advice, you will not say anything to Edith; she ought to have her own
way in arranging her own party, and you know when she makes up her mind
it is of no use to talk to her about it."
"Well, I don't care," rejoined Brenda, "it's hard enough to have Julia
tagging about everywhere, but why in the world we should have Ruth
Roberts, when we never see her anywhere except at school, I really
cannot understand, and I don't see how you and Nora can like it either."
"Why Ruth Roberts is as pleasant a girl as there is in school, and yet
she would have a terribly lonely time, if it were not for Edith and
Julia; nobody else ever thinks of speaking to her."
"Well, why should we, she lives out in Roxbury or some other outlandish
place, and she doesn't even go to our dancing school or know people that
we know. There isn't a bit of sense in knowing people that we'll never
see when we're in society," responded Belle, while Brenda echoed, "Yes,
that's what I think, too."
Nora smiled pleasantly, and her eyes looked brighter than ever under the
rim of her brown felt hat, with its trimmings of lighter brown. Nora's
temper was not easily ruffled. Then Belle added a final word.
"Oh, it's clear that this is all Julia's doings; ever since Ruth went
into her Latin class they have been awfully intimate. But I don't see,"
turning rather snappishly towards Brenda, "why the rest of us have got
to take up Ruth Roberts just because your Cousin Julia is so devoted to
her."
Now this was a little too much, even for Brenda, who generally did not
contradict Belle, and she answered with vigor, "Really you are growing
perfectly ridiculous, Belle; I haven't anything to do with it, but I
must say that I think that Julia has a right to choose her own friends.
Ruth Roberts is all right, and anyway I'm thankful to have Julia take a
fancy to anybody, it leaves us a great deal freer to do as we like. I
should think that you would see that yourself."
"Oh, well," said Nora laughing, "the whole thing is not worth quarreling
about. I'm glad to hear you talk so sensibly, Brenda. If you hadn't, I
was going to tell Belle that it seems to me that Edith has a right to
ask any one she wishes. She is always very good to us all, and just
think how many tickets her father has bought for this game!"
"Yes, I know, but still----"
"The least said, the soonest mended," said Nora, though to tell you the
truth, the quotation did not sound especially appropriate. "The least
said, the soonest mended, and let us all go to the game with a crimson
flag in each hand to wave for the winners."
"Crimson," cried Belle, "I am going to carry an orange scarf, and
perhaps an orange flag."
"What for? why I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Nora.
"Nor I!" cried Brenda, "at a Harvard game!"
"Isn't it a Princeton game, too," asked Belle, "two or three of the boys
I used to know in New York are in that team, one of them is a kind of
cousin of mine."
"Oh," said Nora, "I didn't know that you thought that people had to be
so very devoted to cousins."
Even Belle herself could not help smiling at this, which was very
appropriate, following so closely, as it did, her own remarks about
Julia.
"You can see yourself that this is different," she answered. "I should
call it very impolite if there were no orange flags shown at the game."
"Well, you have the most ridiculous ideas, hasn't she, Brenda?"
Brenda nodded assent, and Nora continued, "I never knew that people had
to think that about politeness in college games; why it's a duty to do
everything you can to help your own side----"
"I never said that Harvard was my side," interrupted Belle, "didn't I
tell you that I have a cousin on the Princeton team."
"You'd better not say anything of that kind to Philip, or to Edith,
either, they are both perfectly devoted to Harvard, and they expect
their party to give great encouragement to the Harvard team. Why, Belle,
I cannot imagine your doing anything else."
"I'm not a child," responded Belle very crossly, walking away from Nora
and Brenda, "I do not need to be told what to do."
What Nora or Brenda might have answered, I cannot say, for hardly had
Belle disappeared within the house, when Edith herself appeared, with
Julia and Ruth.
Ruth was a pretty and amiable girl, about Julia's age, and therefore a
little older than "The Four." She had been in the school for two years
before the coming of Julia, but in all that time she had had only a
speaking acquaintance with the other girls. Many of them would probably
have been surprised had any one told them that they were very selfish in
leaving their schoolmate so entirely to herself. It was not because they
did not like her. They were merely so very much wrapped up in their own
affairs, that they hardly noticed that she was often left to herself.
