Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-01-14

and down the earth to seek whom he may
lecture to is the pleasant occupation OF
looking over his list and seeing how ne
is going to get there. He Is impressed
with the fact that, however much IN
yentiye genius the American people mag
possess In other lines, they are poverty
stricken race when 1t comes to names.
West OF the Rockies the people have
comparatively easy time OF 1t naming
towns and places. They have retained
auite a number OF names, euphonious,
appropriate and suggestive, invented
for this learned and civilized and com
paratively enlightened people by tribes
OF savagns who could neither read nor
write, but had native genius for cali
ing things by their proper names. Ana
when the Indian names gave out the
American people, we in that wide ana
roonv land of majestic landscapes,
simplifiet, matters by naming every
thing else after the devil. OF course,
we like proper degree OF family
pride, bat there Is such o thing as carry
ing the feeling 10 excess. Where, In tho
effcte East Lover" IL used IA a handle
for every thing on land and sea, from
hop over n bank four feet high To leap
over preeipicc higher than the clouds,
out West the dev is called up TO act 40
sponsor for tho grandest mountain and
for the sweetest little cascade that ever
sang its way through messy rocks and
fern-plnmed banks. However. there Is
usually more or less OF the devil about
cask aid. so may be that's all right.
Hut for the rest OF It. take the country
by and large, aud the same names reeur
most monotonously over and over again,
not only in the different states, but in
the same State. Look ut the two Da-
kotas biggest now States In the Union,
and there wasn't sufficient originality In
the two to Invent distinctive name for
either. A patch Of country half as big
A. the smaller Dakota that doesn't
know enough 10 name itself isn't fit to
become State. Why, the only original
portion OF their names the wild Indians
made for them. II II hadn't been for
the dospised savages suppose those
two States would have applied for adj
mission into the Union as North and
South, without any surname.
And when IL comes to naming towns,
any thing with ''viilep or ton" tackled
on IL seems to be good enough. Or,
some old town with "New" preiixed /,
looked upon as sneh perfectly miracu
lous outbnrst OF originality and invent
i've genius that the man who suggests II
IN liable to be elected mayor OF the new
village. And very often people are eithe
too Atupid or too lazy or both TO make
any change whatever In tho name OF the
town. They take an old ono withou
altering letter. Now, for instance
my masters, tho Redpath Bureau, in
struet ma to go to Beaver, Pa, and tall
10 tho people seriously about them
selves. | dive into the "Ofiieiai Raj
way Guide and | and that can TAX
my choice OF going TO Beaver in Beavc
County or Chester County or In Dauphi
County or In Huntington County. II
was neayor, Via, matters would b
somewhat simpllhed, because | wonl
merely have to choose between Junca
and oconto oounties And | am goir
10 Franklin, O., by and by. | don
know just yet whether ! Will 4
to Franklin, Belmont County,
Coiumhiana County, or Coshooton Cou
", or Warren County, but 10 son
Franklin In Ohio | am bound to go
live long enough 10 find out whiS
one. Those are merely chance @
amples which happen to fall in the WI
OF my pilgrimage for the coming i've
six weeks, But before the winter
over they will bo many times null
piled. we are great people, of wo
drous versatility in slang and mimi
schemes, hut when wa come to stu'
our own geography we find that Fl
quentiy we don't know enough TO mar
the town We live In, but steal the dos
plate on some more, or, u may be-, ey
less, original town. And as for M
England, our mother In learning a
scholarship and thought and inventic
II the Maytiower had lost her compp
coming over there wouldn't be III
names La all that grand old land. II
so long as North and South shali star
and East and Wost endure, no baby v
lage in New England will come II
the world like a founding, without
ready made name; 10 win have n
name of Its own, made for IL IA in t
older days the boys new trousers W,
made for him he had new pair una
out OF psps old ones and pap had u n
pair made out Of an old bag Robert
Bnrlette, in Brooklyn Eagle,