| Show 1 I = = T J r PIiUGo w a I 0 i 2 M fILE TIlE EVIL DAYS COME NOT 1j 1 A BOYVILLE STORY By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE Author of The King of Boyville and Other Stories I I I r f o W v tII < I U I s aaw vi jgxsa > > gg v0t w < J HTIJ J I fao r W Ja 1eeino r t I tJ I 1 U ii r I I < i Copyright by 1 S S McClure Company PJ i I VThut little things turn great events c If Wlnlleld Hancock Pcnninglon oil the I I town of Boyvlllo hail slipped his shoes oft In the second block from his home I Instead of slipping them off in the llrsl block on hit way to school a great I shadow that settled over Ills life might hnvc been lifted For If he had not beun sitting exactly where he sat on r the curbing on the street on that bright beautiful Monday morning in September Septem-ber slipping orE his shoes and stockings ej I stock-ings he would have found no garter f snake to kill and not having1 killed the snake ho would not have brought it to school on a stick and not haiiifr f brought It to school on a stick he could I I not have chafed the little girls around the vard with it before the teacher came And it I he hud not been doing 4 q that he would not lme conceived the chivalrous notion that he might gain I C the esteem of his Hearts Desire by I frightening her wIth a snake And if i I t i Vlnlleld Hancock Pennington had not 1 made his Hearts Desire angry without I e with-out giving her a chance to cool off she would not have invited Harold I Jones to sit and sing with her during t I the opening hour From the hour of the Jones boys triumph C tri-umph he and Wlnlleld Hancock Pcn nington familiarly known as Piggy I I I became boon companions A grownup outsider might have wandered at such a friendship for Harold Jones who 1 answered to the name of Mealy on the playground was a pale thin youth with u squeaky voice His skimmed I I milk eyes popped out over a waste of I I I 1 1 freckles which blurred his features and 1 literally weighted down a weak loosely j wired Jaw and kept an astonished I r mouth opened for hours at a time Piggy I 1 Pig-gy on the other hand was a sturdy chunky blueeyed boy who had fought r I i his way up to glory in the school and 11 tumbled and swam and bantered himself I i I him-self into right to be King of Boyville IC Chummety between the two boys seemed II I seem-ed Impossible yet It WHS one of the < t Un u mings vviucn evury punooi expects in I a certain crisis When the aiTalr Is re > r versed the two little girls go about I kl breathing undying hatred for one another an-other But a boy begins to consume U his rival with politeness to seek him out from all other beings on earth to i 1 study his tastes and cater to his humors c hu-mors And so while the comradeship between Piggy Pennlnglon and Mealy I I Jones wus built on ashes its growth fo was beautiful to see I L c In all their hours of close communion r L neither boy mentioned to the other the name of the little girl in the red shawl t c und the paintbrush pigtails whose fitful I fit-ful fancy had brought on all his trouble In some mysterious way each mamigrd i i to shower her with picture cards to l compass her about with oranges to ein i I J bower her desk with flowers but It was all done m stealth und she who was thfc object of this devotion rewarded St openly and also for I the vanity of her I impartially All the school watched t I i lie battle of the hearts eagerly The t big boys who usually know ns little r I about the social transactions beneath them as the teacher knows felt an inkling a ink-ling of the situation The redheaded 1 Pratt girl became deeply interested in f tI the affair though she was never invited to a party In the schools aristocracy She did not even get an invitation to I Hi J j Bud Perkins surprise party where ev i IN L eryone who had any social standing was expected Yet she saw all that went r t on in the school and once she all but 3 smIled sympathetically at Piggy when fl she met him slipping away from his Hearts J Desires desk wherein he had I left a flock of Cupids nestling in a per I I fumed blotter and a candy sheep Meals Jones would have snubbed the Pratt girl PJ 14 If she had caught him thus but Piggy C gave her a wink I that made her his partner i I part-ner After that hour the Pratt girl became be-came his scout The next day she blun I dered That Friday was burned Into Piggy Pcnningtons memory with a glowing brand The trouble occurred In this way On the Friday