The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-12
and three after my wife and sisters. A

and three after my wife and sisters. Ans
thenP Well. I'll See"
He went home that night and Thought 4
over. He began with the names of hisfamp
lily. Then he took the Bible and found
Hebron, Canaan, Gilboa, Jerusalem ant
Sharon, wrote these down on vacant towns
ON the great map spread out before him
and then stopped there because 'theao bibl,
names are mostly j~awbreakers." Then HI
named three other towns after states, Flor
ida, Maryland and Alabama, n three
after large cities, Boston, Richmond and
Charleston, and won't to bed tired. In the
morning he found he had named sixteen
towns, and these he reported to the le0is-
lature as samples" They did not show
great originality, but they we're accepted,
ind tile 1ominRHd sent iuTth .stu NJ shssi.s
81 can't think Of any more" said poor
Dewitt. Every town and locality had an
Indian name. and many Of these were sig-
nifoant, euphonious and musical; but the
christener. like most foolish Americans.
discarded these, and sought for something
that sounds like something"
~
He got an atlas and applied to his plat of
vacant towns the names of most Of the
countries he s~aw-Scotland, Russia, Nor
way, Mexico, Chill, Sweden, Hanover,
Wales. Holland, Poland, Italy; and these
were all solemnly adopted az the names of
towns in New York. Then he adopted the
names of cities, rivers and islands-Paris,
Rotterdam. Amste rdam. Malta. Galway,
Bath, Edinburgh, Perth, Danube, Carlisle,
Frankfort, Vienna, Verona, Bremen, Pal
ermo, Parma, Rigi, Elba, Bergen, Hamburg,
Sardinia, Warsaw, CASTLE, Avon, Lima,
Geneva, Naples. Venice, Genoa. Waterloo.
Rome. And these were all accepted by the
legislature, and make elements of our local
geography. Still there was a multitude Of
nameless towns. DIS Witt distributed
tinguished writers. orators and discoveries
he could think of-Franklin, Fulton, Vol
ney, Galen, Clay, Cicero. Milton.
Byron, Sheridan, Dryden. Homer,
Scion, FULLY, Virgil; and then he
rested and wondered what next. Halt in
despair, he hunted in the garrett and found
an ancient history, and that proved to him
a mine of wealth. Here are the solid mug
gets which he dug out and distributed
among the still forlorn townships: Rome,
Greece, Utica, Troy. Corjnth, Syracuse,
Babylon, Palmyra, Macedon, Attica, Spar
ia, Ithaca, Pharsalia, Marathon, Smyrna,
Delhi, Brutus, Scipio. Moreau. Camillus,
Lysander, Hannibal, Cato, Alexander, Au-
relius, Nero, Fabius, S~empronius, Pompey,
Mercellus! These, too, the legislature
adopted. But a month later, the town to
which "Nero" had been attached sent up a
orx vro<ont o~oypok tho opoa .r
the ground that Nero was an excrable
tyrant, who murdered both his wife and
his mother. A committee of the assembly
investigated and found that Nero was really
q hard case. and reported to De Witt. "That
town puts on a good many airs" said the
disguised officer who presided at the over
worked baptismal font; 'let it be- called
Eden" And Eden it was and is to this day.
When the legislature had adjourned it was
found that one tow in the southwestern
portion of the state had been overlooked.
Name your own town, said the ~overworked
De Witt. They did SO. About half the set
tiers were Pennsylvania Dutch, and the
other half Yankees, and from the first syl-
liable of both these words they procured
that name of Chinese look and sound
''Penn YAM"
And 10, New York state was finished.
xx
Harry Norton is remembered by old-time
newspaper men as one of the brightest
journalists Montana ever knew. He was
the first to write of Yellowstone park, and
his book called Wonderland is the best and
most graphic description of that wonder
land ever written. Norton's first work in
Montana was in the old Montana Post. in
Virginia City, when no and Hugh McQuaid
were room mates. Norton, after an ad-
venturous career. died in Leadville. Hugh,
in talking about him, told two good stories.
Norton was an inveterate gambler. Every
dollar or bit of dust that came in sight went
over the green cloth with the result that
Harry was always very hard up. He had
run up a bill at a Chinese laundry, but it
did not worry him in the least. In fact, he
did not know of its existence until one day
the Chinamau came in the composing room
with the bill.
"You pay" he said to Norton.
"How much, John?"
"Flifteen dolla."
Fifteen nothing" said Norton, as he
gently showed tho Chinaman along to one
of the stones. Another gentle shove caused
the Chinaman to upset q galley of type.
''That will cost you $25," said Norton,
"But l will let you off easy by calling
matters square," The frightened laundry
man was very glad to accept the offer.
~
Among the bellies of Virginia was a charm
ing young lady, who is o one of the pop
ular social leaders in Montana Hugh was
particularly fond of her and Norton was
not Indifferent to her charms. Hugh
thought of taking her ont for a drive and
casually told Norton Of his plans. Norton
quietly slipped down to the house and in
vited the young lady to go with him and
the invitation was promptly accepted as
Hugh had not been heard from. Norton,
who was broke as usual, borrowed $40 and
quietly appropriated Hugh's best suit of
clothes and an elegant gold watch chain and
he and the young lady had a very pleasant
afternoon, while Hugh worked in the
gulch. Finally a chance game to play even,
Norton won $3.50 at a faro game one night
and, strange to say, went to bed with the
winning. He quietly slipped the money
~IN h. L. a. -