Mary C. Hungerford

“ That old gentleman wasn’t goody-goody enough to set up a prize for any such stuff,” said Edna. “He knows this isn’t a Sunday-school. No, it’s for superiority in something, I feel sure. May be it’s music, may be it’s languages, or some English studies. I wish I had been here then and heard him myself.”
“If it’s English studies Mary Ann Stubbs has the best chance,” said Lily. “She’s beyond the whole of us.”
“I don’t see,” said Edna, discontentedly, “why it is that common, second-class folks are ’most always so smart at books. May be it’s a sort of compensation for being low-born.” ”

“ Marion needed to hear no more; so she paid her bill and walked out. She amused herself walking about the streets, and went into a dry-goods store and bought herself a small supply of collars and cuffs, a pair of gloves, a crochet needle, and some yarn and a little purse. She was too industrious by nature to feel happy without work, and so restless under the present circumstances that she thought some employment might help to keep her calm.
She went back to the station and occupied herself trying to recall the fan-pattern that Edna and Addie were crocheting for skirts. ”

“ Abbott, “that Mary Ann is well grounded in grammar and rhetoric, but she has spent her life where no practical use of them is made in conversation; so the poor girl does not know how to talk; but as soon as she catches the idea that her speech is different from others she will bend every nerve to changing it. Her great ambition is to become a teacher and earn enough to educate her brothers and sisters.”
“Six of them!” groaned Katie.
“How is she to get clothes?” asked Bell, thinking of the thick shoes and the vivid plaid. “She wouldn’t be so bad if she dressed like other folks.” ”

“ I hied me to the dark and grewsome kitchen, crept stealthily to the pantry, and crawled through a window that communicated with the dining-room pantry. Ah, the recollection paralyzes me! ‘Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,’ as the pie up the dark stairs I carried. Let me hasten to the end before emotion overcomes me. At the top of the stairs were a group of white-clad ghosts, semi-distinct in the faint light that a clouded moon sent through the skylight. ”

“ The brakeman on the express-train stood at the door of the last car looking through the glass at the scenery which constant travel had made so familiar to him that he was hardly conscious of its wonderful beauty, but a downward glance showed him something much less common, and his face became expressive of great alertness as, uttering one or two words of greater strength and force than his ordinary language conveyed, he opened the door and let himself out upon the platform. ”

“ Abbott’s desk was fifty times worse than you,” said Bell Burgoyne.
“So do I,” said several who were brave enough to condemn the action, although it was generally supposed to be Edna who did it.
Her face grew very dark now.
“It’s a great row about nothing,” she said, “and I don’t think girls who are born ladies ought to be expected to associate with such vulgar folks.”
“I say again that Mary Ann is not vulgar; and look here, girls, let’s rechristen her. Half the trouble is in that absurd name, Mary Ann Stubbs; but we can change her first name to Marion!” ”

“ The habits of even a short life-time are not easily changed; so before a single servant was astir in that luxurious household Marion had risen and dressed herself. Lily had no early-rising habits to contend with, and so slept peacefully on till Adèle came in to say that Mrs. Ashley wished to know if the young ladies required assistance in dressing and to tell them breakfast would be ready in half an hour. ”

“ Bellamy believes the man will think he has of course taken Elfie to England with him, and has little fear for her here under my care.
“Candace can be trusted to watch and defend her if necessary, for she would be a tigress if danger threatened her darling; but poor Candace keeps having attacks of rheumatism. Change of climate must have developed it, for she was never afflicted that way before. When her nurse has a sick day some one else must guard Elfie, and you, my dear, will do it more faithfully, I firmly believe, than any one else in the house.” ”

“ She never forgot her promise to watch over Elfie during Candace’s sick days, but she kept the secret so well that no one observed that she was especially watchful or suspected the need there was for such precautions.
As time wore on the Bellamy prize was often remembered. The conditions and circumstances attending it were fully understood by the new scholars, who felt that their chances were as good as any for obtaining it.
“There ought to be no doubt about one of us S. C.’s getting it,” said Edna Tryon, one day, in Lily’s room, “if it is managed fairly.” ”

“ Suddenly Katie exclaimed:
“Elfie! Why, where is the child?”
“Gone back into the grove, probably,” said Addie, quietly, who felt calmer than the others because less responsible.
“She must be with Madame Belotti’s sister,” said Lily, not yet feeling very much worried. “Where is she, madame?”
The sphinx was thrusting the money into her pocket-book and bowing as if to say farewell. Her face wore an anxious look, but she replied very civilly, pointing in the opposite direction from the road that led to the station:
“De little one is all safe. ”