Ruth lived in the suburbs, and as Belle had said, outside of school the
other girls seldom saw her. At recess each little group had so many
personal things to talk about that an outsider would have been decidedly
in the way, and would, perhaps, have been a little uncomfortable in
joining them. No one gets a great deal of enjoyment from reading a
single chapter in the middle of a book, and so it is often hard to be a
mere listener when the tongues of half a dozen girls are vigorously
discussing people and events of which the listener has not the slightest
knowledge.
Ruth herself was very independent, and as she was more interested in her
studies than many of the girls at Miss Crawdon's she had acquired the
habit of studying during recess. Since after school she spent more time
than most girls of her age in outdoor sports, it did her no great harm
to pass the half-hour of recess in this way. Ruth, as well as Julia, had
undertaken to prepare for college, and it had been a great delight to
her to have the latter placed with her in one or two special classes.
Julia's liking for her had made Edith take a little more interest in her
than would otherwise have been the case, but the ball game was the first
important event in which she was included with the others of Julia's
set. She naturally was pleased at the prospect of going with the others,
for like Julia, she had never seen a great football game.
No one who saw the hearty way in which Nora and Brenda greeted Ruth, as
she came up with Edith and Julia, could for a moment have imagined that
she had been under discussion. The mercurial Brenda for the moment was
so annoyed by Belle's proposed championship of Princeton, that she was
unexpectedly cordial to Ruth, and almost to her own surprise found
herself urging Ruth to come to town early on the Saturday of the game,
to take luncheon with her and Julia.
The latter expressed her thanks in a glance towards her cousin, as Ruth
accepted very gracefully, and Nora exclaimed, "What fun we are going to
have; you know we are all invited to dine at Edith's that evening. Oh
dear! I can hardly wait for Saturday."
"I know it," replied Brenda, "it's less than a week, too, but it seems
an awfully long time."
Then they gossiped a moment in a very harmless fashion about the
prospects of Harvard, and Edith quoted one or two things that Philip had
said, and Nora told them that her father was perfectly sure that the
crimson would win, and as they trooped into the dressing-room when the
bell rang, Belle was surprised to see Brenda leaning on Ruth's arm.
XIV
THE FOOTBALL GAME
At last the wished-for Saturday arrived. It was one of those clear,
bracing days that always put every one in good-humor. Though cool, it
was not too cool for the comfort of the girls and older women who were
to sit for two or three hours in the open air. Every car running to
Cambridge carried a double load, with men and boys crowding the platform
in dangerous fashion. Carriages of every description were rushing over
the long bridge between Boston and the University City and not only were
red or orange flags to be seen waving on every side--small flags that
could be easily folded up, but occasionally some group of youths would
break out into the college cry.
Edith and her guests drove out to Cambridge in carriages, although they
all thought that the cars would have been much more amusing. Edith,
however, had had to yield to her mother's wishes, for Mrs. Blair had a
strong objection to street cars, and Edith was forbidden to ride in any
except those of the blue line in Marlborough street. But if less
entertaining, the carriage ride was probably more comfortable than a
journey by car would have been on that day of excitement.
Edith and Julia and Ruth and Nora rode in one carriage, while Brenda,
Belle, Frances Pounder and Mrs. Blair were in the other. As Frances was
a distant cousin of Edith's, her mother usually included her in her
invitations, although in general disposition the two girls were very
unlike. Belle and Frances were more congenial, and had the same habit of
talking superciliously about other people. Brenda and Frances were
sometimes on very good terms, and sometimes they hardly spoke to each
other for weeks. For Frances had an irritating habit of "stepping on
people's feelings" as Nora said, whether with intent or from sheer
carelessness, no one felt exactly sure. She was the least companionable
of all the girls of their acquaintance, but on account of her
relationship to Edith she often had to be with them when "The Four" or
rather three of the four would have preferred some other girl.
When the carriages with Edith and her party reached Cambridge they drew
up before Memorial Hall as Mrs. Blair had arranged with Philip.
"We thought," she said, "that it would be both easier and pleasanter to
leave the carriages here, and walk to the field." And the girls agreed
with her. They felt more "grown up" walking along with their escorts,
than if seated in the carriage under the eye of Mrs. Blair. Philip, of
course, was on the spot, to meet them, and one of his friends was with
him.
