Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-07-15
CHAPTER !

CHAPTER /
THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS GO N SEARCH or
ADVENTURES.
Twel.e-year-old Arthur Dale Dustin
did not look in the least like Prince,
that bright September afternoon, sitting
on the topmost rail of the zig-zag fence.
As he dangled his brown legs idly, he
wistfully watched his cousins at the play
In which they would not allow him to
join. lie loved to play as dearly as any
other twelve-year-old boy; but somehow
or other he was always left out of their
games by the boisterous crew of little
Dustins whom he called cousins. He
tried his best to like what they liked,
and to be one with them, but some
thing always seemed to happen to pre-
vent.
Once, when they all went down to see
the we'll that his uncle John Dustin was
drilling deep into the earth with the
hope of striking oil, they found
the men away and for few
minutes had the place to themselves.
Thereupon Cousin Dick, who was
two years older than Arthur, climbed
up the derrick, and, watching his
chance, sprang on the end of the great
walking beam that was working slowly
up and down with ponderous strokes.
Here he rode on tho back of his mighty
wooden steed for few seconds, while
the other children shouted and clapped
their hands with admiration.
Then Dick came down and dared
Arthur to perform the same feat; but
the boy held back. He was not afraid,
not bit of it; and even if he had been
he would gladly have done any thing
Dick dared do, merely to win his good
will and that of the others. But his
Uncle John had forbidden them even to
go near the derrick or the engine unless
he was there to look after them. The
others seemed to have forgotten this;
but Arthur remembered it, and so re-
fused to ride on the walking beam be-
cause it would be an act of disobedi-
ence. Then Cousin Dick sneered at
him and called him "'fraid-cat," and
all the others, except tender-hearted,
freckle-faced little Cynthia, took up the
cry and shouted: "'Fraid-cat'l 'Fraid-
cat!" as they crowded around him and
pushed him into the derrick.
Just then Uncle John returned and
the others ran away, leaving poor
Arthur, looking very confused and red
in the face, standing in the middle of
the derrick floor. Then, when his uncle
in 4 stern voice asked him what he was
doing in that place which he had been
strictly forbidden to enter, Arthur
hung his head and would not say any
thing; for he was too brave lad to be q
''tell-tale," and too honest to tell lie.
So his Uncle John said that he was
naughty hoy who had led the other chill
dren into mischief, and that he might
go right homo and get into bed, and
stay there for the rest of the day ne
punishment.
Poor Arthur obeyed; and as he walked
slowly towards the only place in the
world he could call home, great tears
rolled down his cheeks. When the
other children, who were hiding in the
bushes, saw them they called out: "Cry-
baby! Cry-babyr' Only little Cynthia
ran out and put her arms about his neck
and said she was sorry; but Dick pulled
her roughly away.
Another time, when Cynthia asked
Arthur to build house for her dolls
under the roots of a great tree that had
blown down just on the edge of the
woods back of the house, he. being an