Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls | Page 6

their homes.

Fear had not yet been aroused; pity for our suffering and hard-pressed
allies was still lightly considered; the war had not struck home to the
hearts of the people as it has since. I doubt if even Mary Louise fully
realized the vital importance of the work she had undertaken.
When the Liberty Girls met at Colonel Hathaway's for a light luncheon,
their eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm and their cheeks rosy from
successful effort. Their individual sales varied, of course, for some
were more tactful and winning than others, but all had substantial
results to report. "We've taken Dorfield by storm!" was their exultant
cry.
"Altogether," said Mary Louise, figuring up the amounts, "we've sold
thirty-two thousand dollars' worth of bonds this morning. That's
encouraging for three hours' work, but it's not enough to satisfy us. We
must put in a busy afternoon and try to get a total of at least one
hundred thousand by to-night. To-morrow we must do better than that.
Work as late as you can, girls, and at eight o'clock we will meet again
at Alora's house and compare results."
The girls needed no urging to resume their work, for already they had
gained confidence in their ability and were inspired to renewed effort.
Mary Louise had optimistic plans for that afternoon's work. She first
visited the big flour mill, where she secured an interview with Mr.
Chisholme, the president and general manager.
"We can't buy bonds," he said peevishly. "Our business is being ruined
by the high price of wheat and the absurd activities of Hoover. We
stand to operate at a loss or else shut down altogether. The government
ought to pay us compensation, instead of asking us to contribute to the
war."
"However, if we fail to win the war," Mary Louise quietly replied,
"your enormous investment here will become worthless. Isn't it better
to lose a little now, for the sake of future winnings, than to sacrifice the
past and future and be reduced to poverty? We are asking you to save
yourself from threatened danger--the national calamity that would

follow our defeat in this war."
He sat back in his chair and looked at the girl in amazement. She was
rather young to have conceived such ideas.
"Well, there's time enough to consider all that," he said, less gruffly.
"You'll have to excuse me now, Miss Burrows. I'm busy."
But Mary Louise kept her seat and redoubled her arguments, which
were logical and straight to the point. Mr. Chisholme's attitude might
have embarrassed her had she been pleading a personal favor, but she
felt she was the mouthpiece of the President, of the Nation, of
worldwide democracy, and would not allow herself to feel annoyed.
She devoted three-quarters of an hour to Mr. Chisholme, who gradually
thawed in her genial sunshine. She finally sold him fifty thousand
dollars worth of Liberty Bonds and went on her way elated. The regular
Bond Committee had labored for weeks with this stubborn man, who
managed one of the largest enterprises in Dorfield, yet they had
signally failed to convince him or to induce him to subscribe a dollar.
The girl had succeeded in less than an hour, and sold him exactly the
amount he should have bought.
The mill subscription was a powerful leverage with which to pry
money from other reluctant ones. Stacks, Sellem & Stacks, the big
department store heretofore resisting all appeals, bought from Mary
Louise bonds to the amount of twenty-five thousand; the Denis
Hardware Company took ten thousand. Then Mary Louise met her first
serious rebuff. She went into Silas Herring's wholesale grocery
establishment and told Mr. Herring she wanted to sell him bonds.
"This is outrageous!" cried Herring indignantly. "When the men can't
rob us, or force us to back England in her selfish schemes, they set girls
on us to wheedle us out of money we have honestly earned. This
hold-up game won't work, I assure you, and I advise you to get into
more respectable business. My money is mine; it doesn't belong to the
Allies, and they won't get a cent of it." He was getting more angry as he
proceeded in his harangue. "Moreover," he continued, "our weak
administration can't use me to help it out of the hole it has foolishly

stumbled into, or make America the cat's-paw to pull British chestnuts
out of the fire. You ought to be ashamed, Miss Burrows, to lend
yourself to such unpatriotic methods of bulldozing honest citizens!"
Mary Louise was distressed, but undaunted. The man was monstrously
wrong, and she knew it. Sitting in Mr. Herring's private office at the
time were Professor John Dyer, the superintendent of Dorfield's schools,
and the Hon. Andrew Duncan, a leading politician, a former
representative and now one of