ng Maiden's Own Ruskin,' or 'Look Up and
Not Down'?"

"And lend a ten," supplemented Mr. Fairfield.

"You needn't laugh," began Patty, pouting a little. Then she laughed
herself, and went on: "Yes, you may laugh if you want to,--I know I sound
ridiculous. But I tell you, people, I'm going to make good!"

"You may make good," said her father, "but you'll never be good until you
stop using slang. How often, my daughter, have I told you----"

"Oh, cut it out, daddy," said Patty, dimpling with laughter, for she knew
her occasional slang phrases amused her father, even though they annoyed
him. "If you'll help me 'do noble things, not dream them all day long,'
I'll promise to talk only in purest English undefiled."

"Goodness, Patty!" said Nan, "you're a walking cyclopaedia of poetical
quotations to-day."

"And you're a running commentary on them," returned Patty, promptly,
which remark sent Mr. Hepworth off in peals of laughter.

"Oh, Patty!" he exclaimed, "I'm afraid you're going to grow up clever!
That would be fatal to your ambition! Be good, sweet child, and let who
will be clever. Nobody can be both."

"I can," declared Patty; "I'll show you Missouri people yet!"

Mr. Fairfield groaned at this new burst of slang, but Mr. Hepworth only
laughed.

"She'll get over it," he said. "A few years of these 'noble aims' of hers
will make her so serious-minded that she won't even see the meaning of a
slang phrase. Though, I must admit, I think some of them very apt,
myself."

"They sure are!" said irrepressible Patty, giggling at her father's
frown.

"But I'll tell you one thing," went on Mr. Hepworth: "Whatever line you
decide upon, let it be something that needs no training. I mean, if you
choose to go in for organised charity or settlement work, well and good.
But don't attempt Red Cross nursing or kindergarten teaching, or anything
that requires technical knowledge. For in these days, only trained labour
succeeds, and only expert, at that."

"Oh, pshaw," said Patty; "I don't mean to earn money. Though if I wanted
to, I'm sure I could. Why, if I _had_ to earn my own living, I could do
it as easy as anything!"

"I'm not so sure of that," said Mr. Hepworth, gravely. "It isn't so easy
for a young woman to earn her living without a technical education in
some line."

"Well, Patty, you'll never have to earn your own living," said her
father, smiling; "so don't worry about that. But I agree with our friend,
that yo