In the town of Fairfield Center, there was a little group of girls, four
in number, who considered themselves superior to the other girls in
school. Miss Baldwin was repeatedly annoyed by their aloofness, but the
other children in her room felt it most.
[Sidenote: Aping the High School]
At recess time, when a game of “I spy” was suggested, this little clique
would withdraw from the crowd and walk, instead. This habit became so
influential that many of the other girls stopped playing at recess.
Unwholesome gossip was the result. It remained for Miss Sayre, who took
charge of the room the next year, to break down the barriers. She, too,
failed, but for another reason.
Miss Sayre called these four girls to her one day after school, when
they were in a hurry to go home, and gave them some good advice.
“You girls seem to run off by yourselves and not to play with the
others. I want to know why.”
“O, we don’t like their games. They always play such silly games. The
girls in high school don’t do things like that.”
“But you aren’t high school girls—you are just little girls of the sixth
grade. Drop that nonsense. I want you to break up this cliquing and
moping around and act like girls. Now, do you understand?”
“Yes,” in a chorus. But nothing came of it.