To the ponderous blows and clanging of each unrelenting hammer,
While the diamonds of labor, from the curse of Adam borrowed,
Glittered like a crown of honor on each iron-beater’s forehead.
Compressing the Alphabet
When the following sentence of forty-eight letters first appeared, it was regarded as the shortest in the English language capable of containing all the letters of the alphabet:—
“John P. Brady gave me a black walnut box of quite a small size.”
But this was improved upon by a sentence of thirty-three letters containing the twenty-six letters of the alphabet:
“A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Another sentence of thirty-three letters is the following:
“J. Gray—Pack with my box five dozen quills.”