The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-08-29
Ehat's-His-SaEie.
,m scriLner's Monthly.

Mr.. EDIroR:-There sre more thar
thousand million people in the world
and each one OF them has name. o.
course, nobody is acquainted with al
these people, but everybody knows a
great many Of them. !, for instance
am acquainted with-say a hundred
persons. One hundred persons and one
hundred names. Now, how. st mo-
ment's notice, is a man of average
memory to get all these names AM
these people to fit? Icau't do it
meet man in the street. know
his face very well. That's easy
enough. lie carries it in couspcu-
GUS place. But how about his name
Ten to oue ] cannot remember it,-why
should II There's nothing about him
10 suggest it. lfthere was any system
CT nomenclature which would cores.
pond with personal appearance it would
help matters. If all the fat persons
were named Jones, all the lean
ones Brown, all the tall folks Robin
SOD, aud tae short ones Thompson f;
if people with jimberrjsws were named
Ferguson, and hook-nose persons were
al called Ramsey, a great part OF the
difficulty 1 speak Of would be removed.
You might not know just which Brown
or Robinson man was, but you could
come near enough; aud such thing as
totally forgetting the names OF two OF
your friends just as you are going to
introduce them would be less likely 10
happen than it now is. Why, I'd rather
risk calling by name rare plant in a
flower-pot than one OF my friends who
has suddenly come upon me. | might
pull up q stick from the fower-pot
and see that the plant was GHercoiauS
EqoSmoria, but there's nothing sticking
out Of my friend to remind me that his
name is Samuel ?. Wilson.
1t is one OF the ssddest things in life
that there is absolutely no way to find
out friends name, when you are alone
with him and have forgotten it. You
cant ask a man, when you have eaten
at Lis table, aud slept with him, and
perhaps gone to his grandmother's fu-
neral, what his name is. And those
indirect, zig-zag ways OF trying to coax
mis- name out OF him seldom amounts to
anything. by the way" you say
(aiter a violent mental process of "a, a,
a, a, b, b, b, &C, Cox, Campbellr-no;
d, j, d; e, Emerson; f. +, f;-etc,, etc.)
show DO you spell your aameY And,
ten to one, be says, with two Ts."
And then, after a frantic struggle in
your mind with Tut,le, Tattle, Tottlei
aud almost anything else with three
Ts, you mildly smile, and cay, "Oh
yes! certainly" and remember the
name the instant your friend is gone.
There are plenty OF strstagems OF this
kind, bat where is the good OF them ?
l never could it.
Why it's often easier TO tell the name
Of every bone and muscle in a mans
body than to remember the name OF the
man himself. There is generally a
reason for naming bone, and If you
have once heard it you may remember
il, out there ls no reason al all FOR peo-
pies names. | never saw man or
woman that looked in the less! like his
or her name
Nov, there should be some way 10
remedy iAis social wroDg-fOr it is
wrong to conceal ones identity, so TO
speak, hy cutting off all means 0!
except thst which depends
% the memory of ones friends. The
law should be called in. We are obil
ged TO put numbers on our houses where
everybody can see them, and why not
put names 90 the dwellers in the hous-
as. In fact every man should have his
name placed in some conspicuous place
IN ME person. The plan WAS suggest
I'd to me 10y friend, and an sure it
would work well. For instance, what
could be more ornamental, as well as
use NJ, than a breastpin with oue's
tame on it? Or if the people preferred |
! permanent arrangement, the old
fashion Of taitooing in lndis.iuk might
be revived, and put TO some practical |
use. Such lettering would last lo0g |
lime.
In case OF ladies (or / would apply |
.his system TO both sexes) it might be
necessary, owing to occasional change
Of name, to leave room for alteration
when this method Of marking was
adopted But when a more simple
plan is desired, nothing is more easy
.ban to puta mans name on some part
Of hia clothing. For instance, shir:s
are generally marked. Now, why not
mark them where one can see not only
to whom the shirt belongs, but who |
belongs TO the shirt
One thing is certain, something OF
his kind must be done, even il a
what s-his-uame' plank has to be in
serted in one OF the political platforms.
There is no earthly good in universal
suffrage or anti popery, or local option,
5r wooden pavements, or anything else,
when you can't remember the name OF
he man you are talking to
Yours truly,