Ruby at School

by Mrs. George A. Paull

  CHAPTER XIII.

  GETTING SETTLED.

  Both Ruby and Maude felt very shy when they went downstairs and saw somany girls whom they did not know at all. They were very glad thatamong all those strange girls there was at least one whom they eachknew.

  "Was n't it the funniest thing that we should happen to come to thesame boarding-school?" whispered Maude, as she took Ruby's hand andwalked up and down the porch, while the scholars who had already comeand felt very much at home, looked at them half curiously and halfshyly, no doubt wondering whether they would be pleasant schoolmates ornot.

  Aunt Emma found that Ruby was quite contented to stay with Maude, soshe went back upstairs, where she still had some little things to do,and Mrs. Birkenbaum finished unpacking Maude's things, for she had togo away that afternoon, and wanted to unpack Maude's trunk before sheleft.

  Ruby and Maude walked up and down the porch for a time and then theywent down upon the lawn. There was a large lawn in front of the house,where the girls usually played. In one corner of it there was acroquet set, and as this was something new to Ruby, she looked at thehoops with a great deal of interest, while Maude, who had a set at homeexplained the game to her.

  "I will show you how to play it, and we will play together sometimes,"Maude said.

  There was plenty of room to play tag, and puss in the corner, and Rubythought the trees grew in just the right places for that game. Shewondered if there had been a school there when they were planted, andif Miss Chapman had planted them so that they would be nice for puss inthe corner.

  The house was quite large, and when Ruby and Maude walked around thelawn towards the back of the house, they found the schoolhouse, whichwas connected with the rest of the house by a long covered passage-way,so that the girls could go backward and forward in wet weather withoutgetting wet.

  The school-room was not open, but the children looked through thewindow, and saw the teacher's desk at one end, blackboards hung uponthe walls, and long rows of desks and seats for the scholars.

  On the other side of the school-room was the garden, with vegetablesand flowers, and some pear-trees that were laden with fruit.

  "Those pears look nice, don't they?" said Maude. "I wonder if theywill let us have some. Perhaps Miss Chapman keeps them all forherself. We will have some anyway, won't we, Ruby. Well, I guess wehave seen everything now. I think I will go upstairs and see if mammahas finished unpacking my trunk."

  Ruby was quite willing to go into the house, for she was sure that bythis time Aunt Emma would have emptied her trunk, and she might writeher letter home.

  "I was just coning to look for you, Ruby dear," said Aunt Emma, as herlittle niece opened the door. "You can write to your mamma now, if youlike, and you will just have time to write a nice long letter before itis supper-time."

  Ruby untied the ribbon about her neck, took the little key off, andopened the desk, with a feeling of pride. She was quite sure thatthere could not be a prettier desk in all the world than this one whichOrpah had given her, and she was very anxious to show it to Maude, andsurprise her with its beauty.

  "What shall I write my letter on first, Aunt Emma?" she asked.

  "Here is a piece of paper and a pencil you can use, and then you cancopy it afterwards," said Aunt Emma; so Ruby sat down at a little tableby the window, and wrote to her mother.

  RUBY WRITING A LETTER HOME.]

  When she had finished her letter and Aunt Emma had looked it over, andcorrected the few mistakes in spelling that she found, Ruby opened thedesk, and putting it upon the table, took out some of her pink paper,which she thought was the prettiest, and carefully copied the letter.

  "This ought to be a very nice letter, written on such a beautiful desk,with a silver pen-holder, ought n't it, Aunt Emma?" she asked.

  "Yes, dear, and I am sure your mamma will think it is very nice," heraunt answered.

  Ruby was very proud when she finished copying it without one singlemistake. She did not usually have the patience to work so carefullybut she felt as if such a desk deserved great care on the part of itsowner.

  Would you like to hear her letter? Here it is:

  MY DEAR MAMMA AND PAPA,--I am writing this letter to you on a beautifulnew desk that Orpah gave me. That was what was in the package she mademe promise not to open. We had a very pleasant journey. There was avery kind old gentleman on the cars, who talked to me and told mestories, and he told the boy with a basket to let the little ladychoose what she wanted, and I chose a big pear. I divided it with AuntEmma and the old gentleman. When I was sleepy I put my head down onhis shoulder the way his little grand-daughter does, and I went tosleep and I slept ever so long, though I thought it was only a littlewhile. It is nice to ride in the cars, but it takes a long time. Ilike this school. I like Miss Chapman. She has white hair likegrandma. Her eyes are blue. I shall be good, for I like her verymuch. But I shall be good anyway, because I promised you. I do wantto see you, mamma, and papa, too. Aunt Emma has unpacked my trunk, andmy things are all put away. Maude Birkenbaum is here. She was at thestation at the same time I was, and we walked up together. I mean tobe good. Her mother said she hoped I would be a help to Maude, and Imean to try to be good, instead of doing things she wants me to do. Ilove you a whole heartful, mamma and papa. Please write me a longletter soon. I hope you will soon be well again, mamma. I shall sealthis letter with my new sealing wax, and you must pretend it is a kiss.

  Your loving RUBY.

  Ruby was so impatient to use her new sealing-wax outfit that she foundit very hard work to finish her letter carefully, and write the lastwords just as well as she had written the first one.

  "Do you think 'Ruby' looks as well as 'My dear Mamma and Papa'?" sheasked Aunt Emma, carrying the paper over to her.

