SHIRLEY’S SHOP

Although Kit made every effort to be friendly with Edith Whalen, she had to acknowledge herself beaten. As Merriweather Girls, the four chums felt that they should be able to win her, but Edith refused to notice any advances made by the girls and while she was not aggressively unpleasant, they felt her smoldering dislike.

“We’ll just have to give up and let her alone,” advised Bet. “If we appear too anxious, she may break out again and do something else. One can never be sure of Edith.”

“It does seem a shame,” sighed Kit. “I’d truly love to be friends in spite of what she did. I want everybody to like me.”

“And she probably would have liked you, too, if you hadn’t been a friend of mine. She has always disliked me.”

“Well girls, let us console ourselves with some of Auntie Gibbs’ fudge. She just made it on purpose for us,” cried Joy, dancing into the big entrance hall where Shirley, Bet and Kit were curled up on the divan. Shirley had brought a box of prints that she had promised to show Kit, and today was a rainy Saturday afternoon and just the time to do it.

The Merriweather Girls were having their weekly meeting at the Manor.

A little later Colonel Baxter joined them and demanded the right to be included in the club.

“Here you are having a good time, and I’m out of it.”

“But Dad, you can’t be a Merriweather Girl, you know that.”

“Well I might be Legal Advisor or something of the sort. Give me a fancy title and I’ll be happy.”

“All right,” exclaimed Kit, clapping her hands. “Legal Advisor it is, and we’ll ask your advice right this minute on a very important problem. How do you make people like you? Turn hatred into love or something like that?”

“One way is to shut your eyes to the hatred, forget it’s there and everything will come out all right in the end.”

“And that’s that,” said Bet. “Dad knows.”

“All right Shirley, he’s given us his first valuable legal advice. Now he might be permitted to have some fudge and also look at your snapshots. He’s getting impatient,” pleaded Kit, as she and Bet wandered away into the drawing room and Joy danced out to the kitchen for more fudge.

The Colonel was always interested in the progress Shirley was making in photography. She seemed to have a decided talent for taking pictures. Every print was looked at carefully and praised and sometimes criticized by the Colonel as they talked of the methods of taking, the style of finish and all the other details of the work.

“Some of these days you’ll be having a gallery of your own and hanging out your sign.” The Colonel smiled and patted the little hand of Shirley. His daughter’s chums were very dear to him.

“I’m afraid I’m not clever enough for that. There is a lot to learn about taking pictures. I’ve always been glad I had some training with Mr. Colby before he retired. You know I just love photography, I could take pictures from morning till night and never be tired.”

“What’s that one in the envelope over there? You didn’t show me that one.”

Shirley flushed. “Well that’s an experiment. I had the nerve to try an art print. I wanted to see what I could do.”

Colonel Baxter gave a low whistle when Shirley held up the print. “Now you have done something, Miss Fixit. That’s very good.” He held it at arm’s length. “I should say it’s very good! And these others are fine, too.”

“Now you’re teasing me. I know you are.”

“No of course I’m not teasing. They’re lovely. I don’t know which I like best, the gulls, or the Palisades and that tree with the river in the background. They are all very pretty.”

Shirley had taken six different views and the Colonel now advised her to make some prints of each and he would send them to an art shop in New York where he was acquainted. “We’ll fix them up in a narrow gilt frame and they’ll make a very nice gift.”

“Oh, do you really think so? Why I’ll be so proud just to have them exhibited I’ll pretty nearly blow up even if I don’t sell any at all.”

“I’ve an idea, Shirley. You are always anxious to earn money and do things, why don’t you start a shop of your own?”

“You’re funny, Colonel Baxter. How would I start a shop? Bet, come here and listen to your father.”

“What’s he planning now, Shirley,” exclaimed Bet as she threw her arm around her father’s neck. “Don’t oppose my Dad in anything he wants to do. I found that out years and years ago when I was young. Whatever he says, do it.”

“But this is impossible!”

