Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-12-07
A Phase
Of Breeding
By OSCAR cox

would smell as sweet. Had Mr..
Shakespeare been possessed of my ex-
p~erience he would not have written
these words. My mothers maiden name
was Lillibourne and my fathers FAM
lily name Rosebury. 1t was decided to
give me Lillibourne for a baptismal
name. This made me Lillibourne Rose
bury.
What possessed my parents to prefix
a family name combining that Of a
flower by one that would suggest an
other flower l cannot conceive. Doubt
less, being a prosy matter of fact cou-
pie, 1t did not occur to them that they
had subjected me forlife to the mercyof
the punster. My schoolmates called me
either Lilly or Rosie. And every one
of them who did so grinned satisfac-
torlly, supposing himself to be the orig
inator of the idea.
Now, 1 was born husky. There Is
not nor ever has been a bit of effem-
macy In my makeup. My frame is
stalwart, my voice deep and resonant.
/ early took to athletics. All of these
traits, being In contrast with the lily
and the rose suggested by my name,
only tended to call down upon me the
more the ridicule of the punster.
My first effort to counterfeit the dis
position of boys to show their wit by
the use of my name was by thrashing
every boy who thus offended. This
stopped the matter within a limited
circle, but I was constantly meeting
new boys who were not aware of he
penalty they must pay by ironically
linking me with lilies and roses, and I
was obliged to administer punishment
to a fresh offender at least once a
week. This was discouraging.
Besides, l could not thrash the girls,
and | found them more prone to tres
pass upon my good nature than the
boys. The consequence was that I at
last settled down to bear the IMPOSE
ton without ~resenting 1t. 1t was sug-
gested to me by an intimate friend that
l change my baptismal name, but 1 did
not like the idea of casting off what my
mother had peer pleased to bestow
upon me.
A taste for arms led me to enlist In
the national guard. | was nominated
for promotion in the noncommissioned
line, but the captain of my company
feared that the play upon my name
would deprive me of that unapproaeh-
ableness required In one who Is to
command others, and | was not ven
permitted to be corporal. Therefore
so long as we were state soldiers I
remained a private.
But the time came when the national
guard was made a part of the army Of
the United States, and not long after
that my regiment was sent with others
to the Mexican frontier for its protee-
ton and to capture General Villa.
Active service put a very different
complexion on the regiment. The colo
mel, who had for years held his posi-
ton from the fact that he was a mil
lionaire and could donate funds to the
regiment and give dinners to the Off
GERS, was deposed, and the lieutenant
colonel, a born soldier, was promoted to
the command. We had no sooner ar
rived at the frontier than the first SER
geant of my company, being of a too
delicate physique to stand the hard
ships of a soldiers life, fell Ill. and I
vas put In his place.
While In the national guard l felt
disgruntled at no promotion. This
move, however, gave me renewed cour-
age and a determination to rise yet
higher.
Well, we had a hard campaign after
Villa, and when we returned from 1t
there had been a fine shaking up
among the officers. | had risen from
Lilly Rose to be Major Rosebury, and
not a soldier or an officer dared to refer
to me, as one young miss had done, as
"'Tis but a little faded flower" or in
any other way. Nor did | have occa-
sion to bring about this result by per-
sonal dignity. My services ON a hard
campaign had deprived my comrades
of the privilege of treating me famil-
iarly.
Nevertheless socially | still continued
to suffer. especially with my feminine
companions. Ii was eXcruciating to be
called Major Lilly Rose by a pretty
girl who assumed that she was the
first to think OF q connection between
my name and the two delicate flowers.
A girl who thus offended, seeing a look
of reserve on my face, followed up her
wittieism by saying that she presumed
[ had heard that a dozen times before.
"Oh, no." ] replied; mot a DOZEN
"A thousand?"
mo; not a thousand-more likely ten
thousand"
Soon after my return from Mexico 1
met a young lady with whom l was
greatly pleased. l believed that as
soon as she came to know me well
enough she would perpetrate some wit
ticism on my name. But week after
week passed. and, although we saw a
great deal of each other. she never Of
tended.
The reason for her not offending be-
nnn,o nnnnrnnt from tho fnnt that In