then both
Gladys and Dorothy would have been there; not of the wealthiest girls,
for then, again, Gladys Philbrick was one of the richest girls in the
school; not of the most mischievous, or of idlers, for then Miss
Ashton would have found some way of separating them; yet there it was,
certain girls clubbing together at all hours and in all places, where
any intercourse was allowed, to the exclusion of others: walking
together, having spreads in each other's rooms, going to concerts, to
meetings, anywhere and everywhere, always together.

Miss Ashton, in her twenty years of experience had seen a great deal
of this; but she had learned that the best way of dealing with it was
to be ignorant of it, unless it interfered in some way with the
regular duties of the school. This it had only done occasionally, and
then had met with prompt discipline. As several of the leaders had
graduated the last Commencement, she had hoped, as she had done many
times before, only to be disappointed, that the new year would see
less of it; but it had seemed to her already to have assumed more
importance than ever, so early in the fall term.

She very soon saw Mamie Smythe's devotion to Marion, and knowing how
fascinating the girl could make herself when she wished, and how
genial was Marion's great Western heart, she expected she would be
drawn into the clique. On some accounts she wished she might be, for
she had already begun to feel that where Marion was, there would be
law and order; but, on the whole, she was pleased to see that her new
pupil, while she was rapidly making her way into that most difficult
of all positions in a school to fill, that of general favorite, was
doing so without choosing any girl for her bosom friend.

"She helps me," Miss Ashton thought with much self-gratulation, "for
she is not only a winsome, merry girl, but a fine scholar, and already
her Christian influence begins to tell."

CHAPTER VII.

AIDS TO EDUCATION.

In the prospectus of Montrose Academy was the following sentence:--

"The design of Montrose Academy is the nurture of Christian women.

"To this great object they dedicate the choicest instruction, the
noblest personal influences, and the refinements of a cultivated
home."

It was to carry out this, that religious instruction was made
prominent.

Not only was the Bible a weekly text-book for careful and critical
study, but, in accordance with an established custom of the school,