Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-02
SOUTHERN LITERATURE.

Miss Emma E. H. Jones, the youngest
daughter of Hon. Samuel H. Jones, of this
county, is destined to achieve literary fame.
She is Just fourteen years OF age. Since early
childhood books have been her constant and
most congenial companions. At an early age
an Unsuitable thirst for knowledge took pos
session of her soul. She studied and read
intensely, taxed her powers, and it was feared
that her desire for reading-she has no am
bition-would SAG her constitution and
thwart her mission in life. But it seems she
has profted by her labors, and in another
column of to-day APPEAL she gives her first
production for the press, the first develop
ment of her struggling intellect. 1t is a
worthy contribution to the temperance cause,
which is SO gloriously onward in Memphis,
and indicates that Miss Jones is destined to
occupy a conspicuous niche In the pantheon
of southern women who have made fame by
their genius 1t is to be hoped that this first
production from a lady so young, but full of
promise, Ia the blaze of meteor not to be ex-
tmguished the moment of its manifestation.
In view of the fact that the south has but
few facilities for developing the latent liter
airy talent that is sumbering IN our
midst like hidden diamonds, it is the duty of
the southern press to encourage and fos-
TER all who, with untried pinions, are strug-
Cling to soar and to contribute something
toward elevatIng the literary talent OF the
south. The genius of Mrs. L. Virginia
French was made to blaze out in all its splen-
dor through the fostering care of the AP-
PEAL, when, nearly thirty years ago, it pub
lished her girlish warblings, which soon
charmed the nation. 1t was the southern
press that discovered the "diyine aiilatus''
slumbering in the youthful bosoms of Amelia
Wildly, Julia Peasants, Salie A. Reedy, Mat
tie Griffin, and others, and if the south ex-
poets to cultivate creditable literature, she
must look to her press for its development.
Our people are too prone to sheer at the pro-
auctions of the young, forgetting that 1t is
the rivulets that make the river, and that
fame can only be reached after patient toll.
II is this unjust spirit of ignoring the ambi-
ton of the young that makes southern liter
allure mockery and farce. 1t is too often
the case that the frost Of criticism nips the
buds before they blossom. We hope our
young contributor, Miss Jones, will not be
deferred in her worthy ambition to elevate
her sex and the literature of her section. If
she has been industrious in garnering knowl-
edge, she should be equally as industrious in
distributing it. 1t is duty we owe
ourselves to acquire knowledge, but
we perform our duty to others
by imparting it. In the intellectual mind
there is at times something that compels
utterance, and which can no more be thrown
of than shadowing presentinent- 1t will
seek expression just as the fountain whea
surcharged oyerfiows its limits; just as the
cloud diffuses its gladdening shower. and
lust as the flower gives out its sweet perfume.
Literature is the proper field for woman's tall
emit. Even during the present century men
inculcated the idea that ''she who knoweth