The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-07-27
che 9ailg 8m1lstim.
MONDAY, JULY 27, 1885.
THE DECLARATION or INDEPENDENCE.

L don't believe that ten out OF
every 10000 people in this country
know where the Declaration of Inde-
pendence is. Most men in Washing
ton think that it is in Independence
Hall, Philadelphia. Inasmuch as
very intelligent men and women have
asked me during the past two or
three years in many instances where
the original of the "great charter
of our independence" is, and where
Jefferson's first draft is kept, and
what has become of the desk ON
which the Declaration was written
and the table on which it was signed,
l thought the other day that would
tell all that l know about their
whereabouts before another Inde-
pendence Day passed over our heads.
The Declaration of Independence,
Jefferson's original draft, and the
desk on which he wrote it, are all in
the library of the Department of
State. The table on which the
Declaration was signed by the an
cestors of some of us will be gather
cd in there with the rest some day,
but just now it is in Independence
Hall in Philadelphia. l went up to
the Department of State yesterday
expressly to look at the Declaration,
the draft and the desk. The library
of the Department of State is on the
third floor, the entrance being just
in front of the elevator Shaft. 1t is
well-conceived room, small, but
so well arranged and so tastefully
finished that it impresses you as
larger than it is. 1t is two stories
high, with alcovcs on both floors.
The central rectangular room, upon
which the alcoves open, is we'll pro-
portioned, and from its tiled floor to
its well-modelled ceiling is pleasing
to the eye. AS you enter through
the north idoor you look directly
through the south door and over q
portico down the Potomac, beyond
Alexandria, the Washington monu-
ment looming up in the middle dis
lance. On the eastern wall of the
main room, between two alcoves,
hangs cabinet of some well.polished
dark wood, neatly but plainly con-
structed, with very little ornamental
ton. 1t is about five feet high and
three broad.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
From the key resting in the key
hole depends card with the printed
legend: "The original of the De-
claration of Independence" You
open the cabinet by pulling on this
key, for there is no knob of any
sort. The doors are carefully joined,
SO that they open very slowly. With
in, at the back of the shallow cahi-
net, framed separately under glass,
are the original Declaration of indie
pendence with the original signatures
and the original draft in jefferson $
handwriting. The Declaration is on
one large sheet of parchment, and
hangs above the draft, which is on
two sheets of the small legal cap
paper of that day, torn at the origi-
nal creases. On the inside of the
northern door of the cabinet you see
a small engraving of Jefferson's
head in profile, which shows what an
ugly nose he had. But yon turn
from that at once to the Declaration
and the draft. The parchment on
which the Declaration is written is
discolored in many places, and on
the edges and in one or two spots at
the surface slightly abraded. You
can read every word of it with ease,
although the ink has plainly faded =;
but when you come to the signatures
you find that all have faded greatly (;
that only few are at all distinct
that many are either indecipherable
or invisible, and that the rest can
only be recognized by straining al
once your eyesight and your memory.
The first man to sign the Declare
ton when, as Jefferson afterward
said jokingly, the attacks of the
horsetlies from the neighboring
stables upon the silk-stockinged legs
of the members had become 50 in
lolerable that they were obliged to
stop debating about twas John
Hancock. Everybody knows his
bold autograph, which, he said, MS
he wrote it, John Bull could read
without spectacles. l am sorry to
say that it no longer stands ont
more plainly than the others.
In fact, it is not so distinct
! as some of them. The F." John "
is plain enough, though faded, hut
the "Hancock" looks ragged. Look
ing at the other signatures generally
you see that those of the New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and Connecticut members on
the extreme right, and those of the