Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-05-16
AUTHORS NAMES,
Literary Applications, the Value Of
Their Length and Breadth.

mere labels and appellations, they are
Nrritahle things" says Joel Banton. In
the Junior Munsey, Certain names
are poetic aud iuspirinE; certain
others are soporidc and leaden. Could
ii be possible to imagine that a
maiden named Patience or 'Thauktup
woUld be otherwise than plain or
homely2
The Puritan nomenclature, whether
Biblical or in secular hyphenated
phrases, of which there &ra such start.
ling examples, was largely Of the de.
pressing variety, To name a child
Barchones' or 'EhencRer seems nj.
most as II 1t would fovcl,ose fame and
fortune against him 1t is true that
a person of rcal force and genius can
override great Obstacles But why
compel him TO do so?
Members Of q royal family often
affect long names of n dozen or moro
parts, but these are mainly kept for the
christening book, and the ono or two
principal ones are all that are EN-,
ployod or remembered AS the royal
person bearing namo that fills tho
space of paragraph is born dis
tjnguished he viii remain SO. whatever
name he may assume or have thrust
upon him; but with the ordinary NOR.
tai the case is different. If he tries 20
scale the heights Of rcnown, the simple
and more striking his name is the
more iudolibly 1t will be fixed in
hlklc puhlic's memory.
"Apropos of this preamble, has any.
one ever noted tho fact TO the extent
of giving 1t much emphasis that our
American authors, for the most palt,
affect long drawn out names? TO the
young and aspiring author especially n
tripartto uamo seems to have a par.
ttcdlar fascination This fashion is
perhaps partly of collegiate origin. At
any rate. whether II was done to mako
future identity iurc or as an ntfCcta-
u1u the college catalogues ftoh time
immomoial have recorded the whole
Uamo of the Idiont, even when It
was from four t. six parts, IN that
account perhaps, we had Wlltats
Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Long
fellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph
Waldo Emerson Edgar Allen Pos and
James Russell Lowell, but, uncolleEi
atcly, Washington Irving. John c..
Whittier llhe middle name rarely
Spellod QUIZ herman MelNl'le ana
Fitz Green Hallcck the first two parts
brinr one uamo. There were uNCpp.
uonS-"eofGe bancroft Tor instance
"h" won als'lh'l'"h NJ harvard
james fehllhor' cooper supports inc
t"l'' i"t ne was l"'' STUDENT o''oro
ne went To sea-
"Of course an extremely horizontal.
ICED ramo is not actually Il college
matter; but our second generation of
authors, finding the literary ni Ma.
iOres triply named, and feeling that no
twonamcd writer can so ensily catch
the certificate of fame, soon began to
use names Of three sections, even
"heh 1t was iouhd necessary to III.
vent or Dorfo" one TO MI out inc mum
per Au'hor" o. lho very minor noIt'
therefore u" wen as 10" Oh 'N'o''ch'
lhlcl''Cluail'y 'h"l '"Ne E'o"' p"'"S !"
write themselves Jo''i Mo'l''''' 'on'a,
lholnas evergreen hooihSoh ana
James Ichapou ohi'h 10 NUKE sure u
thoiI literary llhpoitaho''
zone would suppose, though, that
the more successful approach to re.
mom0rahco or hlEh fesaro WOMB o'
colnpaSsea ny u snort appo''aIloh
rather thah oy u long one A'oAano'r'
caesar ana llohiliool, az wen "7
Homer Dante ana Hoe'ho' maoo no
parade OF mul'lplied haihoS' even
"heFe moro tnai one was "9t"nny
possessed ana they seem 10 pc it'rly
wen remembered, Wou'o Napoleoh
'ohapaFte ana oliVor CroinWell nave
mad larger recognition by inc Gonof.
aIlonS lhat nave follo"ed men, or ny
the one III "hsh thoy were dominant
II they had aHected somewhat Soh"r.
oua'y syllable middle name!
Certainly George Washington, Ben
jamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln,
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and