Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1868-06-03
Sj,rCtdCfcS.

| believe in spoctacles, and think the
inventor of them deserves the same
hearty cncomium that honest Sancho
Panza bcstows upon the man who in
vented sleep.
Who of all the millions who use spec
taclcs can tell me the story of Spnas
life? o ungrateful and ungenerous
mortals! You write the biographies
and cherish the memories OF "thc plot
ters and disturbers of the world" but
know nothing Of and care nothing for,
the best and truest bencfuctor OF the
race.
This Pisan monl-this Alexander de
SSpina-must have been | maintain) Il
loving and lovablc person, and a favor
ite with all in thcAbby, from the NIGH
~ abbott TO the humble porter. Al
though he dcVoutly said his "holy
things" each morn and cventide, he
evidently believed that the best way to
make himself acceptable TO the Lord
was to do something to benefit his fell
low men. Mcthinks behold him pain
fully and thoughtfully Observing the
vain and trutilc attempts Il venerable
old monk is making to see the letters of
Ihr Book
Is there not, he wonders. something
in Gods wonderful world which viii
help the impaired vision or brighten
the blurred and misty page? At last.
after years of study and prayer and eX
perimcnt-iust as his own sight is grow
ing dim and poor-Spina produces the
first pair ofspcctaclcs ever seen in this
world.
Spina's invention was regarded as
Veritable godsend. 1t was described
and commended in the pulpit. At his
success st. Glare hung his head in
~hol,n oI,H from, fhof dow tn I.,.,
had but few worshipers or believers
The invention of spectaclcs removed
one Of the greatest tcrrors of old age. 1t
opened many a sadly closed book, and
set many an idle pen in motion. 1t put
needles into old willing hands, and
herewith happiness into old hearts
It hardly seems possible, and yet it is
undoubtedly the fact, that mankind had
to do without spectacles till near the end
oi the thirteenth century. How Paul
would have priced a pair OF spectaclcs!
How did Methuselah get along with
out spectacles during the last two or
three hundred years of his life? Eve
herself, in her old age, must have felt
the want of spectaclcs. De Quincy
somewhere says that the ancients went
to bed early, because tt cir mother earth
could not afford to give them candles.
| dare say the young folks OF antiquity
would have appreciated " long skies"
But to the elderly people whose sight
was poor they would have been cruel
aggravation The old gentleman could
not have read his book, nor the old lady
have piled her needle, by the candies
"mild light No candles. no novels
no newspapers! no spectacles All, that
antique world of which poets fable so
finely may have been II glorious world,
but
Better fifty years of Europe than cycle OF
Spectaces were il new thing in Chau-
GERS day, and / love to believe that the
old poet used them when writing the
Canterbury Tales. Shakespeare could
have said with his own Benedick, 81
can see yet without spectacles." But if
he had lived to a ripe old age, he would
probably have written new Hamlet,
and Macbeths by their help. Good ole
Bishop Hall wore glasses, and wrote /;
pious meditation on them. Swift fool
ishly vowed never to use spectacles
Rough old Johnson, though he did no
wear them, mentioned the name of thei
inventor with reverence as one of til,
greatest benefactOrs to society Burk,
rarely appeared in public without glasses
In Gillray's caricatures, you see thi
mighty rhetorician with spectacles OF
nose, and arms uplifted, hurting thun
derbolt of eloquence at the members o
the opposition.
If Spina, or somebody else, had no
invented spectacles Disraei could no
have written "The Curiosites of Liter
ature." Wordsworth, in his later years
was greatly beholden to glasses. Whel
Emerson saw him. in 1898, he was dis
figured with green goggles 'Twa
through pair of green spectacles tina
ThaclIeray looked upon life, and saw am
noted the sins and SORROWS Of "Nanit
Fair" Franklin's spectaclcs, rs som
biographer or other has remarked, wer
the spectacles of a philosopher. The
were not such spectacles as We're sold b.
the optic ans of London and Paris, bu
were made expressly for him, accordin
to theory Of his own. In travelling
he carried two pair of glasses; zone fC
reading the other for surveying distaI
Objects Franklin could have write
eloquently and approximately of spec
tacles. They Were the best and mos
trusted friends of his vigorous and beau
tiful old age. He evidently took priC
in them, and loved to appear in I'll
gay salons of Paris with "the spectacl,
of wisdom on his nose" - Ati0nt
Monthly,
CUREFoR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS