Whenever a
new highway is about to be opened, the newspapers are filled with
letters suggesting that it ought to be called by this or that
beautiful name, or by the name of this or that national hero. Well, in
point of fact, a name cannot (in the long-run) make any shadow of
difference in our sentiment for the street that bears it, for our
sentiment is solely according to the character of the street itself;
and, further, a street does nothing at all to keep green the memory of
one whose name is given to it.
For a street one name is as good as another. To prove this
proposition, let us proceed by analogy of the names borne by human
beings. Surnames and Christian names may alike be divided into two
classes: (1) those which, being identical with words in the
dictionary, connote some definite thing; (2) those which, connoting
nothing, may or may not suggest something by their sound. Instances of
Christian names in the first class are Rose, Faith; of surnames,
Lavender, Badger; of Christian names in the second class, Celia, Mary;
of surnames, Jones, Vavasour. Let us consider the surnames in the
first class. You will say, off-hand, that Lavender sounds pretty, and
that Badger sounds ugly. Very well. Now, suppose that Christian names
connoting unpleasant things were sometimes conferred at baptisms.
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