Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls | Page 5

arguments are necessary, but we
haven't time to gossip with folks. A whole lot of money must be raised,
and there's a short time to do it in."
"Seems to me," remarked Edna Barlow, earnestly, "we're wasting time
just now. Let's get busy."

"Well, get on your costumes, girls," suggested Alora Jones. "They are
all here, in this big box, and the banners are standing in the hall. It's
after nine, now, and by ten o'clock we must all be at work."
They proceeded to dress themselves in the striking costumes they had
secretly prepared; a blue silk waist with white stars scattered over it, a
red-and-white striped skirt, the stripes running from waistband to hem,
a "Godess of Liberty" cap and white canvas shoes. Attired in this
fashion, the "Liberty Girls," as they had dubbed themselves, presented
a most attractive and patriotic appearance, and as they filed out through
the hall each seized a handsome silken banner, gold fringed, which bore
the words: "Buy Bonds of Dorfield's Liberty Girls."
"Now, then," said Mary Louise, "we have each been allotted a certain
district in the business part of the city, for which we are individually
responsible. Each one knows what she is expected to do. Let no one
escape. If any man claims to have already bought bonds, make him buy
more. And remember, we're all to meet at my house at one o'clock for
luncheon, and to report progress."
A block away they secured seats in a streetcar and a few minutes
thereafter reached the "Four Corners," the intersection of the two
principal streets of Dorfield. But on the way they had sold old Jonathan
Dodd, who happened to be in the car and was overawed by the display
of red-white-and-blue, two hundred dollars' worth of bonds. As for old
man Dodd, he realized he was trapped and bought his limit with a sigh
of resignation.
As they separated at the Four Corners, each to follow her appointed
route, many surprised, if not startled, citizens regarded the Liberty Girls
with approving eyes. They were pretty girls, all of them, and their
silken costumes were really becoming. The patriots gazed admiringly;
the more selfish citizens gave a little shiver of dismay and scurried off
to escape meeting these aggressive ones, whose gorgeous banners
frankly proclaimed their errand.
Mary Louise entered the bank on the corner and made inquiry for Mr.
Jaswell, the president.

"We're off at last, sir," she said, smiling at his bewildered looks, "and
we girls are determined to make the Dorfield people do their full duty.
May we depend upon your bank to fulfill your promises, and carry
those bond buyers who wish to make time payments?"
"To be sure, my dear," replied the banker. "I'd no idea you young ladies
were to wear uniforms. But you certainly look fascinating, if you're a
fair sample of the others, and I don't see how anyone can refuse to back
up our girls in their patriotic 'drive.' God bless you, Mary Louise, and
help you to achieve your noble object."
There were many offices in the building, above the bank, and the girl
visited every one of them. Her appearance, garbed in the national colors
and bearing her banner, was a sign of conquest, for it seemed to these
busy men as if Uncle Sam himself was backing this crusade and all
their latent patriotism was stirred to the depths. So they surrendered at
discretion and signed for the bonds.
Mary Louise was modest and sweet in demeanor; her pleas were as
pleasant as they were persuasive; there was nothing virulent or
dominant in her attitude. But when she said: "Really, Mr. So-and-so,
you ought to take more bonds than that; you can afford it and our
country needs the money," the argument was generally effective, and
when she had smilingly pinned the bond button on a man's coat and
passed on to interview others, she left him wondering why he had
bought more bonds than he ever had intended to, or even provoked
with himself that he had subscribed at all. These were the people who
had generally resisted all former pleadings of the regular committee
and had resolved to ignore the bond sale altogether. But perhaps their
chagrin was equalled by their satisfaction in having been won over by a
pretty girl, whose manner and appearance were alike irresistible.
The men of Dorfield are a fair sample of men everywhere. At this
period the full meaning of the responsibilities we had assumed in this
tremendous struggle was by no means fully realized. The war was too
far away, and life at home was still running in its accustomed grooves.
They could not take the European war to themselves, nor realize that it
might sweep away their prosperity, their liberties--even