Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-04-09


heads of his congregation.
He was a tall man with thin straw
colored hair and mustache and mild
blue eyes, which had innocently enough
been the cause of disturbing the peace
of mind of several of the ladies of his
parish.
The three ladies in question blushed
and tingied with various degrees of
delight when Mr.. Crane gave out the
following notice:
at Is now the 1st of January, and,
as is customary at this season, l shall
appoint three ladies of the parish to
serve Upon the flower committee. This
committee will have entire charge of
the decorations of the church on Easter
Sunday, and in their capable hands l
feel we may safely leave the embel-
lishment Of the house of God on that
most significant day.
1.-THE three members of the commit
tee for this purpose are Miss Emily
Burton, Miss Harriet Ames and Miss
Lucy Grant"
Mr.. Crane resumed his eyeglasses
and gave out the closing hymn.
When the service was over the three
newly appointed members of the flow
er committee gravitated toward II
another as by common consent.
All were flushed with excitement and
perhaps disposed to be a trifle jealous
of the other, but save for rather criti-
cal surveys of one another's bonnets
and gowns there was no outward indi-
cation that personal feelings might
dominate the faithful performance of
their service On this important COM
mittee.
Come over to my house tomorrow
night" suggested Harriet Ames with
her usual Air of leadership. "Come
over and stay to tea, and we will talk
over the plans"
Miss Burton and Miss Grant nodded
assent, and the three parted to meet
again the following night around Miss
Ames' tea table.
When the dishes of pink tinted ham
and light biscuit and damson preserves
had gone the rounds, and Miss Ames
had poured great cups of fragrant tea,
and when the delicious poundcake was
still in anticipation, the committee got
down to business.
SNOW" said Harriet briskly, 1--WE
must decide what 1ecoratinns4h shall
have and act accordingly. We want 1t
to outshine anything that any other
committee ever didr'
Eyes, indeed murmured Lucy mild
ly.
perhaps you've got a plan all laid
out, Harriet; you're so f~orehanded,"
remarked Emily Burton, with a touch
of asperity.
"Well, l have" returned Miss Ames
frankly. '"The fact is l laid 1t all out
on a piece of paper last night. There's
three places to plan for"
what are theyT' questioned Lucy
mildly.
1.-THE back of the chancel and the
railing around the choir and the bap-
tismal font" She paused and looked
defiantly at her colleagues.
Lucy Grant huttered over her tea
cup. "Ain't you forgotten something,
Harriet?' she asked n%ervously.
you've forgotten the minister's
desk" said Emily bluntly. She stared
at Harriet Ames with cold, gray eyes.
Lucy Grant flushed crimson and hur-
riedly helped herself to two slices of
pound cake.
Miss Ames was not at all perturbed.
II knew you and Lucy would be think
ing of Mr.. Cranes desk" she said sar-
castically; there wasn't any need for
me to remember that Now you've
mentioned it, my idea is to wait till
the last minute and her buy some
thing appropriate for that"
She turned to the other members of
the committee.
They frightened visibly. Eyes, In
Decd" they agreed enthusiastically.
1--WE will wait till the last minute and
then buy something very nice"
"Now, I've got an oleander tree and
a rubber plant and sights of geraniums
/ -. It'll ha