THE 



ORGAN IZ 

 KNOWLEDGE 



AND' PICTURE 



Ss 



S is the nineteenth letter in the English al- 

 phabet. The Phoenician letter from which it 

 was derived was shaped much like a capital 

 11'. and was called shin, which meant tooth. 

 Doubtless it was intended to represent two 

 teeth, though it looks like those of a saw rather 



w 



than those of a human being. The Greeks turned the letter on its side, .and called it 

 sigma, and the Romans, when they adopted it, gradually dropped the lowest line and 

 rounded it into the form of modern capital S. 



The letter has had in all these languages about the same sound, though it is probable 

 that in the Phoenician it had rather more of the sh value than is common to-day. In 

 English, s has four sounds: the proper s, or "hissing" sound, as in sit; the z, or "buzzing" 

 sound, as in music; the sh sound, as in sure, which is uncommon except before i in such 

 words as mansion; and the zh sound, as in decision. S is also used with h in a very com- 

 mon digraph, or letter combination. 



SABBATH, sab'ath, the rest day of the 

 Jews, observed on the seventh day of the week. 

 In ancient times it was a joyous, holy day on 

 which the people ceased from toil, visited the 

 sanctuary and offered a double number of sac- 

 rifices. The Sabbath was in existence from the 

 earliest times, but was first ritualized by Moses, 

 and the duty of its observance was made the 

 subject of one of the Ten Commandments. 



After the Babylonian exile, Sabbath observ- 

 ance became very rigid, and the Jews suffered 

 many losses and indignities at the hands of 

 their enemies rather than break the Sabbath 

 laws. In the oral law, twenty-nine major and 

 minor kinds of labors were forbidden. Bearing 

 burdens, lighting fires and traveling more than 

 a Sabbath day's journey (less than a mile) were 

 not allowed. The attitude of Jesus in regard 

 to these regulations is summarized in the state- 

 ments "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath 

 day," and "The Sabbath was made for man 

 and not man for the Sabbath." Except in the 

 Gospels, the Sabbath is not mentioned in the 

 New Testament writings. There is reference, 

 however, to the first day of the week (Sunday), 

 observed in commemoration of the resurrection 

 of Jesus. Observance of Sunday as a holy day 



has become practically universal in the Chris- 

 tian Church, though the Seventh-Day Advent- 

 ists (which see) recognize Saturday as the Sab- 

 bath. See SUNDAY. 



Consult Jastrow's Hebrew and Babylonian 

 Traditions. 



SABINE, sabeen', RIVER, a stream which 

 rises in Northeastern Texas, flows southeast for 

 250 miles, and then south on the lower half of 

 the boundary between Texas and Louisiana 

 through Sabine Lake and Sabine Pass into the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Its entire length is 500 miles. 

 The Sabine Pass is a narrow channel with a 

 muddy bar at its mouth, and though often 

 dredged, it cannot be used by large steamers. 

 Even small boats can ascend for only a short 

 distance. Orange, Tex., a lumbering center, is 

 the principal town on its banks, and Port Ar- 

 thur is on the Texas shore of Sabine Lake. 



SABINES, sa' bines, an ancient Italian peo- 

 ple whose daughters were seized and carried off 

 by the early Roman youths, while they were 

 all being entertained at a great festival. Ac- 

 cording to the legend, after Romulus had built 

 Rome he found that there were few women 

 among the inhabitants, so he sent embassies to 

 the neighboring cities to ask that his people 



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