Mike Denman, age 12, of Berkeley, Calif., for his question:

How did voting originate?

Voting is the most important lesson of history  and the hardest. It is based on Each person's opinion, yet it concerns all of us. So we learn all we can about it from many sources. Then, every thoughtful person must sett1e down quietly to figure out his own opinions for himself.

Committee members vote to find out how the majority of the group wants to run things. Such small scale.voting is a logical way of getting things done. A few small groups in ancient days may have stumbled on the sensible idea of settling their affairs by voting. But to our modern minds, voting has a far wider aspect. It relates to the government of entire countries and communities.

This big aspect of voting dates back to the fifth century B.C. At that time, the city state of a then established the world's first government by democracy. Its proud boast was that the power to govern was in the hands of all its peop1e. All of its citizens had the right to vote for their governors, and they were expected to do so.

The Athenians of ancient Greece were the first to grasp the importance of voting, and many of their speeches contained very clear statements about voting and what it meant. Their great statesman, Pericles, stated that Athenians refused to say that a man who takes no interest in politics minds his own business. Instead, they said that such a man had no business in Athens.

The ideal of ancient Athens was democracy, government by the peop1e. It was the main topic of conversation in the market place, in homes and wherever peop1e met. In a few short years these enlightened peop1e worked out a system of democratic government and put it into practice.

The democratic system of voting in, Athens was borrowed and modified by the Romans, and through the centuries it grew and developed in the countries of Europe. The peop1e who founded America carried the great idea to its highest peak  yet we are still learning and still trying to practice all that it means.

The Economy of ancient Greece was based upon slave labor, and it is estimated that only one man in three was a free citizen. The great ideas of even Pericles applied only to the citizens of Athens. In those first bright days of self government, voting was not for women or slaves. Hence, the voters actually were far outnumbered by the non voters.