The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-25
A STONE OF VALUE
A Discovery That Reveals ne
Riches of Eastern Literature.


It is not fairy tale that an going
to tell you, remarks a contributor to
the Philadelphia Times. though / do
take you far away to the orient. the
land of the lotos flower, the land of
the pyramids, ofithe obelisks, and tho
Nile. but story true In word and fact.
It is the story of q key, before which
ages, opened their doors And when
the portals were thrown wide the
searchers gazed upon vistas containing
riches OF which their widest imagin-
ings had never dreamed.
1t is not kew of gold. though its
value is more than its weight in that
precious metal, nor is it shaped like =
key at all. And the wealth it I'M
locked is not only for its finders, but for
all that desire to partake of it. for all
posterity. for You and for me- / speak
of the Rosetta stone, which Is now in
the British museum.
Many years ago Ptolemy Epiphenes,
king of Egypt. paid the arrears of tax
es and other debts of the priesthood of
Egypt. and in thanks and to show their
respect for his consideration the priest
hood, at a synod held in Memphis,
passed q decree commemorative it
The decree was cut into stone, rs that
was the mode of preserving the record
Of historical events. This happened
about one hundred and nmety-four
years before the Christian era
You must know that the Egyptians
had different mode of writing from
ours. They used hieroglyphics. or pic
ture writing. and this. after great re-
search. has been discovered to be the
written interpretations of sounds.
That record of Epiphcnes' deed
might not be lost the Egyptians had
the decree written In three different
languages-the hieroglyphic, the de-
motto and the Greek. This was done
as a precaution, because. rs the conn
try had many dialects, a language
once in use was likely to- die out In
time. So by making this trilingual
copy of the event, each q translation
of the other, it was likely to be pre-
served.
Years passed and the dust of ages
buried from view the stone which was
destined to play so important a part in
throwing light upon the shsdowy
conception of modern thinkers regard
ing the past life and manners and Gus
toms of the Egyptians.
This is the origin Of tho Rosetta
stone, but no one in the modern world
knew of it's existence until the time OF
Napoleon. He carried his conquering
arms all over Europe, and, not content
with his victories there, he invaded
Egypt, where he fought the brilliant
Egyptian campaign.
While stationed near Rosetta, in
lower Egypt, some Of the soldiers with
the French engineer, NJ. Boussard,
found, while excavating in the his.
torical soil, q block of stone OF black
basalt about three and one-half feet in
length and little more than two and
onehalf feet in width. On it they saw
strange and unintelligible writings or
drawings. 1t was the Rosetta stone,
SO called from the name of the place
where it was found, but they did not
dream how precious their discovery
would prove.
And it was not until about fifteen
years had passed that even one word
was translated. DIR. Young in 1915
made out tho word Ptolemy. and he it
was that discove red that the writing
was phonetic, and not topographic, as
had been supposed. But the key had
not yet done its work, for. like Alad-
din and his lamp, tho talisman had not
yet been conquered.
DIR. Young, continuing in his re-
search. deciphered the word Berenfce
among the pictorial writings ON the
frescoes at Karnak. But it is to Cham
poilien that most Of the credit is due.
for he continued the research unre-
and finally his labors were
crowned with victory. Tho translation
of tho Rosetta stone was completed
that is to say, so far as the stone itself
is complete, for one part Of 10 10
broken of.
1t was not An easy task to conquer,
but one well worth the attempt, and
honor will ever rebound 70 the men
that undertook and succeeded in open,
ing up the broad Geld that glows with
glorious deeds and vast achievements
and that for ages bafled the wisest
Crele Sans Lake GuardiAn.