The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-08-08
The Mick Of the Family

Timothy Cannon was intensely
Irish; whereas his wife Mary was
intensely ambitious. Thus it was that
the first little Cannon waited three
weeks before he was baptized, while
his parents debated the question
whether he should be Patrick or Morti-
mer
"Pathrick!" cried Mrs. Cannon, COW
ering the tiny form as if to shield it
from the awful name. "Pathrick!
Poor little bye! Miss De Carr, let
me introduce We to Mr.. Paddy Cannon.
Aye, can hear thin now"
"Moretimber!" shouted Mr. Cannon.
What kind av a name is that? Till
me, what saint is that?"
''Tis no saint replied his wife.
'"Tis Mortimer Hall Braidlaw, him
that is head av the Four Hundred.
Ye can have his second name saints
name. Ye can call him PauI-More-
timber Paul Cannon" She caressed
the syllables fondly.
yell call him nothing av the kind!"
retorted Mr.. Cannon, and shook his
fist as man does when he is thor
oughly reused. mo son av mine shall
ever have such haitian name!"
And so it went, until Father Doyle
interviewed and suggested compro-
mise. Anthony was finally agreed
upon, as it was regular name, such
as any decent Irishman might wear,
and an aristocratic one, also-witness
that it stood in front of the great name
Tasker, name fully as prominent
as Braidlaw.
After that Father Doyle had many
opportunities to prove his skill, as a
diplomat, and the results of his labors
were, successfully: Gerald, Owen, JUS
tin, Harold, Maurice, Philip, Raphael,
James and John.
AS may be seen, the good priest
had gradually fallen away from his
original high average. In fact, his
last two efforts had almost failed; for,
as Mrs. Cannon averred, James and
John were very common names, and
almost sure to become Jimmie" and
Johnnie" They were just little bit
better than William and Daniel-the
only other names Mr.. Cannon would
hear of-with their terrible potential
tiles of will" or Billy" or willy
or 'Bill''; and "Dan," or Danny; and
that saved them.
So Father Doyle was immensely
pleased when twins came, and Mr..
Cannon agreed to let his wife name
the girl if she would waive rights over
the boy.
MY child shall niver have rason
to be ashamed of her name,'' said Mrs.
Cannon, and told the godparents it
was to be Gwendolyn Marie.
Mr.. Cannon chuckled. He did not
care much what they named the girl;
the hour of his triumph had arrived.
Yen call the bye Pathrick," he
said, and laughed outright
OF course it was great blow for
Mrs. Cannon. She had struggled for
fifteen years to keep the obnoxious
cognomen from the family, and to be
compelled to swallow it after she had
thought the danger over was very bit
ter. Still, she was disposed to make
the best of the matter, vowing that
since his name was Patrick, he should
be called Patrick and not Pat" or
Paddy" or Patsy"
In her presence Patrick was what
everybody called him, but out of it the
same everybody called him Paddy. In
this they were only following an old
established custom, as the names of all
the children of the family had been
contracted, with a single exception
Harold, for whose name there was no
contraction, having light hair, was
called Whitley"
They were all good-looking boys and
Mrs. Cannon was proud of them. An
thony became shoe clerk, wore the
latest in mems styles, went to the
dances and had his name in the paper
next morning. Gerald and Owen we're
good deal like their brother They
| worked together in a clothing store
and were interested in the ladies. JUS
tin was Beau BrummeI, too, and had