"I couldn't get any more fellows," he said in an aside to his mother,
"to promise to sit with us, they'd rather be off by themselves with the
rest of the men. It really is more fun, you know."
"Hush," whispered his mother, fearing lest some of her friends might
hear this rather ungallant speech.
"O, of course I don't mind it much," he continued in answer to his
mother's look of reproach, "I'm willing to please Edith this once, but I
wouldn't want to have to look after a lot of girls very often."
Then he turned around to let himself be presented to
Ruth, whom he had not met before, and Mrs. Blair introduced his friend
Will Hardon to all the others,--except of course Edith who knew him.
Belle looked a little disturbed when she saw that there were to be but
two students to escort them, and she forgot for the time being, that
girls of less than sixteen can hardly expect to be considered young
ladies by college undergraduates, who at the sophomore stage of
existence are more inclined to the society of women a few years their
senior. Belle knew, however, that she had the manners of an older
person, and she kept herself fairly well informed on college
matters--that is on their lighter aspect, and could talk of the sports,
and of the "Dicky," with greater ease than many girls of eighteen or
twenty. Therefore as she walked along beside Will Hardon, her tongue
rushed on at a great rate, bewildering the youth so that he had hardly a
word to reply. Brenda, walking on Will's other side listened in
admiration to Belle's fluency. Try her best Brenda never could have
imitated it herself, but it was one secret of Belle's influence over
her, this ability to talk and act like a real young lady instead of a
schoolgirl. Philip attached himself to Ruth and Julia, Edith and Nora
walked together, and Mrs. Blair and Frances Pounder brought up the rear,
"Just where I can keep my eye on you," Mrs. Blair had said laughingly to
them as they started.
Julia was the only one of the group who had never been on the field--or
even in Cambridge before. She was astonished when she reached the field
to see the great crowd of spectators. It was a scene that she had never
imagined. Tier above tier at one side were the benches filled with men
and women, with bright flags fluttering, or rather little banners and
handkerchiefs, all eagerly looking towards the centre. Then there was
the great throng of students massed by themselves, and the crowds of
older men, all intent on the coming game.
What cheers as the rival elevens came upon the field! For an instant the
volume of sound seemed almost as strong for Princeton as for Harvard.
From the very first moment when Princeton lined up for the kick-off
Julia's eyes eagerly followed the ball. At the beginning Princeton
seemed to lead, but when Harvard gained ten yards on two rushes by her
full-back, and her left half-back had the ball on Princeton's
thirty-yard line, the crimson scarfs fluttered very prettily.
"Say, isn't that a fine play for Roth," cried Philip, as the Harvard
fall-back tore through Princeton's centre for four yards planting the
ball on the thirty-yard line, and then a little later after some good
play on both sides, he yelled wildly as he saw that Princeton was really
driven to the last ditch, with Harvard only one yard to gain. Both made
the try, and scored a touch-down in exactly fifteen minutes' play. Then
when Hall, on the Harvard side, a great stalwart fellow brought the ball
out, and held it for Hutton to kick on the try for goal, even Frances
Pounder lost her air of indifference, and as the ball struck the goal
post, and bounded back, she watched to see whether this was a time for
applause, and finally condescended to clap her hands. The score now
stood Harvard 4, Princeton 0, and Philip and Will excusing themselves
for a few minutes leaped down to talk matters over with their classmates
standing below at the end of the benches. As the game continued Roth
distinguished himself still further. He scored another touch-down for
Harvard from which a goal was kicked, making the score 10 to 0.
"It's almost too one-sided," said Julia, "and I can't exactly understand
it, for the Princeton men seem to be playing well, and really if you
look at them, they are larger than most of the Harvard players,--_that_
ought to count in a game like this."
"Well the game isn't over yet, and there may be some surprises before it
is through."
But just here Philip and his friend returned, and when Belle asked what
the other men thought of the Princeton prospects, "Oh, they haven't a
leg to stand on," said Philip, "at least that's what every one says, and
you can see for yourself now, they can't hold out against our men."
