The Woodcraft Girls in the City

“No you won’t, dear child, for the Spirit will stay with you to soften the human will! Now let us stop in at the gym and you shall write a letter to the Band that will answer just the same as if you spoke in the dark, for you need not see them when they read the words and cry gratefully over your courage and repentance.”

“Cry – don’t you think they will fire me out of the Band?” asked Eleanor, incredulously.

“No, my dear, for they know that this from you means a far greater work of redemption than if a good little girl who never had any erroneous temptations always smiled and walked obediently in the pathway all prepared for her feet!”

“Oh, Miss Miller, you make everything so good and easy for a sinner to repent!”

And they stopped at the school-gymnasium for which the teacher carried a key. And here not only was a note penned, but many an admonition was given the girl that helped her over dark and rocky places in after life.

Suffice it to say here, that the letter caused great consternation when read by the Guide to the girls the next afternoon, but she advised them wisely and gently, so that Zan’s fury and May’s resentment soon disappeared and left in its place the wish to help Eleanor in her struggle to win out in the battle between her better self and the evil counterfeit.

Eleanor failed to appear at any of the meetings that week although she sent in a piece of carpentry made for her test that elicited the admiration of the other girls. Also she sent in a Tally Book she made for her own use, and this, too, caused Elena, the artist, to exclaim, for it was as pretty as her own – and that was said to be the most artistic one in the Band.

The next Thursday evening’s meeting was held at Jane’s home. Miss Miller said it would be a good plan to begin regular work on the bead trimmings as she wished every girl to complete a handsome set of banding for a ceremonial costume in which to appear at Grand Councils.

This motion was agreed upon and Elena entered the vote in the Tally Book, that each girl was to present the results of her bead-loom work a month from that day.

Later in the evening the Guide spoke of the many ways Woodcraft girls had in the city of following pursuits they little dreamed of.

“For instance: when you are on the streets and the wind is blowing the dust about, always keep your mouth closed and breathe through the nostrils. Also keep your toes nearly straight when walking and expand the chest. In crossing a street, always look both ways, especially in a crowded thoroughfare, before attempting to cross. Most of the accidents to pedestrians are caused by people in a hurry, or impatient, and not obeying the traffic laws. When one is mindful of law one is always protected and safe. Now I wonder how many of you know the meaning of the coloured lights on the street lamps, or other places? How many girls are familiar with the signals of policemen, particularly the traffic squad?”

Very few of the girls could answer correctly to these vital questions, and the Guide explained, then continued her talk to them.

“Besides the city signs and laws every girl should know where the parks, museums, libraries, and other public buildings are located so anyone inquiring for them can be directed without loss of time or confusion – also for our own convenience.

“In the museums we can study the national costumes and customs of every nation in the world, from the collections on exhibit of different periods in history. Any interested person can find in the wonderful free exhibits, the pictures, statuary, carvings, relics, and many other things impossible to find elsewhere, a liberal education in itself.

“Besides these treasures, gathered at great cost of time, life, and money, for us to enjoy at our leisure, we also have the aquarium at Battery Park, Zoological Gardens, Horticultural Gardens, and many interesting streets and structures of old New York that one never thinks of being in existence. The public lectures given gratis every week to anyone who will avail themselves of the privilege, the great Community Chorus founded to train voices in the best music, the singers giving public concerts for all at different times each year, and numerous other sources of educational interests where you are invited and welcomed as warmly as if you paid an exorbitant fee to attend – all these places can be found by referring to the daily papers.

“In speaking of the many advantages girls had without using a third of them, Mrs. Remington mentioned that her Tribe went to the New York Parks last year and actually found one hundred different kinds of trees, a hundred wild flowers, sixty kinds of birds flying about, furry four-footed animals, turtles, snakes, and other things mentioned in the Manual for coups and grand coups.”

“I never thought of that!” declared Zan, thoughtfully.

“Neither did I. Can’t we go, too, Miss Miller, and make up our hundred for grand coups?” asked Jane.

