The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1898-03-12
A NAMELESS GIRL.


stirred themselves early only in the
case Of my elder sister, who was named
Maggie. Even /. the youngest of a
batch of five, never knew the second
child, a boy, by any other name than
"Brother." Then came ISIS" the third,
and Babe" another boy, and finally
i, the last of the Johnson brood. 1T"
rang i'm my baby ears long before L
knew what was meant. suppose that
being the real baby IL would have
caused confusion in the household,
where there was already Babe" and
so they substituted ST." for that was
my title by right of succession.
/ never knew my mother. She died
soon after opened my blue eyes TO the
world. Perhaps il she had lived my
nomenclature would not have been so
slightingly treated. Maggie, the eld-
est, a quiet, faithful girl, took charge
OF us at mothers death. Father was a
teamster and away all day from the
little family, for whom he provided gen
erously out of his slender earnings.
He, too, called me at" when he took
me up in his lap and rubbed his harsh,
stubble beard over my baby cheeks or
pinched my little fists with his big.
horny fingers. Maggie gave me moth
er's care, as she did the other children,
and had really no trouble about my
incomplete name until went TO school
for the first time.
"Your name Is what?" asked the
teacher, when my turn came In long
line, stretching from the foot of her
desk TO the last bench in the room.
eft johnson, answered, promptly.
att Johnson?" she repeated, with
doubling shake OF the head. Little
girl, you must have forgotten your
name"
"No," I gnsped for a lump in my
throat almost choked me. To be the
first i'm the whole room who had any
difficulty about her name was mortify-
ing even to little siX-year-old.
slave you any brothers or sisters in
fhis SCHOOL,"
"Yes, my big brother is in No. B."
"Go upstairs and bring him down to
me"
/ trundled off, perplexed, 10 find
-Brother." Up 20 the top floor |
climbed and soon espied him In n front
sAsat Of room No. 3. the door Of which
stood wide open. He answered the
summons Of my vigorously reckoning
finger and I confided TO him the di-
1emma l was in about my name.
"Well, Tt" he said, you are in n
bad fix. You never had any other
name"
"But isn't your name Brother and
nothing else?"
"No, I've been christened James be-
sides"
"James?" I queried. 81 thought that
was fathers name?"
"And it's my name, too-James John
SON"
Then for the first time ] learned that
"Brother's" name was James, that isis"
had been christened Cordelia, and that
"Babe, the infringer," was Andrew in
the baptismal record. Only poor, little,
sighted me was at" and nothing more.
brother" made matters clear 20 the
teacher, and she laughingly inscribed
the name OF at" johnson upon the big
roll book OF the school.
/ passed through my school days as
cit" Then, tired Of book learning, !
went TO work in shoe factory. Broth
err was n teamster now, like father.
isis" was married and lived in the
country. "Babe" had run away TO en-
list in the army. and there was nobody
at home but father and Maggie and
me, for James was boarding in another
part of the city, where most of his
hauling had TO be done.
hadn't been in the factory long when
that old phrase you're it" was revived
on the vaudeville stage, and Of course
the young men about the place teased
me by applying IL to me, real ut" an
at" from her birth TO her sixteenth
year.
"Youre IT," they shouted, as they
came up with me in the street. You're
It'll" said their mischievous eyes as /
entered the shop and passed the fore
man 70 go to my table. The foreman
wns strict and permitted no noisy con-
duct inside the factory. He was seri-
ous-looking man, with a young face,
but the mien OF one beyond his years.
lie called each girl by name as he par
celed out the work and told her what
20 do. "Mollicl Rosina Gertiel Becky
Annie! You'll" he said, when my turn
came.
"Her name is IT. " said saucy miss
who stood close by.
The foreman shot forbidding glance
Mt her then looked rather pityingly
upon me "You." he repeated, ''meas-
ure these vamps and make sure that
they all tally with the sample" And
"You' / remained Co Mr.. Joe Parldn-
son, the foreman, for weeks and
months.
The factory hands still called me
cit" / was at" at home TO father and
Maggie. But, somehow, there was
nothing CALLING in IL any more so long
as Mr.. Parkinson refrained from using
the family slight.
had always been frail young
thing. though not I'll. and the foreman
gave me the lightest tasks. Otherwise
=. .t,..rod ,,.n M fovorfffeYn 4 maid