The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-04-13
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Northern origin and the benefits ultimately
designed TO fall into Northern pockets. Maj.
Hotchkiss made capital speech In behalf Of
theseries he was championing and Col. Withers
made fervid appeal in support of the in
terests he presented. Both plead faithfully
for their benelactors, and we have no doubt
fully earned the amount Of the wages paid
them.
One thing we regretted TO notice in the
address OF Col. Withers-the evident pnr-
pose to carry his point by exciting the preju-
,lices aud infaming the sectional feelings of
his hearers We do not consider it german
to question Of that kind. especially as there
was so little sub tantlal reason upon which
to base the appeal, to force upon the
popular mind an extreme view as to the char
acter Of the books sought to be introduced
The NEG uffy series have been used in Viz
ginia for the past twenty years. without one
word of complaint from any source. They
have been accepted as the best extant, and
as answering the purposes for which they
were designed in au eminent manner 1t is
only now, when another publishing house is
seeking to supplant them-when the profits
which have been derived from their extensive
sale and use, ere crayed by another concern
that great public harm is discovered lurking
in the unprctending pages which make up the
McGufy series. The parents and children
of Virginia were b'issfully ignorant Of any
poisonous influence implanted into the tender
mind by these books. They were not aware
that the seeds Of treason to the South-of
forgetfulness Of the sufcrngs Of our people
of oblivion of our brilliant record-of
our Wondering dead and manned living
were insidiously lurking in the leaves of the
LIST, I'd, Sd 4th, 5th aud 9th Readers of the
McGufy SERIES so familiar to almost every
child whose rosy checks have been kissed by
the zephyrs of its tenth summer. And if
Ignorance is bliss" surely otis folly to be
wise" in this Instance. This question of
| hypercritical sentiment, without enduring
substance-of infiancd passion subordinating
calm rcason-of imaginary evils exercising
logical conclusions-is far more calculated to
do harm, than any distorted views of the
public good that could possibly be pressed out
Of anything contained in any of the books Of
the McGuffey series. We should regard it
as calamity to our school literature, as a
blasting and burning desert air to the green
pastures and uxuriant fields of our mental
culture to drive out from the public schools
the matchless selections of beautiful senti-
mcnt and ornate diction which breathe the
true soul Of poetry, of religion, Of morality y,
of patriotism, from almost every page Of the
different Readers Of the McGutfey series
The more prominent objection raised to
the Readers, is the extract contained in the
9th Reader, from the oration delivered by
the gifted, the pure; and the scholarly
G1imke, Of South Carolina, in 1888, on the
american Orator la that extract strong
language is used against him who would at
tempt to disturb the harmony, or break the
bonds Of the Union of the States. Who in
Virginia aid not believe and think and fcci
the same sentiment when that Grafton was
delivered ? Then, it was not placed in the
Reader for the particular view of public pol
;oxz ob I'D
than was Haynes defence of South Carolina,
in the celebrated debate between himself
inserted as specimens of American oratory--
for their grace and fitness o. dictiou, and the
faultlessness Of their composition. The two
extracts presented directly antagonistic
views, and upheld opposite doctrines. In
reading them you are carried away by the
richness, the harmony, and the melllhuous
beauty OF the language. forgetting the po-
liticai ideas suggested. The Northern pub
lic during the war, when there was no sale
for the books South, aud when bitter feel
ing was nourished in the North against every
thing that tolerated the dogma of secession.
insisted that the speech of Hayne should
be stricken from the Reader. The company
refused to do it, alleging that no reference
was intendcd-no Endorsement Of the senii
meut advanced ,designed-but that it was
placed there as a specimen Of the wonderful
power and exprcssiveness Of the English
language-to stimulate emulation, and to ele-
waite the standard Of English composition
Siilree the war, the request has been nj dc
from some parties of the South that Grimke's
grafton be blotted from he Reader. fhe
company have given the same reason for
not complying with that request; and so
far as our opis.lon is concerned, we sincerely
endorse that refusal Yielding to no enc in
devotion to the intcrests of the South
loving with tenderness almost as tenaci-
Gus as a woman's affection. everything that
is interviewer with her history moved by
her sorrows, bowed down with her expressions
-reyiving with her perty-driaking in
the sweet melody Of her native songsters-
agew in feeling under the soft zephyrs that
sweep over her flower bedecked fields, and ;he