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1. Preface
a. Why Learn SQL?
b. Why Use This Book to Do It?
c. Structure of This Book
d. Conventions Used in This Book
e. Using Code Examples
f. O’Reilly Online Learning
g. How to Contact Us
2. 1. A Little Background
a. Introduction to Databases

i. Nonrelational Database Systems

ii. The Relational Model
iii. Some Terminology
b. What Is SQL?

i. SQL Statement Classes

ii. SQL: A Nonprocedural Language
iii. SQL Examples

c. What Is MySQL?
d. SQL Unplugged
e. What’s in Store

3. 2. Creating and Populating a Database

 a. Creating a MySQL Database
b. Using the mysql Command-Line Tool
c. MySQL Data Types
i. Character Data
ii. Numeric Data
iii. Temporal Data
d. Table Creation

i. Step 1: Design
ii. Step 2: Refinement
iii. Step 3: Building SQL Schema
Statements
e. Populating and Modifying Tables

i. Inserting Data
ii. Updating Data
iii. Deleting Data
f. When Good Statements Go Bad

i. Nonunique Primary Key

ii. Nonexistent Foreign Key
iii. Column Value Violations
iv. Invalid Date Conversions

g. The Sakila Database

4. 3. Query Primer
 a. Query Mechanics
b. Query Clauses
c. The select Clause

i. Column Aliases
ii. Removing Duplicates

d. The from Clause

i. Tables
ii. Table Links
iii. Defining Table Aliases

e. The where Clause

f. The group by and having Clauses
g. The order by Clause

i. Ascending Versus Descending Sort

Order
ii. Sorting via Numeric Placeholders

h. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 3-1
ii. Exercise 3-2
iii. Exercise 3-3
iv. Exercise 3-4
5. 4. Filtering
a. Condition Evaluation
 i. Using Parentheses
ii. Using the not Operator
b. Building a Condition
c. Condition Types

i. Equality Conditions
ii. Range Conditions
iii. Membership Conditions
iv. Matching Conditions
d. Null: That Four-Letter Word
e. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 4-1
ii. Exercise 4-2
iii. Exercise 4-3
iv. Exercise 4-4
6. 5. Querying Multiple Tables

a. What Is a Join?
i. Cartesian Product
ii. Inner Joins
iii. The ANSI Join Syntax

b. Joining Three or More Tables

i. Using Subqueries As Tables
ii. Using the Same Table Twice
 c. Self-Joins
d. Test Your Knowledge
i. Exercise 5-1
ii. Exercise 5-2
iii. Exercise 5-3
7. 6. Working with Sets

a. Set Theory Primer

b. Set Theory in Practice
c. Set Operators

i. The union Operator

ii. The intersect Operator
iii. The except Operator
d. Set Operation Rules

i. Sorting Compound Query Results

ii. Set Operation Precedence
e. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 6-1
ii. Exercise 6-2
iii. Exercise 6-3
8. 7. Data Generation, Manipulation, and Conversion

a. Working with String Data

i. String Generation
 ii. String Manipulation
b. Working with Numeric Data
i. Performing Arithmetic Functions
ii. Controlling Number Precision
iii. Handling Signed Data

c. Working with Temporal Data

i. Dealing with Time Zones
ii. Generating Temporal Data
iii. Manipulating Temporal Data

d. Conversion Functions
e. Test Your Knowledge
i. Exercise 7-1
ii. Exercise 7-2
iii. Exercise 7-3
9. 8. Grouping and Aggregates
a. Grouping Concepts
b. Aggregate Functions

i. Implicit Versus Explicit Groups

ii. Counting Distinct Values
iii. Using Expressions
iv. How Nulls Are Handled

c. Generating Groups
 i. Single-Column Grouping
ii. Multicolumn Grouping
iii. Grouping via Expressions
iv. Generating Rollups
d. Group Filter Conditions
e. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 8-1
ii. Exercise 8-2
iii. Exercise 8-3
10. 9. Subqueries

a. What Is a Subquery?
b. Subquery Types
c. Noncorrelated Subqueries

i. Multiple-Row, Single-Column
Subqueries
ii. Multicolumn Subqueries

d. Correlated Subqueries

i. The exists Operator

ii. Data Manipulation Using Correlated
Subqueries

e. When to Use Subqueries

i. Subqueries As Data Sources
ii. Subqueries As Expression Generators
 f. Subquery Wrap-up
g. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 9-1
ii. Exercise 9-2
iii. Exercise 9-3
11. 10. Joins Revisited

a. Outer Joins

i. Left Versus Right Outer Joins

ii. Three-Way Outer Joins
b. Cross Joins
c. Natural Joins
d. Test Your Knowledge
i. Exercise 10-1
ii. Exercise 10-2
iii. Exercise 10-3 (Extra Credit)
12. 11. Conditional Logic

a. What Is Conditional Logic?

b. The Case Expression

i. Searched Case Expressions

ii. Simple Case Expressions
c. Case Expression Examples

i. Result Set Transformations

 ii. Checking for Existence
iii. Division-by-Zero Errors
iv. Conditional Updates
v. Handling Null Values
d. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 11-1
ii. Exercise 11-2
13. 12. Transactions

a. Multiuser Databases
i. Locking
ii. Lock Granularities

b. What Is a Transaction?

i. Starting a Transaction
ii. Ending a Transaction
iii. Transaction Savepoints

c. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 12-1

14. 13. Indexes and Constraints

a. Indexes

i. Index Creation
ii. Types of Indexes
iii. How Indexes Are Used
 iv. The Downside of Indexes
b. Constraints

i. Constraint Creation

c. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 13-1
ii. Exercise 13-2
15. 14. Views
a. What Are Views?
b. Why Use Views?

i. Data Security
ii. Data Aggregation
iii. Hiding Complexity
iv. Joining Partitioned Data

c. Updatable Views

i. Updating Simple Views

ii. Updating Complex Views

d. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 14-1
ii. Exercise 14-2

16. 15. Metadata

a. Data About Data

b. Information_Schema
 c. Working with Metadata

i. Schema Generation Scripts

ii. Deployment Verification
iii. Dynamic SQL Generation
d. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 15-1
ii. Exercise 15-2
17. 16. Analytic Functions

a. Analytic Function Concepts

i. Data Windows
ii. Localized Sorting

b. Ranking
i. Ranking Functions
ii. Generating Multiple Rankings

c. Reporting Functions

i. Window Frames
ii. Lag and Lead

d. Test Your Knowledge

i. Exercise 16-1
ii. Exercise 16-2
iii. Exercise 16-3

18. 17. Working with Large Databases

 a. Partitioning

i. Partitioning Concepts
ii. Table Partitioning
iii. Index Partitioning
iv. Partitioning Methods
v. Partitioning Benefits

b. Sharding
c. Big Data

i. Hadoop
ii. NoSQL and Document Databases
iii. Cloud Computing
iv. Future of SQL
19. 18. SQL and Big Data

a. Apache Drill
b. Drill and MySQL
c. Drill and MongoDB
d. Drill with Multiple Data Sources
 Learning SQL
THIRD EDITION

Generate, Manipulate, and Retrieve Data

With Early Release ebooks, you get books in their earliest form—the author’s
raw and unedited content as they write—so you can take advantage of these
technologies long before the official release of these titles.

Alan Beaulieu
Learning SQL

by Alan Beaulieu

Copyright © 2020 Alan Beaulieu. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway

North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.

O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or

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May 2020: Third Edition

Revision History for the Early Release
2019-12-11: First Release

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for release details.

The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media,

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The views expressed in this work are those of the author, and
do not represent the publisher’s views. While the publisher and
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responsibility for errors or omissions, including without
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code samples or other technology this work contains or
describes is subject to open source licenses or the intellectual
property rights of others, it is your responsibility to ensure that
your use thereof complies with such licenses and/or rights.

978-1-492-05754-3

[LSI]
Preface
Programming languages come and go constantly, and very few
languages in use today have roots going back more than a
decade or so. Some examples are Cobol, which is still used
quite heavily in mainframe environments, and C, which is still
quite popular for operating system and server development
and for embedded systems. In the database arena, we have
SQL, whose roots go all the way back to the 1970s.

