Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1894-09-15


Discovery That Opened the Richs. sf
Eastern Literature.
II IL not fairy tale that am going
to tell you, though ! do take you far
away to the orient. to the land Of the I
lotus flower, the land Of the pyramids,
Of tho obelislEs and the Nile. hut story
true In word and fact
II Is the story Of key, before which
vast treasure houses. impenetrable for
ages. opened their doors. Andwhen the
portals were thrown wide the searchers
gazed upon vistas containing riches OF
which their widest imaginings had
never dreamed
1t Is not key Of gold. though Its
valne is more than its weight In that
precious metal, nor Is 1t shaped like
key Mt all And the wealth il unlocked
In not only for it's finders. but for all
that desire to partake Of IL. for all pos
terity. for you and for me. Ispeak Of the
Rosetta stone. which is now In the Brit
| ish museum
Many ages ago Ptolemy Epiphenoe,
king Of Egypt, paid the arrears Of taxes
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
decree commemorating it. The decree
was cut into stone. as that was the mode
Of preserving record OF historical
events. This happened about 1875 years
before the Christian era
You must know that the Egyptians
had n different mode of writing from
ours. They used edhieroglyphics or picture
writing. and this. after great research,
has been discovered to be the written in.
depreciation Of sounds.
That q record Of Epiphenes' DEED
might not be lost the Egyptians had the
decree written In three different Ian
guages. the hieroglyphic, the denote
and the Greek This was done as pre-
caution, because as the country had
many dialects, language once in use
was likely to die out in time So by
making this trilinSssi copy of the event,
each translation Of the other, it was
likely to be preserved
Years passed, and the dust of ages
buried from view the stone that was des-
tined TO play so important a part In
throwing light upon the shadowy con-
ceptions of modern thinkers regarding
the past life and manners and customs
of the Egyptians
This is the origin Of the Rosetta stone.
hut no one in the modern world knew Of
its existence until the time of Napoleon.
He carried his conquering arms all ovel
! Europe, and not content with his vic
tories there he invaded Egypt, where III
fought the brilliant Egyptian campaign
, While stationed near Rosetta. in lowe
Egypt, some Of the soldiers with tn
, French engineer NJ. Boussard. found
, while excavating in the historical soil
o block Of stone Of black basalt, abou
SO feet In length and n little more thal
az feet in width. On it they saw strang
and unintelligible Writing or drawings
Ii was the Rosetta stone, so called fron
: the name of the place where it wa
: found, but they did not dream how pre-
cious their discovery would prove.
D And ID was NOT until about 10 year
had passed that even one word wa
translated. DIR. Young in 1915 mad
out the word Ptolemy. and he it wa
who discovered that the writing wa
phonetic and not Geographic, as ha'
I been supposed. But the key had not We
D done its work, for like Aladdin and hi
E lamp, the talisman had not yet beel
conquered
DR.. Young, continuing his research
dcciphered tho word Berenice anon
the pictorial writings of the frescoes q
, Karnak. But it Ii TO Champolion tina
: most Of the credit is due, for he contin
ued the research unremittingiy, an,
: finally his labors were crowned with vic
tory. The translation of the Rosettl
, stone was completed-that is to say. s
,, far as the stone itself Is complete, 70
, one part of 1t is broken of.
, II was not an easy task to conquer
) but one well worth the attempt, an
honor will ever rebound 10 the men tina
. undertook and succeeded in opening u
J the broad field Of the literature Of th
cast, the field that glows with gloriou
! deeds and vast achievements, and tina
! for ages bafficd the wisest. .--Philadel
!. piha Times.