' compliments. Catherine opened it, wondering, and the
others dropped their work.

"A cake! Did you ever in your life? And I already have Mrs. Graham's
jelly, and Mr. Graham's bag of nuts, and old Mrs. Hitchcock's jar of
preserves! Mother, how can I ever thank them all?"

"How can you ever get them all transported to Dexter, is what I'm
wondering! Do they always send girls off to school with food for the
term, Catherine?" asked Hannah.

"Well, I had cookies and mince pie to take last year, after my trunk was
packed. Mother persuaded me to leave the pie, but I was sorry afterward.
And one of Polly's mother's friends baked a chicken for her to carry all
the way to Wellesley! People are so kind! How do you suppose I can carry
this cake, though, Mother? It's such an awkward shape, and I couldn't
pack it with my clothes!"

"Do you remember how Inez brought a pail of honey in her trunk," put in
Alice, "and how it leaked out all over everything she had?"

"I'll put the cake into a stout hat-box, and fasten a heavy cord and a
handle on it, and you can get it there safely, I think. You won't have
to carry it, except just getting on and off the train." Dr. Helen
hurried off to see to that bit of packing, herself.

Bertha, Agnes and Dot, and even Dorcas, found excuses to drop in at the
house that morning. Win and Bess promised to be at the train. On the way
home from school three or four of Catherine's Sunday-school children ran
in to say good-by. Polly was in and out a dozen times, and Peter and
Perdita came together to present a beautiful photograph of themselves in
their newest garments and shiniest shoes. Dinner was interrupted by the
trunkman's arrival, and Dr. Harlow had to keep a watchful eye upon each
girl to see that she did not forget to eat.

Algernon and Bert came to escort the party to the station, and they
started out merrily enough. When they reached the sidewalk, Catherine
turned and ran back to the house for a private farewell to her mother,
who preferred saying good-by there instead of going to the station.
College seemed suddenly robbed of its pleasure, and the length of days
between September and Thanksgiving intolerable, but they were used to
helping each other be brave, and they blinked away the tears and parted
smiling, Catherine turning frequently to wave good-bys till the house
was lost in the trees.

It was quite like a reception at the station. While Dr. Harlow attended
to ticket-buying, the you