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diff --git a/12377-h/12377-h.htm b/12377-h/12377-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b729b6f --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/12377-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4166 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Court of Boyville, by William Allen White</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.8em; + margin-top: 0em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .note + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; + margin: 0; + text-align: center; + font-size: 1.0em;} + + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em; text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + + .figleft {float: left;} + + .figright {float: right;} + + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12377 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Court of Boyville, by William Allen +White, Illustrated by Orson Lowell and Gustav Verbeek</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Christine Gehring, Tim Koeller,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> + <hr class="full" /> +<br /> +<br /> + + <h1>THE COURT OF BOYVILLE</h1> + + <p class="center">By</p> + + <h3>William Allen White</h3> + + <p class="center">Author Of The Real Issue, etc.</p> + + <p class="center">1898</p> +<br /> +<br /> + <hr /> + + <h4><b>Contents</b></h4> + + <ul> + <li><a href="#Prologue">PROLOGUE</a></li> + + <li><a href="#I">THE MARTYRDOM OF "MEALY" JONES</a></li> + + <li><a href="#II">A RECENT CONFEDERATE VICTORY</a></li> + + <li><a href="#III">"WHILE THE EVIL DAYS COME NOT"</a></li> + + <li><a href="#IV">JAMES SEARS: A NAUGHTY PERSON</a></li> + + <li><a href="#V">MUCH POMP AND SEVERAL CIRCUMSTANCES</a></li> + + <li><a href="#VI">"THE HERB CALLED HEARTS-EASE"</a></li> + </ul> + <hr /> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Where is Boyville</i>? <i>By what track</i></p> + + <p><i>May we trace our journey back</i>;</p> + + <p><i>Up what mountains, thro' what seas</i></p> + + <p><i>By what meadow-lands and leas</i>,</p> + + <p><i>Must we travel to the bourne</i></p> + + <p><i>Of the shady rows of corn</i></p> + + <p><i>That lead down to the Willows</i></p> + + <p><i>Where the day is always morn</i>?</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + + <p>COURT OF BOYVILLE</p> + + <p><i>Illustrated by</i> ORSON LOWELL (<i>with the exception of + the first story, the illustrations for which are by</i> GUSTAV + VERBEEK).</p> + <hr /> + + <h4>ILLUSTRATIONS</h4> + + <p><a href="images/001.gif">"Say, boys, where's its + bottle?"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/036.gif">The three boys were scuffling for the + possession of a piece of rope</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/042.gif">He saw Abe catch Jimmy and hold his + head under water</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/058.gif">He felt his father's finger under his + collar and his own feet shambling</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/064.gif">Mrs. Jones stooped to the floor and + took her child by an arm</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/076.gif">His feet hanging out of the back of + the wagon that had held the coffin</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/080.gif">His luck was bad</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/084.gif">He withdrew from the game and sat + alone against the barn</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/088.gif">As she turned to her + turkey-slicing</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/092.gif">The new preacher, for whom the party + was made</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/100.gif">The first long dress</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/104.gif">"Dickey, Dickey, for gracious sake, + keep still"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/108.gif">"Did you know my dad was a + soldier?"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/112.gif">During the next two hours the boy + wandered on the prairie</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/116.gif">"Mary Pennington, aged two years, + three months, and ten days"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/120.gif">Piggy went to get his flying + hat</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/124.gif">She stroked his hand and snuggled + closer to him</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/128.gif">Miss Morgan smiled happily at the + clouds</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/136.gif">Chased the little girls around the + yard with it</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/140.gif">She would not have invited Harold + Jones to sit and sing with her during the opening hour</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/144.gif">Harold Jones</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/148.gif">To study his tastes</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/152.gif">... The comradeship ... was beautiful + to see</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/156.gif">The red-headed Pratt girl</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/160.gif">He could only snap chalk in a + preoccupied way and listen to his Heart's Desire</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/164.gif">Piggy was piling up the primary + urchins in wiggling, squealing piles</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/168.gif">He watched the teacher's finger crook + a signal for the note to be brought forward</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/172.gif">... fought boys who were three + classes above him ... whipped groups of boys of assorted + sizes</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/176.gif">Over his mother's shoulders Piggy saw + the hired girl giggle</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/180.gif">Her son ate rapidly in + silence</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/184.gif">His cleanliness pleased his mother + and she boasted of it to the mothers of other boys</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/188.gif">A little maid in a black-and-red + check</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/192.gif">Piggy sat on the front porch, and + reviewed the entire affair</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/196.gif">It began when his Heart's Desire had + fluttered into his autograph album</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/200.gif">At this important bit of + repartee</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/210.gif">His heart was full of + bitterness</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/214.gif">Throwing sticks in the water to scare + the fish</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/218.gif">A crawler, a creeper, a toddler, a + stumbler, and a sneaker</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/222.gif">James</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/226.gif">Mrs. Jones came out to take care of + the butter</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/230.gif">The sort of boy who would unsex + himself by looking at a baby</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/234.gif">Jimmy heard Mrs. Jones tell his + little sister Annie that morning that she was no longer the + baby</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/238.gif">His father strutting around town ... + bragging of the occurrence that filled the boy with shame</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/242.gif">He jumped for the slanting boards + with his bare feet, and his heart was glad</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/246.gif">He sat on a log and slowly lifted up + his foot, twisting his face into an agonized knot</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/250.gif">"Spit, spit, spy, tell me whur my + chicken is, er I'll hit ye in the eye"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/256.gif">"I'll pay for your chicken, I say. + Now you keep away from me"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/266.gif">An irregular circumference that + touched his ears and his chin and his hair</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/270.gif">"Got anything here fit to + eat?"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/274.gif">"What'd you want to take Annie's doll + away from her for?"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/278.gif">She drew him down and kissed his + cheek while he pecked at her lips</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/282.gif">Piggy Pennington ... galloped his + father's fat delivery horse up and down the alley</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/289.gif">Mammoth Consolidated Shows + (left)</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/290.gif">Mammoth Consolidated Shows + (right)</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/296.gif">Oil made by hanging a bottle of + angle-worms in the sun to fry</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/302.gif">How many bags of carpet rags went to + the ragman</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/306.gif">Brother Baker—a tiptoeing + Nemesis</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/310.gif">Dressed-up children were flitting + along the side streets, hurrying their seniors</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/316.gif">The Balloon-Vender wormed his way + through the buzzing crowd, leaving his wares in a red and blue + trail behind him</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/320.gif">The Blue Sash about the country + girl's waist and the flag in her Beau's hat</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/326.gif">"One's a trick elephant. You'd die + a-laughing if you saw him"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/330.gif">"It's an awful good one. Can't he go + just this once?"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/335.gif">8 Funny Clowns—count them 8 + (left)</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/336.gif">8 Funny Clowns—count them 8 + (right)</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/342.gif">"Well, son, you're a daisy. They + generally drop the first kick"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/348.gif">The other wranglers ... dropped out + for heavy repairs</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/352.gif">When Mr. Pennington's eyes fell on + Bud, he leaned on a show-case and laughed till he shook all + over</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/356.gif">"Miss Morgan, I just want you to look + at my boy"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/360.gif">"Now, Henry, don't ever have anything + to do with that kind of trash again"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/364.gif">"Here's a dollar I got for ridin' the + trick mule ... I thought it would be nice for the missionary + society"</a></p> + + <p><a href="images/368.gif">"Gee, we're going to have pie, ain't + we"</a></p> + <hr /> + + <h4><a name="Prologue" id="Prologue"></a>PROLOGUE</h4> + + <p><i>We who are passing "through the wilderness of this world" + find it difficult to realize what an impenetrable wall there is + around the town of Boyville. Storm it as we may with the + simulation of light-heartedness, bombard it with our heavy guns, + loaded with fishing-hooks and golf-sticks, and skates and + base-balls, and butterfly-nets, the walls remain. If once the + clanging gates of the town shut upon a youth, he is banished + forever. From afar he may peer over the walls at the games + inside, but he may not be of them. Let him try to join them, and + lo, the games become a mockery, and he finds that he is cavorting + still outside the walls, while the good citizens inside are + making sly sport of him. Who, being recently banished from + Boyville, has not sought to return? In vain does he haunt the + swimming hole; the water elves will have none of him. He hushes + their laughter, muffles their calls, takes the essence from their + fun, and leaves it dust upon their lips</i>.</p> + + <p><i>But we of the race of grown-ups are a purblind people. + Otherwise, when we acknowledge what a stronghold this Boyville + is, we the banished would not seek to steal away the merry + townsmen, and bruise our hearts and theirs at our hopeless task. + We have learned many things in our schools, and of the making of + books there has been no end; so it is odd that we have not + learned to let a boy be a boy. Why not let him feel the thrill + from the fresh spring grass under his feet, as his father felt it + before him, and his father's father, even back to Adam, who + walked thus with God! There is a tincture of iron that seeps into + a boys blood with the ozone of the earth, that can come to him by + no other way. Let him run if he will; Heavens air is a better + elixir than any that the alchemist can mix. What if he roams the + woods and lives for hours in the water? What if he prefers the + barn to the parlor? What if he fights? Does he not take the risk + of the scratched face and the bruises? Should he not be in some + measure the judge of the situation before him when the trouble + begins? Boys have an ugly name for one of their kind who + discovers suddenly, in a crisis of his own making, that he is not + allowed to fight. And it were better to see a boy with a dozen + claw-marks down his face than to see him eat that name in + peace</i>.</p> + + <p><i>Now this conclusion may seem barbaric to elders who have to + pay for new clothes to replace the torn ones, And according to + their light perhaps the elders see clearly. But the grown-up + people forget that their wisdom has impaired their vision to see + as boys see and to pass judgment upon things in another + sphere</i>.</p> + + <p><i>For Boyville is a Free Town in the monarchy of the world. + Its citizens mind their own business, and they desire travellers + in this waste to do likewise. The notion that spectacled gentry + should come nosing through the streets and alleys of Boyville, + studying the sanitation, which is not of the best, and objecting + to the constitution and by laws,—which were made when the + rivers were dug and the hills piled up,—the notion of an + outsider interfering with the Divine right of boys to eat what + they please, to believe what they please, and, under loyalty to + the monarchy of the world, to do what they please, is repugnant + to this free people. Nor does it better matters when the man + behind the spectacles explains that to eat sheep-sorrel is + deleterious; to feed younkers Indian turnip is cruel; to suck the + sap of the young grapevine in spring produces malaria; to smoke + rattan is depraving, and to stuff one's stomach with paw-paws and + wild-grapes is dangerous in the extreme</i>.</p> + + <p><i>For does not the first article of the law of this Free Town + expressly state, that boys shall be absolved from obeying any and + all laws regulating the human stomach, and be free of the + penalties thereto attaching? And again when Wisdom says that the + boy shall give up his superstitions, the boy points to hoary + tradition, which says that the snakes tail does not in fact and + in truth die till sundown; that if a boy kills a lucky bug he + shall find a nickel; that to cross one's heart and lie, brings on + swift and horrible retribution; that letting the old cat die + causes death in the family; that to kill a toad makes the cow + give bloody milk; that horsehairs in water turn to snakes in nine + days; that spitting on the bait pleases the fish, and that to + draw a circle in the dust around a marble charms it against being + hit. What tradition, ancient and honorable in Boyville, declares + is true, that is the Law everlasting, and no wise mans word shall + change the law one jot nor one tittle. For in the beginning it + was written, to get in the night wood, to eat with a fork at + table, to wear shoes on Sunday, to say "sir" to company, and + "thank you" to the lady, to go to bed at nine to remember that + there are others who like gravy, to stay out of the water in dog + days, to come right straight home from school, to shinny on your + own side, and to clean those feet for Heaven's sake,—that + is the whole duty of boys. As it was in the beginning, so it + shall be ever after</i>.</p> + + <p><i>Now most of us grown-ups do not admit these things, and not + being able to speak the language of the people whose rights we + are seeking to destroy, we will never know how utterly futile are + our conspiracies. But that is immaterial</i>.</p> + + <p><i>The main point that the gentle reader should bear in mind + is this: The town of Boyville is free and independent; governed + only by the ancient laws, made by the boys of the elder + days—by the boys who found bottom in the rivers that flowed + out of Eden; by little Seth, little Enoch, little Methuselah, and + little Noah; by the boys who threw mud balls from willow withes + broken from trees whereon David hung his harp a thousand years + thereafter. For Boyville was old when Nineveh was a frontier + post</i>.</p> + + <p><i>Boyville hears from afar the buzz about principalities and + powers, the clatter of javelins and the clash of arms, the hubbub + of the "Pride and pomp and circumstance of glorious war." The + courtiers of Boyville cheer for each new hero, and claim + fellowship with all "like gentlemen unafraid." But the Free Town + has its own sovereign, makes its own idols. And the clatter and + clash and hubbub that attend the triumphs of the kingdoms of the + earth pass by unconquered Boyville as the shadow of a + dream</i>.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>THE MARTYRDOM OF "MEALY" JONES</h3> + + <p>A WAIL IN B MINOR</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh, what has become of the ornery boy,</p> + + <p class="i2">Who used to chew slip'ry elm, "rosum" and + wheat:</p> + + <p>And say "jest a coddin'" and "what d'ye soy;"</p> + + <p class="i2">And wear rolled-up trousers all out at the + seat?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And where is the boy who had shows in the barn,</p> + + <p class="i2">And "skinned a cat backards" and turned + "summersets;"</p> + + <p>The boy who had faith in a snake-feeder yarn,</p> + + <p class="i2">And always smoked grape vine and corn + cigarettes?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Where now is the small boy who spat on his bait,</p> + + <p class="i2">And proudly stood down near the foot of the + class,</p> + + <p>And always went "barefooted" early and late,</p> + + <p class="i2">And washed his feet nights on the dew of the + grass?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Where is the boy who could swim on his back,</p> + + <p class="i2">And dive and tread water and lay his hair, + too;</p> + + <p>The boy who would jump off the spring-board ker-whack,</p> + + <p class="i2">And light on his stomach as I used to do?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Oh where and oh where is the old-fashioned boy?</p> + + <p class="i2">Has the old-fashioned boy with his + old-fashioned ways,</p> + + <p>Been crowded aside by the Lord Fauntleroy,—</p> + + <p class="i2">The cheap tinselled make-believe, full of + alloy</p> + + <p class="i2">Without the pure gold of the rollicking joy</p> + + <p>Of the old-fashioned boy in the old-fashioned days?</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:90%;"> + <a href="images/030.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/030.gif" + alt= + "Chapter title: The Court of Boyville The Martyrdom of Mealy Jones" /> + </a> + </div>: + + <p>His mother named him Harold, and named him better than she + knew. He was just such a boy as one would expect to see bearing a + heroic name. He had big, faded blue eyes, a nubbin of a chin, + wide, wondering ears, and freckles—such brown blotches of + freckles on his face and neck and hands, such a milky way of them + across the bridge of his snub nose, that the boys called him + "Mealy." And Mealy Jones it was to the end. When his parents + called him Harold in the hearing of his playmates, the boy was + ashamed, for he felt that a nickname gave him equal standing + among his fellows. There were times in his life—when he was + alone, recounting his valorous deeds—that Mealy more than + half persuaded himself that he was a real boy. But when he was + with Winfield Pennington, surnamed "Piggy" in the court of + Boyville, and Abraham Lincoln Carpenter, similarly knighted "Old + Abe," Mealy saw that he was only Harold, a weak and + unsatisfactory imitation. He was handicapped in his struggle to + be a natural boy by a mother who had been a "perfect little lady" + in her girlhood and who was moulding her son in the forms that + fashioned her. If it were the purpose of this tale to deal in + philosophy, it would be easy to digress and show that Mealy Jones + was a study in heredity; that from his mother's side of the house + he inherited wide, white, starched collars, and from his father's + side, a burning desire to spit through his teeth. But this is + only a simple tale, with no great problem in it, save that of a + boy working out his salvation between a fiendish lust for + suspenders with trousers and a long-termed incarceration in + ruffled waists with despised white china buttons around his + waist-band.</p> + + <p>No one but Piggy ever knew how Mealy Jones learned to swim; + and Harold's mother doesn't consider Piggy Pennington any one, + for the Penningtons are Methodists and the Joneses are Baptists, + and Very hard-shelled ones, too. However, Mealy Jones did learn + to swim "dog-fashion" years and years after the others had become + post-graduates in aquatic lore and could "tread water," "swim + sailor-fashion," and "lay" their hair. Mrs. Jones permitted her + son to go swimming occasionally, but she always exacted from him + a solemn promise not to go into the deep water. And Harold, who + was a good little boy, made it a point not to "let down" when he + was beyond the "step-off." So of course he could not know how + deep it was; although the bad little boys who "brought up bottom" + had told him that it was twelve feet deep.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/036.gif" target="blank"><img width="100%" src= + "images/036.gif" alt= + "The three boys were scuffling for the possession of a piece of rope." /> + </a> <i>The three boys were scuffling for the possession of a + piece of rope</i>. + </div> + + <p>One hot June afternoon Mealy stood looking at a druggist's + display window, gazing idly at the pills, absently picking out + the various kinds which he had taken. He had just come from his + mother with the expressed injunction not to go near the river. + His eyes roamed listlessly from the pills to the pain-killer, + and; turning wearily away, he saw Piggy and Old Abe and Jimmy + Sears. The three boys were scuffling for, the possession of a + piece of rope. Pausing a moment in front of the grocery store, + they beckoned for Mealy. The lad joined the group. Some one + said,—</p> + + <p>"Come on, Mealy, and go swimmin'."</p> + + <p>"Aw, Mealy can't go," put in Jimmy; "his ma won't let + him."</p> + + <p>"Yes, I kin, <i>too</i>, if I want to," replied Mealy, + stoutly—but, alas! guiltily.</p> + + <p>"Then come on," said Piggy Pennington. "You don't dast. My ma + don't care how often I go in—only in dog days."</p> + + <p>After some desultory debate they started—the four + boys—pushing one another off the sidewalk, + "rooster-fighting," shouting, laughing, racing through the + streets. Mealy Jones longed to have the other boys observe his + savage behavior. He knew, however, that he was not of them, that + he was a sad make-believe. The guilt of the deed he was doing, + oppressed him. He wondered how he could go into crime so + stolidly. Inwardly he quaked as he recalled the stories he had + read of boys who had drowned while disobeying their parents. His + uneasiness was increased by the ever-present sense that he could + not cope with the other boys at their sports. He let them jostle + him, and often would run, after his self-respect would goad him + to jostle back. Mealy was glad when the group came to the deep + shade of the woods and walked slowly.</p> + + <p>It was three o'clock when the boys reached the swimming-hole. + There the great elm-tree, with its ladder of exposed roots, + stretched over the water. Piggy Pennington, stripped to the skin, + ran whooping down the sloping bank, splashed over the gravel at + the water's edge, and plunged into the deepest water. Old Abe + followed cautiously, bathing his temples and his wrists before + sousing all over. Jimmy Sears threw his shirt high up on the bank + as he stood ankle-deep in the stream. Piggy's exhilaration having + worn off by this time, he picked up a mussel-shell and threw it + at Jimmy's feet. The water dashed wide of its mark and sprinkled + Mealy, who was sitting on a log, taking off his shoes.