The broad ax. [volume], September 21, 1895, Page 4, Image 4

About The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
1
.uer' r,5i.;." - c. . . v .: ' . iscr- -" -
M I mm i -, ,- . . .- I lit
- A ? .- && '? ' " H"" '! f-'" -5"' I 'L?""A--1" '"-'fFX T?rT" "C-? - V ' ,
THE BROAD AX.
DEATH IS NOT SO GRIM.
Da. J. W. Hoossvzlt in Scribnen
Familiarity "with death is apt to
alter one's earlier conceptions of it.
Two ideas are very generally ac
cepted which experience shows to
be false. One is that the dying
usually fear death; and the other,
that the act of -dying is accompa
nied by pain. It is well known to
all physicians that when death is
near its terrors do not seem to be
felt by 'the patient. Unless the
imagination is stimulated by the
frightful portrayal of the supposed
"pangs of death' or of the suffer-
mgs wmcn some believe the soul
must endure after dissolution, it is
rare, indeed, that the last days or
hours of life are passed in dread.
Oliver "Wendell Holmes has record
ed his protest against the custom of
telling a person who does not
actually ask to know that he cannot
recover. As that loving observer
of mankind asserts, so must every
one who knows whereof he specks
assert that people almost always
come to understand that recovery
is impossible; it i3 rarely needful to
tell anyone that this is the case.
"When nature gives the warning
death appears to be as little feared
as sleep. Most sick persons are
very, very tired; sleep long, quiet
sleep is what they want. I have
seen many people die. I have never
seen one who seemed to fear death
exceptwhen it was or seemed to be
rather far away. Even those who
are constantly haunted while strong
and well with a dread of the end of
life forget their fear when that end
. is at hand. As tor the act of dying
the final passage from life to death
it is absolutely without evidence
that the oft repeated assertions of
its painfulness are made. Most
people are unconscious for some
hours before they die; and in the
rare cases where' consciousness is
retained unimpaired until a few
minutes before the end the last sen
sation must be of perfect calm and
rest.
THE OLDEST BOOK IN THE
"WORLD.
IT IS NOT THE BIBLE, AS MANY HAY
THINK, ACCORDING TO A WBITEB.
Baltimore American: J. H. Mitch
nier, in Knowledge for June, gives
an interesting account of the old
est book in the world. Many will
suppose that the Bible is meant,
but the most orthodox have never
claimed that the earlier books of
the Bible were written prior to the
exodus from Egypt, while the
"Papyrus Prisse" was written at
least 1,500 years before Moses was
born, and many years before the
occurrence of the Noachian deluge.
The book was discovered by a
Frenchman named Prisse at Thebes,
and presented at the Bibliotheqne
nationaie in raris. jx was taxen
from a tomb in which was found
the mummy of one of the Entews.
of the eleventh, or first Theban,
dynasty, which would prove that
the manuscript was written at least
prior to 2,500 B. C; but the book
itself furnishes internal evidence of
of the date of its composition, and
contains extracts from a work that
was 'much older. It was compiled
by the Prefect Ptah-hotep during
tne reign or Jung Assa. inis po
tentate was the last but one of the
fifth dynasty, so that the book
must have been written about 3,850
B. C, or considerably more thari
5,000 years ago.
The precepts of Ptah-hotep,
which give the title to the book,
are preceded by passages from an
earlier work written by Kakimna,
Prefect to Sing Seneferu, of the
the third dynasty, which ruled be
(fore the Pyramids were built, about
3760 B. C, which would make it if
in existence now 5,650 years old,
antedating, according to the old
chronologists, and as some still be
lieve, the creation of Adam in the
Garden of Eden, or at least his fall
from grace. The book is written
in Hieratic and has been translated
into French by M. Virey and into
English by Prof. Osgood. Its main
value is not as a literary curiosity,
but for the insight it gives into the
education and culture which had
been reached by man at that early
period in the history of the human
race. Its writer, Ptah-hotep, was
a Prefect a place of exeat disnitv
-, .,".... "-. .,
ana responsibility under tne an
cient Egyptian Kings. It was
second only to that of the king
the same office which was held by
Joseph, the son of Jacob, during
the latter portion of his career, as
told in the Bible. The Prefect was
a sort of Pooh-Bah. or Treasurer.
Secretary of State, and Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court roll
ed into one, so that what Is said in
the book must be accepted as au
thoratative, so far as it goes.
