Rose of Dutcher's Coolly

Rose was an unaccountable child from the start. She learned to speak early and while she did not use «baby-talk» she had strange words of her own. She called hard money «tow» and a picture «tac,» names which had nothing to do with onomatop[oe]ia though it seemed so in some cases. Bread and milk she called «plop.» She began to read of her own accord when four years old, picking out the letters from the advertisements of the newspapers, and running to her mother at the sink or bread-board to learn what each word meant. Her demand for stories grew to be a burden. She was insatiate, nothing but sleep subdued her eager brain.