CHAPTER V: JANET HEARS FROM BETTY
“Hello, hello; that you, Sue?”
“Yes–Janet?”
“Nobody else. Going to be at home for a while?”
“Yes; can you come over?”
“That is what I’d like to do, for what do you think?”
“Anything exciting going on?”
“Not exactly, but I’ve a letter from Betty Lee at last!”
“Oh, then you will bring it over with you, won’t you?”
“Of course. That’s what I’m coming for, although we might just as wellmake plans for the Sunday?school picnic while I’m over. This is a realgood long letter. I thought she’d never write as she promised, to tellme about everything. I’d almost begun to thing Betty _had_ forgotten us!But she hasn’t, at least she says she hasn’t, and she’s been so busy, ofcourse, and everything new. She wrote this at several different times.But there, I’d better let her letter speak for itself. She said to tellyou all the news, and sent you her love and everything, so I’ll just letyou read all of it, even the more or less private part if you want to.I’ll not get to your house for a little while, for I have to go downstreet for Mother first. She has to have some soap and starch and othergroceries. She’s been doing up something extra. But I thought I’d bettercall you up to see if you’d be there.”
In due season Janet Light appeared at the home of her friend, where thetwo girls repaired to the big swing in the back yard. There an old appletree spread wide branches over them and let the sunshine of lateSeptember come through its leaves in fitful fashion, dancing with theirshadows on and about the slightly swaying lassies. It was Saturdaymorning, hence their leisure after early morning tasks were over.
“And see what I have to show you,” said Janet, drawing from the envelopethe letter and something with it that fell on the floor of the swing,almost going through its slats.
“Oh, a new picture of Betty!” exclaimed Sue, reaching down carefully topick up the unmounted photograph, a small one. “Isn’t that cute? Andit’s good of Betty, too. Why, it doesn’t look like a snap?shot.” Sueturned it over to examine it.
“It isn’t. It was taken at some shop. Betty tells about it in theletter.”
“That’s Betty’s smile, and what a good light on her hair. Betty’s hairis a real gold, just like what you read about in books. I always wishedI had hair like Betty’s. And I never saw such dark blue eyes as Bettyhas. They look straight at you here. I think Betty is a real prettygirl, don’t you?”
“Yes, but she’s no doll. And I think Betty’s ‘gold’ on the inside, too.That letter didn’t sound as if she’d forgotten us this soon. Read it.”Janet held out the thick packet of folded sheets.
“Oh, you read it to me. It will sound twice as well in your‘mellifluous’ tones. Kate had to put ‘mellifluous’ in a sentence atschool yesterday.”
Janet laughed. “I may leave out the messages to me, then, but I’ll readit if you want me to. Thank fortune, Betty writes so a body can read it.And she says that we simply must come down to see her at theThanksgiving vacation. I can’t wait to _read_ you that. Her mother saysso, too, she wrote. Do you suppose we could? I haven’t said anything toMother yet.”
“Wouldn’t it be _wonderful_? But–clothes and everything–I’m afraid not.”
“We have as good things as Betty has.”
“I haven’t anything that would do to travel in, though, and I’m afraid Ican’t have a new winter coat. My old one’s a sight!”
“Why it looked good enough to me last winter. But listen now. I’llbegin.”
“Dear Janet,” the letter commenced. “I’ll have to begin with apologies,of course, and I’m hoping that you’ve received the two picture postcards I sent. I meant to send some to all the girls and haven’t. Buthonestly, I’ve been so busy and it’s all been so mixy, if you know whatI mean by that, that I just haven’t gotten at a letter that would giveyou any idea of how things are. It looks sort of hopeless now, to tellthe truth, but I’m going to start in anyhow, even if I have to write atseveral different times. The longer I put it off the more there will beto tell. You haven’t any idea how much I’ve missed you and how I’vealmost started to tell you things; that is, I’d think ‘I must tell Janetthat,’ and then I’d think again that you weren’t anywhere around!
“Talk about being lonesome! Of course I’ve had the family, but not asingle girl at first. I have several friends now that I know more orless, but nobody that takes the place of the girls at home. You see Istill call it home. I’m not sure that the city will ever seem like home,but it is very interesting and the place where we live is ever so nice.It is all on one floor, which makes it easy for Mother, and we haveenough room, though we wouldn’t have if we hadn’t gotten rid of so muchstuff before we moved. Still, there is a little room on the third floorwhere we can store some things, like our trunks and boxes. Mother likesit, though she has been lonesome, too, for all the friends. But ofcourse Mother and Father used to live in a city, so it doesn’t seem sostrange to them. Two people live on the floor above us, but there is aseparate entrance and stairs and everything separate in the basement.
“There is a good church near enough to walk to it and Mother has been tosome of the missionary meetings and suppers and all, and we have, too–tothe suppers! So Mother and Father are beginning to be acquainted. I’m ina Sunday school class, but I haven’t had time to go to anything besidesjust Sunday morning, for there are too many lessons and school thingsthat take my time. I just have to get a good start. But I’ll have timepretty soon. The class has monthly meetings. They wanted me to be insome kind of a pageant, but Mother said I’d better not try it, for Iwouldn’t have time to practice.
