Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-02-07
A GEM OF A LIBRARY
i1s WONDERFUL SCHEME IN COLOR
TONE AND CLASSICS.

rount.ings Was Only Excelled by
the Ingenuity of the Twelve Vol.
unc Edition of Ennius.
A st. Louis professor who makes Q
speciality of the classic languages ant
is particularly fond of the Latin lit
esature was treated not long since Il
surprise he is not likely soon to for
get.
An old friend who for many wears
resided in distant state not long ac,
moved to this city and sent to the pro
fessor notice of his arrival. The twain
met downtown by appointment, an6
the new arrival invited the professo,
to call at his hone ..as soon as we re,
thing fixed up After decent in
terv;ll allowed for the fixing I'M Tho
professor called, and as the gentleman
OF the house was momentarily engas
ed the man of much LATIN was usher.
ed into his friends library, whore ht
sat delighted With the elegant appear
ance of the superb carved oak book
cases and the long rows of gilt and
Russia. His chair was close to one
OF The eases. and. slancing round. Inc
noted With Keen satisfaction the names
OF Greek authors who had been his
lifelong library companions. He also
noted that each half of each case to
| the middle of the door contained exact
~ twelve volumes and that each au
thor's works constituted Il set of the
same number. Homer, twelve vol
umes; Sophocles, twelve; SO also with
Aeschylus, Enripides. Herodotus. Thu
cydides and even Theakitus, each had
its appointed number.
This is peculiar" said the professor
to himself. for he knew that some of
| these authors wrote little and others
much. Extensive commentaries per
haps.' was his refieNion, and, rising, he
stepped to the next case. and on the
top shelf here was Ennius in twelve
volumes, heading a long line of most
respectable Roman historians and
poets. "What's this?' The professor
gave start, for, although lie knew
perfectly we'll that Ennius was the
first in time of the Latin poets, he
knew also that there were only about
couple of dozen lines of him left and
/ that these had been preserved as QUO
ta,ions i'm the works of later writers.
"Ennius in twelve volumes! never
heard of such II thing. What in the
world can it beg
He glanced involuntarily at the lock.
But there was no key. And willie his
marvel gieatcr grew the door opened
and in came his friend.
Half an hour later, after old times
had been discussed and former friends
recalled, the professor, who grew more
and more curious to find out how any
commentator could expand twenty or
thirty lines of an old time poet into
twelve large volumes, brought UP the
subject
BY the way. l notice you have an
Ennius here in twelve volumes. Now,
remembering that only twenty or thir-
~ lines OF his poems are known to OK
list, have a great curiosity to know
what this can be. Is 1T a commentary,
history or, if not, what is it?'
His friend smiled. "Oh, that's lit
tie idea Of my wife. You see, she has
taste for Latin and Greek stuff like
that, and when we went to buy books
for Our library she determined to have
Il Greek case and Latin case, but
when we looked at the Greek and Latin
books she found they We're of all sizes,
some too big to go in the shelves and
some so little that they looked like ba-
l,ics alongside the others, so she would
not take 'cn.
But having her heart set on filing
up the Greek and Latin cases, she kept
Worrying about them until finally she
hit OH a great idea. The ladies always
do, You know, if you give 'em time
enough.
.Shc took her idea to the binder and
told him the exact length of the
shelves and Their height. The binder
srinned q to himself rs she ex-
plained, but was not the man to
lose a job, 50 II took q lot of thick
pine boards, tri II me side so that
it bulgcl regul.. Il iise the backs of
books, and She went TO Il library some
where and got n list of names for him
to put OH the backs, and he came and
tackled in the boards and 50 she filed
up her Greek and Latin cases in sets
of twelve volumes each, twcnty-four
volumes On every board, and was per,
fcctly satisfied. l don't know what
she did with the keys. All, here she
is now! Allow me to introduce my
friend, Professor Blank. l was just
telling him. my dear, of your little
idea of the Greek and Latin cases"
"Oh, l hope professor, you admire
tie sets" said the lady. AREN'T they
lovely?"
Perfectly lovely, madame echoed
the professor.
"And don't you think it's good
idcn?" rejoined the lady. you see
nobody ever reads those old books
anyhow, but the uniform sets look
pretty, and the red contrasts we'll with
the carpet
Beautifully" murmured the profess
or, and the subject was dropped, but
he is ill wondering how much lower
classical learning will sink after that
twelve volume edition of Ennius.-St.
Louis Globe-Democrat
Gave Immediate Thanks.
THE first thing Columbus did on
landing in America was to kneel and
express his gratitude"