Stubbins laughed. "Thay, ma, do you th'pothe uth kidth ever tell about our lickunth? Well, I geth not! You mutht think we're thilly! But thay, ma, thereth one thing Mithter Hodgkinth thay he can't understand?"
"Well, what is it?"
"He thayth he thinkth ith queer a thivilithed woman like you couldn't get nameth for all of uth kidth. He thayth Thubbinth ithn't a name and he thay how did I come by it?"
Mrs. Mulvaney caught Stubbins by the shoulders and shook him. "You simpleton!" said she, "why didn't you know enough to tell him your real name slipped your memory, that your folks called you Stubbins when you were little because you were always stubbing your unlucky toes."
"Why, ma!" protested Hannah, "He never was named; you know Stubbins is the only name he's got."
Mrs. Mulvaney threw her slipper at Hannah. "You know a lot, don't you, Miss? Now listen, all of you. Johnnie, Mike, come here. You seem to have forgotten this boy's name."
"He ain't never had no name," declared Johnnie, dodging behind Chinky to escape the spanking he seemed to expect when his mother looked at him as she did at that moment.
"You donkeys!" exclaimed Mrs. Mulvaney. "Dust out your ears now and you'll hear something. Stubbins's real name is Moses Aaron Mulvaney. Do you hear, Stubbins? Your meetin'-house name is Moses. When you start school, your name is Moses. When a man asks who you are, answer Moses. Do you understand?"
"Oh, oh," wailed Stubbins, "Oh, thaketh alive, my name ith Motheth! Oh, thay, ma, I don't want Motheth for my name. Motheth, Motheth, Motheth!"
"Oh, ma," besought Hannah, "think up another. Don't let's have that for his name. Let's call him Willie or—"