The girls resorted to all sorts of devices to keep themselves alive during this dreary season. They had little epidemics of occupation. At one time it was "spattering," when all faces and fingers had a tendency to smudges of India ink; and there was hardly a fine comb or tooth-brush fit for use in the establishment. Then a rage for tatting set in, followed by a fever of fancy-work, every one falling in love with the same pattern at the same time, and copying and recopying, till nobody could bear the sight of it. At one time Clover counted eighteen girls all at work on the same bead and canvas pin- cushion. Later there was a short period of _decalcomanie;_ and then came the grand album craze, when thirty-three girls out of the thirty- nine sent for blank books bound in red morocco, and began to collect signatures and sentiments. Here, also, there was a tendency toward repetition. Sally Austin added to her autograph these lines of her own composition:-- When on this page your beauteous eyes you bend, Let it remind you of your absent friend. Sally J. Austin, Galveston, Texas. The girls found this sentiment charming, at least a dozen borrowed it, and in half the albums in the school you might read,-- "When on this page your beauteous eyes," &c. Esther Dearborn wrote in Clover's book: "The better part of Valor is Discretion." Why she wrote it, nobody knew, or why it was more applicable to Clover than to any one else; but the sentiment proved popular, and was repeated over and over again, above various neatly written signatures. There was a strife as to who should display the largest collection. Some of the girls sent home for autographs of distinguished persons, which they pasted in their books. Rose Red, however, out-did them all. "Did I ever show you mine?" she asked one day, when most of the girls were together in the school-room. "No, never!" cried a number of voices. "Have you got one? Oh, do let us see it." "Certainly, I'll get it right away, if you like," said Rose, obligingly. She went to her room, and returned with a shabby old blank book in her hand. Some of the girls looked disappointed. "The cover of mine isn't very nice," explained Rose. "I'm going to have it rebound one of these days. You see it's not a new album at all, nor a school album; but it's very valuable to me." Here she heaved a sentimental sigh. "All my friends have written in it," she said. The girls were quite impressed by the manner in which Rose said this. But, when they turned over the pages of the album, they were even more impressed. Rose had evidently been on intimate terms with a circle of most distinguished persons. Half the autographs in the book were from gentlemen, and they were dated all over the world. "Just listen to this!" cried Louisa, and she read,--