"I may say, sir," he explained in his fine Southern manner, "that I inserted that capital B myself. At least I converted the small B into a capital. I am a Kentuckian, sir, and in Kentucky my family name stands for something. It is a name that I am proud to bear, and I do not like to be called out of it. But up here I was continually annoyed by the errors of careless persons. Frequently they would fail to give the accent on the final syllable, where it should be placed, sir--Ro_Bards_; that is the way it should be pronounced--but even worse, it happened now and then that some one called me by the plebeian appellation, Roberts. That was most distasteful to me, sir. _Most_ distasteful. For that reason I use the capital B for emphasis." I was glad to assure the Colonel that in these pages his name would be correctly spelled, and I call him to witness that I spoke the truth. I repeat, the name is RoBards. And it is borne by a most amiable gentleman. * * * * * Mr. F. W. Hixson of St. Louis has in his possession an autograph book which belonged to his mother when she was a young girl (Ann Virginia Ruffner), residing in Hannibal. In this book, Sam Clemens wrote a verse at the time when he was preparing to leave the town where he had spent his youth. I reproduce that boyish bit of doggerel here, solely for the value of one word which it contains: Good-by, good-by, I bid you now, my friend; And though 'tis hard to say the word, To destiny I bend. Never, in his most perfect passages, did Samuel Clemens hit more certainly upon the one right word than when in this verse he wrote the second word in the last line. And what a destiny it was! [Illustration: Never outside of Brittany and Normandy have I seen roads so full of animals as those of Pike County] CHAPTER XX PIKE AND POKER It was before we left St. Louis that I received a letter inviting us to visit in the town of Louisiana, Mo. I quote a portion of it: Louisiana is in Pike County, a county famous for its big red apples, miles of rock roads, fine old estates, Rhine scenery, capons, rare old country hams, and poker. Pike County means more to Missouri than Missouri does to Pike. Do you remember "Jim Bludso of the 'Prairie Belle'"? _He weren't no saint--them engineers Is pretty much all alike-- One wife in Natchez-under-the-Hill And another one here in Pike._ We can show you "the willer-bank on the right," where Bludso ran the 'Prairie Belle' aground and made good with his life his old promise: _I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot's ashore._