The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-04-21
IRENE.
Books %,'t.sa 7 by
! Centuries Ago on the Shelves
i, Of a St. Louis Monastery
! Library.

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY
From the recesses of the lowest circle OF
shelves in the library of the Franciscan
Monastery at Compton avenue and Mlera-
mec street, hands that have been dead 1or
five centuries and more reach out messages
to living man. -
quaint in the form in which they were
nodded half a thousand years ago. Inere
is mustiness and y~ellowness ABOUT THEM
dismal cracking of sheets from which the
weight Of hundreds OF years mas pressed
all the moisture-of curled and crumpled
parchments-of clackins boards. And they
are told in sonorous Latin with much itai-
les and many red and blue gold letters scat
tered painfully by hand through the pom
derous black columns.
What are these messages?
Thoughts of mortal minds upon an I'M
mortal subject-recorded notes of that Song
of the Spirit which has been ringing
through all the years since the embodied
Christ lived on earth.
Centuries ago they were given by the de-
yout men who made them into the keeping
of the good monks. In that keeping they
still remain. Generation upon generation
has read them, learned them, and evolved
from them other messages: they have been
transplanted from sacred shelves OF the
Old World to sac.ed shelves OF the New
World; they are marked by man, ana
scared by time, ard mibbied by decay. Bat
they still live-in spite of time, change and
decay-that other generations may learn
them and, repeating them. help mortal man
onward in his march toward immortality.
The Oldest of them bears the cate OF a.
D.. I4sl-betore Columbus had discovered
Amer;ca-before the world knew that the
earth was round. Its title page bears the
words "Summa Alexandri Halensis." which
is thus Interpreted: Complete Works of
Alexander of Hales." The size is a thick
uuarto; the lids are of board, covered with
leather which has been darkened by time.
Tho lettering is heavy, but not without a
ponderous beauty. An enormous initial U ,
spreading half across the broad page, and
done by land in gold and blue and red and
green, stands above the rest of the opening
word -"Opponus' "you may object"
There are two columns to the page-and
hundreds of pages: all dealing with the
ological questions as they were considered
five centuries ago. This book does not bear
the name of the city in which it was pub
lfshed.
The next Oldest of the ancient books con-
tains the complete works of ST. Boniven-
tura. Its appearance is much the same as
that of the copy CT Alexander of Haies.
Like the older work. its initial letter Is
brilliant, in blue and gold. with a scroll ex-
tending along the right-hand margin clear
to the bottom of the page. Through both
of these works. hundreds of Initial letters.
done by HAND in red or blue. are scattered.
Time and much handling have. dealt
heavily with the next Oldest book in the
library, "The Works Of st. Cyprian, Bishop
of Carthage" This book is a copy Of the
sd,tion of 1919. The lids are of heavy wood.
covered by heavy leather, and they are
bound together by heavy cord. parts OF
/ which nave become detached from the lbs
snd hang loosely away from the grooves IN
which they were designed to rest.
There are many. books Of the Sixteenth
Seta ~ 1557 and is the work Of Clement
ne Alexandria. 1t was printed in Florence.
and there is an absence of brilliant oIna-
mentation. The lids are Of board THESE