The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-07-06
OUR PARIS LETTER

Close to the main hall, on the
northwest end Of the Exposition
building aud Immediately adjoining
the British department, is rare
exhibition of siatuary by the mod
ern artists of France, but it is not
OF this that | now propose to speak;
but of a little exhibit IN a room to
the left, of rare and exceptional
merit. Thousands daily pass it by,
no statues mounted on proud pedes-
tails attract them; no splendid pic
lures challenge their admiration;
there is nothing here but a few
books manuscripts and medals:-
''only this and nothing more. Yet.
IN these low and unnretendinc cases.
are priceless treasures, richer than
Pluto's mine;-not treasures of sill
yer or gold;-not jewels nor costly
array, but rare books and curious
old manuscripts, whose histories
go back away into the very twilight
OF time. The mere pleasure seeker
and sight-seer had better pass on
his way, for this exhibition has no
attraction for him; but it is as
sacred as Mecca to the scholar and
the man Of letters. This is the ex-
hlbit of the French Bibliotheque
and OF manuscripts, some of them
so old that we have no authentic
history of the people by whom they
were written; they are Egyptian,
Assyrian, Greek, Persian, Arabic
and Hebrew. Before me is q con-
tract for piece of land, written five
hundred years before the birth Of
Chlst, every character as bright
and as cleau as If cut by an en-
graver's tool. The cases are full of
rare reprints of works, choice speci-
mems of that art Which has made
immortal the names of Gutenberg
and Faust. Right royalty here, an
ancient Tneban bears testimony to
the virtues OF lis departed wife; and
yet, when this hoary manuscript
was indIted, Queen Esther was
pleading for the life Of her people
before tile Great King Ahasnerus.
IIe2r the doaa snan speak alter
lapse Of more than thirty centuries,
and listen to the testimony with
which he has embalmcd in immor-
tality the gentle memory Of his fair
Iheban wife: "She was comely to
look upon," says the chronicler,
''and in temper so sweet and placid
that in all her life I never seen it
ruffled. She was kind and charit-
I
able and loving, and of life so pure
and holy that the breath of suspic-
ion or scandal never aSsailed her"
Three thousand years have passed
since this grand testimony of virtue
and love was written, the race TO
which she belonged has been ami
hilated and blotted out; the sands
Of the desert roll like an angry sea
over the proudest of its imperial
cities, yet surviving the history of
its magnates and kings is this shin
ing tablet to the virtues of Theban
wife whose holy life is thus immor-
tallzed but whose name unfortu-
nately is lost to posterity forever.
Near by is a will written about the
time that Hiram was preparing
/ the stones which were used in the
temple of Solomon. The charact-
ers are Greek and the oldest known
to literature. 1t was made in the
island OF Cyprus before Homer had
written the Iiliad, and while philos-
ophy was yet stranger to the
sacred groves OF the academy; not
only houses ami lands fell to the lot
of this dainty Cypreot dame, but
stores of jewels and gold that might
have furnished an outfit for the
Queen of Sheba. The books are
the rarest and noblest specimens of
the printers art; all the pages are
bright and clear, and the type as
sharp and clean as if it had been
cut with a diamond; but much as
we might feel inclined to linger
over this interesting collection, ge
are compelled 70 hurry on, for
there are other eases in this room
which contain treasures as priceless
as the books.
Here, in brief space, France
has enshrined her immortal dead,
and here she has preserved in gold
and silver and bronze the heads
of those who, through all past time,
have built up her greatness and
GLORY. The memory of her. emnnr-