Dolly's College Experiences

by Mabel Cronise Jones

Margery Ainsworth had found tutoring to do–and was perfectly happy in consequence. She begged her father to let her try and find some work the next year; she was sure that she could find something which she was capable of doing, but her father would not listen.

“My health is none too good, Margery, and when I am gone, I want to know that you will be able to take care of your mother well. You cannot do that now. You are not fitted for any special thing. You would be compelled to work for a low salary, and when hard times came, you might find yourself without any position at all. I should like to give you a couple of years of post-graduate study, too, but that is impossible now.”

So Margery yielded, knowing in her heart that her father’s plan was really the wisest, and promising herself to utilize every moment. Yet she hated the thought of drawing upon their small reserve fund for her college expenses.

It was Professor Arnold who finally came to her assistance. College had opened and the work of the year had fairly commenced. Professor Arnold was none too popular with the girls, principally for the reason that none of them understood her well. She was exacting in the classroom, and indolent students received small mercy at her hands. Yet when people once penetrated beneath her reserve, they found her lovable, charming and sincere.

She knew Margery Ainsworth’s circumstances well, and since the girl’s second entrance at college had watched her keenly. Now she went to her with a proposition that filled Margery with the keenest gratitude. “Miss Ainsworth, could you manage to take the Latin classes in the preparatory department? You are perfectly competent to do the work, and if you think that you can find the time and if you care to undertake it, what you do there will balance your expenses here.”

There was no doubt that Margery would find the time. What wouldn’t she do for the sake of paying her own way? So she undertook the work eagerly, and wrote a joyful letter home. Mr. Ainsworth shook his head rather dubiously over it. He feared that his daughter was undertaking more than her strength would permit, but he did not like to forbid the plan definitely, and so Margery went on with the work. There were many times when she was so tired that it did seem as if she could not prepare her own recitations for the next day, but she never quite gave way, and she never once regretted the fact that she had undertaken the extra duties.

Professor Arnold kept a watchful eye on her, although Margery was not aware of it, and she became more and more certain, as the year went by, that Margery was just the person that Madame Deveaux would want the next year, at her exceedingly fashionable school in New York. One of the teachers would leave at the close of the present year, and Madame had already asked Professor Arnold to secure someone for her. So, although Margery did not know it, her way was being made plain and easy. Constance, too, had been thinking of Margery, but when she found out, accidentally, what Professor Arnold’s plan was, she said nothing more, merely resolving to make Margery’s holidays as pleasant as possible. And Margery would be happy in her work, knowing that she was helping her home folks and was making the best atonement possible for her former folly.

Class elections passed off smoothly. As Beth said, she had not planned things for two long years just to fail at the last moment. Beth’s “ticket,” as Dolly insisted on calling it, was carried through triumphantly, and without any hard feelings on the part of any one.

So Dolly was elected president, Margaret was editor-in-chief of the Chronicle, Constance was historian, and both Mary and Beth were on the executive committee. Beth had objected decidedly when her name was proposed, but she was so capable and energetic, that her classmates really wanted her in that all-important place.

The majority of the girls had their plans more or less well defined for the next year. Margaret had already given her name to the faculty as an applicant for a school, and it was hardly to be doubted that she would get what she wished. Westover ranked so high among colleges, that its graduates were in demand every place, and each year brought the faculty scores of letters, from both public and private schools, asking that one of Westover’s graduates be sent them.