Mary Beazley Character Analysis

Mary Beazley is Miss Meadows’s star student, who gives Miss Meadows a yellow chrysanthemum each day at the start of class. Mary’s long, curling hair is a signal of a well-groomed young girl, and Since Miss Meadows is conscious of her own age, these small signals of Mary’s youth are significant in the story. On the day of the story, Miss Meadows refuses Mary’s flower for the first time, humiliating and wounding Mary in front of the class. Later, when Miss Meadows directs the girls to sing sadly, Mary is very much affected by the mood of the music and the tone of Miss Meadows’s voice. As Miss Meadows herself is very sensitive to the mood of music and grew up to be a singing teacher, it seems possible that Mary is similar to how Miss Meadows herself was as a girl. When Miss Meadows returns to the class after receiving her telegram from Basil resuming their engagement, Miss Meadows picks up the flower Mary gave her and uses it to hide her smile when she assigns the girls a new, cheerful summer song.