dresser. Did you see anything of
it, Hester?"

"No, indeed. I never presume to touch anything there without your
permission."

"I did not mean to suggest that, little roommate. I carelessly let it
lie there several days ago, and now I cannot find it."

"I have not seen it," said Hester. She spoke quickly and perhaps, with
unusual curtness. At least it seemed so to Helen, who attributed the
curtness to Hester's being hurt at being asked such a question. She let
the subject drop and no further word passed between them until they were
called to dinner.

When study hour came again, Hester pushed aside her text books and fell
to writing. The door of the study, during this time, was always open and
no words were permitted between roommates. Helen, observing that her
roommate was not working at her lessons, gave her several warning
glances; but Hester was unaffected. The muse had laid its hands upon her
and she was helpless in its clutches. She wrote and erased, only to
rewrite and erase again.

It was not until the study period was over that she raised her head and
with a smile of triumph read aloud:

"Doctor Dixon had a freshman class,
Whose minds were soft like snow.
He tried to teach them geometry,
But he could not make it go.
He scolded them in class one day;
He shocked the entire school.
The tears ran down one sweet girl's face,
When he called her a mule."

A look of surprise flashed over Helen's face. "Surely Hester, he never
would do that. He is critical and sarcastic, but surely he is a
gentleman."

"Do what?" asked Hester. "Why surely he is a gentleman."

"Surely, he never would dare address one of the pupils in that way. A
mule!"

Hester laughed. "You are taking matters seriously. You must remember
that this is poetry, and allowance must be made. In poetry, one cannot
describe matters as they are. One cannot be too realistic. One must use
what fits in. I was compelled to use the word mule because it was the
only one I could think of which rhymed with school. Now listen to the
rest, please Helen." She continued reading wholly unconscious that her
roommate was not in sympathy with her.

"And then they ran to him and asked,
As he came forth from school,
'Doctor, dear, which is it best to be,
A driver or the mule?'

"'The mule has the best of it,' he said,
'So I'm inclined to think,
It can be driven to the water's edge,
But it can't