Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-09-27
SHORT STORY FOR
EVENING HOURS
The REBELLION OF CLARENCE

NCtllny young HulHldiS. but lohu
mother who believed in bringing boys
up under glass had gone far to make
Of him snarling, whining, white.faced
little Miss Nancy, with nothing admir-
able about him from any point of view,
The father OF Clarence was rich
man aud his mother-herself tho
daughter of poverty.stricken family
was therefore able to indulge all her
peculiar theories In the matter of the
rearing of Clarence" She declared,
in the first place, that to send boy
TO the public schools was brutalizing.
The public schools were no place for
a "gentleman's SON" SO until he was
5 he had a French governess, after that
age he was put in charge of putty
faced young tutor who hated the work
Of handling boys. The tutors most
distinguished feature was his ears.
They were large and projecting, and
whenever the thermometer was lower
than 40 degrees above zero they were
carefully covered by pair OF black
velyeteen car muffs.
BY a series of progressive expert
ments Clarence had discovered that he
could do as he pleased with the tutor.
| For one thing, the tutor had tender
shins, and Clarence found much JOY In
slipping up quietly behind the tutor
and cutting him just below the knees
with the sharp, brass-bound edge of u
two.foot rule. On such occasions the
tutor was accustomed to bend over In
agony and to express his wrath by the
nearest approach to an oath he ever
allowed himself:
20, fury
Master Clarence had also discovered
that the tutor did not like red pepper
in his food He had noticed that even
a small amount Of the fiery condiment
made tears come into the fishy pale
blue eyes of,poOr Mr.. Whitley, and that
q slightly large dose would send him
from the table in a paroxYsm Of cough.
ling. SO that when the tutor did not
Immediately agree with all the sugges
tons Of his pupil, Clarence would sim.
lply threaten him with an application
lof red pepper at the next meal, and
would usually carry his point. &c.
i In such innocent and playful little
ways as these Clarence managed to get
la little enjoyment out of life, but on
the whole he was completely and su
Ipremely miserable.
Poor child! lie didn't even know
what he wanted. And his mother was
not wise enough to tell him.
The mother of Clarence was greatly
worried lest he should get ''contaminat.
led" To be contaminated meant, in her
mind. to associate with children whose
parents were not in her immediate set.
with a few select boys, most Of them
as pale and spoiled as himself, Clar.
fence was allowed to play gentlemanly
lgames under the watchful eyes of Mr..
Whitley, but at the first sign of rude,
was instructed TO bring Clarence into
the house. Even under these disad.
lvantages Clarence and his associates
managed to get some little amusement
out Of life, but as a whole their exist,
lenCe was a stupid one.
The only time when Clarence was al
lowed to have even few minutes by
himself was when he went out into the
little back yard behind the hig house
In which the family lived. This back
lyard had high fence around 1t, and
poor Mr.. Whitley felt that his precious
I..lNn 81
stances, even II he did not watch him
leyery moment.
But one afternoon Mr.. Whitley
glanclng casually out Of back window
into the back yard, where Clarence was
lat play, was Mortified to see that there
were two other boys there also. Thei.
faces were distinctly dirty, and one OF
Them was smoking cigarette. Mr.
Whitley almost tainted. He hurried
down into the yard. On his approach
the two strange boys scrambled over
the back fence like alley cats and were
gone.
Clarence" said Mr.. Whitley, what
will your mother say2"
She won't say nOthin'," said Clar.
ence. unless you tell her. And II you
do I'll tell her that you don't watch
me when play in the back yard"
who were those boys?" demanded
the tutor.
THE biggest kid is Niger White.
He's de boss Of de Dump gang an
de captain of de Slim street ball nine.
De udder kid Is Fatty Harstoff. II
twas him dat was smolSin' de Gig, and
he's a peach"
Clarence was doing his best to imi
tate the dialect Of his new found
friends, and was succeeding, as Mr.
Whitley. painfully realized only too
Iwell.
Don't ever let me hear Of you-'
The tutor was interrupted by the
sound of three shrill whistles-two
long and one short-coming from out.
side the alley fence. In answer Clar
ence put most Of his ten fingers in his
mouth and blew four feeble blasts.
| "Why didn't Won ever teach me IN