There were tremendous consultations over them.  A dressmaking Bee was held every afternoon from four to five o’clock in the small lecture-room, Miss Bishop generously lending her sewing machine for the purpose.  Here a band of willing workers sat and stitched and chattered and laughed and ate chocolates, while pretty garments grew rapidly under their fingers.  The dresses were only made of cheap materials, and were hastily put together, but they had a very good effect, for the colors were gay, and the style, with its panniers and lace frills was charming.  The girls would hardly have managed the cutting out quite unaided, had not Miss Lever offered her assistance.  “Dollikins” had large experience in the preparation of school theatricals, and possessed many invaluable paper patterns, so she was given a royal welcome, and installed at the table with the biggest and sharpest pair of scissors at her disposal.

On the afternoon fixed for the entertainment quite a goodly audience assembled to watch and applaud.  Mothers were in the majority, with a fair number of aunts and elder sisters, and just a sprinkling of fathers.  Forms had been carried into the garden and arranged as an amateur theater, a flat piece of lawn with a background of bushes serving as stage.  The program was to be representative of the whole school, so the first part was devoted to the performances of the Juniors.  Twelve small damsels selected from Forms I. and II. gave a classic dance.  They were dressed in Greek costume with sandals, and wore chaplets of roses round their hair.  They had been carefully trained by Miss Barbour, the drill mistress, and went through their parts with a joyousness reminiscent of the Golden Age.  The Morris Dance which followed, rendered by members of Forms III. and IV., though hardly so graceful, was sprightly and in good time, the fantastic dresses with their bells and ribbons suiting most of their wearers.  It was felt that the Juniors had distinguished themselves, and “Dollikins,” who with Miss Barbour had worked hard on their behalf, felt almost justified in bragging of their achievements.

Meantime the Seniors had been making ready, and presently from behind the bushes tripped forth a charming group of Louis XV. courtiers, pattering the prettiest of French remarks.  Dorrie Pollack as Monsieur le Duc de Tourville was a model of gallantry in a feathered hat and stiff ringlets (the result of an agonizing night passed in tight knobby curl papers!), while Linda, as Madame la Comtesse, quite outdid herself in the depth of her curtseys, and the distinguished grace with which she extended her hand for her cavalier to kiss.  Nora Wilson tripped over her sword in her excitement, and Violet Agnew forgot her part, and had to be prompted by Mademoiselle, who stood with the book behind a bush; but these were only minor accidents, and on the whole the scene passed off with flying colors, and greatly impressed the parents and aunts with the high stage of proficiency in the French language attained by the pupils of Seaton High School.