Introduction
Betty Wales and her friends appeared first in “Betty Wales, Freshman,” which told the story of their freshman year at Harding College. Eleanor Watson was in that group; so were Mary Brooks, Helen Adams, Roberta, the three B’s, and Katharine Kittredge, of Kankakee. Madeline Ayres made her entrance in “Betty Wales, Sophomore.” “Betty Wales, Junior,” and “Betty Wales, Senior” completed the undergraduate history of Betty’s class. “Betty Wales, B. A.” is the story of a summer abroad, where Betty met Mr. Morton, and “Babe” met his son. “Betty Wales & Co.” described the beginnings of the famous Tally-ho Tea-Shop, and “Betty Wales on the Campus” brought Betty back to Harding as the Secretary of the Student’s Aid Committee. She lived in Morton Hall, erected by the testy old millionaire because Betty’s work had won his sympathy and interest.
The “ploshkin” referred to in this story was at first a fascinatingly impossible little animal in a story that Eugenia Ford told Betty’s Smallest Sister, but Madeline Ayres saw its wide possibilities as a fun-maker, and Jasper J. Morton helped the girls put images of it on the market.
Contents
| I. | A Slump in Ploshkins | [ 9] |
| II. | Montana Marie O’Toole Dawns Upon Harding College | [ 27] |
| III. | The Initiation of Montana Marie | [ 45] |
| IV. | Montana Marie Takes a Ride | [ 64] |
| V. | The B. C. A.’s “Undertake” Montana Marie | [ 81] |
| VI. | The Intervention of Jim | [ 98] |
| VII. | Binks Ames Makes a Discovery | [ 115] |
| VIII. | Jists and Suffragists | [ 131] |
| IX. | The Tally-ho’s Dignified Dinner | [ 147] |
| X. | Rescuing Montana Marie | [ 165] |
| XI. | The Beguiling of the Smallest Sister | [ 179] |
| XII. | The Popping Mascots | [ 193] |
| XIII. | Montana Marie and the Prom. Man Supply Company | [ 212] |
| XIV. | Entertaining Georgia’s Sister | [ 227] |
| XV. | The New Woman at Harding | [ 246] |
| XVI. | The Freckles of Miss A. Pease | [ 265] |
| XVII. | Two Surprises | [ 283] |
| XVIII. | Montana Marie Disappears | [ 293] |
| XIX. | Living Up to Harding | [ 311] |
| XX. | Climaxes | [ 324] |
| XXI. | The End of Betty Wales | [ 341] |
Illustrations
| PAGE | |
| “I Think I Shall Like it Here” | [ Frontispiece] |
| “Go Ahead—Make a Speech” | [ 54] |
| “I’ve Passed Off My Entrance Latin” | [ 113] |
| She Peeped Cautiously in at the Door | [ 161] |
| He Waved His Purple Banner | [ 205] |
| A Tall Merry-faced Girl | [ 240] |
| “So I’ve Shut My Eyes, and I’ve Chosen” | [ 335] |
Betty Wales Decides
CHAPTER I
A SLUMP IN PLOSHKINS
It was a breathless August afternoon. Betty Wales, very crisp and cool in white linen, sat in a big wicker chair on the broad piazza of the family cottage at Lakeside. On the wicker table beside her were a big basket of family mending, a new novel, and an uncut magazine. In her lap was a fuzzy gray kitten. Betty Wales was deliberately ignoring the mending; she had been “perfectly crazy” to begin the new novel, but now she ignored that likewise; she had entirely forgotten the fuzzy gray kitten. She was busily engaged in the altogether delectable occupation, for a hot August afternoon, of doing nothing at all.