The Red Cloud chief., 1882-03-02
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

a Peep at an Army of Bookworms-Litcr-
allure Of the Dead Forgotten .iu-
thors-Egyptian Ssrcophagi and Funcr-
ais.
This j. the British Museum, a bit of
lis great front visible through Museum
street, which run across OXford-a
great. "rav. damp, massive and drprcSS-
ing charncl-likc trra>ure-horSc of liter
allure, art and scicnce, full of all the
books ever written by the many I'M
known and known authors of the Brit
ish Empire. Two copies of every book
and pamphlet printed must be deposited
in the British Museum library. behind
whose scenes YOU are only admitted by
special permit. and whose floors are
iron gratingS. Standing on these YOU
look down on rooms below stored with
lens of thousands of books, and above
Your head gridiron-likc glimpScS
through successive layers of gratingS of
rooms above rooms filled with tens and
hundreds of thousands more books
books of all agcS; the first and last
printed: books in vcllum and parch-
ment and of black letter, venerable To
The eve and musty To the nose: books
IF long, long ago dead. gone, forgotten
and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. authors,
who grew pale, thin, worn, blear, blind
and hollow-cyed writing for poster
ity.' PoStcrity knows not, nor ever
will know. their anne PoSterity
stands in this charnel-houSe of dead and
forgotten literature, and, overwhelmed
at these myriads of books above. below,
IL right and to left and all about, Won
derS how man can ever dare Ia write
another book. Books here once deemed
full of wisdom. now known To be full of
nonsense: books once thought 10 he full
of truth, now known for theory. drivel,
Numbering and conccited guc>Swork;
novels here, too, by a former age
deemed of fascinating interest, now re
gardcd only IL dull and p"nderouS curl
oSiticS of antiquity; books once thought
airy, light, witty and humorous. now
known aS dull, proSy and stupid; Bibles
here, too, treasured with most %rcvcrcnt
care. not because they are Bibles, but
for once having belonged Ia some wick
ed old King or Queen, who read what
parts of the Scripture which suited
them and dwclt with JUNCTION and salts
faction over the passage Fear God and
honor the King rejoicing that thus
they had the law and the Lord on their
side.
AN ANCIENT QUEENS BIBLE.
An assistant librarian showed me 4
copy of some ancient Queens Bible.
Eve forgotten who she was. An Amer
Jean sovereign has no time for overload
inc his memory with the ame of dead
and gone Queens. This Bible was a
snail volume in green velvet. | WAS
allowed a. a great favor 10 hold it for
a few seconds. | didn't realize at first
how great a favor il WAS. | held this
extra sacred volume AS | would hold
any common Bible. Then | SAN the
custodian's " fixed IN me with Il mix
turc of surprise and disgust. | thought
over the bolts and bars which had been
drawn and taken down. and the locks
unlocked ere this Bible could be taken
out. and that this was both a~royal Bible
and an ancient Bible. and that there
fore the book itself and the truths and
preccptS il contained were in this GUS
todian'S eyes far more wci|hty than
those in the commoncr Bibles owned
by common folks. The man looked as
if he begrudgedthe wear andtear of the
book from my momcntary lingering. SO
1 relieved his mind by handing the pre-
cious volume back TO him.
| was at the time in the company of Il
mighty old Bible hunter-an American
part of whose business in Europe
was the buying of very ancient printed
Bibles for that small and wealthy class
of people among us who have a passion
for old books. He was in ecStacieS that
day. having Just secured. rs he said. the
oldest Bible in Europe. for which he had
paid. if | recollect correctly. $1,000. He
had purchased il for 4 man in Connect
cut. an antiquarian biblical mailman
rich enough To feed his madness.
BOOKwoRMS.
MOI only here are books, but book
worms and book mummieS and book
gppherS and borrowers and searchers.
From one of the library galleries YOU may
gaze down upon them; down there in 4
great pit seated At an immense Star-like
system of long desks AL radiating from
a common center. Not a word is
spoken. All porting owe books. and ST.
lent attendants in creakleSS shoes bring
ing them more books. Mostly pale.
sallow, lean and middle or prematurelv
aged men. their brains matched with
llfe!e>S wigs. their eve glarinT into
books through staring s~pectaclcS. clothes
black and Scedy and hanging in wrinkles
about their spare anatomieS. Such are
snn,n Of tho n,,l, -l> .,-
their DAYS examining from books 1t the
British Museum library; examining. per-
chance. for some well-to-do writer:
examining for points" he may wish TO
Use in novel. ESSAY or work philoSophi-
cal. theological, biographical or histor-
zeal: examining for n few shillingS per
day, just enough to buy food ut the sin
pence chop-house 10 hold body together
while their minds cram; going down
like old buckets into these wells of
knowledge and coming up full andpour-
ing into some other mans reservoir.
and so going down and coming up UNI
Ill the hoops burst, the slaves tumble in
and their weary souls fly out of the
wells mouth and out of the British Mu-
scum library. For certainly such a life
Nils tut1u cu. uII0S tIltlI DtSn To lttlI-
er as they breathe this atmosphere of
old books, old leather, old parchment.
old paper and old musty ideas.
Here, also, in this great and silent
reading-room. is the British female
mummy, a living cadaver or literary
ghoul. feeding on tones; working for
scanty bread by digging up long writ
ten nonsense or lies, or strings of words
too complicated in structure and too
lnintelligible as to comprehension TO be
deemed other than the deepest wisdom.
Here she is, poor thing, with her note
book and pencil, her parchment-hue 1
complexion, her well-worn bombazine.
her ringlets in wormlike convolutions,
her lank and bony form painfully sug-
yestive of the nearness of all parts of her
skeleton to her skin--that skeleton and
hat skin and all the rest so strangely
Kept alive, when for her there is so little
% live on. Maybe she is also making