The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-05-20
VOL. XXXVI---NO. n.
and after that the molds are filled

| it and after that the molds are filled
| up with the transparent glass.
Real agates are made from agate
| which is found in Oberstein, near the
Rhine. They are ground round as
lap1daries grind precious stones. In
spite of the fact that they are made
from pieces of stone which are not
suitable for the manufacture of jewel
ry, they are very expensive. Once
IN while perfect agate is found
in lot. Such a marble generally
commands a fancy price, which varies
from fifty cents to five dollars.
THE INVENTOR OF IN ALPHABET
Perhaps one of the most wonderful
achievements of modern times is that
of 1.-The Indian Cadmus," Sequoyah,
the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet
and written language.
AS the first alphabet, and so the
fountain of all language, is supposed
to have originated with Cadmus, the
Phenician, so the first Indian alpha
bet, and the source of written Ian
guage and literature among the red
men of America, is traced with abso-
lutte certainty to this famous Cherokee
Sequoyah.
Although scarcely half a century
has lapsed since his death, q mist of
uncertainty. already surrounds his
birth and life. But somewhere very
near the beginning of this century
this remarkable parsonage was born
in the Cherokee nation and educated
in its customs. In fact, he never knew
any other than the Cherokee language,
hi nl, hn 10 nd x1rac
like the other Indian dialects-purely
oral.
Sequoyah's grandfather is said to
have been a white man, but there was
no evidence of it in the personal ap-
pearance of the grandson.
The story goes that at a council of
Cherokee chiefs in their town of
Saunta, an old reservation east of the
Mississippi, there was a debate on the
comparative strength and future of
the red and white men. The strong
est argument advanced in favor of the
white man was his ability to use the
talking leaf and SO send messages
to a distance. Sequoyah listened 81
lentlv and then burst out as if by an
inspiration
You are fool! The thing is easy
| can do it myself" ur
Thcreupon he is said to have picked
up fiat stone and with a charred
twig from the council fire to have
made certain marks upon it, each of
which, he told his fellows, represented
a certain word !; he also told them that
tomorrow or month from then he
could and would tell them those words
without hesitation as soon as he saw
the characters ON the stone.
From this beginning Sequoyah con-
ceived and perfected the Cherokee
alphabet, utilizing the cries of wild
beasts, the call of the hooking bird,
the shrill ordinations of children, the
softer tones of the squaws and the
notes of the rotund organ of the adult
brave for his vocal sounds. When he
thought he had gathered all the diff
ferent sounds, he attached to each
a pictorial sign or image-birds and
beasts and inanimate objects alike
furnishing him these signs.
And so the Cherokee alphabet was
finished, the vocal sounds were re-
duced to writing, and in an incredibly
short time the entire Cherokee nation
learned and used it.
There are eighty five characters in
Sequoyah's alphabet, and by appro-
priation from the Cherokee legislature
a newspaper called The ADVOCATE is
now printed and circulated in that
language. JOHN PAUL BOCOCK.