The Jersey City news., 1891-03-30
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Byron's Passion for Mary-Retain-
ing it After Marriage.

luS IL AiaNl
Babies, I am thankful to saw, have
not gone out of fashion in Newark. as
witness the long procession of them
il their carriages on the sunny side
of Broad street, when the afternoons
are pleasant; so many on some days
as almost to interfere with pedestrian
travel. 1t sometimes puts me out of
humor to be jostled by grown people,
but as for the babies. bless them, l
ON always willing to make room for
and to bow down to those real little
kinks and queens" for | never see
anything more PLEASING on the prin-
cipal business streets of our city than
the babies. To be sure, | occasionally
see there "a specimen of royal man
hood, a manly man, white of soul, and
clean of body, and ] sometimes pass a
noble, true woman, not one living
merely for the fripperies of dress and
selfish enjoyment, but one OF those
whose aim it is to make the world
Somewhat the better for the living.
And giadder for their human speech.
And it warns my old heart just to
look at these; and then there is the
architecture of the new buildings,
which is very interesting. and the
pretty things in the shop windows
Jewels and new fabrics and novelties
in this or that; but the babies with
their soft beauty, the dewy sweetness
of their innocent faces, the wonder in
their eyes, beat all the rest in attrac-
tiveness, to my eye. l know OF
home where there is a brand new
baby, a wee shapeless bit of pink hu-
manity, all dressed in fluffy white
clothes, that seem to make it especially
hard to handle, and its parents joy is
something delightful to see, for it is
Just as great as If it were the first and
not the fifth baby, and they hard
working folks, too. 1t is not always
true that the first baby is all poetry
and the last one all prose, and this
is a welcome child" although it
is girl. IL you were to go to
that home and broach some of the
great questions of the hour and talk
of social problems, political matters or
theological controversies, you would
talk to listless hearers and would soon
learn that the question at issue in this
home is, what TO name theznew babyl
And it is surely "a matter of import
ance, especially If it is a girls name;
why, when | asked a little creature
the other day what her name was, and
she gave me the stupendous appela-
tion OF "Maude Ethelinda Virginia.
knew the sort of mother she had, the
probable education she would receive,
and the work she would do in the
world. Thoughtful people are giving
their daughters more digniied names
than formerly; very few feminine
names end in lie; instead of Fannie,
Maggie and Gertie, we have Frances,
Marguerite and Gertrude, and there
are fewer double names. Mary is con-
sidered simple and strong and sweet
enough without having Jane or Eliza
or Rose tagged TO it; and in passing,
let me say that, like Byron,
81 have passion for the name of Mary
Another reason for single names is
that the custom grows for a woman
when she marries to retain her maiden
surname, thus Mrs. Terhune's
daughter, Christine, marries Mr..
Herrick and writes her name Christ
inc Tarhune Herrick. A woman
writing of this matter of names
quotes Emile Girardin, who says that
III Is So uluCu custer iOE OONiOuS
reasons to trace ancestry along the
mothers line, that historic records
have incidentally suffered by the ar
bitrary REIMBURSEMENT of her name. :"
But girl of the Maude Ethelinda
Virginia type is willing TO entirely
surrender her big name at marriage,
and when she marries John Smith
will write Mrs. John Smith on her
visiting cards, because she has been
educated to stand as cipher when it
is written after numeral. When the
Great Napoleon had conquered Prus-
sia, and, entering the burial place of
her kings, stood beside the tomb of
Frederick the Great, one OF his
generals suggested that he appropriate
the sword of Frederick that lay upon
his sarcophagus. Napoleon rebukingly
replied: "Have | not a sword OF mine
own?" And the woman who is re-
quired by custom to sink her indi-
yiduality in her husbands name,
might she not say with honest pride,
Have not name of my own?"
Trivialities.
1t is not always easy in any sphere