Elizabeth, Betsy and Bess—Schoolmates
TO
ELIZABETH EVARTS PERKINS
DEAR FOR THE SAKE OF HERSELF, HER MOTHER,
AND HER MOTHER’S MOTHER
A. E. B.
CONTENTS
| Chapter | Page | |
| I | Before a Holiday | [ 9] |
| II | Prisoners | [ 23] |
| III | The Piece Bag | [ 38] |
| IV | On Monday | [ 54] |
| V | The Themes | [ 66] |
| VI | Scared | [ 80] |
| VII | Winter Doings | [ 95] |
| VIII | Bess Gives a Party | [ 109] |
| IX | In Despair | [ 124] |
| X | Elizabeth Offends | [ 141] |
| XI | Betsy as First Aid to Injured Feelings | [ 155] |
| XII | The Artist | [ 171] |
| XIII | The Studio | [ 187] |
| XIV | The Model | [ 204] |
| XV | Elizabeth Wears Blue | [ 218] |
| XVI | The Gray House Opens | [ 233] |
| XVII | Mrs. McGonigle’s Babies | [ 249] |
| XVIII | Wedding Gifts | [ 267] |
| XIX | The Model’s Pay | [ 281] |
| XX | The Locked Door | [ 294] |
ELIZABETH, BETSY AND BESS
SCHOOLMATES
CHAPTER I
Before a Holiday
MISS JEWETT had just rung the bell and the children trooped into the schoolroom, taking their places as quietly as exuberant youthful spirits would permit, the smallest boys and girls in the front row, the older ones further back. It was a cheerful room, and Elizabeth, by the side of her chum, Betsy, thought of the changes which had taken place there since Miss Jewett was installed as teacher. Where had been bare walls, except for a couple of uninteresting maps, now were attractive pictures which brought visions of all sorts of delightful historical places; shelves in front of the windows displayed gay, blossoming plants, while in an aquarium, standing in their midst, gold-fish darted about. In the centre of the black-board Miss Jewett had just drawn the picture of a man and woman in Puritan dress; a big yellow pumpkin ornamented one corner of the board, in another was a turkey, in the third an ear of corn and in the fourth a squirrel nibbling a nut. The pictures were drawn with colored chalks and there was not a child who did not look upon them with sparkling eyes.
“Thanksgiving,” the whisper went around. Miss Jewett nodded. “Yes, Thanksgiving, and when we come to our history lesson I will tell you how our first Thanksgiving Day originated and why we still keep it in remembrance.” Then Miss Jewett took up her violin and drew the bow across the strings. She paused a moment before she began to play. “We will sing a very old hymn this morning,” she said, “one that was written by a man named Kethe, away back in the sixteenth century, and it might well have been sung by the Pilgrim Fathers on that first Thanksgiving Day. It is very quaintly worded, I think. You may all look for it in your hymnals; it begins: ‘All people that on earth do dwell,’ and we shall sing it to the tune Old Hundred, for that seems most appropriate, as the tune is as old as the hymn.”