THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 
 SOCIETIES 
 
00010737900 
 
 ^V 
 
 7^ i/c^Uf^ 
 
 
SUNSHINE LIBRARY. 
 
 Aunt Hannah and Seth. B}- James Otis. 
 
 Blind Brother (The). By Homer Greene. 
 
 Captain's Dog (The>. By Louis finault. 
 
 Cat and the Candle (The). By Mary F. Leonard. 
 
 Christmas at Deacon Hackett's. By James Otis. 
 
 Christmas=Tree Scholar. By Frances Bent Dillingham. 
 
 Dear Little Marchioness. 
 
 The Story of a Child's Faith and Love. 
 Dick In the Desert. By James Otis. 
 Divided Skates. By Evelyn Raymond. 
 Gold Thread (The'i. By Norman MacLeod, D.D. 
 Half a Dozen Thinking Caps. By Mary Leonard. 
 How Tommy Saved the Barn. By James Otis. 
 Ingleside. By Barbara Yechton. 
 J. Cole. By Emma Gellibrand. 
 Jessica's First Prayer. By Hesba Stretton. 
 Laddie. By the author of " Miss Toosey's Mission." 
 Little Crusaders. By Eva Madden. 
 Little Sunshine's Holiday. By Miss Mulock. 
 Little Peter. By Lucas Malet. 
 Master Sunshine. By Mrs. C. F. Eraser. 
 Miss Toosey's Mission. By the author of " Laddie." 
 Musical Journey of Dorothy and Delia. 
 
 By Bradley Oilman. 
 Our Uncle, the Major. A Story of 1765. By James Otis. 
 Pair of Them (A). By Evelyn Raymond. 
 Playground Toni. By Anna Chapin Ray. 
 Play Lady (The'*. By Ella Farman Pratt. 
 Prince Prigio. By Andrew Lang. 
 Short Cruise (A). By James Otis. 
 Smoky Days. By Edward W. Thomson. 
 Strawberry Hill. By Mrs. C. F. Eraser. 
 Sunbeams and Moonbeams. By Louise R. Baker. 
 Two and One. By Charlotte M. Vaile. 
 Wreck of the Circus (The). By James Otis. 
 Young Boss (The). By Edward W. Thomson. 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY, 
 NEW YORK. 
 
The rioonbeams at Work. 
 
1 9'<^^ 
 
 Sunbeams AND Moonbeams 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUISE R. BAKER 
 
 . Author or " Cis Martin 
 
 //-/, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, 1899, 
 By Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. 
 
DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER 
 
 BY 
 
 HER AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER 
 
 Louise R. Baker. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Sunbeam Club 1 
 
 The Moonbeam Club 89 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HE light fell into the basement of the old 
 church through the square, frosted windows ; 
 not very much light, for it was a rainy Sun- 
 day. Sunday school was being held in the 
 basement; and here and there was a class gathered 
 together, and sitting up in a very decorous manner in 
 the straight-backed pews. In one of the pews were six 
 girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen years. 
 They belonged to a class that was very proud of never 
 missing Sunday school. Usually these girls were ex- 
 cited on a day when it rained, but this morning they 
 seemed to be rather listless. The truth is, they were 
 beo-inninsr to feel that vacation was a dull season of 
 the year; they had been out of school two weeks, and 
 already they were longing for September and school- 
 books. Even in the dim light that found its way through 
 the frosted windows, one could tell by the dresses of 
 the six girls that they belonged to well-to-do parents* 
 They said their lesson, and joined in the hymn with the 
 rest of the classes, and settled back in the pew again to 
 wait for the rain to hold up a bit. 
 
 1 
 
2 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 Every one in the dim basement had a perfect right 
 to feel proud for coming to Sunday school on such 
 a morning. The rain was pouring in torrents ; it 
 dashed against the window panes in a fury. The ever- 
 greens in the churchyard groaned dismally as they 
 swayed to and fro, and every now and then a branch 
 brushed across one of the frosted windows. Then so 
 suddenly that a very little boy cried "Oh ! " the beauti- 
 ful sun burst through the clouds, the trees discontinued 
 to sway, and the rain gave a farewell splash and dash 
 against the windows. The storm was over ; and the chil- 
 dren hurried out of the large room, eager to look at the 
 rainbow. 
 
 The six girls gathered up their rubber-coats and 
 pulled on their overshoes. They, too, at last, were 
 excited. 
 
 "Isn't it glorious!" exclaimed Annie Winthrop, as 
 the class stepped into the churchyard, and walked along 
 together down the strip of pavement to the street. 
 " Doesn't a person feel good after a rain ? " 
 
 " I think it's the sun makes people feel good," returned 
 Effie Dorcus, the little girl with the great velvety eyes 
 and the light curls. 
 
 " Doesn't the sun seem glad ! " cried Lula Briggs 
 enthusiastically ; and the rest of the class laughed. 
 
 " I suppose the sun feels glad because it has some- 
 thing to do," remarked Carrie Offutt. " Oh, girls, just 
 think of all the sun has to do ! " 
 
 " Do you mean dry up the grass ? " inquired practical 
 Rose Thompson. 
 
TUB SUNBJEAM CLUB. 3 
 
 " Yes, and the trees," said Carrie ; " and give every- 
 thing new life, and take the puddles out of the streets, 
 and make the flowers bloom, and ever so many other 
 things." 
 
 " And poor us," said Effie, shaking her curls ; " we 
 haven't anything at all to do since vacation's come."' 
 
 " Poor us ! " echoed the rest of the class, half laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 "I practised last week until I felt as if I never 
 wanted to look at the piano again," continued Effie ; 
 " and then I took my sketch-book, and went out sketch- 
 ing for three-quarters of a day. Nobody knew where I 
 was ; and papa was frightened when I didn't come home 
 for lunch ; and, after all, my sketches were horrid." 
 
 " I don't believe a person can do anything right in 
 vacation," said Lula. " I thought I'd study my history 
 for next year, and I got over fift}- pages in three days. 
 On the fourth day I asked mamma to hear me, and I 
 missed the first question." 
 
 " Oh, Lula ! " cried the class, in a shocked voice. 
 
 " It's true," said Lula ; " and mamma said she didn't 
 wonder, that vacation wasn't the time to study history." 
 
 " Oh, Lula ! " cried the class again. 
 
 There was such an exaggeration of the shocked ele- 
 ment in the five voices that Lula, who was about to 
 become angry, laughed instead, and asked what the rest 
 of them had been trying to do. 
 
 " I don't believe I'm brave enough to confess," said 
 Madge Hilton, a fat little girl with very black eyes. 
 
 "Nor I," "Nor I," " Nor I," cried the other three. 
 
4 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Effie and I have been very frank," said Lula ; " the 
 rest of you ouglit to follow our example." 
 
 " If Madge tells what she's been doing or trying to do, 
 111 tell about myself," said Carrie. 
 
 "And so will I," said Annie. 
 
 "And so will I," said Rose, in such a tone of quiet 
 deliberation that her listeners laug^hed outris^ht. 
 
 " Well," acknowledged Madge, " I thought I'd learn 
 something about astronomy before next year; and I 
 studied hard a week, and then I took papa out star- 
 gazing." 
 
 " Oh ! you've been getting ahead of the rest of us," 
 cried Effie. "I don't think that was fair." 
 
 " Pride has had its fall," said Madge dolefully. " I 
 got so tangled up when I looked at the stars with papa 
 beside me that I didn't know a constellation ; and what 
 do you think papa had to point out to me ? " 
 
 "Not the Milky Way?" cried the class. 
 
 " It was very nearly that bad," answered Madge. " I 
 felt like crying when he showed me the Little Dipper 
 with the North Star in the handle." 
 
 " Oh, well, you would have cried if you'd been me, 
 last Wednesday," said Annie Winthrop, her cheeks 
 flushing hotly. " I had been going ahead with my 
 French, and when Aunt Maud came to spend the even- 
 ing mamma called on me to read a French exercise. If 
 I'd been content to read one of those I had gone over at 
 school I would have done well enouo-h, thouo-h I never 
 was very good at French. But, no ; I determined to 
 read something that I'd learned during the vacation, 
 
TUB SUNBEAM CLUB. 5 
 
 and so, and so — Oh, girls ! you won't mind if I don't 
 tell you?" 
 
 "Humiliation is good for the soul," said Carrie. 
 '' Remember that my turn is still to come, and bear up." 
 
 " It was dreadful," murmured Annie. 
 
 " Did you make very many mistakes before your 
 aunt? " inquired Effie gravely. 
 
 " Many ? " cried Annie. '' The whole thing was a 
 mistake ; I read the Avrong exercise. I thought it was 
 the one about getting the fox and goose over to the 
 island, and it was the one about the donkey. I got so 
 mixed up that Aunt Maud looked over my shoulder, 
 and cried, *• Why, Annie, you're reading the wrong 
 exercise.' You can imagine how I felt; and my mother 
 was so surprised." 
 
 "Vacation isn't the time of year to study French," 
 said Effie decidedly. 
 
 "That's what mamma said after she overcame her 
 surprise," said Annie. "I'd read the English, you 
 know, when I studied, — the way I always declared we 
 ought to study at school, — and I was perfectly sure it 
 was the exercise about the fox and goose. I'll never 
 forget Aunt Maud's expression when she cried, ' Why, 
 Annie, you're reading the wrong exercise. This is the 
 one about the donkey.' " 
 
 " Now, Carrie, tell your story," said one of the girls, 
 in a whisper ; they all felt very sorry for Annie. 
 
 " My tale of woe," said Carrie, " has nothing to do 
 with anything so hifalutin as astronomy or French; 
 it's about mathematics." 
 
6 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "O Carrie!" cried the class. Every one present 
 knew that mathematics was Carrie's weak point. 
 
 " I offered to cut out a dress for the baby, and I cut 
 it out by measurement. Of course I got my measure- 
 ments wrong. Mother was nearly worried to death. 
 She hasn't got over wishing that I'd cut it too large 
 instead of too small. I ruined the goods, and it was 
 very expensive. The only person in the house that 
 didn't mind was the baby ; bless its little heart ! You 
 may laugh, girls ; but it is no fun to have to pay for an 
 expensive baby dress out of a person's allowance, and 
 that is what my mistake means to me. Mother says it 
 will make me more careful. Now, Rose, give in your 
 experience." 
 
 " Oh, I," said Rose, sighing ; " I undertook to teach 
 Willie Latin." 
 
 " Rose, you didn't ? " cried the girls. 
 
 " You needn't upbraid me," said Rose very quietly. 
 " I've learned my lesson thoroughly : I'll never be con- 
 ceited again in regard to my Latin ; my little brother 
 knows more than I do. But really, as father says, vaca- 
 tion isn't the time to teach Latin." 
 
 "Your father is right," said Carrie Offutt decidedly. 
 " But it seems as if we ought to do something during 
 the vacation. I know there is a great deal we might do 
 if we could only think of the right things." 
 
 " We would have to think of so many things to last 
 the whole of the vacation," said Lula, sighing. 
 
 " Well, there are six of us to think," said Effie. 
 
 " Girls," proposed Madge, " let's range ourselves in a 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 7 
 
 line and walk down the street, and don't let's turn until 
 somebody tliinks of something for us to do." 
 
 ^'Something just the oj^posite of studying," said 
 Annie. 
 
 " French exercises anyway," said Carrie. 
 
 " And no one can speak a work until she has thought 
 of something," said Effie. 
 
 " Something practical," said Rose. 
 
 The six girls accordingly ranged themselves in a line, 
 each put out the right foot, and they started down the 
 street, keeping step as they walked. 
 
 " What if we can't think of anything ? " asked Carrie 
 suddenly. 
 
 " Silence ! " ordered Madge. 
 
 After awhile Lula Briggs heaved a sigh. Evidently 
 she had thought of nothing ; evidently, also, she was 
 weary of the silence. 
 
 But no one paid any attention to Lula's sigh. 
 
 The line of silent girls passed on down the street. 
 The sun, shining out brightly, was quickly drinking up 
 the puddles. They came to the town square, or park as 
 it was called, and passed the flower-beds fresh and 
 sparkling after the rain. The town was two miles long. 
 Suppose they would have to walk to the end of it ! 
 What if when they reached the end of it no one had yet 
 thought of something for them to do ! Would they, in 
 that case, have to splash along in the mud of the 
 country? 
 
 " We certainly are gumps not to be able to think of 
 something," thought Lula. 
 
8 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " I can't say sew," thouglit Carrie, " or they'll all 
 laugh. I can't help it if I haven't a talent for sewing. 
 I think it would be real nice for us girls to have a sew- 
 ing-circle, and make up a lot of underclothing and things. 
 If somebody doesn't hurry and think of something, I'll 
 speak right out for the sewing-circle ; we can't keep on 
 walking all day ; and the people will think us crazy if 
 we go into the country." 
 
 " It would be nice to have flower-beds," thousrht Eflie. 
 " Only I suppose it is too late in the season to begin ; 
 seeds ought to be planted in the spring of the year. 
 Oh, dear, I can't think of a thing ! " 
 
 Rose Thompson was gazing thoughtfully out before 
 her as she walked. " It will be a wise person," she was 
 thinking, " who will mention something that all six of 
 us will like to do. I never knew six girls belonging 
 to different families to have the same inclinations. I'm 
 afraid we are undertaking an utter impossibility, and I 
 don't feel like leaving the pavements for a walk in the 
 countr}'. If we had on rubber-boots it might be differ- 
 ent. Effie Dorcus," she cried suddenly, "you'll catch 
 3^our death of cold if you don't go home ; that's the third 
 puddle you've stepped into ; and your mother will be 
 blaming the whole of us." 
 
 "Oh ! " cried Effie lugubriously; " I thought you had 
 thought of something." 
 
 " I have thought of something," cried Annie ; " some- 
 thing grand, but I was afraid to break the solemn silence." 
 
 "Then we might as well turn around, girls," said 
 Madge. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 9 
 
 They turned around, and Carrie proposed that Annie 
 should get into the middle of the line. 
 
 " As nearly as she can," said practical Rose ; " there 
 are six of us." 
 
 ''' I'll walk backwards," said Carrie. " Tell me when 
 I'm coming to a mud-hole. Go ahead, Annie, we are 
 lonofinor to hear w^iat we are all to do." 
 
 "Well," said Annie, "in the first place, everybody 
 has got to think again." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Carrie disconsolately, 
 
 " After this attempt you ought to know," said Effie, 
 " that some of us can't think." 
 
 "We can take a longer time," said Annie; "and 
 then, besides, it will be different." 
 
 " It is very dull work trying to think," said Lula. 
 " One feels so very stupid when one can't think of any- 
 thing sensible. But explain yourself, mademoiselle." 
 
 " Well," said Annie, " I have thought that we might 
 form a club or a society or whatever you choose to call 
 it. We'd be Sunbeams, you know." 
 
 " Oh, that will be delicious ! " cried Effie. 
 
 " There are six of us," Annie continued ; " one for 
 each day in the week." 
 
 "Yes," said Carrie, with a gasp ; " there are just six 
 of us." 
 
 " And you know, girls, it would be difficult for six 
 girls always to want to do the same thing," said 
 Annie. 
 
 " That is what I thought," cried Rose ; " and that was 
 why I couldn't tliink of anything. Six girls all belong- 
 
10 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 ing to diiferent families are not likely to have the same 
 inclinations/' 
 
 " Well," continued Annie, " each of us, therefore, is to 
 take a da}^ of the week, and all the others are to do what 
 the girl who has the day of the week wishes them to 
 do. That is what I thought." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams, confounded. 
 
 " Girls, I don't know what you'll do on my day ! " 
 cried Carrie. 
 
 " Nor on mine," said Lula. 
 
 " Oh, I can think of something, I'm sure ! " said Rose. 
 
 " And so can I," cried Madge. 
 
 " We three, then, will take the first three days of the 
 week," said Annie. 
 
 "Annie the first," cried the rest of the Sunbeams. 
 
 " Oh, girls, let me have Saturday ! " cried Carrie ; 
 "you all know what a poor hand I am at thinking." 
 
 "And me, Friday," said Effie. 
 
 "And me, Thursday," said Lula. 
 
 In this informal manner the Sunbeam Club was formed 
 as the six members walked back up the sunwashed 
 street. 
 
 " When are you going to let us know what we are to 
 do, Annie ? " asked Carrie, to whose home they came 
 first. 
 
 " Some time this afternoon." 
 
 The Sunbeams bade one another good-by in hearty 
 good humor. The irksomeness of vacation appeared to 
 be broken. All of them were looking forward to the 
 variety and excitement of the coming week. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 11 
 
 That afternoon the excitement was increased by the 
 following short note received by five of the Sunbeams : 
 
 " Come early to-morrow morning. Wear old dresses. Mamma 
 thinks it is just splendid. 
 
 Annie Winthrop." 
 
12 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ONDAY morning, bright and early, the six 
 Sunbeams met in the library of Mrs. Win- 
 throp ; Annie herself, in a beaming condition, 
 having opened the door to the other five. 
 
 " Mamma thinks it will be real nice," said Annie, from 
 the midst of the Sunbeams. "Effie Dorcus, why didn't 
 you put on an old dress ? " 
 
 " Well ! " cried Effie, "I don't think you have looked 
 at the sleeves ! " 
 
 The members of the club laughed as they took time 
 to look at Effie's sleeves, which were a size smaller than 
 the style of the day demanded. 
 
 '' I'm sure my costume suits you. Miss Winthrop," 
 said Carrie, twirling around in front of her hostess. 
 
 ''Yes, it does," said Annie, laughing. 
 
 Carrie wore a faded gingham frock with very tight 
 sleeves, and a rather short skirt. 
 
 " I hope I'll be able to use my arms," she said. " If 
 I tear the thing, we'll have to wait till dark to come 
 home, or else borrow something." 
 
 "What are we to do?" demanded Rose. 
 
 " Where are we going ? " asked Madge. 
 
 " Some place, I hope, where nobody will make fun of 
 my waist," cried Lula. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 13 
 
 " We are going," said Annie, with an air of mystery 
 about her, "out into the country to the home of Mr. 
 Gillihxnd, the poet." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " exclaimed Carrie ; " going to see a 
 poet in such garb as this ? We'll start him to writing 
 dialect, if he hasn't already caught the disease." 
 
 " You might have allowed us to dress decently, Annie 
 Winthrop, if we are going to see a poet," said Madge. 
 
 " We won't see him," said Annie ; " he's in the city 
 every day from nine until four. Girls," she added, im- 
 pressively, " we're going to clean up the poet's house." 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed the listening Sunbeams. 
 
 "I'll take five minutes to tell you about it," said 
 Annie, " and then we're off. Remember to-day is my 
 day, and every one has to do what I order." 
 
 " Certainly," agreed the Sunbeams, in a breath. 
 
 " Well, listen. Last Saturday Mr. Gilliland was in 
 here — he's a friend of papa, you know; he was in 
 here, and he told mamma that he really was ashamed to 
 invite his friends to call at his house, everything was in 
 such a state of confusion, and yet he didn't like to put 
 a woman in to clean up the place ; he didn't know what 
 she might do with his papers. Then he looked around 
 at me and laughed ; and, indeed, indeed, girls, this is 
 what he said, ' Now, if I had a little girl like Annie, 
 there, I wouldn't be at all afraid to allow her to clean up 
 the place for me.' " 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the listeners jubilantly ; then practical 
 Rose said deliberately, " How can we get into the poet's 
 house when the poet is away ? " 
 
14 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " He never locks any of the doors," said Annie. " He 
 declares that people are not as bad as the world makes out. 
 He says he has never had anything stolen, that he 
 knows of. True, he did say also that he didn't imagine 
 there was much in his bachelor home to tempt a thief." 
 
 " I wonder if he has a broom," said Effie gravely. 
 
 "And a duster," said Madge. 
 
 ''He may have a broom," said Annie doubtingly; 
 "but I'm morally sure that Mr. Gilliland has never 
 had a duster." 
 
 " Then we'd better take both," said Carrie. 
 
 "And a dust-pan," said Rose. 
 
 " And some window-cloths," said Lula. 
 
 " Annie, run and get the things we need," cried 
 Carrie. " It's going to take us a long time to clean up 
 a bachelor's hall, and it will never do to let the poet 
 come home from the city and find us at work." 
 
 Annie made a happy exit from the library, and in a 
 few minutes she had the cook and the house-maid both 
 helping to supply her with the necessary implements 
 with which to clean up a house. 
 
 " Mamma said we could have Liza to go with us to 
 sweep," she announced, returning w4th a load ; " but I 
 refused. Mr. Gilliland might not like it ; and then, be- 
 sides, Liza has enough of work on hand. The Sunbeam 
 Club is only for us who have nothing to do." 
 
 " Exactly," said Rose. 
 
 The Sunbeams divided up the implements, Eflfie de- 
 claring that as long as she was considered to be dressed 
 so fine she would carry the broom. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 15 
 
 "People will know then that I belong to the party," 
 she said, with a merry laugh and a shake of her curls ; 
 " and perhaps they'll be too much interested to notice 
 my horrid sleeves." 
 
 Mrs. Winthrop had arranged an appetizing luncheon 
 for the workers ; and they started on their journey with 
 delight in their hearts, and determination and energy 
 showing in six pairs of springing feet. 
 
 The poet's home was half a mile from the town, 
 a little white vine-covered house, as pretty a picture 
 as one would care to see on a summer day. The 
 door was found unlocked as was expected, and the six 
 Sunbeams blithely entered. 
 
 A feeling of awe came over the girls as they stood 
 silent for a minute in the first room. It was evidently 
 the poet's study, his sanctum sanctorum. Then Carrie 
 put her hands on the great oak desk, and lifted them 
 and cried, "Girls, look at the dust; it is half an inch 
 thick ! " and after that the awed feeling passed away ; 
 and the Sunbeams threw more light upon the subject 
 by raising the poet's curtains, and looked about them 
 with interest. 
 
 "First of all we will have to sweep," said Effie, 
 flourishing her broom. 
 
 " No," said Annie ; " first of all we will have to dust." 
 
 " Dust before we sweep ! " cried Madge. " I never 
 heard of such a thing ! " 
 
 "Annie's right," said Rose. "We'll have to dust 
 and sweep, and then dust again." 
 
 "Yes," said Annie, "that's what I mean. The 
 
16 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 sweeping wouldn't count for much if we brushed all 
 the cobwebs and dust upon the clean floor. Now, girls, 
 remember, it's my day." 
 
 "Certainly," cried the five Sunbeams. 
 
 " As long as you have the %)room, Effie," Annie con- 
 tinued, " you might as well go to work brushing down 
 the cobwebs. Rose, take the hand-brush, and begin to 
 dust the chairs. The rest of us will use the common 
 dusting-cloths, Lula helping me to dust the desk, and 
 Carrie and Madge can each take a table. Girls," she 
 added impressively, " be sure to put everything back 
 in its place." 
 
 " Certainly,'' cried the Sunbeams, under orders. 
 
 Then the head of the Club clasped her hands in con- 
 sternation, and cried out, " Oh, girls ! we didn't bring any 
 dust-caps ; we'll be sights." 
 
 The Sunbeams gazed stupidly at one another. 
 
 *' What will we do ? " asked Rose of nobody in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 " Perhaps there is something in the house that will 
 answer the purpose, pillow cases or something," haz- 
 arded Madofe. 
 
 " Oh, no! we mustn't use anything in the house; not 
 the first time, anyway," said Annie. '' How many of us 
 have aprons ? " 
 
 "I," "And I," "And I," cried Rose and Lula and 
 Madge. 
 
 "And r, of course," said Annie. 
 
 " And I," cried Effie. 
 
 Five of the Sunbeams laughed in an amused way 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 17 
 
 over Effie's apron. It was a little black silk thing with 
 ribbons at the pockets. 
 
 ''It isn't large enough to cover your curls, Effie," 
 said Rose. 
 
 " I have something that will do for myself," ex- 
 claimed Carrie. " I was wise in the selection of my 
 costume ; I put on a colored petticoat." In an instant 
 Carrie liad unfastened and danced out of her colored 
 skirt, and was tying it over her brown braided hair. 
 ''Poor little Effie," she said, "it's quite big enough for 
 the two of us, and I'd be delighted to tear it in half and 
 share it ; but I'll shake the dust out and wear it home." 
 
 " Effie must have a dusting-cap," said Annie, " if we 
 have to tie several handkerchiefs together and make 
 her one." 
 
 Effie's dusting-cap, when completed, set them laugh- 
 ing afresh, even Effie herself as she gazed at her reflec- 
 tion in one of the poet's paper-weights. 
 
 "It will keep the dust off my hair, anyway," she 
 said, " and make us all think of dust-caps next time ; 
 for nobody is going to forget what a sight I am." 
 
 It took quite a long time, as one of the Sunbeams 
 had prophesied, to clean up the poet's house ; but they 
 were very proud of the transformation, especially proud 
 of the change in the poet's study, where the light fell 
 through the polished window panes upon the polished 
 desk. 
 
 " I believe that amateurs are better than professionals 
 when it comes to house-cleaning," cried Carrie enthu- 
 siastically. 
 
18 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " They take such pleasure in their work," said Rose. 
 
 " Mr. Gilliland will hardly know his own room," 
 cried Annie ; " and yet every thihg has been put back in 
 the same place." 
 
 '' Not the cobwebs," cried Effie. 
 
 " Nor the dust," echoed Lula. 
 
 " Nor the scraps of paper that the poet had torn up 
 and thrown over everything," cried Madge. " I wonder 
 if he'll try to do better, and make some use of the scrap- 
 basket?" 
 
 It was half-past two o'clock when the Sunbeams 
 settled down to their luncheon under a tree in the 
 poet's yard. When they finished eating they all went 
 back to cast a last admiring look at the sanctum. 
 
 " Annie Winthrop," cried Carrie suddenly, " suppose 
 after all Mr. Gilliland gets mad." 
 
 " And isn't a bit grateful," said Rose. " Some men 
 are that way." 
 
 " But not Mr. Gilliland," said Annie. " He's a friend 
 of papa's. Mamma said she was sure he would be 
 pleased. Wh}-, last Saturday he looked right at me 
 when he laughed and said, ' If I had a little girl, like 
 Annie there, I wouldn't be at all afraid to allow her to 
 clean up the place for me.' " 
 
 "But he might object to t??^," said Carrie. 
 
 " Well, all I've got to say is, that if he gets mad with 
 us for what we've done for him that he's not a very 
 nice kind of a man," said Effie. 
 
 " But poets are nice men, aren't they, Annie ? " 
 asked Lula. 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB. 19 
 
 " Not all of them," said Rose mournfully. " Some 
 of them are irritable, and disagreeable and mean to their 
 families. I've read about that kind." 
 
 "Mr. Gilliland is very pleasant," cried Annie; " and 
 he's a friend of papa's." 
 
 " But he'll be so surprised," said Carrie. " He'll see 
 that people have been in his house, and perhaps he'll 
 begin to lock the doors." 
 
 All the Sunbeams looked down and blushed. It was 
 not a very agreeable thought. 
 
 "After all the pains we've taken too," murmured 
 Effie. 
 
 " It's a great pity there are no such things as fairies," 
 said Rose, " so that Mr. Gilliland could imagine that he 
 had had a visit from the fairies." 
 
 " His house, you mean," corrected Carrie. " I don't 
 see how any man could help but be glad." 
 
 "The best thing for us to do," said Annie quietly, 
 "will be to confess to Mr. Gilliland." 
 
 " How ? " cried the rest of the Sunbeams. 
 
 " By leaving an explanatory note on his desk." 
 
 " But we'd have to use his pen, ink, and paper," said 
 Effie ; " and he'd think instantly that we'd been meddling 
 with his things." 
 
 "I have a note-book," said Rose ; "we can use a page 
 of that." 
 
 " And I have a pencil," said Madge. " You will 
 have to write the note, Annie." 
 
 "Yes, of course," said Carrie, "because he's your 
 papa's friend." 
 
20 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " And because it's your day, you know," said Lula. 
 
 " Yes, of course, I'll write the note," said Annie, 
 accepting the paper and pencil. Then she looked 
 around in dismay. "Girls," she inquired, "do any of 
 you know how to spell Gilliland ? " 
 
 " No," was the answer. 
 
 " Not one of you ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 '•I'll have to begin it ' Mr. Poet.' " 
 
 " Won't it look funny ? " asked Madge. 
 
 " You say ' Mr. President,' " said Effie. 
 
 " If you sa}^ ' Mr. President,' then certainly you can 
 say 'Mr. Poet,' " cried Carrie. "Oh! I'm sure it will 
 be all right." 
 
 "Dear Mr. Poet, [Annie wrote], We hope you will not 
 mind that we cleaned up your house, especially when we tell you 
 that we have nothing to do, and find vacation hanging heavy. 
 We have put everything back in its proper place, as you will find. 
 It has given us a great deal of pleasure to clean up your house ; and 
 we trust that you will let us do it again, for we have come to the 
 conclusion that in order to be happy we must be busy during the 
 vacation, and vacation is not the time to study. If you do not 
 object to what we have done to-day, and allow us to do the same 
 next week, we will be much obliged if you will let your door re- 
 main open as you are in the habit of doing, and will leave a little 
 note for us right here on your desk. We are very sorry, indeed, if 
 M'e have cleaned up your house against your will ; but we are only 
 six school-girls with nothing to do, and we have been very, very, 
 particular in putting all your papers and everything else back in 
 the same places. Very truly yours, 
 
 The Sunbeam Club. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 21 
 
 '• No," cried Carrie rapturously, after listening to this 
 letter, '^ Mr. Gilliland is not going to get mad. But do 
 let's hurry away, girls, or he might catch us." 
 
 The Sunbeams trudged off up the long green lane, 
 Effie flourishing the broom that had done such good 
 service in the poet's home. Mr. Gilliland, approaching 
 the white house by a short cut across the field, watched 
 the procession with wonder in his eyes. 
 
 " We have had a delightful day," said Rose, jumping 
 Mrs. Winthrop's diminished cake of soap from one hand 
 to the other. 
 
 " Have you thought of anything for to-morrow, Miss 
 Thompson?" asked Effie. 
 
 "Yes," returned Rose, blushing; "but it isn't any- 
 thing like this." 
 
 "'Variety's the spice of life,'" quoted Lula. 
 
 " When are you going to tell us about it ? " asked 
 Madge. 
 
 " Oh, tell us now ! " cried Annie. 
 
 " Right here in the green woods," said Effie. 
 
 " But it isn't anything about the country," said Rose. 
 
 " How are we to dress? " asked Annie. 
 
 "I'll tell you how you're to dress and what you're to 
 bring with you," said Rose ; " but I won't tell you until 
 to-morrow where we're going." 
 
 " Are we to bring dust-caps ? " asked Madge. 
 
 " I can't wear my petticoat in town," said Carrie. 
 
 " You're to dress in ordinary clothes, just as if you 
 w^ere going to school," explained Rose ; "and everybody 
 is to bring a needle and thread." 
 
22 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " My sewing-circle ! " cried Carrie, aghast. '* Well, 
 I'll have to think of something else by Saturday." 
 
 " What must we bring to sew ? " asked Lula. 
 
 " Nothing," answered Rose. 
 
 " Needles and thread and nothing to sew ; all right ! " 
 cried Carrie. 
 
 " And thimbles," added Rose. 
 
 '' Needles and thread and thimbles," repeated Effie ; 
 "and we'll know all about it to-morrow morning? " 
 
 " Yes, meet at my house just as we all met at Annie's, 
 and we'll start out together," said Rose. 
 
 The Sunbeams fell asleep that night in pleasant 
 anticipation of another busy and novel day. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I HE six members of the Sunbeam Club were 
 provided with needles and thread, according 
 to the order given on the previous evening, 
 and Rose proceeded to make known her plan 
 of operation. 
 
 " You see," she said, " there are ever so many people 
 who don't know how to sew, and yet have to make their 
 children's clothes. It is to people of this kind that we 
 will devote our attention." 
 
 " And our needles and thread," said Lula. 
 
 " First we will go to Mrs. William Engle," Rose con- 
 tinued. "She has ever so many children; she's very 
 poor; she doesn't know how to sew, but she makes all 
 the children's clothes. She has a sewing-machine, and 
 she's about to make the twins a number of dresses. 
 The poor children are perfect sights on account of their 
 clothes. The twins are to start into school in the fall." 
 
 " Decidedly, Mrs. Engle's house is a suitable place for 
 the Sunbeams," remarked Annie. 
 
 "And she won't object to our offer of assistance, will 
 she?" asked Madge. "The day somebody refuses to 
 let us in, I'm afraid I'll die." 
 
 "I'm morally certain that Mrs. Engle will be glad 
 to see us," said Rose. 
 
24 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " You mustn't let Carrie cut out any of the children's 
 dresses," said Effie, "if they're so ver}- poor." 
 
 " Carrie is to run the sewing-machine," said Rose. 
 
 "Oh, that will be fine I " cried Carrie gratefully. 
 "Even mamma allows that I can run the sewing- 
 machine." 
 
