<h2>III</h2>
<h3>The Virgil Strike</h3>
<div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/i.png" width-obs="98" height-obs="100" alt="I" title="I" /></div>
<div class='p2'>'M tired of Woman's Rights on Friday afternoons," said Patty
disgustedly. "I prefer soda water!"</div>
<p>"This makes the third time they've taken away our holiday for the sake
of a beastly lecture," Priscilla grumbled, as she peered over Patty's
shoulder to read the notice on the bulletin board, in Miss Lord's
perpendicular library hand.</p>
<p>It informed the school that instead of the usual shopping expedition to
the village, they would have the pleasure that afternoon of listening to
a talk by Professor McVey of Columbia University. The subject would be
the strike of the women laundry workers. Tea would be served in the
drawing-room<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></SPAN></span> afterwards, with Mae Van Arsdale, Harriet Gladden, and
Patty Wyatt as hostesses.</p>
<p>"It's not my turn!" objected Patty, as she noted the latter item. "I was
hostess two weeks ago."</p>
<p>"That's because you wrote an essay on the 'Eight Hour Day.' Lordie
thinks you will ask the professor-man intelligent questions; and show
him that St. Ursula's is not a common boarding-school where only
superficial accomplishments are taught, but one in which the actual
problems of—"</p>
<p>"And I did want to go shopping!" Patty mourned. "I need some new
shoe-strings. I've been tying a knot in my old ones every day for a
week."</p>
<p>"Here she comes," whispered Priscilla. "Look happy or she'll make you
translate the whole—Good morning, Miss Lord! We were just noticing
about the lecture. It sounds extremely interesting."</p>
<p>The two smiled a perfunctory greeting, and followed their teacher to the
morning's Latin.</p>
<p>Miss Lord was the one who struck the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></SPAN></span> modern note at St. Ursula's. She
believed in militant suffragism and unions and boycotts and strikes; and
she labored hard to bring her little charges to her own advanced
position. But it was against a heavy inertia that she worked. Her little
charges didn't care a rap about receiving their rights, in the dim
future of twenty-one; but they were very much concerned about losing a
present half-holiday. On Friday afternoons, they were ordinarily allowed
to draw checks on the school bank for their allowances, and march in a
procession—a teacher forming the head and tail—to the village stores,
where they laid in their weekly supply of hair ribbons and soda water
and kodak films. Even had one acquired so many demerits that her weekly
stipend was entirely eaten up by fines, still she marched to the village
and watched the lucky ones disburse. It made a break in the monotony of
six days of bounds.</p>
<p>But every cloud has its silver lining.</p>
<p>Miss Lord preceded the Virgil recitation that morning by a discussion of
the lecture to come. The laundry strike, she told them,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></SPAN></span> marked an epoch
in industrial history. It proved that women, as well as men, were
capable of standing by each other. The solidarity of labor was a point
she wished her girls to grasp. Her girls listened with grave attention;
and by eagerly putting a question, whenever she showed signs of running
down, they managed to stave off the Latin recitation for three quarters
of an hour.</p>
<p>The professor, a mild man with a Van Dyke beard, came and lectured
exhaustively upon the relations of employer and employed. His audience
listened with politely intelligent smiles, but with minds serenely
occupied elsewhere. The great questions of Capital and Labor, were not
half so important to them, as the fact of the lost afternoon, or the
essays that must be written for to-morrow's English, or even that this
was ice-cream night with dancing class to follow. But Patty, on the
front seat, sat with wide, serious eyes fixed on the lecturer's face.
