it's about your native land, or George Washington, or the flag,
it'll do," conceded Peggy, and the words were hardly out of her mouth
when Amy made a dart for the writing desk. "Oh, let me have a pencil,
quick," she begged, "before I forget it."

"You don't mean that you've thought of one already!" Ruth cried, but the
radiant satisfaction on Amy's countenance was answer enough. With an
expression of mingled wonder and envy, Ruth found a pencil and scrap of
paper, and set to work to produce her own conundrum in the allotted half
hour. With the exception of Amy, none of the girls could boast of any
inspiration for the task. Every face wore an expression of stern and
relentless absorption, in striking contrast to Amy's air of carefree
content.

The ample provision made for a picnic dinner the previous day rendered
the preparation of the midday meal unusually easy, and the girls
gathered at the dinner-table less eager to sample the pressed meat and
potato chips than to examine the folded slips of paper placed under each
plate. Peggy was the first to unfold hers.

"Why is Peggy like Betsy Ross?" she read aloud. "Oh, Amy Lassell! No
wonder it only took a half minute." Her tone was reproachful, but Amy
beamed upon the company with no decrease of complacency.

"That's what I call a good conundrum," she declared; "it's patriotic,
and it's easy to guess. The trouble with most conundrums is that nobody
can guess them except the people who make them."

"That's the case with this one, I think," said Aunt Abigail,
scrutinizing her conundrum through her lorgnette. "What do you make of
this? At the top of the paper are the letters W. P. H. and underneath is
the question 'Why are these letters like the Father of his country?'"

It was some time before any ray of light was thrown on this dark
mystery. "Whoever made it up will have to explain it," Amy declared for
the tenth time. "It's Peggy, of course, for she hasn't helped in the
guessing. Now, my conundrum--"

"Wait," cried Priscilla, sitting up suddenly, "I know. First in war--"

"To be sure _W_ is first in war, and _P_ first in peace. A
little far-fetched, but not bad for a beginner," said Aunt Abigail
patronizingly, while Ruth patted Priscilla's tall head, not without
difficulty, and Amy read aloud. "'What is the most important of the
United States?' New York, I suppose, though of course I like my own
state lots better."

"No, it's _matrimony_." In her haste to explain, R