Mennonites, the price of one copy was fixed at twenty shillings (about £1), which ought to be proof that other causes than eagerness for gain led to the printing of the same.”

All arrangements for printing the book were made by two Mennonites, Heinrich Funk and Dielman Kolb, who were appointed a committee to make a contract with the community at Ephrata. Their certificate is an interesting feature of the book. After stating the terms, that the print should be neat, the paper good, and that the printers should translate the book and bear the cost, they say:

"Heinrich Funk and Dielman Kolb had such a great love for this book that they both with common consent gave their time and labor to it, and as the leaves came from the press and were sent to them in their order, went over them one at a time, comparing them with the Dutch, and in this work have omitted not a single verse. They have not found in the whole book one line which does not give the same grounds of belief and sense as is contained in the Dutch. They have indeed found a number of words about which they have hesitated and doubted, and which might have been improved both in the Dutch and German, but it is not to be wondered at that in so large a book a word here and there is not used in the best sense; but nobody ought to complain for this reason, for we are all human and err . . We have therefore at the request of the rest of our fellowministers very willingly read through this great book from the beginning to the end and compared it with the Dutch, and we have according to our slight ability and gift of understanding found nothing that would be disadvantageous to this book, or in which the teachings of the holy martyrs have not been properly translated, but we believe that the translator has done his best

We

further believe that the best thing about this book will be that the Lord through his Holy Spirit will so kindle the hearts of men with an eager desire for it that they will not regard a little money but buy it, and taking plenty of time, read in it earnestly with thought, so that they may see and learn in what way they shall be grounded in belief in Christ, and how they should arrange their lives and walk in order to follow the defenceless Lamb and to be heirs of the everlasting Kingdom with Christ and his Apostles."

Laid in loosely in the Gunther copy is a full page frontispiece, in which John the Baptist is represented as immersing Christ in the river Jordan. The creed of the Dunkers differs from that of the Mennonites chiefly in that the former believe in the necessity of immersion, whereas the latter baptize by sprinkling. The Mennonites, therefore, refused to have this plate bound in their copies, whereas the Dunkers insisted on having it inserted in the books purchased by them.

During the Revolutionary War this book met a strange fate. At a time when there was great scarcity of all war materials, especially paper, it was learned that there was a considerable stock of printed paper-the Book of Martyrsat Ephrata. It is recorded in the Chronicle that many protests were raised against the confiscation of this paper, but in vain, for "there arrived two wagons and six soldiers, who took possession of all the copies of the Book of Martyrs after making prompt payment for them. This gave great offense in the country, and many thought that the war would not end favorably for the country, because the memorials of the holy martyrs had been thus maltreated." The Chronicle does not state, but no doubt the soldiers paid for them with Continental paper money.

Saur's Bible, printed at Germantown in 1743, the first Bible printed in Americahas long been considered as the greatest typographical achievement of the 18th century, but it is doubtful if it should not share or yield the first place. The Book of Martyrs, measured by its typographical excellence, the quality of its home-made paper, the labor and time given to printing it leaf by leaf on a small hand press, its historical and genealogical importance, and its rarity, is certainly a worthy rival for first place among the books printed in colonial America.

About thirty years after the publication of this book at Ephrata a new edition was issued in Germany, at the little town of Pirmasens, in the Palatinate only a few miles north of the Alsatian border. This edition was illustrated with copper-plates previously used in a Dutch edition of 1685. The War of 1812 called forth a new edition in America, published at Lancaster, Pa. in 1814. The subscription price of this edition, a handsome folio of nearly a thousand pages, was $10.00. The preface gives considerable bibliographical information about this book and others published by the Mennonites. Later editions appeared at Philadelphia in 1849 and Elkhart, Indiana, in 1870. There is also a good English translation, published in London in 1853, and now long, long out of print.

CHRONICLE AND COMMENT On the evening of October 17 a large audience enjoyed the lecture-recital given by Mr. Henry Purmort Eames, with the assistance of Mr. Milford Chandler and the Sincere Brothers, on the subject, "The Music of the American Indian, its Primitive and Art-Music Forms." Mr. Chandler and the two Sinceres, dressed in Winnebago costume, gave numerous examples of Indian songs and calls, using war whistles, courting flutes, gourd rattles, and drums. A song celebrating the return of victorious warriors, and another glorifying successful horse-thieves, were particularly effective. The second part of the program, given by Mr. Eames, demonstrated how these simple Indian melodies could be elaborated into modern art-music forms, ranging from an aria to a suite for large orchestra. Mr. Eames was notably skillful in making the piano a substitute for chorus and orchestra.

