Betty Wales, Senior Read online

  CHAPTER III

  THE BELDEN HOUSE "INITIATION PARTY"

  Lucile Merrifield, Betty's stately sophomore cousin, and Polly Eastman,Lucile's roommate and dearest friend, sat on Madeline Ayres's bed andmunched Madeline's sweet chocolate complacently.

  "Wish I had cousins in Paris that would send me 'eats' as good as this,"sighed Polly.

  "Isn't it just too delicious!" agreed Lucile. "I say, Madeline, I'm onthe sophomore reception committee and there aren't half enoughsophomores to go round among the freshmen. Won't you take somebody?"

  "I? Hardly." Madeline shrugged her shoulders disdainfully. "Don't youknow, child, that I detest girl-dances--any dances for that matter. Askme to do something amusing."

  "You ought to want to do something useful," said Polly reproachfully."Think of all those poor little friendless freshmen!"

  "What kind of a class is it this year?" inquired Madeline, lazily,breaking up more chocolate. "Any fun?"

  "The chief thing I've noticed about them," said Lucile, "is that they'reso horribly numerous."

  "Fresh?" asked Madeline.

  "Yes, indeed," declared Polly emphatically, "dreadfully fresh. Butsomehow,--I'm on the grind committee, you know,--and they don't doanything funny. They just do quantities and quantities of stupid,commonplace things, like mistaking the young faculty for freshmen andexpecting Miss Raymond to help them look up their English references. Ijust wish they'd think of something original," ended Polly dolefully.

  "Why don't you make up something?" asked Madeline.

  Polly stared. "Oh, I don't think that would do at all. The grinds aresupposed to be true, aren't they? They'd be sure to find out and thenthey'd always dislike us." Polly smiled luminously. "I've got a goodmany freshmen friends," she explained.

  "Which means violet-bestowing crushes, I suppose," said Madelineseverely. "You shouldn't encourage that sort of thing, Polly. You're tooyoung."

  "I'm not a bit younger than Lucile," Polly defended herself, "and theyall worship her." Polly giggled. "Only instead of violets, they send herGibson girls, with touching notes about her looking like one."

  "Come now," said Lucile calmly. "That's quite enough. Let Madeline tellus how to get some good grinds."

  Madeline considered, frowning. "Why if you won't make up," she said atlast, "the only thing to do is to lay traps for them. Or no--I'll tellyou what--let's give an initiation party."

  "A what?" chorused her guests.

  "Oh, you know--hazing, the men would call it; only of course we'll havenice little amusing stunts that couldn't frighten a fly. Is anythingdoing to-night?"

  "In the house, you mean?" asked Lucile. "Not a thing. But if you wantour room----"

  "Of course we do," interposed Madeline calmly. "It's the onlydecent-sized one in the house. Go and straighten it up, and let this bea lesson to you to keep it in order hereafter. Polly, you invite thefreshmen for nine o'clock. I'll get some more sophomores and seniors,and some costumes. Come back here to dress in half an hour."

  "Goodness," said the stately Lucile, slipping out of her nest ofpillows. "How you do rush things through, Madeline."

  Madeline smiled reminiscently. "I suppose I do," she admitted. "Eversince I can remember, I've looked upon life as a big impromptu stunt. Igot ready for a year abroad once in half an hour, and I gave theAmerican ambassador to Italy what he said was the nicest party he'd everbeen to on three hours' notice, one night when mother was ill and fatherwent off sketching and forgot to come in until it was time to dress. Oh,it's just practice," said Madeline easily,--"practice and being of anaturally hopeful disposition. Run along now."

  "I thought I'd better not tell them," Madeline confided to the genius ofher room, when the sophomores were safely out of earshot, "that I haven'tthe faintest notion what to do with those freshmen after we get themthere. Being experienced, I know that something will turn up; but they,being only sophomores, might worry. Now what the mischief"--Madelinepulled out drawer after drawer of her chiffonier--"can I have done withthose masks?"

  The masks turned up, after the Belden House "Merry Hearts" had searchedwildly through all their possessions for them, over at the Westcott inBabbie Hildreth's chafing dish, where she had piled them neatly forsafe-keeping the June before.

  "Madeline said for you each to bring a sheet," explained Helen Adams,who had been deputed to summon the B's and Katherine. "They're to dressup in, I guess. She said we couldn't lend you the other ones of ours,because they might get dirty trailing around the floors, and we musthave at least one apiece left for our beds."

