Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-09-12
THE BIG ARMY OF SMITHS.
II is Estimated that Fourteen Millions OF them
are Still Living.


Hebrews were under the dominion Of
the Philistincs. Then arose the sit
uation thus described in the Bible :
"Now there was no smith found
throughout all the land of Israel, for
the Philistncs said, Lest the lie
brcws make them swords or spears
but all the lsraclitcs went down to
the Philistincs to sharpen every man
his coulter, and his axe and his mat
tock."
Thus the Hebrews were obliged to
travel from one to two hundred miles
to find smith, hardship that is
quito inconccivablc to-day, when the
country swarms with them.
If there had never been any artisan
smiths there would be no surname
Smith to-day. And what would it
mean if there were no longer Smiths
in the land? 1t would mean vacan-
cics i'll the professors chairs and
upon the judicial bench it would
thin the ranks Of the lawyers, minis
tcrs and doctors, Of the merchants,
brokers and manufacturers, and OF
the railroad, commercial and fnan-
cial magnatcs it would diminish the
number of scholars, rcformers and
philosophers, and dcplctc the ranks
OF sailors, soldiers, farmers, mcchan-
les and all the rest Of the great labor
ing world the tramps, bcggars and
jail-birds would be less often met
with, and cranks, politicians, drunk
ards and criminals fewer in number.
In fact, not a rank or gradation Of
the whole social system but what
would be affected. Some genius Of
computation has figured out that if
all the males of the earth were en-
rolled there would be an army Of
100000 Smiths among them.
Estimating the feminine Smiths to
living Smiths. Whether the number
be as prodigious rs this or not there
is no question but that it runs into
the millions. a family so numerous
and 50 universally iniltcrcd through
every class commands at least the
respect due recognized magnitude
and aggregated power.
Literally smith means smi,cr, one
who mites, or hammers. And in old
days, when every bit OF metal, cop
per, iron, silver, gold or brass had to
be pounded and hammered by
mighty strokes into armor, tools,
plate, utensils and implements, there
were need of many smithcrs. These
"smithcrs," or smiths, were not men
OF Drawn alone. They had to pos
sess the ready brain and skill to
sharpen an implement, repair armor
or shoe a horse. Theirs was an hon
est and lucrative trade, and every
road, street and hamlet had its
smiths. Not only were there many
smiths, but different branches OF
smithcry aboundcd, and thus many
compounds Of Smith came into exist
cncc. Among these are Smithcr,
Smlthkins, Smithson, ArraSmith
Arrowsmith, Goldsmith, Silvcrsmi,h,
Coppcrsmith, I.ocksmth, Hammer.
smith, lIocksmith, IIockcrsmith,
Drakcsmith, Forccsmith, Smitham,
Scxsmith, Campsmith, Bowcrsmith,
Worksmith, Watchsmi,h, Baker
smith, Wildsmth, Wintcrsmith, lIoff-
smith, klcnsmith, and Smithdcal.
Strangest OF these, perhaps, is Few
Smiths. Sometimes to distinguish
several smiths in one street or ham
let Christian name was incorpo-
rated with the usual name. Thus
came into usage Smithpctcr, Bill
smith, IIelcnsmth and .Aaronsmith.
incidentally it may be mentioned
that the other languages have their
Smiths also. The Germans have
numbcrcss Schmidts, Schmtz and
Schmidt /; the French have Icfcyrc,
the Spaniards Gunsaulus, the Rus
slams Smittowskics and the Irish have
(Iaycu and G,owan rnch mroninu