Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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28 THE BRANKSOME SLOGAN. Evelyn disappeared after dinner. She telephoned the next day and asked me to dinner on Sunday. She said she would try and make up for the awful time I had had. I went the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that, so you see I stayed longer than I planned. Evelyn says she can see the funny side now, but she enjoined me not to tell anyone but you. But I am forgetting what I came here for, said he, glancing at Ms watch. We want you to come down lat Christmas and be best man. Evelyn likes you already. I must be olf. I have an appoint- ment in ten minutes. Good-bye. ' ' He was gone, and hadn ' t even waited for an answer. I sat down and began wondering if I didn ' t really need coaching in Domestic Science. Then and there I resolved to take a trip Home at my first opportunity. A DOUBTFUL INSPIRATION BY LORRAINE IRWIN. This was the third day, and it was still raining ! How could any- one stand it? Ruth felt desperate. What was the good of being in the country at all if that was the way you were treated. If despera- tion is sufficiently genuine it is sure to find an outlet, and Ruth, feeling this to be her case, sighed all morning for an inspiration in the way of a good excuse to get ont regardless of weather. But the hours passed by uneventfully until after lunch. Passing through the kitchen, Ruth heard the maid say that the cow was out, adding a remark about the wet. On enquiry she found that everyone who might be sent for it was out too. Here was the very thing for her to do. With a serious face, she pleaded with her mother to let her go out of consideration for the cow ' s health, and at last a very hesi- tating permission was extracted. With happy heart and a feeling of unusual courage, Ruth set out for the pasture. I ought to explain that cows possessing the name of Judy are no ordinary ones. In the first place, this Judy was an avowed woman-hater, and, in the next place (and this was even more exciting), she had been known to bunt. Surely no suffragette ever felt so consciously brave in assaulting the enemy as Ruth! Perhaps all of you do not know the state of country thoroughfares after a few days ' rain. Picture to yourselves a rather narrow road, the earth inclined to be clayish, affectionate enough to stick to your boots in respectable lumps, and a good many puddles, then you will have a fair idea.

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THE BRAXKSOME SLOGAN. 37 An expansive grin and then, Tt was hard on the poor girl, I thought ' Humph! You seem to be deeply concerned about her now. You should not have gone if you felt that way about it ' said I, aloud. To myself I remarked, This accounts for your interest in domestic science. ' ' What I said, however, did not have the slightest effect of reproof, for Harry went on talking as serenely as if no interruption had occurred. We had four courses that I remember emphatically. The bouillon tasted as if it had ginger in it, and I didn ' t venture farther than the first spoonful. B} the time the meat course came I was hungry. It was spring lamb, browned potatoes and peas, with trimmings that I can ' t recall now. The meat looked very fine. Evelyn ' s father made an encouraging remark, then cut off two or three slices. I began to look forward to mine with fear and trembling. The fourth slice was a delicate pink, the fifth old rose, and the sixth (the one I should get) was still more impossible. I hoped the potatoes were done, and even went so far as to think peas were always good. As I had calculated, the sixth slice fell to my lot, a generous-sized potato and some peas. I saw a nice brown spot on the potato, and so I ate in its immediate vicinity — but no farther. The peas tasted like sawdust as nearly as I could imagine. The salad course found me genuinely ravenous, but not knowing what was in store for us I dared not anticipate. It looked tempting. They certainly teach you how to make things look attractive at that institute. I recognized its distinguishing flavor, and my mind reverted to childhood and the olive oil bottle. My mother said it was beautiful Mayonnaise. Happily I remembered my long ' short story, ' and the scheme worked well. I digressed occasionally, and by the time I concluded it was time for the next course. It was an ice, and it was supreme. I felt as if I could have repeated it ad infinitum had 1 been pressed. There are special instructions given on the way to pack freezers at the Institute. You use one part salt to two parts ice for a smoioth mixture, for instance, ice cream. Let me see, is that right? Anyway, it is very important. Evelyn said when she was packing it she mistook a bag of sugar for tlie salt bag, and had used half of it before discovering the mistake. The cofi ' ee was good, too. Evelyn ' s mother apologized for its not .laving been made scientifically, but I thought I was rather glad about that.

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THE BRANKSOME SLOGAN. 29 Armed with courage to her very finger-tips, Ruth arrived at the pasture, but there was no Judy, and, despite strenuous calls, no cow made its appearance. Courage is of the same stability of character as quicksilver, one never can .absolutely ascertain its whereabouts. Ruth felt that it was doing its best to hide from her. However, with a little walking, Judy was spied away in the corner of the meadow — watching my lapproaoh much too carefully, Ruth said. But feeling the necessity for hoarding all surplus energy, she trudged on slowly, so that if Judy did take a violent prejudice against her she might feel all the more like running. But Judy was in an amiable mood, and they walked solemnly to the gate, while Ruth delivered a discourse upon the proper and seemly way for cows to behave, especially when they had had the honor of Ruth ' s coming to get them. Once outside the gate, Judy thought she knew the way home better than Ruth did, and, although with all good faith and reasonable patience she pointed out the mistake, the cow re- mained obstinate. Ruth had heard of pigs as the most obstinate of all creatures, but she decided that cows have them beaten. They took a jaunt around a very soggy ploughed field, then Judy went on a little farther. At least that was hopeful, and she seemed in- clined to go home, but, alas ! hopes are wary, too, at times ! She changed her route and went back to the miry field. It really isn ' t any joke to feel that everyone in the village may be laughing up their sleeves at you, but Ruth simply did not care for anything except to make Judy go home and to keep herself from taking root in the spongy ground. With the persuasion of a stick, Judy again started in the right direction, only to turn right about and istart off for the country at a good round trot, with the di sgusted Ruth following up for all she was worth. Have you heard of the man from the country, who, having purchased some goods in a departmental store, saw his money put into a little cash-box and, from there, rapidly transferred along a wire to the cashier ' s office? He was suspicious, so, without more ado, he followed the box, rushing headlong between the coun- ters, and eventually finding himself in the place from which he had started. Very much the same thing happened to Ruth. She rushed wildly after the cow for over a mile, and then some one, seeing her plight, turned Judy towards home, and after some little time they found themselves back at the meadow, where a delegation was await- ing them. Ruth walked home dispiritedly, feeling that in the encounter with Judy she had come out only second best and resolving that the next time she lacked inspiration to go out it would not tempt her in the form of a cow.