She was absorbing his arguments—and storing them for use.</p>
<p>Tea followed according to schedule. The<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></SPAN></span> three chosen ones received
their guests with the facility of long-tried hostesses. The fact that
their bearing was under inspection, with marks to follow, did not
appreciably diminish their case. They were learning by the laboratory
method, the social graces that would be needed later in the larger
world. Harriet and Mae presided at the tea table, while Patty engaged
the personage in conversation. He commented later, to Miss Lord, upon
the students' rare understanding in economic subjects.</p>
<p>Miss Lord replied with some complaisance that she endeavored to have her
girls think for themselves. Sociology was a field in which lessons could
not be taught by rote. Each must work out her own conclusions, and act
upon them.</p>
<p>Ice-cream and dancing restored the balance of St. Ursula's, after the
mental exertions of the afternoon. At half-past nine—the school did not
retire until ten on dancing nights—Patty and Priscilla dropped their
goodnight courtesy, murmured a polite "<i>Bon soir, Mam'selle</i>," and
scampered up<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></SPAN></span>stairs, still very wide awake. Instead of preparing for bed
with all dispatch, as well-conducted school girls should, they engaged
themselves in practising the steps of their new Spanish dance down the
length of the South Corridor. They brought up with a pirouette at
Rosalie Patton's door.</p>
<p>Rosalie, still in the pale blue fluffiness of her dancing frock, was
sitting cross-legged on the couch, her yellow curls bent over the open
pages of a Virgil, tears spattering with dreary regularity on the lines
she was conning.</p>
<p>The course of Rosalie's progress through senior Latin might be marked by
blistered pages. She was a pretty, cuddling, helpless little thing,
deplorably babyish for a senior; but irresistibly appealing. Everyone
teased her, and protected her, and loved her. She was irrevocably
predestined to bowl over the first man who came along, with her ultra
feminine irresponsibility. Rosalie very often dreamed—when she ought to
have been concentrating upon Latin grammar—of that happy future state
in which smiles and kisses<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></SPAN></span> would take the place of gerunds and
gerundives.</p>
<p>"You silly little muff!" cried Patty. "Why on earth are you bothering
with Latin on a Friday night?"</p>
<p>She landed herself with a plump on Rosalie's right, and took away the
book.</p>
<p>"I have to," Rosalie sobbed. "I'd never finish if I didn't begin. I
don't see any sense to it. I can't do eighty lines in two hours. Miss
Lord always calls on me for the end, because she knows I won't know
that."</p>
<p>"Why don't you begin at the end and read backwards?" Patty practically
suggested.</p>
<p>"But that wouldn't be fair, and I can't do it so fast as the others. I
work more than two hours every day, but I simply never get through. I
know I shan't pass."</p>
<p>"Eighty lines is a good deal," Patty agreed.</p>
<p>"It's easy for you, because you know all the words, but—"</p>
<p>"I worked more than two hours on mine yesterday," said Priscilla, "and I
can't af<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></SPAN></span>ford it either. I have to save some time for geometry."</p>
<p>"<i>I just simply can't do it</i>," Rosalie wailed. "And she thinks I'm
stupid because I don't keep up with Patty."</p>
<p>Conny Wilder drifted in.</p>
<p>"What's the matter?" she asked, viewing Rosalie's tear-streaked face.
"Cry on the pillow, child. Don't spoil your dress."</p>
<p>The Latin situation was explained.</p>
<p>"Oh, it's awful the way Lordie works us! She would like to have us spend
every moment grubbing over Latin and sociology. She—"</p>
<p>"Doesn't think dancing and French and manners are any good at all,"
sobbed Rosalie, mentioning the three branches in which she excelled,
"and I think they're a lot more sensible than subjunctives. You can put
them to practical use, and you can't sociology and Latin."</p>
<p>Patty emerged from a moment of revery.</p>
<p>"There's not much use in Latin," she agreed, "but I should think that
something might be done with sociology. Miss Lord<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></SPAN></span> told us to apply it
to our everyday problems."</p>
<p>Rosalie swept the idea aside with a gesture of disdain.</p>
<p>"Listen!" Patty commanded, springing to her feet and pacing the floor in
an ecstasy of enthusiasm. "I've got an idea! It's perfectly true. Eighty
lines of Virgil is too much for anybody to learn—particularly Rosalie.