 "How old are I\Irs. Engle's cliiklren?" asked Annie. 
 
 " Oh ! there are ever so many of them, and they're all 
 ages," said Rose; "but I think she's only going to 
 make dresses for the twins." 
 
 "How mean!" cried Madge. 
 
 "The twins are to go to school," said Effie gravely. 
 "The other children's clothes, I suppose, are good 
 enough for around home." 
 
 "You can cut out clothes, can't you, Annie?" asked 
 Rose. 
 
 "Yes, if I have a pattern," answered Annie. 
 
 " You and I will cut out the dresses, then. Mamma 
 has provided me with patterns. After we finish cutting 
 out, the whole of us will tr}^ to keep up to the Sunbeam 
 running the machine. It is because I know how to cut 
 out dresses that I first thought of this plan," added 
 Rose modestly. 
 
 "Well," said Carrie, "if Vm to liave the machine, 
 somebody else had better take possession of this." 
 She took out of her pocket an emery-bag, and tossed 
 it across to Efifie. "No one can afford to sew durinor 
 
 o 
 
 w^arm weather without an emery-bag." 
 
 " Three cheers for Miss Forethought ! " cried Effie 
 rapturously. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 25 
 
 "Three more for the emery-bag," said Rose; "for we 
 certainly will need it, especially if we work as hard 
 to-day as we did yesterday. Well, girls, let's start 
 out." 
 
 " You will have to do all the talking. Rose," said 
 Carrie, "because it's your day." 
 
 " I do hope Mrs. Engle will let us in," added Madge. 
 
 Mrs. Engle let them in with a look of unbounded 
 surprise on her face ; she let them into her plain little 
 parlor, and raised the paper blind, and sat down and 
 looked at them. Three of the Sunbeams had found 
 chairs, and three of them were sitting close together 
 on the hard little parlor sofa. 
 
 " Laws ! " cried Mrs. Engle ; '' I don't know who you 
 are." 
 
 "That's Rose Thompson," said Carrie quickly; 
 "Doctor Thompson's daughter, and we, we're her 
 friends." 
 
 " Doctor Thompson's daughter, is that so ? " said 
 Mrs. Engle, regarding Rose with special interest. " Of 
 course I know Doctor Thompson ; everybody here in 
 Lovettsville is acquainted with him. So you're his 
 daughter ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Rose; "and we girls are all in the same 
 class at school and at Sunday-school ; and we've been 
 having a dull time during vacation, and we've come to 
 ask a favor of you. We've tried ever so many things, 
 but we can't study and we can't enjoy ourselves doing 
 nothing." 
 
 " Well, I declare ! " exclaimed Mrs. Engle, in fresh 
 
26 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 wonderment. "I'm sure if I could help you in any 
 way I'd be glad to do it, but I'm mortal feered you've 
 come to the wrong house/' 
 
 " We thought, perhaps, you might let us help you 
 make the twins' clothes," said Rose. 
 
 " Law ! " cried Mrs. Engle. " Well, I never ! " 
 
 "We can sew very nicely," said Effie pleadingly, 
 " and Rose and Annie can cut out beautifully, and Mrs. 
 Thompson has given Rose ever so many patterns." 
 
 " Even mamma allows that I can run the machine," 
 said Carrie. 
 
 "I am very good at making ruffles for the neck and 
 sleeves and trimming in general," said Lula. 
 
 " I can make very pretty sleeves," said Effie. 
 
 *' I always catch the threads for mamma when she 
 sews on the machine," said Madge ; " and I'll be sure to 
 catch them so that they'll never come out." 
 
 " I would rather make children's clothes than do 
 almost anything in the world," cried Annie. 
 
 " You will let us help you, won't you, Mrs. Engle ? " 
 pleaded Rose. 
 
 The woman laughed in a pleased way, cried " Law ! " 
 again, and then added dubiousl}^ ; " ^Nlebbe you young 
 ladies didn't know that I was just going to make up 
 some print and gingham dresses for the twins. There 
 ain't much fine sewing on that kind of work ; I gener- 
 ally put them through in a hurry. The twins was both- 
 erin' me about the sleeves, and I did get enough goods 
 to make them a size larger than's necessary. I wasn't 
 thinkin' of sewin' any to-day, but if I'm to have help " — 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 27 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Mrs. Engle," cried the Sunbeam Club. 
 "Then we'd better be at it," said the woman jleas- 
 antly. 
 
 " Oh Mrs. Engle, we're ever so grateful ! " murmured 
 
 Effie. 
 
 '^ Everything in this house is upside down," said Mrs. 
 Engle ; '' but the front room upstairs is the best place for 
 sewin', the light comes in pretty good, and I always 
 keep the machine there. We'll have a time keeping 
 the children out. I reckon they'll think somethin's goin' 
 on for sure." 
 
 " How many children are there ? " asked Annie. 
 
 " Seven," answered Mrs. Engle ; '' but the two oldest 
 help their father in the shop. There's five cuttin' round 
 here at home, and the twins is the biggest of the lot. 
 The twins will be six years old next week, and they're 
 wantin' to start into school in the fall ! " 
 
 Mrs. Engle kept on talking as she ushered the Sun- 
 beams into the front room, kept on talking as she pulled 
 the red cover off the machine and dusted the woodwork 
 with her apron, and then she looked around at the Sun- 
 beams and laughed. "Well," she cried, "you must 
 want to work mighty bad durin' the vacation ! " 
 
 " We do I " answered the Sunbeams. 
 
 "Now I'll fetch the goods," said Mrs. Engle. "As 
 I told you, it's nothin' but gingham and print. You 
 needn't praise it before my face, and talk about it behind 
 my back." 
 
 " Bring the twins, please," said Rose. " We will have 
 to measure the twins before we cut into the goods." 
 
28 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 When Mrs. Engle returned with the goods she was 
 followed by the five children, round-faced, healthy-look- 
 ing little children. One of the twins was carrying the 
 baby, and the other was holding three-year-old Bobby by 
 his fat little hand, while Tommy Engle followed the 
 crowd. 
 
 "Didn't I tell you they'd be around?" said Mrs. 
 Engle, putting a pile of goods upon the bed in the 
 room. " Now all of you clear out but the twins." 
 
 *' O Mrs. Engle I " cried Carrie commiseratingly ; 
 "they're too little to clear out." 
 
 *' Then set the baby back on the bed," said Mrs. Engle ; 
 " and you, Tommy, if you want to sta}^ in the room and 
 watch what the ladies is about, take Bobby and get 
 under the bed with you." 
 
 The Sunbeams laughed merrily as Tommy and Bobby 
 disappeared as if by magic under the bed in the corner 
 of the room. 
 
 The twins looked bashfully at the Sunbeams. They 
 were pretty little creatures, with great brown eyes and 
 short wav}' brown hair. The Sunbeams, looking at the 
 twins, could not tell one from tlie other ; but Mrs. Engle 
 said that Mary's eyes were darker tlian Betty's, and that 
 Betty's cheeks were redder than Clary's. " And Betty's 
 quicker on her feet and more willing than Mar}-," said 
 Mrs. Engle. "I'd ahvays ratlier send Betty to the store, 
 and she's more use around the house too. John thinks 
 that mebbe Mary will be apter with her books than 
 Betty, but that's to be seen. I thought at first that I 
 wouldn't never be able to tell 'em apart except by their 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 29 
 
 names ; that's why I didn't give 'em twin names, though 
 John wanted it ; bnt hxws ! I don't think of gettin' 'em 
 mixed nowadays. They're both the same size; I reckon 
 you won't have to take the measure of the two. Mary, 
 you stand for your measure, and Betty run along and fix 
 yourself up nice, so's to be ready for the tryin' on." 
 
 Mary's cheeks grew as red as Betty's as she stood 
 in front of Rose and had her measure taken. 
 
 " You will like to have some pretty new dresses, 
 won't you, Mary? " asked Carrie. 
 
 " Yes," said Mary. 
 
 "And you will like me to make the sleeves, won't 
 you ? " inquired Effie. 
 
 " Yes," said Mary. 
 
 " She's every bit as nice as the other one," said 
 Madee. " I believe I like her better. Just watch her 
 dimples." 
 
 Little twin Mary's dimples went in and out as Rose 
 continued taking her measure. 
 
 Mrs. Engle, who had gone from the room to help 
 Betty fix herself for the important trying-on, came 
 back and sank into a chair. 
 
 "I b'lieve I'll just set and look on and learn some'n," 
 she said. " Every married woman ought to know how 
 to sew real good. It do make a heap of difference in 
 the children's clothes. I was brought up in the country, 
 and could hoe the garden and milk and such things as 
 well as a boy, but I never was learned how to sew real 
 good. Mary and Betty, you look at the ladies too, and 
 mebbe you'll pick up some'n before you go to school." 
 
30 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 Suddenly a voice sang out from under the bed, 
 " They ain't ladies, they're girls." It was the voice of 
 Tommy Engle. 
 
 ''Well, Tommy, I'm shamed of you," cried his 
 mother. " It's good you's way back under the bed 
 where I can't get at you." 
 
 Then some one else under the bed laughed. 
 
 " Them two is a hard team to manage," said Mrs. 
 Engle. '' Boys is harder to raise than girls, anyhow." 
 
 " Ladies wear dresses below their feets," sang out 
 Tommy ; and the Sunbeams fell to laughing as they 
 worked. Several times during the day they were glad 
 that Tommy Engle was under the bed. 
 
 "He's a funny little fellow and very good too, al- 
 though his mother seems to think he isn't," said Carrie, 
 as she sat at the machine waiting for work. " I wish 
 she'd buy some gingham, and let us make him some 
 waists with deep sailor collars like little boys wear 
 nowadays." 
 
 " Bobby ought to have something too," said Madge. 
 
 " And the baby," added Effie. '' Did you ever see 
 sucli a good baby, girls ? It's been sitting there on the 
 bed, staring at us, ever since we commenced." 
 
 "And it's real pretty," said Annie. 
 
 " Mrs. Engle keeps tlie children nice and clean if she 
 is poor and if their clothes are sights," said Rose, in a 
 low voice. " And just think of all the work she has to 
 do. Every time she runs downstairs, I suppose she 
 does something towards getting the dinner." 
 
 "Girls, it's twelve o'clock," said Annie. 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB. 31 
 
 "Then we must go home for lunch," said Rose. 
 
 Mrs. Engle tried to persuade them to remain and 
 share her humble meal, declaring that she would make 
 the children wait; but the Sunbeams assured her that 
 they were expected at home, and promised to be back 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 *' We will work like Turks this afternoon, Mrs. 
 Engle," declared Carrie. 
 
 *' I think you've been workin' like Turks this morn- 
 in'," said Mrs. Engle. 
 
 '' They ain't nothin' but girls, far's I can see," said 
 Tommy Engle, in a very low voice, being mindful of 
 the fact that he had crawled out from under the bed. 
 
 The Sunbeams returned after lunch, and worked with 
 renewed energy; and it is really astonishing what a 
 quantity of work half a dozen girls in earnest can ac- 
 complish. They made four little dresses for the twins 
 and a white apron for each. Their mother might know 
 Betty and Mary apart in their pink dresses ; but the ad- 
 miring Sunbeams could not tell one from the other, and 
 they were very certain that the twins would get mixed 
 at school. 
 
 " Aren't they as pretty as a picture ? " cried Carrie. 
 Her work was over, and she had insisted that the twins 
 should each put on her little pink print frock. 
 
 " Laws ! " cried Mrs. Engle ; " who'd have thought it 
 would have made up as good as that. Laws I " she cried 
 again, "I declare if Mary's cheeks ain't as red as Betty's. 
 I shouldn't wonder if she'd be smarter on her feet, too, 
 when she's got on such a handsome costume." 
 
32 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 "I will, mother," said little Mary. 
 
 "I will keep my di^ess clean for a whole week," said 
 Betty, caressing one of the sleeves that Effie had made. 
 
 "Father won't know you apart," cried Mrs. Engle, 
 "if Mary keeps on lookin' as pleased as that." 
 
 Suddenly under the bed some one began bawling. It 
 was Tommy. 
 
 "Poor little fellow, he's hurt himself," cried Effie 
 anxiously. 
 
 "Don't you believe it," said Tommy's mother easily. 
 "I know that cry. The boy is jealous of his sisters." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 "Poor little Tommy," said Effie, stooping down and 
 looking under the bed. 
 
 " I'm comin'," threatened Mrs. Engle. " Hursh your 
 noise, Thomas ; you mind ! " 
 
 But Thomas was past minding. In an agony of bit- 
 ter feelingr he came rollino^ out from under the bed. 
 " The girls," as he had persisted in calling them, were 
 getting ready to go away; the twins had stacks and 
 stacks of clothes, so, at least, it seemed to Tommy. 
 
 "What does the poor little fellow want?" asked 
 Rose. 
 
 Tommy sat up in the middle of the floor. " I want 
 you to make me some pants," he gasped ; and then he 
 put his brown fists into his brown eyes and wailed 
 louder than ever. He was not going to school ; he 
 would have to wait until he was six years old to go 
 to school. " I want you to make me some pants," he 
 said again, and kicked the floor and screamed. 
 
TSE SUNBEAM CLUB. 83 
 
 Rose laid her hand upon the little boy's dark head. 
 
 "Maybe your mamma hasn't any goods, Tommy," 
 she said gently. 
 
 " She has," bawled the boy ; " she makes 'em out of 
 pa's old ones, and they're blue ; but I want you to make 
 'em." 
 
 The Sunbeams looked at Mrs. Engle, and Mrs. Engle 
 laughed. 
 
 " Laws, Tommy," she said, " quit that cryin' ; these 
 young ladies ain't got time to make you no pants ; I'm 
 gunno do it myself ; I'm gunno wash them old pair o' 
 pa's, and make you a beautiful suit ! " 
 
 Tommy howled dismally. 
 
 " We'll make it, Mrs. Engle, if you'll let us," said 
 Rose. "We'll come next week and finish the little 
 girls' aprons too. We'll come every week for half a 
 day during vacation and teach you how to sew, if you 
 wish." 
 
 " Learn me how to sew ! " cried Mrs. Engle, with 
 glistening eyes. " Well, you young ladies is kind." 
 
 She wiped her hand on her apron, and shook hands 
 with them all round. It made them glad to feel so 
 sure that she would welcome them on the following 
 Tuesday. 
 
 " Who are they ? " asked one of Mrs. Engle's boys 
 who came in from the shop as the Sunbeams went out 
 of his mother's little yard. 
 
 " They's girls that is goin' to make my pants," an- 
 swered Tommy. 
 
H SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 [EAR SUXBEAM : Come to my house to-morrow 
 morning, not to go to work at once, but to talk the 
 matter over and make suitable arrangements. I 
 think it will do us good to rest a little after the 
 sewing-circle at Mrs. Engle's. I hope you will like 
 
 my plan, but it is very different from either Annie's or Rose's. 
 
 Remember, however, whether you appreciate it or not, that it is 
 
 my day, and the duty of each and every Sunbeam to submit to 
 
 orders. Very truly yours, 
 
 Madge Hiltox. 
 
 Madge wrote five notes, and despatched them to the 
 houses of the other five members ; and, what with sew- 
 ing at Mrs. Engle's and writing her notes, she was a 
 very weary mortal but a happy one withal. The other 
 five members of the Club read their respective notes, 
 and speculated a little in regard to Madge's idea ; and 
 each of them arrived at the conclusion that it was a 
 delightful thing, indeed, to be a Sunbeam. 
 
 '* Here we are," announced Carrie's cheerful voice the 
 next morning, as the five girls divested themselves of 
 waterproof cloaks and overshoes in Mrs. Hilton's hall. 
 " It's a good thing we're not the kind of sunbeams that 
 object to rain." 
 
 " Oh ! isn't it funny ? " cried Madge. " You dear 
 Sunbeams, did you get very wet ? " 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 35 
 
 "Very," answered Liila ; '' but we don't mind." 
 
 "Why didn't \o\x Avait until the shower was over?" 
 asked Madge. 
 
 " Because you said ' morning,' and we are under 
 orders," answered Annie. 
 
 " Oh, I'm glad you didn't wait ! " cried Madge exult- 
 antly. " I told mamma you'd be here, and I built a fire 
 in the dining-room. Come, I know you'll all appreciate 
 the fire." 
 
 Mrs. Hilton laughed as she heard the Sunbeams rush- 
 ing tumultuously in the direction of the dining-room. 
 
 " Now," cried Effie, " tell us your plan." 
 
 Little Miss Dorcus fixed her placid eyes upon the 
 face of the girl whose day it was. All of the Sun- 
 beams were arranged comfortably around that delightful 
 fire. 
 
 " Yes, tell us your plan," said Cai'rie. 
 
 " I brought you into the dining-room for a twofold 
 purpose," explained Madge, '' to get warm and to pre- 
 pare for the subject. Girls, my day has something to 
 do with things to eat." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 " Madge," said Carrie imploringly, " for pity's sake 
 don't ask me to make a cake. Mamma says that I must 
 begin to learn cooking by helping Amanda. If I make 
 a cake and it isn't fit to eat, I'll be expected to pay for 
 the ingredients out of iwy allowance, and the price of the 
 baby's dress is already weighing down my spirits." 
 
 " To a terrible extent, as we are all aware," said 
 Annie. "I can make very good corn-cakes, Madge." 
 
36 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " I have broiled birds," said Lula ; '' and the boys 
 thought them real good." 
 
 "I can make taffy," said Effie. 
 
 " Well, I can make cake," said Rose, " and other 
 things too." 
 
 " Nobody's to cook," said Madge. " I never thought 
 of that." 
 
 " Oh I " cried the Sunbeams again. 
 
 " About sometliing to eat, and nobody to cook any- 
 thing," said Lula, in a mystified tone. 
 
 "This is my plan," said Madge, flushing a little un- 
 der the eager eyes of her listeners. " You know, girls, 
 you must do it whether you like to or not, because it's 
 my day." 
 
 " Certainly," cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 " We can't do it until after dinner," said Madge. 
 
 " Why not? " demanded Carrie. 
 
 " This thing is getting mysterious," said Rose. 
 
 "What are we to do after dinner?" asked Lula. 
 
 " First, of course," said Madge, " none of us must eat 
 any dessert." 
 
 "Oh!" cried Carrie forlornly; "and we're going' to 
 have ice-cream to-day. Well," she added resignedly, 
 " I can do without it." 
 
 " We are each of us to take our dessert to some sick 
 person," said Madge. 
 
 '* Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 " How will we know where to go ? " asked Lula. 
 
 " I have the names written down," said Madge, in a 
 business-like way. " I didn't pick out jdooi" people ; 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 37 
 
 I just took sick people, people who ai-e not too sick to 
 enjoy dessert. Here they are." i\ladge took up a 
 piece of paper from the table, and read quickly, '' Miss 
 Emily Woods,* Mr. Harbinger, Aunt Sally Nail, Mrs. 
 Windham, Maggie Rose, Elder Thomas." 
 
 The Sunbeams, under orders, looked at eacli other, 
 and drew in a long breath. None of them had yet 
 practised visiting the sick to the extent of carrying 
 dessert along with them. Lula was the first to speak. 
 
 " Madofe," she said in an awed voice, "• who will be 
 the Sunbeam to carry dessert to Mrs. Windham ? " 
 
 " The bravest," answered Madge, laughing. 
 
 " Better say the one who has the best dessert," said 
 Effie. Then Miss Dorcus sighed. '^I was just about 
 to ask you, jNIadge, to let me take mine to Maggie 
 Rose, she's such a dear little thing ; but we're going 
 to have bread-pudding, and nobody likes bread-pud- 
 ding." 
 
 " Aunt Sally Nail loves bread-pudding, that I know," 
 said Annie. 
 
 " I'll take my ice-cream to Maggie Rose," said Carrie 
 generously. '' No, I'd rather give it to Elder Thomas ; 
 he's such a pleasant old gentleman, and I know he 
 doesn't get ice-cream often." 
 
 " We're pretty sure to have oranges for dessert to- 
 day," said Annie. " Oranges will be nice for a sick 
 person. I'll take some to Mr. Harbinger, and tell him 
 about their coming from Uncle John's grove down in 
 Florida. That will make my mission comparatively 
 easy." 
 
38 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " We always have cake," said Lula. '' Children like 
 cake. I will take cake and peaches to Maggie Rose." 
 
 " Miss Emily Woods used to sew at our house," said 
 Rose. " Yes, I'll carry my rice-pudding to Miss Emily 
 Woods." 
 
 " There is only Mrs. Windham left," said Carrie. 
 " Well, Madge, it is your day, you know." 
 
 '' Oh, dear ! I put her down for one of you," said 
 Madge ; " but I'll try to manage. I wonder what Mrs. 
 Windham likes in the way of dessert ? " 
 
 " Some mess, I'm sure," said Lula. '' She's an Italian, 
 or something." 
 
 " She's Spanish," said Effie ; " that is why she is so 
 proud." 
 
 '' She was very rich before her husband died," said 
 Rose. 
 
 " Perhaps she will talk Spanish to you," suggested 
 Lula. 
 
 " If she tells me to get out in Spanish, I won't mind 
 half as much as if she tells me to do so in plain Eng- 
 lish," said Madge. " Indeed, girls, I don't believe she's 
 half as bad as people make out, and Spanish people are 
 fond of good things to eat." 
 
 " I would advise you to arrange a very polite and 
 proper speech before you go into her room carrying the 
 thing," said Carrie. 
 
 " Effie, you could do it grand," cried Madge ; "you're 
 so little ; and I'm sure she would think your curls are 
 lovely. I had you in mind when I put down Mrs. 
 Windham's name ; indeed, indeed I did." 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB. 39 
 
 " Yes," said Effie ; " I know I could get up a pretty 
 speech over the presentation of bread-pudding to a blue- 
 blooded Spanish lady. If Aunt Sally Nail loves bread- 
 pudding she had better have the refusal of it." 
 
 " Effie is right," said Annie. '' It would never do to 
 take bread-pudding to Mrs. Windham." 
 
 " O Annie ! " cried Madge ; " it would be nice if you 
 would take your oranges to her ; she would be sure to 
 appreciate them when she learned about their comino- 
 direct from Florida. You could tell her all about your 
 uncle and his grove, Annie." 
 
 " But a person will have to have something to say to 
 Mr. Harbinger too," said Annie; "and he knows my 
 uncle." 
 
 "It would be nice," said Lula, "if you could carry 
 the dessert into the room, and put it on the table, and 
 say, ' There it is,' and then run, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Windham wouldn't relish ice-cream, I'm sure," 
 said Carrie; "it would be too cold for her. Take lier 
 something steaming hot, Madge, and talk about the 
 damp, ugly day, and how you thought a Spanish person 
 couldn't have too many hot things." 
 
 " Oh, I'll manage ! " said Madge, resignedly. " Mam- 
 ma will help me." 
 
 "We won't meet any more to-day, then, will we?" 
 inquired Effie sadly. 
 
 "Surely," cried Carrie; "we'll meet after it's all 
 over; after we've all been around, I mean. Won't we, 
 Madge ? " 
 
 "In order to give in our experiences," said Annie. 
 
40 suy BEAMS Ayn moonbeams. 
 
 " Yes," said Madge ; " we can meet here after it's 
 over." 
 
 *'I'm afraid the sick people will think we are queer 
 kind of girls, if it keeps on raining," said Effie. 
 
 " Each one will think there is one queer girl in Lov- 
 ettsville," said Carrie. " There's not much consolation 
 in that, though. Well, perhaps it will clear off before 
 dinner." 
 
 "Sunday was a beautiful day after the rain," said 
 Rose hopefully. 
 
 But it did not clear off. Six mothers smiled as the 
 Sunbeams, carrying their desserts, went off under big 
 umbrellas. Luckily for the dessert the rain was com- 
 ing down quietly, and there was no wind. An um- 
 brella was a reliable shelter during such a rain. 
 
 " I am glad that Aunt Sally Nail likes bread-pudding," 
 thought Effie, as she walked rapidly down the street, and 
 turned into an alleywa3\ ''If it gets cold she won't 
 mind, I'm sure ; for colored people are fond of cold food. 
 I am very thankful that Madge put Aunt Sally's name 
 on the list, for there are not many places wliere I could 
 take bread-pudding to a sick person." 
 
 " This is what I will say to Mr. Harbinger," con- 
 cluded Annie, as she carried her oranges along Broad- 
 way. "I have brought you a few oranges that my 
 uncle, Mr. Winthrop, sent us from Florida. You re- 
 member Uncle John ? I am sure you will find the 
 oranges fresher and finer than the ones we buy here in 
 Lovettsville." 
 
 " It's a good thing I had the sense to pack ice around 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB. 41 
 
 this ice-cream," thought Carrie ; " for if I hadn't it 
 would be melted by the time I reach the house. Of 
 course Elder Thomas will be pleased to get some ice- 
 cream. I know I'd be very much pleased if I were sick, 
 and hadn't had any for a long time, and a girl would 
 come in bringing me a goblet piled up with it. People 
 ought to be kinder to each other than they are, any- 
 way." 
 
 Lula Briggs turned a corner so suddenly that she 
 stepped into a mud-puddle, and almost came to grief 
 with the cake and peaches she was carrying to little 
 sick Maggie. She, too, had no fears but that her des- 
 sert would be welcome ; she, too, was wondering why 
 people were not more thoughtful in regard to each 
 other's comfort; why it had never before occurred to 
 her to carry cake and peaches to a little sick child. 
 Well, everything has to have a beginning; she could 
 do it again and again. " We will be quite stirred into 
 action," said Lula to herself, " if we belong to the Sun- 
 beam Club during the whole of the vacation." 
 
 Miss Emily Woods was not in the habit of receiving 
 delicacies from the neighbors, although she had been sick 
 for a long time. Her face would flush, and she would 
 say, " Thank you, my dear ; " and she would be very, 
 very much surprised, as surprised as was Mrs. Engle 
 when the Sunbeams offered to help her make the twins' 
 dresses. Rose felt perfectly certain of this as slie 
 sounded the knocker on the pine door, and stood there 
 holding the cold rice, while Mrs. Wood's slow footsteps 
 sounded alongr the hall. Then Rose thought, " I'm glad 
 
42 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 I brought enough rice for two, and Fm glad the cream 
 is rich ; " and then she said '' Good-afternoon " to Mrs. 
 Woods, and stepped into the front room, trying to shut 
 her dripping umbrella. 
 
 Five of the Sunbeams came out of five houses almost 
 simultaneously, raised their umbrellas, and walked in 
 the direction of Mrs. Hilton's. Their expressions were 
 sweet and tender, and they were all in a hurry. But 
 five Sunbeams sat in Mrs. Hilton's dining-room around 
 the fire that had been remade for their benefit, anxiously 
 awaiting the appearance of Madge. 
 
 Very slowly the minute-hand of the clock on the 
 mantle moved between the five minutes, yet at the end 
 of twenty minutes Madge had not come. 
 
 "Perhaps something has happened to her," said 
 Effie. " People say that Mrs. Windham has a terrible 
 temper." 
 
 " I have heard of Spanish people throwing the dishes 
 about the table when they get excited," said Lula. 
 
 "If she threw the dessert at Madge, Madge won't 
 come home until we leave," said Rose. 
 
 " Girls, perhaps we had better go," said Carrie, start- 
 ing up. 
 
 " Let's wait five minutes longer," said Effie. 
 
 " It was unkind of me not to take her the oranges," 
 said Annie. " Mr. Harbinger didn't half listen when I 
 told him that they came from Florida, and that Uncle 
 John had sent them. He would have been glad to get 
 anything from anybody. He explained to me about 
 people being different in old times, and in the place 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 43 
 
 where he lived especially. He says that a sick person 
 longs for so many things, and that other people's food 
 tastes so good to them. I should have taken the oranges 
 to the Spanish lady, and let Madge take her dessert to 
 Mr. Harbinger." 
 
 " Madge is very sensitive," said Carrie. " I declare 
 I'm sorry I didn't carry the ice-cream to Mrs. Windham. 
 I wouldn't mind her getting angry near as much as 
 Madge." 
 
 *'I could not havQ taken her the bread-pudding," 
 said Effie dolefully. "Girls, we've been here half an 
 hour." 
 
 *' It was unkind of us to insist upon her going to 
 Mrs. Windham's on her own day," said Lula, whose 
 day was so very near. 
 
 " Indeed, indeed, girls," said Rose, " we'd better 
 go." 
 
 Then the hall-door opened, and some one came run- 
 ning along the hall ; and the next instant the belated 
 Sunbeam was in the dining-room, her face was flushed, 
 and her eyes were very bright. 
 
 " O girls ! " she cried ; '' I'm so glad I went. Mrs. 
 Windham was lovely." 
 
 " Lovely ! " cried the Sunbeams, as if they could not 
 believe their senses. 
 
 " Yes, lovely," repeated Madge breathlessly. " She 
 was just delighted to see me. She said she didn't won- 
 der people didn't call on her often, she was such a cross 
 old woman. She says that she's been sick for nearly 
 ten years, and that it is such a pleasure to her to talk 
 
44 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 to a person who has come to see her in a kindly spirit ; 
 and she says she's very fond of young people, and that if 
 young people, whenever they hear people talking and 
 talking and talking about a cross old woman, if they 
 would make up their minds to visit the cross old woman, 
 and bear with her a little if she were in a cross mood, 
 they might give ever so much pleasure, and there might 
 grow to be fewer cross old women in the world. She 
 ate the dessert, and said it was ever so nice, and she, 
 and she " — 
 
 " What did she do? " demanded the Sunbeams. 
 
 *' She kissed me," said Madge, blushing. 
 
 " Oh I " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 "What kind of dessert did you take her?" asked 
 Carrie, wonderingly. 
 
 " Bread-pudding," said Madge, with a laugh. 
 
 "Well!" cried Effie. 
 
 " We've all learned something this day," said Annie. 
 
 "And I have thought of something for to-morrow," 
 said Lula. "I was afraid I would have to remain 
 awake all night, puzzling my brain. I won't tell you 
 what it is, girls, but I'll tell you what to wear, and what 
 to bring." 
 
 " What?" demanded the Sunbeams. 
 
 "Wear 3'our best dresses, if it's a fair day," said 
 Lula; "and bring knitting-needles and cotton, number 
 fifty, for knitting lace, you know." 
 
 "Where are we o-oincr?" cried Carrie. 
 
 " For further information wait until my day," re- 
 turned Lula. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 45 
 
 "We must go home," said Rose. 
 
 Thereupon they went, calling good-by to each other 
 in the rainy street. 
 
 " I hope to-morrow will be a fair day," said Lula, as 
 she entered the hall of her home. 
 
46 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 jIX Sunbeams, six spools of cotton, twelve 
 knitting-needles I " exclaimed Carrie. ''Now, 
 Miss Briggs, what may be the programme 
 for your day? " 
 
 " Two knitting-needles, a spool of cotton, and a Sun- 
 beam w^ho can only knit horse-reins; that's me," said 
 Effie Dorcus. 
 
 " Two knitting-needles, a spool of cotton, and a Sun- 
 beam who learned to purl last night; that's me," said 
 Madge triumphantly. 
 
 *' Two knitting-needles, a spool of cotton, and a Sun- 
 beam who knows two patterns, neither of them over- 
 whelmingly beautiful ; that's me," said Rose. 
 
 " Two knitting-needles, a spool of cotton, and a Sun- 
 beam who drops her stitches; that's me," said Annie 
 humbly. 
 
 " Two knitting-needles, a spool of cotton, and a Sun- 
 beam with an inch of lace that her mamma made ; that's 
 me," said Carrie. "Now, Lula, tell us your plan." 
 
 " My plan," said Lula, " is that we all go over to 
 Mrs. Sarah Rudolph's and" — 
 
 "Mrs. Sarah Rudolph's!" interrupted Effie. "O 
 Lula Briggs I " 
 
 " She is the richest woman in Lovettsville," gasped 
 Carrie. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 47 
 
 "And the most haughty and the most overbearing," 
 said Rose. "Lula Briggs, what ever made you think 
 of going there ? " 
 
 "They say she is so proud," said Annie, "that she 
 reads her prayer-book when the minister at her church 
 is preaching." 
 
 " Oh! " cried a chorus of Sunbeams. 
 
 "I don't call that pride," said Lula. "I call it im- 
 politeness." 
 
 " I'm afraid you are going to put an end to the club, 
 Lula," said Rose. ''EfBe and Carrie will have nothing 
 to do but write its epitaph." 
 
 "The Annihilation of Six Sunbeams by Mrs. Sarah 
 Rudolph," said Carrie dolorously. " How did you ever 
 come to think of Mrs. Rudolph, Lula? " 
 
 " I thought of her," answered Lula, " when Madge 
 told us last evening what Mrs. Windham said to her, 
 about young people, when they heard people talking 
 about an old woman being cross and disagreeable, going 
 right off to visit her." 
 
 " And bearing with her if she is in one of her cross 
 moods," said Effie, in a whisper. 
 
 " Yes," said Lula bravely, " that is what we must do. 
 Mrs. Windham said that if young people would do this 
 there would be fewer cross old women in the world." 
 
