The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-08
HISTORICAL RELICS.
Some of Those View at the State De-
partment.

Though visitors seldom enter it, the
library of the State Department con-
tains some of the most valua BILE historic
relics in the possession of the Govern
ment. Here is kept the original draft
of the Declaration of Independence,
and there has been added within the
past few years the identical desk upon
which Jetfe rson wrote it. Jefferson's
desk is small mahogany box-hke
writing-desk. about eighteen inches
wide, two feet long, and three inches
lap to use it, but it was probably laid
upon the table while the Declaration
was penned upon it. 1t has a series of
small compartments, on one side for
pens and writing material, and when
opened its top is covered with green
baize. Pasted upon one of its inner
leaves is a note in Jeffeison' s own hand
writing, dated in Monticello, in which
he says the desk was made by Phila-
delphia carpenter, and that it was the
one on which he wrote the Declaration.
This note closes with the following sem
tence: politics as well as religion has
its superstitions; these, gaining strength
with time, may one day give imaginary
value to this relic for its associations
with the birth of the great charter of
our independence"
In the same case containing this desk,
on the shelf above it, lie the staff of
Benjamin Franklin and the swords of
Washington and Jackson. Benjamin
Franklin s cane is thick, gold-headed
stick, of knotted crab tree 1t is
painted black, highly polished, and on
its end it has brass ferule. Its head
is designed, as says Je efferson's will, in
the form of cap of liberty, and its
gold is very yellow and shows but little
alloy. This cane supported Franklin
during all state occasions, and when he
died he willed it to Washington, saying,
IF it were a scepter, General Wash
ington has merited it, and would be-
come it. Washington willed it to his
nephew, Charles Washington, and the
grandson of Charles Washington gave
it to the United States.
George Washington's sword, shown
here, is the one which he wore when a
Colonel, and the one that hung at his
side throughout the Revolution. 1t is
not fashy article, and there is no gilt
ter or gold about it, but its edge looks
very sharp, ana its blade, slightly tar
nished, not over an inch wide, was evi-
IDENTIFY made to do good service. Its
sheath and belt lie beside it. This belt
is of yellow buckskin, the plain silver
clasp of which is marked with the let
ters sc. w." and the sheath is of a
dark leather stamped with different
figures. George Washington mentions
this sword in his will, in which he gives
one to each of his nephews, with the
request that ''thcy be not unsheathed,
except for self defense, and the defense
of their country and its rights" An
drew Jackson's sword is a very ex-
pensive article. 1t will weigh twice
that of Washington's, and it has a
heavy gold handle, and its sheath is of
curving, shines like a mirror, and at
the middle it shows evidences of having
been broken in two, and welded to-
gether again. Its sheath is somewhat
scratched, and it has evidently been
pretty well used.
Another curiosity in this room is an
immense shell or torpedo from six to
eight inches in diameter, and over a
foot long, which Elihu Washburne, our
Minister at Paris, picked up during the
bombardment of Paris and sent to the
State Department as a relic. 1t is "a
murderous-looking shell, and its de-
scription says that it was thrown into
the city during the siege. just below
this, in box about two feet wide, and
three feet long, is plaster cast of one
of the first treaties on record. 1t is a
copy of the treaty between the Athe-
mans and Chalcideans, made 446 years
before Christ, when Socrates was %
years old, and Pericles was in his
prime. The original of this was en-
graved on slab of Pentalic marble,
found in the south wall of the Acropolis
at Athens. -CteUeland Leader.