following Piggys black Monday the King of Hoyvllle decided I V to resort to an herolr treasure In his E meditative moments Piggy had made up 9 speeches addressed to his Hearts Desire 1 De-sire wherein he had proposed reconcil s iation at any sacrifice sae that of I p honor Friday noon Winfield Hancock ir Penninglon took a header Into the I LI Rubicon In the deserted schoolroom just after the other youngsters had gone to dinner or lo play < Piggy with much I wiggling of his toCs with much hard e breathing and with many facial con t 2 tortions wrote u note He gave It to a J the Pratt girl to deliver When the first bell was ringing that noon Piggy was piling up the primary urchins In wig I gling squealing piles at crack the whip During the fifteen minutes that I followed he was charging up and down r l the yard howling like a Comanche at f 9 pullaway I But run us he would yell t ii ns he would and wrestle as he would 11 1 Piggy could not escape the pictures I that rose In his mind of a boy wearing his features and using his body writ ing the note that he had written When Ii j disrcmembtrcd words and phmsna I rrt I from that note rose to his mind on the n playground the quaver of terror that I I E rose in Piggys whoop was not dis i P sembled Sometimes fear froze his II I j r vitals then a Hush of selfabasement I burned him with Its name And all the time lie knew that the I Pratt girl had i 5 that note lie almost hopcd that an earthquake would swallow her with It 4 before Khe could deliver it When Piggy II 11 came Ktruggling In hot sweaty and II pufllng just as the teacher was tapping tile tardybell a wave of peace swept H over him His Hearts Desire was not I It at her desk He knew that he had still i I a few moments reprieve 1 c They were singing when his Hearts Desire came In Piggys head was tilt ed back to give his voice full volume i as he shouted All Jewels precious 1 Jewels His loved l and His own His eyes wore halt closed In an ecstacy and J i he did not turn his face toward the paintbrush pigtails i nor given any sign L ci that he knew of their I owners pres 15 ence Yet when she passed his desk 1 his vokG did not quaver nor his eyes 1 2 blink nor hlsj countenance redden ns his foot darted out for her to trip over It She trlppet purpotfsjy thereby accept InS affections tribute and was glad 1 To elaborate the tale of how the Pratt h girl blundered with Plijgy Pcnning t tons note would he deprosblni For It I 1 holds In Its barbed meshes a record of 1 one ngonljlng second In which Piggy t ii saw the folded I paper begin to sill and slide down the Incline of his Hearts I Desires desk whereon the Pratt girl 1 mJ hnd dropped If aiw the two girls grab I 11 for if huiml I ho crash from the seat to the floor with what saemert to him a i t I doafoiling roar Nor is this all the harrowing har-rowing tale might disclose It might dilate upon the t horror that wrenched Piggys spine asho 1 watrlud the teachers teach-ers linger crook for the note to be brought forward It Is enough to submit the plain but painful > statement that when the teacher teach-er tapped her pencil for attention a red ear a throbbing rod I car flared out from either side of Piggy Pennlnglons Fourth Reader while not far away a pair of pig tails bristled up with rage and humiliation fiom a desk I where a t little girls head lay = buried In her arms Would any one but a siiMiyo enjoy the i recital of the friot about the barbaric i I mirth that Inspired peal after peal of laughter as the teacher I read tluie I words Friend MaryDid = you mean anything any-thing by letting Him sing with you I dont care If you did but I nevr don anything any-thing to deserve It but If you didnt I urn very sorry will tell you bout It at the parley l Vell that is all I can think of today from Yoursc Ever WIN PENING rON if SH you still meen what you semi about roses red and Hats blue all right and so do I 1 W H P Piggy adetl home through blood that night The boyy = could not resist calling call-ing out Friend Mary or Hello Hoses Red though each boy knew that his taunt would bring on a fight Piggy fought boys who were three classes above him He whipped groups of boys of assorted sixes from the lower grades but the fighting took him away from hi trouble and In most cases he honored hon-ored his combatants He was little the worse for wear when he chased the last swarm of primary urchins Into his fathers cow lot fastened them in and went at them one