A noteworthy event under the auspices of the Society will be the laying of the cornerstone of the new building being erected by the London Guarantee and Accident Company on the site of old Fort Dearborn. Deposited in the cornerstone will be a full-size copy of the orginal plan of Fort Dearborn, obtained from the War Department, and other documents which future generations may recover and puzzle over. It is planned to place the Fort Dearborn Memorial Tablet, which formerly was fastened to the wall of the Hoyt building, in the entrance hall of the new building.

SUNDAY OPENING

The Society has acheived one long-desired goal, the opening of the library and museum on Sundays as well as on other days. This change is in line with the efforts of the trustees to give the Society greater publicity than it has had heretofore, and to broaden its appeal. So large a portion of the public is unable to visit the building during the week, that Sunday opening is inevitable if the number of visitors is to be largely increased. At a meeting of the trustees and governing members, held October 24, it was decided to appoint a Committee of Twenty-One to institute a publicity campaign for the Society. At the same meeting it was decided to defray the added cost of Sunday opening by subscription, and pledges for a fourth of the required amount were given by the members present.

ACCESSIONS

During recent months the Society has received its most extensive gifts from the estates of three deceased members, Mr. Addison Ballard, Mr. Frank Hamlin, Mr. William D. Barge. Mr. Ballard who came to Chicago, in the 30's, was one of California's "Forty-niners", and his papers throw valuable light on Chicago men who went west at that time. From Mr. Hamlin were received a large number of historical books, especially on Illinois. The Barge gift included a number of valuable maps and the manuscript notes for a history of Illinois which Mr. Barge was preparing. Other important gifts are: For the Library

From James R. Offield. "The Early Pioneers and Pioneer Events of Illinois", by Harvey L. Ross, Chicago, 1899.

From the author. "The Life and Services of Joseph Duncan, Governor of Illinois, 18341838", by Elizabeth Duncan Putnam, Springfield, 1921.

From the Mulvey Estate, through W. K. Young & Bros. A letter from Junius Mulvey

to Oliver Mulvey of New York, dated Chicago, June 22, 1854, narrating the baggage complications and hotel discomforts suffered in this city because of the rush of fortune seekers to the young metropolis.

From Mr. Henry J. Patten. Certified copy of a letter of George Howieson to Alexander Henry, dated Somonauk, DeKalb County, Illinois, Nov. 4, 1844.

From Mr. George K. Shoenberger. A typewritten sketch of Agnes Reynolds, by Laura Louis Houghteling.

From Mr. Oscar Wolff. "Map of Chicago and Southern Vicinity," printed at Chicago by Atcheson & Rodney, probably about 1856.

From Miss Mary Corwith Hempstead, Photograph of Edward Hempstead.

From Mrs. Bryan Lathrop. Life size bronze bust of Sitting Bull, and bronze reliefs of War Eagle and Chassagoac, all by Edward Kemeys. From Mr. Barbour Lathrop. Gold-headed cane presented to Thomas B. Bryan in 1862 by the officers of the 72nd Reg. Illinois Volunteers.

From Mrs. Elizabeth Richmond. Two oil paintings of the schooner "Dean Richmond", sent direct to England via the Great Lakes about 1855, the first ship to make this voyage. From Mrs. William M. Derby. Tool chest made and used by Addison Ballard in California in 1849, together with a ring made of the first gold dug by him and other relics.

From Mr. Dudley Seymour, of Hartford, Conn., the foremost of authorities on Nathan Hale. Photograph of pencil sketch of himself made by Hale on the morning of his execution. From Rev. Edward V. Griswold. Seventyfive World War posters.

Rensselaer W. Cox, born 1855, died September 26.

Edward A. Cummings, born 1842, died August 23.

John Fitch Curtis, born 1833, died July 21. John Baptist Grommes, born 1843, died August 22.

Emily Hollingsworth (Mrs. Charles M.) Henderson, died August 7.

Louis Ellsworth Laflin, born 1861, died September 2.

Levy Mayer, born 1858, died August 14. Herman Paepcke, born 1851, died July 22. Francis Stuyvesant Peabody, born 1859, died August 27.

Otto H. Redlich, Jr., born 1857, died September 9.

Daniel Bartholomew Scully, born 1850, died August 8.

Delavan Smith, born 1861, died August 25.

William Boldenweck, born 1851, died August 21 while traveling in Germany. Mr. Boldenweck was mayor of Lake View 1887-89 and subsequently held various prominent offices in Chicago and Cook county. Mr. Boldenweck presented to the Society a collection of documents and souvenirs interesting for the political history of Chicago. Among these were poll books and tally sheets for Lake View, as early as 1857 and 1858, numerous World's Fair medals, and the silver shovel with which were dug the first and the last spadeful of earth in the construction of the Chicago Drainage Canal.