</p> + + <p>"Here, Piggy, you quit that," said Mealy.</p> + + <p>Jimmy said nothing. He sprang into the air head foremost + toward Piggy, who dived from sight. His pursuer saw the direction + Piggy took and followed him. The boys were a few feet apart when + Jimmy came to the surface, puffing and spouting and shaking the + water from his eyes and hair. He hesitated in his pursuit. Piggy + observed the hesitation, and with a quick overhand movement shot + a stinging stream of water from the ball of his hand into his + antagonist's face. Then Piggy turned on his side and swam swiftly + to shallow water, where he stood and splashed his victim, who was + lumbering toward shore with his eyes shut, panting loudly. With + every splash Piggy said, "How's that, Jim?" or "Take a bite o' + this," or "Want a drink?" When Jimmy got where he could walk on + the creek bottom, he made a feint of fighting back, but he soon + ceased, and stood by, gasping for breath, before saying, "Let's + quit."</p> + + <p>Then followed the fun of ducking, the scuffling and the capers + of the young human animals at play—at play even as gods in + the elder days. Mealy saw it all through envious eyes and with a + pricking conscience, as he doggedly fumbled the myriad buttons + which his mother had fastened upon his pretty clothes. He heard + Piggy dare Abe across the creek, and call him a cowardly calf, + and say, "Any one't 'ull take a dare'll steal sheep." Mealy saw + Jimmy grin as he cracked rocks under water while the other boys + were diving, and watched Old Abe, as he made the waves rise under + his chin, swimming after the fleeing culprit. He saw Abe catch + Jimmy and hold his head under water until Mealy's smile faded to + a horrified grin. Then he saw the victim and the victor come + merrily to the shallows, laughing as though nothing unusual had + occurred. It was high revel in Boyville, and the satyrs were in + the midst of their joy.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/042.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/042.gif" + alt= + "He saw Abe catch Jimmy and hold his head under water." /></a> + <i>He saw Abe catch Jimmy and hold his head under water</i>. + </div> + + <p>Then Mealy heard Piggy say, "Aw, come in, Mealy; it won't hurt + you."</p> + + <p>"Is it cold?" asked Mealy.</p> + + <p>"Naw," replied Piggy.</p> + + <p>"Naw, course it ain't," returned Jimmy.</p> + + <p>"Warm as dish-water," cried Abe.</p> + + <p>Mealy's ribs shone through his skin. His big milky eyes made + him seem uncanny, standing there shivering in the shade. He + hobbled down the pebbly bank on his tender feet, his bashful grin + breaking into a dozen contortions of pain as he went. The boys + stood watching him like tigers awaiting a Christian martyr. He + paused at the water's edge, put in a toe and jerked it out with a + spasm of cold.</p> + + <p>"Aw, that ain't cold," said Piggy.</p> + + <p>"Naw, when you get in you won't mind it," insisted Abe.</p> + + <p>Mealy replied, "Oo, oo! I think that's pretty cold."</p> + + <p>"Wet your legs and you won't get the cramp," advised Jimmy + Sears.</p> + + <p>Mealy stooped over to scoop up some water in his hands. He + heard the boys laugh, and the next instant felt a shower of water + on his back. It made the tears come.</p> + + <p>"Uhm-m-m—no fair splashin'," he whined.</p> + + <p>Mealy put one foot in the water and drew it out quickly, + gasping, "Oo! I ain't goin' in. It's too cold for me. It'll bring + my measles out." He started—trembling—up the bank; + then he heard a splashing behind him.</p> + + <p>"Come back here," cried Piggy, whose hands were uplifted; + "come back here and git in this water or I'll muddy you." Piggy's + hands were full of mud. He was about to throw it when the Jones + boy pretended to laugh and giggled, "Oh, I was just + a-foolin'."</p> + + <p>But he paused again at the water's edge, and Piggy, who had + come up close enough to touch the rickety lad, reached out a + muddy hand and dabbed the quaking boy's breast. The other boys + roared with glee. Mealy extended a deprecatory hand, and took + Piggy's wet, glistening arm and stumbled nervously into the + stream, with an "Oo-oo!" at every uncertain step. When the water + came to Mealy's waist Abe cried, "Duck! duck, or I'll splash + you!" The boy sank down, with his teeth biting his tongue as he + said, "Oo! I wouldn't do you that way."</p> + + <p>When the shock of the tepid water had spent itself, Mealy's + grin returned, and he shivered happily, "Oo—it's good, + ain't it?"</p> + + <p>Ten minutes later the boys were diving from the roots of the + elm-tree into the deep water on the other side of the creek. Ten + minutes after that they were sliding down a muddy toboggan which + they had revived by splashing water upon the incline made and + provided by the town boys for scudding. Ten minutes afterward + they were covering themselves with coats of mud, + adorned—one with stripes made with the point of a stick, + another with polka-dots, another with checks, and Mealy with + snake-like, curving stripes. Then the whole crew dashed down the + path to the railroad bridge to greet the afternoon passenger + train. When it came they jumped up and down and waved their + striped and spotted arms like the barbarian warriors which they + fancied they were. They swam up the stream leisurely, and, as + they rounded the bend that brought their landing-place into view, + the quick eye of Piggy Pennington saw that some one had been + meddling with their clothes. He gave the alarm. The boys + quickened their strokes. When they came to the shallows of the + ford they saw the blue-and-white starched shirt of Mealy Jones + lying in a pool tied into half a dozen knots, with the water + soaking them tighter and tighter. The other boys' clothes were + not disturbed.</p> + + <p>"Mealy's got to chaw beef," cried Piggy Pennington. The other + boys echoed Piggy's merriment. Great sorrows come to grown-up + people, but there is never a moment in after-life more poignant + with grief than, that which stabs a boy when he learns that he + must wrestle with a series of water-soaked knots in a shirt. As + Mealy sat in the broiling sun, gripping the knots with his teeth + and fingers, he asked himself again and again how he could + explain his soiled shirt to his mother. Lump after lump rose in + his throat, and dissolved into tears that trickled down his nose. + The other boys did not heed him. They were following Piggy's + dare, dropping into the water from the overhanging limb of the + elm-tree.</p> + + <p>They did not see the figure of another boy, in a gingham + shirt, blue overalls, and a torn straw hat, sitting on a stone + back of Mealy, smiling complacently. Not until the stranger + walked down to the water's edge where Mealy sat did the other + boys spy him.</p> + + <p>"Who is it?" asked Abe.</p> + + <p>"I never saw him before," replied Jimmy Sears.</p> + + <p>"Oh, I'll tell you who it is," returned Abe, after looking the + stranger over. "It's the new boy. Him an' his old man come to + town yesterday. They say he's a fighter. He licked every boy in + the Mountain Jumpers this mornin'."</p> + + <p>By this time the new boy was standing over Mealy, saying, "How + you gittin' along?"</p> + + <p>Mealy looked up, and said with the petulance of a spoiled + child, "Hush your mouth, you old smartie! What good d't do you to + go an' tie my clo'es?"</p> + + <p>Piggy and Jimmy and Abe came hurrying to the landing. They + heard the new boy retort, "Who said I tied your clo'es?" Mealy + made no reply. The new boy repeated the query. Mealy saw the boys + in the water looking on, and his courage rose; for Mealy was in + the primary department of life, and had not yet learned that one + must fight alone. He answered, "I did," with an emphasis on the + "I," as he tugged at the last knot. The new boy had been looking + Mealy over, and he replied quickly, "You're a liar!"</p> + + <p>There was a pause, during which Mealy looked helplessly for + some one to defend him. He was sure that his companions would not + stand there and see him whipped. One of the boys in the water + said diplomatically, "Aw, Mealy, I wouldn't take that!"</p> + + <p>"You're another," faltered Mealy, who looked supplication and + surprise at his friends, and wondered if they were really going + to desert him. The new boy waded around Mealy, and leaned over + him, and said, shaking his fist in the freckled face, "You're a + coward, and you don't dast take it up and fight it out."</p> + + <p>Mealy's cheeks flushed. He felt anger mantling his frame. He + was one of those most pitiable of mortals whose anger brings + tears with it. The last knot in the shirt was all but conquered, + when Mealy bawled in a scream of passionate sobs,—</p> + + <p>"When I git this shirt fixed I'll show you who's a + coward."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/001.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/001.gif" + alt="Say, boys, where's its bottle?" /></a> "<i>Say, boys, + where's its bottle</i>?" + </div> + + <p>The new boy sought a level place on the bank for a fight, and + sneered, "Oh, cry baby! cry baby! Say, boys, where's its + bottle?"</p> + + <p>Mealy rose with a stone in each hand, and hobbled over the + pebbles, trying, "Touch me now! Touch me if you dare!"</p> + + <p>"Aw, you coward! drop them rocks," snarled the new boy.</p> + + <p>Mealy looked at his friends imploringly. He felt lonely, + deserted, and mistreated, but he saw in the faces of his comrades + the reflection of the injunction to put down the stones. He did + so, and his anger began to cool. But he whimpered again, "Well + now, touch me if you dare!"</p> + + <p>The new boy came over briskly, and made a feint to slap the + naked lad, who warded off the blow, sniffling, "You just leave me + alone. I ain't hurtin' you." The boys in the water + laughed—it seemed to Mealy such a cruel laugh. Anger + enveloped him again, and he struck out blindly through his tears, + hand over hand, striking the new boy in the mouth and making it + bleed, before he realized that the fight had begun. The new boy + tried to clinch Mealy, but the naked body slipped away from him; + and just then the combatants saw the satisfied grin freeze on the + faces of the boys in the water. A step crunched the gravel near + them, and in a moment that flashed vividly with rejoicing that + the fight was ended, then with abject, chattering terror, Mealy + Jones saw his father approaching. Mealy did not run. The uplifted + cane and the red, perspiring face of his father transfixed the + lad, yet he felt called upon to say something. His voice came + from a dry throat, and he spoke through an idiotic grin as he + said, "I didn't know you wanted me, pa."</p> + + <p>After the burst of his father's anger ten awful minutes of + shame passed for Mealy while he was putting on his wet clothes. + The boys in the water swam noiselessly upstream to the roots of + the elm-tree, where he saw them looking at his disgrace. During + those ten minutes Mealy realized that his father's deepening + silence portended evil; so he tried to draw his father into a + discussion of the merits of the case by whimpering from time to + time, "Well, I guess they ast me to come," or "Piggy said it + wouldn't hurt, 'cause 't ain't in dog days," or "I wasn't in + where it was deep. I was only a-wadin'." The new boy, who was + seated upon a log near by with a stone in his hand, which he had + picked up fearing the elder Jones would join the fray, sniffed + audibly. He called to the other boys derisively, "Say, any of you + boys got the baby's blocks?" It did not lift the mantle of + humiliation that covered Mealy to hear his father reply to the + new boy, "That will do for you, sir." While Mealy wept he wiped + away his tears first with one hand and then with the other, + employing the free hand in fastening his clothes together. He did + not fear the punishment that might be in store for him. He was + thinking of the agony of his next meeting with Piggy Pennington. + Mealy fancied that Abe Carpenter, who was a quiet, philosophical + boy, would not tease him, but horror seized him when he thought + of Piggy.</p> + + <p>As Mealy fastened his last button, he felt his father's finger + under his collar, and his own feet shambling blindly over the + pebbles, up the path, into the bushes; he heard the boys in the + water laugh with the new boy, and then—stories differ. The + boys say that he howled lustily, "Oh, pa, I won't do it any + more," over and over again. Mealy Jones says that it didn't hurt + a bit.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/058.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/058.gif" + alt= + "He felt his father's finger under his collar and his own feet shambling." /> + </a> <i>He felt his father's finger under his collar and his + own feet shambling</i> + </div> + + <p>This much is certain: that Master Harold Jones walked through + the town that day a few feet ahead of his fathers who tapped the + boy's legs with a hooked cane whenever his steps lagged. At the + door of the Jones home Mrs. Jones stood to welcome the martial + procession, which she saw, and then heard, approaching some time + before it arrived. To his wife, whose face pictured anxious + grief, Mr. Jones said, as he turned the captive over to her: "I + found this young gentleman in swimming—swimming and + fighting. I have attended to his immediate wants, I believe. I + leave him to you."</p> + + <p>Harold Jones was but a lad—a good lad whose knowledge of + the golden text was his Sunday-school teacher's pride. Yet he had + collected other scraps of useful information as he journeyed + through life. One of these was a perfectly practical familiarity + with the official road map to his mother's heart. Therefore, when + he crossed the threshold of the Jones home Harold began at once + to weep dolefully.</p> + + <p>"Harold Jones, what do you mean by such conduct?" asked his + mother.</p> + + <p>The boy stood by the window long enough to see that his father + had turned the corner toward the town. Then he fell on the floor, + and began to bewail his lot, refusing to answer the first + question his mother asked, but telling instead how "all the other + boys in this town can go swimmin' when they want to," hinting + that he wouldn't care, if papa had only just come and brought him + home, but that papa—and this was followed by a vocal + cataract of woe that made the dish-pans ring.</p> + + <p>He noted that his mother bent over him and said, "My poor + boy;" at which sign little Harold punctured the levees of his + grief again, and said he "never was goin' to face any of the boys + in this town again"—he "just couldn't bear it." Mrs. Jones + paused in her work at this, put down a potato that she was + peeling, and stood up stiffly, saying in a freezing tone, "Harold + Jones, you don't mean to tell me that your father punished you in + front of those other little boys?"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/064.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/064.gif" + alt= + "Mrs. Jones stooped to the floor and took her child by an arm." /> + </a><i>Mrs. Jones stooped to the floor and took her child by an + arm.</i> + </div> + + <p>Her son only sobbed and nodded an affirmative, and gave lusty + voice to the tearful wish that he was dead. Mrs. Jones stooped to + the floor and took her child by an arm, lifting him to his feet. + She smoothed his hair and took him with her to the big chair in + the dining-room, where she raised his seventy pounds to her lap, + saying as she did so, "Mama's boy will soon be too big to hold." + At that the spoiled child only renewed his weeping and clutched + her tightly. There, little by little, he forgot the mishaps of + the day. There the anguish lifted from his heart, and when his + mother asked, "Harold, why did you go into the water when we told + you not to?" the child only shook his head, and, after repeated + questioning, his answer came,—</p> + + <p>"Well, they asked me, mom."</p> + + <p>"Who asked you?" persisted Mrs. Jones.</p> + + <p>"Piggy Pennington and Jimmy Sears," returned the lad.</p> + + <p>To the query, "Well, do you have to do everything they ask you + to, Harold?" the lad's answer was a renewal of the heart-breaking + sobs. These softened the mother's heart, as many and many a + woman's heart has been melted through all the ages. She soothed + the truant child and petted him, until the cramping in his throat + relaxed sufficiently to admit of the passage of an astonishingly + large slice of bread and butter and sugar. After it was disposed + of, Harold busied himself by assorting his old iron scraps on the + back porch, and his mother smiled as she fancied she heard the + boy trying to whistle a tune.</p> + + <p>Harold had left the porch before his father came home with the + beefsteak for supper, and Mrs. Jones met her husband with: "Pa + Jones, what could you be thinking of—punishing that boy + before the other children? Do you want to break what little + spirit he has? Why, that child was nearly in hysterics for an + hour after you left!"</p> + + <p>Mr. Jones hung up his crooked cane, put a stick of wood in the + stove, scraped his pipe with his knife, and blew through the + stem.</p> + + <p>"I guess he wasn't hurt much," replied the father. Then he + added, as he put a live coal in the pipe: "I s'pose you went an' + babied him an' spoiled it all." There was a puffing pause, after + which Mr. Jones added, "If you'd let him go more, an' didn't + worry your head off when he was out of sight, he'd amount to + more."</p> + + <p>Mrs. Jones always gave her husband three moves before she + spoke. "Yes! yes! you'd make that boy a regular little rowdy if + you had your way, William Jones."</p> + + <p>In the mean time Harold Jones had heard a long, shrill whistle + in the alley, and, answering it, he ran as rapidly as his + spindling legs would carry him. He knew it was the boys. They + were grinning broadly when he came to them. It was Piggy + Pennington who first spoke, "Oh, pa, I won't do it any more," + repeating the phrase several times in a suppressed voice, and + leering impishly at Mealy.</p> + + <p>"Aw, you're makin' that up," answered Mealy in embarrassment. + But Piggy continued his teasing until Abe Carpenter said: "Say, + Mealy, we want you to go to the cave with us to-morrow; can + you?"</p> + + <p>The "can you" was an imputation on his personal liberty that + Mealy resented. He replied "Uh-huh! you just bet your bottom + dollar I can." Piggy began teasing again, but Abe silenced him, + and the boys sat in the dirt behind the barn, chattering about + the new boy, whose name, according to the others, was "Bud" + Perkins. Mealy entered the conversation with much masculine + pomp—too much, in fact; for when he became particularly + vain-glorious some one in the group was certain to glance at his + shoes—and shoes in June in Boyville are insignia of the + weaker sex, the badges of shame.</p> + + <p>But Mealy did not feel his disgrace. He walked up the ash path + to the kitchen with an excellent imitation of manly pride in his + gait. He kicked at a passing cat, and shook his head bravely, + talking to himself about the way he would have whipped the new + boy if his father had not interrupted the fight.</p> + + <p>As Mrs. Jones heard the boy's step on the porch, she said to + his father, "Now, pa, that boy has been punished enough to-day. + Don't you say a word to him." Harold walked by his father with + averted face. At supper the boy did not look at his father, and + when the dishes were put away, Mr. Jones, who sat in the kitchen + smoking, heard his wife and the child in a front room, chatting + cheerily. The lonesome father smoked his pipe and recalled his + youth. The boy's voice brought back his own shrill treble, and he + coughed nervously. After Mrs. Jones had put the lad to bed, and + was in the pantry arranging for breakfast, the father knocked the + ashes from his briar into the stove, and, humming an old tune, + went to the boy's bedroom door. He paused awkwardly on the + threshold. The boy turned his face toward the wall. The action + cut the father to the quick. He walked to the bed and bent over + the child, touching a father's rough-bearded face to the soft + cheek. He found the soft hand—with a father's large + hand—under the sheet, and he held the little hand tightly + as he said:</p> + + <p>"Well, Harold"—there he paused for a second. But he + continued, "Do you think you'd a-licked that + boy—if—if—I hadn't a-come?"</p> + + <p>Then the two laughed, and a little throb of joyous pain + tingled in their throats—such as only boys may feel.</p> + + <p> </p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>A RECENT CONFEDERATE VICTORY</h3> + + <p> </p> + + <p>A LITTLE DREAM-BOY</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,</p> + + <p>And wake up a little man lying forlorn,</p> + + <p>Asleep where his life wanders out of the morn.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Little Boy Blue, blow a merry, sweet note,</p> + + <p>Over the pool where the white lilies float,—</p> + + <p>Fill out the sails of a little toy boat.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Blow on my dream of a little boy there,—</p> + + <p>Blow thro' his little bark-whistle, and snare</p> + + <p>Your breath in a tangle of curly brown hair.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Blow and O blow from your fairy land far,</p> + + <p>Blow while my little boy wears a tin star,</p> + + <p>And rides a stick-horse to a little boy's war.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Blow for the brave man my dream-boy would be,</p> + + <p>Blow back his tears when he wakes up to see</p> + + <p>His knight errant gone and instead—only me.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,</p> + + <p>Blow for a little boy lying forlorn,</p> + + <p>Asleep where his life wanders out of the morn.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:65%;"> + <a href="images/074.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/074.gif" + alt="Chapter title: A RECENT CONFEDERATE VICTORY" /></a> + </div> + + <p>In a small town, every man who has been in the community long + enough to become thoroughly known to the townsmen has a place in + the human mosaic; that place seldom changes. Occasionally a man + is a year in finding his place. The town of Willow Creek located + Calhoun Perkins in two days. Wednesday he arrived in town with + his son, whom he called "Bud;" Thursday night it was reported + that he had been fishing the second time. That settled it. After + that the boasting of Perkins about his family in Tennessee and + his assertion that he expected to go into business only made the + men laugh when Perkins left a group of them. They were not + interested in Perkins by the following Saturday; and Monday every + man in the town felt that his judgment of a man who would go + fishing every day had been handsomely vindicated, when it was + learned that Perkins had served in the Confederate army. When + Perkins had been in the town three years, the anecdotes + illustrating his shiftlessness multiplied, and his name was a + synonym for that trait of character known in the vernacular as + "no-'count." In the third spring, after a winter's tussle with + rheumatism, Perkins died. His funeral was of so little importance + that none of the corpulent old ladies in black alpaca, holding + their handkerchiefs carefully folded in their hands, came panting + across the town to attend it. No women came at all. And the + Perkins boy stood by stolidly while the dry clods were rumbling + upon the pine box in the grave. The boy wished to be alone, and + he would not sit on the seat with the driver. He wiped a little + moisture from his eyes, and rode to town with his feet hanging + out of the back of the wagon that had held the coffin.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/076.