CHAPTER IX
GETTING ON
The three freshmen friends from Briarwood learned a good deal more thatevening than the Year Book would ever have taught them. The girls beganto crowd into the Hoskin Hall dining-room right after dinner. Theseniors and the juniors disappeared, but there were a large number ofsophomores present, besides the president of that class who addressedthe freshmen.
The latter learned that in athletics especially the rivalry between thetwo lower and the two upper classes was intense. It was hardly possible,of course, for any of the freshmen, and for few of the sophomores togain positions on any of the first college teams in basket ball, rowing,tennis, archery, or other important activities of a physical nature.
All athletic sports, which included, as well as those named above,running and jumping and other track work, were under the directsupervision of the college athletic association. All the girls couldbelong to that. Indeed, they were expected to, and the fees were small.But for a freshman to show sufficient athletic training to make any ofthe first teams, would almost seem impossible. They could get on thescrubs and possess their souls with patience, hoping to win places onthe first teams perhaps in their sophomore year.
However, there had once been a girl in a freshman class at Ardmore whosucceeded in throwing the hammer a record-making distance; and once afreshman had been bow oar in the first eight. These were targets to aimfor, Miss Dunstan, the sophomore president, told the new girls.
She was, of course, a member of the athletic committee, and having toldthe new girls all about the sports she proceeded to advise them aboutorganizing their class and electing officers. This should be done by theend of the first fortnight. Meanwhile, the freshman should get together,become acquainted, and electioneer for the election of officers.
Class politics at Ardmore meant something. There were already groups andcliques forming among the freshmen. It was an honor to hold office inthe class, and those who were ambitious, or who wished to control thepolicy of the class, were already at work.
Ruth and her friends were so ambitious in quite another direction--intwo, in fact--that they rather overlooked these class activities. Thefollowing day actually opened the work of the semester, and as theyalready had their books the trio settled immediately to their lessons.
They were taking the classical course, a four-years' course. During thisfirst year their studies would be English, a language (their choice ofFrench or German) besides the never-to-be-escaped Latin; mathematics,including geometry, trigonometry and higher algebra. They had not yetdecided whether to take botany or chemistry as the additional study.
"We want to keep together as much as possible, in classes as well asout," Helen said. "Let's take the same specials, too."
"I vote for botany," Ruth suggested. "That will take us into the woodsand fields more."
"You mean, it will give us an excuse for going into the woods andfields," Jennie said. "I'm with you. And if I have to walk much to cutdown weight, it will help."
"My goodness!" exclaimed Helen. "Heavy really _has_ come to college toget rid of her superabundance of fat."
"Surest thing you know," agreed the fleshy girl.
The freshmen learned that they would have from fifteen to eighteenrecitation periods weekly, of forty-five minutes each. The recitationperiods occurred between nine and twelve in the forenoon and one andthree-thirty in the afternoon.
It took several days to get all these things arranged rightly; the threefriends managed to get together in all classes. The classes numberedfrom twenty to forty students and the girls began to get acquainted withthe teachers very quickly. Trust youth for judging middle-age almostimmediately.
"I like Dr. McCurdy," Helen said, speaking of their English instructor,who was a man. "He knows what he's about and goes right at it. Nofooling with him. None of this, 'Now young ladies, I hope you arepleasantly situated and that we are going to be good friends.' Pah!"
Ruth laughed. "The dear old things!" she said gaily. "They meanwell--even that Miss Mara, whom you are imitating. And she _does_ have abeautiful French accent, if she _is_ Irish."
They liked Dr. Frances Milroth. Her talk in chapel was an inspiration,and that first morning some of the girls came out into the sunshine withwet eyelashes. They began to realize that they were here at college forsomething besides either play or ordinary study. They were at Ardmore tolearn to get a grip on life.
Instrumental and vocal music could be taken at any time which did notinterfere with the regular recitations, and of course Ruth took thelatter as a special, while Helen did not neglect her violin.
"I guess I'll take up the study of the oboe," grumbled Jennie Stone. "Idon't seem to know just what to do with myself while you girls aremaking sweet sounds."
"Why don't you roll, Heavy?" demanded Helen.
"Roll _what_? Roll a hoop?" asked the fleshy girl.
"No. Roll a barrel, I should say would be nearer to it," Helenresponded, eyeing Jennie's plump waistline reflectively. "Get down androll. Move back the furniture, give yourself plenty of room, and _roll_.They say that will reduce one's curves."
"Wow! And what would the girl say downstairs under me?" asked JennieStone. "I'd begin by being the most unpopular girl in this freshmanclass."
These first few days were busy ones; but the girls of the freshman classwere fast learning just where they stood. Then happened something thatawoke most of the class to the fact that they needed to get together,that they must, after all, take up cudgels for themselves.
"Just like a flock of silly sheep, running together when they see adog," Helen at first said.
"I guess there is a good reason in nature for sheep to do that," Ruthsaid, on reflection. "Sheep fear wolves more than any other animal, anda dog is a wolf, after all, only domesticated."
"Huh!" grunted Jennie. "Then we are sheep and the seniors are wolves,are they? I could eat up most of these seniors I've seen, myself. I willbe a savage sheep--woof! woof!"
The matter that had made the disturbance, however, was not to beignored.