Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net
[Illustration: Dolly.]
DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES
BY
MABEL CRONISE JONES
The C. M. Clark Publishing Company
BOSTON MDCCCCIX
Copyright, 1909
THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO,
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
U. S. A.
All Rights Reserved
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Dolly Frontispiece
"My brother says that I can heat water splendidly" 9
Beth and Dolly were discussing it one day as they
took their usual walk 35
There were music and singing later in the evening 62
A moment later Dolly had been introduced to Beth's father 107
"Let me introduce you to two more of your classmates" 156
"Father could really get the papers by mail quite as
well, I think, Mother" 206
"Aren't you going to say anything to me, Dolly?" 267
DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES
DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES
CHAPTER I
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Dolly looked around forlornly enough.
Of course, she wanted to go to college, but for the first time she
realized how dreadful it was, to be away from all the home-folks. In
all those great buildings, with their hundreds of students, there was not
a soul that Dolly knew.
Outside the door she could hear the old girls talking and chattering
together. But she was not an old girl. She was just an insignificant
little Freshman. No one took the least notice of her.
Her father had put her on the train and had even come part way with her.
But the real loneliness commenced after she reached Westover.
The college bus was there, and there was a good-natured man whom the
girls all hailed as Patrick, and who seemed to belong to the college. He
was evidently an expert at picking out the students, for when he caught
sight of Dolly, he had walked up to her respectfully, and had inquired
if she were not going to Westover College.
Then he put her safely into the bus, took her checks and looked after
her bundles. A few moments later the bus was filled to overflowing with
girls, the most of them apparently old students, for they seemed well
acquainted with each other and were chattering like magpies. Some of them
had been on the same train as Dolly, and our poor little Freshman had
looked at them then with wistful, speculative eyes. But she had been too
shy to attempt any conversation with them.
When they reached the college, all too soon for Dolly, she had hung back
irresolutely, while the rest rushed up and embraced the teachers who
stood in the reception room, ready to receive the newcomers.
She was feeling quite left out in the cold, and wishing heartily that
she was back in the home-nest. Only for a moment, though. Her hand
was cordially taken, and she turned to find herself addressed by a
sweet-faced little woman, much shorter than Dolly herself, with gray
hair and kindly eyes.
"I think this must be Miss Alden. Am I right?"
"Quite right, but I do not see how you knew."
"Your father telegraphed that you would come by this train, and you
see, my dear, that you are the only Freshman in the crowd, so that it
did not require much shrewdness on my part to pick you out. Now let
me introduce you to some of the girls. You will soon feel acquainted
here, I know. Margery," and as a tall, rather handsome girl turned
around, she added; "I want you to meet Miss Alden, one of our new
girls. Miss Ainsworth--and here are Miss Rummel, Miss Paterson and
Miss Graves. Margery, will you show Miss Alden to 77? Your room-mate
will not be here for several days yet. She is detained by her sister's
marriage, which will occur this week. I hope you will like her; we
tried to do our best in the arrangement of room-mates; next year, you
can select your own. Excuse me now." And she turned to another newcomer,
and Dolly followed Miss Ainsworth down the long corridor.
"You will like Westover, I'm sure," Miss Ainsworth remarked sedately;
she evidently thought it her duty to make small talk, and act as Dolly's
temporary guardian. "Of course, you'll feel lonesome at first until
you get fitted in; all the girls do, but that soon wears off."
"Are you a Senior?" queried Dolly innocently. Miss Ainsworth seemed
so very old and so very superior, that Dolly could only think of her as a
Senior.
Her companion's cheeks flushed perceptibly as she answered stiffly;
"No, I am not a Senior yet. Here is your room, Miss Alden. The bedroom
on the right will be yours, I suppose, as I see that they have put your
trunk there. The one on the left will be your room-mate's, and you
will use this sitting-room in common."