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/076.gif" + alt= + "His feet hanging out of the back of the wagon that had held the coffin." /> + </a> <i>His feet hanging out of the back of the wagon that had + held the coffin</i>. + </div> + + <p>When the wagon came to the thick of the town, Bud Perkins + quietly slid to the ground, and joined a group of afternoon + idlers who were playing marbles on the south side of a livery + barn. Here and there in the group a boy said: "H'lo, Bud," when + the Perkins boy joined the coterie, but many of the youngsters, + being unfamiliar with the etiquette of mourning, were silent, and + played on at their game. When the opportunity came the Perkins + boy put a marble in the ring without saying a word. He went back + to "taws," and "lagged for goes," with the others. He spoke only + when he was addressed. A black sense of desolation lowered over + him, and he could not join in the ejaculations and responses of + the game. His luck was bad, and he lost marble after marble. In + an hour, when the sun was still in the south, he withdrew from + the game and sat alone against the barn, drawing figures on the + earth with a broken piece of hoop-iron. The boy could not fight + off the thought of the empty home waiting for him down by the + river. He saw, as he sat there, all the furniture, his father's + clothes hanging at the foot of the bed, the stove in disorder; + and then he realized that in the whole town not one hand was held + out to him. He was a child, yet the heartlessness of it all cut + him to the quick. This thought overwhelmed him, again and again, + each time with more agonizing force, like an increasing wave, and + as one flood washed over him with fiercer passion than the + others, the boy rose hurriedly, ran around the barn, and flung + himself upon a pile of hay. There he gave way to a storm of sobs. + One of the group, who had been watching him more closely than the + others, soon withdrew from the game, and going in the opposite + direction from that taken by Bud Perkins, came tiptoeing around + the haystack.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/080.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/080.gif" + alt="His luck was bad." /></a> <i>His luck was bad</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/084.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/084.gif" + alt= + "He withdrew from the game and sat alone against the barn" /></a> + <i>He withdrew from the game and sat alone against the + barn</i>. + </div> + + <p>The paroxysm of sobs had ceased, and Bud was lying face + downward as if asleep. He heard the step, but pretended not to + hear it. He felt some one pressing the hay beside him. He knew + who it was, and the two boys lay upon the hay without speaking. + The Perkins boy turned his head away from the new-comer; but try + as he would, Bud could not keep from sniffling. In a few moments + the other boy tried to roll the Perkins boy over. It was a vain + attempt. Then the sobbing began anew. But it was a short attack, + and, at length, the other boy said: "Bu-ud?" Again he said, + "Bu-ud?" There came no response. "O, Bud—I got somethin' to + tell you!" The sniffling continued, and the other boy kept on + pleading. "Ah, Bud, come on; I got somethin' real good," he said. + Silence answered. The teasing went on: "Say, Bud, I won back all + your marbles." That was repeated twice. Then a hand went over + toward the other boy. He filled it with marbles, and it went + back. Another silence was followed by a rustle of hay, and a + dirty face turned over, and a voice said through a pathetic, + apologetic smile: "This old nicked glassey ain't mine." The two + heads nestled together, and four eyes gazed at the blue sky and + the white clouds for a long time. It was the Perkins boy who + spoke: "Say, Piggy, I bet you'd cry, too, if you was me."</p> + + <p>Piggy wormed his arm under the hay around the Perkins boy's + neck, as he asked, "What you goin' to do to-night, Bud?"</p> + + <p>"I dunno. Why?" replied Bud.</p> + + <p>"Well, I'm comin' out to stay all night. They're goin' to have + a party at our house, and ma said I could."</p> + + <p>Bud drew himself up slowly; then threw himself with a quick + spring on top of Piggy, and the two began to wrestle like kittens + in the hay.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/088.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/088.gif" + alt="As she turned to her turkey-slicing" /></a> <i>As she + turned to her turkey-slicing</i>. + </div> + + <p>Even while Piggy Pennington and Bud Perkins were sitting at + dusk on the back-porch steps of the Pennington house, eating + turkey-wings which Mrs. Pennington had given to them, and + devouring ham sandwiches which Piggy had taken from the big + platterful in the pantry, looking the hired girl boldly in the + face as he did it, even then the preparations for the Pennington + entertainment were progressing indoors. The parlor, the + sitting-room, and the dining-room, which had been decorated + during the warm afternoon with borrowed palms and with roses from + the neighbor's vines, were being ventilated. Windows were rising, + and doors opening. The velvety air of May was fluttering + everywhere. And there was so much life in it, that when Mrs. + Pennington saw the two boys pass out of the alley gate, she saw + the Perkins boy grab her son's hat and run away whooping, while + Piggy followed, throwing clods at his companion's legs and feet. + She thought, as she turned to her turkey-slicing, that the + Perkins child was not taking his father's death "very hard." But + she did not know that the boyish whoop was the only thing that + saved him from sobbing, as he left the home where he saw such a + contrast to his own. How could a woman carrying the + responsibilities of the social honor of the Methodist church in + Willow Creek have time to use her second sight?</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/092.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/092.gif" + alt="The new preacher, for whom the party was made" /></a> + <i>The new preacher, for whom the party was made</i>. + </div> + + <p>The guests at the Pennington house that evening divided the + honors equally between the new preacher, for whom the party was + made, and Miss Morgan, whose last niece had married and left her + but two days before. Most of the guests had met the new preacher; + but none of them—save one or two of her intimate + friends—could know how the lonely little old woman was + faring in the cottage whence one by one her adopted birds had + flown. They called her "little Miss Morgan" in the town, and the + story of her life of devotion to her brothers' and sisters' + children was familiar to every one about her. For ten years she + had lived in Willow Creek caring for her brothers' orphans. She + came to the community from the East, and found what she + brought—culture, friends, and kindness at every turn. The + children whom she had cared for had grown up, filed through the + town's real estate college, and then mating had left the little + spinster alone.</p> + + <p>At the Penningtons' that evening she was cheerful + enough—so cheerful, indeed, in her little bird-like way, + that many of those who talked with her fancied that the + resourceful little body was beyond the reach of petty grief. The + modest, almost girlish smile beamed through the wrinkles of fifty + autumns as brightly that evening at the Penningtons' as the town + had ever seen it. From her place in a high-backed chair in the + corner, Miss Morgan, in her shy, self-deprecatory way, shed her + faint benediction about her as she had done for a decade. There + was a sweetness in Miss Morgan's manner that made the old men + gallant to her in a boyish way; and the wives, who loved her, + were proud of their husbands' chivalry. During the evening at the + Penningtons' the conversation found much of its inspiration in + the Memorial Day services on the morrow and in anecdotes about + the thriftlessness of Calhoun Perkins. Memorial Day was one of + the holidays which Miss Morgan kept in her heart. Then she + decorated each year a lover's grave—a grave she had never + seen. The day had been sacred in her heart to the memory of a + spring night, and the moon and the lilacs and the blue uniform of + a soldier. Upon other days she waved this memory away with a gay + little sigh, and would have none of it. But on Memorial Day she + bade the vision come into her heart and bide a while.</p> + + <p>But she did not open the door there at the party. They said to + one another, going home that night: "Well, I don't see's she + minds it a bit. Isn't that pluck for you—not lonesome, not + grumpy—just the same little body she was when we first saw + her. Well—I know one thing—I couldn't do it."</p> + + <p>As for Miss Morgan, while she was walking home that night, she + was thinking of the women of her age whom she had just left; the + romance seemed to be gone completely from their lives, their + faces seemed a trifle hard to her, and she was wondering if life + would have gone so with her if there had been no Shiloh.</p> + + <p>The town clock in the schoolhouse was tolling eleven, as Miss + Morgan turned the key in the front door. The night was starry and + inviting, and as her house stood among the trees, somewhat back + from the street, Miss Morgan did not feel afraid to sit in a + porch chair, refreshing herself, before going indoors. The wind + brought the odor of the lilacs from the bush at the house corner, + and the woman sat drinking in the fragrance. She saw a pair of + lovers strolling by, who did not observe her. She could hear the + murmur of their voices; she did not try to catch their words. She + sat silently dreaming and wondering. Again and again her eyes + went to the stars in a vain questioning, and her lips moved. + Maybe she was asking "where," maybe she was asking "why." As the + moments slipped by, the years fell away from her. She had carried + her little romance in her heart unsullied by reality. To-night + the talk of Memorial Day had brought it all back, and the thrill + of other days returned with the odor of the lilacs. She yielded + to a vague, crazy notion, and in an impulsive, girlish run she + went to the corner of the porch and broke a sprig from the + lilac-tree.</p> + + <p>Then with a short sigh, that had just the hint of a smile in + it, she took the lilac sprig into the house. Perhaps she fancied + that no one would see the flowers but she. Maybe the oppressive + stillness of the empty house burdened her. Certainly something + was heavy upon her, for there was no smile in the sigh that came + deeply from her heart, as she locked the door. It must have + seemed lonely for Miss Morgan, coming from the crowded parlor, + and the questions that her friends asked about her plans may have + followed her. Perhaps it was the answer to these questions that + kept her awake. She sat by her window and went over and over + again the question, what should she do. The wedding that had so + recently livened the cottage kept coming to the little old + woman's mind, and with it came the bride. When the other children + had gone away, Miss Morgan let them go with her blessing, and was + glad of their good fortunes. But this last child to go had been + Miss Morgan's pet. As the lonely spinster sat there she recalled + how the child had been moulded by her; how she had fancied the + child's heart was hers, cherishing in it the ideals, the + sentiment, the tendernesses that the older heart had held sacred + for a lifetime. Miss Morgan recalled how she and the girl had + mingled their tears over the first long dress that their hands + made, knowing, each of them, that it meant the coming of the + parting. As she looked into the awful vistas of the stars, the + woman knew that she was one of God's creatures, all + alone—without one soul that she might even signal to.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/100.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/100.gif" + alt="The first long dress." /></a> <i>The first long dress</i>. + </div> + + <p>The word "alone" came to her so strangely that she repeated it + in a whisper. Its sound touched some string within her bosom, and + she put her head upon the open window sill and wept, sobbing the + word "alone" until sleep soothed her.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/104.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/104.gif" + alt="Dickey, Dickey, for gracious sake, keep still." /></a> + "<i>Dickey, Dickey, for gracious sake, keep still</i>." + </div> + + <p>The morning sunlight helped Miss Morgan to put aside the + problems of the night; she hummed an old war tune as she went + about her work, but it did not lift the silence from the house. + The rooms that a few days before had been vocal with life, were + so dead that the clock ticking in the parlor might be heard in + the kitchen. The canary's cheerful song echoed shrilly through + the silent place. Miss Morgan said to him, "Dickey, Dickey, for + gracious sake, keep still—you'll drive me wild." But her + voice only increased the bird's vehemence, and the throbbing in + her ears brought on a headache. When she put a paper over the + cage, the clock annoyed her. She was irritated by a passing boy + whistling "The Girl I Left Behind Me" with all his might, but + sadly off the key. She went to the window and saw Bud + Perkins.</p> + + <p>She did not know that the child had just arisen from a + cheering breakfast at the Penningtons'—even if she knew how + much a hearty breakfast cheers up any boy. But the spectacle of + the orphan facing the world so bravely moved Miss Morgan. She + felt a sudden wave of pity, and with it came the conviction of + guilt—that she had been selfish while the boy was + suffering. She had heard at the Penningtons' that the county + would probably take charge of him; but she recalled what she had + heard in its full meaning to the child only when she saw him turn + the corner, going toward the centre of the town. There was a + feeling of keen joy in her heart as she realized that she was not + useless in the world, and she went about her morning's work with + the lightest heart in all Willow Creek beating in her breast.</p> + + <p>Bud Perkins had seen but two Memorial Days in Kansas—and + upon each of these days he and his father had gone fishing. The + boy knew it was a soldiers' holiday, and from Piggy Pennington + Bud had found out what were the purposes of the day. He knew that + his father had been a soldier—a soldier on the wrong side. + But he did not know that graves of Confederate soldiers were not + included in the day's sacrament.</p> + + <p>"Mornin', Captain," said Bud to a slight, gray-haired old man, + stooping over a basket of flowers in a vacant store-room in the + main street of the town.</p> + + <p>When the man replied kindly the boy took heart to say: "You + must be kind o' runnin' things here, I guess."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/108.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/108.gif" + alt="Did you know my dad was a soldier?" /></a> "<i>Did you + know my dad was a soldier</i>?" + </div> + + <p>"I'm in charge of the flowers, Bud, just for to-day," replied + Captain Meyers, who did not wish to seem as vain-glorious as he + was.</p> + + <p>"Goin' to put flowers on all the soldiers' graves—are + you?" queried Bud. The elder replied that the Post aimed to do + so.</p> + + <p>"Did you know my dad was a soldier?" was the boy's next + question.</p> + + <p>The captain's heart was pricked when he saw what was in Bud's + mind. The captain knew what the next query would be. He was a + gentle man and kind. So, looking about to see if any comrades of + a sterner sect than he were in hearing before replying, he said: + "You mustn't feel bad now, Buddie, but it's only them on the + Union side—whose graves we decorate to-day. I wouldn't + mind, if I was you." Captain Meyers was not a diplomat, and he + said the words poorly.</p> + + <p>In an instant the boy's eyes filled with tears. They dried in + anger before they reached his flushed cheek. He clinched his + hands, turned, and walked hotly out of the room. In the door he + paused, whirled around, and cried,—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Yank! Yank! Rick-stick-stank!</p> + + <p>High ball, low ball, dirty-faced Yank!"</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Then he ran wildly down the street to escape the infuriated + mob which he believed would pursue him. The knowledge that he was + cut off from the day's festivities made him wince with pain as he + ran. Not until he came out upon the road across the prairie did + he stop—breathless, worn out, crying. During the next two + hours the boy wandered on the prairie and in the woods gathering + wild flowers. By the time the exercises in the Willow Creek opera + house were finished and the procession was formed, Bud Perkins + had a heaping armful of field blossoms. He was coming over the + hill to the cemetery when he heard the band strike up the "Dead + March" down in the village. His impulse was to run away. He + checked himself and walked across the place, past the shafts and + monuments, toward his father's grave under the hill furthest from + the town. In the middle of the cemetery the boy stopped. His eyes + were caught by a marble lamb over a child's grave. The + inscription he read was "Mary Pennington, aged two years, three + months, and ten days." The date line upon the stone, told of a + year that had passed before the Perkins boy was born. He gazed at + it a moment, and put there a handful of his choicest flowers. + Looking up he saw some early visitor to the silent place stepping + from behind a monument. Bud had scattered his flowers before he + saw that he was being watched; so he pretended to hunt for stones + to throw. He gathered several, and peppered them at shafts and at + birds.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/112.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/112.gif" + alt= + "During the next two hours the boy wandered on the prairie." /></a> + <i>During the next two hours the boy wandered on the + prairie</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/116.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/116.gif" + alt= + "Mary Pennington, aged two years, three months, and ten days." /> + </a> "<i>Mary Pennington, aged two years, three months, and ten + days</i>." + </div> + + <p>Bud Perkins walked to the freshly-made mound where his father + lay, and scattered his posies over it. The village "cornet band" + was coming nearer and nearer to the hill. The boy curbed a + temptation to leave. He walked lazily about the grave until the + Memorial Day procession had entered the big iron gate a hundred + yards away. Calhoun Perkins's grave could not be seen from the + plot where the townspeople had gathered. The boy sat down with + his back to the crowd. He did not know how near the people were + to him. He felt that they were staring down, perhaps laughing, at + him. So he tried to assume a careless air. He picked up clods and + tossed them at adjacent objects. Tiring of this, he chewed the + grass stems, and sucked the nectar from the corolla of wild + honeysuckles. But this did not keep the lump out of his throat, + and it did not subdue the turmoil of sorrow in his heart at the + thought that his father was scorned in the town. Once his small + frame shook with a strangled sob, but immediately afterward he + threw an unusually big clod at a post near by. He had been + hearing voices and footsteps on the brow of the hill for several + minutes. Occasionally he picked out a familiar voice, and once he + heard Mealy Jones call his name. He did not answer, but a woman + standing a little further up the hill asked Mealy, "Who is it, + Harold?" "Bud," said the youngster.</p> + + <p>"Bud who?" asked the woman's voice.</p> + + <p>The Perkins boy heard the dialogue. He was sitting down, + throwing clods into the air, and catching them as they fell, and + this appeared to be an engrossing task.</p> + + <p>"Bud Perkins. He's settin' down by his pa's grave," replied + the boy on the hill. The child by the fresh mound pictured + himself as the other boy saw him, and his eyes brimmed over with + tears. He seemed so desolate.</p> + + <p>"Why don't you go to him?" insisted the woman, coming + nearer.</p> + + <p>"Oh, Miss Morgan," said the boy whom she addressed, lowering + his voice, but not lowering it sufficiently, "Miss Morgan, + <i>you</i> don't know <i>him</i>"</p> + + <p>Just then Bud was startled by a footstep at his side. He + looked up and saw Piggy Pennington, who had a big bunch of roses + in his hands, and who, seeing the stained face of his friend, + said in embarrassed confusion: "Ma sent 'em." Piggy put the roses + by the new pine head-board, and lay down—lying across his + companion's feet.</p> + + <p>"Get off me," said Bud, when he had treated himself to a long, + trembling sniff, after a painful silence. "I ain't no + sidewalk."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/120.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/120.gif" + alt="Piggy went to get his flying hat." /></a> <i>Piggy went to + get his flying hat</i>. + </div> + + <p>When Piggy went to get his flying hat, he said under his + breath to Bud, "Wipe your face, quick; some one's comin'." Then + he stood awkwardly at Bud's back and shielded him. Piggy spoke + first to the little woman, now only a few paces away.</p> + + <p>"H'lo, Miss Morgan; lookin' for old Tom? He's buried off to + the right yonder."</p> + + <p>"No, my dear. I want to speak to Henry Perkins," replied the + woman, beaming the kindest of smiles into the guardsman's face. + He stepped from the line between Miss Morgan and the Perkins boy, + not sure that the intruder would find a welcome. Bud was glaring + steadfastly at the earth, between his hands and knees. Piggy + said, "Bu-ud?"</p> + + <p>"Whut," was the response.</p> + + <p>"Miss Morgan wants to talk with you," replied Piggy.</p> + + <p>"What's she want?" inquired the Perkins boy, with his head + still between his knees.</p> + + <p>Miss Morgan had been coming nearer and nearer to him as the + dialogue had progressed. She was standing in front of Bud when he + added, "I ain't done nothin'."</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/124.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/124.gif" + alt="She stroked his hand and snuggled closer to him." /></a> + <i>She stroked his hand and snuggled closer to him</i>. + </div> + + <p>Miss Morgan bent down and touched his head with her hands. + Piggy was shaking his head warningly at her with much + earnestness. He feared that such a feminine proceeding would + anger his comrade. When Miss Morgan sat upon the ground beside + Bud and took one of his hands, stroking it without the boy's + resisting, Piggy Pennington was dumb with wonder. He could not + hear the gentle breaking of the agonizing lump in the child's + throat. Even little Miss Morgan could not see the tears that had + burst over the brims of the orphan's eyes. His face was averted. + She stroked his hand, and snuggled closer to him. Then she heard + a faint whimper, and her heart could stand the strain no longer; + she leaned upon the child's shoulder, and mourned with him. The + Pennington boy did not comprehend it all; but as he looked + politely away from his friends, he felt the moisture in his eyes. + He wiped it away quickly, glancing to see if his weakness had + been detected. The woman recovered in a few moments, and arose + with the boy's hand gripping hers warmly. He had felt her tears + through his thin clothing, and was conquered.</p> + + <p>"Come on, Henry; we're going now," said Miss Morgan, and drew + the lad up with her hand.</p> + + <p>"Whur to?" asked Bud, who knew the answer instinctively.</p> + + <p>"Home," replied the little woman, who knew that the boy knew, + and who was sure that he had consented. "Our home—yours and + mine."</p> + + <p>The boy arose, still holding her hand, and looked toward the + grave with the flowers strewn over it. He gripped her hand + tightly—so tightly that it pained her—and sobbed, as + he faced away from her: "O pop!"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/128.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/128.gif" + alt="Miss Morgan smiled happily at the clouds" /></a> <i>Miss + Morgan smiled happily at the clouds</i>. + </div> + + <p>Then they walked on in silence, till they came up with Piggy, + who had gone a few steps ahead. It was Bud who spoke first. He + said: "You don't live far from Piggy's, do you, Miss Morgan?"</p> + + <p>And Piggy Pennington pointed his finger at Bud's dripping eyes + and grinned, while Miss Morgan smiled happily at the clouds.