Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-08-02
THE CHEROKEE ALpHABEE
Invention OF the Talking lear" by .
Haifbrsed Georgia Indian.

was the invention of syllable alphabet
for the use of his people by Sequoh, alias
George Guess, halfbreed Cherokee In
dian. Sequoh was born in Georgia,
probably about the year ITO, though
some authorities fix his birth seven years
earlier. He never knew his father, grew
up q perfect savage and distinguished
himself in war and the chase, until
swelling knee rendered him incapable Of
active pursuits and confined him to his
cabin. He knew no language except
Cherokee, and, of course, was wholly
illiterate, says the Louisville Courier
Journal"
Sequohs attention seems to have been
first attracted to literary matters by a
circumstance which occurred while
warrior. His tribe captured q letter from
the whites and made repeated efforts to
decipher it, but, OF course, were not sue
cessful. Some discussion arose about
the "talking leaf" as the Indians called
any specimen of writing, and the ques-
tion was whether it was an invention of
man or the gift of God. All the Indians,
except Sequoh, maintained the latter po-
sition while he espoused the former. He
was, however, unable to convince them
that he was right. They believed that
the ''talking leaf" was a gift from the
Great Spirit to the white man alone and
cited as proof legend that had long
been current in their tribe.
According to this legend the Great
Spirit created We-Ha-Ye, the Indian, and
gave him a book. Afterward he made
o-We-Na-Go the white man, and pre-
sented him with bow and arrow. The
elder brother was not prompt in devoting
himself to the book, but seems rather to
have treated it as books are treated by
dull schoolboys of all races, and so neg
ligently did he keep it that his younger
brother found means of stealing it from
him. The Indian was then compelled to
content himself with the bow and
arrow and to gain his living by the chase.
From this time the Cherokees argued
that the Indian had forever forfeited the
use of letters.
This reasoning did not convince Sc
quoah. He denounced his fellow Chero-
KEGS as fools, and stoutly maintained
that he himself could write, and tried to
prove it by scrawling characters upon
rock. His claims We're treated with de-
rision. Nothing dHuntcd he set to work
to invent characters for all the sounds in
the Cherokee language. At the begin
ming he made the mistake of attempting
to invent a character for each word and
that he invented and recorded over 5000
characters. 1t gradually became evident
tohin that this system would not work,
owing TO the great number of characters
required, and upon much reflection he
hit upon the idea of dividing words into
syllahles and inventing character for
each syllable.
In the prosecution of this work Sc
quoah found himself embarrassed by the
want of an accurate ear. To remedy
this he engaged his daughter in the work
and from her derived very valuable as
sistanee. He availed himself of many
ingenious methods to make complete his
collection of the sounds of the language.
He went to hear speeches by members
OF his tribe, and whenever a sound oc-
Cured for which he bad no character he
at once supplied the deficiency.
An English spelling book having fallen
accidentally into his hands he used the
English letters as far as they would CO.
to denote the Cherokee syllables. The
other characters he invented himself.
About the year 1921, or, as others say,
1876, he had his system complete. His
characters numbered eighty-siX. Having
completed his alphabet his next task was
to get it adopted by his tribe. This was
daughter out OF hearing, wrote down a
pas "a = and read it to the braves, then
called the girl back and had her read it
to them again. They wondered, but
doubted still. Then he persuaded the
tribe to select some of the brightest OF
their boys to learn the new art, and to
this they at last agreed.
When the time for examination arrived
the pupils passed the ordeal In triumph,
and the Cherokees were at last convinced
that the talking leaf" is not the eXclu-
sive property Of the white man. Sequoah
then became the principal of the Indian
schools and was held in great honor un-
til his DEATH which occurred in Mexico
in August, 1913. This alphabet was cast
into a font of type and is still in use.
When we consider that the art of writing
has usually been attributed TO the gods,
as being something beyond the reach OF
finite intelligence we cannot but admit
that the lie work of the Sequoah was a.
most extraordinary one.
1t is true he had the first suggestion
from his knowledge that the "talking
leaf existed among the whites, but his
methods were his own, and he wrought
out the great problem Without oUher as
Sistance than that obtained from his
daughter. While his invention had long
been anticipated his work must stand as
monument of the capability of the hu-
man intellect when united with unbend-
ing resolution and tireless perseverance.
The 1904 Dollar.
There is something curious about the
American silver dollar and half dc liar of
1904" said numismatist to Philadel-
phia press" reporter. There We're
about 20, 900 OF the dollars coined, but
not one of them ever got into circulation.