The absence of
Rosalind Merton had, for a short time, caused a little dismay among
the actors. She had been cast for the part of Melissa:
"A rosy blonde, and in a college gown
That clad her like an April daffodilly."
But now it must be taken my some one else.
Little Ada Hardy, who was about Rosalind's height, and had the real
innocence which, alas! poor Rosalind lacked, was sent for in a hurry,
and, carefully drilled by Constance Field and Maggie Oliphant, by the
time the night arrived she was sufficiently prepared to act the
character, slight in itself, which was assigned to her. The other
actors were, of course, fully prepared to take their several parts,
and a number of girls were invested in the
"Academic silks, in hue
The lilac, with a silken hood to each,
And zoned with gold."
Nothing could have been more picturesque, and there was a buzz of
hearty applause from the many spectators who crowded the galleries and
front seats of the little theater when the curtain rose on the
well-known garden scene, where the Prince, Florian and Cyril saw the
maidens of that first college for women-- that poet's vision, so amply
fulfilled in the happy life at St. Benet's.
There
One walk'd, reciting by herself, and one
In this hand held a volume as to read,
And smoothed a petted peacock down with that:
Some to a low song oar'd a shallop by,
Or under arches of the marble bridge
Hung, shadow'd from the heat: some hid and sought
In the orange thickets: others tost a ball
Above the fountain jets, and back again
With laughter: others lay about the lawns,
Of the older sort, and murmur'd that their May
Was passing: what was learning unto them?
They wish'd to marry: they could rule a house;
Men hated learned women.
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