Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-17
2OD---By Booth darlington -

little girl in the world. Marjorie Jones.
leading by the hand her baby brother.
Mitchy Mitch. coming to have Mitchy-
Mitch's hair clipped. against the heat
1t was hot day and idle. with little
to feed the mind-and the barber was
a mischieEous man with an irritated
nose. He did his worst.
Meanwhile the brooding Penrod pur-
sueu his homeward way-no great dis
TANGO. but long enough for several one
sided conflicts with malign insulters
made of thin air.
You better not call me that" he
muttered. You just try it, and you'll
get what other people got when they
tried it. You better not ack fresh with
me! Oh. you will, will you?" He de-
livered a vicious kick full upon the
shins of an iron fence-post which suf-
fered little. though Penrod instantly
regHtted his indiseretion.
N)arinE home, his belligerent spirit
was diverted to happier interests by
the discovery that some workmen had
left caldron of tar in the cross street.
close by his fathers stable. He tested
chewing gum 1T was unsatisfactory. be-
ing insufiiciently boiled down and too
thin. though OF a pleasant, lukewarn.
temperature. But it had an excess OF
one Quality-it was sticky. 1t was the
stickiest tar Penrod had ever used for
any purposes whatsoever, and nothing
upon which he wiped his hands served
to rid them Of it: neither his polka
dotted shirt waist nor his knfckerbock-
erS; neither the fence, nor even Duke,
his faithful dog, who came unthink-
ingly wagging out to greet him, and
retired wiser.
Nevertheless. tar is tar. Much can be
done with it. no matter what it's con-
dition; so Penrod fingered by the call
dron. On the ground about the caldron
We're scattered chips and sticks and
bits of wood to the number of great
multitude Penrod mixed quantities OF
himself in seeing how much of it he
could keep moving in slow swirls upon
the ebon surface.
The caldron was almost full, and the
surface of the tar near the rim. Pen
rod endeavored to ascertain how many
pebbles and brickbats, dropped in.
would cause an overflow. Laboring
heartily to this end. he had almost ac-
complished it. when he received the
suggestion for an experiment on
much larger scale. Embedded at the
corner of a grass plot across the street
was whitewashed stone, the size of
small watermelon and serving no pur-
pose whatever save the questionable
one of decoration. 1t was easily pried
up with a stick: though getting it to
the ardent 1aborer. Perspiring. grunt-
ing vehemently, he progressed in short
stages until the stone lay at the base
of the caldron. He rested moment.
painting. then lifted the stone. and was
bending his shoulders for the heave
that would lift it over the rim, when
a sweet, haunting voice close behind
him startled him cruelty.
How do you do. little gentleman"
Penrod dropped the stone: it grazed
his left toe injuriously. He hoped.
squawked. and shouted, shut up, you
dern fool" purely from instinct, even
before his about-face made him aware
who had so spitefully addressed him.
1t was beautiful Marjorie Jones, with
the new-shorn Mitchy-Mitch clinging to
her hand. They had stolen up behind
the toiler, and now stood laughing to-
gether in sweet merriment. Long wor-
SHIPPED of Penrod was fair Marjorie, but
ever elusive, often cold and sometimes
violently hostile; and now in her Won
derful eyes there shone conscious
ness of new powers for his undoing.
ooh, oh.' she cried. mocking his
panied cutlery. What a way for lit
tie gentleman to talk! Little gentle
men don't say wicked
Marjorie" Penrod, enraged and dis
mayed by attack from so insidious a
quarter. felt himself stung beyond all
endurance. Don't you call me that
again.
"Why not little gentleman
He stamped his foot. You better
stop"
Marjorie sent into his furious face
her lovely. spiteful laughter.
Little gentleman, little gentleman,
little gentleman" she said deliberately.
"How's the little gentleman this after
noon? Hello, little gentleman"
Per cd, quite beside himself, danced
eccentrically. DRY up! he howled.
"Dry up. dry up, dry up. dry up!'
little gellamum"' said Mitchy Mitch.
you better look out" Pen-od
whirled upon this small offender with
grim satisfaction. Here was at least
something male that could. without
dishonor. be held responsible. you
say that again, and I'll give you the
worst
You will not" snapped Marjorie, in
stantly vitriolic. He'll gay just what