Indiana State University - Sycamore Yearbook (Terre Haute, IN)

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THE NORMAL ADVANCE , 7 mission of Hammurabi. ttThe great gods pro- claimed me and I am guardian governor, whose scepter is righteous and whose beneficent pro- tection is spread over my city. In my bosom I carried the people of the land of Sumer and Akkad; under my protection I brought their brethren into security; in my wisdom I re- strained thidi them; that the strong might not oppose the weak, and that they should give jus- tice to the orphan and the widow, in Babylon, the city whose turrets Ann and Bel raised; in Esagila, the temple whose foundations are firm as heaven and earth, for the pronouncing of judgments in the land, for the rendering of de- cisions for the land, and for the righting of wrong, my weighty words I have written upon my monument, and in the presence of my image as king of righteousness have I established? What awe inspires us as we read the writing of a king so ancient; for the Code is more an- cient by ages than the Code of Moses; more stern than the Roman. It is interesting to stu- dents of history because of its antiquity and stern justice. The 4500 years which have suc- ceeded the inscription of the Code are but so many curious lights which cast a strange and bewitching shadow upon those ancient scenes. It is with great delight and interest that we be- come aware of a civilization so old and yet so great. In looking at that ancient people we meditate and marvel at their position in social customs and manners. The records shows that these people had their problems concerning rent, neighbors, etc. itIf a man open his canal for irrigation and neglect it and the water carry away an adjacent iield, he shall measure out grain on the basis of the adjacent fields? itIf a man have not received the rent of his field and he have rented the field for either one-half or one-third tof the cropi, the tenant and the owner of the held shall divide the grain which is in the field ac- cording to the agreement? A iiIf a man give his orchard to a gardener to manage, the gardener shall give to the owner of the orchard two- thirds of the produce of the orchardf, From the Code we learn that the questions of the Liquor TrafIic and Womenls Rights are not of modern origin. We also learn of two common forms of punishment. 4cIf a wine-seller do not receive grain as the price of drink, but if she receive money by the great stone, or make the measure for drink smaller than the measure for corn, they shall call that wine-seller to ac- count, and they shall throw her into the water? ttIf a priestess who is not living in a M A L. G E. A. open a wine-shop or enter a wine-shop for a drink, they shall burn that woman? Although J ustice was stern, all crimes were not punished with death. The punishment was rather ctan eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? There were classes of people, however, and the degree of punishment was determined by the class and nature of the crime. If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall de- stroy his eye? ttIf one break a mans bone, they shall break his bone? iiIf a man knock out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his toothy ttIf one knock out a tooth of a freeman, he shall pay one-third mana of silver? gtIf a man strike another man of his own rank, he shall pay one mana of silver? gt'If a freeman strike a freeman, he shall pay ten Shekels of silvery ttIf a mans slave strike a mans son, they shall cut 0H his ear.,, ttIf a son strike his father, they shall out 01f his fingers? . If Henry Clay could have read the past, he could have learned of slavery more galling than American slavery; he could have seen that Hammurabi anticipated his Fugitive Slave Law. ttIf a brander, without the consent of the owner of the slave, brand a slave with a sign that he cannot be sold, they shall cut off the fingers of that brander? ttIf a man harbor in his house a slave who has fled from the palace or from a freeman, and do not bring him tthe slavel forth at the call of the commandment, the owner of the house shall be put to deat W The professions and mechanical arts are not modern. Physicians were held responsible for mal-practice. ttIf an artisan take a son for adoption and teach him handicraft, one may not bring claim for him? tiIf a man steal a

