The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-24
CANINE BRo1LERs.

|, A housekeeDer on the North Side,
 anxious to buy some young chickens
 suitable for frying, had been hailing passing hucksters and farmers many times day. When the sound of wheels ! would reach her. she would run out
 doors, and signal the driver, asking him | if he had spring chicken that were old enough to ry. Constant repetition of this question wearied her mentality. So she abbreviated it to Are they old enough to fly. Constant repetition of down steps out to the street wearied her physically, and so she saved energy and strength by. raising window and calling out her question to any driver passing whose vehicle carried any kind of a box or crate that by the stretch of her overwrought imagination could possibly contain chickens. A colored
 man passed. His wagon bore 8 large crate. The woman called and succeed ed in stopping the man. The everlast- ing question was fapeated: Are they old enough to fry" The man said he
 did not understand her. After two
 more trials, he. smiled, chuckled,
 reached back in the crate, and held the
 two little pups s.-Indianapolis News,
 THE PASSING OF INITIALS.
 Something over. twelve years ago a
 Georgia busniness man who now and
 then mounts the lecture platform de-
 clared in public address that the two
 most ridiculous things connected with
 civilized customs were the two buttons
 on the back of mems coats and the
 initials in front of mems names.
 "Who knows,' he inquired, ''what the W. stands for in Henry W. Grady?"
 Since that time, thus slowly but sure-
 ly the middle initial has been replaced
 by the full name.'' The first initial had
 fallen into disuse some years before.
 "H. W. Iongfellow' had become "Hen-
 ry W. Longfellow." This in turn, after
 the poets death, was succeeded by
 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." In
 like manner it was not until the
 brilliant Georgian had passed away that
 the world knew him. otherwise than as
 "Henry w. Grady" The query of the lecturer above referred to would now be pointless, as the name of Henry Wood- fin Grady is to-day familiar to every in-
 telligent person in the United States.
 The use of initials instead of the full name seems to have had it's ongin in desire for as the necessity for much writing grew without any appliance for shortening its labor. The custom was at it's height about a century ago. "G. Washington. E. Franklin"-these are the signatures that we find on old papers. The use of initials was almost up to the latter part of the last century. Thomas Babington Ma caulay called himself ''T. B. Macaulay," Grant was known as U. S. Grant" The war president signed his name "A. Lincoln"
 Whether the invention of the type writer was responsible for the of these senseless ab- or whether the change was the result of the new craze for ancestors about ten years ago the custom of writ ing one's name in full, which had up to that time been restricted to the English nobility and a few literary and public men, became a kind of social fad, and spread rapidly among all classes. It Is now the commonest thing in the world to find grocer, who has always been known as "P. P. Jenks" renting a bet ter house and hearalding the move ments of himself and wife as those of "Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pangbourne Jenks." ,
 Unlike most fads, the writing of ones name in full is @ sensible and proper one. There is no use in giving man name if he is to bury it in pair of ini- | tials. Full names are also much less liable to become confused. The passing of initials, while not yet complete by any means, is making rapid progress, and we are glad to see it.-Atlanta Journal.