means, or whether it is fish, flesh or fowl," continued Flint.

"It is not fish, flesh or fowl," replied Christy, laughing. "My father
suggested the name to the Department, and it was adopted. He talked with
me about a name, as he thought I had some interest in her, for the
reason that I had done something in picking her up."

"Done something? I should say that you had done it all," added Flint.

"I did my share. The vessels of the navy have generally been named after
a system, though it has often been varied. Besides the names of states
and cities, the names of rivers have been given to vessels. The Bronx is
the name of a small stream, hardly more than a brook, in West Chester
County, New York. When I was a small boy, my father had a country place
on its banks, and I did my first paddling in the water in the Bronx.
I liked the name, and my father recommended it."

"I don't object to the name, though somehow it makes me think of a
walnut cracked in your teeth when I hear it pronounced," added Flint.
"Now that I know what it is and what it means, I shall take more kindly
to it, though I am afraid we shall get to calling her the Bronxy before
we have done with her, especially if she gets to be a pet, for the name
seems to need another syllable."

"Young men fall in love with girls without regard to their names."

"That's so. A friend of mine in our town in Maine fell in love with a
young lady by the name of Leatherbee; but she was a very pretty girl and
her name was all the objection I had to her," said Flint, chuckling.