song shall rise to Thee.
Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and Mighty,
God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity!"

The clear voices were softened by distance into almost angelic
sweetness, the treble rang true and sweet against the harmonious
background of alto; the organ sank to a flute-like softness. It was an
unexpected and beautiful beginning to the day's work, and the tears
started to Rhoda's eyes as she listened, for she was of an emotional
nature, quick to respond to any outside influence. She followed each
line of the hymn with devout attention, and when it was finished knelt
down beside her bed to offer a prayer, which was much longer and more
fervent than it would have been ten minutes before. She prayed for
strength, for guidance, and--with a remembrance of yesterday's trials--
for patience too, that she might be able to take a joke in good part,
and not value too highly her own dignity, and finally rose from her
knees in a glow of virtuous resolution.

No sooner was she out of her cubicle than the blow descended. With the
glow of good resolution still upon her, she was tried--and fell!

Thomasina regarded her critically, and said, with a cool assurance more
maddening than downright rudeness:

"That coiffure is very becoming, Fuzzy, but it won't do here. Go back
to your den, and plait it in a pigtail like mine!"

The glare of indignation, of scorn, of outraged dignity in Rhoda's eyes
was beyond description. She straightened her back into a poker of
obstinacy, and replied--

"I shall do no such thing! I shall wear my hair as I choose, and as I
have always worn it."

"No you won't, my dear. Pigtails are the rule in this establishment,
and pigtails you must wear so long as you are within its walls."

"If a teacher tells me to wear one, I shall obey. If it is a rule, some
one in authority will tell me. I won't be ordered by you."

There was a gasp of astonishment throughout the room, and one head after
another peered out to stare at the rebellious spirit who dared to defy
that important personage, the Head Girl.

Thomasina closed her eyes and smiled in maddening fashion.

"That's where you make your mistake, sweet love, for it's just exactly
what you've got to do! I'm Head Girl, and don't you forget it. The
Queen on her throne is not more absolute than I am in this room. If you
don't do what I tell you, it will be my painful duty to report you for
insubordination, and it is a sad thing for a