The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1869-10-02
A. Distinctive Literature.

10 written. Blocks Of chiseled marble
and monuments of everlasting grauite
may rise up like the pyramids in Egypt,
90 may the glitteriug armor of trium-
.phant conquerors flash and blaze like
the lightning Of the elements, but these
can never make people great, nor will
they last to tell their history. Nor can
vast empire accomplish it. Many ma
tsons, great in conquest, great in the re-
sources Of wealth have passed away from
the remembrance of postority, simply.
because they have left no distinctive
literature to tell of their existence
Many nations on the other hand, have
been crushed by the heel of the con-
queror, ruined. almost blotted from ex-
istence, and yet their literature remains,
: the uncrumbled monument, to tell the
story of their life and glory.
Greece under the crush of the Mace.
a'donian phalanx, and the charge of the
PFactorian cohort, mas been shattered 70
pieces, the fragments of her glory have
become the playthings of the Moslcm
and Turk. The Colossus of Rome has
toppled from its dizzy height. But the
voice of Athenian and Roman eloqucnce
fingers aud is heard in the classic shades
Of learning Their poetry and philoso-
ply will kindle thoughts that burn
4 with enthusiasm in the heart of man,
after the story Of their overthrow has
been forgotten.
The Jews are scattered, nation of
wanderers over the broad earth, no holy
(. city, no temple, no home; but Hebrew
literature part even Of Holy Writ will
tell their grand history, despite the
sweeping whirlwind of time itself.
So too of Us, must too be written and
told by our own distinctive literature
The Anathema ve victis can have no
power to blot our existence, if we have
q literature, rich and rare, replete with
those principles and ideas that glow upop
che page of history. \
Without this, the Southern people
will be as complete and hopeless ruin
as was Carthage.
The reaction after the stunning and
stupendous reality of our defeat passed
away was to repair, like men, our ruins,
TO restore our material wealth. A furth.
'eriand deeper reaction must be to restore
Che cause of letters, which were silent
amid the clash of arms, to recall the
/, voice of literature, which was hushed
amid the roaring reverberations of war
The saddest of all ruins made by the
war, is that Of the shrine of the Muses.,
tke cause that has suffered most is that
Of education. The memory of that loved
homestead will serve as the model to rear
new one, dearer for being erected near
the graves of the loved and fallen piety
will consecrate new shrines, and retrace
their obliterated Inscriptions.
Commerce, with its own reactive en-.
. ergy, will rebuild its ruined marts, and
people them again with busy life; labor
upon basis more in accordance with
che voice of civilization, shall again
cause our fields to grow for green coming
harvests, and future industry restore the
hSzassssffssii sfsi currency Of trade. These
ruins have already, to great degree,
BEEN restored. In their material resto-
ration there is danger of our forgetting
the other, sadder ruin. The requiem
wailipg over our land for the countless
slain beneath her bosom, acquire its sad
dest treble of despair, as it echoes mourn
fully within the deserted halls of let
ters.
The eager desire to repair our lost
wealth is apt to render us too material,
A.. ...:l:S..: 80 co-.o,e,l r. s