Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-08-31
SOMETHING ABOUT A SOUTHERN 4ITERA.
TURK."

The one great lesson taught by the re-
belIion with its frightful sacrifice of life
and fearful expenditure of treasure, is
that we are natiOn-one people. Thoe
are true patriots now who recognize this
lesson and act upon it. Being one people
we want to blot out all past distinctive
Northern and Southern features as far as
climate, habits and customs will permit.
We do not want Northern literature
any moro than we do Southern,
or Eastern or Western. Literature is
the prodnct of intellectual culture and
ever it is wanted. 1t flows from that COM
munity where brains and printing presses
are something priced above mere dollars
or sectional zeal and prejudices. If the
South wants literature of her own, she
will never have it by encouraging the
preiudices and sectionalism of the narrow
minded little souls who are always harping
for a literature of 'our own" They have
no more need of country or of a true lit
erature than minnow has for river or
lake. A county or civil district is terrific
nv enough to compass their charity and
patriotism.
Literature is the offspring of knowledge,
of religion, Of industry and charity. 1t
is not local production or the property of
a single generation. England oppressed
the Colonies, but they did not turn their
backs upon English literature Napoleon
desolated Europe, but the conquered peo-
pie did not shut their eyes and refuse the
benefits of the science and learning of
Paris. America has her literature, but it
is not all Northern, and never can be.
These zealots for Southern literature cry
out against what they call Northern lit
erature, because it treats the rebellion as
crime. Well, it was crime-agreat crime,
and it will so be treated in history and lit
erature. A Southern literature can not
etface this great historical fact any more
than Pennsylvanians can blot out the his
tory of the whisky instruction, or New
York her Catholic riots.
But these Jealous Southerners need not
be so sensitive about the crime of the
for all time and the recollections of our
people for generation will teach itmore
seriously than literature can impress it.
We repeat, that if the South wants lit
erature, theproduct of her own people she
must build school houses, encourage the
arts and sciences, increase knowledge, and
above all enlarge her charity. These par
tisans who fill the hearts of her people
with mean prejudices, who SOW the seeds
of sectional hatreds and close the doors
against immigration, capital and enter
prise, will not only never give her litera-
ture, but they will keep her impoverish-
ed, weakened and dependent for gem
erations. we do not expect Southerners
to read books or patronize literature
that reviles them and misrepresents them
Such books are not a part of literature
They are very few, compared with the great
mass published, and are the products of
minds on the one side, just as partisan and
mean las those in the South who hold them
up as the type of the literature of great
people and as the product of their "Hlalig-
nifty" What we need North and South
is, that such little souls should find their
true level, and until they receive such
position their opportunities for mischief
are not entirely gone. If these champions
of Southern literature were known, they
would prove very often to be men who
know very little about literature, and that
that little they received through the char
ity of some Northern institution or friend