  That was Ruby's test whether she had been careful in writing a letter,to look and see whether the last words were as carefully written as thefirst ones. Sometimes, if she had not been very careful, one would notthink that the same little girl had written all the letter. The firstfew lines would be so very neat and carefully written, and the lastones would be straggly, and of different heights and wandering allacross the pages.

  But this time Ruby had been very careful indeed. She had left just thesame margin all the way down the left-hand side of her page, and shehad been careful in dividing her words, so when Aunt Emma had looked itall over very carefully, she could say that it was just as nice as Rubycould possibly have written.

  Then Ruby folded it and put it into one of her new envelopes; and thencame the most exciting part of all. Ruby had never been very fond ofletter-writing before, but she thought she would be perfectly willingto write a letter every day, if she might always seal them up with wax.

  She put the little pond-lily candlestick out upon the table, on afolded piece of paper, which Aunt Emma told her she had better putunder it lest the melted wax should drop upon the table-cloth, and thenshe took out her little box of colored tapers, and tried to decidewhich one she should use first.

  She decided upon the pink one, because that matched the color of thepaper she had been using; and so she took out a pink taper, and set itin the candlestick. It fitted very snugly, so there was no danger ofits falling out.

  Aunt Emma showed her how to open the little silver match-box that Rubyhad not discovered before in the outfit, and she lighted the taper, andthen held a stick of green sealing-wax in the flame.

  When the end had grown quite soft in the heat, Ruby watched itcarefully, and let the big drop at the end fall just at the right time,and in just the right place upon her envelope. Then she pressed theseal down upon it, and you can guess how proud she was when she saw herinitial in the wax.

  "Won't mamma be surprised when she gets this letter?" she askedgleefully. "She will wonder where I got the wax, and I am sure shewill hardly believe that I made such a nice seal the very first time Iever used it."

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  her, which made a very great difference; and then she was very muchinterested in listening to the talk of the girls who had been therebefore, as they crowded about Aunt Emma and told her of what they hadbeen doing during their vacation.

  Maude was not at all pleased when she found that no one paid anyparticular attention to her, and she sat by herself with a verydiscontented look upon her face.

  One of the girls came up to her after a time, and asked her if shewould like to take part in a game, but Maude refused, sullenly, andafter that no one else spoke to her.

  "I shall go home just as soon as mamma can come and get me," she saidto herself. "I don't like this place one single bit. No one pays abit of attention to me, and my dress is ever so much nicer than any oneelse's. I think Ruby might come and sit by me, instead of staying withher aunt, so I do."

  But Ruby was very happy where she was. She had not forgotten Maude,and when they had first gone into the sitting-room, she had invitedMaude to come and sit beside her; but as Maude had refused, wishingRuby to come over to her, she had concluded that Maude wished to be byherself, and was listening to the talk going on about her, withoutthinking any more about Maude.

  At eight o'clock all the girls went up to bed, and Miss Chapman toldthem that in half an hour a bell would be rung, and that then they mustput their lights out, and not talk any more to one another that night.

  Some of the girls who were tired had gone to bed earlier, but most ofthe scholars had stayed downstairs until that hour. The next day wouldbe the first day of regular school, and Miss Chapman told them that shehoped they would all sleep well so as to be fresh for their studies inthe morning.

  When Ruby was in her room, she realized for the first time with all herheart how much happier she was than those girls who had come quitealone. If she had not Aunt Emma she did not know what she should havedone, she should have been so lonely. As it was, all her chatterstopped as she began to get undressed, and though Aunt Emma talked onabout everything that she thought would interest her little niece, yetRuby's answers grew more and more infrequent, and Aunt Emma guessedthat she was thinking about home, and the dear ones there from whom shehad never been separated so long before.

  Ruby was really a brave little girl, and when she felt the lumpswelling in her throat again she kept swallowing it back, and trying tothink only of how pleased her papa would be when he should hear thatshe had been good and had not cried to come home; but when at last sheknelt down to say her prayers in her little white night gown, the tearswould come.

  "I want mamma, oh, I want mamma," she sobbed.

  Aunt Emma took her up tenderly in her arms, and kissed and comfortedthe little girl as tenderly as she could; but no one could take theplace of mother, and though Ruby tried to stop crying, the tears camefast and thick.

  "You may think I am not trying to be brave, Aunt Emma," said Ruby,through her sobs; "but I am trying, I truly am, but it does just seemas if I should die if I could n't see my mamma. Oh, if I was only homeagain. Can't I possibly go home to-morrow, Aunt Emma? Do say yes, orI can't live all night."

  "There, dear, don't cry so hard," said Aunt Emma, wiping away hertears. "You will feel better to-morrow, Ruby darling. You will be sobusy getting your lessons that you will not have time to think aboutanything else, and then when night comes again, you will remember thatyou have come away with me so that your dear mamma can get well andstrong again, and the braver you are, the sooner she will improve. Youhad forgotten that, had n't you, dear? You know you are helping tomake her well here at school. I know you can't help crying some. Ishall not think you are not brave because you do, but I know you aregoing to stop very soon and cuddle up and go to sleep, and wake up ashappy as a little bird."

  Ruby wiped away her tears after a time, and Aunt Emma went to bed withher, that the little girl might feel loving arms about her, and notremember how far she was away from home and from her mother and father.