Chicora College for Women - Nods and Becks Yearbook (Columbia, SC)

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I hink of it!” [A laugh.] “Well, I ' ll stick to the suffragettes if I’m going to work under their auspices.” A peal of laughter greeted my listening ears as Catherine told the girls her fate. In an instant after Catherine’s departure, another was ushered in. Who could not recognize by the rapid flow of speech that this was Mar¬ garet Floyd? Madam’s voice was again indistinct, but I caught the re¬ mainder of the last sentence “—happily ever afterward in a manse shall you dwell.” Margaret must have pushed Mary Mitchell into the room, for there was scarcely a pause in Madam Eda’s tone, “Extend your left palm” [a pause] “I see here marked literary talents. You shall be a Lyceum inter¬ preter of Shakespeare. Your power of expression will enable you to portray the characters as the great dramatist intended.” Becoming weary of my cramped position, I cautiously stole back into the reception room, before my absence had been noted by my comrades. I reached there just as Frances reappeared. All of us exclaimed upon seeing the shocked expression on her countenance. With an impatient gesture Frances exclaimed: “I don’t ever expect to go to another fortune teller. Madam Eda is a fake. They’re all fakes. The very idea of my being directress of a dancing school, with fancy dancing my specialty. It makes me perfectly furious.” As yet Randolph’s fate had not been foretold. She said she was going to stay and watch the varied expressions of the girls and make them relate to her their fortunes. Essie was now the occupant of the inner room, and we anxiously awaited her coming. She told us Madam decreed that she should found a musical conservatory at Georgetown. At first the lady could not tell any¬ thing about the name of the city where the conservatory would be located except George—something, so Essie asked if it were Georgetown and Madam Eda then said that was the exact name she saw. As Ethelyn was being escorted into the sanctum, I slipped unobserved into my former hiding place. Before I was settled in a comfortable position, Madam had com¬ menced Ethelyn’s fortune, but her voice was so low that I could get no inkling of what she was foretelling until Ethelyn in astonishment exclaim¬ ed, “Lullabies!” I was so amused, and the effort not to laugh and thus betray my pres¬ ence was so great that I did not hear Ethelyn’s departure or anyone”s en¬ trance until someone’s saying, “I’m mighty proud to be having you tell my fortune, Madam Eda” directed my attention again to the fortunes. Any-

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Prophecy of Class of 1913 O NE Wednesday afternoon, as I was worrying over writing this prophecy and trying to think of something original, Randolph rushed in, saying: “Lewis, do stop bothering with that prophecy and be sociable. Hurry up, get ready, and let’s ‘be going’ to the fortune teller’s. We Seniors have permission to go this afternoon.” “Fortune teller’s?” “Yes, didn’t you know there will be a grand one in town to-day and to-morrow? Here’s where Senior privileges come in. Child, did you ever hear of anything so grand?” “Say, let’s go early so we can shop a little. This prophecy can wait for a more convenient season.” I was ushered into a small inner room, heavily curtained, where the semi-darkness and the odor of the burning josh-sticks filled my very soul with awe. After I had crossed Madam Eda’s palm with silver, she glad¬ dened my heart with the assurance that I would be a physician, the dream of my girlhood hours. A number of girls had gathered in the reception room, and as I was waiting for Randolph to have her future “read,”—for someone else was now in the room,—I caught sight of a long passage. Wandering down this hall I spied a door, and upon turning the knob it yielded. I stealthily pushed it open only to find myself facing thick curtains. But what was that I heard? Was it not Madam Eda’s voice? Here was my oppor¬ tunity to satisfy my curiosity as to the fortunes of the other girls. I could hear the monotonous voice continue its wierd chanting and these words fell upon my listening ears: “And behold under the guiding influence of the great instructor Philippe you shall become a potent factor in the musical world.” At first I could not recognize the vo ice of the recipient of such a for¬ tune, but at last the proverbial, “Oh, how cute,” and I knew this must be Mabel’s promise for the future. I could hear Mabel’s distant footsteps grow less distinct, then a laugh, a heavy tread, and I knew Catherine had entered the room. There was silence for a few moments, during which time I supposed Catherine was performing the necessary preliminaries. Then again the low mumble, but this time I could not distinguish the words. She spoke for it seemed an indeterminable length of time, then I could hear Catherine exclaim: “Am I going to be an editor? And of a paper called Wit and Humor?

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one would “be knowing” that was Randolph. This time I could distin¬ guish every word as Madam said: “You shall be a future political star and your success shall culminate in a senatorship.” Randolph rushed out very much excited and I could hear shrieks of laughter which told me that she and Helen Turner had had a “head-on collision.” I could hear none of the conversation, but on the way home Helen reported it to me. Listen! This is what it was. She said that Helen would become Professor of English in Columbia University, after completing a course there and studying abroad. She had hardly finished telling Helen’s fortune before Willie ran in saying that she couldn’t let her room-mate get ahead of her. Again Madam’s voice was murmuring but her words were indistinct. She talked for a long while and finally I caught the one word, “husband,” echoed by Willie. The next person entered the room with timid footsteps and I did not recognize her voice but Madam Eda’s was easily understood as she said: “You shall do a grand and noble work. You shall be matron of an old ladies’ institute.” I found out afterward that this was to be Florence’s life work. I could not tell by either the walk or voice who was now passing through the ordeal, but in a minute I caught the word “planetesimal,” then again it seemed I heard “hypothesis.” From this I judged that Anna, the predicted scientist of our class must be in the room. I listened intently but could hear no more. The door opened and I knew Madam Eda had another customer. I could hear the voices as if at a distance, but could get no clue as to who this one was or who might be the next who entered. That night at the supper table the mystery was revealed for Helen Goldsmith, who sat at the same table with me, said her fortune had come immediately after Anna’s. She laughed in her quiet way as she told me that her first literary produc¬ tion, “Corporal Punishment as Regards Infants,” would be on the market in a few years. In the course of our conversation I found that lone had followed Helen, and she was to be Professor of Latin at Chicora upon the marriage of our present teacher. By this time I was becoming tired keeping still and quiet so long, but after squirming around I decided to wait to hear the fortunes of the rest of the girls for it was interesting as well as amusing. I heard a heavy tread and recognized it as the familiar footstep of Mary Land. She asked if Madam Eda would please tell her fortune and the Madame proceeded: “In five years you shall sail for the great foreign