A look through a railroad guide shows a list of names which are a sad criticism on our refinement. Think of going down to posterity as born in such a place as You Bet, Red Hot, Fair Play, Muddy Creek, Looking Glass, Lone Star, or Saw Tooth. These undignified, ill-sounding names are very common, and in the new portion of the country it seems to be a matter of pride to invent absurd names. A gentleman who had the misfortune to reside in a town which bore one of these unmelodious names recently said to us: “I am actually ashamed to register myself when traveling, as from ‘Goose Creek,’ and for years I have had my mail sent to a town three miles away rather than endure the sight of that odious name on my letters.” There are ways of changing these names, and in the interest of good taste it should be done.
In spite of the difficulties in his way, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson has succeeded in getting into his Industrial Training School for Indian Boys and Girls at Sitka, Alaska. Not the least of these difficulties has been getting lumber for the building. Here is the story as he writes us: “Since coming here last August, I sent a crew of three Indians in a canoe a round trip of 400 miles along the coast, with a letter to a saw mill. The trees were felled, the logs were sawed up, a schooner chartered to bring the lumber, and in due time 100,000 feet of lumber was rafted from the schooner on the beach, through the surf, carried on men’s shoulders to the building site, a three story building 130x50 feet in size erected, and so far completed that we were able to move into it the first week in January. I have also in the same time organized a church of seventy members, of whom sixty are natives, received on confession of faith and baptism. These converts are largely the fruit of the work of Mr. Austin, one of our teachers.”
The Rev. H. M. Bacon, D.D., pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Toledo, Ohio, in a recent article on “Our English Tongue,” in which he quotes Richard Grant White’s statement in The Chautauquan for December, that “This modern English, which is the youngest, is also the greatest language ever spoken,” mentions several valuable confirmations of this opinion. Among them is the tribute of Jacob Grimm, the learned German lexicographer, who says: “In wealth, good sense, and closeness of structure, no other language at this day spoken, not even our German, deserves to be compared to it” (the English). He also calls attention to similar opinions expressed by the late Baron Humboldt, and by Guizot, and recalls the fact that once when the Academy of Berlin offered a prize for the best essay on a comparison of fourteen of the ancient and modern tongues, the prize was awarded to a writer who had given the first place to the English.
On the 23d of February the Washington Monument was formally dedicated at Washington, D. C. Thirty-six years have elapsed since its corner stone was laid. Of the Senate which attended the ceremonies on that occasion but nine are still living, and since that date the most trying years of our national life have been passed. Though the delays in completing the work have been annoying, now that it is complete, it is gratifying to know that the monument is in every way worthy of its object. Indeed, we have no hesitancy in pronouncing it the most beautiful structure in the nation’s capital. An obelisk of light gray stone, at a distance it looks like a clearly defined cloud lying against the sky. Its great height (555 feet) is not realized, so perfect is the proportion. The location of the monument has been criticised. It stands on a Government reservation, adjacent to the Potomac River, and directly facing the Capitol. The land is low, and many believe it was a serious mistake not to have placed the obelisk on Capitol Hill. We can not agree with them. The advantage of having the monument on public grounds, where the view of the entire shaft will never be obstructed, is much greater than a higher location with an obstructed view would have been. Then, too, this site was one approved by Washington himself for a monument which, in 1783, the Continental Congress voted to be erected to him. Of course “going to the top” is, and will be, one of the chief features of sight seeing in Washington. Every half hour the steam elevator in the monument carries a crowded load to the top, allowing them ten minutes for looking around before the descent. The stairway is not yet open to the public, and even if it were most people would hesitate before undertaking to mount its 900 steps. The interior of the shaft is lighted by incandescent electric lights. Not the least interesting feature of the monument is the number of marble tablets presented by different states and institutions, and which are being inserted in the inside walls. Several of these have considerable artistic and historic value.