Monday, July 15, 2024

Ye Olde False Front


 

Today I had lunch with a friend at an inn so historic that its trees in front were planted in 1791 by Ebenezer Crafts. A lovely story, but I do have to wonder a bit since they’re supposedly elms, and in the 1970s 77million elms died thanks to the Dutch elm disease that swept through New England.

          The inn is huge and lovely, and in fact the rehearsal dinner for our daughter was there many years ago. We were a bit early, so I showed my friend around, the two of us popping in and out of small dining rooms, a spacious wedding hall, and a meeting room.


 



         One room had a modern projection device and monitor, and a glossy antique conference table, but was lined with books as though we'd stepped into an old English library. The books looked well-thumbed, reminding me of my grandparents’ bookshelves. 


          

           But there was a hidden secret.












My friend pulled one of the texts out and was first surprised, then bemused.


          It was only half a book. But why?




          We pulled more out. Then we looked behind them and found an old mortar and brick wall.

          We did the same on the other side of the room. Same thing.


          Some resourceful person from our century must have decided to manufacture a library without losing floor space. Who would be reading these books in a meeting anyway?

6 comments:

  1. I would be very disappointed with that discovery. But then, our shelves are lined with books despite the encroachment on the size of the room.

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  2. That's a terrible thing to do with old books. Or any books. I would have preferred to lose the floor space.

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  3. Yay, River. My thought first, last and foremost. Just think they procured those books, then cut them in half. The swine.

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    1. Yes, I was raised in households full of books and taught a respect for them and a love of libraries. Real ones, that is.

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  4. As a book lover I am HORRIFIED. It reminds me of a line from "Auntie Mame," when the "Aryan from Darien" says, "I think books are AWfully decorative, don't you?"

    I would also be skeptical about the elms. Maybe they're not true elms.

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  5. I have friends in North Carolina who have an old elm on their property. Not sure why it didn't succumb to Dutch Elm disease, but there it stands. As for the mutilated books, I'm aghast.

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