I've just got to smile.' 'Well,' said the old man crossly, 'I
think you might give your face a rest sometimes.'"

"I shall not talk gossip," wrote Sara Ray with a satisfied air.

"Oh, don't you think that's a little TOO strict?" asked Cecily
anxiously. "Of course, it's not right to talk MEAN gossip, but the
harmless kind doesn't hurt. If I say to you that Emmy MacPhail is going
to get a new fur collar this winter, THAT is harmless gossip, but if I
say I don't see how Emmy MacPhail can afford a new fur collar when her
father can't pay my father for the oats he got from him, that would be
MEAN gossip. If I were you, Sara, I'd put MEAN gossip."

Sara consented to this amendment.

"I will be polite to everybody," was my third resolution, which passed
without comment.

"I'll try not to use slang since Cecily doesn't like it," wrote Dan.

"I think some slang is real cute," said Felicity.

"The Family Guide says it's very vulgar," grinned Dan. "Doesn't it, Sara
Stanley?"

"Don't disturb me," said the Story Girl dreamily. "I'm just thinking a
beautiful thought."

"I've thought of a resolution to make," cried Felicity. "Mr. Marwood
said last Sunday we should always try to think beautiful thoughts and
then our lives would be very beautiful. So I shall resolve to think a
beautiful thought every morning before breakfast."

"Can you only manage one a day?" queried Dan.

"And why before breakfast?" I asked.

"Because it's easier to think on an empty stomach," said Peter, in all
good faith. But Felicity shot a furious glance at him.

"I selected that time," she explained with dignity, "because when I'm
brushing my hair before my glass in the morning I'll see my resolution
and remember it."

"Mr. Marwood meant that ALL our thoughts ought to be beautiful," said
the Story Girl. "If they were, people wouldn't be afraid to say what
they think."

"They oughtn't to be afraid to, anyhow," said Felix stoutly. "I'm going
to make a resolution to say just what I think always."

"And do you expect to get through the year alive if you do?" asked Dan.

"It might be easy enough to say what you think if you could always be
sure just what you DO think," said the Story Girl. "So often I can't be
sure."

"How would you like it if people always said just what they think to
you?" asked Felicity.

"I'm not very particular what SOME people think of me," rejoined Felix.

"I notice you don't like to be told by anybody that you're fat,