Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
KATHERINE'S SHEAVES
BY MRS. GEORGE SHELDON
(Mrs. George Sheldon Downs)
To her,
Who led my newly awakened thought
Towards a higher understanding of God,
And opened before me broader vistas of the Life immortal
That is born of Truth and Love,
My Teacher
F. S. K.
this story is lovingly dedicated by The Author
The words Science and Health which appear as marginal reference
refer to The Christian Science Text Book "Science and Health, with
Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker G. Eddy
CONTENTS
I. At Hilton Seminary
II. Katherine and Her Roommate
III. Dorothy
IV. Phillip Harris Stanley, M.D.
V. Katherine's First Sabbath at Hilton
VI. Materia Medica and Miracles
VII. Katherine and the Junior League
VIII. Transcendentalism as Elucidated for the Junior League
IX. Katherine Makes a Demonstration
X. Mrs. Seabrook's Problem
XI. Dr. Stanley Asks Some Questions
XII. Prof. Seabrook's Ultimatum--and Broken Rules
XIII. The Story of a Stray Waif
XIV. A Sophomore Racket
XV. "Hilton Volunteers"
XVI. A Junior Entertainment
XVII. Dr. Stanley Has An Object Lesson
XVIII. Sadie Receives an Opportune Invitation
XIX. Mrs. Seabrook Takes a Stand
XX. Interesting Developments
XXI. The Traveler Returns
XXII. Phillip Stanley's First Demonstration
XXIII. Mrs. Minturn Visits Hilton
XXIV. The End of School Days
XXV. A Momentous Errand
XXVI. Conclusion
KATHERINE'S SHEAVES.
CHAPTER I.
AT HILTON SEMINARY.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon on the opening day of the
midwinter term at Hilton Seminary, a noted institution located in
a beautiful old town of Western New York.
A group of gay girls had just gathered in one of the pleasant and
spacious recreation rooms and were chattering like the proverbial
flock of magpies--exchanging merry greetings after their vacation;
comparing notes on studies, classes and roommates; discussing the
advent of new teachers, pupils and improvements, when a tall,
gracious woman of, perhaps, thirty-five years suddenly appeared in
the doorway, her fair face gleaming with humorous appreciation of
the animated scene and babel before her, and enjoined silence with
the uplifting of one slim white hand.
There was an instantaneous hush, as the bevy of maidens turned
their bright faces and affectionate glances upon their teacher,
who, evidently, was a prime favorite with them all.
"What is it, Miss Reynolds? What can we do for you?" eagerly
queried several of the group, as they sprang forward to ascertain
her wishes.
"Is Miss Minturn in the room? I am looking for a new pupil who
arrived this morning," the teacher responded, her genial, friendly
blue eyes roving from face to face in search of the stranger to
whom she had referred.
A young girl, who had been sitting by herself in a remote corner
of the room, arose and moved towards the speaker.
"I am Katherine Minturn," she said, with quiet self-possession,
yet flushing slightly beneath the many curious glances bent upon
her, as her soft, brown eyes met the smiling blue ones.
She was, apparently, about nineteen years of age, a little above
medium height, her form slight but almost perfect in its
proportions. A wealth of hair, matching the color of her eyes,
crowned a small, shapely head, and contrasted beautifully with a
creamy complexion, the delicacy of which was relieved chiefly by
the vivid scarlet of her lips. Her features were clear-cut and
very attractive--at least so thought Miss Reynolds as she studied
the symmetrical brow, the large, thoughtful eyes, the tender mouth
and prettily rounded chin curving so gracefully into the white,
slender neck.
"Ah! Miss Minturn. I have had quite a search for you," she said,
reaching out a cordial hand to her; for, despite the girl's self-
poise, she had caught a quiver of loneliness on the expressive
face. "I am Miss Reynolds, the teacher of mathematics, and I have
been commissioned by Prof. Seabrook to find and show you to his
study. But first, let me present you to these chatterers."
She dropped the hand that was trembling in her clasp, and,
slipping a reassuring arm about the girl's waist, continued:
"Young ladies, this is Miss Minturn, a new junior. I can't present
each of you formally, for she is wanted immediately elsewhere; but
I will see that she finds you all out later."