SQL is the language for generating, manipulating, and

retrieving data from a relational database. One of the reasons
for the popularity of relational databases is that properly
designed relational databases can handle huge amounts of
data. When working with large data sets, SQL is akin to one of
those snazzy digital cameras with the high-power zoom lens in
that you can use SQL to look at large sets of data, or you can
zoom in on individual rows (or anywhere in between). Other
database management systems tend to break down under
heavy loads because their focus is too narrow (the zoom lens is
stuck on maximum), which is why attempts to dethrone
relational databases and SQL have largely failed. Therefore,
even though SQL is an old language, it is going to be around
for a lot longer and has a bright future in store.
Why Learn SQL?
If you are going to work with a relational database, whether
you are writing applications, performing administrative tasks,
or generating reports, you will need to know how to interact
with the data in your database. Even if you are using a tool
that generates SQL for you, such as a reporting tool, there may
be times when you need to bypass the automatic generation
feature and write your own SQL statements.

Learning SQL has the added benefit of forcing you to confront

and understand the data structures used to store information
about your organization. As you become comfortable with the
tables in your database, you may find yourself proposing
modifications or additions to your database schema.
Why Use This Book to Do It?
The SQL language is broken into several categories.
Statements used to create database objects (tables, indexes,
constraints, etc.) are collectively known as SQL schema
statements. The statements used to create, manipulate, and
retrieve the data stored in a database are known as the SQL
data statements. If you are an administrator, you will be using
both SQL schema and SQL data statements. If you are a
programmer or report writer, you may only need to use (or be
allowed to use) SQL data statements. While this book
demonstrates many of the SQL schema statements, the main
focus of this book is on programming features.

With only a handful of commands, the SQL data statements

look deceptively simple. In my opinion, many of the available
SQL books help to foster this notion by only skimming the
surface of what is possible with the language. However, if you
are going to work with SQL, it behooves you to understand
fully the capabilities of the language and how different features
can be combined to produce powerful results. I feel that this is
the only book that provides detailed coverage of the SQL
language without the added benefit of doubling as a “door
stop” (you know, those 1,250-page “complete references” that
tend to gather dust on people’s cubicle shelves).

While the examples in this book run on MySQL, Oracle

Database, and SQL Server, I had to pick one of those products
to host my sample database and to format the result sets
returned by the example queries. Of the three, I chose MySQL
because it is freely obtainable, easy to install, and simple to
administer. For those readers using a different server, I ask
that you download and install MySQL and load the sample
database so that you can run the examples and experiment
with the data.

Structure of This Book

This book is divided into 15 chapters and 3 appendixes:

Chapter 1, explores the history of computerized

databases, including the rise of the relational model
and the SQL language.

Chapter 2, demonstrates how to create a MySQL

database, create the tables used for the examples in
this book, and populate the tables with data.

Chapter 3, introduces the selectstatement and

further demonstrates the most common clauses
(select, from, where).
Chapter 4, demonstrates the different types of
conditions that can be used in the whereclause of a
select, update, or deletestatement.

Chapter 5, shows how queries can utilize multiple tables

via table joins.

Chapter 6, is all about data sets and how they can

interact within queries.

Chapter 7, demonstrates several built-in functions used

for manipulating or converting data.

Chapter 8, shows how data can be aggregated.

Chapter 9, introduces the subquery (a personal

favorite) and shows how and where they can be
utilized.
Chapter 10, further explores the various types of table
joins.

Chapter 11, explores how conditional logic (i.e., if-then-

else) can be utilized in select, insert, update, and
deletestatements.

Chapter 12, introduces transactions and shows how to

use them.

Chapter 13, explores indexes and constraints.

Chapter 14, shows how to build an interface to shield

users from data complexities.

Chapter 15, demonstrates the utility of the data

dictionary.

Appendix A shows the database schema used for all

 examples in the book.

Appendix B demonstrates some of the interesting non-

ANSI features of MySQL’s SQL implementation.

Appendix C shows solutions to the chapter exercises.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Used for filenames, directory names, and URLs. Also used

for emphasis and to indicate the first use of a technical
term.

Constant width

Used for code examples and to indicate SQL keywords

within text.

Constant width italic

Used to indicate user-defined terms.

plainUPPERCASE
 Used to indicate SQL keywords within example code.

Constant width bold

Indicates user input in examples showing an interaction.

Also indicates emphasized code elements to which you
should pay particular attention.

NOTE
Indicates a tip, suggestion, or general note. For example, I use notes to
point you to useful new features in Oracle9i.

WARNING
Indicates a warning or caution. For example, I’ll tell you if a certain SQL
clause might have unintended consequences if not used carefully.

Using Code Examples

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, if
example code is offered with this book, you may use it in your
programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us
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Incorporating a significant amount of example code from this
book into your product’s documentation does require
permission.

We appreciate, but generally do not require, attribution. An

attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and
ISBN. For example: “Learning SQL, Third Edition, by Alan
Beaulieu. Copyright 2020 Alan Beaulieu, 978-1-492-05761-1.”

If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or
the permission given above, feel free to contact us at
[email protected].

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Chapter 1. A Little
Background
Before we roll up our sleeves and get to work, it would be
helpful to survey the history of database technology in order to
better understand how relational databases and the SQL
language evolved. Therefore, I’d like to start by introducing
some basic database concepts and looking at the history of
computerized data storage and retrieval.

NOTE
For those readers anxious to start writing queries, feel free to skip ahead
to Chapter 3, but I recommend returning later to the first two chapters in
order to better understand the history and utility of the SQL language.

Introduction to Databases
A database is nothing more than a set of related information. A
telephone book, for example, is a database of the names,
phone numbers, and addresses of all people living in a
particular region. While a telephone book is certainly a
ubiquitous and frequently used database, it suffers from the
following:
 Finding a person’s telephone number can be time-
consuming, especially if the telephone book contains a
large number of entries.

A telephone book is indexed only by last/first names,

so finding the names of the people living at a particular
address, while possible in theory, is not a practical use
for this database.

From the moment the telephone book is printed, the

information becomes less and less accurate as people
move into or out of a region, change their telephone
numbers, or move to another location within the same
region.

The same drawbacks attributed to telephone books can also

apply to any manual data storage system, such as patient
records stored in a filing cabinet. Because of the cumbersome
nature of paper databases, some of the first computer
applications developed were database systems, which are
computerized data storage and retrieval mechanisms. Because
a database system stores data electronically rather than on
paper, a database system is able to retrieve data more quickly,
index data in multiple ways, and deliver up-to-the-minute
information to its user community.

Early database systems managed data stored on magnetic

tapes. Because there were generally far more tapes than tape
readers, technicians were tasked with loading and unloading
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 Jane listened with increasing anxiety. It might really be Judith,
but where was she?
"What you asked for, please?" Alfred inquired of Jane. "Ferdinand
has no 'cuse to interrupt," he apologized.
"Oh, that was all right," Jane quickly assured him. "I wonder if he
may have found my--friend?"
"Not likely a young lady," said Alfred with a strong emphasis on
young. As if an old lady might be suspected of anything queer, but
that a young miss would assuredly hardly be so careless.
"But my friend is very absent minded." Jane prepared him. "She
does queer things through forgetfulness."
"Can you come right now?" insisted the waiting Ferd to Jane's
porter. "I'se got to get rid of this--lady somehow."
"I'll go too, if I may?" timidly inquired Jane. "I have lost a friend"
(this to Ferd). "She is very absent minded."
"Laikly she is my--discovery," ventured the colored man striving
to be polite and finding it difficult to treat the situation seriously.
"Come right along."
At the other end of the car Jane stood stock still, as she read the
sign "Gentlemen Smoking." But Ferd promptly assured her.
"Not a soul in here but the lady. Not a man could get in, and
there was some kicking. All right for ladies to smoke. Lots of 'em do,
but they has to have their own private quarters." He was opening
the door of the smoking room with that caution usually displayed if a
cat is expected to jump. Jane followed, and once within the room
she sprang to the curled up figure, sleeping peacefully, in the big
cushioned chair. It was Judith!
"Judith!" Jane called. "Judy, wake up! Come!"
The unconscious girl slowly--too slowly, came back to the realm
of directed thought. She was awake at last.
"Why--Jane--" she drawled. "What's the fuss? I was dreaming
about wonderful cigars."
Both porters stepped back respectfully--or to laugh safely.
Dreaming of cigars appealed to their sense of humor.
"Judith--this is the gentlemen's smoking room," Jane breathed,
trying hard to drag the still drowsy girl to her feet. "How ever did
you get in here?"
By this time Judith realized something was wrong. She gathered
the folds of her Burgundy robe tight around her, and tried to inflict a
severe look on the giggling porters.
"You sure did hol' de fort, Miss," Ferd insisted on saying. "The
gent-men had to go without their smoke this morning."
Too embarrassed for further conversation the girls stole out of
the usurped room. Just at the little turn in the aisle, the very narrow
place where a crowd is always trying to squeeze by at once, they
encountered a group of would-be smokers ready to defend their
rights. They were talking none too meekly, and seeing the girl still in
negligee one had the poor taste to remark: "There she is. Some
sleeper!"
Judith blushed to the roots of her dark hair, but Jane glanced at
the bounder defiantly. Didn't he have manners enough to respect a
girl who was just absent minded?
"A good thing they had to--fast a little," Jane whispered in
Judith's ear. "It won't hurt them any. They smoke enough now to
fumigate the car with the fumes they carry out of that room. Pretty
room, isn't it?" She smiled to give back Judith's assurance.
"Oh, I am so embarrassed," murmured Judith. "And have I
actually been sleeping there, and keeping that raft of men outside?"
"Oh, yes, dear, but that is nothing to worry about," the kind-
hearted Jane protested. "In war times they had to go without
smoking or should have. Now they can't seem to live a moment on
the train, without the company of their cigars. Do let us hurry in to
breakfast!"
But even the reliable good nature and love of humor,
characteristic of Judith was some time in returning to the very much
embarrassed girl.
 CHAPTER VIII--NEW YORK AT LAST

