4
THE BATTALION.
couragement at honie. To be sure
much that is being written is intrinsic-:
ally worthless, but the ambition and
multiplied effort to win literary
fame are producing some meritori
ous works. Southern cities are rap
idly becoming literary centers; pub
lishing houses are paying good divi
dends, and literary genius is appre
ciated and largely sustained by South
ern readers. One thing is lacking.
The schools, public and private, ara
not doing their duty in teaching the
history and worth of our literature.
Most of our literature still comes from
the North, and is unjust to the South
in many respects.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, which
is regarded everywhere as high author
ity, has this to say of us (Vol. I, page
719): “The attractive culture of the
South has been limited in extent and
degree. The hothouse fruit of wealth
and leisure, it has never struck its
roots deeply into native soil.
“Since the Revolution days, when
Virginia was the nurse of statesmen,
the few thinkers of America born
south of Mason and Dixon’s line, out
numbered by those belonging to the
single State of Massachusetts, have
commonly emigrated to New York or
Boston in search of a university t ain
ing. In the world of letters, at least,
the Southern States have shown by re
flected light; nor is it too much to say
that mainly by their connection with
the North the Carolinas have been
saved from sinking to the level of
Mexico or the Antilles.”
Think of the South—that se:fon
which, for the first sixty-four years of
our national life, furnished the presi
dent for fifty-two years, most of the
cabinet officers, and the chief justice
from 1801 to 1890—classed as a semi-
barbarous people, saved only by North
ern civilization! And we make so few
protests against these misrepresenta
tions that the outside world has come
to believe and repeat them, to our
great injury. The boys and girls of
the South should be taught the true
history of the South. They should be
come familiar with the literature of
the South, with its songs, i s civi iza-
tion, both new and old, it patriotism,
its sufferings during and subsequent
to the civil war, and its rapid re
cuperation since. Instead of permit
ting them to believe that their fore
fathers, “the Old South,” were either
imbeciles or traitors, let us teach them
to love and to hold sacred the hi.tory,
valor, patriotism and conscience of the
Old South.
Henry Grady says, “The first impor
tant railroad operated in America trav
ersed Carolina. The first steamer that
crossed the ocean cleared from Savan
nah. The first college established for
girls was opened in Georgia. No nat
uralist has surpassed Audobon; no
geographer equaled Maury; and Sims
and McDonald led the world of sur
gery in their respective lines. It was
Crawford Long, of Georgia, who gave
to the world the priceless blersicg o'
anaesthesia.”
Let me repeat that we cannot afford
to have our histories, encyclopedias,
and data furnished by Northern writ
ers and publishers. They neglect us.
and I do not blame them much. It is
our duty to see to it that our history
and literature are properly placed be
fore the world. Let me tell you what
I mean by saying they neglect us.
The Columbian Encyclopedia, consist
ing of thirty-two volumes, gives more
space to the biography of John Brown,
the abolitionist, running his pedigree
back to Peter Brown, who came over
in the Mayflower, than to Jefferson
Davis, the soldier, statesman and pres
ident. Another standard encyelope ia
gives six lines on General Kirby Smith,
the teacher, the soldier and patriot,