Carolyn Wells

“ But look here, girls: if Lorraine gets more pleasant and sunshiny after a while, will you let her come in then?”
“If she gets to be as merry as a grig, of course she can come in,” said Adelaide; “Lorraine is a nice enough girl, except that she’s so disagreeable and always throws a wet blanket on everything. Why, we couldn’t have any fun at all at the meetings, if she sat up there, looking as cross as two sticks.”
“That’s so,” said Patty, with a sigh; “but never you mind, she’s going to improve. She said she’d try to, and somehow the Grigs must help her.” ”

“ Editha was engaged in producing wonderful effects, with nothing but sheets of cotton-wadding and a box of water-colour paints. She deftly rolled, tied and draped the material into a comical doll, and then cleverly painted features, hair, hands and dress trimmings, until the whole was a work of art.
“Now, you know,” said Hilda, after all the girls had settled down to work, “we’re to tell our experiences during the week, in the way of helping along the gaiety of the nation. Patty Fairfield, what have you done to make somebody else as merry as a Grig?” ”

“ Lorraine began to cry, but Patty knew they were not tears of repentance, so she went on:
“It’s perfectly silly, Lorraine, the way you act. Here you might just as well belong to the Grigs, and have lots of good times; but just because you prefer to consider yourself snubbed at every tack and turn, when nobody means anything of the sort at all, of course you can’t belong to a club whose only object is to be merry and gay.” ”

“ You know that foolishness about Prigs and Digs and Gigs?”
“Yes,” said the girls in chorus.
“Well, there’s no sense to it; it doesn’t mean anything, really.”
“Do you happen to know, Miss Fairfield, that you’re attacking old and time-honoured institutions of the Oliphant school?” asked Clementine in mock indignation.
“So much the worse for the honourable Time,” rejoined Patty. “Now listen; I think we can have a society, a real true society, I mean, that will be a lot more fun than any of those ancient and honourable orders.”
“Grigs!” cried Hilda, with a sudden flash of understanding. ”

“ Get your mother to let you invite Elise to come to see you some afternoon, and then invite the Harts and me, too, and have a real jolly afternoon. They’ll all come, and then if you’re nice and pleasant, as you know perfectly well how to be, the girls can’t help liking you. Oh, Lorraine, you’re such a goose! It’s a great deal easier to go through the world happy and smiling than to mope along, glum and cross-grained.”
“It is for you, Patty, because you’re born happy, and you can’t help staying so. ”

“ Now if we start a society of Grigs, a regular club, you know, we can invite anybody we want in the school to join it.”
“What kind of a society will it be?” demanded Adelaide.
“What is the chief characteristic of a grig?” demanded Patty in return.
“Well, I never met one,” said Adelaide, “but Hilda says they have nothing but merriment to distinguish them from other animals.”
“That’s enough,” said Patty. “All that the members of our society need do is to be merry. Honest, girls, don’t you think it will be fun?” ”

“ Patty felt a little embarrassed, and concluded that city girls were horrid, stuck-up things, and she longed for her merry companions at the Vernondale school. Several times she found herself gazing intently at one or another of the pupils, but invariably her look was returned by a cold stare, or ignored entirely.
“I’m perfectly silly to think anything about it,” thought Patty to herself; “it’s just their way of not recognising anybody until they’ve been formally introduced. ”

“ Patty was particularly attracted by a little boy about eight years old, who had broken his leg. The little fellow’s face was white and drawn with suffering, and his sad eyes made him seem far older than he really was. Instinctively, Patty made up her mind to bring all the pleasure and merriment into that child’s life that she possibly could; and just because he seemed to be the forlornest specimen of humanity present, she resolved to make him her special charge. His name, he said, was Tommy Skelling, and his leg had been broken in a trolley accident. ”

“ Patty did some quick thinking. Then she said:
“Why, you see, Roger, we’re all going to the circus this afternoon; but we have an extra seat, and if you’ll go with us, we’ll be awfully glad to have you.”
“Go!” exclaimed Roger, “I should rather say I would!”
“Well, if you go,” said Patty, imbued with a sudden spirit of mischief, “you must consider yourself the special escort of a friend who is visiting me. Her name is Miss Daggett, and I want her to have a real good time.”
“Trust me,” said Roger; “I’ll give her the time of her life. May I call for her? Are we all to go together?” ”

