CHAPTER XIV
THE SWEETBRIARS
Mail time!
Until Saturday morning Ruth and Helen had not realized how vital thathour was when the mail-bag came out from the Lumberton post office andthe mail was distributed by one of the teachers into a series ofpigeonholes in a tiny "office" built into the corridor at thedining-room door. The mail arrived during the breakfast hour. Onecould get her letters when she came out of the dining-room, and on thisSaturday both Ruth and Helen had letters.
Miss Cramp, her old teacher, had written to Ruth very kindly. Therewas a letter, too, from Aunt Alvirah, addressed in her old-fashionedhand, and its contents shaky both as to spelling and grammar, but fullof love for the girl who was so greatly missed at the Red Mill. UncleJabez had even declared the first night that it seemed as though therehad been a death in the house, with Ruth gone.
Helen had several letters, but the one that delighted her most was fromher twin brother.
"Although," she declared, in her usual sweet-tempered manner, "Tom'swritten it to both of us. Listen here, Ruthie!"
The new cadet at Seven Oaks began his letter: "Dead [Transcriber'snote: Dear?] Sweetbriars," including Ruth as well as Helen in hisfriendly and brotherly effusion. He had been hazed with a vengeance onthe first night of his arrival at the Academy; he had been chummed on afellow who had already been half a year at the school and whose sisterwas a Senior at Briarwood; he had learned that lots of the olderstudents at Seven Oaks were acquainted with the Seniors at Briarwood,and that there were certain times when the two schools intermingledsocially.
"Dear old Tom!" exclaimed Helen. "Nice of him to call us'Sweetbriars'; isn't it? I guess there's a good many thorns on _this_'sweetbriar'; 'eh, Ruthie?" and she hugged and kissed her chum withsudden fierceness.
"And Tom says he can get permission to come over and see me someSaturday afternoon if Mrs. Tellingham will allow it. I'll have to gether to write to Major Paradell, who commands at Seven Oaks. My! itsounds just as though poor old Tom was in the army; doesn't it?" criedHelen.
"It will be nice to have him over," said Ruth, agreeing. "But Isuppose we'll have to meet him in the office? Or can we walk out withour 'brother'?" and she laughed.
"We'll go to Triton Lake; Tom will take us," said Helen, decidedly.
"I guess Mrs. Tellingham will have something to say about that, mydear."
Helen seemed to have forgotten the little difficulty that had troubledher chum and herself the night before, and Ruth said nothing furtherabout the Infants forming a society of their own. At least, she saidnothing about it to Helen. But Sarah Fish and Phyllis Short, and someof the other Infants, seemed determined to keep the idea alive, andthey all considered Ruth Fielding a prime mover in the conspiracy. Itwas noised abroad that neither the F. C.'s nor the Upedes were gettingmany new names enrolled for membership.
Saturday morning the remainder of the expected new girls arrived atBriarwood, and with then came the last of the older scholars, too.There was an assembly called for two o'clock which Mrs. Tellinghamaddressed. She welcomed the new-comers, greeted the returning pupils,and briefly sketched the plans for the school year then beginning. Shewas a quick, briskly-speaking woman, who impressed the mostrattle-pated girl before her that she meant to be obeyed and that nowild prank would go unpunished.
"Proper amusement will be supplied in due time, young ladies. For thepresent we shall all have enough to do getting settled into our places.I have heard something regarding picnics and outings for the nearfuture. Postpone all such junketing until we are pulling welltogether. And beware of demerits. Remember that ten of them, forwhatever cause, will send a girl home from Briarwood immediately."
This about the picnics hit the Upedes. Ruth and Helen knew that theywere planning just such amusements. Helen took this interference onMrs. Tellingham's part quite to heart.
"Isn't it mean of her?" she asked of Ruth. "If it had been the FussyCurls who wanted to go to Triton Lake, it would have been anothermatter. And--besides--I was going to write to Tom and see if hecouldn't meet us there."
"Why, Helen; without asking Mrs. Tellingham?" cried Ruth.
"I suppose Tom and some of his chums could _happen_ to go to TritonLake the same day we went; couldn't they?" Helen asked, laughing."Dear me, Ruthie! Don't you begin to act the Miss Prim--please! We'llhave no fun at all if you do."
"But we don't want to make the bad beginning of getting Mrs. Tellinghamand the teachers down on us right at the start," said Ruth, in aworried manner.
"I don't know but that you _are_ a Miss Prim!" ejaculated Helen.
Ruth thought, probably, from her tone of voice, that Helen had heardsome of her friends among the Upedes already apply that term to her,Ruth. But she said nothing--only shook her head. However, the girlfrom the Red Mill did her best to dodge any subject in the future thatshe thought might cause Helen to compare her unfavorably with the girlsnext door.
For Ruth loved her chum dearly--and loved her unselfishly, too. Helenand Tom had been so kind to her in the past--all through thosemiserable first weeks of her life at the Red Mill--that Ruth felt shecould never be really angry with Helen. It only made her sorrowful tothink that perhaps Helen, in this new and wider school life, mightdrift away from her.
