VARIOUS exclamations greeted Nell Erwin as she entered the schoolroom and drew out her work—a coarse gray woollen sock.
It was “Fancy Friday” at Daisy Hill Seminary—something peculiar to the place. Three Fridays out of the month were spent in the customary elocutionary exercises, but the afternoon of the fourth was spent in a cosey, informal way, the girls, both day scholars and boarders, bringing their fancy work, and Madam Lane reading to them from some standard work.
At the present time she was in the midst of a translation of the Iliad, but I fear that in spite of Madam’s clear and beautiful rendition, “Jove, the cloud-gatherer,” “Juno, the ox-eyed,” and the other Homeric worthies, were less fascinating than “rick-rack” and “Kensington stitches.”
On this particular Friday, there was a brilliant display of fancy work. Helen Grant was embroidering a pair of slippers—splendid purple and yellow pansies; Lulu Fletcher a sofa pillow—a cluster of lilies on cardinal satin; Katie Lee was at work on an elaborate stand-spread; Mary Morse was crocheting a fleecy white shawl; Carrie Evans was making an applique bracket; a dozen or so girls were deep in the delightful mysteries of “crazy quilts”; and—but, dear me! I have not the time to enumerate all the beautiful things! Seats and desks were covered with a dazzling array of silks and worsteds.
So you see it was no wonder that Nell’s humble gray sock created such a sensation. However, though she blushed a little at the pleasantries of her mates, she took her seat and courageously set to work.
“Why, Nell! I thought you were going to bring that lovely foot-rest!” said Helen Grant. “You told me yesterday that you were going to finish it to-day. Have you it already done?”
“O no!”
“Then why under the sun didn’t you bring it instead of this solemn old sock!”
Nell blushed still redder, then she said hesitatingly, “Well, you see, girls, I did think I’d bring the foot-rest. In fact I had it all done up in my work-bag, and then I remembered that I would need a pair of scissors. So I went to mother’s work-basket, and, girls, in rummaging around there, I got an idea!”