"If there is one thing I like more than all the other things about a
long railway journey," said Judith, as they alighted at the great
Metropolis terminal, "it is the end. I love to get off."
"I rather agree with you," Jane almost sighed, for the trip from
Montana, while pleasantly varied with incidents of interest, was
really all tuned and keyed up to the actual pleasure of reaching New
York.
"How good it is to be back, after all," pursued Judith. "I hope we
will have no trouble in finding Mrs. Weatherbee. She is so eminently
systematic, as our train was on time, she ought to be in sight now."
"Oh, I am sure she will be here," Jane added, as they edged
along with the throng, threading their way out into the open space
under the great glass canopy of the New York Central. The
magnitude of the building seemed to dwarf the lines and group of
persons, filing in and out, and coming and going--as the old man
said, like people without any homes.
"There she is!" exclaimed Jane as she caught sight of the
dignified Mrs. Weatherbee, director of Wellington. "And she has a
young girl with her."
"Our Helka!" exclaimed Judith, jamming into a haughty woman
with the perpetual poodle under her arm. "Oh, I am sure that is our
little artist," as the slight young girl, in very dark costume advanced
with Mrs. Weatherbee.
There was no time for a reply from Jane, for the smiling
Wellington lady and her companion now caught sight of the girls,
and were advancing quickly.
 "Just in time," Mrs. Weatherbee exclaimed with more precision
than originality. "How splendidly you both look!"
Then the usual hand shaking, and exchange of courtesies
included the introduction to Miss Helka Podonsky.
So the girls at last beheld the object of their long outstanding
guesses and conjectures!
Yes, Helka was pretty--she was different, and she was surely
attractive. Her hair tangled around her ears and made the most
adorable little puffs. Its shade was dark, not black, but more dark
than brown. All of these details were easily observed, and the girls
absorbed them, but the color of her eyes--Jane thought they blue,
Judith thought them brown, and neither knew how to classify the
flashes and "volts" the little stranger shot out from under the long
curly lashes. But that she was lovely each silently agreed.
"This is our friend who is coming with us to Wellington," Mrs.
Weatherbee explained, in that formal way "the faculty" always take
to say unnecessary things. "She is delighted with the prospect,"
another superfluous banality.
"Oh, yes, it will be very--nice," spoke Helka, and her accent
betrayed the slightest foreign tinge. Her words seemed carefully
chosen, but she did not hiss her "s" nor choke her "e." Jane was
glad the voice and accent would not excite undue prejudice.
"I am sure it will be perfectly jolly," Judith hurried to add, and in
her effort to speak clearly she chose the very word a stranger might
not understand. "Jolly" was not included in the usual English phrases
given in foreign school text books.
"Yes?" Helka ventured to answer, and her rising inflection might
easily span a sea of doubt.
"Oh, it will be--delightful," Jane took great pains to qualify. She
had no intention of confusing Helka, and wished above all things to
impress her with a sense of companionship.
Yet there was a certain strain apparent. Helka did not "fall on her
knees, or neck" after the manner of the proteges in children's books,
neither did "her eyes fill with tears of silent appreciation."
Nevertheless the three girls, with their college director, were going
through that process of self consciousness bordering on
embarrassment.
"Can't we go to the rest room for a few moments?" asked Jane.
"I think we will have a better chance to get acquainted sitting
down," she declared.
Quick to catch the possible humor of this remark Helka smiled
broadly, and the set of teeth she exposed caused the girls again to
exchange knowing glances. Now, Judith had wonderful teeth. In
fact, she might claim championship in the tooth beauty contest, did
Wellington carry such a sport, but Helka's! They were so small, so
even and so white, matched pearls indeed. Thoughts of the pure
grain foods of Poland filtered through Jane's mind, while Judith
wondered about Polish dentifrice.
All this time it never occurred to either of the Wellington girls,
that the stranger might be having an equally interesting time
analyzing and cataloging them, and their characteristics. Egotism
has various methods of taking care of her own.
In the big, leathered rest room, a comfortable corner was
available, and here our quartette soon ensconced themselves. Mrs.
Weatherbee really looked quite human, Judith was deciding, her
Oxford tailored suit being sufficiently de luxe to be spelled "tailleur."
It was nobby, to take up a word from the English allies, and not give
all the credit to the French.
"Now, my dears," spoke the model, "I have a plan to unfold to
you. Helka wishes to stay in some private place, that is, she does
not wish to get into any very public place."
She stopped, for Helka was silently inferring so much that her
attitude demanded attention. She was sort of shaking her head and
biting her red lips and flashing her unclassified eyes.
"Not a lovely hotel?" asked Jane in surprise. She had really
counted on showing this little stranger life in a big New York hotel.
"Oh, no, please not. No hotel. I would not like that. There are so
many--men and women." Helka was almost shuddering, and Judith
instantly sensed the mystery promised about the Polish girl's
antecedents. Jane, acting in the capacity of hostess, immediately
agreed to shun all hotels.
 "I wanted to tell you," said Mrs. Weatherbee, "that for the
present I have arranged with a former member of the staff of
Wellington, a retired chaperon, to take you young ladies in her
charge in New York. As Miss Allen had informed me she wished to
stay in the city for some days, I thought it my duty to see that you
were all safely--chaperoned." She smiled humanly, Judith admitted,
but visions of a retired chaperon did not exactly forecast a very jolly
good time. Even a working "nurse maid," as the attendants were
sometimes facetiously styled, would be better than one who was old
enough to be retired. Jane was struggling with similar fears.
"She has quite an apartment," went on the matron. "In fact, she
has been entertaining some social service students who take care of
themselves in her apartment, and I thought that would be just the
thing for you three little girls."
"I am sure it will be!" Jane exclaimed, now seeing light through
the clouds. "I have always longed to try housekeeping as the college
settlement girls do, and it may give us valuable experience."
"Oh, glorious!" exclaimed Judith. "I vote to be--parlor maid."
"It would be very nice," ventured Helka, "if we could have a very
small house and our own--piano."
"Oh, of course, Helka, dear," Mrs. Weatherbee hurried to inject.
"You must have access to a piano. You cannot be deprived of your
music."
The luminous eyes flashed their appreciation at this, and Jane
felt as if even a rest room was quite inadequately furnished, with no
piano, at that moment, in sight. This little artist should have some
sort of pocket edition to carry around with her. She was different and
artistic and her moods should be humored. Of a certainty they would
go at once to the apartment with the home cured piano, as Judith
called any instrument not installed in a school room.
"Miss Jordan expects us," said Mrs. Weatherbee, "I was sure a
good cup of real tea would refresh you both after your journey." She
picked up the flat brief case Judith always carried in lieu of a suit
case. Jane adjusted her own club bag, preparatory for the start.
Helka insisted on taking the brace of umbrellas. So the little party
wended their way to the surface car, Jane naturally falling in step
with Helka and Judith trotting along with Mrs. Weatherbee.
"Adorable!" Judith at last had a chance to exclaim.
"I knew you would like her," smiled Mrs. Weatherbee. "She is a
wonderful girl. And she has such an interesting history."
Just as it had all been planned!
"Jane's luck," commented Judith. "Mrs. Weatherbee, we are
going to make Jane Allen, Center, this year. And we are going to
make our team known all over the college circuit. Basketball is an
American sport, and we are back from the war now with
reconstruction energy."
"I believe you," assented the matron, and her tone implied
satisfaction.
Jane was meanwhile becoming agreeably acquainted with Helka.
 CHAPTER IX--GIRLS' LIFE A LA MODE

