“I hated her at first,” wrote 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 Weekly Graphic, were also placed upon the distinguished list, having substantially helped the credit of the school.  The badge was only a rosette made of narrow ribbons, stitched in tiny loops into the form of a daisy, with a yellow disk, and white and pink outer rays.  If meant very much, however, to the recipient, who knew that her name would be handed down to posterity in the school traditions, and every girl was immensely keen to earn it.