class day at ashton always came on a friday with commencement the following wednesday, and although the undergraduates were not generally expected to remain over for the latter event, they all took great interest in the former and made it the gala day of the year. each girl had the privilege of inviting as many guests as she wished, but it pretty generally narrowed down to one, except in the case of the graduates who had all their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, cousins, and friends to entertain besides "the one" who generally hung around in the background, endeavoring to be gracious when the opportunity presented itself.
on the night before class day, jean and elizabeth were busy in their room with their clothes for the following day. jean was not[340] satisfied with elizabeth's hat which she had brought out from town that very afternoon. "now, elizabeth, do your hair low as you intend to wear it to-morrow and let me see what i can do in the way of trimming hats. i don't like this shape at all the way it is now. it's not at all becoming, and i want you to look your prettiest to-morrow. the roses are a beautiful pink, but they want to come down lower on the hat."
while she was talking, elizabeth had been fixing her hair and had coiled it low on her neck. "does that suit your majesty now? you're altogether too fussy about my personal appearance. who do you suppose will notice me in all the crowd? if i had a man coming over from harvard or yale it would be different, but wandering about by myself no one will know whether my hair is up or down or whether my hat is the latest thing from new york or trimmed at home by the country milliner."
"why, elizabeth, how can you talk so? remember tom is going to be your guest as well as mine. we three are going to do[341] things together, so you'd better make up your mind to look your prettiest, for tom is mighty particular when it comes to girls. there, your hair looks much better and the hat fits down closer to your head. i'm going to take off the bow and put it on the other side after i've put the roses down flat around the crown. they're too stiff, sticking up in the air. now look in the glass and see how you like the effect."
"oh, it does look ever so much better, jean. just stick in some pins where you want things to go and i'll do the sewing."
"no, you won't; i'm going to finish it. who says i can't trim hats?"
just then there came a vigorous knock at the study door. jean seized the hat from elizabeth's head, and still holding it in her hand hastened out into the other room just as peggy allison, acting upon jean's cordial, "come in," entered the room.
"going into the hat business, jean? i wish you'd take a look at my hat. i'm awfully disappointed in it now that i've got it out here. it doesn't look at all as i expected[342] it would. guess it will have to do, though. i haven't time to bother with another. that's the trouble with waiting until the last moment to do things, but i do hate buying hats in boston. what time do you expect tom, jean?"
"he's coming over from new york on the midnight, so he'll probably be out here between ten and eleven o'clock. i told him there was no need of coming before ten, anyway, and i'll be busy until that time with our chain, for we have left part of it until morning to finish, as our daisies gave out. is your part finished?"
"yes; we were through about five o'clock and were tired as dogs. oh, by the way, jean, nat wants to see you a moment about the spread tickets right away, so i'll excuse you and visit a little while with elizabeth if she isn't too busy to talk with me."
"all right, peggy; i'll go down there this minute and take my hat along to finish. beth, please hand me my sewing-bag on the couch. thank you," and then she ran down the stairs with a knowing smile on her face.
about an hour later jean burst into 45 and found elizabeth alone. "come, beth, i'm ready to have you try on your hat again. i've finished it, and when i tried it on natalie it looked simply stunning. come over to the glass where you can see yourself."
as elizabeth went over to where jean was standing, jean caught sight of a small bow of green ribbon pinned conspicuously on the left side of elizabeth's white shirt-waist. "oh, elizabeth," she cried, "are you really pledged to gamma chi? it's too good to be true! now i've got everything i've wanted. you're to room with me next year, spend the summer with me in europe, and be initiated into gamma chi when we return in the fall. i've known all the year that when the girls came to know you as well as i did, they'd want you to join gamma chi, but i didn't tell them, for it was much better that they should find it out for themselves. oh, isn't it splendid! you're my sister now, you know, forever."
"but, jean, didn't you know anything about it until just now? you don't act so awfully surprised."
"oh, yes; i have known since last society meeting that you were to be invited to join, but just when i didn't know, for it was peggy allison's duty to ask you. but the minute she came into the room to-night and kindly invited me to leave, i knew what was about to happen. were you surprised yourself and are you pleased?"
"yes, jean; i was surprised, but it's only one more of the things i thought could never happen to me. it seemed all right that you and the other girls should do them, but i seemed different from you all. i am glad to join, for i've wanted to go with you on the monday nights when you went to society. you society girls always seemed better friends than those outside, and i felt i was missing something. i can't see, though, why they should want me to join."
