,
and fell to carving her wood block furiously.

"Let's sing something," said Nyoda hastily.

"Migwan and Hinpoha, sing 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat,'" cried the
girls in chorus. Thus urged, the two mounted the piano bench and
acted out the romantic tale as they sang the words.

"Now let's all sing something," said Nyoda, when the amorous owl
and the impassioned pussy had danced themselves off the bench.
"What were some of those songs we sang on the hike?"

"Let's sing Migwan's latest song, 'O We Are Winnebagos,'" said
Hinpoha.

"That has a good swing to it," said Nyoda when they had sung it
several times. "Sahwah, dear, follow the tune more closely with
your tenor, you put us out."

"Well, I'm _willing_ to sing, anyhow," said Sahwah, "even if I
can't and that's more than some people do." This last was a
direct reference to Gladys. Although she was supposed to have a
very good and well-trained voice and had done much solo singing
in her time, Gladys steadfastly refused to sing along with the
other girls in chorus. Once or twice, after much coaxing on
Nyoda's part, she had consented to sing a "solo" on Sunday
morning or on "stunt night," but sing mornings in the shack with
the others she would not. They laid it to the fact that she
considered herself better than themselves and did not want to mix
in their doings, and it put a damper on their own, singing
because they thought she was criticising them. This was not
exactly the case. Once an enthusiastic teacher of hers had
pronounced her voice "different" from others and told her that
chorus singing would spoil it, so from then on she refused to
blend her voice with others. She knew well enough that this was
ridiculous, but it pleased her vanity and she kept it up. She
would not come right out and tell why, however, but simply said
she "didn't feel like singing." Naturally the girls thought her
reason a personal one and it made bad feeling all around. Her
refusal to sing puzzled and grieved Nyoda more than anything else
she did. The Winnebagos were known as a "singing group," and the
addition of a trained voice was very welcome. Nyoda thought of
course that Gladys would lead the singing in great shape and her
disappointment at her attitude was very keen.

"Yes, Sahwah," said Nyoda warmly, "your willingness to use the
talents you have is one of the reasons why we love you so."

"I think that any one who can sing and won't isn't--isn't a
sport," said