The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1859-02-09
No 26


ONE OF THE SPEEoHEs--On the 7th ult, IN
the Missouri house of representatives, o.
motion to lay on the table a resolution offered
by Mr.. Pitt that 'the speaker be authorized to
cause to be printed and posted one hundred
bills, announcing that the 8th of January, 1855
will be celebrated by the legislature" Mr.. Pit
made the following speeeh
Mr.. SPEAKER.-Ths house passed resol3
tions, sir, the other day to celebrate in an ap-
propriate manner the 9Th Of January. This ig
resolution simply asking that notice be given
to the public that we will celebrate that dag.
We have declared our Intention and nOF, when
we come to publish it, some gentleman is sud
denly taken with 'the retrenchment gripes
and squirms around ike d long red fishing
worm on pin hook. Laughter. Gentlemen
keep continually talking about economy.
myself do not believe in tying the public purse
with cobweb strings, but when retrenchment
comes in contact with patriotism, it assumes
the form of ''smallness" Such economy il
like that of the cid skinfnt who had pair Of
boots made for his little boy without soles, THAI
they might last the longer. Laughter
reverence 'the day we celebrate tits fraugbt
with "reminiscences the most soul-stirring; it
brings to mind one OF the grandest events ever
recorded, in letters Of living fire, upon The
walls of the temple of fame, by the strong
right arm Of The god Of war! On such ocea-
sions we should rise above party lines and po-
tical distinctions, | never fought under the
banner of Old Hickory, but, "by the eternal,
I wish l had Laughter and applause Lt
the old war horse was here now, he would not
know his own children from the side of JOSEPH
coat Of many colors-whigs, know nothings
democrats, hard. soft boiled, scrambled and
fried Lincolnites, Douglasites, Buchananites
and blatherskies!
| belong to no party am free, unbridled
unsadded in the political pasture. Like
bobtailed bull in fly time, | charge around ne
the high grass and fight my own flies Great
laughter Gentlemen, let US show our hberal
ty on patriotic occasions. Why some men
have no more patriotism than you could staf
into the eye of a knitting needle Let US not
squeeze five cent piece until the eagle or Il
soueals like locomotive OF an old maid. Let
US print the bills. and inform the country thai
we are as full of patriotism as an Illinois swami
is Of tadpoles. Laughter.l | don't belieys
in doing things by halves Permit me, ME.
Speaker, to make practical quotation from one
of our noblest authors
81 love to see the green grass among the red Asg
| roses;
love to an cid gray boss, for Wheu he goes, so
gosesH
TPeals Of laughter.
! The resolution was not tabled.
ORIGIN OF LErTERs.-The inquiry concerr-
inc the origin of letters has given rise t.
variety of opinions, and many Of them vague
and unsatisfactory; for on this point the learned
are by no means agreed. Some writers have
attributed their invention to different people.
| Thoth, or Mercury, is said to have invented
and taught the Egyptians how to use then,
! Others give the honor of the invention 10 t1e
Assyrians, Phanicans, etc. Some think they
were perfectly known before the confusion Of
tongues, and imagine them to have been in
common use in the antedluVian world, and
that Noah and his family brought them into
the new world, in which they have been con
tinued through great variety of successive
changes, until the present time. Some atJri-
butte the invention to Moses, others to Abraham
others to Abel, and some to Adam. The Jew
ish rabbis say, 1.-The Almighty formed them
on the evening of the first Sabbath" and Pny
seems to have thought them eternal! Thess
different opinions serve to show the uncertainty
of the subject; but there can be no limit for
conjecture on his head, when all direct eTi-
dence is wanting. That there were various
symbols and figures used, in all ages of the
world, to represent the objects of sense, even
before regular written language was neces
sary, may be readily believed; but we have
no certain account of the existence or use Of
regular alphabetical characters previous to the
day of Moses, nor of anything written in sueh
characters prior to the giving of the law Or
Mount Sinai, 2,5l2 years from the foundati9n
Of the world, and 856 after the universal deuga
After the dispersion of mankind in the time Or
Peleg, writing became necessary, not only be-
cause of this dispersion, but because the life Of
man was so much abridged;e consequently tradi-
ton must become less certain, as the facts bad
to be related to a multitude of persons; hence
alphabetical characters became necessary, be
cause without them the records of the word
must soon have been obterated from the minds
Of the swiftly succeeding generations Of men
There is no positive evidence that there was
any writing before the declaration of the law
on Mount Sinai, and then the Almighty is said
to have written the decalogue with his own fin
ger. After this time, writing is always men
toned SuraZel also relates the following ir
regard to 1.-The Origin of Pens 1t wa a
custom among the ancient Greeks and Roman
to write upon tablets, which were covered wiyh
a thin coat Of wax; for this purpose they mad5
use of a stylus or bobkin, made of bone, iron.
or some kind of hard METAL but when writi8g
with colored liquids was introduced, areed was
first employed, and afterwards qulls or feathef
The most beautiful kinds Of reeds for writ
grew formerly near Cnidus, a city Of Ass
Minor, and likewise in Armenia and Italy
though Pliny considered those which grew ~
the last mentioned country as too soft aad
spongy. Adrian, of ValFis, speaks OF qpiils
for writing as early as the fifteenth cenlurg
Isidore, Of Seville, makes mention of qut.s
and reeds being employed for writing about thc
year 636; and Anthelmus, who lived in 7o5,
has written Latin poem in praise OF the writ
ingpen. Aste, in his Treatise on Diplomat
Science" assures US from comparing mann
scripts that wiring reeds were used ia France,
in conjunction with quills, in the eighth cea
tury, and that the latter began to be in general