San Diego State University - Del Sudoeste Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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WHITE AND GOLD 9 but regular specseand never wore nice, pretty, fussy things, only plain shirtwaists and dark skirts and a black watch-cord-which helped, I slpose, to make us dislike her. I guess its true that first impressions count the most; I know our first impression of Miss Blair wasnlt pleasant. She was awflly strict and cold that lirst day, didnlt smile a bit or appear interested in us. She was terribly hard to get along with in class, wouldnlt smile at us in the hall, or anything like that, and never came to the dances and receptions and things up at school. So we never saw her except in class and she didnlt TRY to be nice, even. I guess none of us liked Miss Blair. I know we discussed her a lot and tried to figure out why she should be so disagreeable.' Terry always had some grievance or other-Ilve forgotten just what they were; well, for one thing, Terryls a wiz in geometry, you know, and Miss Mountjoy had always sort of noticed her. But Miss Blair didnlt seem to notice or care. Well, as I was saying, we talked about her a lot and I guess she knew it. Its awfully hard not to be friends with your teachers-it pays so well. No, I didnlt mean just that, either. But you know how it is; if they know you and you know them them a little, why, its so easy, they,re so much more understandable and understanding. School- teachers are the nicest people going when they ARE nice-look at Mr. Curtis, nowl-and when they arent nice, they,re the limit. And here,s where Miss Holmes comes in. From the minute Miss Blair arrived, she and Miss Holmes were friends. That alone kept me guessing. Miss Holmes-we call her Sherlock, shels so keen about finding out whether you,re blufflng; and oh, she isnlt mean about it, either!-we11, Miss Holmes is the zoology teacher and she's just splendid! Everyone likes Sherlock-even the stupidest; if youlre stupid she isnlt horrid a bit, but really helps you, and if you do shine, even the faintest glimmer, she notices it and treats it with the respect she would a real searchlight. Then during exams, she doesnt stay in the room and tiptoe around and nail you with her eye to see if you're cheating; she often leaves the room for the whole period and no one dreams of cheating, no matter how little they know-itld be like betraying a trust. She didn't manage it either, by lectures on our sense of honor; she just did it, and relied on our common sense. Shels all right. You never hear anyone say a word against Sherlock-even when theylve flunked; they know shels square and that they deserved it. Shels pretty, too; tall, with big dark eyes and Huffy hair and the sweetest, kindest, most humorous smile. She isnlt young; her hair's quite gray. Imagine the diiference between her and Miss Blair-yes, it was funny, but they were awflly good friends. Weld been planningwus hve girls, Terry and Gladys and Corinne

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8 WHITE AND GOLD WITH THE OLYMPIANS. A Series of Four StorieseIIeHearts Lie Deep. Last year we had a real, live romance at school. The heroine of it was Miss Mountjoy, the geometry teacher. She was a dear, young and awflly well dressed; not exactly pretty, but terribly aris- tocratic looking, with a straight nose and carried her head high, and had the loveliest hands and nails. You know every once in so often the book men come from the different publishing houses to talk about the new text-books to the teachers. This man that came,he was the her0,wasn,t much different from all the rest-men all look alike when theylre dressed up. He was well- dressed and clean-looking, like all the others, and was polite to all the teachers in the same waye-so we didrft dream he had any preference. The way we got to know his name was this: The next morning T erry and I went up to school early to ask Miss Mountjoy to explain some geometry problems to us; and while she was talkingeit was awfully early yet-a messenger came in with a big box with her name on it. Of course she didnt open it while we were there, but when we went to class, there were the most beautiful Katharine Mermet roses, with great long stems-a dozen or more-on the desk; the box was in the waste- basket, with the wax-paper and all, and on the floor, where I slpose sheld dropped it, was a cardel could see it just as plain, and it read HMr. Carey Shelby. N We girls were crazy about it, but didnt know, of course, who Mr. Carey Shelby was. But they were married during the Christmas vacation, and then it all came out: who he was,how they were both from Boston and had known one another from the cradle, and how she wouldnlt marry him because he was too rich; then he lost everything in the Equitable and had to work for the first time. Its funny how news travels up here at school. Everyone knew all about them the first day after vacation. They went to Boston to live. So Miss Mountjoy left us and Miss Blair came to take her place. And thats what I started out to tell you. We didnt like Miss Blair very welle-Terry especiallyeebecauseel dont know exactly why, but she was queer, and weld been pretty fond of Miss Mountjoy, so it was kind of a comeadown to have her successor so ordinary. Miss Blair wasnlt pretty, either, but she didnt make up for it by being well-dressed or aris- tocratic-looking. She did her hair plain and wore glassesenot the nice kind that have no rims and a little gold chain that fastens in your hair,

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10 WHITE AND GOLD and Lucy and me-to give Sherlock Holmes a surprise party on Valen- tinets evening, not for any special reason except that she was nice and we liked her. It was loads of fun planning it; we were going to make fudge and salad and cake and clubhouse sandwiches and order icecream; and Gladys made some smart,heart-shaped menu cards in scarlet and green and black. It was to be immense and the landlady where Miss Holmes lived had promised to help us. Just the day before Valentines day, a dreadful thing happened to us all, but to Terry in especial, that came near to wrecking our plans. Terry had lost her geometry problems that shed worked out and had had all ready to hand in. She told Miss Blair about it and thought, of course, that shed let her off. Miss Mountjoy wouldlve. But, mind you, Miss Blair made her work them all over again and hand them in before noon. We thought it was outaand-out mean. Well, that same day the algebra class had got back some exam papers and most of tern had flunked, and they were holding an indignation meeting on the front porch after school that afternoon. Well, Terry,s fur hadnlt sub- sided yet-and you know how misery loves companyeso we joined the crowd and had a regular pow-wow then and there about Miss Blair; how unfair she was, though we knew all along that she wasnlt. The more we talked, the louder we talked and the worse it got-you know how it is-and the more personal things we said. Terry was flushed and ex- cited and those dinky little freshmen were listening to her as if she were an anarchist and they the impressionable populace; she was just saying, HWe11,if I couldnt be pretty or wear nice clothes, AT LEAST Ild try to be half-way decent, sols to even up things. But to be ugly and unstylish AND a bear-!, l and just then Miss Blair and Sherlock Holmes came out of the door suddenly, Miss Blair blushing and not looking at us, and dear old Miss Holmes haughty and staring at us coldly as if we were some- thing new in bacteria. She looked at us five girls one by one, as they passed, without a scrap of recoKr ition. And we knew theyld heard. The freshmen dissolved; ey smelled sulphur in Terryls eye. She couldn't say a thing for a mi .te, but stared after Miss Blair and Sher- lock as if shetcl run after them Then she looked at all of useand I guess we were as near tombstones as anything else for cheerfulness-and her eyes began to fill and her chin to tremble. Poor old Terry. She doesn't cry at little things, either. It WAS a horrid business. I don,t know which was the worst to see, Miss Blair blushing and conscious for the first time, Miss Holmes haughty and cold for the first time, or our poor old Terry staring after them and back at us, with the tears of shame run- ning down her cheeks. The first question that came up was, how should we square ourselves