Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ERE Is 1 on an auk ask me ale another I 1 quiz in which nearly every one in can grade per cent I 1 who Is I 1 bb babe or the Ran bambino abino who iii blattle Il Il Attle poker face act who Is I 1 the th galloping Gallop lne ghost who to I 1 the th flynne flent finn who in trudy drudy it if he cant then he be able to read the th newspapers for whether in seattle wash portland maine flubbing afian or eaton baton rouge la those names in print have met his eye constantly and lie fie rarely falls to ree rec cognize them george herman ruth way have an unfamiliar sound but not babe ruth tie he or of the homo home runs harold grange Is not an especially striking name in itself but translate Z ik t 14 1 fi babe it into red grange the galloping ghost of football and it becomes a another matter entirely paavo nurnie might be just another of 0 those foreigners but the flying finn has sped across the printed page too often not loot to be pretty well known b by y this time to the university of california where she mae was a student she was known as bliss helen wills but the whole world has followed the fortunes of little poker face not so no long ago gertrude ederle meant no more than the name of any other girl swimmer who had a few records to her credit but slie she emerged from a baptism in the alie english channel with the name of trudy and the name by which 99 per cent of us know her nicknames Nickname sl I 1 as characteristic tit of america as Is baseball or hot dog sandwiches or the movies perhaps the fact that we are a sports mad people accounts for the fact that we are given to thinking in terms of nicknames or there may tie be a more historic reason mr air webster defines a nickname as a name dame given in derision or familiarity but long ago we dropped that derision part of it and retained the familiarity to widen which WO we added fondness perhaps it was one of the natural developments of the growth of a democracy we declared that hat all men are born free and equal and have the inalienable right to free and easy methods of addressing each cacti other of course during the early years of the republic while the aristocratic tradition still prevailed we so free and ea easy y it we used nicknames at all it was for some revolutionary military hero such as swamp fox marlon marion or mad blad anthony wayne but not in speaking about the president of 0 the united states who would have the flying finn be been wn so bold as to refer to george washington with a shorter even though tt A were a more affectionate name came what headline writer if they had bad had headline writers la in those days dar would have had bad the temerity to call president adams john or even to refer to democrat thomas jefferson Jeff urBon as tom or jeff but when the virginia and massachusetts cl chu aristocrats were succeeded by a tennessee backwoodsman and the new jacksonian Jacks onlan democracy oame into power it grated on no ones one finer sensibilities to refer to president andrew jackson as old hickory a title albeit an affectionate one won in sundry battles with the indians and the british but jackson iva wag not the only man whom a military nickname was to carry into the white house there was waa william henry harrison who even though he was the scion of 0 a family of virginia aristocrats was better known as old tippecanoe than by his real name there was zachary taylor the old rough and ready of mexican war fame and as aa late as the last quarter century the rough rider of the spanish american war may have helped put theodore roosevelt in the executive mansion as much as did the affection ate teddy or the historic initials T it although he be had no military record to commend him to the electorate the man who came out of the illinois backwoods in 1860 needed none to win tor for him the rail splitter and honest abe were two nicknames well calculated to catch the public fancy until the simple name flame of abraham lincoln made him immortal but lest it be thought that a good nickname Is a sure asset in winning the presidency consider the list of men whose nicknames have appealed to the imagination of the populace and should have helped them on the road to the white house but there wore were henry clay known variously as aa harry of the west the mill boy of the slashes and the grent compromiser stephen A douglas dougl s the little giant john 0 fremont the pathfinder daniel webster black dan and the expounder of the constitution ution winfield scott old fuss and feathers george B mcclellan little mac alac find and the young napoleon eon winfield scott hancock the superb james 0 eta elaine ine the plum d knight and william jennings bryan the boy orator of the platte all of whom aspired and aspired in vain rain cut but if the popularity of nicknames in politics has declined in recent years the Iner increasing easing popularity of sports has more than made up for that loss naturally the catl national onal pastime has haa given n A 4 if t 0 Q the tha galloping ghost chert us the greatest number ot of national heroes whose nicknames are household words christy mathewson Is dead but the same name of 0 batty and big 1319 six will last as long as there are men living who saw that great pitcher in action it Is said that his fame was waa so BO great that one ona morning the mall man brought to hin him a letter which lind had traveled across the continent the only mark on it was a big figure 8 6 on the address side the great baseball pitcher may be the hero of tile the hour but when bla big arni arm loses its cunning then the crowd soon targets forgets unless he lias bag had a popular nickname to ox fix his personality la in the mind of the fan so christy MR MA la is almost unique in the history of baseball they may soon farget the man on the mound but the man who pulls them out of their seats when lie he slams one into the bleachers or over the fence for what the sports writers call a circuit clout well that s a different matter of course theres only one home run king but you dont j have have so 0 o use that nama dame in speaking of george 1 terman herman ruth cf the new york american league hemn just JUA say easy babe Bilin bambino taino or sultan of swat and anyone wll will know whom you mean time was when tyrus raymond cobb held tho the same position in public esteem that mr ruth does perhaps that was because lie wits was known as the georgia peach and even the fact that lie Is not now the great baseball player he once was tills this veteran of amuny years service Is still good elou enough it 0 a hold a position on an a major league team and ty Is bill a tile nickname k n a me th that at in mean e it n 9 one man slid and only one oc to the fan Fist lana also has ha its lt long roll of nicknames beginning with the great and one and only john I 1 L sullivan toe for whom john L was sufficient to identify him at any time although he was wa also known as the boston strong boy pugilism has known the following james J corbett gentleman ent leman bob ruddy bob or the kangaroo jack johnson ul artha sam langford the boston tar baby battling nelson the durable dane harry greb the pittsburgh windmill fred fulton the plastered plasterer jess wit lard the man mountain or the pot tawa giant john HarrI harrison am V TWO u v x N the georgia peach dempsey tte the manassa SI anassa mauler t georges carpentier Car the orchid sian and louis angel firpo U the ie wild bull ull of the pampas football has furnished some bome great individual stars of course but tor for some reason or other popular nicknames never clung to them that IN Is until one harold grange streaked across gridiron history and left behind him the titles of the galloping ghost the red rover or just red eed team nicknames however have been popular and more enduring who will soon forget the leo four ur horsemen of notre noire dame who rode roughshod oer it a grent great army team to win that title or the praying colonels of center college col leee who sprang prang into sporting fame when they humbled the mighty crimson of harvard virtually every college has its nickname based upon the colors ot of the school or some hil linal mascot but few enjoy ene the picturesque descriptive names such boch as the golden tornado of georgia tech tho the green wave of T tulane ne or the thundering ilerd of the un university I 1 versify of southern california in other sports nicknames are not nit so common there are a few which applied to tile the outstanding exponents ot of their arts have given them national renown ar ac indian once saw a girt named helen wills play tennis and was so BO impressed by the fact that regardless gard less of how the tide of battle ran her countenance remained immobile called her little poker face those who have seen charlie paddock run ran recognize the appropriateness of the th fastest human and american runners manors who saw only the heels of peeve paavo nural can tell you why he la Is called the flying finn tennis also hat hal its if big bill and little BIU for 13 I 1 V little poker face tilden and johnson respectively and the comet for the brilliant maurice malou mcloughlin alln but bat for alluring alliteration la in nickname nomenclature lature has anyone ever yet in nil all different realms of sport beena been able to conjure up the equal of the P bounding loun ding basque of biarritz BIar ritz tor for jelin jean Boar aitra the french tennis champion 1 |