And you heard what the man said: it isn't fair to gage the working day
by the capacity of the strongest. The weakest has to set the pace, or
else he's left behind. That's what Lordy means when she talks about the
solidarity of labor. In any trade, the workers have got to stand by each
other. The strong must protect the weak. It's the duty of the rest of
the class to stand by Rosalie."</p>
<p>"Yes, but how?" inquired Priscilla, breaking into the tirade.</p>
<p>"We'll form a Virgil Union, and strike for sixty lines a day."</p>
<p>"Oh!" gasped Rosalie, horrified at the audacity of the suggestion.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Let's!" cried Conny, rising to the call.</p>
<p>"Do you think we can?" asked Priscilla, dubiously.</p>
<p>"What will Miss Lord say?" Rosalie quavered.</p>
<p>"She can't say anything. Didn't she tell us to listen to the lecture and
apply its teaching?" Patty reminded.</p>
<p>"She'll be delighted to find we have," said Conny.</p>
<p>"But what if she doesn't give in?"</p>
<p>"We'll call out the Cicero and Cæsar classes in a sympathetic strike."</p>
<p>"Hooray!" cried Conny.</p>
<p>"Lordy does believe in Unions," Priscilla conceded. "She ought to see
the justice of it."</p>
<p>"Of course she'll see the justice of it," Patty insisted. "We're exactly
like the laundry workers—in the position of dependents, and the only
way we can match strength with our employer, is by standing together. If
Rosalie alone drops back to sixty lines, she'll be flunked; but if the
whole class does, Lordie will <i>have</i> to give in."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Maybe the whole class won't want to join the union," said Priscilla.</p>
<p>"We'll make 'em!" said Patty. In accordance with Miss Lord's desire, she
had grasped some basic principles.</p>
<p>"We'll have to hurry," she added, glancing at the clock. "Pris, you run
and find Irene and Harriet and Florence Hissop; and Conny, you route out
Nancy Lee—she's up in Evalina Smith's room telling ghost stories. Here,
Rosalie, stop crying and dump the things off those chairs so somebody
can sit down."</p>
<p>Priscilla started obediently, but paused on the threshold.</p>
<p>"And what will you do?" she inquired with meaning.</p>
<p>"I," said Patty, "will be labor leader."</p>
<p>The meeting was convened, and Patty, a self-constituted chairman,
outlined the tenets of the Virgil Union. Sixty lines was to constitute a
working day. The class was to explain the case to Miss Lord at the
regular session on Monday morning, and politely but positively refuse to
read the last twenty lines<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></SPAN></span> that had been assigned. If Miss Lord proved
insistent, the girls were to close their books and go out on strike.</p>
<p>The majority <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'or'">of</ins> the class, hypnotized by Patty's eloquence, dazedly
accepted the program; but Rosalie, for whose special benefit the union
had been formed, had to be coerced into signing the constitution.
Finally, after a wealth of argument had been expended, she wrote her
name in a very wobbly hand, and sealed it with a tear. By nature,
Rosalie was not a fighter; she preferred gaining her rights by more
feminine methods.</p>
<p>Irene McCullough had also to be forced. She was a cautious soul who
looked forward to consequences. One of the most frequently applied of
St. Ursula's punishments was to make the culprit miss desserts. Irene
suffered keenly under this form of chastisement; and she carefully
refrained from misdemeanors which might bring it upon her. But Conny
produced a convincing argument. She threatened to tell that the
chambermaid was in the habit of smuggling in chocolates<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></SPAN></span>—and poor
harassed Irene, threatened with the two-fold loss of chocolates and
dessert, sullenly added her signature.</p>
<p>"Lights-out" rang. The Virgil Union adjourned its first meeting and went
to bed.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>Senior Latin came the last hour of the morning, when everyone was tired
and hungry. On the Monday following the founding of the Union, the
Virgil class gathered outside the door, in growing perturbation as the
actual time for the battle approached. Patty rallied them in a brief
address.</p>
<p>"Brace up, Rosalie! Don't be a cry-baby. We'll help you out if the last
lines come to you. And for goodness' sake, girls, <i>don't</i> look so
scared. Remember you're suffering, not only for yourselves, but for all
the generations of Virgil classes that come after you. Anyone who backs
down now is a <span class="smcap">coward</span>!"</p>
<p>Patty established herself on the front seat, directly in the line of the
fire, and a slight skirmish occurred at the outset. Her heavy<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></SPAN></span> walking
boots were conspicuously laced with pale blue baby ribbon, which caught
the enemy's eye.</p>
<p>"That is scarcely the kind of shoe laces that a lady adopts. May I ask,
Patty—?"</p>
<p>"I broke my other laces," Patty affably explained, "and since we didn't
go shopping on Friday, I couldn't get any more. I don't quite like the
effect myself," she conceded, as she stuck out a foot and critically
surveyed it.</p>
<p>"See that you find some black ones immediately after class," Miss Lord
acidly suggested. "Priscilla, you may read the first ten lines."</p>
<p>The lesson progressed in the usual manner, except that there was a
visible tightening of nerves as each recitation was finished, and they
waited to hear the next name called. Conny's turn ended with the
sixtieth line. No one had gone beyond that; all ahead was virgin jungle.
