Button was a terrible nickname for the boy

First, that’s a nickname for a cute little girl or a boy no older than a toddler. Horace was too old for such a nickname. He was old enough to use an ax for God’s sake. Moreover, Will Penny was an over the hill, illiterate, and hardened cattle hand with no experience with children. There is no way he’s calling a 10 year old boy “button.” Every time he used the nickname it sounded ridiculous.