Katherine nodded a smiling acknowledgment to the vigorous clapping
of hands and the hearty "Welcome, Miss Minturn, to Hilton." Then
Miss Reynolds led her away, and the interrupted chatter of the
magpies was resumed with redoubled animation, but now the new
junior absorbed the attention of everyone.
"Say, girls, isn't she a dear?" "Came this morning, did she? where
from, I wonder?" "My! but wasn't that a nobby traveling suit, and
such a fit!" "Katherine Minturn--pretty name, isn't it?" "Does
anybody know anything more about her?" were some of the comments
and queries that slipped from those supple instruments with a
tendency towards perpetual motion, which, sometimes, are described
as organs that are hung in the middle and wag at both ends--
school-girls' tongues.
"Hush!--sh!--sh! Oh, girls, do ring off, and perhaps I can give
you a point or two," cried a high-pitched voice with an
unmistakable Southern drawl, as a somewhat overdressed girl of
nineteen or twenty years re-enforced her appeal by vigorous
gestures to attract attention, whereupon the ever alert spirit of
Curiosity silenced every loquacious chatterer, except one who
solemnly announced, "Ladies, Miss Minot has the floor!"
"Yes," the speaker observed, "the new junior does strike one as
being downright stunning. She came from New York City, and"--with
a lugubrious sigh--"though I've never set eyes on her before, I
was informed this morning that she is to be my roommate for the
remainder of the year."
A burst of mirthful laughter rippled over a dozen pairs of rosy
lips at this last mournfully conveyed information.
"Aha! at last Miss Sadie Minot has got to come down to the lot of
common mortals and take in a chum!" cried a merry sprite, with a
saucy chuckle. "Oh, how you have spread yourself and luxuriated in
your solitary magnificence, and how every mother's daughter of us
has envied you your spacious quarters! Well, you know what old
Sol. said about 'pride' and a 'haughty spirit,' and the 'fall'
always comes, first or last. But, Sadie, my love, be comforted,"
she continued, with mock sympathy, "and just try to realize what
splendid discipline it will be for you; one cannot have everything
one wants, you know, even if one is an heiress in one's own right-
-eh, dearie?"
"But there's only one closet, and it is so full now," sighed Miss
Minot, ruefully.
"Hear! hear!" retorted the same mischievous maiden, whose name was
Clara Follet. "After having had undisturbed possession of a whole
room and closet for six long months she ungratefully bemoans----"
"And only one chest of drawers," pursued Sadie, in the same
strain, but with a comical quirk of an eye.
A chorus of mocking groans and derisive laughter greeted this
wail.
"And all four crammed full with her superfluous finery," cried
another of the merry group. "Whatever will you do with it now,
Sadie?"
"I'm sure I don't know, Ollie," retorted the pretty "heiress,"
with a quizzical uplifting of her brows, "unless you take half of
it off my hands altogether, instead of coming to borrow so often."
Shrieks of appreciative mirth followed this deftly shot arrow, for
it was a well-known fact that Ollie Grant, the pet of the school,
was an easy-going little body, very prone to allow her wardrobe to
get in a sad plight and then throw herself upon the mercy of
others, to patch her up, in the event of an emergency.
But Miss Ollie was equal to the occasion.
"Really, Sadie, that would help you out, wouldn't it? and save me
a lot of trotting back and forth," she demurely responded, though
the dimples played a lively game of hide-and-seek in her plump
cheeks. "There's such a love of a lace jacket in her second
drawer, girls; my eyes water with envy every time I get a glimpse
of it; and a few of those ravishing stocks that you've been laying
in of late wouldn't come amiss. There's that lavender satin waist,
too, you bought at Jerome's the other day. I know I should look
perfectly killing in it; and--oh! ye Hiltonites!--she has just
bought six of the sweetest corset covers you ever laid eyes on;
think of it!--six! She could spare three just as well as not, and
I'm sure she has at least a dozen pairs of silk stockings, while"-
-with a doleful sigh--"I don't own a blessed one. Then there are
ribbons and laces, fans and handkerchiefs galore. Don't you think
it would be an act of mercy if I would agree to take some of these
superfluities off her hands, rather than have them ruthlessly
crushed into half their allotted space? And--"
"Ollie! Ollie!--what an incorrigible little tease you are!"
laughingly interposed Miss Minot, as she playfully tweaked the
girl's ear. "I wonder how long the things would last you if you
had them all!"