This was the point for the Union to declare itself; and the burden, true
to her forebodings, fell upon poor trembling little Rosalie.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>She cast an imploring glance toward Patty's sternly waiting countenance,
stammered, hesitated, and miserably plunged into a sight translation.
Rosalie never had the slightest luck at sight translations; even after
two hours of patient work with a dictionary, she was still extremely
hesitant as to meanings. Now, she blindly forged ahead,—amid a profound
hush—attributing to the Pious Æneas a most amazing set of actions. She
finished; and the slaughter commenced. Miss Lord spent three minutes in
obliterating Rosalie; then passed the lines to Irene McCullough.</p>
<p>Irene drew a deep breath—she felt Conny encouragingly patting her on
the back, while Patty and Priscilla, at either hand, jogged her elbow
with insistent touch. She opened her mouth to declare the principles
that had been foisted upon her over night; then she caught the cold
gleam of Miss Lord's eye. Rosalie's sobs filled the room. And she fell.
Irene was fairly good at Latin—her sight translation was at least
intelligible. Miss Lord's comment was merely<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></SPAN></span> sarcastic, as she passed
to Florence Hissop. By this time the panic had swept through the ranks.
Florence would like to have been true to her pledged troth, but the
instinct of self-preservation is strong. She improved on Irene's
performance.</p>
<p>"Take the next ten lines, Patty, and endeavor to extract a glimmering of
sense. Please bear in mind that we are reading poetry."</p>
<p>Patty raised her head and faced her superior in the manner of a
Christian martyr.</p>
<p>"I only prepared the first sixty lines, Miss Lord."</p>
<p>"Why did you not finish the lesson that I gave out?" Miss Lord inquired
sharply.</p>
<p>"We have decided that eighty lines are more than we can do in a day. It
takes too much time away from our other lessons. We are perfectly
willing to do sixty lines, and do them thoroughly, but we can't consider
any more."</p>
<p>Miss Lord for a moment simply stared. Never had she known such a
flagrant case of insubordination. And it was purely insub<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></SPAN></span>ordination,
for Patty was the most capable person in the class.</p>
<p>"What do you mean?" she gasped at last.</p>
<p>"We have formed a Virgil Union," Patty gravely explained. "You, Miss
Lord, will appreciate the fairness of our demands better than any of the
other teachers, because you believe in unions. Now, the girls in this
class feel that they are overworked and underpa—er—that is, I mean the
lessons are too long."</p>
<p>Patty fetched a deep breath and started again.</p>
<p>"Eighty lines a day doesn't leave us any time for recreation, so we have
determined to join together and demand our rights. We occupy the
position of skilled laborers. You can get all the girls you want for
Cæsar and beginning Latin, but you can't find anybody but us to read
Virgil. It's like the laundry trade. We are not just plain boilers and
starchers; we are fancy ironers. If you want to have a Virgil class, you
have <i>got</i> to have us. You can't call in scab labor. Now, we<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></SPAN></span> aren't
trying to take advantage because of our superior strength. We are
perfectly willing to do an honest day's work, but we can't allow
ourselves to be—er—to be—"</p>
<p>Patty fumbled a moment for her word, but in the end she brought it out
triumphantly.</p>
<p>"We can't allow ourselves to be exploited. Singly, we are no match for
you, but together, we can dictate our own terms. Because two or three of
us can keep up the pace you set, is no reason why we should allow the
others to be overworked. It is our duty to stand by one another against
the encroachments of our employer. We women are not so advanced as men.
