Do you know WHY he says all
that awfulness happened?"
"When Margaret and I were trying to scrub him," responded Mrs. Schofield
wearily, "he said 'everybody' had been calling him names."
"'Names!'" snorted her husband. "'Little gentleman!' THAT'S the vile
epithet they called him! And because of it he wrecks the peace of six
homes!"
"SH! Yes; he told us about it," said Mrs. Schofield, moaning. "He told
us several hundred times, I should guess, though I didn't count. He's
got it fixed in his head, and we couldn't get it out. All we could do
was to put him in the closet. He'd have gone out again after those boys
if we hadn't. I don't know WHAT to make of him!"
"He's a mystery to ME!" said her husband. "And he refuses to explain
why he objects to being called 'little gentleman.' Says he'd do the same
thing--and worse--if anybody dared to call him that again. He said if
the President of the United States called him that he'd try to whip him.
How long did you have him locked up in the closet?"
"SH!" said Mrs. Schofield warningly. "About two hours; but I don't think
it softened his spirit at all, because when I took him to the barber's
to get his hair clipped again, on account of the tar in it, Sammy
Williams and Maurice Levy were there for the same reason, and they just
WHISPERED 'little gentleman,' so low you could hardly hear them--and
Penrod began fighting with them right before me, and it was really all
the barber and I could do to drag him away from them.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184