ather of
February and August.

The thing which befell upon this broiling afternoon began to brew and
stew peacefully enough. All was innocence and languor; no one could have
foretold the eruption.

They were upon their great theme: "When I get to be a man!" Being human,
though boys, they considered their present estate too commonplace to be
dwelt upon. So, when the old men gather, they say: "When I was a boy!"
It really is the land of nowadays that we never discover.

"When I'm a man," said Sam Williams, "I'm goin' to hire me a couple of
coloured waiters to swing me in a hammock and keep pourin' ice-water on
me all day out o' those waterin'-cans they sprinkle flowers from. I'll
hire you for one of 'em, Herman."

"No; you ain' goin' to," said Herman promptly. "You ain' no flowuh.
But nev' min' nat, anyway. Ain' nobody goin' haih me whens _I_'m a man.
Goin' be my own boss. _I_'m go' be a rai'road man!"

"You mean like a superintendent, or sumpthing like that, and sell
tickets?" asked Penrod.

"Sup'in--nev' min' nat! Sell ticket? NO suh! Go' be a PO'tuh! My uncle a
po'tuh right now. Solid gole buttons--oh, oh!"

"Generals get a lot more buttons than porters," said Penrod.
"Generals----"

"Po'tuhs make the bes' l'vin'," Herman interrupted. "My uncle spen' mo'
money 'n any white man n'is town."

"Well, I rather be a general," said Penrod, "or a senator, or sumpthing
like that."

"Senators live in Warshington," Maurice Levy contributed the
information. "I been there. Warshington ain't so much; Niag'ra Falls is
a hundred times as good as Warshington. So's 'Tlantic City, I was there,
too. I been everywhere there is. I----"

"Well, anyway," said Sam Williams, raising his voice in order to obtain
the floor, "anyway, I'm goin' to lay in a hammock all day, and have
ice-water sprinkled on top o' me, and I'm goin' to lay there all night,
too, and the next day. I'm goin' to lay there a couple o' years, maybe."

"I bet you don't!" exclaimed Maurice. "What'd you do in winter?"

"What?"

"What you goin' to do when it's winter, out in a hammock with water
sprinkled on top o' you all day? I bet you----"

"I'd stay right there," Sam declared, with strong conviction, blinking
as he looked out through the open doors at the dazzling lawn and trees,
trembling in the heat. "They couldn't sprinkle too much for ME!"

"It'd make icicles all over you, and----"

"I wish it would," said Sam. "I'd eat 'em up."

"And it'd snow on