Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-05-15
WRITER'S AND NAMES
ODD FASHIONS AND FANCieS IN THE
SIGNATURES OF AUTHORS.

The "Nomen clative" Disease From
which Literary Folk suner and
the New Symptoms which Develop
From Time to Time.
1t must have been very pleasant to
be plain. plebeian person in the days
when names did not matter much;
when you were John Baker II your
business was breadmaking, and your
neighbor across the way was John
Smith because he hammered out horse
shoes. If his children wished to put
on few airs, they might coll them
selves Smlthson and nobody cared.
The small minority Of mobiles had their
nominal worries with their "des' and
"vons' and laps" and "ys" and "fitzs"
and macs" but without the aid Of the
Clark family the dear dead Indies"
their own names twice alike. So with
high md low everything in the noInen-
clature line went along in hnphazard.
happy go lucky sort Of way, and the
visiting card problem came along only
in company with the other attendant
ills Of modern civilization.
1t may be that because in the good
old MEDIEVAL days OF chivalry, Hitter
acy and uncleanliness the men Of the
writer's craft were the preservers Of
names and pedisrees q judgment has
fallen upon their descendants. Certain
1t Is that for century past the only
folk who have seemed to be much both
cred about Just how they were to be
known have been the ''lit'ery fellers."
Artists inventors, statesmen. men Of
the professions and men of affairs have
been content to put as their sign man
ual upon their life worl. the ma that
their parents gave them. Only the men
of the pen have suffered from sort Of
nomcnclativc-there should be such a
word if there is not-disease marked by
varying symptoms which recur at inter-
walls.
There is. for instance. the anonymous
type of which the author of "Waverley"
and the author of 'Iane Eyre" were
donyms-Boz and Titmarsh and Harry
Lorrequer; Artemus Ward John Php-
nix and Mark Twain; Ouidn Max
O'Rell and Pierre Lott along to Maxim
Gorky. the latest. There are modest
writer's represented only by initials,
such as II. II. and l.. L. L. Beginning
with George Sand and George Eliot
the book world has become a veritable
forest Of Arden. with Il Rosalind In
doublet and hose made of her title
pages strutting down every glade.
There was peculiarly American pc
Rod when the initial of the middle
name was cherished; when II James l..
Jones wrote book he would part with
half his royalties rather than omit that
81 or spell out the name it represent
ed. New England honored itself by
setting the sensible and tasteful fash
ion of authors printing their full names
up to the number Of three.
But bad fairy is continually busy
with the names of writer's. Old Eng
land would have none Of New Eng
lands plan and committed literary
mayhem upon all Americans, from the
greatest to the smallest SO we heard
of Russell Lowell and Wendell Holmes,
just as young women of the caramel
age are Mortified to hear today of Hard
ing Davis and Dana Gibson.
SO it seems that the old saw might
have an amendment reading that "of
the making of names Of the makers Of
books there is no end" And now a
new symptom appears. Francis Mari
on Crawford has achieved fame by
dropping his first name and writing
more books than any living man eX-
cept Andrew Lang and Cyrus Town
send Brady. incidentally most Of Mr.
Words books are good enough to
arouse the suspicion once expressed OF
Mr. Lang-that he is not n man, but a
syndicate. That, however. is not per
tincnt. The point is that if his chill
dren have their way Francis Marion
Crawford is no longer to be Marion
Crawford, but Marion-Crawford. These
children, who live in Italy, sent all the
way across the ocean and obtained an
order from the supreme court of New
York few days ago making them
hereafter Misses and Masters Marion
Crawford.
, The hyphen habit is upon us. We
could afford to laugh, as we thought
, at Mr.. Iobart-Chatfield (bls)-Taylor OF
Chicago. We must now respect him AZ
e pioneer. No man can hencefortl
write a book without fearing that a
/, Gny moment when his back Is turned
/. q hyphen will be stuck into him.
But when the young Marion-Craw
! fDrds are grown heredity will make
l some of them write books. Then they
] will be sorry. Their pride in their ia
thcr is pretty thing, but in all seri
ousness their act was an act of folly
Each man and woman in this worl(
must fight for his own hand, and If thu
r fight lies in the field of literature tn,
g name of an able father is fetter. no
8 weapon. owen Meredith could tel
I them so if he were alive. He wal
!, proud of his father. too. but in justic,
: to himself he was forced to forsake fol
r O time the name of Bulwer-Lytton
3 Thackeray's daughter could tell them
Q for it was not until she became Mrs
: Richie that her work was noticed
y Lucas Malet wrote the novel that was
!, last seasons sensation in London. Hat