River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-06-12
Girls Names.

CtitA Names.
The following, which seems pertinent.
has been cullcd for the Household from
an old number Of Scribner's Magazine
The tender but thoughtless habit.
which has at length crystallized into zen
eral custom, OF keeping up the nursery
or pet name of little girls until
they have passed through all the
the eIas of young womanhood, has
lately received some forcible criti-
clsm from one or two sources II is a
habit which has chiefly arisen within
the past generation, but it has noticeably
grown withiH a decade or two, until
there is scarcely a feminine name to
which diminueudo will stick that is not
speedily replaced by that fashionable
substitution or adornment. In olden
times Elizabeth was sometimes called
! Betsy to. ease or brevity, but now Betsy
glides away into the public Betty or Bes-
sic In fact, the stately aud vigorous
old nomenclature is now nearly all gone
into vspid and tasteless hquidity that
seems utterly hetctt OF force There are
no GATHERINGS Hny more; they are all
Katies The Ilarrietts have become Hat
| ties. The M5rgarcts zone of the strong
est Dames) are reduced TO Maggies or
Margics; Mary. il common, yet the ten
derest of all, gets transformed into Ma
tie, or Mamie, Charlotte into Lottie and
so through the Whole diversified chaper
\ In amy modern school catalogue or news
paper list Of names which you may
chance to meet YOU find an endless itera-
ton of the intlt ton, i. G., as if the beau
ty or attracii'eness, if not the rcspecti-
billty of tho young ladies in some
way depended on theirs liquid and en-
| dearihg ternnnAtion. In the short space
of one page st the catalogue of promi-
nent Dung ladies' college--a school of
much higher ptetensions than the aver.
age seminary students-one may find
tas wss have satssticd ourselves by trying)
ut least the following varieties, viz: Jen-
ME, Mamie, Hattie, Minnie, Margie
Nettie Allie, Addlc, Lizzie Lord Duf
FERN, when .he dignilied governor general
OF Canada, l.as lately chosen 70 bring this
tendency into noticc land 50 we suppose
it prevailed IA Canada too) by making it
"A special topic IA his address at the COM
menccmcnt ot young ladies' school in
Quebec Bnr he credits the habit, or
It's cXaggelotlon, to the United States;
and thinks !hc practice, when it becomes
"a national Characteristic is not without
significance. Some future philologist,
perhaps, may pick il up as remnant OF
the period when the young women of our
most cultivated circles bore the badge of
belittlemept and patronage, and infer
theretrom that TIE Oriental type of IN
fantile hclp.egsness had certainly survived
to this era eseu in Western lands. He will
most like. y conclude (and does not the
evidence tcsd in that direction9 that in
our Centennial time, the true idea Of
"A pel!Ncl Woman, nobly planned
To wart O. comfort aud command
WAS not 50 much suspected or sought
after. We do net remember that any
journal Of %Woman's Rights" and eniran-
chiscment las ever thought it pertinent
to speak OF this subject; but surely it
bears Direct relation to the mental
growth aua capacity of the sex. The lit
erary nom de plume of a feminine author
indicates r. -2me extent the force of her
mind and W. know just as well what to
eXlhcct froA l.nttie Linwuods and Matte
Myrtles y. we do from George Eliots.
You can $: srnly pen more suggestive
satire agaJtst:the helpfulness and indie
pendence 81 roman than to wrap her up
iii such tetlns.of daily coddling and child
ISL endealIhcat as the pet names against
which LORD bufferin protests. For in
stance, pcl&istpntly to call the two chief
tains of wcmcn's advanced status, Lizzie
Cady Stanton, and Susie b. Anthony,
would crash II one stroke the revolution
they have g. much at heart. Under such
sweet pers 5lage it would sink into langnid
imbecilitg. aud furnish fresh food for
laughter Dulerin, in the address to which
we have n4lda reference, said that "the
daughter Fl She occupant of the most au-
gust posiSien in the world, was, before her
marriage commonly referred to as
Nellie : though the paragraphists had
been her T'bly mates in ''inf .ncy;" and he
1 even stat|j tbat his own wife, Lady Dutt-
erin, had%'eeA spoken of as "Kate" by
the journSls cf the United States. These
things $eFe no doubt done with good
feelings, :ahd without so much as a
thought ~ disparaging intent. The
writers nGaY have the kindest regard but
the familiarity their usage implies is none
the less 2A4nsive and is a curious symp-
rom of t+iat lack of reverence which, in
reaction Nrnln the early Puritan extreme
of forn!sitF, has become very nearly
distinctife aud to older civilizations,
hdisagree@ bsG trait Of our republicanism.