Claribel

A new boarder's arrival sets the girls at Round Springs talking about how to welcome someone who seems tired and lonely. Claribel Woodworth wears mourning and uses a crutch, and her schoolmates debate the first impressions they have formed. Percy urges them to make her comfortable, while Tilly proposes a gift of fruit and flowers. Lucy Ellen Guernsey builds this children's story around the small decisions through which school friendships take shape.

Later, Claribel explains the school's routines to Priscilla, whose enthusiasm for fashionable dresses and extra lessons collides with its plainer habits. Their awkward conversation brings money, pride and the fear of being looked down upon into everyday school life. Written within a Christian moral tradition, the story connects conduct with sympathy for other people's difficulties. Readers interested in older school fiction will find lively conversations about education, disability and belonging, with classroom rules and personal judgments closely intertwined.