MINERVA HIGGINS.
"There's only one thing worse than a faculty call-down and that's a Beta
Phi freeze-out," remarked Judy Kean one Saturday afternoon a few weeks
after the opening day of college.
"Why do you bring up disagreeable subjects, Judy? Have you been getting
a call-down?" asked Katherine Williams.
"Not your old Aunty Judy," replied the other. "I'm far too wise for that
after two years' experience, but I saw some one else get one of the most
flattening, extinguishing, crushing call-downs ever received by an
inmate of this asylum for young ladies. And they do tell me it was
followed soon after by another one."
"Do tell," exclaimed an interested chorus.
"It was that fresh Miss Higgins from Ohio," continued Judy, with some
enjoyment of the curiosity she was exciting. "You know she's always
trying to attract the attention of the masses----"
"We being the masses," interrupted Edith.
"And stand in the limelight. She's bright, I hear, very bright, but she
knows it."
"I recognized her type almost immediately," said Katherine. "She's one
of those brightest-girls-in-the-high-school-pride-of-the-town kind."
"Exactly," answered Judy. "She has been regarded as a prodigy for so
long that she doesn't understand the relative difference between a
freshman and a senior. I honestly believe she thought everybody in
Wellington knew all about her, and she wears as many gold medals on
her chest as a field marshal on dress parade."
"We saw the gold medals on Sunday," interposed Molly. "I think it's
rather pathetic, myself. She is more to be pitied than scorned, because
of course she doesn't know any better."
"She'll have to live and learn, then," said Judy.
"Get to the point of your story, Judy. Who extinguished her?" ejaculated
Margaret Wakefield, impatient of such slipshod methods of narration.
"How can I tell a tale when I'm interrupted by forty people at once?"
exclaimed Judy. "Besides, I haven't the gift of language like you, old
suffragette."
Margaret laughed. She was entirely good-natured over the jibes of her
friends about her passion for universal suffrage.
"Well, the Beta Phi crowd of seniors," went on Judy, "were walking
across the campus in a row. I don't suppose Miss Higgins had any way to
know this soon in the game that they represented the triple extract of
concentrated exclusiveness at Wellington. Anyhow, she knows it now. She
came rushing up behind them and gave Rosomond a light, friendly slap on
the back. If you could have seen Rosomond's face! But Miss Higgins was
entirely dense. She began something about 'Hello, girls, have you heard
the news about Prexy----' but she never got any further. Rosomond gave
her the most freezing look I ever saw from a human eye."
"What did she say?"
"That was it. She never said anything. Nobody said anything. Eloise
Blair carries tortoise-shell lorgnettes----"
"She doesn't need them," broke in Nance.
"She only does it to make herself more haughty."
"Anyway, Eloise raised the lorgnettes."
"Poor Miss Higgins," cried Molly.
"There was perfect silence for about a minute. Then they all walked on,
leaving little Higgins standing alone in the middle of the campus."
"And where were you?" asked Margaret.
"Oh, I was with the seniors," answered Judy, flushing slightly. "I had
been over to Beta Phi to see Rosomond about something."
It was impossible for Judy's friends not to make an amiable unspoken
guess as to why she had visited the Beta Phi circle. It had been evident
for some time that she was working to get into the "Shakespeareans," the
most exclusive dramatic club in college. There was an awkward silence as
this thought flashed through their minds. Molly felt embarrassed for her
chum. After all, she was no worse than Margaret Wakefield, who had
managed to get herself elected three years in succession as president
of her class.
"What was the other extinguisher Miss Higgins had, Judy?" asked Molly.
"Oh, yes. That was even worse. It came from your particular friend,
Professor Green. She interrupted him in the middle of a lecture with one
of those unnecessary questions new girls ask to show how much they know.
And then she said something about methods at Mill Town High School."
"Really?" chorused the voices. "And what did he say?"
"He looked very much bored and replied that they were not interested in
Mill Town High School, and he would be obliged if she would pay
attention to the lecture. It was a public rebuke, nothing more nor
less."
"The mean thing," exclaimed Molly.
"Now, Molly," interposed Margaret, "you know very well that girls of
that type ought to be taken down. They are never tolerated at college. A
conceited boy at college is always thoroughly hazed until there's not a
drop of conceit left, and it does him good. And since we can't haze, we
simply have to extinguish a fresh freshie. Miss Higgins may develop into
a very nice girl in a year or two, but at present she's the veriest
little upstart----"
"Do be careful," said Molly cautiously. "I've invited her this afternoon
to drink tea----"
"Molly Brown," they cried, pummeling her with sofa cushions and beating
her with her own slippers.
"Really, Molly, you must restrain your inviting habits," said Judy.
"I'm sorry," apologized poor Molly.
"Why did you do it, pray? You know perfectly well no one here wants
her."
"I know it, but I was sorry for her. She seemed so brash and lonesome at
the same time. I thought it might help her some to mingle with a few
fine, intelligent, well-bred girls like you----"
"Here, here! Don't try to get out of it that way."
"She appears to be very learned," continued Molly, turning her blue eyes
innocently from one to the other. "I thought it would be nice to pit her
against Margaret and Edith. She discusses deep subjects and uses big
words I can only dimly guess the meaning of----" There was a tap at the
door. "Now, be nice, please."
"Come in," called Nance, in a tone of authority, and Minerva Higgins
appeared in their midst.
She had done honor to the occasion by putting on a taffeta silk of
indigo blue, and by pinning on some of her most conspicuous gold medals
acquired at intervals during her early education.
Judy shook her head over the indigo blue.
"Only certain minds could wear it," she thought.