"I'm thankful for one thing," said Mrs. Blair, leaning towards her son,
"there haven't been any serious accidents yet, although I am always
expecting something dreadful to happen."
Hardly had she spoken, when two or three ladies in the neighborhood
screamed. Princeton had just secured the ball, when one of her men who
had fallen with half a dozen others on top of him, seemed unable to
rise. He had in fact to be carried from the field, and though the girls
afterward learned that he had only broken his collar bone, like so many
other spectators, for the time being they were decidedly alarmed at his
condition. After this Princeton had a little better luck. Harvard tried
for a goal from the thirty-five-yard line, but missed. Then the ball was
Princeton's on her twenty-five-yard line, and after several rushes with
small gains, the ball was passed back to Princeton's full-back for a
kick. The ball went high in the air, and the Princeton's ends got down
the field in beautiful shape. A Harvard half-back muffed the ball, and
it was Princeton's on Harvard's twenty-yard line. Just here, Belle,
emboldened by the turn of events managed to take a large orange and
black scarf from her pocket. As yet she had not dared to wave it, though
if you stop to think, had she been truly sympathetic, she ought to have
had courage to show her colors even when her chosen side was losing
ground.
Now in spite of the improvement in Princeton's play, the score had not
changed, though Princeton had the ball on Harvard's ten-yard line when
two minutes later the first half ended.
In the second half of the game there was more excitement than in the
first. Roth, who had been the hero of the afternoon in Harvard eyes, was
carried off, and two or three Princeton men were disabled. Harvard,
contrary to what had been expected was apparently playing the fiercer
game. The yell of the Harvard sympathizers grew louder and louder.
In two downs Princeton had gained four yards. Then when the ball was
passed to Dinsmore the noted Princeton half-back, Douglass, the popular
Harvard quarter-back tore through the centre, and downed Dinsmore with
the loss of five yards, making it Harvard's ball on Princeton's
twenty-two yard line.
The wildest hurrahing--a perfect pandemonium--now arose from the Harvard
bleachers. For the crimson was within striking distance of a touch-down,
and the orange had begun to droop. The girls in Edith's party, even
those not wholly familiar with the game in its finer points, were
thoroughly worked up. Some of the rough play worried Edith, and she
buried her face in her hands with a shudder when Jefferson, the Harvard
centre was carried from the field apparently senseless.
"Don't be a goose, Edith," whispered Nora, "you know that it can't be
anything very dreadful, or they wouldn't go on playing."
"Oh, yes, they would," murmured Edith. "They'd do anything in a football
game, they haven't a bit of feeling." But she lifted her head, and was
repaid by seeing Hutton kick a goal from the field thus sending the
score up to fifteen. This especially pleased her, because Hutton's
little sister, who had a high opinion of her brother's prowess, was a
great pet of hers.
"Don't you feel much as the Roman women used to feel at the Coliseum
games?" Julia contrived to say to Ruth in one of the intervals of play.
"It's almost as savage a sport as some of those gladiator affairs,"
replied Ruth, "but I don't believe that the gladiators were more
uncivilized-looking than these players. Did you ever see such hair?"
The next moment the girls were all attention. For although the Harvard
score never went beyond that fifteen, the game was an absorbing one for
the followers of both colors.
Princeton's battering-ram proved effective more than once, and every one
could see that in the matter of strength her men were ahead of the
Harvard team. But in activity Harvard was undeniably the superior, and
at last when the game was called, the score still stood 16 to 0 in favor
of the crimson.
Then what a scene! Men almost fell on one another's necks in their
delight. The team was surrounded by a dense throng, and the 'rah, 'rah,
'rah was fairly deafening. The friends of the vanquished hurried away
from the field, and only a few of the younger and more enthusiastic
lingered about in little knots to argue the situation, and prophesy a
victory for their own men at the next intercollegiate match.
"Oh, don't let's go off right away," cried Brenda, as she saw Edith
turning in the direction of the exit from the field.
"No, we might as well wait until Philip comes back; he and Will couldn't
resist going over there on the field to talk things over with some of
their friends," said Mrs. Blair, "and I told them that I felt sure that
you would excuse them."
