Columbia Library columns (v.9(1959Nov-1960May))

(New York :  Friends of the Columbia Libraries.  )

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  v.9,no.3(1960:May): Page 20  



2 0                                Isadore G. Mudge

volume of the twelve volume set, and, when found, proved to be
exactly as the President had given it, even to punctuation.

The Hair-trigger Stomach

The "lady in brown" was long a minor problem. She was a
Mrs. T., said to be a connection by marriage of Dr. L. T., a tall,
thin, middle-aged woman who floated in and out of the building
always clad in thin fluttering garments of brown and gold or yel¬
low, because, as she explained, gold was the color of life. She had
many fads and harmless eccentricities which usually bothered no
one, though once students asked the Reference Librarian to inter¬
vene when the lady in brown, as a new health fad, took to a diet
of garlic so excessive that it annoyed readers sitting near her. She
was something of a problem to one of our pages, a quiet, conscien¬
tious youth who had strong ideas as to reference room conven¬
tionalities. When he came to my desk one day with the whispered
question: "jMiss .Mudge, have we any rule which says rhat a lady
should not take off her shoes and put them in the aisle?" I realized
that the problem was one for the head of the department, not for
a page. To my attempted remarks she opposed a bland but firm
statement that she advised me to be careful what I said to her,
as she had a "hair-trigger stomach" that was likely to go into ac¬
tion at any minute. As the "hair-trigger" seemed more of a menace
to reading room order than the shoes in the aisle, I compromised
by offering her the page as a safe escort home, a duty that he
carried out courteously—but with a marked air of apprehension!
  v.9,no.3(1960:May): Page 20