Olive Higgins Prouty

“ For a super-sensitive nature such as hers there didn't exist an organization better suited to receive her. The heterogeneity of the members of the Women's Alliance concealed any one individual's peculiarities. There were all kinds and descriptions of women in Reba's classes—young girls, who chewed gum and had to be asked to stop; married women with gray hair, who came in from the suburbs; clerks; stenographers; shop-girls of fourteen; school-teachers of forty. Reba was just one of a dozen or so different types in groups made up of dissimilar elements. ”

“ She was shortening her white muslin dress. Mamie Blake, who roomed next door, had told her the evening before, when she had tried the dress on in preparation for Saturday's entertainment, that the length was what ailed it most; and Mamie had pinned up five inches of it in two deep tucks, above the flounce of ruffles. Reba hadn't had a chance to finish the alteration until after lunch to-day. ”

“ But she jumped!"
"It's the same with dancing," took up Miss Park. "She has been as determined to master the art as if there were a degree attached to it. She has joined Ida's folk-dancing class too. At first I thought the poor little thing must be in poor health, and that a doctor had prescribed persistent exercise. But that doesn't explain her interest in all the other courses she is taking too. She's taking practically all of them, you know."
It was true Reba was taking all the courses which her schedule would allow. ”

“ Where was he, she wondered—the man to whom fate had allotted her for this first real dance of hers. How strange to feel oneself hunted for by a man, like this, and to be hunting for a man yourself! Perhaps it would be better form, Reba thought, to sit down in one of the chairs up against the wall, and wait until she was found. She approached them.
Suddenly one of the Alliance's hostesses tapped on something.
"Listen, Reds, a moment please," she said, in a hurried, business-like voice. "Will all the girls in this group with a number over twenty-seven, please go over in front of the platform. ”