The summer flew by once she got home from Europe. Adelaide helped her pack her trunk. And she got a polite letter from the girl who was going to be her roommate, who was from North Carolina. Her mother and grandmother had gone to Vassar too. She’d sent a photograph, and she was very pretty, with long blond hair.
Meredith had everything ready for her departure, and it all went smoothly until the night before she left, when her mother mentioned that she’d have to come home for several rehearsals for the debutante ball where she was being presented right before Christmas. And she said they’d have to shop for a dress. Meredith looked across the table at her in horror and shook her head.
“I’m not doing that.” She had told them that before, but her parents were sure she’d come around. Meredith thought it was a ridiculous, archaic, snobbish tradition, and said she wasn’t going to be paraded around in a white dress, with a bunch of giggling girls looking for husbands. It always happened during the Christmas holidays of a girl’s freshman year of college, or the Christmas after their high school graduation if they hadn’t gone to college. Normally, the girls were eighteen, which was customarily the right age to “come out.” Meredith had been telling her parents for years that she would never do it. And now her mother acted like she’d never said it before.
“Don’t be silly, Merrie,” her mother said, looking nervous. “All the girls love it, you’ll have a wonderful time. You’ll have to come down from school one weekend so we can look for a dress.”
“I’m not doing it,” Meredith said again. “It’s stupid, and a throwback to another century. The purpose of it originally was to marry girls off. I’m not looking for a husband.” She glared at both of her parents. “It’s a travesty, with more important things happening in the world. The segregation of white and Negro children in school was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, and you expect me to look like an idiot as a debutante.” She had discussed the case in depth with her grandfather for months, and the impact it would have on schools in the South.
“Your mother did it, and she looked beautiful,” Robert said nostalgically, ignoring her comments about the landmark decision. The two issues were not related as far as he was concerned, although he knew Meredith was far more interested in politics and civil rights than picking dresses, which she considered irrelevant.
“Did you go with her?” Meredith looked surprised, distracted for a moment, and her mother smiled.
“Your father was escorting another girl. He was incredibly handsome in white tie and tails. We met that night. It was magical. A friend’s brother was my escort. Who do you think you’d want to take?” Janet acted as though Merrie had made no objection to it.
“I said I’m not going.” She was sullen to the point of rude, as she glared at them.
“Your mother came out at the same ball,” her father reminded her gently, and her mother looked hurt.
“It’s a lovely Cinderella night,” her mother added.
“The purpose of which is to find a husband,” Meredith said stubbornly. “I’m going to law school. I’m not getting married.”
“Of course not. But that’s no reason for you not to come out.”
“I’m not coming out,” she said again, and her brother watched her, puzzled.
“What are you coming out of?”
“Nothing,” Meredith said, left the table, and stormed up to her room. They couldn’t force her. She wouldn’t let them. She didn’t see them again until morning, when she came down for breakfast before they left for Poughkeepsie. Both of her parents were taking her, and Alex too. He wanted to see where she was going to school, and her mother said she was planning to walk the campus for old times’ sake, and see what had changed, after they settled her in. The subject of the debutante ball did not come up again. There was plenty of time to discuss it, Janet had said to Robert. They thought she was nervous about school, and didn’t realize how serious she was about not making her debut.
Her father went to get the car from the garage he used a few blocks away. He had rented a station wagon the day before, and the doorman helped him slide the trunk into the back, and put both her smaller valises on top of it, along with a bedspread, a small colorful rug, and two spare pillows. Her bedding was in the trunk, and some posters she wanted to put on the wall. The brochure and advance material had suggested that the rooms were small and not to overdo the decorating. She would have a small closet, a chest of drawers, a desk, and a chair, and she had brought a portable typewriter with her that her grandmother had given her. Her father had reminded her to bring her tennis racket. And she was going to buy a bicycle in town to get around the campus.
She had selected all her classes, and was taking all the required subjects to get them out of the way, and a German literature class that interested her as her only elective. She had kissed Adelaide goodbye the night before, since she wasn’t working that day because they were leaving, and had given her the day off. Meredith felt sad as she left the apartment. She knew her life would never be quite the same again. Her carefree childhood days were over.
It took them two and a half hours to get there, and the countryside in the Hudson Valley was pretty. She had visited the school the year before when she decided to apply, and she had agreed that it was a lovely campus.
West Point, the military academy, was the nearest boys’ school, and Yale was unofficially their “brother” college. Vassar was the second of the Seven Sisters colleges. They had mixers on campus regularly so the girls could meet male students from other schools. There were no sorority houses at Vassar, nor eating clubs or societies, unlike some other colleges. They believed in equality and treating everyone fairly so no one would feel excluded. Meredith’s only real objection to it was that it was an elitist all-female school, but it was her mother’s alma mater, and she didn’t have the heart to let her down.
She was lost in her own thoughts as they reached the campus. She was wishing she was back in Germany. She would have preferred to go to college there, but her parents wouldn’t agree to it. They didn’t want her so far away at her age, and wanted her to have an American college experience, particularly at an outstanding school with such strong traditions. She was still hoping to return to Germany for junior year.
The Main Building came into sight, which was prominent on the brochure with its Second Empire–style palatial structure. The residence halls were built around the quad. She had been assigned a room in Lathrop House. There was a long line of cars driving onto the property, and Alex looked around as though they were landing on the moon.
“It’s all girls here, huh?” he commented. The only men in evidence were the arriving students’ fathers and brothers and a few male workers handing out name tags and dorm assignments. At first glance, Meredith felt suddenly overwhelmed and wished she’d gone to another school, where there were male students, and everyone didn’t look so fancy. She saw girls in skirts and sweater sets, with saddle shoes, getting out of cars. Their hair was perfectly done, and she noticed that a few of them wore a string of pearls with their sweaters. Meredith was wearing a Black Watch kilt, navy sweater, and flat shoes, and wished she didn’t have to get out of the car. She wanted to go home. Her mother had worn a new pink suit, and her father and brother had worn suits and ties to help her move in, as did all the other male relatives assisting the arriving freshman girls.