Mexico Missouri message., 1918-02-07
CHAPTER XII.
Sowing Seeds.

'Have you seen Mrs. Harbert lately,
CarOl?"
"Yes, she's better, father. 1 was
there a few minutes yesterday"
yesterday? You were there Tues
day, weren't your"
Carol looked uncomfortable. "Well,
yes, was, just for a second"
"She tells me you've been running in
nearly every day since she took sick"
Carol bent sharply inquIring eyes
upon her father. "What else did she
tell you"
"She said you were an angel"
"Y-yes-she seems somehow to
think 1 do 1t for kindness"
"And don't your"
"Why, no, father, of course 1 don't.
It's only two blocks out of my way and
it's such fun to pop in on sick folks
and show them how disgustlngly strong
and we'll am"
"Whert did you get the money for
that basket of fruit?"
81 borrowed it from Aunt Grace"
Carols face was crimson with mortifl-
cation. "But it'll be q sweet time be-
fore Mrs. Harbert gets anything else
from me. She promised she wouldn't
tell"
"Did any Of the others know about
the fruit?"
Why--nOt-eXactly."
"But she thinks 1t was from the
whole family. She thanked me for it."
IL made her think that" Carol
explained. 81 want her to think we're
the incest parsonage bunch they've
ever had in Mount Mark. Besides, it
really was from the family. Aunt
Grace loaned me the money and I'll
have to borrow it from you to pay her.
And Lark did my busting so 1 could
go on the errand, though she did not
know what it was. And I-er-acci-
dentally took one Of Comics ribbons
to tie it with. Isn't that family gift?"
Mr. Scott tells me you are the
prime mover in the Junior League
now," he continued.
"Well, goodness knows our Junior
League needs mover Of some Sort"
"And Mrs. Davies says you are a
whole mercy and help department all
by yourself"
"What can't understand" said
Carol mournfully, "is why folks don't
keep their mouths shut. know that
sounds very inelegant. but it expresses
my idea perfectly. Can't / have good
time in my own way without the whole
church peddling me from door to
| dOOrw
The twinkle in her fathers eyes
deepened. "What do you call it, Carol,
Sowing seeds of kindness'T
II should say not" came the en-
phatic retOrt. 81 call it sowing seeds
of fun. It's a circus to go around and
glOat over folks when they are sick
or sorry, Or"
"But they tell me you don't gloat.
Mrs. Marling says you cried with
Jeanle half day when her dog died"
"Oh, that's my way of glOating," said
Carol, nothing daunted, but plainly to
get away without further interroga-
| ton.
1t was strange thing that of all the
parsonage girls, Carol, light-hearted,
whimsical, mischlevOus Carol, was the
one most dear to the hearts of her IA
ther's people. Not the gentle Pru-
dence, nor charming Fairy, not clever
Lark nor conscientious Connie, could
rival the naughty twin" in Mount
Marks affections. And in spite of her
odd curt speeches, and her openly
vaunted vanity Mount Mark insisted
she was "good." Certainly she was
willing! "Get Carol Starr-she'll do
it," was the cOmmOnest phrase in
Mount Marks vocabulary. Whatever
was wanted, whatever the sacrifice in
volved, Carol stood ready to fill the
bill. Not for kindness-oh, dear no
Carol stanchly dlsclaimed any such
niceness as that. She did it for fun,
pure and simple. She said she liked
to show off. She insisted that she liked
to feel that she was the pivot on which
little old Mount Mark turned. But
this was only when she was found out.
AS fur as she could she kept her little
"seeds of fun" carefully up her sleeve,
and 1t was only when the indiscreet
alteration of her friends brought the
budding plants to light, that she laugh
ingly declared "it was a circus to go
and gloat over folks"
Once in the early dusk of summer
evening, she discovered old Ben Pc
ters, half intoxicated, slumberlng
nOisily on pile of sacks in a corner
of the parsonage barn. Carol was
sorry, but not at all frightened. The
poor, kindly, weak, old man was as
familiar to her as any figure in Mount