 '• And Mrs. Windham ought to know," said Rose. 
 
 "But Mrs. Rudolph is so very rich," said Madge, 
 sighing. 
 
 "Sunbeams are intended for rich people as well as 
 poor," said Lula. 
 
48 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Girls, I know for a fact," said Rose, " that Mrs. 
 Rudolph doesn't care at all to meet the people of Lov- 
 ettsville. She says she lives here because she can be 
 perfectly quiet, and she imagines she has all kinds of 
 diseases. She calls us ' town people ; ' and she hardly 
 bows to persons that she knows, when she meets them 
 on the streets." 
 
 " She discharges her maid every six months," said 
 Madge discouragingly. 
 
 "But she takes her back again," said Effie hope- 
 fully. 
 
 "Sunbeams are different from maids," said Carrie. 
 "We're not up for hire. If Mrs. Rudolph is foolish 
 enough to let us go, she will never get us back." 
 
 " No, indeed, she will not," said Rose emphatically. 
 
 "She had better be wise and keep us," said Effie. 
 
 The Sunbeams looked around at one another and 
 laughed. 
 
 "How are you going to manage to get us into the 
 house, Lula?" asked Madge; ''and which one of the 
 Sunbeams will have to take out her knitting first ? " 
 
 " I never will," said Carrie. " I would be sure to 
 laugh. Girls, we won't be able to talk if we're knit- 
 ting. I'm afraid, Lula, we will bore Mrs. Rudolph." 
 
 " If she reads during her minister's sermons, what will 
 she do while we are knitting, I wonder?" cried Effie. 
 
 " Read to us," said Madge. 
 
 " Mrs. Rudolph knits beautiful edging," said Lula. 
 " I know it for a fact." 
 
 " Oh ! then she's to knit, too, is she ? " asked Carrie. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 49 
 
 "Yes," returned Lula, laughing; "she's to knit too. 
 Now, girls, I am not going to tell you any more. I've 
 concluded that we are wasting too much of my day in 
 idle talking. Come along, and be sure you don't lose 
 your needles or cotton." 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Rudolph lived in a sombre old house, sit- 
 uated back from the street. There were roses in the 
 yard in front of it; the oak door boasted quite a re- 
 spectable-looking old-time knocker, and a pair of lions 
 ornamented the steps. 
 
 The Sunbeams entered the yard, the last one being 
 very careful to latch the gate, and proceeded decorously 
 up to the door. 
 
 "You will have to knock, Lula, because it's your 
 day," said Madge. 
 
 "Of course," said Lula, raising the knocker. 
 
 " Don't knock too loud or she might get mad," said 
 Effie fearfully. 
 
 " I am glad you let us dress decently," said Carrie. 
 " Oh, dear, I feel terribly nervous ! " 
 
 Indeed, all of the Sunbeams were rather pale when 
 the door opened noiselessly, and a maid in a cap stood 
 before them, looking at them in a surprised way. 
 
 " Is Mrs. Rudolph at home ? " asked Lula briskly. 
 
 " Yes, miss," said the maid. " Did you all want to 
 see her?" 
 
 " Not me ; never in the world," whispered Carrie, in 
 the rear. 
 
 " Yes," answered Lula. " Please tell her that we 
 would like to see her very much." 
 
50 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Yes, miss," said the maid. " Will you all walk 
 in ? " Then she regarded them again very closely, and 
 added hesitatingl}^, ''You all didn't come to beg for a 
 fair or nothin' ? " 
 
 " No, no indeed ! " cried the Sunbeams in a breath. 
 
 The woman smiled. " 'Cause if you did," she ex- 
 plained, "I was gunno tell you it wan't a bit of use. 
 Mis Rudolph has done set her foot down on fairs and 
 such things. Who'll I tell her you all is ? " 
 
 Lula thought a minute, and then said, '' Dr. Thomp- 
 son's daughter and her friends." 
 
 " O Lula I " cried Rose expostulatingly. 
 
 " Dr. Thompson's daughter and her friends ; yes, 
 miss," said the woman, and showed them into the parlor, 
 and went on her message. 
 
 " Lula, how could you ? " cried Rose, as the Sunbeams 
 settled themselves around Mrs. Rudolph's large parlor. 
 
 "She wouldn't know Lula Briggs from Adam," re- 
 turned Lula; "and she'll be sure to come to see you." 
 
 " I'm not going to say a word," declared Rose. 
 
 " No, indeed ; it wouldn't be fair," said Annie. " You 
 will have to do all the talking, Lula, because it's your 
 day." 
 
 " And because nobody else would know how to tell 
 Mrs. Rudolph that she must get out her knitting," said 
 Effie. 
 
 " Girls," said Carrie, " we'd better not talk too mucli 
 about it ; somebody will be sure to laugh." 
 
 " Laugh ! " repeated Annie ; "'cry, you mean. I ac- 
 tually feel shaky all over." 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 51 
 
 "Lula Briggs, you must be careful," said Madge. 
 "Remember that she reads during the minister's ser- 
 mons." 
 
 "And discharges the maid every six months," said 
 
 Annie. 
 
 '' Girls, please hush ! " ordered Lula. " You'll get me 
 so excited that I won't know what I'm talking about. 
 Carrie Offutt, what are you saying to yourself over and 
 over?" 
 
 " I am composing the epitaph of the Sunbeam Club," 
 
 said Carrie gravely. 
 
 " Somebody's coming," announced Madge, whose seat 
 commanded a view of the staircase. 
 
 "I can hear my heart-beats distinctly," said Effie. 
 "Isn't it awful?" 
 
 The Sunbeams straightened themselves in their chairs, 
 five of them wondering how Lula Briggs was going to 
 explain their presence. They all stood up when Mrs. 
 Rudolph entered the parlor. They had seen her on the 
 street, and stepping in and out of her carriage at the 
 Lovettsville stores ; but they had never before seen her 
 in her home dress, and they had had no idea that she 
 was such an old lady. Her hair was white as snow, and 
 her face was very sharp and thin, but her eyes were 
 bright and piercing. The Sunbeams blushed as they 
 felt Mrs. Rudolph looking them over. 
 
 Rose, who was next to Lula, gave her a little push 
 as if to remind her that it was her day ; but it was the 
 old lady who spoke first. 
 
 "Dr. Thompson's daughter and her friends?" she 
 
 inquired. 
 
52 SUNBEAMS AND MOOXBEAMS. 
 
 Rose Thompson shut her mouth very tight, and Lula 
 brought the bright eyes upon her by stepping forward 
 impulsiveh\ 
 
 '' Yes, Mrs. Rudolph," she said with a gasp ; " we are 
 Dr. Thompson's daughter and her friends, and we have 
 been trying to find something to do during the vacation. 
 We came over here to see you — to ask you" — 
 
 Lula paused out of breath. The listening Sunbeams 
 were quaking in their shoes. 
 
 "Yes?" interrogated Mrs. Rudolph. 
 
 " We came to ask you if you would show us some 
 pretty pattern in knit-edging," blurted out Lula. " You 
 don't know how much obliged we will be. People are 
 using knit-edging so much nowadays. We all know 
 how to knit a little, even Efhe, and we heard that you 
 could knit beautifully." 
 
 The old lady smiled, while a look of amusement and 
 interest crept into her bright eyes. 
 
 " So you are Dr. Thompson's daughter," she said ; 
 " and you and your friends wish me to teach you the 
 art of making beautiful lace ? " 
 
 "Oh, no! I'm not Dr. Thompson's daughter," cried 
 Lula. "I'm one of her friends." 
 
 " We will be ever so much oblisred to vou, Mrs. 
 Rudolph," cried the other Sunbeams quickly, 
 
 "But which of you is Dr. Thompson's daughter?" 
 asked the lady, in a bewildered way. 
 
 " I am," said Rose meekh\ 
 
 " Oh ! I understand," said Mrs. Rudolph, smiling ; 
 " the other young lady was spokesman. May I ask th^ 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 53 
 
 name of the spokesman and the rest of Miss Thomp- 
 son's friends ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm onl}^ Lula Briggs ! " said Lula ; and then 
 she regained her self-possession, and introduced the re- 
 maining four Sunbeams. 
 
 '* I fancy you are very bright young Ladies," said 
 Mrs. Rudolph, smiling again. She was a pretty old 
 lady when she smiled. " I shall be very glad to show 
 you some patterns in knit-edging, but I think it had 
 better be something simple at first." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," cried the Sunbeams eagerly. 
 
 " Something very simple," said Carrie. 
 
 "Have you brought needles?" asked the lady. "If 
 you haven't, I'll try to supply you." 
 
 "Oh, yes! we've brought needles," cried the Sun- 
 beams. 
 
 A sudden flush had stolen into the old lady's cheeks. 
 Never before had she been called upon by the young 
 ladies of the town to teach them to knit edging. Now 
 and then she had been asked to assist towards getting 
 up a church fair, or something of that kind ; and lately 
 she had said that she would have nothing more to do 
 with Lovettsville fairs. But there was something pleas- 
 ant about being asked to teach six bright-faced girls 
 a pretty pattern in knit-edging, especially to a person 
 who was devoted to knittincr edffinof. 
 
 " We all brouocht cotton too," said Mad ore. 
 
 " What number? " asked the old lady. 
 
 " Number fifty," said Lula. 
 
 " That's right," said Mrs. Rudolph. " You ought to 
 
54 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 begin with a coarse pattern. Kow I knit with eighty, 
 and a hundred." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams, in genuine admiration. 
 
 " Yes," repeated Mrs. Rudolph, not at all averse to 
 the admiration ; " I use eighty, ninety, and a hundred. 
 Come, we'll go upstairs to my sitting-room ; it's more 
 cheerful." 
 
 The Sunbeams left the dim parlor with alacrity. 
 They felt jubilantly glad as they mounted the stairs in 
 the wake of their hostess, jubilantly glad and thankful 
 that they had called upon Mrs. Rudolph when she was 
 in anything but a cross mood. 
 
 " She is very, very nice," thought Effie. " It is un- 
 kind of people to talk about other people the way they 
 do." 
 
 " She is very obliging," thought Annie, '' and very 
 pretty when she smiles." 
 
 " I don't believe that tale about her reading her 
 prayer-book when her minister is preaching," thought 
 Rose. "I suppose she hadn't closed her book at the 
 moment he began, and some evil-minded person noticed 
 it, and gave out that she was reading. That person had 
 better been listening to the sermon than watching Mrs. 
 Rudolph." 
 
 "If she does discharge her maid every six months, 
 she takes her back again," thought Madge. "The 
 maid oueht to remember that her mistress is old, and 
 bear with her." 
 
 " If haughty people are all like this, I like them," 
 thought Carrie. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 55 
 
 " She would have lent us needles, and cotton too, 
 I daresay," thouglit Lula. "She is very generous. I 
 am so ghid we came." 
 
 The woman, who scarcely spoke to the people of her 
 acquaintance whom slie met upon the streets of Lovetts- 
 ville, sat in the midst of the six Sunbeams with the 
 seventh pair of needles in her hands, while the seventh 
 spool of cotton fell continually to the floor, eager and 
 pleased over the task of showing six girls how to knit 
 a simple and pretty pattern of edging. 
 
 It was five o'clock in the afternoon when the Sun- 
 beams, flushed and radiant, came out from the sombre 
 house. Each of them carried carefully a bit of new- 
 made lace. 
 
 " Well," cried Carrie, when they had walked about a 
 hundred yards ; " well, I call this day a great success. 
 Allow me to congratulate you. Miss Briggs." 
 
 " Thank you," said Miss Briggs. 
 
 " She's as nice as Mrs. Windham, isn't she, Madge ? " 
 asked Effie. 
 
 " They are both of them just as lovely as they can 
 be," returned Madge. 
 
 "Rose," cried Carrie, "here comes your papa. Tell 
 him where we've been." 
 
 The doctor was very willing to be delayed a few 
 moments by the Sunbeams. 
 
 "Well," he cried, "what's up?" 
 
 " Where do you think we spent the day, papa ? " 
 asked Rose. 
 
 " And lunched ? " added Effie. 
 
56 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "At some pleasant incUviduars house, to be sure,*' 
 answered the doctor. 
 
 '' At Mrs. Sarah Rudolph's," said Annie. 
 
 "She made us stay to lunch, papa," said Rose. 
 
 " Well," cried the doctor, genuinely astonished, "well, 
 I declare ! " 
 
 '• We are going to see her every Thursdaj^," said 
 Madge. 
 
 ''She is teaching us to knit edging," said Rose. 
 
 "It was Lula's plan," said Annie. 
 
 "Mrs. Rudolph is just lovely," cried Carrie; "every 
 bit as lovely as Mrs. Windham." 
 
 "I believe I am in the midst of the Sunbeams, am 
 I not ? " asked the doctor. 
 
 For answer the Sunbeams laughed merrilj-. 
 
 " Well, young ladies," said the doctor, " there are 
 some cases in this town w^here Sunbeams can do better 
 work than the town physician. I am glad to see you 
 are finding them out." 
 
 " To-morrow will be Effie's day," said Annie. 
 
 "And Saturday will be Carrie's," said Rose. 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB. 57 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TRLS," said Effie, "we are not to do any- 
 thing until this afternoon. I have called 
 you together simply to listen to my plan, 
 and to get ready to proceed to action." 
 " Bravo, Effie ! that was a remarkably fine speech I " 
 cried Carrie. " Sunbeams, we must all put on our 
 armor so that we will be ready to proceed to action." 
 
 " Oh, the coming glory of this afternoon ! " exclaimed 
 Madge rapturously^ 
 
 " 'Hark ! Honor's call, summoning all — 
 Summoning all of us unto the strife;' " — 
 
 quoted Annie. 
 
 " Multum in parvo ! " cried Rose. " Girls, it's a 
 shame ; we mustn't tease her. Effie has a nice little 
 plan, I'm sure." 
 
 "Nice little plan, indeed!" cried Lula. "Nothing 
 short of a gigantic plan will satisfy us after Effie's 
 introductory speech." 
 
 " Girls, I'm not a bit provoked at your levity," said 
 Effie tranquilly. "I'm a Sunbeam, you know." 
 
 " Bravo, Effie ! " cried the Sunbeams, in chorus. 
 
 " Now let us hear your plan," said Rose. 
 
 " Girls," explained Effie tragically, " we will have 
 to separate," 
 
68 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " We can do even that," said Annie, also tragically ; 
 " we have done it before. 
 
 " ' I've travelled about a bit in my life; 
 Of troubles, I've seen a few; 
 But found it better in every clime 
 To paddle my own canoe.' " 
 
 " Miss Winthrop," said Rose gravely, " you sing very 
 well, but we didn't congregate here this morning to 
 listen to your singing ; we came for the sole purpose 
 of receiving orders from Miss Dorcus. In what manner, 
 Effie, are we to proceed singly to action ? " 
 
 " We are each of us to go and read to somebody," 
 said Effie impressively. 
 
 " O Effie ! I read so very badly," cried Carrie for- 
 lornly. 
 
 "Do you think people will want to hear us read?" 
 inquired Madge dubiously. 
 
 " What are we to read ? " demanded Lula. 
 
 " Whom are we to victimize ? " asked Annie. 
 
 "Girls," said Rose, "we really must give Effie a 
 chance to explain her plan." 
 
 "One of the people is old Mr. Jones," said Effie. 
 
 " Old Mr. Jones," repeated Annie. " Why, Effie, 
 that's real good of you to think of him. Old Mr. 
 Jones does like to have people read to him; I know 
 it for a fact." 
 
 "It must be very sad to be blind," said jNIadge ; 
 " especially when one knows what it is to see. I believe 
 Effie's plan is going to be better than anybody's." 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 59 
 
 "Oh, it couldn't!" exclaimed Effie. "But I had to 
 think of something different from what we had had." 
 
 " Just think of poor me," said Carrie. " Everything 
 will be thought of before my turn. I wish I had asked 
 for Monday instead of Saturda3^" 
 
 " You'll think of something," said Rose. " Go ahead, 
 Efifie, and tell us the other people to whom we are to 
 read." 
 
 '' Miss Mattie Barnesley," said Effie. 
 '' Miss Mattie Barne%ley, the milliner ? " asked Madge. 
 "The poor little thing who works so hard, and gets paid 
 so badly for her hats ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Effie. "She is very fond of reading, 
 and she is so busy that she doesn't get time to read, and 
 she sits back there in her shop all day by herself. She 
 would be delighted, I am confident, if a Sunbeam would 
 read to her this afternoon while she works." 
 "I will read to her," said Annie quickly. 
 "I will read to Mr. Jones," said Rose. 
 "I was just going to speak for Mr. Jones," said 
 Carrie ; " but I really pity any person who will have 
 to listen to me." 
 
 "• You must try to improve, my dear Sunbeam," said 
 Lula. " Who is my victim, Effie ? " 
 
 '^ You can read to Mrs. Hubbard's little girl who has 
 the consumption," answered Effie. "The days seem 
 so long and wearisome to Molly, and her mother is too 
 busy with the housekeeping, and taking care of the 
 smaller children, to spare any time to read to her. She 
 has a number of magazines and illustrated papers on 
 
60 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 tlie table beside her bed, but it hurts lier eyes to read. 
 She will be very glad to have a Sunbeam read to 
 her." 
 
 " I wonder we never thought of it before," said Lula. 
 " Thank you, Effie, for giving me Molly Hubbard." 
 
 ''Molly would have suited 7«e'," cried Carrie. ''She 
 wouldn't have discovered what a miserable reader I am. 
 Effie, give me the next; I don't want to wait until last 
 again." 
 
 " You can read to Mrs. Robertson," said Effie. 
 
 " Oh-h ! " cried Carrie. 
 
 " She has been bedridden for years ; she will be 
 pleased to have you read to her." 
 
 '' I hope so," said Carrie. 
 
 "Girls," said Effie solemnly, "there is one person 
 on the list to wliom I am afraid none of the Sunbeams 
 will want to read ; yet after wliat Mrs. Windham said to 
 Madge, and after Mrs. Rudolph showed us how to knit, 
 and wishes us to go back again, why, I think it is the 
 duty of a Sunbeam to visit this person too." 
 
 " Effie," said Rose, " you will have to take that person 
 yourself." 
 
 "Because it is your dav," added Carrie. 
 
 " Besides, I am the only other Sunbeam left," said 
 Madge. 
 
 " And Madge carried bread-pudding to Mrs. Wind- 
 ham," said Annie. 
 
 " Yes, Effie, you will have to read to that person 
 yourself," said Carrie. " It is the fair and square 
 thing to do." 
 
TUE SUNBEAM CLUB, 61 
 
 "Yes, I suppose it is," said Effie. "Well, Madge, 
 I'll give you your person next." 
 
 " Who ? " asked Madge. 
 
 " Major John V. Selby." 
 
 " Oh, good gracious ! " cried Madge. "I believe I'd 
 just as leave have the other person." 
 
 "No, you wouldn't," said Effie. 
 
 " Why, the Major's real nice ! " declared Lula. 
 
 " They say he gets in terrible rages," said Madge. 
 
 " That is because he is suffering with cataract, and 
 cannot see to read the news," asserted Effie. 
 
 "Well, I'll take him," said Madge resignedly. 
 "Now, Effie, who is yours?" 
 
 "The last person on the list," said Effie, "is Mrs. 
 Sue Kemp." 
 
 For an instant the Sunbeams were silent ; then they 
 burst out: — 
 
 " Mrs. Kemp ! O Effie Dorcus ! " 
 
 "Did you hear about the minister's visit?" inquired 
 Rose. 
 
 "Yes," said Effie, "I heard." 
 
 "What about the minister's visit?" asked Carrie. 
 " I never heard." 
 
 " She will never get well," said Rose ; " and she 
 doesn't want to die. She hasn't had a bit of a nice 
 time ; but she is not willing to give up her poor little 
 house, and her mean little yard, and her cat and dog. 
 Well, the minister went to see her ; he says he has 
 never heard of a more pitiful case. You all know how 
 kind Mr. Souder is to sick people ? He sat upon the 
 
62 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 Ugly little chair beside the bed, and talked to Mrs. Kemp 
 for a long time, telling her about the beautiful life to 
 come, and all that, and how every one who wishes it can 
 be happy eternall}-, and he was sure he had made some 
 impression. When he finished talking, what do you 
 think she said ? " 
 
 "What? " cried Carrie. 
 
 " Why she actually laughed at him, laughed at the 
 minister, — at Mr. Souder, — and said: 'I've heard all 
 that kind of talk before ; I've got a nice home here on 
 earth, and I'm not getting ready to leave it yet awhile.' 
 They say she won't believe that she is going to die ; and 
 some days she is so weak that she can scarcely turn in 
 her bed. If any one asks her how she feels, she always 
 answers that she feels first-rate ; that she's getting well." 
 
 " Did Mr. Souder ever go back?" asked Madge. 
 
 " Once. There were neighbors with her, and the 
 blind was pulled down just as he stepped on the porch. 
 He knocked, but no one came to the door." 
 
 " Effie Dorcus, aren't you afraid to go?" asked Lula. 
 
 " Madge was not afraid to go to see Mrs. Windham, 
 and to take her bread-pudding," said Effie. 
 
 '' Oh, but that was different ! " said Madge. "After 
 all, she was only Spanish." 
 
 " And you were not afraid, Lula, to take us all to 
 see Mrs. Rudolph." 
 
 " Oh, but Mrs. Rudolph was as pleasant as she could 
 be ! " said Lula. 
 
 " But you didn't know you would find her that way," 
 said Effie. "Perhaps Mrs. Kemp will be pleasant too." 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 63 
 
 " Never ! " cried Rose. '' Papa says she thinks every 
 new person who visits her has come with the intention 
 of teaching her how to die. She is always in a bad 
 humor when she thinks of death. I'm afraid she won't 
 let you read to her." 
 
 '^ Did any one ever try to read to her? " asked Effie. 
 
 " Mr. Souder sent Miss Elma Green to read to her," 
 answered Rose. 
 
 " Well ? " asked Effie, in a scared voice. 
 
 " She wouldn't let her read to the middle of a chapter. 
 She said she wasn't sick enough to die, but she was too 
 sick to lie still and listen to a sermon in a book. She 
 said she preferred the preacher to the talk in the book." 
 
 '' But Effie is so little," said Annie. " I don't believe 
 she will get angry with Effie." 
 
 " I have put her name on the list, and I cannot take 
 it ofe," said Effie. 
 
 " Well, you can try, anyway," said Carrie. " She 
 isn't a wicked old wolf personating a good old grand- 
 mother." 
 
 " No, she is only a poor old woman who doesn't want 
 to die," said Effie. "I would never forgive myself if I 
 took her name off the list." 
 
 "Is Major John V. Selby deaf?" asked Madge sud- 
 denly. 
 
 "No," said Effie promptly, "he is not. Why?" 
 
 " I was going to say, in case he were, that Carrie and 
 I had better change. I don't know why it is, but deaf 
 people never understand me." 
 
 " Mrs. Robertson is a little deaf," said Rose. " I'll 
 
64 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 tell you what papa says about talking to deaf people, 
 Carrie. He says talk slowly and distinctly, and don't 
 attempt to hollo; that it is very distressing to deaf 
 people holloing at them. Of course reading is the 
 same as talking." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " sighed Carrie. " Well, I'll do my best." 
 
 "What time are we to start out?" asked Madge. 
 
 " At two o'clock," said Effie. 
 
 " Then we won't see each other until to-morrow, will 
 we?" inquired Annie. 
 
 " Not until to-morrow," said Effie. " It was too har- 
 rowing the other day waiting for Madge." 
 
 ''But we wouldn't have to wait for 3'ou, Effie," said 
 Lula. " If Mrs. Kemp lets j^ou read to the end of the 
 chapter, it will be a wonder." 
 
 " You will meet to-morrow at my house," said Carrie. 
 " If you're to bring anything with you^ I'll let you know 
 to-night." 
 
 " Mr. Jones, two o'clock this afternoon," said Rose. 
 " Good-by, Effie ; good luck to you." 
 
 "Miss Mattie Barnesley, same hour," said Annie. 
 "No matter what happens to you, Effie, you will be 
 doing your duty." 
 
 " At two o'clock this afternoon I call on the Major," 
 said Madge. " Good-by, Effie ; keep a brave heart, my 
 dear." 
 
 "If she's rude to you, Effie," said Carrie, "just get 
 spunky, and upbraid her for the manner in which she 
 treated our minister." 
 
 "They say she throws pillows at her neighbors when 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 65 
 
 she gets mad," said Lula. '' If she throws a pillow at 
 you, Effie, throw it back." 
 
 "I will do my best to make her my friend," said 
 Effie. "I am so very sorry for her." 
 
 "I trust that by evening Effie will not be sorry for 
 herself," said Rose, as she and Annie walked along 
 together. "It was real nice to think of her, though, 
 wasn't it?" 
 
 "It certainly was," said Annie. 
 
 Two o'clock found six Sunbeams hurrying along the 
 streets of Lovettsville, seemingly as if they wished the 
 preliminaries of their visits to be over, and to settle 
 down in good earnest to the task of reading to their 
 fellow-mortals. Effie Dorcus walked very rapidly. 
 There was a bright spot on each of her dimpled cheeks, 
 and her lips were pressed tightly together. Under her 
 arm she carried a medium-sized book. Little Miss 
 Dorcus was thinking about "facing the lion in his den, 
 the Douglas in his hall," and all sorts of things, as she 
 entered the mean little yard belonging to the poor little 
 house of the woman avIio did not wish to die. 
 
 For all her bravery and steady determination, Effie 
 gave rather a timid knock upon the door of the little 
 house. There was no sound of a neighbor moving 
 within, and no one answered the knock. 
 
 Suddenly a high-pitched voice cried, " Come in! " and 
 Effie opened the door. 
 
 The room in which Effie Dorcus found herself was 
 kitchen and bedroom combined. The bed of the sick 
 woman encroached upon the territory of the cooking- 
 
66 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 stove, out luckily there was no fire in the stove. Tlie 
 window-blinds were all down, but the licrlit came throuofli 
 gigantic holes in them, and fell upon the woman in tlie 
 bed, showing a ghastly face and two great luminous 
 eyes. 
 
 " HoAv do you feel to-day, Mrs. Kemp ? " asked Effie. 
 
 "First-rate," said the woman. "I'm getting well fast. 
 If only the doctor would cure my cough I'd be out 
 of here in a week. It's the cough that keeps me on my 
 back, and nothing else." 
 
 Effie approached a little closer to the bed, and the sick 
 woman regarded her curiously. "Who are you?" she 
 asked. " What do you want ? " 
 
 " I'm Effie Dorcus, and I want to read to you," said 
 the Sunbeam bravely. 
 
 " Want to read to me ? " repeated j\Irs. Kemp, in an 
 ill-natured voice. "You ain't the first person that's 
 wanted to read to me. I've had a person that loved to 
 read settin' there beside me longer than I could stand ; 
 and I've had the preacher preachin' to me by the yard. 
 I ain't a bad woman ; I ain't done nuthin' wrong in my 
 life; and I ain't gettin' read}^ to die, as the folks all 
 seem to think, neither. I told the preacher to clear out, 
 and I bid the woman that was readin' to me to hursli 
 up. Yes, that is what I did; I told the preacher, in 
 plain words, that I didn't want none of him, and I bid 
 the woman that was readin' to me to hursh up. Now, 
 little girl, what do you want to do?" 
 
 " I want to read to you," said Effie, with a quiver in 
 her voice. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 67 
 
 "What do you want to read?" demanded the woman 
 fiercely. 
 
 '' ' Grimm's Fairy Tales,' " said Effie. " They are just 
 beautiful, Mrs. Kemp." 
 
 "Fairy tales," repeated Mrs. Kemp. She gave a 
 cackling laugh. " Fairy tales," she said again. " Yes, 
 set right down there by the bed, and read me a fairy 
 tale, do." 
 
 Efhe Dorcus sat down by the bed with alacrity, opened 
 her book, ai\d began to i-ead " The Knapsack, Hat and 
 Horn." 
 
68 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 CHAPTER VIT. 
 
 IT half-past eight o'clock on Friday evening 
 the door-bell of Mrs. Dorcus's house was 
 rung imperatively by a girl. The moon- 
 light showed that the girl was tall and slim, 
 with a thick plait of dark hair, and about fifteen years 
 of age. A black woman, who had evidently accom- 
 panied the girl, was standing below the steps on the 
 pavement. The black woman was giggling to herself. 
 
 " Yo' sutney did give a powerful pull to Mis Dorcus's 
 bell," said Nancy ]\Iaude. " You alls has got a big lot 
 o' important business on hand dese days, I cla'." 
 
 " I didn't pull the bell too hard, did I, Xancy ? " asked 
 Carrie Offutt anxiously. "I don't want anybody to 
 think I'm not ladylike." 
 
 "Yo' bes' left me rung de bell fo' yo' den," said 
 Nancy. " Dey gunno t'ink it's a man bringin' shoes 
 home, or some'n." 
 
 Then the door was opened, and Carrie stepped into 
 the hall. " I just want to see Miss Effie for a minute," 
 she explained. "Xo, I'm not visiting; Ell stay here. 
 Tell her to come right away, please." 
 
 Effie answered the summons immediateh'. '* AVhat's 
 the matter, Carrie?" she asked. 
 
 " I'm relieved to hear ^^ou speak in 3-our usual tone," 
 
THE SUXBEAM CLUB. 69 
 
 said Carrie. "I was afraid, after all, 3-011 might be 
 eaten up." 
 
 " Oh, I'm safe and sound I " said Effie briglitly. 
 
 Then Carrie said dolef ull}^ '' Effie, 1 don't know what 
 to do about my day, — about to-morrow." 
 
 *' Oh, you must think of something I " cried Effie. 
 " You've got all night, Carrie." 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Carrie ; " but I have thought 
 and thought and thought, and I can only think of one 
 thincr." 
 
 ''Well, one thing's enough, isn't it?" asked Effie. 
 
 " But it's something that t/ou can't do," said Carrie. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Effie. 
 
 "Unless," added Carrie, "you are willing to borrow 
 your Aunt Mary's baby." 
 
 " Why, yes, I guess I can," said Effie, looking ex- 
 tremely puzzled. She could not understand how the 
 borrowing of her Aunt Mary's baby should be necessary 
 towards the carrying out of a Sunbeam's plan. "Yes, 
 I guess I can, Carrie," she said again. 
 
 " You see," explained Carrie, " the onl}^ thing that 
 I can think of is taking care of the baby or our little 
 brothers and sisters during my day; and you are the 
 only Sunbeam who has neither little brothers nor sisters 
 nor a baby in the house." 
 
 " Oh, I see ! " cried Effie. " Yes, I am certain that 
 Aunt Mary will let me borrow Ferdie." 
 
 " Then the poor nurses can have a rest," said Carrie ; 
 " that is my object. Saturday is always such a busy 
 day here in Lovettsville ; and I don't know if you've 
 
70 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 noticed — no, of course you haven't — but particularly 
 on a busy day the small children in a house are more 
 troublesome than usual, and the baby seems to be howl- 
 ing from morning until night, at least ours does. I 
 thought we'd take them to the park to-morrow." 
 
 "It will be real sweet," cried Effie. "Aunt Mary 
 will be glad to let me have Ferdie, I'm sure." 
 
 "Now I must go," said Carrie breathlessly. "I 
 have to write four notes. Nancy Maude says she'll 
 take thera around for me ; she's so thankful that I'm 
 going to rid her of the baby for a day." 
 
 "Laws, deed I is, ladies! " ejaculated Nancy Maude, 
 with a giggle. 
 
 " What time must we be at your house ? " asked Eflie. 
 
 "At nine o'clock. Good-night! " 
 
 " Good-night! I'll run across and see Aunt Mary." 
 
 "I wish I ]iad time to stay and talk awhile," said 
 Carrie, turning on the lower step. " I had such an ex- 
 perience to-day, I'd like to tell you about it; and, O 
 Effie ! I would dearly love to hear how you got on with 
 Mrs. Kemp." 
 
 " I got on very well," said Effie. 
 
 " She let you read to her ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well ! " The moonlight showed such an expression 
 of wonder on Carrie's uplifted face that Effie burst out 
 laughing. 
 
 " If yo' wants me to tote dem letters round befo' de 
 young ladies all goes to bed, yo' bes' be gittin' home. 
 Miss Carrie," said Nancy Maude. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 71 
 
 " So I had," returned Carrie good-humoredly. " Good- 
 night, Effie." 
 
 " Good-night," repeated Effie. " Pleasant dreams." 
 
 Carrie and her attendant went home in a hurry once 
 they were started; and the four notes were written, 
 despatched, and received by the other four Sunbeams 
 previous to bedtime. 
 
 There was excitement in the homes of the Sunbeams 
 over Carrie's revealed plan ; and Effie succeeded in bor- 
 rowing the precious Ferdie, on condition that she would 
 keep his cloak on him, no matter how much he tried to 
 get rid of it, and that she would pick up his cap and put 
 it back on his head every time he threw it on the ground. 
 
