Girl Scouts at Dandelion Camp, Page 9

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE CABINET MAKERS

  When the last cloud of dust told the scout girls that their friends haddisappeared down the road, they turned to the Captain. Julie evidentlyhad an idea she wished to express.

  "Now that we have time, let's find that strawberry field and gather somefor supper. It is allowable on Sunday, isn't it?"

  "If it's for use and not for pleasure, it is right," said the Captain.

  "Well, one can't exactly say it is for use, as one can do withoutberries; but they will taste mighty good with 'Liza's cake, you know,"laughed Joan.

  "And we can honestly say they are not for pleasure," added Betty.

  "They are for gustatory pleasures," teased Mrs. Vernon.

  "Girls! Seeing our Captain is so particular, suppose we exempt her fromany obligation she fears we might incur by picking berries on Sunday. Isay, we will gather the fruit on our own responsibility but she shallnot eat of that forbidden fruit, either," declared Julie, but at thispoint she was interrupted by Mrs. Vernon.

  "Oh, no, indeed! As your guardian and Captain, I cannot have you eatberries on Sunday unless I, too, participate!"

  With this form of banter they passed the time until the clearing in thewoods was found where the berries grew in thick profusion.

  "Oh, my! what a lot of them!" exclaimed the girls, as they jumped thedeep ditch and fell to picking the luscious fruit.

  "U-mm! Verny, you never tasted anything so delicious!" called Julie tothe Captain who was seeking a safe spot to cross to the berry-patch.

  After a silent time during which every one seemed hard at work, Mrs.Vernon stood up and called out: "How many quarts have you ready forsupper, girls?"

  Julie also stood up and laughed: "I am not sure how many quarts I canhold, but there is still room for some more."

  "We haven't any other holder to put the fruit in--that's why I am eatingmine," said Ruth, in self-defense.

  "You'll not be able to say that in another few minutes. Now begin topick and save the berries until I come again," said the Captain, goingover to a clump of white birches.

  "I know what: she's going to strip some bark and make cornucopias for usto use," explained Joan, as she saw Mrs. Vernon tear strips from thetrees.

  And that is just what she did. Each girl was given a deep cornucopia andsoon the holders were full of berries. As each one had eaten plentifullyof the fruit, as well, they were ready to start up the road again.

  "Girls, we can gather berries to eat every day and still have plenty tocan," said the Captain, as they neared the camp.

  "To can! how could we can any out here in the woods?"

  "I'll show you. To-morrow when the man comes from Freedom for ourTuesday order, I will tell him to bring us a box of fruit jars. Then wewill experiment on the berries. Wild fruit always is much sweeter thanthe cultivated kind."

  "I've been wondering what we can give our visitors for a dinner, shouldwe try to cook for them without asking for supplies from home?" venturedBetty, who had been rather silent during the walk to camp.

  "I believe we can find enough good things right in the woods to givethem, without falling back upon any store-food at all," replied Mrs.Vernon.

  The girls looked amazed, and Ruth said laughingly: "Then they'll have toeat grass!"

  "You wait and see! When I explain my menu you will be gratified, Ithink," said the Captain.

  It was found that Eliza had left enough soup in a pan so that, withheating, it was sufficient for supper. That, with the cake and berries,quite satisfied the girls. Then seated about the embers of thenight-fire, they planned for work on the morrow.

  Monday morning, as soon as the usual work was finished, the campersbegan to mix the clay cement for the walls. Filling up the crevices keptthem busy till noon, and then they were eager to get through with thedinner and start on something new.

  "Now that your new abode is finished, I wonder how you would like tofill it with furniture," suggested Mrs. Vernon.

  "Furniture! We haven't any here, and I doubt if our folks can spareanything they might have," Joan replied.

  "I meant for you to make it," responded the Captain.

  "Make it--what of, boxes like those in the magazine?" said Julie,laughingly.

  "You _almost_ guessed my plan! If you come with me, girls, I'll show youwhat I mean."

