A Daughter of the Union.
by Lucy Foster Madison.
CHAPTER I
WHAT GIRLS CAN DO
"That finishes everything," exclaimed Jeanne Vance, placing a neatly folded handkerchief in a basket. "And oh, girls, what a little bit of a pile it makes!"
The five girls drew their chairs closer to the basket and gazed ruefully at its contents.
"How many handkerchiefs are there, Jeanne?" asked one.
"There are fifty handkerchiefs and five pairs of socks. It seemed like a great many when we took them to make, but what do they amount to after all?"
"There isn"t much that girls can do anyway," spoke another. "If we were boys we could go to the war, or, if we were women we could be nurses. I don"t like being just a girl!"
"Well, I wouldn"t mind it so much if there was anything I could do,"
remarked Jeanne who seemed to be the leader. "But when d.i.c.k is in the army, father in government service, and mother at work all day in the Relief a.s.sociation, it is pretty hard not to be able to do anything but hem handkerchiefs and make socks."
"A great many persons don"t even do that," said Nellie Drew, the youngest girl of the party. "And they are grown-up people, too."
"Then the more shame to them," cried Jeanne indignantly. "In such a war as ours every man, woman and child in the United States ought to be interested. I don"t see how any one can help being so. For my part, I am going to do all that I can for the soldiers if it is only to hem handkerchiefs."
"What else could we do? We can"t help being girls, and Miss Thornton was pleased when we asked for more work. She said that our last socks were done as well as women could do them. I am sure that that is something."
"That is true," admitted Jeanne soberly. "I have heard mother say that some of the things were so poorly made that the ladies were ashamed to send them to the front, but that often the need was so urgent that they were compelled to do it. I am willing to knit socks and to hem handkerchiefs, but I would like to do something else too. There is so much to be done that I don"t feel as if I were doing all that I might do."
"We don"t either, Jeanne, and if you know of anything we will gladly help to do it," cried the girls together.
"I don"t know of anything else, girls, but maybe I can think of something," said Jeanne, looking at the earnest faces before her.
It was a bright May afternoon in the year of 1862, and the great conflict between the North and the South was waging fiercely. The terrible battle of Shiloh of the month before had dispelled some of the illusions of the North and the people were awakening to the fact that a few victories were not sufficient to overthrow the Confederacy.
Aid societies under the United States Sanitary Commission for the relief of the soldiers were springing up all over the Union, and patriotism glowed brightly inflaming the hearts of rich and poor alike. This zeal was not confined to the old but animated the minds of the young as well.
Numerous instances are recorded of little girls who had not yet attained their tenth year denying themselves the luxuries and toys they had long desired and toiling with a patience and perseverance wholly foreign to childish nature, to procure or to make something of value for their country"s defenders.
Our group of girls was only one among many banded together for the purpose of doing whatever they could for the relief of the boys in blue, and their young hearts were overwhelmed with a sense of their impotence.
Jeanne Vance, a tall, slender, fair-haired girl of sixteen, serious and thoughtful beyond her years, was the leader in every patriotic enterprise of her a.s.sociates.
Her father since the beginning of the war had devoted himself exclusively to furthering the interests of the government; her mother was a prominent worker in The Woman"s Central Relief a.s.sociation, giving her whole time to collecting supplies and money to be forwarded to the front and providing work for the wives, mothers and daughters of the soldiers.
Her brother, Richard Vance, had responded to the first call of President Lincoln to arms: thus the girl was surrounded by influences that filled her being to the utmost with intense loyalty to the Union.
As she looked at the eagerly waiting girls around her a sudden inspiration came to her.
"Let"s give a fair, girls. We could make pretty things to sell and I am willing that all my toys and games shall be sold too. Perhaps we could get a great deal of money that way, and I am sure that even a little would be welcome."
"But how about the socks and handkerchiefs? Shall we give up making them?"
"No, indeed! We must keep right on with those, but this fair will be all our own effort. I believe that we will feel as if we were really doing something worth while if we can manage it. What do you say?"
"It is the very thing," cried they. "When shall we begin?"
"This afternoon," said Jeanne energetically. "There is no time like the present. This is May. We ought to be ready by the last of June. We can do a great deal in that time if we work hard."
"And we can get our mothers to help us too," suggested Nellie Drew.
"We ought not to do that, Nellie," replied Jeanne seriously. "They are so busy themselves, and it would not be truly ours if we have the older ones to help. Don"t you think we ought to do just the very best we can without them?"
"Oh, yes, yes!" chorused the girls.
"I can make pretty pin cushions," said a girl about Jeanne"s age. "I will make as many of them as I can."
"I can do pen wipers very nicely, mamma says," spoke Nellie modestly.
"Mother always lets me help dress the dolls for Christmas," cried another.
"Where will we have it, Jeanne?"
Jeanne looked puzzled for a moment. "I"ll tell you, girls. Let"s have it on our steps. We"ll have a big card telling all about it printed and put up. Then people will stop and buy things when they know it is for the soldiers."
"On your steps," cried Nellie. "Oh, Jeanne, will your mother let you? It is right on Fifth Avenue."
"Why, mother won"t care!" answered Jeanne, surprised at the question.
"Fifth Avenue is the best place in New York for anything of the sort, because so many well-to-do people pa.s.s, and they will be sure to be generous for the soldiers" sake."
"Mercy, Jeanne, where did you learn so much about things?" gasped Nellie in admiration. "I wouldn"t have thought of that."
"Well," said Jeanne, flushing at the praise, "I hear mother and the ladies talking, you know. They say that such things must always be taken into consideration. If you have anything to sell, or you want money, you must go where there is money to be had. I know the ladies do that in their fairs."
"Then of course that is the way to do," remarked a tall girl decidedly.
"Let"s take our handkerchiefs and socks to the Relief rooms and begin right away."
The girls set to work joyfully, and labored zealously for their fair.
Their parents were amused at their earnestness, but seeing them happy and contented encouraged them in their efforts. The days were busy ones, but the knowledge that every boat and train was bringing hundreds of wounded soldiers into the hospitals from the disastrous Yorktown campaign spurred them to greater exertion, until at last they declared themselves ready to open the sale.
Handkerchiefs, ap.r.o.ns, homemade candies, dolls, with all the paraphernalia belonging to them, pin cushions, pen wipers, and books, presented a goodly appearance as they were spread enticingly upon the steps of the mansion in lower Fifth Avenue. A large card, which Mr. Vance had had printed for them with the inscription, "For the relief of our wounded and sick soldiers. Please buy," reared its head imposingly over the articles, and five little maids, neatly dressed, stood in expectant att.i.tude eagerly watching each pa.s.ser-by in the hope of a customer.
The placard caught the eyes of an elderly man, and the little girls could scarcely conceal their delight as he paused before them.
"Well, my little ladies, what have we here?" he asked kindly. "For the soldiers, eh? Who put you up to this?"
"No one, sir," answered Jeanne as the other girls shrank back abashed.
"We are doing it ourselves to help buy things for the boys."
"But who made the articles?" queried the old gentleman. "I am a poor judge of such things, but these handkerchiefs seem to be very neatly done. They are not of your making, I presume."