Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-21
Interest Revived In Its Appear
ance When FreehOlders
Flash" It on Badges.
by DUKE WELLINGTON

EIdSn IL OH DduSeS.
BY DUKE WELLINGTON
The great seal
NH COIN of the county of
@ :: J J: J; 7: J: !: ]:
| Essex. What does
| NI/N - NCM 1t look like? Do
~f N>M you know? No!
Well, you are not
" -" the only one. In
MN JLIZ fact there are
Wh<SXZ thousands ] ! e
~ OEc YOU In the coun-
ty, many of them
| doing business every day with the
county that could no more tell you
what an imprint of the county seal
| looks like than they could fly to Mars.
If you will glance at the cut you
will see just what the great seal of
| the county that the county clerk is
required to affix to all official docu-
ments look like. Neat and not gaudy
very nearly expresses 1t, don't you
| think so?
Just the figure of a rampant lion
IN an inner circle with Essex county"
and New Jersey at the top and
bottom respectively of an outer cir
Gle. No fuss or feather about that
seal Is there and yet 1t looks pretty
and most imposing when impressed
| Oh - ICb VI 6OAo SC1i rhl bhC bSSeoAA
of document.
Possibly an art critic might find
something to criticise in the lion,
and 1t must be remarked that the tail
with the big brush at the end looks
rather out of proportion to the re-
mainder of his body, and the artist
| that drew the lion must have been a
real red-blooded American, for just
| take notice of the name of the lion.
Nothing silky-haired and quivering
! flesh about that, is there? No, in
deed. Instead 1t looks all the more
! like the feathered war cap of an
American Indian. The attitude of the
| lion, tail and forepaws waving in
| air, would seem to indicate that the
emblem on the county seal was adopt
ed along about those troublous days
of t776 and 1777, when the British
lion was having his paws treaded on
| and his tail twisted and tied In knots
| by a bunch of hardy American Con-
! tinentals in various parts Of this
State and nearby neighborhoods.
The county seal came into the pub
! lie eye last week when the gold badges
| for the members of the board of
| chosen freeholders and the county
supervisor were first shown at the
Court House. The centre piece of
that SIS chunk of gold, blue and white
enamel and black lettering, is that
same long tailed rampant lion In gold
relief. Quite pretty thing and very
handy for the freeholders to hand
down to posterity so their descend
ants can prove their kin was once
one of the county fathers.
| True, the minutes and records of
the board of freeholders would show
| the same thing. But then, the badge
Is tangible evidence, easier to get at
land show. Besides 1t is gold and
worth about SIS.
| When the idea of having the county
seal as the centre piece of the badges
was suggested to Freebooter Richard
F.. Malta, after Freebooter Emmett
j. Quinn Ahad made the original sug-
gestion that the county solons should
have badges, there was a hurried
hunt around the Court House for
| sample impressions of the seal to see
| just what it looked like. No one out
side of the county clerks office seemed
| to have a definite idea of just what
| the emblem on the county seal was,
another instance of the fact that per-
sons are prone not to observe what
| they see almost daily In the routine
of business at the Court House.
| No one seems to know why the
| freeholders, after getting along with
out badges for a couple of hundred
years or SO, decided now that they
need them. The only real reason that
the writer has heard given so far was