Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1917 — Page 3

READING LETTERS WRITTEN 4500 YEARS AGO

• kX'-~\ V--' r - . ■' * * Dr. Langdon of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, is finding some remarkable documents on clay tablets dug out of Babylonian ruins . An interesting light has been shed on this ancient civilization of the Mystic East

'■V' WNDOUBtfEDLY the Sumerfan-Akka-Hl § dlnn gentleman of 2500 B. C, took f|§| i down from the shelves of his library a copy of “The Handy Letter Writer’’ and sought the model upon which he T might build the important communication he had in hand. W To his wife he made little hen * yg scratches and scrawls that great —*■ 1 ' 1 1 f * scholars tell us read; “Beloved light of mines eyes: Thy extravagances are beyond pll the patience of man. Behold, thy slave is returning without the shekels thou so brazenly hast demanded. Ever thy devoted husband.” Or, to a slave overseer who had wittingly or unwittingly done him in some household deal, he stylused in hot haste: “R is with sorrow that thy stupidity Is borne upon my consciousness. Thou hast cheated me in scales and in price. D thee, thou art not worth three - bekas a week!”— which is probably what a slave’s food cost then. This, according to May Bosnian, writing in the New York Sun. She Continues: At all events, the great wealth of tablet records dug up in Mesopotamia in recent £ears and cleaned and deciphered shows so many little familiar, intimate touches and such an abundance of letter writing on all subjects under the sun that the possibility of the existence of epistolary guides then must be borne upon our consciousness, too. An interesting lot of deciphering ufanclrtablets ~~ is being accomplished by Dr, Stephen Langdon, who came In September fNyn Oxford, England, to be curator of the Babylonian division of the University of Pennsylvania museum in Philadelphia. -He is a young man still, but he is the only man living who has seen and handled all the thousands of tablets unearthed by University of Pennsylvania museum expeditions above the city of Nippur, both those retained by the authorities at Constantinople and those sent to Philadelphia. There are only about 15 men in the world who can read Sumerian and Babylonian characters, and" he is one of them. Thanks to the war, which has left Oxford a dull, dead spot, America has secured him for one year. He will decipher as many as possible of the thousands of tablets that have been cleaned at the University of Pennsylvania museum, will publish translations of all Important ones, now or later, and will classify and catalogue the collection, a stupendous task. In 2500 B. C. papyrus and paper £or writing were unknown. Men scratched with a pointed steel instrument ealled a stylus on unbaked red clay tablets of various sizes, mostly about the size, shape and thickness of a small book. They (wrote on" both sides, and then, if they were not. (through, continued on another tablet. The analogy of these tablets to sheets of paper is not hard to comprehend. Sometimes a tale stops In the middle and the next tablet on yvhich it was continued Is never found, or Is found years later. r - In the’ temples scribes were busy copying old pieces of literature to hand down to posterity, Just as later monks spent their days and their nights copying laboriously and preserving old books for the archives of the monastery. The work ‘of the amanuenses was placed on shelves In a library—neat little rows and piles of clay books. Men digging 6,000 years later have found them, and other men have spent their lives in studying them, that they might tell us what the tablets say. The books cover a wide field and comprise odes, epics, religious- .hymns, dictionaries, scientific pamphlets. The old Babylonian and Sumerian temples were, also, great industrial, commercial, agricultural and stock-raising centers, and they kept a vast number of documents relating to these various interests. Millions of tablets have been found recording sales of cattle, slaves and staple goods; marriage contracts and agreements; divorce decrees; wills; receipts for innumerable things from jewelry and woman’s dresses to humafi chattels. There are. the timekeepers’ slips of the temple workers, and bookkeeping accounts. Doctor Langdon has found that one big banking house did business In the city of Babylon for 600 years. The great bulk of the tablets have been found on the site of the ancient temple of Nippur in Babylonia, l This temple was both a religious center and a college designed primarily'for the education of priests, but the range of textbooks unearthed there shows that instruction began at a primary stage and continued through elementary ■ and grammar grades to the regulation college course, as Babylonians conceived it, and to theological classes. The textbooks show a high order of intellectuality. Indeed, the resemblances of these people to us of today bring home again the unchangeabieness of the great antiquity of civilization, so chlled. “ Boys’ exercise books have been found repeatedly, in this gnd: in other collections. They were like presettt-uhy school slates, but made of wet clay, and the little fellow marked on them with a stylus, and when he made a mistake blotted it out with his thumb. „„ The quality and range of the textbooks astonish one. Books on mathematics abound; they taught the multiplication table up to 2,400 and, 2,500 times a number. In their financial transactions Sumerians had to do stupendous calculations 4in their heads. Doctor -Langdon has just found, too, a comprehensive volume used in the study of law; %nd among the grammar books one dealing particularly and completely with the use of the preposition. A race that has arrived at the prepo-