"well, i shan't tell you again, for fear of making you too conceited. it's enough to know that they do want you, and now you're to become a good, loyal member of gamma chi. oh, you must wear your ribbon all day to-morrow. it will show off nicely on your white dress. is there anything else i can do to help you? we mustn't leave anything until to-morrow, for there's so much to be done then. directly after breakfast you must go up to the gym to help finish our daisy-chain. i'm going out before breakfast to help gather more daisies, so if i don't get back in time to eat breakfast, just save me a roll and a glass of milk. tom will arrive on that half-past ten train, probably, and i must meet him, for he doesn't know anything about the hill."
"do you suppose he'll get lost, jean, if you don't happen to meet him? what makes you take the time to go to the train?"
"why, do you suppose i'd let him come all that distance without meeting him? what are you thinking about, elizabeth?"
"well, don't try to do too much to-morrow, for you've got to save some strength for your week at new haven. tom, being so particular about girls, will want his sister to look her prettiest, especially as she's to be the solitary representative of his large family. there's the bell! hadn't we better stop talking and go to bed?"
"yes, beth, i suppose so; but i'm not a bit sleepy to-night. i could sit up till midnight and just talk. you go to bed. i think i'll just read a little more of this story and perhaps i'll get sleepy."
"oh, don't read any more, jean; you'll be sleepy enough after you once get into bed. it's excitement that makes you feel so wide awake."
"all right, dear, i'll do as you say. you see i do need you to make me take care of myself," and the two happy but tired girls were soon in their beds and asleep.
jean had set the alarm clock for half-past five o'clock, and dressing in some old clothes started for the field back of the dormitories where it was white with daisies. she was chairman of the committee to make the daisy-chain, and was anxious that it be a success. she found four of the other girls ahead of her filling great baskets which they had brought for the purpose. after they had picked all they could possibly carry they went up to the gymnasium and began weaving the chain. when they arrived, it was long after the breakfast hour, but one girl, more thoughtful than the others, had brought a box or two of crackers and so saved her starving companions. more girls arrived every few minutes, and all worked hard, so that they were able to finish the long chain about half-past nine o'clock. they looked much the worse for wear and their dresses were wet and stained from the flowers, and jean's hair was fast coming down round her face and neck. her dress was badly torn in the front where she had stepped upon it in her haste to get into the gymnasium.
as she and elizabeth and anne were hurrying down the row to merton, anne, looking down toward the station, spied a young man coming in their direction, with a suit-case in his hand. "here comes some one's man," she said. "hope he's early enough. evidently some one forgot to meet him."
"why, girls," exclaimed jean, "there's something strangely familiar about him. i do believe it's my brother tom. he must have taken an earlier train than i wrote him about. what a sight i am to meet him! i[348] had planned to dress in my very best and go down to the ten-thirty train, and here i am looking more like a tramp than anything else. it is tom, and i can't help how i look; i'm going to meet him," and she ran down the row and was soon in her brother's arms, while the other girls hurried into the dormitory away from sight.
"oh, tom, i'm so glad to see you! don't look at me. i'm ashamed to have you find me like this, but i've been working since six o'clock on our daisy-chain. i didn't expect you for another hour. what do you mean by coming out at this time of day?"
"well, sister, you see i got in town very early this morning and didn't have a thing to do after i finished my breakfast. time began to hang heavily on my hands, and then, too, i wanted to see you, so i came out here on the first train i could get, but i'll go back if you are so disturbed at my early arrival."
"of course i was only fooling, tom; don't get so sarcastic. i'm delighted that you're here, only i'm a little ashamed to have you find me in such messy-looking clothes. but let's not stand here on the row talking. come up to the hall. i'll find peggy allison and send her downstairs to talk with you while i get into some good clothes. i have a room engaged for you down at the inn and we'll go down there before lunch. peggy's going to have a harvard man out to-day and we've planned that you two will be together during the exercises this afternoon, for we have to sit with our classes.
"before i forget it, tom, i want to ask you to be particularly nice to elizabeth. she's never known many college boys and didn't invite any one to be her guest to-day. i told her you were going to be her guest as well as mine, so please help me give her a royal good time. she's a mighty nice girl after you get to know her. at first she's a bit shy, but when you get her interested in something she's as lively as the next one. she's been invited to join gamma chi, and that shows she's all right, for only the nicest girls in college belong to that society."
"isn't that a little conceited, jean, considering the fact that you belong to it yourself?[350] however, if you and peggy allison are samples of the girls who are members, it's all right.
