Brenda, Her School and Her Club
Copyright© 2024 by Helen Leah Reed
Chapter 5: Miss Crawdon’s School
A girl’s first day at a new school is very trying to her. The scrutiny which two or three dozen pairs of sharp young eyes give her is hard to bear. This ordeal is often more dreaded by a girl than many of the important events of her later years. Now Julia, although she was to go to school in her cousin Brenda’s company, looked forward to her first day with considerable anxiety. In the first place she was naturally shy, and in the second place she had never regularly attended school. For the most part her lessons had been given her by her father. But at times when they had stayed long enough in some place to make this possible, she had had special instruction from private teachers. Her father had been very fond of books and had bought many expressly for Julia’s benefit. She was, therefore, much better read than most girls of her age. Her education, too, was ahead of that of the average girl of sixteen. Of this fact Julia herself was unaware. She fancied that because she had gone to school so little, she would be found far behind her cousin Brenda and Brenda’s friends. Before going to school she had had an informal talk with Miss Crawdon, in which she had revealed more to the keen mind of the latter than she had suspected. For Miss Crawdon never wasted words, and she did not tell the young girl that in some studies she was far ahead of many of her pupils of the same age. The teacher’s questions had been far-reaching, and she felt pleased at the prospect of having among her pupils one evidently so fond of books as Julia.
The young girl, on the contrary, on the way to school with her cousin, expressed to the latter her fear at the prospect before her.
“Oh, you needn’t worry,” said Brenda, more patronizingly than she really intended, “Miss Crawdon won’t be hard with you, she knows you haven’t been at school much, and even if you have to start in one of the lower classes, you’ll probably be able to push on rather quickly.”
But even this did not reassure Julia. She was thinking less of her standing in the classes than of the reception she should meet from the girls. It was by no means comforting to feel the many strange eyes that followed her as she walked up the stairs with Brenda to enter the main schoolroom. Miss Crawdon was busy in another room, and Brenda who always had a great many things on her mind, rushed off to speak to one of the girls, leaving Julia alone near the door. There were perhaps a dozen girls standing about in little groups of three or four. They did not mean to be unkind, but when they saw Julia, they not only glanced curiously toward her, but for the time ceased their conversation. When they began to talk again it was not in the loud tone they had used before, and Julia would have been less than human if she had not received the impression that they were talking about her. Every one knows how uncomfortable it is for a girl to feel that she is in the presence of people who are making comments upon her. As a matter of fact what they said to one another was almost harmless.
“Is she Brenda Barlow’s cousin?”
“What is she in mourning for?”
“How old is she?”
“Do you suppose she is coming here to school?”
This was the kind of question exchanged by the girls, with here and there a less good-natured comment.
“I don’t call her so very pretty.”
“She doesn’t look like Brenda.”
“Wouldn’t you say that dress was made in the year one. I never saw such sleeves.”
Unluckily the girl who made this last remark was standing rather nearer Julia than she had realized. It happened that Julia herself, who usually cared little for fashion, was sensitive about these very sleeves. They had been made a little smaller than the prevailing mode required by a dressmaker whom Julia had employed in a spirit of kindness without regard to her skill. She had not remembered when dressing that this was to be her first day at school. When she did recall this fact she had not thought it worth while to change her gown. She flushed a little when she overheard the criticism, and walked farther away from the groups toward Miss Crawdon’s desk.
As she stood there looking more serious than usual, she was more than pleased to hear Nora’s well-known voice exclaiming,
“Why, Julia, are you here all alone? Where’s Brenda? Dear me, is this really your first day of school?”
Julia smiled. “I can’t answer all your questions at once, but I don’t know where Brenda is, and this is to be my first day of school.”
“Is that why you look so mournful? Now we’re not such a bad lot. Come, let me introduce you to some of your companions in misery.” Then before Julia could object, she found herself receiving introductions to most of the girls in the room, even to the very one whose criticism had annoyed her. She was a thin girl with light hair and eyes and eyelashes. Her chin was long and her face was somewhat freckled.
“This is Brenda Barlow’s cousin Julia,” said Nora, pleasantly.
“Yes, I thought you were Brenda’s cousin,” said the light-haired girl turning toward Julia. “Brenda’s been dreading your coming to school.”
Julia flushed as any girl might at a remark of this kind, even while she realized the unkindness of the speech.
“Nonsense, Frances,” said quick-witted Nora, “I’m sure you never heard Brenda say anything so disagreeable.”
But the light-haired girl had turned away. She was in the habit of making thoughtless remarks without caring whom they hit. Nora gave Julia’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Brenda’s just as glad as I am that you’re coming to school,” she whispered to Julia. But Julia shook her head, half sadly. She had already begun to see some of her cousin’s peculiarities.
By this time many girls were rushing in from the dressing-rooms laughing and chattering as if they must say as much as possible before school began.
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