St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-20
Why a Spectator Stole Pen
MES From a Dead Mans
Eyes.
"A Name in No Instance q Com
bination Of Lifeless
, Letters.
Each Full of Character and
d Expressive Of Various
Relations.

What's In name?-a portable annex
to tombstone generally. 1t is not
enough that egotistic humanity perpet-
uate its memory OH marble slab above
its grave, it must have surety of en-
durance while it still lives, and to this
end. inscribeS itself upon every new
born baby. whose fond papa
and mamma can be duped, ca
joled, threatened into permitting
the sacrifice. Il baptize thee in the
name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Ghost. Keziah Sophronia."
What criminal advantage to take of i'll
nocence, and what libel on the Holy
Trinity quoted as authorizing the i'll
justice. AS if those two maiden
aunts, sitting there On front
seat, were not alone responsible for
it, and how the leather-skinned.
cross-visaged old cats smack their lips
operation gives them. The young
mother eases her conscience with a con-
sideration of the amount of the
legacy the child will receive as
the price of her monumental ser
vices, and she resolves never to
call her by the Odious names. They
snail be put aside to be worn only at
the child'S weGding-please God she
have one-and on the death of her aunts
until after the reading of the will. But
with the cats in the same town, unier
the same roof, what can the mothers
compromise with cruelty accomplish?
She may call the baby pet" but they
insist on every syllable of Keziah
Sophronia, and the poor little SOULS
doom remains sealed. KeZiah Sophro-
mia she will be, rot alone in name, but
| more OF less in character. She will
have intermittent attacks of collie. ''just
like her Aunt KeZiah:" she will cut her
phronia;" she will talk at the same re-
markably early age that all "our
family" did, and, as she grows,
each pretty, original trick she puts
forth will be SO hOpeleSsiy and contin-
ually discouraged that she will become
more and more like us every day." If
you have any doubt that name has an
active personality which influences the
life OF its bearer, think of little Ezra
Hamilton Wilcox. His father is a
good fellow, and no fault can be found
with his mother, but, being the first
born, he must be named for his grand
father-the miserable skintiint, whose
ECgrip Oh gold was so strong he threat
iened never to lose it, walking this earth
till he was ninety. Don't tell me his
name did not hoodoo his grandchild. The
nurse swears by all things sacred,
that when they offered him silver dol
lar with hole in it to teethe on, the
youngster refused to take it. and the
day his first tooth came through he
picked up the gold spoon given him at
christening and bit it to see if it was
genuine. When his grandfather pre-
scented him with 100 shares of
railroad stock on his first birth
day, he Immediately asked for
water, and the first Sunday he was big
enough to attend Sunday school he
slipped under the seat when the cOlec-
ton plate was passed. lie is five years
old now, and though they tried to keep
it in the family, it leaked out through
the servants that when the grandfather
led last week the old mans namesake
stole the pennies from his eyes and
made straight for the board of trade he
presides over in the woodshed, to create
corner i'll cigarette pictures that en-
abled him to clean out all the boys in
the neighborhood. In no instance is a
name lifeless combination of
letters; it is possessed of an
identity. resulting doubtless from
its original selection and limited
variation of application. The old He
brew names which were frequent ex-
presSions of the Lords familiar inter-
course with men have fallen into dis
use, subject to fewer or mere changes
as this intercourse grew more remote
and less mOmentOuS. JOhn-''graciOuS
gift of God'-the name God commanded
Zacharias to call Elizabeth's son, char
acterized a man who was ''great
in the sight of the Lord, who drank
neither wine nor strong drink. and was
filled with the Holy Ghost" Modern
civilization has changed Johns individ-
uality until now there is not much of
the Holy Ghost left about him, though
he is quiet man with an eye to bust
ness, presenting sober front to society.
if he does tipple on the sly. He is
well put up'' and occasionally beefy
When John is associated with a
man of underground and convivial
habits. he adapts himself 9 to circum-
stances and becomes Johnny. or when
he by miScalculation is allied with a
man who is good fellow with ten
dency to well-bred rakishness, he unre-
gretfully develops into Jack, his in
creased popularity among women more
than cOmpensating for his partial loss of
identity. You will not he apt to take
many liberties with Charles. He is groom
ed for parades, and is established apart
from the masses, being sufficient unto
himself and satisfied with his own COM
pany when that of his superiors is not
available. You may slap Charley on
the back and ask him for the loan of
quarter with reasonable expectations of
getting it. If there is anthing going
on, he is pretty certain to know all
about it, and at ball he will
have half a dozen dances with the
most fetching girl in the room,
before Charles has had time to unbend
his dignity. Thomas is prig at school,
and is seldom anything else to the end
of his day. A public career sometimes
makes a man of him, but Tom is his
mothers JOY and the pet of every woman
who krows him, while Tommy is COM
monty freckled and in his youth has a
prediction for putting bent pins OIL the
school masters chair, tying a tin can
to a dogs tail, and in various
other ways endeavoring to make
life pleasant for those about
him. William is careful of the propri-
cites, Bill lives to shock them; Will is
unconscious of them, sociable and i'll
demand, and Willie partSIhis hair in the
middle and wears his cane in his mouth,
Margaret is a woman of ability and
marked decision of character; Maggie
is strong in amlability and one OF a
crowd. Moo IL q bOidaD and Madro