Housekeeping, however irksome when a positive duty, is always a

delight when "tried on" in miniature.
So it was when the Wellington girls installed themselves in Miss
Jordan's apartment, they had no idea of the novelty in store for
them. The house was one of the old mansions now falling into the
shadow of the Village. The Village, we recall, is that part of New
York City where artists of various sorts congregate, and live the life
they term Bohemian. Incidentally, there are many within the village
who will never have any claim to the title artist--other than to have
possessed the ambition to be so classified, but like half the aspirants
for honors, they may aspire, but not conspire, as they do not work
honestly to achieve the place they pretend to appropriate. But our
girls did not go within the village limits; they were just at its "gates"
and so had an opportunity of observing the interesting types of girls
and young women passing in and out, affecting the Bohemian.
Long-haired men and short-haired women. Velvet-jacketed men
and cloth-upholstered women--such persistent contradictions lending
a peculiar picturesqueness to the otherwise prosaic Metropolis.
A kitchenette and two sleeping rooms had been assigned to the
Wellingtons by Miss Jordan, the larger dining room being shared by
two groups. Miss Jordan explained she had found the individual
kitchen indispensable, for all girls had their own ideas about kitchen
work, while a dining room might be made communal, many persons
having similar table habits, obviously. The living room was delightful.
A long, high ceiled drawing room originally. Miss Jordan had
preserved the splendor of the crystal chandelier, and the glory of the
hand carved marble mantel. Here all the girls were wont to
congregate in their evenings, and those of them who had the
opportunity came together around the square piano or curled
themselves up with books in the bay window's cushions in the late
afternoons.
The clientele was sufficiently varied to be interesting, at the same
time Miss Jordan personally vouched for the general standing of
each of her paying guests. In fact, the rendezvous for young girls
who might be in New York temporarily, and without personal
chaperons, was a real innovation, and it did fill a perfectly legitimate
long-felt want.
"Home was never like this," declared Judith, passing the
chocolates to a little dark-haired art student, who had just come in
from a morning's work in a co-operative studio. The art student
called herself Anaa Kole, and just why she insisted on the second "a"
to her otherwise plain Ana had not yet been discovered by Judith. It
looked to her like a waste of type, that could not be vocally made
use of.
"Miss Jordan is so motherly," admitted Anaa. "I sometimes
wonder what I should have done if I had not found her apartment. I
came here because my college directed me to."
"That is just what happened to me," Judith declared. "I came
here because Wellington actually toted me to the doorstep. Have
some more chocolates, do!"
"Oh, thank you, I do like sweets when I am tired. What are you
studying?"
"Here? Nothing especially. We are just getting ready for our
junior year. All but Miss Podonsky. She is just beginning."
"Isn't she dear? But why does she run every time the bell rings?"
"Does she? I hadn't noticed," prevaricated Judith. "She is a little
shy, being a stranger, I suppose."
"And she never practices when anyone is around. I have so
wished to hear her play her violin. I am sure she is a wonder at it.
But every time I do have the good luck to come in while she is
playing she stops instantly as I enter."
"Don't you think most geniuses are peculiar?" parried Judith.
"Helen will not play for us unless--well, unless Miss Allen especially
requests it. She adores Jane."
"I don't blame her," admitted Anaa. "I am charmed with her
myself. She is one of the girls with rare character who is not forever
advertising it. When I came in with wet feet the other night she did
not insist on me draining her chocolate pot. Most girls do, and I
abhor hot drinks for wet feet."
Judith laughed. Anaa was naive, if a trifle conspicuous with her
bobbed hair. Of course bobbed hair was so comfy, and so becoming,
too bad it was not the general style, mused Judith, patting her own
heavy coil, that would slip down her neck every time she attempted
to relax outside of bed quilts.
"I shall almost hate to leave for school," Judith supplied. "It has
been so jolly here."
"I do not find New York exactly a playground," Miss Kole
followed, "but, then, I am studying."
"Of course that's different. We are shopping, shopping and after
meals shopping again. I wonder if there are any bargains left? I
adore buying pretty underlies, but I am not so keen on the
practicals. But my friend Jane has set up enough stuff to make a
hope chest for all Wellington."
"She is from the West, you said?"
"Yes, from Montana. But that does not mean that she has never
seen pretty things before and is overdoing it," Judith hurried to
qualify in justice to Jane.
"Oh, of course not. I did not mean to infer that," Miss Kole
apologized. "But I do think Westerners, as a rule, are so much more
generous, and so much more enthusiastic than the cold Easterners. I
am from New England, and all I can remember of holidays around
home is that the rag rugs were taken off the carpets, and the
powdered sugar sprinkled over the doughnuts. Life in my home was
always a question of rivalry in economy. When I came here I set out
for days to buy every imaginable sort of food I had been reading
labels of all my life. Of course at college I had all I wanted, but even
there it was not on my own initiative. I longed to find out how it felt
to be free to buy without a pencil, and paper and premium list."
 "Oh, don't call your home town such hard names," Judith put in
kindly. "I am quite sure it has made you very dependable. I wouldn't
wonder if a term there would fit me for life with much better
qualifications than I can now boast of. But here come Jane and
Helen." (They had Americanized the Helka.) "And now more
bundles."
"Oh, the darlingest tams," announced Jane, dropping down on
the big sofa. "I just had to carry them home to show you. Couldn't
wait for delivery. See Anaa," to Miss Kole, "aren't they perfectly
dear?"
"Oh, this year's tams are really classic," contributed the art
student.
Judith already had the hunter's green, soft velvet tam on her
frowsy head. "Jane, which is mine?"
"Well, I did not know what you would like best with your riding
habit. It would have been too uncertain to guess at the green, and
the brown was rather dark, so I thought perhaps this burgundy
would go."
"Stunning, perfectly so!" exclaimed Judith. "I have always wanted
wine color and been afraid to try it. Isn't it wonderful?" And the
lovely soft little cap was coaxed to a proper angle on the dark head.
"And this is Helen's," Jane shook from its wrappers another cap
of a deep violet hue. Helen blushed prettily as Judith insisted on
trying it on her curly head.
"Oh, look, girls!" Judith suddenly exclaimed, grasping Helen and
swinging her around unceremoniously. "Now I know the color of her
eyes! They are pure violet."
The unexpected exclamation, and the energy of Judith's swing
gave Helen a perceptible start. For a moment she seemed about to
dash off. She changed color from flush to pallor and was surely
trembling. Then realizing it was all a joke, she quickly regained her
composure, but not before the girls had noted her curious attitude
and alarm. Even Jane, slow to criticise, could not but admit Helen
was frightened, and at such a trifle!
Why was she always so fearful? What was there for her to be so
markedly nervous about?
 That she had asked, and even insisted that the Polish name of
Helka Podonsky be changed to the American substitute, Helen
Powderly, had seemed reasonable enough to the girls, when just
after their arrival in New York Helen explained that name meant
"power" and while the "sky" stood for distinction in Poland, it would
mean nothing but possible ridicule in her school life. To this Jane and
Judith had assented. Perhaps it would be best, they agreed, not to
antagonize the less broadminded girls with the foreign title. Also,
Helen had so earnestly wished it. All this flashed before their minds
now, when a simple girlish exclamation caused a panic of fear. It
must be nerves, of course. Perhaps Helen had studied too hard in
qualifying for the scholarship!
Girls are often jumpy, but not often quite so easily overcome,
Jane thought.
"But what shall we do with so many hats?" asked Helen naïvely
recovering herself. "We shall be at school always."
"Oh, not half of always," replied Jane. "You see, Helen, we must
ride, I haven't told you about your horse (the violet eyes widened
with pleasure) and then," continued Jane, "we are going on all sorts
of hikes and hunts and outside jaunts. We are going to beg you in as
a junior. Sometimes the juniors, that's Judith and me, are allowed to
have what we call pupils. It isn't really catalogued but we
occasionally get a younger girl to go with us, so that we may try out
our knowledge on her."
"Yes, and my particular stunt is," Judith acclaimed, trying her tam
at another angle, "to get a girl who knows more than I do, and let
her try out her knowledge on me. Last year I found a perfect wizard
in Meta Noon. She knew more about bi-ology than I shall ever have
a chance to learn, and in the woods--what Meta didn't tell me about
queer bugs, and buzzards and beetles and bombus and--well, I was
buzzing for a week after one hike."
"After all," sighed Anaa, "school days have a charm. But we
never realize it until it is gone."
"Then of what value is the charm?" asked Jane.
"Exactly like cutting a tooth--only good after all the cutting is
done," decided Judith.
 "We take no note of time but from its loss, you know the poet
says," followed Jane, "and I often think of the concise truth of that
statement. We do not even know it is the hour until the hour is past.
Oh, la-la! but we are getting philosophical. Personally, I am more
interested in the kitchenette at this moment. Judith, it is your turn to
do the K. P."
"What ever branch of the A. E. F. instituted the Kitchen Police
should have been tried by court martial," blurted Judith. "The K. P. is
a duty for the enemy, not for the home guard," and she dove for the
divan and the chocolate crumbs.
"Oh, do let me get the dinner again," begged Helen. "You know I
love to. The little place is like a--baby play house."
"Oh, yes, Helen, do run along and play," promptly agreed Judith.
"As it is my turn, I give you full permission----"
"Judy Stearns," called Jane in mock severity. "You are an awful
fraud. Helen is too good to you. I shall make you do guard duty this
evening when we are out in the park. Besides, I am not going to
give you your surprise."
She got no further. The tall girl bounced over the room after
Jane, who was ducking nimbly only to be finally enmeshed in
cushions and portieres.
"Will you give it to me?" commanded Judith. "Or shall I wrest it
from you! And what is it and where is it? Maybe a telegram,
summoning me to my jolly cowboys' wedding or funeral. Oh, shall I
ever be able to forget my jolly cowboys?"
"Easy, girls, easy," cautioned Anaa, "Miss Jordan is putty in our
hands, until we attempt football with her cushions. Then she turns
alabaster. Don't, Judith, it is a lot better to 'don't' than to 'did.' Take
the advice of a good friend."
At this the chase was halted. Jane was panting from the shaking
and choking Judith had administered, while Judith was looking for
the ever fractious hairpins, the same being the last of a precious set
of shell pins imported from the Western coast. Judith and hairpins
were always at painful odds.
"Judy," said Jane seriously, "do you realize our days are flying
and we will be due at Wellington very soon?"
 "Oh, Jane Allen! You horrid girl! Can't I have a day's peace here
in this wonderful New York without having Wellington poked at me?"
and Judith facetiously jabbed at her eyes. "I have a very good mind
to play hookey."
Anaa had slipped out of the room, leaving Jane and Judith
together.
"Jane," whispered Judith, "whatever do you suppose makes
Helen so nervous about strangers? She is positively timid in crowds.
And when a man with queer whiskers, the Russian kind, brushed by
us to-day on the avenue I could feel her shiver. Now, Janie, you do
not suppose we are harboring a runaway, or anything like that?"
"Why, Judy, how foolish. You know Mrs. Weatherbee would not
have agreed that father's scholarship be given Helen if she had not
first carefully examined all her credentials. You know Mrs.
Weatherbee and care. A regular text book. But I will admit, the child
is afraid in public places. Much as I like it here, I should have been
glad of a week in a big hotel just for the experience, if we could
have induced her to go with us. It is a little queer, still Helen is
lovely, don't you think so?"
"Too sweet for classification. Look at her now doing my chores,"
and Judith laughed. "Oh, Janie, dear, it is fun to be here, and to
have your purse at the back of it. I never had so much spot cash in
all my life as I have seen you flourish since we located at the Jordan
apartment. It perfectly scares me."
 CHAPTER X--FEARS AND FANCIES

