“But Mother!” gasped Caddie. “She’ll take one look at me and have a heart attack.”
“You come along,” they said.
Caddie and Katie had just time to squeeze in among the other girls at the back of the platform before the program began. Caddie was sure that Mother could not have seen the dreadful mess she was wearing.
When the fifes and drums were silent, the girls’ chorus stood up and began to sing. Caddie remained seated so that she would not spoil the beautiful appearance of the other girls, but her voice soared clear and happy.
It seemed as if half of the men of Dunnville and Eau Galle made speeches that day; but Dr. Nightingale made the last one. and it was the best one too. He spoke very simply, as if he were talking to friends—as, indeed, he was. He said that the truest way citizens could serve their country was by obeying its laws and by meeting daily life with courage and honesty. Good citizens, he said, were worth more to a nation than good soldiers or good policemen.
Caddie forgot her troubles in listening to his earnest voice. Finally he said something which surprised her.
He said, “There are many good citizens among us, but it has just been called to my attention that one of us today has proven particularly worthy of citizenship. This person, although one of the youngest members of our society, has proven equal to an emergency which called for quick thinking, courage, and a willingness to risk personal safety. You all know this young person; you have just heard her voice in the singing. When you know that Caddie Woodlawn saved a little boy’s life this morning, I think you will want her to step forward and receive your cheers.”
Until her name was mentioned, Caddie had been looking around trying to imagine whom Dr. Nightingale was speaking of. Now when she heard him saying “Will Caddie Woodlawn please come forward?” Caddie was so filled with astonishment and alarm that she could do nothing but sit there and whisper, “Oh, I can’t 1”
There was a great wave of cheering and applause, which frightened her even more. But the girls were pulling her to her feet.
“Don’t be silly,” they cried, pushing her forward.
To her surprise Caddie found herself going up to the front of the platform where Dr. Nightingale stood with outstretched hand and welcoming smile. Caddie had tried to hold the worst parts of her bedraggled skirt together so that it would not show, but when she held out her hand it all fell open so that everyone in Dunnville and Eau Galle could see that Caddie Woodlawn had spoiled another white dress.
Dr. Nightingale seemed to understand her distress just as he understood measles or mumps.
“Congratulations, Caddie,” he said, “and don’t be ashamed of your dress, my dear. I’m proud to shake the hand of a girl who can forget her vanity to risk her life for others.”
Caddie looked up at him in pleased surprise, and then down to the blur of faces below her; and suddenly two faces stood out clearly. Mother and Father were sitting side by side, and both of their faces were full of pride and happiness. Even on Mother’s handsome face there lingered not a trace of regret or reproach for the beautiful white dress which Caddie had ruined.
Well, it was a lovely day—a day to remember all one’s life!
Caddie did not roll logs or chase the greased pig, nor climb the greased pole; but even in her bedraggled dress she had a lovely time. And, better than doing it herself, she saw Tom scale the slippery pole and win the ham, and saw Robert Ireton outlast the men from the lumber camps and win the five-dollar gold piece for staying longest on his log. For everyone had agreed that he should not be disqualified from entering the final contest because he had jumped off his log in the morning to go to the assistance of Caddie and Ezra.
In the evening they all rode home on the hayload, tired but content, and as they rode they sang. An early moon was in the sky, and the odors of sweet clover and red clover and new-cut hay and pine mingled like perfume in the clear air.
I’ve been roaming, I’ve been roaming,
By the rose and lily fair,
And I’m coming, and I’m coming,
With their blossoms in my hair.
Over hill and over plain
To my bower back again,
And I’m coming, and I’m coming,
To my bower back again.
And, when the song had drifted away again to silence, Caddie found herself softly humming the other tune which seemed so perfectly to fit the day, and the new, sweet country which they loved so well.
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant, my feet!
Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn's Family
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