Weekly Trinity journal., 1868-08-01
from the Dramatic Chronicle.J
To be Civilized.

The Rev. O. P. Fitzgerald, State Superintend-
ent of Public Instruction, is determined that this
State shall be civilized-at any rate, be doesn't
mean to permit the rising generation to grow up
in heathen ignorance if he can prevent it, The
Reverend Superintendent proposes, as one means
of civizng the Northern mind, to introduce
into the schools series Of text books prepared
by the enlightened and erudite servants of the
Sunny South. Westward the march of empire
takes its way:" but the march of mind is in the
direction of Texas, and the compass by which it
steers its course is the Southern Cross. No
more Yankee spelling books, biographies and
readers" in our schools, if you please, says the
Reverend Superintendent and Parson of the
Methodist Church South Not any more, thank
you. The youth of the nation must learn to view
things from a Southern standpoint. We have
" Southern church in California; why not
Southern school books2 The rising generation
must not read histories that tell them how Lin
coin and Grant queled the rebellion, or how the
august chief of the Confederacy was captured in
ignominous flight invested in his wife's crino-
line Their minds must not be poisoned by
Biographies that show how far superior in pop
ulation, manufacture, arts and general prosper
ity, the Northern States and cities are to those
of the South, The boys must not learn to recite
the speeches of Webster, Everett, Clay, Choate
and Baker, nor the poems of Longfelow, Lowell,
Whittier. Their hearts must be fred by the ell
oquence of Hayne, Wigfall, judah P. Benjamin,
Roger NJ. Pryor, Joe Hamilton, Jim Coffroth and
their competitors while their intelects are fed
by such rich nuiriment as John R. McCOnnells
dreary woodland -shin-bone arguments, or the
Rev. Mr.. o. P. Ftzgeralds prosy and pious plat
itudes in the Spectator. AS for poetry, the min
strelsy of the 'elost cause" (thOugh their
twaddling verses compare with those of our
world-renowned American poets as Parson Fitz-
gerald S mild and ungrammatical 90 leaders" do
sth rr-r.fsr oNf Nf ta1I1
ture, must supersede Bryant, Halleck and Whit
tier in the school-books. The Spectator, the
Californian organ of the Methodist Church South,
had in its last issue notice of a I" Southern Sc
ries'' of school-books. Among these were
I" Holmes Southern Pictorial Primer " Holmes
Southern Pictorial First Reader" The Southern
Pictorial Second Reader" The Southern Pic
pervison of " Prof. Geo. F. Holmes, L. L. D. of
the University of Virginia" Having enumer-
ated these valuable volumes, the Spectator says
/" This is an excellent series of readers. The
Southern University Series, prepared under the
direction of that able teacher and ripe scholar,
Prof. Holmes. The Typography is good. Intro
duce into your schools The Southern University
Series" "Introduce into your schools The
Southern University Series" says Parson Fitz-
gerald. The italics are not ours, but the par
sons. Into rhdt schools does the Superintend-
ent recommend the introduction of the "South-
ern series p? Is the North to learn the story of
the rebellion from the South Is California to
be made Southern State? Are the youth of
the North to be educated by Southern teachers
and to be indoctrnated into Southern views? Is
the rising generation to be taught that Grant
and Sherman were " Federal butchers" and
that Lee and Stonewal jackson are the purest
exemplars of heroism and patriotism As an
illustration of the learning and academic culture
of the Reverend Superintendent and editor, we
may refer to the curious fact that in every in
stance in which be has occasion in the article
from which We have quoted, to refer TO the de-
gree of Laws, he indicates it by the letters
al. L. D." instead of oil. d. Evidently
this is typographical error, for the blunder is
repeated. Evidently the erudite gentleman, who
in an unfortunate hour elected to the posi-
ton of the Superintendent o. Public Instruction,
is ignorant of the Latin words represented by
the abbrevatior "LL. D." No man who reads
his namby-pamby paper can fail to recognize in
every sentence the uneducated man. His unfit
ness for the position to which he has been ele-
waited by party vote (yet running behind every
other candidate of his partv) is manifest and un-
deniable. There is not probably single gram
mar master under his official jurisdiction who
does not possess larger culture than this jesu
tica demagogue, who wants to introduce a
% Southern Series of books into our
schools, and thinks that "L. l.. d. stands for
a." Doctor of Laws"
No Southern textbooks for the public schools
of this section, if the Reverend Superintendent
pleases.
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