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.

CHAPTER ELEVEN – CAMP AT ALPINE FALLS

“This myth comes from the Tlingit Indians of Alaska and is named ‘The Wain House People,’” began Miss Miller.

“Certain Indians came to a fort to live, and after a time began killing bears, ground-hogs, porcupines, mountain sheep, and other animals for food. After they had killed them, they cut off the heads and set them up on sticks about the village, then the people sang to these objects.

“Now there was a young man among them who was to be Chief. When he was born he had been placed in a sheep’s skin instead of cradle. As he grew older he was able to follow the mountain sheep to places on the cliffs where no one else could go, hence he killed more sheep than anyone else.

“After he had cut off and mounted the heads of his sheep he, too, would sing and dance about them, saying tauntingly: ‘I wish I was a sheep! I wish my head was cut off too!’

“Meantime, the mountain sheep were becoming angry at losing so many of their flocks and one day, when the villagers went up for a great hunt, they met a flock of sheep that led them up the steep mountain-side to a place where they appeared to be herding together.

“But once near the sheep, the people were surprised to see them race still higher up the side of the steep rocks. The young hunter who wished to be a great chief ran after them and became separated from his companions. When on the very top of the peak he was met by a fine looking young man who shone like the sun and had a long white beard like the mountain ancients. This stranger turned to the youth who had been cradled in a sheep’s skin and invited him to his home. He led the way inside of the mountain where everything looked weird and strange. Great heaps of horns were piled everywhere, and the stranger said: ‘These are the horns I am keeping to fit to the heads of the villagers.’

“When the young man’s friends missed him they sought day and night without success, then they went home to plan how to rescue him. For many days the search was resumed until finally they discovered his horn-spear stuck in the ground near the top of the peak. But no other clue could they find although they kept up a search for many days.

“Then the villagers declared that he was lost to them and they wailed and beat the drums for the hunter who came not back.

“Now the shining stranger tried to fit a pair of horns on the young hunter’s head. They were heated and, when taken from the terrific fire that burned continually in the pit of the mountain, they were put upon and held to his head so that the poor hunter thought the insides of his head would be burnt out.

“During this trial, a few of the hunter’s friends still sought for him whenever they hunted on the mountain-side, and after a year’s time, a young man climbed up the peak after a flock of mountain sheep, and there he heard someone shout to him. He knew it was the friend who had been lost. He shouted back, but the lost friend began singing and saying: ‘I must go now, the shining stranger comes and will find me.’

“The young man ran back to the village and told everyone what he had heard. They were surprised to hear that a stranger lived on top of the mountain, but one old villager said: ‘It must be the Man-of-the-Sun-shining-on-the-Mountain-Peaks.’

“So they set out to capture all the sheep that lived on that mountain, knowing that the Man-of-the-Sun would try to prevent his sheep from being killed. Then they would bargain for the life of their friend in exchange for the sheep.

“Now the sheep that lived on the very peak of the mountain could see down into the valleys when the villagers went out to hunt. And they said to the young man: ‘Your people come again to kill all the sheep. Tell them, therefore, that if they will throw away their weapons we will let you go, but if they persist in killing our flocks we will also kill you.’

“The young captive then went out on the very edge of the cliff and called down to his people: ‘The sheep say they will send me back if you will give up the chase of their flocks. Now you must hear them or I shall be thrown into the pit of fire.’

“But the young hunter who heard the voice called back: ‘We must have food. What shall we do without sheep?’

“Then an old ram came up to the captive and said: ‘Tell them if they must have us for food, they can at least hang up our sheep-skins on the poles which hold our heads. If the heads and skins are faced toward the rising sun our Chief will bring us all safely home again for another time. If you stick eagles’ feathers on our skins we can fly from your village without trouble. You should mount the heads of grizzly bears on poles and face them toward the night. For they are wicked animals.’

“So the captive repeated the words of the ram and when he had finished speaking he was hurried back inside the mountain for fear his friends would shoot at and kill the sheep waiting on the peak.