 "He is a very good baby," said Ferdie's mamma; 
 " but he has to be kept in order." 
 
 Punctually at nine o'clock on Saturday morning five 
 girls, three of them with baby cavriages, surrounded by 
 a number of smiling little people, arrived at Carrie's 
 house. 
 
 "We will wait outside," said Annie, when Carrie 
 called to them from the doorway to come in; "we're 
 too many for any one house." 
 
 " There are eighteen of us," said Effie, " and some 
 of us would be difficult to get up the steps. There, 
 that's the first time." 
 
 She stooped and picked up Ferdie's cap, which lie 
 had thrown upon the pavement, and tied the strings 
 firmly under his chin. 
 
 " There are tAventy-two of us now," said Carrie, ap- 
 pearing in the door again, accompanied by two fat little 
 
72 SUXBEAMS AXD J^IOOXBEAMS. 
 
 boys and a little girl, and holding the baby ver}^ care- 
 fully. 
 
 Nancy Maude followed her precious charge down the 
 steps, and kissed him good-by, bidding him be a good 
 boy and mind sister Carrie ; but she stood on the pave- 
 ment laughing spasmodically, as she watched the Sun- 
 beams on their way to the park. 
 
 "Dey's callin' demselves by some sawt o' funny 
 name," said Nancy Maude, when she recovered from 
 her laughter enough to talk to herself, '' and dey sutney 
 is actin' up to it ; but dey gunno git tard o' dem chil- 
 luns 'fore lunch-time, I reckon." 
 
 "How did you come to think of your plan, Carrie?" 
 asked Annie. 
 
 " Well," answered Carrie, " I thought of it when I 
 couldn't think of anything else. It seemed to me that 
 we ought to try to be Sunbeams at home as well as to 
 people outside of home ; and thinking of sunbeams, I 
 suppose, made me think of the children. I thought and 
 I thought and I thought, and I came to the conclusion 
 that it does sisters good to be kind to their little brothers 
 and sisters. It isn't hard to be kind to the baby in a 
 family, but sometimes the little brothers and sisters 
 running around the place are a trial. I have been cross 
 to Rob and Dick and Susie over and over; and some- 
 thing seemed to say to me that if I were in earnest, and 
 wanted to be the right kind of a sunbeam, I would have 
 to be good to Rob and Dick and Susie as well as to the 
 rest of the world. They were just pleased to death 
 when I told them that I was going to take them to the 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 73 
 
 park with the baby and all of you ; they promised to be 
 very good, and to do everything I tell them ; and I be- 
 lieve they will. I believe it is often the older sister's 
 fault that the small children are so hateful. I don't 
 mean everybody, of course," added Carrie apologeti- 
 cally. " I mean myself." 
 
 "You're very polite," said Annie. 
 
 " You don't know how glad Aunt Mary's nurse was," 
 said Effie. " She hasn't liad a holiday for six months. 
 Aunt Mary has been telling everybody, before her face, 
 how very faithful she is to the baby, and that she never 
 takes holiday ; and the poor thing's sister is sick, and 
 she's been longing and longing for a day off. I never 
 saw anybody so grateful as she was, when I told her 
 that I was going to borrow the baby for a whole day ; 
 and Aunt Mary said she might take a holiday." 
 
 " The people are looking at us," said Annie's little 
 brother John; "they think we're soldiers or some- 
 thing." 
 
 " Willie was afraid he was too big," said Rose ; " but 
 he wanted to come. He says he will help to take care 
 of the babies." 
 
 "I will help take care of the babies too," said the 
 little sister of Madge, aged three years. 
 
 "I want to see how all you girls get on playing 
 nurses," said the Latin scholar. 
 
 The people of Lovettsville did notice them as they 
 walked along the streets, making such a goodly crowd, 
 — noticed them, and smiled at them in friendly fashion. 
 
 "I believe they are taking the babies out to the 
 
T4 SUNBEAMS AXD MOOyBEAMS, 
 
 park," said more than one little girl, whose own baby 
 brother or sister was minus a nurse. " Mamma, I will 
 take our baby too." 
 
 The Sunbeams settled themselves on the park benches, 
 and allowed the babies who were old enough to run 
 about in the paths, playing with one another ; while the 
 children several sizes larger were stationed at particular 
 points, with orders to keep the babies within bounds. 
 
 "Now we are soldiers^^' said Annie's little brother. 
 
 The Sunbeams were all easier to hear about Effie's 
 visit to Mrs. Sue Kemp. 
 
 "There really isn't much to tell," said Effie. "At 
 first I was afraid she wasn't going to let me read to 
 her ; but she did, and I got along very nicely." 
 
 " Did you read more than a chapter? " asked Madge. 
 
 " More than a stor}-," said Effie. 
 
 " Story ! " cried Lula. " What kind of stories did 
 you read her, Effie Dorcus ? " 
 
 Then the Sunbeams were thrown into a state of stu- 
 pefaction by Effie telling them that she read Mrs. Kemp 
 "The Knapsack, Hat, and Horn," "Little Red Cap," 
 and " The Frog Prince," and that Mrs. Kemp had 
 asked for more when she finished reading " Little 
 Red Cap." 
 
 "But, Effie," said Annie, "I thought your object in 
 reading to Mrs. Sue Kemp was to make her a better 
 Christian ? " 
 
 " It was," said Effie. "When I left Mrs. Kemp she 
 was a better Christian than when I went into her house ; 
 she was in a good humor." 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 75 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 " I believe Effie is on the right track," said Rose. 
 
 " Now, Carrie," said Effie, " give us your experience 
 with Mrs. Robertson." 
 
 " Wait a minute," said Rose, " till I put on my 
 baby's shoes. He will kick them off. Aren't they too 
 cute, sitting in tlieir carriages looking at us? Yes, 
 Carrie, do tell us about Mrs. Robertson," 
 
 '' Girls, you all know how fearfully I read," said 
 Carrie. 
 
 " What did you read ? " asked Annie. 
 
 " Oh ! Mrs. Robertson had a nice little book that Mr. 
 Souder lent her. I read her that." 
 
 "Carrie Offutt," exclaimed Madge, "you are trying 
 to get out of telling us something. What happened 
 when you were at Mrs. Robertson's?" 
 
 " She's a very pleasant lady," said Carrie ; " and she 
 has a nurse. The nurse is pleasant, too, but she is un- 
 educated ; and they were both very glad when I offered 
 to read." 
 
 "Well!" demanded Madge. 
 
 " Mrs. Robertson gave me the little book, and told 
 me to stop reading when I got tired," continued Carrie. 
 " It was such a little book, I never dreamed of getting 
 tired. Well, you know, when I'm interested I read 
 rapidly. Papa says he never knew any one to read so 
 fast. I forgot all about what Rose told me in regard 
 to speaking slowly and distinctly to a deaf person, and 
 that reading was the same as speaking. Oh, girls, I 
 read the little book through in forty minutes, and it 
 
76 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 was intended to last Mrs. Robertson a wlioie week ! 
 When I finished, and looked at Mrs. Robertson, slie was 
 sliaking with laugliter. She's sick, you know, and 
 she's nervous ; and the tears were literally running 
 down her cheeks. You may know how I felt. I think 
 I could have cried, I was so vexed with myself. The 
 nurse tried to smooth matters over by saying that I 
 read beautifully, just like I talked ; and that nobody 
 ought to expect a little book like that to last a person a 
 weelv. But Mrs. Robertson is real nice, and I am going 
 again ; and next time I intend to read slowly and dis- 
 tinctly. She said that the laugh had done her a great 
 deal of good ; and she explained that she was deaf, and 
 hadn't understood anything I read. ' I could see your 
 lips going, and hear a sound, and see you turning the 
 pages,' she said; and she began to laugh again. But, 
 indeed, girls, she was real nice, and I'm going again." 
 
 "Well, after that I don't feel ashamed any more," 
 said Madge. 
 
 "Why, what happened to you?" asked Annie. 
 
 " I read the Major to sleep.'* 
 
 "O Madge! you didn't?" cried Effie. "Here, 
 Ferdie, here's your cap again. Let Cousin Effie tie it in 
 a harder knot this time." 
 
 " He wouldn't acknowledge that he was sleepy," ex- 
 plained Madge. " I asked him two or three times if I 
 hadn't read enough ; but every time he said no, and 
 glared at me so ferociously that I felt obliged to read 
 on. I was afraid to leave until I heard him snoring." 
 
 " O Madge ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 11 
 
 "I don't know whether to go back to read to him 
 again or not," concluded Madge. *' If I had gone to 
 sleep while a person was reading to me, and snored, I 
 would never want to look upon that person's face again." 
 
 *' The Major won't mind," said Annie easily. 
 
 The truth of Annie's words was proved that after- 
 noon when the Sunbeams brought the babies out again. 
 The Major came stumbling along one of the park paths, 
 peering about him. He had a newspaper in his hand. 
 He paused before a group of Sunbeams teaching the 
 children a new game, and inquired, " Isn't there a little 
 girl here who read to me yesterday ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Rose, "she's here." 
 
 *' She left in the middle of a very interesting article," 
 continued the Major. " I suppose her mother wanted 
 her — in the middle of a most interesting and absorbing 
 article. You say she is here ? " 
 
 " She is here," said the Latin scholar, with a twinkle 
 in his eye ; " but she's taking care of the baby." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried the Major. " Where is the little girl ? 
 and where is the baby? I will take care of the baby 
 while the little girl finishes this article." 
 
 So Madge finished the article written by a war cor- 
 respondent while the Major dangled the Hilton baby 
 on his knee, and allowed it to play with his gold watch- 
 chain and his cigar-case ; and the other Sunbeams, look- 
 ing at Madge, concluded that the very best way to be 
 happy in this world is to be busy and good. 
 
 " Carrie," said Rose, at the close of the day, " your 
 plan has been delightful." 
 
78 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " I feel as if Ferdie were my little brother," said Effie. 
 
 "We will take care of the babies every Saturday," 
 said Carrie. " When it rains we'll play witli them in- 
 doors, and when it's fair we'll come out here in the 
 park together. Girls, haven't the babies behaved splen- 
 didly?" 
 
 "Splendidly!" echoed the Sunbeams; and thus ended 
 the first Baby Day in Lovettsville. 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 79 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 |HE Sunbeam Club prospered amazingly; it 
 broadened out and it deepened; it became 
 a something very beautiful in the midst of 
 the town of Lovettsville, while six girls 
 kept on finding occupation with which to fill up the 
 days of vacation that otherwise would have been dull 
 enough. 
 
 On the second Monday morning the poet's note had 
 been found fastened to a basket of fruit, presented to 
 his young friends with compliments and thanks. It 
 was more than a note, however ; it was quite a lengthy 
 epistle, as Annie discovered when she opened it, and 
 spread it out before the other Sunbeams. " Four pages 
 of letter-size paper," said Annie. " O girls, I wonder 
 what Mr. Gilliland has to say ! " 
 
 Mr. Gilliland had a great deal to say. First he 
 thanked them again for the surprise they had been 
 kind enough to give him on the preceding Monday, and 
 acknowledged that he would have been greatly mys- 
 tified in regard to the members of the Sunbeam Club 
 if he had not been fortunate enough to catch sight of 
 half-a-dozen young ladies leaving his home by the 
 beaten way while he advanced to it across the field. 
 Then the poet added : — 
 
80 SUNBEAMS AXB 3I00yBEAMS. 
 
 " I have a proposition to make to the Sunbeam Club after I 
 have told them a story. Every morning there goes into the city 
 on the same train with myself a little old man who works in a 
 shoemaker's shop. This little old man, whose name is Peter 
 Thome, also lives by himself ; but instead of being a happy old 
 bachelor, who can be cast into a seventh heaven of delight by 
 stepping into a clean house, this old man is a widower whose 
 daughter has quarrelled with him, and taken up her quarters out- 
 side the parental home where she had lived in harmony with him 
 for a period of three years. Besides the daughter, there are four 
 grandchildren, and these five mortals are the dearest things in 
 the world to Peter Thorne. He has explained to me in detail 
 that his daughter expected too much of him; that she wanted 
 him to furnish the house in the latest style, and that he couldn't 
 afford to do it. I rather imagine that the house is furnished in 
 the most miserable of styles, if furnished it could be called ; and 
 I have learned by discreet inquiry that the daughter has regretted 
 her hastiness, and would gladly be reconciled to the old man, 
 only that she is too proud to make the first advances. I have 
 also discovered that the old man is trying to save up a little 
 money, and that he is frequently inquiring the prices of rocking- 
 chairs, etc., sitting on the jDavement up Seventh Street, and sigh- 
 ing over the same. I have told you the story, and now comes 
 the proposition. "Would it not be a good thing for the Sunbeam 
 Club to call upon Peter Thome's daughter, and use their persua- 
 sive powers to prevail upon her to return to her father's house ? 
 Work upon her feelings, tell her that you understand how very 
 fond the old man is of both his daughter and her offspring ; but, 
 my dear children, you will know what to say, and will say it 
 better than I can tell you. But there is one thing that I would 
 like to help you to do ; that is, put a little furniture in the house of 
 Peter Thome. You will see that I have been very careful in my 
 beautifully clean house, that 1 have put all my scraps into the 
 scrap-basket ; perhaps you will even notice that I have dusted off 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 81 
 
 my desk. So there is very little for the Sunbeams to do in George 
 Gilliland's bachelor hall. Go instead to the little old man's 
 house on the other side of the town. It is a long walk, to be 
 sure ; and I would not dare to propose it to young ladies who 
 were not joined together in a Sunbeam Club, and who were not 
 very desirous of working straight along during vacation. Mr. 
 Thorne, like myself, believes in the honesty of his neighbors ; he 
 leaves his door unlocked. Go into the house, and do not be 
 shocked if you find it in greater disorder than you found the 
 poet's sanctum ; don't be dismayed if you think you are in the 
 grimiest hole under heaven. It is only the home of a poor old 
 man who has been used to having his w^omen folk about him, 
 and who does not know how to look after his own comfort. Find 
 out exactly what amount of furniture this ugly little house needs 
 to make it habitable for the old man, the daughter, and the four 
 children, and make a list of the furniture, and send it to me. Do 
 not be dismayed, either, if you think the furniture will cost a 
 considerable amount of money ; a man who has no family of his 
 own can certainly afford to be generous once in a while. 
 
 " Description of Mr. Thorne's House and Directions for 
 REACHING Same. 
 
 "The house in question consists of a little two-story frame 
 building with an old-time chimney going up on the outside. 
 There is a well in the front yard, and a gate with blue-painted 
 posts. It cannot be mistaken. In order to reach this house, you 
 pass down Broadway, and go out the pike for about three-quarters 
 of a mile, turning to the left when you come to the toll-gate. 
 
 "You see, my dear young friends, that I have dropped into 
 newspaper style, apparently forgetful that I am addressing the 
 Sunbeams who have been kind enough to begin a letter to me 
 with 'i\Ir. Poet.' Yet I really have not forgotten. I do not think 
 I would have the courage to ask any one but Sunbeams to look 
 
82 SUXBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 after the -welfare of old Peter Thorne. Send the list of the neces- 
 sary furniture to me during the week ; work on the daughter's 
 feelings also during the week ; next Monday engage two strong 
 women to scrub up the place ; have the furniture, which I shall 
 make arrangements to have hauled up from the depot, placed in 
 the house in the customary manner, or, rather, according to the 
 taste of the Sunbeam Club ; establish the daughter and the chil- 
 dren safely within, and I tell you there will not be a happier man 
 in Christendom than old Peter Thorne when he returns home 
 tired and hungry. 
 
 " I myself will be very careful during the entire week neither 
 to cast my scraps outside the waste-basket, nor to shake the ashes 
 of my pipe upon the side of my desk. I will even dust the chairs 
 if you think they will need it, so that you may have the whole 
 of my third Monday in attending to the business outside the 
 other end of Lovettsville. 
 
 " Trusting I am not infringing upon any of the rules and regu- 
 lations of the Sunbeam Club, I am, my dear young friends, 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " George Gillilaxd." 
 
 When Annie finished reading this letter the Sunbeams 
 had regarded one another ecstatically, and after that 
 they had tidied up the poet's home in a tremendous 
 hurry, for the suggestions in that four-page letter 
 brought joy to the soul. 
 
 It had not been difficult to break throuorh the dausfh- 
 ter's pride, nor to effect the transformation in the little 
 house. The Tvoman had gone back to her old father 
 repentant, thinking she was going to the meagrely fur- 
 nished house where the two boys must sleep on the 
 floor instead of in a " dacent bed ; " and she had found 
 the place comfortable and delightful. Joy sat upon the 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB, 83 
 
 threshold waiting for tlie little old shoemaker tliat 
 Monday evening. 
 
 " Poets are so nice," Annie had said ; and all the 
 other Sunbeams agreed with her. 
 
 Sewing Day also came and went, and came again and 
 was welcome. Tommy's father's old " blue pants " had 
 been made into a diminutive pair of trousers and a 
 pretty little blue coat ; and Tommy was also furnished 
 with a shirt waist with a wide collar made in the latest 
 style. Mrs. Engle had gone into rhapsodies over the 
 dresses of the twins, but she fairly bubbled over in her 
 joy of Tommy. 
 
 " Well," she cried, "and you don't call yourself seam- 
 sters, neither? " 
 
 " No," returned the Sunbeams modestly. 
 
 " Well, you oughta," she declared with firm conviction. 
 
 Mrs. Engle was proud and happy, too, when she sat in 
 the front room, taking a lesson in sewing from a Sunbeam. 
 
 There were other people in the town of Lovettsville 
 who did not know how to sew, and yet were obliged 
 to make their children's clothes. To them also tlie 
 Sunbeams lent their help unstintingly. 
 
 " We are all of us learning to sew ever so much better 
 ourselves," said Annie. 
 
 " Yes," said Effie ; " at the beginning I could only 
 make sleeves, and now I can make a whole little dress 
 all by myself." 
 
 " As for me," said Carrie, " when Sewing Day comes 
 around, and I get together my needle and thread and 
 emery, I feel as if I were a ' seamster ' sure enough." 
 
84 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 And the sick people of Lovettsville enjoyed the 
 dessert carried around the town once a week by six Sun- 
 beams ; and many an afflicted or busy person listened 
 with a thankful heart to a Sunbeam reading, forgiving 
 lier readily if she read too rapidly, or if, in her desire 
 for improvement, she went to the other extreme and 
 read too slowly. 
 
 ''I believe I do read a little better," said Carrie 
 Offutt to her sister Sunbeams. " Mrs. Robertson says 
 she can almost always understand me now. She is so 
 very patient. I hadn't any idea there were so many 
 really good people in Lovettsville until we formed our 
 Club." 
 
 Then Annie turned to Effie, and asked, " Are you 
 still reading ' Grimm's Fairy Tales ' to Mrs. Sue 
 Kemp ? " 
 
 " No," said Effie, blushing ; " I am reading something 
 deeper now." 
 
 " Oh," murmured the Sunbeams. 
 
 " Has Mr. Souder been to see her again ? " asked 
 Rose. 
 
 " No, not yet," said Effie. 
 
 One Friday afternoon Effie Dorcus was kneeling by 
 Mrs. Kemp's bed. The sunlight coming through the 
 gigantic holes in the window-blinds flooded her sunny 
 curls, and falling upon the sick woman's face showed 
 its greater attenuation and the dark circles around the 
 bright eyes. Upon the chair where the little girl had 
 been sitting was a family Bible. Mrs. Kemp had been 
 taken gradually through a course of reading, the begin- 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 85 
 
 ning of which had been the stoiy of " The Knapsack, 
 Hat, and Horn." Slowly but surely she had been 
 weaned away from the things of this world, from the 
 poor little house, and the mean little yard, and the cat 
 and the dog. She had not been a bad woman, as she 
 had defiantly said to Effie upon her first visit ; but she 
 had not known how very good a woman ought to be 
 in order to enter into eternal life, to drink of its joys, 
 and taste no more sorrow. Effie's hands were clasping 
 the hands of the sick woman as slowly and tearfully 
 Mrs. Kemp was asking the Lord of Higli Heaven to 
 make her good. '' Unless ye become as little children 
 ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Mrs. 
 Kemp was as much a child as Effie Dorcus as she 
 asked the Lord to make her good. 
 
 Then a neighbor entered the room, and Effie rose 
 from her knees, and put on her hat. Fifteen minutes 
 later she was standing in the minister's study. 
 
 ''Mr. Souder," she said, "Mrs. Kemp would like to 
 see you very much." 
 
 " God bless you, my child," said Mr. Souder. 
 
 A week later Mrs. Kemp died a happy death. 
 
 " It is all because Effie was so little," said Carrie, as 
 the Sunbeams regarded one another with dewy eyes. 
 
 The people in Lovettsville began to wonder at the 
 change that had come over the richest lady in the place. 
 Contact with the Sunbeams deprived Mrs. Rudolph of 
 her character for unsociability. She spoke to the Sun- 
 beams gayly when she met them upon tlie street, and 
 was forever inviting them into her carriage. Then 
 
86 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 the contact with the Sunbeams brought her in contact 
 with their friends, and she was not long in discovering 
 that the Sunbeams were friends with all the people in 
 Lovettsville. Mrs. Rudolph was always glad, and so 
 were the Sunbeams, when Knitting Day came around. 
 
 "It is astonishing," cried Carrie one day, lifting her 
 head from her knitting, "how very good people seem 
 when you get to know them." 
 
 Miss Offutt blushed hotly when the Sunbeams re- 
 peated her sentence to her later, and declared to her 
 that Mrs. Rudolph had smiled. 
 
 " Oh ! but I didn't mean her," cried Carrie. " I would 
 never be so rude." 
 
 "No, of course not," said Madge j "you only meant 
 my nice old Spanish lady." 
 
 " But Mrs. Rudolph smiled, notwithstanding," said 
 Annie, laughing. 
 
 To some people. Baby Day was the best in Lovetts- 
 ville ; it was such a friendly, jubilant, buoyant sort 
 of day. Rose had said, when she first noticed that 
 other little girls were bringing their baby sisters and 
 brothers to play in the park on Saturday, " Why, this 
 idea of Carrie's was very brilliant." Many mothers 
 considered the idea, whose ever it was, verj-, very 
 brilliant. 
 
 " It makes such a difference in a family when the 
 oldest daughter takes an interest in her little brothers 
 and sisters, and draws them close to her," said the wife 
 of the town jeweller. " Paul and Aimee are like differ- 
 ent children since Julie has been taking them to the 
 
THE SUNBEAM CLUB. 87 
 
 park every Saturday. They seem to be good all the 
 week ill anticipation of Baby Day." 
 
 It was upon a glorious afternoon belonging to Baby 
 Day, that Dr. Thompson turned into the park for the 
 pleasure of seeing what was going on there. The chil- 
 dren were having a delightful time ; they were playing 
 Puss-in-the-corner, while a number of small boys were 
 deep in a game of marbles. The doctor patted one of 
 his own youngsters upon the head, bade him " play 
 fair," and walked on to where a group of Sunbeams 
 were talking over some amusing experiences of the 
 previous day. They looked up when they heard some 
 one singing softly : — 
 
 " O I love the merry Sunbeams! 
 They make the heart so gay 
 With their briglit and smiling faces, 
 On a summer holiday! " 
 
 '' There ! " added the doctor emphatically, " I mustn't 
 make you all vain." 
 
 " Papa, you know that isn't the song," said Rose. 
 
 " Isn't the song ! " cried the doctor. " Why, my 
 dear child, the song is years older than you. Isn't the 
 song, indeed, Rose ! " 
 
 "You know," said Rose, "that it's this way: — 
 
 " ' O I love the merry sunshine 
 It makes the heart so gay 
 To hear the sweet birds singing 
 On a summer holiday ! ' " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed the doctor, in such a tone of con- 
 sternation that all the Sunbeams lauglied. 
 
88 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " There is no excuse for such a mistake," he said ; 
 " no, indeed, none whatever. Even in the presence of 
 a number of young lady Sunbeams there is no excuse 
 for such a blunder as that." 
 
 " Papa is always teasing me about being a Sunbeam," 
 said Rose ; " but I know he is glad when Baby Day 
 comes, even if he isn't home all the time." 
 
 The doctor passed along down the walk, humming as 
 he went ; but again he fitted the new version to the old 
 tune. 
 
 Then some one,who had been listening to the doctor's 
 banter, stood in front of the group of Sunbeams. It 
 was a little boy in a blue suit of clothes and a broad 
 sailor collar. There was mischief in his dark eyes, 
 and his mother was nowhere near. 
 
 " You ain't nothin' but girls, far's I can see," cried 
 Tommy Engle, and darted away. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 |HE Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville was 
 started half in fun and half in earnest by 
 the boys of the graduating-class of the Lovetts- 
 ville High School ; it was started upon a dis- 
 mal day in November during the afternoon recess. The 
 boys had been looking out of the schoolroom windows 
 at the rain falling steadily upon the pavem nt opposite, 
 when Peter Hopwood, the youngest member of the 
 class, a boy whose fond mother determined should not 
 wear long trousers until he was sixteen, wheeled about 
 suddenly with a glimmer of fun in his eyes, and some- 
 thing else too, and, pointing a finger at each boy suc- 
 cessively, cried out impressively ; '' Monday, Tuesday, 
 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday." When 
 Peter said " Saturday " his finger was placed politely 
 upon a button of his vest. 
 
 " Well, what's up ? " demanded William Scott, other- 
 wise known as the Giant. 
 
 " Nothing's up," replied Peter, " only Pve been 
 thinking." 
 
 " Out with it, boy," said Tom Risley. 
 
90 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " We're the same number as the Sunbeam Club," said 
 Peter. 
 
 " Rhetorically finished sentence ! " exclaimed Alex- 
 ander Brown. '' Fellow-students, our friend has been 
 thinking deeply. Mark ye ! we are the same number as 
 that highly respected organization, the Sunbeam Club." 
 
 " Well, what if we are ? " inquired Singleton Fields. 
 
 "Explain the conundrum, Hopwood, and be quick 
 about it," said Brown. "We are in a fever of expec- 
 tation ; next thing you know we'll be having the 
 chills." 
 
 "Not unless you give them to us, Aristocrat," 
 answered Peter. " I say, fellows," he added enthusias- 
 tically, " I can't, for the life of me, see why we shouldn't 
 join forces, and become the Moonbeam Club of Lovetts- 
 ville." 
 
 For an instant five boys stared incredulously at the 
 speaker. 
 
 " The Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville," repeated the 
 Giant, his wits slowly returning. 
 
 " Let a little more light upon the subject, Peter, my 
 dear," said Risley. 
 
 " Tell us what we'd have to do," said John Sedgwick. 
 
 " Well, first thing," said Peter, " we'd have to or- 
 ganize." 
 
 " All right, boys, let's organize ; that's easy enough," 
 said Fields ; " but before proceeding to action let's 
 insist upon the President going into long pants." 
 
 " Oh, there isn't to be any president I " said Hop- 
 wood, blushing at the allusion to his trousers. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 91 
 
 " The Sunbeams have no president," said Scott. 
 
 " That's so," said Sandy Brown. 
 
 " We can't get along better in this weary world than 
 the Sunbeams," said Hop wood. 
 
 " I doubt if we can get along as well," said the Giant. 
 "Be a little more explicit, Mr. Hopwood; vv^e'll give 
 you our strictest attention." William seated himself 
 upon a desk, threw liis long right leg over his left, put 
 his great hands into his pockets, and regarded Peter 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Those girls did a lot of work during the summer," 
 said Peter; "and they're keeping up the business on 
 Saturday. It's astonishing; yes, indeed, there's no 
 doubt about it, it's astonishing; everybody says so." 
 
 " Allowed that it's astonishing," said the Giant pla- 
 cidly. "Turn your attention, Mr. Hopwood, to the 
 organization in the room. What is the issue of your 
 few moments of deep thinking ? " 
 
 " What are we to do?" asked John Sedgwick. 
 
 " We're to work at nights," said Peter. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 "What kind of work?" asked the Aristocrat. 
 
 " All kinds," returned Peter. " You see, those girls 
 each had to think of something for her day ; w^e've all 
 got to have our days ; one fellow's not to think for 
 everybody, it wouldn't be fair." 
 
 "iSTo," said the Aristocrat, "it wouldn't be fair 
 exactly." 
 
 " He'd have no time for his studies, eh ? " inquired 
 the Giant. 
 
92 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "First thing," began Peter again. 
 
 "First thing was the organization; that's settled,'* 
 said the Giant. " Second thing, if you please." 
 
 "Second thing, then," said Peter; "we've got to 
 have our days." 
 
 " Our nights, you mean," corrected Sedgwick. 
 
 "Alexander Brown, His Night," said Risley, mus- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Yes," cried Peter excitedl}^ at which the new orga- 
 nization burst into appreciative laughter. 
 
 " How did' the Sunbeams manage about their days? " 
 inquired the Giant, maintaining liis position upon the 
 desk, but throwing his left leg over his riglit. 
 
 " I can tell 3'ou how they managed," said Singleton 
 Fields ; " I had it first-hand from Carrie Offutt. They 
 all wanted the last day, of course, but there weren't 
 enough of last daj^s to go round, so some of them had to 
 be satisfied with the first da3"s ; and one Monday morn- 
 ing, bright and early, Annie Winthrop marched them 
 off to clean up Mr. Gilliland's house, which has been a 
 marvel of neatness ever since. The poet, b}' force of 
 good example, has learned to dust, and to bake apple- 
 pie, I believe." 
 
 " I'm down on house-cleaning." said Singleton Fields, 
 so solemnly that John Sedgwick Avas cruel enough to 
 remember and impart his knowledge that Singleton's 
 mother always made him beat the sitting-room carpet. 
 
 " Good work for boj-s," said the Giant. " But it's 
 the fall of the year, and we can work only at nights. 
 Besides, we are advancing too hastily; the next thing 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 93 
 
 to be done is to arrange the days, — I beg pardon, the 
 nights." 
 
 "Suppose we draw," said Tom Risley. 
 
 " That's fair and square," agreed the Giant. 
 
 Accordingly the names of the days of the week were 
 written upon slips of paper, dropped into a hat, and the 
 boys took turns drawing them out. Then, following the 
 Giant's directions, each wrote his name and the accom- 
 panying words "His Night" upon the folded slips of 
 paper, and handed them over to Peter Hop wood to be 
 arranged and read aloud. 
 
 "Monday, William Scott, His Night," read Peter, 
 amid a roar of laughter. 
 
 "Very good," said the Giant soberly. "Proceed." 
 
 " Tuesday, John Sedgwick, His Night." 
 
 " Ye gods and little fishes ! " exclaimed John, 
 
 "Wednesday, Tom Risley, His Night." 
 
 Tom gave a prolonged whistle. 
 
 " Thursday, Alexander Brown, His Night." 
 
 " Glory ! " ejaculated the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Friday, Singleton Fields, His Night." 
 
 " ' He has a lean and hungry look ; he thinks too 
 much,'" quoted Fields. 
 
 "'That Moonbeam's dangerous,'" concluded the 
 Giant. "One more; read her out, Peter." 
 
 "Saturday, Peter Hopwood, His Night. Well, I'm 
 last," cried Peter triumphantly. 
 
 "Last but not least; eh, Peter?" inquired Sandy 
 Brown. 
 
 " I'll do what I can for the organization," said Peter, 
 blushing very hard. 
 
94 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Now," said the Giant, " what comes third ? " 
 
 " Nothing," said Peter. 
 
 '' Perhaps his mother will let him go into long pants 
 third," said Tom Risley. 
 
 But the Giant ai'ose to liis feet, and waved away all 
 nonsense. " Monday, William Scott, His Night, comes 
 third," he said, "preceded by a little side-talk with 
 boys." 
 
 The other five Moonbeams cheered vociferously. 
 
 "We must understand the matter thoroughly," began 
 the Giant. " We must not rush into the thing madly. 
 The Moonbeam Club, I take it, is a sort of set-off to the 
 famous Sunbeam Club, established on a certain Sunday 
 during the present year by six young ladies on their 
 wa}^ from Sunday-school. The sun coming out suddenly 
 after a fierce shower was the cause of a brilliant mind 
 proposing the organization. The Moonbeam Club has 
 been organized on a rainy day, with no promise wliatever 
 of clear weather. It is not at all improbable that the 
 Moonbeams will have to start to work on ^Monday in 
 the rain. But the inclemency of the weather only in- 
 creased the fervor of the Sunbeams. It was a novel 
 experience to Lovettsville to have sunbeams in the rain, 
 but it's had them. Lovettsville must have moonbeams, 
 also, in the rain and in all sorts of weather. The Moon- 
 beams are not to be behind the Sunbeams." 
 
 "Well, I know one thing," said Singleton Fields, 
 " we none of us can sew." 
 
 " Speak for yourself," said the Giant ; " it's a very 
 good thing for a fellow to know how to sew." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 95 
 
 "When Ave're out camping, yes," said Singleton, 
 "but not to sew well enough to teach other people. 
 The Sunbeams taught ever so many people how to 
 sew." 
 
