Occasion.—A rehearsal for an entertainment to be given in the hotel parlors for the benefit of the Sea-side Home.
Present.—Charlotte, Victoria, Ida, Olive, Grace.
Victoria. What a perfectly glorious afternoon, girls! The sunshine is dazzling. The surf is music itself; the sails out yonder are so white; and the air! I cannot breathe it into my lungs deep enough. There's no place like the sea-side after all.
Charlotte. Mamma is begging papa to take her to the mountains.
Ida. Oh, what a shame! Just as we are getting so well acquainted, and can plan so many nice things to do. It would be wicked for you to leave us.
Victoria. Have you met that new arrival, Miss Daisy James? She's English, you know. She talks about her boxes, not trunks.
Olive. She has luggage, not baggage.
Ida. Yes, I was talking to her. She's funny. She says there isn't any Gulf Stream. Says the Captain of her steamer has sailed for thirty years, and has never seen it. So, if you please, the Gulf Stream "is a myth."
Grace. She's the most disdainful thing, and uses such queer words! She says raw clams are "nasty," and she called bananas "those beans."
Olive. Perhaps she will improve on acquaintance. We mustn't be too hard on her.