Show I How It Started L By JEAN NEWTON n ON THE SHELF W L ARE n all fa familiar with the ex- ex on the shelf used figuratively to describe some one whose usefulness has come to an end Particularly Par Par- do we hear the h sh phrase used with reference to spinsters who are supposed sed to haze hae j lost st all all' hope of J finding a l spouse e. e The natural inference n e would hp he that thIs is t just nn an unkind vulgarism As Asa a matter f fact however r. r It hll has II a most dignified origin n from tie realm of of literature Ile lm e It dl the l M n of the mink honk publishEr who ho In ti i earliest days of his industry r hJ has to honks that have ha-e run the of their popy pop and for whist there I hi no long longer r nn an active sale falp n as In ht-In heina Oil on the shelf Of these for which there was great to In I he stil that the they were on nn the mule The expression on the went nl from the publishing house to ro the library and then cast off II its limitation tv t the world of honks to tn take on the figurative e sl In which It Is used today Its literal application I Is Isby by no means menns obsolete however For only the other dl day Wf we heard u a I teed hued author who was af about his d If express 1 the suspicion that III hind hal put his hook book nn n tilt the shelf to in pro mote n a similar work hy h another au thor thoI The wits WI that h he had cels ceased J to n Its sale Jh relegating rele rele- gating It to the hark numbers t. t 0 UV U- U i V lp I 1 by McClure Newspaper syndicate |