by one with a shingle A child living next door to the Penning tons had brought the news of Piggys disgrace to the neighborhood and by supper time Mrs Pennington knew the worit While the son and heir of the house was bringing In his wood and doing do-ing his chores about the barn he felt something in the aii about the kitchen which warned him tutu new tortures awaited him At supper Mrs Pennington repeated the legend of the note with great solemnity I When her husband showed signs of laughing she glared at him Her son ate rapidly In silence Over his mothers shoulder Piggy saw the I hired girl giggle The only reply that Mrs Pennington could get to her questions ques-tions wns Av that aint nothln or Aw gee whiz inn you must think thats somethlr But she proclaimed > I In the presence of the father the son and the hired girl that if she ever caught a boy of hers getting girl struck she would show him All day Saturday before thte Bud Perkins surprise party Piggy Penning ton and Mealy Jones were inseparable And Piggy who was the king of Boy yule came down JLrotn his throne and walked humbly beside Mealj the least oC all his couriers III fact In his noctlvagatlons since the reading of his note Piggy had become needlessly deferential and considerate of the feel mugs = of his rival Jf the two entered a crowd and played foot and a hall 01 slap and a kick I or leap frog and if Mealy was it I and poor Mealy was generally It In any game Piggy did not jump viciously vicious-ly on Mcalys wobbly back nor did i he 1 slap hard nor kick hard as he would have slapped and kicked on other days = before he descended from his throne to dwell with the beasts of the field on that fatal Friday Pride kept Mealy on the rack Time and again his little freckled milky face hit the moist springy ground as Bud or Abe or Flm bumped Into him at their play He was glad when the day ended and he could go home ForM For-M nlY Jones abhorred the dirt that begrimed be-grimed his face and soiled his white starched collar lie liked to play in lukewarm water to slosh in the suds and to rub his soft little hands whiter and whiter in lie foam Ills cleanliness cleanli-ness pleased his mother and she boasted of it to the l mothers of other bo mothers of boys with high watermarks water-marks just above their shirt collars of boys who had to be yanked bark to the roller towel after washing lo have their cars rubbed of bad bad boys who washed their feet in the dew of the grass at night and told their mothers i 1 that they had washed them in the I tub at the pump of wicked and sinful boys who killed toads and cried noisily when their warts bled In the hot water In fact to the t mothers of nearly all the boys In Boyvlllo And thus it came about that Boyville having Mealy Jones pet before it ns a model child contracted con-tracted a cordial hate for him and rose against him when he presumed to contest with Piggy for his Hearts De wire Yet all Boyville loved a fight and all Boyvillr1 goaded the King to wrath Therefore when Piggy Pen nington the King of Boyville dressed for the party that night in his Sunday clothes and his Sunday shoes and limped down the sidewalk to the Joneses where the boys and girls were to meet before descending1 upon Bud Perkins there was rancor In the royal heart and maternal halroll on the royal head The company saw lie King of Boy ville transformed Into a very red and 1 very sweaty youth holding madly to I the back of his cuffs and chuckling deliriously I In a daze he took of his I 1 hat and put a sack ol oranges his part in the evenings refreshment on a table in the next room When hu regained I re-gained cunfcclousncss Piggy noticed that Mealy Jones who had pranced Into the room with much unction was sitting sit-ting next lo his Hearts Desire The children were making merrry chatter Piggy look his place OIL the end of xx lounge and turning his back lo the guilty pair gave an ijijln pinch to I Jimmy Scars with orders lo pass It t on Indeed so unconcerned was ljlggy III the progress of the affair be hind him thai he began to shove thc I line of boys on the lounge the shoving grow Into a shuttle and the hume Into I a wrestle which ended on the front porch At length Piggy stalked through I the room where the girls were sitting Haying when he returned with his i oranges and his hatCome on fellers p everybodys here I The young blades of the Court of tiny villo waited politely at the gate before the house where Bud Perkins