"Next to home, there is really nothing quite so satisfying as our
dear old High School!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe, as she entered the
locker-room and beamed on her three friends who stood near by.

"It does seem good to be back, even though we have had such a perfectly
glorious summer," said Jessica Bright. "We are a notch higher, too.
We're actually juniors. This locker-room is now our property, although
I don't like it as well as the one we had last year."

"We'll get accustomed to it, and it will seem like home inside of two
weeks," said Anne Pierson philosophically. "Everything is bound to
change in this world, you know. 'We must put ourselves in harmony with
the things among which our lot is cast.'"

"Well, Marcus Aurelius, we'll try to accept your teaching," laughed
Grace, who immediately recognized the quotation as coming from a tiny
"Marcus Aurelius Year Book" that Anne kept in her desk and frequently
perused.

"I wonder what school will bring us this year?" mused Nora O'Malley, as
she retied her bow for the fifth time before the mirror and critically
surveyed the final effect. "We had a stormy enough time last year,
goodness knows. Really, girls, it is hard to believe that Miriam Nesbit
and Julia Crosby were at one time the banes of our existence. They come
next to you three girls with me, now."

"I think that we all feel the same about them," replied Grace. "Miriam
is a perfect dear now, and is just as enthusiastic over class matters as