CHAPTER XVI.
MAUDE'S TROUBLES.
Poor little Maude had not been enjoying this first day at school. Ithad begun with tears, and she had just been having another burst ofanger, and had thought that she could not possibly stay in such aschool another hour. It was a new experience to the self-willed childto have to give up her own way, and submit to regulations that she didnot like; and although she had managed the courtesy that had broughtRuby to grief, without the least trouble, as she had been todancing-school, and could courtesy in the most approved French style,yet she found a great grievance waiting for her as soon as she reachedher room.
Mrs. Boardman was waiting for her.
"Maude, I want to help you arrange your hair a little differently," shesaid. "Miss Chapman does not like the girls to wear their hair here atschool as you wear yours, flying all over your shoulders. She does notthink it neat, nor does she like little girls to pay so much attentionto their appearance while they are at school. Of course she wants youto be neat, but not dressed up as if you were going to a party. Shelikes her scholars to wear their hair braided, and I will help youbraid yours now, as I suppose you cannot do it alone if you are notused to it, and you have no room-mate yet to help you."
Maude looked at Mrs. Boardman in angry amazement.
If there was any one thing of which vain little Maude was prouder thananother, it was of the crinkled, waving hair that fell below hershoulders. She rarely forgot it, and was always playing with a lock ofit, or tipping her head over her shoulder, like a little peacockadmiring his fine tail.
"I don't want to wear it braided," she exclaimed. "I like it this way.It would look like ugly little pig-tails if it was braided, and I won'thave it that way. Oh, I want to go home. I don't like it here onesingle bit. I am sure my mamma would n't let me have my hair braided,like a little charity girl."
Mrs. Boardman was very patient with the spoiled child.
"MRS. BOARDMAN WAS VERY PATIENT WITH THE SPOILED CHILD"(missing from book)]
"Hush, dear; I would n't talk that way," she said. "I hoped your mammahad spoken to you about it before she went away, for I told her thatMiss Chapman would want you to wear your hair differently. She told methat she wanted you to follow all the rules of the school, whateverthey were; so I know she wishes you to wear your hair as Miss Chapmanrequires the others to wear their hair. Now, let me braid it for you,for it is growing near dinner-time."
But Maude threw herself down the bed, and began to cry.
"And now I must tell you about another rule," said Mrs. Boardman. "Iexpect it will seem to you as if we had a great many rules here; butyou will soon get used to them, and then you will not find themburdensome. It is against the rules to sit upon your bed during theday-time. You see it will make the bed look untidy, and that is thereason for this rule. Now, we will straighten the bed out nicely, andthen it will be quite tidy again."
Maude did not move.
"Oh, I must go home," she sobbed. "I can't stay here. It is aperfectly dreadful place. I have to do everything I don't like to doand I can't do the least little tiny thing that I like to do, and mybeautiful hair will look so ugly, and I just can't stand it."
Some of the other teachers might have reproved the little girl for herfretful words, but kind-hearted Mrs. Boardman was too sorry for her.She could imagine how hard it must seem to a child who had never beenunder any control at all, to find herself obliged to obey rules,whether she liked them or not. She leaned over and stroked the goldenhair.
"Now, dear, I know what a good little girl you are going to be when youthink about it. I was very proud of you this morning, and thought Ishould like to have you for one of my special little friends very much.You see I am not exactly one of the teachers, and so I can have a petwhen I want one. I know you don't like this rule, but then you aregoing to obey it because it is right and it will please your mother toknow you are being a good girl. Something worse than having my hairbraided happened to me when I was about your age. Jump up and let mebraid your hair, and I will tell you about it. Come, dear. It is everso much easier to do things because one wants to, you know, thanbecause one is made to do them, and you will have to obey the ruleswhether you want to or not; so if I were in your place I should preferto obey them of my own free will, because I wanted to do just what wasright, and please my mother. I don't think you could guess what I hadto have done to my hair."
