Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-10-21

chorus. They jeered. derided.
scoffed and raised an uproar
which would have had its ef-
feet upon much stronger nerves than
Georges. For a time lie contained
his rising choler and chanted moliot-
onously over and over: Il could. |
could too! Icould! could too But
their tumult wore upon him. and he de-
clded to avail himself of the recent de-
cision whereby a big Fl was rendered
innocuous and unprofane. Having
used the expression once. he found it
comforting and substituted it for II
couldl I could tool"
But 1t relieved him only temporarily.
His tormentors were unaffected by 1t
and Increased their howlings until at
last George lost bis head altogether.
Badgered beyond bearing. his eyes.
shining with q wild light, he broke
through the besieging trio, hurting little
Maurice from his path with a frantic
hand
I'm show your he cried in this sud-
den frenzy. you give me a chance,
and Ill prove it right nowl.
That's talkin' businessl" shouted
Penrod- Everybody keep still a min.
ute-everybody"
He took command Of the situation at
once, displaying a fine capacity for or
%ganization and system. 1t needed only
q few minutes to set order in the place
OF confusion and to deteEmine, with the
full concurrence of all parties, the con
ditions under which George Bassett
was to defend his claim by undergoing
what may be perhaps fntelligibly de-
fined as the Herman test. George de-
clared he could do 1t easily. He was
In a state of great excitement and in
no condition to think calmly or proba-
bly, he would not have made the at
tempt at all. Certainly he was over
confident.
1t was during the discussion of the
details Of this enterprise that Georges
mother q short distance down the
street received a few female callers,
who came by appointment to drink a
glass of iced tea with her and to meet
the Rev. MI. Kinosling. MI. Kinosling
was proving almost formidably inter-
esting to the women and girls of his
own and other focks. What favor OF
his fellow clergymen q slight precious
ness of and pronunciation cost
him was more than balanced by the
visible ecstasies OF ladies'. They blos-
somed at his touch.
He had just entered Mrs. Bassett's
front door when the son Of the house,
followed by an intent and earnest COM
pany OF -four. opened the alley gate
and came into the yard, The uncon-
scious Mrs Bassett was about to have
her first experience of a fatal coinci-
dence. It was her first, because she
was the mother Of a boy SO well be-
hayed that he had become a proverb
Of t-ranseendency. Fatal condolences
were plentiful In the Schofield and
Williams families and would have been
familiar to Mrs. Bassett had George
been permitted greater Intimacy with
Penrod and Sam.
Mr. Kinosling slipped his iced tea and
looked about him approyingiy. Seven
ladies' leaned forward, for it was to be
seen that he meant to speak.
This cool room is a relief s he said,
waving q graceful hand in a neatly
limited gesture, which eFerybody's
eyes followed, bis own included. II.
issa relief and a retreat. The windows
open. the blinds closed-that is as II
should be. 1t Is q retreat, q fastness,
q bastion against the heats assault.
For me q quiet quiet room and
q book. a volume IN the hand, held
lightly between the ingers-a volume
Of poems. lines metrical and cadenced
something BY q sound Victorian vi
have no later poets.e
s.Swinburne.s' sugsestsd Miss Beam