The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-19
JEWET7 STOCK FARM, Cheney, Ks.

will be changed deliberately. as the in
habitants come to think them ridic-
ulous, and most of the rest will be
time-worn into something better after
a century or So"
"Time-worn?' queried an American
listener.
Eyes timeworn- They would be
with us. and / should suppose they
would be with you" said the amiable
Briton- Then seeing that he was not
fully understood, he added: There's
Bloody Gulch, for instance. The name
is harsh and not easily spoken, as well
as hideous in its suggestions People
will hurry it and clip it and run it to-
gether and toss il from mouth to mouth
and it will end by being something
else. If England had had Bloody
Gulch, named in the time of the invad-
ing Danes, do you suppose it would
still be Bloody Gulch to-day? Not at
all! 1t might be Bluggies or it might
be Butch The one thing sure is that
it wouldn't be gulch and it wouldn't be
bloody!
Everybody laughed at a suggestion
which seemed to partake of the nature
of the word-compressing experiments
in "Alice in Wonderland" Neverthe-
less, it was founded on solid British
experience.
English names are as smooth al
pebbles at the bottom of an English
river" said one eminent writer. They
have been rolled on the tide of speech
4. IL Ill
He cited especially the names Of Eng
lish rivers, and called attention 10 the
large number of them which are OF
but one syllable and that syllable fire.
quently most expressive, quaint or
melodious, with a charm in the mere
sound. Running over rapidly those OF
which he thought at the moment he
named the Lea, the Icy. the Ouse,
Wear, Cam, Taw, Wye. Teign, Blyth,
Rye, Till, Don, Dart and Dee
Beside these are the Exc, the Yare
are the Alne-all unfamiliar to Yankee
ears; yet from the little Exc. the En-
glish Exeter, Exmouth. Exmoor-ths
scene of Lorna Doone"-together with
its seventeen American namesalces, all
take their names From the Yare our
Yarmouth is named, and its famous
English original, upon whose sands lay
the fascinating stranded boat inhabited
by Little Emily in David Copper
6sld.''
And how many sturdy descendants
of the pilgrims have ever even heard
the name of the little Plym, at whose
mouth lay the English town the name
of which, like that Of stagnant old Bos-
ton of the Lincolnshire fens, has risen
to newer and wider honors in the New
England?
Our barsher and longer names may
be 'tire-worn 10 advantage. Indeed,
here and there we can see the process
beginning. oftenest with a name of In
dian origin too cumbrous for our
tongues Lake Winnipiseoyee, with
the spelling Of which school children
had such difficulty, was once dou
pronounced according TO that spelling.
Then the sound changed, while the
written syllables remained; and now
we see IL oftenest written as IL Il
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
There is amply room in our geog-
raphy for simplifying and abbreviating.
though IL Is also true that some OF the
longest names are easily spoken and
are pleasant 20 the ear. bu. these have
no rough edges 70 wear OF and We may
hope that the tide o. speech" viii
carry them down unspoiled through
the centuries
Let us keep the Monongahela. the
SusqucAaana and the JHniats In their
full pride; and surely no, eTen tie
flashing Dart nor the lapsing Dee hare
sung themselves into language al
sYeetly as the Sz~aBee river.