The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-16

the great family Under notice were the de-
scendants of some mere modern horse shoer
or common black smith.
But there can be no misapprehension as TO
the last named point on the part of classic
readers; for they know that the first black
smith was no less a parsonage than old
Vulcan, who had the distinguished honor OF
hammeTing, and that most effectually, upon
the skull bones Of the very father of the gods,
Jupiter himself from which he released the
goddess of wisdom, Minerva; while with the
same stroke of his forge-hammer, which per-
formed this wonderful feat in obstetrics, he
cured Jupiter of a most violent headache
And, by the way, this shifting of the osseous
brain-box, commonly called knowledge box"
of the father Of the gods, after all, makes the
original sphere of the blacksmith appear
wider than the definitions of the learned
photographers above cited would seem
to warrant. While contemplating the
distinguished parsonage just mentioned as the
original of the long line of craftsmen whose
designation furnished a name to the Smith
family, it is difficult to understand how
any author so respectable as that of the "Ety
mological Dictionary, above quoted, could get
his own consent to say slurringly and sneer
ingly:-"We see, in the papers, that John
Smith dies, is married, hanged, drowned and
brutally murdered daily John Smith doesn't
identify any body, and therefore is no name at
ALL" and then to add that "this numerous
family is the subject of many laughabe anec-
dotes and witty salies, " whereof the following
is given as an examples wag, on a certain
occasion, coming late to the theatre, and wish
ing to get a seat, shouted, MIR. Smiths dwell
ing is on fire.! The house was thinned in
stantly, at least five per cent, and the wag got
a choice of seats"
But the Smith family can afford to have
/ these vulgar jokes cracked at their expense in
,l,ro ,f Of l,aA
| persons that are or have been members of
their ancient family, some of whom propose
| to recount, as the conclusion of this my plea,
as follows:-There was William Smith, the
| classic author and translator of "Thucydides, s"
| "Longinus," etc.; Sydney Smith, the jolly
English divine and witty writer and talker;
Alexander Smith, the poet; the brothers
| James and Horace Smith, as among other
| writers of distinction bearing the name, the
| last mentioned being particularly distinguished
! as the author of "Rejected Addresses" Will
| liam Smith, called the "father of geology"
/ Charlotte Smith, the poetess and novelist;
Elizabeth Smith, the noted linguist and
Adam Smith, the great writer ON political
economy and further, as connected with the
history of our own country, the Smith
| family can point, first of all, to John
Smith himself, the adventurous Virginia
pioneer and pT0tfgG of POcahontas, about whose
veracity as a historian the critics are so agog
| just now; and here in America, James Smith,
one of the signers of the Declaration of indie
| pendence; Elihu H. Smith, a distinguished
medical author of the last century; Joseph
Smith, the founder of the Mormons; "Baldy''
Smith, Union General; Gustavus and Kirby
| Smith, of the Rebel army; Truman Smith, ex-
Senator; Seba Smith, the comic writer; Gerrit
Smith, the philanthropist; and, lastly, that
noted peripatetic philosopher and friend'' of
the barber-dreaders, Henry Smith, the razor
a.. E L II
the same sort' is so appropriate to member
| of family only a few of whose distinguished
members l have mentioned in my catalogue.
Such is the imperfect though well-intended
plea for the Smith family, which take the
| liberty of dedicating to my particular friend,
| John Smith, whose Christian name give in
italics, in order that there may be no mistake
about his personal identity.-Northern Monthly