Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-07-02

before the nations Of earth had written Ian
guage. The FIRST books were written upon
stones, and were typical in their meaning
single character representing an idea and not
| a sound as with US, ard group Of but few i'm
ages embracing whole history. The ancients
represented Saturn, as eating his own children
an odious human acceptation, yet teaching
| the moral lesson of decay and reproductions
| the hundred handed Briareus, SO effective in
quoting the young into fearful submission. is
| but an emblem Of strength and enormous &C
| tivity-the Argus with its hundred eyes, was
| emblematic 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 5 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, inhuman 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, mound marked the
resting place, and tradition gave the his
tory Of the illustrious dead. Wandering min
strels sang the praises of the nation-per-
petuated the JOY of successful, or the rage
and hatred Of a 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
bition, had all their poetic devotees and
men sang and danced for bread before the
rude chleftain and warrior, as men now sing
and dance before the dispensers of patronage
and under the oVershadowing walls of wealth
The energy and ceaseless activity of nations,
wild and uncultivated, added to a certain ma
tural pride in their exploits, and their gradual
ly unfolding history, brought at the same time
the necessity and the desire for a more lasting
record, and gradually developed a spirit of
literature, which not satisfied with ira
ditlon 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 re get the word paper) is made to re-
cord the first page Of written history. Men
begin to think, and tn cir thoughts are recorded
for other generations-a purpose of life is seen.
and a 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
L
for the Vellum and then commenced the re-
cord which connects the literature of the early
Greeks and Egyptians with that Of modern
days. How far have improved upon the
Had, [ leave for modern poets to say-how
improved in fable and allegory, are we upon
the writings of HOMER? The works of PLATo,
Of HOMER, and ARISTOTLE, stand unrivaled
upon our shelves. Tradition pointed to a
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 poet to
celebrate his name and fame? When we find
our ACHILLES, we may look for 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
Mortality-Time makes all things equal the
sheep, no longer treasured and sacrificed for
its parchment, becomes, in our time, the hero
of many book indeed. it is hard in modern
literature to determine where the parchment
ceases, and the 0UlS auctor ct her0S 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 1442, conceived the idea of
types From this date, which carries |
us away back among the dark ages of the
Worlds 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 Life to Earth. What
noble, grand thoughts, must have inspired that
man, as he reflected in his seclusion over the
idea of printed language-of opening to the
nations Of earth written history and how
natural and appropriate that such soul, &C
tuated by such impulses, and strengthened by
such faith, should have consecrated its disoov-
cry to the production of that Great Book,
whose author is the Father of the Universe
Let us pay tribute to the memory of him who
first invented movable type JOHN GUTTEN-
BERG, citizen of Mentz, in Germany, first
printed, in 1923, upon lines engraved on wood.
The idea was not orig inal with him, but taken
from the Chinese ana Japanese, to both of
which people the process of taking impressions
upon engraved plates or wooden blocks, had
been custom, dating back to time immemorial.
In 1442, GUTENBERG conceived the idea OF
using movable wooden types, in the use of
which he was far successful as 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 a bride. Printing must
have been more promising business then than
it is now, or FAUST would have made more
discreet disposal of his g only daughter"
Living in an age of ignorance, surrounded by
bigoted and jealous inquisitors, these men Ia
bored in secret and silence, working out an
invention that was slowly, but surely, to dis
pense light and knowledge to the world. We
may imagine, we cannot realize, the labors
and privations Of these men, as they, in their
secluson, 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 new 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 a
success-a grand victory-greater than force
ever achieved-a victory of Mind, and Intel
ligence is its monument. Every book, every
paper, every means of knowledge, is a monu-
ment to the genius of GUTENBERG, of FAUST
of SCHGFFER, 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.