Barton Hall

“ Just inside the door was the office of Miss Jane Romaine, the head of Laurel Hall.
"There's Miss Jane now," whispered Jessie Robinson. "We'll have to go in and report, and then she'll tell you about your rooms."
The room was beautifully furnished with a heavy-pile rug, mahogany desk and chairs.
"It looks more like a sitting room than an office," Nan whispered to Jo. "Dad's office never looked like this!" ”

“ At the great international sittings of the Red Cross in Geneva, in Carlsruhe, in Vienna, in St. Petersburg,—Clara Barton, the only woman officially representing any government among the representatives of forty nations. As the unpretentious woman of five feet three comes into the hall, the great men of the earth rise to their feet,—eyes eager, handkerchiefs in air, then huzzas that echo the heart throbs of a world humanity greet the ear and touch the heart of the “lonesomest-lone-woman” as she walks down the aisle of the auditorium to take her seat among the great world-humanitarians. ”

“ Yesterday they had seemed to care whether she went to Laurel Hall with them or not. To-day they appeared quite reconciled to her staying home. Was it possible that Nan and Sadie, the two chums from whom she had rarely ever been separated during their years of work and fun together, should care so little for her as their manner seemed to imply? If they did not care, then she would show them that neither did she!
Jo shrugged her shoulders impatiently and forced a smile to her quivering lips. She must not—must not!—allow herself to become morbid! ”

“ Nan urged, stretching luxuriously in the brilliant sunshine, like a kitten before a hearth. "Miss Jane won't care as long as we don't stay out too late."
"Away dull care and let's be gay!" sang Jo, breaking into the strains of a merry school song. The girls all joined her, and Sadie's protest was heard no more.
They rowed lazily, for, as Nan had said, they had the whole day before them. As they looked toward Laurel Hall they saw three more boatloads of merrymakers push off from the shore.
"They are making for Maple Island," called Doris from Jessie's boat. ”

“ This gave an effect of privacy, almost as though the alcove were another room.
There were three dressers, each one standing formal and upright against the wall. A table, some chairs, among them three big easy-chairs, and a small desk in the far corner completed the furnishings.
But if the room within was inviting, surely the view without was even more so.
From two of their three windows the lake could be seen, rippling placidly in the valley with the grim towering bulk of one of the twin mountains in the background looming black against a brilliant sky.
"Look! There's a dock!" cried Sadie. ”

“ With the first robbery in mind and feeling uneasy, the janitor dressed quickly and made the rounds of the gymnasium and the boathouse. Here he found his suspicions justified. The gymnasium and the boathouse had both been robbed again!
The janitor went directly to Miss Romaine with his report. In some way the news leaked out before the Head of Laurel Hall intended it should. Like wildfire it spread among the excited girls.
"The lockers in the gym have been practically cleaned out!" wailed Nan.
"We should have slept with our things under our beds, that's what we should have done!" cried Sadie. ”

“ It gave him a large skull-index, a massive forehead, an impressive set of features that look their best when on a platform surmounting a vast concourse of people. It gave him a certain faculty for looking like a great man. To hear Edmund Barton concluding one of his elaborate and lawyer-like periods, to watch him closing his lips firmly and looking out with that Roscius-like gaze over the heads of the audience, is to experience an unreasonable desire to rise up in the middle of the hall and cheer. ”

“ Barton, the gasman who succeeded the man who sprained his leg, sprained his leg yesterday!! And that, not at his work, but in running downstairs at the hotel. However, he has hobbled through it so far, and I hope will hobble on, for he knows his work.
I have seldom seen a place look more hopelessly frozen up than this place does. The hall is like a Methodist chapel in low spirits, and with a cold in its head. A few blue people shiver at the corners of the streets. ”

“ From these windows the view was beautiful and even included a small portion of the lake.
The pleasure of the chums at being placed close to their new friends was tempered by a discovery they made as they drew their chairs out from the table. Directly opposite them, sat Kate Speed and her meek little shadow, Lily Darrow!
"I had no idea that you were to sit at our table or I might have warned you," Jessie whispered, noting Jo's glance of annoyance. "Never mind, Kate can't bite at meals. Not with Miss Tully in charge!" ”

