The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-30
4RPS LETTER
Solicitors foNWelfaro of
suntry Boys and oSls'
THEY NEED REFERENCE Bog r
And sg8sslts That When Pouo bio,
They Should be Supplied WITH
Standard Enoyeiopedia-or-
gin Of Our Alphabet

~ A"A NV NbuAtAg bD3o anu
girls OF course they can get a little
schooling under the present system,
but that will be only in textbooks OF
reading. writing and arithmetic. What
they need is books of reference that
viii answer their many questions. Ev.
cry mail brings me letters wanting to
know things that they cannot learn in
their country schools. Their teachers
cannot tell them nor their neighbors.
OF course not more than half Of them
care about knowing anything outside
u their school books, but the other
half do, and on that half depends the
culture and progress Of our country.
Why should these boys and girls have
70 ask me and Joel chandler Harris
and John Temple Graves and others so
many questions? When they inclose
a stamp answer all can, but these
young people need books that they can
refer to. II Mr.. Carnegie would place
In every country school standard cy,
elopedia. such as Appleton's sixteen
volumes of universal knowledge, or
Doddy Meade & Co.'s International of
sixteen volumes, the young people
would have a library that would an
swer all their questions. Add to this
Appletons seven volumes of American
biography, and a country youth can
get an education without anything
else. A young farmer in Alabama
asks me what books he must buy to
improve his mind and store up knowl-
edge by reading and studying at night.
Well, it will take near 500 to buy the
above named books and he had better
skip over all the modern trash that
does nothing but entertain and amuss
and strain his farm and his cattle and
everything else to get that hundred
dollars. / think he could get them
from Wannamaker for SIS.
Now, of course boy or a girl not
yet in their t. ms would prefer books
to suit their age, and they ought to
nave them. l still treasure with de-
Hight my enjoyment of such books as
Robinson Crusoe," Arabian Nights
and Jules Verne's works, Swiss Fam
lily Robinson" and some Of SCOTS nov
els, like Rob Roy" and "Kenilworth."
Children must have entertainment. AS
they grow up they must have knowl-
edge, for as Lord Broughman said, 81
hnH Aha cohnnIv1agfn 10
perpetuate this government than all
the armies of England"
Now, here is youth who writes to
me to know who invented the alpha
bet Well, that is going afar back, but
It is a question that should be answer.
ed, for the alphabet is the very begin
ming Of knowledge. The alphabet goes
away back a thousand years before
Moses was born. The Phoenecians
made the first one that we know Of.
They lived in a narrow region that lies
between Palestine and Syria, country
about 200 miles long and 20 miles
wide, and yet they dominated the civ
iliZed world for a thousand years, for
they had control Of commerce and
manufactures Of the gold of Ophir and
the silver of Tarshish and the brass
and copper Of other lands were all
theirs, and it was fact that as Isaiah
wrote, "Silver was heaped up as dust
in the streets and was more plentiful
than iron" Hiram, the king, was the
friend of Solomon, but a thousand
years before their time these Phoene-
clans had made an alphabet and used
1t in writing and engraving. But that
alphabet has passed away. In course
Of time the Grecians conquered Phoe-
necia and the Greek language prevail
ed. Their alphabet is the origin OF
ours, the very word being compounded
Of the first two letters, alpha and beta
Just as the Phoenecian language was
lost and went into disuse just so has
the Greek and Latin language beer
abandoned and our English will nc
doubt be the language Of the civilized
world before this century ends.
Nearly hundred years ago an Eng
hshman by the name Of James Smith
son bequeathed to the United States
something over a million dollars to b'
used to promote the diffusion of knowl
edge among men. That sum has beer
z increased by our government from
year to year until now the Smithson
ian institute is one of the worlds won
ders. But you cannot see 1t unless
Y0u 60 to it, and only the rich an
members Of congress can do that TIL
common people are still in the woods
and that is why | wish Carnegie o
some other philanthropist would d.
somethinga for our country schools