Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1900-07-06
ANCIENT eARRET NO MORE.
A Place THAT Ii No Longer Liter
ature's storehouse Nor tho
Den of GcniuH.


One OF the many estimates illustrat-
ing that the fashion of the world
changeth Is in the new estimate set by
those who built houses on the garret.
; In modern houses the garret is made
much of and Is as carefully finished off
as any of the rooms in the house, while
in the old-time the garret was the un-
finished part of the house, the remain
der. 1t was the farthest from the liv-
ing and grand rooms of the house. In
tenement houses 1t was the cheapest
part of the house, unless the cellar or
; basement be excepted, says the Kan
sas City Star.
| The garret in private houses was the
receptacle OF things worn. wasted or
retired from active service. 1t was n
refuge for human creatures who might
come under the head of disused and
! left 1t was in those poor ancient days
of the garret that it nude its great
name, for associated in the garret were
poverty and genius. In the days of
Pope authorship became closely linked
with the garret. DR.. Johnson, Dick
Steele and Goldsmith had their garret
days in Grub street, and the 'high liv-
ing" associated with high thinking"
existed in other days and other cap
ltals, else the world would not have
known Beranger and his famous song
of "The Garrett" with its melodious
refrain of "Give me my garret and my
aO' years"
The garret In the city will be found
spoken of in literature generally as as
sociated with poverty, sometimes with
crime, but not so in the country. The
garrett of the village and of the farm
Is another sort of place. This has no
dark, or sordid, or painful memories.
It was rude and unfinished, one large
room. divided only by such partitions
ms might be made of carpeting and the
like. but it was not associated with pri-
vation. Boys who slept in the garrets
slept well. even though the stars shone
through the roof, and in winter the
vagrant snow sifted through on the
counterpane. The sleepers in the gar
ret had the great advantage of hearing
the music of the rain on the roof. sup
ported by the heavy bass of the thun-
der.
The rural garret was the storehouse
of things past, the place where the rel
les of the last generation were hid
away. To children-the last comers
in the world-it was, therefore, Her
culaneum or Pompeii, or even longer
secreted Troy. In II were the uniforms
of a militia which long ago crossed a
stream darker than Washington's Del
aware; dresses short in waist and mar
row and long in skirt, and even
"bruised arms" were hung up there.
Books which had lost their covers and
interest to former generation were
consigned to garrets, to be read again
with glowing or filling eyes by young
discoverers.
The garret has lost its old tenants,
the authors. They have descended to
the first floor and the front room. Per-
haps they are not as near Heaven now
as in the former days. Literature has
grown a greater and more profitable
trade. The change is a good one, but
somehow greater names do not rise
than those made famous of yore in
close proximity 10 the rafters. The old
garret, however, in memory grows
brighter place than it was in fact
Some garrets fill up with a golden glow,