“ I should think you would always want to sit in these parlours.”
“I don’t,” said Patty, laughing; “I wouldn’t know what to do sitting up here in state. I think our own rooms much more pleasant and home-like.”
The dining-room, too, excited Ethelyn’s admiration. The soft thick carpets, and daintily laid tables, each with its vase of flowers, seemed suddenly to her far more desirable than the well-appointed dining-room in her own home at Villa Rosa.
Ethelyn was of an envious disposition, and though she was indulged and petted by her parents, she always wanted the belongings of someone else. ”

“ It’s papa’s party, and you’d think me anything but a general benefactor if you knew how cross I was when Miss Daggett came in unexpectedly this morning.”
“And aside from your intentional dispensing of happiness,” went on Hepworth, ignoring her confession of ill-temper, “your unconscious influence is that of pure joy. You radiate happiness, and no one can be near you without feeling its influence. I did not intend, Patty, to say this quite so baldly, but it is not meant as idle compliment or flattery, only as an honest recognition of your charm.” ”

“ Patty unconsciously assumed an air of dignity, which struck Clementine as intensely comical, but which impressed Jane as the demeanour of a genius.
“Now,” said Patty, when Jane had returned to the dining-room, “I’ll give you fair warning, Clementine, that I shall be pretty cross while I’m doing this cooking. You know crossness is the prerogative of a cook. So don’t mind me, but just help all you can by keeping quiet and doing as I tell you. I’m sorry to seem dictatorial and horrid, but really it’s the only way to make your mother’s luncheon a success.” ”

“ Far from it, she was merry, frivolous, and quite inclined to make fun of her fellow-pupils.
“Did you ever see anything so ridiculous as Gertrude Lyons?” she asked of Patty. “She is so airy and conceited, and yet she’s nothing after all.”
Although Patty did not especially like Gertrude, this challenge roused her sense of justice, and she said: “Oh, Gertrude is all right; and I don’t think it is nice to criticise strangers like that.”
“Gertrude’s no stranger to me,” said Elise; “I’ve known her all my life. They live within a block of us, but we never have liked each other. ”

“ But though the Hart girls were so pleasant to Patty, they were not so amiable with one another. Editha patronised Adelaide and treated her as if she were very young and ignorant. Adelaide resented this, but she in turn domineered over Jeannette, and there were frequent sharp bickerings back and forth which made Patty feel decidedly uncomfortable.
However, the Harts had a strong sense of humour, and more often than not their squabbles ended with a joke and a merry peal of laughter. ”

“ Then the Gigs are my sort. We giggle all the time, never study if we can help it, and are continually being punished for the fun we have. Which do you think you’ll be?”
“I don’t know,” said Patty, smiling. “I hate to study, so I don’t believe I can be a Dig; I’m sure I haven’t manners enough to be a Prig, and, somehow, to-day I don’t feel jolly enough to be a Gig. Which is Lorraine?”
“She isn’t any of them,” said Clementine; “I don’t believe anybody could classify her.”
Just then luncheon was announced, and the girls all went to the dining-room. ”

“ She reasoned that if she didn’t win the prize, it must necessarily go to Lorraine, and though she felt sorry to give up her hope of it, yet she knew she would be more truly pleased for Lorraine to have it. Of course she would never tell anybody the truth of the matter, for that would look like a parade of her unselfishness, and Patty was honestly single-minded in her intent.
But as she thought it over further, she realised that it would take a continuous and systematic missing of lessons to be sure of reducing her average sufficiently. ”

“ If she were marked a total failure on her Theme, just for once, it would set back her record farther than many missed lessons. Now, obviously the only way to get a total failure for a Theme was not to have any. For without undue egotism, Patty knew well that her Themes were better than the other girls’, and of course were marked accordingly. Purposely to write a poor Theme would be silly, and so the only thing to do would be to have no Theme. To accomplish this, it would be necessary to stay away from school some Friday. For to be there without a Theme would be unprecedented and inexplicable. ”

