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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1892)
THE HESPERIAN. , i ...active of the fall awaiting them at the hands has the power, in a very marked way, to make known his feel ashen hue sugge .rtv e of U J" "B visiblc nbovc , ut thc humM1 aBllly was ot content to give utterance ot Uic lour siiciii . ..- ....- ------ . .. t.tn.i m. tt ttth the blue stem. Now and then a xreuui Kinur .. ,.. peevish cry, or a lark rises and whirrs away in headlong flight. These occasional sounds only emphasized thc stillness. Hut lookl over on the north line a flicker and close to the flame a very flushed face. In a moment the light of thc flame shows the boys near by preparing bunches of grass. One of them lights his grass torch and running backward, is dragging his flaming wisp along the ground. Swifter and swifter he flies as thc flames come nearer and nearer to his hand. After him springs up a cheerful line of Arc. Another is now ready with his bunch of grass, and holding his bluing torch on high, speeds down the line like a meteor, showering a train of sparks behind him. Soon is heard the merry crackle of the flames; the laughter and shouts when one of thc company treads on a hot coal or sprawls headlong into a wash-out old road. It is a scene of wild revelry. Thc old North pasture, so solemn a few moments ago, fairly beams with mirth and jollity. The breeze has arisen and the whole flaming battalion is advancing. The line docs not move uniformly, but soon forms a "hcadSre" that goes sweeping over the hill, trailing a gleaming line from either side. Another "hcadfire" forms, then another, and now thc lines are marching in all directions. Some are spreading far apart, others rushing together; some are calmly burning against the breeze, others are scooping out a ravine with a roar and crackle while the fragrant resinous smoke floats over all. In the wake of the advancing flames, follow the dauntless firemen, thc burnt prairie crunching agreeably under their feet. The burnt grass lies in fragile, iantastic curls, sending up here and there, ghostly little forms of smoke. But warmer work is in store for the department. The lire has jumped the south "hedgc-row," and is making a rush for thc haystacks in the south pasture. All now is excitement. The sacks, wrung out in water, are used as flails to beat out the fire. Thc old rubber boot too, does dreadful execution. The fierce work knows no respite till the last expiring flame is dashed out. The sacks are in shreds, the old boot is woefully scorched, but the victory is won! The bright scene in the old north pastnre is drawing to a close. The flaming lines arc surrounding on all sides thc lit tle patch remaining. Smaller and smaller becomes the space; closer and closer the lines, suddenly the flames rush furiously together in fiery embrace. Thc eyes ache with the brightness. An instant, and all is over. Darkness, all the deeper for the bright flames of a moment ago, surrounds the lour weary heroes as they trudge home across thc "burnt." D. N. Lkiimek. Kvolutlon of the English Alphnhot, Man is the only being that uses a set of symbols to repre sent different sounds. There is nothing strange in the fact that thc human race has a language, the geologist would say, that it is only one of the evidences of progress. Although it is impossible to trace uninterruptedly the line of advancement, it is interesting to consider how our present sys tem of symbols was evolved. The alphabet originated from n very primitive and crude accomplishment, the art of talking. Spoken language origi nated long before the written. What or who first used a sound to designate an object is unknown. As we have many words that by their sound signify the thing, sound-symbols may have first been used by analogy. A word with a mourn ful sound is used to represent the sad. The magnificent, thc . i. f,.,,li,iiTR only, it wished to be able to represent all. objects. To establish a single sound for each object was the. first method employed. This meant as many sounds as objects.. No wonder, that in that age there was so little visiblc pro grcss, nor that the Chinese progress so slowly today. After learning to talk, man began to put his thoughts into writing. By means of thc hieroglyphics of the Egyptians and thc stone carving ri thc American Indians, some of the first members of the human family endeavored to represent what they saw and heard. After thc picture writing, came the advent of the alphabet. It is reasonable to suppose that it contained as many written symbols as there were sounds. What an inconceivably complex method of writing and talking this must have been I Civilization has, in general, brought about a great deal of complexity. But as a notable exception it has steadily simplified language. The first step toward sim plifying language was made by the Phoenicians. They estab lished a system of signs, that by different combinations, would represent every object and every feeling. Our alphabet comes from the Latin, the Latin frpm the Greek, and that from the Phoenician. Thc origin of this last is unknown. It contained twenty-two symbols. How infin itely better is the set of twenty-two symbols than the system that requires a sign for every known object, or, even eighty five, as the Hebrew. When we think how fast we can read, write, think or talk, and that every letter with its relations in the word, and every word in the sentence, and the meaning of the whole is impressed upon our minds, we are dazed. How grateful we should be to our ancestors that they have provided the means for reading and writing. To our alphabet we owe much of the improvement and progress we have made. The object now is, to limit the number of signs to the number of sounds. The same difficulty that is encountered in music is met with here. There are any number of combinations of vibrations, each combination producing a different sound. Hence, it is exceedingly difficult with the musical octave to represent all tones. The larynx is nothing more or less than a modified musical instrument. Therefore it is capable of pro ducing a countless number of sounds. In most artificial instru ments, these sounds are grouped together, those that differ most being the most prominent. Thus we obtain thc octave. Our alphabet is the representative of our language as the octave is of the language of music. It, however, does not rep resent so correctly the human tones as thc octave does the musical tones. The alphabet of thc English language is probably no more complex than the alphabets of other languages, yet, it is not sa simple as it should be. How many of the brightest of the peo ple of the United States never learn to spell correctly. The great est fault and one that causes all this trouble lies in our alpha bet. We have too many symbols tor one sound, and too many sounds for one symbol. We have only seven sounds for the letter "a" and for some of these seven we have duplicates in the sounds of other letters. It becomes a matter of ridicule when we can describe the sound of one letter by the sound of another. It will be one great step in advance for the English speak ing people to break away from usage, and establish a new alphabet, and consecmently, n new code of spelling. Let us complete what the Phoenicians commenced. Almanacs were issued as early as ioo A. n. A .1 . .1. l.m T nwl T uttnn HtarA Tr.lln.1 i till sound is useii 10 represent we suu. uic uuiimiutiu, me mnung uic papers ui uic iuic wiu i-;""i ... .... grand, thc terrible, are made known by corresponding sounds. sufficient number of unpublished poems to make a small vol ThU far we see but little elevation above the brute. The doc " ume. A