</p> + + <p> </p><br clear="right" /> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>"WHILE THE EVIL DAYS COME + NOT"</h3> + + <p> </p> + + <p>THE RHYME OF MIGNONETTE</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>When dandelions fleck the green,</p> + + <p class="i2">And plum-blooms scent the evening breeze,</p> + + <p class="i2">And robin's songs throb through the trees;</p> + + <p>And when the year is raw thirteen,</p> + + <p class="i2">And Spring's a gawky hoyden yet,</p> + + <p>The season mirrors in its mien</p> + + <p class="i2">And in its tom-boy etiquette,</p> + + <p class="i2">Maid Mignonette, my Mignonette.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>When bare-feet lisp along the path,</p> + + <p class="i2">And boys and jays go whistling by,</p> + + <p class="i2">And girls and thrushes coyly cry</p> + + <p>Their fine joys through the aftermath—</p> + + <p class="i2">Then laid ghosts know their amulet</p> + + <p>Which fickle siren mem'ry hath;</p> + + <p class="i2">So laughing comes that sad coquette,</p> + + <p class="i2">Comes Mignonette,—my Mignonette.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The wild rose is a conjurer,</p> + + <p class="i2">It charms the heavy years away,</p> + + <p class="i2">Unshoes my feet and bids them stray</p> + + <p>O'er playgrounds where our temples were.</p> + + <p class="i2">To some pale star I owe a debt</p> + + <p>For harboring the soul of her</p> + + <p class="i2">With whom I learned love's alphabet—</p> + + <p class="i2">With Mignonette, my Mignonette.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p> </p> + + <p><b>"While the Evil Days come not"</b></p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>We duck through the court, reminded a</p> + + <p>bit by our feelings of our first love, who hadn't</p> + + <p>the cleanest of faces, or the nicest of manners;</p> + + <p>but she takes her station in our memory because</p> + + <p>we were boys then, and the golden halo</p> + + <p>of youth is upon her.—<i>George Meredith</i>.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>What little things turn great events! Tragedies swing on such + inconsequential hinges. It is so exasperating to look back over + the path of a calamity and see how easily it might have been + averted! If one man in the little town of Lawrence a generation + ago had eaten two pieces of pie-plant pie instead of three for + supper, the night of a certain party caucus, he would have + attended that caucus and another set of delegates would have gone + to the County convention, another would have been sent to the + State Convention, another Governor of Kansas would have been + nominated and elected, and he would have chosen another United + States Senator, who would have voted for, instead of against, the + impeachment of a President of the United States, and the history + of the civilized world would have been an entirely different + affair from the one now in use. Similarly, if Winfield Hancock + Pennington, of the town of Boyville, had slipped his shoes off in + the second block from his home, instead of slipping them off in + the first block, on his way to school, a great shadow that + settled over his life might have been lifted. For if he had not + been sitting exactly where he sat on the curbing of the street, + on that bright, beautiful Monday morning in September, removing + his shoes and stockings, he would have found no garter snake to + kill; and not having killed the snake, he could not have brought + it to school on a stick; and not having brought it to school on a + stick, he could not have chased the little girls around the yard + with it before the teacher came. And if he had not been doing + that, he would not have conceived the chivalrous notion that he + might gain the esteem of his Heart's Desire by frightening her + with a snake. And if Winfield Hancock Pennington had not made his + Heart's Desire angry—without giving her a chance to cool + off—she would not have invited Harold Jones to sit and sing + with her during the opening hour. But probably all that happened + had to happen in the course of things; so speculation is idle. + But when it did happen, it seemed to be a hopeless case. Young + Mr. Pennington had lived through the day, a week before, when the + teacher changed his seat so that he could not see his Heart's + Desire smile; but he knew that she was sorry with him, and that + helped a little. But when he saw Harold Jones singing from the + same book with his Heart's Desire, he tried in vain to catch the + fragment of a smile from her. Instead of a smile, he found her + threatening to make a face if he persisted. Piggy seemed to be + buried in an avalanche of woe. Then it was that he saw what a + small thing had started the avalanche of calamity thundering down + upon him, and he smarted with remorse. In his anguish he tried to + sing alto, and made a peculiar rasping sound that tore a reproof + for him off the teacher's nerves.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/136.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/136.gif" + alt="Chased the little girls around the yard with it" /></a> + <i>Chased the little girls around the yard with it</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/140.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/140.gif" + alt= + "She would not have invited Harold Jones to sit and sing with her during the opening hour." /> + </a> <i>She would not have invited Harold Jones to sit and sing + with her during the opening hour</i>. + </div> + + <p>From the hour of the Jones boy's triumph, he and Winfield + Hancock Pennington—familiarly known as "Piggy"—became + boon companions. A grown-up outsider might have wondered at such + a friendship, for Harold Jones was a pale, thin youth, with a + squeaky voice. His skimmed-milk eyes popped out over a waste of + freckles which blurred his features and literally weighted down a + weak, loosely-wired jaw and kept an astonished mouth opened for + hours at a time. Piggy, on the other hand, was a sturdy, chunky, + blue-eyed boy, who had fought his way up to glory in the school, + and who had run and jumped, and tumbled and dived, and bantered + himself into the right to be King of Boyville. Chummery between + the two boys seemed impossible, yet it was one of the things + which every school expects in a certain crisis. When the affair + is reversed, the two little girls go about breathing undying + hatred for one another. But a boy begins to consume his rival + with politeness, to seek him out from all other beings on earth, + to study his tastes and cater to his humors. And so, while the + comradeship between Piggy Pennington and Mealy Jones was built on + ashes, its growth was beautiful to see.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/144.gif"><img width="7%" src="images/144.gif" + alt="Harold Jones" /></a> <i>Harold Jones</i> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/148.gif"><img width="15%" src="images/148.gif" + alt="To study his tastes" /></a> <i>To study his tastes</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/152.gif"><img width="25%" src="images/152.gif" + alt="... the comradeship ... was beautiful to see" /></a> ... + <i>the comradeship ... was beautiful to see</i> + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/156.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/156.gif" + alt="The red-headed Pratt girl." /></a> <i>The red-headed Pratt + girl</i>. + </div> + + <p>In all their hours of close communion neither boy mentioned to + the other the name of the little girl in the red shawl and the + paint-brush pig-tails whose fitful fancy had brought on all his + trouble. In some mysterious way each managed to shower her with + picture cards, to compass her about with oranges, to embower her + desk with flowers; but it was all done in stealth, and she who + was the object of this devotion rewarded it openly and—alas + for the vanity of her sex—impartially. All the school + watched the battle of the hearts eagerly. The big boys, who + usually know as little about the social transactions beneath them + as the teacher knows, felt an inkling of the situation. The + red-headed Pratt girl became deeply interested in the affair, + though she was never invited to a party in the school's + aristocracy. She did not even get an invitation to Bud Perkins's + surprise party, where every one who had any social standing was + expected. Yet she saw all that went on in the school, and once + she all but smiled sympathetically at Piggy, when she met him + slipping away from his Heart's Desire's desk, in which he had + left a flock of Cupids nestling on a perfumed blotter, and a + candy sheep. Mealy Jones would have snubbed the Pratt girl if she + had caught him thus, but Piggy gave her a wink that made her his + partner. After that hour the Pratt girl became his scout. The + next day she blundered. That Friday was burned into Piggy + Pennington's memory with a glowing brand.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:23%;"> + <a href="images/160.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/160.gif" + alt= + "He could only snap chalk in a preoccupied way andlisten to his Heart's Desire" /> + </a> <i>He could only snap chalk in a preoccupied way and + listen to his Heart's Desire</i> + </div> + + <p>The trouble occurred in this way: On the Friday following + Piggy's black Monday, the King of Boyville, decided to resort to + an heroic measure. In his meditative moments Piggy had made up + speeches addressed to his Heart's Desire wherein he had proposed + reconciliation at any sacrifice save that of honor. Twice during + those four days he had stood by his Heart's Desire during recess, + while they had looked out at the play-ground. But the words next + to his heart had sputtered and bubbled into nothing on his lips. + He could only snap chalk at the young gentlemen in the yard below + him, in a preoccupied way, and listen to his Heart's Desire + rattle on about the whims of her fractions and the caprices of + her spelling-lesson. Friday noon, Winfield Hancock Pennington + took a header into the Rubicon. In the deserted school-room, just + after the other youngsters had gone to dinner or to play, Piggy, + with much wiggling of his toes, with much hard breathing, and + with many facial contortions, wrote a note. He gave it to the + Pratt girl to deliver. When the first bell was ringing that noon, + Piggy was piling up the primary urchins in wiggling, squealing + piles at "crack the whip." During the fifteen minutes that + followed, he was charging up and down the yard, howling like a + Comanche, at "pull-away." But run as he would, yell as he would, + and wrestle as he would, Piggy could not escape the picture that + rose in his mind of a boy wearing his features and using his + body, writing the note that he had written. When dismembered + words and phrases from that note came to his mind on the + play-ground, the quaver of terror that rose in Piggy's whoop was + not dissembled. Sometimes fear froze his vitals, then a flush of + self-abasement burned him with its flames. And all the time he + knew that the Pratt girl had that note. He almost hoped that an + earthquake would swallow her with it before she could deliver it. + When Piggy came straggling in, hot, sweaty, and puffing, just as + the teacher was tapping the tardy-bell, a wave of peace swept + over him. His Heart's Desire was not at her desk. He knew that he + had still a few moments' reprieve.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/164.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/164.gif" + alt= + "Piggy was piling up the primary urchins in wiggling, squealing piles" /> + </a> <i>Piggy was piling up the primary urchins in wiggling, + squealing piles</i> + </div> + + <p>They were singing when his Heart's Desire came in. Piggy's + head was tilted back to give his voice full volume as he shouted, + "All his jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own." His + eyes were half closed in an ecstasy, and he did not turn his face + toward the paint-brush pig-tails, nor give any sign that he knew + of their owner's presence. Yet when she passed his desk, his + voice did not quaver, nor his eyes blink, nor his countenance + redden, as his foot darted out for her to trip over. She tripped + purposely, thereby accepting affection's tribute, and he was + glad.</p> + + <p>To elaborate the tale of how the Pratt girl blundered with + Piggy Pennington's note would be depressing. For it holds in its + barbed meshes a record of one agonizing second in which Piggy saw + the folded paper begin to slip and slide down the incline of his + Heart's Desire's desk, whereon the Pratt girl had dropped it; saw + the two girls grab for it; heard it crash from the seat to the + floor with what seemed to him a deafening roar. Nor is this all + that the harrowing tale might disclose. It might dilate upon the + horror that wrenched Piggy's spine as he watched the teacher's + finger crook a signal for the note to be brought forward. It + would be manifestly cruel and clearly unnecessary to describe the + forces which impelled the psychic wave of suggestion that + inundated the school—even to the youth of the "B" class, + with his head under the desk, looking for a pencil—and gave + every demon there gleeful knowledge that the teacher had nabbed a + note and would probably read it aloud. It is enough to submit the + plain, but painful, statement that, when the teacher tapped her + pencil for attention, a red ear, a throbbing red ear, flared out + from either side of Piggy Pennington's Fourth Reader, while not + far away a pair of pig-tails bristled up with rage and + humiliation from a desk where a little girl's head lay buried in + her arms. Then the teacher unfolded the crackling paper and read + this note:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>FRIEND MARY.—Did you mean anything</p> + + <p>by letting Him sing with you. I</p> + + <p>dont care if you did but I never don</p> + + <p>anything to deserve it, but if you dident</p> + + <p>I am very sorry, will tell you bout it at</p> + + <p>the partey. Well that is all I can think</p> + + <p>of today, from</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Yourse Ever,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>WIN PENNINGTON.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>P.S. If you still meen what you sed</p> + + <p>about roses red and vilets blue all right</p> + + <p>and so do I. WHP.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/168.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/168.gif" + alt= + "He watched the teacher's finger crook a signal for the note to be brought forward" /> + </a> <i>He watched the teacher's finger crook a signal for the + note to be brought forward</i>. + </div> + + <p>Piggy waded home through blood that night. The boys could not + resist calling out "Friend Mary" or "Hello, Roses Red," though + each boy knew that his taunt would bring on a fight. Piggy fought + boys who were three classes above him. He whipped groups of boys + of assorted sizes from the lower grades; but the fighting took + him away from his trouble, and in most cases he honored his + combatants. He was little the worse for wear when he chased the + last swarm of primary urchins into his father's cow lot, fastened + them in, and went at them one by one with a shingle. A child + living next door to the Penningtons had brought the news of + Piggy's disgrace to the neighborhood, and by supper-time Mrs. + Pennington knew the worst. While the son and heir of the house + was bringing in his wood and doing his chores about the barn, he + felt something in the air about the kitchen which warned him that + new tortures awaited him.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/172.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/172.gif" + alt= + "... fought boys who were three classes above him ... whipped groups of boys of assorted sizes." /> + </a> ... <i>fought boys who were three classes above him + ... whipped groups of boys of assorted sizes</i>. + </div> + + <p>A boy would rather take a dozen whippings at school than have + the story of one of them come home; and Piggy thought with inward + trembling that he would rather report even a whipping at home + than face his mother in the dishonor which covered him. At supper + Mrs. Pennington repeated the legend of the note with great + solemnity. When her husband showed signs of laughing, she glared + at him. Her son ate rapidly in silence. Over his mother's + shoulders Piggy saw the hired girl giggle. The only reply that + Mrs. Pennington could get to her questions was, "Aw, that ain't + nothin'," or "Aw, gee whiz, ma, you must think that's somethin'." + But she proclaimed, in the presence of the father, the son, and + the hired girl, that if she ever caught a boy of hers getting + "girl-struck" she would "show him," which, being translated, + means much that no dignified young gentleman likes to + contemplate. But when the son was out of hearing, Mrs. Pennington + told her husband, in the repressed tone which she used when + expressing her diplomatic communications, that he would have "to + take that boy in hand." Whereupon the father leaned back in his + chair and laughed, laughed until he grew red in the face, laughed + till the pans in the kitchen rattled, laughed—to use the + words of his wife in closing the incident—"like a natural + born simpleton."</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:27%;"> + <a href="images/180.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/180.gif" + alt="Her son ate rapidly in silence." /></a> <i>Her son ate + rapidly in silence</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/176.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/176.gif" + alt= + "Over his mother's shoulders Piggy saw the hired girl giggle." /> + </a> <i>Over his mother's shoulders Piggy saw the hired girl + giggle</i>. + </div> + + <p>Alas for Piggy Pennington—he might affect great pride in + his amours when the hired girl teased him; he might put on a + brave face and even lure himself into the belief that this arch + tormentor saw him only as a gay deceiver; but when the lights + were out, Piggy covered his head with the bedclothes, and grew + hot and cold by turns, till sleep came and bore him away from his + humiliation.</p> + + <p>All day Saturday, before the Bud Perkins' surprise party, + Piggy Pennington and Mealy Jones were inseparable. And Piggy, who + was King of Boyville, came down from his throne and walked humbly + beside Mealy, the least of all his courtiers. In fact, since the + reading of his note Piggy had become needlessly deferential and + considerate of the feelings of his rival.</p> + + <p>If the two entered a crowd and played "foot and a half" or + "slap and a kick" or "leap-frog," and if Mealy was "it"—and + poor Mealy was generally "it" in any game—Piggy did not + jump viciously on Mealy's wobbly back, nor did he slap hard, nor + kick hard, as he would have slapped and kicked on other days, + before he descended from his throne to dwell with the beasts of + the field on that fatal Friday. Pride kept Mealy on the rack.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:45%;"> + <a href="images/184.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/184.gif" + alt= + "His cleanliness pleased his mother and she boasted of it to the mothers of other boys." /> + </a> <i>His cleanliness pleased his mother and she boasted of + it to the mothers of other boys</i>. + </div> + + <p>Time and again his little, freckled, milky face hit the moist + springy ground as Bud or Abe or Jim bumped into him at their + play. He was glad when the day ended and he could go home. For + Mealy Jones abhorred the dirt that begrimed his face and soiled + his white starched collar. He liked to play in lukewarm water, to + slosh in the suds, and to rub his soft little hands whiter and + whiter in the foam. His cleanliness pleased his mother, and she + boasted of it to the mothers of other boys—mothers of boys + with high-water marks just above their shirt collars; of boys who + had to be yanked back to the roller-towel after washing to have + their ears rubbed; of bad, bad, bad boys who washed their feet in + the dew of the grass at night and told their mothers that they + had washed them in the tub at the pump; of wicked and sinful boys + who killed toads and cried noisily when their warts bled in the + hot water; in fact, to the mothers of nearly all the boys in + Boyville. And thus it came about that Boyville having Mealy Jones + set before it as a model child, contracted a cordial hate for + him, and rose against him when he presumed to contest with Piggy + for his Heart's Desire. Yet all Boyville loved a fight, and all + Boyville goaded the King to wrath, teased him, bantered him, and + even pretended to doubt his worth. Therefore, when Piggy + Pennington, the King of Boyville, dressed for the party that + night in his Sunday clothes and his Sunday shoes and limped down + the sidewalk to the Jones's, where the boys and girls were to + meet before descending upon Bud Perkins, there was rancor in the + royal heart and maternal hair-oil on the royal head. But a + strange throb of glad pain in the pit of the royal stomach came + at the thought of the two bright eyes that would soon meet his + own. The eyes made him forget his blistering shoes, and a smile + at the door divested his mind of the serrated collar upon which + his head had been pivoting for five distracted minutes. The last + thing of all to go was his pride in the hair-oil, but it fell + before a voice that said: "Well, you got here, did you?"</p> + + <p>That was all. But it was enough to make Piggy Pennington feel + the core of a music-box turning inside him, while outside the + company saw the King of Boyville transformed into a very red and + very sweaty youth holding madly to the back of his cuffs and + chuckling deliriously. In a daze he took off his hat, and put a + sack of oranges, his part in the evening's refreshment, on a + table in the next room. When he regained consciousness, Piggy + noticed that Mealy Jones, who had pranced into the room with much + unction, was sitting next to his Heart's Desire. The children + were making merry chatter. Piggy took his place on the end of a + lounge, and turning his back to the guilty pair, gave an "injin" + pinch to Jimmy Sears, with orders to "pass it on."</p> + + <p>Indeed, so unconcerned was Piggy in the progress of the affair + behind him that he began to shove the line of the boys on the + lounge; the shoving grew into a scuffle, and the scuffle into a + wrestle, which ended on the front porch. At length Piggy stalked + through the room where the girls were sitting, saying, when he + returned with his oranges and his hat: "Come on, fellers, + everybody's here."</p> + + <p>The boys on the porch followed Piggy's example, and in a + minute or two they stood huddled at the gate calling at the girls + in the house to hurry. When the girls were on the porch, the boys + struck out, and the two groups, a respectful distance apart, + walked through the town. Mealy Jones was enjoying the triumph of + his life, walking proudly between the noisy boys and giggling + girls, beside—but why linger over the details of this + instance of man's duplicity and woman's worse than weakness!</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/188.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/188.gif" + alt="A little maid in a black-and-red check." /></a> <i>A + little maid in a black-and-red check</i>. + </div> + + <p>The young blades of the Court of Boyville waited politely at + the gate before the house where Bud Perkins lived with Miss + Morgan, his foster mother. When the maidens arrived, all the + company went trooping up Miss Morgan's steps. After Piggy had + chased Bud from the front door into a closet, from which the host + fought his way gallantly into the middle of the parlor floor, the + essential preliminaries of the evening's entertainment were over. + A little later the games began. First, there was "forfeits." Then + came "tin-tin." "Clap in and clap out" followed, and finally, + after much protestation from the girls, but at the earnest + solicitation of Mealy Jones, "post-office" started. Piggy did not + urge, nor protest. He had gone through the games listlessly, + occasionally breaking into a spasm of gayety that was clearly + hollow, and afterwards sinking into profound indifference. For + how could a well-conditioned boy be gay with a heartache under + his Sunday shirt and the spectacle before his eyes of a freckled + human cock-sparrow darting round and round the bower of his + Heart's Desire? Under such circumstances it was clearly + impossible for him to see the eyes that sought his in vain across + the turmoil of the room. Indeed, a voice pitched a trifle high to + carry well spoke for him to hear, but met deaf ears. A little + maid in a black-and-red check which the King of Boyville once + preferred to royal purple, even made her way across the + throng—undesignedly, he thought, but Piggy basked in the + joy of her presence and made no sign to show his pleasure. A + little later, in the shuffle of the game, Piggy and his Heart's + Desire were far apart. Half an hour passed, but still he did not + revive. Mealy Jones called her out in "post-office," and Piggy + thought he saw her smile. That was too much. When the dining-room + door closed behind the black-and-red checked dress, the pitcher + that enclosed his woe broke and the wheel at the cistern of his + endurance stopped. Mealy Jones came into the room, and the boy + who kept the "post-office" called out, "Piggy Pennington." But + the slam of the front door was his answer.