The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-07-24
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The first official step toward a reform
in the nomenclature Of that always in
teresting and usually beautiful genus
technicalfylsn as Puelld Americana
was taken by the Board of Education on
Wednesday:
1.-THE use of nicknames or pet names
by teachers and in the records Of this
Board and in those of the trustees"
says the report, sis undignified and i'm
proper. 1t is necessary in all proceed
ings to follow tho names as recorded in
the trustees certificates Of appoint
ment and on the teachers licenses.
st is therefore recommended that the
City Superintendent summon to his
Office or correspond with all teachers in
the service whose names as recorded APP
pear to be other than their actual names,
and ascertain from such teachers their
actual names and amend their licenses
accordingly. That he report to the trus-
tees of the several wards the changes
found necessary. who shall thereupOn
by resolution make the corresponding
changes in the ward records, and there
after on the pay rolls and in all COM
munications to this Board or any of its
committees or officers. No appointment
hereafter made of teacher under other
than his or her proper name shall be
valid"
We congratulate the Board Of Educa-
ton and the women TEACHERS upon the
adoption Of this sensible rule. 1t was
time to check an insensate fashion.
There is no more reason for the
Charlottes and Sarahs and Matildas who
teach in the public schools to be desig-
mated in the records as Lotties and
Sadies and Titles than for President
Eliot to figure in the Harvard catalogue
as Charlie, or for the head of the illus
trious institution founded by Mr..
Elihu Yale and Mr.. Robert J. Cook to
call himself Jimmie Dwight. These
sugary diminutives in ie may properly
be employed by near relatives and init
mate and particular friends, but are not
for public use. They have an infantine
sound that is not appropriate to grown
up persons in their public capacity, and
they imply an intimacy and affection
purely domestic and personal. They
seem to take the public into confidence
which is an indiscrehon, and they crate
upon good taste like caress in street
car. These wise young women Of the
public schools are teachers whose in
structions are more important than those
of the greatest pundits in the uniyersi-
ties, and their names must not fall be-
low the dignity of their function. The
Board of Education has earned its sum
mer vacation by prohibiting the official
use of baby names.
We wonder II Herb Spencer, Tom
Huxley, or ALI Wallace could throw any
light upon the causes OF the present
widespread use Of female names ending
in lie? 1t seems to be no case Of natural
selection, for these names are the un-
fittest for public use. Nor is sexual Sc
lection involved, for there is no evidence
that men prefer Nellie to Eleanor, or
Jennie TO Jane. Can Bill Whitney or
Make Muller discover that some law Of
language applies to these diminutivesP
Has candy or some other subtle in
fluence of environment so modified the
organs Of speech in American young wo-
men that it is easier for them to say
Sadie or Sallie than Sarah? Why does
Miss Birdie possess the land, especially
the Southern States, and carol from the
commencement platform Of every school
for young women2 There are fashions
in names as in everything else, but, as
Ollie Holmes asks:
where are the MArys and AIMS and Elizasr'
Or, as he would have to put the ques-
ton now:
Where are the Mamles and Armies and IAzziesi
But il is not the fashion in Christian
i names Of women that is in question. Let
anybody give his progeny what name he
will. Shearjashub or Shoshannimeduth,
Hodad or Hadad, OF what larynx-lacerat-
ing compound left over from the time OF
Barebones he will. Tastes are strange
in names as in other matters. We once
knew youth whose thoughtful parents
let him grow up nameless until he was
old enough 10 pick out name for him
self. They wanted him 10 be suited.
He was romantic boy, Of great beauty,
and he chose the name Pelatiah, and
wears Il yet. Everybody TO his taste, and
the taste Of parents In names Is not
always approved by the ripe Judgment
OF the offspring. But when young wo-
man has a name, she should be known
by that and no other outside OF her
family and close friends Whatever en-
dearing niclmames she may be called by
in the circle Of her intimates, those nick
names or pet names should not be Tor
exhibition to the public.
Among some savage tribes mani
real name is secret which he keeps to
himself. S0rcerers might work him in
jury If they knew bis name, which ls
part Of himself. His name for public
consumption and his name for the home
market are different The young wo-