Connecticut western news., 1915-05-20


 ! ''I night Sir Lancelot du Lake. the Child, | Centul-hearted. meek and mid. l What though I'm but a littul child, 1 Gentu!-heartcd, meek and mild. | do my share, though. but-though but
 Penrod paused and gulped- The voice of Mrs. Lora Eewbush was heard from the wings, prompting irritably, and the Child Sir Lancclot repeated: ''I do my share. though, but-though but a tot.
 pray you knight S:r Lancelot!''
 This also met thn royal favor, and Penrod was bidden to join Sir Gala had at the throne. AS he crossed the stage Mrs. Schofield whispered to Mar | g;;ret:
 That boy! He's unpinned his man. tie and fixed it to cover his whole cos tune. After we worked so hard to make it becoming"'
 i Never mind. He'll have to take the cape off in a minute,' returned Marga- ret. She leaned forward suddenly, narrowing her eyes to see the better What is that thing hanging about his left ankle?' she whispered uncasily. How queer! He must have got tan 1 gled in something"
 "Where?" asked Mrs. Schofcld in alarm.
 His left foot. It makes him stum- b!e. Don't you see? It loolzs-it looks like an elephants foot"'
 The Child Sir Lancelot and the l Child Sir Galahad clasped hands be- fore their child king. Penrod was con scious of a great uplift; in n moment he would have to throw aside his man. tie, but even so he was protected and sheltered in the human garment of a man. His stage fright had passed, for the audience was but an indistinguish- able blur of darkness beyond the dag zling lights. His most repulsive speech (that in which he proclaimed himself a 'tot'O was over and done with, and now at last the small, moist hand of the Child Sir Galahad lay within his own. Craftily his brown fingers stole from Matrices palm to the wrist. The two boys acclaimed in concert:
 "we are two chuldrun of the Tabul Round
 Strewing kindness all around.
 With love and good deeds striving ever for the best.
 May our littul efforts e'er be blest. | Two littul hearts we offer. See,
 Cnited in love, faith, hope and char-Ow!
 The conclusion of the duet was mar red. The Child Sir Galahad suddenly stiffened and, uttering an irrepressible shriek of anguish, gave brief exhibi- ton of the contortionists art. C"Hes twistin' my wrist! Dern you, leggo!O
 The voice of Mrs. Lora Rewbush was again heard from the wings. It sound ed bloodthirsty. Penrod released his victim, and the Child King Arthur, somewhat disconcerted, extended his scepter and, with the assistance of the enraged prompter, said:
 Sweet child friends of the Tabul Round, Tn brotherly lovs and kindness abound; | Sir Lancelot, you have spoken we'll, | Sir Galahad too, as clear as bell. | So now pray doff your mantlcs gay, You shall be knighted this very day"
 And Penrod doffed his mantle.
 Simultaneously a thick and vasty gasp came from the audience, as from I 800 bathers in q wholly unexpected surf. This gasp was punctuated irreg- ularly over the auditorium by imper- fectly subdued screams both of dismay and incredulous joy and by two dismal shrieks. Altogether it was an extraor- dinary sound, a sound never to be for gotten by any one who heard it. It was almost as unforgetable as the sight >whicn caused it, the word sight" being here used ill its vernacular sense, for Penrod, standing unmantled and revealed in all the medieval and artis- tic glory of the janitor's blue overalls. falls within its meaning.
 The ianitor was a heavy man, and his overalls upon Penrod were merely oceanic. The boy was at once swad- dled and lost within their blue gulfs and vast saggings, and the left leg, zoo hastily rolled up. had descended with dlstinctively elephantine effect, as Margaret had observed. Certainly the Child Sir Lancelot was at least a sight.
 It is probable that a great many in that hall must have had even then a consciousness that they were looking on at history in the making. A su- prpme act is recognizable at sight; it bears the biTthmark of immortality. But Penrod, that marvellous boy, had begun to declaim. even with the ges- turc of fliEging off his mantle for the IccOlade:
 "T first, the Child Sir Lancelot du Lake. l NVil volunteer to knighthood take. 1 And kncoling here before your throne
 T VOW to-
 He finished his speech unheard. The auGicnce had recovered breath, but hGd lost self control, and there ensued something later described by a partici- nant as a sort of cultured riot.
 The actors in the pageant" were not 70 dumfounded by Penrod's costume aS might have been expected. A few precolious geniuseS perceived that the oferalls were the Child Lancelots own comment on maternal intentions, and these were profoundly impressed. 1rI x,-ith igl \