Annie Wright School - Shield Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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H Y A K 7 returned in triumph with Sue’s peroxide, May’s ammonia, a can of Dutch cleanser from one of the bathrooms, and an extra washbowl borrowed from Kate. They set to work with stern determination and in silence. After some time Margaret asked timidly: “Are you gel- ting it off, Martha ?” “I’m getting the skin off, I believe,” answered Martha, griml . “I suppose the dye will come with it, but I doubt if our hands will look much better with the skin off.” “Mine smart awfully,” sighed Margaret, “and I can’t see that they are a bit whiter. Oh, we can’t go to the ball!” and her voice broke with a sob. “Don’t cry, Peggy, for goodness sake. Do you want to make your eyes as red as your hands?” Margaret giggled in spite of herself. “I’m going down to see if Miss Patterson is in.” Martha continued, “if there is any way out of this , she’ll know it and she’ll help us.” In ten minutes she returned, radiant. “Miss Patterson says that she will ask Miss Edmonds if we mayn’t wear gloves to the ball. Those long white ones that we had for the Junior Prom, aren’t much soiled. There ’8 one thing, though,” and her face fell a little, “we’ll have to let the girls know why we wear them. You know Miss Edmonds told the girls expressly not to wear gloves, because it is an informal affair and she doesn’t want the girls to think they must dress elaborately.” “I don’t mind their knowing, really, if it weren’t for Madge Jen- kins,” said Margaret, resignedly, “but she has been too hateful for anything lately, and I know she is just waiting for a chance to be mean.” “You know why, don’t you? Miss Everett selected five of your drawings for the studio exhibition and only one of hers. Oh, well, don’t you care. Cold cream your hands good and thick and lie down for a while. I’m going to take down this ‘Engaged’ sign. The sooner people know now the better.” It was not ten minutes before there came a loud rap at the door and Louise burst in. “Goodness! I’m glad you’re awake at last! Lend me your curling iron, Pat? For mercy’s sake, child, what have you done to your hands? Oh, look at Peggy, too! Edna! Lorna! Come in here, will you, and look at this!” A babel of laughing questions followed, as the others came running in. Martha explained, still dabbing nervously at her knuckles with cold cream. “Ah! What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands,” began Lorna. “It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her

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6 HTAK fast was over the next morning they hurried to the corner drug-store and eagerly studied the dye color-card. “There is one that would do,” said Martha, “if it were not so dark.” “Darker or lighter, according to the quantity of water you use, the clerk reassured her; “dye any shade.” Returning with the magic package, the twins sought Louise, but she had gone out with a party in quest of greens to decorate the gym- nasium for the ball. So they read the directions on the package care- fully, and bravely set to work, mixing and stirring and testing, adding more water and testing again, sacrificing half-worn handkerchiefs and lingerie recklessly, in their anxiety to see whether the dye had reachew the right shade. Finally they decided that it would do, and the two pairs of stockings were carefully dipped and hung on the towel rack to dry. Martha went to throw away the remains of the dye, and returned to find her sister almost in tears. “0, Martha,” she whimpered, “the dye won’t wash off my hands. I’ve tried clear water, and I’ve tried soapy water and I can’t stir it.” “We’ll have to use peroxide or pummice stone, or something,” said Martha, calmly. “When Sue comes up I’ll get her peroxide.” “But it’s almost lunch time, Martha. We never can make our selves presentable in time.” “Run and ask Miss Brown to excuse us from coming down. Tell her that we are tired and have headaches — yours does ache, doesn’t it t Mine does, fit to split— and want to rest for this evening. Tell her that we have oranges and crackers and won’t need anything else. I’m sure she will excuse us this once. And keep your hands under your apron, the girls will tease us to death if they see us like this.’ And Martha proceeded to pin a big “Engaged” sign on the door. After their light lunch the twins threw themselves upon their cots, for a brief rest before the arduous task of bleaching their hands. Martha awoke first, after half an hour or so of troubled sleep, and her first thought was for the stockings. Her startled exclamation brought her twin from slumberland with a rush. “They’re streaky!” wailed Martha, “and they’re three shades too light. I never thought of their drying lighter.” “Nor I,” murmured Margaret. “What shall we dot” “It’s lucky that we didn’t use the whole package of dyet” answered Martha. “We’ll just dye them over again a deeper shade.” It was done as speedily as possible. Incidentally the hands of the twins also took on a depcer hue. Then they started in, in good earnest, to remove the stains. Martha donned hat and coat, to justify a pair of gloves, and went to collect all the bleaching agent she could. She

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8 H Y A K hands; I have known her to continue in this a quarter of an hour, ’ quoted Edna in turn. “Yet here’s a spot, ” and Louise patted Martha on the hand. “Hark! she speaks; I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly,” went on Lorna. Then Louise : “Out, damned spot! out, I say! Who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him!” This was too much. The girls went off in a gale of laughter, laugh- ing until they were limp and breathless. When they had recovered a little, Edna asked: “But what will you do about dinner? You can’t wear gloves at the table. “Oh, and Miss Heath has invited that nephew of hers from Port- land, and he will be at our table for dinner, added Lorna. “Well,” answered Martha, “we’ll put all the powder on the backs of our hands that will stick, and I’ll ask Miss Heath to move us down to the other end of the table. No, you ask her, Lorna, and ask her not to tell.” But too late, the girls had returned to their hair-dressing. “I have looked forward so to this party and now it’s spoiled.” “It really is too provoking for words,” she went on, after the other meeting Adams Heath. You know he was here last year at Thanksgiv- ing, and Lorna has raved about him until I am just wild to meet him. They say he is a very brilliant conversationist. Oh, well, such is life!” The twins were very quiet as they came up from the ball, and went straight to their rooms, without lingering to talk with the other girls. “Had a good time, Peggy?” asked Martha, listlessly, beginning to take down her hair. “Pretty fair. I’m dead tired. Does your head ache still?” “Yes, it has ached all evening, and I felt so heavy and dull.” “And this was our June Ball, that w T e ve looked forward to so long.” “Did you dance with Mr. Heath at all?” queried Martha. “Yes, I had the fifth waltz with him. But Madge Jenkins had just been barn-dancing with him, and I just know she told him about our dyeing and all. He kept looking at my gloves so mischievously, then he sat out a dance with me and began quoting poetry, and said some- thing about ‘rosy-fingered dawn.’ ” “The mean, teasing, horrid man!” stormed Martha. “Oh, I don’t think he meant to be hateful, at all. But I was so fussed, I couldn’t think of a thing to say, and I know he thought I was a perfect fool. Oh, well. I’ll never see him again, most likely.” It was more than three years before they met again, but when they met the second time — w T ell, that is another story. D. F. WILLOUGHLY, 11.