"Means they've got it, too," laughed Lois.
"Of course we'll have to answer it," Polly said.
The next few days the composition of a fitting reply occupied all their time. They wrote and discarded a dozen answers before finally deciding on a poem of Betty's. The Tatler went to press with instructions to print it on the first page, and the Whitehead girls, when they got their copy, laughed long and heartily, for this is what they read:
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"Eight little germs lurked in a cup All on a pleasant day. Eight little maids they spied that cup When they went out to play. They thought they'd take it home with them; They didn't know, you see, The mumpy germs were waiting there As slyly as could be. But when they took the cup, alas! Those eight germs gave eight jumps And landed in those eight maids' throats, And gave them each the mumps." |
CHAPTER XVII
SPRING
The months of March and April had come and gone. The days had passed in unvarying monotony for the most part.
Now and again, however, some little incident found its place and added the necessary interest to the school life. The long term after Christmas is always tiring, and Easter vacation had come as a relief. By the time this chapter opens the grounds of Seddon Hall gave proof of spring—warm days and sunshine beckoned the girls out of doors, and early flowers rewarded their frequent rambles in the woods. In less than three weeks school would close, and another Senior class would graduate. Polly and Lois had seen the same thing happen year after year, but now that the time was approaching for them to go, they experienced the same feeling of regret and wonder that every girl knows who has ever finished and received a diploma.