The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-30
THE Big ARMY OF SMITHS.
FOURTEEN MILLIONS or THEM
LYING, IT MS BEEN SAID.

AOSb 10 Ene FtOFiu btcAt thc
Family Variations of
Plain h-Distinguished Men
who Have Borne the Nnme-Odd
Given Names of Some Smiths.
Three thousand years ago the He
brews were under the dominion OF the
Philistines. Then arose the situation
thus described in the Bible: NOW
there was no smith found throughout
all the land of Israel, for the Phllls-
tines said: Lest the Hebrews make
them swords or spears; but all the Is
raelites went down to the Philistines to
sharpen every man his coulter, ana MS
AK and his mattock."
Thus the Hebrews were obliged to
travel from one to two hundred miles to
find a smith, a hardship that is quite
Uncomfortable 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 1t
mean if there were no longer Smiths in
this land? 1t would mean vacancies In
the professors chairs and upon the jul
dicial bench; 1t would thin the ranks OF
the lawyers, ministers and doctors, OF
the merchants, brokers and manufac-
turers and of the railroad, commercial
and financial magnates; 1t would d.
minish the number of scholars feform-
ers and philosophers, and deplete the
ranks Of sailors, soldiers, farmers, me-
chanics and all the rest of the great Ia
boring world; the tramps, beggars ana
jailbirds would be less often met with
and cranks, politicians, drunkards ana
criminals fewer in number. In fact
not rank of graduation of the whole So
cial system but what would be affected.
Some genius of computation has fig
ured out that if all the males of the
earth were enrolled there would be an
army of seven million Smiths among
them. Estimating the feminine Smiths
to be as many, the world has fourteen
million living Smiths. Whether the
number be as prodigious as this or not
there Is no question but that it runs
into the millions. A family so numer-
Gus and so universally infiltered
through every class commands at least
the respect due recognized magnitude
ana aggregated power.
Literally smith means smiter, one
who smites, or hammers. And in old
days when every bit of metal copper,
iron. silver, gold or brass, had to be
pounded and hammered by mighty
strokes into armor, tools plate, uten-
sils and implements, there were need OF
many smithers. These ''smithers" or
smiths were not men of Drawn alone.
They had to possess the ready brain
and skill to sharpen an implement, re-
pair armor or shoe a horse. Theirs
was an honest and lucrative trade, and
every road street and hamlet had its
smiths. Not only were there many
smiths, but different branches of smith
cry abounded, and thus many COM
pounds of Smiths came into existence.
Among these are Smither, Smithkins,
Smithson, Arrasmith, Arrowsmith,
Goldsmith, Silversmith, Coppersmith,
Steelsmith. Locksmith, Hockersmith,
Drakesmith, Forcesmith, Smitham,
Sexsmith " Campsmith, Bowersnith,
Worksmth, Watchsmith, Blacksmith,
Wildsmith, Wintersmith Hofsmith,
Kleinsmith and Smithdeal. Strangest
Of all these perhaps Is Fewsmiths!
in one street or hamlet, Christian
name was incorporated with the usual
name Thus came into usage Smithpe-
ter, Billsmith, Heiensmith and Aaron
smith.
Incidentally it may be mentioned that
the other languages have their Smiths
also The Germans have numberless
Schmidts, Schmitz and Schmidt; the
French have Lefevre, the Spaniards
Gunsaulus, the Russians SmittowslSies,
and the Irish have Gaven and GoWan,
each meaning Smith, and McGaven and
MCGOWAN, meaning the son of a smith.
Perhaps because they We're originally
ernithers, the Smiths have ever taken to
war. There have been General Smiths
in every war that the American nation
has ever had In the civil war the Fed
erals had no fewer than SIX General
Smiths, and one Rear Admiral Smith.
If the Confederates had less they GER
tainly had one of the gr1ttiest of all
Smiths. He bore the absurd nickname
of Extra Billy Smith. His constitu-
ents ran him for governor while he was
away fighting, and he has the distinc-
ton of having been elected the very
day on which a battle was raging, and
in which he was wounded. He really
did not like it that he was elected and
had to be almost forced by his friends
to go home and assume the reins of Of
flee. Surely no one beside Smith,
and an Extra" Smith at that, ever was
angry before at having governorship
conferred upon him.
The richest man in all Mexico is said
to be a certain Juan Smidio, or in plain
English, John Smith. 1t was a Smith
that discovered emery and corundrum
In the United States. 1t was a Smith
that was sent against Concord and Lex
ington in the initial battles of the rev.
olutionary war. 1t was Joseph Smith
who founded Mormonism. 1t was a
Smith that wrote America" 1t was
Smith, afterward Bishop of Gloucester,
that was one of the principal transla-
tors of the Bible, and that wrote the
preface to it. 1t was a Smith that
wrote the best-known Bible dictionary.
One of the foremost of all political econ
pmists was Adam Smith, and two of
the greatest psychologists and Orien-
taHsts are George Smith and Piazz
Smith, or Smyth, as it is sometimes
written. Canada Is proud of her cru
dite Goodwin Smith.
The only woman who has ever enjoyed
the distinction Of having been the wife
Of one president and the mother of an