Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-09-05
A GEM OF A LIBRARY
.1s WONDERFUL SCHEME IN COLOR
TONE AND CLASSICS.
Tie Delightful Harmony of the Sur
rount;ings N!aa Only Exccllcil by
tie Ingenuity Of the Twelve Vol
I,r.if> l,ditlOn oP v.c,,.r,.

roundings Was Only Exccllcd by
] tic Ingenuity Of the Twelve Vol
unlc Edition of Ern:us,
A st. Louis professor who makes q
speciality of the classic languages and
Is particularly fond OF the Latin lit
c'atGle WAS treated not laa- since to
q surprise lac is not l:,.:ely seen to for
st.
81 oil friend who for man; wears;
Tcsli!ca iii distant state not loa.;., ago
moved to this city and seat to the pro
fcssoH notice %! his arrival Tie twain
met downiowm by appointment. and
The new ARRIVAL invitel the p;.o.c,so.'
u ca! 1T Lis l.o:.,e las soon 4; We &c.
shrgi fixed up After q decent il!
tcival allo.;el for the t..;.llg u.p Tax
/ professor called. and as t.ie ;,entcman
OF ne kol'e VIZ; mo:mcatarili' cnga.
Ell Tie man of l.ircii Latin was usher
cd into his fiien,'s library, where he
sat delighted with the elegant appear
allcc Of the superb carved oak book
cases and The long rows of ;rlt ANA
Russia. His chair was close to one
OF tle eases. and, g!.lncing round, he
noted with keen satisfaction the names;
of Greek authors who had been hi.
lifelong library companions. He also
noted that each half of each case to
the nilddlc of the door contained exact,
~ twelve volumes and that each au-
thor's works constituted a set Of the
same number Homer. twelve vol
rncs; SaHaoc!cr. twelve; so also With
.s.sc',yi':s;. I'lsii,i.s.. IIs.alotus. Thu
csdi'.c' and evCi III 9G..it..s. each La,l
its appointed na&l.cr.
hi; Is raciiliai'." said the professor
to himself for lie knew that some of
these authors wrote little ami others
MUCH "INtensivc commentaries per
haIs. vas his reflection. and, rising. he
stepped to the next case. and on the
top she'll here WAS lsnnius In twelve
volumes, heading Il long line of most
respectable ltonl;in historians and
poets. WHATS tliis:' The professor
gave a start. for, although lie knew
perfectly we'll that Ennius was the
first in time of the Latin poets, he
knew also that there We're only about
Il couple OF dozen lines of him left and
tiiat these had been preserved as quo
tations i'm the works of later writer's.
"E:lnius i'm twelve volumes never
heard of such a thing. What in the
world can it be-"
lie glanced involuntarily at the lock.
But tllere was no key. And while his
marvel greater grew the door opened
and in came his friend
Half :n hour later after old times
had been discussed and former fricnda
recalled. Vic ursfsxssr, wAs grew more
aAl moe cRsions to End out how any
commentator ssuld expand twenty or
thirty liMe~ OF "A old time post into
twelve largo volumes, brought NY the
subject
EH tie way, notice you have an
ltNni,r.; here In twelve volumes. Now,
remembering that only twenty or tlrir-
ty lines of hia poems are known to OK
st. have a great curiosity to know
Want this can he. Is 1t !, commentary,
history "a, IL not. what is NJ
His friend slAiled oh ..,Sl's lit
lie idea OF my wife. You ~a. s,,e has
taste for Latin and Greek stuff like
tl..t, and when we went to buy books
FOR OR library she determined to have
Il Greek case and Il Latin case, but
when We looked at the Greek and Latin
books she fNlId they were OF all sizes,
s@..e too bis, TO so In the shelves and
some 50 little t!ls1t they locked like ba.
,lcs alongside the others, SO she would,
aot take en-.
"Iiut having her Heart set OH filling
.!p tie Geek a.ld Latin cases, she kept
worry ING about then until finally she
hit on IL great IDEA. The ladies' always
40, YOU know. if you give 'cm time
enough.
'slla took her idea to the binder ana
foll li,n the exact length OF the
shelves ana Their height The hinder
5rlnncd q little TO himself as She OK
3iaincd, but he wns not the man to
lose Il job. so he took lot Of thick
pine boards, trimmed one side Sd that
1t bulged regularly like the backs of
books, and she went to a library sunlc-
where and got Il list of names for him
to put Oh tile backs. and he came and
tackled i'm the boards. and so she filed
lp heI Greek and Latin eases in sets
Of twelve volumes each twcnty-four
voi"Mes on every board. and was per
fectly satisfied. l Cont know what
she did with the kegs. All, here she
is now! Allow me to Introduce my
friend, Professor Blank. was lust
telling him. my dear, OF your little
idea of the Greek and Latin cases."
ooh, hope. professor, you admire
the sets" said the lady. aren't they
.ovcly:'
Perfectly lovely, MADAME echoed
the professor.
"And don't you think it's good
idea:' rcjoned the lady. you see
nobody ever reads those old books
anyhow. but the uniform sets lock
pretty. and the red contrasts we'll with
The carpet"
Beautifully" murmurcd the profess.
or and the subject was dropped, but
he is still wondering how much lower
classical learning will sink after that