“And now about the school. Honestly, girls, I don’t know where to begin.Not all the high schools are as fine as ours, for ours isn’t as old assome of them and Father says it is modern in every respect. They are socrowded that they simply have to build new schools, which Father says isa good thing. In some old schools they’ve been actually heating withstoves, not even a furnace. So Father said.
“Well, the building is big and the grounds are gorgeous, full ofbeautiful trees and shrubbery. I’m no architect, so I can’t tell youabout the building except that it spreads out and up three stories,besides the basement floor, and Mother says we need wings! The basementfloor isn’t under the ground or anything, and all the freshmen havetheir lockers there. We put our wraps and books there when we do notneed them and get them out when we do. We have a ‘home room’ and ateacher in charge of it, and we go there the first thing in the morningand the last thing before we go home. She tells us things, the teacher,I mean. Some days we don’t do the same things. Sometimes we go to the‘auditorium’ and hear somebody speak, or something happens there, butnot much yet.
“At first I simply felt lost. Just imagine. Girls, there are_twenty?eight hundred boys and girls_ that attend our high school and Idon’t think that counts the pupils in the junior high. That is _morethan half as many people_ as are in our home town!
“Dick and Doris are very much set up over being in a ‘junior highschool’–though I don’t mean that unkindly. But they think it aswonderful as possible and like their teachers. Dick is more interestedin athletics than he is in his lessons and Father has to keep him at hislessons a while in the evenings after he has been outdoors enough, asFather thinks. Doris is working away to make good grades. She has hereye on things that the other girls do and wear but that is only natural,and I imagine that we need all the good advice Father and Mother giveus. Mother says not to join anything until we get a good start in ourlessons and learn more about living here. Oh, yes, I was to send somemessage to Billy, but I told Dick he could just as well write himself,and it may be possible that Billy will hear from him, though I couldn’tsay positively. You know how much the boys like to write!
“By the way, I’m putting in a little picture of myself. Mother let me godown town with, one of the girls that lives not so very far from us; atleast
we take the same street car home from school. So we went down oneday right after school. She invited me, and took me to a real goodmoving picture, and we stopped in at a cute little place where they takecheap photographs. We also had a grand sundae at a wonderful place andcame home not a bit hungry for dinner. And that makes me think–we havedinner at night, for Father can’t come home very well, it is so far, andhas a noon lunch down town. We children have one at school, and my, whatgrand lunches we do have! They give it to us at about what it costs, soit doesn’t quite break us up to buy it, enough for the time we have toeat it. But everything, street?car fare and all, costs more in a city.Father drives us to school, mostly, and then goes on down to hisbusiness.
“I think that I shall have to stop, though I’ve been scribbling as fastas I could, and I believe I’ll just send this right off, though I’m nothalf through with all there is to tell. I’ll try to write somethingabout the folks we have met when I write again. More things will havehappened, too, I suppose, but I’ve got to stop now. Give Sue my love andnow I want you both to plan to come here for your Thanksgiving vacation.Mother invites you, too. She said it would do me good to see some ofyou. Auntie can’t come for she’s going to some family reunion or other,and we can make room for you. Please try to do it!”
But the letter was not finished with this. A dash and a new date beganthe next part in which Betty said that since she had been interruptedshe might as well add something more to her “book” she was writing toJanet. There followed more details with a comical description of “hertrip down in charge of the family,” her arriving to find no one, and the“time she had the first day of school.”
The “private messages” to Janet were only some loving remarks with whichshe closed and those Janet let Sue read herself.
“I’m sure she does miss you, Janet, just as I have missed my cousinMoira. I don’t see why Uncle had to move ’way out to California. I’mafraid I never _will_ see her again.”
“Oh, yes you will–and wouldn’t it be a great place to go to visit her?”
“Y?yes, if I ever could. I’m glad I have you left, Janet. I know why youand Betty have liked each other so much. You’re both so cheerful andstout?hearted some way.”
“Why, whatever made you think that?” asked Janet, surprised.
“Mother said that about Betty, and I’ve noticed it about you, only Ihadn’t put it into those words.”
“It’s very nice of you to think it about me. I’m just as glad to haveyou, Sue, and we’d better see a great deal of each other, just as wehave since Betty left. And if Mrs. Lee herself invites us to come, let’stry as hard as we can to go to visit Betty at Thanksgiving. We’d notneed much in the clothes line for such a few days, our school dress andour Sunday dress, a change of underclothing, I suppose, and our wraps._Betty_ would never be ashamed of us if we didn’t have new and stylishhats and coats.”
“I believe Betty did say that her old coat would have to do this winter,though I’m not sure. Perhaps it was you that mentioned it. Well, itdoesn’t matter. I’ll go if I can, Janet, and be sure to give Betty mylove when you write to her. I hope she’ll write to me.”
“Oh, she will, Sue. Of course Betty will, if she is inviting you. Butyou can see what a rush she’s in. It must take a lot of time just to getto places on the street cars. Mother said it would take over half anhour to get down town from some of the suburbs. And maybe it’s more thanthat. I believe I’d rather live here, where you can walk to church andschool and to the groceries and picture show and everything.”
“I can imagine that Betty _is_ pretty lonesome sometimes,” added Sue,gravely looking at the letter which she still held. “But it seems justlike a nice adventure that you read about, and if we can go, we’ll havea share in some of it.”