Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-11-03
NO. 40.
Paper weights and Iukstand..

| Paper weights and inkstands. pretty and
costly trifies although they be, are modern
in their workmanship and design. and sug-
sestS nothing but Paris, and Paris with
| memories OF the Second Empire vet hang
ing about her. What do you, with your
| pretty jargon about ponlander and clocked
stockings, your chatter of pilasters and in
cised work, your latticed window panes
and panelled walls and ceilings, care for
the Zulus, or for Mexican onyx, that you
should dip your ink from head of the one,
and guard your loose papers with the otheri
that you want is a bit of Roman bronze
| that shall show that you have made the
grand tour, and have put the finishing
touch TO your education US gentlewOman,
and shall serve as a text to the classic al
iusions with which you are going TO inter
land your letters, tenderly comparing your
self to Aria, and John to Brutus or Cato
or some other Roman to whom
he Is as like Us he is TO
Hercules. As you want the things, OF
course they have come and are already in
the shops, and when you ask yoCr father
for the money TO buy them you will be
brought back to tLenineteenth century very
quickly, but YOU will remember Cicero's
daughter and will coax until YOU have your
way, and then comes the more difficult
task of selecting. What shall it be I Here
Is little temple of Vesta in green bronze,
and if you sacrilegiously take the little
dame on the roof between your thumb and
finger and lift it off you will find little
well OF ink IN the place where the statue
OF the goodness once stood. Here is tiny
Cupid audaciously playing with one of the
Thunderer's eagles, the two sitting on the
cover of an inkstand supported by lambs
heads and here is 8 pair Of inkStands sur
mounted by a simperin5 Venus and q riot
Gus Bacchus. Then there are larger ink
stands, baby Hercules strangling the
snaky invaders OF his bed forming the orns-
ment of the cover, and the twelve labors in
low relief embellishing the sides. Then
there are seals, with Pan nursing the infant
Bacchus, and satyrs occupying the place
of handles, ald some Of more modern de-
sign, with a wicked looking devil in the
place of the old gods. The proper paper.
knife to accompany these seals is double
edged dagger with tiny classic figure for
a handle.
The paper weights are various in design,
some being spheres of agate or alabaster
spheres upon which a figure is lightly pois-
ed; but the best for your purpose are those
which represent ruins The smallest Of
these is Byron's ''nameless column with
buried base, which has been quite un-
earthed since Childe Harolds time, and
now stands as it did when the exarch OF
Ravenns set it up to the nemuryOf Phocas,
the Roman emperor VINO least deserved
monument. The two columns that yet
remain OF the temple of Vespasian, the
three Corinthian pillars that were once
par. OF the fame OF Castor and Pollux, and
the eight that mark the site of the old tem-
pie OF Saturn, are the Larger paper weights,
and 1t will be 50 easy as you look at them
TO delude yourself into thinking that when
you saw them it was as q true and loyal SUBJ
ject Of Queen Anne, and that while your
father puzzled over the'' 'S6,latrS pOpUiUs-
qUe ROmdnrs incendio cOnscmptUm-
on the architr.ve OF the eight
you who knew no Latin stood
aloof and puzzled not your heads as to
''DicO EespdsidnO' follows or
not, although In fact you discussed the
question IN lively way, and conned the
arguments for and against Becker with great
Zeal. Last OF all, if you want memorial
Of modern Rome, there is ST. Peter, US he
sits and has sat tor Centuries to receive tie
respectful salutes OF the faithful and the
gibes of the unbelievers, of whom of course
you must be one, for in your time, or in the
lime of your clothes, Church and State are
one. and as u subj ct OF Q Ieen Anne, your
respect for Christian Rome must be small
In proportion as your reverence for ancient
Rome is great. lou are going TO LOOK very
pretty among your bronzes, you Lnow,
and what sweet things you are going TO
write TO Strephon with the ink from that
temple of Vestai and when they are fin-
lshed, how nicely you will seal your billet,
melting the wax by the flame OF little
bronze lamp, and alter you have impressed
yOur chosen device upon it, you Will ring
one Of those Csliini bells for your black
amoor to take it away. Alas, your black
amOor is white and has au unmistakable
accent, and your Roman visions vanish
with heri Not until she has closed the
IGOR ca3 you tnd your way back to dream
and, but the bronzes do their best 10 aid
fou, and soon you are once more in the
eacup time of hoop AMI hood.