A junior entertainment.
The school year was fast drawing to a close, and every
student was busy preparing for examinations and annual
exercises, and also looking forward to the pleasurable
excitement attending class-day ceremonies, entertainments,
receptions, etc.
The first week in June it was customary for the juniors
to give a special exhibition, to be followed by a
social, with dancing and a fine spread, in honor of
the retiring seniors, and upon this grand occasion
each student in both classes was privileged to invite
some friend from outside.
So much had been said in praise of Katherine’s
little play and paper on “Transcendentalism,”
it was suggested they be repeated for the benefit
of those who had not heard them, and allow visitors
and strangers to guess the conundrum and charade.
The whole school had heard the story of that Junior
League meeting, for it had been too good to keep,
and it had aroused so much interest, both among teachers
and students, the juniors finally persuaded Katherine
to reproduce her clever effort.
Besides this, the programme consisted of another original
play, written by some of the class, two or three choice
selections from the Glee Club, and was to wind up
with some fine tableaux.
The important day arrived and was attended by no end
of worry, work and excitement. The final rehearsal
of the play proved, as is often the case, anything
but satisfactory; but when it came to the “last
tug of war” in the evening, everything “went
off without a hitch,” only those behind the
scenes being aware of the strenuous efforts put forth
to achieve this result.
It was accordingly pronounced “a great success.”
Katherine’s production contributed the element
of comedy, while the vocabulary of adjectives was
insufficient to express appreciation of the tableaux.
The last one, or “grand finale,” is worthy
of special mention, for various reasons. It was
billed as “The Carnival of Flowers,” and
included all the members of the junior class.
Each was in evening dress and was either profusely
decorated with, or carried, an elaborate design of
the flower which she had chosen to represent.
Dorothy, who had been unusually comfortable during
the two weeks preceding, had been deeply interested
in the preparations for this great event, and, one
day, when Katherine was consulting Mrs. Seabrook upon
some important point, she had exclaimed, with a longdrawn
sigh:
“Oh! how I wish I could be in it, too.”
“I wish you could, dear,” said Katherine,
bending to kiss the wistful face. “Well—why
can’t she?” she added, turning suddenly
to Mrs. Seabrook; “she could have a place in
the Carnival of Flowers. Will you allow her to?”
Mrs. Seabrook smiled, but there was a sad yearning
in her soft eyes as they rested upon her helpless
child.