 " So tliey did," said the Giant. " God bless 'em ! " 
 
 " We can't learn to knit, either," said John Sedgwick. 
 " Hang it, fellows ! I believe girls can find things to 
 do easier than boys." 
 
 " The Sunbeams liad to do a tall lot of thinking, that 
 I know for a fact," said Peter. 
 
 " Think of Effie Dorcus reading to Mrs. Kemp," said 
 the Aristocrat. " I didn't use to know how brave girls 
 are." 
 
 " Oh, the Sunbeams have done wonders ! " said Single- 
 ton despondently. 
 
 " Cheer up ! " said the Giant. " What was it about 
 old Peter Thorne ? Couldn't we do something of that 
 kind?" 
 
 "No!" thundered the rest of the Moonbeams. 
 
 "Why not?" demanded the Giant. 
 
 " They f urnislied the old fellow's house beautifully, 
 and they had a poet to select the furniture and foot the 
 bill," said Tom. 
 
 " And they went to the daughter, and worked on her 
 feelings until she agreed to return to her lonely old 
 father. We couldn't do anything at all like that," said 
 Sandy. 
 
 "We'd make a muss of it, sure," said Singleton. 
 
 "I don't know; I think we could beat the carpets," 
 said the Giant. 
 
06 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS, 
 
 "They were new, and didn't need beating," said 
 Sedgwick. 
 
 " But there's plenty of other things to be done," said 
 Peter. 
 
 "What?" demanded Fields. 
 
 "Shoals of things," said Peter. "I tell you, those 
 girls had to think. It didn't all come to them in a 
 minute." 
 
 "No," said Singleton mournfully; "they had the 
 whole of the vacation." 
 
 "Well," said the Giant cheerfully, "we'll have Satur- 
 day and Sunday." 
 
 "It's no use to begin this thing," said Peter, "unless 
 we intend carrying it through. Say, fellows, is every 
 one in for it?" 
 
 "I'd like to be told what to do," said Singleton. 
 
 "You've been given your night," said Peter. "I 
 don't see why boys should be more stupid than girls." 
 
 " I don't see it, either," said Singleton ; " but some- 
 times they are." 
 
 " You're in the High School, and you're to graduate 
 in seven months," said Peter severely. 
 
 "Yes, and so are you," said Singleton; "and you're 
 in short pants." 
 
 " I don't care if I am," retorted Peter. " I'm not 
 afraid that I can't think as well as a Sfirl." 
 
 " Would you carry dessert to Mrs. Windham ? " asked 
 Singleton. 
 
 " There are some things that girls can do better than 
 boys, and there are other things that boys can do better 
 than girls," returned Peter. 
 
TUE MOONBEAM CLUB. 97 
 
 "Now we're getting there," said the Giant. 
 
 " Whoever wishes to belong to the organization, let 
 him hold up his hand," cried Peter excitedly. 
 
 Tlie Giant held up both his hands. They went up 
 so high that the other boys gave a shout, and threw 
 theirs up too. 
 
 " We, the newly organized Moonbeam Club, do sol- 
 emnly affirm that we will exercise our wits in solving 
 the problem of what boys can do better than girls, and 
 cease regretting that there are some things that girls 
 can do better than boys," cried the Giant, still with his 
 hands uplifted. 
 
 "We, the Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville," cried 
 Peter Hopwood's shrill voice, " do hereby solemnly 
 promise that each boy will be ready on his specified 
 night to tell the other boys what they will liave to do 
 on that night, and never, under any circumstances, will 
 a fellow knock out the whole club by failing to put 
 in an appearance." 
 
 " We, the Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville, set-off to 
 that respected organization, the Sunbeam Club of Lov- 
 ettsville, do hereby agree, each and every one of us, to 
 follow implicitly the orders of the boy whose night it 
 is, and never cause disturbance in the organization by 
 murmuring or dissension," cried the Aristocrat. 
 
 " We, the Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville, do hereby 
 promise to work faithfully on warm and cold evenings, 
 during rain, snow, hail, or even a blizzard, at an}^ work 
 assigned by the boy whose night it may be," said 
 Singleton cheerfully. 
 
98 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 " We, the Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville, liumble 
 followers of the successful Sunbeams, agree to give 
 our best attention to the thought of our respective 
 niofhts," declared John Sedo^wick. 
 
 *' We, the undersigned, I mean the Moonbeam Club 
 of Lovettsville," cried Tom Risley, '' do faithfully prom- 
 ise to follow all the rules and regulations of the organ- 
 ization, to appear at the appointed place and hour on 
 each respective night, to go over our studies first, and 
 always be in a cheerful humor. We, the undersigned 
 voters, I mean the Moonbeam Club of Lovettsville, 
 do also solemnly promise to do our level best to make 
 the new organization as successful as the respected 
 organization already in our midst, the Sunbeam Club, 
 bearing in mind that there are a few things that Moon- 
 beams can do better than Sunbeams, and a great many 
 things that Sunbeams can do better than Moonbeams." 
 
 " To all of these resolutions we say aye," cried the 
 Giant ; and the rest of the Moonbeams echoed " Aye." 
 
 "Now we'll give three cheers for the Sunbeams," 
 said the Giant. 
 
 The three cheers were given with good will. After 
 that the newly organized club sat down very properly 
 at the school-desks ; for Mr. Engler, the Principal, had 
 entered the room and tingled the bell, wondering at 
 the unusual excitement of the students on such a mis- 
 erable afternoon. 
 
 The Moonbeams did a good deal of quiet thinking 
 during the days intervening between the organization 
 of the club and the first propitious night. On Monday 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 99 
 
 five words, written in the Giant's handwriting, were 
 discovered on the bkckboard. They were: '' Monday, 
 William Scott, His Niglit." Every now and then the 
 Giant's eyes strayed to the words as if he must not by 
 any manner of means forget their import. The other 
 Moonbeams, looking at the words, found themselves 
 smiling broadly. What was the Giant going to do, 
 and order them to do, on the club's first working-night? 
 
 '' Boys," said Scott, as they went down into the street 
 at noon, " we have neither arranged the place of meet- 
 ing nor the hour. The place of meeting this evening 
 will be the north end of the town, the extreme north 
 end, and the hour" — 
 
 '' We must have our studies over first, that's in the 
 agreement," said Singleton ; and then he added thought- 
 fully, as if impressing it upon his memory, " Extreme 
 north end of the town." 
 
 "We leave school at four o'clock," said the Giant. 
 "We ought to be able to do all our studying by six. 
 Then we eat our dinner. I think we might meet at the 
 appointed place at seven o'clock." 
 
 " Better say half-past," said the Aristocrat ; " every 
 person can't learn his lessons as quickly as you. Giant." 
 
 The Giant gave a short laugh, regarded the Aristo- 
 crat kindly, and fixed the time of meeting at half-past 
 seven. Another boy also looked at Sandy. It was 
 Singleton Fields, and there was gratitude shining in his 
 eyes. Alexander Brown studied his lessons in a shorter 
 time than any student in the graduating-class at the 
 High School, but Singleton felt only admiration as 
 
100 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS, 
 
 he mutel}' thanked him for giving him an extra half- 
 hour. 
 
 "There's no use in wasting precious moments," said 
 the Giant, a smile playing about his mouth. " I might 
 as well tell you right here what we're to do to-night, 
 and what you're to bring." 
 
 "Bring?" questioned John Sedgwick. 
 
 " Yes, of course," said Tom Risley. " The Sunbeams 
 had to take brooms and things, you know," he added. 
 
 " There are many things that Sunbeams can do better 
 than Moonbeams," said Scott, in his big voice; "but 
 there are a few things that Moonbeams can do better 
 than Sunbeams. This evening, boys, I want you to 
 bring your axes." 
 
 " Axes I " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 « 
 
 "Yes, and hold on — you had better not reach the 
 place of appointment on this special evening until ei«^ht 
 o'clock. You've got a job to perform before you get 
 there. We're not going to be mean about this business. 
 Bring all the other fellows you can find ; that is, each 
 boy must invite his friends who are willing to work. 
 Each guest is to remember his axe, or stay at home. 
 We have no use to-night for any fellow minus an axe. 
 We're going to cut wood." 
 
 "For whom?" demanded the listeninsf Moonbeams. 
 
 "For everybody," said the Giant. "But there's no 
 use going into particulars ; you'll be given further 
 orders to-nio^ht." 
 
 "I suppose you've engaged your friends alread}-?" 
 said Singleton. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 101 
 
 "No," replied the Giant; "there's plenty of time." 
 
 The great good-natured fellow walked away with his 
 hands in his pockets ; and Alexander Brown said in a 
 low voice to John Sedgwick, "He'll wait till that last 
 half-hour. We mio^ht as well have a little fun alonor 
 with the work. Let's go in with the others, and procure 
 all recruits previous to the last half-hour." 
 
 " All right," said Sedgwick briskly. 
 
 The Giant was smiling to himself as he walked on 
 towards home and his midday meal. He was thinking 
 of flying axes, and all sorts of things, as he sat down 
 opposite his mother at the luncheon-table, and explained 
 to her about the newlv oro\anized Moonbeam Club, and 
 ''Monday, William Scott, His Night." 
 
102 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 [HE Giant's the most level-headed fellow I 
 ever saw," declared Peter Hop wood, as he 
 and young Fields rushed along the streets 
 directly after four o'clock. "I'd be in a 
 fever if the first night were mine, and I had to set the 
 ball rolling." 
 
 "He's been reading Greek every minute of recrea- 
 tion," said Singleton. " He said he was saving up his 
 enerofies for the evenino^." 
 
 "Well, we've hauled the school over without his 
 knowledge, that's certain, and we'll have helpers enough 
 and to spare. B}^ the time the five of us have inter- 
 viewed the fellows at the other schools, there won't be 
 any boys or axes unengaged in Lovettsville. Suppose 
 we study our lessons together, then we won't have to 
 begin right away." 
 
 "All right," said Singleton. 
 
 "And if we can't have the pleasure of seeing the 
 Giant hunting for his laborers, we'll at least be at the 
 appointed place to meet him and greet him without 
 them." 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! " laughed Singleton. 
 
 Altogether unsuspicious of the plot against him, 
 William Scott quietly went over his lessons in the 
 
THE M00yBEA:S[ CLUB, 103 
 
 little back library of liis home. He had an extraordi- 
 narily good mind, and the lessons for the next day did 
 not occupy him more than an hour ; but after that the 
 Giant went to work on a mathematical problem. If 
 there was one study in which the boy excelled, it was 
 mathematics; but this afternoon he sat there frowning 
 over the example before him. Suddenly he looked up, 
 pushed the hair from his forehead, and called " Mother ! " 
 loudly. 
 
 ''Well, my dear?" inquired Mrs. Scott, entering the 
 little library, and sitting down beside her great son. 
 
 "I want you to help me with my lesson, mother," 
 said the Giant ; and then the two of them laughed. It 
 had been a long time since Mrs. Scott had been called 
 on to help with a lesson. 
 
 " It's mathematics," explained the Giant. 
 
 " It's a joke, you mean," said Mrs. Scott. " Mathe- 
 matics is not one of my strong points. Will." 
 
 *' Tell me the names of some of the Lovettsville fam- 
 ilies who ought to have their wood cut," said the 
 boy. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Mrs. Scott ; " there's little Miss Meredith. 
 She has the greatest kind of a time getting her wood 
 cut; and there are the Grahams — the husband is ill. 
 It will be a charity to cut wood for those people, my 
 son." 
 
 " Only don't use the word charity, mother dear," 
 said the Giant. " Wc don't allow it in the organiza- 
 tion ; it's too often had the word cold before it, applica- 
 bly applied. Say a work of brotherly love, or something 
 
104 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 like that." Then the Giant wrote down the two names, 
 and called for more. 
 
 " But, my dear boy, you already have quite a long 
 list of names," said the Giant's mother; "and Mr. Hurt 
 is among the number. Mr. Hurt is very well off, Will." 
 
 "It isn't charity, mother," said the Giant impres- 
 sively. " Some of the owners of these names would 
 refuse to let us cut wood if we were only cutting it for 
 the poor of Lovettsville. We are doing the work for 
 exercise ; we can say to these people that Mr. Hurt has 
 let us cut wood for him, don't you see ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear, I see," said his mother softly. 
 
 "There, I've put down Mrs. Windham's name also. 
 She'll understand," said the Giant. 
 
 "How man}^ names do you want? " asked Mrs. Scott. 
 
 "'Eighteen. Each of the six of us is to head a party ; 
 boys are plentiful in Lovettsville, and this will be a 
 sort of lark. Eighteen places will allow half an hour at 
 each place with plenty of time to get round. I intend 
 to arrange matters so that we won't have any long 
 distances to get over. Wouldn't Sally Free like to 
 have her wood cut, mother ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Mrs. Scott ; " and so would Nancy 
 Ott and poor old Simon Cooper." 
 
 Sally Free, Nancy Ott, and Simon Cooper were 
 immediately w^ritten upon the Giant's paper. 
 
 "Three more, mother," said William, "and then I 
 can continue the example alone." 
 
 " Mrs. Snell is very poor, but she is proud ; and she 
 won't be at all grateful," said Mrs. Scott. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 105 
 
 '' Down she goes," said the Giant. 
 
 "Mrs. Lisner is well off ; but she hates to pay a man, 
 and her daughter almost freezes." 
 
 " For the daughter's sake down she goes," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 "And Polly Adams, she is desperately poor." 
 
 "Polly Adams," wrote the Giant. "Thank you, 
 mother dear." 
 
 But Mrs. Scott was looking at her big boy and laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 "Well?" he inquired. 
 
 " Don't you think, son, that some of you kind-hearted 
 boys ought to look after the home woodpiles a little? 
 It's charity that begins at home, I know ; but I'm sure 
 it isn't cold charity." 
 
 " The Giant sprang to his feet, caught his mother in 
 his arms and kissed her. "Every boy shall wind up 
 with a turn at his mother's woodpile, thanks to my 
 own little mother's nice way of putting a thing," he 
 said. 
 
 It was not until some time after the Giant had eaten 
 his dinner that he went strolling out to pick up his 
 help. He had exactly half an hour for this work. 
 
 He had imagined that he would not find the streets 
 destitute of boys at such an early hour, but no matter 
 Avhat direction he took for some little time he met no 
 boys. Then, suddenly, he came upon one hurrying 
 around a corner. 
 
 " Hello ! " said the Giant. " Anything special on 
 hand this evening ? " 
 
106 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 " Got an engagement," returned the boy curtly. 
 
 " Well, I guess I can pick up a dozen or so at the 
 post-office," thought the Giant, not at all worried. But 
 he met with no success at the post-office. Every boy 
 who was there after the mail beorored to be excused from 
 helping the Giant to cut wood ; every one of them Iiad 
 a previous engagement. 
 
 When the Giant left the post-office he saw upon the 
 opposite side of the street a boy belonging to the High 
 School, and he called to him by name. Evidently the 
 boy did not hear or understand ; for he continued walk- 
 ing quickly up the street, and finally broke into a run. 
 
 *' He's getting along at a fine rate of speed," said the 
 Giant, "but I can run too; I'm not afraid of being left 
 in the lurch." 
 
 " Jimmy Rush," he roared, putting a hand down 
 heavily upon the boy's shoulder, and holding him fast ; 
 " wait a bit, will you ? " 
 
 " I'm in a hurry," said Jimmy. 
 
 *' So am I," said the Giant. 
 
 " I've got to get on, I tell you," said Jimmy. . 
 
 " Nobody ill at home ? " inquired the Giant, loosening 
 his grasp. 
 
 '' No," said Jimmy, with a glimmer of amusement in 
 his eyes. 
 
 '' Oh ! " said the Giant dryly ; " got an engagement, 
 I suppose?" 
 
 "Yes," said Jimmy. 
 
 The Giant let the boy go, stepped back to a street- 
 lamp, and looked at his watch. " I've wasted seventeen 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 107 
 
 minutes," he said ; " and I declare I'm out of breath. 
 Hang the Lovettsville fellows and their engagements! 
 They've heard about the wood, and they're putting on 
 airs. Well, I've got to get to the north end of the 
 town by eight o'clock, and I mustn't forget to stop at 
 the store and buy an axe." 
 
 The pale light of the moon was beginning to mingle 
 with the lamp-light in the streets of Lovettsville. "It's 
 a jolly night to cut wood," thought the Giant; "but 
 I'm afraid I'll have to cut down the example a little. 
 I thought the fellows would jump at the exercise." 
 
 Then, suddenly, as he was striding along, he caught 
 sight of a little child's face at a brilliantly lighted 
 window. The face belonged to Willie Scott, the son of 
 a Lovettsville druggist. 
 
 " Hello, namesake ! " said William, looking in and 
 smiling. 
 
 The child smiled back at him. 
 
 " Hanor it ! I have an idea," said the Giant. He 
 gave a whistle, and went close to the window. " Hello, 
 buster ! " he called. 
 
 The child raised the window. "Hello, sir ! " he cried 
 back. 
 
 " I'm in a pickle," said the Giant. " I'm after some- 
 body to help me out. I'm going to cut wood — for ex- 
 ercise, you understand?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, I think I do," said the small boy. 
 
 " Well, you're m}- namesake. Don't you think you 
 might help me out ? " 
 
 "I'd like to very nuich," returned the small boy; 
 
108 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "but I don't think I could cut wood. I'm going to a 
 doctor in the city, and he says in good time I'll be able 
 to walk, but just now I have to use a crutch even in the 
 house ; and he didn't say anything about cutting wood. 
 You're Mr. William Scott who goes to the High School, 
 aren't 3'ou ? " 
 
 " Yes," said William Scott, " and having the same 
 name it seems to me that you ought to be willing to 
 help me. Wouldn't 3^ou like to be my fice-dog?" 
 
 " I guess I would," said Willie ; " but I don't know 
 exactly what it means." 
 
 The Giant laughed good-humoredly. " You see," 
 he explained, " I expected a lot of fellows to help me 
 cut wood, — for exercise, you know, — and they've dis- 
 appointed me by not turning up. Now, if I had a fice- 
 dog, a little fellow like you, for instance, to nag me, to 
 make me work, to order me to cut harder and faster, 
 I might be able to do a powerful lot of work all alone." 
 
 " Yes," said the child thoughtfully, " 'cause you're 
 pretty big." 
 
 "Don't you think you might be my fice-dog?" 
 
 " If mamma would let me." 
 
 "Run quick and ask 3'our mamma." 
 
 "I'll tell her that you're William Scott, the big boy 
 who goes to the High School, and that I'm to be your 
 fice-dog-. Bat you're no kin to me, are a'ou?" 
 
 " I don't know about that," said the Giant. " Say, 
 there's j^our mamma coming after us for having the 
 window open. Good-evening, Mrs. Scott." 
 
 Three minutes later the fice-dog, bundled up in a 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 109 
 
 most marvellous manner, was on the back of the Giant, 
 clinging hard to his neck. 
 
 "You're all right," said the Giant. "You're not 
 afraid? You won't mind if I run?" 
 
 "No," cried the happy child. 
 
 Only once did William Scott pause in that delightful 
 rush for the north end of Lovettsville ; then he darted 
 into a store, and called imjoeratively for an axe. 
 
 One minute after eight the Giant arrived at the place 
 of appointment, panting hard. 
 
 " What a lot of hoys ! " cried Willie Scott ; and the 
 Giant, comprehending the joke played upon him, joined 
 uproariously in the laugh. 
 
 "What do you mean by bringing a fellow without 
 an axe," demanded Peter Hopwood. 
 
 "I'm his fice-dog," explained the little cripple, lean- 
 ing his head confidingly upon the Giant's shoulder, and 
 staring hard at the crowd. 
 
 Then in the light of the street-lamp the mathematical 
 paper was produced, and the boys were quickly counted 
 off, and divided into six parties. There were eleven or 
 twelve bo3^s in each party. Each Moonbeam was fur- 
 nished with the names of three people to whom he was 
 to apply for the privilege of reducing the pile of uncut 
 wood. Then the Giant gravely regarded the smiling 
 faces about him. "Sixty -nine boys," he said, "all 
 willing and eager to cut wood for exercise. I didn't 
 expect such a number to be waiting orders. I intended 
 each party to give a half hour to the woodpiles named, 
 but twenty minutes will suffice. At the end of the 
 
110 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 exercise among our neighbors, let each boy see that his 
 mother's woodpile looks as it ought to look, as it has a 
 right to look, with a bo}' and an axe on the premises." 
 
 "Three cheers for the Giant and his night!" roared 
 the boys. 
 
 After those rousing cheers the ]\Ioonbeams set off 
 briskly upon the novel expeditions. 
 
 It was the Giant and his party who cut wood for Mrs. 
 Snell. To all outward appearances Mrs. Snell was not 
 at all grateful. She said, yes, if they wanted to cut 
 wood for exercise, they might do it, but they'd find it 
 a mighty hard lot of wood ; and she said, yes, the little 
 lame boy might be brought into the house, and he could 
 hammer on the panes all he wanted to, though she didn't 
 see any sense in "no such doin's." 
 
 "I'm the fice-dog," explained the little lame boy; 
 " and when I thump on the window it will make the 
 boys cut wood the faster. The big boy brought me 
 along to help." But for awhile the fice-dog was very 
 mute as he pressed his face against the window, won- 
 derincr how the bovs could make their axes fly in such 
 a bewildering fashion. 
 
 '' Your little woodpile is getting to be a big wood- 
 pile, Mrs. Snell," he said, after awhile. '-Aren't you 
 glad?" 
 
 "I don't know as I'm partic'lar glad," returned Mrs. 
 Snell. " I suppose I'll burn more wood *n I oughta." 
 
 " They call that big boy the Giant," said the little 
 cripple. " He let me ride here on his back. He's 
 a mighty nice boy. His name is William Scott, and my 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. Ill 
 
 name is William Scott; but I don't think we're any 
 kin." 
 
 " It's a good thing to be big and strong," said Mrs. 
 Snail. 
 
 '^ Yes," said Willie Scott, "it's a good thing. The 
 doctor says that some day I'll be big and strong. He 
 says I'll be able to walk all right pretty soon now." 
 
 " Good lands ! " cried Mrs. Snell, " can't you walk all 
 right ? Oh, I know who you are now ! you're the drug- 
 gist's boy, who never has been able to walk. What 
 made them fellers bring you along to-night?" 
 
 "That big boy asked me to help," said Willie; "and 
 I can help too. I'm his fice-dog." He pounded fiercely 
 upon the window. "That's to make them cut you a 
 great big pile of wood." 
 
 " Land sakes I " ejaculated Mrs. Snell. 
 
 The fice-dog pounded the window again. 
 
 " I never seen such a powerful woodpile," said Mrs. 
 Snell. "I'm feered I'll burn twice as much as I oughta. 
 There's twelve boys at work. They must be wantin' 
 exercise pretty bad, I'm thinkin'." 
 
 " Yes, I reckon they want it pretty bad," agreed the 
 fice-dog. 
 
 Then the wood-cutting ceased suddenly, and the Giant 
 came into the little room. Mrs. Snell, of her own ac- 
 cord, helped the fice-dog upon the boy's broad back, and 
 said " Good-evenin'," bluntly, unaccompanied by any 
 words of thanks. But she went around to the front 
 of her house, and watched that lively party of boys as 
 they crossed the street and disappeared from sight. 
 
112 su^'^BEA^IS and moonbeams. 
 
 The lively party went up an alley-way brilliantly 
 lighted by the moon, and entered Mrs. Rupert's by the 
 back way. A petition was sent in to the mistress to 
 let the Lovettsville boys exercise a little at her wood- 
 pile ; and the fice-dog was handed over to the care of 
 the parlor-maid with injunctions that he be assisted to 
 the back porch every five minutes, from which point 
 he was to shout at them with all his lungs. 
 
 " Now where are we going? " demanded Willie Scott, 
 as the party left Mrs. Rupert's by the moonlighted alley. 
 
 *' To Simon Cooper's," answered the Giant. 
 
 " Oh, I know him I " cried Willie Scott. " He sells 
 apples on the streets ; and he has a whole lot of people 
 living with him, — a wife and a daughter and seven 
 grandchildren, and other people besides. He told me 
 all about it. I'm so glad you're going to cut wood for 
 him, because he's been cutting wood for over sixty years, 
 and he just hates it. I guess he must be awful tired." 
 
 " You must see that we cut him a tremendous pile," 
 said the Giant. 
 
 "I will," said the fice-doof. "And I won't ^o in the 
 house. I'll stay out in the wood-shed with Simon." 
 
 Simon Cooper gladly resumed his day's clothing to 
 welcome the wood-cutters, and chuckled most heartily 
 over their offer. He placed Willie Scott in comfortable 
 quarters by his side in the wood-shed. 
 
 "I'm the fice-dog," explained the little cripple. 
 " That big boy told me to see that they cut you a tre- 
 mendous pile of wood. " Hurry up ! Hurry up I Hurry 
 up I " screamed the fice-dog, clapping his hands. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 113 
 
 " How'd this be for the work under a fice-dog ? " in- 
 quired Simon. The old fellow rose, and taking hold of 
 an unwieldy log dragged it out to the Giant. "I'll 
 give 'em around to 'em," he said to Willie; "them's the 
 hardest pieces ; they most break my back. I've been 
 cuttin' wood for nearly seventy years, but them stumps 
 most floors me every time." 
 
 "They won't floor that big boy," said the fice-dog, 
 regarding the Giant with admiring eyes. 
 
 " I never see sech a pile o' wood as that'n," said 
 Simon, " 'ceptin' at a hotel. Ain't you most played 
 out, boys?" 
 
 "You musn't talk to them that way," said the little 
 fice-dog. "You mustn't interrupt them while they're 
 working." 
 
 " You be a good one for to carry along," said the old 
 man. " But I must go into the house, and hunt around 
 for an apple apiece." 
 
 The apples were handed to the boys after the twenty 
 minutes were over ; and they received them gratefully, 
 and went off laughing and happy with their gleaming 
 axes over their shoulders. 
 
 "Now, boys, home to your mothers' woodpiles, and 
 then good dreams to you," cried the Giant. 
 
 "Good luck to your mother's woodpile, and good 
 dreams to you, Giant," called back the boys ; " and good 
 dreams to your fice-dog." 
 
 "Sleepy, little fice-dog?" inquired the Giant. "I'll 
 give you back to your mamma pretty soon now. You 
 helped amazingly. Another moonlight night, maybe, 
 you'll want to come out again." 
 
114 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Yes," answered the child. " Mr. Scott " — 
 
 ''Well?" 
 
 " I believe we are some kin." 
 
 " Shouldn't wonder," said the Giant. 
 
 Upon this eventful night the Sunbeam Club sat 
 together in Mrs. Hilton's parlor. 
 
 "Yes, the High-school boys have formed a club," 
 explained Madge. "They asked me to tell you all 
 about it. They say they are not rivals, only humble 
 followers. They're out to-night, cutting wood. They 
 call themselves the Moonbeams. Isn't it delicious?" 
 
 "Delicious ! " echoed the others. 
 
 "Whose night is it?" asked Effie. 
 
 " William Scott's, and to-morrow w^ill be John Sedg- 
 wick's." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Carrie Offutt, " I wonder what John 
 Sedofwick will think of." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 115 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TELL you what, fellows, talk about fall 
 indeed, it's winter," cried Peter Hopwood, 
 entering the schoolroom, and closing the 
 door quickly behind him. '' It's going to 
 snow. Cracked your brain yet, Johnny?" 
 
 " Oh, my brain is in pretty fair condition ! " replied 
 Sedgwick calmly. 
 
 '' I hope you've provided for snow and rain, and such 
 things," said Singleton. 
 
 '' And blizzards," said Peter. 
 
 " I thought we provided for everything in the resolu- 
 tions," returned John. 
 
 " So we did," said the Giant ; " and we're not going 
 to back out of the resolutions, come what, come may." 
 
 " Sedgwick is looking pretty pale for a' that," said 
 the Aristocrat musingly. ^' Don't let it be the dessert 
 racket if you love us, mon afni^ 
 
 The boys of the graduating-class poked fun at John 
 Sedgwick without intermission until the morning exer- 
 cises began; and at noon two of them accompanied 
 him along the street, hoping sympathetically that he'd 
 have a good appetite for his luncheon, and that he'd 
 remember the resolutions, and endeavor not to play out 
 before night. 
 
116 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Just you Avait till to-morrow," said John, shaking 
 his fist at them from the shelter of the home doorwa}-. 
 "It'll all be over with me. Somebody else will be quak- 
 incr in his boots to-morrow." 
 
 "Well, it won't be this humble servant," said the 
 Aristocrat. 
 
 " ' There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip,' " 
 quoted Risley. 
 
 " Have you divulged your noble plan of operation to 
 your parents, Johnny ? " asked the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Go 'long and eat your lunch," returned Johnny. 
 
 "Are they proud of their offspring, Johnny?" in- 
 quired Tom. 
 
 " Fiddlesticks ! " cried John, slamming impolitely the 
 door on his tormentors. 
 
 " I wonder wliat he has thought of, anyway," said the 
 Aristocrat. "I tell you wliat, Risley, it requires wits 
 to think." 
 
 " Yes, said Tom thoughtfully ; " especially since the 
 Giant's had the wood-cutting. Anybody might have 
 thouofht of wood-cuttinor-." 
 
 "I don't know about that," returned the Aristocrat. 
 "I think the Giant deserves considerable credit." 
 
 " Well, it's going to rain or snow or something," said 
 Tom. "I trust poor Sedgwick hasn't gone and con- 
 ceived some novel entertainment for a moonlight night. 
 He'd be apt to get the brain-fever if he'd have to think 
 it all over." 
 
 But it was neither raining nor snowing, it was simply 
 a disagreeable evening, when the boys, according to 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 117 
 
 John Sedgwick's orders, imparted to them directly after 
 school, gathered at Mrs. Sedgwick's to hear and discuss 
 the plan of action. 
 
 "In the first place, it's not wood-cutting," began 
 John. 
 
 " I should hope not ! " cried Peter. " We had that 
 yesterday." 
 
 "It's nothing at all like wood-cutting," John con- 
 tinued. "I don't know whether you fellows will be 
 in for it or not." 
 
 *' We are in for it whether we're in for it or not," 
 said the Giant. " We can't be not in for it and remain 
 true to the resolutions." 
 
 " Well," began John again, flushing a little, " you 
 fellows all know about Steve Roberts." 
 
 "I don't," cried Peter. "What's the matter with 
 him ? " 
 
 " I saw him yesterday, and he looked all right," de- 
 clared the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Oh, he is all right ! " said John quickly. 
 
 "And all wrong too, perhaps ? " hazarded the Giant. 
 
 " Well, I thouofht and thouo-ht and tlioucrht — about 
 my night, you know," said John ; " but, bless me ! not 
 another thing could I think of but Steve Roberts." 
 
 " So you have gone back on the resolutions then? " 
 cried Peter wrathfully. 
 
 "Hold on," said the Giant, "let the fellow talk 
 who's got the night. He has as much right to think 
 about Steve Roberts as anybody else." 
 
 " Not on his night," said Peter sulkily. 
 
118 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "Who's going back on his resolution now, Hop- 
 wood?" inquired Singleton. 
 
 "Nobod}^," said Peter, clearing off. "I'm not 
 mad." 
 
 " Only deeply interested in the matter, eh?" inquired 
 the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Order ! " roared the Giant. 
 
 " This is my plan," said Sedgwick, bravely facing 
 his fellow-students. " Steve Roberts, as you all know, 
 failed to pass the last examination on account of mathe- 
 matics. He was even with us in everything else. He'd 
 be in the graduating-class at the High School now, and 
 he wouldn't be the dullest fellow among us, either, if it 
 were not for the mathematics." 
 
 "But he's got his mathematics," said Peter. "I 
 don't see any daylight yet." 
 
 "Hush!" ordered the Aristocrat; "we're not seek- 
 ing daylight." 
 
 " Let the fellow talk whose night it is," said the 
 Giant again. 
 
 "I've been thinking," continued Sedgwick, "that it 
 wouldn't be a bad idea for us to go over to Roberts's 
 this evening, and propose getting up a mathematical 
 class among ourselves, you know. It would be good 
 for every one of us, and it wouldn't be bad for Steve. 
 If he were pushed a little in mathematics there's no 
 reason in the w^orld why he shouldn't pass the next 
 examination; and graduate with us in the end." 
 
 " Only it would be a little unorthodox, wouldn't it? " 
 inquired the Giant. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 119 
 
 " The Principal says he can graduate if he passes the 
 examination," returned Sedgwick. 
 
 " Then, it's a pretty good idea," said the Giant ap- 
 provingly. 
 
 "Well, a little more mathematics won't hurt me," 
 said Singleton cheerfully. 
 
 " Nor me ! nor me ! " echoed the Moonbeams. 
 
 " It's an excellent plan, Johnny," said the Aristo- 
 crat. " We'll elect Steve president of the Moonbeam 
 Club when he gets through the examination." 
 
 "What will we do about that?" asked Peter anx- 
 iously. "There's seven nights in a week, to be sure; 
 but we can only work on six of them." 
 
