THE JUNIORS FOREVER
When the four classes assembled Thursday morning, every girl, with the
exception of Eleanor, was in her seat. Her absence created considerable
comment, and it was a matter of speculation as to whether she had
purposely absented herself or really had been suspended.
After conducting opening exercises, Miss Thompson pronounced sentence on
the culprits. They were to forfeit their recess, library and all other
privileges until the end of the term. They must turn in two themes every
week of not less than six hundred words on certain subjects to be
assigned to them. If, during this time, any one of them should be
reported for a misdemeanor, they were to be suspended without delay.
Their penalty was far from light, but they had not been suspended, and
so they resolved to endure it as best they might.
Grace Harlowe felt a load lifted from her mind when Miss Thompson
publicly announced that she had not received any information from either
Mabel Allison or the Phi Sigma Tau.
"Thank goodness, none of us were concerned in that affair," she told the
members of her basketball team at recess. "There are two girls on the
sophomore and three on the freshman team whose basketball ardor will
have to cool until after the mid-year exams."
"You might know that some of those silly freshmen would get into
trouble," said Nora scornfully.
"'Twas many and many a year ago,
In an age beyond recall,
That Nora, the freshman, lowly sat
At one end of the study hall."
recited Anne Pierson in dramatic tones.
There was a burst of laughter from the girls at this effusion, in which
Nora herself joined.
"What a delicate way of reminding me that I once was a freshman!" she
exclaimed.
"Anne has a new accomplishment," said Grace. "She can spout poetry
without trying."
"Small credit is due me," said Anne, smiling. "Anyone can twist 'Annabel
Lee' to suit the occasion."
"By the way, Anne," said Grace, "as you are a poet, you must compose a
basketball song to-day, and I'll see that the juniors all have copies.
It's time we had one. Let me see what would be a good tune?"
"'Rally Round the Flag,'" suggested Miriam Nesbit. "That has a dandy
swing to it."
Grace hummed a few bars.
"The very thing," she exclaimed. "Now, Anne, get busy at once. You'd
better sing the tune to yourself all the time you're writing it, then
you'll be sure to put more dash and spirit into it."
"I wish the day of the game were here," said Jessica plaintively.
"I have been practising a most encouraging howl. Hippy, David and
Reddy have a new one, too. Reddy says it's 'marvelously extraordinary
and appallingly great.'"
"I can imagine it to be all that and more if Hippy had anything to do
with its origin," said Nora.
"Wasn't it nice of Miss Thompson to exonerate us publicly?" asked Anne.
"She is always just," replied Grace. "I can't understand how Eleanor
could be so rude and disagreeable to her. She has disliked Miss Thompson
from the first."
"I wonder whether she apologized to Miss Thompson last night," mused
Grace.
"I feel sure that she didn't, and I am just as sure that she won't get
back until she does."
"We shall manage to exist if she doesn't," said Jessica dryly. She felt
a personal grudge against Eleanor for her accusation against Mabel, who
had grown very dear to her and whom she mothered like a hen with one
chicken.
"She'll probably appear at the game in all her glory," said Miriam
Nesbit. "She can go to that, even though she is on bad terms with the
school."
The recess bell cut short the conversation and the girls returned to
their desks with far better ideas of the coming game than of the
afternoon's lessons.
Saturday, December 12, dawned cold and clear, and the girls on both
teams were in high spirits as they hustled into their respective
locker-rooms and rapidly donned their gymnasium suits. The spectators
had not yet begun to arrive, as it was still early, so the girls
indulged in a little warming-up practice, did a few stunts and skipped
about, overflowing with animal spirits.
Julia Crosby and Grace took turns sprinting around the gymnasium three
times in succession, while Miriam Nesbit timed them, Grace finishing
just two seconds ahead of Julia.
By a quarter of two the gallery was fairly well filled and by five
minutes of two it was crowded. The juniors, with the exception of
Eleanor Savell's faction, arrived in a body, gave the High School yell
the moment they spied their team, and then burst forth with the
basketball song, led by Ruth Deane, a tall junior, who stood up and beat
time with both hands. Anne had composed the song the week before. The
juniors had all received copies of the words and had learned them by
heart. They now sang with the utmost glee, and came out particularly
strong on the chorus, which ran:
"The juniors forever, hurrah, fans, hurrah!
Our team is a winner, our captain's a star.
And we'll drive the senior foe, from the basket every time.
Shouting the war cry of the juniors."
There was a great clapping of hands from the admirers of the juniors at
this effort, but the seniors promptly responded from the other end of
the gallery to the tune of Dixie, with:
"The seniors are the real thing.
Hurrah! Hurrah!
Our gallant team now takes its stand,
And all the baskets soon will land.
We shout, we sing, the praises of the seniors."
Hardly had the last notes died away, when the referee blew the whistle
and the teams hustled to their positions. Grace and Julia Crosby faced
each other, beamed amiably and shook hands, then stood vigilant, eyes on
the ball that the referee balanced in her hands. Up it went, the whistle
sounded and the two captains sprang straight for it. Grace captured it,
however, and sent it flying toward Miriam, who was so carefully guarded
that she dared not attempt to make the basket, and after a feint managed
to throw it to Nora, who tried for the basket at long range and missed.