"Madam, dinner is served," announced Helen at the door, with the

funny little jerked courtesy and her finger to her lips a la Molly in the
movies. Helen was an apt American scholar, and her short stay in
the country had already sufficed for picking up an attractive list of
typical mannerisms. Especially did she show her aptitude in mimicing
stage girls.
"Now, where did you learn that, Helen?" demanded Judith. "You
never have seen me bite my index nail with that sort of charm."
"But you know I went to some plays in Warsaw, and we had
American talent there," explained Helen. "I have not yet been to a
theatre in America."
"Then you shall----"
"Oh, no, really, I do not wish----"
"Simpleton," kindly whispered Jane, pressing Helen's hand
confidently, "we shall all go to a beautiful play, and you shall sit
where no one can see you, if that is what you mean by declining all
our theatre invitations. Since you really do not want to be seen in
public, and perhaps you have a perfectly good reason for that
choice, I must fix it so you shall see the public in private. It can be
done, you know."
"Of coursey," chuckled Judith. "Trust Jane for that. She would call
out the secret service, and we might all go in a regular presidential
retinue, with the good-looking slim detectives at our heels."
"Monkey," Jane administered, "don't go putting such nonsense
into Helen's curly head. No such thing, Helen. We may go to a
theatre quite as privately as we went to the florists. Wait until you
see how nicely I shall arrange it."
 Helen evidently considered it would be rude for her to object,
nevertheless it was clear to both girls she would have felt better to
be allowed to decline Jane's ardent invitation. The fact that theatre
parties had been taboo, on account of Helen's reticence, had given
the Wellington lassies some annoyance. Jane and Judith both
wanted to see good plays.
"Was the surprise something to eat, Janie?" asked Judith as they
entered the dimly lighted dining room. One end of the long table had
been taken over by one trio, while down the board in groups of
twos, students and transients, were either partaking of or arranging
their "individual" meals. Each girl did her own cooking and serving,
unless she shared the task with a friend on the "co-op," this being
short for co-operative plan.
"Well, we did fetch some choice tid-bits," Jane acknowledged,
"and my paper bag broke, spilling the loveliest gooy-goo eclairs.
Tim, the elevator boy, looked at me first fiercely, then as he scented
the mix-up he smiled and----"
"Since then he has licked it up," contributed the irrepressible
Judith. "I don't blame him. Yum--yum, Jane, you are a born
housekeeper. You may have my next shift."
"Judith Stearns, if you attempt to duck your household
responsibility once more we shall expel you. See if we don't. I have
a mind right now to curtail your rations, and make you eat your pie
without cheese."
"Spare me," pleaded Judith, "I might manage meat without
spuds, but pie without cheese----"
Helen was enjoying the persiflage and serving her savory dishes
at the same time. A well-balanced menu was the pride of Jane and
her housekeeping. She had taken one course in domestic science,
and the knowledge thus acquired she was trying on, as Judith put it.
"Think of home-made baked potatoes!" Jane exclaimed, as Helen
untied the dainty little linen cover that hid the important vitamine
dish.
"Oh, yes, and I will eat all the skin, Jane, so don't trouble to
admonish me. I know the salts are in the skin, and I need the
vitamines."
 "What you need more than vits, Judy, are calories. You plainly
need energy. As I recall the lesson, it says, an average person
requires from two thousand three hundred, to three thousand five
hundred calories daily. The lesser amount is given to desk workers,
and the greater to the manuals, but as you are neither I should say
you might need five thousand daily, then we might reasonably
expect you to do your own K. P., all of which sounds like a Liberty
Loan speech, doesn't it?"
"Janie Allen, since you are so expert, maybe you know that you
require absolutely no carbohydrates. You are too sweet for anything
in that stunning flannel check. I have always known that gray and
pink make a perfectly wonderful picture, when done on a
background of a good sized check. Now your gray eyes, and your
pink cheeks----"
"Fen, fen, no fair," begged Jane. "You are mixing your standards.
This is a domestic science lesson. You may thank Helen for these
goodies." Helen was proudly "serving" from a particularly savory
casserole.
"Oh, indeed not. Jane chose the menu," Helen amended. "And
our caterer knows us so well now, he always gives us the best."
"That's just the way, blessings brighten as they banish, and we
are on our way to Wellington. But, Helen, I want to learn a few more
Polish words. I am going to count them in on my foreign language
list. I flunked in French, that is, I lost two points. Now what do you
call meat in Polish?"
"Just meat is 'mieso,' but there are kinds of meat----"
"Oh, one kind will do me. And what is butter?"
"Butter is 'malso.'"
"And bread? I should have to have bread."
"Bread is 'chleb.'"
"Then here is my order in a foreign tongue--with personal service
of course. That's the kind you get where they make the pancakes in
windows," and Judith took her share of the casserole supply.
"I shall order this way: Donnez-moi sil vous plait, une morceau
de chleb, une hunk of mieso, and one ball of malso. There, does not
that embrace three perfectly good languages?" asked Judith.
 Helen laughed merrily at Judith's absurd mixture. "It would be
very funny if they served you that way. The flavors would be very
mixed," she said archly.
"Yes, Judy, you would get an allied menu. Better, I think, to win
each battle separately, and eat in each country as you go along.
Personally, I have a weakness for 'grub and chow.' After that
selection I make it civilized to the extent of three courses but never
five. You see, we have three, Judy. You may have your dessert this
time also."
Helen seemed preoccupied, and in spite of the chatter she
stopped often and looked intently at Jane. Finally Judith,
vanquishing the very last of her eclair, asked teasingly:
"What's on your mind, Helen dear? Met any more big men with
long whiskers?"
Too late Jane's tug at Judith's skirt. Helen dropped knife and fork,
and blinked to keep back tears.
"Now, Helen dear, I did not mean to make you feel badly. You
know, I really like big, foreign-looking men, and I had no idea of
ridiculing them," Judith sobered up instantly.
"Oh, it is not that, my friends, but I want to tell you so much.
Sometimes I think, what do you think of me? Then again I say, I
must try to make plain----"
"No, you must not, indeed," Jane assured her. "Don't worry your
head about what we think, when you know it must be something
very nice. We like you and you like us, so why should we go digging
up old matters? When you want to tell us more about yourself we
shall be very interested, but until you feel like it, we are perfectly
content."
Helen's eyes still seemed about to overflow. Never had she
looked so small and helpless, and she now displayed that attitude of
diffidence, peculiar to foreigners. Years of oppression leave their
indent upon such impressionable characters, and Helka Podonsky, at
that moment harked back, body and soul, to her untold life
somewhere in Poland.
"Oh, thank you. I know how kind you are," she murmured. "But
it must seem very strange. You know I love my people, and I love
my country. It is not that--but----"
"Oh, we know, Helen dear," Judith tried to pacify. "And you must
not think that because we are Americans, and have been born in
these United States, we do not know of the hardships of other
countries. And even here, Helen, we girls have plenty of troubles of
our own, don't we, Janie?"
"Indeed we do. Last year was not so bad at school, but when I
came to Wellington first I was treated exactly like an outcast, except
for Judith's wonderful protection and influence. That is why you
must trust us. We are determined you shall not suffer, as even a
Western girl was made to. Why, if I had been a real cowboy, with all
the trappings, they could not have been more hateful to me at first."
Tactful Jane had hit upon this line of conversation to relieve the
more personal trend. But Helen did not quite understand. Was Jane
warning her?
CHAPTER XI--A STRANGE PREDICAMENT