But we are learning. Upon the solidarity of labor depends the life of
Rosalie. In case you refuse to meet our demands, the Virgil class will
be obliged to go out on strike."</p>
<p>Patty pronounced her ultimatum, and leaned back with folded arms.</p>
<p>A moment of silence followed. Then Miss Lord spoke. The class went down
in hopeless, abject terror before the storm.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></SPAN></span> Miss Lord's icy sarcasm
was, in moments of intensity, lightened by gleams of fire. She had Irish
ancestors and red hair. Patty alone listened with head erect and steely
eyes. The red blood of martyrs dyed her cheeks. She was fighting for a
<span class="smcap">cause</span>. Weak, helpless, little Rosalie, sniffling at her elbow, should be
saved—the cowardice of her comrades put to shame. She, single-handed,
would fight and win.</p>
<p>Miss Lord finally drew breath.</p>
<p>"The class is dismissed. Patty will remain in the schoolroom until she
has translated perfectly the last twenty lines. I will hear her read
them after luncheon."</p>
<p>The girls rose and pressed in a huddled body toward the hall, while
Patty turned into the empty schoolroom. On the threshold she paused to
hurl one contemptuous word over her shoulder:</p>
<p>"Scabs!"</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>The lunch bell rang, and Patty at her desk in the empty schoolroom heard
the girls laughing and talking, as they clattered down<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></SPAN></span> the tin-covered
back stairs to the dining-room. She was very tired and very hungry. She
had had five hours of work since breakfast, with only a glass of milk at
eleven o'clock. Even the pleasurable sensation of being abused did not
quite offset the pangs of hunger. She listlessly set about learning the
morrow's lesson in French History. It dealt with another martyr. Louis
the Ninth left his bones bleaching on the plains of Antioch. The cause
was different, but the principle remained. If she was not to be fed
until she learned the Latin—very well—she would leave her bones
bleaching in the schoolroom of St. Ursula's.</p>
<p>An insistent tapping sounded on the window. She glanced across an angle,
to find Osaki, the Japanese butler, leaning far out from his pantry
window, and extending toward her a dinner plate containing a large, lone
slab of turkey.</p>
<p>"Leave plate in wastebasket, Missy," he whispered hoarsely.</p>
<p>Patty, for an instant, struggled with dignity and martyrdom, but hunger
and a love of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></SPAN></span> intrigue triumphed. She tiptoed over and received the
offering. There was no knife or fork, but primitive methods suffice in a
case of real starvation. She finished the turkey and buried the plate
beneath a pile of algebra papers. It was Osaki's daily business to empty
the wastebasket; the plate in due course would be restored to its shelf.</p>
<p>A few moments later a scurrying footfall sounded at the door, and a
little Junior A. darted to Patty's side. She cast a conspiratorial
glance over her shoulder as she drew from a bulging blouse two buttered
rolls.</p>
<p>"Take 'em quick!" she panted. "I must hurry back, or they'll suspect. I
asked to be excused to get a handkerchief. Keep up your courage. We
won't let you starve. It's splendid!"</p>
<p>She thrust the rolls into Patty's lap and vanished.</p>
<p>Patty found it comforting to know that the school was with her. The
attractions of martyrdom are <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'exhanced'">enhanced</ins> by the knowledge of an audience.
Also, the rolls were a grateful addition to the turkey; her five-hour<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></SPAN></span>
appetite was still insistent. She finished one of them and was about to
begin on the second, when furtive footfalls sounded behind her, and one
of the maids slipped a paper plate over her shoulder.</p>
<p>"Here's some fresh gingerbread, Miss Patty. Cook says—"</p>
<p>The sound of a closing door startled her, and she <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'skurried'">scurried</ins> off like a
detected thief.</p>
<p>Patty placed her second roll in the wastebasket in company with the
turkey plate, and was just starting on the gingerbread, when a
scrambling sounded at the end window. A blue hat appeared momentarily
over the sill, its owner boosted from below, and an unidentified hand
sent an orange rolling down the center aisle. Patty hastily intercepted
its course and dropped it into the wastebasket. Luncheon would be over
momentarily, and a visit from Miss Lord was imminent. This influx of
supplies was growing embarrassing.</p>
<p>She heard the rising flood of talk as the girls poured from the
dining-room. She knew that sympathetic groups were viewing her from the
open doors behind. Judging<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></SPAN></span> from the ceaseless shuffle of footsteps, all
Saint Ursula's had errands that led past the schoolroom door. Patty did
not cast a glance behind, but with rigid shoulders stared into space.