 "And we've decided not to elect a president," said 
 Singleton. 
 
 " Roberts shall be appointed judge," said the Giant. 
 
 " All right ; nobody can kick at being made a judge," 
 said Peter. 
 
 "I should say not," cried Risley. "The fellow will 
 never have to think." 
 
 " Lucky Moonbeam ! " murmured the Giant. 
 
 " I tell you what," said Peter suddenly ; " it's a very 
 excellent plan, and all that, but more persons in this 
 world than you and I and Steve Roberts will have to 
 sanction it before the weekly lessons begin. Did you 
 think of Steve's grandmother, John ? " 
 
 " What for? " demanded John. 
 
 " What for, indeed ! " retorted Peter. " Why, she's 
 a mighty cranky old lady, that's what for. You needn't 
 feel at all sure she's going to welcome a lot of fellows 
 
120 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 to her home every Tuesday. And the old man's worse 
 than she. You didn't think to ask the old man any- 
 thing about it, did you ? " 
 
 "No," returned Sedgwick. 
 
 " Roberts's grandparents are not going to eat us up," 
 said the Giant. " Suppose we move along, fellows." 
 
 But the boys hung back. 
 
 " It seems to me that Sedgwick had better step 
 around to Steve's and arrange matters before we all 
 go in on the family," said Singleton. " Everybody's 
 got to see to things on his own night." 
 
 " Come along, John, I'll see you through," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 But the Aristocrat interfered. 
 
 " You'd scare the wits out the old lady, Scott," he 
 said. " Better let her agree willingly rather than by 
 compulsion. She wouldn't dare to say no to a fellow 
 a yard taller than herself." 
 
 "Well, I'm not in the habit of scaring ladies out of 
 their wits," said the Giant ; but he laughed good-humor- 
 edly and sat down. 
 
 "Somebody's got to go with me," declared John. 
 
 " Take Peter," cried a chorus of Moonbeams. 
 
 " You'd better hurry," said Singleton, " or you'll find 
 them in bed." 
 
 " Yes, come along," said Peter. " The old man goes 
 to bed with the chickens." 
 
 "Well, Steve doesn't," said Sedgwick, as the two 
 started out. "He sits up late studying. I say, Hop- 
 wood, is it snowing? " 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 121 
 
 " Not quite," canswered Peter ; " it's just getting ready 
 for Rislej^'s night." 
 
 The boys walked along in silence, the wind rushing 
 about them, turned up a side street, and by and by came 
 to a little house standing back in a yard. A light shone 
 from the front windows of the lower floor. 
 
 " There ! " cried Sedgwick triumphantly ; " you see, 
 anyway, they haven't gone to bed." 
 
 "I don't feel at all sure about the old man," said 
 Peter ; '' and I wouldn't like to wake him." 
 
 ''What's the matter with you?" demanded Sedg- 
 wick. " What are you halting for ? " 
 
 "It isn't my night," said Peter. "I've come with 
 you very cheerfully, but I prefer to wait here at the 
 gate. You see, Sedgwick, you rushed into this thing 
 with no knowledge whatever of Steve's grandparents, 
 or how they'd take it, or anything." 
 
 " Pshaw ! " said Sedgwick ; " I know enough about 
 them to make me wish most heartily to give a helping 
 hand to Steve. I know that they're old and poor, and 
 that Steve's got to take care of them." 
 
 " All that sounds very well," said Peter ; " but I've 
 heard a thing or two about the old lady. She's no 
 angel, I can tell you. What are you going to do if she 
 tells you we can't come? " 
 
 "I thought it was you who proposed organizing tlie 
 Moonbeam Club," said Sedgwick curtly. 
 
 " So it was," said Peter; "but I didn't organize your 
 night." 
 
 " Come along to the door, anyway. Imagine you're 
 
122 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 a Sunbeam and gather courage. She'll think we're 
 tramps if she catches sight of you hanging over the 
 gate." 
 
 " It isn't my night," said Peter stubbornly. *' Good 
 luck to you ! ' ' 
 
 John Sedgwick advanced to the door of the little 
 house, and rang the bell. The old man answered the 
 bell, and the boy went into the house. 
 
 Then through a window the tramp, left leaning over 
 the gate, beheld four figures in the front-room, — the 
 grandparents of Roberts, the little old lady sitting with 
 her back to him ; the old man standing by the mantel ; 
 Steve extending his hand to John Sedgwick. 
 
 " Going to sit down," muttered Peter. " Well, that's 
 cool, considering I'm out here in the wind waiting. 
 Glory ! I'm thankful I am outside," he added a minute 
 later; "the old lady's giving it to Sedgwick, shaking 
 her head in the spitefulest kind of a way ; telling him, 
 no doubt, that Steve knows as much mathematics as the 
 rest of us, even if he didn't pass. The old man's join- 
 ing in the squabble. Well, when a fellow makes up his 
 mind to rush into a thing without listening to a word 
 of reason or advice, it's just as well for him to meet his 
 deserts from all hands. If he'd selected some dull fellow 
 in one of the lower classes, the thing would have been 
 sensible enough. I hope when I get to thinking about 
 my night, nothing like Steve Roberts will fill my brain 
 to the exclusion of all rational subjects. Now she's tell- 
 ing him he may leave. Whew I John's getting even, 
 thanking her, and bowing. That fellow's got cheek 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 123 
 
 enough, anyway. No wonder she's ready to fly at him, 
 and the old man too." Peter stepped briskly away 
 from the gate. 
 
 '' In ten minutes," cried Sedgwick in a pleasant 
 voice; and Steve Roberts answered brightly, "All 
 right." 
 
 " You don't mean to say that you've arranged to have 
 the mathematic lesson to-night, do you?" demanded 
 Peter. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "The old lady said you might? She agreed that all 
 of us might come ? You didn't go and forget about the 
 rest of us, did you?" cried Peter. 
 
 "Of course not," returned John. "What do you 
 take me for?" Then he looked at Peter and laughed. 
 " What do you think Steve's grandmother said, when I 
 told her about the crowd?" 
 
 "I don't know," said Peter stupidly. 
 
 "'The more the merrier,' that's what she said." 
 
 " I must say she didn't look like she was saying that," 
 said Peter dubiously. " I thought you were having an 
 awful row." 
 
 The other boys met them around the corner. 
 
 "Matters amicably ari-anged?" inquired the Giant. 
 "Room enough for the six of us?" 
 
 " O. K.," replied Peter. 
 
 The door of the little house was open to receive them, 
 the light flooding over the street. Steve and his grand- 
 mother showed them into the dining-room, and the old 
 lady bade them make themselves at home. Tlie old man 
 
124 SUNBEAMS AKD ZIOONBEAMS. 
 
 came to the door, and bowed to them, and smiled upon 
 them. 
 
 It was very thorough and practical that first lesson in 
 mathematics, each boy taking a turn at playing professor. 
 Even Steve was not allowed to back out of the honor- 
 able position, and the Giant patted him upon the shoul- 
 der when he resumed his student's chair. 
 
 " Confidence, my boy," said the Giant pleasantly ; 
 "confidence and perseverance, and a lesson now and 
 then, and you'll come out all right." 
 
 At ten o'clock some one tapped upon the inner door, 
 and the old lady entered, bearing a steaming pot of 
 chocolate. 
 
 " Lessons must be over at ten o'clock," she said, " or 
 else the professors will wear themselves out. Steve, go 
 and bring the crackers, while I pour out the chocolate." 
 
 The boys sat around the dining-table, and ate the 
 crackers, and drank the chocolate witli a relish, the 
 Giant declaring enthusiasticalh^ that he never tasted 
 anj'thing so good. 
 
 After that the Moonbeams bade good-night to the oc- 
 cupants of the little house, Steve and his grandparents 
 seeinor them to the door, where the old man insisted 
 
 o 
 
 upon holding the lamp above his head to light the way 
 to the street. 
 
 " It was very nice, indeed, of those boys to think of 
 coming," said the old lady, turning into the little front 
 room. " I think that is an excellent way to study, 
 Steve." 
 
 Steve's eyes were shining. '• I never saw things so 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 125 
 
 clearly before," he said. " The fellows don't know 
 what passing the examination means for me. I'll tell 
 them after it's over ; for I'm going to pass, sure, grand- 
 mother." 
 
 *' I hope so, I hope so, Steve," said the old lady. 
 
 "Yes," said the old man, "your Uncle George will 
 take you into his law-office right away, and give you a 
 pretty good salary from the start. He'll be pleased to 
 have you graduate with the others. Those boys were 
 a happy lot of fellows ; and, I tell you, they knew how 
 to work." 
 
 " Indeed they did," cried Steve enthusiastically. 
 
 " It made me feel young to hear the rumpus in the 
 dining-room," said the old lady. " I've lived in a quiet 
 house so long I'd most forgotten what a pleasant sound 
 noise sometimes is." 
 
 The boys about whom Mrs. Roberts was saying all 
 these delightful things had reached John Sedgwick's 
 house, and were loitering on the street. 
 
 "I never w\as more astonished in all my life," said 
 Singletdn. "Why, Steve's grandmother is a regular 
 treasure. Think of her going out and making that 
 chocolate for us ! I say, fellows, we didn't deserve it." 
 
 " Well, I don't know," said Risley ; " we'd been doing 
 some pretty tough w^ork." 
 
 " Never tasted better chocolate in my life," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 " And the crackers were mighty good too," said 
 Sandy. 
 
 " My stars ! " exclaimed Peter, " what do people mean 
 
126 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 by calling Mrs. Roberts crank}- ? It's a libel. If Mrs. 
 Roberts is cranky, it would be a good thing for the world 
 if everybody were cranky. And tlie old man, why, he's 
 just as polite and clever as he can be, a perfect gentle- 
 man. There are some people who want something to 
 talk about, I'm thinking. According to my notions, 
 Steve Roberts is pretty comfortably fixed." 
 
 " Yes, Steve's got it good," said the Aristocrat, " and 
 lie's by no means a stupid fellow, either." 
 
 " Plent}^ of fellows get stumped in mathematics," 
 said Singleton. 
 
 " Plenty ! " echoed Risley. 
 
 " Well, the class won't hurt any of us as far as I can 
 see," said Sedgwick. 
 
 "We're to have it every Tuesday night, are we not?" 
 asked Singleton. 
 
 " That's the programme," said Sedgwick. 
 
 " Every Tuesday night, rain or snow, hail or a bliz- 
 zard," said the Giant solemnl}^ 
 
 " That tale about the Robertses going to bed so early 
 was all bosh," cried Peter shrilly. " Steve's grand- 
 parents were as wide awake as anybody. I tell you 
 what, fellows, it would be just as well for Moonbeams 
 not to credit idle tales, would it not?" 
 
 "It would," said the Giant. " Such a rule has 
 alread}^ been established by the Sunbeams." 
 
 Then the Moonbeams bade John Sedo^wick g-ood-niorht, 
 and trudged along down the street ; only Tom Risley 
 ran back, and laid his hand upon Sedgwick's arm as the 
 boy was turning the door-knob. 
 
TUE MOONBEAM CLUB. 127 
 
 "Say, John," he said, "I congratulate you with all 
 my soul." 
 
 "Tliank you," said John. "Joy be with you to- 
 morrow night." 
 
 " Even if it snows," added Tom earnestly. 
 
128 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 jHE snow was coming clown sure enough on 
 Wednesday morning, by noon it was almost 
 a foot deep. 
 
 " I tell you what," said Singleton Fields, 
 in a prophetic voice, " it is going to be a tremendous 
 snow." 
 
 *' Poor Risley ! " said Peter Hopwood. 
 
 "Poor Risley, indeed! " cried the Aristocrat. "I'm 
 afraid he has planted his faith upon the weather report, 
 which calls for a fair night and full moon. Here's the 
 fellow himself. Hello, Tom I imprisoned any straying 
 fancy in your might}^ brain ? " 
 
 " Thought of anything for to-night, have you, 
 Risley ? " questioned Peter. 
 
 The snowflakes were scattered over Tom Risley's 
 coat ; they were thick upon his cap ; his face was glow- 
 ing. 
 
 " Oh, to-night's all right ! " he answered easily. 
 
 " Going to give us a snow-cream party ? " asked 
 Peter. 
 
 " A taffy-pulling is first-rate in-door exercise," said 
 Singleton Fields. 
 
 "A taffy-pulling isn't a half bad idea," said Tom, 
 " but unfortunately it comes too late." 
 
TUE MOONBEAM CLUB. 129 
 
 "Receive my congratulations, Tommy, dear," said 
 Singleton, bowing low. 
 
 " Thanks," said Tommy. 
 
 *' Say, tell us about it. What are we to do ? " de- 
 manded Singleton. 
 
 " My brain is all filled up with snow," said Tom. 
 
 "You're sure it isn't the snow-cream party?" cried 
 the Aristocrat. 
 
 "No, nothing but snow," declared Tom. 
 
 "Fellows," said the Giant, "I'm afraid our friend is 
 in a bad way. We ought by all means to clear his brain 
 of snow." 
 
 Thereupon the Moonbeams, with a yell, fell upon 
 Tom Risley, and carried him down into the schoolyard, 
 where he was rolled over and over in the snow. 
 
 " Now, old fellow, what's in your brain ? " inquired 
 the Aristocrat. 
 
 "Snow," roared Tom. 
 
 "When are you going to tell us about it ? " 
 
 " Just as soon as ever I'm given the chance." 
 
 " Come along back to the class-room, then," ordered 
 the Giant. 
 
 Back in the class-room, Risley established himself 
 upon a desk, and the rest of the Moonbeams gathered 
 around him. 
 
 " We are ready," said the Giant solemnly. 
 
 A great earnestness came into the face of Tom Risley, 
 his eyes shone rapturously. He was only a long-legged 
 boy of seventeen, but he had thrown his heart and soul 
 into the plan for his night. 
 
130 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Yesterday evening I was almost sure there would 
 be snow to-day," he began, " and I hoped there wouldn't ; 
 and then, all of a sudden, in a kind of flash, don't you 
 know, I was glad." 
 
 '' Inspiration," muttered the Aristocrat. 
 
 " I was glad at the thought ; and when I saw it com- 
 ing down this morning, and when I read the weather 
 report in the morning paper " — 
 
 " The fellow isn't your uncle, or anything, is he, 
 Tom ? " asked Singleton. 
 
 " What fellow ? " demanded Tom. 
 
 " The weather-report man." 
 
 " Suppose we allow the Moonbeam to talk in peace 
 for a little," suggested the Giant. '' He was just begin- 
 ning to warm to his subject ; and I, for one, was getting 
 interested in the snow, the beautiful snow." 
 
 " You all know the Lovettsville law about everybody 
 having to clean off their fronts after a snow?" Risley 
 continued. 
 
 "Yes," said the Giant, "and how proud Lovettsville 
 was when it issued the decree, and how happy it was 
 w^hen it snowed." 
 
 " Well," said Risley. " I want us all to clean the 
 streets." 
 
 "Whew!" cried Peter, "I must say there's nothing 
 beautiful about cleaning the streets. You mean to say, 
 Risley, that you really expect the graduating-class of 
 the High School to clean the streets?" 
 
 " Some people once upon a time, perhaps, were under 
 the impression that there was nothing beautiful about 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 131 
 
 wood-cutting, but tliey found out different," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 '' I spoiled tlie young one b}^ making him a professor 
 last night," said Sedgwick. 
 
 " Peter, Peter, go home to your mother, and ask lier 
 please to put 3'ou into long trousers," said Singleton. 
 
 "We had a whole lot of fellows help us cut wood," 
 said Peter ; " that was fun." 
 
 " What's to prevent the whole lot of fellows from 
 helping us to shovel snow?" inquired Risley. "I'm 
 not going to be mean about this business, either." 
 
 Peter broke into a laugh, and joined in the Moon- 
 beams' cheer. 
 
 " There are ever so many poor people in Lovettsville," 
 said Tom, warming to his subject again ; " people to 
 whom the snow-law must have come as a sad piece of 
 intelligence, people who really cannot afford to have 
 their fronts cleaned." 
 
 " Oh, come now ! " cried Singleton, " that's a little too 
 strong, Risley. Of course there are poor people in 
 Lovettsville, but any one can afford ten or fifteen cents 
 now and then after a snow." 
 
 "Risley's right," said the Giant, "and the other 
 Moonbeam is wrong. There are plenty of people in 
 Lovettsville who cannot well afford to have their fronts 
 cleaned after a snow." 
 
 " And some of these people who cannot afford to 
 have their fronts cleaned, have it done and pay for it, 
 and do without a minor necessity of life," cried Tom. 
 " I know it for a fact. And other people who are neither 
 
132 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 able to pay for the work nor to do it themselves, never- 
 theless, do do it themselves, thereby keeping the law. 
 Why, I've seen w^omen, many and many a time, cleaning 
 the snow off the pavement. It's outrageous." 
 
 Peter Hopwood's eyes were as round as saucers. 
 " Say," he exclaimed, " our cook cleans off the front ! 
 She does it often before I'm up. I never thought about 
 it's being outrageous, or anything of the kind." 
 
 " We foro-ive vou, Peter," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 " All these things," added Tom, " have made me 
 think of snow, and nothing but snow." 
 
 "Where are we to start from?" inquired Sedgwick. 
 
 "From the middle of Lovettsville," answered Tom; 
 " from Scott's drug-store." 
 
 " All right," roared the Moonbeams. 
 
 "What are we to bring?" inquired Peter. 
 
 " Shovels and brooms," said Tom. " There ought 
 to be a broom to every five shovels. I guess we can 
 arrange matters." 
 
 " Yes," said Peter, " by asking five fellows each to 
 bring a shovel, and then asking one fellow to bring 
 a broom. The Moonbeams, of course, will all have 
 shovels. We'll let delicate fellows handle the brooms." 
 
 "Not too delicate," said the Giant, with a laugh in 
 his eyes. 
 
 Then Peter Hopwood glanced out the window in dis- 
 may. "What if it doesn't stop snowing? " he inquired. 
 
 " Oh, it is going to stop snowing ! " said Tom. 
 "There'll be brig-ht moonlig-ht to-nicrht. We'll eno^as^e 
 our helpers directly after school." 
 
TUE MOONBEAM CLUB, 133 
 
 It was still snowing when the Moonbeams engaged 
 their helpers, though not very rapidly ; but later, just 
 before the sun went down, it broke through the clouds 
 for an instant, and the fallen snow on streets and roofs 
 and trees of Lovettsville glistened in the light. 
 
 The boys invited to help clean the streets of Lovetts- 
 ville hailed the glimpse of sunshine w^itli a shout. 
 Cutting wood had been good fun, but shovelling snow 
 promised to be even greater sport. 
 
 "These fellows in the graduating-class of the High 
 School are thinking of all sorts of jolly things lately," 
 said twelve-year old Jim Hannah, as he and his friend 
 trudged along in the snow. ''It's mighty nice in them 
 to ask all the rest of us fellows to help now and then." 
 
 " Mighty nice, indeed," said the other boy. " They've 
 got a club, haven't they? " 
 
 "Yes," said Jim Hannah; "they call themselves 
 Moonbeams. Moonbeams work at night, you know." 
 
 " I wish I were a Moonbeam," said the other boy. 
 
 "Some day, maybe, we'll both be Moonbeams," said 
 Jim hopefully. " Do you know I believe I'll ask the 
 Giant to let us join." 
 
 ''I w4sh you would," said the other boy. 
 
 At eight o'clock, the hour appointed for the meeting 
 of the Moonbeams and their assistants outside the drug- 
 store, the moon was full in the heavens. The boys of 
 Lovettsville were in high spirits ; everybody's brain, as 
 the Aristocrat put it, was full of snow, nothing but 
 snow. 
 
 Kisley counted the helpers around among the Moon- 
 
134 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 beams, and each crowd started off. Lovettsville becaine 
 a noisy place that night of the first snow of the season 
 as the crowds went ahead shovelling and sweeping the 
 snow, sino^inor- and laug-hingf and whistling^. 
 
 In a little low wooden house along one of the Lovetts- 
 ville streets, two women were disputing over no less a 
 subject than the keeping of the snow-law, not knowing 
 that a new verdict had been rendered in a higher court, 
 — the court of kindness and brotherl}^ love. 
 
 *' Mar}-," said the old woman, "it is not right for you 
 to clean off the front, law or no law. You'll catch your 
 death of cold. It's a terrible deep snow, Mary." 
 
 "It's a job that's got to be done," said Mary; "and 
 I'd ratlier do it at night. I don't care overmuch about 
 shovelling snow in the daytime, and have folks pityin' 
 me." 
 
 " Get a man to do it, Mary," pleaded the mother. 
 
 "We can't afford it," said Mary. She bundled her- 
 self up in an old coat, and tied a worsted scarf over her 
 head. " I'll get the shovel and broom, and perform the 
 Lovettsville snow-law as quick as possible," she said; 
 " but laws ! I wish I only had to make a path." In the 
 hall the young woman was seized with a violent fit of 
 coughing. 
 
 "Mary," called the mother's anxious voice, "you 
 cannot clean the front with that cousfh." 
 
 But Mary got the shovel and broom, and opened the 
 door upon the street. The snow piled against the door- 
 sill fell into the hall, and she swept it out. But Avith 
 the cool air tingling her face there came to her the 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 135 
 
 sound of fresh young voices, laughing and singing and 
 whistling. She listened for a minute, and then drew 
 back into the house. 
 
 " Mother," she said, " there's a lot of boys out cleanin' 
 the fronts. I thought at first it was a sleddin'-party, 
 they seem to be in such a frolic." She began to cough 
 again. *' If I had the money," she said, *' I believe I'd 
 let 'em clean ours ; my shoes are so awful thin." 
 
 The old woman had risen and taken a silver piece 
 from under a candlestick on the mantel. " Let them 
 clean the front, Mary," she pleaded. "We can do with- 
 out meat for to-morrow." 
 
 " No, mother, you can't do without meat to-morrow," 
 said the daughter firml3^ " How do you expect to get 
 strong if you don't follow the doctor's directions?" 
 
 " What would the doctor think if he was to see you 
 cleanin' away snow in them shoes, Mary?" asked the 
 old woman ; "and with that couo-h?" 
 
 "We've got to keep the law or be fined," said Mary 
 bitterly. 
 
 The laughing and whistling and singing sounded 
 directly outside the house now. Mary Cover went to 
 the door again. It was her intention to tell the boys 
 that they did not wish the front cleaned ; they would 
 have it done later. When she opened the door a Moon- 
 beam bowed to her, and before she could utter a word 
 explained that the boys of Lovettsville were cleaning 
 the streets for exercise. 
 
 The young woman went back into the room. 
 
 "You let them do it, Mary? That was right," said 
 
136 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 the old mother. She reached up a second time for the 
 bit of silver. 
 
 " Put the money away, mother," said Mary. " It's the 
 Lovettsville boys shovelling snow for exercise." She 
 crossed over to the window and stood looking out at 
 the boys, a smile in her eyes, and a prayer in her heart. 
 
 Everywhere throughout Lovettsville there was ex- 
 citement that night of the Moonbeams' street-cleaning. 
 The fice-dog, looking from his mother's parlor, under- 
 stood the meaning of the exercise, and thumped vigor- 
 ously upon the window-panes, cheering the workers on. 
 Mrs. Snell did not quite understand it. '■' They're 
 takin' exercise, I reckon," she said dubiousl}'. 
 
 In a certain brilliantlv lio-hted sittincr-room a sfirl sat 
 rocking her chair back and forth rather vehemently. 
 She was a tall girl, with an expressive face and dark 
 hair. She was talking rapidly to a smaller girl, who had 
 come over to spend the night. 
 
 " It's just this w^ay with me; I'm always out of money 
 when I need it most," declared Carrie Offutt. '' To- 
 day's snow is just delicious to us ; it means all sorts 
 of good things to us, — sleigh-rides and sled-rides and 
 all sorts of jolly things. But it doesn't mean that to 
 the poor people of Lovettsville." 
 
 "No," agreed Effie Dorcus. "But anyway, Cariie, 
 most of the poor people have their wood cut. That's 
 somethingr to be thankful for." 
 
 " The street-cleaning law is detestable I " cried Carrie 
 hotly. " Of course the streets look better when they're 
 cleaned, and they ought to be cleaned; but the towA 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 137 
 
 ought to do it. I'm sure everybody pays taxes. Real 
 poor people can't afford to have their fronts cleaned, 
 and the town ought to know it. Before laws are made, 
 everything should be considered. I asked mamma to 
 let me borrow some money on my next allowance, but 
 she wouldn't; she says I mustn't learn to borrow, that 
 I must try to keep something back for a rainy day, — 
 snowy day in this instance. Then I wanted to send our 
 man, John, down to Mrs. Ridley's. She can't afford to 
 hire a man to clean her front, and she isn't able to do it 
 herself. Mamma said I might ask John, but I couldn't 
 order him ; and what do you think, Effie Dorcus ? John 
 w^as actually impudent ; said that he was hired to do the 
 work at this house, and not to clean front for Mrs. Rid- 
 ley. And then he grinned. I wish mamma w^ould dis- 
 charge him." 
 
 " I haven't any money, either," said Effie dolefully. 
 " But, Carrie, there are just lots and lots of people who 
 wouldn't allow other people to pay for having their 
 fronts cleaned." 
 
 " Oh, I know ! " said Carrie, sighing. 
 
 *' Lovettsville didn't look so w^ell when the people 
 made paths and let the rest of the snow melt," said 
 Effie ; '' but it must have been very much easier just to 
 make a path." 
 
 " I should say so," said Carrie. " Mrs. Ridley's path 
 was made by people tramping down the snow as they 
 went along tlie street. I am just furious, Effie, about 
 the snow-law." 
 
 The door of tlie sitting-room opened, and a colored 
 
138 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 girl came in to put coal on the fire. She grinned pleas- 
 antly at the two girls. 
 
 '^Laws, Miss Carrie, what de matter wid you?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " Matter enough," said Carrie. " For one thing, I 
 wish mamma would discharge John." 
 
 The girl giggled in delight. " What John gone and 
 done ? " she inquired. 
 
 "Gone and done nothing," said Carrie excitedly. "I 
 wanted him to clean off Mrs. Ridley's front and he re- 
 fused. If I were a great, strong working-man, white or 
 black, and there was a poor old woman who gets the 
 rheumatism, and there was a miserable law that people 
 had to have their fronts cleaned after a snow, and this 
 old woman hadn't any money, wh}^, I'd be ashamed 
 of mj'self if I didn't take a shovel, and go and clean 
 off her front, so I would. You can tell John that I 
 for one person have a very poor opinion of him ; that 
 I'd discharge him if I had a word in the matter ; and 
 I w^ouldn't give him a recommendation, either. Yes, I 
 would ; I'd give him a written recommendation for 
 meanness." 
 
 " Dat pretty good ! " cried Nancy Maude. 
 
 " It's hard on ever so many people," said Carrie ; " and 
 mamma won't even lend me ten cents." 
 
 '• I haven't an}- money, either," repeated Effie. 
 
 "Laws!" said Nancy Maude cheerfully; "if I w^as 
 you alls, I wouldn't be bodderin' nothin' 'bout Lovetts- 
 ville pore people. You alls know dey got de good 
 Lawd to take keer of 'em." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 139 
 
 "Yes, of course, we know that," said Effie ; "but 
 Carrie thinks the Sunbeams ought to do their part." 
 
 " I wish I were a millionnaire," said Carrie ; " I'd ar- 
 ranore Laws and thino^s for Lovettsville. Oh ! wouldn't 
 it be grand to be a millionnaire? " 
 
 "You alls ain't b'en listenin' to de winder none, I 
 reckon ? " inquired Nancy Maude. 
 
 " No. Why ? " cried Carrie. She ran to a front win- 
 dow, and threw it up, and leaned over the sill. " Effie," 
 she called, "come here. What is it?" 
 
 "Oh," cried Effie rapturously, "it's the Moonbeams! 
 They're cleaning the streets. Look, there's another 
 crowd down at the end of the square." 
 
 " I told you alls you needn't bodder none," said 
 Nancy Maude. 
 
 " I believe mamma knew," said Carrie. " Nancy 
 Maude, did John know too ? " 
 
 Nancy Maude giggled. 
 
 " Well, I'm satisfied with the way things have turned 
 out," said Carrie, "perfectly satisfied." 
 
 "I am sure every Sunbeam is satisfied," said Effie, 
 " and everybody else." 
 
 "Of all de quare kind o' talk I ever heerd," said 
 Nancy Maude, as she descended the kitchen steps. 
 " Sunbeam and Moonbeam, cleanin' people's houses, 
 and cleanin' de streets. Wuck, wuck, wuck ! Ef I 
 was a boy, I'd a heap sooner be out on de hill a-sleddin', 
 dan shovellin' snow fo' nothin', I would." Then Nancy 
 Maude laughed softly, and added, " Now, mebbe, I 
 wouldn't neider, ef I was a Moonbeam boy." 
 
140 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 IHURSDAY, Alexander Brown, His Night," 
 said the Aristocrat musingly. It was early 
 in the morning; the boy w^as leaning over 
 the banisters in the hotel corridor, gazing 
 idly down into the hall below. " Well," he added, " I 
 have the whole day to think about the matter; some- 
 thing is sure to turn up." Then there came to him the 
 sound of voices. Captain Waldron, the hotel proprietor, 
 was telling one of the guests a pitiful story, and the 
 guest was expressing sympathy. Kitty Burns must go 
 to the poor-house. She was old and penniless and 
 alone. She was very industrious, but the winter found 
 her in feeble health. She was proud, and a Scotch 
 woman; she had never begged. The neighbors said 
 it would be a terrible blow to her to have to go to 
 the poor-house. 
 
 Who was Kitty Burns? How could she be saved 
 from the poor-house ? Sandy Brown wished most heart- 
 ily that his father and mother were not away in Europe, 
 and he himself living in fine style at the Lovettsville 
 hotel. He wanted just then a home and people. He 
 w^anted to go to his mother, as the Giant had gone to 
 his, and ask her to help him with his night. 
 
 At half-past four o'clock in the afternoon the Aristo- 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 141 
 
 crat was standing on the street, reading a sign above 
 his head : — 
 
 IRON 
 
 -HOLDERS FOR 
 ALSO 
 A QUILT. 
 
 SALE 
 
 KITTY 
 
 BURNS, SECOND 
 
 FLOOR. 
 
 The name, Kitty Burns, was written, too, upon the 
 unpainted door at the head of the steps. The Aristocrat 
 knocked, and entered the room when a woman's voice 
 called, " Come in ! " 
 
 It had required not a little courage to seek out the 
 home of Kitty Burns, and the Aristocrat felt utterly 
 miserable as he responded to the invitation to "come 
 in." But then he had never seen Kitty Burns. 
 
 She was a delicate little old lady, with silver hair and 
 soft, kind eyes. The room that she occupied was wretch- 
 edly poor, to be sure. There was no carpet upon the 
 floor, and no fire in the stove ; but its neatness made it 
 beautiful, and in the window, flooded with sunlight, was 
 a pot of blooming geraniums. 
 
 " I saw your sign down below," said the boy, blush- 
 ing like a girl ; " and I thought I'd come up, and look 
 at your iron-holders." 
 
 His errand evidently surprised Kitty Burns. What 
 a fine-looking young fellow he was ! She was all in a 
 flutter, as she went to a little stand-drawer, and took 
 out a number of iron-holders. 
 
 "Sit down," she said to the boy ; and then she seated 
 
142 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 herself beside him, and spread out the iron-holders, — 
 some on her own lap, some upon the knees of Alexander 
 Brown. Their color made another patch of brightness 
 in the cold little room. 
 
 "You see," she said, with suppressed eagerness, "I 
 do not make them in a hurry ; they are thick, and yet 
 not clumsy. I use good materials, and I sew them so 
 that they will not rip ; and after that I hemstitch around 
 them ; it gives a neat finish. Some people make iron- 
 holders out of old rags and bits of worn cloth, but they 
 don't last. Now, these of mine will last for a long, 
 long time." 
 
 "Yes," said the Aristocrat, "I'm sure they w^ill. 
 Why, I declare, they're as pretty as mats." 
 
 The old lady smiled at the compliment. " Did you 
 say your mother sent you ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," said Sandy ; " my mother isn't at home just 
 now. I'm sure if she were home, and had known about 
 them, she would have sent me. Lots of fellows' mothers 
 would send them if they knew about them. You see, 
 you live in rather an out-of-the-way place, and every- 
 body doesn't see your sign. I saw it for the first time 
 to-day. That blue one is awfully pretty, and the red 
 one's a perfect beauty. I'll take the blue and the red one. 
 I want to give them to my mother when she comes 
 home." 
 
 He was such a pleasant boy. Kitty Burns smiled at 
 him over the blue and the red iron-holders. '• 1*11 wrap 
 them in paper for you," she said. Then she paused, 
 and a pink glow came into her faded cheeks. " You 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 143 
 
 didn't ask me the price," she said. " Some people 
 think that I sell them high. But I buy the material, 
 and they're good and strong ; they'll last a long, long 
 time. People about say that fifteen cents a piece is 
 asking too much. But they have a double lining, and 
 they1-e hemstitched. I tell you what, I'll sell you the 
 two for a quarter." 
 
