"Rose Clymer never had an idea of her own. She's just sweet and willing. I hate deceitful girls. Every one of them wrote notes to the boys—the same kind of notes—and some of them tried to write poetry. Most of them had a copy of the piece I wrote. They had great fun over it—getting the boys to guess what girl wrote it. I've written a dozen pieces before this and they've all had them."
"Well, that explains the verses.... Now I read in these notes about meetings with the boys?"
"That refers to mornings before school, and after school, and evenings when it's nice weather. And the literary society."
"You mean the Girl's Literary Guild, with rooms at the Atheneum?"
"Yes. But, Miss Hill, the literary part of it is bunk. We meet there to dance. The boys bring the girls cigarettes. They smoke, and sometimes the boys have something with them to drink."
"These—these girls—hardly in their teens—smoke and drink?" gasped Miss Hill.
"I'll say they do," replied Bessy Bell.
"What—does the 'Bell-garter' mean?" went on the teacher, presently.
"One of the boys stole my garter and fastened a little bell to it. Now it's going the rounds. Every girl who could has worn it."
"What's the 'Old Bench'?"