"Our last expedition, girls. Shall we all make it?"

"Oh, don't tell us this is the wind-up of our glorious honeymoon!
I feel exactly like a deserted bride. How can we leave it all for old
Wellington, Jane?"
"Judy, dear, you forget the old saw about the fish that have not
yet been caught. And I always thought you such a good sport."
"Janie, I know all that junk about fish. But just look at dear old
New York! And see our applied science in exact housekeeping! I----"
"You were never exact, Judy. And I couldn't call that clump of
wearables really scientific looking. In fact, I am worried about the
expressmen coming in and grabbing up your train togs. Then you
would have to go off in the flimsey you wore to the play last night. I
fancy it would rather be outre en route."
"Now, Janie, don't flash anything like that on me, at the moment,
I love French in a nice rich translation like Hugo, but the naked truth
in French rather frightens me. Make it English. You mean to say it
would be outrageous for me to wear a theatre gown while travelling.
There, I guessed it first shot. Give me one point."
"Seriously, Judith, the expressmen will be here this morning. You
must realize they cannot carry things over their arms."
"Yes, I know. I have always thought it would be lots nicer if they
did. It musses things up so to have to pack them. But since my
innovation is not yet current, I suppose I shall have to spoil
everything by cramming them in their awful little boxes. Jane, did
you ever hear of a current innovation?"
"Can't recall that I have, dear. But I know what you mean. Helen,
are you going with us on our very last shopping tour?"
 Helen was folding up the precious garments so lately acquired.
The fondness with which she smoothed them betrayed her delight in
their acquisition. Helen had vehemently protested she did not need
so many pretty things, but Jane would have her fitted out as well,
and perhaps a little better than most "freshies." Helen looked up
with the eyes truly labeled violet, and like that wonderful flower, the
depths of their color was softened to velvet by the least glint of dew.
"If you would not mind, Jane dear," she risked. "I feel I should
like to have everything packed. And what more can we possibly
buy?"
"All right, girlie. You may stay home and sigh, and kiss things up.
I know you just hate to give up housekeeping, and I don't blame
you in the least. We have had a lovely time," and Jane stopped to
wind her arm around the curly head bent over the boxes on the
floor. "You stay home if you wish, Helen, but don't scold me if I bring
you one more--little handkerchief, or something like that?"
"Jane, I have wanted to tell you. I feel so over--over----"
"Helen, you mean overwhelmed, don't you?" suggested Judith.
"Yes, Judith, that is the big word I want. I feel--that way about
everything. I had many pretty things once, but since I came to
America I have been glad to be here, and not think of all I once
loved."
Jane and Judith paused in their rushing about and listened
attentively. Jane had been rather dreading this little speech from
Helen.
"Yes, I have been so happy since I met you, and it seems we
have been friends for always," went on the Polish girl. "But I want
you to know I do not expect to be ever like this--a--guest. Some day
I shall be able to repay."
"Now don't spoil everything by getting sad and gloomy," Jane
admonished. "You know we just need you as much as you need us.
Can't you see that?"
"I am very glad," and she brushed away something that blurred
her big eyes. "I would like to do a great favor if ever I am the artist.
I then will give--and give, and perhaps it will be a little, but never as
much as this."
 "You are engaged to play my wedding march, Helen," Jane
declared, "and I shall expect you to do that for the sake of these old
times." Jane was trying to make light of the threatening tragedy.
"And besides that, you will surely have to play for Judith when she
has her cowboy reunion. I believe she intends to engage the
Hippodrome for that event."
"No place smaller, nor less substantial would answer my
purpose," Judith agreed, annexing Jane's humor. "I am going to
show this New York some day, what the boys of El Capitan can do in
the way of entertaining. Just you wait, Helen, until next vacation. We
will take you out to Montana, and show you all the wonders I have
enjoyed. I have forever blotted from my childish memory the
thought of any other battleground, as a vacation scene. What I
enjoyed on Jane's ranch is indelible."
"Come along, you chatter-box," urged Jane. "We must be back at
least for the train. Good bye, Helen dear. Keep your door locked."
In spite of their years, with decorum annexed, the two girls were
always strongly tempted to slide down those adorable banisters in
Miss Jordan's big old-fashioned hall, and now, as they were going
out for almost the last time, both girls eyed each other suspiciously.
"We don't dare, but it's a shame," spoke Jane. "That comes of
getting old."
"Like a bald spot, it's the emptiness that hurts. Don't you feel a
vagueness for a slide?" asked Judith, smoothing the glossy rail
lovingly.
"Yes, but Judith, did you notice someone in the lower hall just as
we left our room?" whispered Jane. "See that figure--gliding around
the pedestal?"
"The plumber, likely," replied Judith. "I have seen that old coat
before. Let's hurry, Janie, or, as you said, I shall have to give the
expressmen my things 'As Is,' which means any old way, in store
parlance. Where do we go from here?"
At the door Jane glanced back a little ruefully. She had seen
some one--a man, surely, standing there, just as they came out of
the big room at the top of the stairs, and possibly when he noticed
they could observe him he disappeared in the direction of the heavy
folding doors and the big bronze statue, that marked the entrance to
the dining room.
"I wish Helen had come along," Jane remarked when on the
sidewalk, "somehow I will be rather glad when we all get safely to
Wellington."
"I have felt the same way these last few days," admitted Judith.
"Jane, I think you are a wonder not to come right out, and ask Helen
what all the mystery is about. Don't you feel a bit squeamish having
her turn pale at old men's faces, and seeing her dodge every
foreign-looking man, woman and child who comes along? Surely she
is not too proud to be Polish."
"Oh, no, indeed. I know it is nothing like class pride. She loves to
watch the little children who congregate around hand organs and
hurdy-gurdies, her eyes dance with them. No, Judith, Helen has a
secret, and I am sure it is one that keeps her anxious, but why
should I pry into it, just because she happened to win a scholarship?
That would be poor sport, wouldn't it? To exact a price--the price of
personal confidence from the winner? She won honestly and we are
glad she did, so why speculate?"
"The Greeks still live," spoke Judith. "Jane, I believe if old friend
Methuselah happened back for something he had forgotten, you
would hand it out to him without asking the secret of his eight
hundred years of life. Too personal for you. All righty. I shall agree,
and I love the little curly-headed Helen. Also, I claim first round from
the opposition when we start basketball and fight for Center. This is
the sort of day that brings our game up even above the joy of
seeing Marian Seaton die of envy. Did I tell you I had a letter from
Visite? She is the French girl who came at the end of last season,
you know, Adrienne's friend."
"Oh, yes, I recall, her name is Visitation and they call her Visite.
She always wore such absurd high heels, didn't she?"
"That's Visite. But we will forgive her the heels for she speaks