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6 THE NORMAL ADVANCE s -'fw . ing. This includes the whole scope of devices employed by the tactful teacher. There has been a varied phraseology employed to express this quality in the teacher. Solomon called it wisdom, some have called it tact, others insight, while still others have styled it, in the verna- cular, gumption or perchance good-horse-sense. It is believed by many that the power to em- ploy devices is an inherited characteristic; hence the expressionsttteachers are born not made? University professors have often held this view. They have failed to note individual differences in children and consequently to recognize the fact that one may be trained in the use of appropriate devices as well as in a knowledge of subject-matter. Indeed, many writers on pedagogy have done little more than imply this Vital phase of method. It has been considered the bi-product of a knowledge of subject-matter and psychology, rather than a distinct factor in the teaching process. Doubt- less this has resulted from a careless examina- tion of the relative experiences of the efiicient and the inefficient teacher. The one thru ex- perience, including instruction, has grasped the significance of devices in teaching; while the other, because of a lack of such expenrienoe and instruction, is ignorant of their importance. It is, then, the duty of the student of method thence of all teachersy to investigate the chang- ing social status of his time in order to deter- mine the needs of his own and the nextgenera- tion; to examine the subject-matter of the cur- riculum in View of its power to realize these - anticipated needs; to know the generic and in- dividual characteristics of the child that he may better know the time that such materials may be effectually presented; and to know the ex- periences 0f the child that he may press the keys that will set vibrating those elements that are relevant to the subject-matter to be learned, or to supply them in the event they are lacking. The recognition of the teachers need of those tools of teaching was the genesis of professional courses for teachers. It gave immortality to Pestilozzi, Froebel, Herbart, and Horace Mann, and won the publicis sanction of normal train- ing throughout the world. It is in anticipation of such an equipment that young men and young women of worth are lilling the Normal schools today. And well they may. The field of education never looked so promising as it does now and there has never been a greater call for professionally trained teachers than at this time. This general appreciation of the fundamental principles in teaching is most en- couraging. The Code of Hammurabi WALDO F. MITCHELL, '10 Many centuries before Alexander the Great led his Macedonian Phalanx through Baby- lonia, and many ages before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, a civilization rich in culture and government had grown up along . the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Many ages before Moses received the Tablets of the Law from the hand of God, Hammurabi was giving his peo- ple at Babylon laws for their good governing. When Abraham was building up the Hebrew nation in Canaan, Hammurabi tor, as his- torians think, Amraphel, king of Shinar, Gene- . sis 140 was giving his subjects precepts upon monuments of stone. Perhaps the most famous of his monuments is the black diofite found at Susa in December, 1901, by the French expedi- tion under M. de MorganaThiS was about eight feet in height, and was broken into three pieces. It is called, The Code of Hammurabi. - On the front side is an engraving which represents Hammurabi in the act of receiving the Code from the sun god. The manuscript consists of three parts, including the Epilogue and Pro- logue. One feature of the Epilogue gives the

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8 t THE NORMAL ADVANCE wateringamachine in a field, he shall pay Iive Shekels of silver to the owner of the watering- machine? tCIf a physician operate on a man for a severe wound with a bronze lancet and cause the man,s death; or open an abscess tin the eyey of a man with a bronze lancet and de- stroy the mants eye, they shall eut 01f his fin- gers? ttIf a'veterinary physician operate on an ox for a severe wound and save its life, the owner of the ox shall give to the physician, as his fee, one-sixth of a Shekel of silver? ttIf a man hire a boatman and a boat and freight it with grain, wool, oil, dates, or any other kind of freight, and that boatman be careless and he sink the boat or wreck its cargo, the boatman shall replace the boat which he sank and what- . ever portion of the cargo be wrecked? The domestic, legal, and social aifairs were .very complicated. ttIf a man present field, garden, or house to his favorite son and write him a sealed deed; after the father dies, when the brothers divide, he shall take the present which the father gave him, and over and above they shall divide the goods of the fathefs house equally? ttIf a man be in debt and sell his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them.over to service, for three years they shall work in the house of their purchaser or master; in the fourth year they shall be given their freedomfi Marriage licenses were required before mar- riage. The state handled petty family troubles in ancient times. ttIf a man take a wife and do not arrange with her the tpropery contracts, that woman is not a tlegaD wife? ttIf she have not been a careful mistress, have gadded about, have neglected her house and have be- littled her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water? A civilization so ancient and 'yet so rich is the wonder to the modern student. This civi- lization has been buried beneath the ages and mountains of sand, but has been preserved in tablets of stone. It is now the common prop- erty of the world, largely through ctThe Code of Hammurabiy The text from which this source material was taken is, ttThe Code of Hammurabi;7 published by the University of Chicago Press, Chicago. This text, which has the reprint of the original, its transliteration and translation into English, was planned by Robert Francis Harper, pro- fessor of Semitic Languages and Literatures in the University of Chicago. He was director of the Babylonian Section of Oriental Explora- , tion Fund at the time of the discovery of the Code. The External Life J. J. SCHLICHER When we consider the effects that have been produced by modern means of communication and transportation, we are sure to think first, if not exclusively, of material things. So much more freight can be hauled, so many more pas- sengers can be transported at such a speed, so much news can be obtained from so great a dis- tance in such a short time, that great has be- come small and far has become near. What- ever is done can be done with greater dispatch, more certainly, and with surer confidence in the result. Business, in short, has expanded, nations have been drawn together, and by using each others surplus, promote the common wel- fare--in material things. It may occur to us also that the banana may now be eaten at the North Pole, and the sea-loving oyster in the desert and on the mountain top, and we may even be led to make that interesting and novel remark about the necessities of life that were luxuries to our fathers. Such, in brief, are the results that come to our minds. We take it for granted that they are good things, and perhaps they are. And if we go farther, and speak of the results of the same improved methods for the life of the