  Amazed but curious, the scouts followed Mrs. Vernon to the place wherevarious boxes and barrels still waited to be used. These were examinedand sorted by the Captain, then each girl was given one to carry up tothe plateau beside the camp-ground.

  "Seems to me I remember reading about that Box Furniture, once," saidJoan, dropping her burden upon the ground.

  "We'll see if we can remember well enough to apply it now," replied theCaptain. "First I'll take this barrel. I'll saw it halfway through thecenter, like this."

  Mrs. Vernon then sawed and sawed until half the staves, where she hadcarefully drawn a pencil-line about the center of them, fell from oneside and left the other halves attached to one head end.

  "See it now!" exclaimed she, standing the barrel on end. "That halfwhere the staves are left will be the curved back of my easy-chair."

  The barrel-head which she had removed carefully from the end, that nowwas the top back of the chair, was secured upon the sawed staves to thecenter of the barrel and fastened to the back to make a seat. Then theremaining hoops were fastened securely to hold the bottom fromspreading.

  "Now girls, if we had material to cushion it and pad the back, don't youthink it would be comfortable?" said Mrs. Vernon.

  The girls laughed appreciatively, and declared it was fine! Then Juliehad an inspiration.

  "Verny, I've got just the upholstery goods for the cushions!"

  The captain smiled for she wondered if this scout had thought of thesame material she had planned to use later.

  "What is it?" demanded the other girls.

  "We'll take the burlap bag that came with Hepsy's oats, die it with somevegetable or wood dye, and stuff it with excelsior that came packedabout the pans."

  "Oh, Julie! How did you ever think of it?" cried Betty, admiringly.

  "Just what I would have said, had you not found it out first!" declaredMrs. Vernon.

  "But I don't know where to find any dyes," admitted the scout.

  "I'll tell you of some later. Now I wonder if you girls want to use thelarge barrel and copy my chair. Yours will be larger, however, as mychair was only a half-barrel size, you know."

  Being only too anxious to copy Verny's chair, the four girls began workwith a will. They took turns in sawing through the staves, even as theyhad been advised to do in building the hut, and this spared theirmuscles feeling lame or tired from the movement of the arm while sawingthe hard wood.

  "I'll leave you now to finish the chair, while I hunt along the mountaintrail to find certain dye materials," said the Captain, as the work onthe chair progressed finely.

  But the barrel-chair was finished before Mrs. Vernon returned. "Icouldn't find a thing that would do. I hunted most thoroughly, too. Yousee, it is too early for walnuts--if they were ripe we could stain thewood and burlaps a fine brown. Then I looked for different wild plantsthat will dye things, but there were none."

  "Verny, Eliza colors our Easter eggs with onion peel. I see you have alot of onions in the store-room, but I am not sure they will colorburlap," said Betty.

  "Just the thing, Betty! How wonderful of you to remember it. We willboil the skins until the water is a deep brown-orange and then we willtry it on the burlap."

  The onions had to be peeled, and this was not a pleasant task, as eyesbegan to weep and the girls had to sniffle as they skinned the onions,but they were determined to finish their upholstery work as long as theyhad started it.

  The onion peels were placed over a fire to simmer slowly and the girlsthen went to work on the excelsior filling for the cushions. Meantime,Mrs. Vernon cut the burlap the required sizes to fit the seats of thechairs, and also cut ov
al panels for the backs.

  Well, the onion peel dyed the material a soft ochre color, and was triedon the barrel-wood too. But it failed to stain that. The cushions weretacked down with small tacks, and the chairs looked most inviting to themanufacturers.

  _The cushions were tacked down with small tacks_]

  Each scout took a turn in trying the chairs, and each pronounced themmost luxurious, but Mrs. Vernon withheld such high praise as "luxury,"saying instead "They're hard as rocks!"

  "_Now_ what can we build?" asked Ruth, showing intense interest in thisform of occupation.

  Mrs. Vernon laughed. "Do you want to begin something else?"

  "Might as well, Verny. The hut has to be furnished now, as long as youhave launched us along that line," Julie replied, laughingly.

  "A table is easy to build, but you have to cut down the material for thelegs."

