CHAPTER I I ON
a hill by
the Mississippi 1
where
Chippewas 2
camped two generations ago
0 ,
a girl 3
stood in relief against the cornflower blue of Northern sky .
She 3
saw
no Indians 4
now ;
she 3
saw
flour-mills 5
and the blinking windows of
skyscrapers in
Minneapolis 7
and
St. Paul 8
6 .
Nor was
she 3
thinking of
squaws 9
and portages , and
the Yankee fur-traders whose shadows were all about
her 3
10 .
She 3
was meditating upon walnut fudge , the plays of
Brieux 11
, the reasons why
heels 12
run over , and the fact that
the chemistry instructor 13
had stared at the new coiffure which concealed
her 3
ears .
A breeze which had crossed a thousand miles of
wheat-lands 14
bellied
her 3
taffeta skirt in a line so graceful , so full of animation and moving beauty , that the heart of
a chance watcher 15
on
the lower road 16
tightened to wistfulness over
her 3
quality of suspended freedom .
She 3
lifted
her 3
arms ,
she 3
leaned back against the wind ,
her 3
skirt dipped and flared , a lock blew wild .
; credulous , plastic , young ; drinking the air as
she 3
longed to drink life .
The eternal aching comedy of expectant youth .
It is
Carol Milford 3
, fleeing for an hour from
Blodgett College 17
.
The days of pioneering , of
lassies in sunbonnets 18
, and bears killed with axes in piney clearings , are deader now than
Camelot 19
; and
a rebellious girl 3
is the spirit of that bewildered empire called
the American Middlewest 20
.
II
Blodgett College 17
is on the edge of
Minneapolis 7
.
It is a bulwark of sound religion .
It is still combating the recent heresies of
Voltaire 21
,
Darwin 22
, and
Robert Ingersoll 23
.
Pious families 28
in
Minnesota 24
,
Iowa 25
,
Wisconsin 26
,
the Dakotas 27
send
thither 17
, and
Blodgett 17
protects
them 29
from the wickedness of
the universities 30
.
But it secretes
friendly girls 31
,
young men who sing 32
, and
one lady instructress who really likes
Milton 34
and
Carlyle 35
33 .
So the four years which
Carol 3
spent at
Blodgett 17
were not altogether wasted .
The smallness of
the school 17
, the fewness of
rivals 36
, permitted
her 3
to experiment with
her 3
perilous versatility .
She 3
played tennis , gave chafing-dish parties , took a graduate seminar in the drama , went “ twosing , ” and joined half a dozen societies for the practise of the arts or the tense stalking of a thing called General Culture .
In
her 3
class there were
two or three prettier girls 37
, but
none more eager 135
.
She 3
was noticeable equally in the classroom grind and at dances , though out of
the three hundred students of
Blodgett 17
38 , scores recited more accurately and dozens Bostoned more smoothly .
Every cell of
her 3
body was alive -- thin wrists , quince-blossom skin , ingenue eyes , black hair .
marveled at the slightness of
her 3
body when
they 39
saw
her 3
in sheer negligee , or darting out wet from a shower-bath .
She 3
seemed then but half as large as
they 39
had supposed ;
a fragile child who must be cloaked with understanding kindness 3
.
“ Psychic , ”
the girls 39
whispered , and “ spiritual . ”
Yet so radioactive were
her 3
nerves , so adventurous
her 3
trust in rather vaguely conceived sweetness and light , that
she 3
was more energetic than any of
the hulking young women who , with calves bulging in heavy-ribbed woolen stockings beneath decorous blue serge bloomers , thuddingly galloped across the floor of
the “ gym ” 42
in practise for
the Blodgett Ladies ’ Basket-Ball Team 43
41 .
Even when
she 3
was tired
her 3
dark eyes were observant .
She 3
did not yet know the immense ability of
the world 44
to be casually cruel and proudly dull , but if
she 3
should ever learn those dismaying powers ,
her 3
eyes would never become sullen or heavy or rheumily amorous .
For all
her 3
enthusiasms , for all the fondness and the “ crushes ” which
she 3
inspired ,
Carol 3
’s acquaintances
45 were shy of
her 3
.