"Why, of course," added Julia, and Ruth followed with a polite, "Yes,
indeed." But Belle, looking a little discontented, said nothing. "What
is the good," she was saying to herself, "of having two young men in
your party, if they never stay with you, when so many of the other girls
are at the game with only their fathers, or elderly relatives."
If she had thought carefully, she would have realized that the two boys
had really sacrificed not a little fun to act as escorts to "a parcel of
girls," as some of their student friends put it. Really they had been
very polite, they had hardly laughed at the mistakes made by the girls
in the use of terms during the game, and they had been more than willing
to explain the fine points of the play. When they were with the girls,
it was not Belle whom they thought the most about, but on Philip's part,
it was Julia, and on Will's, Ruth with her bright face, and vivacious
manner.
"Did you see papa?" cried Nora, "he was tossing his hat in the air, like
a boy. I tried to make him look at us, but he would not do so. I suppose
it was harder for him to recognize us than for me to distinguish him."
"No, I didn't see your father," replied Edith, "but I did see your
brother Clifford. He, however, never looked our way for a second. He had
his hat on the back of his head, and he and two or three other men
seemed beside themselves."
"Oh, yes, I suppose he and his friends are dreadfully pleased. You know
that Jefferson is a great friend of theirs."
"But he was hurt."
"Oh, that's nothing! As long as he wasn't killed it's all the more glory
for him. He and Clifford are room-mates, and they are devoted to each
other."
Then as the crowds from the benches swept past the girls, they saw many
friends and acquaintances, and Belle's injured pride was salved by the
return of Philip and Will just as two or three girls whom she especially
disliked walked past escorted only by an uncle.
How pleasant the walk back to the Square through the college grounds
was, with a few minutes in Philip's room, not long enough for the cup of
tea which he wished to offer, but long enough to make them all
enthusiastic to accept his invitation to come out to Cambridge some
other afternoon and examine his trophies. Really there seemed to be few
ornaments on the walls that were not connected in some way with college
sports--flags, medals, certificates of membership in this society or
that, photographs of the crew, of the teams,--but some time you may hear
more about the room, and so I will leave my description of it until
then.
To Julia the whole day had been more than delightful, she enjoyed every
moment of it, and she began to feel so at home with Edith's friends,
that not even Belle could rival her in quickness of repartee. Frances
Pounder looked at her in astonishment, when some of her own little
snubbing remarks fell one side without any effect. Ruth Roberts, too,
proved herself a great acquisition to the party, especially at the
dinner at Edith's. For Mrs. Blair gave an elaborate dinner to the group
that had attended the game, increased by the addition of two friends of
Philip's; and even if, as the worldly wise Frances Pounder suggested,
the whole affair had been arranged to prevent Philip and his friends
from joining the boisterous crowd of students in their Cambridge
celebration of the victory, Philip certainly had occasion to
congratulate himself on possessing a mother who would take so much
trouble for her children. So Brenda ate raw oysters, and Belle
entertained Will Hardon with an account of her last visit to New York,
and Nora endeavored to eat and talk at the same time, and Edith smiled
placidly on her friends while trying to remove the sting from some of
Frances Pounder's sharp remarks, and Julia forgot her shyness, and Ruth
Roberts impressed Mrs. Blair as a particularly intelligent girl, and all
the boys, as well as the girls, said that they had never had a
pleasanter afternoon. So who can say that the game had not proved itself
a great success in more ways than one?
XV
A POET AT HOME
One day Julia had an adventure--not "a wildly exciting one," as some of
the girls liked to describe what had happened to them, but one that she
was always to remember with pleasure. It was a windy day in early
January, and there was a fine glaze on the ground from a storm of the
day before. As she was slipping along down Beacon street, on her way
home from school, it was all that she could do to hold her footing. One
hand was kept in constant use holding down the brim of her hat which
seemed inclined to blow away. Luckily she had no books to carry, and so
when suddenly she saw some sheets of letter paper whirling past her, she
was able to rush on and pick them up as they were dashed against a
lamp-post. Another moment, and they would have been driven by another
gust of wind down a short street leading to the river.
[Illustration: "SHE WAS ABLE TO RUSH ON AND PICK THEM UP AS THEY WERE DASHED AGAINST A LAMP-POST"]