The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-30


! When Mary married. her father told
| her to pick out text and he would
preach her wedding sermon Accord
| ingly she gave him this text: And
Mary has chosen the good part that
| shall not be taken away from her. 1t
| is said that her father preached with
| great JUNCTION from it.
| In due time strong willed Abigail
| married the man of her choice also.
Father" she said, you preached
| Mary's wedding sermon, now want
you to preach mine" With none too
| good a grace he agreed to this. Where
| upon the sly Abigail demurey gave
| him this passage of Scripture: And
| John came neither eating nor drinking
and yet you say he hath a devil The
sermon was preached, but history falls
| to record that it was delivered with
JUNCTION also
In fact the name of Smith is as good
as a mask any time to those who would
sink out of the public sight. When
| Louis Philippe fled from France he and
| his wife passed themselves off as plain
] Mr. Smith and wife and had no trouble
| in GLIDING their enemies and getting out
| of the country. When Charles L.. desir-
| ing to see for himself the Spanish prln-
cess that was being talked Of as pro-
| per wife for him, slipped off incognito
to the Spanish court, he and the faith
| full Buckingham that accompanied him
| posed as the two Mr. Smiths. There
| is young man now serving term in
one of the western penitentiaries who
was convicted of train robbery. He
bears the mark of an educated and we'll
bred man. II will never disgrace my
| family" he stoutly said. Call me
John Smith" And as Smith he wears
the stripes to-day and no one knows
| who he really is. 1t is only be the
greatest effort that man can rise su-
perior to this commonest of all names
, Smith he Is, and Smith, "just Smith,
he must remain.
| Right here comes in an effort OF pa
rents to secure a future hearing for
J their offsprings by giving them such pc
| culiar and distinctive Christian names
| that they may be differentiated in the
minds of men from all other Smiths.
| No other surname on earth is SO often
| compounded with peculiar Christian
! names. There are Cotton Smith. Blood
| Smith, Mum Smith, Mango Smith, Vest
Smith and Friend Smith. Honey
| Smith, Wine Smith, Uie Smith, Curd
Smith, Pickles Smith, Canning Smith
and Preserved Smith High Smith,
Link Smith. Bib Smith and Jooster
| Smith. There are Asia Smith, Boston
Smith, Slicker Smith and Fellias Smith;
Merely Smith, Lies Smith, Ornamental
Smith and Final Smith, and these are
but the beginning. Some of the other
odd names that real flesh and blood
Smiths have borne are these: Allo,
Amone Bathurst, Belvidere, Choteau.
udia Mimic, Sabry, Wyckham and
Malusium Southwood, Linden, Fancy,
Sarsius, Vilah, Suston and Cola. One
fond mother named her son Finest
Smith and another called her son Best
Smith.
Half dozen imaginative parents
gave these names: Okanagan, Vora-
mandal Ollenevea. Ricamamah, Phi
lanties and lie Keux. In their way
Mockery Smith, Redbud Smith, Sickle
Smith, Rozandez Smith and Shemonick
Smith are as odd Montillion, Persifer.
Permulin Emnter, Elimous and Zeph-
ire are likewise curious. One good Mrs.
Smith named her first hopeful Alexan-
der Charles Henry Clarence, another
mother gave her boy the high-Sounding
name of Brackenburgh Fitzhugh, while
a patriotic father bestowed upon anoth-
err small Smith the astonishing name of
Declaration of Independence The last
was a Missouri man and dared to do
things in a breezy western way But OF
all the strange names ever given to a
Smith youngster the prize belongs to
PENNSYLVANIA. In the olden days IL
was the custom to speak of an unusual
ly long spell OF one kind of weather af-
ter this paradoxical manner: Five
weeks rain-i,i-June" Seven weeks
frost -in-Ausust," &c. OF course it is an
impossible thing to compress more than
four and a half weeks in month But
the meaning was so many weeks of
such and such kind of weather, begin
ming in such a month. And now, after
this preamble to return to the oldest
of all odd names. Something over a
hundred years ago a snowstOrm in
western Pennsylvania set in about the
LIST of March A long spell of sleighlng
followed, traditional for years for the
length of time that 1t lasted this late in
the season. What did these parents do
but name the baby boy that came along
with the snow-storm Seven Weeks
Sleighing in March Smith! The wri-
ter's grandfather when a child knew
this Smith of singular name-then an
oldish MAINLAND heard the story of how
he received his queer name. Grand
father said the man went by the name
of Weeks usually, but if he chose to
sign his name his initials were written
s. w. S. +. M Smith, in itself distinc-
tion.-NeW York Sun.
"IRENE" DAVENPORT IDENTI-