The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-01-14
THE ART OF WRITING.
lyD NOW 1T ORIGINATED AND Has
BEEN PERFECTED.
The Materials Used by the Converts Tor
Recording Their Deeds and Ihoush"
The Present Modes.

and writing paper in particular, Is such
pecess,tv eyer give q thought to the TIM
when there was no such thing as pape
at all. Do you ever wonder wheh so'
get n daintiiy tinted note. or see the pies
of legal cap at the stationer's, or MAYBE
receive n long letter on thin foreign pape
from some relative or friend spending ih'
summer abroad. what the people wax
lived two or three thousand years ago uiu
for something 20 write on? suppose So'
will say. "Why they did without wrl,
ing"-and so they did 10 q consiuefdDi'
extent
In very ancient times IT seems ina
writing was only used on great OCCASIONS
and to describe or commemorate SOM
| great event in the worlds history. III u
| generally believed stone was the mos'
ancient material used for writing upon
| The Bible tells OF Gods giving the ten
. commandments to Moses craven on two
| tablets of stone. and In the nineteenth
! chapter of the book of Job we read ION.
that my words were written. That they
were craven with on iron pen and ledd'
in the rock forever"
The work Of Homer, the great Greek
poet who lived nearly a thousand years
before the birth of Christ, are said 10
| have lust been written on plates OF lead,
! and I'm India an ancient document on cop
per IS still fin existance. Any of my read
ers who have been to New YORK have
seen Cleopatro's Needle;-a wonderful
monument which was erected on the banks
! Of the Nile many centuries ago by the
Egyptians. 1t was given to our govern
ment by Egypt few years ago, and was
brought TO this country at immense eX-
pense and trouble and placed in Central
Park. 1t is covered with figures represent
ing writing which are called hieroglyphics,
which means sacred-caryings. These hero-
glyphics are pictures. each of which has
some meaning. For instance a battle was
represented by two men fighting. eternity
by Il circle, day by the sun, night by the
moon. and brightness by combination of
the two. This was the mode OF writing
among the Egyptians who used a kind of
paper made from the p3pyrus plant which
grew on the banks of the Nile; but we
will hear more about the papyms later.
Another very ancient people inscribed
their writings on bricks IN little wedge
shaped characters. and these are called
the cuniform inscriptions. Among the
ruins Of the city of Nlneveh, the capital>
Of Assyria. have been found vast Libraries
of these inscribed bricks. all arranged in
the most perfect Order numbered and
catalogued as If contained in the best
kept library of modern times. Many mouu-
mcnts with hieroglyphical inscriptions
were foln nd n Mexico ard central Amer
lea; and the North American Indians al
ways used that mode of writing. and still
do 10 considerable extent The chiefs
Of the different tribes are generally named
after some bird or animal. and when re-
quired to sign their name they draw what
is. called a totem; that is. they draw a
rough picture of the animal whose name
they bear. LongfellOw in his poem JIia-
watha tells how Hlawathd orisinatel the
Indian picture writing:
"ti ON his pouch he took his colors.
Took his paints of differ ent colors.
on the smooth bark of the birch-tree
Painted many shapes and figures
Wonderful and mystic figures,
And each figure had q meaning.
All these things did Hiawatha
Show unto his wondering people.
And. Interpreted their meaning"
There are many traditions as 10 /
who originated the alphabet svs- |
tenn OF writing. The Jewish Rabbis |
taught that it was given by God TO Adam
on the first Sabbath. Others think It
was given TO Moses when the command
ments were given on Mount Sinai. |
<AulOuS the NfItthS ana Romans tHe IN |
vention of letters was attributed to Cad
mus. native of Phoenicia. Our alphabet
is derived from the Latin. which con-
tanned twenty-five letters. and was in it's
turn derived from the Greek. which orr
ginally contained only sixteen letters
The Phoenicians wrote from right TO
left. and at first the Greeks followed their
example. Many Of their early inscriptions
are found written in this style but 1t
shortly fell into disuse and the present
mode of writing from left TO right was |
adopted. The number of letters in the
different alphabets varies greatly; the
Italian contains only twenty the Abys-
sinian two-hundred and two and the
Brahamaic tvO-hundred and forty!
After writing became more common the
ancients used a thin slip OF bark. covered
with coating OF wax upon which the
characters were scratched with n sharp
pointed instrument called a stylus. Such
writing was used chiefly for temporary
purpose as IT was easily obliterated. 10
make the writing more distinct then |
white wax was sometimes smeared with
a black substance which sunk into the
scratched places and remained there.
Leaves Of trees were used M one
time and are stiii in use In the island /
Of Ceylon and India.
The interior bark OF trees was used as
a writing material among the ancient
Romans, and from its Latin name IJber
come our English words library, libel.
etc. The Egyptian papyrus OF which we
have before spoken was carefully nre-
pared from the delicate white LAYERS which
grow Just under the bark near the root
Df the plant; these layers were pressed I
-oSetner into sheets and dried, then writ
Ten upon with either black or red ink
reed pen being used. Another ancient
nateiial was linen cloth, glazed with a
preparation OF gum water and painted
lpon with very small brush. Ink is
hought TO have been first made Of SCOT
or lamp black mixed with gum water
There are accounts OF the remains OF
being dug up from the ruins
N Herculaneun, which though burned
% Charcoal and buried for eighteen
centuries under lava and ashes. are still
egibie, the LEX remaining as il were en-
'osseu on the charred remnants of the
men. Reeds cut just as our quill pens are
we're used by those who wrote Arabic:
indeed, they are still used by writers of
Arabic and Persian characters. The thf
le3e use a camels-hair pencil. which
5 held perpendcularly in the hand. and
TRANCE as II may seem they can write
heir complicated characters more RAPIDLY
With this little brush than an American
an write plain III glish viii. a manu-
actured pen.
The word penua. the Latin for fea,hor
: not found in any work prior TO the
ate 600 \. d. caimus. a reed. beinf, the
FORD Used previous 10 that time. The
UNI VIII out last almost any pen used
mere being instances on lcccfd of the
anne gun pen being In Use for n o,re,,
'hsth Of time. Leo Allatius used ina ;
anne pen Tor forty years L. Holland, the