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From: Bekius E. <lea...@fd...> - 2009-08-27 20:50:12
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Iscussion, Mrs. Catlin left with the parting injunction, "Call upon me for anything--I will be on hand." Late in the afternoon Mr. Talmage returned with his brother who was the editor of a prominent magazine in New York. The Blue Birds had gone, and Ruth welcomed her uncle whose visits were always a source of pleasure to Ned and herself. He sat down on the steps beside her and listened to her story of the wonderful work Ned's printing press had done that summer, and of the work required of it for the coming summer. Uncle Ben smiled as he listened. "Ned will be walking in my footsteps soon, won't he?" said Uncle Ben, as Ruth concluded. Before Ruth could reply her mother came out to welcome the visitor and tell him of Aunt Selina's presence. "Aunt Selina! You don't say so! Why, I haven't seen her since my graduation from college," remarked Uncle Ben, in pleased surprise. "She is in her room dressing for dinner," said Mrs. Talmage. "You will find a great change working in her. Why, just think of her offer of Happy Hills for the poor children next summer." And she proceeded to tell the story of Aunt Selina's desire to help the Blue Bird work. "Now that Uncle Ben is here, maybe he can help us plan some way to earn the money for next summer," suggested Ruth. "I believe you can! What we need is to find some way of reaching the right children, and then to start some work that will bring us in a regular income during the winter, for it will take a heap of money to run a large place like Happy Hills with several hundred starved little children living there," admitted Mrs. Talmage. "As a man who is so mixed up in publishing, you would naturally |