When
she 3
was most ardently singing hymns or planning deviltry
she 3
yet seemed gently aloof and critical .
She 3
was credulous , perhaps ;
a born hero-worshipper 3
; yet
she 3
did question and examine unceasingly .
Whatever
she 3
might become
she 3
would never be static .
Her 3
versatility ensnared
her 3
.
By turns
she 3
hoped to discover that
she 3
had an unusual voice , a talent for the piano , the ability to act , to write , to manage organizations .
Always
she 3
was disappointed , but always
she 3
effervesced anew -- over
the Student Volunteers , who intended to become
missionaries 47
46 , over painting scenery for the dramatic club , over soliciting advertisements for the college magazine .
She 3
was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when
she 3
played in
chapel 48
.
Out of the dusk
her 3
violin took up the organ theme , and the candle-light revealed
her 3
in a straight golden frock ,
her 3
arm arched to the bow ,
her 3
lips serious .
Every man 49
fell in love then with religion and
Carol 3
.
Throughout Senior year
she 3
anxiously related all
her 3
experiments and partial successes to a career .
Daily , on the
library 50
steps or in
the hall of
the Main Building 52
51 ,
the co-eds 53
talked of “ What shall
we 53
do when
we 53
finish
college 54
? ”
Even
the girls who knew that
they 55
were going to be married
55 pretended to be considering important business positions ; even
they 56
who knew that
they 56
would have to work hinted about
fabulous suitors 57
.
As for
Carol 3
,
she 3
was
an orphan 136
;
her 3
only near relative
58 was
a vanilla-flavored sister married to
an optician in
St. Paul 8
59 .
She 3
had used most of the money from
’s estate .
She 3
was not in love -- that is , not often , nor ever long at a time .
She 3
would earn
her 3
living .
But how
she 3
was to earn it , how
she 3
was to conquer
the world 61
-- almost entirely for
the world 61
’s own good --
she 3
did not see .
Most of
the girls who were not betrothed 63
62 meant to be
teachers 64
.
Of these there were two sorts :
careless young women who admitted that
they 65
intended to leave the “
beastly classroom 66
and
grubby children 67
” the minute
they 65
had a chance to marry
65 ; and
studious , sometimes bulbous-browed and pop-eyed maidens who at class prayer-meetings requested
God 69
to “ guide
their 68
feet along the paths of greatest usefulness . ”
68
Neither sort tempted
Carol 3
.
The former seemed insincere ( a favorite word of hers at this era ) .
The earnest virgins 68
were ,
she 3
fancied , as likely to do harm as to do good by
their 68
faith in the value of parsing
Caesar 70
.
At various times during Senior year
Carol 3
finally decided upon studying law , writing motion-picture scenarios , professional nursing , and marrying
an unidentified hero 71
.
Then
she 3
found a hobby in sociology .
The sociology instructor 72
was new .
He 72
was married , and therefore taboo , but
he 72
had come from
Boston 73
,
he 72
had lived among
poets 74
and
socialists 75
and
Jews 76
and
millionaire uplifters 77
at
the University Settlement in
New York 79
78 , and
he 72
had a beautiful white strong neck .
He 72
led a giggling class through
the prisons 80
,
the charity bureaus 81
,
the employment agencies of
Minneapolis 7
and
St. Paul 8
82 .
Trailing at the end of the line
Carol 3
was indignant at the prodding curiosity of
the others 83
,
their 83
manner of staring at
the poor 84
as at
a Zoo 85
.
She 3
felt
herself 3
a great liberator 86
.
She 3
put
her 3
hand to
her 3
mouth ,
her 3
forefinger and thumb quite painfully pinching
her 3
lower lip , and frowned , and enjoyed being aloof .
A classmate named
Stewart Snyder 87
87 ,
a competent bulky young man in a gray flannel shirt , a rusty black bow tie , and the green-and-purple class cap 138
, grumbled to
her 3
as
they 88
walked behind the others in the muck of
the South St. Paul stockyards 89
, “
These college chumps 90
make
me 87
tired .
They 90
’re so top-lofty .
