The Press., 1903-05-28
VACCINATIONS ' OF BOBS
 By LOUISE LkMPRAY
Copgf0ht. 1909, by the

"Why, I don't know, Bobby. What would you like to name himP From under her filmy gray parasol Fairfax Browne regarded her son with a look grave ih its perplexity. Bobs adOred his pretty mother because she never laughed at him: also because she had big blue eyes and a mass of fluffy red gold hair precisely like princess in a fairy tale. Therefore, as matter of course, the pepper and salt terrier was brought to her to be christened.
 Gall him Rags" suggested Captain Frederick Lawton, the navy officer, who chanced that morning to be at tendant. This had happened so often of late that dowagers were beginning to suggest in penetrating undertOnes that if dear Mrs. Browne were really thinking of marrying again she could not do better than to take Captain Lawton, suitable in age, good looking and quite independent of his profes- sion. And every one knew that Mrs. Browne had but little besides that ramshackle old plantation in Louisi- ana, or was it Maryland?
 Bobs had overheard one or two of these suggestions and, revolving them in his seven-year-old brain, had come to the conclusion that something DOT tentous was impending. This or some thing else made him regard Captain Lawton's suggestion with vague disfa- vor.
 "I don't like that" he said shortly. Tt might seem disrespectful, you know"
 He turned sturdy blue back on them and trudged of. with the meek terrier under his arm. Presently came in sight fresh faced young subaltern.
 Hello, Bobs! Where are you going with-what's his name?'
 "He hasn't got any yet" said Bobby soberly. That old Captain Lawton said to call him Rags, but I shan't. How would he feel if his father had named him Rags. I'd like to knowT
 ''That is question which Captain Lawton has probably never cOnsid- cred" answered Charteris gravely. But you might call this little beg gar after General Kitchener"
 "Is General Kitchener a great sol dier?"
 "The greatest next to Bobs," averred Henceforth it was Bobs and Kitchener to all the American colony.
 Meanwhile, as the gossips had sur missed, Bobs' mother was pondering in the remote depths of her subcon- sciousness the question of accepting Captain LawtOn. There were times when she felt longing for the home and position which he could give her. It would be home for Bobby, too-Bob- by, who looked at her with his big, hon. est, adoring gray eyes, so like his fath- CTS. But, curiously enough, as often as those eyes met hers she felt a strong distaste for Lawton, with his precise speech and immaculate uniform.
 She had no idea that Bobby was also considering the merits of prospective stepfather, but he was.
 "Mr. Charteris," he said one day, "you aren't married, are youT"
 Charteris blushed all over his boyish face. Not yet" he said.
 Because" said Bobby with deliber- ation, eve been thinkin' 1t over, and I believe I'd rather have you for a father than anybody that's here now"
 Charteris gasped. It's very good of you, I'm sure" he said, smothering an impulse to laugh, "but your mother might have something to say about that"
 "Pooh! She wouldn't mind," said Bobby superbly. Shed like you any amount better than that old navy cap tain. My father was a cav'lry officer, and his swords hangin' up in the libr'y at home. I'm goin' to wear it when I grow up. but I won't be in the navy. A mans no good Tess he can ride"
 Bobby's tone was that of long set tied conviction, and in his heart Char teris, subaltern of hussars, with a medal won in Africa, may have agreed with him. At any rate, when he made a third that day in a group otherwise consisting of Mrs. Browne and Captain Lawton the latter inwardly cursed the inclination of the subaltern to talk of cross country hunts in England, rough riding on the plains and wild dashes over the African karroo. All the more violent was his emotion as he saw the rare color come into Fair fax Browne's face.
 "He was the best rider I ever saw," CharteEis said at the conclusion of one of his stories, "a big, gypsy look ing chap-one of those men who don't seem to come from any place in par ticular, though believe he was born in New York; chap that was always sure to do great things some day, by Jovew
 Charteris' eye had fallen on a para graph in the paper on his knee.
 "What is itY' inquired Mrs. Browne, 
 "The very man. He's in Brighton just back from South Africa"
 Nobody noticed that as the group Bobby secured the newspa- per and studied it carefully.
 Arrived at the hotel, he begged the clerk for a sheet of paper, an envelope and a stamp and, producing a stubby pencil from his trousers pocket, com posed letter, sitting on the back ve- randa, while Kitchener made love to the cook. When the letter was done, he addressed it in a scrawly but dis tinct hand to '4Mr. Edward Wharton, Brighton, England"
 The letter ran as follows:
 Dear MT. Wharton-Mr. Chartris told about you and like you my father was . cavlry officer to and don't like the navy one bit and 1 uu... ant a navy man for my new father
 I think kickner and Id rather have you fl you'd like 1t I'm sure Mama and you would be grate friends Yours with love
 ROBERT FAIRFAX BROWNE.
 "By Jovew said Wharton, and he threw back his head and laughed-a splendid, ringing laugh that consorted well with the gleam of his white teeth in the dusk of his beard and the flash of his deepset dark eyes. This is cer. tainly uncommon. It must be Char teris of the hussars, and let's see; that's Scheveningen hotel. I'd like to see the boy again. I'll run over fhpra n flor Tsyo hppn fO r Tonf1onu