The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1915-06-05

the teens? The casual visitor. gazing
from the teacher's plat torn upon
these busy little heads. needs only q
:blunted memory to . experience the
most agreeable. and exhilarating sen
sations. Still. for the greater part the
children are unconscious Of the happi-
ness of their condition, for nothing is
more pathetical1y true than that we
never know when we are we'll off,
The boys in a public school are less
aware Of their happy state than are
the girls. and Of all the boys in his
room probably Penrod himself had the
least appreciation Of his felicity.
He sat staring 1T an open page of a
textbook. but not studying. not even
reading. not even thinking. Nor was
he lost iii a reverie. His mind eve
was shut. rs his physical eye. might
we'll have been. for the OPTIC nerve.
flaecid with ennui.: conveyed nothing
whatever of the printed page upon
which the orb OF vision was partially
focused. Penrod was doing something
very unusual and rare. something al
most never accomplished except by
colored people or by a boy in school
on a sprin. day--he was. doing really
nothing at al.: He was merely "a state
Of being .. -. -. :: .-.'.::,- G. -
From. the, street a sound stole in
through the open window. and abhor
ring nature began to fill the vacuum
called Penrod SchoGe]d, for the SOUND
was the spring song Of a mouth organ
coming down the sidewalk. The win
dows We're Intentionally above the lev
ell of the eyes Of the seated pupils. but
the picture of the musician was plain
to Penrod. painted for him by a quail
ty in the runs and trills partaking Of
the oboe. Of the calliope and of cats in
anguish-an excruciating sweetness oh
tanned only by the wallowing. wallor-
ing yellow-pink palm of a hand whose
back was Kongo black and shiny. The
music came down the street and pass
ed beneath the window. accompanied
by the care free shutting Of pair of
old shoes scufiing syncopations on the
cement sidewalk. 1t passed into the
distance; became faint and blurred:
was gone. Emotion stirred in Penrod
a great and poignant desire. but (per,
haps fortunately no fairy godmother
made her appearance Otherwise Pen
rod would have gone down the street
in black skin. playing the mouth or
gan. and an unprepared colored youth
would have found himself enjoying
educational advantages for which he
had no ambition whatever
Reused from perfect apathy. the boy
cast about the schoolroom an eve
wearied 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
threateningly defaced by arithmetica&
formula and other insignia Of torture.
Above the blackboard the walls of the
high room were Of white plaster
white with the Qualified whiteness Of
dismal exparse was broken: by four
photographic portraits. votive offerings
Of thoughtful publisher. The por-
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 children IA
tigued by the everlasting sameness Of
the schoolroom. Long day after long
day, intermina BILE week in and inter-
minable week out. vast month on vast
month. the pupils sat with those four
portraits beaming kindness. down&upon
them. The faces became permanent
In the consciousness Of the children;
they became an obsession. In and out
of school the children were never free
of them. The four faces haunted tho
minds of children falling asleep They
hung upon the minds of children wax
ing at night; they rose forebodingly in
the minds of children waking in the
morning; they became monstrously
alive in the minds of children lying
sick of fever. Never while the chill
dren Of that schoolroom' lived would
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 UNI
conscious association Of ideas Penrod'
Schofield was accommodating an antipa-
thy for the gentle Longfellow. and for
James Russell Lowell, and for Oliver
Wendell Holmes, and for John, Green:
leaf Whittier which would never. per-
NIT him to ,peruse aawork of one Of
those great New Englanders without
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. Veto
rine's back was as familiar to Penrod
as the neckte of I Oliver Wendell
Holmes: SO was her gayly colored
plaid waist; He hated the waist as
he hated Victorine herself without
knowing why" Enforced companion
ship in large quantities and on an equal
basis between the sexes appears to
sterilize the affections. and schOOlrOom