  The B's joined rapturously in the preparations for Madeline's mysteriousparty. Katherine could not be found, and Rachel and Eleanor were bothengaged for the evening; but that was no matter, Madeline said. It oughtto be mostly a Belden House affair, but a few outsiders would helpmystify the freshmen.

  Promptly at quarter to nine Polly, Lucile, and the rest of the BeldenHouse contingent arrived, each bringing her sheet with her, andpresently Madeline's room swarmed with hooded, ghostly figures.

  "Is that you, Polly?" whispered Lucile to somebody standing near her.

  "No, it's not," squeaked the figure, from behind its little black mask.

  "Why, we shan't even know each other, after we get mixed up a little,"giggled somebody else, as the procession lined up for a hasty dashthrough the halls.

  "Now, don't forget that you've all got to help think up things for themto do," warned Madeline, "especially you sophomores."

  "And don't forget to remember the things for grinds," added PollyEastman lucidly. "That's what the party is for."

  "If the freshmen find out that you had to get us to help you, you'llnever hear the last of it," jeered Babe.

  "Now Babe, we're their natural allies," protested Babbie. "Of course wealways help them."

  "Sh!" called a scout, sticking her head into the room. "Coast's clear.Make a rush for it."

  The last ghost had just gotten safely into the room, when two freshmen,timid but much flattered by Polly's cordial invitation, knocked on thedoor.

  "Come in," called Polly in her natural voice, and once unsuspectinglyinside, they were pounced upon by the army of ghosts, and escorted toseats as far as possible from the door. The other guests luckily arrivedin a body headed by Georgia Ames, who, having come into the house onlythe day before, was already an important personage in the eyes of herclassmates. What girl wouldn't be who called Betty Wales by her firstname, and wasn't one bit afraid to "talk back" to the clever Miss Ayres?

  Georgia's attitude of amused tolerance therefore set the tone for thefreshmen's behavior. "Don't you see that it's some sophomore joke?" shedemanded. "Might as well let the poor creatures get as much fun out ofus as they can, and then perhaps they'll give us something good to eatby and by."

  "We'll give you something right away," squeaked a ghost. "Georgia Amesand Miss Ashton, stand forth. Now kneel down, shut your eyes and openyour mouths."

  "Don't do it. It will be some horrid, peppery mess," advised asour-tempered freshman named Butts.

  But Georgia and her companion stood bravely forth, to be rewarded by twodelicious mouthfuls of Madeline's French chocolate. After this pleasantsurprise, the freshmen, all but Miss Butts and one or two more, grewmore cheerful and began to enter into the spirit of the occasion.

  "Josephine Boyd, you are elected to scramble like an egg," announced atall ghost.

  Josephine's performance was so realistic that it evoked peals oflaughter from ghosts and freshmen alike.

  "We'll recommend you for a part in the next menagerie that the house orthe college has," said the tall ghost, who seemed to be mistress ofceremonies. "The Dutton twins are now commanded to push matches acrossthe floor with their noses. You'll find the matches on the table by thewindow. Somebody tie their hands behind them. Now start at the door andgo straight across to Georgia Ames's chair. The one that wins the racemust send Polly some flowers," added the tall ghost maliciously as thetwins, blushing violently at this barefaced reference to t
heir rivalryfor Polly's affections, took their matches, and at Georgia's signaled"One, two, three, go!" began their race.

  Pushing a match across a slippery floor with one's nose looked so easyand proved so difficult that both ghosts and freshmen, as they cheeredon the eager contestants, longed to take part in the enticing sport. Thefluffy-haired twin kept well ahead of her straight-haired sister, until,when her match was barely a foot from Georgia's chair it caught in acrack and broke in two.

  "Oh, dear!" sighed the fluffy-haired twin forlornly, trying to singleout her divinity from among the sheeted ghosts.

  Her despair was too much for soft-hearted Polly. "Never mind," she saidkindly "The race is hereby called off."

  "And we can both send you flowers, can't we?" demanded thestraight-haired twin, jumping up, flushed and panting from herexertions.

  Every one waited eagerly to hear what the next stunt would be.

  "This is for you, Miss Butts," announced the tall ghost, after awhispered colloquy with her companions, "and as you don't seem veryhappy to-night we've made it easy. Tell the name of your most particularcrush. Now don't pretend you haven't any."

  "I won't tell," muttered Miss Butts sullenly.

