“Do,” said Elsie; “and tell him it must be something that’s heaps of fun, and that we’ll all like, and that’s never been done here before.”

“All right,” said Patty.  “Anything else?”

“Yes; it must be something to appeal to the popular taste and draw a big crowd, so we can make a lot of money for the babies.”

“Very well,” said Patty; “I’ll tell him all that, and I’m sure he’ll suggest just the right thing.”

Mr. Hepworth did come down that night, and when the girls asked him for suggestions he very willingly began to think up plans for them.

“I should think you might make a success,” he said, “of an entertainment like one I attended up in the mountains last summer.  It was called a ‘County Fair,’ and was a sort of burlesque on the county fairs or state fairs that used to be held annually, and are still, I believe, in some sections of the country.”

“It sounds all right so far,” said Patty.  “Tell us more about it.”

“Well, you know you get everybody interested, and you have a committee for all the different parts of it.”

“What are the different parts of it?”

“Oh, they’re the domestic department, where you exhibit pies and bed-quilts and spatter-work done by the ladies in charge.”

“Of course, these exhibits aren’t real, you know, Patty,” said her father; “and you girls would probably be tempted to put up gay jokes on each other.  For instance, that rockery arrangement of Pansy’s might be exhibited as your idea of art work.”

“I wouldn’t mind the joke on myself, papa,” said Patty, “but it might not please Pansy.  But we can get plenty of things to exhibit in the domestic department.  That will be easy enough.  I’ll borrow Miss Daggett’s pumpkin bed-quilt to exhibit as my latest achievement in the line of applied art, and I’ll make a pie and label it Laura Russell’s, which will take the first prize; but what other departments are there, Mr. Hepworth?”

“Well, the horticulture department can be made very humourous, as well as lucrative.  At this fair I went to, the ladies had a beautiful table full of pin-cushions and other gimcracks, in the shape of fruits and vegetables.”

“Oh, yes,” said Bumble, “I know how to make those.  I can make bananas and potatoes and Nan can make lovely strawberries.”

“And I can make paper flowers,” said Bob, “honest, I can!  Great big sunflowers and tiger lilies, and you can use them for lampshades if you like.”

“Yes, the horticulture booth will be easy enough,” said Nan.  “I’ll help a lot with that.  Now, what else?”

“Then you can have an art gallery, if you like.  Burlesque, of course, with ridiculous pictures and statues.  I know where I can borrow a lot for you in New York.”

“Gorgeous!” cried Patty, clapping her hands.  “What a trump you are!  What else?”

“A loan exhibition is of real interest,” said Mr. Hepworth.  “If you’ve never had one of those here, I think one or two of your members could arrange a very effective little exhibit by borrowing objects of interest from their friends about town.”