The Elbert County tribune., 1911-02-17

perts IT would be necessary to remove the will
TO Washington for the interim while the work
of restoration in progress and the county
officials ut Fairfax who had the say in the mat
ter refused fatfooted to allow the document
to leave Virginia
1t looked for time as though this might
block the whole plan. but finally the officials OF
the library of congress. who have their staff
n manuscript surgeon almost as skillful as the
one at the state department. offered to send this
wizard to Fairfax Courthouse and have him
carry on the work there This was done and
the outcome has been satisfactory though
the work of rejuvenatlon had been conducted
in the welEequipped plant at the national capt.
tai. However there were many handbags and
not the least of these found in the neces-
Hity for transporting to Fairfax heavy press
and other parapharnalia needed for the intri-
cate piecng OF the torn and ragged pages
and mounting them the cardboard mounts.
one of which has been provided for each page
OF the will.
Unquestonably the gratifying success which
has attended this attempt to restore the Wash
ington will to the appearance It bore one hun
dred years ago has been due in small meas.
ure to the aid afforded by number of blank
sheets of paper made especially for George
Washington and watermarked with his name.
When the government officials first inspected
the torn and tattered will with view to apply
ing their ingenious first aid" treatment they
at realized tnat an lnOrdlnate amount OF
piecing and patching would be necessary and
they were in quandary where to obtain mate
rial that would match the original, for, of course,
the will was written on very distinctive paper.
and to patch 1t with ordinary paper of present
day manufacture would have resulted in only
partially concealing the wounds made by time
and careless hands.
There a long search for paper that
could be used with confidence that no person
examining the restored document without the
aid of magnifying glass could tell where the
original left off and patch began Finally the
officials discovered in secondhand bookstore
in Washington number of sheets of the writ
ing paper which General Washington had manu-
factured especially for his personal and
this paper was used wherever tissue had to
be grated the original document with the
result that the appearance of the original has
been simulated to defy detection. Each
sheet of the will has been backed mounted
upon "creDeine" that 1t will stand any reason
able amount of handling and the ink of the Will
has been set" that there is little danger OF
further fading
However. for all that the precious document
has been put in condition to stand another cen.
tury of strenuous existence If need be- IL is
not likely that 1t will ever again be called upon
10 suffer such neglect or abuse as in the past
The county officials who are the custodians of
the will appear to be aroused to the necessity
of giving 1t more intelligent than 1t en-
joyed in years gone by. To that end the pages
of the Will have been bound In the form OF a
book with handsome red levant cover and a
special freproof burgarproof steel safe made
specially for the purpose under the supervision
of the government officials will henceforth be
the repository of this relic
The attention which this restoration of the
will is receiving is expected to result in the Wis.
its in future of considerable numbers OF tourists
and sightseers to Fairfax Courthouse the Vir-
ginla hamlet where the will has its home-the
ufv, Il.
reached by trolley from the national capital.
The county seat of the county where Washing.
ton lived and died has many picturesque land
marks not the least interesting of which is the
old courthouse In which Washngtons will was
probatod and which presents today the same
appearance that it did on that historic day more
than century ago. The will is not kept In the
courthouse but in the office of the clerk of the
court, which occupies a separate building The
work of restoring the Washington will had II
been entrusted to any manuscript surgeon out.
side the government servce-and there are
only a few such in the country-woud have
cost 5000 to $500 at least and It is probable that
several times the latter sum might have been
demanded for the service for which the gory.
ernment made no charge
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. NORTHUMBERLAND
times larger than life size. Another find was
inscription of Sennacherib to the effect that
he had 'builded house to the God Ninib =
This presumably refers to an extension of the
temple at the east corner, of which little now
remains. but the temple well built by sennach-
crib is intact.
The Temple Of Assur is shown to have been
OF vast extent The excavations reveal court
yard surrounded by rooms and two immense
halls. The excavators found here fragments
of enameled brick dating from modern Assy-
rian times and showing markedly the influence
OF Egypt. These bricks depict battles. prison.
ers and soldiers on march and the destruction
OF fortresses.