“Of course we can, and that is why I mentioned it. Even the new members can find what they need right in Central Park. Then there is the Bronx and Van Courtlandt Parks should you exhaust the ‘happy hunting grounds’ of Central Park,” replied the Guide, pleased.

“Oh girls, can’t we go right soon?” exclaimed Anne Mason.

“Gracious! There seems more to do than one Winter can ever find time for!” sighed Nita.

“I know that sigh by this time – Nita thinks we won’t bother to dance if we adventure about the wilds of New York!” laughed Zan.

“Everything in its own place, you know. We will have as much time for steps and songs as ever, for the evenings at home can be devoted to indoor fun, you know,” explained the Guide.

“I’m glad we won’t have any extra studies to catch up with this year. When we had to forge ahead to make room for scholars last year, we couldn’t possibly have had any Woodcraft fun in the evenings,” ventured Hilda, gratefully.

“And so the completion of the new High School on the other side of the city is a blessing to you Woodcrafters,” said Miss Miller.

“We ought to have our individual Tally Books all ready for entries if we go off on trips like the ones you mentioned,” suggested May.

“Yes, and I want you to each have your totems completed so that important incidents or progress can be depicted on the pole. Besides the totems and Tallies, each girl must make a good set of rubbing sticks and the bag and other adjuncts to complete a fire set. We ought to make and decorate articles of useful furniture, to make a garment, to cook and preserve, and many other pursuits that can be best done in the Winter indoors.”

“Miss Miller, I am going to follow Elizabeth Remington’s idea. She made a bead band trimming on which the story of a Summer in camp was pictured. I shall do the same, and in symbolic pictures tell the story of our camp on the farm,” said Zan.

“Oh Zan, that will be fine! Call it the costume of the ‘Woodcraft Girls at Camp,’” said Jane.

“Do you mind if we girls make one that way?” asked Elena.

“Of course not! It isn’t likely that any of you will work out the same idea in beads as I will,” replied Zan.

“I think the plan is good and the ceremonial dresses ought to look beautiful,” approved Miss Miller.

Thus an incentive for beading and sewing was offered the original members of Wickeecheokee Band. But the new members thought they could design Indian figures and symbols that would be pretty and answer the present need for trimming, and when they had had practise and experiences to picture they could add to their bead-work.

That evening the girls learned that Woodcraft was not so much a matter of camps and meetings as of individual study and growth – and application of the highest and best that one was possible of doing.

“O Chief! Will you try and see Eleanor to-morrow and tell her of our plans for the Winter? Possibly the very fact of your seeking her to mention this meeting as an item of Tribe business will assure her that we all wish her to do her share in the undertaking,” said Miss Miller, as the meeting adjourned.

Zan sought out the wayward member although she disliked an errand like this one. She reported the different plans the Guide outlined for the girls and then told Eleanor to “get busy” on her bead trimming for a leather costume.

“Dear me, it is nothing but work, work, work, in your Lodge. Now I heard from a girl who is a Woodcrafter in Plainfield, and she says they have the jolliest times! They go to entertainments, have candy pulls, parties, and almost every week they all go to some place of amusement together. You never do that!” complained Eleanor.

“If that girl tells the truth and is a real Woodcrafter she combines pleasure with advancement. Maybe she considers a hike or a Council a party, and you misunderstood her. She may think she ‘is having the best of times’ going to a lecture which you misconstrue as a place of amusement. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what some folks think or do, Wako Tribe has a pattern of its own and it cuts its cloth accordingly,” replied Zan, not too humbly, for she felt impatient at the reception given her message from Miss Miller.

Eleanor shrugged her shoulders and Zan left her without another word, both feeling the occasion had been given for a better understanding but the result of it was a failure.

After the meeting at which the girls realised the many free resorts where Woodcraft coups could be won, they took new interest in home-work as well. Zan completed a set of rustic furniture made of the timber from the farm, and this set of table, two chairs, and two stools was decorated with Indian emblems.

“Dad, isn’t this a peachy set?” asked she when it was finished and standing on the wide rear porch for exhibition.

“It certainly is, Daughter. Now the question is, where shall we keep it until next Spring when we can ship it to the farm?” answered the doctor.

