Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-08-11

Philomath and Catharpin, this last nau.
teal term, require explanation. Selah,
which puzzles readers of the Psalms, is
more puzzling as the name of town.
But one marked feature of this nomen-
clature is the repetition of popular names.
Paradlses, Edens, appear by the dozens.
Names like Auburn and Melrose are
everywhere. In 1850 there were fourteen
Newports; now there are taosnty-t,oo.
ApropOs of the confusion this makes,
once came to the Hartford Station with a
fellow traveller. On one side of the build
Ing was train bound north, on the other
side one bound east He was going to
Newport, Lake Memphremagog; I to
Newport, r. l. He, with American brew.
ity, said, I" Check for Newport" While
| suspected mistake forget now, but l
did, and interposed just in time to save
his trunk from going astray, and was
duly grum bled at for my offlciousness by
everyone but the proprietor, and he was
too busy in anathematizing the confusion
of names to notice me, Like Dean Ram
says hero, HE did ma sweer at Onything
in parteecular, but juist stude in ia mid
die of ia road and swoor at large" Dean
Stanley lost a day Of his hurried trip by
going to Concord, N. H., for Concord,
Mass.
1t Is not always fair to transfer names
from the old States to the new. Thus
Charter Oak aud Plymouth Rock are both
found in Iowa, and this is manifest
wrong to history. The historian of 1879
may be much bewildered in his facts
Now it is evident that the Post Office
Department has tried to do something TO
correct this reduplication, and has partly
succeeded. In 1850 Presidential names
abounded. Out of 1C,G00 names, over foe
hundred, more than one.tsoentGeth of the
whole, were divided among nine Presi
dents. The list has been greatly cut
down. Still, vast confusion remains. The
Burlingtons, Springfelds, Salems, Cam
bridges, are manifold.
The English way of distinguishing in
such cases is to append title, as Harrow.
on.the Hill, Newcastle upon.Tyne; and
New York has sepsibly followed by Has
tings- on-the. Hudson, etc. Might not the
department enact that the Oldest town of
name should keep it's title, and all the
rest either change or put on a distinguish
ing surname? The newest conner should
be required, under penalty of lacking
postal facilities, to drop the reduplicated
name, and to adopt one unappropriated.
Perhaps, in view of the post offices, which
will be, ere this paper sees the light,
probably 10000, this may not be easy.
1t was once the case that human beings
were called by some name which denoted
their personal peculiarly. This passed
! away, either because names or because
peculiarities were exhausted. The sup
ply fell short OF the demand. All parents
and sponsors had not the inventive genius
of the mother who presented her infant 81
the font as Culsr Semira, informing the
Rector that "she made the name up out
of her own head" One would think she
had been at the christening of some of
the aoove-named towns.
| think there is principle which
should rule the matter. The mark of 10.
cality should, if possible, be upon the
names of section. When one hears an
English name for the first time, 1t is gen.
orally possible to guess the quarter OF the
island to which 1t belongs. Thus, nobody
would put Trewartha in Yorkshire, or
Thirsk in Cornwall Where the Indian
names have been kept, the same is true of
this country. Eufala, Alabama, are quite
unlike the many-consOnanted break
ers of Maine.
The local names of natural objects vary
with each section. | notice the word
Glaize in several Western names. I pre-
sumo it is from the French glaize, potter's
clay. 1t is a good local title, and implies
French discoveries at once ard what they
found. Where they can be, Indian names
should be retained. The worst of them
can hardly be as bad and meaningless as
Globe or Cosmos. Where they cannot be
kept, they may be translated. Failing
this source, why not fall back upon the
archaic form of the English name already
in use? Thus, Birmingham the second
might be required to take the Saxon form
of Bromw1ch-ham, still preserved, by the
way, in the popular Brummagem. There
is an instance of this in the Connecticut
Klllingworth, named by first settlers after
their native Kenilworth, but pronounced
according to local use.
There is usage somewhere, when new
townships are made out of parts of two
old ones, of combining the names, and
the effect is not always unhappy; thus,
Waterbury, In Connecticut, out of Water
town and Woodbury.. Here is a histor.
ical fact preserved in shape which can
survive the loss of town records.
It is sometimes said that this continent
has no history. In certain sense this is
true. 1t has had no infancy, no child.
hood. Its civilization came over ready.
made, in the Maa7osoer and Half Noon
and still exists in the shape of antique
furniture enough to load Noah's Ark to
the water lines. But this is the more
reason for preserving what history there
is. Names of places are history's land
marks. And since name once given is
like label pasted on trunk,-not easily
gotten off again-it is simply an outrage
to allow the caprice of an early pioneer
10 affix to town title which shall ever
after be hateful in the ears OF it's citizens
Let the reader look back over the lists
given (snd these are but few of the
weeds pulled up from the parterre) and
think of himself writing many of them
after his name in hotel register, or be-
ing greeted by Mr.. Speaker as the honor.
able gentleman from, say, Squak.
do not know where the ultimate pow
er of reform resides.
Powerful Explosives.