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Bolton, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1841-1901

"The Harris-Ingram Experiment"


But Gertrude decided in favor of a public school education.
Lucille and Gertrude as sisters were fond of each other, but Lucille
lived more for self, while Gertrude preferred others to self. Gertrude
had learned early how by a smile or bow to retain an old friend or to
win a new one. She spent very little time thinking about her own needs,
preferring to take flowers or fruit, even when given her, to some sick or
aged person. Nothing pleased her more than to visit the Old Ladies' Home
with a few gifts and read the Bible or comforting stories to the inmates.
Mrs. Harris when east chanced to spend a June day at Wellesley College
near Boston. By early moonlight several hundred Wellesley girls and
thousands of spectators had assembled on the banks of Lake Waban to enjoy
the "Float." Gaily uniformed crews in their college flotilla formed
a star-shaped group near the shore for their annual concert. Chinese
lanterns, like giant fire-flies, swung in the trees and on many graceful
boats. The silver notes of the bugle and the chant of youthful voices
changed the college-world into a fairyland.
Both mother and daughter were charmed and Lucille gladly decided to enter
Wellesley. Hard study, however, and the daily forty-five minutes of
domestic work then required, did not agree with her nature, and after a
few weeks she decided upon a change, and continued her education at one
of the private schools on the Back-Bay in Boston.


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