Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-08-28
WHAT'S HIS NAME {
From .Scribner's Monthly.

dHu 0dCn Onc VI tLeIH Has tidiue. vi
course, nobody is acquainted with all
these people, but everybody knows
great many Of them. /, for instance,
am acquainted with-say hundred
persons. One hundred persons and
one hundred names Now, how, at
moments notice, is man of average
memory to get all these names and
these people to fitf can't do it.
/ meet man in the street. I know
his face very welt That's easy
enough. He carries it in a censpicu-
Gus place. But how about his name =
Ten to one can't remember it,-why
should 1? There's nothing about him
to suggest it. If there was any sys-
tenn of nomenclature which should cor
respond with personal appearance it
would help matters. If all the fat
persons were named Jones, all the lean
ones Brown, all the tall folks Robinson
and the short ones Thompson; if peo-
pie with limeer jaws were named Fer
gusen, and hooked nose persons were
all called Ramsey, great part of the
difficulty speak of would be removed
You might not know just which Brown
or Robinson man was, but you could
come near enough; and such a thing
as totally forgetting the names of two
of your friends just as you are going
to introduce them would be less likely
to happen than it now is. Why. Ia
rather risk calling by name rare plant
in a flower pot than one Of nay friends
who has suddenly como upon Inc, I
might pull up stick from the flower
pot aud see that the plant was oneecoi-
DIS mosmsoria, but there's nothing
sticking out of my friend to remind
me that his name is Samuel B. Wilson.
1t is one of the saGdest things in
life that there is absolutely no way to
find out friends name, when you are
alone with him and have forgotten it.
Yon can't ask man, when you have
eaten at his table, and slept with him,
and perhaps gone to his grandmother's
/ funeral, what bis name is! And those
indirect, zig gag ways Of trying to coax
his name out of him seldom amount
to anything. "But the way" you
say latter violent mental process Of
20, a, a; b, D, D; C., Cox, Campbell
no d, d, d; e, Emerson t, t, f;-etc.,
etc., 'Aoao do you spell your name T.
And ten to one he says, "With two
is" And then; after a frantic strug
gle in your mind with futile, Tattle,
Tottle, and almost anything else with
three Is, you mildly smile, and say.
'tOh 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 themf
never could see 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 ia
generally reason for naming bone
and if you've once heard it you may
remember it, but there's no reason at
all for peoples names. Inever saw
man or woman who looked in the least
like HIS OF her name.
Now, there should be some way to
remedy this social wrong-for it is
wrong to conceal ones identity, so to
speak, by cutting off all means Of re
cognition except that which depends
on the memory of ones friends. The
law should be called in. We are OBJ
liged to put numbers on our houses
where everybody can see them, and
and why not put names on the dwellers
in the houses. In fact, every man
should have his name placed in some
conspicuous place on hissperson. This
plan was suggested to me by a friend,
and ! am sure it would work well,
For instance, what. could be mora
ornamental; as well as useful, than !,
breast-pin with ones name on it? Or,
if people preferred apermaent arrange,
ment, the old fashion Of tattooing IN
India ink might be revived, and put to
some practical use. Such lettering
would last long time,
In case Of ladies (for 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 markingwas adopt
ed. But when a more simple plan is
desired, nothing is more easy than to
put a mans name ON some part of his
clothing. For instance, shirts are gem
orally marked, Now why not make
them where one can see not only to
whom the shirt belongs, but who be-
longs to the Shirt
One thing is certain, something of
this kind must be done, even il u
what's -his-name" plank has to be in
serted in one Of the political platforms.
There's no earthly good In universal