masher' 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. Do you?'

Arthur thought very likely that she did not, and Peterkin went on:

'You say it means a boat in French; _canal_, do you s'pose?'

Arthur did not think it mattered what boat, and Peterkin continued:

'_Lubber-toe_! Sounds droll, but I like it, I'll see an engraver to-day
but how do you spell the plaguy thing!'

Arthur wrote it on a slip of paper, which he handed Peterkin, who began
slowly:

_L-e le, b-a-t-bat; le-bat_. Why, what in thunder! That ain't
_Lubbertoe_. 'Tain't nothin'!'

With an amused smile Arthur explained that the pronunciation of French
words had very little to do with the way they were spelled; then, very
carefully pronouncing the name several times, and making Peterkin repeat
it after him, he said good-bye, and walked away, thinking to himself:

'There are bigger lunatics outside the asylum than I am, but it is not
possible the fool will adopt that name.'

But the fool did. May Jane approved, and Billy did not care, provided
his father would pronounce it right, and so in less than a week, '_Le
Bateau_' was on Peterkin's door-plate, and on the