“And the people did try to kill the sheep and recover their friend, and so many of the flock were killed and carried away that the Man-of-the-Shining-Sun came out and spoke.

“‘This is the last time the mountain sheep will talk with you. If your people will not do as we say, then I will kill you. But if they will listen to you and will not make war on the sheep till Fall, when we always go down from the peaks to graze in the timber lands below the glacier, then they can come with their dogs and save you.’

“In the Autumn, therefore, the people prepared to make a great hunt and kill sheep for Winter food. The sheep were already in the timber lands below the glacier and when the villagers came up the side of the mountain the Man-of-the-Shining-Sun sent the captive down the steep cliff to meet his friends. As he stood there with horns on his head and a sheep-skin covering his body, the dogs thought he was a sheep and charged upon him. But they soon recognised a friend and ran back to bark for the hunters.

“When the villagers heard the story they promised they would not kill any sheep that year, but hunt for grizzlies and deer for food. They broke their spears and other weapons and threw them over the side of the cliff, and as they did so the horns fell off and the sheep-skin disappeared from the young man’s form. And he stood forth strong and courageous as ever; his people found he smelled like the things that grow up on top of the mountains where the wind and sky and earth are pure and sweet.

“The people were happy and escorted him to the village. The moment he saw the sheep-skins lying about he said: ‘Dampen these and hang them up on poles with feathers stuck to them. Place them facing the rising sun as I promised the ram we would do.’

“When the skins were ready to mount the young man painted each face red and stuck eagles’ down on the backs. As he hung each skin facing the sun he said: ‘You are in just the position your Chief ordered, now fly away.’

“Early the next morning the fort shook as with a mighty earth-quake and every piece of flesh that had been eaten from the sheep-skins was replaced by new flesh, and as the young chief opened the door of his wigwam the sheep-skins, now plumped out and alive again, ran away towards the mountain.

“But, strange to say, the sheep-skins had been so long with the people that many of them had beards when their skins filled out again. And many of the sheep forgot their mountain habits and wandered about at the foot of the cliffs, so that they became tame and lived with men ever after.

“After the sheep were sent back to the mountains, the Man-of-the-Shining-Sun on the Mountain Peak sent a good spirit to the young chief who had obeyed and kept his promise. The spirit would be his strength so that he could do anything he wanted done.

“At the gift presented to their young chief the people rejoiced greatly, and made him a pair of snowshoes, a shaman’s mask, and many bows and arrows. Then the chief ordered the people to come to him. They were then at Fort-by-a-small-lake, which was west of Juneau City, and there they built a big house for the chief with a good spirit. On the door-posts of this house they carved the signs of the Great Dipper. Then the shaman fasted four days and four nights and when the constellation appeared and blessed the people, those people were called Wain House People and have been so called ever since.”

“There isn’t much hidden truth in that legend,” said Zan, who felt disappointed with the story.

“I liked it, all right,” said Elena.

“It’s a queer tale – some of those Indian stories are so impossible as to be ridiculous,” commented Hilda.

“In our translations perhaps, but we must remember that many words in the Eskimo are impossible to translate properly and still retain beauty and sense. But the story goes to show that at a remote age the Alaskan Indians knew and named the ‘Wain,’ even as the present age does.”

The week-end determined upon for a camp on the Hudson proved to be perfect October weather, and great was the buzzing about the gymnasium as the girls packed their outfits and waited for the three autos to carry them to the nearest place for the Alpine camp.

Miss Miller had heard much about the wild grandeur and beauty of Alpine in the Autumn, and she had pictured a beautiful place of Nature. But she was disappointed when the cars stopped on the Fort Lee road and Jim said:

“This is as far as we can safely go.”

The girls were compelled, therefore, to carry their outfits across the stubbly fields to reach the woods that fringed the river cliffs. The chauffeurs gave all the assistance they could, and when the woods were reached they left to return home, while the campers struggled on to find a suitable site.