and writes perfect English. Some of the big girls, as she calls them,
are having their cars sent out. I guess they did not like being
overshadowed by your wonderful horse, Firefly. Not that a mere
machine could compare with that glorious little animal."
 "Oh, they may have their cars. I don't fancy motoring--yet. I may
take to it when I get old and feeble. Here we are. I want to get a
Tell-Tale for Katherine. Don't you think they are the dearest little
books? And they always do tell tales, if we keep them written up. Let
us look at these."
They inspected the dainty new dairies on the beautifully polished
glass counter in Brientos. The new style diary had much to
recommend it. The suggestions given in "Heads" left little to be
worked out, by even such registrants as might be indolent. There
were classified duties, pleasures, accidents, questions,
engagements, expenses, apologies, dance steps, candy recipes, and
such other incidents as might be particularly interesting to young
girls. The lines were partly written, so that all the writer should fill
out was the end of the line, like an insurance blank.
"Now, that is the way all our themes ought to be started for us,"
specified Jane. "If we had a starter line we could dash off a thesis
with our eyes shut. I will take two of these. I am going to give one
to Elaine. You know how she loves to write."
"Yes, I remember too well. She wrote a beautiful poem all over
my closet door, and I had to stand for it," recalled Judith. "Better
buy her a couple of reams of paper besides that sample. She needs
space."
From the stationer's the girls paid a last visit to their favorite
confectioner. The amount of candy purchased seemed extravagant.
Even the white-capped and ribbon-aproned clerk looked surprised
when Judith called for the third box of cherries, but when the girls
said good-bye, and Jane unpinned her own violets for this pretty
little candy counter miss, the very delivery boy who swung out with
the big white package, whistled good naturedly.
"Is that all?" asked Judith, glancing at her wrist watch anxiously.
"Almost. I want to get dad another box of cigars and Aunt Mary a
bottle of sachet. I ordered her favorite scent and it will be ready
now. They can be mailed direct from the stores."
Steps quickened, and cheeks glowing accordingly, Jane and
Judith sped along. New York had been attractive, and the days just
gone were filled with happy memories.
 Finally, with lists all checked off, Miss Jordan's apartment was
reached within ten minutes of the actual time set for return.
"I am sure Helen has everything ready," commented Jane,
getting out her latch key.
"Trust her for that," Judith replied. "I hope she has been the
good Samaritan to poor little me. Otherwise I see those armfuls and
the staggering expressmen."
At the inside door, that opened into the girls' own apartment,
Jane fumbled with her key. It would not open the door.
"Locked with the key in," Judith thought. "Call Helen!"
"Helen! Open the door!" called Jane. "Helen--are you there?"
No answer.
"She could not have gone out and left the key on the inside,"
Jane said, anxiously now. "I wonder what can be the matter."
"Let me shake the door," suggested Judith. "Queer----"
"Oh, is that you, girls?" called Miss Jordan from the lower hall. "I
have been trying to find someone to let me in there. The
expressmen have been here, and I could not reach your trunks."
"But we left Helen in," Jane was trembling now. "She must be
inside. Listen! Helen!"
A shuffling behind the panel could now be heard, then the key
turned in the door, and Helen confronted them, pale and disheveled.
"Oh, child, whatever is the matter!" exclaimed Miss Jordan,
brushing past the two girls and getting her motherly arms around
the tottering Helen. "What ever has happened to you?"
"Oh, I--got--weak--I guess I fainted. I am all right now. I am so
sorry----"
"Sorry!" exclaimed Jane. "Why, Helen dear, to think you were all
alone. And had the door locked so Miss Jordan could not reach you!
Sit down and let us get you some ammonia. Judith, it is on my
stand. Please fetch it quickly."
No need to tell Judith to hurry, for the color of the little Polish
girl's face was warning enough.
"Were you frightened of anything?" asked Miss Jordan, rubbing
the trembling hands.
"But no one came in, did they, Helen?" asked Jane in real alarm.
 "Oh, no, I--locked the door when I felt so queer. I thought
perhaps it was the expressmen, but I could not attend----"
"You were very wise, my dear," and Miss Jordan shook her head
thoughtfully. "It was better to be alone, although the experience was
unpleasant. Those men might have picked up anything from this
collection and then----"
"I am so sorry we left you alone," Judith murmured, with real
penitence in her voice. "And to think we were gadding about, while
you were ill and needed us so urgently. There, swallow that
ammonia. It will soon revive you. I should hate to faint."
"Oh, I am again all right," and the pale face lightened up just a
shade. "I am so much of a baby to get sick like that----"
"We will not leave New York until to-morrow if you do not feel
perfectly all right," announced Jane with authority.
"Oh, but please, yes," begged Helen. "I am so glad to get to the
big school. I like New York, but it is not like the college with all big
grounds----"
"That is just what I say, Miss Allen," put in Miss Jordan as she
smoothed the cushions they were piling around Helen. "You young
ladies have been having a great time, running around and feeding
on electives, as we say at college when we choose our own studies.
Are you sure you feel all right to travel, Helen?"
"Oh, yes, indeed. It was nothing. I was so happy--with all the
new things that I forgot to eat my breakfast. I shall be all ready
when the other girls are. And I am so grieved to give trouble." Helen
was now quite herself again. The ammonia had done the work of
restoring the temporarily impeded circulation. But Jane and Judith
were not satisfied that all the story of her sudden illness had been
told. It was decidedly strange that a girl should faint, right in her
own room, and in the middle of the day. Still, both were too wise to
press questions just then. The very best plan to be put in operation,
they were deciding silently, was for all hands to be off to Wellington
that very afternoon.
There was some bustling about, but Miss Jordan helped, and in
spite of the confusion the baggage was finally shipped successfully
and on time.
 "Little old New York!" exclaimed Jane merrily, pressing her
personal good bye on Miss Jordan. "You have been very good to the
Wellington Refugees. And we thank you."
 CHAPTER XII--WELLINGTON EN MASSE

"Pray tell me, pretty maiden, are there any more at home like you?"
This came from the spreading oak, while from the group of young
pines, in a remote corner of the campus the answer wafted in
vigorous girlish voices:
"There are a few, and pretty too-to-too, to-oo-oo-oo."
It was the call to the incoming horde, on their first day at
Wellington.
Over in the hollow, known as the Lair, another contingent from
the upper classes called out, rather than sang:

"Sing a song of Freshies ready for the fray,

Open arms, oh, Wellington, and carry them away!"

A grand rush followed this challenge. The newcomers to

Wellington, some timid, some brave, but all expectantly happy, were
then borne away to the mysteries of college initiation--to the great
world of advanced education. No hazing here, just the good-natured
pranks dear to the heart of every college girl, and significant in the
good fellowship established at the very outset of the broader school
life. Came another shout:

"Get together, all together, keep together--wow!

Every little Freshie must make a pretty bow!"

