Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1901 — A NOBLE NAME. [ARTICLE]

A NOBLE NAME.

A great responsibility is restin' on my head. I worry 'bout it through the day an' nights when I’m in bed; Last week a baby bov to darter Idy’s household came, An’they've left it to his gn-n’pap fer t‘ pick him out a name. I’ve been a-readin’ histories, biographies an’ sich, To tind the names of fellers that were either great errich; I see they varied quite a bit from first t’ last; but, still. The most succcessful of ’em bore the good ol’ name of “Bill." Now Mandy’s hoppin’ mad at me. an’Js set her foot down flat, Our little gran’son ’s got to have a better name ’n that! I tell her Cowper, Hazlitt. Allingham an' Chillingworth, Congreve. Blackstone an' Shakespeare bore the name of Bill from birth T' honored age; while Aytoun, Bryant, Dunbar an’ Dunlap, Cartwright an’ Caxton, never thought it much of a mishap That they was christened it; an’ so. let them tind fault as will, I’m more an' more determined that I'll call the baby "Bill.” Bill Sherman done good fight'n’, and Bill Evarts soared in speech; I reckon Bill Lloyd Garrison was somet ing of a peach! Bill Howells does fine writin’. but the only books fer me Are those turned out some years ago by old Bill Thackeray! I cannot help but feel, somehow, that name has got a charm— I’ve worn it 00 years myself, it ain’t done me no harm! So, though to Mandy it may be a mighty bitter pill, The little chap at Idy’s house I’m goin’ t' christen "Bill!” —Puck.