Well, though the dress became some-
thing more than familiar to the eyes
of my associates, I was so attached to
it that I felt no objection to wearing
it on the great occasion; and, that be-
ing settled, all that remained was to
select the piece which was to reveal my
talents to a hitherto unappreciative --
or, perhaps I should say, unsuspecting
-- group of friends and relatives. It
seemed to me that I knew better than
my teacher (who had agreed to select
the pieces for her pupils) possibly
could what sort of a thing best repre-
sented my talents, and so, after some
thought, I selected "Antony and Cleo-
patra," and as I lagged along the too-
familiar road to school, avoiding the
companionship of my acquaintances, I
repeated:


I am dying, Egypt, dying!
Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast,
And the dark Plutonian shadows
Gather on the evening blast.


Sometimes I grew so impassioned, so