News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-06-09
CHAPTER |.
A Boy and His Dog.

ENROL sat mOrosely upon the
~ back fence and gaZed with
envy at Duke, his wistful dog.
y bitter soul dominated the va
rious curved and angular surfaces
known by careless world as the face
of Penrod Schotield. Except in soil
tude, that face was almost always
cryptic and emotionless, for Penrod
had come into his twelfth year wear
ing an expression carefully trained to
be inscrutable. Since the world was
sure to misunderstood everything
mere defensive instinct prompted him
to give it as little as possible to lay
hold upon. Nothing is more impene-
trable than the face of a boy who has
learned this, and Periods was habitu-
ally as fathomless as the depth of his
hatred this morning for the literary
activities of Mrs. Lora Rewbush, an
almost universally respected fellow
citizen, lady of charitable and poetic
inclinations and one of his own moth
erS most intimate friends.
Mrs. Lora Rewbush had written
oOLlSlhlllS w IllCn SAc CdlItu lc
Childrens Pageant of the Table
Round" and it was to be performed
in public that very afternoon at the
Women's Arts and Guild hall for the
benefit of the Colored Infants Better
ment society. And if any flavor of
sweetness remained in the nature of
Penrod Schofield after the dismal
%,,;, a1s, x,f ,1
that problematic, infnftesimal rem
nant was made pungent acid by the
imminence of his destiny to form
prominent feature of the spectacle and
to declaim the loathsome sentiments
of character named upon the pro-
gram the Child Sir Lancelot
After each rehearsal he had plotted
escape. and only ten days earlier there
had been a glimmer of light. Mrs
Lora Rewbush caught very bad cold,
and it was hoped it might develop into
pneumonia, but she recovered so quick
ly that not even a rehearsal of the
Childrens Pageant was postponed
Darkness closed in. Penrod had rather
vaguely debated plans for a self mutt
lation such as would make his ap-
pearance as the Child Sir Lancelot In
'eXpedient on public grounds. 1t was
a heroic and attractive thought, but
the results of some extremely sketchy
preliminary experiments caused him
to abandon it.
There was no escape. and at last his
hour was hard upon him. Therefore
he brooded on the fence and gazed
with envy at his wistful Duke.
The dogs name was undescriptive
of his person, which was obviously
the result of singular series of mes
alliances. He wore a griZZled mus
tache and indefinite whiskers. He
was small and shabby and looked like
an old postman. Penrod envied Duke
because he was sure Duke would new
er be compelled to be a Child Sir
Lancelot. He thought a dog free and
unshackled to go or come as the wind
listeth. Penrod forgot the life he led
Duke.
There was long soliloquy upon the
fence a plaintive monOlogue without
words. The boys thoughts were adj
1ectives, but they were expressed by
. running film of pictures in his minds
eye. morbidly prophetic Of the hideosi-
ties before him. Finally he spoke
aloud, with such spleen that Duke rose
from his launches and lifted one ear
In keen anxiety.
ct hight Sir Lancelot du Lake, the child.
Gentul hearted. meek and mild.
What though I'm but littul child,
Gentul hearted, meek and Oofi"
All of this except "oof' was quota
ton from the Child Sir LancelOt, as
conceived by Mrs. Eora Rewbush.
Choking upon it, Penrod slid down
from the fence, and with slow and
thoughtful steps entered a one stored
wing of the stable, consisting of a sin
gle apartment, foored with cement
and used as a storeroOm for broken
bric-a-brac. old paint buckets, decayed
garden hose, wornout carpets, dead