The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26

Echota, in 1929, a small volume of 50 pages. In the October number of the Mis- sionery Herald, 1928. the Lords Prayer, copied from the Cherokee Phoenix, is given. It is thus seen that, but for the seemingly inspired invention of George Guess. the difficulty of educating the ln- dians would have been great. MT. Wor- cester also says: Literal translation. word for word, from English into Chei>- kee, is beyond the limits of possibility.
 In the Indian Record, volume l, number 6, John F. Wheeler speaks of the wonder ful alphabet as follows: I1e Cherokee alphabet is unlike any other alphabet known, as it is syllable, except one letter, which answers to the hnglIsh letter 5, and is placed between the syAapes lo give & missing sound. There was no need of school or school books to learn to read among the full bloods, because as soon as the alpnaDet was learned even the oldest person could easily learn 10 read in their own language. Each syl- lable was perfect, and there was not consonant in the who.e So characters. m the entire Cherokee language there IS not a sound of f, j, nor V. The lang uase IS guttural, and a person speaking Cherokee can talk all day and seldom have oc- casion to close his lips
 Many hymns, sunday school books, and the whole of the New Testament were printed in this alphabet, as also extracts from the United States laws. Many copies of different books of the Old Testa- ment Leaflets, bearing a few verses were very popular, 1avorlte one peihs Psalms, second chapter and eighth verse Ask of me. and l shall give tnee .ne heather for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy pos session" The capital letters were freely used to attract attention to certain woros' as was the custom in those days
 The manuscript of a vocabulary or the Cherokee Indians, prepared by Juase Campbell, and presented by President Thomas Jefferson, is now Tn the nplaiy of the Philosophical society of FhiiaueAI phia Many of the early texts' plih'eu in the new Cherokee alphabet can pc seen in the Library of Congress, at Wasn. ington. and the leading museums or Europe, also in the Astor museum, of library, as it is sometimes called
 Before the invention of the alphabet hv George Guess, Cherokee spelling book. entitled:T svlvki Sqelvlv, by Butt rick & Brown, for the mission estaphsn- ment at Brainerd, was printed al Knox vile. Tenn, in 1S19. In their work the authors had the assistance oi Jonn Arcn' a native Cherokee Indian.
 , After the removal of his tribe to the west George Guess remained with them a while, and growing restless, started out on a prospecting tour, turning ms atten- ton largelysto the study of botany. for which he had always evinced fondnesS. Wandering on he reached California, ana charmed with it's scenery, climate ana tne iuxuriant growth or US Veseu.lon, ne | concluded to make it his permanent home. 1 He explored various parts of the state,
 collecting botanical specimens, and finally 1 req ched the location of the Big Trees, i of, whose size and height wonderful stories i had been related. Up to this period the
 tulip tree, commonly called the poplar, l and the redwood were the largest ne nad l ever seen, but when he gagged upon tnose 1 giants of the forest he was overwhelmeo. | After making a careful examination of ] their structure, bark and leaves he dis 1 covered distinct marks of difference, and 1 concluded that they stood alone, eltner as the last noble remnant Of the growth ] of a prehistoric age, or were the natural
 results of the soil and climate or tnat :, favored land. In his botany ne couiu 1 find nothing to compare them to, nor any
 name by which to designate them and
 gathering some of the bark and leaves he sent them, along with such description as 1 he was able to prepare. to the govern ment at Washington, explaining his ln- i dian name, Sequoyah, and his tribe Cher 1 okee.
 1 After more than year of waiting an answer came, stating that they were peculiar species, and that his report being 1 the fullest of details they would investi- 1 gate the matter. In the meantime Sev- 1 eral other reports were sent in. Many 1 learned men, interested in the study of
 botany, took up the subject, and It re- ] suited in his favor to the extent of having ] the name Sequoyia bestowed upon them, i the last syllable in his name. "ah. being 4 written by them as cal" Many botanical socistiss in England. a well as In Amer