IT WAS THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST NIGHT in the chair. On the table in front of her was a single yellow rose. It had come that afternoon with a note which read, "Love and best wishes from all of us for a wonderful year!"

All morning, during routine office work, the evening ahead had been uppermost in her mind, and by noon the butterflies doing flip-flops in her tummy had made it almost impossible to eat. Even her favorite lunch-hour pastime, window shopping, failed to erase from her mind the annoying question which tormented her. Would she mess up ... forget something ... make some awful mistake?

Finally, back to the office. And there it was--the lovely yellow rose. Someone had opened the florist's box and set the rose in a vase on her desk where it seemed to shine for her in a special sort of way, welcoming her back to sane thinking from the rather foolish thoughts of the lunch hour.

Then the note -- "Love ... from all of us." There were tears for a moment. Fresh thoughts rushed in. She recalled her "sisters" scattered all over the city, who, tonight, would gather to begin another year of sorority Fellowship and fun, and who had chosen her as their chapter leader.

The sunny flower seemed to symbolize the bright friendliness, the comradeship, the downright good Fellowship of Beta Sigma Phi. It seemed to say, "We are all with you, we are your friends." The tension was gone. This little token of friendship had lifted her burden.

This lovely and thoughtful gesture led to reminiscence about many other wonderful experiences of Fellowship which had provided that inner glow at various crises in her life. There was the time she met a Beta Sigma Phi between planes when she was on her way to a big city to try out her rather shaky wings. The special handshake when the two parted had done her as much good as a letter from home. Bereavement, too, had touched her life, and her thoughts returned to the rose. It had been there then, too, its comfort a very special kind.

The memory of these things, and the comfort in knowing they would be there again at the right time, were with her still as she used the gavel for the first time, saying, "Sisters, the meeting will come to order...," -- resolving to lead her chapter to the finest rewards of Fellowship in the coming year.