This was the signal for the real carrying off, for as the freshmen
complied with the order "to bow" each was blindfolded, and carried
off by a pair, or more, of strong arms, and quickly deposited in the
gym.
With that dexterity for which such pranks are chiefly remarkable,
the stunt was accomplished, to the sophs being assigned the task.
The pledge of college sorority restricts the publication of the actual
happenings in the sacred confines of the gym on this Initiation Day,
but facts not on the program may be honorably recounted.
When Helen was ordered to sit down, she did so with such
unexpected alacrity that she sat on the college cat--Minerva by
name.
No one regretted this accident more than did the cat. The howl
from the girls, and the protests from Minerva fully substantiating this
statement. But following this incident no one else could be induced
to sit down. All feared cats, fiercer cats and bigger cats. As usual
with the simple sitting down order a merry time followed. The
blinded girls always feel they are in some unseen danger and refuse
to be seated. Visions of cold lakes, high hills, soapy tubs, and even
sequestered cats, seem to possess the aspirants. Of course, when
they do unbend, they always find themselves sitting comfortably in a
perfectly good seat. But Helen sat down with a bang, and this
promptness won her first goal.
"She's a good sport!"
"A regular scout!"
"That's the sort of do-it-tive-ness!"
"Three cheers for Helen, Helena, Nellie and Nell!"
"All in favor of Nell shout!"
"Nell, Nell, ding, dong, ding!"
"She's with the Wellington's! Her hat's in the ring!" shouted,
cheered and yelled the sororities.
Thus winning the first goal at initiation, Helen, thereafter to be
known as Nell, found herself in unsought favor. The shouts and
cheers of her new companions pleased none better than Jane Allen,
although Jane had done nothing to provoke the sentiment. No one
in Wellington knew, or would know, about the scholarship. When the
announcement was made to schools in the spring, that such an
opportunity was open to them, there was expressed keen interest,
but in Wellington little or nothing was said or done to attract
attention to the fact of a free scholarship. This was obviously good
taste, as otherwise the winner would undoubtedly suffer social
hardships.
As a prelude to other good times Train Day sports were carried
on auspiciously. The fairness of putting the freshies "through" at
once was apparent, as any delay, however trivial, served to develop
for the newcomers--friends or enemies. Thus it was that the up-to-
date plan of efficiency included these initial sports.
Also, it was better for the freshmen. They did not then have to
go about for days fearing accidents, either planned or spontaneous.
They were thus saved from the horror of fasting, fearing mustard or
soap; they might now look on the lake without dreading a
mysterious hand in the ducking process, and they might go to bed
without special precautions suggesting accidental insurance policies.
After a few simple stunts, such as singing in three foreign
languages, answering ten questions truthfully and reciting Mother
Goose from Tucker to Horner, the new students were considered
qualified to take their places as freshmen.
The treat of the day was the Free Lunch Spread. This consisted
of a typical lunch-wagon meal. In fact, the wagons, relics of the
good old days when college raised its own supplies, had been fitted
up, and from this portable delicatessen, coffee, rolls, hamburger and
franks were distributed. Golden rod and iron weed, the gold and
purple blending royally notwithstanding franks and hamburgers,
were bunched at the oilcloth supports, and in the middle of each
wagon covering, with a right artistic hole jaggedly punched, the
"counter" could be both seen and heard from the outside.
"Oh, how glorious!" exclaimed Dorothy Ripple, otherwise known
as Dick. "I never hoped to find college like this."
"And to get our first feed in the open without all the formalities
of good manners," supplied Weasis Blair, who had, according to her
own statement put into cold storage her burdensome title "Marie
Louise."
"Perfectly all right to be freshie to-day," commented Grazia St.
Clair (she pronounced her name like "Grawcia"). It might have been
Latin-Italian, and did not seem to euphonize with the British St. Clair.
However, Grazia was a very attractive girl. She had hair that curled
up and down, hiding the fact that it was bobbed, and she looked out
of a pair of the most wonderful topaz eyes! Everyone loved Grazia at
sight. She, Weasie and Dick, formed a combine immediately, and a
happier little trio of freshmen could not be found on the campus. All
over the spacious grounds girls flitted to and fro, winding in and out
of the autumn sunshine in the very best of their late summer
glorious gowns. It was a patch of summer weather always welcome
to school girls, who are loath to give up pretty togs without affording
school friends an opportunity of getting a glimpse of them. The
voiles, from green of the daintiest, to geranium of the gayest, blazed
everywhere in a riot of tropical warmth and splendor.
Jane and Judith were very busy. As juniors they carried
considerable responsibility of the day's function, and to Jane, Right
Guard of soph year, descended the special honor of playing hostess
to the sophs and freshmen.
"I like our new plan immensely," Judith declared to Jane as the
latter gathered up cups and saucers, and rescued spoons from leafy
graves. "What a wonderful class!"
Helen sidled up to the big rustic bench from which Jane was
frantically trying to gather up all kinds of paper dishes and
incorrigible china.
"Oh, Jane dear," she exclaimed, "isn't it beautiful!"
"Do you like it, Nell?" asked Jane, caressing the little word "Nell"
with a ring like the old-time pretty little song, "Nellie Was a Lady."
"Oh, I adore it!" enthused Helen. "And I like the American Nell. It
has a tone like the bell," and she tossed her curly head in rhythmatic
sway of a silent, human song.
"We shall have to call you the girl of many names," Jane said
with a bright smile. "But what is movable is curable, we say in
English, so perhaps some day you will have a name so famous----"
"Oh, la, la, la!" and Helen ran off to the beckoning throng of
freshmen, which included Dick and Weasie. She had thus acquired
more freedom in a few hours on the campus than many would have
gained in days, under more formal circumstances.
 Small wonder seniors commented favorably on the "Jane Allen
Plan," as the new arrangements had been styled. That Jane had
suffered tortures on her own initiation no one guessed, but that she
was instrumental in saving others embarrassment was too obvious
to disregard. As was expected, many of the old class failed to return.
The close of the World's War had spent its baneful influence on
many homes, where happy school girls were suddenly thrust into
premature womanhood, and where girls, hitherto closely guarded
from the most trivial hardship, now occupied the boys' places, and
willingly offered sturdy young arms to prop crushed parents under
the blows dealt by Humanizing Fate.
But Marian Seaton--she whom Jane and Judith and their faction,
had struggled so valiantly to subdue--she was back--like the
proverbial bad penny.
Her hair was no longer any relation to yellow, but glowed a rich
golden brown like early chestnuts. How do the heads stand the
changes! And her white skin, pale to the edge of chemistry, was now
pale in spots and tinted in detail. Her deep uncertain eyes, now blue
and then yellow, movie eyes, as Meta Noon called them, were surely
changing tone. Every experimenter knows hair dye afflicts the blood
in color changes, affecting the eyes disastrously. Also, but it seems
unkind to suggest such a catastrophe, hair-dye has an immediate
action on the sight. Cicily Weldon could not tell time last year after
one trip to New York when her hair was "fixed up!"
"Oh, how do you do, Jane?" lisped the same Marian, coming up
the path as Jane was hurrying down. "Wasn't it perfectly
wonderful?"
"Delightful," replied Jane with a show of good nature she
intended to make infectious. "Did you have a pleasant summer?"
"Yes, and no. I was on at Camp Hillton helping mamma with
some war work left unfinished. I met some lovely non-coms."
"Oh, at Camp Hillton! Only the sick are there, are they not?"
"Not all really very sick," replied Marian. "Some are merely ailing.
But of course, they had been wounded," she felt patriotically obliged
to qualify.
"Poor fellows," sighed Jane.
 "Awfully jolly chaps," replied Marian.
Even at this early date Jane and Marian disagreed--and about
wounded soldiers!
"Dazzling little foreigner our--Nellie," too sweetly remarked
Marian. "Hasn't she the loveliest accent?"
"Do you think so?" almost gasped Jane. There! In spite of all
precautions that word "foreigner." What was there so perfectly
fiendish about Marian Seaton? Why should she always sing out the
falsetto?
"Oh, yes, I was wondering what was her province?" she
persisted.
But Jane was now hurrying down the path, scattering recalcitrant
dishes as she went.
Plague that old Marian Seaton and her sneers!
"Oh, hello, Janie," called out Dozia Dalton, otherwise Theodosia.
"How's the Wild and Wooly?"
"Almost ready to shear," replied Jane, in as jovial a tone as Dozia
had betrayed. "There are whiskers on the moon, and the sun has a
pompadour. How's little Beantown?"
"Browning nicely, thank you!" in an invisible pun. "I had a pan
just before I left."
Good old Dozia, always ready for a lark. No doubt she did have
what might be taken for a "panning" previous to leaving home if she
perpetrated any of her famous jokes physically. Dozia was regarded
"an awful joker" and she usually preferred the illustrated brand of
funnies.
"Welcome to our city," yelled Minette Brocton. "Someone said you
had made your debut--saw you in New York."
"Oh, hello, Nettie," called back Jane. She liked Minette, and
wondered if she had seen the "housekeepers" while that squad was
on duty in New York.
"What are squashes fetching to-day? And have you any very nice
La France onions?" asked Minette in a tone full of good humor. "I
wonder, Jane, you did not buy a pushcart."
"Oh, Nettie Brocton! Don't you dare tell me you saw us in New
York and never came to see us," reproached Jane.
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