Evening star., 1917-05-27

~ EoRGIE BASsETT was boy
N set apart. Not only that,
N 81 Georgia knew that he was a
boy set apart He would think
about 1t for ten or twenty minutes at n
time. and he could not look at himself
in q mirror and remain wholly without
emotion. What that emotion was he
would have been unable to put into
words, but 1t helped him to understand
that there was a certain noble some
thing about him which other boys did
not possess.
Georgie's mother had been the first to
discover that Georgia was a boy set
apart. In fact. George did not know
il until one day. when he happened 10
overhear his mother telling two of his
aunts about it. True. he had always
understood that he was the best boy
IN town, and he intended to be n min
lister when he grew up. but ne had
never before comprehended the full eS-
tent of his sanctity. and. from that
fraupht moment onward. he had an
almost theatrical sense of his set
apartness
Penrod Schofieid and Sam Williams
and the other boys of the neighbor-
hood all were conscious that there was
something different and spiritua! about
Georgia. and. though this consciousness
Of theirs may have been little OBJ
<cure il was none the less actual. That
I. 70 saw they knew that George Bas-
sett was u boy set apart. but they did
not know that they knew it. Georges
air and manner at all times demon
strated 10 them that the thing was so.
and moreover their mothers absorbed
appreciation of Georges wonderful
ness from the very fount of it. for Mrs.
RasseJI'S conversation was or Httie
else. Thus, the radiance Of his charac-
~ n
tai comment during moments OF STRAIN
cd patience in many homes. so that al
together the most remarkable 1act I"
be stated of George Bassett is that ne
escaped the consequences as iohs as ne
did.
Strange as 1t may seem. no actual
violence was done him except upon
the incidental occasion or TAR hsh''
into which he was drawn by an obHl-
Gus eccentricity on the part OF destn!.
Naturally. he was not popular with
his comrades; in all games he was
pushed aside, and 6isregarded. being
Invariably the tail-ender in every pas
time in which leaders chose sides
his counsels were sighted as worse
than weightless. and all ms opinions hs
Instantly hooted. Still. considering the
circumstances fairly and ughtfuiiy'
II is difficult to deny that his poy com
panions showed creditable moderatlon
in their treatment of him-that Is, theS
We're moderate up to a certain date.
and even then they did not directly
attack him: there was nothing colo
blooded about it at all. The thing
they all felt pleased and uplifted-
while it was happening-they did nor
understand precisely why. Nothing
could more clearly prove their inno-
cence of heart than this very ie-
norance, and yet none of the grown
people who later felt themselves con-
cerned in the matter was able to look
at it in that light. Now. here was
a characteristic working of those re-
actions which produce what is some
times called "the injustice of life. be-
cause the grown people were response
bic for the whole affair and were really
the guilty parties. 1t was from grown
people that George Bassett learned
that he was boy set apart. and the
effect upon him was what alienated
his friends. Then these alienated
friends were brought (by odious COM
parfsons on the part Of grown people)
to a condition Of mind wherein they
suffered dumb annoyance. like a low
fever, whenever they heard Georges
name mentioned. while association with
his actual person became every day
having laid this fuse and having kept
1t constantly glowing. the grown peo-
pie expected nothing to happen to
!. Georgie.
The catastrophe befell as conse-
quence of Sam Williams deciding to
have shack in the back yard. Sam had
somehow obtained a vasty piano box
and quantity of lumber and. sum
moning Penrod Schofield and the color
ed brethren, Herman and Nerman. he
expounded to them his building plans.
and offered them shares and benefits in
the institution he purposed to found
Acceptance was enthusiastic: straight
way the assembly became a union of
carpenters all of one mind. and ten
days saw the shack not completed but
comprehensive. Anybody could tell.
by that time. that 1t was intended for
shack.
There was door on leather hinges:
il drooped, perhaps. but it was door.
There was window-not a glass one.
NUT, at least. 1t could be looked out
Of" as Sam said. There was a Chin
was merely decorative. because the
cooking was done out OF doors in
underground furnace" which the boys
excavated. There were pictures pasted
on the interior walls. and, hanging
from nail. there was a crayon por
trait of Sans grandfather, which he
had brought down from the attic quiet
ly. though. as he said, it wasn't any
use on earth up there" There were two
lame chairs from Penrod's attic. and
along one wall ran a low and feeble
structure intended to serve as a bench
or diyan. This would come in handy.
Sam said. If any Of the party had to
lay down or anything. and at pinch
(such as meeting Of the association)
II would serve to seat all the members
in row.
For, coincidentally with the develop
ment of the shack. the builders be-
came something more than partners.
Later, no one could remember who
' first suggested the founding of secret
order, or society. as a measure of ex-
clusiveness and to keep the shack sa-
cred to members only. but it was an
idea that presently began to be more
absorbing and satisfactory than even
the shack itself. The outward mani
festations of 1t might have been OBJ
served in the increased solemnty and
preoccupation of the Caucasian mem
bers and in a few ceremonial observ-
ances exposed to the public eye. As an
instance of these latter Mrs. Williams
happening to glance from a rearward
window, about o'clock one afternoon
found her attention arrested by what
seemed to be a fag-raising before the
door of the shack. Sam and Herman
and Verman stood in attitudes of rigid
attention. shoulder to shoulder, while
Penrod Schofeld. facing them. was ap-
parently delivering some sort OF exhor-
tation which he read from a scribbled
sheet of foolscap. Concluding this he
lifted from the groud a long and some
what warped clothes-prop, from one
end of which hung a whitish flag, or
pennon. bearing an inscription. Sam
and Herman and Verman lifted their
right hands, while Penrod placed the
other end of the clothes-prop in a hole
in the ground. with the pennon fiutter-
ing high above the shack. He then
raised his own right hand, and the