Ethel Mortons Holidays | Page 3

remarks.
"Is this the first year you've had a Hallowe'en party?" Mrs. Emerson
asked.
"We used to do a few little things when we were children," Helen
answered; "but for the last few years we've been asked somewhere."
"And with all due respect to our hosts we did a lot of the stupidest and
meanest things we ever got let in for," declared Roger. "I was telling
Grandfather about some of them coming over."
"So we made up our minds that we'd celebrate as a club this year, and
do whatever we wanted to. There's a lot more to a party than just the
party," said Ethel Brown wisely.
Her grandmother nodded.
"You're right. The preparation is half the fun," she agreed. "And it's fun
to have every part of it perfect--the decorations and the refreshments as
well as whatever it is you do for your main amusement."
"That's what I think," said Helen. "I like to think that the house is going
to be appropriately dressed for our Hallowe'en party just as much as we
ourselves."
"Why doesn't your club give a series of holiday parties?" suggested
Grandfather. "Make each one of them a really appropriate celebration
and not just an ordinary party hung on the holiday as an excuse peg. I
believe you could have some interesting times and do some good, too,
so that it could honestly be brought within the scope of your Club's
activities."
"We seem to have made a start at it without thinking much about it,"
said Roger. "The Club had a float, you know, in the Labor Day

procession."
"I didn't know that!" exclaimed Mrs. Emerson.
"You were in New York for a day or two. Grandfather supplied the
float! Why, we had just come back from Chautauqua a day or two
before Labor Day, you know, and the first thing that happened was that
a collector called to get a contribution from Mother to help out the
Labor Day procession. I was there and I said I didn't believe in taxation
without representation. He laughed and said, 'All right, come on. We'd
be glad to have you in the procession'."
"You were rather disconcerted at that, I suspect," laughed Mrs.
Emerson.
"Yes, I was, but I hated to take back water, so I said that I belonged to a
club and that I supposed he was going to have all the clubs in
Rosemont represented in some way. He said that was just what they
wanted. They wanted every activity in the town to be shown in some
shape or other."
"There wasn't time to call a meeting of the club," Helen took up the
story, "so Roger and I came over and talked with Grandfather, and he
lent us a hay rack and we dressed it up with boughs and got the
carpenters to make some very large cut out letters--U. S. C.--two sets of
them, so they could be read on both sides. They were painted white and
stood up high among the green stuff and really looked very pretty.
Everybody asked what it meant."
"I think it helped a lot when I went about asking for gifts for the
Christmas Ship," said Roger. "Lots of people said, 'Oh, it's your club
that had a float in the Labor Day parade'."
"If we should work up Grandfather's idea we might have a parade of
our own another year," said Helen.
"Always co-operate with what already exists, if it's worthy," advised
Mr. Emerson. "Don't get up opposition affairs unless there's a good

reason for doing it."
"As there is for our Hallowe'en party," insisted Roger.
"I believe you're right there. There's no reason why you should enter
into 'fool stunts' that are just 'fool stunts,' not worth while in any way
and not even funny."
"We'd better move on now if Grandfather is to take us over and get
back in time for his own dinner," said Roger.
"Come, girls, can you pile in all that shrubbery without breaking it? Put
the pumpkins on the bottom of the car, Roger, and the jacks on top of
them. Now be careful where you put your feet. Back in half an hour,
Mother," and he started off with his laughing car load.
CHAPTER II
HALLOWE'EN
"You're as good as gold to come out and help these youngsters enjoy
themselves," was Mrs. Morton's greeting to Edward Watkins when he
appeared in the evening with Tom and Della.
"It's they who are as good as gold to let me come," he returned, smiling
pleasantly. He was a handsome young man of about twenty-five, a
doctor whose profession, as yet, did not make serious inroads on his
time. "What are these people going to make us do first," he wondered
as Roger began a distribution of colored