PATRICK BECOMES PATRICIA

by Elvira (FE-G-I)

I was born in 1905, my mother's last child. She was then well over 40 and had two sons born in her early married life and a daughter four years older than myself. My mother had, in the way that every woman does, made up her mind that her last child was go- ing to be a daughter. My brothers had left home and were, in fact, so much older than I was that I hardly knew them. My father owned a small-town business--draper and general store--and he had made a good income out of it, so that we were, for those days, quite well off.

My mother was a very feminine woman, but of strong character. What she set her heart on she usually got with but little resist- ance from my father. She was disappointed in me, but, having set her mind on having a little girl, she consoled herself by treating me in my early years as if I were a girl. I was, according to old photos, a pretty boy, with curly golden hair, long eyelashes and a girlish expression. So she dressed me in pretty frocks and the lacy petticoats and knickers of the girls of Edwardian days. Ι was called Pat, and my sister, Nell, accepted me as her little sis- ter. An old photo shows me with long curls down to my shoulders, dressed in a white muslin frook with little puff sleeves tied up with blue ribbons, and a blue sash. There were little lace frills on the bodice and a lace flounce on the skirt. There was a glim- pse of a frilly petticoat and even lace-trimmed knickers. Alto- gether a charming picture of a pretty little girl, quite as att- ractive as my sister seated beside me.

My father had not, apparently, resisted my mother's treatment of his third son, though, my sister told me a little later on, he had protested more than once in a mild sort of way. But when I was seven years old, he put his foot down firmly, and, to the puzzled surprise of my sister and myself, accompanied by storms of tears from me, my pretty frocks and petticoats were taken away, my lovely curls cut off and horrid boys' clothes forced on me. My mother was very upset, and it took me a long while to realize that I was

24.