National Republican., 1882-01-21
ABOUT SIGN-BOARDS.
CURIOUS AND INTERESTING FACTS.
4 History That win Bear Reading-Signs as Heir.
looms In Familes-A Few Saniples-The
sgn.Boards In This Country
Business Enterprises,

The history OF sign boards is both curious and
interesting, and one is astonished to find what mn
important part these gaudy, glded, would be
works Of art have had In giving the name to towns
and localities. Persons accustomed to travelling
through the rural districts of the older States can
recall one or more towns or villages the names OF
which can be traced directly to some obscure tav.
ern with an imposing sign swinging from an ele.
vated frame, announcing that there might be
found entertainment for man and for beast. AT
what date sign-boards were first used is not pre-.
cisely known In uncoycring the hidden treas.
ures of Pompeii and Herculaneum there have been
discovered signs upon certain houses which evil
IDENTIFY belonged to the trades and professions such
as shoemakers, bakers, doctors, &C. but they IN no
manner resembled the signs which in later years
A very interesting book was published IN London
about 1867, written by Mcssrs. LarwOod and Hot
ten, giving q connected history Of sign. boards,
The writers claim that
DURING THE MIDDLE AGEs
the castles Of the nobility becumeduring the tenn
porary absence Of the family stopping places for
weary travellers, where they might obtain food and
rest These castles hnd the crest or arInOrial en-
sign Of the family embnzened upon them In con-
spcuous places, inst as the residence of the Brit.
ish Minister in this city has the coat of arms of
Great Britain upon the carriage entrance. These
crests In course of time became known by the
most prominent object in it-as II rcd lion, blue
sIand nn, r or ne,1o as "Hse NE
"Red IionW "The Crown :" 'FTbs Rising sun"
"The White Horse" sc. The fame of these houses
reaching the towns and cities. men engaged In a
similar business very naturally adopted them as
the sign for their own houses In this manner
the custom increased until there sprung upR
rivalry among proprietors to fhd which could
produce the showiest, newest md most taking
sign Many whimsical and curious combinations
were the result, some of them with very little
sense or meaning in them quaimness and costi
ness being the only attraction. These signs be:
came heirlooms IN families, and were handed
down from father TO son as possessing value Sec
ond only TO the name.
IN LONDON AND oTlIEL CITIES
before houses were numbered the only way Of To-
eating private houses was by their nearness TO or
distance from certain public houses As for in
stamce, Mr.. PickwiCk lived three doors from the
" Mermaid" or one square from the Kings
Anns,' or around the corner from the "White
Horse" and SO on. After exhausing the badges
of distinguished iamilies-which were often misap-
plied-sign makers resorted to odd combinations,
mythologic0l heroes and divinities, figures OF
writers aud poets, history Doth sacred and pro-
fanel, flowers, and animals for their subjects
Punnlng signs were also used. In England, on an
Tun" which was supposed to be an ntimation &c
axe for beer. In 1856 sign. board was put up by
a Matchmaker In Oxford England, with the fol-
lowing inscription upon II: " Here - are Fab
rcated and Renovated, Troehilac Horologues
Portable and Permanent Linguaculous or Taci
turnal, whose CirCumgyrations are performed 10y
internal Spiral Elastics or external Pendulou,
Pumbagcs: Diminutves Simple or Compound
invested with Aurum or Argent Integuments"
"uoLE IN ruE WALL
L. - ,.u, ~, IT, - No., ,, .Ii, Il, Y,,
WY oiu ssn anu nnu s 9rlgtli IN ioIluq,
IRON tnS t mNern Ueig situalSu DenIIld iie haii m
hne oI puliuihgs anu nnn 70 pe hpproacnea Dy -,
Passnge Pg, Er 1Uie no., ~ tnS wan OF thG iLoht mouse
@ @hneienuy Wy we slEn W MHs nov Paiin'eI, put M Wa
I vaI,Su W out & oi woon % MN eg nug Wuhln nooP ln
@ MlleIs vi VIC pooh Ieeicu W npuNe uiuhe INV
peen lslenlug 70 SOME stIhnee htorles OF AneIica
ior leieItng ~ 10 u,is Iat,el sigh tney say; AZ is
ot Ss ~. .e ih IT Ool VI iivuu
| JUST htlhCheu w the Iouhe VI ltepTescnthuNes u
- hhvMn " osS H tiisy hellVa
| Poluciuns Us 'he hoie III uie wall
THE THREE BALLS OF THE PAwNBRoKERs
sign are supposed 10 have been taken from the lowe
part the coat ofthe Dukes of Medic fron
| whose states and from Lombardy nearly all of th
| early bankers came. At first the balls wer
blue and IL is only within late years that they hav
! been made to represent gold The BARRIERS pole
| supposed to have resulted from the corruption Q
a word BARRIERS originally had the figure of
head or poll as the sign of their trade, In tn
course Of time this became pole, and as the earl
BARRIERS practiced bleeding and leechiDg in addi
| ton to shaving and cutting hair, the pole soon re
ccived the line of red, indicating that blood let
| ting or bleeding was a part OF their business
"The Abrahams Bosom is probably the most re
markabe name that was ever given to an inn
and was found on n sign board in Worcestershire,
| England. If such a suggestion would not be con
| sf1 md 1iyh ,,f
s,,,,irts n S,,sfng yrith tbn Lnn,ylada nna ns +,