Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-05
When Arbuthnot Came Back
By S. E. Riser

TT was useless for him to insist BY >.
4 that Joe Hooker not his
= name. His parents, matter OF
fact had agreed, when he too ~
young to protest, to call him Arbuth-
not. 1t is probable that they meant ~,
WE'LL but the world was not pre-
pared to accept Arbuthnot Mimm ~
without comment which gen @ H.
orally intended to be facetious. So NM.
it followed, perhaps naturally, that I'm
Mimm mentioned his in M
frequently possible and never n
wrote it out in full except under COM IN
pulsion. "A Mimm' was as far VI N
he would go voluntarily; but before
he had been able to place that much
of himself on record in our presence >N
Jack McDermitt had hailed him as ~ fee/
. Zoe Hooker" 60
After that, protest on his part was Witt
not only unavaing but dangerous. MZn@V
To have called him anything but wv
Toe Hooker would have been tanta-
mount to hurting an insult at Jack n
McDermitt, and nobody in the fold ~
ing department was willing to incur N|
the displeasure of that powerful and
therefore persuasive gentleman.
Why McDerntt had selected Joe -
Hooker as suitable for
the newcomer nobody found
out. Certainly there nothing We've Missed
about Arbuthnot Mimm to suggest
the warrior. He was. the most
Indifferent observer might have noticed. the antthe
sis of Fighting Toe Still no one was ever able to
learn why Aaron Prentss, the assistant foreman
was always referred to by the playful McDermtt as
Moses
Toe Hooker arrived on Monday morning and be-
fore noon he had been informed that he would on
the following Saturday at one o'clock undergo physi.
cal chastisement, with McDermitt acting chief
celebrant in the ceremony of the laying of hands,
Big Jacl-some of us dared to call him that when he
could not hear us-was the undisputed champion of
the folding room; but acknowledgment of his
proves did not satisfy him. Unless he permitted
to prove it every little while he became morose and
restless and in this mood Jack McDermitt not
agreeable companion.
A the first week of his service in the binding room
= wore away, Joe Hooker acquired bits of informa-
ton that could not have been cOnsOng reassur1ng
to him. He heard. among other things, how Nc
Dernitt had changed the shape of Tommy Radford's
nose because Mamie Folsome admired his COM
plexion. and how Billy West had been in bed for a
week after receiving his initiation at the hands of the
self appointed initiator in chief. Of course these
stories were partly fictitious; but Joe Hooker did
When the gloves he to during his en-
counter with McDermitt after the departure of the
foreman at Saturday were placed. before
him. Hooker looked at them might look at
the shovel with which the clay is to be removed from
his grave. Then he looked at Mamie Folsome, who
watching him from her machine near the window.
He did not understand her expression; but he real
ize1 that she pretty There was not man in the
establishment who did not realize that. 1t was a
mystery to most of why girl with such beauty
hers should have been content to watch machine
for ten dollars week when she might easily have
secured place in some chorus There she was, how
ever, and Jack McDermitt did not through false or
any other kind OF modesty pretend that he was un-
able to guess why
Turning to Matty Grover who had been selected
to act as master of ceremonies Saturday. Joe
Hooker sadly asked, Why you showing these
things to me! never had pair of boxing gloves
in my life"
Well" Matty informed him, you'll have a
pretty fair idea what they made for after you
meet Jack Saturday,
But I'm not going to meet him Saturday-at
least not in the way you refer to-.
Yes, you are-unless you're tired of your job
here" :.o
1t has been intimated that Joe Hooker was not
built fighting lines. He of medium height