The native American., 1838-01-20

vised method of imprinting on material sub
stance an Ineligible sign, not Of things, but a
sounds forming the names of things; in Other
words, it invented the A B G.. With this simple
invention, and the mechanical contryances with
which It is carried into effect, the mind of man
was, ! had almost said, re-created. The day
before 1t was invented, the voice of man, in its
utmost stretch, could be heard but by a few
thousands, intenty listening for an hour or two,
during which alone his strength would enable
him to utter succession of sounds. The day
after the art of writing was invented, he stamps
his thoughts on roll of parchment, and they
reach every city and hamlet of the largest empire.
The day before this invention, and the mind Of
one country was estranged from the mind of all
other countries. For almost all the purposes of
intercourse, the families of man might as well
not have belonged to one race. The day after
1t, and Wisdom was endued with the gift of
tongues, and spake by her interpreters TO all the
tribes Of kindred men. The day before this in
vention, and nothing but fading tradition, con-
stantly becoming fainter, could be preserved by
the memory, Of all that was spoken or acted by
the greatest and wisest of men. The day after
it. Thought was imperishable; it sprung to an
earthly immortality; it seized the new-found in
struments of record and commemoration, and,
deserving the body as it sunk with its vocal or
gans into the dust, it carved on the very grave
stone, s'The mind of man shall live forever
#i x.itf ~ isF
We dare say most of our readers will find
something new to them in the passage we are
now going to quote, touching the progress Of
certain Improvements in one familiar art. 4
9 It is not yet, | believe, more than two or
three centuries, since the only mode of spinning
known was by the rock and spindle. The sim
pie spinning-wheel, moved by the hand, and
which was thought, in the times of our grand
parents, to show graceful form and we'll
turned arm to nearly as much advantage as a
harp at the present day, and to make music
almost as cheerful, is at once an obsolete and a
modern invention. The Greeks and Romans are
said to have been unacquainted with the spinning
wheel. The monarch's heavy purple and the
nymph's airy tissue were alike manufactured by
twiring the distaf, and drawing out thread
with the fingers; and no Improvement was made
on this tedious process, in Great Britain, before
the fifteenth century. 1t is evident that much
more labor must have been requisite, with this
rude machinery, to supply the indispensable arti-
Gle of clothing, than with the modern improve
ments. The introduction of the spinning wheel
Of the spinning and weaving machi-
merry ofthe last century, has pushed this economy
to extent, at which it is vain 10 attempt to cal
culate it. This economy operates, first, to mnl-
tply the comforts Of the existing populations, and
then, by necessary consequence, TO increase the
population crpablc Of subsistng in given circuit.
Yes, the man who, il the infancy Of the arts, I'M
vented the saw or the plane, the grindstone, the
vice, or the hand-mill; and those who, in later
periods, have contributed to the wonderful sys-
tenn Of modern machinery, are entitled to rank
high among the benefactors Of mankind, the
fathers Of ciyization,.-the creators, had almost
said, of nations. No, it is not the fabulous wand
Of the enchanter, it is the weaver's beam, and
instruments like it, which call thousands and tens
of thousands into being. Mind, acting through
the useful arts, is the vital principle Of modern
civilized society. The mechanician, not the ma
gician, is now the master Of life. He kindles the
fires Of his steam engine,-the rivers, the lakes,
the ocean, are covered with flying vessels; mighty
chain-pumps descend, Jclanking and groaning, to
the deepest abysses of the coal mine and rid
them Of their deluging waters; and spindles and
looms ply their task if instinct with life. 1t is
the necromahcy of the creative machinist. In
moment happy thought crosses his magma
tion,-an improvement is conceived. Some tedi-
ous process can be superseded by.a chemical
application, as in the modern art of bleaching.
Some necessary result can be attained, in half the
time, by new mechanical contriyance;-
who1k.- = ratchet-a screw will effect the object;
he tries y few experiments; it will succeed: it is
done. He stamps his foot, and a hundred thou
- men start into being; not, like those which
i lsng from the tabled dragons teeth, armed
with the weapons of destruction, but furnished
with every implement for the service and comfort
Of man. It is stated by James Watt, (before
whose time the steam engine was an imperfect
and inefficient machine that the moment the mo-
tion Of separate condensation struck him, all
the other details of his improved engine followed
in rapid and immediate succession, so that, in the
course Of a day, his invention was SO complete
that he proceeded to submit it to experiment. =
Could that day be identified, it would well de-
serve an anniversary celebration by the universal
tribes of civilized man."
Sentimentalists have complained Of 'the me-
chanical tendency" of the present age, as having
an unfavorable influence upon morals and intel
lect. Mr.. Everett vindicates the mechanic arts
from this mputation; regarding their intellectual
and moral influences as among their happiest re-
suits. We cannot abridge his observations with