"Oh, probably two or three times wearing around, providing they
didn't come to mending before that," mused the "Pet," with a
speculative look in her blue eyes, but with a quiver of the
dimples that evoked another paroxysm of laughter from her
audience. "But I say, Sadie," she went on with the next breath,
"Miss Minturn is a downright sweet-looking girl, and I'll wager a-
-a darning needle against a pair of those silk stockings you'll
find her O. K. Maybe she'll let you have an extra drawer and a
hook or two in the closet."
"I don't feel very hopeful, so I won't take you up," sighed Sadie;
"for when I came in from my walk I saw a big trunk, with 'K. M.'
on it, in the hall, and it looks to me as if I--I'm destined to go
through a different kind of 'cramming' process this year, in
addition to the usual one."
This self-inflicted shot now turned the laugh again upon the
speaker, for it was an open secret that the Southern heiress
dearly loved her ease and took it, up to the last moment, then had
to "cram for all she was worth" to get ready for "exams."
While this chatter and fun were going on in the recreation room,
Katherine Minturn had been conducted to the study of Prof.
Seabrook, by whom she was received with his customary courtesy.
The principal of Hilton Seminary was a distinguished-appearing
gentleman of fifty years, possessing a strong, intellectual, yet
refined face, whose chief charm was a pair of large, expressive
blue-gray eyes that could be most winningly kind, or most coldly
and blightingly stern, as the case might be.
"Be seated, Miss Minturn," he courteously commanded, as Miss
Reynolds excused herself and withdrew, and indicating a chair near
the table by which he had been sitting when she entered.
Katherine obeyed, feeling strongly attracted to the man by his
genial manner, even though she knew that his keen but friendly
eyes were intent upon reading what lay beneath her exterior.
"I suppose you feel that you have had rather a hard day," he
continued, glancing significantly at some closely written sheets
which he had evidently been looking over when she entered, and
which she instantly recognized as her examination papers.
"Not at all," she quietly returned, lifting her clear eyes to him,
and he marveled at the unclouded serenity in their pure depths.
"Indeed!" and he could not quite conceal his surprise. "It is a
rare event for a young lady to make such an admission after a
rigid ordeal like what you have sustained this afternoon. However,
I am happy to inform you that you are unconditionally admitted to
the junior class; your papers do you great credit, Miss Minturn. I
had not expected quite so much from you, as you had told me that
you left school last year, a sophomore, and have been traveling
abroad until recently. I feared we might have to ask you to review
a little, for it is rather unusual for a pupil to enter an
advanced class in the middle of the year."
"But I have not been idle since leaving school," Katherine
replied, a happy gleam in her eyes, for his commendation was very
gratifying to her; "although we were abroad for several months, we
were often located in some place for weeks at a time, and mamma,
having once been a teacher at Vassar, coached me for the junior
class."
"Ah! that explains your proficiency. How convenient to have an ex-
Vassar in the family!" Prof. Seabrook smilingly observed. "All the
same, I am sure the daughter deserves some commendation for work
conscientiously done."
"Thank you, sir," said Katherine, a flush of pleasure tingeing her
cheeks.
The principal then proceeded to give her some information
regarding her classes and the ground to be covered in her various
studies during the coming term, after which he asked some
questions as to her recent travels, whereupon they fell into a
pleasant chat about points of interest which both had visited, and
thus a delightful half hour slipped away. At length Prof. Seabrook
referred to a book that lay on the table beside him, and observed:
"I find, Miss Minturn, that you are to room with Miss Sadie Minot,
a young lady from Atlanta, Georgia, and I think you will find her
an agreeable companion. However"--with a humorous twinkle in his
eyes--"to use a homely proverb, 'it is Hobson's choice,' for it
happens to be the only vacancy in the building; we have a very
full school this year. I will call some one to show you how to
find it, and have your trunk sent up later."
He touched a bell and presently a young girl about sixteen entered
the room, with a brisk step and an alert air, suggestive of a
repressed cyclone only awaiting an opportunity for mischief
brewing; while, as she approached the occupants, a strong odor of
peppermint made itself apparent in the atmosphere.
"Miss Minturn, this is Miss Wild, one of our breezy freshmen--eh,
Jennie?" and the quizzical look again leaped into the blue-gray
eyes.
Katherine smilingly acknowledged the introduction, while Miss Wild
blushed and nodded an embarrassed greeting, then immediately
turned her face away from the focus of the professor's observation
and made a comical grimace which came very near proving too much
for Katherine's dignity.