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/192.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/192.gif" + alt= + "Piggy sat on the front porch, and reviewed the entire affair." /> + </a> <i>Piggy sat on the front porch, and reviewed the entire + affair</i>. + </div> + + <p>Piggy sat on the front porch, and reviewed the entire affair. + It began when his Heart's Desire had fluttered into his autograph + album with a coy:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p style="margin-left:34%">"When this you see</p> + + <p style="margin-left:36%">Remember me."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/196.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/196.gif" + alt= + "It began when his Heart's Desire had fluttered into his autograph album." /> + </a> <i>It began when his Heart's Desire had fluttered into his + autograph album</i>. + </div> + + <p>He followed the corrugated course of true love, step by step + up to its climax, where, a week before, she had given him his + choice of her new pack of assorted visiting-cards. He rose at the + end of five minutes' sombre meditation, holding the curling + gelatine card of his choice in his warm hand. After venting a + heavy sigh, he checked a motion to throw away the token of his + undoing and put it back into his pocket. While he was plotting + dark things against the life and happiness of Mealy Jones, Piggy + heard the sound of the merriment within, and a mischievous smile + spread over his angry countenance. He tiptoed to the window, and + peeped in. He saw his Heart's Desire sitting alone. He cheered up + a little, not much—but sufficiently to reach in his pocket + for his tick-tack.</p> + + <p>Now, it may be clearly proved, if necessary, that the + tick-tack was invented by the devil. Any wise man's son knows + that every boy between the ages of ten and fourteen carries with + him at all times a complete outfit of the mechanical devices on + which the devil holds the patent and demands a royalty. So there + is nothing really strange in the statement that Piggy Pennington + took from his Sunday clothes, beneath a pocketful of Rewards of + Merit for regular attendance at Sunday-school—all dated + before the Christmas-tree—a spool with notched wheels, a + lead pencil, and a bit of fishline. The line wound round the + spool. Piggy put the pencil through the hole in the spool, and + held the notched rims of the spool against the window pane by + pressing on the pencil axle. He gave the cord a quick jerk; a + rattle, a wail, and a shriek were successively produced by the + notches whirring on the glass. The company within doors screamed. + Everyone knew it was Piggy, but no one ever lived with nerves + strong enough to withstand the shock of a tick-tack. At the first + shock those in-doors decided to ignore the disturbance. But it + occurred twice afterwards, and a third tick-tack at a party is a + dare. So the boys took it up. As Piggy ran he forgot his hot, + heavy shoes; he felt the night wind on his face and in his hair. + He cared nothing for his pursuers; he ran for the gladness that + came with running. Now he slackened his pace and let the boys + catch up with him, and again he spread the mocking distance + between them. He turned down an alley, and eluded the pack.</p> + + <p>All the youngsters at the party, even the girls, had scampered + out of the house to watch the race. When Piggy vaulted the + back-yard fence into Miss Morgan's garden, he heard the pursuers + half a block away. He saw, a hundred feet distant, a bevy of + girls standing on the sidewalk. And he saw, too, as he came + skipping down the lot, something that made him fairly skim over + the earth; his Heart's Desire, standing alone, near the porch, in + his path, under an apple-tree. The exhilaration of the chase had + made him forget his trouble. He was so surefooted in the race + that he forgot to be abashed for the moment and came bounding + down by the apple-tree. He was full of pride. When he stopped he + was the King of Boyville and every inch a king. The + king—not Piggy—should be blamed. It was all over in a + second—almost before he had stopped. He aimed at her cheek, + but he got her ear. That was the first that he knew of it. Piggy + seemed to return to life then. In his confusion he felt himself + shrivelling up to his normal size—shrivelling and frying. + In an instant he was gone, and Piggy Pennington ran into the + group of girls on the sidewalk and let them catch him and hold + him. The breathless youths went into the house telling their + adventures in the race between gasps. But Piggy did not dare to + look at his Heart's Desire for as much as five minutes—a + long, long time. No one had seen him beneath the apple-tree. He + was not afraid of the teasing, but he was afraid of a withering + look from his Heart's Desire,—a look that he felt with a + parching fear in his throat would throw the universe into an + eclipse for him. He observed that she got up and changed her seat + to be rid of Mealy Jones. At first Piggy thought that was a good + sign, but a moment later he reasoned that the avoidance of Mealy + was inspired probably by a loathing for all boys. He dared not + seek her eyes, but he mingled noisily in the crowd for a while, + and then, on a desperate venture, carelessly snapped a peanut + shell and hit his Heart's Desire on the chin. He seemed to be + looking a thousand miles away in another direction than that + which the missile took. He waited nearly a minute—a long, + uncertain minute—for a response.</p> + + <p>Then the shell came back; it did not hit him—but it + might have done so—that was all he could ask. He snapped + shells slyly for a quarter of an hour, and was happy. Once he + looked—not exactly looked; perhaps peeked is the better + word; took just the tiniest lightning peek out of the tail of his + eye, and found a smile waiting for him. At supper, if any one + save Piggy had tried to take a chair by his Heart's Desire when + the plates came around, there would have been a fight. Mealy + Jones knew this, and he knew what Piggy did not know, that it + would have been a fight of two against one. So Piggy sat bolt + upright in his chair beside the black-and-red checked dress, and + talked to the room at large; but he spoke no word to the maiden + at his side. She noticed that Piggy kept dropping his knife, and + the solicitude of her sex prompted her to ask: "Are your hands + cold, Winfield?"</p> + + <p>And the instinct of his sex to hide a fault with a falsehood + made Piggy nod his head.</p> + + <p>Then she answered: "Cold hands, a warm heart!"</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/200.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/200.gif" + alt="At this important bit of repartee ..." /></a> <i>At this + important bit of repartee</i> ... + </div> + + <p>At this important bit of repartee, the King of Boyville so + forgot his royal dignity that he let an orange-peel drive at + Jimmy Sears, and pretended not to hear her. His only reply was to + joggle her arm when she reached for the cake. Piggy was so + exuberant and in such high spirits that he put his plate on his + chair and made Bud Perkins walk turkey fashion three times around + the room. He forgot the disgrace which his note had brought to + him in the school; he forgot the pretensions of Mealy Jones; he + did not wish to forget the episode of the apple-tree, and for the + time Piggy Pennington lived in a most peculiar world, made of + hazel eyes and red-ribboned pig-tails, all circling around on a + background of black-and-red checked flannel.</p> + + <p>After that nothing mattered very much. It didn't matter that + Piggy's bruised feet began to sting like fire. It didn't matter + much if Mealy Jones's mother did come for him with a lantern and + break up the party. It didn't matter if Jimmy Sears did call out, + "Hello, Roses Red," when the boys reached the bed-room where + their hats were; for a voice that Piggy knew cried back from the + adjoining room, "You think you're cute, don't you, old smarty?" + Nothing in the world could matter then, for had not Piggy + Pennington five minutes before handed a card to his Heart's + Desire which read:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>If I may not C U home</i></p> + + <p class="i2"><i>may I not sit on the fence</i></p> + + <p class="i4"><i>and C U go by</i>?</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>And had not she taken it, and said merrily, "I'm going to keep + this"? What could matter after that open avowal?</p> + + <p>And so it came to pass in a little while that the courtly + company, headed by the King of Boyville, filed gayly down the + path. They walked two by two, and they started on a long, uneven + way. But the King of Boyville was full of joy—a kind of joy + so strange that wise men may not measure it; a joy so rare that + even kings are proud of it.</p> + + <p> </p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>JAMES SEARS: A NAUGHTY PERSON</h3> + + <p> </p> + + <p>LITTLE SISTER'S LULLABY</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Zhere, zhere, 'ittul b'o', sistuh 'll wock you to + s'eep</p> + + <p>Hush-a-bye O, darlene, wock-a-bye, b'o',</p> + + <p>An' tell you the stowy about the b'ack sheep—</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, my 'ittul b'over.</p> + + <p>A boy onct said "b'ack sheep, you dot any wool?"</p> + + <p>"Uh-huhm," said the lambie, "I dot free bags full."</p> + + <p>An' where Murry went w'y the lamb's sure to doe,</p> + + <p>They's mowe of zis stowy—I dess I don' know;</p> + + <p>But hush-a-bye O, darlene, wock-a-bye b'o',</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, my 'ittul b'over.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>O, mama says buddy tomed stwaight down from Dod;</p> + + <p>Hush-a-bye O, uh-huhm, wock-a-bye b'o',</p> + + <p>At doctuh mans bwunged him, now is n't zhat odd—</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, my 'ittul b'over.</p> + + <p>For papa says, "doctuhs is thiefs so zhey be."</p> + + <p>An' thiefs tain't det up into Heaven you see:</p> + + <p>I dess w'en one comes up an' dets sent below,</p> + + <p>He's dot to bwing wif him a baby or so;</p> + + <p>Hush-a-bye O, uh-huhm, wock-a-bye b'o',</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, my 'ittul b'over.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But sistuh loves b'o' anyhow if he's dood,</p> + + <p>Hush-a-bye O, sweetie, wock-a-bye b'o',</p> + + <p>Better 'n tandy er infalid's food—</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, sistuh's own b'over.</p> + + <p>An' some day when buddy drows up to a man,</p> + + <p>W'y sistuh an' him 'ull 'ist harness ol' Fan,</p> + + <p>An dwive off to Heaven the fuist zhing you know,</p> + + <p>An' bwing ever' baby back what wants to doe.</p> + + <p>Zhen hush-a-bye O, sweetie, wock-a-bye b'o',</p> + + <p>Wock-a-bye, sistuh's own b'over.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p> </p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:70%;"> + <a href="images/208.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/208.gif" + alt="Chapter title: James Sears: A Naughty Person" /></a> + </div> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A naughty person ... walketh with a forward mouth.</p> + + <p>He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he + teacheth with his fingers;<br /> + ... he deviseth mischief continually;...</p> + + <p>Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall + he be broken without remedy.—<i>Proverbs</i>, vi. + 12-15.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/210.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/210.gif" + alt="His heart was full of bitterness." /></a> <i>His heart was + full of bitterness</i>. + </div> + + <p>It was morning—the cool of the morning. The pigeons were + gossiping under the barn eaves. In the apple-tree a robin's song + thrilled at intervals, and the jays were chattering incessantly + in the cherry-trees by the fence. The dew was still on the grass + that lay in the parallelogram of shade made by the Sears' + dwelling, and in the twilight of grass-land all the elf-people + were whispering and tittering and scampering about in + surreptitious revel. The breeze of dawn, tired and worn out, was + sinking to a fitful doze in the cottonwood foliage near by. In + the lattice of the kitchen porch two butterflies were chasing the + sun flecks in and out among the branches of the climbing rose. + Even the humble burdock weeds and sunflowers lining the path that + led to the gate seemed to be exalted by the breath of the morning + air, and not out of harmony with the fine, high chord of ecstasy + that was stirring the soul of things. And yet in that hour, James + Sears, with a green-checked gingham apron tied about his neck, + stood near a rain-barrel, bobbing up and down on a churn-handle. + His back ached, and his heart was full of bitterness at the + scheme of creation. For it was Saturday morning—his by + every law, precedent, or tradition known or reported in the Court + of Boyville. But instead of inhaling the joys of the new day, + James, whose Courtly name was "Jimmie," looked for yellow + granules on the dasher, and promised God if He would let him grow + up that his little boy should never have to churn.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/214.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/214.gif" + alt="Throwing sticks in the water to scare the fish" /></a> + <i>Throwing sticks in the water to scare the fish</i>. + </div> + + <p>Any boy knows that it is a degrading thing to churn, and he + further knows that to wear a green-checked gingham apron is + odious beyond description; however, if the disgusting thing is + tied under a boy's arms, from whence it may be slipped down over + the hips and the knees to the ground, by a certain familiar twist + of the body, the case is not absolutely hopeless. But Jimmy + Sears's apron strings were tied about his neck; so his despair + was black and abysmal. Once in a while Jimmy's bosom became too + heavily freighted, and he paused to sigh. He cheered himself up + on these occasions by slyly licking the churn-dasher; but the + good cheer on the dasher was a stimulant that left him more + miserable than it found him. Ever and anon from some remote + chamber in the house behind him came the faint, gasping cry of a + day-old baby. That cry drowned the cooing of the doves, the song + of the robin, and the chirping of the dwellers in the grass; to + Jimmy the bleat of the little human lamb sounded like the roar of + a lion. He could endure penal servitude on his Saturday, with a + patience born of something approaching a philosophy; he could + wear a checked gingham apron, even as a saint wears an unbecoming + halo; but the arrival of the new baby—the fifth addition to + the family in the short period of years covered by Jimmy Sears's + memory—brought a bitter pill of wrath and dropped it in the + youth's brimful cup of woe. As the minutes dragged wearily along, + Jimmy Sears reviewed the story of his thraldom. He thought of + how, in his short-dress days, he had been put to rocking a + cradle; how in his kilted days, there had been ever a baby's + calico dress to consider; how, from his earliest fishing-days, + there had been always a tot tagging after him, throwing sticks + and stones in the water to scare the fish; and how, now in his + swimming and cave-dwelling days, there was a swarm of tow-headed + Searses, a crawler, a creeper, a toddler, a stumbler, and a + sneaker to run away from.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/218a.gif"><img width="15%" src= + "images/218a.gif" alt="A crawler" /></a> <a href= + "images/218b.gif"><img width="18%" src="images/218b.gif" alt= + "A creeper" /></a> <a href="images/218c.gif"><img width="20%" + src="images/218c.gif" alt="A toddler" /></a> <a href= + "images/218d.gif"><img width="28%" src="images/218d.gif" alt= + "A stumbler" /></a> <a href="images/218e.gif"><img width="29%" + src="images/218e.gif" alt="A sneaker" /></a> + + <p><i>A crawler, a creeper, toddler, a stumbler and a + sneaker</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/226.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/226.gif" + alt="Mrs. Jones came out to take care of the butter" /></a> + <i>Mrs. Jones came out to take care of the butter</i>. + </div> + + <p>As the churn-dasher grew heavier, the wrath in Jimmy's cup + began to sputter, dissolving into that which in his older + sister's heart would have been tears; in Jimmy's heart, it took + the form of convulsive sniffling. The boy could hear his sister + clattering the breakfast dishes in the kitchen. The thing that + ground upon his heart was the firm footfall of Mrs. Jones, a + neighbor woman, who was overseeing the affairs of the household. + Jimmy could not remember hearing that footstep except in times of + what seemed to him to be the family's disgrace. He hated Mrs. + Jones because she tried to cool his ire by describing the + superior points of the particular new baby that had arrived each + time she came upon her errands of neighborly mercy. Just as the + yellow granules began to appear in the buttermilk pool on the + churn-top, Jimmy heard a step on the gravel walk behind him. The + step came nearer; when Jimmy lifted his eyes, they glared into + the face of Harold Jones. Choler cooled into surprise, and + surprise exploded into a vapid, grinning "Huh!" which was + followed by another "Huh!" that gurgled out into a real laugh as + Jimmy greeted the visitor. The Jones boy giggled, and Jimmy found + his tongue and asked: "Did you ever churn?" When Harold admitted + that he, too, was a slave of the churn, the freemasonry of + Boyville was established. A moment later Mealy—Harold's + title in the Court—was exemplifying the work. When Mrs. + Jones came out of the house to take care of the butter, she saw + her son and Jimmy lying on the grass. Half an hour later the boys + in the barn heard Mrs. Jones's voice calling,—</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:45%;"> + <a href="images/230.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/230.gif" + alt= + "The sort of boy who would unsex himself by looking at a baby." /> + </a> <i>The sort of boy who would unsex himself by looking at a + baby</i>. + </div> + + <p>"Harold, O Harold, don't you want to come and look at the + baby?" Now James Sears in the twenty-four hours of his new + sister's life had not let the fact of her existence form + expression on his lips. Much less had he lowered his hostile flag + to salute her; but he knew instinctively that Harold Jones was + the sort of a boy who would unsex himself by looking at a baby. + When Mealy answered, "Yes'm," and trotted down the back-yard path + to the kitchen, Jimmy Sears scorned him heartily enough to fancy + Mealy in the act of holding the loathsome thing in his arms. + Further contumely was beyond Jimmy's imagination.</p> + + <p>When Mealy Jones came back, the barn wherein he had left Jimmy + was empty; and only when Mealy had started homeward, and a clod + came whizzing down the alley, hitting him under the ear, did + Mealy know how Jimmy Sears resented an insult. Mealy looked + around; no one was in sight.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:12%;"> + <a href="images/222.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/222.gif" + alt="James" /></a> <i>James</i>. + </div> + + <p>Right here the reader should know that Jimmy Sears was not + alone in his displeasure. There was mutiny in the Sears + household. When the baby came, the four elder of the seven Sears + children joined Jimmy in informal, silent sedition. They looked + upon the newcomer as an intruder. For all who extended sympathy + to the pretender, the insurgents developed a wholesome scorn. + This scorn fell most heavily upon kind Mrs. Jones. The Sears + children regarded her familiar jocularity with undisguised + repugnance; and when Jimmy heard Mrs. Jones tell his little + sister Annie that morning that she was no longer the baby, + Jimmy's rage at what he considered a fiendish thrust at the + innocent and forsaken child passed the bounds of endurance. He + hurled a bit of that anger in the clod that hit Mealy Jones, then + Jimmy walked doggedly back to the house. He coaxed the little + sister from the kitchen, took the child's chubby hand and led her + to the barn. There Jimmy nursed his sorrow. He assured the + younker as they sat on the hay that he for one would not desert + her, "even if mamma had forgotten her." He hugged the wondering + tot until her ribs hurt, and in his lamentations referred to the + new baby as "that old thing." The evening before, when Mrs. Jones + had marshalled the other Sears children and had taken them into + the bedroom to see their new sister, Jimmy was not to be found. + None of the older children had looked at the baby. They had + turned their heads away deliberately, and had responded in + gutteral affirmatives when they were asked if it were not a + pretty baby. But Jimmy had escaped that humiliation, and since + then he had avoided all snares set to lure him to his mother's + bed-side. He sat there in the barn, fuming as he recalled what he + had heard while Annie was in his mother's room early that + morning.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/234.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/234.gif" + alt= + "Jimmy heard Mrs. Jones tell his little sister Annie that morning that she was no longer the baby." /> + </a> <i>Jimmy heard Mrs. Jones tell his little sister Annie + that morning that she was no longer the baby</i>. + </div> + + <p>"See little sister's hands. Oh, what pretty hands!" Jimmy had + reasoned, and probably correctly, that the pause was filled by + the child's big-eyed astonishment. Mrs. Jones + continued,—</p> + + <p>"Weenty teenty little feets! See little sister's toeses. What + little bitsey toeses. Baby touch little sister's toeses."</p> + + <p>Jimmy had chafed while he listened; but now that the scene + came to him after reflection, he saw how inhuman a thing it was + to dupe the child into an affection for her inevitable enemy.</p> + + <p>"Does baby love little sister?" continued the voice. "Love + nice, pretty little sister! Sweet little sister! Zhere! Zhere! + Zhat's right; love little sister!" As he toyed with a wisp of + hay, Jimmy Sears's blood froze in his veins at the recollection + that his own mother had lent her countenance to this baseness. He + knew, and he knew that his mother knew, that the baby would take + all the care due to his toddling sister. He saw, from the + elevation of the hay-cock on which he and the little one sat, + that her throat had been cut in a cowardly manner while she + smiled. It seemed deliberately cruel. A lump of pity for the + child filled his throat. Still, in his heart, he forgave his + mother for her part in the duplicity. He did not feel for her the + contempt he felt for Henry Sears, his father; for the boy knew + that Henry Sears was actually proud of the family's ignominy. + Jimmy blushed at the picture in his mind of his father strutting + around town, with his vest pockets full of cigars, and his thumbs + in the armpits, bragging of the occurrence that filled the boy + with shame. Jimmy felt that secretly his mother did not consider + the baby's arrival an occasion for vainglory. He felt that his + mother was merely putting a good face upon the misfortune. These + reflections kept Jimmy quiet for ten minutes.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/238.