sition is by no means primitive! The date of this book Is 2,300 Q, C. Geography wflss-taught, as were astronomy and history. In the collection is the oldest history yet found, a tablet giving the list of Babylonian kings going back to the flood. The claim is that it is a record of 125, 000 years; but this may be disputed, since the names-of the monarchs, which seem to be those df men who reigned successively, may be of men who ruled simultaneously, in kingdoms that were adjacent. A conservative estimate is that this history' covers 14,000 years. There Is a book on botany, teaching the people how to raise the date palm, an Important crop of the times. Agricultural books abound, for the temple had a collegiate department, just as have Cornell and other American universities, where scientific farming was taught. The" Babylonians, l as Is well known, were remarkable engineers and past masters in the field of irrigation. It is not surprising that Doctor Langdon has found many records of this In the museum’s Babylonian collection. We .learn, again, of canals being dug, and of a tablet that chronicles the opening of a great waterway, like the Panama canal—-the celebration over it, the presence of the king, and the pride felt in the great skill of its engineers. Further documents are reported verifying previous assertions that the Babylonian woman received an education equal to man’s, took her place with him in certain lines, and was compensated with the same wage as he. “Books” had no cases and when found are often crumbled, broken, cracked or so badly chipped that parts of the translation must be guessed at or omitted entirely. Others, fortunately, are found intact. Letters, on the other hand, were sent in envelopes, also of clay. When the tablet letter had been duly inscribed and signed, It was rolled in a fine clay-powder and slipped into a hollow clay pocket. More fciuy dust was then shaken In, so that layers of powder were packed about the contents of the pocket and the letter could not get rubbed or scratched. The clay opening Was then sealed and stamped with the sender’s rinf. Afterward, the address was added and a slave dispatched with It. Later, we know that Babylonian and Sumerian governments supported regular postal systems. It Is quite possible that thgt regime was in existence In 2300 B. C. Many letters are found with seals unbroken, and these are marvellously preserved in their soft powdered pads. We can only surmise the reason for their sealed state. Perhaps a man kept sealed copies of the most important letters he had to. write. Duplicate copies of records and transactions have been unearthed, sometimes miles apart; and the same practice could have held, rationally, of letters. Some of these letters may never have been delivered, thanks to an inefficient postal service in some particular locality; or, and this is more plausible, the breaking out of frequent revolutions could have conceivably crippled the Babylonian post offices and left many letters forever undelivered. Indubitably the oldest undelivered letter in the world IS in the Babylonian collection of the University of Pennsylvania museum. Its date would be 22 (50 B. C., and Doctor Langdon opened and read it only last week! It is from.a master to his slave or to some underling or employee. Obviously, It is only one of several letters, since It refers to previous correspondence and to a previous transaction over which the writer is perturbed. Its archaic Sumerian is dictatorial, overbearing and peevish, gnd rants of some unsatisfactory flour deal that the underling has undertaken. One wonders whatever became of that floor! Other tablets now being catalogued have pie--tures on them. One, a hunting-Scene, reminds one of the prehistoric cave drawings found in France, There ig another of a battle scene, very much broken but rare and interesting. -Thetjoming of Doctor Langdon to the University of Pennsylvania museum is timely and fortunate. The Babylonian division has had no cu-

