DOROTHY

The day of days had come at last:  Dorothy would be the Daughter of the Regiment.

“Lucky you don’t have to curl your hair, Doro, for the fog is like rain, and that’s the worst kind for made curls,” said Tavia.

“Oh, I do hope it is not going to rain!”

“No, it surely won’t.  But come, don’t let’s be late.”

“There’s heaps of time, Tavia.  Oh, just see Briggs’ new flag!  Isn’t it glorious?” cried Dorothy Dale.

“Not half as glorious as your old Betsy Ross.  I’d be too proud to march if I had a real, truly Betsy.  I think, anyway, it’s prettier with the star of stars than with the regular daisy field of them,” and Tavia tied her scarf just once more, that being the fourth time she had smoothed it out and knotted it over.

“I think red, white and blue look lovely over a white dress,” commented Dorothy.  “Your scarf is perfect.”

“But you are like a live Columbia,” insisted Tavia.  “No one could look as pretty as you,” and her companion fairly beamed with admiration.

“Come now, gather up the stuffs.  Button your cloak all the way down, for we don’t want folks to see how we’re dressed,” and Dorothy made sure that her own water-proof covered her skirts to the very edge.

It was Decoration Day, and the girls were to take part in the Veterans’ procession.

Dorothy was the only daughter of Major Frank Dale, one of the prominent veterans of Dalton, a small town in New York state.  Dorothy was in her fourteenth year, but since her mother was dead, and she was the eldest of the small family (the other members being Joe, age ten, and Roger just seven), she seemed older, and was really very sensible for her years,

The major always called her his Little Captain, and she showed such a practical interest in his business, that of running the only newspaper in Dalton, The Bugle, that few, if any boys could have made better partners in the work.

At housekeeping Dorothy was relieved of the real drudgery by Mrs. Martin, who had been with the major’s children since the day when baby Roger was taken from his mother’s side; and while the housekeeper was the soul of love for the motherless ones, it was Dorothy who felt responsible for the real management of the home, for Aunt Libby, as the children called Mrs. Martin, was fast growing old, and faster growing queer, in spite of a really good-natured disposition.

“It seems to me, Dorothy,” the old lady would say, “Libby can’t suit you any more.  And Joe, too—­he’s mighty fussy about his victuals.  Only my baby Roger loves the old woman!” and she would press the younger boy to her breast with a world of love in the caress.

Not far from Dorothy lived Octavia Travers, or Tavia as all the girls in Dalton called her, She had the reputation of being wild; that is she cared little for school, and less for study, but she loved her brother Johnnie and she loved Dorothy.  She also had some love left for the woods; but like many another child of nature, she was misunderstood, and she was considered an idler by every one but her own father and Dorothy.