A Story Outline of Evolution 



his entire life because they represent the foundation of our 

 entire educational system and are used alike by the beginner 

 as well as the most advanced and cultured. The numbers 

 of the various combinations that may be formed from these 

 twenty-six characters are so great that they are beyond our 

 intelligent comprehension. It is by their use that all the 

 achievements of all men of all races and of all ages are com- 

 municated to us. They form the depository of all present 

 knowledge and the working tools through which all future 

 knowledge may be acquired. 



It may be thought that it is an easy matter to trace down 

 the origin of, and the changes in, each of the twenty-six let- 

 ters of the alphabet used by the English-speaking races, but 

 such is not the case. Their tracks may be traced along a 

 fairly well-beaten road for a period of 2,500 years or 

 longer, but beyond this, the road forks so many times and 

 these divide again into dimmer roads and trails, branching 

 In many directions, until, at last, they disappear altogether. 

 Starting, then at the farthest end of the dimmest path, it 

 may be said that there Is no one place or time where the 

 characters of our alphabet began and that a table of their 

 derivations cannot be produced with any degree of certainty 

 and perhaps never will be. On the other hand, all of these 

 characters have sprung Into being as a result of necessity 

 and each has passed through many changes and adaptations 

 in both form and meaning and has developed through cen- 

 turies of slow and almost imperceptible growth. 



The characters used In the English alphabet, with their 

 various changes and modifications, can be traced to the 

 Phoenicians, the trading branch of the Semites, but, beyond 



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