  "Then you'll have to make up Lucile Merrifield's bed for two weeks as apenalty for disobeying our decrees. Now all the rest of you may tellyour crushes' names. I will explain, as some of you look a little dazedabout it, that your crush is the person you most deeply adore."

  Some of the freshmen meekly accepted the penalty rather than divulgetheir secret affections, one declared that she hadn't a crush, one,remembering the legend of Georgia Ames, made up a sophomore's name andafter she had been safely "passed" exulted over the simplicity of hervictims. A few, including Georgia, calmly confessed their divinities'names and gloated over the effect their announcements had upon some ofthe ghosts.

  When this entertainment was exhausted, the ghosts held anotherconference. "Carline Dodge, get under the bed and develop like a film,"decreed the leader finally.

  "Oh, not under mine," cried a tall, impressive-looking ghostplaintively. "My botany and zooelogy specimens are under it. She'd besure to upset the jars."

  "There!" said Georgia Ames complacently. "That makes six of you that weknow. Polly Eastman and now Lucile have given themselves away. BabbieHildreth crumpled all up when Carline Dodge called out her crush's name.If she's here, the other two that they call the B's are, and MadelineAyres is directing the job. It's easy enough to guess who the rest ofyou are, so why not take off those hot things and be sociable?"

  "Go on, Carline Dodge," ordered the tall ghost imperturbably.

  "But I don't get the idea of the action," objected the serious-facedfreshman, and looked amazed that everybody should laugh so uproariously.

  "That's so funny that we'll let you off," said Madeline, when the mirthhad subsided. "I foresee that you've invented a very useful phrase."

  And sure enough Carline's reply was speedily incorporated into Harding'sspecial vocabulary, and its author found herself unwittingly famous.

  "Now," said Madeline cheerfully, "you may all chase smiles around theroom for a while, and when I say 'wipe,' you are to wipe them off on acrack in the floor. Then we'll have a speech from one of you and youwill be dismissed."

  Most of the freshmen entered gaily into the "action" of chasing smiles,and caught a great many on their own and each other's faces. That frolicended, Madeline called upon a quiet little girl who had hardly been seento open her mouth since she reached Harding, to make a speech. To everyone's surprise she rose demurely, without a word of objection or theleast appearance of embarrassment, and delivered an original monologuesupposed to be spoken by a freshman newly arrived and airing herimpressions of the college. It hit everybody with its absurd humor,which no one enjoyed better, apparently, than the quiet little freshmanherself.

  "Encore! Encore! Give us another!" shouted the freshmen when she hadfinished; but their quiet little classmate only shook her head, andassuming once more the mincing, confidential tone she had been using inthe monologue, remarked: "Do you know, there are some girls in our classthat will forget their heads before long. Why, when they're being hazed,they forget it and think they're at a real party."

  Everybody laughed again, and the tall ghost made the little freshmanblush violently by saying, "You'll get a part in the house play, mychild, and if you can write that monologue down I'll send an 'Argus'editor around after it."

  The little freshman, whose name was Ruth Howard, pinched herself softly,when no one was looking, to make sure that she was awake. Like MotherHubbard she felt a little doubtful of her identity, as she noticed theadmiring glances cast upon her by even the haughtiest of the freshmen.She had been rather lonely during these first weeks, and it was verypleasant now to find that the things she could do were going to make aplace for her in this big, busy college world.

  "A hazing party isn't a half-bad idea, is it?" said Georgia Ames,reflectively. "It's got us all acquainted a lot faster than anythingelse would, I guess,--even if there wasn't any food."

  "Considering that we've done everything else, you children might findthe food----" began one of the ghosts, but a bell in the corridorinterrupted her.

  "Is that the twenty-minutes-to or the ten o'clock?" asked another ghostanxiously.

  "Ten," said a freshman. "The other rang while we were chasing smiles."

  "Then we're locked out," cried a small ghost tragically, and threesheeted figures rushed down the hall, tripping over their flowing robesand struggling with their masks as they ran.

  "My light is on. Will they report it?" asked little Ruth Howard shylyof Georgia Ames.

  "Mine will be reported all right before I've done with it," declared aghost gloomily. "I've got to study for a physics review. I oughtn't tohave come near this festive function."

  "Same here."

  "Come on, Carline. Don't you know the action of going home?"

  "Jolly fun though, wasn't it?"

  The initiation party dissolved noisily down the dusky corridors.

