From the journal of Edna Krouner :: Edna Krouner Journal short story

From the journal of Edna Krouner On September 17th, 1908, at the brisk hour of 6:30 a.m., Miss Edna Krouner of Wakefield Rhode Island boarded a train for Poughkeepsie, New York.. About to begin her sophomore year at Vassar college, Edna flirted with two central questions: How quickly could she fall back asleep, and would anyone notice the snag she had just made in her new grey skirt? The confident thunk of heavy luggage settles Edna into the train compartment. A small, exasperated groan issues from her round mouth. Edna was the type of girl who thought women should groan in public if they wished, only maybe in a more polite and refined fashion than those Yale boys she had to dance with on football weekends. Coat and baggage successfully arranged in the seat, Edna waits for the sharp, familiar shock of the whistle, the loud lurching of the wheel’s first revolutions, and then, the steady calm of motion through the hazy New England morning. Stretching into her train compartment, Edna wonders if maybe Muriel would arrive this morning, and then the two of them could walk downtown to "purchase furnishings and sundries" for their rooms, returning to a party of picture hanging and new gossip. "If only we didn't have to go to that wretched chapel all the time!" , Edna writes in her journal. A journal, mind you, not a diary. Diaries might do for flighty girls, but as a young lady off to college, Edna was determined to write in a journal. Thinking of chapel, Edna groans again. She knew that as soon as a cozy crowd had assembled in her room, they would all be called to procession. Besides, chapel only served to "keep us quiet and bored for a set period each day". As Edna writes many times, the simple fact persists that "chapel is stupid" annoyance suprs her eyes to wander, and Edna glances out the window to realize that the Hudson forms a smaller ribbon now, a fainter, delicate version of itself as the train clacks and clings aw ay, soothing her into the curl of almost sleeping. Edna had stayed last night with her cousin Anna in Palisades Park before heading on to Poughkeepisie. They talked in Anna's room until 1 in the morning, pondering "deep and exciting issues of the day", to quote Edna’s journal once again.