480 
RURAL HOURS. 
Quebec," and who was also one of the fathers of the State he 
named. Louisiana, called after the great Louis, and Florida, of 
Spanish origin, are both good in their way. Happily, the remain- 
ing names are all Indian Avords, admirably suited to the purpose ; 
for what can be better than Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, &c., &c. ? 
New York, at present the most populous State in the republic, 
is in this respect the most afflicted part of the country. The 
name of the State itself is unfortunate in its association with the 
feeble James, while the combination of the adjective JSfeiv, with 
the brief old Saxon word York, seems particularly ill-judged. To 
make the matter worse, the fault is repeated in the title of the 
largest town of the Union, both State and city bearing the same 
name, which is always a great mistake, for it obliges people, in 
writing and speaking, to specify Avhich of the two they mean, 
Avhen either is mentioned. In fact, it destroys just half the ad- 
vantage of a distinctive name. 1'he Dutch were wiser : they 
called the town New Amsterdam, and the province New Nether- 
lands. In old times, when the capital town ruled a whole de- 
pendent country, it was natural that the last should be known by 
the name of the first ; Rome and Carthage, Tyre and Athens, 
could each say, " L'etat, c'est moi !" and more recently, Venice, 
Genoa, Florence, Bern, and Geneva, might have made the same 
boast ; but we Yankees have different notions on this point : 
cockneys and countrymen, we all have the same rights, and the 
good city of New York has never yet claimed to eclipse the whole 
State. The counties of New York are not quite so badly served : 
many of them do very well ; but a very large number of the towns 
and villages are miserably off in this respect, and as for the town- 