“Keep it? Why, in the parlour, of course!” declared Zan, frowning at the implied meaning in her father’s question.

“And sell the junk mother has there to a second hand dealer! Of course! how could I have been so stupid as to think otherwise,” replied Dr. Baker meekly. Zan studied his face but his expression was inscrutable.

“We-el-1 – I s’pose I might keep it in the library!” ventured she, as she pictured her mother’s solid-mahogany-frames-upholstered-silk-velour-furniture thrown on a scrap wagon.

“Maybe – I am only suggesting, of course – maybe we could ship it to the farm this Fall and store there until next Summer,” said the doctor.

“But I expect to use it all the time, Dad. Right this week I shall sit on the chair and use the table,” cried Zan.

“Then let us leave it just where it is for the time being as you need all the fresh air you can get during the fine Indian Summer weather. When the snow blows we can freight it to Wickeecheokee.”

Everyone Zan knew was brought to the house to admire the rustic furniture, but after a week of exhibiting she grew weary of repeating verbally the methods of manufacturing the set, and then she settled down to use it when at work on the bead-loom.

The table and a chair were carried to the birches still green, growing in one corner of the grass-plat, and here Zan wove the banding, her nimble fingers flying in and out, back and forth, as the bead trimming began to take on unique and pretty pictures of camp-life.

Now and then some of the other girls would join Zan and work on the looms, and at these visits tongues would talk of the many plans for Tribe activities that Winter.

“Do you see any improvement in Eleanor?” asked Jane, one day.

“Funny that you should ask me that. I asked Miss Miller the same thing this morning,” replied Zan.

“What did she say?” from Jane.

“She thought the change wrought for the better was more mental and spiritual than in material expression, but the results were bound to be apparent to everyone in time.”

“Guess it will be a long time, then!” retorted Jane.

“Miss Miller says we mustn’t feel that way about it. That we are killing the frail child of a weak but higher aspiration. If we train our thoughts to consider the motives and yearnings for a more harmonious life that the girl must have, we will not condemn and criticise her acts. It is the human judgment of thingsthat makes obstacles in the road of one’s advancement, she told me.”

“Dear me, I wish I was as good and wise as Miss Miller,” sighed Jane, gazing skyward.

“Say, you’re not the only one holding a mortgage on that wish! Every blessed girl of Wako Tribe tries to copy the model Guide,” said Zan, smilingly, as she remembered Fiji’s words: “If you knew as much as your Guide, what a wonderful sister you would be.”

Miss Miller had reports to make out that week-end so there was no hope of camping, but the girls felt they had so much to do in the city that the outing would not be missed. A plan was made for the following week, however, to camp on the Palisades. The Guide invited the girls to meet her for a short time in the gymnasium that Friday, to decide upon a location for the camp.

Miss Miller was not in the room when the girls gathered together, but she came in shortly afterward. Her face beamed with pleasant news and Zan immediately said:

“We know from your expression that you know something good!”

“Yes, I do, and the letter just came on the last mail. I just received the pass for our Band admitting us to the lectures and cinematograph pictures given at the National Museum of History in New York. They start next week and the course, which is on Indian Crafts and Folk Lore beginning with the Zuni Indians, will be of great interest and help to us. I want every one of you girls to try and attend these lectures with me, so better ask permission from your parents.”

“Oh, that is good news!” cried Elena.

“We sure are indebted to you, Miss Miller, for all the trouble you take for our enjoyment,” added Zan.

The other girls expressed their gratitude, too, and then the talk centered on the expectations of what these lectures would bring forth. Miss Miller saw the condition that often exists when folks are given something to look forward to in the near future – their thoughts fill with outlines and ideas of that which is to be, instead of living and making the best of that which is offered at the immediate present. The wise Guide knew that this form of mental picturing and outlining of things, still misty and indistinct to the individual, was an undesirable state of imagination so she quickly changed the current of their thoughts by saying:

“Girls, I have an odd Indian legend founded on the constellation of ‘Charles Wain.’ Want to hear it?”

Naturally every girl cried for the story and they sat down in a circle to listen.