Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1877 — Legislative Christening. [ARTICLE]

Legislative Christening.

A bill was before the House yesterday bestowing a name upon a citizen of Fauquier County. The Beneficiary of this act, it seems, was left an orphan when an infant, and the names of his parents were not known to him, and to this day he does not know them. When he became old enough to feel what an awkward position he was placed in without a name, he assumed oqe, by which he has been known ever since. He was sent to school, and in time became an intelligent and honored citizen of the community in which he lives. A short time ago he met a beautiful -young lady, with whom he became enamored and paid her his addresses. She accepted his love, and the only bar to their marriage was that he did not have a name. Certainly a novel dilemma to be placed in, particularly as the lady insisted that he must have one before she would wed him. The almost bridegroom applied to legal friends for assistance, who examined the law upon tbe subject with a view of seeking relief from the courts, but, upon an investigation, it was manifest that the courts could change a man’s name, but had no power to christen him or bestow a name where none had before existed. The only way out of the difficulty was to apply to the Legislature, and ask for the passiige of a bill giving tliis petitioner a name, which was accordingly done, and, as soon as the bill passes the Senate and becomes a law, there will then, we hope, be nothing to prevent the realization of our friend’s happiness.— Richmond (Fa.) WAiff.