 " Fifteen cents is not a high price at all," said the 
 boy bluntly. He took out his pocketbook, and handed 
 over a quarter and a five-cent piece. 
 
 " If I made them out of old, useless material, old rags 
 and worn cloth, of course, I could afford to sell them 
 cheaper," said Kitty Burns ; " I could sell them for ten 
 cents." She wrapped the iron-holders in paper. Her 
 hands were trembling. The Aristocrat felt like crying 
 out that it wasn't right for her to sit in a room without 
 fire; but he accepted the package silently, and silently 
 listened to her grateful thanks. But he did not go. 
 He had ever so many things to say to Kitty Burns. 
 
 " If you'd like to look at something pretty," said the 
 little oid lady, " I'll show you the quilt." 
 
 The quilt was indeed a marvellous piece of work. 
 The Aristocrat admired it enthusiastically, and won- 
 dered in his heart why the Lovettsville people, who 
 professed to be wild over art, hadn't found it out. 
 
 "I have had it for over a year," said the old lady 
 wistfully. " I can't do much fine work now, my sight 
 won't allow it. People say it is a very beautiful quilt, 
 but the price is high. There is a great deal of work on 
 it, and you see I do not like to give it away. But I 
 
144 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 would not refuse any reasonable sum. I have had it 
 for over a year. I would be delighted to get seven 
 dollars for it." 
 
 " It's worth more than seven dollars," said the 
 Aristocrat. 
 
 " You might tell some of your friends about it,^ said 
 Kitty Burns, her faded cheeks flushing again. Sandy 
 felt certain as she looked at him, with an eagerness and 
 a dawning hope in her soft eyes, that she had heard 
 the neighbors' talk about the poor-house. 
 
 " Yes, 111 tell 'em," he said. " Some one will be 
 sure to want such a beautiful quilt. If I were you I'd 
 put the price up again ; I'd put it as high as I could." 
 
 " Once," said Kitty Burns, laughing pleasantly, " I 
 sold a quilt for twelve dollars. I was lodging on the 
 lower floor, and I displayed it in the window. A lady 
 passing one day stopped and looked at it, and declared 
 she must have it. She was staying at the hotel for 
 a week or so, and she was afraid I'd sell it before she 
 got back with the money. I never was so glad in my 
 life. You see, I was working regularly then for a 
 tailor, and I had plenty of means to support myself; 
 but there was a famil}^ in the house who were at that 
 time in great need. The mother was ill, and there 
 were little children. I only lent the money, 3'ou 
 understand. There Avas a sister of the sick woman in 
 the West, and she had been written to. She came on 
 and paid all the family's debts, and took them back to 
 the West with her. Then, you see, I had my quilt 
 money to spend over again. I got a great deal of pleas- 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 145 
 
 ure out of that twelve dollars, for T had it over and 
 above my living expenses. You'll laugh when I tell 
 you that part of it went in buying a large wax doll. I 
 know Mr. Jones at the store thought I was terribly 
 extravagant, and no doubt I was; but there was a little 
 child here in the house who was crying for a doll. She 
 had hurt her back, and she would never be strong and 
 well like other children ; and so I determined she should 
 have the prettiest doll I could find in Lovettsville. 
 Oh, I can't begin to tell you all the delightful things 
 that quilt money bought ! " 
 
 Every bit of the Aristocrat's nervousness had van- 
 ished. He felt as if Kitty Burns and himself were 
 friends. She had made the quilt still on her hands a 
 long time ago, she could no longer do fine work. 
 
 " But you can make iron-holders all rights can't 
 you ? " inquired Sandy suddenly. " I mean, you 
 make them now, don't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said Kitty Burns ; " making iron- 
 holders is pleasant work.'* 
 
 " How many can you make in a day ? " asked the boy. 
 
 The old lady laughed. " More than I can sell, lad," 
 she answered. 
 
 " But if you could sell them how many could you 
 make?" 
 
 " I could make five or six, five, for sure, but I couldn't 
 sell them." 
 
 " Could you live off of fifty or sixty cents a day ? " 
 asked the Aristocrat dubiously. 
 
 '' Have I ever had as much?" asked the old lady in 
 
146 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 turn, laughing gently. "Fifty or sixty cents would 
 mean a comfortable life to me." 
 
 "Your iron-holders," said Sandy earnestly, "must be 
 put on show in a store window. I'll see Mr. Jones about 
 it. You can buy your materials from him, and that will 
 even matters up. I'll see Mr. Jones this evening if 
 you'll let me." 
 
 " And how am I to even matters up with you, lad ? " 
 inquired the old lady. 
 
 "Oh," said Sandy, half laughing, "that's all right! 
 I'm part Scotch, you know; my name's Alexander, 
 Sandy, you know." 
 
 After that the Aristocrat bade Kitty Burns good- 
 afternoon, and went out through the unpainted door 
 and down the steps into the street. His cap was 
 pulled over his eyes, and he did not see the girl 
 standing reading the sign above the door. But the 
 girl called after him. 
 
 " Sandy," she called, " have you been buying iron- 
 holders?" 
 
 Sandy turned promptly, raised his cap, and called 
 back, " Maybe so." 
 
 " Going to buy the quilt too ? " inquired Lula Briggs. 
 
 " Maybe so," said Sandy. 
 
 " \Yell, I won't go up," said Lula ; " the IMoonbeams 
 can manage." 
 
 The Moonbeams met in the Aristocrat's room at the 
 hotel at half-past seven that evening. The boy was a 
 little flurried as he told the story of Kitty Burns and 
 the poor-house, and how he had gone to see her, and 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 147 
 
 what arrangements he intended to make about tlie 
 iron-holders. 
 
 " As far as I can see," said Peter Hopwood, " there's 
 nothing for us to do ; you've done the whole thing 
 yourself." 
 
 '' He hasn't sold the iron-holders," said Sedgwick. 
 
 *' Jones is to do that," said Peter. 
 
 " There's plenty of work for us all, Peter, my boy," 
 said the Aristocrat; " we have to find people to buy 
 the iron-holders ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " cried young Hopwood. 
 
 *' Why didn't you let us peddle, Brown ? " inquired 
 Tom Risley. '' There'd been more fun about the 
 thing." 
 
 " Because," said Singleton, " the Aristocrat has a kind 
 heart, and didn't wish to rush the old lady in her work." 
 
 " We've got to go to Mr. Jones right away," said 
 Sandy ; " and then, Fellow-Moonbeams, we're to find 
 somebody to buy the first iron-holders. We are going 
 to call on Mr. Andrew MacDonald." 
 
 *' Very good," said the Giant. 
 
 " Mr. Andrew MacDonald ! Glory ! " cried Peter. 
 
 " You must think we all have cheek," cried Risle}^ 
 
 " He has never given away a cent in his life," said 
 John Sedgwick. 
 
 '' Who's going to ask him to give away a cent ? " 
 demanded the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Not the Moonbeam Club certainlj^" said the Giant. 
 " We simply wish him to purchase a very necessaiy 
 household article." 
 
148 SUNBEAMS AXD MOONBEAMS. 
 
 *' Six times five are thirty, six times six are thirty- 
 six ; she'll make thirty-six a week if she can sell 'em. 
 Lovettsville will be flooded with iron-holders," said 
 Peter. 
 
 '' Lovettsville is in sore need of iron-holders, I'm sure 
 of that," said the Giant. 
 
 " These are beautiful," said the Aristocrat. " Look 
 at them before we start out. See the stitching about 
 the edges ; that's fine work. These iron-holders are 
 cheap, if I'm a judge." 
 
 "After the people have all they want, what then?" 
 demanded Peter. 
 
 " Then they can buy more than they want," retorted 
 the Aristocrat. " Say, you fellows, I haven't told you 
 everything about Kitty Burns. You just go and see 
 her." 
 
 " I know a great deal about iron-holders," said Sin- 
 gleton. *' Ours are always lost. I know my mother'll 
 be glad to buy two or three a month, and think of how 
 many people there are in Lovettsville ! " 
 
 The Moonbeam Club went down the street to Mr. 
 Jones's store and ••' settled preliminaries," as Peter 
 said, and then the}" tramped on up the street in the 
 direction of i\Ir. MacDonald's great brick house. 
 
 " What are you going to say to him when you get us 
 all in there ? " asked Singleton. 
 
 " I'll begin by telling him about his countrywoman," 
 said Sandy. 
 
 "Of course he ought to help," said Tom. "How- 
 many iron-holders are you going to ask him to buy ? " 
 
TEE MOONBEAM CLUB, 149 
 
 "A car-load," said the Giant. 
 
 " Somebody will have to buy a car-load if she makes 
 six a day," said Peter. 
 
 The Aristocrat turned about. " She only clears ten 
 cents on each," he said. " That will be fifty or sixty 
 cents a day. Do you expect her to live on less than 
 fifty or sixty cents a day? If you fellows stick to 
 your resolutions, you'll do the best you can for Kitty 
 Burns. A hundred and fifty dollars will keep her in 
 comfort for a year. Think of that ! And if you go to 
 see her you'll know that she hasn't very many years 
 left. She's not to go to the poor-house while I've got 
 any say over a night." 
 
 " She's not to go to the poor-house for a fact," roared 
 the Giant. 
 
 " But a hundred and fifty dollars is a good deal of 
 money," said Tom Risley. 
 
 " ' It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind; 
 Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind. 
 Far away from home, O it's still for you and me 
 That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie.' " 
 
 The Aristocrat quoted this verse, and marched on his 
 way. 
 
 " Yes, he ought to help ; he's Scotch," said Sedgwick. 
 
 Tlie Moonbeams w^ere shown into the librar}- of Mr. 
 MacDonald's great brick liouse. It was a cheerful room, 
 the logs crackling in the fireplace, the lamp-light and 
 the fire-light commingling. The furniture was rich and 
 heavy, and the books lining the shelves must have cost 
 a fortune. 
 
150 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 '•How are you going to explain about ws, Sandy?" 
 inquired Peter, in a whisper. 
 
 *'l'm going to tell him right out that we're a club," 
 said the Aristocrat. 
 
 "And get us all in it, I suppose," said Singleton. 
 
 "AVell, aren't you in it?" demanded Sandy. ''Are 
 not you Moonbeams ? Say, are you or aren't you ? " 
 
 " Quietly, quietly! " said the Giant. "Decidedly we 
 are all in it." 
 
 "Yes, of course," said Singleton; "we're all in it." 
 
 " In it with a vengeance," said Peter. 
 
 Then jNIr. Andrew MacDonald came into the library. 
 He was a medium-sized, broad-shouldered man, with a 
 strong Scotch face and very keen eyes. He was a man 
 w^ho lived apart from the Lovettsville people, buried in 
 his books. He glanced at the boys a little sharpl}^ as he 
 inquired in what manner he could serve them. 
 
 " Then and there I would have risen and declared 
 I had made a mistake in the house," said Singleton 
 Fields afterwards. Then he held his breath, and con- 
 cluded that the Aristocrat was a foolhardy fellow. 
 
 Alexander Brown was somewhat excited when he told, 
 for the second time that day, the story of Kitty Burns, 
 the Scotchwoman. His cheeks were red, his eyes were 
 bright, but he never faltered in the telling. Very graph- 
 ically he described the cold little room, and the Scotch- 
 woman with her silver hair, and her soft eyes, and her 
 trembling hands. He repeated the story of the quilt 
 that had been sold, and the pleasure of re-spending the 
 twelve dollars. He told of the extravagant purchase 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 151 
 
 of the doll. And after he had done all this Sandy- 
 Brown, quite out of himself according to the Moon- 
 beams, squarely faced the old Scotchman, and repeated 
 the verse : — 
 
 " ' It's ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind; 
 
 Still will we be the children of the heather and the wind. 
 
 Far away from home, O it's still for you and me 
 
 That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie.' " 
 
 " Sandy Brown is Scotch himself," said Singleton 
 Fields apologetically. 
 
 '* Wild on rhyme," muttered Peter. 
 
 Thereupon Sandy came to himself and explained, with 
 a fresh nervousness upon him, that he and the rest of the 
 boys had formed a club ; that they called themselves the 
 Moonbeams ; and that while there was a Moonbeam Club 
 in Lovettsville, Kitt}^ Burns should not go to the poor- 
 house. 
 
 " Well," inquired Mr. MacDonald, " where do I come 
 in?" 
 
 "We would like you to help us, Mr. MacDonald," 
 said the Aristocrat politely. 
 
 " We want you to buy iron-holders," said Tom Risley. 
 
 " Tiiey are very beautiful iron-holders," said the 
 Giant solemnly; "hemstitched and all that."' 
 
 " Am I to give them around to the neighbors ? " in- 
 quired the bookworm. 
 
 "That wouldn't be a bad idea, Mr. MacDonald," said 
 Sedgwick ; " no one would object to receiving a present 
 of an iron-holder." 
 
152 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " I'd accept one myself," said Peter. 
 
 " So would we all," said the Giant. 
 
 Mr. Andrew MacDonald burst out laughing. 
 
 When the Moonbeams left the big brick house, Sandy- 
 Brown was in possession of an envelope, containing, he 
 hoped, a handsome check. 
 
 '' Open her under the first lamp," cried Peter. " Mr. 
 Andrew MacDonald had a gleam in his eyes ; I'm scared 
 about the check. What was it he said to you last 
 thing, Sandy ? " 
 
 " That we might have the iron-holders," answered 
 Sandy. 
 
 They came to a stand-still under the first lamp, and 
 the Aristocrat took the check out of the envelope and 
 unfolded it. 
 
 " Well,'' he cried, " guess how much ? " There was 
 excitement in his tone ; the Moonbeams did not know 
 whether it was pleasurable or otherwise. 
 
 "Five dollars," said the Giant. "Hold on, no; 
 twenty-five. The old fellow was happy when he wrote 
 it." 
 
 "He didn't look that way to me," said Singleton 
 Fields. "I say fifty cents." 
 
 "Not enough of iron-holders to go round," growled 
 Peter. 
 
 " One hundred and fifty dollars! " shouted the Aris- 
 tocrat. 
 
 " One hundred and fifty dollars ! " repeated the 
 Moonbeams dumbly. Andrew Macdonald had gladly 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 153 
 
 and willingly given the money to support liis country- 
 woman for a year. 
 
 " To-morrow," said Peter Hopwood, " we may look 
 for the heavens to fall." 
 
 " Indeed you needn't ! " cried Singleton Fields. 
 
154 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 |ELLO, Fields ! Had a good night's rest ? " 
 inquired Tom Risley. 
 
 '' Eeceived any inspiration this morning, 
 friend ? '' asked Sedgwick. 
 
 " j\Iy heart is in the highhands," answered Fields. 
 "Say, fellows," he added, "honestly, I can't think of 
 a thing. I need help. Hopwood, you originated the 
 club ; can't you give me an idea how to proceed ? " 
 
 " To-morrow will be my own night," said Peter. 
 
 " How about the taffy-pulling? " inquired Risley. 
 
 " My mother wouldn't have it in the house, she's so 
 very particular ; besides, there's nothing original about 
 a taffy -pulling." 
 
 '' Not original, maybe," said Risley; "but the stuff is 
 good." 
 
 " There's plenty of time for taffy-pullings," said 
 Singleton. " We have the whole winter before us. 
 Some of you fellows who have already had your niglit 
 will have to think of something for next week. It 
 would be that way with a taffy-pulling, even if motlier 
 would let me have it. While I'm thinkinor I want to 
 think of something that will last. I can't be puzzling 
 my brain every Friday; I can't, indeed. I'd have to 
 quit being a Moonbeam." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 155 
 
 " This thing must be perpetual," said the Giant. 
 
 " Yes," said Fields soberly, " perpetual for a while, 
 anyway." 
 
 "Well, you've got to think," said Peter. " Every- 
 body who's had a night has thought of something with- 
 out any trouble." 
 
 "Peter, Peter," protested the Giant. 
 
 " Well, you've thought of something anyway," said 
 Peter, " and I know I've got to think. If I can think 
 of something. Singleton Fields, I don't see why you 
 can't." 
 
 " There's something in that," said the Giant. 
 
 Thereupon Singleton Fields seated himself at his 
 desk, folded his arms, gazed at the class-room ceiling, 
 and thought and thought ; then he gazed at the floor, 
 and thought and thought. After awhile his vision 
 strayed to the blackboard, to the principal's desk, to 
 the books scattered about. 
 
 "My stars!" he cried, jumping to his feet; "if I 
 haven't got it ! " 
 
 " Not a fit, I hope," cried the Aristocrat, in conster- 
 nation. 
 
 Singleton's face was ablaze with pleasure. " It's per- 
 petual too," he explained. " I should say it is. Why, 
 it can't help but last a year." 
 
 " Is it original ? " inquired Peter. 
 
 " Well, it's original and not original ; it all depends 
 upon the way you look at it. It's original enough for 
 this chicken." 
 
 " Out with it," commanded the Giant. 
 
156 SUNBEAMS A27I) jrOOXBEAMS. 
 
 " It isn't anything at all like wood-cutting or clean- 
 ing the streets, or anything of that kind," said Single- 
 ton. 
 
 " No," said Risley ; " that wouldn't be original ex- 
 actly," 
 
 " Nor it isn't bu3^ing iron-holders, or visiting Scotch 
 people, though it is visiting somebody, and that some- 
 body isn't a native of Lovettsville, either." 
 
 " Nor of America ? " inquired the Giant. 
 
 " Nor of America," said Singleton. 
 
 " Fields, Fields," said the Giant, " have you been 
 stealinor ideas ? " 
 
 " Well, he isn't from Scotland, anyway," said Fields. 
 
 " I think I know where he's from," said the Aristo- 
 crat ; " but I don't understand what you are going to 
 do." 
 
 "It isn't teaching mathematics," said Singleton, "but 
 it is teaching something. Well, it may not be original 
 after all, but it's original enough for me." 
 
 *' How much longer are we to be kept in this dire 
 suspense ? " asked Sedgwick. 
 
 " The person I mean, who isn't from Scotland, is from 
 France," explained Singleton. "He is Monsieur — I 
 can't think of his other name. He boards at the liotel." 
 
 " His other name is Devereux," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Glory ! "• exclaimed Peter. 
 . " Well and good, as far as the story goes," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 " Monsieur Devereux, so the report says," continued 
 Fields, "came to Lovettsville to learn English, thinking 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 157 
 
 he could master tlie language better in a small place 
 where he could mingle with the people. Well, he 
 hasn't learned how to mingle with the people, and he's 
 worried in liis mind. He's afraid he is not going ' ever 
 for to learn how to spick ze American tongue.' " 
 
 " Well," demanded Tom Risley, '' are we going in a 
 body, and advise him to leave Lovettsville, and forget 
 it?" 
 
 "Lovettsville isn't such a very small place, either," 
 said Sedgwick. 
 
 "We are going to him in a body," said Singleton, 
 "and offer to help him learn the American language. 
 It w^on't hurt any of us j it will only be acting a neigh- 
 borly part, and the part of a Moonbeam." 
 
 " But do you think we'll be able to teach English to 
 Monsieur Devereux ? " inquired John Sedgwick. 
 
 "He may not be as dumb as he looks," answered 
 Singleton ; " and we can take all winter to it. Now, this 
 is my idea ^' — 
 
 " If Monsieur is as proud as he looks, or, indeed, half 
 as proud as he looks, he may refuse to have anything 
 to do w^th our gratis instructions; what then?" de- 
 manded Peter. 
 
 "Let the Moonbeam speak for his night," ordered 
 the Giant. 
 
 " We are to give Monsieur lessons in English, and 
 he is to give us lessons in French. Perhaps we'll even 
 learn the French accent," cried Singleton cheerfully. 
 
 The Moonbeams cheered vociferously. 
 
 " Good-morning, sir," said the Aristocrat, bowing low 
 
158 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 to an imaginary personage. " You are ^vell, I hope, 
 this morning? I am not very vrell, thank you. — And 
 you, sir, how are you? I am better, thank you. How 
 is your brother?" 
 
 '' Good-evening, sir," said Sedgwick, also bowing to 
 the imaginary personage, and laying his hand upon his 
 heart in the manner of an old beau. " Which inkstand 
 has the stranger ? He has that of the sailor. — Has the 
 sailor my looking-glass ? He has it not. I have it. — 
 Have you this pistol or that one ? I have this one. No, 
 no, no, sir. — Has he that grocer's old handkerchief? 
 He has not that of the grocer, he has the sailor's. 
 Mark the apostrophe. Monsieur." 
 
 "My dear 6Z??ii," inquired Peter blandly, "have not 
 the two big Italians our pretty thread gloves ? What 
 are they doing with them ? Are they going to drive a 
 fractious American horse in our pretty thread gloves ? 
 Which ships have the Germans ? Have the Turks any 
 steel guns ? Has the Spaniard the pretty umbrella of 
 the German? The Lovettsville boys have no mutton, 
 but they have some birds and chickens."' 
 
 " I should say it would take a good j^ear to teach 
 him," said Risley, " even if he isn't quite as stupid as 
 he looks." 
 
 " Monsieur Devereux, sir, you have fine eyes, ai'd 
 hands like a mademoiselle," said Peter. " How long 
 wdll it take you to master the English language?" 
 
 " How long do you fellows think it will take the 
 Frenchman to teach us his language, correct accent, and 
 all that? " inquired the Giant, with a laugh in his ej^es. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 159 
 
 " Glory ! three years," cried Peter. 
 
 " It's not by any means an easy thing to learn a for- 
 eign language," said tlie Aristocrat. 
 
 " Frenchmen are polite," said Singleton ; " Monsieur 
 Devereux ^yon t laugh at our mistakes." 
 
 " I should say not," cried Peter, " when he's making 
 mistakes of his own." 
 
 " If he doesn't laugh at ours we'll not laugh at his," 
 said the Giant. 
 
 " We're not going to follow any of the old-time 
 methods," said Singleton. '' I've tried to learn French 
 with a book too often. I can't stand anything like 
 that. If we go into the thing we've got to go into 
 it right." 
 
 " Certainly," said the Giant. 
 
 " We'll teach and be taught by the Berlitz method, 
 only even easier; we're not to have any books at all. 
 You all hear ? " 
 
 " We'll not quarrel about that," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Glory, no ! " cried Peter. 
 
 " I think the Frenchman might be allowed to have a 
 book," said Sedgwick. " He'll go back if he's idle all 
 the week." 
 
 " He can have a dictionary and the newspaper," said 
 Fields. " That's the way to learn a language. Whew ! 
 won't he read funny things out of the American news- 
 paper for a while." 
 
 " He'll be glad to have something to do, I've no 
 doubt," said the Aristocrat. ''I've been pitying him 
 ever since he came to Lovettsville." 
 
160 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " At what hour are we to break in upon the gentle- 
 man's reveries ? " inquired the Giant. 
 
 " Eight o'clock sharp," said Singleton. 
 
 " I hope 5^ou will explain the errand delicately," said 
 Risley. " From what I've seen of Monsieur I should 
 say he was something of a high-flyer." 
 
 Singleton looked scared. " Why, we're all going to 
 explain," he said. " It's my night, of course ; but we're 
 all of us Moonbeams." 
 
 " Every mother's son of us," said Peter; ''but for all 
 that you're the Moonbeam to explain our errand to 
 Monsieur, the high-flyer." 
 
 " Each of us can say ' ho7i soir ' to your friend," said 
 Risley. 
 
 " We can do better than that," said the Giant. " We 
 can each learn a sentence according to the old approved 
 exercise-book method, and say it off to Monsieur after 
 he bids us ' Entrez: " 
 
 " I'll say ' Thank you,' when he bids us take a seat 
 and sit down," said Sedgwick. 
 
 "Well," said Singleton resignedly, "I suppose I'll 
 have to explain our mission. It's good it's Friday night. 
 I say, you fellows, suppose you come to my house 
 directly after dinner, and help me get ready for the 
 ordeal." 
 
 " All right," said the Moonbeams. 
 
 "It's a pity Monsieur Devereux doesn't know the 
 blessing in store for him," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 " He might get a fit," said Sedgwick. " I hope the 
 unexpected pleasure wdll not overcome him. No, sir, I 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB, 161 
 
 have not the handkerchief of my mother; I have my 
 own handkerchief, and I mean to keep it." 
 
 " We must study our own little sentences, and be 
 ready to rattle them off," said Risley. "John Sedg- 
 wick, you've got to do more than say ' Thank you.' " 
 
 " I'll take the seat, and sit down," said John. 
 
 At eight o'clock tliat evening the Moonbeams stood 
 in the hotel corridor outside Monsieur Devereux's room, 
 waiting an invitation to enter. When the invitation 
 was given. Singleton Fields declared he felt like bolting 
 down the stairs, whereupon the Giant promptly put him 
 to the fore, and opened the door. 
 
 *' Bon soir, Monsieur Devei^eux^ " said each and every 
 Moonbeam politely. 
 
 " Bon so{)\ Messieurs^^'' responded the Frenchman. 
 
 "What next?" demanded Singleton, turning upon 
 the Giant. 
 
 " Next he's got to ask us to sit down," said Peter. 
 
 A glimmer of a smile came into the dreamy eyes of 
 Monsieur Devereux ; and he bowed and said, " Prenez- 
 vous siege et asseyez-voiisy 
 
 " Exercise French, every word of it," muttered Sedg- 
 wick ; then he said blithely : — 
 
 " Je vous r enter ciey 
 
 " Now each of us gets off his sentence, and then you 
 go ahead, Fields," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 The Frenchman smiled brightly, and said, " Oui^ oui, 
 Monsieur,''' when the Giant asked him if he had passed 
 a good niglit. 
 
 " You are well, I hope ? " questioned Tom Risley. 
 
162 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Do you like the American town of Lovettsville ? " 
 inquired the Aristocrat. 
 
 '' What time is it by your clock? " said Peter affably. 
 
 To each and all of these sentences the Frenchman 
 bowed, and said, " Oui^ oui. Monsieur.'''' 
 
 '' He doesn't even understand his own language," 
 muttered Peter. ''I'm afraid we've a difficult task 
 before us." 
 
 " Let us hope for the best," said the Giant. "Now, 
 Fields, out with number one." 
 
 Number one was a long sentence. Fields had to be 
 prompted several times. It explained matters pretty 
 cleverly. " We wish to understand the French lan- 
 guage," said Singleton, "and we hear that you wish 
 to learn the English language, sir. First we will go 
 for the English, and then we will go for the French." 
 
 " Oui^ Old, Old, Monsieur,^'' said the Frenchman, bow- 
 ing. Interest shone in his eyes. 
 
 " Now go ahead with number two," said the Giant; 
 " about no exercises, you know." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Singleton. He fixed his gaze upon 
 Monsieur, and said gravely, "We will not learn the 
 exercise." 
 
 The Frenchman burst into a pleased laugh, in which 
 the Moonbeams joined. 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! " cried Singleton, " I've forgotten num- 
 ber three. I was just about to ask him if he had the 
 farmer's chickens." 
 
 " Number three is the Berlitz Method. See how he 
 receives that," said the Aristocrat. 
 
TUE MOONBEAM CLUB. 163 
 
 " We teach the Berlitz i\Ietliod," said Singleton. 
 
 " No exercise book," said Peter in plain English, but 
 in a very explanatory voice. '' Berlitz Method, easy, — 
 boy walk, boy run, boy open the door." 
 
 '' Qui, Old, Monsieur,''' said the Frenchman politely. 
 
 The Giant rose to his feet. '' Use me for an illustra- 
 tion," he said. 
 
 "Boy walk," said Singleton. "- Comprenez-vous? 
 Boy walk, boy walk." 
 
 " Boy walk," repeated the Frenchman, his face light- 
 ing up. 
 
 " Boy run," said Peter. 
 
 " Boy run," repeated Monsieur. 
 
 " Large boy walk," said Singleton. 
 
 " Large, grand,''' explained the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Large boy walk," cried Monsieur, in delight. 
 
 "Large boy run," said Tom Risley. 
 
 " Large boy run," said Monsieur ; but he buried his 
 face in his hands, while the Moonbeams laughed outright. 
 
 " Large boy goes out the door," said John Sedgwick ; 
 and the Frenchman repeated the sentence. He spoke 
 clearly and distinctly, to the wonder and admiration of 
 his listeners. 
 
 "He'll learn in no time, if he keeps on," said Peter. 
 " I wish I had the French accent as good as he's got the 
 Eno-lish." 
 
 " We haven't any English accent ; there's where he's 
 got the advantage of us," said Risley. 
 
 " Large boy comes in the door ! " exclaimed Singleton ; 
 and the French lesson continued. 
 
164 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 The large boy did all sorts of things during the next 
 half hour : lie wept ; he laughed ; he whistled ; he sang 
 a comic song ; he danced a jig ; he studied his exercise ; 
 he wrote with a pencil and with a pen ; lie played the 
 piano on the table ; he stretched himself out on Mon- 
 sieur's couch ; he rose, rang the bell, and ordered break- 
 fast. 
 
 Each boy had a turn at the breakfast that the Giant 
 ordered; and the English lesson progressed with the 
 sentences : — 
 
 " The boy cuts his food with his knife." 
 
 " The boy eats his food with his fork." 
 
 " The American beef is tough." 
 
 " The boy likes the salad very much." 
 
 " The boy puts butter on his bread." 
 
 " The boy eats very fast." 
 
 " Now the boy eats more slowly." 
 
 After this useful breakfast the waiter was called, the 
 dishes carried away, and Singleton, turning to Monsieur, 
 bowed, and said in Monsieur's language with the funny 
 American accent, " Now we go for the French." 
 
 Monsieur Devereux understood and smiled. Then 
 he examined the boys criticalh'. '^ Petit gargon^''' he 
 said finally, looking down at Peter's short trousers. 
 
 The Moombeams cheered. 
 
 The ijetit gargon made things meriy during the next 
 half hour. He stood on his head, he turned somer- 
 saults, he blew out the gas, and there was quite a rum- 
 pus before it was re-lit ; he lay on the Frenchman's couch 
 and snored horribly. The Moonbeams repeated the 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 165 
 
 Fi-ench sentences after Monsieur, and concluded they'd 
 be sure in time to catch the proper accent. 
 
 When the Frenchman's lesson came to an end, the 
 Moonbeams stood about Monsieur, all of them talldng. 
 Monsieur talked rapidly in French, gesticulating and 
 making grimaces ; and the boys talked rapidly in Eng- 
 lish, making grimaces and gesticulating. Then the 
 Moonbeams hauled Singleton to the fore ; and together 
 they concocted sentences for him, explaining that 
 every Friday night this delightful lesson was to take 
 place. 
 
 " First we go for French and then we go for English, 
 every Friday night," said Singleton. 
 
 " OiiU Old,''' agreed Monsieur. 
 
 Then Monsieur shook hands with the Moonbeams, and 
 each of them said, " Bon jour,'''' repeating it after Mon- 
 sieur so as to catch the proper accent. 
 
 "Never had a jollier time in all my life," said the 
 Aristocrat, as he accompanied the rest of the Moon- 
 beams to the street. 
 
 " The Frenchman's a brick," said Sedgwick. 
 
 "Sharp as a razor," said Risley. 
 
 "I think he'll learn English in no time," said Sedg- 
 wick. " I must say, as far as I can see, the English lan- 
 guage is mighty eas}^ to learn." 
 
 " But remember the Frenchman's smart." 
 
 " How about the American ? " inquired the Giant. 
 
 " Oh ! the Americans are all right," cried several of 
 the Moonbeams together. 
 
 " Only the petit gargon is feeling a little bad," said 
 
166 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 the Giant, casting an affectionate glance at Peter Hop- 
 wood, as he walked along looking down at the pave- 
 ment. 
 
 "No, I'm not," cried Peter. "I'm sure to think of 
 something." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 167 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 jATURDAY morning, at about ten o'clock, 
 Peter Hopwood prepared to depart from his 
 father's house ; it being his intention to call 
 at the homes of the other five Moonbeams, 
 and leave a message to the effect that at one o'clock 
 P. M., sharp, each and every Moonbeam must show up at 
 his, Peter's, abode, and help arrange preliminaries for 
 the remaining night of the auspicious week. But when 
 Peter closed the street-door upon himself he cried out, 
 " I say, are you after me ? " for there, before the house, 
 were the other five Moonbeams. 
 
 "Yes," said the Giant, " we are after you." 
 
 "Well," said Peter, "I was just coming after you." 
 
 " Glad to hear it," said Sedgwick. "Proves that we 
 haven't been too expeditious." 
 
 "Is the idea clever, original, truly helpful, and all 
 that?" inquired Singleton. 
 
 " Worthy the brain of a Moonbeam ? " asked the Aris- 
 tocrat. 
 
 " Oh, come ! " said Peter ; " you fellows would die if 
 you couldn't poke fun at somebody." 
 
 " Come into the parlor ? " inquired the Giant. 
 
