modern baluster
"a wall low enough to lean upon is called a parapet, ... in modern times the openings in parapets are generally filled with a sort of colonnade of dwarfed columns called balusters. ... a balustrade, like a parapet, is intended to lean upon, and should not be more than 3 or 4 feet high. ... balusters are often made square in section, like piers, instead of round, like columns."
william r. ware, the american vignola.