“Not if Dad says it’s possible,” she laughed. “Oh Dad, you are a most wonderful man!”

“And you are a most wonderful daughter, Bet!”

“And here comes old Smiley Jim for his share,” exclaimed Bet patting the dog’s head. “Yes Smiley Jim, you are a most wonderful dog!”

“It’s a wonderful family!” announced Joy with a dance.

“And if no one else believes it, we do!” said the Colonel. “But come now Merriweather Girls, call a council or a pow-wow or what ever you call it! Blow your horn and get the clan together.”

“Toot toot t-o-o-o-o-o-t!” Joy blew on an imaginary bugle and at that moment Kit came into the room from the kitchen where she had gone to ask Auntie Gibbs a question.

“Auntie Gibbs says ” Kit started to tell something.

But Bet interrupted: “We don’t want to hear what Auntie Gibbs says. The Merriweather Girls are in council. Grave matters are about to be discussed. The Legal Advisor is present and all members are called for an immediate consultation.”

Kit dropped into a chair laughing. “Proceed!” she announced.

“The Legal Advisor has the chair!” laughed Shirley.

“The question under consideration,” began the Colonel, “is one of very great importance. It is that Shirley Williams should open an art and photographic shop right here in Lynnwood!”

“Whoopee!” shouted Kit, swinging her arm around her head as if she were waving a sombrero.

“Why of course,” said Bet. “I’m surprised that we didn’t think of that ourselves. I move that the shop be opened at once, immediately! Where is it to be?”

“Well I was thinking,” said the Colonel.

“But listen. To run a shop a person must have money and must know how to sell things and I don’t know how or anything.” The prospect was alluring to Shirley, but the difficulties seemed too great.

“She has to go to school,” Joy reminded them.

“You leave it to Dad. He’s thinking of something, I can see that."’

“Yes, I have a plan and we will want to talk it over with Shirley’s mother before we do anything. Now if you girls will keep quiet, I’ll tell you my plan.”

“Do let us hear it,” cried Joy.

“Hurry, Dad, we can’t wait! Please don’t be so slow, say it right this minute!”

“Suppose you keep quiet long enough for your father to say a word,” suggested Kit. “Let the poor man have a chance!”

“What I was trying to say is that I have that little corner store next to old Peter Gruff’s place. Supposing I give that to Shirley for a year and let her open a Saturday Shop; that means that it would only be open on Saturdays.”

“Dad, you’re a wonder! I’m proud of you!”

Colonel Baxter shook his head at his daughter.

“No interruptions!” Then he continued: “With the Christmas season ahead, I’m sure that Shirley could sell plenty of these art prints alone to make it worth while. I’ll get her the frames in New York at a wholesale place where I’ve dealt for years.”

“But Colonel, I haven’t any money to start things.”

Again the man put up his hand for silence. “Now I believe this is going to be a good business proposition for anyone who goes into it, so I am going to back you. It will not take much money. For furnishings for the shop I would refer you to our attic. Auntie Gibbs hates to throw anything away, or give it away for that matter, and you will find chairs and tables and that sort of thing. You girls can decorate the place to suit yourselves. Now what do you think about it? Don’t all speak at once.”

For a moment no one spoke. The prospect that spread out before them, leading them on into future joys, left the girls quite overcome. Even the lighthearted Joy, who usually had a song or dance for every occasion, was silent and thoughtful.

“It’s too good to be true!” laughed Kit. “I can see all sorts of wonderful adventures in Shirley’s Shop.” Kit’s eyes were sparkling as she thought of all the fun ahead.

“And that’s a good name for it,” cried Bet. “We’ll paint a sign for the window:

’SHIRLEY’S SHOP
MARVELOUS PICTURES AT A BIG PRICE.’”

“Oh no, Bet, that won’t do! That would frighten people away,” exclaimed Shirley.

“Well, we’d get rid of the people who want a picture for two cents, anyway.”

The Colonel laughed heartily at his young friends. “Miss Fixit has the right idea. You’re developing a real business head already.”

