Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-03-04
On Signing Ones Name.


The most ordinary everyday act
of ones life is the signing of ones
name. BY degrees the common
place function becomes automatlc
in its performance, and one writes
the familiar words which stand for
ones individuality NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Nv dwelling on the matter at all.
FREQ uently, from the habit of sign
ing the name rapidly and without
thought, the signature deteriorates
into Il scrawl, blind and vague ana
difficult to determine. 1t is not tn
common to find business letter in
te'licible from first to last, but sign
cd with n name which it taxes an eX-
pert to decipher.
Women, too, are worry apt to fix an
imperfect signature to their letters,
signing a communication to Il friend
merely "Helen," or "Catharine, or
0Ietitia,'' and emitting the surname.
AS MANY women write Il compare
lively indistinct hand, and as the
writing of all women who went to
school about the same period bears a
certain family likeness, the recip-
lent of u letter thus signed is often
puzzled to know which Helen" or
sLetitia', of her acquaintance is adj
dressing her, especially as the wo-
man thus careless about her sig
mature is usually vague as to LOCALITY
as well.
Ones name signed to any docu-
ment has force that ones spoken as
sent would have. The name slgni-
fies the man or woman. Name II
STYLE in its essence, is character, IS
personality. Only by name are we
each differentiated from the
rest of the world The signing
of the name is therefore an impor-
tant and serious transaction, and Is
worth more than needless ano
careless slurring over III haste ano
without reflection.
1t would seem unnecessary to reit'
crate what has so often been SAID
and to impress again on the minds OF
women the obligation which lnhere'
in the fixing OF Il signature to lega
paper. Never sign any dorume91
which you have not read. Inns i
the golden maxim of comlnon-sense
and of self-protection. Neverthe
theless, every day III every year wo
men carelessly make themselves re
snonsible for the conveyance OF prop
erty. for the payment of debts, 1o1
the undertaking OF burdensome du
ties. by signing theirnames topaper'
of the contents of which they nav,
the most hazy notion. Sign here,
saws Mr.. Plausible, III mamie
sunye and debonair, and the prett!
Young woman. or the easy going el
DERBY one, obediently signs. Day
drift apace, and. she wakens ON
morning to discover an lnherltanc,
gone, or II provision made for her D.
the loving forethought of some van
ished dear one scattered to the lou
winds. Again and again let the III
junction be repeated till it SINK mt
every mind: do not sign what yo'
have not read. Do not sign wha
YOU do not fully understand. LIE
neither the folly of too trustful friend
ship nor the habit of submission I
authority, nor your own native anna
hility. nor your suspicion that lega
phraseologv and business method
are beyond your comprehensive
" lead you 10 Il Dluluel Ia uiii' ii.
' So far as the etiquette OF the sigma
= ture is concerned, there is one ur
VARYING rule for women, married
!. single. 1t is never right, nor goo
:, :, form, to sign ones name With III
, addition of Miss or Mrs. You ar
:. Mary Emily Jones, not Mrs. Patric
y FITZGERALD Jones, to whomsoever 20
). NAV be writing. If it be necessar
: to notify your correspondent of you
- married style and estate, you may q
go. and in one of several way'
>. Please observe that correspondent
should not he left in doubt rs to Thu
- much embarrassment being frequentl
caused by the omission, in letters b'
;: tween strangers, of exact informi
;! ton as to whether the writer is ma
ried or single. You may easily ind
:, cate all you wish to tell. You ma
} place Mrs. P. F. before the Mar
;, Emily aforesaid, in brackets. 70
Il Il may write Mrs Patrick Fit2gcral
out fully and ia pla !{g Simply fs ehhclos
:. Your engraved visiting card in you
letter, this being on the whole eli
!, CANT, and also the most convenien
method of showing ones relation
, society. The e. ception must be RI
! remarked here that the visiting car
. is out of place in an exclusively bus
= ness letter, one which has not eve
9 remotely a social bearing.
To the careful observer nothing
better worth doing thoughtfully, an
! doing in the proper way, and a
proper time, than the signing c
q ones name.-Harper's Bazaar.
-. ~. nx..n