The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-22
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Solomon said that "or making many books
there is no end" in those ancient days, when the
very best a man could do in lifetime consisted
in scrawling over few goalskins with the
Hebrew alphabetic characters, brstling aud hor-
/ rid in their appearance, the outcome OF the early
| dslris Of literature. What would the Jolly old
fellow say, could he peep forth from his sarco-
/ pbagus into one Of the publishing houses of our
day in London, Paris, and Leipsic, or even New
| York, Boston, and Philadelphia, where he could
sec enough type (of which he in his immense
| wisdom knew no.hing) used in onc day to belt
the globe three times at the equator, or 10000
miles. We think he would emphasize his great
decision Of the wisdom of his day, as "yanitv Of
yanities, all is vanity" and scorufuuy conclude
that he did not amount to much after all.
Stil, we would not be thought to underyalue
! the wisdom ofthe great Jewish scholar and ruler,
! for had he not done his duty in his day by en-
! cOuragiug literature and art, we should have
! lacked some of the stimulauts to our present
results One age Is so iEterlnked with those that
| preCede il, that care must be had ALWAYS to give
due credit TO the gCniuses that have preceded u.s.
and done their work WELL thus setting us a good
example, and laying the foundation for the COM
plete accomplishment Of the work they may leave
| unfinished.
In the age of Solomon, when Hebrew litera.
! ture was reaching perfection, the Greeks we're
! just emerging from bOOkless barbarism through
| the genius Of Homer, whose songs found no
| editor with energy sufficient 10 collect them
/ till four hundred years after the death of the
! poet But in the last few centuries of ancient
| Greek nationality, the whole circle of sciences
known or dreamed of in that day was Lie up
| with the fires Of genius that continue to Chal-
| lenge the admiration Of the world and will
| engage the affections of scholars to late re-
| corded time. Still IL was all labor under great
/ disadvantages, for no printing press relieved
| the weary hand Of the COpyist and, conse-
! quently the multiplication of books was slow
| and the price asked for them was correspond
| ingly highs indeed, these facts remained the
! same till the dawnng of our own age fer in the
! year 1872, we are told that copy of the Bible
| could not be purchased short of fifteen years
| wages Of a common laborer Yet Ptocmy, King
| of Egypt, gathered in the library of Alexandria
! 100000 manuscripts, about one or two centuries
! before Christ, which afterwards became fuel for
the religiously crazcd Arabs in their capture of
the city, and the loss of which has never been
| very severely felt, for not many of said volumes
were worth saving, and copies of those that were,
| were kept elsewhere; so we suffer but little loss
| by the barbarism Of the Mohammedans.
With the introduction of the printing press, in
! l444 books were multiplied and cheapened TO
| such an extent that the human mind is in no
| danger of ever lacking sufficient nuriment to
| prevent its rCctding back to barbarism, or resting
| quiet without supply of books as well as other
! neeessar.es OF lie. Under the stimulus of this
! great demand for reading, colossal publishing
| houses have sprung up, rvaling for enterprise
and energy in business, aud pccunary success, the
merchants of any other calling; and books have
! been written and printed in such numbers as
would astonish the old mathematcians. Indeed,
/ some single individuals have produced more
! copies of their books in a short time than could
| have been found In al! the libraries of the world
at any one period antccedent to the age of
| printing.
Sir Walter Scott, as an example, produced
| within the last forty years Of his life near a
a n
| copies have been sold, and the demaul for which
! sul continues, though he has been IN his grave
| thirty years.
William Cobbett, who died in 1885, composed
about one hundred different books; Daniel De(oe
! about two hundred Of which one, "Robinson
| Crusoe" (thc most entertaining lie ever written,
and which has been the means Of sending more
| boys TO sea and TO an ocean grave than all the
| other books in the world), has come down to our
! time. And we could give long list of authors
eminent for the number of their literary offspring;
but tOrbear, for we wish TO speak Of different sot
| OF authors.
The men who, as writer's, most challenge our
admiration, are those who salt down whole life
! time upon one book, and thus secure an unde-
| nable imm ortality. Such was the great work OF
Coperncus, occupying forty years OF his life aud
| the proOi-sheets Of which he read on his dying
! couch, proving and explaining our present
adopted theory of tho solar system. Such was
Adam Clark's Commentary upon the Scrip
turcs-a work that used up forty years of his
liie and which for its learning and candor
pleases eyerybodyi and the same diligence
and perseverance could be credited TO many
European writers. In this country we have as
yet but one or two noted instances of scholars
deyoting his whole life TO the study of one
subject and It's embodiment in virtually one
| book, and those single instances arc found in
New England and in the department of leXi- |
geography. Noah Webster aud DR.. Worcester
Che latter Of whom is living, if we mistake not
devoted their whole lives mainly TO tho study of
| words, and both have brought out the result of
their labOrs for the benefit and acceptance Of the
| public. And what may cause little pride to us
Americans is, that while the English people |
| lacked good full dictionary of their language !
| till about one hundred years ago, when DR..
| johnson published his by subscription, Our Gov
ernment had hardly got formed, and the ashes or
| Johnson were hardly cold in the grave before
Noah Webster began his immortal work Of q
| Dictionary of the English language for the
American people, which in all features, eXceptthe
| spelling of few words, has been adopted by the
British public, and Incorporated into their stan
dard dictionary, thus compelling the egotistic John
Bull TO pay respect to the genius Of his brother
| Jonathan.
| We believe that Drs. Webster and Worcester
worked large part Of their lives in the labor of
| compiling q standard work, and We heartily
| regret that any difference of opinion ever sun
| dered the two eminent scholars and worthy men;
| but they both deserve the gratitude and sincere
regard OF tbe American people for their efforts to
enlighten the public. Their works are such as
viii not be forgotten for work Of such merit as
| a dictionary Of nearly 1000 pages, found in every
intelligent mans house, will Keep alive from age
| TO age the memory Of the author.
| We trust that in no great distance of time we
may chronicle the completion ofanother lfe-work
| of an eminent New Engander-the great, unri-
/ vailed, unabridged history of the United States.
/ The warriors Of the Revolution can only live rs
the great men Of antiquity live, preserved or en-
| bamed in the genius of the historian who labo-
/ riousy and lovingly works to rescue them from
| obliyioni and may he who now is working at the
history Of his country return so late into heaven
that he may, like CoperniCus and Webster, see his
work fully accomplished, and grateful public
uttering benedictiOns on his name.
We designed to say something of the great
| publishing houses of Europe and the Bnlred
States, but shall have to defer 1t 10 "more con-
| Yenient season."
81 KNOW THAT VoIcE."-A young minister
/ went into the country TO preach and observed
| during his discourse q Door woman who seemed