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/238.gif" + alt= + "His father strutting around town ... bragging of the occurrence that filled the boy with shame" /> + </a> <i>His father strutting around town ... bragging of the + occurrence that filled the boy with shame</i>. + </div> + + <p>At the end thereof a calamitous fate took him up and made him + its toy. Tragedy is the everlasting piling up of little things. + So Jimmy Sears could not know that an evil destiny had come to + guide his steps when he started townward, for it came so gently. + To meet Piggy Pennington and Bud Perkins and Abe Carpenter coming + out of the Pennington yard was not such a dreadful thing. Jimmy + had met them a score of times before at that particular gate, + with no serious consequences. It was not in the least ominous + that the four boys started for the Creek of the Willows, for + Jimmy had gone to the Creek times without number in that very + company. It did not augur evil for Jimmy Sears that the lot fell + to him to go forth and forage a chicken, for the great corn feast + of the Black Feet, a savage tribe of four warriors, among whom + Jimmy was known as the "Bald Eagle." Perhaps there were signs and + warnings in all these things; and then, on the other hand, + perhaps Jimmy Sears was so intent upon escaping from the shadow + that lowered over his family that he did not read the signs, and + so rushed into his misfortunes blindly. These, however, are idle + speculations; they are the materials from which sages spin their + dry and ethereal webs. But this narrative is concerned only with + the facts in the case. Therefore it is necessary to know only + that when Jimmy Sears stooped to pick up his nail-pointed arrow, + lying beside a stunned pullet, he heard the sharp nasal "sping" + of a rock whirring near his head. Chicken and bow and arrow in + hand, he began to run, not looking back.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/242.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/242.gif" + alt= + "He jumped for the slanting boards with his bare feet, and his heart was glad" /> + </a> <i>He jumped for the slanting boards with his bare feet, + and his heart was glad</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/246.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/246.gif" + alt= + "He sat on a log and slowly lifted up his foot, twisting his face into an agonized knot" /> + </a> <i>He sat on a log and slowly lifted up his foot,<br /> + twisting his face into an agonized knot</i>. + </div> + + <p>"Here, here, Jimmy Sears, hold on there!" cried a voice. Jimmy + knew the voice. It and the chicken belonged to the same person. + So Jimmy quickened his speed. He heard the clattering thump of + pursuing feet. It was two hundred yards to the end of the + cob-strewn cow lot. The boy fixed his course toward the lowest + length of fence. Then he kept his eyes upon the ground. He + clenched his teeth and skimmed over the earth. The feathers in + his hat—stuck there to satisfy the verities of his assumed + Indian character—caught the breeze; so, rather than lose + his hat, he grabbed it in the hand that held the chicken. He + cleared the fence and plunged into the timber. Looking over his + shoulder, he saw a man's form on the top of the fence; the thud + of boots on the sod and the crash of branches behind him sent + terror through the boy's frame, and he turned towards the creek + that flowed sluggishly near by. He took great bounding strides, + throwing his head from side to side as he ran. The boy knew the + path. It led to a rickety fence—a cattle guard—across + the river. Jimmy's heart beat wildly, and the trees danced by him + on the sloping path. But he was not "the champeen fence-walker of + Willow Creek," late of "Pennington & Carpenter's Circus & + Menagerie, price ten pins," without having won his proud place by + prowess. He came to the water's edge with sure feet. He knew that + he could cross. He had crossed the creek there a score of times. + He jumped for the slanting boards with his bare feet, and his + heart was glad. The boy was sure that no man would dare to follow + him, even if the fence would hold a man's weight. He had scurried + up the bank before his pursuer had reached the side Jimmy had + leaped from so lightly. He scooted through the underbrush. Again + and again did the "champeen fence-walker" smile to himself as he + slackened his pace to dodge a volley of rocks, and again and + again did James Sears—an exemplary youth for the most part, + who knew his Ten Commandments by heart—look exultingly at + his pullet. He gloried in his iniquity. Lentulus returning to + Capua with victorious legions was not so proud. But there the + evil spirit swooped low upon him—the spirit of destruction + that always follows pride. Jimmy tripped, and lunged forward; the + chicken, the hat, the bow and arrow, and the boy all parted + company. Then Jimmy felt a pain—a sharp pain that he + recognized too well. He feared to make sure of the extent of his + injury. Instinctive knowledge told him he had "stumped" his toe. + This knowledge also brought the sense of certainty that his day's + pleasure was spoiled. He knew that he would go hobbling along, + the last brave in the Indian file. The pain in his foot began to + throb as he gathered up his weapons. He walked for a few moments + without looking at the wound. He felt the oozing blood, and he + bent his body and went along, grunting at every step. Finally + coming into a flood of sunlight on the path, he sat on a log and + slowly lifted up his foot, twisting his face into an agonized + knot. He peeked at his toe at first stealthily; then little by + little uncovering it with his nursing hand, he gazed fixedly at + the wound. The flesh on the end of the toe was hanging loosely by + the skin. It was a full minute before the boy could find courage + to press the hanging flesh back to its place. In the mean time + the chicken, which lay behind him under the log, had regained its + senses, squawked hoarsely twice, and walked into the bushes. When + Jimmy's mind turned to his prize, the prize was gone. He had been + in the depths as he sat on the log. But the loss of the pullet + brought with it a still further depression, and Jimmy forgot all + about his impersonation of the "Bald Eagle." He lost his conceit + in the red ochre stripes on his face, and the iridescent feathers + in his hat, and the blue-black mud on his nimble feet. For a few + moments he was just a sad-eyed boy who saw the hand of the whole + world raised against him. The cry of the new baby rang in his + ears. The thought of the other boys teasing him about the number + of babies at his house frenzied him; and as his bills of wrongs + grew longer and longer, Jimmy shook his head defiantly at all the + world. For a few hollow moments Jimmy tried to find the straying + chicken. He went through the empty form of spitting in his hand, + saying, before he came down with his index finger,—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Spit, spit, spy,</p> + + <p>Tell me whur my chicken is, er I'll hit ye in the + eye."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:20%;"> + <a href="images/250.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/250.gif" + alt= + "Spit, spit, spy, tell me whur my chicken is, er I'll hit ye in the eye." /> + </a> <i>Spit, spit, spy, tell me whur my chicken is, er I'll + hit ye in the eye</i>. + </div> + + <p>He threw a stick in the direction the chicken might have + taken, but he knew that luck—like all the world—was + against him, and he had no heart in the rites that on another day + might have brought fortune to him. His stubbed toe was hurting + him, and the murmur of a ripple in the stream a few rods below + the cattle guard called to him enticingly. As soon as the boy + deemed it safe to venture out of the thicket, he hobbled down to + the water's edge, and sat for a long time in the shade, with the + cooling water laving his bruised feet. He knew that the other + boys would miss him, but he did not care. He was enjoying the + gloom that was settling down upon him. Slowly, and by almost + imperceptible degrees, there rose in his consciousness the + conviction of guilt. At the end of an hour, the feeling that he + was a thief swept over him, covering his sense of personal + grievance like a mantle. For another hour he wrestled with a + persistent devil that was tempting him to strangle his scruples; + he won. Jimmy Sears had seventeen cents in his cast-iron bank at + home—the result of a year's careful saving. He crossed the + creek and trudged back to town, and fancied that he was walking + in a sanctified road; for he was full of the resolve to go + straight to the store of the grocer who owned the chicken, and to + offer all his available resources in payment for the wrong he had + done. Only the heel of his left foot touched the ground, and he + progressed slowly. So the afternoon was old when he turned the + corner and trudged into Baker's store. The speech he was going to + make, Jimmy had recited to himself over and over. He intended to + walk up to the counter and say,—</p> + + <p>"I want to pay for that chicken I took, Mr. Baker."</p> + + <p>To Jimmy that sounded sufficiently humble, and yet it did not + seem completely abject. He fancied the grocer would + reply,—</p> + + <p>"All right, Jimmy; it will be twenty cents."</p> + + <p>To which the boy expected to answer, in a clear, strong + voice,—</p> + + <p>"Well, Mr. Baker, I have seventeen cents at home; you may have + that, and I will bring in the rest as soon as my mushmelons are + ripe."</p> + + <p>With that agreement reached, Jimmy saw himself limping out of + the store. He harbored a hope that maybe the grocer, pitying the + poor, lame boy, would call him back, cancel the debt, and perhaps + give him a stick of licorice. Jimmy knew his part by heart. He + was sure there would be no halt nor break in this dialogue. But + the demon that was torturing his destiny that day probably + chuckled as Jimmy crossed the threshold of the grocery store.</p> + + <p>The boy that the grocer saw when he looked up from the pickle + barrel certainly had a badly freckled face; the grocer thought + the boy had bold, mean eyes. The youthful jaw set firmly, and the + pain in his foot engraved ugly lines in his face. The button was + off one wristband. A long tear down the lower part of his + trousers' leg revealed a glimpse of brown, tanned skin. He was + not a boy that looked like a creature of dreams and of high + resolve. No boy that amounts to much ever does look the part, as + the actors say. So when Jimmy Sears—ragged and + brazen—stood before the wronged chicken owner, rage flooded + the man's bosom. He rushed around the counter end, mumbling at + the boy. The instinct of fear crowded all the fine speeches out + of Jimmy's head. He backed off, and exclaimed, as he saw the + grocer grab a butter paddle,—</p> + + <p>"Dern you, don't you touch me; I'll pay for your old chicken. + Watch out now!"</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/256.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/256.gif" + alt= + "I'll pay for your chicken, I say. Now you keep away from me." /> + </a> "<i>I'll pay for your chicken, I say. Now you keep away + from me</i>." + </div> + + <p>Two scale weights slipped involuntarily into Jimmy's hands, + and he backed from the counter to the sidewalk. His hands were + uplifted as if to throw the weights. The grocer had not come up + to the boy who shouted in a burst of fear and anger,—</p> + + <p>"I'll pay for your chicken, I say. Now you keep away from + me!"</p> + + <p>The grocer hesitated, dismayed for a second by the threatening + weights in the boy's hand. But pride urged the man on. He stepped + up quickly, and planted a smarting blow on Jimmy's leg. It was + well for the grocer that he ducked his head; for when the paddle + struck, the boy did not flinch, but let drive one weight after + another, and cried before each crash of glass that the flying + irons made inside the store, "Yes, you will!" and again, "Yes, + you will!"</p> + + <p>He forgot the ache in his cramped heel and the burning in his + bruised toe as he ran to the middle of the street.</p> + + <p>"You old coward, why don't you pick on some one your + size?"</p> + + <p>The tears were rising to his eyes; he had to run to escape + from the tide. Just as he turned, he caught a glimpse of his + father joining the gathering crowd. After that his feet grew + wings.</p> + + <p>A freight train stood on the track in front of the boy, a + quarter of a mile away. A mad impulse came to him as he ran, and + he yielded to it. A boy with a grievance, or a boy with a sore + toe, or a boy with fear at his back, cannot fashion his conduct + after the beautiful principles laid down in Mr. Herbert Spencer's + "Data of Ethics." So when Jimmy Sears came to the freight train + that blocked his flight, he darted down the track until he was + out of sight of any possible pursuers in the street. He clambered + breathlessly into a coal car, and snuggled down into a corner + inside a little strip of shade, and panted like a hunted rabbit. + A sickening pain throbbed up from his toe. The train moved slowly + at first, and Jimmy knew that he could not hide from the train + men in a coal car. On a banter from Piggy Pennington and Bud + Perkins Jimmy had ridden on the brake-beam while the switch + engine was pulling freight cars about the railroad yards. He had + a vague idea that midway of the train, between two box cars, + would be a safe place. When the train began to increase its + speed, Jimmy climbed up the side of a cattle car and ran along + the roof. He had gone three car-lengths and was about to make his + third jump, when he saw the angry face of his father, who + appeared on the depot platform. Instinctively the boy darted to + the other side of the car-roof. His jump fell short. The father + saw his son's head go down, and for an awful minute Henry Sears + heard the lumbering train rumble by. In the first second of that + minute, the frantic man listened for a scream. He heard none. + Then slowly he sank upon a baggage truck. He was helpless. A + paralysis of horror was upon him. Car after car jolted along. At + last the yellow caboose flashed by him. Half of the longest + second Henry Sears ever knew passed before he dared turn his eyes + toward the place on the track where his son went down. Then he + looked, and saw only the cinder track and the shining rails. But + an instant later he heard a familiar whoop, and, staring around, + saw Jimmy sitting on a load of wheat that was standing between + the railroad tracks. In this the boy had fallen after his + sidewise jump had thrown him from the moving train. When Henry + Sears saw his son, Jimmy was holding his foot, jiggling it + vigorously and roaring, moved half by the hysteria of fright and + half by the pain of a fresh laceration of his bruised toe. The + boy's face was black with coal-dust and wheat chaff, and tears + were striping his features grotesquely. The palsy of terror + loosened its steel bands from the father's limbs, and he ran to + the wheat-wagon. Jimmy Sears, for all he or his father know, may + have floated to the ground from the wagon bed. But a moment + later, in a frenzy wherein anger furnished only a sub-conscious + motor, and joy pumped wildly at the expanding valves of his + blissful heart, Henry Sears took his thirteen-year-old son across + his knee, and spanked him in a delirium of ecstasy; spanked him + merrily, while a heavenly peace glorified his paternal soul; + spanked him, caring not how many times the little body wriggled, + and the little voice howled, and the dirty little fingers foiled + his big, bony hand as it fell. At the end of the felicitous + occasion, the father found his voice,—</p> + + <p>"Haven't I told you enough, sir, to keep off the cars? Haven't + I? Haven't I? Answer me, sir. Do you hear me? Haven't I?"</p> + + <p>And Jimmy Sears knew by that turn of the conversation that the + episodes of the stolen chicken and of the broken showcases were + forgotten, so he nodded a contrite head, His father returned to + earth by giving his son a few casual cuffs, with, "Will you try + that again, sir?" and continued,—</p> + + <p>"Now, sir, let me see you walk right straight home. And just + you let me catch you down here again!"</p> + + <p>Jimmy was wise enough to hurry along as fast as his bleeding + foot would take him. He saw the advantage of a motion to adjourn + without further debate, and the motion prevailed.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/266.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/266.gif" + alt= + "An irregular circumference that touched his ears and his chin and his hair." /> + </a> <i>An irregular circumference that touched his ears<br /> + and his chin and his hair</i>. + </div> + + <p>An hour later, Jimmy Sears had washed the dirt from the + interior of an irregular circumference that touched his ears and + his chin and his hair. Until the twilight fell he stayed in the + conning-tower in the Penningtons' barn, and watched his home + through a crack between two boards. When he saw his father leave + the house for town after supper, Jimmy hurried down a lane in + sight of his father, yet out of his father's reach. At the close + of twilight, Jimmy Sears came up the hard-beaten path that led to + his home, through burdock weeds and sunflowers. There was a light + in the kitchen, and through the window he could see Mrs. Jones + moving about. He observed that the supper dishes were being put + away. He saw his eldest sister, with the tea towel in her hands, + chatting happily with Mrs. Jones. The spectacle filled him with + rage. He felt that the other children had deserted him, and that, + in the war against the new baby, they had left him to fight + unaided. He met a little brother, who greeted him + with,—</p> + + <p>"Uh-hu, Mr. Jimmy, you just wait till pa gets you!"</p> + + <p>A prolonged and scornful "Aw!" was Jimmy's reply to this + welcome. On the step of the back porch, his favorite little + sister sat playing with the house-cat. She toddled to Jimmy; he + let her take his finger, and they went into the kitchen.</p> + + <p>"Oh, Jimmy!—where—you—been?" demanded the + eldest sister. "Mamma's been asking for you all day. I'd be + ashamed if I was you."</p> + + <p>The boy did not deign to speak to Mrs. Jones, and kept his + back to her when he could. He did not answer his sister's + question.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/270.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/270.gif" + alt="Got anything here fit to eat?" /></a> "<i>Got anything + here fit to eat</i>?" + </div> + + <p>"Got anything here fit to eat?" he asked, as he threw open the + cupboard doors. The insult to Mrs. Jones was not accidental. + Jimmy supposed that she had cooked the supper. He put two or + three plates of food on the table, and drew up a chair, sneering + bumptiously, "What's this?" as he dived into each dish.</p> + + <p>His sister's "Why, Jimmy!" and her warning frowns did not + change his course. Mrs. Jones went to the front of the house, + diplomatically leaving all the doors open behind her, that Mrs. + Sears might hear her son's voice. In a moment the boy caught the + faint sound of his mother calling from the distant bedroom, + "Jimmy, Jimmy, come here; I want you."</p> + + <p>The boy pretended not to hear. She called his name again. "Yes + 'm," he answered. When she repeated her request, he filled his + mouth with pie, and replied, "I'm a-eatin' now." He slipped a + piece of ice down the back of his adoring little sister's dress, + who sat near him. When she wept noisily, he laughed under his + breath, and spoke aloud to his sister at the dish-pan,—</p> + + <p>"What'd you want to take Annie's doll away from her for? Give + it back, why don't you?"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/274.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/274.gif" + alt= + "What'd you want to take Annie's doll away from her for?" /></a> + "<i>What'd you want to take Annie's doll away from her + for</i>?" + </div> + + <p>"Why—Jimmy—Sears!" retorted the girl. Then lifting + her voice, "Mamma, Jimmy's put ice down—" But the lad + pressed the ice against the child's back, pretending to be + removing the source of the trouble, and the child's lusty howls + drowned the girl's protest. When he heard the bedroom door close + to shield his mother from the turmoil, Jimmy knew that he had + outwitted Mrs. Jones, so he quelled the disturbance he had + caused. When Mrs. Jones returned to the kitchen, the boy was + sitting on the porch steps with his little sister, telling her + about "raw head and bloody bones," greatly to the child's horror + and delight.</p> + + <p>Jimmy heard his elder sister inquire, "Did Mamma eat her + supper?" He heard Mrs. Jones respond, "Not very much of it; but + she will after a while, I guess. She said to leave it in + there."</p> + + <p>"Couldn't she eat any of that nice chicken Mrs. Pennington + sent?"</p> + + <p>"No, nor Mrs. Carpenter's lemon jelly."</p> + + <p>"Poor mamma!" sighed the girl.</p> + + <p>But Jimmy had other reflections. Two minutes later he walked + past his mother's open door, and fumbled around in the + sitting-room.</p> + + <p>"Is that you, Jimmy?" asked his mother.</p> + + <p>"Yes 'm," rejoined the boy.</p> + + <p>"What are you doing?"</p> + + <p>"Lookin' for my other coat."</p> + + <p>"Won't you come in and see me, Jimmy? I haven't seen you for + two whole days."</p> + + <p>"In a minute," returned Jimmy.</p> + + <p>Standing awkwardly in the doorway, he asked, "What 'd you + want?"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/278.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/278.gif" + alt= + "She drew him down and kissed his cheek while he pecked at her lips." /> + </a> <i>She drew him down and kissed his cheek<br /> + while he pecked at her lips</i>. + </div> + + <p>"Come over here, Jimmy," returned the mother. "My poor, + neglected boy!" He would not let his eyes find the new baby. He + stood stiffly on one foot, and gave his mother his hand. She drew + him down and kissed his cheek, while he pecked at her lips. As + Jimmy rose, his mother smiled.</p> + + <p>"Are you hungry, Jimmy?"</p> + + <p>The boy nodded a vociferous affirmative. Being a boy, one of + the lowest orders of human creatures in point of intuitions, + Jimmy could not know that his mother understood the rankle in her + son's heart. Nor could he divine that she kept the supper + dainties as peace offerings.</p> + + <p>"Won't you have some of my supper?"</p> + + <p>"Don't you want it?" returned the boy, to justify his + greed.</p> + + <p>"No, Jimmy; I'm not hungry. I kept it all for you."</p> + + <p>While her son was sitting on the floor, eating off the tray on + the chair by the bed, his mother's hand was in his hair, stroking + it lovingly. His sister and the other children looked in and saw + him. Jimmy knew they were whispering "Hoggy!" but he did not heed + them. His mother avoided mentioning the new baby to him; she made + him tell her about his sore toe, and in return she told him how + lonely she had been without him.</p> + + <p>As his stomach filled, his heart overflowed,—a common + coincidence even with older and better boys than Jimmy, and the + tears came to his eyes. At last, when the plate was cleared, he + rose, and went to the place where the new-comer lay. He bent over + the little puff in the bedclothes, and grinned sheepishly as he + lifted the cover from the sleeping baby's face. He looked at the + red features a moment curiously, and said in his loud, husky, + boyish voice,—</p> + + <p>"Hullo there, Miss Sears; how are you this evenin'?"</p> + + <p>Then he pinched his mother's arm and walked out of the room, + his soul at peace.