"so this is merton, the famous merton. i call it a pretty fine sort of dormitory for a girls' college, of course not to be compared with ours, but rather decent, just the same. are you going to live here next year, too?"
"no; you see we had room-drawing yesterday and my name commencing with 'c' comes near the top of the list and i drew a room in wellington where miss hooper is matron."
"i suppose because you're a soph you've chosen a single."
"no, tom, i've a double, and elizabeth is going to room with me again next year and every year, i hope. after you know her you'll understand why i want her. now go into the reading-room and make yourself comfortable and i'll see if i can find peggy and send her down to you."
"don't worry, jean. i don't have to be amused. i'm perfectly able to take care of myself if you don't find her."
but peggy was available and perfectly willing to devote herself to tom cabot, of whom she was very fond in spite of the few times she had met him. about half an hour later jean and elizabeth came downstairs dressed in their soft white muslins and flower-bedecked hats. they did look attractive and tom beamed approvingly upon them and was most gracious as jean introduced elizabeth. then she said, "now we'll go down to the inn and then we're ready to show you the sights. you've got to see everything while you are about it, so we'd better hurry, for lunch is to be served half an hour earlier than usual to-day."
they went to the inn and found it thronged with guests and students and it was very fortunate for tom that jean had engaged his room several weeks in advance. after he had deposited his suit-case they started out on their tour of inspection. tom kept the girls busy with questions about everything in sight, and insisted upon knowing the name of every good-looking girl they met. once in a while they stopped for introductions, and dropped into[352] miss hooper's room in wellington for a few moments.
"it's a mighty nice place, for a girls' college," said tom as they finally entered merton just as the bell sounded for lunch; "there's only one place i know of that's better and that's—"
"yale, of course," said jean; "you needn't bother to tell us. are you ready for lunch now?"
"ready! i should say i was; i'm nearly starved. i could eat half a dozen lunches. it's hours since i had my breakfast. lead me to the food quickly or i perish. am i going to be the only man among all you handsome girls? not that i mind at all, but i'd like to know beforehand so i won't make any awful breaks to disgrace forever the house of cabot."
"don't worry, tom; there'll be plenty of men besides you. most of the girls will have their out-of-town guests here. elizabeth is to wait on table, but we'll see her again after lunch. i've got to find mrs. thompson to see where we are to sit, for we won't have our regular seats to-day, as lunch is to be served in the reading-room as well as in the dining-room."
lunch over, a lot of the young people met in the hall and introductions were pretty general. peggy's man, mr. paul thorndike, harvard 1912, and tom became good friends at once and agreed to stick together closer than brothers until the tree exercises were over, when the girls were to meet them and take them to the spreads. they strolled up the hill to the trees where the exercises were to be held, and found the grounds fairly alive with the class-day guests in their best summer gowns and hats. beyond the space allotted for the classes were rows upon rows of settees for as many of the guests as could be accommodated, and the others leaned up against the chapel or college hall or walked back and forth in the background.
just after two o'clock the three lower classes appeared in view carrying a long white daisy-chain. the band, concealed behind the trees, began to play softly, and at the sound of the music the girls swayed back and forth, lifting[354] their chain in the measure of the music and then danced in and out of the trees and finally formed two long lines on either side of the opening to the space roped off for the tree exercises. the chain was held high above their heads, and all at once every voice broke into "alma mater" and the stately seniors in their black caps and gowns marched down between the rows of girls and stood by the seats nearest the "grand old elm," as the tree was called, under whose branches the temporary platform had been erected. then the other classes dropped their chain upon the ground and marched two by two to their places. they had been singing "alma mater" all this time and when every girl stood by her seat all finished the verse they were upon and sat down together.
there was an address of welcome by the class president and then the tree oration, followed by the class history, which was extremely funny from beginning to end and boasted of all 1912 had done in her four glorious years at ashton, and ended with the distribution of gifts to the undergraduates.[355] there were class songs and class yells, and after the senior class ode the class-day marshal proposed that they cheer all the buildings. forming as they had done at the beginning of the exercises, the under-class girls cheered the seniors as they passed through the double lines and headed the long procession that hurried on from one building to another. not one was forgotten, and many a throat ached when they finished and disbanded at the chapel steps. each girl then hastened to find her guests and go on to the society and private spreads which were to be held in the society rooms and some of the college buildings.
"did you think we would never finish?" said jean, as she and elizabeth and peggy hastened up where tom and mr. thorndike were leaning against college hall.
