St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-07-03
CONTRARY WINDS.

MANY Persons Are Under the Din.
advantage Of an Unfortunate Nams,
Others L.bsr Uader the Aissorta~e 81
lece0Piste Physissl Eqaipmeat-Dr.
1aiaags's 0-a1stfal Bermoa Of Ea-
~ssraesnsas - Struggling sou.a
- Talmage took for his sermon
- subject Contrary Winds, and the
eexs Matthew xiv. e. 'sThe winds was
contrary"
As l we'll know by experience on
Lake Galilee, one hour all may be calm
and the next hour the winds and waves
will be 80 boisterous that you are in
doubt as to whether you will land on
the shore or on the bottom of the deep.
The disciples in the text were caught
Y such . stress of weather and the
sails bent and the ship plunged, for
the wind was contrary" There is in
one OF the European straits = pace
where, whichever way you sail. the
winds are opposing. There are peo-
pie who all their lifs seem sailing in
the teeth of the wind All things
seem agains. them. It may be said OF
their condition as Of that OF the dis
ciples in my text, ''the wind was con-
txary."
A great multitude Of people are un-
dor seeming disadvantage. and will
to-day, in the swarthiest Anglo-Saxon
that can manage, treat their cases
not - . nurse counts out eight or ten
0reps Of . prescription and stirs them
In half glass of water, but rs when .
man has by = mistake taken q large
amount Of strychnine or paris green
or belladonna, and the patient is
walked rapidly round the room and
shaken mp until he gets wide awake.
Many OF you have taken = large
draught Of the poison of discourage
ment and come ont by the order of
the Divine Physician to rouse you out
u that lethArgy.
First. many people are under the dis
advantage of an unfortunate name
given them by parents who thought
they were doing good thing. Some
times 1t the baptism of children while
II
have held mp the other hand in amaze
nent that parents should have weight
ed the babe with such dissonsnt and
repulsive nomenclature. / have not
% much wondered that some children
should cry ont At the christening font
- that others with such smiling face
should take . title that will be the
burden of their lifetime. It 10 out
raeeous to af1iict children with IN un-
desirable name because it happened to
b possessed by = parent or = rich un-
Gle from whom favors are expected or
some prominent man of the day who
may end his life in disgrace. 1t is no
excuse, because they are Scripture
names, to call . child Jshoiakim or
Tixlath- Pileser. I baptized one by
the name Bathsheba. Why, under all
the circumambient heaven. any parent
should want to give to . child the
name of that loose creature of Scripture
times can not imagine. have often
felt at the baptismal altar, when
names were announced to me, like
saying, as did Rev. DIR. Richards,
Of Morristown, N. j., when = child
was handed him for baptism and the
name given. Hadn't you better call it
something elss?"
Impose not upon that babe name
suggestive Of hippancy or meanness
There 10 NO excuse for such assault
and battery on the cradle when our
language 10 opulent with names music
u andsuggestive in meaning, such a.
John. meaning the gracious gift of
Cod" or Henry, meaning ''the chief
Of household" or Alfred, meaning
good counselor" or Joshua, meaning
'God, our. salvation" or Ambrose,
meaning Immortal" or Andrew,
meaning manly" or Esther. meaning
, STAR" or Abigail, meaning my
fathers joy" or Anna. meaning
grace" or victoria, meaning "vic-
tory" or Rosalie, meaning ''beauti-
full as . rose." or Margaret. meaning
- pearl" or Ida. meaning ''godlike.
Or Clara, meaning 'illustrious," or
Amelia. meaning busy" or Bertha.
meaning s.beautiful," and hundreds Of
other names just as good that are .
help rather than hindrance.
But sometimes the great hindrance
Ia life is not in the given name. but
in the family name. While legisla-
lures are willing to lift such incubus,
there are families which keep .
name which mortgages all the gem
erations with great disadvantages
You say, II wonder If ne is any rela-
ton to "So-and-so," mentioning some
family celebrated for crime or decep-
tion. Il 10 = wonder to me that in all
such families some spirited young man
does not rise, saying to his brothers
and sisters, III you want to keep
this nuisance or scandalization of q
name. will keep it NO longer than un-
ill by quickest coursesof law I can
slough OF this gangrene." The city di-
rectory has hundreds of names the
mere pronunciation Of which has been
= lifelong obstacle. II you have start
cd lie under = name which either
through ridiculous orthography OF
vicious suggestion has teen an in
cumbrauce, resolve that the next gen.
GRAFTON shall not bes weighted 1t is
mot demeaning to change = name. Saul
OF Tarsus became Paul the Apostle.
Hadassah, ''the MYRTLE" became
Esther, 'the star" We have in Amer
ica, and / suppose it is SO in all coun.
tries, names which ought to be abol-
ished and can be and will be abolished
for the reason that they are . libel and
. slander. But If for any reason you
are submerged either by given name
or BY . family name that you mus,
bear, God will help you to overcome
the outrage by . life consec-ated te
tho good ard usef, / You may erase
the curse frcA the name. If it once
stood for meanness, you can make i,
Stand for generosity. II once it stood fol
peide. you can make it stand for hu