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:15%;"> + <a href="images/281.gif"><img width="100%" src= + "images/281.gif" alt="cameo" /></a> + </div> + + <p> </p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>MUCH POMP AND SEVERAL + CIRCUMSTANCES</h3> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Back of Pennington's barn, which was the royal castle of the + Court of Boyville, ran a hollow. In the hollow grew a gnarly + box-elder tree. This tree was the courtiers' hunting-lodge. In + the crotches of the rugged branches Piggy Pennington, Abe + Carpenter, Jimmy Sears, Bud Perkins, and Mealy Jones were wont to + rest of a summer afternoon, recounting the morning's adventures + in the royal tourney of the marble-ring, planning for the + morrow's chase, meditating upon the evil approach of the fall + school term, and following such sedentary pursuits as to any + member of the court seemed right and proper. One afternoon late + in August the tree was alive with its arboreal aristocracy. Abe + Carpenter sat on the lowest branch, plaiting a four-strand, + square-braided "quirt"; Jimmy Sears was holding the ends. Piggy + was casually skinning cats, hanging by his legs, or chinning on + an almost horizontal limb, as he took his part in the lagging + talk. Hidden by the foliage in the thick of the tree, in a + three-pronged seat, Bud Perkins reclined, his features drawn into + a painful grimace, as his right hand passed to and fro before his + mouth, rhythmically twanging the tongue of a Jew's-harp, upon + which he was playing "To My Sweet Sunny South Take Me Home." He + breathed heavily and irregularly. His eyes were on the big white + clouds in the blue sky, and his heart was filled with the poetry + of lonesomeness that sometimes comes to boys in pensive moods. + For the days when he had lived with his father, a nomad of the + creeks that flowed by half a score of waterways into the + Mississippi, were upon the far horizon of his consciousness, and + the memory of those days made him as sad as any memory ever can + make a healthy, care-free boy. He played "Dixie," partly because + it was his dead father's favorite tune, and partly because, being + sprightly, it kept down his melancholy. Later he took out a new + mouth-organ, which his foster mother had given to him, and to + satisfy his boyish idea of justice played "We shall Meet, but We + shall Miss Him," because it was Miss Morgan's favorite. While he + played the Jew's-harp his tree friends flung ribald remarks at + him. But when Bud began to waver his hand for a tremulo upon the + mouth-organ as he played "Marsa's in de Col', Col' Groun'," a + peace fell upon the company, and they sat quietly and heard his + repertoire,—"Ol' Shadey," "May, Dearest May," "Lilly Dale," + "Dey Stole My Chile Away," "Ol' Nicodemus," "Sleeping, I Dream, + Love," and "Her Bright Smile." He was a Southern boy—a bird + of passage caught in the North—and his music had that + sweet, soothing note that cheered the men who fought under the + Stars and Bars.</p> + + <p>Into this scene rushed Mealy Jones, pell mell, hat in hand, + breathless, bringing war's alarms. "Fellers, fellers," screamed + Mealy, half a block away, "it's a-comin' here! It's goin' to be + here in two weeks. The man's puttin' up the boards now, and you + can get a job passin' bills."</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:100%;"> + <a href="images/289.gif"><img width="45%" src="images/289.gif" + alt="Mommoth Consolidated Shows. (left)" /></a> <a href= + "images/290.gif"><img width="45%" src="images/290.gif" alt= + "Mommoth Consolidated Shows. (right)" /></a> + + <p><i>Mommoth Consolidated Shows.</i></p> + </div> + + <p>An instant later the tree was deserted, and five boys were + running as fast as their legs would carry them toward the thick + of the town. They stopped at the new pine bill-board, and did not + leave the man with the paste bucket until they had seen "Zazell" + flying out of the cannon's mouth, the iron-jawed woman performing + her marvels, the red-mouthed rhinoceros with the bleeding native + impaled upon its horn and the fleeing hunters near by, "the + largest elephant in captivity," carrying the ten-thousand dollar + beauty, the acrobats whirling through space, James Robinson + turning handsprings on his dapple-gray steed, and, last and most + ravishing of all, little Willie Sells in pink tights on his three + charging Shetland ponies, whose breakneck course in the picture + followed one whichever way he turned. When these glories had been + pasted upon the wall and had been discussed to the point of + cynicism, the Court of Boyville reluctantly adjourned to get in + the night wood and dream of a wilderness of monkeys.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:33%;"> + <a href="images/282.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/282.gif" + alt= + "Piggy Pennington ... galloped his father's fat delivery horse up and down the alley." /> + </a> <i>Piggy Pennington ... galloped his father's fat delivery + horse up and down the alley</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:33%;"> + <a href="images/296.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/296.gif" + alt= + "Oil made by hanging a bottle of angle-worms in the sun to fry." /> + </a> <i>Oil made by hanging a bottle of angle-worms in the sun + to fry</i>. + </div> + + <p>During the two weeks after the appearance of the glad tidings + on the bill-boards, the boys of Willow Creek spent many hours in + strange habiliments, making grotesque imitations of the + spectacles upon the boards. Piggy Pennington rolled his trousers + far above his knees for tights, and galloped his father's fat + delivery horse up and down the alley, riding sideways, standing, + and backwards, with much vainglory. To simulate the motley of the + tight-rope-walking clown, Jimmy Sears wore the calico lining of + his clothes outside, when he was in the royal castle beyond his + mother's ken. Mealy donned carpet slippers in Pennington's barn, + and wore long pink-and-white striped stockings of a suspiciously + feminine appearance, fastened to his abbreviated shirt waist with + stocking-suspenders, hated of all boys. Abe Carpenter, in a + bathing-trunk, did shudder-breeding trapeze tricks, and Bud + Perkins, who nightly rubbed himself limber in oil made by hanging + a bottle of angle-worms in the sun to fry, wore his red calico + base-ball clothes, and went through keg-hoops in a dozen + different ways. In the streets of the town the youngsters + appeared disguised as ordinary boys. They revelled in the + pictured visions of the circus, but were sceptical about the + literal fulfilment of some of the promises made on the bills. + Certain things advertised were eliminated from reasonable + expectation: for instance, the boys all knew that the giraffe + would not be discovered eating off the top of a cocoanut-tree; + nor would the monkeys play a brass band; and they knew that they + would not see the "Human Fly" walk on the ceiling at the + "concert." For no boy has ever saved enough money to buy a ticket + to the "concert." Nevertheless, they gloated over the pictures of + the herd of giraffes and the monkey-band and the graceful "Human + Fly" walking upside down "defying the laws of gravitation;" and + they considered no future, however pleasant, after the day and + date on the bills. Thus the golden day approached, looming larger + and larger upon the horizon as it came. In the interim, how many + a druggist bought his own bottles the third and fourth time, how + many a junk-dealer paid for his own iron, how many bags of carpet + rags went to the ragman, the world will never know.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:33%;"> + <a href="images/302.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/302.gif" + alt="How many bags of carpet rags went to the ragman?" /></a> + <i>How many bags of carpet rags went to the ragman</i>? + </div> + + <p>Now, among children of a larger growth, in festive times + hostile demonstrations cease; animosities are buried; but in + Boyville a North-ender is a North-ender, a South-ender is a + South-ender, and a meeting of the two is a fight. Boyville knows + no times of truce. It asks nor offers quarter. When warring clans + come together, be it workday, holiday, or even circus day, there + is a clatter of clods, a patter of feet, and retreating hoots of + defiance. And because the circus bill-boards were frequented by + boys of all kiths and clans, clashes occurred frequently, and Bud + Perkins, who was the fighter of the South End, had many a call to + arms. Indeed, the approaching circus unloosed the dogs of war + rather than nestled the dove of peace. For Bud Perkins, in a + moment of pride, issued an ukase which forbade all North End boys + to look at a certain bill-board near his home. This ukase and his + strict enforcement of it made him the target of North End wrath. + Little Miss Morgan, his foster-mother, who had adopted him at the + death of his father the summer before the circus bills were + posted, could not understand how the lad managed to lose so many + buttons, nor how he kept tearing his clothes. She ascribed these + things to his antecedents and to his deficient training. She did + not know that Bud, whom she called Henry, and whose music on the + mouth-organ seemed to come from a shy and gentle soul, was the + Terror of the South End. Her guileless mind held no place for the + important fact that North End boys generally travelled by her + door in pairs for safety. Such is the blindness of women. Cupid + probably got his defective vision from his mother's side of the + house.</p> + + <p>The last half of the last week before circus day seemed a + century to Bud and his friends. Friday and Saturday crept by, and + Mealy Jones was the only boy at Sunday-school who knew the Golden + Text, for an inflammatory rumor that the circus was unloading + from the side-track at the depot swept over the boys' side of the + Sunday-school room, and consumed all knowledge of the fifth + chapter of Acts, the day's lesson. After Sunday-school the boys + broke for the circus grounds. There they feasted their gluttonous + eyes upon the canvas-covered chariots, and the elephants, and the + camels, and the spotted ponies, passing from the cars to the + tents. The unfamiliar noises, the sight of the rising "sea of + canvas," the touch of mysterious wagons containing so many + wonders, and the intoxicating smell that comes only with much + canvas, many animals, and the unpacking of Pandora's box, stuffed + the boys' senses until they viewed with utter stoicism the + passing dinner hour and the prospect of finding only cold mashed + potatoes and the necks and backs of chickens in the cupboards. + They even affected indifference to parental scoldings, and + lingered about the enchanting spot until the shadows fell + eastward and the day was old.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:16%;"> + <a href="images/306.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/306.gif" + alt="Brother Baker—a tiptoeing Nemesis." /></a> + <i>Brother Baker—a tiptoeing Nemesis</i>. + </div> + + <p>When a boy gets on his good behavior he tempts Providence. And + the Providence of boys is frail and prone to yield. So when Bud + Perkins, who was burning with a desire to please Miss Morgan the + day before the circus, went to church that Sunday night, any one + can see that he was provoking Providence in an unusual and cruel + manner. Bud did not sit with Miss Morgan, but lounged into the + church, and took a back seat. Three North End boys came in and + sat on the same bench. Then Jimmy Sears shuffled past the North + Enders, and sat beside Bud. After which the inevitable happened. + It kept happening. They "passed it on," and passed it back again; + first a pinch, then a chug, then a cuff, then a kick under the + bench. Heads craned toward the boys occasionally, and there came + an awful moment when Bud Perkins found himself looking brazenly + into the eyes of the preacher, who had paused to glare at the + boys in the midst of his sermon. The faces of the entire + congregation seemed to turn upon Bud automatically. A cherub-like + expression of conscious innocence and impenetrable unconcern + beamed through Bud Perkins's features. The same expression rested + upon the countenances of the four other malefactors. At the end + of the third second Jimmy Sears put his hand to his mouth and + snorted between his fingers. And four young men looked down their + noses. In the hush, Brother Baker—a tiptoeing + Nemesis—stalked the full length of the church toward the + culprits. When he took his seat beside the boys the preacher + continued his discourse. Brother Baker's unctuousness angered Bud + Perkins. He felt the implication that his conduct was bad, and + his sense of guilt spurred his temper. Satan put a pin in Bud's + hand. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Satan moved the boy's arm on + the back of the pew, around Jimmy Sears. Then an imp pushed Bud's + hand as he jabbed the pin into the back of a North Ender. The boy + from the North End let out a yowl of pain. Bud was not quick + enough. Brother Baker saw the pin; two hundred devout Methodists + saw him clamp his fingers on Bud Perkins's ear, and march him + down the length of the church and set him beside Miss Morgan. It + was a sickening moment. The North End grinned as one boy under + its skin, and was exceeding glad. So agonizing was it for Bud + that he forgot to imagine what a triumph it was for the North + End—and further anguish is impossible for a boy.</p> + + <p>Miss Morgan and Bud Perkins left the church with the + congregation. Bud dreaded the moment when they would leave the + crowd and turn into their side street. When they did turn, Bud + was lagging a step or two behind. A boy's troubles are always the + fault of the other boy. The North End boy's responsibility in the + matter was so clear—to Bud—that, when he went to + justify himself to Miss Morgan, he was surprised and hurt at what + he considered her feminine blindness to the fact. After she had + passed her sentence she asked: "Do you really think you deserve + to go, Henry?"</p> + + <p>The blow stunned the boy. He saw the visions of two weeks + burst like bubbles, and he whimpered: "I dunno." But in his heart + he did know that to deny a boy the joy of seeing Willie Sells on + his three Shetland ponies, for nothing in the world but showing a + North-ender his place, was a piece of injustice of the kind for + which men and nations go to war. At breakfast Bud kept his eyes + on his plate. His face wore the resigned look of a martyr. Miss + Morgan was studiously gracious. He dropped leaden monosyllables + into the cheery flow of her conversation, and after breakfast put + in his time at the woodshed.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:45%;"> + <a href="images/316.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/316.gif" + alt= + "The Balloon-Vender wormed his way through the buzzing crowd, leaving his wares in a red and blue trail behind him." /> + </a> <i>The Balloon-Vender wormed his way through the buzzing + crowd, leaving his wares in a red and blue trail behind + him</i>. + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/310.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/310.gif" + alt= + "Dressed-up children were flitting along the side streets, hurrying their seniors" /> + </a> <i>Dressed-up children were flitting along the side + streets, hurrying their seniors</i>. + </div> + + <p>At eight o'clock that morning the town of Willow Creek was in + the thrall of the circus. Country wagons were passing on every + side street. Delivery carts were rattling about with unusual + alacrity. By half-past nine dressed-up children were flitting + along the side streets hurrying their seniors. On the main + thoroughfare flags were flying, and the streams of strangers that + had been flowing into town were eddying at the street corners. + The balloon-vender wormed his way through the buzzing crowd, + leaving his wares in a red and blue trail behind him. The bark of + the fakir rasped the tightening nerves of the town. Everywhere + was hubbub; everywhere was the dusty, heated air of the festival; + everywhere were men and women ready for the marvel that had come + out of the great world, bringing pomp and circumstance in its + gilded train; everywhere in Willow Creek the spirit which put the + blue sash about the country girl's waist and the flag in her + beau's hat ran riot, save at the home of Miss Morgan. There the + bees hummed lazily over the old-fashioned flower garden; there + the cantankerous jays jabbered in the cottonwoods; there the + muffled noises of the town festival came as from afar; there Miss + Morgan puttered about her morning's work, trying vainly to croon + a gospel hymn; and there Bud Perkins, prone upon the sitting-room + sofa, made parallelograms and squares and diamonds with the dots + and lines on the ceiling paper. When the throb of the drum and + the blare of the brass had set the heart of the town to dancing, + some wave of the ecstasy seeped through the lilac bushes and into + the quiet house. The boy on the sofa started up suddenly, checked + himself ostentatiously, walked to the bird cage, and began to + play with the canary. The wave carried the little spinster to the + window. The circus had a homestead in human hearts before John + Wesley staked his claim, and even so good a Methodist as Miss + Morgan could not be deaf to the scream of the calliope nor the + tinkle of cymbals.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/320.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/320.gif" + alt= + "The Blue Sash about the country girl's waist and the flag in her Beau's hat." /> + </a> <i>The Blue Sash about the country girl's waist and the + flag in her Beau's hat</i>. + </div> + + <p>To emphasize his desolation, Bud left the room, and sat down + by a tree in the yard, with his back to the kitchen door and + window. There Miss Morgan saw him playing mumble-peg in a + desultory fashion. When the courtiers of Boyville came home from + the parade they found him; and because he sat playing a silent, + sullen, solitary game, and responded to their banter only with + melancholy grunts, they knew that the worst had befallen him. + Much confab followed, in which the pronoun "she" and "her" were + spoken. Otherwise Miss Morgan was unidentified. For the + conversation ran thus, over and over:—</p> + + <p>"You ask her."</p> + + <p>"Naw, I've done ast 'er."</p> + + <p>"'T won't do no good for me to ast 'er. She don't like + me."</p> + + <p>"I ain't 'fraid to ast 'er."</p> + + <p>"Well, then, why don't you?"</p> + + <p>"Why don't <i>you</i>?"</p> + + <p>"Let's all ast 'er."</p> + + <p>"S'pose she will, Bud?"</p> + + <p>"I dunno."</p> + + <p>Then Piggy and Abe and Jimmy and Mealy came trapesing up to + Miss Morgan's kitchen door. Bud sat by the tree twirling his + knife at his game. Piggy, being the spokesman, stood in the + doorway. "Miss Morgan," he said, as he slapped his leg with his + hat.</p> + + <p>"Well, Winfield?" replied the little woman, divining his + mission, and hardening her heart against his purpose.</p> + + <p>"Miss Morgan," he repeated, and then coaxed sheepishly, "can't + Bud go to the show with us, Miss Morgan?"</p> + + <p>"I'm afraid not to-day," smiled back Miss Morgan, as she went + about her work. A whisper from the doorstep prompted Piggy to + "ask her why;" whereat Piggy echoed: "Why can't he, Miss + Morgan?"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:40%;"> + <a href="images/326.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/326.gif" + alt= + "One's a trick elephant. You'd die a-laughing if you saw him." /> + </a> "<i>One's a trick elephant. You'd die a-laughing if you + saw him</i>." + </div> + + <p>"Henry misbehaved in church last night, and we've agreed that + he shall stay home from the circus."</p> + + <p>Piggy advanced a step or two inside the door, laughing + diplomatically: "O—no, Miss Morgan; don't you think he's + agreed. He's just dyin' to go."</p> + + <p>Miss Morgan smiled, but did not join in Piggy's + hilarity—a bad sign. Piggy tried again: "They got six + elephants, and one's a trick elephant. You'd die a-laughin' if + you saw him." And Piggy went into a spasm of laughter.</p> + + <p>But it left Miss Morgan high and dry upon the island of her + determination.</p> + + <p>Piggy prepared for an heroic measure, and stepped over to the + kitchen table, leaning upon it as he pleaded: "This is the last + circus this year, Miss Morgan, and it's an awful good one. Can't + he go just this once?"</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:35%;"> + <a href="images/330.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/330.gif" + alt= + "It's an awful good one. Can't he go just this once." /></a> + "<i>It's an awful good one. Can't he go just this once</i>?" + </div> + + <p>The debate lasted ten minutes, and at the end four boys walked + slowly, with much manifestation of feeling, back to the tree + where the fifth sat. There was woe and lamentation after the + manner of boy-kind. When the boys left the yard it seemed to Miss + Morgan that she could not look from her work without seeing the + lonesome figure of Bud. In the afternoon the patter of feet by + her house grew slower, and then ceased. Occasionally a belated + wayfarer sped by. The music of the circus band outside of the + tent came to Miss Morgan's ears on gusts of wind, and died away + as the wind ebbed. She dropped the dish-cloth three times in five + minutes, and washed her cup and saucer twice. She struggled + bravely in the Slough of Despond for awhile, and then turned back + with Pliable.</p> + + <p>"Henry," she said, as the boy walked past her carrying + peppergrass to the bird, "Henry, what made you act so last + night?"</p> + + <p>The boy dropped his head and answered: "I dunno."</p> + + <p>"But, Henry, didn't you know it was wrong?"</p> + + <p>"I dunno."</p> + + <p>"Why did you stick that little boy with the pin?"</p> + + <p>"Well—well—" he gasped, preparing for a defence. + "Well—he pinched me first."</p> + + <p>"Yes, Henry, but don't you know that it's wrong to do those + things in church? Don't you see how bad it was?"</p> + + <p>"I was just a-playin', Miss Morgan; I didn't mean to."</p> + + <p>Bud did not dare to trust his instinctive reading of the + signs. He went on impulsively: "I wanted him to quit, but he just + kept right on, and Brother Baker didn't touch him."</p> + + <p>The wind brought the staccato music of the circus band to the + foster-mother's ears. The music completed her moral decay, for + she was thinking, if Brother Baker would only look after his own + children as carefully as he looked after those of other people, + the world would be better. Then she said: "Now, Henry, if I let + you go, just this once—now just this once, mind + you—will you promise never to do anything like that + again?"</p> + + <p>Blackness dropped from the boy's spirit, and by main strength + he strangled a desire to yell. The desire revived when he reached + the alley, and he ran whooping to the circus grounds.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/335.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/335.gif" + alt="8 Funny Clowns—count them 8 (left)" /></a> + </div> + + <div class="figright" style="width:60%;"> + <a href="images/336.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/336.gif" + alt="8 Funny Clowns—count them 8 (right)" /></a> <i>"8 + Funny Clowns—count them 8"</i> + </div> + + <p>There is a law of crystallization among boys which enables + molecules of the same gang to meet in whatever agglomeration they + may be thrown. So ten minutes after Bud Perkins left home he + found Piggy and Jimmy and old Abe and Mealy in the menagerie + tent. Whereupon the South End was able to present a bristling + front to the North End—a front which even the pleasings of + the lute in the circus band could not break. But the boys knew + that the band playing in the circus tent meant that the + performance in the ring was about to begin. So they cut short an + interesting dialogue with a keeper, concerning the elephant that + remembered the man who gave her tobacco ten years ago, and tried + to kill him the week before the show came to Willow Creek. But + when the pageant in the ring unfolded its tinselled splendor in + the Grand Entry, Bud Perkins left earth and walked upon clouds of + glory. His high-strung nerves quivered with delight as the ring + disclosed its treasures—Willie Sells on his spotted ponies, + James Robinson on his dapple gray, the "8 funny + clowns—count them 8," the Japanese jugglers and tumblers, + the bespangled women on the rings, the dancing ponies, and the + performing dogs. The climax of his joy came when Zazell, "the + queen of the air," was shot from her cannon to the trapeze. Bud + had decided, days before the circus, that this feature would + please him most. Zazell's performance was somewhat tame, but + immediately thereafter a really startling thing happened. A clown + holding the trick mule called to the boys near Bud, who nudged + him into the clown's attention. The clown, drawing from the wide + pantaloons a dollar, pantomimed to Bud. He held it up for the boy + and all the spectators to see. Alternately he pointed to the + trick mule and to the coin, coaxing and questioning by signs, as + he did so. It took perhaps a minute for Bud's embarrassment to + wear off. Then two motives impelled him to act. He didn't propose + to let the North-enders see his embarrassment, and he saw that he + might earn the dollar for Miss Morgan's missionary box, thus + mitigating the disgrace he had brought upon her in church. This + inspiration literally flashed over Bud, and before he knew it, he + was standing in the ring, with his head cocked upon one side to + indicate his utter indifference to everything in the world. Of + course it was a stupendous pretence. For under his pretty + starched shirt, which Miss Morgan had forced on him in the hurry + of departure, his heart was beating like a little windmill in a + gale. As Bud bestrode the donkey the cheers of the throng rose, + but above the tumult he could hear the North End jeering him. He + could hear the words the North-enders spoke, even their + "ho-o-oho-os," and their "nyayh-nyayh-nyayahs," and their + "look—at—old—pretty—boy's," and their + "watch-him-hit-the-roof's," and their "get-a-basket's," and + similar remarks less desirable for publication. As the donkey + cantered off, Bud felt sure he could keep his seat. Once the + animal bucked. Bud did not fall. The donkey ran, and stopped + quickly. Bud held on. Then the donkey's feet twinkled—it + seemed to Bud in the very top of the tent—and Bud slid off + the animal's neck to the ring. The clown brought the boy his hat, + and stood over him as he rose. Bud laughed stupidly into the + chalked face of the clown, who handed Bud a dollar, remarking in + a low voice, "Well, son, you're a daisy. They generally drop the + first kick."