“Couldn’t we go down and look at the shop this afternoon so we could make plans and have something to dream about next week?”

“I think we might. Let’s stop in and see if Mrs. Williams won’t come with us. We’ll need her advice on lots of things.” And thus did Colonel Baxter enlist the co-operation of Shirley’s mother.

“The possibilities of this place are simply uncountable,” cried Bet enthusiastically.

“And say, Shirley, any time you want a little exhibition dancing for your afternoon callers, I’m at your service,” and Joy Evans made a few fancy spins on the tips of her toes, in the center of the room.

“Not a bad idea! Keep that in the back of your heads,” advised the Colonel. “In fact, never throw an idea away. Keep it in storage where you can bring it out if needed.”

The store contained two rooms. The large one in the rear started a plan in Shirley’s head. “Wouldn’t this make a dandy place for a photographic studio. And here is a lovely big closet which will be a good dark room. And there is running water in that corner. Why everything is complete.”

“It’s just made to order, Shirley,” exclaimed Kit. “Really you are a lucky girl!”

“There you are, young lady! Appointments made every Saturday morning!”

“The first thing to do is to decide on the color scheme for the shop,” said Mrs. Williams who was noted as a good manager.

“Let’s have plenty of orange. Gold always means success, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe so,” laughed the woman, enjoying the enthusiasm of the girls. The years seemed to slip away when Shirley brought her friends near.

A large bay window covered almost all the front of the store.

“That’s a good show window you have there,” observed Colonel Baxter. “Already I can see Shirley’s photographs on display?”

“And those blue and gold drapes in the attic will just be fine for a back curtain,” suggested Bet.

“That is, if they are not dropping apart from age,” replied the Colonel.

“They’ll probably do us for a while until we make our fortune.”

“Our fortune! Since when do you own the shop, Bet Baxter?” teased Joy. “Is this Shirley and company?”

“Of course not. It’s Shirley’s. But we’re all going to help her to get started,” promised Bet.

“What is Shirley’s good luck is ours. We’re all Merriweather Girls,” said Kit quietly.

Shirley was in a happy daze and hardly heard her mother’s plans. “You can bring down that large blue rug in your room, Shirley, and I’ll put something else in there.”

“That’s just the thing, it has lots of orange in it,” exclaimed Bet.

“And as a name for the shop, I’ll suggest ‘Fixit’s Factory,’” teased Colonel Baxter.

“Oh no! That wouldn’t sound nice. I don’t like factories.” Shirley looked troubled.

“Of course it wouldn’t and Daddy knows it, too. He’s just a big tease!”

Shirley laughed now with the others. She was inclined to be serious and never quite knew when the Colonel was in fun.

“‘Shirley’s Shop’ sounds much nicer. It’s aristocratic!”

Suddenly Kit saw two boys coming down the street and she had the door open in a flash: “Come right in, Bob and Phil. The Merriweather Girls are in council and having decided some very important matters, they want your approval.”

“Flattery, you mean! You girls just feed on flattery, and you expect us to supply it like boxes of candy.”

“Candy makes me think that we might have homemade candy here. Joy could do that and Kit and I will paint some boxes for it! That’s the first idea supplied by the Consulting Advisers, Bob and Phil!”

“And where does the boss come in, and what is left for her to do?” laughed Shirley.

“Oh you are to supply the art. We will do the things that appeal to the common people.”

“Say, Colonel, what’s the matter with these girls? Are they crazy?”

“Not any more than usual I think.”

“Why Daddy Baxter, if you talk like that you just won’t be allowed to take part in our plans at all. We’ll discharge you as Legal Adviser.”

“Oh then I’ll be good! I’ll be good! I could never stand that.”

“So it’s secrets and things!” suggested Phil.

“Just the opposite of that! It’s something we want you to shout from the house tops.”

Bob gave a bound to the seat of an old chair and flapping his arms up and down wildly he crowed, “Cock-a-doodle-doo! Don’t know what I’m crowing about, but I’m crowing!”

