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What happens when the college life you love begins to give way to the future?
Betty Wales enters her senior year at a women's college, where close friends share the fun and troubles of student life. In this story by Edith K. Dunton, familiar college houses and school traditions frame a year when old habits meet new responsibilities.
Graduation draws nearer, and life beyond the campus begins to matter. Around Betty, friendship remains at the center of college life, alongside small rivalries and the pleasure of belonging. The question is simple but deeply felt: what comes after these years together, and how do you prepare to leave?
What you’ll discover
- A year of change Follow Betty through a final college year shaped by friendship, responsibility, and thoughts of what comes next.
- Friends through everyday troubles Spend time with companions who share both the pleasures and difficulties of life on campus.
- College life long ago Step into a community of young women, with college houses, familiar traditions, and small rivalries.
- The pull of tomorrow Explore the bittersweet feeling of looking ahead while still cherishing the world you know.
- Gentle humor and warmth Enjoy Dunton's cheerful manner, short scenes, and mild humor at an easy, unhurried pace.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy college stories, warm friendships between young women, gentle humor, amateur theatricals and a light mystery.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Friendship begins with noticing a need
- An old wrong shadows Eleanor
- A storm gives way to suspicion
- Mary's secrecy tests her friends
- Helen reaches out through shared loneliness
- Roberta gets a chance to act
- Betty begins to question shared honors
- Fairness depends on daily choices
- Practical kindness holds these friendships together
Who’s who
- Betty WalesA cheerful senior with yellow curls who helps everyone she meets and wants every classmate to have a share of the fun.
- Madeline AyresA quick, witty improviser from Bohemia who loves ideas and parties, hates committees, and protects her friends fiercely.
- Eleanor WatsonA brilliant senior who once did a dishonorable thing and now quietly works to earn back her classmates' trust.
- Helen AdamsA shy, thoughtful editor of the college magazine who feels like an outsider and tries to help other lonely girls.
- Roberta LewisA proud, shy girl who adores Mary Brooks and secretly longs to act, if only she dared ask for a chance.
- Jean EastmanA sharp-tongued senior who wants office and a part in the play, and who resents Betty's goodness.
- Georgia AmesA calm freshman who shares a name with Madeline's invented friend and finds herself famous at once.
- Mary BrooksA stylish former Harding leader who visits her old friends and keeps a secret from them.
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Betty Wales, Senior in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Betty Wales, Senior
by Edith K. Dunton · 1907
Betty Wales and her friends face their last year at Harding, with a missing pearl pin and a Shylock nobody expects.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“It’s only after you’ve been left out, snubbed, and unwanted that things like this really matter.”
In short
Can a person envy herself? Betty Wales asks that on a railway platform, pink-cheeked and tired, after far too many ice creams.
Betty Wales, Senior at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 20 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 62,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1907by Edith K. Dunton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Betty meets the freshman who is just like her
The story opens on the first days of term at Harding. Betty Wales and Rachel Morrison, both seniors, help new students find their way from the station. Betty has already walked one lost freshman from shop to shop and bought her more ice cream than is wise.
Betty remembers that Miss Ferris once said every girl you love at college comes back later as a younger girl. So she watches the trains for a slender freshman with yellow curls and a golf bag. She finds her, carries her bag, and helps her find her way. Both seniors realize they will never again be helpers at the station.
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Details
- First published
- 1907
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Dunton, Edith K. Betty Wales, Senior. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/betty-wales-senior.
Dunton, E. K. (2026). Betty Wales, senior. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/betty-wales-senior (Original work published 1907)
Dunton, Edith K. Betty Wales, Senior. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/betty-wales-senior.
@book{dunton2026betty,
author = {Dunton, Edith K.},
title = {Betty Wales, Senior},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/betty-wales-senior},
note = {First published 1907}
}
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What is Betty Wales, Senior about?
It follows Betty Wales and her friends through their final year at Harding College. They stage a class play, a toy shop and a shared commencement, while a thief moves through the campus houses and old quarrels fade.
Do I need to read the earlier Betty Wales books first?
No. A short preface at the start recalls the first three years and the main friends, and the story introduces each person again through scenes, so the book stands well on its own.
Who are the Merry Hearts?
The Merry Hearts are Betty's circle of friends, including Madeline, Eleanor, Rachel, Katherine, Helen, Roberta and the three B's. They are known for kindness, fun and for welcoming girls who are left out.
The author
Edith K. Dunton
1875–1944 · American writer
Edith K. Dunton (1875–1944) was an American writer who lived in the United States. She wrote under the name Margaret Warde. Her books included the Betty Wales series for girls, published in the early twentieth century. Betty Wales, Senior, one of the books in that series, appeared in 1907.
“It’s only after you’ve been left out, snubbed, and unwanted that things like this really matter.”
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