Presently a rattling sounded above her head. She raised startled eyes to
a register set in the ceiling, and saw Irene McCullough's anxious face
peering through the opening.</p>
<p>"You can live for days on chocolates," came in a stage whisper. "I'm
awfully sorry there's only half a pound; I ate the rest last night."</p>
<p>The register was lifted out, and a box was swiftly lowered by a string.
Irene was chief of the scabs.</p>
<p>"Thank you, Irene," Patty returned in a haughty stage whisper. "I do not
care to accept any—"</p>
<p>Miss Lord's voice became audible in the hall.</p>
<p>"I thought, young ladies, that afternoon recreation was to be spent out
of doors?"</p>
<div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/098-ill.jpg" width-obs="269" height-obs="400" alt="Patty just had time to snatch the box" title="Patty just had time to snatch the box" /> <span class="caption">Patty just had time to snatch the box</span></div>
<p>Patty just had time to snatch the box and drop it in her lap, with an
open essay book<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></SPAN></span> above, when Miss Lord advanced into the room. Patty's
face assumed an air of suffering stoicism, as she stared ahead, in the
profound hope that Irene would have sense enough to remove eight feet of
dangling string. Miss Lord was followed by Osaki, carrying a tray with
two slices of dry bread and a glass of water.</p>
<p>"Have you finished your Latin, Patty?"</p>
<p>"No, Miss Lord."</p>
<p>"Why not?"</p>
<p>"I am going to do to-morrow's lesson in afternoon study hour."</p>
<p>Patty's tone was respectful, but her meaning was clear. She emphasized
slightly the word "to-morrow."</p>
<p>"You will do the twenty lines immediately."</p>
<p>A speaking silence from Patty.</p>
<p>"Do you hear me?"</p>
<p>"Yes, Miss Lord."</p>
<p>"Well?" The monosyllable was sharp enough to cut.</p>
<p>"I stand by my principles," said Patty. "I am not a scab."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"You may sit here until those twenty lines are finished."</p>
<p>"Very well, Miss Lord."</p>
<p>"I do not wish you to suffer. Here is bread and water."</p>
<p>She motioned Osaki to set down the tray.</p>
<p>Patty waved it aside.</p>
<p>"I am not a convict," she said with dignity. "I refuse to eat until I am
served properly at the dining-room table."</p>
<p>A fleeting grin replaced for a moment Osaki's Oriental calm. Miss Lord
set the bread on a neighboring desk, and the two withdrew.</p>
<p>All through recreation and afternoon study, Patty sat at her desk, the
plate of bread conspicuously untouched at her elbow. Then the
five-o'clock bell rang, and the girls trooped out and dispersed on their
various businesses. The hour between afternoon study and dressing bell,
was the one hour of the day entirely their own. Patty could hear them
romping up the back stairs, and racing through the corridors. Kid McCoy
was conducting a pillow fight in Paradise Alley<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></SPAN></span> above her head. Groups
passed the schoolroom window with happy calls and laughter. Pepper and
Tabasco, the two riding horses, were saddled and brought out. She could
see the girls taking turns in galloping around the oval, while Martin,
as ringmaster, waved his whip and urged them on. Martin now was bent
with rheumatism, but in his far-off reckless youth he had been a cowboy,
and when he taught the girls to ride, it was with a disregard of broken
bones that dismayed even the adventurous gymnasium teacher. Patty was
his star pupil; she could stick on Red Pepper's back with nothing but a
blanket to hold her. It was only very occasionally, when Martin was in a
propitious mood, that the horses were saddled for mere public amusement.
