NTED WITH THE NEWSPAPER GIRL

"It was just this way," began Kathleen West, setting down her tea cup
and looking impressively from one girl to the other, "Long before I
graduated from high school I had made up my mind to go to college. Now
that I have passed my exams and have become a really truly freshman,
I'll tell you all about it."

Elfreda and Miriam were giving a tea party with Grace, Anne and Kathleen
West as their guests. It was a strictly informal tea and both hostesses
and guests sat on the floor in true Chinese fashion, kimono-clad and
comfortable. A week had passed since Kathleen's advent among them. She
had spent the greater part of that time either in study or in valiant
wrestling with the dreaded entrance examinations, but she had managed,
nevertheless, to drop into the girls' rooms at least once a day. In
spite of the almost unfavorable impression she had at first created, it
was impossible not to acknowledge that the newspaper girl possessed a
vividly interesting personality. As she sat wrapped in the folds of her
gray kimono, arms folded over her chest, she looked not unlike a
feminine Napoleon. Elfreda's quick eyes traced the resemblance.

"You look for all the world like Napoleon," she observed bluntly.

"Thank you," returned Kathleen with mock gratitude. "I can't imagine
Napoleon in a gray kimono at a tea party, but I feel imbued with a
certain amount of his ambition. By the way, would any of you like to
hear the rest of my story?" she asked impudently. "I'm rather fond of
telling it."

"Excuse me for interrupting," apologized Elfreda. "Go on, please."

"Where was I?" asked Kathleen. "Oh, yes, I remember. Well, as soon as I
had fully determined to go to college, I began to save every penny on
which I could honestly lay hands. I went without most of the school-girl
luxuries that count for so much just at that time. You girls know what I
mean. Mother and Father didn't wish me to go to college. They planned a
course in stenography and typewriting for me after I should finish high
school, and when I pleaded for college they were angry and disappointed.
They argued, too, that they couldn't possibly afford to send me there.
As soon as I saw that I was going to have trouble with them, I kept my
own counsel, but I was more determined than ever to do as I pleased. At
the beginning of the vacation before my senior year in high school I
went to the only daily paper in our town and asked for work. The edi