  "Where do table-legs grow--we'll cut them down," returned Joan,comically.

  "Wherever you find small birch-trees growing thickly together, you cancut one out. Never chop down a tree that stands alone, as it will meanshelter and shade in time to come. But a small tree can always bespared, if there are several growing in a group. The others will farebetter for the thinning out."

  "How many shall we cut?" now asked Betty.

  "Bring four, each one about two inches in diameter. We will use thethickest end of each trunk for legs, the middle sections forchair-backs, and the smallest ends for arms."

  Provided with the ax, hatchet, and woodsman knife, the scouts started ontheir quest. After they had gone, Mrs. Vernon detached one side of apacking-case and removed any nails left in the wood. As this section ofthe case had reinforced pieces along the outer edges, it would be astrong table-top.

  The rest of the day was used in building the table, and a queer lookingobject was the result. It was a cross between a stool and a four-leggedpedestal. It was rather wobbly, too, as Ruth had sawed one leg shorterthan those made by her three scout companions.

  "It might tip over, Ruth, if a visitor leans upon it," said Mrs. Vernon.

  "We'll keep a stone under that leg. It won't joggle if it's boosted up,"explained Ruth.

  "But the stone may slip out, or should one wish to move the table about,the stone will have to be carried about too."

  "Goodness me, Verny! What can I do? I can't stretch it!" cried Ruth,distractedly.

  Every one laughed, but the Captain said: "No, it won't stretch, butcan't one of you scouts suggest a remedy?"

  When they realized that they all were called upon to share theresponsibility of the tilting table, they puckered their foreheads andput on their thinking-caps.

  "I know! We'll tack a little end of the wood to the bottom of the leg,"called Joan, excitedly.

  Ruth cast a scornful look at Joan, as much as to say: "I'd like to seeany one sticking a block under that leg!"

  "Verny, we might take the leg off and saw a new one," suggested Betty.

  "We could, and I suppose that would be the only correct way to do it,but I am thinking of another and easier way," replied the Captain.

  "Oh! I guess I know! How will it do to saw all three legs off so theywill be the same length as Ruth's short one?" exclaimed Julie, slappingher knee.

  Mrs. Vernon smiled for that was what she wanted the scouts to discover.At the same time, she was deeply interested in the fact that Juliealways seemed to catch her thoughts and express them exactly as shemight have done. This showed her that Julie was very mental, and wasopen to every good and helpful suggestion from thought-waves.

  That evening the Captain said: "It feels as if we might have rain soon.I hope it doesn't come before Wednesday, as I am conscious of neglectingan important work."

  "What is it?" cried four anxious voices.

  "Hepsy's shed. You see we were going to build her stable as soon as wecompleted the house, but we began our furniture instead. Hepsy hadenjoyed the fresh air and fine pasturage on the plateau this last week,but she dislikes the rain."

  "Oh, dear! I forgot all about her shed," cried Betty.

  "So did we. If she only had complained now and then! But she went abouther business so quietly!" sighed Joan.

  "Verny, if it rains we must invite Hepsy into our hut! If we neglectedto build her shed because of our fine furniture, then she must beadmitted to the palace itself!" said Ruth, decidedly.

  "That's what we will, Verny! Hepsy won't hurt the hut."

  And the Captain secretly exulted to find that Ruth was fast forgettingself in feeling responsibility for others--even a horse; while the otherscouts thought nothing of their work unless it was put to some good use.

  But it did not rain that night, nor in the morning, although the sky wasgray and overcast. Hepsy had a shed all built before the first dropsfell late that afternoon; there were several liberal ventilationcrevices between the logs of the sidewalls, however.

  The floor of the shed had been laid _a la corduroy_ style--as so manyboggy roads are built upon in the west. The logs in this case wereplaced side by side in a bed of clay, and when the girls pressed downfirmly upon the flooring, the clay oozed up between the joints andhardened there. In a few days the floor would be as solid as a rock andcould be washed off with broom and water.

