Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-07-01

stesies. ard we're typical in their mean;ne
Single character representing an idea and not
a sound as with us, and group of but few i'm
! ages embracing whole history The ancient,
represented Saturn, as eating his own children
Ian odlous human acceptation, vet feachinp
the moral lesson OF decay and reproductions
the hundred handed Briareus, so effective IN
| quoting the yong into fearful submission, is
| but an emblem Of strength and enormous ac-
| tivity-the Argus with its hundred ewes was
emblematlc OF watchfulness; and the Indian
image, seen IN our day with its three heads. en-
BODIES their conception of the Supreme Being, in
Its power OF creation, preservation and destruc-
ton The Brahmin impress of divinity has
four faces-the Italian Janus but two There
was system and purpose in their worship
there is none IN ours They worshipped i'm
ages, lnhuman but significant in their DESIGN /:
we, IN our blind devotion to place and wealth
worship images of our own creation and those
images are not restricted in the number or
character OF their faces. Rude characters
upon ROCKS, or upon trees, by the wayside
recorded the movements of armies or the
migration OF people-a mound marked the
.restlng place. and tradition gave the his
tory OF the illustrious dead. Wandering min
streIs sang the praises of the nation-per-
petuGted the joy of a successful, or the rage
and hatred of defeated lover or. with
tears consecrated the memory of a departed
mistress. The pomp and parade of power
the vanity OF wealth, and the exactions of am
oltlon, had all their poetic devotees and
men sang and danced for bread before the
rude chieftain and warrior, as men now sing
and dance before the dispensers of PATRONAGE
and under the oyershadowing walls of wealth.
The energy and ceaseless activity of nations.
Wild and uncultivated, added to certain ma
tural pride IN their exploits, and their gradual
~ unfolding history, brought at the same time
the necessity and the desire for more lasting
record, and gradually developed a spirit of
Jfara r11rn VrlJ oh rx-nC not ed Il
dition and unwritten song and we find, as
the early nations progressed in power and skill
their literature took wider range, and assumed
form The broad leaf of the Papyrus from
which We get the word paper) is made to re-
cord the first page of written history Men
begin to think, and their thoughts are recorded
for other generations-a purpose of life is seen,
and q record OF its progress, and history of
the world Is to be written. How grand the
idea. how important the first word Written
which was to open to life new ambitions and
new purposes, and mark the steady progress of
Humanity from the dark valley of Barbarism
to the broad highways of Civilization, lighted
by True Christianity. The conception of
an imperishable history laid aside the Papyrus
for the Nellum and then commenced the re-
cord which connects the literature of the early
Greeks and Egyptians with that of modern
days. How far We have improved upon the
Had, / leave for modern poets to say-how
improved in fable and allegory, are we upon
the writings of HOMER 2 The works of PLATO
OF Ho&ER, and ARISTOTLE, stand unrivaled
upon our shelves. Tradition pointed to
mound as ACHILLES grave, and over it ALEX
AMBER wept-as envying the fate of the hero
who had found HOMER to celebrate his heroic
deeds, and keep them ever active in memory
who among modern heroes weeps for q poet to
celebrate his name and fame ? When We find
our ACHILLES, we NAV look for a HOMER to
sing his praise. Papyrus and Vellum have
had their day-the Egyptian plant is now no
longer robbed of its leaves and the sheep is
no longer made to yield its skin to form a tab
let on which to write the name and deeds of
makes all things equal the
sheep, no longer treasured and sacrificed for
its parchment, becomes, in our time, til hero
OF many book indeed, it is hard in modern
literature to determine where the par hment
ceases, and the ouis auctor ct heros begins
The mind awakening and quickening to life,
in the light and knowledge which written
words Were dispensing, demanded some means
more rapid than the SLOW process of TRANSCRIPT
ing and the Chinese system of using engraved
blocks was adopted, and so far improved as to
meet, for time, the requirements of an age
in which the few read, while the multitude
listened but the great epoch in the history of
literature was the happy reflection of GUTTEN-
BERG, when he, in l442, conceived the idea of
movable types. From this date which carries
US away back among the dark ages of the
W orld's history, may we note one of the few
divisions which chapter the Worlds annals,
from the going forth Of that Omnipotent order
which gave Light and Lie to Earth What
noble, grand thoughts, must have inspired that
man. as he reflected in his seclusion over the
idea of a printed language-of opening to the
nations Of earth written history and how
natural and appropriate that such SOU, ac-
tuated by such impulses, and strengthened by
such faith, should have consecrated its discov-
erv to the production of that Great Book
+ho,. +In To- Of
Let us pay tribute to the memory of him who
first invented moveable type JOHN GUTTEN-
BERG a citizen of Mentz, in Germany, first
printed, in 1923, upon lines engraved on wood
The idea was not original with him, but taken
from the Chinese and japanese, to both of
which people the process of taking impressions
upon engraved plates, or wooden blocks, had
been a CUSTOM dating back to time immemorial.
In l442, GUTENBERG conceived the idea of
using movable wooden types, in the of
which he far successful to greatly
facilitate his business, and the improvement
very soon led to other and more important
changes among others, the use of metal type,
suggested by SCHGFFER, an employee of GUT
TENBERG and FAUsT-the inventor received
as a reward for his industry and skill, the only
daughter of FAUST, as q bride. Printing must
have been more promising business then than
it is now, or FAUST would have made more
discreet disposal of his q only daughter
Living in an age of ignorance, surrounded by
bigoted and jealous inquisitOrs, these men la
bored in secret and silence, working out an
invention that was slowly, but surely, to dis
pense light and knowledge % the world. We
may imagine, cannot realize, the labors
and privations Of these men, as they, in their
seclusion, away from the sight and hearing of
other men cut off from the light of Heaven
moving like spectres before their dim lamps,
and noiselessly, in half suppressed words,
experimenting in an invention which, in its
perfection, was to open TO the world a era,
and become the great medium of dispensing
intelligence and refined knowledge among men.
Who can imagine the thoughts, the hopes, and
fears, of these men, as they raised from their
rude press, the first printed sheet 1t was
success-a grand victory-greater than force
ever achieved-a victory of Mind, and Intel
Hgence is its monument Every book, every
paper, every means of knowledge, is a monu-
ment to the genius of GUTENBERG, Of FAUST,
of SCHEFFER, and their names and fame, will
cease to be remembered and honored only
when the inhabitants Of the earth have fallen
back to their original state.