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

rator since the beginning of the European war, wheir"Dr.“Arao Poebel left to join his- regiment at the Herman front. The Eckley. B. Coxe, Jr., expeditions, which began operations in Egypt in 1889 and have carried them on through various years since, even finding localities of the warridden land where they can still operate this year, have sent back to the museum an incalculable trqasure-trove, not only in tablets, but in all kinds of articles dug up from the dirt layers of Biblical and pre-Biblical lands. All this accumulation has not had the attention It deserved. Doctor Langdon’s labors will be bent toward arranging the Babylonian exhibit. The collection is the largest in the world. No other museum has such a quantity of sacred Sumerian documents, which make this the most Important Babylonian collection in the world, even though It is not so large as that In the British museum. The war, which already has done so much damage, bids fair to rob us of this comparative recent achievement, the ability to decipher these tablets which tell of the lives and histories of peoples who lived - so many hundred years ago. Younger men, like Poebel, are at the front and may never come back; other well-known Egyptologists are Old men. Not enough young men will be left to carry on the work of translating the ancient cuneiform When the present scholars pass away the achievement may die with them and SubierianAkkadjan become agaifl a dead language, for not enough young college men are proposing -to take up archeology. There is today no endowed seat of Assyriology in any university. The University of Pennsylvania museum is exerting every effort to secure such an endowment, that other intellects of so high an order as Doctor Langdon’s may be encouraged and helped to carry on a work similar to his. Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., died in Philadelphia in September last and left an endowment fund of $500,000 to carry on the work he has been equipping expeditions to do In Egypt so many years. But one expedition can only scratch the surface of the myriad hills there and the countless buried and forgotten cities that -He beneath them. - “Our only hope of getting the rest of the tablets burled there,” says Doctor Langdon, ‘fis to go back to Nippur again and again, and dig for them.” Endowments for these-expeditions are another of the crying needs of scholars. The world at large will lose if archeological excavations and research have to be abandoned. There is no doubt that the general public appreciates the work done by museums and by scholars. To Biblical students alone there is inexhaustlhle pleasure and satisfaction to be derived from facts unearthed of Biblical and pre-Bibllcal, peoples. Thore is now complete agreement among archeologists that Hammurabi is that same Aiuraphet of Genesis 14:1, a contemporary of Abraham. From chronological inferences It follows that Abraham may well have attended school at the temple in Nippur; nay, that he studied these viry books that are 1 now In the University of Pennsylvania museum. He may have read there the account of the creation. Why not? The dates dovetail- cv _ _ “Let me take ont and touch ope of those tablets,” said a religious man recently In the University of Pennsylvania museum. “I believe In my peart that the hand of Abraham must have held any or all of them nearly 5,000 years ago!”

Greek Meets Greek.

Some Shots were enjoying the fun of the fair. Seeing an old fiddler in the street, a few of them went over to him, and one, handing him two-pence, asked him to play the “Battle of Stirling Brig.” The old fiddler took the money and went rasping away the same as before. The audience getting tired of this, the spokesman again wqnt over to the fiddler and to him: “HI, man, that’s no’ the ‘Battle of Stirling Brig.’” “I ken,” replied the old fiddler, “that’s the skirmish before the bat tie.”

STYLES FOR WINTER

Winter modes are well established. We shall see deviations and adaptations of them, but little now till'the buyers have made their midwinter voyage to Paris for spring styles. There are so many, new ideas in the present modes that women will not tire of them soon. Indeed, it has been a constant struggle, to judge from looking on, to get used to the present long and slender contours decreed by Paris dressmakers and milliners. - - I have heard women speak with bitterness of tfie'erpensiveness of winter shoes, “and do not show half as much this winter,” and complain that the top coat was not half so practical and smart as the tailored trotteur. But when it comes to evening gowns without exception every woman just gasps and says, “My dear, they are perfectly lovely!” There seems to be no objection to the trains, because “they’re not tbe kind that are In the way,” and the ankles manage to be in evidence because of the unevenness of the hem. One sees less of the fox animal scarf this winter; the predilection for fur sets is obvious. Sets of fur combined with some fabric have always been the vogue of “elegantes” in Paris. Now the idea is being taken up here. The result is great individuality, for the scarfs or capes must harmonize with the dress with which they are worn. Most of them are of the shoulder-cape variety; this is good in that being worn without any other outside garment they are plenty warm enough, except for the shivery sort of person and in very cold weather. ] Anoraet- peculiarity in winter modes is the reappearance of the long fur cape. It may or may not have a slit for the hand. Often these capes are shaped so they extend out of the sides enough to form something that resembles a sleeve—enough to partly cover the-arm. In the long fur coats and wraps the collar, is almost invariably made of a contrasting fur. The trimming hem band this year, if there is one, Is rather deep, 9 or 12 inches,'flat In appearance, where last year the hem band was generally narrow and round in appearance. Moyen Age contours on evening gowns are often arranged so there is a startling air of undress, for the lower part of the skirt, full and draped, is attached at the hip line, while the upper part clings to the figure. This gives it a startling air of being a lounging gown—odd for a ballroom. But one soon grows accustomed to new contours.—New York Herald.