"Jennie," the gentleman continued, "Miss Minturn is to share Miss
Minot's room--number fifteen, west wing--and I have called you to
show her the way, if you please."
"Yes, sir, I will," said the girl, with ready compliance, which
culminated in a vigorous sneeze, whereupon, with the restless
energy which pervaded her every movement, she whisked her
handkerchief from her pocket, and, with it, there shot out a
promiscuous assortment of chocolates and cream peppermints, which
went bounding and rolling about the room in every direction.
Prof. Seabrook gave vent to a hearty laugh of amusement at the
awkward contretemps.
"I thought I detected a familiar odor, Jennie," he observed; then
added, good-naturedly, "You may pick them up, if you please."
"Guess I will," she returned, eagerly, and nimbly suiting the
action to her words. "I really can't afford to lose all that
precious sweetness. Josie Craig gave them to me just as you rang."
Katherine had risen and was moving towards the door, to cover her
own inclination to explode, and thus make the situation more
awkward for the girl, when the principal checked her by remarking:
"By the way, Miss Minturn, the juniors and seniors attend the
Bible class, which it is my province to conduct. We meet at four
on Sunday afternoons in the south recitation room; and the lesson
for next Sabbath will be on the Creation, as given in the first
chapter of Genesis. And this reminds me that I have neglected to
inquire where you will attend church. As our catalogue states,
each student is allowed to choose her own place of worship. Where
do you propose to make your church home?"
Katherine had expected this question before; nevertheless, she
flushed slightly as she turned back to face her interlocutor, and
replied:
"I am a Christian Scientist, Prof. Seabrook, and I shall attend
the church on Grove Street."
The pause which followed this announcement was painfully ominous,
and Katherine was amazed at the frozen look which suddenly settled
over the gentleman's face, together with the expression of stern
disapprobation which instantly drove all the kindness out of his
hitherto genial eyes. "A Christian Scientist!--indeed!" he said,
in a tone as frigid as his look. "It is a matter of regret to me
that you did not state that fact when you made application for
admission to Hilton."
Katherine's lip quivered slightly at this caustic remark and the
accompanying scorn on the high-bred face; and the flush which had
risen to her cheek a moment before vanished, leaving her quite
pale, although in no way disconcerted.
"But I believe the catalogue states that there is no sectarianism
in Hilton Seminary, that the broadest possible religious tolerance
prevails here," she remarked, with a sweet gentleness which, under
any other circumstances, would have instantly disarmed her
companion.
But, as it happened, he was a bitter opponent of the "false
doctrine," and the term "Science" applied to Christianity was a
rank offense to his rigid Presbyterian opinions, as was also the
fact that a woman had dared to face the world with it!
"I do not recognize Christian Science, so-called, as a religion,"
he retorted, with a sharpness in marked contrast to Katherine's
sweetness. "In my opinion, it is simply a device and snare of
Satan himself to deceive the very elect; and Miss Minturn"--this
with frowning emphasis--"I will not, for a moment, tolerate the
promulgation of its fallacious teachings in this school. I trust I
make myself understood."
Katherine had not once removed her clear, brown eyes from his
countenance during this speech, but there was not the slightest
manifestation of resentment on her own--only an expression of
tender regret, as if she were sorry for him, because of the sense
of discord that seemed to hold possession of him.
"You mean that I am not to talk it here?" she said.
"Exactly; nor flaunt it in any way."
"I will not, sir," with gentle gravity; then a little smile
curving her red lips, she added: "Christian Science, Prof.
Seabrook, is a religion of Love, and I will simply try to live
it."
The principal of Hilton flushed to his brows before this
unassuming girl, a circumstance unprecedented in the annals of the
institution.
Her look, her tone, the softly spoken words--all radiated love,
and his arrogant spirit felt the gentle rebuke.
"Have you that book, 'Science and Health,' with you?" he curtly
demanded.
Katherine's heart leaped within her. Did he mean to deprive her of
her daily bread?
"Yes, sir," with unfaltering glance and voice.
"Then keep it out of sight," he briefly commanded, adding, in a
tone of dismissal, as he took up his pen: "That is all, Miss
Minturn."
Katherine bowed respectfully, then quietly followed Jennie Wild
from the room.