“ So, as one of us must take the general prize, I just wanted to ask you if you couldn’t arrange it so that Lorraine will get it. I don’t mean to do anything wrong or unfair,” she added, hastily, as Miss Oliphant’s expression of amazement seemed to rebuke her. “I only mean that if there should be any doubt in marking any of our lessons, that the benefit of the doubt might be given to Lorraine.”
“Do I understand,” said Miss Oliphant, severely, “that you wish Miss Hamilton to be marked higher than she deserves?” ”

“ Patty had often noticed that when Grandma Elliott gave advice, it was good advice and very much to the point. So she listened with interest as Grandma went on: “You needn’t cut Lorraine, or drop her friendship entirely; but you can certainly be friends with the other girls, even though she is not. When they invite you or give you an opportunity to join their pleasures, give Lorraine a fair chance, too, and if she isn’t capable of taking advantage of it, let her alone. You have done your part and are no further responsible. ”

“ Do you belong to a Tea Club? How do you like your hotel? Don’t you miss us girls?”
“Do wait a minute, Ethel,” cried Patty, laughing, “before you go any further. That is, if you want your questions answered. I guess I’ll answer the last one first. Of course I miss you girls awfully. Not but what the girls there are nice enough, but I want you, too. I wish you’d all come and live in New York.”
Marian said very little, but sat and held Patty’s hand, as if afraid she might run away. Marian was devotedly attached to her cousin, and missed her more than anybody had any idea of, excepting Aunt Alice. ”

“ But I thought that perhaps even merry Grigs could at times descend to prosaic chocolates.”
“I should say we could!” exclaimed Clementine; “really I don’t know anything merrier than a box of candy.”
“You’re a perfect duck, Roger, to bring it,” said Elise; “but you must run away now, for we can’t have boys at Grig meetings. There’s nothing merry about a boy.”
“All the more reason then,” said Roger, “why I should stay and be merryfied.”
“No, you can’t,” said his sister, “so go away now and please send mother here. She said she’d come and meet the girls, so tell her now’s her chance.” ”

“ Patty looked disappointed, but she had a brave heart, and, too, she had implicit confidence in her father’s judgment.
“All right, papa,” she said; “I’ll do it. I hate like fury to go back there to-morrow. But I will. And I’ll do my part, too; I’ll try my very best to make the girls like me, but if they don’t act differently by Friday, I’ll give up the fight.”
“That’s my own brave girl; and truly, Patty, I believe it will be all right in a day or two. It’s preposterous to think that a lot of schoolgirls should unanimously agree to dislike you. I’m sure there is some explanation. ”

“ And then somehow that seemed sort of mean, for quite often Adelaide and I are cross, too. We don’t mean anything, but we just snip each other, and the other snaps back, and it isn’t very nice. So all three of us decided to jolly each other, and now whenever one of us says anything cross, the other two begin to giggle, and first thing we know we’re all laughing.”
“Good for you, girls!” cried Patty, clapping her hands; “I’ve always said the Harts were the nicest girls I know, except that they were so snippy toward each other. Goodness me! I believe this society is going to make angels of us all. ”

“ Patty’s face grew crimson, and she turned to Lorraine with a look of angry surprise.
“I knew you wouldn’t like her,” said Lorraine in a dull, careless tone, “but you insisted on being introduced. She’s one of the Prigs, and the Priggiest one of them all. She won’t speak to a girl unless she lives on Fifth Avenue and keeps forty-’leven servants.”
“Well, I think she’s just as rude as she can be,” said Patty; “she isn’t half as nice as she looks.” ”

“ Now who shall the other four be?”
“How would it do,” said Hilda, “for us each to select one?”
“Do they have to be girls in the school?” asked Adelaide; “because, if not, I’ll ask Editha. She’s merry enough for anybody and she loves to do things for hospital people.”
“Why, of course they don’t have to be schoolgirls,” said Hilda; “perhaps it’s better to have some who aren’t, and then those who are and whom we don’t ask won’t have so much reason to get mad about it.” ”