The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-08
POOR CHILDREN.
Big Names for Youngsters of the Flu
ture if This Idea Goes"
at.. u.
From the Baltimore Sun.

lOul bhC pdlltInOEe sun
Among the reforms which the coming
woman will probably insist upon when
she has secured her full legal and political
rights will be modification in the pres
ent custom which requires her to adopt
the name of the man she marries. Ladies
of advanced ideas have long maintained
that this custom is a relic OF barbarism.
as well as badge of servitude. Its origin
can be clearly traced to the unciviliLed
ages, when the wife was captured. not
cOurUed won after the fashion of Rom
illus, not wooed after the manner of
Romeo. In barbarous times and among
savage people if a man wanted a
wife he would go out and hunt
one, just as he would food or
some other essential to his comfort, and
after he had bagged her would take her
home and set her to cooking and making
herself generally useful. She was his
property by right of capture and he called
her by his name to prevent any mistake
in the matter of title. The custom of
forcing the wife to assume her husbands
name and regarding her as sort of
matrimonial chattel, finally became so
firmly established that woman herself
came to acquiesce in it as a matter of
course, and even to take a pride in it.
There is neither logic nor justice in it and
the coming woman is likely to protest
against it.
There is no more reason why a woman
should take mans name when she mar
ries him than that the man should take
hers. If there is to be change, why
should not the change be his? When
John Jones marries Mary Smith why
should he not be known as Mr. Mary
| Smith, rather than she as Mrs. John
| JOnesl Under the old custom we have
| innumerable Mrs. Generals, Mrs Presi-
dents, Mrs. Doctors, etc. The wife, it
| must be admitted, nearly always is Mrs.
General in point Of fact, but why would
it not be quite as logical for the husband
to take her title, when she has one, as
she is sure to have under the better re-
| gime that is promised us. If she is
| Judge, a doctor, bishop or the like, the
man could be conveniently and accurately
| described as the husband of Mrs Bishop
or Mrs. Judge So-and-So, giving him the
benefit both of her glory and her maiden
name.
Before the fall of man and the period
when he was forced TO capture his wives
there appears to have been perfect equity
| and equality in the matter of names in
matrimonial contracts. When Eve mar
| ried she did not change her name to Mrs
| Adam. She insisted on preserving her
| individuality and her family identity by
retaining her maiden name. Nor do bust
ness partners at the present time surren-
der their names when they enter into
these relations. Why should not some
| thing of the same sort be done in matri-
monial partnerships? If a woman named
Green should marry man named Dunn,
for instance, the firm could be known as
Green, Dunn b Co., the company being
| the general name for the children If
Mrs Green should have a son John who
should marry woman named Brown he
could sign himself John Green-Dunn-
Brown. In this way the family pedigree
could be preserved in the names, aid the
| family tree could be easily climbed The
| grow as long as the titles
| of some of the foreign princes
who marry American girls, furnishes no
valid objection to this suggestion, but
rather an aristocratic charm.