After a few more words Dolly's companion passed on, and the unfortunate
Freshman wandered dolefully into her bedroom and sat down on the edge
of the bed where we first saw her.
As a rule, Dolly and tears were strangers, but just now poor Dolly felt
unutterably miserable. Not only was she homesick, but she felt outside
all the college fun and good camaraderie of the place.
"I ought to unpack that trunk and take off my things," she told
herself, but she felt more inclined to run out of the door, back to the
depot and on board the first train bound for her home.
"Well, of all the forlorn damsels I ever saw, you certainly are the
worst, and I thought you looked so full of fun when I noticed you
downstairs."
Dolly glanced up in surprise, to see a merry face regarding her from the
doorway. The newcomer was much below medium height, with a very freckled
face, very red, curly hair, and a very good-natured expression.
"Didn't you feel forlorn yourself last year?" retorted Dolly. "Or,
if you are a dignified Junior or Senior, I suppose you have forgotten
how poor little Freshmen feel, when they are dumped in with a lot of
strangers. I am just like a cat in a strange garret."
"You are no stranger than I," and the newcomer ensconced herself in
the only rocking-chair that the room afforded. "I'm a Freshman like
yourself, only I got here last evening. I'm Elizabeth Newby, at your
service," and she made a sweeping bow. "I saw you come in and I thought
I'd make an early call, but I _did_ suppose you would have your things
off by this time."
"It was awfully good of you to come," said Dolly gratefully. "I'll
get my things off and brush up a bit." She turned and looked suddenly
at her new acquaintance. "How does it come that you are not homesick?
Everything must be as strange to you as it is to me, but you look jolly
and happy."
"I am," returned the other emphatically. "You may not know it, but
homesickness is a luxury in which only the fortunate can indulge. I'm
not troubled with it. Now tell me, can I help you with your trunk? My
things are all in order. When you have fixed up your room and had Patrick
put your trunk away, you will feel that you are here to stay, and you
will begin to be more comfortable in your mind."
"If you don't mind helping me then," and Dolly commenced to tug at
her straps energetically.
"I want to do it. I like to be poking into other people's affairs, it
keeps one from thinking."
"Then you are homesick, after all?" and Dolly glanced up with twinkling
eyes.
"No, I am not. I am only homesick because I am _not_ homesick, and that
is Greek or worse to you."
Dolly gave her companion a keen look, but said no more. There was
evidently something in the background, and Dolly surmised that
Elizabeth's home-life, for some reason or other, was not as happy as it
should be.
"What lovely, dainty things you have for your sitting-room!" and
Elizabeth held up an armful of pretty articles with honest admiration.
"My room looks as prim as an old maid's. I never thought of these
little accessories."
"Those are what I had in my room at home, and Mother thought that I had
better bring them. They _will_ make these rooms look quite natural."
"They just will. I wish we were room-mates, for I haven't an earthly
thing to trim up with, and neither has my room-mate."
"Who is your room-mate? Do you know her? Is she nice?"
"I don't know her. Her name is Margaret Ainsworth. She's a Sophomore,
and between ourselves I don't believe that we shall have much to do with
each other."
"Then it was your room-mate who brought me here. I thought that she was
a Junior at least."
"Only a Sophomore, my dear, and a conditioned one at that, though to
hear her talk you would suppose that she was taking a post-graduate
course."
"Isn't it funny that she hasn't any little decorations for your
sitting-room, as she is an old student?"
[Illustration: "My brother says that I can heat water splendidly."]
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I found out that she expected to
room with Charlotte Graves. They roomed together last year, you know,
just by chance. The Faculty put them together just as they are giving
us room-mates now, for I didn't know anyone with whom I wished to room
this year, and I suppose you didn't. Well, Miss Graves is the richest
girl here, and she had loads of beautiful things, so that their suite was
just a dream of beauty, according to my room-mate's account. It seems
that she was not as anxious to room with Miss Ainsworth again as Miss
Ainsworth was to room with her, and she quietly made arrangements to
have a room all to herself, and that is how it all happened. She was put
in with me at the last moment, to our mutual disgust, I expect."
