The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-12-04

gina. One authority says that this took place
before Sequoyah was born and that his mother
named the boy George Gst, after his father,
though he had deserted her. Sequoyah is the
Cherokee version Of that name. From the time
Colonel Gist abandoned his family they had
hard struggle to make living.
Very early he developed artistic ability, prob
ably an inheritance from some ancestor in the
paternal line. He turned his artistic ability to
making articles Of silver which were in much
demand among the Cherokee braves-bracelets,
nose bobs" gorgets and chains Unfortunately
for him his shop became popular loahng place
and his friends began bringing liquor to him.
He soon developed taste for the white mans
frewater and was rapidly succumbing to its in
fuence when he came in contact with white
man, either trader a missionary, who res
cued him from his drunken habits, and converted
him to Christianity.
1t was by chance conversation in 1909 that
Sequoyah was led to reflect upon the ability of
the white man to communicate thought by means
of writing The general theory with many In
dams was that the written speech Of the white
one Of the mysterious gifts of the
great spirit SeQuoyah boldly avowed it to be
merely an art and that he could himself invent
written language for the Cherokees By q
hunting accident which had crippled him, he
was afforded more leisure for study.
was that the written page actually talked to the
white man; for this reason they called it the
talking leaf" Sequoyah, noticing the strange
cabaistc marks conceived the idea that each
one represented word but upon getting book
and counting the different marks thereon he
soon saw that their number was inadequate to
the expression Of language In 1909 his medi-
tation eliminated in the idea that probably each
mark meant a sound.
To test this he scratched with his knife on
stone G, calling it wa; and f. which he called
ku This demonstrated to him the probable
feasibility of his idea; as by these two marks.
and the sounds that he applied, he represented
the word wa-ku, which is the Cherokee name
of COW. At the same time he scratched out
three other figures to which he gave the sequent
sounds of tsa, qui H. this being the Cherokee
for horse.
Having thoroughly tested his discovery, he
next proceeded to formulate symbol for each
syllable For this purpose he made use of
number Of characters which he found in an old
English spelling book, picking out capitals,
lower case, italics and figures and placing them
right side up and upside down, without any
idea of their sound or significance
Having thus made use of some 35 ready-made
characters to which must be added a dozen or
more produced by modification OF the same
originals, he designed from his own imagination
as many more as was necessary TO MS purpose,
making IS in all.
There were three dialects Of the Cherokee
language, the eastern Oower), middle and west
ern (upper). The eastern and middle dialects
were about the same excepting for the change
of | or and the entire absence Of the labial
from the eastern dialect. The western differs
considerably from the others, particularly in
the greater frequency Of the liquid I and the
softening of the cultural g. the changes tending
to render it the most musical of all the Cherokee
dialects It is also the standard literary dialect
and the one spoken by most OF those now con-
stituting the Cherokee nation in the West.
Sequoyah completed his alphabet in 1921 and
taught it to his little daughter, Ahyokah, who
readily learned to read and write by means of it.
1t was the only alphabet in the whole world
plete that anyone understanding the Cherokee
language could, upon learning the IS characters
of the alphabet, read and write correctly AS
witness to its perfection is the fact that no
change either by addition or elimination has
ever been found necessary. He then established
a school at his home, to which came scholars
Of all ages.
Despite some opposition. the alphabet was soon
recognized as an invaluable invention for the
elevation Of the tribe and within few months
thousands of hitherto iiterate Cherokees were
able to read and write their own language,
teaching each other in cabins and along the
roadside.
In 1922 Sequoyah visited the West to intro
duce the new learning among those Of his tribe
who had emgrated to the Arkansas. 1t was at