“ Tallant, junior.
“Nothing, nothing; a bit of quiet Loo and a cigar. Young Hammerton is to join us by-and-by.”
“What, Earl Verner’s brother?” Mr. Richard inquired, with more than ordinary interest.
“The same—the paternal seat is near Barton Hall, you know.”
“Rather,” said Mr. Richard. “He’ll be deuced rich when the earl hops the twig; he is considerably older than Lionel and very shaky, they say; he often rides over to the Berne district. The governor says he likes to talk farming to the bailiff at the Hall Farm.”
“Gad bless me!” exclaimed Mr. Gibbs. “Are there any gals about?” ”

“ For Sadie, acting as stroke—the girls of Laurel Hall liked to make their boat races as much like a college shell race as possible—had increased the steady motion of the oars. Left behind at the start, Sadie and Jo were catching up, slowly, it is true, but seemingly surely.
"They'll never make it, though!" Excited as she was, Nan kept her voice low so as not to reach the unfriendly ears of Kate's crowd. "They have the outside, you see, and going around the island they will lose more than they can possibly gain later." ”

“ Every newspaper in America printed a picture of the O’Grady statue; our rival cities made merry over it at our expense. The Chamber of Commerce, incensed at the affront to the city’s good name, passed resolutions condemning Barton in the bitterest terms; the local press howled; a mass meeting was held in our biggest hall to voice public indignation. But amid the clamor Barton remained calm, pointing to the stipulation in Follonsby’s will that his money should be spent in memorials of men who had enjoyed most fully the confidence of the people. ”

“ Miss Romaine's voice was suddenly crisp and business-like. "There are several girls who entered the office before you, and each one must take her turn."
She smiled at the three chums from Woodford, handed them each a printed slip upon which were detailed the rules of the school, gave them the number of their room, and waved them pleasantly away.
"I see you have already made a friend of Jessie. She will explain anything that puzzles you," she said, and added: "I hope you will be very happy at Laurel Hall." ”

“ The rest was easy, and it was only a moment before Sadie also had joined the two disheveled, mud-drenched girls on the edge of the swamp.
They eyed each other oddly for a moment, then broke into hysterical giggles.
"What are we going to do?" cried Nan. "We never can go back to the Hall looking like this."
"I guess we'll have to," said Jo practically. "We can't stay here all night. That's a sure thing."
"What we need is a fire," Sadie said, as they started to skirt the swamp and find their way to the picnic grounds. ”

“ On the first floor were the classrooms, a large drawing, and a reception room, the dining hall already described and the rooms occupied by members of the faculty. The kitchen, presided over by a Negro cook named Nora, had been built on later and never seemed quite in keeping with the rest of the place. The girls liked it, however, as Nora often slipped them handfuls of fresh cookies out of the side door and never objected to making up picnic lunches whenever they were required. The kitchen was, the students thought, the pleasantest and most homelike place at Laurel Hall. ”

“ She found awaiting her in Washington a large number of requests to lecture in different places, and she arranged a New England tour. She began with Worcester and Oxford. She did this with many misgivings, not forgetting the lack of honor for a prophet in his own country. She spoke in Mechanic’s Hall in Worcester, before a full house. She got her hundred dollars, but was not happy over the lecture. In Oxford, however, things went differently. She had a good house, and “the pleasantest lecture I shall ever deliver. Raced home all happy and at rest. My best visit at home.” ”

“ After a few more words about the admirable quality of good sportsmanship, Miss Romaine dismissed them.
Nan and Sadie, with Jessie and Doris, made at once for their room where they poured the whole story into Jo's sympathetic and anxious ear.
"Glory be!" cried the latter, turning a hand-spring of delight and landing in some mysterious manner upon the bed. "The ship is ours again! The enemy is routed! All's well with the world!" ”