“ She could find the station, she thought, even if the carriage went too fast for her; but it was frightful to think of going through the lonely city streets at that hour of the night.
“I will not think about it,” she said to herself. “God is in the dark as well as in the light. He will take care of me, and for Elfie’s sake I can do any thing.”
There were sounds of movement in the room opposite, and Marion, who had long before turned out her light to avoid observation and taken her position on the chair again, listened patiently at the transom. ”

“ The average school-girl loves mystery, and when Edna Tryon, who had become so intimate with the Friendly Five as almost to be their sixth, proposed to teach them a cipher by means of which they might communicate with no possibility of any other persons reading their letters they were ecstatic, and applied themselves with such zeal to practicing the new accomplishment that soon notes of the most enigmatical appearance were constantly exchanged between the initiated. ”

“ He called after them as they moved away, but Marion had reached the door, and, seeing Miss Blake, called her out. Her appearance on the piazza seemed discouraging to the visitor, who instantly dropped out of sight.
“You acted just as if you thought that man was going to eat you and Elfie up,” said Edna to Marion; “but I suppose a person brought up in the woods is easily scared.”
“But he was such a common-looking wretch; he was enough to frighten any one,” said Katie.
“I should have supposed Mary Ann Stubbs would be the last one in the world to mind common folks. ”

“ At the same instant small flying feet were heard and a little voice counting the doors, “One, two, three, four, five, same’s my little finger; this is the one, I know;” and with a little knock that she didn’t wait to hear answered Ethel danced into the room.
“I’ve come back for you,” she exclaimed, running up to Mary Ann, “and Mrs. Abbott says you may come with us to see the peacocks, and we are going to feed them, too. Candace is getting your hat, and she’ll wait on the piazza for us. Come, hurry! hurry! The big one’s got his tail lifted all up like a big, big feather fan.” ”

“ Abbott will do any thing to oblige me,” said he, confidently. “I can talk her over. How young does she take pupils? My little sister would not be happy unless there were some other very small girls there besides herself.”
“There are none very small,” said Fannie.
“Except Elfie,” corrected Bell.
“Why, Bell, you can hardly call Elfie a scholar, and you know she was only taken out of regard for Mr. Bellamy. No one else so young would be admitted.” ”

“ Abbott had seen many strong and lasting friendships begin in this way. To be strictly impartial the girls selected the new scholars they would “protect” when their names were announced at the close of school, so when it opened again and the new scholars came each girl knew which one she was to “mother” without ever having seen her.
“There’s a great deal in a name,” said Delia Howland, contentedly. “I feel sure my girl will be nice; no one called Sylvia Montgomery could be any thing but charming. It has such a high-born sound.”
“I don’t take much stock in names,” said Lily. ”

“ Abbott came home the next morning and engrossed her brother so entirely that Marion would have greatly missed her companion of the last day or two if she had not had full consolation in Elfie’s society. The child’s love for her grew stronger every day, and Candace was almost jealous when her little missy refused to say her prayers with her little bowed head resting upon any one’s lap but Marion’s. ”

“ The next verse was easier, and even Katie found no great difficulty in supplying the missing words:
“O, being at school is pretty good—
But going home is—
I’ll be full of joy when the term is—
And I’ll write you a farewell—”
“The ‘fun,’ ‘done,’ ‘better,’ ‘letter,’ that belong to that verse are what I call self-evident rhymes,” said Lily, “and it’s no fun to guess them, for they say themselves, almost. Now, wait till I write you something grand, gloomy, and obscure, with rhymes that don’t shout themselves out at you.” ”

“ According to the usual custom I have selected one of the oldest scholars to be her friend and initiate her kindly into the ways of the school and help her over some of the difficulties, which you will all remember, from your own experiences, seem rather formidable to a stranger. I expect you, Lily, to be the friend in need in this instance, and if you are ready I will take you directly to my room and introduce you to Miss Stubbs. ”

“ Abbott ever gave to those whose folly had helped to make much trouble. She had thought over the matter and talked over it with the teachers, and it seemed to her that by their distress at the evil consequences that had followed their wrong-doing they were already sorely punished.
It was many months before Elfie entirely recovered from the nervous shock she had suffered, and came among the girls again. Candace could never be induced to trust her out of her sight except with Marion. ”

“ O, Marion, it was heart-breaking to see Candace’s agony, and Mrs. Abbott kept saying, ‘What shall I say to her grandfather?’ It was an awful house here, I can tell you. I wouldn’t live through the fright and worry again for the world. ”