Page 87 - 1923 Hartridge

a hen at all but a charming tea-house which gives the simple, sweet girls the divinest ice cream-cake that mortals can imagine.
But, alas, these dear young dryads cannot go on playing like this
forever, and at the end of five years, after geometry and Virgil have been
successfully mastered, they put on their Hufly white dresses and sit on the
stage. Then the great fairy Hippolyta gives them their wings, and pausing
only long enough for a last happy, carefree dance, they Hy away into the
wide, wide world.
Impressions of a Ch
Scenes: Oakwood. Bus. High School (Plainfield, N. J . ).
Time: Evening of the concert of the London String Quartet (January
1923). A blinding blizzard rages without.
In the front doorway is posted a harassed teacher, unmistakable
because of traditional ear-marks:—austere countenance, bitter voice, un­ graceful garments—including arctics, woolen stockings, coat, muffler, mit­
tens, ear-tabs, bonnet and umbrella—in short, a monument of prudent example. Her anxious glance travels across the snow-drifts of the porch to the waiting bus, whose driver is poised impatiently at his wheel. This
teacher is Dame Nemesis, the chaperone— (I !)
‘‘First bus leaves in five minutes. Wear rubbers, girls!”
Each fair damsel presents herself more etherially clad than the one
before, despite the adverse elements.
‘‘Oh, Dame Nemesis, do / have to wear g’loshes?” (A southern
drawl, decidedly irate. A tender suede slipper and silken-clad limb are thrust forth for inspection.)
‘‘Of course, Xantippe; you are no exception!”
‘‘But we only have to get into the bus and out.” (Dreamily the airy creature fixes her gaze on the waiting bus, romantically ignoring the snow- covered wastes intervening.)
Enough to give you double pneumonia, grippe, and flue combined.”
Oh, all right” (grimly). Xantippe disappears to return presently with toes thrust in borrowed and ill-fitting overshoes, sufficient however to plough through the snow bus-ward.
I T i s episode, with slight variation, is repeated fifteen times. The bus holds only fifteen.
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Alice Hagan, ’23.
aperone