The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-17
Copyright. 1913, by the Mcclure
NeWspa per Syndicate

Newspaper Syndicate
When Ansel Baker, in possession of
a crisp, new doctor of philosophy de-
gree, accepted the post Of professor
OF romance philology in Clayburn Wo
mems college, he had a distinct idea
/ of what college girls as a class really
were. Half of them, he was convinced.
wore pince-neZ glasses, and the other
half wore spectacles. They were us
uaily tall and invariably had straight,
neatly arranged hair. They wore
broad fiat-heeled shoes and had the
admirable quality of being able to talk
to any man, woman or child on any
conceivable subject with perfect com
posture. Giggling, blushing, whisper
ing. or, least of all, flirting, practices
which he had sometimes observed in
women who had not gone to college,
were positively out of their line.
With the perfect assurance that col
1ege women were built along these
lines, Ansei. though but twenty five
years old and rather inexperienced in
the ways of women in general, accept
ed the appointment at Clayburn.
After his first day in the classroom
he withdrew to the privacy of his
boarding house bedroom to puzzle il
t out Was Clayburn college a real wo-
mems college, or. perahps. had he lost
his way and was not really at Clay
burn after all? Or. perchance, Were
the young women he had had in his
classroom really not typical? Gould
t il be that the fact that he was new
and inexperienced have drawn only the
most frivolous to select his course OF
study, or was there something in the
mere subject. Romance 1hiioiogy,
that had attracted them
| Ansel recalled the group of young
women he had seen that day. He re-
called the bright-eyed pink-cheekcd
( little lady who sat in the front row
taking copious notes on everything he
said He recalled that she was too
short for the chair and had to bend
| her small feet downward TO reach the
| floor. How unlike the tall MtnerVas OF
| his dreams, Then there was the help
/ less little girl in the next row who
had dropped her notebook on the fioor
1 and had blushed when ne picked II up
/ for her There was the round eyed
/ brunette who wore a blue ribbon
I through her hair. She was Daisy.
! Daisy had stopped to sharpen a pen
Gil in the middle OF his lecture, and
/ foolishly enough he had waited till
! she was ready to take notes again
/ before going on. She noticed his KIND
4 ness and, instead of smiling nor
/ thanks composedly as the college girls
of his Imagination would have done,
she had actually blushed-blushed
! and then giggled to her next-door
neighbor Later in the day Ansel had
discovered that her name was DAISY
when he had heard her companions
calling her by that name as he passed
the tennis court and saw her leaping
+ like q fairy in the air 10 return ner
partners serve,
Daisy proved before many days to
be enchanting. and though her schoi-
arship was not of the most promising
order, Ansei convinced himself that
Daisy ought to specialize IN phllology-
Perhaps, he thought, az ne let mis-
| imagination wander, perhaps she
might, after she had finished her
course, become his assistant. He
hated the idea of Clayburn without
Daisy.
1t was two months later. 1t was
/ the day Of the sophomore play. ana
Daisy, under the responsibilities OF her
position as property man and scene
shifter, had had no head for philology
for a week Ansel knew this because
he had noticed that instead of taking
notes of what he said in his lectures
Daisy had been writing something like
this in her notebook; "One sausage
two candlesticks, one quill pen, one
pistol, one bottle of poison, one soil
taire ring, one dog biscuit 1t was a
relief to Ansel when it occurred to him
that this was not inspired by his lee
lures, but was simply a list OF neGes-
sary properties for the impending play
Ansel would have enjoyed seeing the
play, even though Daisy was not to be
one of the actors. but the eyes of men,
even If they belonged to professors,
are never admitted to one of these
productions So Ansel contented him
self with the prospect of spending the
afternoon in his Office in the third
floor of the building that contained the
I little theater where the play was TO
! be given, two flights away from the
Incompatible Daisy. He wondered
whether it was hard work to be prop
| erty man; whether she had to roll
! her sleeves up to shift scenery and
whether she wore an apron.
Just then Ansel looked up from his
desk. and there was Daisy. very pink
of face, with sleeves rolled up and
large apron tied about her young
/ body.
"Oh, Mr.. Baker" she said in haste,
can you turn somersaults. and can
| you bark? Please tell me. / tried TO
get the laboratory boy from the chem
/ istry laboratory, but he has gone for
| the afternoon, and you are the only
man left Please come quickly If you
can and / will explain as we go down.
The play begins in ten minutes: We
| can go down the back way. and you
/ can get dressed in my locker, and no
| one will ever know"
/ Ansel followed in a maze
| 'tYou see, Mr.. Baker" she explain