Wood, and Anne Pierson's
struggles to escape her unworthy father all contributed toward making
the story stand out in the reader's mind.
In "GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR," the girl chums
were found leading their class in athletics. Here, Miriam Nesbit, still
unsubdued, endeavored once more to humiliate Anne Pierson, and to
oust Grace from her position as captain of the basketball team, being
aided in her plan by Julia Crosby, captain of the junior team, against
whom the sophomores had engaged to play a series of three games.
Grace's brave rescue of Julia Crosby during a skating party and the
latter's subsequent repentance restored good feeling between the two
classes, and the book ended with the final conversion of Miriam after
her long and stubbornly nursed enmity.
David Nesbit's trial flight in his aëroplane, Grace's encounter with the
escaped lunatic, who imagined himself to be Napoleon Bonaparte, were
among the features which made the book absorbing from start to finish.
The clang of the first bell broke in upon the chattering groups, and
obedient to its summons, the girls moved slowly out of the locker-room
and down the corridor, talking in subdued tones as they strolled toward
the study hall.
Miss Thompson stood at her desk, serene and smiling, as the girls filed
in.
"How well Miss Thompson looks," whispered Grace to Anne as they
neared their seats. "Let's go up and see her when this session is over.
It's sure to be short this morning."
It was customary on the opening of school for the members of the
various classes to take their seats of the previous year. Then the
sections were rearranged, the seniors taking the seats left by the
graduates, and the other classes moving up accordingly. The first day of
school amounted to really nothing further than being assigned to one's
seat and getting used to the idea of school again. Miss Thompson
usually addressed the girls on the duty of High School students, and the
girls went forth full of new resolutions that last for at least a week.
Grace looked curiously about her. She wondered if there were to be
many new girls that year. The present freshmen, direct from the
Grammar Schools, sat on the front seats looking a trifle awed at the
idea of being academic pupils, and feeling very strange and
uncomfortable under the scrutiny of so many pairs of eyes.
Her glance wandered toward the new sophomore class, as though in
search of some one, her eyes brightening as she caught sight of the
brown-eyed girl who had won the freshman prize the previous June.
The latter looked as helpless and friendless as when Grace first saw her
step up on the platform to receive her money. "I shall certainly find out
more about that child," she decided. "What is her name? I heard it at
commencement, but I have forgotten it."
Taking a leaf from a little note-book that she always carried, Grace
wrote: "Do you see the freshman-prize girl over among the sophomores?
What is her name? I can't remember." Then, folding the paper, she
tossed it to Anne, who nodded; then wrote, "Mabel Allison," and
handed it to the girl sitting opposite her, who obligingly passed it over
to Grace.
With a nod of thanks to Anne, Grace glanced at the paper and then at
the owner of the name, who sat with her hands meekly folded on her
desk, listening to Miss Thompson as though her life depended upon
hearing every word that the principal uttered.
"I want all my girls to try particularly this year to reach a higher
standard than ever before," Miss Thompson concluded, "not only in
your studies, but in your attitude toward one another. Be
straightforward and honorable in all your dealings, girls; so that when
the day comes for you to receive your diplomas and bid Oakdale High
School farewell, you can do so with the proud consciousness that you
have been to your schoolmates just what you would have wished them
to be to you. I know of no better preparation for a happy life than
constant observation of the golden rule.
"And now I hope I shall have no occasion to deliver another lecture
during the school year," said the principal, smiling. "There can be no
formation of classes to-day, as the bulletins of the various subjects have
just been posted, and will undoubtedly undergo some changes. It would
be advisable, however, to arrange as speedily as possible about the
subjects you intend to take, as we wish to begin recitations by Friday at
the latest, and I dare say the changes made in the schedule will be
slight."
Then the work of assigning each class to its particular section of the
study hall began. The seniors moved with evident
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