They 90
ought to of worked on
the farm 91
, the way
I 87
have .
These workmen 92
put it all over
them 90
. ”
“
I 3
just love
common workmen 93
, ” glowed
Carol 3
.
“ Only
you 3
do n’t want to forget that
common workmen 93
do n’t think
they 93
’re common ! ”
“
You 87
’re right !
I 3
apologize ! ”
Carol 3
’s brows lifted in the astonishment of emotion , in a glory of abasement .
Her 3
eyes mothered
the world 94
.
Stewart Snyder 87
peered at
her 3
.
He 87
rammed
his 87
large red fists into
his 87
pockets ,
he 87
jerked them out ,
he 87
resolutely got rid of them by clenching
his 87
hands behind
him 87
, and
he 87
stammered : “
I 87
know .
You 3
_ get _
people 95
.
Most of
these darn co-eds 97
96 ---- Say ,
Carol 3
,
you 3
could do a lot for
people 98
. ”
“ Oh -- oh well --
you 3
know -- sympathy and everything -- if
you 3
were -- say
you 3
were
.
You 3
’d understand
.
I 87
’m going to be
a lawyer 102
.
I 87
admit
I 87
fall down in sympathy sometimes .
I 87
get so dog-gone impatient with
people 103
that ca n’t stand the gaff .
You 3
’d be good for
a fellow that was too serious 104
.
Make
him 104
more -- more --
YOU 3
know -- sympathetic ! ”
His 87
slightly pouting lips ,
his 87
mastiff eyes , were begging
her 3
to beg
him 87
to go on .
She 3
fled from the steam-roller of
his 87
sentiment .
She 3
cried , “ Oh , see those poor sheep -- millions and millions of
them 105
. ”
She 3
darted on .
Stewart 87
was not interesting .
He 87
had n’t a shapely white neck , and
he 87
had never lived among
celebrated reformers 106
.
She 3
wanted , just now , to have
a cell in
a settlement-house 108
107 , like
a nun 109
without the bother of a black robe , and be kind , and read
Bernard Shaw 110
, and enormously improve
a horde of grateful poor 111
.
The supplementary reading in sociology led
her 3
to a book on village-improvement -- tree-planting ,
town 112
pageants ,
.
It had pictures of greens and garden-walls in
France 115
,
New England 116
,
Pennsylvania 117
.
She 3
had picked it up carelessly , with a slight yawn which
she 3
patted down with
her 3
finger-tips as delicately as a cat .
She 3
dipped into the book , lounging on
her 3
window-seat , with
her 3
slim , lisle-stockinged legs crossed , and
her 3
knees up under
her 3
chin .
She 3
stroked a satin pillow while
she 3
read .
About
her 3
was the clothy exuberance of
a
Blodgett College 17
room
118 : cretonne-covered window-seat , photographs of
girls 119
, a carbon print of
the Coliseum 120
, a chafing-dish , and a dozen pillows embroidered or beaded or pyrographed .
Shockingly out of place was a miniature of the Dancing Bacchante .
It was the only trace of
Carol 3
in
the room 118
.
She 3
had inherited the rest from generations of
girl students 121
.
It was as a part of all this commonplaceness that
she 3
regarded the treatise on village-improvement .
But
she 3
suddenly stopped fidgeting .
She 3
strode into the book .
She 3
had fled half-way through it before the three o’clock bell called
her 3
to the class in English history .
She 3
sighed , “ That ’s what
I 3
’ll do after college !
I 3
’ll get
my 3
hands on
one of these prairie towns 122
and make
it 122
beautiful .
Be an inspiration .
I 3
suppose
I 3
’d better become
a teacher 123
then , but --
I 3
wo n’t be that kind of
a teacher 124
.
I 3
wo n’t drone .
Why should
they 125
have
all the garden suburbs on
Long Island 127
126 ?
Nobody 128
has done anything with
the ugly towns
here 130
in
the Northwest 130
129 except hold revivals and build
libraries 131
to contain the Elsie books .
I 3
’ll make ‘ em put in
a village green 132
, and
darling cottages 133
, and
a quaint Main Street 134
! ”