Maude stood up and helped to pat the bed straight and flat again. Sheknew that, as Mrs. Boardman had said, she would have to obey the rules,whether she wanted to or not, and she did realize that it would be muchmore sensible to follow them willingly than to be in disgrace and beforced into compliance. And there was a better feeling than that inher heart, too.
She felt that she was in a place where no one cared for her clothes norfor the little airs she liked to put on, whenever she found any one toadmire her, but where she would be valued just for herself, and for herbehavior. In that one morning she had noticed how little girls who hadnot thought of themselves, but only of pleasing others, had foundfriends at once, while no one had seemed to care for her society; andshe realized that if she was to have any love she must try to deserveit.
Mrs. Boardman was the one person who seemed willing to be her friend,and who tried to help her do right, and was patient with herill-temper; and selfish little Maude was grateful for the first time inher life for kindness, and she did not want to disappoint any one whothought that she meant to be good.
She would try to be good, at any rate, even if it was not very pleasant.
After the bed was in order again, she stood still while Mrs. Boardmanbrushed her hair out and braided it for her.
"I must tell you what happened to my hair," she began cheerfully. "Ihad had typhoid fever, and my hair was all dropping out, so that thedoctor said it must be shaved off. I did not want to have it shavedone bit, for it was quite long and had been thick, but of course I hadto do as my mother said, and have it shaved. Oh, I felt so badly aboutit. I cried and cried the day it was all shaved off, and when I firstlooked at myself in the glass afterwards, I was almost frightened, Ilooked so dreadfully. Did you ever see any one's head after the hairhad been shaved off?"
"No, ma'am," answered Maude.
"Well, then, you cannot imagine what it looks like. My head lookedmore like a ball than anything else, and where the hair had been it wasperfectly smooth and bald, and there was only a purplish look to showwhere it had grown. I ran away and hid myself in the barn and criedharder than ever. But I had something nice happen to make up for allthis."
"What was it?" asked Maude.
"When my hair grew again it was curly, and curly hair was what I hadalways wished for, and never expected to have; so you can imagine howdelighted I was. There, see how nicely your hair looks now that I havebraided it. Have you a ribbon to tie the ends?"
By the time Maude had found a ribbon and Mrs. Boardman had tied it atthe ends of the braids, it was time for her to hurry away and lookafter some of the other girls; but Maude's face wore a very differentexpression from the tearful, angry one that had been upon it when shefirst heard that her hair must be braided. There was a wistful look inher eyes that made Mrs. Boardman turn back and give her a kiss. "Weare going to be good friends, are we not, Maude?" she said. "And youare going to be so good that I shall be very proud to say, 'Maude isone of my special friends.'"
"Yes, ma'am, I will try to be good," Maude answered. "Thank you," sheadded, with unusual gratitude.
She was looking quite cheerful when Ruby came in.
"I was afraid you were lonesome, Maude," she exclaimed, "and I came togo down to dinner with you. When is your room-mate coming, do yousuppose?"
"I don't know," Maude answered. "Mrs. Boardman said she thought shewould come to-night, or maybe to-morrow morning."
"Are you glad you are going to have some one in the room with you?"asked Ruby.
"I don't know," Maude answered. "If she is nice,
I will be glad, andif she is n't nice, I spose I shall be sorry. How did you like schoolthis morning?"
"Ever so much," Ruby answered, enthusiastically. "Did n't you?"
"Not very much," Maude replied. "I think the lessons are awfully hard."
Ruby was very much tempted to say something that would have soundedrather boastful, but she checked herself.
It had been on the tip of her tongue to exclaim,--
"Why, if you think your lessons are hard, in a class like yours, whatdo you suppose mine must be, when I am in with such big girls;" but sheonly said,--
"I spose the first day everything seems harder; but when we get used tothe teachers and the lessons, they won't seem so hard."
The dinner-bell rang, and Ruby exclaimed,--
"Oh, I am so hungry. It just seems as if I had not had anything to eatfor a year. Let's hurry and go down before the rest, Maude."
But everybody else was hungry, too, so Ruby and Maude were by no meansthe first of the stream of girls that hurried into the dining-room.
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