Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-07-25
A GEM OF A LIBRARY.
IT'S WONDERFUL SCHEME IN COLOR
TONE AND CLASSICS.

TONE AND CLASSICS.
The DcliEhtful Harmony of the SUR
roundinEs Was Only Excellc,l by
the Ingenuity of the Twelve Vol
ume Edition of Ennius.
ST. Louis professor who makes q
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 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 ret
things fixed up" After a decent in
terval allowed for the fixing up the
professor called, and as the gentleman
of the house was momentarily cngac.
! 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
eases 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,
~ twelve volumes and that each al-
thor's works constituted set of the
same number. Homer, twelve vol
umcs; Sophocles. twelve; SO also with
-sescllylus. Ei,ript.ce. Haso.Iotus. Thu
cydii!es and even lhs,nc.itl.;, 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-
! laps was; his refcNicn. and. rising. he
stepped to the next case. and on the
top shelf here was Ennius i'm twelve
volumes. heading Il long line of most
| respectable Roman historians and
poets. WHATS this:' The professor
gave sta.t. for. although he knew
perfectly we'll that Ennii.s was the
first in time of the Latin poets, lie
knew also that there were only about
couple of dozen lines of him left and
tllat these had been preserved as quo
| tation$' i'm the work, of latei. writer's.
,i,,.,
heard of such Il thing. What in the
| world can i'll beg"
lie Glanced involfat:l!ly at the lock.
Bat there WAS ilo key. ANA while his;
marvel greater grew the door opened
and il! came his friend
Half an lioHr later, after old times
had hcen discussed and former friend;
recalled. the professor. who grew more
and more curious to find OFT how any
commentaries could expand twenty o.
thirty lines of %n CO.! 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 tllir.
| ty lines of his poems are known to en-
list. have great curiosity to know
What this can be. Is 1t a commentary.
history or if not. what is it:"
! Iii:, friend smiled .'Oh, That's lit
tic idea of my wife. You see, she has
Il taste for Latin and Greek stuff like
that, and when we Went to buy books
for OR library she determined to have
IL Greek case aud 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.
bics alongside the others, so she would
not take 'cll.
'But having her heart set on filling
| up the Greek and Latin eases. she kept
| worrying about them until finally she
hit on Il great idea. The ladies always
do, YOU know, if you give ON time
| enough.
'Sshe took her idea to the binder ana
told him the exact length OF the
shelves and Their height. The binder
| grinncd q little to himself as she eX-
4 planned, but he was not the man to
lose Il job, so he took Il lot of thick
| pine boards, trimmed one side so that
| 1T bulsed regularly like the backs of
books, and she Went to Il library some
where and got a list of names for him
to put on tie backs, and he came and
| tackled in the boards, and so she filled
| ;p her Greek and Latin cases in sets
of twelve volumes each, twenty four
volumes OH every board, and was per.
fcctly satisfied. 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, I hope. professor, you admire
the SETS" said the lady. aren't they
lovcly:'
Perfectly lovely, madam! echoed
the professor.
"4And don't you think it's a good
idea;" rejoined 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" murmured the profess
or, and the subject was dropped, but
he is still wondering how much lower
classical learning will sink after that
twelve volume edition of Ennius. St
Louis be-Democrat.