Connecticut western news., 1915-05-27

| an@u.'h-an cNcruciating sweetness on-
 taincd only by the wallowing wallop- ing ycllow-pinE palm of a hand whose back was Kongo black and shiny. The
 muSi" came down the street and pass cd beneath the window, accompanied by the care free ShutTling of Il pair of
 old shoes scufIing syncopations on the
 cement sidewalk. It passed into the
 distance; became faint and blurred
 was gone. Emotion stirred in PenroI
 a great md poignant desire. hut (per-
 hapS fortunately no fairy godmother
 made her appearance. Otherwise Pen
 rod would have gone town the street
 in black skin. playing the mouth or
 gan. and an unprepared colorcd youth
 would have found himself enjoying
 educational advantages for which he
 had no ambition whatever.
 i Reused from perfect apathy, the boy
 cast about the. sehoolroom an eve 1 wcaricd to nausea by the perpetual
 vision of the neat teacher upon the
 platform. the backs of the heads of the | pupils in front of him and the mo-
 notonouS stretches of blackboard
 thrcateningly dcfaced by arithmetical
 formula and other insignia of torture
 Above the blackboard the walls of the | high room were of white plaster l white with the qualified wilderness of
 old snow in Il soft coal town. This
 dismal pXpanSe was broken by four 1 Photographic portraits, votive offerings
 nf a thoughtful publisher. The DOT
 traits were of good and great men. | kind men. men who loved children. | Their faces were noble and benevo- ] lent. But the Autographs offered the only rest for the eyes of childre1 s'.- | tigued by the everlasting sameness Of l the Schoolroom. Long day after long | day. interminable week in and inter
 minable week out. vast month on vast | honth. the pupils sat with those four
 sortraits beaming kindness down upon
 them. The faces became. permanent ! in the consciousness of the children: l they became an obseSSion. In and out of school the children were never free
 of them. The four faces hauuted the
 minds of children falling asleep. They hung upon the minds of children walk
 ing at night; they rose forebodingly in
 the minds of children waking i'll the
 morning; they became monstrously
 alive in the minds of children lying
 ick of fever. Never while the chill i Lren of that schoolroom lived would 1 they be able to forget one detail of the | four Autographs. The hand of Long
 fellow was fixed for them forever in his beard. And by a simple and un- conscious association of ideas Penrod Schotield was accommodating an antipa- ! thy for the gentle Longfellow. and for l James Russell Lowell. and for Oliver
 Wendell Holmes. and for John Green
 leaf Whittier which would never per
 init him to peruse work of one Of ] those great New Englanders without a feeling of personal resentment.
 His eyes fell slowly and inimically
 from the brow of Whittier to the braid
 of reddish hair belonging to Victorine | Riordan. the little octorOon girl who
 sat directly in front of him. Victo-
 rine's back was as familiar to penrod | as the necktie of Oliver Wendell
 Holmes. go was her gayly colored
 plaid waist. He hateI the waist as 1 he hated Victorine herself without knowing why. Enforced companion l ship in large quantities and on an equal
 basis between the sexes appears to
 sterilize the affections, and schoolroom romances are few.
 l Victorine's hair was thick and the
 brickish glints in it were beautiful, but l Penrod was very tired of it. A tiny knot of green ribbon finished off the
 braid and kept it from unraveling, and | beneath the ribbon there was final
 wisp of hair which was just long
 enough to repose upon Penrod's desk
 when Victorine leaned back in her ] seat It was there now. Thoughtful l Iy he took the braid between thumb
 and fOrefinger and. without disturbing | Victorine. dipped the end of it and the | green ribbon into the inlwell of his
 desk. He brought hair and ribbon | forth dripping purple ink and partially 1 dried them on blotter, though, mo. ment later when Victorine leaned for ward, they were still able to add a l few picturesque touches to the plaid
 waist
 l Rudolph Krauss, across the aisle | from Penrod. watched the operation
 with protuberant eyes, fascinated. In | spired to imitation, he took q piece of i chalk from his pocket and wrote Rats" across the shoulder blades of
 the boy in front of him, then looked 1 across appealingly to Penrod for to-
 kenS of congratulation. Penrod yawned
 Half the members of the class pass
 ed out to a recitation room, the em- | purpled Nict0rine among them, and
 Miss Spence started the remaining half
 through Ihe ordeal of trial by mathe-
 maticS. Several boys and girls were
 sent to the blackboard, and penrod, | spared for the moment. followed their | operations a little while with his eyes. but not with his mind; then, sinking | deeper in his seat, Imply abandoned
 the effort. His eyes remained open, ] but saw nothing. The routine of the 1 arithmetic lesson reached his ears in l familiar. meaningless sounds, but he
 heard nothing, and yet. this time, he | .s.I T