Our heart's devotion, may it never
Faithless or unworthy prove,
We'll give our lives and hopes to serve her,
Humblest, highest, noblest--all;
A stainless name we will preserve her,
Answer to her every call.

Anne L. Barrett, '86



PREFACE


The day after the Wellesley fire, an eager young reporter on a
Boston paper came out to the college by appointment to interview
a group of Wellesley women, alumnae and teachers, grief-stricken
by the catastrophe which had befallen them. He came impetuously,
with that light-hearted breathlessness so characteristic of young
reporters in the plays of Bernard Shaw and Arnold Bennett. He
was charmingly in character, and he sent his voice out on the run
to meet the smallest alumna in the group:

"Now tell me some pranks!" he cried, with pencil poised.

What she did tell him need not be recorded here. Neither was it
set down in the courteous and sympathetic report which he afterwards
wrote for his paper.

And readers who come to this story of Wellesley for pranks will