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.
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