  Next day the college rang with the report that hazing was now practicedat Harding. Strange accounts of the Belden House party were passed fromgroup to group of excited freshmen who declared that they were "justscared to death" of the sophomores and wouldn't for the world be outalone after dark, and of amused upper-classmen who allowed forexaggerations and considered the whole episode in the light of a goodjoke. But a particularly susceptible Burton House freshman, who sat atMiss Stuart's table and burned to make a favorable impression upon thataugust lady, repeated the story to her at luncheon. Miss Stuart receivedit in silence, wondered what the truth of it was, and asked some of herfriends about it that afternoon at a faculty meeting. Of course some ofthe wrong people heard about it and took it up officially, as a mattercalculated to ruin the spirit of the college. The result was that MissFerris and Dr. Hinsdale were furnished with the names of some of theoffenders and requested to interview them on the subject of theirmisdemeanors. Miss Ferris unerringly selected Madeline Ayres as thering-leader of the affair and Betty Wales as the best person to make anappeal to, if any appeal was needed, and set an hour for them to comeand see her.

  Madeline, who never looked at bulletin-boards, did not get her note ofsummons, and Betty, who had taken hers as a friendly invitation to havetea with her friend, went over to the Hilton House alone and in thehighest spirits. But Miss Ferris was not serving tea, and Dr. Hinsdaleshowed no intention of leaving them in peace to indulge in one of thoselong and delightful talks that Betty had so anticipated. Indeed it washe, with his coldest expression and his dryest tone, who introduced thesubject of the initiation party and demanded to know why Madeline Ayreshad neglected Miss Ferris's summons. Betty had no trouble in explainingthat to everybody's satisfaction, but she longed desperately forMadeline's support, as she listened to Dr. Hinsdale's stern arraignmentof the innocent little gathering.

  "It's not lady-like," he asserted. "It's aping the men. Hazing is adiscredited practice
anyhow. All decent colleges are dropping it. Wecertainly don't want it here, where the aim of the faculty has alwaysbeen to encourage the friendliest relations between classes. The membersof the entering class always find the college life difficult at first.It's quite unnecessary to add to their troubles."

  Betty listened with growing horror. What dreadful thing had sheunwittingly been a party to? And yet, after all, could it have been sovery dreadful? If Dr. Hinsdale had been there, would he have felt thisway about it? A smile wavered on Betty's lips at this thought. Shelooked at Miss Ferris, who smiled back at her.

  "Say it, Betty," encouraged Miss Ferris, and Betty began, explaining howMadeline had happened to think of the hazing, relating the absurditiesthat she and the rest had devised, dwelling on Ruth Howard's cleverimpersonation and Josephine Boyd's effective egg-scrambling. GraduallyDr. Hinsdale's expression softened, and when she repeated CarlineDodge's absurd retort, he laughed like a boy.

  "Do you think it was so very dreadful?" Betty inquired anxiously,whereupon her judges exchanged glances and laughed again.

  "There's another thing," Betty began timidly after a moment. "I don'tknow as I should ever have thought of it myself, but it did certainlywork that way." And Betty explained Georgia Ames's idea of thehazing-party as a promoter of good-fellowship. "It's awfully hard to getacquainted with freshmen, you see," she went on. "We have our ownfriends and we are all busy with our own affairs. But since that nightwe've been just as friendly. That one evening took the place of lots ofcalls and formal parties. We know now what the different ones can do. Ofcourse," Betty admitted truthfully, "it didn't help Miss Butts any,unless it showed her that at Harding you've got to do your part, if youwant a good time. She's certainly been a little more agreeable since.But Ruth Howard now--why it would have been ages--oh, I mean months,"amended Betty blushingly, "before we should have known about her, unlessMadeline had called for that speech."

  Again the judges exchanged amused glances, and Dr. Hinsdale cleared histhroat. "Well, Miss Wales," he said, "you've made your point, I think.You've found the legitimate purpose for a legitimate and distinctlyfeminine kind of hazing. And now, if Miss Ferris will excuse me, I havean engagement at my rooms."

  So Betty had her talk and her tea, after all, and went away loving MissFerris harder than ever. For Miss Ferris, by the mysterious process thatbrought all college news to her ken, had heard about Eleanor Watson andthe Champion Blunderbuss, and she was looking out for Eleanor, who, shewas sure from a number of little things she had noticed and piecedtogether, was now quite capable of looking out for herself. Thisconfirmation of her own theory encouraged Betty vastly, and she was ableto feel a little more charitable toward the Champion, who, as MissFerris had pointed out, was really the one most to be pitied.