MRS. CANDOR, Principal of Rosebush Institute. PATIENCE PLUNKETT, the oldest of her pupils, age thirty-five. LUCY WOODS, │ BESSIE TRAVERS, │ JANE TURNER, │Pupils. AUGUSTA STEPHENS, │ MARIA MELLISH, │ BRIDGET MAHONY, the cook, age fifty. TOM CANDOR, MRS. CANDOR'S nephew, a homesick youth of nineteen. JOB SEEDLING, lad-of-all-work, age twenty. COSTUMES. PATIENCE PLUNKETT. A very girlish attire, with an old face strongly marked; red hair, with corkscrew ringlets. JOB SEEDLING. Dark pants, rather short, white jacket, apron, stockings and shoes. Other characters appropriately dressed. SCENE.—_Music-room at Rosebush Institute; piano, back_, C.; _lounge or sofa_, L.; _arm-chair_, R.; _two or three chairs_, R. _and_ L. _Entrance from_ R. (_Enter_ BESSIE TRAVERS _and_ LUCY WOODS.) _Bessie._ Madam Solfa has really gone off in a pet? _Lucy._ Yes: because poor me could not run up the musical scale with celerity,—in fact, stuck fast at the bottom,—her highness complained to Mrs. Candor; and Mrs. Candor—bless her!—took my part. "If the poor child cannot sing, let her alone."—"But se most be made to seeng," says madam; "and se weel steek to 'do,' and go no furzer."—"Well, let her stick there, if she likes. Her father's a baker, and she has a perfect right to stick to dough, if she likes it." So madam, shocked at the levity of our delightful preceptress, put on her bonnet and shawl, and vanished in a blaze of fury. _Bessie._ O Lucy, you have driven the poor lady away! _Lucy._ But she won't be gone long, depend upon it; for she left her baggage behind, and there's a quarter's salary due her. _Bessie._ And we must go without our lesson to-day. _Lucy._ I'm glad of it. There's no music in my soul. I must be "fit for treason and conspiracies." _Bessie._ You are the smartest girl in the school, Lucy, with this _inharmonious_ exception. _Lucy._ I the smartest? You flatter me; and you forget our aged schoolmate, Patience Plunkett. _Bessie._ Aged! Why, Lucy, what could have possessed that mature—to speak mildly—female to class herself with young girls like us? _Lucy._ I'm sure I don't know; but Maria Mellish, who is always fishing out mysteries, told me her father, a farmer, has recently made a mint of money; and Patience has a foolish idea that she can procure an education, even at her age, and so entered Rosebush Institute as a pupil. _Bessie._ Poor thing! she is the laughing-stock of the school, and cannot be made to see it. _Lucy._ She has one devoted admirer, Job Seedling. The silly gander is evidently in love, and takes no pains to conceal it. At the table he forgets his occupation, and stands staring at her. _Bessie._ She certainly receives a great deal of attention, and all the tidbits, there. (_Enter_ MARIA MELLISH, R.)