It was not Betty’s way to mourn over what couldn’t be helped, so she went
cheerfully with her mother to purchase the despised sailor suit. They
bought the prettiest one they could find—a blue serge with white collar
and cuffs and a silk sailor tie. But though it was becoming and would
have looked just right had Betty been starting on a yachting cruise, it
was not to be compared with the elaborate costumes most of the girls were
preparing. And, though it was cold comfort, Betty was true to her word,
and helped the others all she could to make their gowns effective. She
lent her Roman sash, her embroidered Japanese kimono, and her spangled
Egyptian scarf to girls who could use them effectively. She helped
Dorothy with her Elizabethan garb, and Jeanette with her Joan of Arc
costume.
As for the Goddess, Constance had a most resplendent robe. It was of soft
white shimmering stuff dotted all over with gilt spangles. Billows of
this material fell from her shoulders in long, graceful folds, and swept
away in a rippling train. A high crown of golden filigree-work was to be
worn on her beautiful, fair hair, and while in one hand she was to hold a
classic scroll, in the other she was to carry aloft a long, slender, gilt
trumpet. The costume was superb, and almost took Betty’s breath away when
she first saw it.
“Oh, Constance,” she said, “let me try it on, do! Just for a minute! I’ll
be awfully careful of it.”
Constance agreed, of course, though she secretly feared that impetuous
Betty might tear the gauzy stuff.
But Betty donned it almost reverently, and then, imitating Constance’s
pose, as she had seen her at rehearsal, she began:
“The Goddess of Honor I! To those who seek me I am hard to win. To those
who nobly and unflinchingly do their bravest and best, I come unsummoned!
I am here to-night, bearing the Chaplet of Honor, the award of Fame. To
whom shall I award it? Who best deserves the greatest guerdon, the
highest honor Fame can bestow? Speak, noble women of all time, speak, and
claim your due!”
So often had Betty heard Constance declaim these ringing lines at
rehearsal that she knew them as well as her own, and so inspired was she
by the beautiful raiment she had on that her oratory was quite in spirit
with the character.
“Good gracious, Betty!” said Constance, “I didn’t know you could recite
so well. Try your own speech now; it’s a good chance to rehearse. But get
out of that gown first. I’m terribly afraid you’ll catch it on
something.”
“No, I won’t,” said Betty, stepping gingerly out of the glistening mass
as it fell about her feet. “Now listen to mine.”
She recited the lines Grace Darling was supposed to speak, and so
earnestly did she tell of the noble work she had done in saving life that
it seemed as if the most stony-hearted of goddesses must be moved to
award her the Chaplet of Honor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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