It may
be that we give it in monthly installments, but we try to plan it and
let people know about it on that day. I propose to create a new
profession for talented young women who like to be helpful to others as
well as to themselves. I propose to offer this little Miss Oliver, say
twenty-five dollars a month, if she will go regularly to the Children's
Hospital and to the various orphan asylums just before supper and just
before bedtime, and sing and tell stories to the children for an hour.
I want to ask her to give two hours a day only, going to each place
once or twice a week; but of course she will need a good deal of time
for preparation. If she accepts, I will see the managers of the
various institutions, offer her services, and arrange for the hours. I
am confident that they will receive my protegee with delight, and I am
sure that I shall bring the good old art of story-telling into fashion
again, through this gifted girl. Now, John, what do you think?"

"I heartily approve, as usual. It is a novelty, but I cannot see why
it 's not perfectly expedient, and I certainly can think of no other
way in which a monthly expenditure of twenty-five dollars will carry so
much genuine delight and comfort to so many different children. Carol
would sing for joy if she could know of your plan."

"Perhaps she does know it," said Mrs. Bird softly.

And so it was settled.

Polly's joy and gratitude at Mrs. Bird's proposal baffles the powers of
the narrator. It was one of those things pleasant to behold, charming
to imagine, but impossible to describe. After Mrs. Bird's carriage had
been whirled away, she watched at the window for Edgar, and, when she
saw him nearing the steps, did not wait for him to unlock the door, but
opened it from the top of the stairs, and flew down them to the landing
as lightly as a feather.

As for Edgar himself, he was coming up with unprecedented speed, and
they nearly fell into each other's arms as they both exclaimed, in one
breath, "Hurrah!" and then, in another, "Who told you?"

"How did you know it?" asked Edgar. "Has Tom Mills been here?"

"What is anybody by the name of Mills to me in my present state of
mind!" exclaimed Polly. "Have you some good news, too? If so, speak
out quickly."

"Good news? I should think I had; what else were you hurrahing about?
I 've won the scholarship, and I have a chance to earn some money! Tom
Mills's eyes are in bad condition, and the oculi