Bisbee daily review., 1911-07-02
ONE WOMAN WHO WAS CONSISTENT TO THE END

My mother was the most consistent
 woman ! ever knew. And besides. had the drop on her when it came to defending yourself. She was somewhat ot a tighter herself and shed made the fatal error of telling us youDg- sters about some of her adventures. She couldn't very well punish us for the very sort O things we inherited from her"
 Its bad business. this thing of telling your children the impudent things you did when you were young, Johnson averred. '1 did it once too often Never thought how they might come back at a fellow. l was telling one night about a cranky old maid of a teacher I had when 1 was about 10. and she said l had to speak piece al the rhetoricals on Friday af- fternoon. She told me to say My Name is Norval and l told her that wasn't my name and i wasn't going to say it. We had little tilt bout it and stopped to conquer by giving in. I'll say for myself that there was a little justice on my side l was crazy to take part, because it was the semi annual show-off day and all the moth CTS were coming, and she put me or with the part of a coachman in the dialogue and gave the Grampian Aill stunt to boy l detested. and when be fell down on it as late as Tuesday af- ternoon she said ] had to say it So when the time came tor me 10 spolt marched up to the rostrum and beloved in what they call 'stentorian tones:
 Ny name is Norval: on the Grampian
 Hills my father feeds his fiocks:
 While my mother. my poor mother, ny
 old motser-darns bis socks.
 Then I marched back to my seat. As said ] made the mistake of telling about it before my boy Ralph. and when be got to acting up at school and the teacher sent a note home tell ing all about it, took him between my knees-eNpecting to take him across them after I got done with the lectUre-and he put a crimp in my argument by asking. solemn as an owl. Say, daddy, what was it your mother used 10 do when you lived in the Grampian HilIsg And J owned up that while l never actuIly lived in ;he Grampian Hills. ! did live in such a big glass house that ! couldn't very well throw any rocks al aim.
 "Whew," Brown e1aculated. You were a pious kid compared 10 my mother. ] tell you she was a regular rip shorter. You see, she didn't have any sisters and girl that's brought up by four big brothers develops a lOt Of muscle and grit. even if she is It- tie. She could fight like a boy. and rSrN uh fg frrr except smoke. They wouldn't iet Ger do that But she finished her tomboy career when she almost Is This IS q cold weather story I'm going 10 tell you. A bit out of season, but } reckon it'll have to go. Our town was built on the side of the hill and ID some places the pavement on the north side of the street was four feet above the street. IJ happened tc be that way where my mother had her hattie with an impertinent chap that tried to flirt with her.
 Tt was just abonut dusk and she was huTrying home in the middle of the pavement where 8 path had been beaten in the snow. and this big fel- low caught up with her and insisted that he was going 10 see her the rest of the way. He got her to talk 10 him in the first place by calling her ny her name. and it was so dark that she wasn't sure for a few minutes wheth- CT she knew him or not. Shed been up to Toledo several times and met 8 lot of young men, and every once in a while one of 'em would make our town and come to call on her ] don't know what it is, but the average fel- low does like a lively girl, and r;y mother must have been awfully por- ular
 She was such a little mite Of thing and when she passed the hotel and that big chap saw her ! reckon he thought maybe she had no business on the street alone at that time Of the evening. and 1t might have been rhIv- airy on his part. She always insisted that he was a city fellow who thought he could pick up a Irritation with any village girl he pleased. At any rate. when it came over her that she vyas walking along the street talking to a total stranger. it made her so mad she could have ehoked him. She told bim she had made a mistake in sup posing he was somebody she knew, and she'd be much obliged 10 him if