“ I wish Lottie Sparks and Kate Speed could be run out of Laurel Hall!"
The chums had not long to wait for the expected summons from the office.
Nan and Sadie alone were wanted. Jo, it seemed, was not implicated this time.
"I wonder what made her leave me out," said the latter dryly. "Lottie and Kate usually try to get the three of us in a jam together. This must be an oversight!"
"Wish us good luck, anyway," Sadie said, as she and Nan prepared to answer the summons. "We may not come up alive!" ”

“ The more they struggled to free themselves, the more deeply they were caught. Their cries for help brought no response.
In their merry chase over the island they had run farther from the picnic grounds than they had thought. Or perhaps the other girls, not as lazy as they had pretended, had wandered off in another direction, putting still greater distance between them and the unfortunate victims in the swamp.
Exhausted between their cries for help and their efforts to free themselves from the muck and slime, the three girl chums finally gave up and stared at each other in helpless despair. ”

“ A Ferris wheel was erected at her front door; the roller-coaster went thundering by her window; the dancing in what had been the auditorium kept up till a late hour; and the goddess of folly with cap and bells [Pg 311] superseded divine philosophy in the hall dedicated to the latter; but Clara Barton lived and died in her home in Glen Echo.
The inside of her house was not much more luxurious than the outside. Few homes have been erected with so little attempt at display, or with such modest provision for reasonable comfort. ”

“ Under the spell of Miss Barton’s presence, “Knocks” was omitted from the program and “Boosts” resulted in a symposium of tributes,—in an ovation given to Miss Barton “such as few mortals receive.”
Since her death her autograph has become very valuable. Even then it was highly prized, and she was not permitted to leave the hall until every delegate present had her autograph. At the close of the meeting a delegation of Southern women waited on Clara Barton to thank her for what she did for the “boys in Gray” during the Civil War. ”

“ As the other girls peered curiously over Nan's shoulder, two men jumped up on the dock. One of them disappeared about the corner of the boathouse, the other made hurriedly for the gymnasium.
"The thieves!" cried Jo. "We've seen them at last!"
The three girls hurried out into the corridor to get a better view from a window there than any of their own afforded.
"Wait a minute! Look!" Sadie was shaking with excitement. "That man has come out of the gym and he's heading for the garage! He is opening the door!"
"Miss Jane's sedan! He's stealing Miss Jane's car!" cried Nan. "Come on, girls, quick! ”

“ So you see, Miss Jane, Nan and Jo and Sadie didn't know a thing about it!" Then, having finished her evidence, this unaccountable girl burst into tears and, with her hands to her face, rushed from the room.
The girls looked after her, wondering, then turned to Miss Romaine, who was absently toying with a paper weight on her desk.
"I am glad for your sake, my dear girls, that you have found so good a friend in Lily Darrow," she said slowly. "A girl has indeed proved her friendship who is willing to risk her future for it." ”

“ The boats were, many of them—most of them, in fact—built with a double set of oars and oar-locks. Two boats of this sort the Woodford girls and their friends chose for the trip up the lake.
"Jo and I'll do the work," said Sadie to Nan. "You sit in the stern and look handsome, Nan."
"If I sit in the stern I ought to look stern," retorted Nan, and at this feeble witticism the girls laughed happily. It was the kind of day that made them laugh at almost anything!
"Don't let's follow the crowd," called Jessie, as her boat, safely launched, floated out upon the bright surface of the lake. ”

“ A wondering glance passed between the chums.
"I don't think we quite understand, Miss Jane," said Nan hesitantly.
"No, I don't suppose you would, without knowing more of the circumstances." Miss Romaine seemed to consider; then spoke with quick resolution. "Lily Darrow has not known the happy life that most of you girls have had. Her mother and father died about three years ago, leaving the girl an orphan and penniless. Mr. Speed, Kate's father, took her into his household—I believe she was a distant relation—as a companion to Kate. I imagine she has been more of a servant than a companion." ”