15

Dozing, and Other Incidents

Class number three, of which Carrie was a member, was, for a time each day after the morning lesson in geography or language, required to commit to memory a portion of one of the four arithmetical tables. Now, Carrie did not like arithmetic, and the mechanical act of repeating over and over, “once one is one, once two is two,” and so on, or, “one from two leaves one, one from three leaves two,” and so forth, and so forth, was very tiresome work to the little maiden. As she proceeded with the monotonous task, she would gradually lose consciousness of what she was doing and where she was. Her eyes would close and her head begin to bob in a helpless way from side to side, while her fingers struggled feebly to keep up their wonted movements in repeating and re-repeating the numbers. At this juncture the teacher’s attention would usually be attracted to her, and she would be aroused. Although losing time by this involuntary dozing, she had such a ready mind that when the class was called to recite she could remember the lesson and write it without much difficulty. Carrie seemed to be naturally a “sleepyhead.”

One day sometime after the incidents recorded above, she went into the study room after sewing hours and, pillowing her head on her desk, was soon fast asleep. When suppertime came the other girls either did not notice her or else did not wish to awaken her. After a while she awoke, feeling hungry. “Have you eaten supper?” she asked, as she saw the girls thronging up from the dining room.

“Yes,” replied one of the girls, adding, “Have you not eaten?”

“No,” replied Carrie.

“I am sorry,” was all the consolation the girls could give her, for it was against the rules for anyone to eat after the usual hours, except under extraordinary circumstances. Going into the hall, Carrie met the nurse, who, as before stated, had a very kind heart. Speaking to her, Carrie said, “I was asleep, and no one awoke me; and I have had no supper.” Upon learning this, the nurse tripped lightly downstairs, entered the dining room, and soon returned with a generous slice of bread spread with butter and preserved fruit, which she gave Carrie, bidding her go to some quiet corner, where she would be undisturbed, and eat it. Carrie obeyed, and so her hunger was appeased, and she felt grateful.

A strong friendship had sprung up between Carrie and Julia Keene, an orphan girl some years her senior. On one occasion Julia “took it into her head” to have her hair twisted around strips of tin, to make it curl. She informed Carrie of her intention, who, with the imitative tendencies so common in the young, concluded to follow her example. Accordingly they both secured a good supply of the “shining metal,” and on Saturday night had their hair, lock after lock, rolled tightly around little strips of the tin. Then they sought their pillows, but there was not much sleep for either of them that night. Those little strips of tin proved such instruments of torture that anything like sound, refreshing sleep was out of the question. They arose in the morning with heads feeling quite sore, but still they were comparatively happy in the thought that soon their aching heads would be covered with numberless dancing ringlets. The little strips of tin were taken out, but the masses of hair, instead of curling, persisted in rolling themselves up into very unbecoming and unfashionable little puffs, between which little white paths wound in a mazy sort of a way. To remedy this, these little puffs were pulled apart, whereupon each individual hair seemed to have concluded to stand on end. The effect was much the same as that produced by the woolly locks of some of the African race. Of course the poor girls felt disappointed, but as they had gone to so much trouble and undergone a whole night’s torture in producing this effect, they concluded to leave it the way it was for a while. Beyond some curious glances in their direction, and a few remarks upon their novel appearance, they were allowed to go unmolested. But the climax of their discomfort was not reached yet. This was to come when they attempted to comb out the tangled masses of hair, as they discovered upon making the trial. The strong teeth of their combs could scarcely be forced through the tangled, bristling wilderness of hair. Their heads, made tender by their night’s experience with the strips of tin, were made still more so by the hard pulls necessary to untangle the stubborn locks. Julia, in her attempts, broke her comb; and it took almost an hour’s work to untangle and restore the hair to its natural condition. This experience, it is hoped, proved a lesson to both of the girls.

In due time Thanksgiving Day came round again, and was celebrated in much the same way as it had been the previous year.

Time, which never pauses or tarries even for an instant, passed silently onward. The Christmas holidays again drew near, and Carrie, unauthorized, wrote to her father, saying, “Mr. Mayhews will let me go home on the eighteenth day of December to spend Christmas, if you will come for me.” On the day designated, Mr. Raymond arrived at the institution, but there was a shade of displeasure in his face as he greeted Carrie, which she could not at first account for. Presently Dr. Mayhews spoke to her, saying, “Did you write to your father telling him that I would let you go home on this day of the month, if he came for you?” Carrie acknowledged that she did. “It was wrong of you to do so without consulting me; and I think I must punish you by not allowing you to go home,” said Dr. Mayhews.

A look of surprise and disappointment came into Carrie’s face. She had thought it would be all right, as she had not consulted him the previous year, and he had readily allowed her to go; but, of course, the time then was a week nearer Christmas Day. Dr. Mayhews saw Carrie’s look of disappointment and, after some deliberations, relented and concluded to let her go home, feeling that she would enter more heartily into her schoolwork after a few weeks’ recreation. “If it were possible,” he said to Mr. Raymond, “we would like to give all of the pupils a chance to spend the Christmas holidays at home, but the expense, etc., for many of them would be so great that it is not practicable. We always endeavor to make the holidays pass pleasantly to those remaining at the institution.” As Mr. Raymond was leaving, he said, “Bring Carrie back immediately after New Year’s Day. We do not wish her to lose any lesson that might be helpful to her or to fall behind her class.” Mr. Raymond promised compliance with this request and departed, taking Carrie with him.

Christmas, the day always eagerly looked forward to by the inmates of the institution, was once more very near, and the steward’s wagon, upon his daily arrival from the city, usually contained boxes of presents to make glad the heart of some boy or girl. These boxes were seized and borne away by the happy owners, who were soon rejoicing over their contents, feeling very grateful to the dear ones at home who had so kindly and generously remembered them. Christmas Day, this year, was spent very much as on previous occasions, as was also New Year’s Day. Then the few who had spent the holidays at home returned, and school duties were cheerfully taken up once more.