 "I'm not going to tell you a thing until this after- 
 noon," cried Peter. " I was just starting out to tell you 
 
168 SUNBEA3fS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 that I want you all to congregate here at my house at 
 one o'clock sharp." 
 
 "And now I suppose we must go away," said Risley. 
 
 " Oh, you may come in if you wish! " said Peter. 
 
 ''We will oro in," said the Giant. 
 
 The Moonbeams seated themselves around the Hop- 
 wood parlor, and each and every one of them gazed 
 solemnly at Peter. 
 
 "Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater, 
 Had a secret and couldn't keep her," 
 
 said Sedgwick, in a tone of hearty approval. 
 
 "Mind not the pleasantries of the Moonbeam, mon 
 ami^'^ said the Aristocrat soothingly, " for once upon a 
 time, so runs the fable, Peter the Great was Peter the 
 GarQon." 
 
 " Peter, deliver thyself of thy thought," pleaded the 
 Giant; "we are only human." 
 
 " Well, I'm human too," said Peter ; " and I'm not 
 going to tell a thing about it until one o'clock this after- 
 noon. I'll give you fellows a little advice, though ; 
 you'd better be saving up your strength for to-night." 
 
 " Hear ! Hear ! " cried Risley, clapping his hands. 
 
 " For what must we save up our strength? " questioned 
 Sedgwick. " The problem perplexes me mightily." 
 
 " Say," inquired Peter, staring hard at the other boys, 
 "do you fellows care if I have my night in the after- 
 noon? " 
 
 " No ! " roared the Moonbeams. 
 
 " On the contrary, the novelty of the thing appeals to 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 169 
 
 US," said the Aristocrat. " Some of us have lived for 
 over eighteen years, but none of us have ever seen a 
 nisfht in the afternoon." 
 
 " oil, well ! " said Peter, " you know what I mean." 
 
 '^ Are we to come prepared for action when we meet 
 at one o'clock ? " inquired Singleton Fields. 
 
 "No," said Peter; "we're just to talk things over. 
 There's no use in being in a tremendous hurry ; more 
 hurry less speed, you know. I'll tell you, when we 
 arrange matters, if you're to bring anything." 
 
 " His mighty brain conceals the secret well," cried 
 the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Peter, Peter," protested the Giant, " art thou kind 
 to thy brothers ? " 
 
 " At what hour in the afternoon does the romantic 
 night begin?" asked Singleton. 
 
 " At three o'clock," said Peter bluntly. 
 
 " He has everything arranged," exclaimed the Aristo- 
 crat, holding up his hands. " The petit gargon must 
 have remained awake all night." 
 
 " I did tliink of it last night," acknowledged Peter ; 
 " but it was before I went to bed. Say, I want to ask 
 you fellows something." 
 
 The Moonbeams leaned forward in breathless atten- 
 tion, the Giant put his hand behind his ear. 
 
 But Peter's gaze was fastened upon the portrait of his 
 grandfather on the wall opposite to him. " Do you 
 care," he inquired, " if I ask some other people to help 
 us?" 
 
 "How can we care ?" returned the Giant solemnly. 
 
170 SUXBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " Have not some of the rest of us asked other people 
 to help us ? " 
 
 '' But, Peter, darling, don't ask us to cut wood or 
 haul water on Saturday," pleaded Risley. '' Remember 
 always that Saturday is the schoolboy's play-day." 
 
 " The gargon is kind-hearted and generous," muttered 
 Risley. 
 
 " Are we to arrange with the other fellows after one 
 o'clock or previous thereto ?" inquired the Giant. 
 
 Then Peter Hopwood confounded the rest of the 
 Moonbeams by demanding, " Who said anj^thing about 
 any other fellows ? " 
 
 " Our friend is going to give a taffy -pulling, and 
 invite the town," said Sedgwick. 
 
 "Peter," said the Giant, "you had better make a 
 clean breast of it." 
 
 " I won't," declared Peter. " Til tell you all about it 
 at one o'clock, and not before. If you choose to stay 
 till then I suppose my mother will give you some lunch, 
 but Pm not going to talk any more about my night this 
 morning. Say, the weather is beautiful, isn't it? How 
 long do 3'ou think we'll have sleighing ? " 
 
 " The weather is all right," said the Giant, rising 
 to his feet. " Good-by, Peter, my boy, till we see you 
 again." 
 
 " Good-by," said Peter. " One o'clock, sharp." 
 
 At one o'clock sharp the Moonbeams returned. Each 
 boy had prepared a sentence to hurl at the head of the 
 petit gargon. The maid who opened the door to them 
 said afterwards to the cook that it was all she could do 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 171 
 
 to keep from " bustin' out laffin. You could see the 
 mischief in their faces, and there in the parlor was Mr. 
 Peter a-layin' fer 'em." 
 
 The five carefully prepared sentences were never 
 uttered ; indeed, they were entirely forgotten in the 
 surprise that awaited the Moonbeams in Peter's parlor. 
 Six girls bowed and smiled to them as they entered ; 
 they were in the presence of that higlily respected 
 organization, the Sunbeam Club of Lovettsville. 
 
 " This is very pleasant," said the Giant, in his big, 
 cheerful voice. Then he looked at young Hopwood, 
 and cried out, " Where has he gone to ? " 
 
 " Who ? " demanded Peter, blushing tremendously. 
 
 " The petit gargony 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! " cried Peter. 
 
 " It is his birthday, and he never told us," cried Sedg- 
 wick. 
 
 "Young ladies, excuse our state of bewilderment," 
 said the Aristocrat, making a bow ; " but the truth is, 
 that our friend Peter has very suddenly gone into long 
 trousers." 
 
 But young Hopwood did not deign to explain whether 
 or not it was his birthday. " When there's order," he 
 said, " we'll proceed to business." 
 
 Instantly the Moonbeams were rigid, and Peter waited 
 considerately until the Sunbeams finished laughing. 
 
 " You see," he said, " I thought with all my might ; I 
 began it as soon as we left the hotel, but I couldn't 
 think of anything for a long time, except that Saturda}^ 
 was a pretty bad day for a Moonbeam, and I wished 
 
172 SUNBEAMS AXB MOONBEAMS. 
 
 most heartily that I had drawn Monday instead. After 
 that I fell to wondering if the Sunbeam who had Satur- 
 day had felt worried over it ; and then I thought of 
 Baby Day, and I knew that in the end she must have 
 been glad that Saturday had fallen to her lot. Sister 
 Sunbeams," cried Peter, with a wave of his hands that 
 was very impressive, " won't you please tell us all about 
 the origin of Baby Day ? " 
 
 "It was Carrie's plan," said Annie Winthrop. "I 
 don't believe anybody- else would have thought of it. 
 Papa thinks that Baby Day is delicious." 
 
 " It is," said the Giant approvingly. 
 
 " The idea came to Carrie quite suddenly," explained 
 Effie Dorcus ; " and for a while she was afraid it could 
 not be carried out, because, you see, she wanted all of 
 the Sunbeams to be interested, and we haven't any baby 
 at our house. Then she asked me if I couldn't borrow 
 Ferdie. I did borrow Ferdie, and I've been borrowing 
 him ever since." 
 
 *'Baby Day began with the children at home," said 
 Carrie, her expressive eyes smiling upon the Moon- 
 beams. " I thought, you know, that if Ave were the 
 right kind of Sunbeams we'd have to be good to our 
 little brothers and sisters ; and afterwards other girls 
 brought the little children to the park, and all the babies 
 l)ecame acquainted ; that's how everybody came to call 
 Saturday, Baby Day." 
 
 " Yes," said jNladge Hilton, " the children of Lovetts- 
 ville regard Saturday as their day. Mamma says she 
 thinks it is a very pretty idea." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 173 
 
 " It is a pretty idea," said the Aristocrat. 
 
 "Never heard of any prettier idea," said Sedgwick. 
 
 " We have turned our garret into a sort of a hall," 
 said Lula Briggs, her face alight. " Rose and I thought 
 of it one day. Any small individual who behaves it- 
 self is welcome there on Saturday afternoon when it's 
 too bad to be out. We send the naughty ones home. 
 They romp and play and have a glorious time, and they 
 are very seldom naught3^" 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Briggs's garret is enormous," said Rose ; 
 "and formerly it was of no earthly use." 
 
 " I think that Baby Day has made ever so many 
 people kinder to our little people," said Madge. 
 
 For several seconds some one had been diligently rap- 
 ping upon the lower panel of the parlor door. When 
 Madge Hilton said that Baby Day had made ever so 
 many people kinder to the Lovettsville little people, 
 Peter Hopwood crossed the parlor and opened the 
 door, and there came into the room a diminutive Peter, 
 with a round, good-natured face and deep-set blue 
 eyes. 
 
 '' Sit down there in the corner and be a good boy," 
 said Peter affectionately ; " we'll not drive you out as 
 long as you behave yourself." 
 
 Peter's little brother smiled complacently, and quietly 
 seated himself on a stool in the corner. 
 
 " Yes," said young Hopwood, '' of course everybody 
 ought to be good to children ; and we certainly should, 
 by all means, be good to the children at home. Yes, 
 Wally, Brother sees your new horsey reins, but he's busy 
 
174 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 now. Baby Day is to remain Baby Day and be nothing 
 
 else." 
 
 " If we haven't any children at home, what are we to 
 do then?" inquired the Aristocrat. 
 
 " Then," said Peter, "you must do as a Sunbeam has 
 already done, — you must borrow from somebody else." 
 
 " I believe I could manage to borrow a young one all 
 right," said Sandy, " but what to do with it after I bor- 
 rowed it, aye, there's the rub." 
 
 The Sunbeams laughed merrily. 
 
 "Explain yourself more fully, Mr. Hopwood," said 
 Singleton. 
 
 " I believe the Sunbeams are in the secret," said the 
 Giant. 
 
 " We are ! " cried the Sunbeams. 
 
 " We think it's deliglitf ul," added Rose Thompson ; 
 "and we thank Peter very much for asking us to help." 
 
 " We're the ones to be thankful," declared Peter. 
 
 "Yes, of course," said tlie Giant, "we are the ones 
 to be thankful." 
 
 " Only we are dying to know what for," said Single- 
 ton Fields. 
 
 " Well," said Peter, " we're to do what we can towards 
 enlivening the Lovettsville national weekly holiday, at 
 least it ought to be national if it isn't. To-day, as there 
 is snow on the ground, we're to go out to Mr. Ruling's 
 liill with all the sleds and all the babies and have a 
 lively time." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried the little Hopwood in the corner, and 
 he brought his feet togetlier with a clap of approval. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB, 175 
 
 " Isn't it delightful ? " cried Effie Dorcus. 
 
 " Delightful ! " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 "It is perfectly safe coasting out on Mr. Ruling's 
 hill," said Madge. "Even the small babies can have 
 a turn or two." 
 
 '' We are going to collect the children, you know," 
 said Rose Thompson, turning to the Moonbeans, "and 
 you are to get the sleds. You can bring them to the 
 different corners of the town; everybody will be 
 ready. We can get the news about Lovettsville in 
 an hour." 
 
 " And you are to get help too," said Carrie excitedly^ 
 addressing the Moonbeams ; " like you did for the wood- 
 cutting and cleaning the streets. Didn't you say so, 
 Peter?" 
 
 "Ah ! " said the Giant, " thank you. I am glad that 
 Peter the Great has relented ; and we are to be allowed 
 to look about for a few other fellows." 
 
 " You got me all in a muddle this morning," said 
 Peter. "Certainly we've got to engage the other 
 fellows." 
 
 " The sooner the better," said Effie brightly. " Come 
 on, girls." 
 
 " Tommy Engle will be perfectly delighted," ex- 
 claimed Carrie, as the Sunbeams hastened away. 
 
 " Girls have a lot of go in them," said the Aristocra-t 
 admiringly. " The petit gargon wasn't stupid to think 
 of combining the clubs." 
 
 " No, he wasn't stupid," repeated Risley. 
 
 " We'd better start out too," said Singleton. ^' Come 
 
176 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 along, Hopwood; we haven't even time to admire your 
 new trousers." 
 
 For which Peter Hopwood, it is needless to say, was 
 deeply thankful. 
 
 The Giant broke into a run. 
 
 "Where are you bound for, Scott?" demanded the 
 Aristocrat. 
 
 " You fellows know how to canvass the place for 
 help," said the Giant, pausing for an instant; " I'm going 
 for my fice-dog, and he and I will assist tlie Sunbeams 
 in gathering together the Lovettsville young ones." 
 
 "All right," cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 Never in Lovettsville was there such an exciting 
 Baby Day as that upon which the Moonbeams and Sun- 
 beams joined forces in order to give every small individ- 
 ual in the place a sled-ride down Mr. Ruling's hill. 
 
 "I declare to goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Engle, 
 " mai/ they go to coast down Rulin's hill ? Yes, Mary, 
 you can wear your red hood, and Betty can have her 
 new mittens. But you girls is large enough to tend to 
 your own wants; I've got Tomni}^ and Bobby on my 
 hands. No, Tommy, you can't wear your blue pants 
 a-sleddin' ; pants has to be darned ' fore they's fit for 
 sleddin'. Land sakes I ef Bobby ain't all in a sweat 
 of excitement. I'm getting you into your josey, baby, 
 just as quick as ever lean. Here, Betty, take him by 
 the hand, and the whole of you go and wait by the 
 front winder." 
 
 "We must holler at the first sled we see," said 
 Tommy Engle, his eyes as round as saucers. 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB, 177 
 
 "People must mind their manners," said Betty, "or 
 they'll get sent home." 
 
 Cargo after cargo of happy human beings found its 
 way to Ruling's hill on that bright, crisp afternoon. 
 Peter Hop wood had first thouglit of Baby Day and then 
 of Rulino-'s hill. There could not have been a better 
 
 o 
 
 combination, unless, indeed, it was the combination 
 formed by the Sunbeam and the Moonbeam Clubs. 
 
 The Sunbeams, with numerous efficient assistants, 
 looked after the well-being of the children ; and the 
 Moonbeams, with numerous efficient assistants, guided 
 the big sleds down the hill, and cheerfully hauled them 
 back, allowing the lightest weights to ride up the hill. 
 Every now and then a Sunbeam and her assistant 
 accompanied a load, carefully holding the merry babies 
 whose day every one was enjoying so hugely. 
 
 There was a very interested spectator to the coasting 
 on the hill. Monsieur Devereux stood at the starting- 
 point, lending a helping hand to the Sunbeams now 
 and then, listening attentively to the American talk 
 and the American laughter. 
 
 "Fine time. Monsieur," said Singleton, preparing to 
 guide the biggest sled on the ground. 
 
 "Fine load, oui^ oui,'* said the Frenchman. 
 
 "Little girl turn?" inquired Monsieur by and by, 
 with his hand upon the arm of Mary Engle. 
 
 He stepped aside and smiled complacently as the 
 little girl was loaded on. 
 
 "Snow, Monsieur, " cried Peter; "white snow." 
 
 ■" White snow," said Monsieur. 
 
178 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 "You're progressing rapidly," said Peter, with an 
 encouraging smile; "learning the American tongue 
 fast." 
 
 ''Oui, Old, Monsieur," returned the Frenchman. 
 Then a glimmer of fun came into liis eyes. He pointed 
 a finger to the Giant who was descending Ruling's liill. 
 
 "Large boy/z/," he cried with a burst of laughter. 
 
 The Frencli gentleman made a new friend that day on 
 the hill. The Giant introduced liim to the fice-dog, and 
 the fice-dog held out his hand gravely. Little Willie 
 Scott was given more turns than fell to liis share, but 
 no one grumbled. He stayed as long as anybody, and was 
 carried home by the Frenchman. 
 
 "He is a nice man and a smart man," said the fice- 
 dog the next time he saw the Giant. " He learned 
 three words on the way to our house, and he learned a 
 whole sentence in the house, and he said good-by, and 
 carried his hat until he was on the street as good as 
 any American." 
 
 The Moonbeams visited Peter Hop wood a third time 
 on that jolly Saturday. 
 
 "Peter," the Giant said to him, "why did you not 
 tell us that you were going to become a man ? Then 
 we would have been prepared for wonders." 
 
 "Well," said Peter cheerfully, "the heavens haven't 
 fallen, and the week's over. " 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB, 179 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 |HE Moonbeam Club continued to thrive as 
 the winter advanced, the boys keeping 
 stanchly to their unwritten resolutions. 
 Rain, snow, hail, and even an unexpected 
 blizzard, failed to retard the work of the industrious 
 Moonbeams. A great quantity of snow fell that 
 winter, and the wood-cutting and street-cleaning be- 
 came a necessary part of the life of a Moonbeam. 
 Steve Roberts passed a successful examination, to the 
 joy of many people, and was received among his fel- 
 low-students with clamorous welcome. From that 
 moment Steve became "Judge Roberts." 
 
 "Judge Roberts," said the Giant one day, "I move 
 that you call a meeting next Saturday evening. I 
 have something of very great importance to say to 
 my brothers, the Moonbeams." 
 
 " I second the motion," cried Peter Hopwood. 
 
 "All right," said Judge Roberts. 
 
 "Where will we meet? " inquired Singleton Fields. 
 
 " The meeting will be held at my own house," said 
 the Judge. 
 
 " All riofht ! " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 " I'd like you to come to dinner," said Steve. " Let 
 the day be Saturday." 
 
180 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " All right ! " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 A very jubilant Baby Day was nearing its close when 
 the Moonbeams gathered together in Mrs. Roberts's little 
 parlor. They were not kept long waiting for dinner, 
 Steve's grandmother being of the opinion that boys 
 were always hungry. It was a most excellent dinner; 
 and the boys, who upon this occasion were very hungry, 
 did it full justice. 
 
 "You ougiit to be proud of your grandmother. 
 Judge," said the Aristocrat, after the meal was over, 
 and the ]\Ioonbeams were again in the little parlor. 
 
 "I am," said Steve. 
 
 " Monstrously proud of her," said Sedgwick. 
 
 " I am," said Steve. 
 
 " She gave us a mighty good dinner," said Peter. 
 
 " That she did," agreed the Giant ; " but now we will 
 proceed to business." Tlie great fellow rose to his 
 feet, and rubbed his hands complacently, one over the 
 other. "I have taken it upon myself," he began, 
 "being the tallest of the company, or, rather it has 
 been thrust upon me, owing, undoubtedly, to the fact 
 that I am the tallest of the company, to put before you 
 this evening a very important question, to be sat upon 
 by the lot of 3'ou, and to be decided by no less a per- 
 sonao^e than Judo-e Roberts." 
 
 The Moonbeams cheered. 
 
 "Now, before I put this very important question," 
 continued the Giant, " it will not be a bad idea for us 
 to review the work done by the Moonbeam Club during 
 its short existence." 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 181 
 
 William Scott seated himself amid a second rousing 
 cheer, and, regarding the rest of the Moonbeams ^Yith 
 affectionate eyes, inquired, '' Well, fellows, what all 
 have we done ? " 
 
 ''In the first place," said Peter, "we've cut wood, 
 cords and cords of it. We've got lots of fun out of the 
 exercise, to be sure ; but then a number of people have 
 been made happy, all the same." 
 
 " That, after all," said the Giant, " is the mission of 
 a Moonbeam, to make people happy." 
 
 " Aye, aye ! " cried the Moonbeams. 
 
 "Then we learned a lot of mathematics," said Tom 
 Risley, " and contemplate learning a lot more, and 
 growing better acquainted with astronomy." 
 
 " Which generous act on the part of the Moonbeams 
 has made one fellow very thankful and very happy," said 
 the Judge. 
 
 " Well, it's helped us all," said tlie Giant. 
 
 " It's helped me more than a little," said Singleton. 
 
 " Then we cleaned the streets," said John Sedgwick ; 
 " and there's happiness in that too. I know I'm on 
 more friendly terms with a number of people than I 
 was before I helped to clean the streets." 
 
 " Yes, and it's jolly too," cried tlie Aristocrat. " A 
 fellow's muscle increases wonderfully when he cuts 
 wood for two hours a week, and cleans the streets witli 
 all the strength that is in him. Gymnastics don't hold 
 a candle to work like that." 
 
 " Kitty Burns is made comfortable for a year," said 
 Risley. " Of course the Moonbeams didn't furnish the 
 
182 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 money; but if Sandy Brown hadn't found out about 
 Kitty Burns, and told the story about the poor-house, 
 and recited poetry, and all that " — 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! " cried the Aristocrat. 
 
 " And if we all hadn't helped about the iron-holders," 
 added Peter. " No, glory ! the Scotchman would never 
 liave handed out the necessary wherewithal." 
 
 '•By the way," said the Giant, "I have a romantic 
 little story to relate about Kitty Burns and the quilt." 
 
 "Who bought it?" cried Peter. 
 
 "Did Mrs. Kurtland buy it? " asked the Aristocrat. 
 '* She said she was Sfoingr to see it." 
 
 "No, Mrs. Kurtland did not buy it," said the Giant; 
 " you are not even warm." 
 
 " Did the Sunbeam Club buy it?" asked Singleton. 
 
 " No," said the Giant ; " the Sunbeam Club has done 
 many wonderful things, but it did not buy the quilt." 
 
 " Give it up I " cried Risley. 
 
 "It was the Scotchman who bought the quilt," said 
 the Giant. 
 
 " No ! " roared the astonished Moonbeams. 
 
 "I think it must have been the poetry that did the 
 work," said tlie Giant. " Anyway, I know for a fact 
 that the Scotchman bought the quilt. It was in the 
 following manner that I acquired my knowledge. I 
 was walking along the street the other day, when I 
 noticed the old gentleman in front of me. He was 
 doubly noticeable, owing to the enormous package that 
 he carried. This gigantic parcel was done up carefully 
 in newspaper, and was pinned at the cornei-s. I was 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 183 
 
 wondering what in the world could be in it, when lo, 
 and behold ! Mr. Andrew slipped. By-the-way, we 
 mustn't leave slipper}^ places when we clean streets. 
 Mr. Andrew slipped, and let go the newspaper package 
 in the effort to right himself. I am active if I am large, 
 and I skipped forward. The newspaper had obligingly 
 burst asunder ; my curiosity was more than gratified, 
 for there was the quilt. I had never seen it, but I had 
 heard the Aristocrat describe it. Beyond the shadow 
 of a doubt it was the poetry that did the business. 
 Sandy, my friend, allow me to congratulate you." 
 
 " The Aristocrat's brain is in fair and square condi- 
 tion," said Singleton. " He's given us the taffy-pulling 
 that we sighed for ; and since, he's had us manufactur- 
 ing sleds in the hotel basement; why, I tell you what, 
 he's pushed the cause along amazingly." 
 
 "•. The Moonbeam's no slouch," said Risley. 
 
 " Monsieur Devereux was a worthy subject," said the 
 Aristocrat ; " and we haven't done half bad at French, 
 either. If the evening is to be devoted to the tooting 
 of one another's horns, I believe I'll toot Singleton 
 Fields's. Mon ami^ have your new books been found? 
 They have been found. Where ? Under the bed." • 
 
 " We are not tooting one another's horns," said Peter ; 
 " we are simply stating facts. Monsieur Devereux has 
 done wonders. He drives straight ahead. Glory ! I 
 can't help what is said to the contrary, the Englisli 
 language must be easy to learn. The fellow spells first- 
 rate, and his grammar is " — 
 
 " Above reproach," murmured Sedgwick. 
 
184 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 '' Monsieur is all right," said the Giant. " God bless 
 him ! He's friends with my little fice-dog." 
 
 " The very best work that the Moonbeams have done, 
 as far as I can see," said Risley, " is the work of assist- 
 ing the Sunbeams in perpetuating Baby Day. Three 
 cheers for ' Baby Day.' " 
 
 Steve's little grandmother, in the adjoining room, 
 laughed heartily when the three cheers were given. 
 
 " Let them have their fun," she said to the old grand- 
 father. " They can't do any harm. The roof is on. the 
 house to stay for a while." 
 
 The Giant rose to his feet again. 
 
 " We have all done remarkably w^ell," he said blandly; 
 "and now for the important question. The boys of 
 Lovettsville who do not belong to the organization 
 known as the Moonbeam Club, are clamorously calling 
 for admittance. Is it right and proper for the organiza- 
 tion to refuse them admittance ? " 
 
 " No I " roared the Moonbeams. 
 
 " But what are we going to do about it? " inquired 
 Peter. "How are we going to manage affairs?" 
 
 " By admitting them," cried the Aristocrat. 
 
 " The question is put to you by request," said the 
 Giant. " I beg you to sit upon it." 
 
 " I can sit on it all right," said Singleton ; " but I 
 don't see how w^e'll arrange matters." 
 
 "Suppose the Judge gives his opinion," said Sedg- 
 wick. 
 
 " Rise to the occasion, Steve," said the Giant. 
 
 " I can rise to my feet," said Steve, " but I'm not at 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 185 
 
 all sure that I can rise to the occasion. You fellows 
 know more about arranging things than I do." 
 
 "Are we to admit the petitioners?" asked the Giant. 
 
 " I say, yes," answered the Judge. 
 
 " Now I suppose we'll sit upon it," said Peter. 
 
 " Exactly," said the Giant. 
 
 " We could divide the members into sixes," said the 
 Aristocrat musingly. 
 
 '* And let each half-dozen fire ahead," added Risley. 
 
 " Yes, we could do that," said Sedgwick.' 
 
 " Allowing the whole to come together on such grand 
 occasions as wood-cutting and street-cleaning, eh ? " in- 
 quired the Giant. 
 
 *'Yes," said Peter solemnly. "It would be better, 
 though, to divide them into tens, and each fellow could 
 think for a night until they get round. If they're in 
 sixes, on the wood-nights and the street-cleaning nights, 
 two fellows will be knocked out of their thoughts." 
 
 " Horrible, most horrible ! " cried the Giant. 
 
 "What about Baby Day? " asked the Aristocrat. 
 
 " I never thought of that," said Peter humbly. 
 
 "A great many new arrangements will have to be 
 made," said the Giant. " I move that we hold a meet- 
 ing in the town hall next Saturday evening, inviting 
 the presence of every boy in Lovettsville who wishes 
 to join the organization." 
 
 " I second the motion," cried Peter. 
 
 " We could continue to hire the hall now and then 
 for special occasions," said Sedgwick. 
 
 " Fine ! " cried Risley. 
 
186 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " We could establish a sort of court of law," said the 
 Aristocrat. " A Moonbeam ought to — well, he oughtn't 
 to swear, or lie, or things like that." 
 
 " No," said the Giant ; " he ought by all means to be 
 a well-regulated individual." 
 
 " We must write out certain rules," said the Judge, 
 "and read them at the meetings." 
 
 " And we ought to have an initiating ceremony," said 
 Singleton. 
 
 " Glory ! but we'll have lots of fun," cried Peter. 
 Then he added, " I think we ought to let the Sunbeams 
 know all about this." 
 
 " We will," said the Giant. 
 
 The Sunbeams received the intelligfence of the out- 
 come of the important question on Monday. It came 
 to them in a business-like document addressed to the 
 Sunbeam Club, Care Miss Carrie Offutt; and Carrie 
 at once sent out messages for the girls to come over in 
 the evening. " I have a letter from the Moonbeams," 
 Carrie scrawled in each note that Nancy Maude was 
 enticed into carrying around ; " I haven't any idea what 
 is in it. It is addressed to The Sunbeam Club. It 
 appears to be very long. My curiosity is terribly excited. 
 Come over as soon after dinner as you can." 
 
 Rose Thompson was the most tranquil of the Sun- 
 beams that gathered around the letter from the Moon- 
 beams, and it was she who read it aloud. 
 
 The Sunbeams listened breathlessh\ even to the read- 
 ing of the last signature, and then they burst out : — 
 
 "I knew the Moonbeam Club was going to be a 
 powerful organization ! " 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB. 187 
 
 " So did I. I saw it from the first." 
 
 " Isn't it just grand I " 
 
 " Going to meet at the town hall and initiate the new 
 members. Whew ! " 
 
 " I don't think there is a better boy in the whole 
 world than William Scott." 
 
 " But it was Peter Hop wood who thought of the 
 Moonbeam Club." 
 
 " It came upon him suddenly." 
 
 '' Don't you think," said Annie Winthrop after a 
 little, "that the Sunbeam Club ought to broaden out 
 too?" 
 
 " Yes," cried the Sunbeams clamorously. 
 
 " Of course we cannot do very much work this win- 
 ter," said Rose Thompson ; " for the Sunbeam Club is 
 really a vacation organization." 
 
 " Only we have Baby Day," said Effie. 
 
 " And Baby Day is ever so much better now that the 
 Moonbeams help," cried Carrie. " Girls, I'm enthusi- 
 astic over the Moonbeam Club." 
 
 " So am I," cried Madge Hilton. 
 
 " So are we all," said Lula Briggs. 
 
 "We can make our plans," said Rose; "and we can 
 initiate members." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Effie, " can we hire the town hall ? " 
 
 "We will have to hire the town hall," said Carrie, 
 "in order to have room." 
 
 " It was nice of the boys to write to us," said Effie. 
 " Moonbeams think of so many pleasant things." 
 
 " That night you were over here, Effie," said Carrie, 
 
188 SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS. 
 
 " and Nancy Maude came in and asked us if we'd been 
 listening at the window, and we went over to the win- 
 dow and looked out, and heard the boys singing and 
 whistling, and saw that they were cleaning the snow off 
 the streets, I felt it in my bones that the Moonbeam 
 Club of Lovettsville was going to perform wonders." 
 
 "They have been so kind to the Frenchman at the 
 hotel," said Madge Hilton. "He thinks that Lovetts- 
 ville is the most charming place in America; indeed, 
 indeed, he does, girls. He told papa so." 
 
 "And they've been good to little Willie Scott," said 
 Effie. "They say the Giant carried him around on his 
 back that night of the first wood-cutting, and has had 
 him out twice since when it wasn't too cold, besides the 
 coasting, and all that, and the city doctor says that the 
 little fellow is improving in health wonderfully." 
 
 The Sunbeams talked a while longer before the five 
 of them departed ; and after that Carrie rushed through 
 the house hunting for paper and pen and ink, and when 
 she found them, she wrote the following letter to her 
 mother, who was spending a month in the city: — 
 
 Lovettsville, Feb. 10, 1892. 
 Dear Mamma, — I know you wiU be astonished to receive this 
 letter as I wrote to you only yesterday afternoon. But something- 
 has happened since that I want to tell you right away. What 
 do you think, the Moonbeams are going to allow all the boys in 
 Lovettsville to join the club. For this purpose, they will hold a 
 meeting in the town hall next Saturday evening. They are going 
 to have written rules and regulations, and each party will be dis- 
 tinct, except now and then, when all the Moonbeams will work 
 together. Won't that be grand ? 
 
THE MOONBEAM CLUB, 189 
 
 The Moonbeams wrote us, the Sunbeams, a letter, telling us 
 all about it ; and we have decided that we also will hold a meeting 
 in the town hall, and allow all the girls of Lovettsville to join the 
 Sunbeam Club. I am sure they will like to do it. \Ve are think- 
 ing of having blue-ribbon badges. If you see any pretty pale- 
 blue ribbon that you think will suit the purpose, I wish you would 
 get it for us, and charge it up on my next allowance. I would like 
 to do that much for the society. 
 
 The girls left here only a few minutes ago. We all think that 
 the Moonbeams have gone far ahead of us, but we are not at all 
 envious. There are ever so many things that Moonbeams can 
 think of better than Sunbeams, and ever so many things that 
 Moonbeams can do better than Sunbeams. Won't it be delight- 
 ful to have meetings in the town hall, and badges ? 
 
 I wonder if the Lovettsville people wall be glad when all the 
 boys are Moonbeams and all the girls are Sunbeams. But just 
 to think, there wouldn't be any jNIoonbeams or Sunbeams or any- 
 thing if that Sunday, ever so long ago it seems now, the girls in 
 our Sunday-school class hadn't walked along the Lovettsville 
 street trying to think of something, and Annie Winthrop hadn't 
 thought suddenly of the Sunbeam Club. 
 
 I'll be very glad, my dear mamma, when you and the babies 
 
 come home ; but I trust that you are having a splendid time and 
 
 that possibly you will see some ribbon that you think will suit, 
 
 and will, just for once, allow me to draw my allowance in advance. 
 
 Your affectionate daughter, 
 
 Carrie. 
 
 P. S. The last Baby Day was the grandest thing w^e ever had, 
 
 but I'd rather tell about it than write. „ 
 
 Carrie. 
 
 As time went by, Lovettsville, as well as the rest of the 
 world, continued to receive its share of earthly sorrow 
 and trouble ; but neither time, nor sorrow, nor trouble, 
 
190 ' SUNBEAMS AND MOONBEAMS, 
 
 has ever caused a single person in the American town 
 to regret the establishment of the two clubs, or to })e 
 anything but jubilant over the fact that the Lovettsville 
 3^oung people are, in the language of Nancy Maude, 
 "Sunbeam girls and Moonbeam boys." 
 
^iiiiy^iEEJ^^^^^^ 
 
 HILL 
 
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