red-and-blue chalk
pencil."

"I dare say he'd like a post-card album and some cards to put in it,"
suggested Marjorie.

"Oh yes! I saw some of flower fairies at the Stores. We'll ask Elaine to
get them."

"And those funny ones of cats and dogs. I've no doubt it's anything to
amuse him when he has to lie still all the day long."

As the summer wore on, and submarines sank many of our merchant vessels
on the seas, the food question began to be an important problem at
Brackenfield. Everyone was intensely patriotic and ready to do all in
her power to help on the war. Mrs. Morrison believed in keeping the
girls well abreast of the important topics of the moment. She considered
the oldfashioned schools of fifty years ago, where the pupils never saw
a newspaper, and were utterly out of touch with the world, did not
conduce to the making of good citizens. She liked her girls to think out
questions for themselves. She had several enthusiastic spirits among the
prefects, and found that by giving them a few general hints to work upon
she could trust them to lead the others. Winifrede in particular
realized the gravity of the situation. Armed with a supply of leaflets
from the local Food Control Bureau, she convened a meeting of the entire
school in the Assembly Hall.

Winifrede was a girl whose intense love of her country and ready power
of fluent speech would probably lead her some day to a public platform.
Meantime she could always sway a Brackenfield audience. She was dramatic
in her methods, and when the girls entered the hall they were greeted by
large hand-printed posters announcing:

"THE GERMANS ARE TRYING TO STARVE US.
GERMAN SUBMARINES ARE REDUCING SUPPLIES.
YOU MUST ECONOMIZE AT HOME."

There were no teachers present on this occasion, and the platform was
occupied by the prefects. Winifrede, with an eager face and fully
convinced of the burning necessity of rationing, stood up and began her
speech.

"Girls! I think I needn't tell you that we're fighting in the most
terrible war the world has ever seen. We're matched against a foe whose
force and cunning will need every atom of strength of which we're
capable. They are not only shooting our soldiers at the front, and
bombing our towns, but by their submarine warfare they are deliberately
trying to reduce us by starvation. There is already a food crisis in our
country. There is a serious shortage of wheat, of potatoes, of sugar,
and of other