lived with Miss Morgan his foster mothmer When I the maidens arrived all the company went trooping up Miss Morgans steps After Piggy had chased Bud from the front door into a m closet from which the host fought his way gallantly Into the middle of the parlor iloor the essential I preliminaries < of the evenings entertain ment were over A little later the Barnes began First there was for fells Then came tintin Clap in and clap out followed and finally after much protestation from the girls but at the earnest solicitation of Irealy Jones poHtolIlee started Piggy = did not urge nor protest He had gone through the games lisllessly occasionally occa-sionally breaking Into a spasm of gayety that was clearly hollow and afterward sinking into I profound Indifference In-difference For how could a wellcon tinned l boy he gay with a heartache under his Sunday shirt and the spectacle before his eyes of a freckled human cooksparrow I > darting round and I round 1 the bower of his Hearts Desire A litllc Inter in the hufTlc of the game PlgJjy and his Hearts Desire were far I apart Half an hour passed but still he did not revive Mealy Jones called I her out 1 in poslolficc and Piggy thought he saw u smile mount her brow 1 That was too much When tho dining room closed behind the black and red checked dress the pitcher that enclosed I his woe broke and the wheel at the cistern of his endurance stopped Mealy Jones came Into the room and the boy who kept the postofilee called 1 out Piggy Pennington But the slam of the front door was his answer Piggy sat on the front porch and re 1 Icwed the entire affair It began when his Hearts Desire had fluttered Into his autograph album with a coy When this you sec Itcmembcr mc He followed the corrugated course of true love step by step up to its climax where a week before she had given him his choice of her new pack of assorted as-sorted visiting cards He rose at the end of live minutes somber meditation holding the curling gelatine card of his choice In his warm hand After venting vent-ing a heavy sigh he checked a motloir to throw aay the token of his undoing and put it back into his pocket l While he was plotting dark things against the life and happiness of Mealy Jones Piggy heard Lime sound of the merriment merri-ment within and a mischievous smile spread over his angry countenance He tiptoed to he window and peeped in He saw his ITuarts Desire sitting alone He cheered up a little not much but sufficiently to reach In his pocket for his ticktuck Now it may be clearly proved if necessary hut the licktack was lu tented by the devil So there is nothing really strange in the statement that Piggy Pennington took from his Sunday clothes beneath a 1 pocketful of rewards of merit for regular attendance at Sunday chool all dated before the Christmas treca spool with I notched wheels a lead pencil and a bit of fishllne The line wound around the spool Piggy put the pencil through the hole In the spool and held the notched rims of the spool against the window pane by pressing on the pencil axle lie gave the cord a quick Jerk a rattle a wall and a shriek were successively produced by the notches v whirring on the glass The company within doors screamed Every one knew it was Piggy but no one ever lived with nerves strong enough to withstand the shock of a ticktack At the first shock those indoors decided to Ignore the disturbance But It occurred twice afterward and a third ticktack at a party Is a dare So the boys took It up As Piggy ran he forgot his hot heavy shoes he felt the night wind on his face and In his hair He cared nothing for his pursuers he ran for gladness that came with the running Now he slackened his pace and let the boys catch up with him and again he spread the mocking distance between them He turned down an alley and eluded the pack All the youngster at the party even the girls had scampered out of the house to watch the race When Piggy vaulted the back yard fence Into Miss Morgans garden he heard the pursuers half a block away He saw 100 feel distant a bevy of girls standing on the sidewalk And he saw too as he came bounding down the lot something that I made him fairly skim over the earth his Hearts Desire standing alone near the porch In his path under an apple tree The exhilaration of the chase had made him forget lily trouble He was so surefooted in the race that he 01l otto ot-to be abashed for the moment and came bounding down by the apple