Electronic book host

At one time she was the adopted son of the
family in which she lived and had no difficulty in deceiving her
sisters by adoption as to her sex. On coming to St. Louis in 1902
she made chairs and baskets at the American Rattan Works,
associating with fellow-workmen on a footing of masculine
equality. One day a workman noticed the extreme smallness and
dexterity of her hands. "Gee, Bill, you should have been a girl."
"How do you know I'm not?" she retorted. In such ways her ready
wit and good humor always, disarmed suspicion as to her sex. She
shunned no difficulties in her work or in her sports, we are
told, and never avoided the severest tests. "She drank, she
swore, she courted girls, she worked as hard as her fellows, she
fished and camped; she told stories with the best of them, and
she did not flinch when the talk grew strong. She even chewed
tobacco." Girls began to fall in love with the good-looking boy
at an early period, and she frequently boasted of her feminine
conquests; with one girl who worshipped her there was a question
of marriage.


Pages:
564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588