The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-30


that something should be done, Parlia-
rnent decided, in 1850, that something
should be done, and in 1851, the first stone
was laid of Sir James Pennethorne's
building THE number of records" adds
Mr.. Thornbury, stored within this build
ing can only be reckoned by hundreds OF
millions. There, in cramped bundles and
rolls, dusty as papyri. lie charters and
official notices that once made mailed
knights tremble and proud priests shake
in their sandals. Now-the magic gone,
the words powerless-they lie in their sew
eral bins in strange companionship."
Sweetness and Light.
But the Record office has happily par
ticipated, and continues to participate in
the general movement all over the civil
lied world in favor of sweetness and
light. The House of Commons voted a
further sum of $500. for the financial
year l895-1S96 toward the erection Of the
new block, the total cost of which was
some $4,000. The building is known as
the third installment of the General Re-
pository of Records" 1t was designed by
Mr.. John Taylor C. B., of the office of
works and public buildings, on the site
occupied by twelve old houses in Chan
Gerry lane and resembles in character
the earlier building of Sir James Penne-
more durable. The whole building is fire.
proof and lighted by electricity; various
documents (scores of thousands In num-
ber) are stored in the northern half in
steel presses on slate shelves, and in the
southern part are the rooms of the deputy
keeper, the secretary and other members
of the staff, who were formerly located
in the Rolls House. On the first floor is
the museum, little visited as yet, strange
to say, save by foreigners Especially
Americans). but containing documents OF
worldwide interest.
Records of 500 Years.
OF the records of the contents of these
buildings, which. before many years have
passed. will be the greatest and grandest
repository of national archives in the
world, Mr.. S. r. Scargill-Bird, F.. S. A,
who has spent almost his entire life
among them, says: 1.-THE public records
of this country have been said to excel
all others in age, beauty, correctness and
authority. For a period of well nigh 800
years they contain, in an almost unbroken
chain of evidence, not only the political
and constitutional history of the realm
and the remotest particulars in regard to
its financial and social progress, but also
the history of the land and of its success
sive owners from generation to genera
ton, and of the legal procedure of the
country from a time whereof the men,
DRY of man runneth not to the contrary
Although many of them were buffeted
about in civil wars and dissensions, and
other hidden way for years in noisoine
cellars to be the refuge and food of YER
min they have yet survived to form a
magnificent monument of the past, mutt
lated here and there. IL is true, by the
ravages of time and neglect. but still
speaking in authoritative voice to the
centuries 10 come of struggles fer civil
and political liberty, and of the social and
domestic condition of the English race
from its earliest infancy to the present
time"
In the old Days.
Here, among these priceless historical
treasures, a small but earnest enthusi-
astic band of workers spent their days.
Month after month, year after year, the
search rooms of the Record Office are oc-
cupied by searchers, professional and pri-
vate. Few of those" says Mr.. Walter
Rye, in a book on the subject of the rec
ords. "who frequent the search rooms at
| the Record Office have any idea of the
Inconvenience which attached to those
| who, like myself, used to search twenty
| FIVE years ago in a long, unpleasant room
| with low tables and high baclkless forms,
which cramped the searcher's legs il he
were anything above dwarf in stature.
| Nowadays IL would be difficult to find a
| place where study and search can be car
| ried on more easily and pleasantly than
| at the Public Record Office, and certainly
| at no place are the officials, from the
| highest to the lowest, more courteous OF
more willing to help. The beginner stumbling
along, and only half conscious as to what
he is looking for. is as well treated and
listened to as patiently as the habitue
and, with the single exception of luna
tics who want information about un
claimed millions in chancery, all search
ers, however Indifferent their objects, are
made welcome"
Dickens and Miss Flite.
In Chaneeryw How the very phrase
reminds us of poor little mad Miss Fiits
in BLEAK House, And what is ii tina
the record searchers seek? Who are they
IL would take months of study in thu
searchrooms-study not of the documents
but of those who consult them-to an
swer the question; and none but a Dick
ems could answer 1t adequately: Thu
searchrooms of the record office is Dick
ensland; his types are there still. Tit
pedigree hunter; the man with griev
ance; the archaeoiogist; the copyrist; tn
law-writer; the military men, whose TIM
hangs heavy on his hands since the ag,
ument himself, useless now and files
away; the clergyman; the man weary o
modern hubbub, who loves quiet and th'
company OF the voices of the dead: thu
modern historian-keen, intelligent, cult
waited; the man with bee in his bonner
all are there; aye, and poor little mac
Miss Elite herself for all we know Tn,
record Office and Chancery Lane still
have their tragedies unknown and un
written. The only habitue who does no
belong to the Dickens period is the pro
fessional (and sometimes distinctly pre-