A RETROSPECT AND A FORECAST. 2e 
V. 
I weep, though I know it is in vain For my sorrow is so great that I breathe only 
tears, terrors, anguish and cries of lamentation. 
MIE 
The whole universe is moved by my sorrow, for I am the most faithful of lovers. Lo! 
all creation weeps for my lot—man, beasts, fishes and birds. 
VIL. 
As long as my life lasts, I will follow thy wandering shade—yea, though water, fire, 
earth and air should attempt to stand in my way !” 
If these two poems are at all representative of the poetic genius and expression of the 
more advanced of the native nations and tribes, one would think that out of the relics that 
cruelty, ignorance, and fanaticism have spared, there might be compiled an American 
anthology which would not be unworthy of the majestic grandeur and varied beauties 
of our great continent. 
THE SEMITIC FAMILY. 
About 2000 B.C., the first conquest of which monumental.history informs us, was made 
by a Semitic over a Turanian tongue. The Accadians, who inhabited the valley of the 
Euphrates, had made considerable progress in civilization, had a literature of their own, 
and comprised adroit workers in various arts and industries. To them (as already hinted) 
we are, in all likelihood, indebted, indirectly, for our alphabet. But, having imparted 
valuable knowledge to their Semite conquerors, the Accadians adopted the language of the 
latter and became practically a Semitic people. It 1s a curious evidence of the vitality of 
language, and of the strong but often unseen links which unite “all nations that on earth 
do dwell,” and the past with the present, that a word which is familiar to every Christian 
child, a word which, in its Hellenistic form and meaning, may have been hallowed by our 
Saviour’s use, a word which Mohammed said he was taught to repeat by the Angel Gabriel, 
a word which, through successive ages, has been associated with all that is holiest, most 
hopeful, most consoling, by Jews, by Christians, and by Mohammedans, the word “ Amen,” 
was, in its origina] form, employed millenniums ago by those ancient Accadian scribes, the 
recovery of whose compositions was one of the proudest rewards of modern exploration. 
Of the literature which sprang from the united intellectual resources of the two distinct 
races thus brought into contact, the late George Smith, of the British Museum, and his 
fellow-workers and successors in Babylonian research, have deciphered some of the most 
important remains. Among them are a hymn to Samas (Shemesh, or the Sun), and the 
Chaldean account of the Deluge, included among what are called “the Izdhubar Legends.” 
The Babylonians and Assyrians have a peculiar interest for Christendom from their connec- 
tion with the history of the Israelites and Jews in the Old Testament; and the Semitic 
group of races to which they belong, is too well knownto need any particular description. 
With those races the languages of the group do not clearly correspond, some of the peoples 
using Semitic tongues being assigned by some philologists to non-Nemitic races. On that 
