The Pascagoula democrat-star., 1885-04-17
LECTURE ON PENMANsHIP
by PROF. FELIX LIZ yAssEUR.
For the Democrat-Star.
WRITING OF THE PAST AGES.

/ When, where ana uy Whon
writing originated is not known
we may, however, reasonably con
lecture that oral communications
previously existed and had, ioI
many centuries. Before the iuven,
tion Of writing, ideas were convey.
ed or presented 10 the eye OF indi.
vlduals by monuments, pillars, or
heaps of stones, and also by pc
liodical festivities commemorative
of past events. Then may have
followed pictures of natural Oh,
jects; examples of this kind OF
picture writing may be seen in
Egypt, Assyria, China, Mexico aud
was formerly among some tribes
of indians on the American CONT
nent. Among the Egyptians the
eye was symbol of Providence,
the bird indicated swiitness; II
scaling ladder siege rising
smoke a eouAagration; two hands
and a bow, an archer.
These, symbols did not represent
sounds, but things natural or Spir-
itual gradually these abbreviated
forms were made to Indicate speech,
aud new signs more and more ar
bitrary were introduced. These
signs represented eutire words,
and were the only means of CON.
munication among the primitive
men. Then followed hicrogiyphs,
ideographs, which represent ideas,
and phonetics which represent
sounds.
The modern written language Of
the Chinese has until compare
lively recent date. been said to be
composed Of $4,000 arbitrary char
octers, sufficient familiarity and
use OF which to be available would
OF course be impossible for any one
man. Later Investigations, how
ever, have shown that there are
2l4 characters called radicals, de
rived from 373 ancient symbols,
and these together with All SyIIa-
bles constitute their written Ian.
guage, it being neither apda6eIic
or syllable, bat understood through
out all Eastern Asia, aud The ag.
jacent islands, by people who can,
not hold oral conversation with an-
other. The Arabic numerals vi irh
we use are also understood By AL
the civilized nations OF the globe.
In our American land and age,
in 1924, Cherokee named Gness
or Guyst, who could not speak
English, or read q word in any
language, invented a syllable alpha.
BET, and many young ChrrokceS
came a great distance to read and
wliIe by This method, The course
occupying three days only. Tie
most universal method among
is alaphabcti8 w1tine;
ibis invention is claimed fer the
ASsyrians, the Egyptians ANA The
PSHnlclauS; some are Of the Opi T.
ion that Noah aud bis family intro
ddced it after the dcluge, others
that it was known previously.
Some believe Moses TO have been
The Inventor, others attribute it 10
or 10 Adam, while the
jewish kabbmS say Gpd created II
on the evening OF The first SaUbaih.
tits the general belief talt The
! , ltpAs, sl4.l..t -, ~ l.
aud dlre@tiy or indirectly
It is the basis OF all the existing
methods Of alphabcIic writing.
The Greek, the Latin and the
Arabic alphaOels were derived |
rom il; about four hundred alpha
bets have been known, bat the I
present number does not exceed |
ilty. All modern alphabetS and /
mcieRt as well, have more points 1
If similarity in form, power aud /
arrangement OF letters than would /
It first sight appear, but / have no /
line or space to consider this here.
One simple element, ,arruw.Slappd
~ various combinations forms the
nclent system OF writing called
he PersepOIitan, from PtrSrpo,is.
where it is found in Inscriptions
Ipon the ruins. Bricks brought to
he Academy of Sciences, m Paris,
rom ancient Babylon, have iHSerip
ions of d similar character, also
lies on which were stamped the
ameS OF three Persian kings called
Darius.
La the PhRnicidu and other
semitic languages writing proceed
d from right to left; the Greeks
or time. wrote in same manner,
mt afterward and finally adopted
be direction from left to right.
American picture.writing, however.
egan at bottom aud VAS arranged
critically. The oldest Greek aud
atin manuscripts seen in the libra
les of Rome, London and Paris are
'itteu entirely with capitals; ire-
nently words and sentences are
eparated by spacing or puuctua-
on; the introduction Of the letter ,
ascribed to AristOpbanes about
DO B. Z.
Uncial letters began to take /
lace OF the capitals ia the middle d
the fifth century This style
ime 10 be adopted at the time {
hen hard substances were 1e- ,
laced by papyIus aud vellum, as i
reater rapidity was possible with {
lch material, and it's attainment 4
as facilitated by the curved ma 1
ire of this new style. 1t WAS J
ore easily learned aud generally i
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