The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-08-20
WHAT'S IN A NAME!

Keiser avenue be changed because we
are at war with Germany is one of the
funny things growing out of the ter
rible strife. That a street named for
a distinguished and patriotic Ameri-
can of honorable ancestry should be
renamed because We are war with
Germany would be regarded as some
thing ridiculous iE. days of saner think
ing. a recent Incident in Kansas City
affords a case in point. William
Southern, Jr., in a delightful editorial
in the independence Examiner tells
the story and makes wise comment:
a few members of the city council
at Kansas City had a lot of fun last
night 1t was also a matter of patrio-
tism. They had expressed desire
to honor General John J. Pershing.
Why not at the same time get even
with a dead man they did not like
while he was living Nobody could
criticise the patriotic sentiments when
expressed in the naming of a Kan
sas City street for General Pershing,
but a street had to be found. Here
is a nice street, just the very one. 1t
happened to be called Rockhill Road.
Now Rockhill was the middle name
of the late William r. Nelson. So
this was the joke. Honor General
Pershing and take the name Rockhill
off the books at the same time. No
wonder the cOuncilmen laughed. Was
it not a rich and rare joke, worthy of
the men who had just won a primary
election?
There seems to have been an epi-
demic of such jokes in the county as
evidenced by signs at road turns con-
tanning new names for country roads. |
The road known for many years as the
CrOysdale road was promptly renamed
the Harry B. Halves road by the cOun- |
ty court. The fact that it had been |
designated as the Cross State High |
was was merely an incident. Harry |
b. Hawes was a living politician, a
conner in State affairs and ought to
have a road named after him. The
name is official and on the records, |
but the people pay no attention to it |
hA CwAv-glola inc
Other roads met the same fate. There
is the WOodsOn road and the Pendl-
ton road and the Phelps road. Nom
has always been a profitable
study and interesting.
"One time about ten years ago there
was a large crowd gathered to dedi
cate the new County Home near the
Little Blue which had been built at
cost of something more than half
million dollars. ]. NJ. Patterson was
the presiding judge and a preacher
made a speech and motion and sug-
gested that the building be called the
Patterson Hall" 1t met with acclaim
and the name was chiseled on the
stone above the entrance. But it no
longer stands, for the letters have
been cut out. The next cOuty court
was composed of democrats who
gravely decide that such an institu-
ion ought to bear TO mans name.
Babies suffer from the same de-
sire to attach prominent names of
living men at the moment great.
Every president has his names wished
IN hundreds of helpless and innocent
boys. You can almost guess a mans
lge by his name. There are a lot of
Harrisons, McKinleys and
and more Bryars and
jennings just now than all the rest.
Scriptural names are of course very
popular. We met a girl once named
'Varily" and wondered where the
lame came The mother promptly
iaid she took it from the Bible and
IN inquiry we learned that the verse
cad something like this Verify,
ferily, 1 say unto you" Then there
vas the old negrO's dog named
Moreover" He proudly said that his
log was named after the only dog
mentioned by name in the Bible and
{ was verse and chapter like this
Moreover, the dog, licked his sores,
,nly like many other scriptural COM
the old negro had placed
he commas wrong.
"A very good rule in selecting names
or babies. buildings or roads is to
hOOse those of men who have been
lead some time, or, as in the case of
leeping cars, to select a name devoid
Il meaning or pedigree"