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SMITH COLLEGE STORIES




     SMITH COLLEGE STORIES

     TEN STORIES BY
     JOSEPHINE DODGE DASKAM

     NEW YORK
     CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
     MCM




     _Copyright, 1900, by Charles Scribner's Sons_
     _D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston_




     _To my Mother, who sent me to college,
     I offer these impressions of it._

     _J. D. D._




PREFACE


If these simple tales serve to deepen in the slightest degree the
rapidly growing conviction that the college girl is very much like any
other girl--that this likeness is, indeed, one of her most striking
characteristics--the author will consider their existence abundantly
justified.

     J. D. D.




CONTENTS


          I

     _The Emotions of a Sub-guard_        1

          II

     _A Case of Interference_            37

          III

     _Miss Biddle of Bryn Mawr_          67

          IV

     _Biscuits ex Machina_               85

          V

     _The Education of Elizabeth_       123

          VI

     _A Family Affair_                  151

          VII

     _A Few Diversions_                 205

          VIII

     _The Evolution of Evangeline_      247

          IX

     _At Commencement_                  279

          X

     _The End of It_                    321




THE FIRST STORY

_THE EMOTIONS OF A SUB-GUARD_




I

THE EMOTIONS OF A SUB-GUARD


Theodora pushed through the yellow and purple crowd, a sea of flags
and ribbons and great paper flowers, caught a glimpse of the red and
green river that flowed steadily in at the other door, and felt her
heart contract. What a lot of girls! And the freshmen were always
beaten--

"Excuse me, but I _can't_ move! You'll have to wait," said some one.
Theodora realized that she was crowding, and apologized. A tall girl
with a purple stick moved by the great line that stretched from the
gymnasium to the middle of the campus, and looked keenly at Theodora.
"How did you get here?" she asked. "You must go to the end--we're not
letting any one slip in at the front. The jam is bad enough as it is."

Theodora blushed. "I'm--I'm on the Sub-team," she murmured, "and I'm
late. I--"

"Oh!" said the junior. "Why did you come in here? You go in the other
door. Just pass right in here, though," and Theodora, quite crimson
with the consciousness of a hundred eyes, pulled her mackintosh about
her and slipped in ahead of them all.

             Oh, _here's_ to Ninety-_yellow_,
             And her _praise_ we'll ever _tell_--_oh_,
     Drink her _down_, drink her _down_, drink her _down_,
               _down_, _down_!

the line called after her, and her mouth trembled with excitement. She
could just hear the other line:

     Oh, _here's_ to Ninety-_green_,
     She's the _finest_ ever _seen_!

and then the door slammed and she was upstairs on the big empty floor.
A member of the decorating committee nodded at her from the gallery.
"Pretty, isn't it?" she called down.

"Beautiful!" said Theodora, earnestly. One half of the gallery--her
half--was all trimmed with yellow and purple. Great yellow
chrysanthemums flowered on every pillar, and enormous purple shields
with yellow numerals lined the wall. Crossed banners and flags filled
in the intervals, and from the middle beam depended a great purple
butterfly with yellow wings, flapping defiance at a red and green
insect of indistinguishable species that decorated the other side. A
bevy of ushers in white duck, with _boutonnieres