Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-03-23

uSu SlJ NOT ulu III Slrlke tlleHl upon
meeting their daughter for the first
time that she could possibly have for
gotten anything She certainly had
the uncXpresScd air of one who has
nothing TO forget.
what a love of Il chin" sighed
mamma
Pretty sunburned, amt shc?' COM
mentcd papa.
Mamma paid no attention. She was
used to him. Il shan't dare to tell
anybody she's mine,' was what she
answered. "Itll sound so much like
boasting'
You'll not need to-" declared papa.
"That nose will do as we'll for idcnti
fication as name would on her col
lar"
Mamma i;::od up her voice in dis
may: "Why, Jim, she hasn't got a
name.
Papa whistled "IIow are we going
to fiji out the certificate of authorship
for the health dcpartmcnt!' he de-
manded.
She'll have to have a name" de-
cided mamma. "She can't be mar
ried, or even christcned, without
one"
"Oh well. she looks all right for
family use just as she is" said papa.
That name. The quest of it put the
Pipers to it harder than that of the
holy grail ever did Sir Iauncclot. OF
all the 292 names of women which
were Catalogucd with their derivat-
ives at the end Of Wcbstcr's. there was
not one that suited Mamma SHED
at using her own name. Mary, from
modesty. no doubt. but she vetoed con-
sistently any others that papa suggest
ed, and asked him carclcSSly after
wards, when he seemed to be off his
guard, who were Maud, and Lillian,
and Marianne, anyway, and why had
he never told his little wife about
them?
He, poor man, was turning names
over and over rs he walked the floor
nights with the unnamed baby. He
puzzled over the puzzle aS lie hung on
the strap going to town on the trolle?
car mornings from ihe suburb to which
he had moved when he married. The
uncertain movements of the tram
would settle themselves into one Of
the two rhythmS which nowadays his
lips were always forming. Martha,
Marion, Marianne, Maria," or else
"Mathilda, Maud. May, Mchitable,"
for devotion to his wife made him be-
gin always with her name, Mary,
whether he was running along the
Webster list towards A or Y.
AS for mamma, after she had once
dressed the baby all by herself. had
brushed the soft hair in different di.
rection from that iii which it was
meant to grow, and had counted the
tiny pink toes over and over again,
to be sure that they were just the
right number she did not care whether
the darling was ever chriStcHcd OF
married.
Matters might have gone on in this
had not come simultaneously to make
a visit Their coming brought affairs
to a deadlock. Grandma Piper said
she thought that it was only proper
that the first baby be named after its
fathers family. Grandma Grahame
was polite but firm. 1t certainly was
q mothers privilege to choose the
name, and they must leave it all to
Mary. Her advocacy of the claims of
the Grahames was no less urgent be-
cause she put it delicately. Forcnoons
the two ladies discussed the question
with tolerantly smiling faces; at noon
day with naughty eyes; with stiff up
per lips at nightfall; and the next
morning they would begin all over
again, while papa looked stricken as
he ran for his car, and mamma huggcd
the baby as if she could not be alto
gether sorry for anything which
brought her such a precious oppor-
tunity.
One Sunday morning Mary stopped
her husband as he tried TO slip out Of
the room early without disturbing her.
"Oh, jim. dear, don't so driving unless
you take baby and me with you. Per-
haps if there's nobody by to see,
they'll
Just what they might do she didn't
say, but she looked as if she meant 1t.