What Katy Did At School

What Katy Did At School, by
Susan Coolidge

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Title: What Katy Did At School
Author: Susan Coolidge

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT
KATY DID AT SCHOOL ***

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WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL
by SUSAN COOLIDGE
CONTENTS.
I. CONIC SECTION.
II. A NEW YEAR AND A NEW PLAN.
III. ON THE WAY.
IV. THE NUNNERY.
V. ROSES AND THORNS.
VI. THE S. S. U. C.
VII. INJUSTICE.
VIII. CHANGES.

IX. THE AUTUMN VACATION.
X. A BUDGET OF LETTERS.
XI. CHRISTMAS BOXES.
XII. WAITING FOR SPRING.
XIII. PARADISE REGAINED.

WHAT KATY DID AT SCHOOL.
CHAPTER I.
CONIC SECTION.
It was just after that happy visit of which I told at the end of "What
Katy Did," that Elsie and John made their famous excursion to Conic
Section; an excursion which neither of them ever forgot, and about
which the family teased them for a long time afterward.
The summer had been cool; but, as often happens after cool summers,
the autumn proved unusually hot. It seemed as if the months had been
playing a game, and had "changed places" all round; and as if
September were determined to show that he knew how to make himself
just as disagreeable as August, if only he chose to do so. All the last
half of Cousin Helen's stay, the weather was excessively sultry. She felt
it very much, though the children did all they could to make her
comfortable, with shaded rooms, and iced water, and fans. Every
evening the boys would wheel her sofa out on the porch, in hopes of
coolness; but it was of no use: the evenings were as warm as the days,
and the yellow dust hanging in the air made the sunshine look thick and
hot. A few bright leaves appeared on the trees, but they were wrinkled,
and of an ugly color. Clover said she thought they had been boiled red
like lobsters. Altogether, the month was a trying one, and the coming of
October made little difference: still the dust continued, and the heat;
and the wind, when it blew, had no refreshment in it, but seemed to

have passed over some great furnace which had burned out of it all life
and flavor.
In spite of this, however it was wonderful to see how Katy gained and
improved. Every day added to her powers. First she came down to
dinner, then to breakfast. She sat on the porch in the afternoons; she
poured the tea. It was like a miracle to the others, in the beginning, to
watch her going about the house; but they got used to it surprisingly
soon,--one does to pleasant things. One person, however, never got
used to it, never took it as a matter of course; and that was Katy herself.
She could not run downstairs, or out into the garden; she could not
open the kitchen door to give an order, without a sense of gladness and
exultation which was beyond words. The wider and more active life
stimulated her in every way. Her cheeks grew round and pink, her eyes
bright. Cousin Helen and papa watched this change with indescribable
pleasure; and Mrs. Worrett, who dropped in to lunch one day, fairly
screamed with surprise at the sight of it.
"To think of it!" she cried, "why, the last time I was here you looked as
if you had took root in that chair of yours for the rest of your days, and
here you are stepping around as lively as I be. Well, well! wonders will
never