The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-21

!
gage the French feet OFF the Isle OF
Minorca IN 1856 This almost demon
strates the age Of the trunk as being
40 years. But what a vivid reminder
IS the card above quoted Of the period
when the majority Of the population
were unable to read and could only
identity the stores at which they traded
By the signs which swung from the
and a reminder not less vivid Of the
colonial period when cur f0refatherz
were dependent upon the old country
for even the trunks IN which they
packed their clothes.
OF relics valued for pathetic rather
than antique qualities. I call to mind
one which nay limited space will perhaps
permit me to mention. Fifty years ago
an English sea captain in the passage
from London to New York was driven
north OK his course into the fog banks
of Newfoundland. where his vessel,
hurled BY hurricane on to q sunken
reef went to pieces and to the bottom.
himself and eldest son perishing in the
wreck Amid the crash and from the
wreckage there fioated from the cap
tain's cabin his private writing desk. T
which buffeted day after day upon the
surface of the troubled waters, was at
last washed ashore upon the beach a
few milas from st. Johns, Newfound-
land. The Episcopal rector Of the dis
trict having been informed of the fact I
by his fisherman parishIoners. secured I
the relic and sent it 10 the ca2tain'S +
widow, IN desperate financial straits a T
home. and moreover under a cloud OF 4
grIeyouS suspicion because she had f
claimed from the owner OF the ship an I
insurance which her husband told her +
he had effected before leaving port. The L
owner-one OF the coffin ship ilk-Dosi- +
lively denied that any insurance had I
been taken out and attributed the claim I
to an hallucfnaLiOn of the grief-distract- /
I ed widow. But when the bruised and 4
! battered desk reached the widows home F
i IN a bundle Of papers water-stained, F
i that had been reduced almost to pulp I
was found the missing policy, duly +
signed by the owners hand, and imme- /
| diately paid when presented by the |
4 widows attorney, and then and there
was the cloud Of poverty and suspicion /
removed from the afflicted home. The
/ desk. repaired and renovated. was pre-
scented to a surviving son by the mother
on his fifteenth birthday. and in course
/ CT time followed its new owner to his
new home. about twenty miles from
1 Topeka, thus making its second visit to
the American continent under more
suspicious and happier circumstances
than the first.
While engaged IN writing these lines
/ an old New England clock seven feet
high stands in the corner Of the room
/ with it's solemn tick. took. reverberating
in the unbroken stiffness OF the house
ticks the generations into life, and out
Of life, as with faithful regularity it has
for the past 10 years at least. With
that faithful old monitor performing It's
/ duty. though the house may be empty
4
its impressive face, one thinks Of the
/ births and deaths it has witnessed, of
the scenes tragic and pathetic of which
| it has been q spectator. of the lovers
/ VOWS whispered into eager ears to
/ which it has listened. of the fond ex.
pectatiOnS predicted and the crushing
disasters rehearsed it has heard, and in
the deep stiffness or the nlgnt sitting
alone. its face visible through the semi
darkness cast by the shade of the lamp,
an uncanny consciousness creepS over
one that perhaps its wrath foresees the
hour when the writer will join the IN
nuuera Bile caravan"
OF all the relics or heirIoons which it
has been the writer's privilege to see,
none exceed in interest a volume now IN
the possession Of w. E. Lamb, Of Alta
Vista Invited recently to the wedding
/ Of his attractive daughter. we were all
made to realize that the course Of true
love never runs smooth. for the down
pouring torrents Of rain SO seriously in
terfered with the arrangements that the
minister and BRIDEGROOM were on one
side of a creek. swollen into A rOrrentIaI
flood and the bride and her family at
home on the other side. AS the
! bridges were gone. and, unlike
Leander there was no ambition
to swim. leisure afforded for IN
vestigation which resulted in the dis
covery Of a Bible which had been in the
! possession Of the family for more than
: three hundred years. The book itself is
! a copy of the Geneva edition translated
4 + and published by English scholars who
f + were driven from England to Geneva by
r the drastic prosecutions and martyr
: fires of bloody Queen Mary. It is also
= called the brooches Bible from the
y rendering of Gen. 2.T, And they sewed
s fig leaves together and made them
; / selves breechest The volume IS small
], auarto. printed in German text on
: coarse rough paper but the type is 50
: clear and exquisitely cast that its APP
: pearance is joy to the typographical
/. conniosseur.
j The book IS more than three centuries
t old and looks every whit its years.
: Though the letter press is perfect. the
: paper IS brown with age, and the edges
= Of every page are black. curled and
: raveiled with the wear and tear of ten
a generations. The binding is massive
/ and compared with the product of the
4 modern bindery. primitive and crude to
g the last degree The covers are heavy,
Y bound in thick leather. and strengthened
by plates Of brass which were intended
L to be square but owing to the artistic
: crudity of the workman are Of irregu-
e lar size and shape Thin strips Of brass
q are also roughly riveted down the en-
tire length of the cover where the
f boards hinge onto the back Originally
g very heavy brass clasps now missing
' secured the book when closed.
e One cannot examine the book without
g being impressed with the infinite
it amount Of labor that must have been
e expended in its production. Not only
n does it contain the old and new tesla
o ments with marginal notes which made
: it very popular among the Puritans OF
;, the day. but also the apocrypna COM
+ plete with what would now be called
a an analytical concordance, but what III
= the work itself Is styled, Two right
o profitable and fruitful concordances OF
r large and ample tables Alphabetical. "
!, etc. The most interesting feature tc
Il some. however would be a metrical ver-
e sion of the psalms set to the simple
Z melody of the age. The writer IS no
d musician. but judging from the meas
It ures printed at the head Of every psalm
Il and averaging two or three notes to d
2 bar he would venture the opinion that
L L would be the musical antitheses 81