The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-08-12
PAGE EIGHT

Wendell Holmes, and Tor JOnn GreeH
leaf Whittier which would never per
init him to peruse a work or one OF
those great New Englanders without O
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 VINO
sat directly In front of him. Veto
rtne's back was as familiar to Penrod
as the necktie Of Oliver Wendell
Holmes. So was her gayly colored
plaid waist. He hated the waist as
be hated Victorine herself without
knowing why. Enforced companion
ship In large quantities n on an equai
basis between the sexes appears 10
sterilize the affections, and schoolroom
romances are few,
victorine's hair was thick and the
brickish glints in It were beautiful, but
Penrod was very tired of 1t. A tiny
knot of green ribbon finished Off the
braid and kept 1t from u%nraveling, n
beneath the ribbon there was n hnal
wisp Of hair which was just long
enough 10 repose upon Periods desk
when Yictorine leaned back In her
seat. 1t was there now thoughtful
ly he took the braid between thumb
and forefinger and, without disturbing
Victorine, dipped the end OF 1t and the
green ribbon into the inkwell Of his
desk. He brought hair and ribbon
forth dripping purple ink and partially
dried them on n blotter, though, a mo-
ment later, when Victorine leaned for
ward, they were still able TO add n
few picturesque touches to the plaid
waist.
Rudolph Krauss, across the aisle
from Penrod. watched the operation
with pr~otuberant eyes, fascinated. In
spired to imitation, he took q piece OF
chalk from his pocket and wrote
Rats across the shoulder blades Of
the boy in front OF him. then looked
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 en-
purpled Victorine among them, and
Miss Spence started the remaining half
through the ordeal of trial by mathe-
mates. 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
arithmetic lesson reached his ears in
familiar, meaningless sounds, but he
heard nothing, and yet, this time, he
was profoundly occupied. He had
drifted away from the painful land of
facts, and floated now in a new sea
Of fancy which he had just discovered.
Maturity forgets the marvellous real
ness Of a boys day dreams, how color
full they glow, rosy and living, and
how opaque the curtain closing down
between the dreamer and the actual
world. That curtain Is almost sound
proof, too, and causes more throat
trouble among parents than is sus
pected.
The nervous monotony of the school
room inspires a sometimes unbearable
longing for something astonishing to
happen, and as every boys fundamen-
tai desire Is to do something astonish-
ing himself, so as to be the center Of
all human interest and awe, it was nat
ural that Penrod should discover In
fancy the delightful secret Of self levi
tation. He found, In this curious Sc
ries of imaginings, during the lesson
in arithmetic, that the atmosphere may
be navigated as by a swimmer under
water, but with infinitely greater ease
and with perfect comfort In breathing.
In his mind he extended his arms
gracefully, at a level with his Shout
ders, and delicately padded the air
with his hands, which at once caused
him to be drawn up ont Of his seat and
elevated gently to a position about mid
way between the floor and the ceiling,
where he came to an equilibrium and
hoated; a sensation not the less ex-
quisite because Of the screams Of his
fellow pupils, appalled, by the miracle.
Miss Spence herself was amazed and
frightened, but he only smiled down
carelessly upon her when she CON-
manded him to return to earth, and
then, when she climbed upon a desk
to pull him down, he quietly padded
himself u little higher, leaving his toes
just out of her reach. Next he swan
through a few slow somersaults to
show his mastery Of the new art, and
with the shouting Of the dumfounded
scholars ringing In his ears, turned on
his side and floated swiftly out of the
window, Immediately rising above the
housetops, while people In the street
below him shrieked, and a trolley chi
stopped dead In wonder.
With almost no exertion he padded
himself. many yards at a stroke, t.
the girls private school where Mario
RE Jones was a pupil-Marjorie Jones
Of the amber curls and the colder
voice! Long before the Pageant o
the Table Round" she had offered Pen
rod a hundred proofs that she consid
cred him wholly undesirable and in
eligible. At the Friday Afternoon
dancing class she consistently incite,
AE