San Diego State University - Del Sudoeste Yearbook (San Diego, CA)

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. ?NWT That night after supper llilly told the boys all about it as they sat on the garbage pails iu the alley. Yep, fellers, he said, she scrubbed my mouth for saying ldarn'; but thatls just her itlea. Everybody's got funny ideas about what's bad and what ainit. Miss Maine thinks 'tlarn' is bad, and ma thinks it ain't. My ma thinks tdam, is bad, and steptlatl he thinks it ain't. Gee! tellers, don t it make you want to bust out and th somethin' fierce when an old hen sticks around sayino; 'ain't he turrible,' and ain't it awful'? Bill paused and thrust his hands into his pockets. He pulled out a bagr of Bull Durham tobacco and rolled a cigarette, while his audience looked on admiringly. ul'lere,s to Miss Maine, and her whoppin lies, he saitl, theatrically. t'I'm goiif to smoke. to show you tobacco won't make a guy tllC in a ht, like she said it would. Does she suppose w , ain't got eyes? Don't we see hun- dreds of men smokin' right along, aml not much bothered with frothing at the mouth? . tl lut you'll get a cancer on your tongue if you smoke long. said the lit- tlest boy. Then I'm going to smoke long to show you she's a liar. said Ilill. Aml with that the boys disbanded for the night. Hilly became a habitual smoker. and the more he smoked the more he wanted to smoke. until at last he smoked almost as much as he swore. I le grew to like the taste of the tobacco way down in his lungs. After a while the twinkle dial in his eyes, and his tleportment went up aml his grade marks went down. The soothing tobacco was deadeningr his activity and curbing his penchant for mischief. A number of things had been lost lately that he could not timl. aml he had failed in the arithmetic examination. llilly realized that his fame aml his powers were slipping from him, but he never thought of tobacco. Miss Maine had men- tioned none of these effects. XYhat use to tell ehiltlren of slow ordinary results? of course they believed ex'erything. and the more drastic the dose the more effective the cure. Tell them the startlingathe one in a million phe- nomenonathat was Miss Maine's way; but it had not worked out with Hilly. CHAPTER III. The first morning of school after llilly was promoted to the eighth grade he came in five minutes late, as usual. and scrutinized the new teacher. She was a big, angular womam with antagonizing corners of righteousness stick- ing out all over her. lilly scrutinized her as he came in and was sorry he had been promoted. Then he looked at the girl across the aisle and was glad. in spite of Miss Maxwell. the teacher. It was the first time he had ever really looked at a girl. and now there was nothing else that he could make himself look at. She was a slim girl with wistful blue eyes and a fuzz of light hair that made a halo around her face. lilly listened intently as Miss Maxwell called the roll. The girl answered as she called Elaine. and llilly was glad she had spoken. for it made her seem more real and less like an angel in a picture. Most of Billyis time was spent watching,r Elaine. and most of Elaine's time was spent reading story books behind her text books. or dreaming- out of the window. One day she looked up from her story and s1 might across at Billy. She had been reading about a Splelltlltl lover. aml was xx'omlering how it would seem to have one. Her eyes fell on Billy. All the other boys were shorter than she was and she couldn't even imagine them into princes 0r lovers. Fancy a lover that one would have to stoop to kiss! lilly was tall and he had wavy hair and he didn't have frecklesaso her eyes fell again on Billy. Just then Billy looked at her. and a deep scarlet Ilyetl her face: then scarlet dyed his face. totx and they both looked away. Later that same tlay lilly forgot to take his Singing-lmok ta the music 27

