THE FRESHMEN ENTERTAIN
Friday arrived, clear and sunshiny, with just enough chill in the air to
make sweaters comfortable.
The Freshmen class were so excited that they found it impossible to pay
any attention in classes. The teachers, for the most part, understood
and forgave, except the Spartan, who was, of course, more trying than
usual.
After the last bell the Freshmen met in one of the classrooms to decide
about the last details. Although they had no class officers, it was
almost always Lois who acted as president at all their meetings. Such
was the case today.
"Everybody stop talking for one second," she commanded, swinging herself
to the top of the desk. "The first thing to think about is food," she
continued, as the girls dropped into chairs, and there was a lull in the
conversation.
Betty jumped up, announcing emphatically:
"You may count me out on that; no more squashed lemons for little
Betty."
"There's not much to get ready," Polly remarked. "There's the rolls and
bacon--they're ordered--and the ginger pop, the potato chips, and the
apples and bananas are here. There's really nothing to make but the
Boston brown bread sandwiches. Who'll make them?" And she looked
questioningly at the two Dorothys.
"We will," volunteered one of them. "What goes in between--cream cheese
and grape jelly?"
"Yes," answered Betty, "and for goodness' sake, Dot, don't get original
and put anything else in on your own hook."
"Betty, do be serious for once," pleaded Lois. "There's loads to be
done. Have you finished the song, Angela?"
"Yes, and I say we wait until we've finished supper and are all sitting
around the fire before we sing it to them," suggested Angela.
Everybody agreed that that was a good idea.
"It's to the tune of 'There is a Tavern Near the Town,' isn't it?" asked
Roberta Andrews. "I haven't learned the words yet."
"Oh," Lois interrupted, jumping down from the desk, "we forgot all about
the straw for the wagon. Berta, will you and Ruth see to that? MacDonald
said we could have as much as we wanted if we'd go to the stable and get
it."
"All right, that will be a lark," agreed Berta. "Come on, Ruth, we'd
better get right at it now." And the two girls, after parting
instructions from Lois, left for the stable.
"If we are going to make those sandwiches," began Dot Mead, "we'd better
go, too."
"Righto!" agreed her twin in name, and together they started for the
kitchen.
"And now what are you going to do with me, Ruler of the Universe?"
inquired Connie.
Lois looked at her for a minute and then replied:
"I think you and Angela might go out and cut sticks to broil the bacon
on."
"Cut their fingers off, you mean. Certainly not," exploded Betty. "They
may find the sticks, but I will do the whittling."
And taking Connie and Angela each by an arm, Betty escorted them out of
the room.
When Lois and Polly were left alone, they hugged each other joyously.
"And now for the express-room," Polly whispered mysteriously.
At five o'clock the big farm wagon, filled with hay and drawn by two big
gray horses, was waiting in the driveway under the Bridge of Sighs.
"Everything in?" shouted Angela. "Steamer rugs and food?"
"Yes, all in," answered Betty, who was patting the horses' noses.
Polly and Lois were standing just around the corner of the house and out
of sight of the other girls.
"Now's the time to get it in," whispered the latter. She used the same
mysterious tone of voice in which Polly had spoken of the express-room
earlier in the day.
A few minutes later, under the hurry and excitement of starting, they
smuggled a large box, unnoticed, under the driver's seat.
"Safe and sound, and nobody saw," Lois whispered softly. "Every one in?"
she called out. "All aboard."
The Seniors were each seated beside a Freshman, Louise Preston was
between Lois and Polly. Miss Stuart and Miss Porter, who were
chaperoning the party, sat beside the driver, where all good chaperons
ought to sit.
As the barge rolled out of the school grounds, the girls sang the
favorite Seddon Hall song, which ended in the words:
"It's the only school in the wide, wide world."
At first, things were a little dull. There was a big distance between
the oldest and youngest classes of the upper school, but after a while
the Seniors forgot their dignity and the Freshmen their respect.
When Flat Rock, a huge boulder with a table top, overlooking a small
lake, was reached, everybody was in the best of spirits, and they piled
out and helped unload.
Polly and Lois, as before, captured the mysterious box and managed to
hide it in the bushes. A camp fire, under Miss Stuart's direction, was
soon blazing, and the girls were seated on rugs and pillows, toasting
bacon.
Now every one knows that a bacon bat is loads of fun to talk about
before it happens, and to remember afterwards, but the actual eating of
the bacon, which is always burned long before it is cooked, is not so
much fun in itself.
