Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-10-27
THE KING OF
BOYvILLE =:
Copyright. 1922. BY the Macmillan Co.
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

ferent; there are doubtless good little
| boys who dlsdain bad little boys, and
poor little boys who are never to be
In small town, every boy, good or
bad, rich or poor, stands among boys
on his own merits. The son Of the
banker who owns a turning-pole In
the back yard, does homage to the
bakers boy who can sit on the bar
and drop and catch by his legs; while
the good little boy who Is kept in wide
collars and cuffs by mistaken mother,
gazes through the white pallng Of his
fathers fence at the troupe headed
for the swimming hole, and pays all
the reverence which his dwarfed ma
ture can muster to the sign Of the two
fingers. In the social order OF boys
who live in country towns, boy is
measured by what he can do. and not
by what his father Is. And so. Win
field Hancock Pennington, whose boy
name was Piggy Pennington, was the
King of Boyville. For Piggy could
walk on his hands, curling one foot
gracefully over his back, and pointing
the other straight in the air; he could
hang by his heels on a flying trapeze;
he could chin pole so many times
that no one could count the number;
he could turn a somersault In the air
from the level ground, both backwards
and forwards, he could tread" water
and LAY" his hair; he could hit any
marble in any ring from flaws" and
"knucks down, and better than all,
he could cut his initials In the Ice on
skates. and whlrl around and around
so many times that he looked like an
animated shadow, when he would dart
away up the stream, his red com
fort" Tapping behind him ike laugh
of defiance In the story books such
a boy would be the son of widowed
mother, and turn out very good or
very bad, but Piggy was not story
book boy, and his father kept gro
Gerry store, from which Piggy used to
steal so many dates that the boys said
his father must have cut up the alma
nae to supply him. AS he never gave
the goodies to the other boys, but
kept them for his own use, his name
OF piggy" was his by all the rights
Of Boyyille.
There was one thing Piggy Penning-
ton could not do, and It was the one of
ell things which he most wished he
could Ndo; he could not under any cir
cumstances say three consecutive and
coherent words TO any girl under If
teen and over nine. Even after
school Piggy could not join the select
coterie OF boys who followed the girls
down through town TO the postoffice-
He could not tease the girls about abb
sent boys at such times and make up
rhymes like:
First the cat and then her tail:
Jimmy Sears and Maggie Hale,
and then shout them out for the crowd
TO hear. Instead of joining this court
ly troupe Piggy Pennington went of
with the boys who really didn't care
for such things, and fought. or played
tracks up" or wrestled his way leis-
urely home in time TO get In his might
wood" But his heart was not in these
pastimes; II was with red shawl OF
a peculiar shade, that was vending Its
way TO the post Office and back TO
home in one OF the few two-story
houses in the little town. Time and
again had Piggy tried to make some
sign to let his feelings be known, but
every time he had failed. Lying ii
wait for her at corners, and suddenly
breaking upon her with a glory OF
backward and forward somersaults
did not convey the state of his heart !
So only one heart beat with but
one single thought, and the 9TH
err took motto candy and valen-
tines and red apples and picture
cards and other tokens of esteem from |
other boys, and beat on with any num-
Der OF thoughts. entirely immateriai
to the uses OF this narrative. But /
piggy Pennington did not take to the |
enchantment Of corn silk cigarettes
AID rattan and grapevine cigars; he
tried 10 sing, and walled dismal bal /
lads about the "Gypsy's Warning
and ssThe Child in the Grave With It's
Mother" and "She's q Daisy. She's
Darling. She's a Dumping. She's
lamb" whenever he was In hearing
distance OF his hearts desire. In the
hope OF conveying 10 her some hlnt
of the state OF his affections but
was useless. Even when he tried 10
whistle plaIntiyely as he passed neg
house IN the cleaning, his notes
brought forth no responsive echo
one morning in the late spflns' ne
.nent half sn hour before orsakfas'
.mxg his mothers roses, when were
nlst ln flrsf bloom. lie had takep 0ui
shers an the wire from 90 olc ofoo'p,
and al his kite string ifis mother
had 10 ceu three times before ns
would leaye his work. The yopnss,sf
Ma ths frsi 10 leave ths table ana "
.ss.t O'clock hs vas "a his iase ssA"'
nsfors as drsl school bell nae fA-f
plsgy psnnlngiop pas bound i'f ,ns
.,1ool loase Niih > STRAUSS io'eiNf
~. i