  Hepsy had more than enough dry leaves for a bedding that first night, asthe scouts thought she might take cold if she slept on the damp floor.Mrs. Vernon smiled, but said nothing as she knew the heap of leaveswould keep Hepsy from cutting the soft clay with her hoofs. When theflooring was hard and dry nothing could hurt it.

  Supper that night was rather a gloomy affair as everything was wet, andthe fire would not burn. So they gathered in the hut and ate cold food.This started a discussion on fireplaces.

  "You said maybe there was a chance of building a chimney," venturedJoan.

  "Yes, but we have been doing so much, I forgot about it," confessed theCaptain.

  "A fireplace would feel great on a night like this," said Julie.

  "Verny, if clay will harden in chinks of the walls, and make a solidflooring, why won't it hold stones together in a chimney?" now askedRuth, eagerly.

  "It will, if we can find stones that will fit properly. I wouldn'tattempt to do the mason work with round cobble-stones such as are usedin most chimneys in bungalow houses."

  "Did you mean it when you said a chimney might be built if we leaned itagainst the rocky wall back of the rear wall of the hut?" asked Joan.

  "No, I was only fooling when I spoke of leaning it--because a chimney hasto be most accurately constructed or it will smoke one out of theplace."

  "Let's build the chimney to-morrow!" begged Ruth, eagerly.

  "Oh, my dears! We haven't done anything but build--build--build sincewe've been here. There are so many other things I want you to do that achimney can wait."

  "If we agree to do what other things you want us to, why can't we usethe forty-five minutes of recreation that is ours each day to build thechimney?" persisted Ruth.

  Mrs. Vernon laughed. But the eager faces of the girls showed her theywere in earnest. Besides, what difference did it make in the end whethershe was teaching them to build a stone chimney or how to mend a pair ofstockings? If it was true work and done with the right motive back ofit, it was progressive.

  So she finally said: "All right, you may have two hours a day forchimney work, and the rest we will devote to my pursuits."

  "Hurrah! we ought to finish the chimney in three days!" exclaimed Julie.

  Thus the second week passed quickly away. The little stone chimney wasfinished and presented a very artistic addition to the room. But itbecame so much smaller as it rose higher, that at the top it was onlylarge enough for a tiny opening for the escape of smoke. Unfortunately,this caused the fireplace to smoke dreadfully when a fire was started,but once the bed of embers was well started, an additional bit of woodjudiciously used did not cause every one to choke and run from the room.

  In one of the hikes, the scouts had found a wild grapevine, but it hadb
een severed from the root, and hung from the tree-trunk without leavesor fruit. It was more than an inch thick, so Mrs. Vernon had the girlscarefully cut it down and carry it back to camp.

  "The graceful curves of this twisted vine will make the prettiest chairimaginable, with back, arms and legs entwined, and holding up the seatof boards. Smaller bits of the gnarled vine will make flower-brackets,rustic hanging-baskets, and also a cord by which to suspend thesignboard of Dandelion Camp," remarked the Captain.

  "If we only had a Turkish rug for the floor, our hut would lookwonderful!" sighed Joan, admiring the latest additions.

  "Why cry for the moon when you can have the sun?" laughed Mrs. Vernon.

  "What do you mean? Did you bring a rug?" asked Joan, quickly.

  "Oh, we forgot that crex mat, didn't we? Do you suppose it is still downin the bushes?" asked Betty, anxiously.

  "I quite forgot it myself, girls. But that was not what I meant justnow. The moment Joan mentioned a rug, I thought of something I readabout in the Handbook. We ought to weave a mat of grass or willows forthat palace."

  "If we only could! It would be so in keeping," said Betty, softly, thather voice would not interrupt the others who were loudly acclaiming thisidea from the Captain.

  "I wish to goodness Sunday were a week away so we could finish up allthe fine plans we have started," sighed Ruth.

  "Well, Ruth, only _our_ folks are coming out this Sunday, you know, andwe needn't mind them much. If it wasn't that we needed 'Liza's cake andbread and other things, we could have postponed the call for a week,"said Betty, condolingly.

  As usual, Betty's candor made them laugh, and Mrs. Vernon said: "Yes, Ifear our invitation had an awfully big string to it this week."