To Winona athletics and organized games came as a revelation. She had a
slim wiry little figure and was a good runner, with a capacity for
keeping her breath, and had also a considerable power of spring, all of
which stood her in good stead both in the hockey field and in the
gymnasium. Though Kirsty said little, she could feel her efforts were
being watched and approved, and the knowledge gave her a tingling sense
of satisfaction. It was delightful to feel that she was a factor in this
big school, and that she was doing her bit--however insignificant--to
help up the athletic standard. In physical agility Winona was superior
to Garnet. She could beat her easily at tennis, and there was already a
wide gap between their gymnastic achievements. It was a fortunate
circumstance, for it just balanced their friendship, and put them on a
footing of equality which would have been otherwise absent. Garnet, so
manifestly first in Form work, possessed of greater confidence and
_savoir faire_ in school life and older in experience for her years than
Winona, might have monopolized the lead too entirely, had she not been
obliged to yield the palm of outdoor sports to her friend.
Garnet was, in truth, just a trifle inclined to "boss." She liked
Winona, and wanted her for a chum, but she loved to lay down the law and
to constitute herself an authority upon every possible subject. There
was no doubt it was owing to her initiative that the two
scholarship-holders were gaining a position for themselves in the
school. As Garnet had foreseen, the part they had taken in the Symposium
won them favorable recognition. To be singled out as soloists and to
have the honor of playing an accompaniment for the prefects had raised
them above the common herd, and though a few were jealous, more were
ready to extend the hand of good fellowship. In their own Form they were
living down the prejudice which had at first existed against them. Hilda
Langley and Estelle Harrison were not very friendly and influenced Olave
Parry and Mollie Hill against them, but these formed a minority, and the
bulk of the girls seemed to have decided in their favor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account