The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-01-11
me to detect an error in word or SEN

iuS 10 CSttCL XII SfEOT LII q nSiO "a Sell
! tence."
"And yet, possessing all that knowl-
edge, you receive only the wages Of
the ordinary proof rea6er?'
ayes, the union fixes and controls
that. After all, perhaps their way OF
looking at the matter is correct, because
if I were to receive S2l per week for
each language I would be in receipt of
quite modest little income-2l times
242 would be S5,oS2 per week. But,
jesting aside, the public at large have
not the faintest idea of the magnitude
of the manufacture of Bibles. Take
the american Bible Society alone. 1t
was organized in New York in May,
1916, by convention of delegates from
the Bible societies in different parts of
the country. 1t had been preceded by
large number of local and independ-
ent organizations, the oldest of which
was that established in Philadelphia in
1918. It's work is benevolent and un-
sectarian. The only version in the En-
glish language which it can circulate is
| that which has been commonly re-
ceived since the year 1911. Up to date
its total issues of Bibles, Testaments,
and integral portions of the Scripture
are over fifty million copies, and its e1-
penditures viii reach nearly $25, 5,000,-
900. The American Society acts in
conjunction with the British Bible So
ciety so far as circulation is concerned.
The version of the English Bible now
in common use was first printed in
1911, in folio volume which contains
1900 pages, each measuring 16 inches
by II. If two pages were printed at
| one time and $50 impressions were
taken in one hour, each press, ina day
| of ten hours, would yield the equiva-
lent of three Bibles, and ten presses
would be required for. a production OF
5000 Bibles year.
"The circulation of Bibles runs away
| up into the millions. In single year,
ending March 81, 1884, the society here
| issued 1916, ,051 volumes, of which A74,-
425 were Bibles, while the British So
| ciety circulated 3,11s,3O4 volumes, Of
which s27, $50 were Bibles, and since
the year 1904, when the British Society
Twas founded, more than 200, ,000, 600
Bibles, TesJaments, and integral por-
tions Of the Bible have been circulated.
Fancy, then, the vast number Of Bibles
that has been printed since 1855, when
the earliest book known was printed
with movable metal types at Nentz-a
folio Latin Bible. The number of
copies was probably less than 800 in
that year. Many of these were printed
on vellum, material made from skins
of very young kids and lambs and as
each Bible contained GA leaves, the
skins of more than 800 animals were
required for every copy. Tn that CEN
tury (l455) tvo men working at one
press could print 800 sheets day. Few
persons appreciate the difficulty Of rem
dering the Scriptures from the original
Hebrew and Greek into languages
which have not been previously per
vaded and moulded by Christian
thought. DR.. Eli Smith and DR.. Van
Dyck worked sixteen years in translat-
| ing the Bible into Arabic. DR.. Schauf-
Ter of Constantinople labored from 1860
to 1874 to translate ths Bible into Tur
kish. DR.. Schereschewsky was fifteen
years translsting the Old Testament
into the Mandarin Colloquial. It re-
quire6 DR.. Williamson and DR.. Biggs
forty years to complete their Dakota
version of the Bible, and one of them
estimated that he spent on an average
full thirty minutes on each verse he
translated. In 1850 the Protestant mis-
sionaries we're sent to Japan, and it
took them twenty years before their
translation of the entire New Testa-
ment was ready for circulation. ]
mention these facts merely to illustrate
the labor that Is necessarily involved in
my branch of the work. Asingle error
upon my part, if allowed to pass, would
render Useless the complete edition,
and that would involve a vast expense.
Hence you will readily understand that
a clear brain is positive necessity.
But must say that I am more than
convinced that my time is worth some
thing better than s2l per week.