Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-03-11
TO BE CONTINUED.

l
I send you to eternity"
TO BE CONTINUED. a.
AN OLD BIBLE.
It wasin 1850 that met, in Mobile, Ala,
the owner of this book-Dr. j.. r. Wither-
spoon, grandson of President Witherspoon,
one of the signers of the declaration Of inde-
pendence. The doctor was an educated gen.
tleman, and urged me, 81 Lever came in the
region of Greensboro, Ala, to be sure to call
on him, and he would show me his wonderful
Bible. was not slow to- accept his invita-.
ton, and rode on horseback some dozen miles
out of my way to see the greatest wonder of
the age, of this kind of book.
found the venerable doctor living elegant
ly on broad acres, and with the slaves about
him, for he did not seem to think there was
anything in his Bible against slavery, though
his grandfather signed the declaration TINT
"all men are created equal. The book NM
soon brought out from careful keeping, and
sure enough, though I had seen for years the
great Van Ess library, with Bibles having q
chain attached that once held them TO as spnl--;
pit, and the Bible of Philip Melancton with
his autograph, I had never seen any such Bi-
BILE as this s.ls s..
l took it ip my hand with awe, for it was
written in the days of King Alfred, and by
monk Of Cornwall, England. who worked at
this forty years almost a lifetime-and was
evidently on the finest of parchment, little
inferior to satin. How such finish could be
put upon the skin of any beast in the days 80
long ago, when the binding of the book was in
oak boards, tied with buckskin thongs, was
mystery and almost contradiction.
But more wonderful yet was the writing
within. The pages were all ruled with great
accuracy and written as uniformly in the
lines as print, which was not then invented,
for some 500 years lay between that old monk,
and Faust and Gutenberg. The style was
German text hand, and was an abbreviation
from the Vulgate of Jerome. made in the
fourth century.
The 6rst chapter of every book was written
with a-large capital, ofinimitable beauty and
splendidly Illuminated With red, blue and
black ink, still in vivid letters, with no two
of the capital letters precisely alike. Here
was indeed Dore before him or, our age.
Each chapter is divided into verses by a dot
Of red ink, though / donot remember when
"the venerable Bede made his division OF
Scriptures into chapters and verses. This dot
of the Bible I speak of may have been the
work Of subsequent age.
As to the size of the book, it vas about
that of an old Ainsworth Latin dictionary
the kind that was mistaken for q Bible once
by family in Alabama, and brought out at
the request of a colporteur, who wished to see
their Bible This manuscript Bible Of With
erspoon's contained all the books Of the Old
Testament except the Psalms and Apocrypha.
Two chapters, the last of Leviticus and the
first of Numbers, containing the most splen.
did capital letters in the book, had been re-
Gently wantonly distracted or. cut out, in the
house of DR.. Witherspoon, BY some Biblio- !
maniac, who did not darea steal t whole
book. 1t contains, also, the Whole of the
New Testament, except the aGhapter where
the disputed text occurs, about fsttlaa three
who bear record in heaven e s; I
In regard to the history Of this Bible the
doctor told me that il was found by; o friend
of his father, among lot of old books bought
at auction for song-some twenty shll.
lings-and taken to a clergyman, Rev. Dr.
McCalla, of South Carolina, as book that
the purchaser could not make head or tail
Of, and which might be ofvalue to some book.
learned man. The clergyman readily gave
him some half dozen books for it from his
library, such as could be easily aunderstsnded
by the people," aud the man was happy in
the exchange. DR.. McCalla certainly was,
for he had driven sharp bargain, and had
book that was worth, when frat written,
$4,000, and would be worth that now. to any
old book worm-who desireth not new books
any more than new wine, "for he sayeth the
old is better"
The heirloom barely escaped getting out of
the family line, for it was once loaned by
DR.. .Witherspoon, but he had the forethought
to pat the borrower under written bonds to
return it, and the man dying, tho book was
lent by his widow to some third person, and
finally found its way, as rare treasure, IN
to some college, Harvard I think, when it
was recovered, under threat Of suit on
the bond.
I left the sight and handling of this most
wonderful Bible of any in existence, perhaps,
with many longing lingering look, but not
till had written its history very fully at
the request and dictation Of the venerable
r-Rochester Ezpress. '@..''
LEARNING TO SAvE.-The first thing to be
learned by a boy or young man, or anybody
else, having the least ambition to become q
useful member of society, is the habit of
saving. No matter if the boy or girl has
wealthy parents, each should learn to save,
if for no other reason than that riches are
we'll known to stake to themselves wings and
fly away" Few are so well-to.do as to be
sure against poverty and want. The children
of the wealthy classes are often miserably
poor; while men of large means have COM
meneed life without other advantages than
habits Of industry coupled with the disposi-
ton to save. 1t is especially important that
the children of people in moderate circum-
stances, and of the poor should learn to take
care of the money they get.
The FLOOR OF THE OcEAN.-f the At
lantic Ocean were drained, lnere would be