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Show Ladies and Gestiesens ! It is with deep essotion that 1 rise tonight to speak te you on a subject which has filled ay life and thought for aor© than a year. Th© fispsdltioa of Mt, Sinai for Mcrofllsiac te© Manuscripts of te© Ifenastery of St, Catherine beosa© a reality In December 19491 and after six hard souths,. th© results surpassed all our expectations, fcsrly a million folios of n u n - seripts in JMjgftHf languages were alerofilaed,. and tee crop will soon be rip© for scholars all over the world. Our labours and our pains and sufferings in tee Bereileas wilderness of Sinai have been more than repaid, and th© litany of Congress will soon be able to put at everybody** disposal a harvest of roses without tee thistles.. Hi tees© days of trial and tribulation, of fears and predictions of «ar and destruction, I feel eorpsHed to say that the ways of peace and of th© pen have, by this unequalled and ungareee^ented ©speditloa,Bade aatebloss conquests in the reals of the buaanitlee acre than anything before or ever since. Treasures of knowledge, the fruit of intellectual labour of hundreds of generations of monastic scholars and scribes, buried for fourteen centuries behind the deserted sands and granite fastnesses of .Mt, Slnal, are no« brought home within easy reach .and small cost to all interested by te© Library of Congress* May th© light of learning and spiritual .initiative reign and overwhelm the s»nae© of th© powers of darkness and imterialisal It is indeed with a profound sense of satisfaction and well-being that I address you now on one of te© aspects of this peaceful project whose harvest th© library of Congress and those in charge of its tsaitipie activities oust feel proud to laqw^urate at this hour ./'The Arable treasures of the Monastery of St. Catherine In Mt* Sisal are incalculable, and I anst at tee v©ry outset ask your indulgence if te© train of thought carries sm into the sphere of |