tree He was full of pride When he stopped he was the King of Boyville and every inch a king The king not Piggy should be blamed It was all over In a second almost before me had slopped He aimed at her cheek but he got her ear That was the first 1 that he knew of It Piggy seemed to return to life then In his confusion he felt himself shriveling I up to his normal size shriveling shriv-eling and frying In an Instant he was gone and Piggy Pennington ran into the group of girls on the sidewalk and Itt them catch him and hold him The breathless youths went Inlo the house telling of their adventures In the race between gasps But Piggy did not dare to look n this Hearts Desire for as much as five minutes long long time No one had ssen him beneath the apple tree He was not afraid of the leasing but he was afraid of the withering with-ering look from his Hearts Desire a look that he felt with a parching fear in his throat would throw the universe Into an eclipse for him He obsercd that she got up and changed her seat to be rid of Mealy Jones At first Piggy Pig-gy thought that was a good sign but a moment later he reasoned that the avoidance of Mealy was Inspired proba lily by a loathing for all boys He dared not seek her eyes but ho mingled noisily In the crowd for a while and then on a desperate venture carelessly snapped a peanut shell und hit his Hearts Desire on the chin He seemed to be looking a thousand miles away In another direction than that which the missile took He waited nearly a minute min-ute a long uncertain minute for a ic sponee Then the shell came back It did not hit hImbut It might have done so that was all he could ask He snapped shells nlyly for a quarter of an hour and ii as happy Once he looked not exactly looked perhaps peeked Is the better v > ord took just the tiniest lightning light-ning peek out of the tall of his eye and found a smile waiting for him At sup per If any one save Piggy had tried to take a chair by his Hearts Desire when the t plates came around there would have been a fight Mealy Jones knew this and ho knew what Piggy did not know that It would have been a fight of two against one So Piggy sat bolt upright in his chair beside the black and red checked dress and talked to the room at large but he spoke no word to the maiden at his Side She noticed that Piggy kept dropping his knife and the Hollcltude of her sex prompted her to ask Are your hands cold Win lehlIt heldAnd And the inslinct of his sex to hide a fault with a falsehood made Piggy nod his head Then she answered Cold hands a warm heart1 At this important bit of repartee the King of Boyville so far forgot his royal dignity that he let an orange peel drive at Jimmy Sears and pVetended not to hear her His only reply was to Joggle j her arm when she reached for the cake Piggy was so exuberant and In such high spirits that he put his plate on his chair and made Bud Perkins walk turkey tur-key fashion three llmos around the room Ho forgot the disgrace which his not had ought to him In the school he forgot the pretensions of Mealy Jones he did not wish to forget the episode at the apple tree and for tilt time Piggy Pennington lived In a most peculiar world made 1 of hazel eyes and redribboned pigtails all circling around on a background of black and red checked flannel After that nothing mattered very much It didnt mailer that Piggys iliocs which hnd bruised his feet in the race began to sling like fire It didnt matter much if Mealy Joness mother I did come for him with a lantern and break up the pall It didnt matter If Jimmy Soars did call out Hello Roses Red whQii the boys reached the bedroom bed-room where heir hats were for a voice that Piggy knew cried back from the adjoining room You think youre cute r dont you old smarty Nothing In I the world could matter then for had not Piggy Pennlnglon five minutes before be-fore handed a card to his Hearts De > sin which read i IF I MAY NOT C U IIOMT2 MAY I NOT SIT ON THE FENCE AND C U CO BY And had she not taken it and said merrily Im going lo keep this Wljsit could matter after that open avowal 1 And so It camo to paso In a little while that the goodly compaiij headed by tin King of Boyvtlle filed gayly J 1 down the path They walked two by two and they started on the long uneven un-even way But the King of Boyvllh t was full of Joya kind of Joy HO strange if that wise men may not measure It a ij joy so rare that even kings 1 are proud for f-or it u |
