The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1878-11-21
Nothing New Under the Sun.

Some enterprisiDg American can
make to himself name and, IN due
time, brown.stcne local habitation, by
simply exploring the archives Of the
Chinese Patent Office, resurectine
therefrom the forgotten inventions Of
the world for the past thousand years,
and serving them up anew and ready
made for future use.
Your mild-eyed, melancholy, opium
eating Celestial is charged, somewhere
in the long list Of his offences and fail
ings, with being an wholly initiative
animal, the latest proof Of the persis-
tence of this characteristic being that
it has actually compelled him of late to
wear his shirt inside of his trowsers.
Your Ohinaman of to-day is not a
living being, but live mummy-an mass
of mechanical mind, and flesh and blood
cast in mould ever so many thousands
Of years old. He is the veritable
"Wandering Jew," in all save his wan.
derings. He was 100000 years old
when the "Wanderipg Jew" was born,
and distinctly remembers incidents in
the history of Adams grandfather, -
Now, when this copper-colored repre-
sentative of the worlds Past steps on.
shore in "Frisco," in America, the
Hoodlums mock at him, and the wisest
among the barbarians discuss critically
the question what shall be done with
him. His pig-tail annoys them his
shirt worn outside Of his belt amuses
them his capacity for living. on moth
ing and keeping fat, of working for
nothing at his own expense and getting
rich, angers them. They cry out
against him and against his cheap labor
-he is mere human machine, and not
worthy to compete with the young re-
publican, the man OF mighty enterprise
and invention.
Go to oh ignorant Eoodlum. Know
you not that this same camel-eycd cop
per-colored vagabond touched off bis
fire cracker in honor of his Joss some
centuries before guopowder was in
vented, and ran daily newspaper before
the frozen sea of the Silurian epoch
had so much as begun to thaw above
the land that was des stined to produce
Guttenburg and Faust, tho inventors of
the art preservative of all arts. These
are only instances taken at random
from an infinite field. What we are
learning he has forgotten, and We teach
him again.
You speak of steam engines, and
Canfucius reaches upon back shelf
and hands you down the model. in good
order save for its coating of dust some
five feet thick. You mention the CON-
pass-it's the kame story,Cthough >s's
hard to find SO small an object among
so many.
But we have the kDave on the hip at
last: Edison - the telephone we ex-
claim with pride at having cotton hold
of something original at last. But no
This old heather only smiles in his sad
obllque-eyed sort Of way and turns over
the records in patience until he points
to the certain entry which he knew
was there, which are know was there,
despite all our transient setf-glori6ca-
tion. The writing, older by some ages
than that of Cadmus, is triAe obscure
to our eyes, but when translated reads
in substance that~in the year 976 one
Ching Ling Ping, or some such other
sounding son of gong-maker. in
vented precisely the same instrument
now known as the telephone, which has
been in use there ever slnce.-Neos
and Courier.