The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-03-04
ON SIGNING ONES NAME.

The most ordinary every day act of
ones life is the signing of ones name.
By degrees the commonplace function
become automatic in its performance,
and one writes the familiar words which
stand for ones individuality without
consciously dwelling on the matter at
all. Frequently. from the habit Of
signing the name rapidly and "itilout
thought, the signature daterio-ates into
a scrawl, blind and vague and difficult
to determine. It is not uncommon to
find business letter ineligible from
first to last, but signed with name
which it taxes an expert to decipher.
Women, too, ere very apt 10 affix an
imperfect signature to their letters,
signing a communication to friend
merely "Helen," or "Katharine," or
"Letitia,' and omitting the surname.
As many women write comparatively
indistlnct had, and as the writing of all
women who went TO school about the
same PERIOD bears a certain family like
ness, the recipient of letter thus
signed is often puzzled to know which
"Helen," or "Letitia' of her acquain-
tance is addressing her, especially as
the woman thus careless about her sig
nature is usually vague as to locality as
well.
Ones name signed to any document
has the force that ones spoken assent
would have. The name signifies the
man or woman. Name is style in its
essence, is character, is personality.
Only by name are We each diferenti-
ated from the rest of the world. The
signing of the name is therefore an
important and serious transaction, and
is worth more than a needless and care
less slurrlng over in haste and without
reflection.
1t would seem unnecessary to reiter-
ate what has so often been SAID, and to
impress again on the minds of women
the obligation which inheres in the
fixing of signature to E legal paper.
Never sign any document which you
have not read. This Is the golden
maxim OF common-sense and self-p pro-
lection. Nevertheless, every day in
every year women carelessly make
themselves responsible for the convey
ance of property, for the payment of
debts, for the undertaking of burden
some duties, by singing their names to
papers of the contents OF which they
have the most hazy notion. "Sign
here" says Mr.. Plausible, in manner
suaye and debonair, and the pretty
young woman, or the easy-going elder
ly one, obediently signs. Days drift
apace, and she wakens one morning to
discover an inheritence gone, or pro
vision made for her by the loving fore
thought of some vanished dear one
scattered to the four winds. Again
and again let the injunction be repeat
ed till it sink into every mind: DO
not sign what you have not read. Do
not sign what you do not fully under
stand. Let neither the folly OF too
trustfui friendship, nor the habit OF
Submission to authority, nor your ow n
native amiability, nor your suspicion
that legal phraseology and business
methods are beyond your comprehen
sion, lead you to blunder in this
matter.
So far as the etiquette of the sigma
ture is concerned, there is one unvarY-
| lDS IulC III WOibSuJ liaiiiSd anu
single. 1t is never right, nor good
form, to sign ones name with the
addition of Miss or Mrs. You are Mary
Emily Jones, not Mrs. Patrick Fitzgerald
Jones, to whomsoever you may be
writing. If it be necessary to notify youl
correspondent OF your married style
and estate, you may do SO, and in one
OF several ways. Please obseryetLk ke
correspondent should pe ,,.:. IN
doubt as to this aTfon may essilr s'. &c.
being ireop|lsh to tell. Y,,, , aus
sscTIs, 7: F. before the A1arn
I vs Yal may tho
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