Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-10-29
Pickett and the men who Imported
Him Here.

teacher employed in u public schools
took occasion the other day to instruct
her pupils that Northern people were
greatly superior to Southern"
This is just about what F~rankland
gave AS the reason the Board must send
North for a Superintendent. Even il
we are inferior, is that any reaso it
should be flung in our children's faces2
Must our children be mortified by being
told they belong to an inferior racer Is
it not enough that We are conquered;
must we forever be kicked also? These
sort Of taunts we get aud deserve for the
immense amount of dirt our people have
eaten since the surrender. The most
illiterate carpet-bagger- assumes airs OF
superiority over us. The more illiterate
the higher his assumption. Even Frank
land, the a~nctioneer. boldly promulgated
the School Boards belief that there vas
not a man in Memphis fit 10 superintend
our schools, therefore we must import
a maa from among our superiors
and conquerers in the North. Thank
heaven, General Pryor has taken a new
departure from hat dirt eating business,
At the reunion of the Union aud Con-
federate soldiers recently held in New
Jersey, General Pryor made a speech
and boldly told the truth, viz. that he
was not sorry for the part he had taken
in the war, and was not ashamed Of 1t;
he had nothing to be ashamed OF. and, so
help him heaven, if the whole thing was
to do wei again, he would do exactly as
he had done.
The papers say this declaration was
received with q dead stiffness, but soon
thereafter, for something else, the Gene.
raj was loudly applauded. When people
wish to say Northern folks are superior
to Southern they ought to go North or
stay North and say it, it certainly is not
polite or kind to come down
here and tell. us to our faces
how inferior we are. Our people should
never forget that certain members of the
School Board, to wit: Judge Pierce,
Barnum, W. j. Smith, Kortrecht and
FARMLAND, all being Northern men,
acting on the idea boldly ayowed by
Frankland) that there was not d man in
Memphis fit to s~uperintend our schools,
sent up North for Judge Pierce's per-
sonal friend and church brother, badly
in need Of a good paying Office, made him
superintendent and generously gave him
$1,000 more per annum than we had ever
paid any former superintendent. This
action was taken by the Board, as we
are credibly informed, in the face Of the
fact, that Colonel Leath, believed by our
citizens to be a gentleman and a scholar,
and who had served as superintendent
entirely to the satisfaction OF our peo-
pie, had declared his willingness to serve
again at any salary the Board might fix,
Salary was no special object with Colonel
Leath, he being an cid citizen, identified
with us and deeply interested in our
prosperity.
Mr.. Pickett had not been in office very
long before he induced the Board to
shorten the scholastic year from ten to
nine months. The teachers were not
paid for the month thus taken from the
term, bat Mr.. Pickett was very prompt
to draw his monthly 1888, Just as if the
schools we're going on. We need not be
surprised when we And men from the
North, feeling morally sure that every
body born in the North is bound to
be wiser and smarter and better
educated than the wretched people
born in our less favored region. But
that DR.. Mitchell, brought up among us,
and who surely ought to know we have
some few educated men and women
in our midst, that DR.. Mitchell should 80
completely give in to that Northern idea
of superiority is Q little surprising-to
outsiders. 1t is a well-known fact when
two peoples go to wal the c~onquering
side is very apt to be greatly pulled up
with self-importance, with a pleasant
feeling Of immense superiority = the
weaker the brain the stronger the feel.
ing. No one in the least wonders that
Judge Pierce, or Barnum, or FARMLAND.
should think and say il was necessary to
send NeFth to get a school superintend-
ent, and no one is astOnished they got a
dear church brother aud generously en-
riehed him out OF our public funds but
that any Southern man %conniyed at such
proceedings is something to mourn over.
Suppose a few Southerners we're to emf
crate to Cincinnati and get into the
School Board and openly say there
was R1t a man in the city fit to
be superintendent Of the Cincin.
natl schools, and we're 10 send
back South for some poor devil Of a
~Sogthegner badly in want Of a good
place, and we're TO pay him OPT OF the
Cincinnatians money $1,000 more than
they had ever paid a home superintend.
ent, how would the people up there like
such proceedings2 And suppose further,
that that imported Southern superin.
tepdent proved to be a p~retender tC
learning. malignant toward natiys
teachers and in every way unit for tbs
position, could human nature tamely in
dorse such q wrOng2 Yet this is whaI
Memphians are enduring; and we Mem
phjaps have some human nature left ia
ne, i We sfe % inferior TO Northern
people, If We ore whipped out aad con
quered. We may meekly own our little.
ness, we may bow to the greatness ant
grandeur Of the North and the higl
m~ighliness Of the gift taking Grant, still
we do think we might be allowed to hnv,
a School Board and teachers who 40 mol
despise us, and tell us to our faces Of ouI
inieriaruy end ignorance, and who NOR
tify oHr children by ihYidions eompari
sons. i. A. NJ.
A serious Question.
To the Editor Of the Ledger;