And then, there was the boy with the freckled face and tangled hair,
whose nose seemed always trying to peep into his own mischief lighted
eyes as though wishing to see what new deviltry was breeding there:
and his crony, who never could learn the multiplication table, who was
forever swearing vengeance on the teacher, whose clothes were always
torn, and who carried frogs and little snakes in his pockets: and the
timid boys who always played in one corner of the yard by themselves
or with the girls or stood by and watched, with mingled admiration and
envy, the games and pranks of the bolder lads: and "Dummy"--poor
"Dummy"--the shining mark for every schoolboy trick and joke; with his
shock of yellow hair, his weak cross eyes, his sharp nose, thin lips,
and shambling, shuffling, shifting manner--poor "Dummy."
And of course there was a bully, the Ishmael of the school, whom
everybody shunned and nobody liked; who fought the teacher and
frightened the little children; who chewed, and smoked, and swore, and
lied, and did everything bad that a boy could do. He had a few
followers, a very few, who joined him rather through fear than
admiration and not one of whom cared for or trusted him. The woman
remembered how this schoolboy face was sadly hard and cold and cruel,
as though, because he had gotten so little sunshine from life, his
heart was frozen over. She had read of him, in the grown up world,
receiving sentence for a dreadful crime, and, remembering his father
and mother, had wondered if his grandparents were like them and how
many generations before his birth his career of crime began.
Again and again, the car had stopped to let people off but the woman
had not noticed. The schoolgirls, all but the tall one who had found a
seat, were gone. But the woman had not seen them go.
And then, as she sat dreaming of the days long gone--as she saw again
the faces of her school day friends, one there was that stood out from
among them all. It was the face of the boy who lived next door--the
boy who had stood with her under the cherry tree; who had put a tiny
play ring of brass upon her finger; and who had kissed her with a kiss
that was somehow different. He was the hero of her Yesterdays as he
was the acknowledged chieftain of the school. No one could run so
fast, swim so far, dive so deep, or climb so high as he. No one could
throw him in wrestling or defeat him in boxing. He was their lord,
their leader, their boyish master and royally he ruled them all--his
willing subjects. He it was who stopped the runaway horse; who killed
the big snake; and who pulled the minister's little daughter from the
pond. It was he who planned the parties and the picnics; the sleigh
rides in winter and the berrying trips in summer. It was he whom the
girls all loved and the boys all worshiped--bold, handsome, daring,
dashing, careless, generous, leader of the Yesterdays.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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