The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-25
BIBLE PRINTED IN
 MANY LANGUAGES More Sold Than Ever Despite
 Growing Disbelief FIVE HUNDRED TONGUES
Dying Languages Are Preserved ir Bible nslations-Arabic Book Work of Three-Quarters of a
 century-Plenty of Money

From the New York Sun. v
 Despite the fact, which officers of the American Bible society freely acknowl- edge, that the reading of the Bible has much decreased among native born Americans, more Bibles are sold and read and more money is given for the work of the society than when everybody be- lieved the Bible literally.
 Last New Years Mrs. Russell Sage of fered the society $5OO,OOO if it could raise an equal sum during the calendar year. The money is rolling in, and the society sees the million in hand by January l. The day after Mrs. Sages offer was made public New York business man called up the office and said:
 You can put me down for s50,O00 if you won't give my name."
 A couple of years ago another New York business man entered the office and said: q believe in the Bible I am also very much interested in the Mohamme- dan races. I will give you piece of prop erty if you will dedicate 1t to the end of time to the circulation of the Bible among the Mohammedan races" The offer was accepted. and the property, New York office building worth $1OO,OCo, was turned over to the society.
 The distribution of the Bible to the in- habitants of the earth's surface Is prac- ticalfy a work of the last century only. At the beginning of the nineteenth centu- ry the Bible existed in only fifty lan- guages. Today In round numbers it ex- ists in 800. The Bible went into more lan- guages during the nineteenth century than in the eighteen previous centuries.
 few weeks ago an item appeared in the papers to the effect that the Ameri- can Bible society had completed the pub lication of the Bible in Chamorro, the chief language of the island of Guam. Thus the natives got their first printed book, their first alphabet, a written lan- guage and a literature all in one.
 All over the world men are doing the same thing. Scores of the worlds lan- guages have been supplied with an alpha bet and a written form by the transla tors of the Bible.
 Last year, for instance, the society printed Bible for Pleasant Island. Few persons would know where to find Pleas ant Island on the map. It Is mere dot in the Pacific, 300 miles south of the Caro- line Islands, with a population of 1,5O0; the sort of island one reads about in shipwreck stories.
 For ten years one lone missionary and his wife had been living there. He learned the language by ear and then set it on paper phonetically. Then he translated the New Testament into 1t. Then he begged and entreated the Bible society to publish his Bible. The society replied: "We can't afford to publish the Bible in a language spoken by only 1,500 people"
 Then the tribe pledged itself to pay for the work if it could have time. So the society sent the mi'lsionary print ing press and he and his native helpers set up and printed the work. Then hs sent it to San Francisco, the society paid for binding 1t, and one more little South Sea island has a written language and literature.
 Philologists of the future will study extinct languages by means of these Bibles. Already it is said that Mme Matteo de Turner's version of the Cos pels in Quichuea is the only key to the language of the Incas.
 Americans have translated the Bible or portions of 1t in to 30 European tongues, 4S Asiatic, Il African, Oceanic and 12 American. American women have made translations into 15 languages the names of which are unknown to the ed- ucated public.
 In many cases the Bible is all that will preserve native American languages from extinction. Only last year the society published the four Gospels in the Winne- bago tongue There are only 2,oOo Winne- bagos left. Their children are all learn ing to read English. In another genera ton the tribe will be extinct or assim- Hated. But some one offered to pay for the work for the sake of few old ln- dians who would never learn to read English, and it was done.
 Two copies of the Gospels in the Seneca language were sold within the past year, one in Arapahoe, four in Dakota, IA in Muskogee, 25 in Ojibway, TAO in Chero- kee and PAP in Choctaw.
 Down in Oklahoma the rich Indians, the Cherokees and Choctaws, take a racial pride in preserving their language from oblivion through the use of 1t In their church life. Although most Of the adults read English now, they prefer 10 use the Bibles In thelr trlDdl tonSues, anu only few weeks ago a letter reached the Bible House asking if new edition of the Cherokee hymn book could not De got out uniform with the Bible
 A notable instance in this tribal pride came within the past year in an order to print the Creek Bible, the expenses to be paid by the Creek Indians of Okla homa and some of their white neighbors. Mrs. A. E. w. Robertson, Congrega- tjonal missionary, made version or the Scriptures in the Creek or Muskogee ian- e,,age the labor of many years. The or der came to publish it after her death.
 The board wrote, ''Why do you go to such an expense as this when your chil- dren all read English? It is foolish. The reply came back, "We want 1t as monument to Mrs. Robertson and the Creek language"
 One year after its organization, in lSlf' the society began the translation of the Gospels into the Delaware and Mohawk tongues. Tn August, 1908. an order came into the Bible House from New York Indian for a copy of that old Mohawk Gospel
 It is an historical fact that in 1892 It. tie party of Indians entered the city or St. Louis having walked 1.5oo miles from A region now included in Idaho. They said tl.o@ xr-Ii a avl