By Marsie Hall Newbold
Enquirer contributor

Who: Lewise Kalsbeek, 75, of Loveland, a grandmother of six who collects "Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil" monkeys.

On display: Seventy-eight of the virtuous primates. They are made from materials such as soapstone, brass, ceramic and wood. She also owns lapel pins, a T-shirt, a pair of socks, a hand-embroidered sampler, a doormat and three Beanie Babies (that she stitched together to make her own version).

Where: Mostly on the top two shelves of a bookcase in the family room and in a shadow box shaped like a home that she affectionately calls "my monkey house."

Monkey see: Mrs. Kalsbeek received her first set of the morality critters in the late 1930s. Her father presented one to her and another to her sister. She didn't start collecting in earnest until she and her husband of 51 years, Theodore, made a trip to the Holy Land in 1972.

Better to give: "I was in a gift shop and saw a set made from sand from the Dead Sea," she recalls. "So, I bought one for my sister and myself."

Receiving end: "They're not easy to find," Mrs. Kalsbeek says. She has had the most success at antique stores and flea markets. Family and friends have also taken up the cause and present them to her on gift giving occasions.

"The grandchildren love them and are always on the lookout for them," she adds. "I get lots of birthday cards with them, as well as cartoons and various pictures."

We have no bananas: Mrs. Kalsbeek's most humorous set of monkeys is a refrigerator magnet. "People seem to like it," she says. "You press on it and it says, `See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil' in a little monkey voice."

Perfect fit: Mrs. Kalsbeek's collection seems apropos because her husband is a pastor. (He was at Sycamore Presbyterian for 43 years prior to retiring in 1994. Now, he is associate pastor at Covenant-First Presbyterian in downtown Cincinnati.) But she says that she really doesn't think that that has anything to do with it.

Monkeys aren't the only ones covering their ears, eyes and mouths in the Kalsbeek household. She also has sets of "morality critters" made up of elephants, owls, porpoises, pigs, turtles and frogs. "I like them, too," she says with a giggle. "They send the same message, don't you think?"

Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail: c/o The Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202, e-mail: marsolete@aol.com. Please include a daytime phone number.