Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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The Augusta Seminary Annual. 21 A Contribution to the Boston Folk-Lore Society. Among the subjects brou.s ht up for discussion at the last meeting of the well-known Folk-Lore Society of Boston, was that of Superstitions common among school-girls. So much interest was expressed, and so little information could be gained in Boston by the learned gentlemen on this par- ticular subject, that a committee, appointed for the purpose, dispatched an intelligent daemon to one of the largest girls ' schools in the South, with instructions to bring back allthe information on the subject that he could collect. When the messenger, clothed in his invisible mantle arrived at his journey ' s end, it was long after ten o ' clock, and not a sound was to be heard, not a light to be seen any- where about the Seminary building. His quick eye, how- ever, spied, far above the ground, a second-story window left op en a few inches for ventilation. In a moment he had leaped into the room, skipped nimbl} to the top of a screen, thrown off his cloak, and settled himselt to await the com- ing of day. All night long he sat patiently upon the frame- work and kicked his heels against the gail} beflowered sur- face of Violet Deering ' s screen. I think, had Violet opened her eyes and seen the Folk-Lore Society ' s messenger, her pretty brown hair would have stood out upon her head even more stifQy than it did now with its knobs of twisted paper, crimping-pins, and tiny plats. Happily for her, she slept on in blissful unconsciousness of her queer little visitor, un- til awakened bj the rising-bell next morning. The daemon, roused by the same sound, hastened to don his invisible mantle. With many yawns and groans, Violet tumbled out of bed, and commenced her toilet. — ' Oh, Violet, there ' s a letter in the post-oflEice for you, exclaimed her school-mate. Where, cried Violet, anxioush ' ,lookingat her foot, greatl} ' to the daemon ' s astonishment. Oh yes, I see, patting with a loving hand a rent in her stocking, and I just believe it ' s going to be a great long one from home, and she went on dressing with a hopeful smlie. About this time the daemon indulged in a little nap, and was only roused when the breakfast-bell rang. He

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W The Augusta Seminary Aiimial. Conclusion. 1. Comparison of the two Plans for Conciliation. 2. The Speaker ' s plan secures the power oi Refusal which is the richest mine of Revenue ever discovered. 3. Governments will be aided by parties which must ever exist in a free country. 4. The Speaker ' s protest against compounding England ' s demands. 5. Experience shows that a Revenue cannot be collected from countries as remote as America. 6. England ' s hold on the Colonies is secured by their par- ticipation in the English Constitution. 7 . It is the love of the people which gives England her Army, Navy, and Revenue. 8. Magnanimity in politics is the truest wisdom. 9. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American Empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges alone will make it all it can be. 10. The speaker lays the first stone of the Temple of Peace on moving that the Colonies have not been represent- ed in the High Court of Parliament. Pattie Alexander.

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22 The Atignsla Seminary Anintal. turned around to look for Violet, and nearly fell off the screen in his astonishment. No wonder. In the place of the Violet with hair bristling over her head in little paper knobs, with sleeping eyes, and lazy, dawdling movements, there stood a beauteous maiden whose appearance filled the little imp ' s breast with admiring awe. The knobs had blossomed into tresses so crisp, so stiff, so kinky, that even the most ill-natured had to confess that they had never seen anything to equal it. The daemon followed this radiant vision into the hall, at a respectful distance, and took his stand in a transom. From this coign of vantage he watched the girls crowding down the hall between the two rows of trunks standing on each side. Violet Deering, cried afresh 3 oung voice, ' ' you luck} girl ! You ' ve got your apron vrongside out. ' ' — Dear me, how fortunate I am, and the two friends walk- ed off arm in arm, Violet followed by the eyes of all observ- ers. For Violet, as the daemon found out afterwards, was the darling of the school, the sweetest, dearest, most per- fectly lovely of all the two hundred and fifty maidens, and altogether just too cute for anything. From his position on an electric light arc, the daemon behaved with proper decorum during chapel, and when morn- ing services were over, slid down the banisters of the wind- ing stairs in the wake of Violet. Flitting along outside, and peeping through the lattice work, he watched her pushing and struggling up the covered-way, then crowded with laughing, romping, chat- tering girls. As she reached the first steps, a large girl with an anxious expression of face jostled her elbow, and her Latin Grammar fell with outspread leaves upon the E, cut upon the top step. All vi- ' ere in too much of a hurry to come to her help, so Violet had to pick up the book herself, but as she first took the precaution to kiss it she had no fear of missing her lessons. The daemon did not venture into the class-room to which his near friend was bound, but sat on the porch rail outside until Violet ' s reappearance. Her self-satisfied look when she came out, told him that she had recited perfectly. She was a few minutes late, as she had waited to answer to