The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1873-06-05

MODERN ALPHABET INVENTOR.

name See-quo-lah. If ever a case o
patient industry, untiring perseverance
and natural ingenuity deserves 9 record
f is this. Elliot's Bible was in Mohe
gan. with the usual Roman letters, will
different signs to denote the different
infections of sound. But See-quo-lat
Invented an alphabet for the use Of his
tribe. His idea originated in the early
French and Indian wars. The Chero
KEGS had white prisoner on whose
person they found a letter; to satisfy
his captors, the prisoner had to read II
for their own edifcation. But of course
the tenor of his reading differed greatly
from what he pretended to read from.
;. The !" talking. lcafr had ever been a
mystery to these untutored minds OF
the prairie. They had long considered
it gift of the Great Spirit, and held it
in great veneration.. But See-quo-lah,
then youth, knew better. He main
tanned that it was. purely mans inven-
ton, and the desire to have written
alphabet for his tribe possessed him.
For a long time the idea lay dormant,
the migrations of the tribe or their pre-
datory excursions left him no leisure.
But famed, and, as it. proved, for life,
the long hours Of his forced imprison-
ment brought forth the old idea. His
first attempt was to gather all the
sounds of the Cherokee tongue; but
the result was far from encouraging.
He collected about two hundred.
His next difficulty was to place a
sign as equivalent 70 = sound Like
the Old Egyptians, and probably like
the first alphabet inventors, whoever
they may be, he made use of hieroglyph-
les. He embodied pictures Of birds,
beasts, etc., which Appropriated with
the sounds and served best as repre-
sentation. But the mind, before it could
realize such category, would require
an immense amount of training. He
looked over the extensive list with some
dismay, and endeavored to modify it.
He was successful enough to abbreviate
ittq eightyAix. = He was sable. to ac-
complish this, because in Cherokee all
syllables have vowel ending An
enumeration and classification of these
syllables made, and sound for each
would complete it. Thus there needed
no distinction between vowels and con-
sonants.. a rather unwieldy affair, no
doubt; but, when the system was
learDed, easier to spell by than ,Elliot's
method The longest word Of this sys-
tenn contains but fourteen signs or syl-
tables, while the longest words of Eli
OTIS have often over thirty. RI
1t took the ancient world ages before
it could entirely discard the picture
signs for letters. The idea of simple
letters stole ON mperceptbly, and is
enveloped' in inexpiicable mystery. But
this poor Indian at one stroke discarded
his picture-signs and invented an al
phabet almost as commodious as those
Of European nations. His next diff
cdfty was to make as many signs dis
similar to EACH. Perhaps he might
have seen some English printed matter,
for some of his signs greatly resemble
our letters. The figure is prominently
used. Some signs are Hike Greek or
Asiatic letters, others like Slovenian.
But, they have a. far different sound
from their prototypes, if such they were,
The sign S sounds like thu, NJ like lu,
and the rest are equally different. But
most.of them are pure inventions. All
are used over again in different DOS
lures, so to speak, distorted, inverted,
or abbreviated. = 49,,
His pen was nail; he wrote on bark.
Eventually; about the year les5,he OBJ
tanned aspen Of the frontier traders:
BIT tbepenl was carefully preserved to
manufacture others by. His ink he
made himself from barks. His first
pupil was his daughter. But, like
Roger Bacopa Gutenberg, Calico and
others, his neighbors suspected him Of
practising the black art. Doubtless he
seldom left his hut; his mind being in
his. work, his time would be taken up
With It. His tribe Stunned him; but
his inofensive as we'll IS pitable condi-
ton preserved him from any dire conse-
quences. He was told that they would
see the fruits Of his labors before they
would Judge too harshly. The follow
ing year he brought his invention be-
ORE the sachems Of the tribe, causingl
aih daughter to write from his dictatonl
n an adjoining apartment, and vice