Evening star., 1922-12-17
Sir Galahad Goes Valiantly
in Search of the Holy Grail
Which He Calls the Truth

JUNIOR MASON was twelve. The
statement is significant. There
"A were a dozen or more boys in
the crowd, but the ringleaders
were Runt Perkins. Shorty Marston
and Junior Mason, and the greatest
Of these was Junior.
At home mother ruled him with
firm hand. but an understanding
heart. 1t is fine old combination.
The girls made strenuous efforts to
assist in his upbringing. but their
gratuitous services were not kindly
looked upon by the young man.
For arithmetic Junior showed such
an aptitude that father was wont to
say encouragingly: you'll be work
ing in the bank one of these days.
son." AT which "son" would glow
with legitimate pride that quickly
faded before the sight of 4 certain
dull red book entitled. working Les
sons in English Grammar" Kath-
crime labored patiently many an
evening to assist in bringing Junior
and the contents of this particular
volume somewhere within hailing
distance of each other
OF the three girls. Eleanor was his
hest friend. Rather boyish herself.
she was not SO far removed from the
glamour of ball games in the back
pasture. the trapping of gophers and
circuses in the barn but that the two
held many things in common
1t was Marcia who was his arch
enemy. Not that she committed any
serious offenses. 1t was her atti-
tude that exasperated him. She had
trick of perpetrating a lazy little
smile on his every aCt--a smile that
was of a SURPRISING superiority. And
she had a way of always jumping at
the conclusion that he was dirty.
go wash your hands," was her sis
,erly greeting whenever he approach
ed. She used it as consistently to-
ward him as she used How do you
do?" to other people. Junior would
jump into heated argument over his
perfect cleanliness. discussion that
consumed more time than an entire
bath would have taken.
Juniors other enemy was Isabelle
Thompson. The Thompsons were the
Masons' nearest neighbors. the two
yards being separated by low
hedge. The family consisted of Mr..
and Mrs. Tobias Thompson and two
daughters-BlanChe. who was a little
older than Eleanor Mason. and Isa-
belle. aged eleven.
Mrs. Thompson was a little thin
woman, who reveled in the reputation
of being the neatest housekeeper In
Springtown. Her neatness extended
to the other members of her house
hold. Tobias was proprietor of a
combined grocery and meat market:
and no pig. dizzily hanging head
downward from it's peg in the back
room. looked more pink or slick than
he.
1T certainly is nice to think our
meat comes from such a clean place"
mother often said.
Yes" the frank Marcia agreed 'if
YOU don't mind a little thing like un-
derweight"
Believe me-" Eleanor added. To
bias would pinch a vicente in two if
he dared"
=. i: r.
Mrs. THOMPSONS mind was as
ANl neat as the rest of her 1t, too
was a prim, tidy place, with sym
metrical shelves on which were
stored a few meager but immaculate
items. such as cleanliness being next
TO godliness and dancing a device of
the devil. Yes. everything in her
mind and heart was small and neat
and necessary. Those organs were
not all cluttered up with a lot of
unessential rubbish like Mother Ma
sons. There were no tag ends of