"I beg to propose Merle," piped Iva.

"And I beg to second her," fluttered Nesta, taking courage.

The clapping and stamping that followed witnessed the entire approval of
the meeting. Merle was unanimously elected to the chair, and having thus
received the symbol of authority proceeded to wield it. She was not in
the least bashful, and was quite ready to cope with anything that lay
before her. She held up a hand for silence and addressed her audience.

"I've told you we're here on business, and I want to explain. As it
affects everybody, perhaps you'll kindly listen without talking. Will
those three girls on the back bench move out here? Thanks! Now you all
know the school has started on a new era, and we hope it's going to forge
ahead. In the past we haven't done very much in the way of societies.
Perhaps that's all the better, because it gives us the chance to make a
clean start now, without any back traditions to hamper us. What I propose
is this: We'll go slow at first until we get into the swing of things,
and then later on we can blossom out as much as we like. I suggest that
we should get up three societies:

"A Games Club.

"A Literary Club.

"An Entertainment Club.

"The Games Club will try and work up a decent hockey team, and when our
play is worth anything, we'll see if we can't arrange a match with some