Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-08-03

mans luscious entreaty and received
round slice Of the fruit, magnificent
In circumference and something over
an inch In thickness. Leaving only the
really dangerous part Of the rind be-
hind him, he wandered away from the
vicinity Of the watermelon man and
supplied himself with bag Of pea
nuts, which, with the expenditure OF q
dime for admission, left quarter still
warm in his pocket However, he
managed to "break" the coin at a
stand inside the tent, where large,
oblong paper box Of popcorn was hand
ed him with 20 cents change. The box
was too large to 60 into his pocket, but
having seated himself among some
wistful Polack children he placed 1t
in his lap and devoured the contents
at leisure during the performance. The
popcorn was heavily larded with par
tally boiled molasses, and Penrod
sandwiched mouthfuls Of peanuts with
gobs Of this mass until the peanuts
were all gone. After that he ate with
less avidity, a sense almost Of safety
beginning to manifest itself to him,
and 1t was not until the close Of the
performance that he disposed Of the
last morsel.
He descended little heavily to the
outfowing crowd In the arena and
bought caterwauling toy balloon, but
showed no great enthusiasm In manip-
ulating it. Near the exit as he came
out was a hot waffle stand which he
had overlooked, and sense Of duty
obliged him to consume the three waf-
fles, thickly powdered with sugar,
which the waffle man cooked for him
upon command.
They left q hottish taste In his
mouth; they had not been quite up to
his anticipation, indeed, and 1t was
with a sense Of relief that he turned
to the hokey- -pokey cart which stood
close at hand, laden with square slabs
Of NeapOlitan ice cream wrapped In
paper. He thought the ice cream would
be cooling, but somehow 1t fell short
Of the desired effect and left peculiar
SAVIOR in his throat.
He walked away, too languid to blow
his balloon, and passed fresh taffy
booth with strange Indifference. A
bare armed man was manipulating the
taffy over q hook, pulling great white
mass to the desired stage Of candy
Ing" but Penrcd did not pause to
watch the operation. In fact, he avert
ed his eyes (Which were slightly glazed
in passing. He did not analyze his
motives. Simply he was conscious
that he preferred not to look at the
mass Of taffy.
For some reason he put considera-
BILE distance between himself and the
taffy stand, but before long halted In
the presence Of a red faced man who
lOurished long fork over a small
cooking apparatus and shouted jovial-
ly: "Winnies! Here's your hot win
nies! Hot winny wurst! Food for the
overworked brain, nourishing for the
weak stummick, entertaining for the
tired business man! Here's your hot
winnies! Three for nickel, a half
dime, the twentieth pot Of dollah"
This above all nectar and ambrosaa
was the favorite dish of Penrod Scho-
field. Nothing inside him now craved
ton the contrary. But memory Is
the great hypnotist. His mind argued
against his inwards that opportunity
knocked at his door. "Winny wurst"
was rigidly forbidden by the home au-
thorlties. Besides, there was a last
nickel In his pocket and nature pro-
tested against its survival; also the
red faced man had himself proclaimed
bis wares nourishing for the weak
stummick.
Penrod placed the nickel in the red
hand Of the red faced man.
He ate two OF the three greasy, cigar
like shapes cordially pressed upon him
In return. The first bite convinced
him that he had made a mistake.
These winnies seemed Of a very In
ferior flavor, almost unpleasant, In
fact But he felt obliged to conceal
his poor opinion Of them for fear OF
offending the red faced man. He ate
without haste or eagerness, 30 slowly
indeed that he began to think the red
faced man might dislike him as
deterrent Of t.ade. Perhaps Penrod's
mind was not working we'll, for he
failed to remember that no law COM
PEELED him to remain under the eye OF
the red faced man, but the virulent re-
pulslon excited by his attempt to take
q bite Of the third sausage inspired
him with at least an excuse for post
ponement.
Mighty good" he murmured feebly,
placing the sausage in the inside pock'
ct Of his jacket with shaking hand.
"Guess I'll save this one to eat at
home after-after dinner"
He moved sluggishly away, wishing
he had not thought Of dinner. A side
show, undiscovered until now, failed
to arouse his interest, not even exciting
a wish that he had known OF Its ex-
istence when he had money. For
time he stared without comprehension
Ut a huge canvas poster depicting the
chief attraction, the weather worn col
ors conveying no meaning to his tor
pid eye. Then, little by little, the post
er became more vivid to his conscious
ness. There was a greenish tinted per-
son in the tent, 1t seemed, who thrived
upon reptilian diet.
Suddenly Penrod decided that 1t was
time to 60 home.
CHAPTER XIII.
Brothers Of Angels.
mT INDEED, 6octor," said Mrs. scho-
field, with agitation and pro-
found conviction, just after 9
o'clock that evening, II shall al
ways believe in mustard plasters-mus-
IL t~ok kn N n ff