Patty's heart was sore as she watched Priscilla and Conny, her two
dearest friends, disport themselves regardless of their incarcerated
mate.</p>
<p>It grew dusk; nobody came to furnish a light, and Patty sat in the
semi-darkness, her head bent wearily on her arms. Finally she heard
footsteps in the hall, and Miss Sallie<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></SPAN></span> entered and closed the door
behind her. Patty braced herself anew; one needed keen wits to match the
"Dragonette."</p>
<p>Miss Sallie had been talking with Miss Lord, and she was inclined to
think that Patty needed chastisement of a rare sort; but it was her
practice to hear both sides. She drew up a chair, and commenced with
business-like directness.</p>
<p>"See here, Patty, what is the meaning of all this nonsense?"</p>
<p>Patty raised reproachful eyes.</p>
<p>"Nonsense, Miss Sallie?"</p>
<p>"Yes, nonsense! Miss Lord says that you refused to learn the lesson that
she assigned, and that you incited the rest of the girls to mutiny. You
are one of the most able pupils in the class, and your failure to finish
the lesson is nothing in the world but stubbornness. If it were Rosalie
Patton now, there might be some sense in it."</p>
<p>"I don't think you understand," said Patty gently.</p>
<p>"It might be well for you to explain," suggested Miss Sallie.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"I must stand by my principles."</p>
<p>"By all means!" Miss <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Sally'">Sallie</ins> affably agreed. "And what are your
principles?"</p>
<p>"To hold out for sixty lines of Virgil. It isn't because I <i>want</i> to
strike, Miss Sallie. It would be much easier for me to do the eighty
lines, but that wouldn't be fair to Rosalie. The working day should not
be gaged by the capacity of the strongest. Miss Lord will flunk Rosalie
if the rest of us don't take care of her. Upon the solidarity of labor
depends the welfare of the individual worker. It is the fight of the
oppressed against the encroachments of—of—er—organized authority."</p>
<p>"Um—I see!—I really begin to believe that you listened to that
lecture, Patty."</p>
<p>"Of course I listened," Patty nodded, "and I must say that I am awfully
disappointed in Miss Lord. She <i>told</i> us to apply our knowledge of
sociology to the problems of our daily lives, and when we do, she backs
down. But anyway, we intend to maintain the strike, until she is ready
to meet our just demands. It isn't through selfish motives<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></SPAN></span> that I am
acting, Miss Sallie. I should a lot rather have something to eat and go
horseback riding. I am fighting for the cause of my suffering sisters."</p>
<p>The ceiling above shook at the impact, as four of her suffering sisters
came down on top of one another, while the walls resounded with their
shrieks and laughter.</p>
<p>Miss Sallie's lip twitched, but she controlled herself and spoke with
serious gravity.</p>
<p>"Very well, Patty, I am glad to know that this unprecedented behavior is
caused by charitable motives. I am sure that when Miss Lord fully
understands the case she will feel gratified. Suppose I act as
intermediary and lay the matter before her? We may be able to arrive at
an—er—compromise."</p>
<p>The half hour that followed dinner was usually devoted to dancing in the
big square hall, but to-night the girls were inclined to stand about in
groups with furtive glances toward the schoolroom. A conference was
going on inside. Miss Lord, the Dowager and the Dragonette had passed in
and shut the door. Kid McCoy, returning from<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></SPAN></span> Paradise Alley, where she
had been stretched on her stomach with her face to the register,
reported that Patty had fainted through lack of food, that the Dowager
had revived her with whiskey, and that she had come to, still cheering
for the Union. Kid McCoy's statements, however, were apt to be touched
by imagination. The school was divided in its opinion of Patty's course.
The scabs were inclined to make light of her achievement, but Conny and
Priscilla staunchly fanned enthusiasm.</p>
<p>Finally, the schoolroom door opened, and the faculty emerged and passed
into the Dowager's private study, while the dancing commenced with
sudden fervor. No one to-day liked to be caught by Miss Lord whispering
in a corner.</p>
<p>Patty followed alone. Her face was pale, and there were weary circles
about her eyes, but in them shone the light of victory.</p>
<p>"Patty!"</p>
<p>"Are you dead?"</p>
<p>"How'd it come out?"</p>
<p>"It was perfectly splendid!"<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Was she furious?"</p>
<p>"What did she say?"</p>
<p>"We arbitrated the question and have settled on a compromise," Patty
replied with quiet dignity. "Hereafter the lesson will be seventy lines.
The Virgil strike is declared off."</p>
<p>They pressed about her eager for details, but she separated herself, and
kept on toward the dining-room door. There was an aloofness about her,
an air of having experienced the heights alone. She was not quite ready
to rub shoulders with common humanity.</p>
<p>The school settled itself to evening study, and Patty to her dinner.
They could see her across the court, through the lighted window, as she
sat in state at the end of a long table. Osaki on one side, tendered
preserved strawberries, and Maggie on the other, frosted cakes. The
rewards of martyrdom, in Patty's case, were solidly substantial.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></SPAN></span><br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></SPAN></span><br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></SPAN></span><br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></SPAN></span></p>
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