There was a general scramble for the ball, and for five minutes neither
team scored; then Marian Barber dropped a neat field goal, and soon
after Grace scored on a foul. The junior fans howled joyfully at the
good work of their team. The seniors did not intend to allow them to
score again in a hurry. They played such a close guarding game that, try
as they might, the juniors made no headway. Then Julia Crosby scored on
a field goal, making the score 3 to 2. This spurred the junior team on
to greater effort, and Miriam made a brilliant throw to basket that
brought forth an ovation from the gallery. This ended the first half,
with the score 5 to 2 in favor of the juniors.
"They'll have to work to catch up with us now," said Nora O'Malley
triumphantly to the members of the team, who sat resting in the little
side room off the gymnasium.
"We have the lead, but we can't afford to boast yet," replied Grace.
"The seniors played a fine game last half, and they'll strain every
nerve to pile up their score next half."
"We shall win," said Miriam Nesbit confidently. "I feel it in my bones."
"Let's hope that your bones are true prophets," laughed Marian Barber.
"O girls!" exclaimed Eva Allen from the open door, in which she had been
standing looking up at the gallery. "Eleanor is here. She and her
satellites are sitting away up on the back seat of the gallery."
"Where?" asked Nora, going to the door. "Oh, yes, I see her. She looks
as haughty as ever. It's a wonder she'd condescend to come and watch her
mortal enemies play."
"I suppose she hopes we'll lose," said Marian Barber. "That would fill
her with joy."
"Then we'll see that she goes away in a gloomy frame of mind," said
Nora, "for we're going to win, and don't you forget to remember it."
Just then the whistle blew, and there was a scramble for places. This
time Julia Crosby won the toss-up, and followed it up with a field goal.
Then the seniors scored twice on fouls, tying the score. The juniors
set their teeth and waded in with all their might and main, setting a
whirlwind pace that caused their fans to shout with wild enthusiasm and
fairly dazed their opponents. Grace alone netted four foul goals, and
the sensational playing of Nora and Miriam was a matter of wonder to the
spectators, who conceded it to be the fastest, most brilliant half ever
played by an Oakdale team. The game ended with the score 15 to 6 in
favor of the juniors, whose loyal supporters swooped down upon them the
moment the whistle blew and pranced about, whooping like savages.
"That was the greatest game I ever saw played under this roof," cried
David, wringing Grace's hand, while Hippy hopped about, uttering little
yelps of joy. Reddy circled about the victors almost too delighted for
words. He was filled with profound admiration for them.
"The boys' crack team couldn't have played a better game," he said
solemnly, and the girls knew that he could pay them no higher
compliment, for this team was considered invincible by the High School
boys.
"Perhaps we'll challenge you some day, Reddy," said Grace mischievously.
"I believe you'd win at that," he said so earnestly that every one
laughed.
"It was a great triumph," said Jessica proudly, as she stood with Mabel
and Anne in the locker-room while the girls resumed street clothing.
"And my new howl was a success, too."
"Glad to know that," said Grace. "There were so many different kinds of
noises I couldn't distinguish it."
"There was one noise that started that was promptly hushed," said Anne.
"You heard it, too, didn't you Jessica?"
"Oh, yes, girls, I intended telling you before this," replied Jessica.
"Just before the last half started, Miss Thompson and Miss Kane came in
and walked to the other end of the gallery. Well, Eleanor and her crowd
saw them, and what do you suppose they did?"
"Hard to tell," said Nora.
"They hissed Miss Thompson. Very softly, you may be sure," continued
Jessica, "but it was hissing, just the same. For a wonder, she didn't
hear it, but every girl in the junior class did. They were sitting down
front on the same side as Eleanor's crowd. You know what a temper Ruth
Deane has and how ferocious she can look? Well, the minute she heard it
she went back there like a flash, looking for all the world like a
thunder cloud. She talked for a moment to Edna and Eleanor. They tossed
their heads, but they didn't hiss any more."
"What did Ruth say to them?" asked Grace curiously. "It must have been
something remarkable, or they wouldn't have subsided so suddenly."
"It was," giggled Jessica. "She told them that if they didn't stop it
instantly, the juniors would pick them up bodily, carry them downstairs
to the classroom and lock them in until the game was over."
"How absurd!" exclaimed Grace. "They would never have dared to go that
far."
"I don't know about that," said Nora O'Malley. "Ruth Deane is a terror
when she gets fairly started. Besides, she would have had both High
Schools on her side. Even the boys like Miss Thompson."
"It was an effectual threat at any rate," said Jessica. "They left
before the game was over. Perhaps they were afraid of being waylaid."
"I suppose they couldn't bear to see us win," said Grace. "But,
O girls, I am so proud of our invincible team. It was a great game
and a well-earned victory."
"We ought to celebrate," said Miriam. "Come on. Here we are at
Stillman's."
Without waiting for a second invitation, the Phi Sigma Tau trooped
joyfully into the drug store.