The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods | Page 9

smooth, but Migwan took a hand and showed her how to spread the
sheets evenly and tuck them in neatly. Her night gown she folded and
tucked under the pillow. "One quarter of this swinging shelf belongs to
you, Gladys, so you might as well put some of your stuff up here," she
said when the bed was finished, "as well as part of the table and the
washstand." She moved things around as she spoke, leaving spaces
clear for Gladys's possessions. "We aren't supposed to have anything
hanging over the edge of the shelf, or out of the compartment of the
table," she explained as she moved about. "Nothing is to be left on the

bed except one sweater or one folded up blanket, and not more than
two pairs of shoes under the bed. Our towels and bathing suits are to be
hung on the tent flies as inconspicuously as possible. We also clean up
our dooryards and see that there is no waste paper about."
"What happens if everything isn't in applepie order?" asked Gladys,
mentally remarking that such rules were an unnecessary nuisance.
"We get marked down in tent inspection, and if our things are left in
very bad order we forfeit our swimming hour for that day. Besides, we
are all working for the Camp Craft honor of doing the work in a tent for
a week, and if the tent isn't properly cared for it doesn't count toward
the honor. More than all that, the two tents are racing to see which one
gets the highest average at the end of the summer, for Nyoda has
offered a banner to the members of the winning family."
She had hardly finished her explanation when the bugle announced the
imminent approach of Nyoda on her tour of inspection, and the three
girls ran from the tent, pulling Gladys with them. "What's the matter?"
panted Gladys. "What are we running away for?"
"We never stay in the tent while it's being inspected," explained
Migwan. "Nyoda tells us our standing during Craft hour, and what the
matter was, if there was anything, and the weekly averages are to be
read at Council Fire."
The girls settled down to Craft work in the shack, for they had chosen
that as their workroom, on account of the hinged shelves around the
walls, which were so convenient to spread work out on. The front wall
of the shack, facing the lake, was all windows, which could be lowered,
making the room as cool and airy as could be desired.
The special work which the girls had just begun was the painting of
their paddles with their symbols. Gladys, having neither paddle nor
symbol, was at a loss what to do. "Here, take the symbol book," said
Migwan, "and begin working on your symbol." Gladys took the book
and began idly turning the pages. Symbolism was an entirely new thing
to her, and she was unable to decide on any of the queerly shaped

things in the little book.
"I can't find a thing that I like," she said to Nyoda when she joined the
girls in the shack.
"Have you decided on a name?" asked Nyoda. Gladys shook her head.
"Well, then," said Nyoda, "I would wait with the symbol until I had
chosen a name. And I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry about it,
either. Take time to look about you and make your name express
something that you like to do better than anything else, or something
that you earnestly aspire to do or be. Then choose your symbol in
keeping with your name."
"But suppose there shouldn't be a symbol in the book that fitted the
name I chose?" asked Gladys.
"Then we would be put to the painful necessity of finding a brand new
one!" answered Nyoda with a mock tragic air.
Here the others girls flung themselves upon Nyoda and demanded to be
told their standing in tent inspection. "Alpha, 97, Omega, 98," she
replied.
The Omegas hugged each other with joy at having received a higher
mark than the Alphas. "What was wrong with us?" chorused the
disappointed Alphas.
"One bed had not been swept under, one pair of shoes were lying down
instead of standing up, and the wash bowl contained a spy-glass,"
answered Nyoda.
Nakwisi blushed at the mention of the spy-glass. "I didn't mean to leave
it there, really and truly I didn't, Nyoda. I was just looking over the lake
when Chapa wanted me to help her move her bed and I laid it in the
first convenient place and then forgot to remove it."
"No explanations!" called the girls. Nakwisi laughed and subsided.

"Where did we lose our two points, Nyoda?" demanded the Omegas.
"There was a pillow propped against