the boys found the interest oftheir club flagging, Ralph would convulse them by imitations ofthe "Member from Cranberry Centre," or fire them with speechesof famous statesmen. Charity fairs could not get on without him,and in the store where he worked he did many an ingenious job,which made him valued for his mechanical skill, as well as for hisenergy and integrity.

　　Mrs. Minot liked to have him with her sons, because they alsowere to paddle their own canoes by and by, and she believed that,rich or poor, boys make better men for learning to use the talentsthey possess, not merely as ornaments, but tools with which tocarve their own fortunes; and the best help toward this end is anexample of faithful work, high aims, and honest living. So Ralphcame often, and in times of trouble was a real rainy-day friend.

　　Jack grew very fond of him during his imprisonment, for the goodyouth ran in every evening to get commissions, amuse the boy withdroll accounts of the day's adventures, or invent lifts, bed-tables,and foot-rests for the impatient invalid. Frank found him a sureguide through the mechanical mysteries which he loved, and spentmany a useful half-hour discussing cylinders, pistons, valves, andbalance-wheels. Jill also came in for her share of care and comfort;the poor little back lay all the easier for the air-cushion Ralph gother, and the weary headaches found relief from the spray atomizer,which softly distilled its scented dew on the hot forehead till shefell asleep.

　　Round the beds of Jack and Jill met and mingled the schoolmatesof whom our story treats. Never, probably, did invalids have gayertimes than our two, after a week of solitary confinement; forschool gossip crept in, games could not be prevented, andChristmas secrets were concocted in those rooms till they wereregular conspirators dens, when they were not little Bedlams.

　　After the horn and bead labors were over, the stringing of pop-cornon red, and cranberries on white, threads, came next, and Jack andJill often looked like a new kind of spider in the pretty webs hungabout them, till reeled off to bide their time in the Christmascloset. Paper flowers followed, and gay garlands and bouquetsblossomed, regardless of the snow and frost without. Then therewas a great scribbling of names, verses, and notes to accompanythe steadily increasing store of odd parcels which were collected atthe Minots', for gifts from everyone were to ornament the tree, andcontributions poured in as the day drew near.

　　But the secret which most excited the young people was the deepmystery of certain proceedings at the Minot house. No one butFrank, Ralph, and Mamma knew what it was, and the two boysnearly drove the others distracted by the tantalizing way in whichthey hinted at joys to come, talked strangely about birds, wentmeasuring round with foot-rules, and shut themselves up in theBoys Den, as a certain large room was called. This seemed to bethe centre of operations, but beyond the fact of the promised treeno ray of light was permitted to pass the jealously guarded doors,Strange men with paste-pots and ladders went in, furniture wasdragged about, and all sorts of boyish lumber was sent up garretand down cellar. Mrs. Minot was seen pondering over heaps ofgreen stuff, hammering was heard, singular bundles weresmuggled upstairs, flowering plants betrayed their presence bywhiffs of fragrance when the door was opened, and Mrs. Pecq wascaught smiling all by herself in a back bedroom, which usually wasshut up in winter.

　　"They are going to have a play, after all, and that green stuff wasthe curtain," said Molly Loo, as the girls talked it over one day,when they sat with their backs turned to one another, putting laststitches in certain bits of work which had to be concealed from alleyes, though it was found convenient to ask one another's taste asto the color, materials, and sizes of these mysterious articles.

　　"I think it is going to be a dance. I heard the boys doing their stepswhen I went in last evening to find out whether Jack liked blue oryellow best, so I could put the bow on his pen-wiper," declaredMerry, knitting briskly away at the last of the pair of pretty whitebed-socks she was making for Jill right under her inquisitive littlenose.

　　"They wouldn't have a party of that kind without Jack and me. It isonly an extra nice tree, you see if it isn't," answered Jill frombehind the pillows which made a temporary screen to hide thetoilet mats she was preparing for all her friends.

　　"Everyone of you is wrong, and you d better rest easy, for youwon't find out the best part of it, try as you may." And Mrs. Pecqactually chuckled as she, too, worked away at some bits of muslin,with her back turned to the very unsocial-looking group.

　　"Well, I don't care, we ve got a secret all our own, and won't evertell, will we?" cried Jill, falling back on the Home MissionarySociety, though it was not yet begun.

　　"Never!" answered the girls, and all took great comfort in the ideathat one mystery would not be cleared up, even at Christmas.

　　Jack gave up guessing, in despair, after he had suggested a newdining-room where he could eat with the family, a private schoolin which his lessons might go on with a tutor, or a theatre for theproduction of the farces in which he delighted.

　　"It is going to be used to keep something in that you are very fondof," said Mamma, taking pity on him at last.

　　"Ducks?" asked Jack, with a half pleased, half puzzled air, notquite seeing where the water was to come from.

　　Frank exploded at the idea, and added to the mystification bysaying,"There will be one little duck and one great donkey in it." Then,fearing he had told the secret, he ran off, quacking and brayingderisively.

　　"It is to be used for creatures that I, too, am fond of, and you knowneither donkeys nor ducks are favorities of mine," said Mamma,with a demure expression, as she sat turning over old clothes forthe bundles that always went to poor neighbors, with a little storeof goodies, at this time of the year.

　　"I know! I know! It is to be a new ward for more sick folks, isn't it,now?" cried Jack, with what he thought a great proof ofshrewdness.

　　"I don't see how I could attend to many more patients till this oneis off my hands," answered Mamma, with a queer smile, addingquickly, as if she too was afraid of letting the cat out of the bag:

　　"That reminds me of a Christmas I once spent among the hospitalsand poor-houses of a great city with a good lady who, for thirtyyears, had made it her mission to see that these poor little soulshad one merry day. We gave away two hundred dolls, several greatboxes of candy and toys, besides gay pictures, and new clothes toorphan children, sick babies, and half-grown innocents. Ah, myboy, that was a day to remember all my life, to make me doublygrateful for my blessings, and very glad to serve the helpless andafflicted, as that dear woman did."The look and tone with which the last words were utteredeffectually turned Jack's thoughts from the great secret, and startedanother small one, for he fell to planning what he would buy withhis pocket-money to surprise the little Pats and Biddies who wereto have no Christmas tree.