The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-01-11
A GEM OF A LIBRARY
ITS WONDERFUL SCHEME IN COLOR
TONE AND CLASSICS.

TIE Delightful Harmony of the Sur
roundings Was Only Excelled by
the Ingenuity of the Twelve Vol
ume Edition of Ennius.
A st. Louis professor who makes
speciality of the classic languages and
is particularly fond OF the Latin lit
erature was treated not long since to
surprise he is not Likely soon to for
get.
An old friend who for many years
resided in a distant state not long ago
moved to this city and sent to the pro-
fessor notice of his arrival The twain
met downtown by appointment, and
the new arrival invited the professor
to call at his home .as soon as we get
things fixed up" After a decent in
tervaI allowed for the fixing up the
professor called, and as the gentleman
of the house was momentarily engag-
ed the man of much Latin was usher
ed into his friends library, where he
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 cases. and, glancing round, he
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
ly twelve volumes and that each au-
thor's works constituted a set Of the
same number Homer, twelve vol
umes; Sophocles, twelve; so also with
Aeschylus, Euripides, Herodotus, Thu
cydides and even Theocritus, each had
its appointed number.
'eThis 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 refiexion, and, rising, he
stepped to the next case. and on the
top shelf here was Ennius in twelve
volumes, heading long line of most
respectable Roman historians and
poets. sWhat's this?" The professor
gave a start, for, although he knew
perfectly well that Ennius was the
first in time of the Latin poets, he
knew also that there were only about
a couple Of dozen lines of him left and
that these had been preserved as quo
tations in the works of later writer's.
"Ennius in twelve volumes! / never
heard of such a thing. What in the
world can it be?"
He glanced inyoluntarily at the lock.
But there was no key. And while his
marvel greater 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, notice you have an
Ennius here in twelve volumes. Now,
remembering that only twenty or thir-
ty lines of his poems are known to ex-
list, have great curiosity to know
what this can be. Is it commentary,
history or if not, what. is it?"
His friend smiled. ooh, that's a lit
tie idea of my wife. You see, she has
, II taste for Latin and Greek stuff like
that, and when we went to buy books
for our library she determined to have
a Greek case and a Latin case, but
when we looked at the Greek and Latin
books she found they were of all sizes,
some too big to go in the shelves and
some so little that they looked like ba-
bies alongside the others, so she would
not take 'em.
''But having her heart set on filling
up the Greek and Latin cases, she kept
worrying about them until finally she
hit on great idea. The ladies always
do, you know, if you give 'em time
enough.
''Ehe took her idea to the binder and
told, him the exact length of the
shelves and their height. The binder
grinned little to himself as she ex-
planned, but he gwas not the man to
lose a job, SO he took lot of thick
pine boards, trimmed one side so that
it bulged regularly like the backs of
books, and she went to library some
where and got list of names for him
to put on the backs and he came and
tackled in the boards, and so she filled
up her Greek and Latin cases in sets
of twelve volumes each, twenty-four
volumes on every board, and was per
fectly satisfied. l don't know what
she did with the keys. All, here she
is now! Allow me to introduce my
friend, Professor Blank. I was just
telling him, my dear, of your little
idea of the Greek and Latin cases"
"Oh, 1 hope, professor, you admire
the setsv' said the lady. aren't they
bvely?"
Perfectly lovely, madam" echoed
the professor