"no," said tom; "i enjoyed every moment. you've sure got some clever girls in this college. that was one of the best tree orations i ever listened to. please introduce me to miss mary frances buffington. i'd like to talk with her. what's next on the programme?"
"we're going now to gamma chi spread in our club rooms, then after you've eaten all you can there, i've tickets for the alpha delt spread and the tennis club spread in the gym, and madeleine moore has invited us to a private spread in her room over in south. of course we don't have to take them all in, but i think it will be loads of fun, for everywhere we go we will meet different people, to say nothing of the eats, which of course will appeal to tom more than anything else. i propose for once to see if i can satisfy him on that score."
at all the spreads they found food and interesting people in abundance and laughed and talked and made and renewed acquaintances to their hearts' content. every one was gay and happy and filled with the college spirit and was young at heart if not in years. fathers and mothers and even grandparents mingled with young girls and men and seemed to be as much a part of it all as their sons and daughters. where is there another place in the world so productive of good-fellowship and joy as a college class day?
from madeleine moore's upper room, where they went last, they sat by the windows and listened to the glee club singing the old college favorites. old girls who were back for the day joined the singers on college hall steps and swelled the chorus to two or three times its usual size. every now and then the tinkle of the mandolins and guitars could be heard above the sweet voices of the girls and then was lost in the heavier choruses. it was almost dusk when the last notes died away and there still remained the dance in the gymnasium.
tom left jean and elizabeth at merton to dress for the dance, and he hurried to the inn to get into his dress-suit. when the three strolled across the campus again in the direction of the gym, a perfect fairyland met their astonished eyes. thousands of bright japanese lanterns were strung about the entire grounds and swayed gently back and forth in the soft summer breeze. here and there were the moving forms of belated dancers like themselves, moving mysteriously through the semi-darkness.
"i hate to leave such beauty," said elizabeth. "i don't care anything about the dancing, so why not leave me here on one of these benches, jean? you and tom can go in and dance and stop for me when you come home."
"well, i should say not," answered tom. "haven't you promised me part of the first dance and as many more as i want? do you think we're going to leave you here for some prowling night-watchman to abduct? no, you've got to stay with us till the very last moment and perhaps between some of the dances we'll stroll out here for a cool breath."
when they finally reached the gymnasium, they found it literally packed with dancers, but they waded their way through the crowds, and tom began the dance with elizabeth, for paul thorndike had noticed jean's entrance and begged her for the dance. it was not much pleasure for any one, as there was so little room that one was continually stepped on or crowded against a passing couple.
"i think about half an hour of this will be enough for me, jean," said tom, after the first dance. "i'm as fond as anybody can be of dancing, but this is too much for me. let's go up in the gallery and watch the others."
so up they went into the gallery and watched the whirling mass below them. it was much more fun, and many of their friends followed suit and joined them. occasionally some of them went down on the floor, but returned almost exhausted with the struggle. about half-past ten o'clock, elizabeth suggested that they take her home if they would not let her go alone, and she found tom and jean were both as ready to go as she.
when they stepped out into the fairyland of the campus, jean exclaimed, "i agree with you, elizabeth; this is much better than in that crowded, stifling gymnasium. let's walk around out here for a while until we cool off."
it was beautiful out there in the cool stillness with only the muffled music breaking it occasionally, and all three became strangely silent for such very talkative young people. jean broke the silence by exclaiming, "i know now what cousin nan meant that first night when she and i stood just here and she said,[360] 'dear old ashton! how i love it all and how i hate to leave it, for it has done so much for me!' then i couldn't understand what she meant and i smiled to myself as i listened to her, but now it's different and i can say all that she said, only i'm so glad i am coming back next year, and the next, and the next, for three whole years. this going to college is the best thing in a girl's life, isn't it, elizabeth?"
by this time they had reached merton and good-nights had to be said, but tom and jean were to take an early morning train and had all the day to talk things over.
although it was very early when the train drew out of the little station, elizabeth was there to see the two off, and as the train started, jean called from the platform, "good-by, beth, see you in new york a week from to-day. don't let miss hooper lose the train, for you know she has all our tickets and we can't go to europe without her. good-by!" and the train steamed away as a very happy freshman started back to merton to think things over.
it may be that some of the readers have become so interested in the doings of jean and elizabeth that they would like to know what they and miss hooper did during the summer of 1912 in the british isles. for the benefit of these it may be stated that a second volume, entitled "jean cabot in the british isles," will appear, giving their experiences in that delightful country.