two braids. I never thought much about myself, because
I was always too busy. I was forever falling in with suspicious looking
characters and bringing them home to be fed. Mother used to throw up her
hands in despair at the acquaintances I made. Then, too, I had a
propensity for bestowing my personal possessions on those who, in my
opinion, needed them. Mother and I were not always of the same opinion.
I wore my everyday coat to church for a whole winter as a punishment for
having given away my best one without consulting her. With me it was a
case of act first and think afterward. I don't believe I was
particularly mischievous, but I had a habit of diving into things that
kept Mother in a state of constant apprehension. Father used to laugh at
my pranks and tell Mother not to worry about me. He used to declare that
no matter into what I plunged I would land right side up with care. I
was never at the head of my classes in school, but I was never at the
foot of them. I was what one might call a happy medium. My little-girl
life was a very happy one, and full to the brim with all sorts of
pleasant happenings."

"I never heard you say so much about yourself before, Grace," observed
Elfreda.

"I'm usually too much interested in other people's affairs to think of
my own," laughed Grace. "I have never heard Anne say much about her
childhood, either. She must have had all sorts of interesting
experiences."

"Mine was more exciting than pleasant," returned Anne. "Practically
speaking, I was brought up in the theatre and knew a great deal more
about things theatrical than I did about dolls and childish games. I was
a solemn looking little thing and wore my hair bobbed and tied up with a
ribbon. I never cried about the things that most children cry over, but
I would stand in the wings and weep by the hour over the pathetic parts
of the different plays we put on. Father was a character man in a stock
company. We lived in New York City and I used to frequently go to the
theatre with him. My father wished me to become a professional, but my
mother was opposed to it. When I was sixteen I played in a company for a
short time. Then mother and sister and I went to Oakdale to live, and
the nicest part of my life began. There I met Grace and Miriam and two
other girls who are among my dearest friends. Nothing very exciting has
ever happened to me, and even though I have appeared before the public I
haven't as much to tell as the rest