Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-04-01
INSCRIPTIONS ADOPTED.
Old Custom of Notices Over Fireplaces
and in Libraries Grows in
Favor Again.

L
and in Libraries Grows in
Favor Again.
1t is an old, old custom to place an in
scription above the fireplace Dining
room and library notices are usually in
teresting as indications of the character
of the owner of the house. In a certain
scrapbook there is a collection of in
scriptiOns suitable for the library mantel.
Many can be traced To descriptions of
authors homes; some have been copied
from Old-fashioned houses and others
have been obtained in most unexpected
ways. For instance, this one, East,
West, Hame'S Best though undoubted-
ly favorite old Enolsh sentiment, was
first brought to the notice of the col
lector on the cover of Il magazine de-
voted to the nome arts.
Above a certain Brooklyn library fire.
place is this favorite motto, done in
typography On an oak panel:
Old wood to burn,
Old wine to drink.
Old books to read
Old friends to tru-t.
Mark Twain'S old Hartford home has
been described in print very often Ac-
cording To such description, in the spa
cous room used as library was a fine
old oak mantel brought from Scotland,
with this inscription in brass: THE or
nament of Il house is the friends who
freqcunt it" Fine as the sentiment is,
there Is clumsy sound about the predi-
cate of the sentence, 50 that one inclines
to keep thinking it is not grammatical.
even after one has been assured that it
is all right
Eiske for the library mantel in the beau
tiful new home, which was just completed
at the time of his death, was in Latin:
Disco ut semper yicturus; vive ut cras
moriturus, which is, when translated:
Learn as il TO live forever; live as if to
die tomorrow. Lovers of Dickens never
tire of reading about his Gad's Hill home
and the fine hall of the old Elizabethan
house, where hung an illustrated inscrip-
ton to the effect that This house, Gad's
Hill place, stands on the summit of
Shakespeare Gad's Hill. ever memora-
bic for its association with Sir John Fal-
staff in his noble fancy, But, my lads,
my lads, tomorrow morning by / o'clock
early be at Gad's Hill; there are pilgrims
going to Canterbury with rich offerings
and traders riding to London with fat
purses. L have wizards for you all. You
have horses for yourselves
Notices referring directly TO books are
often found in libraries. Here is one
from Cicero: Books are the food of
youth and the delight of old age" A
terse sentiment but one full of thought
is Laws die; books never"
Now and then one finds delightful
room in fiction. Some of the collectors
quainteSt notices were borrowed from
that fine old room in Carnegie Lodge.
the home Of the family of Carnegies.
whom Ian Maclaren" has made famous.
Here is short one:
A nice wye and back doore
oft maketh a rich man poore.
Somewhat out of the ordinary is this
motto, intended by an architect for Il
room which he planned to be ideal:
Here build with human thoughts q
shrine"
The abandoned farm house, when re-
modelled. should contain mt least one
open fireplace, Often these old houses
have Il brick fireplace in every room,
with narrow shelf above and cupboaris
at the sides, and sometimes the seeker
for country home finds one of these
houses just spoiled because, though orig
nally there were fireplaces enough, some
owner has been foolish enough to have
them all bricked up. The brick-faced
fireplace, painted a dull terra Gotta or
light tan, presents Il good background
for the white or black glazed letters,
which can be found at New York sta
toners, this being an easy and mex
pensive way of satisfying ones desire
home in Brooklyn there are several brick
tireplaces. On one is a couplet from
I0ngfellow; on another, one from Emer-
son and on still another. one from Whit
tier each having beside the lettered lines
Il photograph of the author, whose
thought has been used.
For the real old country house. an old
style of lettering is quite in keeping
with the plain, simple fireplace usually
found there. Fortunate are those who
can boast of hreplaCeS where the stored
tiles are still in good condition. In
Massachusetts, there is an old house,
part of which was built in 1862 and
which in recent years has been used as
a wayside hOStelry for summer tourists.
On the side of the wall, forming a right
angle with the fireplace. this motto has
been inscribed in old style lettering:
/ pass within by We friendly blaze of We
huge back log and ye pine trees cone. BY
We chimney huge in We quaint old hall l sit
in We cleaning and muse alone.
Another motto suitable for old style
letters is this:
Look TO the lowered chimneys which 81 N
be the wind pipes of good hospitalitie.
There are many other fireplace mot
toes, but the following is suitable for
any room, and it does not require the
gift of imagination to see. aS one reads
the lines picture of great cheer and
comfort While the teakettle, hanging
from the hob or crane over a drift-wood
fire, seems literally to sing it:
Blow high, blow low;
Not all the rudeSt winds that blow
Can quench our hearth-tres ruddy glow
Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Tom Burrows. the noted Australian
club Swiuger. broke his and all other rec