After school, the Sigma Pi girls met, and parcelled out the work for the initiation, next day. Blanche Gross offered her entire house, because her family was away, and Jacquette, besides bringing a cake, was appointed to act on the committee escorting Winifred to the place of her initiation. Accordingly at half-past nine the next morning, she went over to Mamie Coolidge’s, where Winifred had been summoned to appear.
Blanche lived only a few blocks from Mamie’s home, but, as Winifred must be made to believe that her initiation would be in some mysterious quarter out at the north end of the city, it was necessary to blindfold her and give her a long street-car ride. So Mamie Coolidge and Flo Burton, both freshmen and both irrepressible romps, were decking her for the journey, as Jacquette came in.
They had braided her black hair in seven tight pigtails, each of which was so stiffly wired that they had been able to make it stand out in wonderful spiral twists, giving a Medusa effect that was quite startling. On the top of her head they had pinned a thimble-like opera bonnet of a fashion long gone by, and, for dress, she had on a long, bedraggled white petticoat, topped by a man’s black coat, the tails of which were pinned up across the back in two large pockets. These pockets were filled with faded roses and ferns, and Winifred was to carry in both hands a large bunch of wilted carnations.
The finishing touch was the bandage over her eyes. It was a red bandana, padded with cotton, to prevent a single ray of light from getting in.
Jacquette had never seen a Sigma Pi pledge taken out on the street looking quite so much like a scarecrow, and, before they started, she took Mamie and Flo aside to remonstrate. But they declared, with giggles of delight, that they had received instructions from headquarters, and weren’t going to have them interfered with by a freshman. So the party set out.
As they were going down the front steps, Winifred stumbled and nearly fell headlong. “Now, girls!” Jacquette exclaimed, speaking out before the pledge in forgetfulness of sorority rules. “You can’t take Winifred on the car with her eyes bandaged like that. It’s dangerous. It wouldn’t do a bit of harm to loosen it just enough so that she could see the ground she’s walking on.”
“It certainly would do harm, for it’s against orders!” Flo Burton insisted, in her most important manner, and, as she spoke, she took Winifred by the arm and turned her around several times. “Now, Winifred, follow my voice,” she said.
Flo was chairman of the committee, and evidently meant to have that fact remembered, but there was one thing Jacquette could do, and that was to keep a close hold of Winifred’s hand. She did this faithfully, telling her when to step up and down, and which way to turn, until at last, with a sigh of relief, she seated her safely in the car.
So Mamie and Flo were decking her for the journey