only been mildly diverted by the sight. Johnnie,
however, had viewed the passing of the biplane in amaze, though later on
he came to accept the conquest of the air as just one more marvel in a
world of marvels.

But his wonder in the sky itself never lessened. About its width he did
not ponder, never having seen more than a narrow portion of it since he
was big enough to do much thinking. But, oh, the depth of it! He could
see no sign of a limit to that, and Mrs. Kukor declared there was none,
but that it reached on and on and on and on! To what? Just to more of
the on and on. It never stopped.

One night Cis and he, bent over the lip of the window, she upholstered
on a certain excelsior-filled pillow which was very dear to her, and he
padded by Big Tom's cast-offs, had attempted to realize what Mrs. Kukor
had said. "On--and on--and on--and on," they had murmured. Until finally
just the trying to comprehend it had become overpowering, terrible. Cis
declared that if they kept at it she would certainly become dizzy and
fall out. And so they had stopped.

But Johnnie was not afraid to think about it, awful as it was. It was
at night, mostly, that he did his thinking. At night the birds he loved
were all asleep. But so was Barber; and Johnnie, with no fear of
interruption, could separate himself from the world, could mentally kick
it away from under him, and lightly project his thin little body up to
the stars.

Whenever fog or clouds screened the sky patch, hiding the stars, a
radiance was thrown upon the heavens by the combined lights of the
city--a radiance which, Johnnie thought, came from above; and he was
always half expecting a strange moon to come pushing through the cloud
screen, or a new sun, or a premature dawn!

Now looking up into the deep blue he murmured, "On--and--on--and on," to
himself. And he wondered if the gulls or the pigeons ever went so far
into the blue that they lost their way, and never came back--but just
flew, and flew, and flew, till weariness overcame them, when they
dropped, and dropped, and dropped, and dropped!

A window went up in front of him, across the area, and a voice began to
call at him mockingly: "Girl's hair! Girl's hair! All he's got is girl's
hair! All he's got is girl's hair!"

He started back as if from a blow. Then reaching a quick hand to the
sash, he closed the window and stepped down.

The voice belonged to a boy who had once charged Mrs. Kukor with going
to chur