Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1854-07-28
Noah Webster and his Dictionary.

Il
hundred exquisite engrayings of the fl
nest specimens of picture and sculpture,
has recently been issued in New York.
the engravings being" sandwiched with
notices, in prose and verse, of American
men, literature, art and progress. The
first of these notices is the following, rem
dered peculiarly interesting here by To-
cal associations connected as well with
DIR. Webster as with his works:
The Schoolmaster of our Republic.
at seems to be one of the laws of Pro
violence. that the founders of states shall
never divide their glory with those who
came after them. Moses, Scion. and
Lycurgus; Romulus, Alfred and Wash
ington, have left none to dispute their
fame. So it is with the fathers oflearn-
ing. The name ofCadmus inspires to-day
the same veneration that was felt for him
by Plato. No dramatic poet will dream
of uSurping the throne of Shakespeare
no future astronomer will lay profane
hand on the crown of Calico. The world
looks fer no other lliad-there will be no
second Dante. Daniel Webster has in
terpreted the constitution, and Noah
Webster left us standard of the English
language which will guide all successive
ages.
The pen is the only scepter which is
never broken. The only real master is
he who controls the thoughts of men.
The maker of words is master of the
thinker, who only uses them. In this
domain he has no rival. He stands at
the fountain-head of thought, science
civilization. He iscontroller ofall minds
to him all talk. think write or print
pay involuntary tribute. In this sense,
Noah Webster is the all-shaping, all-con-
trolling mind Of this hemisphere. lie
grew up with his country. and he mould
ed the intellectual cha racter of her peo-
pie. Not a man has sprung from her soil
on whom he has not laid his all-forming
hand. His principles of language have
tingcd every sentence that is now, or will
ever be, uttered by an American tongue.
His genius has presided over every scene
in the nation. 1t is universal omnlpo-
tent, omnipreScnt. No man can breathe
the air of the continent, and escape It.
The scepter which the great leNico-
graphcr wields so unquestionably was
most worthily won. 1t was not inheri-
ted, it was achieved. ltcost lie-strug-
gle for an honest, brave. and untaltering
helrt-a DEAR serene intellect. No pro
pitious accidents favored his progress.
The victory was won after steady trial
of sixty years. Contemplate the induces
of his progress; for science like machin-
cry, measures its revolutions. Nhcnthe
wheels Of our ocean steamers have NOV
ed round a million times, the dial hand
marks one. 1t was 50 with Calico and
Bacon-their books marked their pro-
greSs thro' the unexplored seas OF learn
ing. 1t was so with Webster. When
our renublc rose he became its school
master. There had never been a great
nation with universal language without
dialects. The Yorkshire men cannot now
talk with the men of Cornwall. The
peasant of the Ligurian Apprentices drives
his goats home at evening over hills that
look down on six provinces, none OF
whose dialects he can speak. Here, D
900 miles change not the sound OF Il word.
Around every tireside, and from every
tribune, in every field of lab n and every
factory Of toll is heard the same tongue.
We owe it to Webster. lie has done
for lis more than Alfred did for England,
or Cadmus for Greece. His books have
educated three generations. They are
forever multiplying his army of thinkers.
who will transmit his name from age to
age. Only two men have stood on the
New World whose fame is SO sure to
last--Columbus its discoverer, and Wash
ington its savior. Webster is, and will
be its great teacher; and these three make
our trinity of fame. In publishing the
Unabridged Dictionary of the American
language, Merriam & Co. of Springfield,
Mass. have rendered its authors name
eternal"