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Show 10 mysterious way they prove a man's masculinity. Papa couldn't go to town for a sack of Bull Durham, a ball of twine or some tenpenny nails without being heckled from the liars and whittlers loafing on the store steps. When Charlie's Annie put in appearance, and turned out to be a lowly girl, Papa said: "Better luck next time, Charley. Nothing like having a boy. " "Have you got a boy at your house?" someone asked eagerly. "Sure!" Papa said. He did have a boy, Eldon, now two years old. The waited news spread like wild-fire. It was known in town that Grandma Rawlinson was on the scene, and so Uncle Joe Moore, Papa's half brother, and Aunt Medie promptly put the children in the wagon and came to see the new baby boy. There was a lot of explaining to do when they found Mama still on her feet and in her Mother Hubbard. Grandma, with the nose of a beagle, ferreted out the truth and turned up the real culprit. "Of all things, John! What a fool thing to say! " It was some time before the matter was cleared up, and many wagon-loads of visitors came to see the new baby, stay all day, have dinner and maybe supper, with the women sitting around the house discussing their confinements, and the men whittling sticks on the woodpile before the actual event took place and they had to start all over. I doubt that Grandma Rawlinson let Papa forget how embarrassing |