Show 1 l r 1 I i I 1 1 l W 1 11 1 l t QU QUAINT INT SPECIMEN AD H 1 THEY ORIGIN abed L i i of dt wit thio tion ge the i anver cren liven in egland the hill anti nd 1 the li airm rM pairl olp I 1 i I 1 I 1 I 1 nowadays Nowa dayo tha great pax bui but littlon lit tu the legend which like tho the noble mates armorial morial ir WM was ono onto U upon a a time a necessary part of 0 acry cry st 1 mock in trade Barbu barberg irv ind pawnbrokers still it la is turo con to exhibit their well known sym bols bo letho tho striped polo pole and tho the throe golden balls 11 tind and in addition to those these still hold their own on this sido side of tho the atlantic the mottoes and devices which commonly dia ting atho public houses and pin gin palaces in england ore pro familiar to mor to that country hut but those art scattered l a custom which not so very lonk ogo ago was almost in tho the good old d day a when few people could read or w write ON and when tho the modern sa stem of numbering tho the houses in tho street wu wal a conen lence as et undreamed of by our cativo race tho the signboard flourished in all ita its glary and it will bo be readily that in those times it had a far more import ant part to play than would over ever bo be assigned to it in our own more ened society eo cloty reference has just been to en glish public house or saloon bar signs which at afro ato o Inta interesting resting they retain so much of tho the old oid world ilanor ei who has amused oven even a ex of three so stranded anachronisms during a stroll through some of the thoroll of I 1 thoroughfares of london or hoe has learned something of their character in the of dickon arthr or thack ak ory cry must barq been etrick again and again by tho the extraordinary und and entirely meaningless combination of ideas which are presented by thorn them As we turn back to their progenitors in the token of tho the past wo we find tha hamd causo for anitis ement and surprise what for instance In stanco can bo be tho the possible significance of the lamb and anchor why should a bull bo be associated with in pato gata in tho the common eigg of the bull buff and gate where le Is there any conceivable concetra blo connection between an elephant and a castle which yet flourish together over ono of the moat most famous tavern taverns in tle the english metropolis between a nun and throe haresh between a goat and compa seea what taw could have governed tho the in tro of buch such anomalous inscriptions as tho the george and cannon or the green man or the iron devil truly such odd mixtures must at first fint sight 9 am devoid of any sort of meaning and it ie Is only as we delve bacic back into the past that apparent absurdity and extravagance may be very easily explained there are indeed everal several wa wais a in which these strange have bean een brought about for example when a it young tradesman decided to tart business on hie his own account he frequently followed follo wod the couin common inn practice ot of adding as a kind of recommend aaion his late master masters sign to that which ho he himself adopt ell just a today it is not noL unusual for jones IL i store to mention under hie his own name the fact that ho he was lato late with bro a fe co 11 in this way ay wo we may account tor for such mich complex token tokens as tho the ahrea muns nuns and a 11 above alove referred to mid and other of equal incongruity thet three golden balls still cm aloyed by pawnbrokers pawn brokers have had a curious history they cem teem to hae originated with a legend of st acho isa w who on ond occasion throw three golden pieces into the open window of A poor man or for accounts counts differ gave three purses purees to poor virgins to enable them to marry mw ajr this st nicholas wa bajt the patron saint of the lombards bombards Lom bards who in tho the middle ages were the great financiers of europe and were tho the precursors alike of tho the aristocratic bankers and of tho the much abused pawnbroker pawnbrokers of modern dae the three throe purses purees of the good natu natured I 1 saint transformed into three coln r balls bamme the trading token of the lombard money changers from whom they albro in duo due corime a inherited by tho the pawnbrokers of the present time such is tha history and meaning of the familiar three golden balls though they thoy arc are jocularly datil to ta 1 pifa that it Is two to one ono that the articles in pledge will rover rever bo be reducing d As for the auti c colonl harbora pole that too lisa lias its hi histon it d ates from the diri when ane barber WIM was also 1 a kind of waca ho he would cut hair or draw your teeth with vitt absolute impartiality amongst other operations he lie commonly that of phlebotomy or bloodletting blood letting d ihirg which A aich a polo pole was 9 moped tightly by uy the patent that the blood might 1 now go w mom freely As this loo we l oo wai was liable to bo be stained by tho the blood it wae was painted rod red that the discoloration nil might lit not be when not 14 i uee use it was generally BUS abo shop door with abo whito white linen awaking bands twisted artistically anund it and this in timo time gave aso to tho the red and white agn sign mch Is still eo so fitiAl Illar to ue us oil alf though our bar barbara bori br or hairdressers hair dressers t i i grivno no 1 4 f ift coq giron over I 1 tho T ot 14 ho he early of f hop shop afros was by bom them out across tho the aru ara t O 0 oi y frequently they abra largo large or zad n and hoard ono olle with enother in making them and ivo livo to obstruct tho the thoroughfare and oven even to causo cause serious lutio little by little attention wm was called to thia this publio nuisance ind in couro of time projecting biront digne either toll fell into dikum tri or assumed tho the loee ion objectionable proportions which it thoy they nt at tho the present day |