The limitations of the spoken word led to the preservation of orations and teachings, and to the recording of great thoughts, that others who could not be present when the truths were spoken might know and thus be placed in mental rapport with the utterances and thoughts intended to ennoble and uplift mankind.

Of books there could not be many, comparatively, though scholarship was rife and "Scribes" were many, until the invention came that made possible the preservation and distribution of the spoken and written ideas.

The Printing Press alone has made it possible to reproduce and preserve for the many the wonderful thoughts and Truths formerly lost or recorded in laboriously produced manuscripts of past days.

Literature is the one great mental illuminator of this and past ages:

The highest form of expression for the preservation and dissemination of ideas and facts.

In noting the progress of the world in cycles, it is well to remember that following the so-called "dark ages" the wonderful 15th century produced the printing press, the Mariner's Compass, the discovery of the Western Continent (by Columbus), the "Renaissance" in Italy and Greece, that wonderful resurrection of the Ideal in which a group of Angels, led by the Master, gave a New Birth to Art.

As language has become more fluent and universal, especially the English language, there seems to be no slightest variation,- no smallest degree of difference in meanings, no loftiest thought, no flight of imagination, no fundamental or relative truths, no poetic imagery, no description of scenes in nature, no occurrences in daily life, no statement of scientific propositions, no emotion, no religious inspiration, that may not find expression in language.

The songs (poetic) of a nation reveal its heart, and the words of the "folk songs" are real history of the feelings and aspirations of a people.

Reverting to the simplicity of the "Classics," the ornate tendency of modern days gives place, seemingly, in cycles or renaissant periods, to greater simplicity.

Those who utter great truths in the simplest and most perfectly well chosen words move the world most.

Written words lose the fervor, magnetism and impressiveness of the personal utterance; but Truths may thus appeal to those ready to receive them - careful reading where meditation is possible may cause a better understanding; while poetry, romance - works of "fiction," so-called - and all appeals to the imagination, are often better appreciated in the written than in the spoken word.

Sifted of all that is transient, superfluous, useless, the literature that survives is that which preserves the best thoughts, clothed in the best language. The Truths of the universe might be stated in a few sentences.