The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-21

W Aets = -.
trarorn scribuer's Monthly.l

4 Mr. Eaitor,-There are more enan tnou.
sand milton people In the Tortds anu easn
co ~ them has name. OF course NOBODY
:" a.oua;nted with all these people, but every
hndy knows a great many OF them. ], LOT
Instance am acquainted with--say hundred
nnrsons, One hundred persons and one
Kindred names. Now how at O moments
notice is a man of average memory to get all
these names and these people to tit? / can't
do 1t. ~
I meet man IL the street. know his
face very well. That's easy enough. He
carries 1t In conspicuous place. But how
about his name? Ten TO one can't remem-
Der 1t; why should I? There's nothing
about him to suggest it. If there was any
system of nomenclature. which should cor,
respond with personal appearance 1t Would
help matters. Ii all the fat persons were
named Jones, all the lean ones Brown, all
the tall folks Robinson, and the short ones
Thompson; if people with jimber-aWs were
named Ferguson, and hook-nosed per.
sons were all called Ramsey, great part
of the difficulty speak of would be removed.
You might not know just which Brown OF
| Robinson a man was. but you could come
near enough: and such thing as totally for
getting the names of two Of your friends
| lust as you are going to Introduce them
would be less likely to happen than it now
is. Why, I'd rather risk calling by name a
rare plant in u flower-pot than one of my
| friends who has suddenly come upon me.
might pull I'D stick from the f1ower-pol
and see that the plant was dnercotdns mos.
n,oyta, but there's nothing sticking out OF
nv friend to remind me that bis name is
Samuel B. Wilson.
It is one of the saddest things in life that
there is absolutely no way to ind out O
friends name when you arc alone with him
and have forgotten ii. You can't aska man
when Won have eaten at his table and slept
with him, and perhaps gone to his grand
mothers funeral, what his name is And
those indirect, ziZ-zag ways OF trying to
coax his name out of him seldom amount tC
ANYTHING. "B, tue way" you say latter
violent mental process Of ga, q, q: b, b, b
| c. c. c, Cox, Campbell, no; d. d, d; e.
Emerson; f, f,f;-etc., etc., "hoU do you
spell your name": And, ten to one, be
saws, "With two u.s." And then, after q
frantic struggle in your mind with futile
| Tattle, Tottic, and almost anything else with
three rs, you mildly smile, and say, "Ol
yes certainly" and remember the name the
instant your friend is gone. There are plenty
of stratagems Of this kind, but where is the
good of them? never could see it.
| why, it's often easier. to tell the name o.
every bone and muscle in mans body than
| to remember the name of the man himself
There is generally reason for naming
| bone, and if you've once heard 1t you may
remember it, but there's no reason at all tol
peoples names. never saw q man or Wo
man who looked in the least like his or bel
name.
| Now, there should be some way to remedy
this social wrong-fOr it is a wrong to con-
ceal ones identity, SO to speak, by cutting
off all means Of recognition except that
which depends on the memory of one:
friends. The law should be called in. We
are obliged to put numbers on our house;
where everybody can see them, and why
| not put names on the jewellers in the houses
In fact, every man should have his namC
placed in some conspicuous place on bis
person.
This plan was suggested to me by friend
and am sure it would work well. For In
stance, what could be more ornamental, az
| well rs useful, than breastpn with ones
name on it? Or, if people preferred per
manent arrangement, the old fashion OF tat.
tooing in India ink might be revived, anu
put 10 sOlne pTacIlCai uSe' Ht'ei nt'@A'nS
| would last Il long time.
| In case of ladies Qor / would apply this
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 more
simple plan is desired, nothing is more easy
than TO put mans name on some part of
his clothing. For instance, shirts are gen
orally 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 this
kind must lie done, even il "wbats-hls.
| name" plank has to be inserted in one of
the political platforms. There's no earthly
good in universal suffrage, or anti.popery,
or local option. or wooden pavements, OF
anything else, when you can't remember
the name of the mall you're talking to.
Yours truly, ANDREW SCoGGIN.