PARTY FROCK FOR A GIRL

Pretty and Simple Affair Which Anyone Who Can Bew Can Make. Just the prettiest little dress for a young girl’s dance Is at the same time the simplest. Anyone who can sew can make one like It at home. White China' silk and white net make the dress, and white satin ribbon trims It. There is a plain waist of silk, low In the neck and with Just a sleeve-band over the shonlders. The skirt is silk, short and full. Then over this goes the net, quite a coarse net. It is draped onto the waist, and short, full, puffed sleeves are added to the silk shoulder straps. The edges of the net are trimmed on the b<sdy and sleeves with narrow white satin ribbon run on flat, and the skirt has the same ribbon, in different widths running round in bands. The widest is used, one row of it, just a little above,the edge, then a little above that a narrower ribbon, and so on for about five rows. The only other trimming, and the only bit of color, were two little bunches of silk-made fruit, quite good-sized, with

DRESS FOR A GIRL

This useful little school dress is in navy serge, made with one box-plait each side front and back.» The fulness is drawn in loosely by a band of material fastened by,a metal hook; braid forms trimming. Y Materials required: Two and threefourths yards 46 inches wide, about Six yards braid*. . - ' ..

foliage, one on the waist at the upper* $ edge, the other on the below the waistline and on the opposite side from the first bunch. Ea*ifj|| bunch had three colors, the big berrie# | in each being one of pink, one of bine, and one of yellow. The girl who wore that dainty little frock was right.

USEFUL AND DAINTY CUSHION

Can Be Made From Holland or Linen, and Netos Only a Rose for Decoration. Very effective'and useful cushions can be made from holland or linen,, and all that Is needed in the way of * decoration is simply a single rose with one or two leaves attached. Grey linen looks Very beantifnl with a rose worked In delicate pink shades; the heart of the rose should be deeper 2; than .the outside petals. The rose Is simply worked with satin stitch In Peri Lusta, so that it can be easily washed as well as being deco*

A Useful Cushion.

. rative; or a rose ent from good eretonne and appllqued on will have an excellent effect First make a bag for the cushion in calico the size yon wish it to be, then fill with vegetable down, real down or feathers. The linen for the case should be embroidered before it la made np; when made, put it over the cushion, sew up the end and edge all round with cord, and either put a tassel at each corner or else arrange the cord in loops. Though sO|Very simple, the cushion Is in exquisite taste, yet is not too fine , to use for the wear and tear of everyday life.

EASILY MADE TRAVELING BAG

An Eleven-Inch Square of Pink Linen and Bome Tape All That Is Needed. ■■ — 1 A very pretty and quickly mhde traveling bag can be made with an 11-lnch square of pink linen. Bind the entire square with white tape, then fold one side of the linen to one-third the depth. Featherstitch into five pockets, three narrow ones and two wide 1 ones, placing a narrow one In the center at each end, with the wide ones between- The edges where the square is folded are overhanded together. The small pockets are for toothpaste, toothbrush and cold cream, the larger ones for talcum powder ahd powder puff. If the toetbbrush is enclosed in a glass* case, the pocket need not be rubber lined. Fasten a piece of tape in the center of the side opposite the pockets. This Is folded over and the tape tied, around the case.

Bets Fur Trimmed.

Angora wool, knitted by hand of! machine woven, li fur trimmed and made Into very delectable neckpiece, muff and hat sets, not only for sports wear, but for ordinary street wear as well. As for the velvets, silks and fine cloths Joined with fur to make tie little things of the winter costume, there is no end to theiL. Whole hats of fur, relieved only by some single ornament or slight trlnn mings of velvet or metal lace, are wornu One unusually becoming model of moleskin has a smoke-color ostrich tip at one side and an embroidered velvetribbon of blue which ties in a small bow at the front. The much-exploited beret is, of course, shown In fur, aod there are many fur hats that, like the velvets; # have brims clasplng . the head dose and flaring out at audacious angles a*i they slant upward.—New York Son. - - ■ ' *_r— rr: ... _ ...

Leather Touches.

After an exile of some months fMBH the world of dress, leather is back iutl small quantities as dress jtrimmingsand accessories. One blue serge coat dress is the smartest for a set consist-; ing of collar, deep gauntlet cuffs and; wide belt of black patent leather. Ab 4 other blue serge frock .IS trimmed) with leather applique In a maroosri shade. The cutout designs are oujjj lined with soutache braid of the 'sasMg color. Whole skating coats in bright and sober, dull and shiny are* back again for this best of winter sports.

Bits of Real Lace.

Embroidery of metal threads and touches of real lace, such as venise, bruges and cluny, are used in trinamings. Belts, sashes and apron string girdles encircle these blouses at a low or a regular waistline. Clasp buckles* of unusual beauty, of translucent «oa»> position and in rich colorings are used* to clasp the belts.