Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08

MANY native families, desiring to adopt
A'A few of the ways of occidental civili-
cation, take to themselves the names that
have been given their children at the mission
schools; as, when Soc was baptized Goyal
Fox by the missionary, all of Soe's family
connections Immediately took the cogno-
men of Fox and we had Dahme Fox, kindee
Fox, Toba Fox ct al, forming a brand new
family of Foxes which may at some future
day figure conspicuously in Ethiopian gene
illogical records when the Society of De-
scendants of Mission Schools is established
in Africa's aristocracy.
The head man of the Mesurado Kroo
town was known as Two Glass, because,
owing to some mysterious and incredible
combination of conditions, his capacity for
gin was limited to two glasses, and small
ones at that, phenomenon that would GER
tainly distinguish him from any other kroo
man on the coast. Many natives working
along the coast, on shipboard, or as long
shoremen have taken their names from
those of foreign cities, and every once in
awhile we run across men called Liverpool,
Hamburg Boston, New York, etc.
Like all savage races, the African rarely
accepts the recognized name of the Euro
pean or American with whom he comes in
contact; but at once proceeds to give him
an appelation according to his own views of
the subject. These names, like their own,
usually depend upon some physical or men,
tai attribute. some trait of character, or
upon some conspicuous deed. One of our
church dignitaries who suffered from Grip
pied foot was at first known as Stiff Foot !;
later, when the natives realized that he was
the supreme authority in mission work, he
was given the title King Goldman" and
after they acquired a knowledge of the good
work he was doing for them in practical
way his name was qualified by prefxing the
adjective Good.
RUT, while the native is quick to recog-
nize and appreciate good, he just as
quickly disCerns other attributes in a man.
One missionary who had much to do with
the natives in the way of trading and paying
| them for labor was soon known througl out
the length and breadth of the country as
The Hawk" AS this Individual was
bushy headed and unusually fat nosed
even for Liberian, | ventured one day to
ask a native friend why such a name had
been applied to the business manager, and
for reply my friend merely grinned and
made a sudden grabbing movement with
his hand, characteristic of the raptorial bird
and peculiarly indicative of the tendency of
this particular missionary to grasp and ap
propriate to himself everything that was
not nailed down.
One of Our missionaries who was quite
an orator never felt fully satisfied as to the
meaning of the name the natives gave him,
which when translated meant Big Mouth
with Much Noise. But as such names
were customarily given to their own ora
torical statesmen it was generally accepted
in this instance as complimentary. General
G. A. Sherman of the Liberian army was
known in later life as the "Chief with the
Charmed Life" Dozens of Greboe war
riors have told me that during the Battle of
Cavalla, in 1876, they devoted their entire
energy and ammunition in efforts to kill the
General, who stood upon a tree stump in the
center of the battlefield and directed the
fight; but after the white flag had been
hoisted it was discovered that Sherman had
escaped injury; whereat the native warriors
marveled much and Immediately pronounced
the General to be in league with the devil
My own native name, Bolyki Oua-ah-ma
is susceptible of easy analysis; Bolyki mean
ing medicine man and Qua alma mean
ing white The name was given to differ
entiate me from other medicine men and
before the natives became acquainted with
any of my individual traits, and | was there
bV enabled to eSCaDe an cancellation that