The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-11-20
BRING OUT THE LATIN DIcTioh-
ARIES.
Something for High School Scholars
to Puzzle over on the Saturday
Holiday.

Falls. a friend of mine, who resided In that
village. was in the habit Of visiting their
stock houses.at times, and. overhauling the
tons of printed matter often to be found
there. 1t was very dirty and dusty busi-
ness, and too often, the dirt and dust was all
that he carried away for his pains; but now
and again, it would be his good fortune to
light upon some yellow old copy of the
classics, or some quaint and rare old volume,
that fell from the press two or even three
centuries ago, the ancient look, and smell
and feel of which warmed the very cookies
Of his heart, and sent him to his humble
home happier than If he had found green
back In two figures, although the poor fellow
saw and handled of the smallest denomin-
alton of these. too few alas! for his own
this, did not purpose to narrate in detail,
the straitened fortunes of my friend, he has
gone where the iron fingers Of want shall
never pinch him more, Porihg over the
other day, some OF these old musty treasures
OF his (Which l keep out Of tenderness for
his memory)-l cannot read the half Of
them, the most Of them being printed In
Latin and old French-I stumbled upon a
volume-very old and yellow Ii was, with dull
red edges, entitled "P. Ovidif Nasonis
Metamorphoseon." 1t was written in lingo
from which could deduce no sensible con-
clusion as to what 1t was all about, but
turning over its musty leaves. there tumbled
out half sheet Of paper, upon which / de-
tected some half effaced verses In rusty
characters which supposed to be Greek or
Latin, as 1 could make neither head nor tail
to them. Serawled at the bottom were a
few lines which did read after some effort,
Tor they were In English. They were to the
following purport: June 23d, A. ID. 1875
The above lines were transcribed from the
Siricus, supposed to be canp0na or tavern,
In the city of Pompeii. 1t lthe poem seems
to have been scratched upon the stuccO with
some sharp pointed instrument by some
lounger who frequented such places In those
days, and Immediately below them was
grayed seemingly in another hand the fol-
lowing sentence: ."Otiosi locus Me non
est, discede morat0r."
Tres we're primo pueri,
In glaciem dun steterunt
y Eheul pertriste sic EVENT.,
UT nunquam eyenerunt.
Perlapsi siccum essent ST,
Temple We adfuissent,
sun gun d6fs aeGf fs5fHs q %sfagsssS faHSss non tum
Queis natl sunt, ct cui sunt non,
Attendte vos! o, mi;
Ut slent tuti peregre,
Servate tutos d0mi.
Being veritable son Of Jonathan, | was
very curious to find out the meaning of the
lines; and so, the next time | met our doc
tor, having great confidence in his skill and
learning, requested him to translate and
explain my troublesome riddle. He took il,
looked at it. turned it over, turned it tother
end up, smelt Of it, and finally said he be-
lieyed 1t was Latin: but that he had long
since forgotten the little he ever knew. and,
at his best, he never knew enough to render |
Ipt0 tOlQrahlQ EuUliCh hfa diplOnno
1t back to me, he recommended calling on the |
parson, who, having more time for study,
would doubtless, being less rusty In his
classic. studies, explain my puzzle. And,
noon, met our worthy minister as he was
returning from the shoemaker's, where he
had been to get Jennie's boots half-soled.
Now, Jennie Is his fayorite daughter,-a
heart disease half the lads iu the village;
even her saucy boots, as the parson carried
them carelessly dangling by their laces, for
the moment, put all thoughts of my purposed
questioning out of my mind; but l had re-
covered myself before we met. and, after the
usual inquiries Of the day, presented aud
explained how l had come by the rusty bit
of paper, which put into his hand, and So
lcited enlightenment as to its meaning. The
good man took off his hat. took. red
ported Cleveland and Thurman during
the last Presidential cOntesD and carefully
wiped his brow; then holding the paper at
arms length ho critically examined it-one.
two, three, five, ten minutes passed. but the
parson was still puzzled, and remarking
apologetically, that his sight was very un-
certain without his glasses. which he had
forgotten, he solennly returned the mystic
document to my hand, went his way, swing
ing Jennie's boots, and leaving YOUR humble
servant no wiser than before. Still one re-
source was left me; that evening the sewing
circle met with us, and we hoped and ex-
pected to be honored with the presence Of
the school master, who was sophomore in
one of out inland colleges. We were not
disappointed in our expectations; the dis
tinguished philomath dropped In about 8
O'Clock in The evening, and although differ
ing somewhat from college soph of 40 years
ago in appearance, yet he seemed quite pop
ular among the young girls, and although
his closely shaven(clipped / should have said)
head, made him look to me more like an as
pirant for pugilistic honors than for distinc-
tion in the field of letters. still / make 10
doubt he will in the distant and uncertain
future become distinguished alumnus Of
his Alma Mater.
1t was some time before was able to call
his attention to the matter which so occu-
pied my mind, but just at the close of our
lunch, l was fortunate enough to attract his
attention for a few moments, during which L
had brief opportunity to PROFOUND my
query. He looked for moment with no
little contempt upon the yellow and rumpled
bit of paper and its faded characters, and
brifiy informed me that college students of
the last quarter of the XIX century, did not
destroy their sight and addle their brains ov-
er dead and gone languages of dead and gone
nations, but II would like, he could give
me points Chats the proper term, Is it not?)
on or in the science of base ball and other
kindred matters, which 1t wi be difficult for
me to acquire from other sources. begged
his pardon for wasting his valuable time on
so trivial a matter and withdrew In confus-
ion. had about given up my quest for a
solution OF my enigma in despair when 1t
suddenly occurred to me that editors
were omniscient, or at least were supposed
| to be able to solve all problems, oompe-
tently critical in every and all branches of
literature, and finally satisfactory referees
for all questions in dispute from the most
abstruse point in theology, down to which is
the best seed to use In the production of
sweet corn. had thought at first of send
ing you the original documents, bat fearing
lest In the press OF more important business
you might neglect to return 1t, and not know
ing but 1t might be valuable bit of antiqu-
ity, finally concluded to send you an exact
copy, which L trust to see turned into read
able United States in your excellent pa
per" like as at the mint in my earlier days
saw smooth and undecipherable nine
pences, fourpences and quarters reissued as
bright and perfect dimes, half-dimes and
quarters.
| hope, Mr.. Editor, you will excuse all mis-
taxes, as this is my first effort In compost
tion, and although 1 have little hope
Of its ending otherwhere but In the
waste basket, yet there must
| always be beginning and a first time to all
| undertakings, and moreover, If don't try,
shall never see my name in print, an ambl-
| ton | have long cherished in secret. Now II
| this, my lucubration, should have the good
| fortune to find favor, have quite lot OF
old books, full Of queer and o9t-of-the-way
topics, treated Of In queer and 9ut,ot-the-
| way manner, which may be worth dipping
| into for the delectation Of some mousing old
| deliver into the musty and misty past, such
| as nv dead and gone friend was, to whom
| am Indebted for the curious old manuscripts,
| a copy of which send you, humbly entreat-
| ing the aid of you or some ofyour learned
readers to enlighten your humble and obliged
subscriber as TO the true inwardness" Of the
| TRANSCRIPTION from the door posts of the
| mansion which stands today, as 1t stood ON
that terrible day in A. ID, "a opposite the
| Gate Of Sirlcus in the dead city OF Pompeii.
Respectfully,
II. ID. ToRREY.