t; all ahead was virgin jungle.
This was the point for the Union to declare itself; and the burden, true
to her forebodings, fell upon poor trembling little Rosalie.

She cast an imploring glance toward Patty's sternly waiting countenance,
stammered, hesitated, and miserably plunged into a sight translation.
Rosalie never had the slightest luck at sight translations; even after
two hours of patient work with a dictionary, she was still extremely
hesitant as to meanings. Now, she blindly forged ahead,--amid a profound
hush--attributing to the Pious AEneas a most amazing set of actions. She
finished; and the slaughter commenced. Miss Lord spent three minutes in
obliterating Rosalie; then passed the lines to Irene McCullough.

Irene drew a deep breath--she felt Conny encouragingly patting her on
the back, while Patty and Priscilla, at either hand, jogged her elbow
with insistent touch. She opened her mouth to declare the principles
that had been foisted upon her over night; then she caught the cold
gleam of Miss Lord's eye. Rosalie's sobs filled the room. And she fell.
Irene was fairly good at Latin--her sight translation was at least
intelligible. Miss Lord's comment was merely sarcastic, as she passed
to Florence Hissop. By this time the panic had swept through the ranks.
Florence would like to have been true to her pledged troth, but the
instinct of self-preservation is strong. She improved on Irene's
performance.

"Take the next ten lines, Patty, and endeavor to extract a glimmering of
sense. Please bear in mind that we are reading poetry."

Patty raised her head and faced her superior in the manner of a
Christian martyr.

"I only prepared the first sixty lines, Miss Lord."

"Why did you not finish the lesson that I gave out?" Miss Lord inquired
sharply.

"We have decided that eighty lines are more than we can do in a day. It
takes too much time away from our other lessons. We are perfectly
willing to do sixty lines, and do them thoroughly, but we can't consider
any more."

Miss Lord for a moment simply stared. Never had she known such a
flagrant case of insubordination. And it was purely insubordination,
for Patty was the most capable person in the class.

"What do you mean?" she gasped at last.

"We have formed a Virgil Union," Patty gravely explained. "You, Miss
Lord, will appreciate the fairness of our demands better than any of the
other teachers, because you believe in unions. Now, the girls in this