Mamie, "but she tells us the most lovely
fairy tales, and we're learning to model in clay. I like it because it
makes such a mess. Ernie smacked her yesterday, and she wouldn't let him
do his painting till he'd said he was sorry."

Winona laughed over the letters, picturing the lively scenes that must
be taking place at home.

"Do the kids a world of good!" she commented. "They were running to
seed. Even I could see that, as long ago as last summer, and I don't
mind confessing, quite to myself, that I was fairly raw then. I didn't
know very much about anything till I came to the 'Seaton High.'"

Winona's second term was running far more smoothly than her first.
Thanks to Miss Lever's coaching she could now hold her own in her Form,
and though she might not be the most shining light, at any rate she was
not numbered among the slackers.

Her progress was marked in more quarters than she suspected. Margaret
Howell had had the Scholarship winners under observation ever since
their arrival. As head girl she made it her business to know something
about every girl in the school. "The General," as she was nicknamed, was
universally voted a success. She and Kirsty Paterson between them had
organized a new era of things. Every one felt the "Seaton High" was
waking up and beginning to found a reputation for itself. The various
guilds and societies were prospering, and following Margaret's pet motto
"Pro Bono Publico," had exterminated private quarrels and instituted the
most business-like proceedings and the strictest civility at committee
meetings. Already the general tone was raised immeasurably, and public
spirit and school patriotism ran high. To encourage zeal and
strenuousness, Margaret and Kirsty had laid their heads together and
decided to found what they called "The Order of Distinguished School
Service." Any girl who was considered to have performed some action
worthy of special commendation or who had otherwise contributed to the
general benefit, was to be rewarded with a badge, and her name was to be
chronicled in a book kept for the purpose.

The very first to gain the honor was little Daisy Hicks, a Second Form
child, who won 9,400 marks out of a possible 10,000 in the Christmas
exams, so far the highest score known in the school. Agnes Heath, who
wrung special praise from the doctor who conducted the Ambulance
examination, and Gladys Vickcrs, whose photograph of the hockey team was
published in the Seaton _Wee