Molly rose, but before she could frame a cordial greeting, the new guest
was saying:
"How do you do, Molly? Awfully nice of you to ask me. You don't mind my
calling you by your first name, do you? My name is Minerva but the
girls at Mill Town High School called me 'Minnie.' I hope you'll do the
same."
"I shall be glad to," answered Molly, rather taken back by this sudden
intimacy.
After she had performed all necessary introductions, wicked Katherine
Williams remarked:
"Minnie is a very charming name, but I insist on calling you 'Minerva'
after the Goddess of Wisdom. She never wore gold medals, but then it
wasn't the fashion among the early Greeks."
Minerva's face was the picture of complacency.
"In Greece she would have been 'Athene,'" she observed.
There was a loud clearing of throats and Judy, as usual, was seized with
a violent fit of coughing.
"Sit down here, Miss Higgins--I mean Minnie," said Molly hastily. "The
tea will be ready in a minute."
"You have been to college before, Minerva?" asked Edith Williams
solemnly.
Minerva looked somewhat surprised.
"Oh, no. Not college. I am just out of High School. Mill Town High
School is a very wonderful educational institution, you know. Perhaps
you have heard of it. A diploma from there will admit a girl into any of
the best colleges in the country. I could have gone to a private school.
My father is professor of Greek at the Academy in Mill Town, but I
preferred to take advantage of the high standards of the High School,
which are even higher than those of the Academy."
"I suppose your father's taste in Greek caused him to name you Minerva,"
observed Judy.
"But Minerva isn't Greek, Julia," admonished Katherine.
Again Molly interceded. It was cruel to make fun of the poor girl,
although there was no denying that Minerva had a high opinion of
herself.
"Have a sandwich," she said soothingly.
There was a long interval of silence while Minerva crunched her
sandwich.
"Your life at Mill Town High School must have been one grand triumphal
progress, judging from your medals, Miss Higgins," said Edith Williams
finally.
Minerva glanced proudly down at the awards of merit.
"There are a good many of them," she observed, with a smile that was
almost more than they could stand. "And there are more of them still.
I've won one or two medals each year ever since I started to school. But
I don't like to wear them all at once."
"That's very modest of you."
"Are you going to specialize on any subjects, Miss Higgins?" asked
Margaret Wakefield, really meaning to be kind and lead the girl away
from topics which made her appear ridiculous.
"Biology, I think. But I am interested in Comparative Philology, too,
and after I skim through a little Greek and Latin, I intend to take up
some of the ancient languages, Sanskrit and Hebrew."
Was it possible that Minerva was making game of them? They regarded her
suspiciously, but she seemed sublimely unconscious.
"Why not study also the ancient tongue of the Basques?" asked Edith,
quite gravely.
"That would be interesting," replied Minerva, "but I want to get through
this little college course first."
Molly batted her heavenly eyes and suddenly burst out laughing.
"Excuse me," she said. "I didn't mean to be rude, but the course at
Wellington doesn't seem so small to us. We have to study all the time
and then just barely pull through. I've almost flunked twice in
mathematics. I wish I could call it a little course."
"Ah, well, we are not all Minervas," observed Margaret. "Some of us are
just ordinary school girls learning the rudiments of education. We have
not had the advantages of Mill Town High School, and if any of us have
won gold medals we never show them."
This measured rebuff, however, had no more effect on Minerva's
impervious vanity than a cup of water dashed against a granite boulder.
She was already up, wandering about the room, boldly examining the
girls' belongings, ostentatiously reading the titles of books aloud.
"Plays by Moliere. Oh, yes, I read them in the original two years ago.
They're easy. 'Green's Short History of the English People,' very
interesting book. 'The Broad Highway.' I never read fiction. Only
biography and history----"
Edith Williams, stretched at her ease on the divan, gave an inaudible
groan and turned her face to the wall.
Molly glanced helplessly about her.
"'The Primavera,' that's by Botticelli," went on the girl, infatuated by
her own intelligence. "Good artist, but I don't care for the old masters
as a general thing. They are always out of drawing."
Katherine rolled her eyes up into her head until only the whites could
be seen, which gave her the horrible aspect of a corpse.
There was a long and eloquent silence. Presently Minerva took her
departure, and Molly, hospitable to the last gasp, saw her to the door
and invited her to come again.
With the door safely locked and Minerva out of earshot, there was a
general collapse. Nobody laughed, but the room was filled with painful
sounds, moans and groans. Judy pretended to faint on top of Edith, and
Molly sat in a remote corner of the room.
Somehow, they felt beaten, vanquished.
"I am sore all over with repressed emotions," cried Judy. "I couldn't
stand another seance like that."
"Does she know as much as she claims?" asked Nance.
"Of course not," exclaimed Margaret irritably. "If she really knew she
wouldn't claim anything. It's only ignorant people who boast of
knowledge. I suppose she has been looked up to for so long that she
regards herself as a fountain of wisdom."
"She must be taken down," said Edith firmly. "This mustn't be allowed to
go on at Wellington."
"But hazing isn't allowed," put in Molly.
"Not by hazing, goosie. By some homely little practical joke that will
show herself to herself as others see her."
"All right," consented Molly. She felt indeed that something should be
done to save poor Minerva Higgins from eternal ridicule.
"If anybody has suggestions to make," here announced Margaret Wakefield,
self-constituted chairman of all committees, impromptu or otherwise,
"they may be stated in writing or announced by word of mouth to-morrow
night in our rooms at a fudge party."
"Accepted," they cried in one breath.
In the meantime, Minerva Higgins was writing home to her mother that she
had been, if not the guest of honor, almost that, at a junior tea, and
had found the girls rather interesting though poor talkers. In fact, it
was necessary to do almost all the talking herself.