Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1917-01-05


To HIS wife he made little her
scratches and scrawIs that great
scholars tell read: Beloved light
90 aines eyes Thy extrayagauccs are beyond al
He patience Of man. Behold. thy slave Is return
tHe without the shekels thou 80 brazenly hast de
"'an3ed Ever thy devoted husband"
or, 70 a slave ogerseer who had Willingly OF
ph"ifingy done him Ia household deal hs
~5'used 10 hot hnste; 1t Is with sorrow that IN,
stupidity Is borne upon my consciousness Thou
hast cheated me in scales and IN price. D.
thre. fh"u arr not worth three hekns a week i'-
~hieh - probably what slaves food cost then.
IhiH according to May Bosnian writing in the
New York sun. She continues:
AZ on events the great wealth OF tablet records
aux up Ia hesopofama Ia recent years and
riFHoed and deciphcred shows So many little IN.
Hiiiaf, intimate touches and such an abundance
o' letter writing on all subjects under the sun
mat The possibility Of the existence OF epIstolary
guides fhss must be borne upon our conscious.
ness too.
An Interesting lot OF dcclphering OF such tablets
~ bring accomplished by Dr. Stephen Lnnrton
who came IN September fram Oxford England 10
= curator OF the babyloniRn division OF the Uni
wer~iiy OF Pennsylvania museum In Phlladelnhl.
he Is young man SIN, but he Is the only man
living who has seen and handled all the thousands
or tablets uncarthed by University OF PennsyI.
Fahih museum expeditions above the city of Mn
our both those retained by the authorities nj Con.
stHntlaople and those sent to Philadelphia.
There nre only about 10 men In the world who
can read Sutnerian and Babyionian characters
aud he Is one OF them Thanks TO the war which
has left Oxford dun dead spot America has Sc
curcd him Tor one year. He will decipher as many
@s possible OF the thousands OF tablets that have
been ciesncd At the University Of Pennsylvania
nu~"um, VIII publish TRANSACTIONS OF all important
ones. now or later. and win classify and catalogue
the collection, G stupendous task
IN 200 h q pnnyr,S and naner Tor ..~t,tr,x
~ere unknown Men scratched with a pointed
steel instrument called stylus on unhaked red
clay tablets OF various sizes. mostly about the
@aEr. shape and thickness OF a small book They
~rose GA both sides. aud then II they were not
through. eoniinucd on another tablet The analogy
81 these tablets TO sheets OF paper Is DOT hard to
comprehend. Sometimes tale stops In the mid
de and the next tablet which Il was continued
- never found. or Is found years later
IN the temples scrlbes were busy copying old
pieces N literature 10 hand down 20 posterity
insf later monks spent their DAYS and their
nights copying ihhoriously and preserving old
boats Tor the archives Of the monastery. The
work ~ the nmanuenses was placed on shelves In
n ihrnry neat little rows aud piles OF clay books
Men desing 500 years later have found them.
and other have spent their lives IN studying
fhen that they might tell Ms what the tablets say.
The books cover a wide neld and comprise odcs.
epirs religious hymns dictionaries. scientific
pamphlets The old Bahylonan and Sumerian
temples we're also. great industrial. commercial.
agricultural and stock rnising centcrs. and they
srpt n vast number OF documents relating 60 thes~
sarioes interests.
Millions Of tablets have been found recording
sales % cattle. slaves aud staple goods marriage
eoufracts and agreements; divorce decrecs; wills;
receipts Tor inuumerube things from jewelry and
,sofaans dresses 10 human chaftes. There are
M tiraekeepers slips Of the temple workers. and
.-,1kke.plng accounts. Doctor Langion has found
nat big banking house did business In the
5fy OF Babylon for 600 years
The great bulk Of the tablets have been found
,u fie site ~ the ancient temple ~ Nippur In
iabgicnia This temple was both a religious
.at..r and a college designed primarily Tor tho
.facnilou o. priests. bot the range of textbooks
asearfhel there shows that instruction begun at =
,rsnsary stage aud Continued through elementary
sd grammar rrudes % the regulation college
surse - Babyionians conceived u, and 20 theo-
ssaeai elasses. The textbooks show high or
- ~ intellectually. Indeed. the ressmblances
q these people 90 us Of today BRING home again
lae unrhaagsabisusss Of the great antiquity OF
utilization. ~ called.
yers' exercise books have been found repeat
DIV ir his aud Ia other collections. They wore
ks present day school States but made OF wet
ssf End The little fellow marked on them with
STYLUS and when he made mistnke blotted
ont aith bis thumb
me quality and range q the textbooks aston
a apa Books GA mathematics abound uey
.ns4,t the multipiia ton table np 10 100 hnd
- siaes a number. 10 sheir financial transac-
49, su,nesinas had 70 do stupendous calculations
.h.lr heads Doctor LangdoE has Just found.
- commemorative volume used ia the study OF
~. sud among the grammar books one dealing
xrrtculnrly and completely with the use OF the
rsxsosiflon. rsce that has arrived at the prepo-