Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-06-13
REAL CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
Modern Fashion of Burdcning "klds
Mith Mnr NAmCs

II the Society for the Prevention Of
| Cruelty TO Children is willing TO enter
upon a new and much needed cam
/ paign, we beg to suggest TINT II should
turn its attention to the modern fash
ion Of christening helpless infants with
what are popularity known as war
names OF course, there always have
| been and always will be fashions in
names, lust as there always have been
| and always will be fashions in charac-
| ter But il is perilOus to follow these
| fashions unless YOU can be tolerably
| certain that they Will endure at least
| generation, ana since there can bc no
doubt that the war fashion I'm names
| will not OutliVc the war the result
must be that the Kitchener Smiths and
/ JellicuC Joneses and HollCbckc Browns
and La Basse Robinsons will find
| themselves stranded hy the tide, queer
| fish out of water that nobody Will
swallow.
| For you cannot change your name
as you can change your clothes, and
| when a name Cor anything Clse) goes
! out Of fashion II Immediately becomes
! in some degree challenging. The least
challenging names today are the
names which we most commonly use-
John, Edward, Henry, Robert Rich
ard, James. These pass in a crowd.
Your Edward, for example, may be a
poet or an engineer, or q navy or a
nut. 1t Is all things TO all men. But
| II Edward dropped out Of favor and
became a rare name we should return
to first associations, remember that
Edward is essentially Saxon, and eX-
pect in its possessor the qualities Of
the Saxon. For when a name is rare
| you cannot help forming some mental
| picture Of the person who possesses
! Il, whatever sophistry Juliet may have
used for the encompassinE Of her de-
| sires.
one of the most notable fashions in
names was the Grace name" so com
mon among the Puritans. Like the
| patriots Of today, who name their
children after their ideal warriors, the
| Puritans named their children after
| their ideal virtues. Thus we find Pur-
| itan Christian names running to Faith,
Hope, Charity, Prudence, Mercy,
| Truth, Constancy, Temperance, Hon
our, Obedience, Rejoice Endure, Re
! pentanCe, Humiliation, Pride and HUI
mility. The fact that their children
might not possess the virtues suF-
gested by their titles mattered nothing
while the fashion was in favor.
Hope might be despondent, Mercy
cruel, Truth decietful, Repentance
! stubborn and Humility proud-the
contrast passed uunoticed. If, how
ever, a father called his girl Obedience
nowadays, you may be sure that at
every sign of rebellion the unfortunate
child would have its Christian name
flung at its head as u taunt. The
name COnstancy, now commonly used
In the form Of Constance, furnishes u
good example Of this. Constance may
! play the flappcr with complete i'm
munity from rcprQach; but If she were
named ConstanCy she would un-
doubtedly have to endure the. sings
and arrows Of her relations.
| Here, then, we have the tragedy Of
the future, the tragedy that calls for
| the Intervention Of the S. =. c. c.
| When Kitchner Smith grows up he will
| find that he is the unfortunate pos
SCISSOR of a challenging name. People
Will expect something masterful and
| fearless, and If he is weak and tmid
| his weakness and timidity will be
doubly acccntuated Jelucoe Jones
most not be subject TO NAL de mer. If
| he is he win never dare upon the sea.
| What will be expected If the luckless
wights who are named after towns
/ that have been only temporarily res
| cued from heir ODscUrity by the war
/ It is more difficult to conjecture Per
sonally, | should expect a Hollcbeke
| 20 be a brunette, Il Przcmysl to be
something Of an esthetic- possibly a
cubist. But the trouble here is that
every one will have his own precon-
| ception with the result that there win
| be no pleasing everybody. 1t Is a
dogs life, living up to your name
| London Globe.