The morning call., 1891-07-30
A SWEET GIRL
GRADUATE.
BY MARY CHIEF.

sheet containing the words Grace Church"
and some necessary items lay upon my desk.
1t was one of those modern messages which
say very little. but by which great deal is
understood. AS supplied the ellipsis re-
garded them attentiyely. Could it be? read
them Josephine Lancey-Frederick Mar
shall-Grace church, There was no doubt
about it.
Good good! All honor to the destiny
that shapes our endsv" l exclaimed, invol-
unfairly clapping my hands and wheeling
about the room in fashion very dlstractlng
to sOber-minded people.
"Why, Mary, | am surprisedl' said my
mother in a tone whose principal Ingredient
was rebuke.
whats in the wind now?" inquired my
Uncle John, looking over his newspaper.
$50 Lancey and Fred Marshall are to be
married at Grace Church in two weeks" l
answered. And it is so funny"
"Confound your feminine adjectives"
exclaimed my uncle. "A man needs to be
woman to understand woman S talk. Not
having the honor of An acquaintance with
Joe something and Fred somebody else, l
cannot understand what you mean by funny
and do not know whether you refer to the
fact of their marriage or the antecedents OF
il. Sometimes | might Interpret your
funny to mean ludicrOus, sometimes
strange, sometimes agreeable and sometimes
sad"
"Oh, what a blessing it is to have q
household critic, WHO never loses an oppor-
tunity to set you right!' was my impatient
reply. II am afraid l do not half appre-
ciate you. By funny in this particular
instance, | mean that it is so odd, so uneX-
pected, so wonderful and so nice, too-just
the thing. | could not have wished any
thing nicer"
Nice and ntcer!" repeated Uncle John.
Ladies adjectives again. Nice means
clean. And now, since l have cooled your
ardor by my corrections, sit down and tell
me about these people, whose invitation to
their marriage inspires your feet with jig
and your tongue with hackneyed quota
ton from Shakespeare"
well, once upon time" | began.
The deuce" interrupted my provoking
uncle
Now, Uncle john" said I, ait is too
bad, how you put me out and disgrace your
gentlemanly character by saying a word
that always sounds like substitute for the
one spelt by printers with d and a dash.
1t you interrupt me again L will leave you
all alone to your evil thoughts and l will
amuse myself by playing solitaire"
Oh, don't leave your story in such an In
teresting part l beseech of you. Proceed,
and l pledge my word, as scholar and a
gentleman that 1 viii be temporarily dumb
until YOU eXclaim, The end"
"When l entered upon my second year at
Nine. d'Orsay's." l began, there were
large number Of new boarders. To be
new pupil at our seminary was not so pleas
ant as many fancied. Madame seemed to
think more of the checks for several hun
dred dollars that the pupils would bring her
than OF the young misses; tie teachers who
occupied the exalted positions of faculty
in that highly respectable institution regard
ed them as new specimens of intractable
humanity, presenting unexploded depths of
lniQuity; and we pupils of mere ancient
date withheld our friendship until we had
subjected them TO our scrutiny and CLASH
fed them. For the very laudable purpose
of ScrutnlZing the new scholars Nell Hunt
er, Hattie Clark and l accepted an invita-
tion to meet the newcomers in the parloT,
and with like praisewortny motive we con-
veued in our room to classify them. All the
dull, stupid girls of the Miss Nancy sort
were classed among the nOnentities; the
wealthy ones with the ariStocracy; the very
clever ones with the literati, aud the good
natuled, merry ones as congrnial spirits.
Among all the scholars there were none who
attracted so much observation as two young
ladies from the same town. We were de-
cidedly Struck with the stylish manners
and eXtravagant elegance of Miss Eleanor
Gilbert and as much amused with the odd
dress and awkward appearance of Josephine
Lancey. Nell Hunter said she looked like
a gigantic poplar tree; Hattie Clark said
her exceeding gross stature clad in bomha-
zine made her look exactly as a bean-pole
would if it were bean-pole fashion to don
the 'habiliments of woe when some other
beloved bean-role was laid TO the earth. and
l said that if she had been clothed in white
| would have mistaken her for spook and
tainted at thoughts Of encountering the
'sheeted dead perhaps the very ghost of
Hatte's departed bean-pOle 1t was very
unkind and unjust but We thought little of
these subjects, except on Saturdays, when
we took some of the abstract virtues as sub
jects for essays and We did not trouble our
selves that our theory ~ should accord
with our practice ~. We were unanimous
in our decision to curry favor with Miss
Gilbert and pay no regard to Miss Lancey,
whom we classed with the nonentities,
evergreen division.
Scarcely a month had elapsed before we
were weary of the arrogance and dullness
of Miss Gilbert, and concluded we should
have been wiser if we had numbered Miss
Lancey with the literati; for. with all her
uncouth ways, she was making herself re-
spected in the classes and was becoming
favorite with the teachers.
ut was dark, rainy night-such a one
as 'pities neither wise men nor foOls'-that
our laughing trio sat in my room, willing
away the tedious hours with songs and chat
ting, when Miss Lancey knocked for admit
lance. Our respect for her abilities had
berome too profound for us to treat her in
politely, although our first prejudices pre-
vented any show of cordially. Suddenly
there came tapping at our window frame
as if some light material were thrown
against it. When it was repeated again our
visitor looked amazed and we annoyed-for
IL was a signal we well understood. More
than once the students from the neighboring
college had brought us knick-knacks from
the village, and at this signal we had low
cred a cord to which they attached basket
What were we to do? We could not let
Miss Lancey into our secret, and we could
not ask her to leave without exciting her
suspicious.
"'Who knows but il may be Poe's raven p
said Miss Lancey.
Let me see, teen, what there Is, and this mystery
explore;
Let my heart be still moment and this mystery
explore
IT'S the wind and nothing more
'She flung open the shutter, and. peering
out in the darkness, whispered: There is
man under the window
ave all rushed 10 the open easement,
veXed enough that this stranger should dis
cover our secret, and were about lowering
our cord when Miss Lancey inquired: is
there not mistake, young ladies? That
man is Jean dOrsay, madame's spying
brother. l recognized him by light that
passed through lower room and shone on
his face
THAT revelation arrested our cord In its
downward career. 1T is just like that old
hypocrite,' exclaimed Nell.
"'No student would be such fool ms to
venture out such night exclaimed Hattie.
"'What shall VIC do?' was my practical
inquiry.
1--WE were under too grea: obligations to
our visitor to be angry, and rapidly stated
On what slippery place we stood. In a
minute she understood-stepped from the
window, seized a pitcher of water and
emptied its contents on the luckless Jeans
head. We heard q muttered oath as the
window was closed, and while we feared
the consequences, could not but laugh at
the discontinue Of Jean, who was no IA
voritc.
IAN hour later we were summoned to ma
danes presence, but Josephine Lancey man
aged the affair very adroitiy; acknowledged
that the students had annoyed some of her
pupils, but we had determined TO punish
them; and when we heard the rapping at
the window had prepared pitcher Of water
to dash upon them. We all deprecated the
fact that NJ. d'Orsay should have suffered
for our rash act, and were honorably dis
charged. Poor Jean d'Orsay! He re-
ceived the name Of Jean tho Baptist and
Josephine Lancey became our especial favor
lite.
"When we came to know her history that