Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-05-13
NAMING THE BABY.

George Brannau, here is note from
DR.. Withers He will be ready to christer
tie baby tomorrow at church. Alice
will have her twins there, Mrs. Freche1te
will have Willy there, Mrs. Decker will
have her baby. You will be there, and
l. with dear little Puss; and DR.. Withers
will say to you, Name this child and
what in the world will you say?
This was the welcome which George
Brannan received as he came into the
house, and met his wife equipped for a
drive. She drew on her gloves, and
This serious matter must be settled this
time.
What should the baby be named? II
would seem easy enough to say that the
father should name the boy-babies and
the mother the girl babies. But the
BrApnans had no such rule, nor would il
have worked well if they had.
If only that woman had not written
that book sho'd name her Gwendolen.'
George, you have said that ten times
But the woman has written the book, ,and
we cannot help it. Besides, it would bt
dreadful to go about the world named
'GwendOlen.'
Yes, she may not look as if she Wa:
named 'Gwendolen, said poor George
crestfallen.
Right you are, George, said his wife
who was to ready to pick up harmless;
slang. That rules out whole class Of
names-'Rose' and Blanche, for she may
not be either rosy or white; Pearl
and Ruby will not do, and even Grace
and Hope and Relief and all names
of attributes are bad. She will be grace
full of course, but one does not want tC
say So
And if you call her Polly people will
think of Polyglot,' said poor George
How many Christian names did you say
there are?'
L don't know; | wish l did. But there
are rather more than three thousand
Scripture names. Should you not think
there were three thousand mOre-well-
not Scripture?'
'Profane . asked George.
Il do not like to say prOfane. Now
George is not prOfane-there was st.
George
Yes. they say he was beef contract
or George means farmer. We might
call her 'Georgiana.'
Only then she would mix up badly
with our Georgie. and he is so big. No
we will not call her 'GeUrgiana.'
'Hepzibah? 2 suggested George for the
hundredth time.
Grandma herself does not want the
child named for her, replied his wife
firmly Il asked her.
'It should be 'Hepzibah,' said George
Perhaps grandmamma wOuld-like that
better. 1t means my delight is in her,
and that is just what you want to say.
That is true, that is true. But you
see nobody understands that; and they
would be sure to shorten it to 'Hepsy."
hcpSN 10 FOi1 PlSOOJ' oAAOuiN S"ii
her Hepsy myself. If you only remem'
bered Hepsy Sui
My poor Georgel She would not be
called 'Hepsy' only-she would be writ
ten 'Hepsie' with ie.'
Better she should he seized by cor
sairs at Long Branchl Whatever else
happens. it shall be impossible to have
an lie at the end of her name
1t is impossible for US to continue the
conversation in its heartrending details
So wretched is the fate of a child handi-
capped with the wrong name that these
parents were wise to struggle with the
question. even in agony. They returned
from their drive with the question
wholly undecided.
They renewed the discussion at tea.
with the help of Nahum and Gerald,
Evelyn and Berenice. Two Scripture
names, said George, sadly, as he greeted
them; and two well, not prOtane, but
chivalrOus.
TIE trouble with a Scripture name,
said Nahum, lis that no one knows its
meaning
Il do not think anybody knows the
meaning of Gerald said his cousin.