The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-07-27
ANTIQUITY OF BREAD
The STAFF or LIFE As PREPARED BY
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

primitive Methods OF GxindinE the
wheat and nal<inE tlAe Loaf : Ehs
bread OF the Assyrtans-FifHt WAFER
Igo,ver. nIEIIA In Norway.
nread was made Of fairly respect
able quality long before the advent Oh
the DAYS OF Biblical chronology. Syn
erroneous with the development anu
progress OF grinding stones was tns
improvements In the manner OF makIns
bread. MISSIONER, to whose delvinBS
80 .ub4ects on race progress much
present knowledge Is due. discoNere 81,
saws the Flour Trade News, an elsnS
Mound loaf of evenly. crushed grain anu
vol baked under conditions thar Ihul
It's manufacture as long before the 1u
vent of man as he Is today. THIS lou1
has the appearance of having been
been baked before IN open nre' Ine
mass OF dough thrown on nat StOl.s
before the open blaze and turned until
each side had been subjected TO TUE
heat. It is hardly mp to the stanuatu
Of our present bread. but the men Oh
those days were not anicaL
The ancient Egyptinns were the pr
oneers In extensive grain growing anu
bread making. Their grains Were
wbeat. barley and doura, and were
Egyptians were really the best ''tarn-
ers'' Of which we have any coherent
record. They harvested their wheat
ave months after It was put In the
ground and bound it into sheaves much
! like the hand bound sheaves OF TO-DAY.
Their thrashing was done by orNlns
cattle over the granary floors.
The old style of grinding oDtaineu
with the Egypti0ns, the women usu
! ally being required to perform tue
work, but they-~had discovered tue
power of fermented yeast cells as IN
| several instances leavened bread mas
| been found dating to this era. II Is
! also with the Egyptians that the pro
fessional baker first springs INTO no
| tice In the world. There Is picture
writing on several tombs that SHOWS
bake shops long before the time OF Tue
dynasty. The story of Joseph con-
serving the abundance of the fat years
for use during the seven lean years
shows how Important grain and Dfeau-
stues were to latter day Egyptians.
Thanks to the art of the Assyrians
and the enduring qualities Of bronze
we have records to show how this an
Client people prepared their bread. APP
| pnrently the AssyTiaus were most
| al,stemious people and little given to
riotous feasting, even in the celebra'
ton OF Victories for their armies.
| On the bronze gates of Balawnt are
found engrnvings depicting the warlike
dofuos of Shnlmaneser H., who ruled
| and warred in the years from $50 b. Q
to S25 b. G. One engraving shows the
women Of tribe baking bread, great
| piles of bread, for the benefit of return
| ing victorious soldiers. The Assyrians
also knew how to raise grains, their
hydraulic machines and aqueducts
showing how they appreciated the
value of irrigation.
Brand figured prominently IN the his
/ tory and religion n" the ancient Jews.
4 Their drat cereals were only rye,
4 wheatand barley, and they began their
use by eating them raw after the fash
lon of primitive man. This Is the
normal course Of progress with all
peoples that early become extensive
grain eaters. The grain grew wild Mt
Arst and was eaten by the naked saw
age only as one of the leguminous
plants that gave him precarious sus-
tenance. Gradually. seeing the strength
obtained by those who fed exclusively
upon a grain diet, man, with his intel
liEence Increasing, began to care for
the patches where the desirable plants
grew, and from this It was not far
step to the careful cultivation OF grain.
Each family of the Jews had mill
for itself, differing in this from its con-
temporuneous races, where the grain
was ground in IA community mill. So
important was the milestone in the
economy OF the Jewish home that
Moses laid down the law, NO man
shall take tile neither or the upper mill
stone to pledge, for he taketh mans
life to pledge" This, the phrase ''to
pledge" would Indicate that the pawn
shop was not unknown at even, this
early stage Of the worlds career.
To come down to more recent days,
the old time residents of the ScandinN-
vinn countries In their time stood forth
most prominently as grain users and
bakers. Women were principally In
charge OF the preparation Of the grain
and of the bakeries. The grinding was
done in mills run by horsepower, wind
or even by large dogs.
Some of the first water power mills
known OF were In Norway. The bak-
ing here was usually done in ovens
constructed and maintained by the
towns and villages. People with grain
to be baked into bread came 10 the
bakeries, where women received the
same, baked 1t and returned the bread
to the owner with 1.-THE taken out for
the baking.