“And that’s what we want you to do. The Merriweather Girls are starting in business!” announced Kit.

“You don’t say so!”

“It’s to be known as Shirley’s Shop!” Kit exclaimed.

“Oh you mean Shirley is going into business. That sounds more sane. Shirley has some sense,” laughed Bob.

“Out you go, Bob Evans!” and without giving him time to catch his breath the girls shoved him outside the door.

“When you promise to be good, you may come back, Bob, and not until,” threatened Joy.

Finally after many promises to be good, they opened the door and let Bob come in. The boys got a somewhat jumbled account of the business venture of the Merriweather Girls and they approved to such an extent that they rolled up their sleeves and wanted to get to work at once.

“Where’s a broom and we’ll sweep the place out for you,” suggested Phil.

Shirley objected, saying that the following Saturday morning would be time enough, then if they wanted to, the girls would be glad of their help.

“And they’ll want flattery before they start the work and flattery after it’s done just the way Smiley Jim does,” said Kit with a laugh.

“Why Kit Patten!” exclaimed Bob. “And we thought you were our friend!”

“Meow, meow! What a kitten to scratch!” teased Phil.

“Deny it, if you can,” said Bet.

Colonel Baxter looked from one young face to the other, enjoying the friendly bickering and feeling happy that he was no dampener to their fun, for they accepted him as one of themselves. Mrs. Williams’ hearty laugh urged them on to further efforts at cleverness.

“Wish we had a broom, I’d really like to see this place swept out!” Bet was impatient to see results.

“Why not go over and borrow one from your neighbor, Peter Gruff? He’s so friendly he’ll give you the shop.”

As old Peter Gruff was notoriously stingy, everybody laughed at the joke.

“We’ll do better than that,” exclaimed Bet. “Come on Kit, let’s go over and buy a broom. We’ll need it!”

In a few minutes Bet and Kit came running back, each with a large broom.

“And here’s where we are supposed to shine!” laughed Phil, as each captured a broom and started right in where they were standing.

“Not that way!” shouted Kit, for a cloud of dust rose about their heads.

“This way!” suggested Shirley and the boys stopped and paid attention to her, as they usually did. “Stand on those old chairs and sweep off the ceilings and walls and in that show window while the brooms are nice and clean; then you can do the floors.”

“That tan shade of the walls isn’t bad at all. I think we can make that do, don’t you, Shirley?” asked Bet.

“Yes. We don’t want to do any more than we have to,” Shirley answered.

“I don’t like those high walls,” pouted Bet.

“We’ll have them lowered,” teased Bob.

“If I may be allowed to suggest, Miss Fixit,” said Colonel Baxter, addressing Shirley with great ceremony, “I would say that a band of contrasting color could be painted around the walls just about at the height of your head. That will give the effect of a lower ceiling at once.”

“Oh yes, Dad, the way you had it done in your den! And that room always looks so cozy.”

“After a while when the shop begins to pay, you could buy burlap and run that around under your border. That would make a backing for displaying your pictures.”

Everybody liked that idea.

The girls felt at home in Shirley’s Shop even before it was cleaned up. And they closed it reluctantly until Friday afternoon when they were to meet and clean the windows and wood work.

It was hard for the girls to keep their minds on their school work during the next week. Visions of the shop, as it was to look some day, filled their thoughts to the exclusion of history dates and right angle triangles.

Shirley had to be industrious. After her home work was finished she donned her old smock and made her art prints, enough for the gift shop in New York and for her own place as well.

Her mother remonstrated at the late hours, but Shirley said, “Oh Mother, it won’t be this way often. And I do want to get started soon.”

“It may develop into something worth while,” said her mother. “Who knows but this may be the open door that leads to college?”

“Oh, if only it is! How I wish it! I’ll be willing to work hard if only I can help you and Dad, and get a good education at the same time.”

“The future can always be bright with our hopes and plans for success,” replied the mother as she clasped Shirley’s hand understandingly.