The daily sentinel., 1910-08-20

/ because this science of printing or
writing was confined to few, the
common people attributed all sorts of
mysterious powers to runic inscrip-
tions and the crude lettering became
factor in Morse mythology. Un-
educated people-and they were
legion in the nearly days-thought
that all kings, prophets and witches
had the power to make these queer
signs and that a mighty spirit lurked
behind all runes. They looked on
such writing much as present day
savages do on our arts of civiliza-
ton
Gradually this wore away and
runes were more commonly used. es-
pecially on markers over the dead
Fifteen hundred rune stones have
been found in Sweden alone and the
hieroglyphics have been found on
rings, arrows and even cooking uten-
sils. popularity is that the Scalds
and Sagamen never used them for
connected writing. They used runes
for some special occasion, but their
stories were handed down by word of
mouth Many learned men, such as
Grimm, Rask and Bugge. have used
their linguistic knowledge to decipher
these ancient symbols. but it remain
ed for Worm, the Danish ANTIQUARIAN
TO drag them from obscurity. Writ
ing in 644 he says: Books written
in Runic are very rarely to be met
4 with. the reason of which is that the
first Christian missionaries. being ut
I terly ignorant of our characters. TO
avoid the two-fold labor of first learn
ing them and then teaching the peo-
pie, tried their best to do away with
them, pronouncing runes to be con-
nected with the black art and trying
to make the credulous believe it was
mark of impiety TO have aught to do
with such books"
Probably long before the inscrip-
ton on the Kensington stone the su-
perstitions in regard to runic writing
| mad passed away. General careless
ness led to many valuable runic mon
uments being destroyed. but we have
few that bear wonderful inscrip-
tions. One of these, in England. is n
splendid four-sided monument, an
obelisk resting on block of stone. 1t
is supposed to be one of the few eX-
amples of runic crosses raised over
the dead and suggests that il was
placed over king. On one side
carving represents grape-bearing
vine, growing upward and offering
fruit to various creatures. On the
other side are the figures of John the
Baptist, with the Agnus Deli our
Saviour holding in his left hand the
sacred scroll, and his right hand up
| lifted to bless; and a man with a
hawk. The runes are in such an ex-
cellent state of preservation that this
monument is considered one of the
best ever found. In the stave-rime
of the original they read:
This aspiring sign-pillar
Set was by Hwaetred.
Wothgar Olifwolth,
After Alcfrith.
Sometime king
And son of Oswi.
Pray for his souls great sin"
! Sometimes the inscription in runes
are written from left to right and
other times the writing is the reverse.
In the earliest writing the lettering
ran from left to right. When neither
pen nor parchment were available the
surface of stones made good reposi-
tories for message, though many of
them are as simple as God help his
soul. The writing on the Kepsinst
stone is from left to right. One
One message is on its face and an
other on the side of the stone. Stu
dents and antiquarians are taking a
keen delight in studying into the
possibilities of the Minnesota stone,
and it is possible that it may some
time be important evidence in the
history of America. Investigators are
, trying to see If other similar rune
stones are not in museums abroad,
and if so how the writing on them
compares with the inscription on the
! Minnesota stone. A modest piece of
glacial stone may be the bearer of a
| message that may alter the accepted
history of our country