Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1881-09-29

moral SWaySer aOOut IL tndt WOuiu Uc
sure to carry it through.
1t is often a great advantage TO have
a very odd name, little difficult 10 re-
member at first. but which when once
learned bites itself into the memory. For
instance, there was Jamsetjee Jeejee-
bhoy; we have to make hurdle-race
over it, but once in the mind it is never
forgot.
Remember in giving names that the
children when grown up may be in sit
nations where they will have frequently
to sign their initials, and do not give
names that might in this situation pro-
woke contemptuous remark. For in
stance, David Oliver Green, the initials
make "dog;" Clara Ann Thompson.
the initials spell "cat." Neither should
name be given whose initial taken in
conjunction with the surname suggests
foolish idea, as Mr.. p. Cox, or Mrs.
I. Potts.
Ifthe child is a boy. it may be equally
uncomfortable for him to have long
string of names. Suppose that in adult
life he becomes q merchant or banker.
with plenty of business to do, then he
will not be well pleased to write
George Henry Talbot Robinson" two
or three hundred times a day.
1t is not bad plan to give girls only
one baptismal name, so that if they
marry they can retain their maiden
surname: as Elizabeth Barrett Brown
ing. Harriet Beecher Stowe. This is the
practice among the Society OF Friends,
and is worthy OF more general adop-
ton, for We should then know at once
on seeing the name of a lady whether
she was married, and if so. what her
family name was. In Geneva and many
provinces OF France the maiden family
name of the wife is added to the sur
name of the husband; thus, if a Marie
1 Perrot married Adolphe Lauve. they
would after marriage write their names
respectively. Adolphe Perrot-Lauve
and Marie Perrot-Lauve. The custom
serves to distinguish the bachelor from
the married man. and is worthy of i'm
itation; for if vanity unites in the same
escutcheon the arms of husband and
wife, ought not affection to blend their
names9
Generally the modern lie" which
is appended to all names that will
admit of it, renders them senseless
and insipid. Where is the improve
ment in Transforming the wOmanly
loneliness of Mary into Mollie. 1mag-
inc Queen Mollic, or Mollie Queen OF
Scots! There is something like sacri-
lege in such q transformation Take
Margaret. and mUtilate the pearl-like
name into Maggie, and its purity like
L.. nj hax
commonplace idea in its stead. Ii we
must have diminutives, commend US to
the old style. Polly, Kitty, Lefty, Dol.
ly, were names with some sense and
work in them, and which we pronounce
like articulate sounds.
There is no greater injustice than
the infliction of whimsical or unworld.
like name on helpless infancy; for, as il
is aptly said: "How many are there
who might have done exceedingly well
in the world had not their characters
and spirits been totally Nicoden,usel
into nOthing?'
1t is certainly a grave question if in
the matter of Christian names our re.
gard for the dead past should blind our
eyes to the future comfort and success
Of our children. Why have we so many
George Washingtons? The name is Q
great burden for any boy. He will al
ways feel it. Inferiority to his name
sake is inevitable. Besides. this pro
miscuous use of great names degrade.
them; it is not a pleasant thing to see s
George Washington or Benjamin
Franklin in the police news for petty
larceny.
For the most part Old Testament
names are defective in euphOny anG
very inharmonious with English family
names. The female names are still
less musical. Nothing can reconcile
us to Naomi Brett, Hepzibah Dicken
son or Dinah Winter. And to prove
that the unpleasant effect produced BY