The Ordway new era., 1922-12-22
The King Of Boyville
by WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
copyright 1922 by Macmillan Coz

@ NV he different; there are
w.. GOOD little boys who disdain
'a''ls,. e.,,. boys. and poor little boys
"r' .rs never to be noticed under
az .nmstances. But in small
y. ever syery boy. good or bad. rich or
psh lands among boys on his own
'0i, The son of the banker who
e'''', sa . turning-pole in the back
'l' '.ss bomage to the bakers boy
'l' wv Nv sit on the bar and drop and
M sr his legs; while the good
.n INV who is kept in wide collars
las .n,fs v by mistaken mother. gazes
ah the white paling of his ia
lV.' ", lance at the troope headed for
thinning hole, and pays all the
..ance which his dwarfed nature
uuoter to the sign of the two
,rs In the social order of boys
= live in country towns. a boy Is
.,sured ~ by what he can do. and not
wbat his father Is. And so. Win
IA hancock Pennington. whose boy
.m. was Piggy Pennington. was the
Nm. Of Boyville. For Piggy could
,ls on his hands, curling one foot
,,rpfully over his back, and point
o,her straight in the air; he
,s,d hang by his heels on flying
.,ne,s. he could chin a pole so many
nos that no one could count the
amber. he could turn somersault
,ha air from the level ground, both
Edwards and forwards, he could
t,rsad" water and LAY" his hair:
could hit any marble In any ring
,om "taws" and knucks down., and
kser than all, he could cut his init
ID In the ice on skates, and whirl
nund and around SO many times
MAI he looked like an animated shad-
Nv when he would dart away up the
,tream. his red comfort" flapping
behind him like laugh of defiance.
|n the story books such n boy would
\ the son of a widowed mother, and
turn out very good or very bad, but
piggy was not story book boy, and
bis father kept a grocery store, from
|shlch Piggy used to steal so mary
hates that the boys said his fathe"
must have cut up the almanac to sup
biz him. As he never gave the goJd-
Ess to the other boys. but kept them
tor his own use, his name of Piggy
has his by all the rights of Boyville.
ONE THING HE COULDN'T DO
There was one thing Piggy PEN
hington could not do, and 1t wasthe
bne of all things which he most wish
ID be could do: he could not under
Eny circumstances say three con-
ecutive and coherent words to any
sirl under fifteen and over nine Even
liter 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 absent boys at such times
md make up rhymes like:
First the eat and then her tail:
Jimmy Sears and Maggie Hale
md then shout them out for the
rowd to hear. Instead of join
ng this courtly troupe Piggy Pen
ington went off with the boys who
eally didn't care for such things,
ought or played tracks up" or
'restled his way leisurely home in
lme to get in his might wood" but
us heart was not In these pastimes:
was with q red shawl of peculiar
made, that was vending its way to
he post office and back to a home in
ne of the few two-story houses in
he little town. Time and again had
'sgy tried to make some sign to let
Is feelings be known, but every time
mad failed. Lying in wait for her
corners, and suddenly breaking
pom her with a glory of backward
nd forward somersaults did not con-
ey the state of his heart. So only
no heart beat with but one single
ioaght. and the other took motto
'hdy and valentines and red apples
hd picture cards and other tokens of
''eem from other boys, and beat on
I'm any number of thoughts, entire
immaterial to the uses of this
But Piggy Pennington did
VI VI take to the enchantment of corn
iA cigarettes and ratten and grape
'ue cigars; he tried to sing and
a'ied dismal ballards about the
'ypsy's Warming" and 1.-THE Child
l. the Grave With Its Mother" and
Que Daisy, She's a Darling, She's
Dumpling, She's Lamb" whenever
was in hearing distance Of bis
carts desire. in the hope of convey
u TO her aOnn a !, IN :, . ~ :. c<o<o - h =.