whether the kings or nobles of the court could read or not, most of the
books were bought by them simply as art works. Many, of course,
especially the most skillfully illuminated ones, were very beautiful and
were well worth owning."

"But think of the time it must have taken to make them by hand!"
speculated Paul.

"Time was no object in those days," smiled his father. "There was
nothing to hurry about. A monk would toil at a single manuscript day
after day, month after month; sometimes year after year. It must have
been a sleepy, tiresome business to write out even a short manuscript so
carefully, to say nothing of a long one like the Bible. What wonder that
the patient workers were so glad when their tedious task was done that
they inscribed at the end of it a little song of thanksgiving. I
remember seeing one old book in a European museum at the end of which
was written:

"_'This book was illuminated, bound, and perfected by Henry Cremer,
vicar of the Collegiate Church of Saint Stephen in Metz, on the Feast of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, in the year of our Lord 1456._

"_'Thanks be to God, Hallelujah!'_

"No doubt the pious Henry Cremer was thankful for many other things
besides the completion of his manuscript, but I am sure he must have
been human enough to draw a sigh of relief when he put the last stroke
to such a tedious piece of work. Don't you think so?"

"I'll bet he was," agreed Paul.

"Can't you see those patient monks alone in their dimly lighted cells,
silently writing day after day?" continued Mr. Cameron. "Many a poor
fellow who drudged so mechanically at his task copied the errors in the
text quite as faithfully as the rest of it. In consequence, it at last
became imperative to demand that the scribes work with more
intelligence, and therefore at the end of a manuscript would be such an
admonition as this:

"_'I adjure thee who shall transcribe this book by our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by His glorious coming to judge the quick and the dead, that
thou compare what thou transcribest and correct it carefully according
to the copy from which thou transcribest, and that thou also annex a
copy of this adjuration to what thou hast written.'_

"Thus, you see, was the copyist forced to study his text and pass the
caution against mistakes on to others. Nevertheless, solemn and reverent
as was this warning, it did not prevent errors from slipping into the
old illuminated manuscripts, and many