BEAUCHAMP TOWER, continued

This week we spent more time with this intriguing pamphlet. Here are a few inscriptions from the Beauchamp Tower walls that caught our eyes:

"A passage perillus maketh a port pleasant. 1568, Arthur Poole."

"No hope is hard or vayne that happ doth us attain. 1568" (probably left by Arthur Poole or his brother Edmund)

"Unhappie is that man whose actes doth procuer the miseri of this hous in prison to endure. 1576, T.C. " (probably Thomas Clarke)

"Hit is the poynt of a wise man to try and then truste; for happy is he whome fyndeth one that is just. 1578, T.C." (probably Thomas Clarke)

"As vertue maketh life; so sin cawseth death. July 1585, Thomas Bawdewin"

And this anonymous inscription, which probably reflected thoughts of all the tower's inhabitants through the ages, as they awaited their punishments for conspiracy or other charges:

"O unhappy man that I think myself to be."

We have a new display in the case outside the Bullis Room. Next week we'll post a list of the (red-covered) books in "What Have You Red Lately?"

BEAUCHAMP TOWER

The next time you're in the library, ask a volunteer to show you this booklet located here in the Bullis Room

The reddish cover is faded and worn but the contents are fresh to those of us who have carefully turned its brittle pages. Sold by the Warders at the Tower for a sixpence, it was "...offered for the inspection of the Public, as an abridgment of one lately published by W. R. Dick."

Here's an opportunity to actually hear walls talk from pages a century or so old. Next week we'll share some of those inscriptions with you.

Note: We cannot find a copyright or publication date anywhere in the booklet, although Bemrose & Sons Limited, Derby & London, are listed as publishers. If you have information that would help us identify and confirm these dates, please let us hear from you.

QUINN-DEX

The photo above shows the Quinn-Dex, a mechanical "movie" in the form of a small book containing over 600 separate pictures that show the correct movement of wrists, hands and fingers at a piano keyboard. By fanning through the sequenced pages, the fingers appear to move from one position to another.

The Quinn-Dex was copyrighted in 1922 by Dr. Marcus Lucius Quinn and used as a part of a How to Learn Piano correspondence course offered through his Conservatory of Music in the Social Union Building, Boston, Massachusetts. The Bullis Room's Quinn-Dex is stored in a small brown cardboard mailing box bearing Nettie Bullis's name and address, stamped "4 cents postage, Permit No. 924," and mailed from the Colonial Road Uphams Corner Station, Boston.

Several questions come to mind as we look at this piece of Bullis history: Did Nettie Bullis take Dr. Quinn's correspondence course? And if so, where did she practice? (We have no record of the Bullis family owning a piano or organ.) Did she visit the Conservatory or perhaps study on the Boston campus?

We will continue our search for more information about Dr. Quinn, his Quinn-Dex, and Nettie Bullis's involvement in music and will keep you informed of our progress. In the meantime, can you answer any of our questions or tell us more about this unique method of learning to play piano?

WINTER DRIVING ADVICE

THE SHOVEL AND THE ASHES
By Nettie A. Bullis
May 15, 1948

So often the snow has been followed by rain,
I feel very certain will happen again.
And then later on as it turns into sleet,
It is all you can do to stay on your feet.
Then go to the ash can and fill up the pail
They'll help you along when your hand's off the rail,
For a few scattered 'round
are as good as the ground.

And take them along when you go in the car,
For sometime you'll find you won't get very far.
Then if you skid as you turn at the gate
You won't need to worry for fear you'll be late.
Or if your wheels spin and you find you can't start,
'Though there's no one to push, you needn't loose heart,
Just scatter them 'round
You'll take off like a hound.

Yes! take them along, this shovel and ashes,
They may help you avoid some of the crashes.
And often you'll find when you're stuck on a hill
That a few scattered 'round will save a tow bill.