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the shoulders. She jerked him into place and then shook him hard. Billy was fearfully frightened that time. After a while he became used to teachers, as he had got used to long-horned steers on the prairie; but the teachers never got used to Billy. with his penchant for squirming and doing things. That first year, or I might say that first day, Iilly became known as a naughty boy; the next year he was known as a bad boy; and after that he himself knew that he was had and was proud of his badness. Many things are found and lost at the red brick school. 3illy found his reputation there that first day, but he never lost it: it clung to him in the strange adhesive way of reputations. and as he passed along his reputation went along with him as his shadow did. sometimes poking far out in advance. sometimes trailing- behind, but always with him. CHAP'IIIER 11. At thirteen Hilly was promoted to the sixth grade. He was tired of pun- ishments and corrections and had made up his mind to do better. In a few days, however, he decided that it was no use-his reputation had been pro- moted before he was. Every time the class laughed or anything unusual happened the teacher pounced on him. He gave up trying. and lapsed hack into his old troublesome ways. One day Billy was kept in at recess for sticking gum in the Italian g'irlIs hair. The teacher was very cross. IISharpen these lead pencils. she said. for punishment, and see that you dmft get any litter on the Hoorf' She opened the little white box to hand him her pearl handled knife, Hlt is gone. she said. looking; sharply at liilly. u.Do you know where it is? Hilly eyed the box. IINO, I doift know, but maybe Sam does.' ttDid you see him take it? ItNope? tIDid you see him have it ? IINope. uThen how do you know that he has it? III don't know it, but you just ask him. That afternoon Miss Maine did ask Sam, and his face grew very red as he dug down into his pocket and produced the knife. After school Miss Maine did not keep Sam, but took her vengeance out on Dilly. IVilliam, she said, Ithow does it happen that you always know where everything that is lost or stolen has goneim Just figger it out, said Billy. WYell, how did you figure out that Sam had my knife? t'Easyf said Bill. IILook at that dauh of red on the lid of the knife hox. Sam cut his finger at noon and came up here to get a rag and a piece of string out of your drawer, so I knowed that he was in hereathen when I seen this red I says to myself. ISamIS the boy with the knifef I, HVViIliam, said Miss Maine, you are a regular sleuthf A what ? asked Bill. He was used to being called names. but this was a new one. tII mean a detective. ' explained Miss Maine. IT311. said Bill, and puffed out his chest. From this time on his reputa- tion for finding things increased and went along with his reputation for hadness. and was a thing to he gloated over and bragged about. One day the boy in front of him knocked IIillyIs pencil box on the Hoor. HXVilliam. what are you doing? snapped his teacher. Not a darn thing? muttered XVilliam, under his breath. Int Miss Maine's sharp ear caught it and she washed his mouth out with soap and brush. and told him he had said a very dreadful word. 26

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room. He turned around to look on Elaiuels book, anal her hand accidentally touched his as she turned a page. After that he eouhl not keep the place; the teacher called on him to sing, but his face grew red. and his voice was husky and would not sing. That night he walked home with Elaine and carried her books; and it was enough for him that her haml touched his as he handed her the books at the gate. It was then that he resolved to quit smoking. Elaine was such a nice girl that she never could like a boy that smoked and swore, he thought. So he quit smoking and swearing that same day. Sometimes he had to shut his teeth on a cuss word half out or a cigarette half in. then men on the cars blew smoke in his fact he was frenzied. hWhen a felleris hungry. he told the boys, he's only hungry in his stomach, but when he's hungry for a smoke he's hungry all over. One Friday evening he met Elaine coming home from an errand just as it was growing dark. Together they walked untxl they came to the familiar sehool-house steps. As if from force of habit he turned up the steps. and she went up almost unthinkingly beside him. On the top step in the great shadowy entrance they sat down. For a while they looked at the sky, and traced patterns in the clouds. Then they listened to the night birds and talked of the things they had learned about birds in the nature study class, until in the darkness his hand touched hers: then they talked no more. Suddenly a step reverberated on the stairway aml Miss Maxwell's piercing voice cut through the moonlight. Puppy lovel', she ejaculated. For shame! To be eaught lllltltllCtl upon a dark door step like a pair of monkeys at the Chutes! Puppy love! Monkeys in the Chutes! Something sacred went to smash inside of him. as God had gone to smash when his mother had married Tim O'Hara, the infidel. Elaine sat all the while crying, with her face in her hands, but William was sullen and defiant, and all the bitterness of Miss Maxwellls words sank into his heart. At last Miss Maim e11 shook Elaine. hCome with me,n she said. I am going to my room to get some reports which I forgot; then I am going to take you to your mother. Elaine dutifully rose to her feet and followed Miss Maxwell t0 the door of the school-house. Miss Maxwell took out her pass key and they went in. It seemed a long time to XVilliam before they came out. then they did. he sat as they had left him. and Elaine was still crying. As she passed him he wanted to say goodbye, but something choked his voice. and he sat there and watched them disappear. The next day he was in school and Miss Maxwell was in school, but Elaine was not. One of the girls told him at noon that she had been sent to the convent. His face went red before the eyes of the girl, as itghad done when Miss Maxwellls icy stare fell upon him in class One of the newsboys with whom he sold papers after school came up to him on the corner and saw that something was wrong with him. llXVhat's your groueh. kid? ' he said. slapping him on the shoulder. than a cigarette and brace up. Billy had almost lost his taste for tobacco, but he took the cigarette and it helped him to forget. lle plunged into abandoned excess after his long period of abstinence. Along about the middle of the term a diamond aplrareti on Miss Max- wellls finger. The whole eighth grade was in excitement. The girls giggled and whispered about it. and the boys talked it over in the basement. llGosht tellers, he must be a rich guy to give her a swell diamond like that. I bet it cost moreln a inotoreycle, said Rey. ltlle must be brave to tackle a jay-faeetl school teacher like herfl said Frank. Hl donlt care if he's a rich man or a brave one. or both-Tlni sorry for the poor son of a gun when he gets her, said Hilly. 28