Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-05-09
Sflistellaueums &eadina.

ABOUT NAMEs-DAys OF THE WEEK.-It
is an interesting fact that nearly all proper
names signify something. The name of the
first man, Adam, means red earth Eve signi-
6es mother and it was the custom for long
time to give names descriptive of the person
or thing designated Nowadays, proper
names are so plenty, that new one is seldom
invented, and thus we have thousands of Will.
liams, Johns, Marys Susans, etc. The Eng
lish names of the days of the week, were given
by our Saxon ancestors, who, as you have
read, settled in England many hundred years
ago. They were idolaters, and they named
the days in honor of their principal deities.
Sun day, as you readily perceive, means the
day of the sun. On that day they Worship
ped an idol representing tba! luminary, which
is described as being like the bust of man,
set upon pillar, with outstretched arms hold
ing burning wheel before his breast. Mon.
day means Moon. day. The moon was wor-
shipped under the form of woman with long
ears, dressed in short coat and hood. She
held in her hand representation of the moon.
Tuesday was named from Tuisco, the Saxon
god Of war. He is represented as warrior
clad in armor, with huge sword uplifted.
Wednesday comes from Wodin or Odin, the
supreme divinity of the Northern European
nations. He was represented as venerable
old sage, clothed in the skin of an animal,
holding sceptre in his hand. Thursday was
dedicated to Thor, reputed to be the oldest
and bravest son Of Wodin. He was shown
seated on a throne, with a crown Of gold on
his head, adorned with circle in front, in
which were set twelve golden stars he held
sceptre in bis right hand Friga, or Frae,
was the wife of Wodin, and Friday was de-
rived from her name. She was represented
with drawn sword in her right hand and q
bow in her left. Saturday commemorated
Sater, another name for Saturn. He was set
up on perch like bird. He had lean,
sharp features and was bare. headed. In his
left hand was wheel, and in his right pail
containing flowers and fruit His dress con.
sisted of a long coat girded with linen. These
representations were all, Of course, fanciful
and absurd, but they 60 to prove that mel in
the most ignorant condition feel that there is
superior being to whom worship should be
given. Their su perstition was indeed pitiable,
but was not their blind devotion preferable to
the thoughtlessness and neglect of too many
who have been taught the existence of the
true Deity2 If we have more light than they,
surely we should profit by it.
The VALLEY OF DEATH.-In the north.
east corner of San Bernardina county, Cal.,
lying partly in Iuyo county, and, by the new.
ly surveyed line, partly, also, in the State of
Nevada, is region paralleled by few other
spots on the face of the earth. We say the
world is instinct with life. Here, if the
pbraseoogy may be pardoned, is a place in
stinct with death. A huge basin, whose rim
is the ancient hills, stricken with the barren
ness of eternal desolation, whose bosom the
blasted waste of the desert-treeless, shrub
less and waterless, save few bitter pools like
the lye Of potash water; surrounded by
mountains that tower thousands of feet above
the sea level, itself lying 5000 feet above the
sea. 1t is very "Gehenna"-a place Of
death and bones. Birds do not fly over it.
Animals do not enter it. Vegetation cannot
exist in it. The broad sands absorb the heat
the bare mountains reflect it, the unclouded
sun daily adds to it. Ninety degrees in the
shade (arti6cial heat there is no other) means
winter; lS0 and l40 degrees, that means
summer. The hot air grows hotter, wavers,
trembles with heat, until nature, goaded with
madness, can endure no longer, and then the
burning blast rouses itself-rouses in its
might; rouses as an angry blast, with a
hoarse, ominous roar; swept mile after mile,
on ever on, over the broad reach of the des-
ert, bearing in its black, whirling besom-
black as midnight-dust, sand, alkali and
death. Sometimes murky clouds gather up
ON the mountains above; then there is
rush-a warning sigh of the winds-a low
rumbling in the air; the hills culver, the
earth trembles, and torrent, half water, half
mud, bounds from the hills, leaps in the des-
ert, ploughing chasms like river beds in the
loose sand. The clouds scatter, the sun
comes again, the eternal thirst is not quench-
ed. The raging river was only dream. In
the year 1849 party of immigrants entered
the basin. Day after day they toiled on,
thirsting, dying. The pitiless mountain
walled them in u; no escape. One by one
they dropped and died. A few abandoned
everything, scaled the mountain and escaped.
The others lie as they fell, dried to num-
mies-no birds even to devour their flesh, no
beasts to prey upon them. Wagon tires un-
rusted, gun barrels rignt, untarnished. Such
is the place. Mile after mile silence reigns,
silence-and death.-Kinnesom Gazette.