Dolly stopped in her unpacking. "I didn't know that anyone could room
alone."
"You have to pay a steep price for the privilege, but Miss Graves can
afford it. What a dear chafing-dish. Can you cook with it?"
"My brother says that I can heat water splendidly," and Dolly laughed.
"I don't think any girl with a brother is apt to grow conceited,
though Fred is a dear and would do anything in the world for me. I really
_can_ make lovely fudge, though, and very good tea. Mother was a little
afraid of fire because of the alcohol lamp, but I have promised to be
dreadfully careful. I have some chocolate in that box."
"Let's make fudge tonight," said Elizabeth, enthusiastically. "That
will keep you from getting homesick. You can make it and I will eat it."
"Can we do it? I don't know anything about the rules here yet."
"There will not be many rules enforced this week. Professor Graydon told
me that much. She is the teacher to whom you were talking when you first
came in. I know I shall like her. I haven't made up my mind about the
others yet."
"There, that is the last thing!" and Dolly drew a breath of relief,
"the trunks are empty anyway. What shall I do with them now, Miss
Newby?"
"In the name of goodness, don't call me Miss Newby. I'm Elizabeth.
I'll let Patrick know that they are ready, and he will carry them off
to the trunk-room at once. I've only been here twenty-four hours, but
I've found out that this college would never run without Patrick. And
Patrick knows it."
She started from the room on her self-appointed errand, but put her head
back to call out; "If you have any specially stunning gown, just get
it out. Tonight will be a good time to wear it. Hustle the rest of your
things away and dress."
"Now, why--," commenced Dolly. But Elizabeth had vanished and Dolly
was questioning the empty air.
"I suppose I had better do as she says," Dolly soliloquized. "I like
her immensely. I should be sitting on the bed dissolved in tears if
she had not come in. I wonder where she lives. Here I have told her
all about home, and Mother and Father and Fred, and she has not said
a word about herself. How long she is getting back."
In fact, before Elizabeth returned, Dolly had put away all of her
belongings, and had donned a pretty white dress which the warm day
rendered appropriate.
She was giving a last pat to her hair, when a knock came at the door,
and a moment later Elizabeth's face peered into the bedroom.
"Oh, I see why you were so long returning. I concluded that you had
forgotten me and had gone off to help some other Freshman unpack."
"No, thanks," and Elizabeth gave a little shrug that Dolly soon learned
to be characteristic. "I'm not in the missionary business. I just took
a fancy to you, and I saw that you had no friends here any more than
I did. We were two of a kind. Do you like my dress?"
"Immensely. That shade of blue is just your color. But why are we
dressing up, please? Is this a daily performance?"
"Hardly. The Sophomores are going to pay their respects to the new girls
tonight, and while there is nothing like hazing allowed here, there are
all sorts of tricks played that the Faculty never takes any notice of.
I thought that we might feel more ready for them if we had the moral
support of our best clothes."
"How do you know so much? and what shall we do?"
"I spent last evening in Professor Graydon's room, and she told me
everything that she thought a Freshman ought to know. If you want me to,
I will come over here and we can receive together. Your room is stunning
and we can certainly hold our own."
"I thought we were going to make fudge."
"So we shall, but we'll hide it when they come. Don't waste candy on
Sophomores, my dear."
Dolly looked up with a sparkle in her eye. "What will they do?"
"There's no telling. Nothing dreadful. Make us sing for them or recite,
or go through some absurdity."
"If we refuse?"
"They will simply let us alone, not only tonight, but during the rest of
the year. The best thing is to meet them good-naturedly, do what they
require, and turn the tables on them, if we can."
"You must come here, of course. 'Tis a pity if a few Sophomores can
frighten us with their jokes. I know one thing that we can do, Elizabeth.
You see there is some advantage in having a brother."