The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1915-07-29

sheltered in the human garment Of a
man His stage fright had passed for
the audience was but an indistinguish-
able blur of darkness beyond the dag
cling lights. His most repulsive speech
chat In which he proclaimed himself Il
''tot') was over and done with, and
now at last the small, moist hand Of
the Child Sir Gslahad lay within his
own Crafty his brown fingers stole
from Matrices palm to the wrist The
two boys detained In concert:
I'VE are two chuldrun Of the Tabul Round
6trewing kindness all around.
With love and good deeds striving ever
for the best.
May our r.tul efforts e'er be blest.
Two littul hearts we offer. See,
United in love. faith. hope and char-Ow"
The conclusion Of the duet was mar
red. The Child Sir Galahad suddenly
stiffened and, uttering an irrepressible
shrek Of anguish, gave brief exhibit
ton of the contortionist's art. Giles
twistin' my wrist! Dern you, leggor)
The voice Of Mrs. LOra Rewbush was
again heard from the wings. 1t sound
ed bloodthirsty. Penrod released his
victim, and the Child King Arthur,
somewhat disconnected, extended his
scepter and, with the assistance Of the
enraged pre- -upter, said:
Sweet child friends of the Tabul Round.
In brotherly love and kindness abound;
Sir Lancelot, you have spoken well.
Sir Galahad, too as clear as bell.
So now pray don your mantles gay.
You shall be knighted this very day."
And Penrod dotted his mantle.
simultaneously thick and vastly
gasp came from the audience, as from
500 bathers In a wholly unexpected
surf. This gasp was punctuated irreg-
ularly over the auditorium by imper-
fectly subdued screams both Of dismay
and incredulOus JOY and by two dismal
shrieks. Altogether 1t was an extraOr-
binary sound, sound never to be for
gotten by any one who heard 1t. 1t
was almost as unforgetable as the
sight which caused 1t, the word sight"
being here used in its vernacular sense.
for Penrod, standing unmantled and
revealed In all the medieval and arts
tic glory Of the Janitors blue overalls.
falls within its meaning.
The Janitor was heavy man. and
his overalls upon Penrod were merely
oceanic. The boy was at once swad-
died and lost within their blue CULTS
and vast saggings, and the left leg.
too hastily rolled up. had descended
with a distinctively elephanttne effect.
as Margaret had observed. Certainly
the Child Sir Lancelot was at least
sight
1t is probable that a great many In
that hall must have had even then a
consciousness that they were looking
on at history in the making. A su-
preme act Is recognizable at sight; 1t
bears the birthmark Of Immortality.
But Penrod, that marvellous boy, had
begun to declaim, even with the ges-
ture Of f1inging of his mantle for the
accolade:
II first, the Child Sir Lancelot du Lake.
Will volunteer to knighthood take.
And kneeling here before your throne
vow to-
He finished his speech unheard. The
audience had recovered breath, but
had lost self control. and there ensued
something later described by partici-
pant as a sort Of cultured riot.
The actors In the pageant" were not
80 dumfounded by Penrod's costume
as might have been expected. A few
precOciOus geniuses perceived thae the
oyeralls were the Child Lancelot's own
comment on maternal intentions, and
these We're profoundly impressed.
They regarded him with the grfsly
admiration of young and ambitious
criminals for Jail mate about to be
distinguished by hanging. But most
of the children simply took it to be the
case "a little strange, but startling
that PenrOd's mother had dressed him
like that-which Is pathetic. They
tried to go on with the pageant"
They made a brief, manful effort
But the lrrepressible outbursts from
the audience bewildered them. Every
me Sir Lancelot du Lake the Child
opened his mouth the great, shadowy
house fell into an uproar and the chill
dren into confusion. Strong women
and brave girls In the audience went
out into the lobby, shrieking and cling
ing to one another. Others remained,
rocking in their seats, helpless and
spent. The neighborhood Of Mrs. Soho
field and Margaret became tactfully
desert. Friends Of the author went
behind the scenes and encountered
hitherto unknown phase Of Mrs. Lora
Rewbush They said afterward that
she hardly seemed to know what she
was doing. She begged to be left alone
somewhere with PenrOd Schofield, for
Just little while.
They led her away.