s which I
could see in the distance, were not especially remarkable for
grandeur. The rivers, too, seemed trite. That they should flow
down-hill struck me as being nothing at all remarkable, for I could
not for the life of me see how they could do otherwise, and when night
came on and my nurse, Dinah, pointed out the moon and asked me if I
did not think it was remarkable, I was so filled with impatience that
so ordinary a phenomenon should be considered unusual that I made no
reply whatsoever, smiling inwardly at the marvelous simplicity of
these people with whom destiny had decreed that I should come to
dwell. I should add, however, that I was quite contented on that first
day of my existence for the reason that all of my wants appeared to
be anticipated by my guardians, the table was good, and all through
the day I was filled with a comfortable sense of my own importance as
the first born of one of the first families of the land, and when
along about noon the skies cleared, and the rain disappeared before
the genial warmth of the sun, and the neighbors came in to look me
over, it was most agreeable to realize that I was the center of so
much interest. What added to my satisfaction was the fact that when my
great-uncle Zib came in and began to talk baby-talk to me--a jargon
that I have always abhorred--by an apparently casual movement of my
left leg I was able with seeming innocence of intention to kick him on
the end of his nose.

An amusing situation developed itself along about 4 o'clock in the
afternoon, in respect to my name. One of the neighbors asked my
father what my name was to be.

"Well," he replied with a chuckle, "we are somewhat up a tree in
respect to that. We have held several family conclaves on the subject,
and after much prayerful consideration of the matter we had finally
settled on Gladys, but--well, since we've seen him the idea has been
growing on us that he looks more like a James."

And indeed this question as to my name became a most serious one as
the days passed by, and at one time I began to fear that I should be
compelled to pass through life anonymously. There was some desire on
the part of my father, who was of a providential nature, to call me
Zib, after my great uncle of that name, for Uncle Zib had been
forehanded, and was possessed of much in the way of filthy lucre,
owning many cliff-dwellings, a large if not controlling interest in
the Armenian Realty Company, whose caves on th