Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-11


ever thy hand fndeth to do, do it with
thy might" Better than this, even, are
the New Testament words "Not sloth-
full in business, fervent in spirit, serv-
ing the Lord"
There after this you will feel ashamed
not to work.
The Rosetta Stone.
1t is often taken for granted that
everybody knows ali about the Rosetta
Stone. Well, perhaps the grown folks
do, but [ am writing for the boys and
girls, who, 1 feel sure, are not ashamed
to ask the meaning of what they do not
understand. Nobody knows everything;
nor is there any disgrace in not know
ing what one has had no opportunity of
learning; but there is both sin and
shame In remaining Ignorant in order to
appear wise. Now let me tell you in
what the great value of the Rosetta
Stone consists, so that you may the bet
ter understand its use.
The art of writing was very early
known to the Egyptians, and they had
books before most other nations. Tins
Is proved by the writing implements
found on monuments that are supposed
to have existed before Moses was born.
Clement of Alexandria, who lived about
seventeen centuries ago, states that in
his day there were still extant forty two
sacred books of the Egyptians. They
were all written in the old Egyptian
characters that we call hieroglyphics,
and most of them have been lost, while
the manner of reading those strange
characters had been entirely forgotten,
so that the fragments that remained
seemed of little value.
So it was, also, III regard to the in
scriptions on the monuments and tombs
and enthusiastically could read them, or
tell anything of their history; not even
whether hieroglyphics weIo mere SYM
bols, OF were a real written language APP
piled to the things of everyday life.
Scholars all over Europe had been puz-
zling over the problem for two or three
hundred years, trying to find out some
way of reading those wonderful hiero-
glyphics but for a long time with very
little success. At length Frenchman,
named Quatremere, found out that the
Coptic was the language of the ancient
Egyptians but the books that have
come down to cur times are mostly writ
ten in the Greek characters, with the
addition of seven others from the de-
motto or common language of the coun-
try.
This was, however, one step toward
learning how to descipher the mysterious
writing on the tombs and monuments,
and the famous expedition of Napoleon
to Egypt furnished a second. The sG-
UG'lts, or learned men, who accompanied
his army, brought home exact copies of
many inscriptions from Egyptian monu-
ments ; and after that the country was
thrown open to the investigation of the
learned, and the various museums of
Europe began to be enriched with the
spoil taken from the banks of the Nile.
Then, with new zeal and hope, scholars
Rpplied themselves to the task of deci-
phering these queer, mystifying sym.
Dolls. But, alas! the key was still want
ing. If they only had an authentic
translation of just one ancient Egyptian
inscription into any language known to
modern scholars they might, by analogy,
have continued to work out the others.
And this is precisely what the Rosetta
Stone came forth from its grave to fur
nish.
In August, 1889, Mons. Bouchard, q
French officer of artillery, in digging the
foundation of q redoubt at Rosetta,
which stands at the mouth of the west
ern branch of the Nile, found the Roset-
ia Stone. It is inscribed with various
characters, which proved to be in three
different languages that is, the one
legend Is inscribed three times-once in
the old hieroglyphics, again in demotic
characters. and the third time in Greek.
This stone, which is now held as a
priceless treasure In the British Muse
um. is of kind known by the learned
as black compact basalt. 1t is four feet
long by three feet broad, with one cor
ner broken of, so that no one of the in
scriptions is entire, although&he larger
part of all remains. Scholars saw at
once its Importance as a probable KEY to
the reading of hieroglyphics, and the
Antiquarian Society caused the inscrip-
tons to be engraved and copies gener-
ally circulated among the learned men
of Europe.
Their attention was, OF course, first
turned to the Greek, which was found
to be recognition OF the royal honors
conferred on Ptolemy Epiphanes by the
Egyptian priesthood assembled at Mem
pins and the concluding sentence di-
rected that the decree should be en-
craven on table of hard stone in three
ways-in the hieroglyphics, in demotic,
or ordinary characters of the country.
and in Greek. So with this key, coupled
with an untold amount of study, the
inscriptions on those old tombs and
monuments have become Ineligible,
and we may now learn the names, ages.
conditions and frequently something of
the history of these shriveled old NUM-