The book upsets some theories
concerning the origin of a number
of philosophic reflections for they
are found here, divested ot all rub
bish, several thousands of years be
fore the advent of the Greeks, who I
were thought to have originated
them. Its whole tone is lofty, not
relatively but actually, and would
be creditable to a moral writer in
the nineteenth century. It deals
with individual conduct and the
government of the State. Persons
holding public positions are urged
"to labor at all times to be true
gentlemen, lest from their own de
fects of character they suffer the
authority given them by favor of
the supreme Joeing to be weaken
ed." Numerous allusions are made
to the Supreme Being, and they are
always in the singular number,
proving, what has been claimed by
archaiologists, that the religionof
the Egyptians was monotheistic.and
that only among the ignorant
classes were birds and beasts and
images which were intended by
the religion as types of certain of
n.3i a.i t t
uoas, atxnoutcs worsnipea as
gods. Moses, who was really a
Prince in Egypt so far as his social
standing went, was educated by the
priests, and, of course, well under
stood the monotheistic character of
the Egyptian religion: but he saw
that the masses of the people had
so prostituted their religion that he
was anxious to get the Hebrews as
far away from their pernicious
example as possible. But it is rea
sonable to suppose that in the age
of Ptah-hotep, the writer, of this
book, nearly 2,000 years before
Moses was born, there had been no
such perversion of their religion by
the Egyptians as disgusted the
great lawgiver of the Israelites.
This book, it must be borne ia
mind, was not an isolated example
of culture and scholarship. It was
the perfectly natural outcome of a
civilization which was scarcely in
ferior to that of a century ago, and
which could boast of magnificent
libraries, "a people highly instruct
ed in all the arts of peace, a state !
carefully organized, a hierarchy
firmly founded, minutely divid
ed and organized, even to the
smallest external matters, a univer
sally diffused system of writing and
the common use of papyrus in
short, a civilization which in all es
sential points has already attained
its full maturity, and onlyby close
investigation is further development
in some directions discovered."
And all this was many hundreds of
years before Abram, under the
guidance of the Lord, became an
exile jfroaa his country and settled
in the plain of Mamre.
Politicians!
Of all kinds can find at
z. c.
M
The best Assortment of
General Merchandise
And at Prices to suit the Times.
GENTS' CLOTHING and GENERAL FURNISHING,
LADIES' DRESS GOODS, NOTIONS,
WRAPS, HATS, and FOOTWEAR,
GROCERIES, First-Class, in Immense Variety,
Staple or Fancy.
You cannot go wrong, and a little
money goes a long way now.'
T. C WEBBER, SipL
SOME STORES.
DON'T WANT CLOSE
THE VERY CLOSEST.
BUYERS. WE ONLY' WANT
WE HAVE BUT ONE PRICE
AND THAT THE LOWEST.
Men's ;Suits.
Good Working Suits in light and dark colors, $3.00,' $4. 50,
$5.00, $6.00.
Business Suits, round and square cuts, $7.00, $7.50, $8.00,
$10.00.
.Nobby Suits in all colors, shades and cuts, $11.00, $12.00,
$14 00, $16.00.
Fine Dress Suits in sacks and frocks, $15.00, $17.00, $18.00,
$20.00.
Boys' Suits.
Good Boys' Suits, long pants $3.00, $3.50, $4.00, $4.50.
Boys' School Suits, long panta, $5.00, $&00, $6.60.
Boys' All Wool Suite, long pants, $7.50, $9.00, $10.00.
Children's Suits.
Good Every-Day Suits, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00.
Good School Suits, all shades, $2.50, $3.00, $3.50, $4.00.
Fine Sunday Suits, any color, $4.50, $5.00, $6.00, $6.50.
We have a luge line of the Stanley Suits, with extra pants
and cap, for $3.50, $4.50, $5.00, $6.00, $6.50.
Oar line of Novelty Suits are without exception the finest
ever shown in Salt Lake City. They run from 3 to 7 years, and
in price from $2.25 to $6.00.
J.P.GARDNER
136-13S 7WIKIM STREET.
T7
- i
AA&f & 'wnr itrr r nirMrr w or rymnMmt
mmfmmtgggggsgmWMWKIIKfKgffBgmiiffftmWmmam miiihiiih ny-TfcU
.- a 'r? T ".
ar.iP i, - i
.'-- :jfcr ax' j.'zr-x -,r
V-'Jtdaf-.yEji.- .
1