The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-23
ESTABLISHED 1865.

and goodly armor which the disinher-
tied knight used in the tournament at
Ashby, it will be remembered by every
one who has read the scene, how the
covetous Jew weighed the eighteenth
zecchin on the end of his finger, and tried
its genuineness by ringing the metal
upon the table, struggling all the while
between desire to reward the swine
herd and his greed for gold. But the
clear ring and full weight made Gurth
one zecchin poorer than, perhaps, be
would otherwise have been. In that
age when there could be very little
guarantee Of the genuineness and quail
ty of the current money, the coin
brought to England by tae Germans
was known Easter!ing or Sterling
money, whi> i vas a SYNONYM for its
purity, hence the proud sterling, orthe
term as used to denote man Of pure
character.
Chapman is Of Morse origin, and
means a merchant or peddler. Bjorn,
the son of Harald Fairhair, as early as
the middle of the ninth century was
the first man, so far as history Informs
US, that ever bore that surname. He
was a peaceable, frugal, trading and
economic under-king whom his jealous
brothers mockingly called "Bjorn the
Chapman" He was cruelty murdered
by his brother Eric Blood-axe" ABOUT
a. D. 933 But the name still lives.
AS it comes to US through the English
we have Chapman, but that branch of
the hardy family that sought their
fortunes among the Germans was called
kaufman; the two names have COM
mon Morse origin and are really one
and the same name.
A difficult problem, it is said, once
puzzled the brain of rustic American
citizen. He could not solve the mys-
terry as to the existence Of so many peo-
pie who bore the ubiquitous cognomen
Smith. 1t was indeed the problem of
his life, till at last he drifted by chance
it may have been, into the "city Of
brotherly love"; there he read this sign
over the main entrance of great fac
tory: "THE SMITH MANUFACTURING
COMPANY" The problem was solved
satisfactorily, at least to him; there, he
concluded they made Smiths and thus
peopled the world.
But that honorable name, so lauda-
bly, connected with almost every phase
of Anglo-Saxon history, anGedates not
only the city of Philadelphia, but the
glories of the New World itself. 1t is
of ancient origin, and was a common
name among the Romans. (Fabricius
"a SMITH. There is indeed an allusion
to the name in the New Testament it.
self-Deulethius the silver suo;th- who
did st. Paul very great wrong. If that
name, as it is recorded in the sacred
volume, had appeare,! as disciple,
or follower of Christ it would have be-
come a powerful argument in the
hands of polemics in the universal
establishment of the doctrines of Ar
minianism, or salvation decreed for all
men.
Smiths, therefore are not made, as
the rustic back-woodsman imagined,
but the whole fraternity Of them enjoy
the honorable distinction Of being self
made, and may honorably claim
glorious and ancient lineage. They
get their name from the Anglo
Saxon .Sf1aitGe, to smlte. That term
was applied to 81. who dealt blows
in an honest and lawful craft. Their
vocation was, not to smite men on the
bloody field of battle, thus weaving. for
themselves garlands of victory, and
thereby inscri5ing their name in the
annals of the worlds butcheries; but
they smote the crude material from the
earth's bowels hip and thigh" and
thus brought beauty, order and
utility out of chaos. They were
the artisans-the Tubalcains of the
Anglo-Saxon race. Therefore while
the theological controversialists have
been unable to use the name in
the establishment of their doctrines,
that name proves conclusively that the
disposition of the Anglo-Saxon race
has ever been in favor of getting an
honest living by honest strokes.
South Carolina and the world owes
lasting debt of gratitude to that name,
for our rice takes precedence in all the
markets the world. I'm $685." we are
told, "Landgrave Thomas Smith-of
whose descendants more than five hun
dred were living in the'State in 1905 IA
number doubtless largely increased
since), moved perchance by prophetic
sense of the fitness that the father of
SuNA q AohAeiouS p4oSShy sioutN plo7
vide for the support Of on extensive
population-introduced the culture of
rice into South Carolina. The seed
came from the island of Madagascar, in
a vessel that put into Charleston har-
Dor in Distress 1t is, indeed, an evil
wind that blows nobody any good, but
it always requires Smith to smelter
and ham ler it out Of adverse cjrcum-
stances.
Virginia and South Carolina may,
therefore, grasp hands even across
"the old North State with her teem-,
ing multitude of Smiths, and eXult in
the historic distinction that while the
personal magnetism Of one John Smith,
in some way or other, touched the
heart Of the fairest wild maid Of the
Virginia forest when Powhattan was
O I,out n boocp,a ,>ro az ino 1l1- q N,I1ife-