Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-10-18

cuse exclaimed centuries ago, Give me
fulcrum and I will move the World.
his prophetic soul must have been cream
ing of the press of 1896; for does it not
move the world? Most certainly, at inns
critical period = our countrys welfare
it seems to be moving. If mot the stones
of Rome the vaults and mints ana mines
of gold and silver bestowed by the penen-
cent Creator for the enrichment OF Ills
children, to fearful, and, l fear fatal mu-
tiny.
Cannot, will not, some political alchem,
list among you arise, whose magic skill
will transfuse these opposing elements
and bring forth from the fiery aiemple
God-given alloy that will bring peace anu
concord to this distracted currency anu
country?
None can estimate the power of the
press. For illustration, take Gordon BEN
nett's Herald translated into every
tongue in Europe, and flooding botn con-
tinents with the minutest details of cur
rent events of the known world! The IN
fiuence of the press is wider than that OF
the pulpit for the sublime truths Whlch
pertain to the sacred desk are, as rule,
given out hebdomidally, while the white
wings of the press are ever floating ana
flying like flakes of snow in storm, NIL
ing the air and covering the earth from
ocean to ocean.
| often wish, on opening a wonderful
Sunday paper of sixteen to twenty-four
genius, the men who preserved the art
preservative of all arts, that of printing,
could unfold its beautiful, fresh pages
| and revel in this golden age of newspaper
literature!
To the lover of erudition, it is delight
| full task to investigate the origin and
progress of letters through the ages past.
| AS far as known, it is believed that Gao
mus of Phoenicia carried into Greece 10
| Theber sixteen letters, that is, the Greeh
xxyl,in h
| thentic history Tor this he is immortal
lied by Byron's poetical pen IN ms I'M
passioned apostrophe to the Isles OF
Greece:
Eye have the letters Cadmus gave
Think you he meant them for slave?
The four sacred books of the Hindoos,
written in Sankrit and called the Vedas,
are supposed to be much older than Ho-
mer's Illiad or odyssey. In all probapll-
ty the Egyptian hieroglyphies are older
than the Vedas of the midas. YET, s.rans 3;
| to tell, they were never deciphered until
| the time of the first Napoleon, when ne
| made his campaign into Egypt. He took
| with him a corps of scientific men, VINO
unearthed at a little town called Rosetta
| a stone on which was engraved three IN
| scriptions, one in Greek, one in Demotlc,
| the language of the people, and the third
| in the heiroglyphics, or the language or
| the priests. These learned men shrewdly
surmised that the three inscriptions sig
nlfled the same lnl0S, anu, DIS tilSy Soea4S
translated the Greek and Demotlc, as
covering they did mean the same thing, II
gave them clue to the other, which, ar
| ter much study and pains, they also mas
tered, thereby being enabled TO read tne
inscriptions on the rocks and marbles IN
| the ruins of the oldest cities of the east,
| Thebes, Babylon and Nnevah In the
British museum in London ten years ago
| l saw the famed Rosetta stone, and, with
| the aid of the key, read inscriptions on
| the sarcophagi of the Ptolemies ana
Pharaohs But a heroglyph cannot be
called a letter. for a letter is the sign of
sound A heiroglyph is an emblem and
represents an idea. In our language and
| in the Greek, Latin, German, French and
all modern languages, as well as the
Sanskrit, a letter is the sign of SOUND; a
word or a combination or letters INTO
syllables represents an idea, while SEN
| tenee is the expression of thought, con-
| sequently the heiroglyphic alphabet can
not be called letter alphabet for the
reason that 1t lacks the essential element
| in all modern tongues, the representative
| of the articulate sounds of the human
| voice by letter. We know that our re-
mote ancestors were perfectly familiar
with Greek and Latin before they knew
word of Sanskrt or hieroglyphics.
OF printing, as it has been ably said,
the art preservative of all arts, it is an
esta blished fact that movable types were
invented. by Laurens Costar, native OF
Harlem, Germany, about the year l420.
A practical application of printing was
made a few years after by John Gutten-
berg, John Faust and Peter Schaeffer, all
Germans, and names that should never
die Having invented and erected the
first printing press, they bore 1t in tri-
umph throughout Germany, exhibiting
its wonderful capabilities. A charming
description of this memorable tour is
given by Mr.. Reade, the novelist in The
Cloister and Hearth" How delighted
would we be to look upon that clumsy old
hulk today! AT Frankfort-on-the-M Main
I stood bareheaded (metaphorically) be-
fore the grand statue erected to the MEM
DRY of John Gutenberg, inventor Of the
printing press. The first book printed in
England was by William Caxton in 1915,
entitled 1.-The History of Troy" With
what wonder and awe would these great
spirits behold the automatic CELEBRITY with
which the mammoth improved press OF
today performs in a twinkling the work
of days, perhaps weeks with 'exultant
pride and amaZement would they benold
the thousands of sheets shoWering down
into invisible hands tnat Ioiu as tiiFy re-
ceive them.
Nor can 7 in this connection forbear
passing tribute to one who In our own
time is always associated with the early
press of America allude to Benjamin
Franklin. Born to poverty and parts,
which in the opinion of Lord Eldon are
the requisites that make man, he early
manipulated one of the first printing
presses of America. 1t is related of him,
thai in his early struggles, being one day
informed by his landlady that she could
no longer board him for the sum he was
paying he looked at her with troubled
expression of countenance, which soon
brighten he said: Madam, there Is
no probability of rise In my wages, and
the best advice can give you under the
circumstances is to weaken the Cruel
This extraordinary man, we all know,
rose to great heights of distinction at
home and abroad. but when he came to
die preferred to be remembered not as
envoy extraordinary, but as printer.
give you the epitaph he himself wrote
for the monumental marble, which today
is read at his tomb: 1.-THE body of Ben
iamin Franklin, printer. Like the cover
of an old book, its contents worn out,
and stripped of its lettering and gliding
lies here food for worms, yel the work
itself shall not be lost. but will Gas he be-
lievedl appear once more In new and
more beAutiful edition, corrected and
amended by the author" There is to my
mind a world of touching pathos In that
word printer; in that epitaph it is pic
ture of memory recalling perjury; but to