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:50%;"> + <a href="images/342.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/342.gif" + alt= + "Well, son, you're a daisy. They generally drop the first kick." /> + </a> "<i>Well, son, you're a daisy. They generally drop the + first kick</i>." + </div> + + <p>What passed in the ring as Bud left it, bedraggled and dusty, + did not interest him. He brushed himself as he went. The band was + playing madly, and the young woman in the stiff skirts was + standing by her horse ready to mount. The crowd did not stop + laughing; Bud inclined his head to dust his knickerbockers, and + then in a tragic instant he saw what was convulsing the multitude + with laughter. The outer seam of the right leg of his velveteen + breeches was gone, and a brown leg was winking in and out from + the flapping garment as he walked. Wildly he gathered the parted + garment, and it seemed to him that he never would cover the + ground between the ring and the benches. In the course of several + æons—which the other boys measured by fleeting + minutes—the wave of shame that covered Bud subsided. Pins + bound up the wounds in his clothes. He drew a natural breath, and + was able to join the mob which howled down the man who announced + the concert.</p> + + <p>After that the inexorable minutes flew by until the + performance ended. In the menagerie tent Bud and his friends + looked thirstily upon the cool, pink "schooners" of lemonade, and + finally, when they had spent a few blissful moments with the + monkeys and had enjoyed a last, long, lingering look at the + elephants, they dragged themselves unwillingly away into the + commonplace of sunshine and trees and blue sky. Only the romantic + touch of the side-show banners and the wonder of the gilded + wagons assured them that their memories of the passing hour were + not empty dreams.</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:65%;"> + <a href="images/348.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/348.gif" + alt= + "The other 'wranglers ... dropped out for heavy repair." /></a> + <i>The other 'wranglers ... dropped out for heavy repair</i>. + </div> + + <p>The boys were standing enraptured before the picture of the + fat woman upon the swaying canvas. Bud had drifted away from them + to glut his eyes upon the picture of the snakes writhing around + the charmer. The North-enders had been following Bud at a + respectful distance, waiting for the opportunity which his + separation from his clan gave to them. They were enforced by a + country boy of great reputed prowess in battle. Bud did not know + his danger until they pounced upon him. In an instant the fight + was raging. Over the guy ropes it went, under the ticket wagon, + into the thick of the lemonade stands. And when Piggy and Abe and + Jimmy had joined it, they trailed the track of the storm by torn + hats, bruised, battle-scarred boys, and the wreckage incident to + an enlivening occasion. When his comrades found Bud, the argument + had narrowed down to Bud and the boy from the country, the other + wranglers having dropped out for heavy repairs. The fight, which + had been started to avenge ancient wrongs, particularly the + wrongs of the bill-board, only added new wrongs to the list. The + country boy was striking wildly, and trying to clinch his + antagonist, when the town marshal—the bogie-man of all + boys—stopped the fight. But of course no town marshal can + come into the thick of a discussion in Boyville and know much of + the merits of the question. So when the marshal of Willow Creek + saw Bud Perkins putting the finishing touches of a good trouncing + on a strange boy, and also saw Bill Pennington's boy, and Henry + Sears's boy, and Mrs. Carpenter's boy, and old man Jones's boy + dancing around in high glee at the performance, he quietly + gathered in the boys he knew, and let the stranger go.</p> + + <p>Now no boy likes to be marched down the main street of his + town with the callous finger of the marshal under his shirt-band. + The spectacle operates distinctly against the peace and dignity + of Boyville for months thereafter. For passing youths who forget + there is a morrow jibe at the culprits and thus plant the seeds + of dissensions which bloom in fights. It was a sweaty, red-faced + crew that the marshal dumped into Pennington's grocery with, + "Here, Bill, I found your boy and these young demons fightin' + down 't the circus ground, and I took 'em in charge. You 'tend to + 'em, will you?"</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:65%;"> + <a href="images/352.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/352.gif" + alt= + "When Mr. Pennington's eyes fell on Bud, he leaned on a show-case and laughed till he shook all over." /> + </a> <i>When Mr. Pennington's eyes fell on Bud, he leaned on a + show-case and laughed till he shook all over</i>. + </div> + + <p>Mr. Pennington's glance at his son showed that Piggy was + unharmed. A swift survey of the others gave each, save Bud, a + bill of health. But when Mr. Pennington's eyes fell on Bud, he + leaned on a show-case and laughed till he shook all over; for + Bud, with a rimless hat upon a towselled head, with a face + scratched till it looked like a railroad map, with a torn shirt + that exposed a dirty shoulder and a freckled back, with trousers + so badly shattered that two hands could hardly hold them + together,—as Mr. Pennington expressed it, Bud looked like a + second-hand boy. The simile pleased Pennington so that he renewed + his laughter, and paid no heed to the chatter of the pack + clamoring to tell all in one breath, the history of the incident + that had led to Bud's dilapidation. Also they were drawing gloomy + pictures of the appearance of his assailants, after the custom of + boys in such cases. Because his son was not involved in the + calamity, Piggy's father was not moved deeply by the story of the + raid of the North-enders and their downfall. So he put the young + gentlemen of the Court of Boyville into the back room of his + grocery store, where coal-oil and molasses barrels and hams and + bacon and black shadows of many mysterious things were gathered. + He gave the royal party a cheese knife and a watermelon, and bade + them be merry, a bidding which set the hearts of Piggy and Abe + and Jimmy and Mealy to dancing, while Bud's heart, which had been + sinking lower and lower into a quagmire of dread, beat on numbly + and did not join the joy. As the time for going home approached, + Bud shivered in his soul at the thought of meeting Miss Morgan. + Not even the watermelon revived him, and when a watermelon will + not help a boy his extremity is dire. Still he laughed and + chatted with apparent merriment, but he knew how hollow was his + laughter and what mockery was in his cheer. When the melon was + eaten business took its regular order.</p> + + <p>"Say, Bud, how you goin' to get home?" asked Abe.</p> + + <p>Bud grinned as he looked at his rags.</p> + + <p>"Gee," said Mealy, "I'm glad it ain't me."</p> + + <p>"Aw, shucks," returned Bud, and he thought of the stricken + Ananias in the Sunday-school lesson leaf as he spoke; "run right + through like I always do. What I got to be 'fraid of?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, Mr. Bud, you can laugh, but you know you'll catch it + when you get home."</p> + + <p>This shaft from Jimmy Sears put in words the terror in Bud's + heart. But he replied: "I'll bet you I don't."</p> + + <p>Bud's instinct piloted him by a circuitous route up the alley + to the kitchen door. Miss Morgan sat on the front porch, waiting + for the boy to return before serving supper. He stood helplessly + in the kitchen for a minute, with a weight of indecision upon + him. He feared to go to the front porch, where Miss Morgan was. + He feared to stay in the kitchen. But when he saw the empty + wood-box a light seemed to dawn. Instinct guided him to the + woodpile, and the law of self-preservation filled his arms with + wood, and instinct carried him to the kitchen wood-box time and + again, and laid the wood in the box as gently as if it had been + glass and as softly as if it had been velvet. Not until the pile + had grown far above the wainscoting on the kitchen wall, did a + stick crashing to the floor tell Miss Morgan that Bud was in the + house.</p> + + <p>But there is a destiny that shapes our ends, and just as the + falling wood attracted Miss Morgan's attention, it was diverted + by a belligerent party at her front gate. This belligerent party + was composed of two persons, to wit: one mother from the north + end of Willow Creek, irate to the spluttering point, and one boy + lagging as far behind the mother as his short arm would allow him + to lag. The mother held the short arm, and was literally dragging + her son to Miss Morgan's gate to offer him in evidence as + "Exhibit A" in a possible cause of the State of Kansas <i>vs</i>. + Henry Perkins. Exhibit A was black and blue as to the eyes, torn + as to the shirt, bloody as to the nose, tumbled and dusty as to + the hair, and as to the countenance, clearly and unquestionably + sheep-faced. The mother opened the bombardment with: "Miss + Morgan, I just want you to look at my boy."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/356.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/356.gif" + alt="Miss Morgan, I just want you to look at my boy." /></a> + "<i>Miss Morgan, I just want you to look at my boy</i>." + </div> + + <p>Miss Morgan looked in horror, and exclaimed: "Well, for mercy + sakes! Where on earth's he been?"</p> + + <p>And the leader of the war party returned: "Where's he been? + Well, I'll tell you where he's been. And I just want you to know + who done this." Here Exhibit A got behind a post. The recital of + the details of his catastrophe was humiliating. But the mother + continued: "Henry Perkins done this. I don't believe in stirring + up neighborhood quarrels and all that, but I've just stood this + long enough. My boy can't stick his nose out of the door without + that Perkins boy jumpin' on him. If you can't do anything with + that Perkins boy, I'll show him there's a law in this land."</p> + + <p>Miss Morgan wilted as the speech proceeded. She had voice only + to say, "I'm sure there's some mistake;" and then remembering the + crash of the wood on the kitchen floor, she called: "Henry, come + here!"</p> + + <p>As Bud shambled through the house, the spokesman of the + belligerents replied: "No, there isn't no mistake either. My boy + is a good little boy, and just as peaceable a boy as there is in + this town. And because I don't allow him to fight, that Perkins + boy picks on him all the time. I've told him to keep out of his + way and not to play with Henry Perkins, but he can't be runnin' + all over this town to keep——"</p> + + <p>And then Exhibit B, with scratched face, tattered raiment, and + grimy features, stood in the doorway. The witness for the State + looked in dumb amazement at the wreck. Miss Morgan saw Bud, and + her temper rose—not at him, but at his adversary. Exhibit A + sulkily turned his face from Exhibit B, and Exhibit B seemed to + be oblivious of the presence of Exhibit A; for the boys it was a + scene too shameful for mutual recognition. Miss Morgan broke the + heavy silence with: "Henry, where on earth have you been?"</p> + + <p>"Been t' the circus," replied the boy.</p> + + <p>"Henry, did you blacken that little boy's eyes, and tear his + clothes that way?" inquired Miss Morgan when her wits + returned.</p> + + <p>"Why—no'm—I didn't. But he was one of four fellers + that picked on me comin' home from the circus, and tried to lick + me."</p> + + <p>"Willie," demanded the head of the attacking posse, "did you + pick a fight with that Perkins boy?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, no 'm, no 'm! I was just playin' round the tent, me and + another boy, and Bud he come up and jumped on us." And then to + add verisimilitude to his narrative, he appended: "Him and four + other boys."</p> + + <p>"Henry," asked Miss Morgan, as she surveyed the debris of + Henry's Sunday clothes, and her womanly wrath for the destroyer + of them began to boil, "Henry, now tell me honestly, is this + little boy telling the truth? Now, don't you story to me, + Henry."</p> + + <p>"Honest injun, Miss Morgan, I cross my heart and hope to drop + dead this minute if I ain't tellin' you the way it was. Him and + them North-enders, why they come along and called me names, and + he tried to hit me, and I just shoved him away like this," and + Henry executed a polite pantomime. "And I was swingin' my arms + out to keep 'em all from hittin' me, and he got in the way, and I + couldn't help it. And they was all a pickin' on me, and I told + 'em all the time I didn't want to fight."</p> + + <p>But Exhibit A kept looking at his mother and shaking his head + in violent contradiction of Bud, as the story was told.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:25%;"> + <a href="images/360.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/360.gif" + alt= + "Now, Henry, don't ever have anything to do with that kind of trash again." /> + </a> "<i>Now, Henry, don't ever have anything to do with that + kind of trash again</i>." + </div> + + <p>Miss Morgan asked: "Who scratched your face so, Henry?"</p> + + <p>"Him; he's all the time fightin' me."</p> + + <p>"No, ma, I didn't. You know I didn't."</p> + + <p>Exhibit A and Exhibit B were still back to back. Then Exhibit + B responded: "Miss Morgan, you ast him if he didn't cuss and damn + me, and say he was goin' to pound me to death if I ever come + north of Sixth."</p> + + <p>To which the leader of the raiders returned in great scorn: + "The very idea! Just listen at that! Why, Miss Morgan, that + Perkins boy is the bully of this town. Come on, Willie, your pa + will see if there is no law to protect you from such boys as + him." Whereupon the war party faced about, and walked down the + sidewalk and away.</p> + + <p>Miss Morgan and Bud watched the North End woman and her son + depart. Miss Morgan turned to Bud, and spoke spiritedly: "Now, + Henry, don't ever have anything to do with that kind of trash + again. Now, you won't forget, will you, Henry?"</p> + + <p>Bud examined his toes carefully, and replied, "No 'm."</p> + + <p>In the threshold she put her hand on the boy's shoulder, and + continued: "Now, don't you mind about it, Henry. They sha'n't + touch you. You come and wash, and we'll have supper."</p> + + <p>When a boy has a woman for a champion, if he is wise, he + trusts her to any length. So Bud went to the kitchen, picked up + the water-bucket, and went to the well, partly to keep from + displaying a gathering wave of affection for his foster-mother, + and partly to let the magnificence of the wood-box burst upon her + in his absence. When he returned, he found Miss Morgan pointing + toward the wood-box and beaming upon him. Bud grinned, and fished + in his pocket for the coin.</p> + + <div class="figleft" style="width:45%;"> + <a href="images/364.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/364.gif" + alt= + "Here's a dollar I got for ridin' the trick mule.... I thought it would be nice for the missionary society." /> + </a> "<i>Here's a dollar I got for ridin' the trick mule.... I + thought it would be nice for the missionary society</i>." + </div> + + <p>"Here's a dollar I got for ridin' the trick mule," he + faltered. "I thought it would be nice for the missionary + society." That he might check any weak feminine emotions, he + turned his attention to the supper-table, and blurted: "Gee, + we're goin' to have pie, ain't we? I tell you, I'm mighty pie + hungry."</p> + + <div class="figright" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/368.gif"><img width="100%" src="images/368.gif" + alt="Gee, we're going to have pie, ain't we." /></a> "<i>Gee, + we're going to have pie, ain't we</i>." + </div> + + <p>The glow of Miss Morgan's melted heart shone upon her face. + Through a seraphic smile she spoke: "It's apple pie, too, + Henry—your kind." As she put the supper upon the table, she + asked: "Did you have a good time at the circus, Henry?"</p> + + <p>The boy nodded vehemently, and said: "You bet!" and then went + on, after a pause, "I guess I tore my pants a little gettin' off + of that mule; but I thought you'd like the dollar."</p> + + <p>It was the finest speech he could make. "I guess I can mend + them, Henry," she answered; and then she asked, with her face in + the cupboard, "Sha'n't we try some of the new strawberry + preserves, Henry?"</p> + + <p>As she was opening the jar she concluded that Henry Perkins + was an angel—a conclusion which, in view of the well-known + facts, was manifestly absurd.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" style="width:30%;"> + <a href="images/374.gif"><img width="100%" src= + "images/374.gif" alt="horses" /></a> + </div> + + <p> </p> + <hr /> + + <h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>"THE HERB CALLED HEARTS-EASE"</h3> + + <p> </p> + + <p>Did you hear him? I dare say that boy lives a merrier life and + wears more of the herb called hearts-ease in his bosom than he + that is clad in silk and velvet.—<i>From the Observations + of "Mr. Great Heart</i>."</p> + + <p>It was dusk in Boyville. The boys at a game of hide-and-seek + filled the air with their calls:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">"Bushel of wheat, and a</p> + + <p class="i10">Bushel of rye—</p> + + <p class="i8">All t' ain't ready</p> + + <p class="i10">Holler aye.</p> + + <p>All in ten feet of my base is caught: All eyes open."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Or</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"One—two—three for me."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Or</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"All's out's in free."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Among the trees they scampered; into hay-stacks they wormed; + over barrels and boxes they wiggled; they huddled under the + sunflowers and the horse-weeds. It was a royal game, but as the + moon rose it merged into pull-away. That game flourished for a + while and transformed itself by an almost imperceptible evolution + into a series of races down the dusty road. But when the moon's + silver had marked itself upon the grass, the boys were lying + prone on a hay-cock behind the royal castle. They chattered idly, + and the murmur of their talk rose on the just-felt breeze that + greets the rising moon, like the ripple of waters. But the + chatter was only a seeming. For in truth the boys were absorbing + the glory of the moonlight. And the undertones of their being + were sounding in unison with the gentle music of the hour. Their + souls—fresher from God than are the souls of men—were + a-quiver with joy, and their lips babbled to hide their + ecstasies. In Boyville it is a shameful thing to flaunt the + secrets of the heart. As the night deepened, and the shy stars + peeped at the bold moon, the boys let their prattle ebb into + silence. Long they lay looking upward—with the impulse in + their souls that prompted the eternal question that Adam left + unanswered, that David cried in passion across his harp, that the + wise men of the world have left locked in mystery—the + question of the Whence, the Why, and the Whither.</p> + + <p>As the moon climbed high into the arc of the Heavens, the + company upon the hay-cock dispersed, one by one, till a solitary + boy remained.</p> + + <p>After he had gazed at the moon awhile a thrill of sheer + madness set him to tumbling, head over heels, upon the fresh hay. + Life was full of gladness for him, and his throat cramped with a + delicious longing for he knew not what. He wondered vaguely if it + were not something new and unimaginably good to eat. It was the + nearest he could come to a defining of the longing. Of course no + one can define it. It is that which quickens the blood of all + young creatures—the rosebud, the meadow-lark, the + dragon-fly, the colt, the boy and the maiden, bidding them + glorify God with the show and the example of their comeliness. + The boy rose from the hay and skipped under the trees, over the + fantastic figures of the moon-spun carpet. He waved his arms, and + there came to his throat a simple song, which he chanted + croakingly, lest some one should hear him and laugh. He stopped, + and sitting on a fence looked at a great white cloud that was + mounting the western sky. His soul was listening to the faraway + music from the breakers of the restless rising sea of ambition, + and the rush of life and action, that were flooding into the + distant rim of his consciousness. The music charmed him. Tears + came to his eyes, he knew not why. But we, whom this mighty tide + has carried away from that bourne whereon the boy's feet strayed + so happily—we know why the far-seeing angels gave him + tears.</p> + + <p>A dog in some distant farm-yard was baying at the moon. A + whining screech owl sent a faint shudder of superstitious fear + over the boy. For a long time he sat on the fence absorbing the + night sounds—the claque of the frogs, the burring of the + crickets, the hum of the water on the mill-dam far down the + valley, and the occasional call of some human voice, ringing like + a golden bell in the hush of the night. It was after nine and the + boy was deep in his trackless revery. A woman called,—</p> + + <p>"Win-nee, Win-nee, oh, Winnie."</p> + + <p>The spell upon him was almost too delicious to break; but he + roused himself to reply,—</p> + + <p>"Yessum. All right."</p> + + <p>Then the mother's voice continued: "Now wash your feet, + Winnie, and wipe 'em dry; don't come to bed with dirty feet."</p> + + <p>Slowly the boy climbed to the earth. He shuffled through dew, + but his feet were still too dirty. He stood in the tub of water + by the pump, rubbing one foot with the other, and his eyes turned + moonward. The thrall of the night caught him again. In a hazy + stupor he sat on the kitchen step drying his feet. When he got + up, Piggy Pennington gazed for a moment at a star—a pale + star which hovered timidly over the chimney of the home which + sheltered his Heart's Desire. With the lunacy upon him, he flung + to the star a bashful kiss. Then he grinned foolishly and came to + himself with a grunt, as he ran up stairs to his room. He was + ashamed to face the south breeze that fanned his bed.</p> +<br /> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12377 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12377-h/images/001.gif b/12377-h/images/001.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4926a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/images/001.gif diff --git a/12377-h/images/030.gif b/12377-h/images/030.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87e1464 --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/images/030.gif diff --git a/12377-h/images/036.gif b/12377-h/images/036.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a57ef8d --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/images/036.gif diff --git a/12377-h/images/042.gif b/12377-h/images/042.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6b18da --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/images/042.gif diff --git a/12377-h/images/058.gif b/12377-h/images/058.gif Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c871ae --- /dev/null +++ b/12377-h/images/058.gif diff --git 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