This bacon bat was like every other. When the bacon was all gone, and a
good deal of it had been surreptitiously thrown away, every one looked
around for something to really eat. The sandwiches were not very
satisfying, and it was too soon to offer the bananas.
The Freshmen began to look uneasy. It entered their heads that perhaps
their party was not going to be the success they had planned. Then just
as Polly and Lois were exchanging glances, Betty, who was hunting for
more wood for the fire, stumbled over the mysterious box.
"Hello, what's this?" she called. "Why, it says Freshman Class on it."
Every one pounced on the box and opened it, to find a big fat turkey all
carved but held together by a narrow white ribbon, paper plates and
napkins and drinking cups, cranberry jelly, a huge chocolate cake, any
quantity of cookies, and boxes of candy.
Well, you can imagine the surprise. As each new item was unpacked, there
was a chorus of exclamations, such as:
"Where under the sun did it come from?"
"Do look at the immense turkey!"
"Somebody knew I loved home-made cookies!"
"Please, all, leave me alone with this chocolate cake!"
No one knew where it came from except Betty, who caught on at once, and
Polly and Lois made her keep still. It was a royal spread, which means
everybody ate more than was good for them.
When it was finally over and they were all sitting comfortably around
the fire, the Freshmen started singing Angela's song:
"There is a flat rock near the school, near the school,
Where we abandon every rule, every rule,
And mingle with the Seniors fair
And never, never think of care!
You're the oldest class of all the year, all the year,
And we're the very youngest here, youngest here,
Three years will pass and we'll be Seniors, too,
And we're going to try to be like you!
Fare thee well, for we must leave you,
Do not let this parting grieve you,
But remember that the best of friends must part,
Adieu, dear Seniors fair, adieu, adieu, adieu,
We can no longer stay with you, stay with you,
Three rousing cheers for the class of '15,
They are the best we've ever seen!"
(Angela never was satisfied with the last line.) Louise Preston was
sitting with Lois and Polly on either side of her, and as the song
ended, she put her arm around each of them.
"This has been the very best party of the whole year," she said, "and I
think I know something about the way the wonderful box came to be here."
Polly and Lois tried to appear very innocent, but it was of no use.
Finally Polly said:
"Well, perhaps you do, but please don't tell any one what you know."
"All right, I promise," Louise said, "but I will tell _you_ two this
much--you're quite the sweetest children in the school, and I can't tell
you how much I and the rest of the Seniors appreciate all the things you
have done for us this year."
"I'll tell you how you can--" laughed Lois "--by letting us help some
more."
It was now the Seniors' turn to cheer, and they did it most heartily,
calling each Freshman's name in turn. Then Betty, who was very full of
turkey and bananas, got up to make a speech.
"'Friends, Romans and Countrymen,'" she began, "lend me your ears." Then
mimicking the chaplain, she continued: "My dear young friends, tonight
has been one of the pleasures never to be forgotten. The bacon was
perhaps not all that it might have been, but surely we can afford to
overlook that in the face of this blessed turkey."
"Somebody throw something at Betty; she's off," Angela called.
"Come and help reload," suggested Connie.
With a few muttered remarks about an unappreciative audience, Betty
brought her speech to a laughing close and turned to, with a will, to
replace the rugs and pillows. In a short time everything was in, and the
wagon started for home.
It was a glorious ride. The Freshmen repeated their song and cheered and
cheered the Seniors, and the Seniors returned the compliment.
When there was a lull in the singing, as they passed through the
village, Betty, almost asleep in the hay, grunted:
"You may all thank me for this party; it never would have happened if I
hadn't squashed that bally lemon."
The wagon drew up under the Bridge of Sighs, just as the big school
clock tolled ten o'clock. The girls parted with many thanks on both
sides, and they were all conscious that they would remember this as the
jolliest evening of the year.
As Polly and Lois said good night in the latter's room, Lois said:
"Well, it was a success, and no one but Bet and Louise guessed about the
box."
"Wasn't it!" agreed Polly. "I'm awfully glad we thought of it; we'd have
starved if we hadn't. I think the Seniors enjoyed it, too. Isn't Louise
a darling? Do you know, Lo, if I wasn't so strongly opposed to
'crushes,' I might get an awful one on Louise."
"Could you?" smiled Lois in reply. "I'll tell you a secret--I've had
quite a desperate one on her myself for two years."
Later, as Polly slipped into bed, she said aloud to the pictures on the
wall:
"What a wonderful box it was." And closing her eyes she murmured
sleepily: "Bless Uncle Roddy's heart."