The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-26
H TYRANNY OF
THE WRITTEN WORD
Unequal Contest Between Written
Error n Spoken Truth-Duty
of Recording Truth
BY r C. BROOKS. Trinity College.

Few people really appreciate the
absolute dependence Of CIVILIZATION
upon the written word. That is.
upon books, papers, manuscripts, and
letters that tell Of the achievements
of mankind. Take away all these
records Of the past, all these recorded
expressions of the soul, and deprive
the race of the art Of writing. q
we would slip back almost without q
struggle into primitive life not mucn
superior to that Of the North Amer
lean Indian. Whatever is not writ
ten is lost. and whatever is written
is the law, the rule Of conduct, n
truth is unequal to error, II error
comes down as the written Word q
truth as the spoken word. A news
paper paragraph or a clause III j
book full Of error has an easy con
quest over truth that is merely
spoken, and such truth crushed to
earth can rise again from the earth
only when it is placed on an equal
footing with error and itself becomes
a written word.
The first word was a spoken word.
But how simple and primitive the
people that lived by the spoken word
alone! We refer to them today as
the ignorant. How simple and prim-
tive the race that is unable to record
the thoughts, the passions, the hopes.
and the fears Of the soul! Such char
acteristics mark the infancy Of the
race-an Infancy history TO
record. When, therefore, did the
written word appear? When did its
sbsolutism begin? It began when
primitive man had some great
thought or dee to record. III few
men of the tribe learned in the GUS
toms, religions. and deeds Of the race
were cuStodians Of the spoken word
and were either prophets or law
givers. Their Interpretation Of the
word was final. But when they be-
gan to make inquiries. and to specu-
late and mediate on the spoken
word, their intelligence increased, and
their interpretations Of doctrines and
ceremonies increased in volume and
completely until it became necessary
to commit them to some permanent
form. Out of this necessity grew
the written word and the race made
it's first permanent contribution to
the world, and the written word now
became the law and the custodian
of the written word was the inter
prefer Of the law and he was both
prophet and law-giver. The histor-
ian looks to this first word and be-
yond this everything is mythical and
legendary.
The written word now becomes Sill
preme. A new order begins, Ole Gus
toms are r~einterpreted, and the
spirits Of the race enter new
nels. There was enough mystery at
tached to the first written word for
man to place it among the uper-
natural things Of earth. 1t was in
fallihle for it was the divine medium
through which God spake to man.
What strange things have happened
when the spoken word was convert
ed into the written word. For ex-
ample, when the Hebrews came out
of Egypt, a new word was spoken to
them and a new era began; but when
the spoken word was converted into
the written word all Sinai hook.
Nature was disturbed, and the peo-
pie fell down and were afraid. Hero
after whatever Of custom not eX-
pressed in the written word becomes
obsolete and a race begins to adjust
itself to whatever is written.
The first written word is, there
fore, our starting point. It was the
voice that spake to the race when
civilization was beginning and a fail
ure to heed the warning Of the writ
ten word brought down on the Of
fender the penalty Of death. 1t is
this voice today that the historian,
the t~heologian, the law-giver, and
even the lterati listen to in their at
tempts to interpret the conduct, the
faith, the principles, and the dreams
of life. The written word speaks Of
man and the gratest wonder Of to-
day are not the wonders Of steam
and electricity, not the conquest Of
the air, nor the powers of the tele-
scope and the miscoscOpe, nor even
the discoveries in medical science
But that dead men can nve
with living men across the centuries
through the medium of the written
word.
Tho uo,,orio vord cYlI e,oolc -
Achilles, the man of action, and Of
Ulysses. the man of wisdom. The
Hindo word speaks Of the Brahmin
with his eyes fixed for weeks at the
time on Brahma until beneath the
strain of the intense meditation hal
lncinations appear "and he sees the
universe melting away like vapor
over the immensely of the Being in
which he hopes for absorption" The
knGSo u.nrd tolls Of nGin- H.