There is also a library and a small hospital with trained and registered nurses always on duty in case of a minor accident or sudden illness. The girls have their own private cinema. There is a cafeteria and there are immaculate dormitories where they may rest between periods or spend the night when the weather is bad. But it is in their dressing-rooms that their lives, off stage, centre. These are two long rooms with a double row of dressing tables back to back down the middle.
"How do you keep order? What are the rules?" I asked Mr. Sherman. "The girls establish their own rules. And heaven help the new girl who doesn't speedily learn what is expected of her, Mr. Sherman said. "She's sent to Coventry, that's all. If her dressing-table is untidy or her personal habits offensive, the girl on either side of her moves as far as possible in the other direction. She's let severely alone. It works. Or she's out."
Rehearsal is a lovely thing to see. The speed with which those girls take new steps. poses, turns—at first to slightly slowed tempo, then up to time. Ten minutes' rest. Cigarettes lighted. Knitting picked up. Girls on their backs on the floor; curled up on benches. Never a cushion. These young women are in perfect physical trim. Diet is not compulsory. The girls ent as and what they please, so long as neither work nor figure suffers. The slightest over-indulgence in sweets, under-eating, lack of sleep, or worry shows up in their work. There's no rule against marriage.
Between shows, if there is no rehearsal, the girls do all sorts of things. A bit of manicure ing; bridge; letter writing. If there are several hours to spare they'll ride horseback, play gomas, study. Several of them are good at other things. One draws, another models tiny clay figures.
Three hundred and sixty-five days in the year this parade of beauty goes on. And never hitch. Here, at least, every one is doing what she most wants to do. And does best. Every one about the whole great place is cheerful.
The result: real happiness.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.