The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-04-07
70 UND TN ODD PLACES
RoerER oFHlsToRic TRlAsuREa
SAVED ny CHANCE
10 the List 70 Recorded the Prlcslss,
Parchment On Which the Maana
. charta Was inscribed -NoM
IN British Museum. y

sa Not infrequently manuscripts Of III
erary treasures, long deemed to have
been lost forever, turn up In most .un
likely places and by most unlikely
means. These recoveries form an in
teresting and romantic chapter in tn,
\ history Of literature. :f. 3: :.
It IS said ethat the oldest known
Greek manuscript Of the New Tesla
ment, now the chief treasure Of mu
scum at st. Petersburg, was about IL
be burnt, together with other and ap
parently yalueless manuscripts, by tn,
monks OF q Syrian monastery, when
by lucky. chance Tischendorf inter
fered in time to save 1t.
SIS q page Of another valuable Greel
manuscript came to the Bishop Of
Uganto in startling way. It wa.
wrapped round fish and brought into
the bishops presence: when. by the
merest chance, he examined it and
found It to be part of treatise
thought for many centuries to be lost
The good man lstened to the stall OF
the butcher in the market where the
fish had been bought just In time ia
save the remaining pages of the treas
ure sS5t @.s' sa.,jsL: 81 5,i
sG Quite as lucky as this was the
chance that led to the preservation OF
the Magma Charta from destruction
The story runs that Sir Robert Cotton
had one day entered his tailor's shop
precisely at the moment when the
tailor was about to cut up, for pat
terms, an ancient looking document
wheretO were attached many large and
imposing seals. Sir Robert arrested
the hand Of the tailor, even though he
did not Immediately recognize the
value of the document, which he pur.
chased for a few cents. Today the
priceless manuscript is in glass case
at the British Museum, most carefully
guarded =. .,. 49,.
Another valuable manuscript that
was about to be destroyed, after being
smothered in dust for over two cen.
turtles in a moth-eaten Golfer, was the
famous Journal of his Italian Travels
written by Montague, This is now
looked upon as one of the greatest OF
French literary treasures. j.
A decorator at work in q room OF
LincOln's Inn in London was one day
preparing to repaint the ceiling, when
a bundle of the state papers. Of Thur.
low fell out from false panel.
For over two hundred years Millions
Commonplace Book. wherein were en-
tered the rough notes and plans of all
his poems, was lost; but finally it turn
ed up in the garnet of a neglected
house in London -
One OF the most highly priced manu-.
scripts OF recent times was rescued
just In time from cupboard in a
house whore the poet had for some
time lived as a bachelor. This was
the manuscript of .'1n Memorian,"
and 1t was to the poet himself that
the recovery was due; for he remem-
bered that the. book wherein he had
transcribed the original draft had
been hastily thrust into the cupboard,
where Tennyson also had been accus-
toned to keep his pickles and jams.
When the friends sent by the poet to
recover the manuscript arrived on
the scene, the contents Of the cup
board had been removed by the land.
lady, who was just then engaged in
her task of house cleaning, and tartly
advised her visitors that they had
come none too soon, inasmuch as she
would that day have burnt all. the
trash she had found.-The Sunday
Magazine. Il s. a r. -