Yes, _sir_! I'm in for a smasher!'
And he built 'a smasher' on the site of the old house, behind which the
'Liza Ann,' or what there was left of it, was lying; and when the house
was done, and furnished with the most gaudy and expensive furniture he
could find in Boston and New York, he said it had just as good a right
to a name as any body. There was Tracy Park, and Grassy Springs, and
Brier Hill, and Collingwood, and he'd be dumbed if he'd be outdone by
any of 'em.
'He'd like to call it 'Liza Ann,' he said to Arthur, whom he met one day
in the park, and to whom he began to talk of his new house. 'He'd like
to call it 'Liza Ann, after the old boat, for that craft was the
beginnin' of his bein' any body; but May Jane and Ann 'Liza wouldn't
hear to it. They wanted some new-frangled foreign name; could Mr. Tracy
suggest something?'
'How would "_Le Bateau_" do? It is the French for "the boat," and might
cover your difficulty,' Arthur said, without a thought that his
suggestion would be adopted.
But it was, immediately.
'That's jest the checker. 'Liza Ann with a new name, _Lub--lub_--what
d'ye call her?' Peterkin said, and Arthur replied:
'_Le Bateau_.'
'Yes, yes--_Lubber-toe_; that'll suit May Jane tip-top. Beats all what
high notions she's got! Why, I don't s'pose she any more remembers that
she used to wash Miss Atherton's stun steps than you remember somethin'
that never happened.
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