Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-06
A WRITER'S NAME.
THERE SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING IN
1T, AFTER ALL.

Some Authors Excusable for Adopting q
Pseudonym No Poetry in "Longfel-
Iow'-''The Macaulay Flowers of Liter
ature"-"Carp," Gath" Howard"
Sometimes a writer's name is so uncouth or
SO commonplace that it seems Of itself unfit
ted for fame, and pseudonym appears to be
his only resource. 1t is hard to imagine a
girl named jerks making herself famous as
a lyric poet, or a man named Meek becoming
world renowned novelist The difficulty in
such cases, however, are apt to DE overesti-
mated and achievement of fame with such
drawbacks, while it may be hard, is by no
means impossible. We are apt TO accept
things as we find them, and to think them
fitting because they were always TO us as
they are. knowledge Of the work writer
has done has a magical effect upon his name,
and just as the old lady approved Adams
Judgment and discrimination in calling the
inhabitant of the pen pig" ''since pig is
such an appropriate name for such dirty,
repulsive, dsagreeable animal,n SO we are
apt to approve the names that masters of
the other pen possess, because we have al
ways confused the name with the work it
represents.
WHAT'S IN "A NAME}
Probably there is not a refiued person in
America TO whom the name "Longfellow,"
for instance, does not, without consideration,
suggest poetic idea We think beyond the
name, and Of the poetry Of the writer; and
yet, "LOngfellOw,n when it is considered by
itself, is not poetic word, while its counter
part, "Shortfellow," is rather ridiculous.
''Macaulayn seems, no doubt, to almost every
one, n refined and stylish name, which would
ri, "a START toward making
for himself a good reputation. The contem.
porarics of the historian, however, did not find
his name impressive, or Punch when he first
began to write would never have suggested
that his essays We're "the Macaulay flowers OF
literature "Teunysonn is by no means SO
poetic name as Whittier but the fame Of
his work has made the English laureate seem
the equal, if not the superior, Of the New
England poet IN this respect. Not to multi
ply instances, such common names as Smith,
Black, Green and Lamb, names SO incongru-
as as Gable and Motley, and so uncouth as
Keats and Piatt, have. with hosts of others
equally ineligible, been given share of I'M
mortality When man named Stubs can
make his name famous as an historian and a
scholar, no writer need despair because his
fate did not make him DeQuincey, an AID
rich, or a Bryant, instead of a Jones or n
Jenkinson.
The man makes the name rather than the
name the man. Still good name is always
an advantage, and in choosing "a signature
the young writer must decide whether he
will conquer fate with the name his sponsors
gave HIM, or whether he will choose n
pseudonym that will put Jenkins at once on
a level with Hawthorne or a Carlyle.
STICK TO 1T ALWAYS.
When once he has chosen his name, how
10, l. I,Hyt irht IF hn,
fictitious choice, he should stick to it always
and forever Some brains may be weighty
enough to make more than one name i'm
mortal, but the trouble is generally of an
other kind Writers who hays habitually
used more than one name have generally 40
knowledged their error after time, and
have devoted themselves to one signature,
dropping all others. A well known Wash
ington newspaper correspondent a year or
more ago was writing to The Cleveland
Leader IA series of widely quoted letters,
which he was signing Carp" another series
of letters he was signing "F. G.. G. :" and
series of articles for newspaper syndicate
he was signing with his full name, Frank
G. Carpenter" One day it dawned upon him
he was doing the work of three men, making
n reputation for three writer's, and getting
the credit for only one-third of the work he
did From that day on he has wisely signed
everything he has written with his real name
in full.
Sometimes there is an advantage to a news
paper writer in signing his articles simply
with his last name. His signature then has
to the unintiated the appearance of a good
pseudonym, while to those who are better
informed it recalls the personality of the
writer. "Howardn pursues this plan.
"Carleton" and "Perley," two other well
known newspaper writers, chose their middle
names "Gathn modified his initials into
signature that his letters have made famous.
In each case there is something about the
signature that suggests the writer himself,
and he gets the advantage of pseudonym,
and of his own signature at the same time.-
William H. Hills in The Writer.