The regular program of the working days of the school included prayersin the chapel before the girls separated for their various classes.These were held at nine o'clock. But on Sunday Ruth found thatbreakfast was an hour later than usual and that at ten o'clock severalwagonettes, besides Old Dolliver's Ark, were in waiting to take thosegirls who wished to ride to the churches of the several denominationslocated in Lumberton. A teacher, or a matron, went in each vehicle,and if any of the girls preferred to walk in pleasant weather there wasalways a teacher to walk with them--for the distance was only a mile.
Dinner was at half-past one, and at three there was a Sabbath School,conducted by Mrs. Tellingham herself, assisted by most of the teachers,in the large assembly hall. At night there was a service of music anda lecture in the chapel, too. The teacher of music played the organ,and there was a small string orchestra made up of the girls themselves,and a chorus to lead the singing.
This service Ruth found delightful, for she had always loved music andnever before had she had the opportunity of studying it under anyteacher. Her voice was sweet and strong, however; and she had a trueear. At the end of the service Miss Maconahay, the organist, came andspoke to her and advised her that, providing she would give some timeto it, there was a chance for her to become a member of the chorus and,if she showed improvement, she might even join the Glee Club.
On Monday school began in earnest. Ruth and Helen were side by side inevery class. What study one took up, the other voted for. The factthat they had to work hard--especially at first--kept Ruth and Helentogether, and during the first week neither had much time for anysociety at all. Between supper and bedtime each evening theyfaithfully worked at their lessons for the ensuing day and every hourof daylight brought its separate duty. There seemed to be littleopportunity for idle hands to find mischief at Briarwood Hall.
Mrs. Tellingham, however, did not propose that the girls should be soclosely confined by their studies that their physical health would beneglected. Those girls who stood well in their classes found at leasttwo hours each day for outdoor play or gym work. The tennis courts atBriarwood were in splendid shape. Helen already was a fair player; butRuth had never held a racket in her hand until she was introduced tothe game by her chum during this first week at school.
The girl from the Red Mill was quick and active. She learned the rulesof play and proved that her eye was good and that she had judgmentbefore they had played an hour. She knew how to leap and run, too,having been country bred and used to an active life.
"Oh, dear me!" gasped Helen, out of breath. "You are tireless, Ruth.Why, you'll be an athlete here."
"This is great fun, Helen," declared her chum, "I believe I can learnto pl
ay _this_ game."
"Learn to play!" gasped Helen. "Why, all you want is practice to beatTom himself, I believe. You'll be a crack player, Ruthie," prophesiedher friend.
It was while they were loitering on the tennis courts after the gamethat Sarah Fish and Phyllis Short, with a number of the other Infants,joined them. Sarah came out bluntly with:
"When are we going to form our club, Ruth Fielding? I think we shoulddo it at once. I've told both the Forwards and the Upedes that I amnot in the market. I guess they'll let me alone now."
"I think they will," said Helen, sharply. "At least, the Upedes don'twant you, Miss."
"You seem to knew exactly what they _do_ want," said Sarah,good-naturedly. "Have you joined them?"
"I intend to," declared Helen.
"Oh, Helen!" ejaculated Ruth.
"Yes, I am," said Miss Cameron. "And I am not going to join any babysociety," and so walked off in evident ill-humor.
Therefore the new club was not formed in the Number 2 Duet Room in theWest Dormitory. The Infants considered Ruth the prime mover in theclub, however, and that evening she was put in the chair to preside atthe informal session held in the quartette in the East Dormitoryoccupied by Sarah Fish and three other Infants. She was made, too, amember of the Committee on Organization which was elected to draw up aConstitution and By-Laws, and was likewise one of three to wait on Mrs.Tellingham and gain permission to use one of the small assembly roomsfor meetings.
And then came up the subject of a name for the society. It was notintended that the club should be only for new scholars; for the newscholars would in time be old scholars. And the company of girls whohad gathered in Sarah's room had no great or important motive in theirminds regarding the association. Its object was social and forself-improvement simply.
"And so let's find a name that doesn't sound bigger than we are," saidSarah. "The Forward Club sounds very solid and is quite literary, Iunderstand. What those Upedes stand for except raising particular SamHill, as my grandmother would say, I don't know. What do _you_ say,Ruth Fielding? It's your idea, and you ought to christen it."
"I don't know that I ought," Ruth returned. "I don't believe in oneperson doing too much in any society."
"Give us a name. It won't hurt you if we vote it down," urged Sarah.
Now Ruth had been thinking of a certain name for the new society forsome days. It had been suggested by Tom Cameron's letter to Helen.She was almost afraid to offer it, but she did. "Sweetbriars," shesaid, blushing deeply.
"Dandy!" exclaimed Phyllis Short.
"Goody-good!" cried somebody else. "We're at Briarwood Hall, and why_not_ Sweetbriars?"
"Good name for initials, too," declared the practical Sarah Fish."Make two words of it--Sweet and Briars. The 'S. B.'s '--not bad that,eh? What say?"
It was unanimous. And so the Sweetbriars were christened.