MR GARNER AND HIS GAVELS

Evening Star, Issue 22450, 22 September 1936, Page 11

MR GARNER AND HIS GAVELS

President Roosevelt has his stamp collection for his principal hobby- In that he has a great host of fellow enthusiasts. But the pet hobby of VicePresident Garner _ has few followers; for his pet collection is of gavels, says the New York ‘ Times.’ In the main lobby of a hotel in Mr Garner’s home town of Uvalde this most unusual collection has been on. exhibition. It is “ housed ” in a specially constructed glass case of four ‘f stories ” and contains more than 100 gavels. A study of the contents of the case provides something of a ■ revelation in gavel construction. There is one gavel so large that only a Hercules could wield it with one hand, and'there are some so small that with a little imagination they might be taken for baby rattles. .The largest of the collection has a head almost as big as a small beer keg. The tinitst is of metal and is almost as small as those little hammers with which dentists hammer at one’s teeth. The idea that all gavels are shaped like a mallet is completely dissipated, for there are gavels of many shapes.; One is in the form of a steer’s Lead, and any excited chairman might easily bang this gavel and break off a horn. One is full of spikes, and seems more appropriate as a savage, weapon than as a means of calling a peaceful convention to order. There are squara gavels and round gavels and oblong gavels. In fact,' few geometric figuresare missing. Each gavel is supposed to have a history, though it is not asserted that Mr Garner has had occasion to use ad of them in his oft-repeated capacity of chairman or toast master. Many of them hpve been presented to him by friends who have run _ across , ome strange-pattferned gavel in their wanderings. picked it up, and sent it ou to join the collection. Many of them are adorned with small silver or geld plates inscribed with a brief story. Often the name of the giver is on the plate, sometimes the record is of the function at which the gavel was used. Since fishing is one of Mr Garner’s favourite outdoor sports, there is a gavel so much like a cork that one almost expects to see it bob. Doubtless when Mr Garner bangs his gavel marking the last adjournment of the Senate at which lie is President he will walk off with that gavel—to be the most prized in his collection.