The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-10-12


6 All, but ye amt worth shucks at
the meltin' busiaess. y
Bible Names In the North of England
IF we look over the pages of the direc-
Il tories of West Yorkshire and East
Lancashire, and strike out the sur
names, we could imagine we were con-
sulting anciently inscribed registers of
Joppa or Jericho. 1t would seem as if
Canaan and West Riding had got mex
tricably mixed.
What spectacle meets oHr eye
Within the limits of ten leaves we have
three Pharaohs, while as many Heph-
zibahs are to. be found on one single
page. Adah and zlllah Pickles, sisters,
are milliners. Jehoiada Rhodes makes
saws-not Solomon's sort-and Hariph
Crawshaw keeps farm. Vashni, from
somewhere in the Chronicles, is rescued
from oblivion by Vashni Wilkinson,
coal merchant, who very likely goes to
Barzillai Williamson, on the same page,
for his joints, Barzillai being butcher.
Jachin, known to but a few as situated
in the Book of Kings, is in the person
of Jachin Firth beer retailer, familiar
to all his neighbors. Heber Holdsworth,
on one page, is faced by Er Illingworth
on the other. Asa and Joab are ex-
tremely popular, while Abner, Adna,
Ashael, Erastus, Eunice, Benaiah,
Aquila, Elihu, and Philemon enjoy a
fair amount of patronage. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, having been
rescued from Chald@an fire, have been
deluged with baptismal water. How
curious it is to contemplate such entries
as Lemuel Wilson, Kelita Wilkinson,
Shelah Haggas, Shadrach Newbold, Ne
riah Pearce, Jeduthan Jempson, Azariah
Griffiths, Naphtali Matson, Philemon
Jakes, Hameth Fell, Eleph Bisat, Mala-
Chi Ford, or Shallum Richardson. AS
to other parts of the Scriptures, 1 have
lighted upon name after name that did
not know existed in the Bible at all till
| L looked into the Lancashire and York
shire directories.
The Bible has decided the nomemcla-
ture of the north of England. In towns
like Oldham, Bolton Ashton and Black
burn, the clergyman baptismal regis
ter is but record of Bible names. A
clerical friend of mine christened twins
Cain and Abel only the other day, much
against his own wishes. Another par
son on the Derbyshire border was grave
ly informed, at the proper moment, that
the name of baptism was Ramoth- Gils
cad. Boy or girl, eh ~ he asked, in
somewhat agitated voice. The parents
had opened the Bible hap. hazard accord
ing to the village tradition, and selected
the first name the eye fell on. 1t was
but year ago a little child was christen-
ed Tellno, in town within six miles of
Manchester, at the suggestion of a cot
ten spinner, the father, a workman of
then name of Lees, having asked his
advice. ''Isuppose it must be a Scrip
ture name ?" said his master. "Oh yes
that's of course" Suppose you choose
Tellno ?" said his employer. "That I'll
do" replied the other, who had never
heard of it before, and liked it better on
that account. The child is now Tellno
Lees, Z" lees" being the Lancashire way
of pronouncing g lies''l, the father, too
late, finding that he had been hoaxed.-
"Sirs," was the answer given to be-
wildered curate, after the usual demand
to name the child. He objected, but
was informed that it was a Scripture
name, and the verse = Sirs, what must /
do to be saved s' was triumphantly APP
pealed to.
There is again, a story of clergyman
making the customary demand as to
name from knot OF women round the
font. AK her." said one. Turning to
the woman who appeared to be indicat-
ed, he asked again, "What name Y''
AK her." she replied. The third wo-
man being questioned, gave the same re-
ply. At last he discovered the name to
be the Scriptural, Achsah, Caleb's
daughter-a name, by-the-way, which
was somewhat popular with our FORE
fathers.