The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1920-04-28

| lul .Bh-l
white paper stitched together, with
black marks stamped on it. These
black marks mean sounds: cries.
laughter, weeping: emotions. every
possible vibration of our brain-stuff.
| I look at these black strokes and curves
--inky dots and lines. and I smile. !
frown; l hear voices; I see pictures :
] behold the past alive again: l hear
The present whispering to me its Won
derful thOughts-with these black
marks on a white surface.
stop and think. The silent. mystic
movements of the mind impel our
| throat, ourpalate. tongue. teeth, to make
noises. articulate sounds; and mind
uttcrs itself in this material air that
we compress, explode. and make audi.
| hlc. 1t is marvellous that an intangible.
ethereal thought can be uttered at all.
And then that we can change the audi
bic into the visible. the tones of the
voice into black marks that talk to ms.
| think for us. and move us-these tiny
! dots and strokes-to smile sand tears !;
to sentiment and sympathy: to deep
resolve; perhaps to vital changes in
our life.
The printer teaches and breaches !:
cntertains and edifies. Can any power
vie with the printing press? Can any
throne look down upon the editorial
tripod? Is not the elixir Of immor-
t.ility contained in a bottle of print
, cr's ink?
For the printer and his ink anil
press made hooks. whether they he the
history of the world for n day-a news
paper-Or solid volumes.
A book. The name doubtless orig
mates from the beech, whose bark was
used for writing. So the Latin word.
'liber," meaning book, from which we
derive our word library. means SINH
larly the covering Of the papyrus: the
word 'papyrus" being the root of our
word paper, and its bark the Oldest
substitute for the same. SO in Greek,
..nybios." from which our word .Tsii,ie
comes, meant book; but originally was
the nnme of this same skin of our
Egyptian papyrus-plant.
OF course, at that time. books. strict
ly speaking. did not exist The name
preceded the thing. The earliest writ
ing was chisseled upon mountains and
columns. The Assyrians and Babylo-
mans wrote their sentences upon
bricks. An Assyrian book required II
wagon for Its transportation. See the
Mosaic Tables of Stone" their mate
rial being not only symbol but n
guarantee of their perpetuity. The
Laws of SolOn were carved on planks
OF wood.
Thus they wrote their earliest words
with the letters of the ancient alpha,
bet, that alphabet that has come down
to us substantially unchanged. How
curious IL word Is alphabet cover
ing three continents and many CEN
turies, and every masterful race of men
the Egyptians, the Phoenicians. the
Hebrews, and the Greeks. The word al
phabct is made up of the Hebrew let
tiers. Aleph and Beth. taken over into
the Greek as Alpha Beta. The word
"nleph" means bull The letter is
thought to have been once the picture
of bull's head. The word Beth
means a house. The letter is supposed
to have once represented the same.
The first letters We're In Egyptian
hieroglyphics they were what is called
ideograpis They were pictures or
symbols. They became conventional
ized they were cut down; and ut last
they resulted in letters that represent
not things but sounds. From the
Egyptians they came to the Phoeni-
clans. the Hebrews. and thence to the
Greeks; and from the Greeks to the
Romans, and to the whole world. The
history of the alphabet is full of poe
try and charming myths. 1t leads us
back to the origin of mankind; TO its
first priesthood and ministers. And II
leads us onward thru every lltera
lure and every national life. from age
TO age, across the seas; up to the time
that is now. and the place that is here.
With these letters they spelled
words and out of the words they com
posed volumes. The word volume is
the Latin, "volumen," meaning that
which is rolled up. The volumcn or
volume was simply a scroll. Its only
extant representative in these modern
times is the Hebrew Scroll of the Law.
1 will show this scroll to You. 1t is
the oldest form of the book. made of
parchment, glued together in one con
tinuous roll without punctuation or
any separation of sentences; original
lv indeed without even distinction of
words.
Not only in ancient times. but i'll