MR. GODEYS' LATIN

i. what x equals

mother, mater, maternal
two, duo, dual, duet
tooth, dens, stem. dent, dental
foot, pes, stem. ped, pedal
heart, cor, stem. cord, cordial

ii. that which sings to the thing that sings in her mouth

a. the poet is giving the girl large roses
          (or is giving large roses to the girl)
b. the girl is giving the poet's roses to the sailors
          (or is giving the sailors the poet's roses)
c. without money, the girl has nothing
          (the courage of the girl is not strong)

iii. the arithmetic of red dresses

a. fortuna derives from fors—chance, accident, the girl
                              saves the poets life.
b. without philosophy, fortune and man often go astray
c. we often see the penalty of anger

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SOME NOTES FROM MR. DARWIN ON THE "EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS" (1872)

The foregoing facts show that, as a general rule, blushing in English women does not extend beneath the neck and upper part of the chest. Still, the wrist, for example, has been known to pinken at the slightest glimpse of dissection or uneven sunsets. A woman informs Dr. Brown that when she feels ashamed or agitated, she blushes over the entire surface of her body, most noticeably the back of the neck. Once, he unfastened the collar of her chemise in order to examine the state of her lungs, and a brilliant scarlet spread over the skin, from the damp forehead to the tip of her spine. Often when the skin of the thorax or abdomen is gently rubbed by a pencil or other object, or merely touched by a finger, the surface is known to become suffused with blood.

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APPLICATION FOR THE MELVILLE DEWEY SCHOOL

Bindings:

Materials needed:

awl, book cloth, box board, bamboo skewer, bricks, linen thread, beeswax, book press, brush, wooden boards, bone folder, needle

Do you, or have you ever?

when I said ruined,
when we say shuttered
we open our throats to lemons.
Not a shiver, but a trespass, first
the halving, then the miscarriage.

Instructions:
If the signatures are falling apart, perform the brittle paper test:
     a. fold the corner of a middle page back and forth two times, then pull.
     b. If the corner comes off easily, the paper is considered brittle.
     c. If the paper is brittle, the book is a candidate for a box.

Cataloguing:

Hair color: ______________
Measurements: ____________
Marital Status: _____________

At the carousel, there was a tumbling, and then, a door.
A curiosity to be sure, the skirted tables, bare legs being known to provoke.
Also, her penchant for reckless dresses.

in his "Brief Rules for Library Handwriting"

[to] take great pains to have all writing uniform in size, blackness of lines, slant, spacing and forms of letters ... [and to] follow the library hand forms of all letters, avoiding any ornament, flourish, or lines not necessary to the letter." (1)

Analysis:
The writer's attempt to maintain a vertical slant reflects her effort to adopt a detached or impersonal attitude, positively characterized by independence and restraint, but negatively by self-centeredness and rigidity. This aloof and impartial demeanor, reinforced by wide spacing between lines, reveals someone resisting the influence of both outside forces and inner emotions, preferring to rely on reason. The potential for cruelty is evident in the blunt endings of many downstrokes or counterstrokes. Prone to various afflictions, not withstanding debt, or fevers, disorders of the mouth. A pause between the letter "s" and the letter it follows indicates a love of weather.

Archives and Curiosities:

Baby teeth, machine parts, cattails, vertebra, dowsing rod.

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on MR. GODEYS' LATIN:

These are poems from my series of Victorian inspired pieces titled errata, which explores the tensions between what were considered the predominantly feminine genres of novels, diaries, and letters, versus the "male" proprietorship over scholarship, journalism, and more "serious" writing. In the 19th Century, Godey’s Ladies Books were the primer on fashion, home décor, and etiquette.

on APPLICATION...:

Reportedly, Melville Dewey required his early lady librarians to submit not only a handwriting sample in their application, but information on hair color, eye color, height, and weight.