The Red Cloud chief., 1880-04-15
An Old Bible and Its Interesting His.
tory.

An Old Bible and Its Interesting His.
tory.
1t was in 1850 that I met in Mobile,
Ala, the owner of this book-Dr. j. X.
Withcrspoon, grandson of President
Wi~therspoon, one of the signers of the
Declaration of independence. The
Doctor was IN educated gentleman, and
urged me if | ever came in the region
of Greensboro, Ala, to be sure To call
on him and he would show me his won
derful Bible. / was not slow to accept
his invitation, and rode on horseback
some dozen miles GU of my way to see
the greatest wonder OF the age of this
kind of books
| found the venerable doctor living
elegantly on broad acres and with the
slaves about him, for he did not seem to
think there was any thing in his Bible
against slavery, though his grandfather
signed the declaration that "all men
are created equal" The book was
soon brought out from a careful
keeping, and sure enough, though 1 had
seen for years the great Van Ess libra
ry, with Bibles having a chain attached
that once held them to a pulpit, and
the Bible of Philip MelancthOn with his
autograph, l had never seen any such
Bible as this.
/ took it in my hand with awe, for Il
was written in the days of King Alfred,
and by a monk of Cornwall, England,
who worked at it forty ~years-almost a
lifetime-and was evidently on the very
finest of parchment, little inferior TO
satin. How such a finish could be put
upon the skin of any beast in the days
so long ago, when the binding of the
book was in oak boards, tied with buck
skin thongs, was a mystery and almost
a contradiction.
But more wonderful yet was the writ
ing within. The pages were all ruled
with great accuracy and written rs uni
formly in the lines 5 print, which was
not then invented, for some five hundred
years lay between the old monk and
Faust and Gutenberg. The style was
German text-hand, and was al abrevia-
ton from the vulgate of Jerome, made
in the fourth century.
The first chrpter of every book was
written with q large capital, of inimita-
BILE beauty and s~plendidly illuminated
with red, blue and black ink, still in
vivid letters, with no two of the capitals
precisely alike. Here was indeed a
bore before him Of our age. Each
chapter is divided into verses by a dot
of red ink, though 1 do not remember
when "the venerable Bede" made his
division of Scriptures into chapters and
verses. This dot of the Bible l speak of
may have been the work of subse-
quent age.
As to the size of the book, it was
about that of an old Ainsworth Latin
electromagnetic kind that was mistaken
for a Bible m by sfamily in Alabama,
and brought out at the request of q col
porteur who wished to see their Bible! !
This manuscript Bible Of -WitherspoOn's
contained all the books Of the Old Tes-
lament except the Psalms and the ApOc-
rypha. Two chapters, the last of Le-
viticus and the first of Numbers, con-
tanning the most splendid capital letters
in the book, had been recently won
tonly distracted or cut out, in the house
of DR.. Witherspoon, by some bibloma-
MAC who did not dare steal the whole
book. 1t contains, also, the whole of
the New Testament except the chapter
where the disputed text occurs, about
s.the three who bear record in Heav-
en-"
In regard to the history of this Bible,
til, doctor told me that it was found by
a friend of his father among a lot of old
books bought at auction for q song
some twenty shiIlings-and taken to a
clergyman, Rev. DIR. McCalla, of South
| Carolina, as 3 book that the purchaser
could not make head nor tail Of, and
| which might be of value to some book
leaned man. The clergyman readily
gave him some half q dozen books for it
from his library, sHch as could be easily
understood by the people," and the
man was happy in the exchange. DR..
McCalla certainly was, for he had
driven q sharp bargain, and had 3 book
that was worth, when first written, g..
500, and would be worth that now to
any old book-worm-who desireth not
new books any more than new wine,
"for be saith the old is better"
This heirloom barely escaped getting
out of the family line, for it was once
loaned by DR.. Witherspoon, but he had
the forethought to put the borrower un.
der written bonds to return it, and, the
man dying, the book was lent by his
widow to some third person, and finally
found its way, IS . rare treasure, into
some college-Harvard, / think-whence
it was recovered under 3 threat of g
suit on the bond.
l LEFT the sight and handling of this
most wonderful Bible Of any In existence,
perhaps, with many . longing, lingering
look, but not till l had written its his.
tory very fully at the request and dicta.
ton of the venerable owner.-Rochesfe,