Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-10-10

though the company was rather weak, but
the audiences were insignificant in size.
Even the academy shareholders, who hold
free boxes and seats, did not care to go, and
it became evident that nothing could save the
| season.
Asoldier OIL School Readers.
The Rutland Herald quotes the follow
ing comments on the want of patriotic
selections i'll the school readers most in
use in our schools, uttered by all emf
nent citizen, who was 4 lieutenant colo
mel in the war, and who is now member
of the school board in one of our largest
| Vermont towns:
Il do not desire, said he, that the
school readers placed i'll the hands of my
children should include partisan speeches
or campaign editorials, but | insist that if
it be important to celebrate Decoration
Day, if it be important to erect soldiers
monuments, if it be important to bury
distinguished officers of the Union army
with unusual honor, it is equally import
ant that the readers and so-called histo-
ries of the United States should help edu-
cate my child to understand that his faith
er did not become soldier for any idle
reason; that he was inspired by some loft
Ter moral purpose than that which Undue
cd Captain Dalgetty to sell his sword to
whoever would buy it. | want my boy
to know that the United States had
| good defence in law and morals when she
drew the sword. | want my boy to be
educated to high citizenship by feeding
on those patriotic, not sectional memo
ries that are the strength of a nation. The
old readers and histories of forty years
ago were filled with extracts in warm rec
ognition of the nobility and right of the
Revolution of 1776 and were Il most valu-
able part of the education of the young.
The great uprising Of 1861 needs to be
recognized as a new date for freedom S
battle, since the only security for what
the fathers of 1861 achieved is the spirit
of the sons and these sons need to be
early impressed at school that Abraham
Lincoln was as grand a figure as Wash
| ington that patriotism to-day means ma
tionality rs opposed to State sovereignty;
that this doctrine is "a defensible MS the
dogma of 1776 that taxation and represen-
tation are inseperable. Do I ask too
much" said this soldier father, "when |
ask that my boy shall not have placed in
his hands book that is at best nothing
but Union gun with the charge drawn
and tho vent spiked, a book from whose
pages is carefully omitted every line in
recognition of the nobility, the moral
justice and integrity of the great war for
the Union, for which and million of
Northern men left their homes and bust
ness for four years and pledged our lives
and fortunes and sacred honor to conduct
to victory or die at the foot of the flag? |
ask that the so-called History of the
United States placed in my boys hands
shall be something that will recognize the
moral right of the United States to fight
for its life against treason, something
that shall not be as colorless of all moral
sentiment, SO far as the right or wrong Of
this great struggle is concerned, as the
book of Calculus or the genealogical
opening chapter of the gospel according
to st. Matthew. In other words, don't
want my boy feeding on Barnes History
of the United States, history of so
neutral tint that the murderer of the
Chisholm family could read it without be-
ing able to find out whether the author
was rebel or Federal nay, more,
could read it with a suspicion that the
author was in sympathy with the Con-
federacy, SO carefully guarded is the book
from any endorsement of the justice and
rightfulness of the Union cause, so promi-
nent Il place is given to the pictures of
Lee and Jackson and Davis, and the pic
ture of the charge of Stonewall Jackson
at Bull Run" The death of General
Ashby, an obscure confederate officer, is
dwelt upon, and he is described by citing
Nh. f,llnu-infr ,,unfntin, d.
His life was beautiful poem, Il legacy
to his countrymen." The foot notes are
full of complimentary illusions to and
anecdotes of the rebel generals, particu-
larry Jackson, who although very daring
soldier did not compare with Sherman or
Sheridan i'll military genius and skill
There is no objection TO this saving that il
helps form the impression in the readers
mind that this, History of the United
States" was made to sell ut the South and
was therefore made like II pudding, and
stuck full Of plums for the Southern pal
ate. A history of the United States writ
ten after the war, and intended to be read
by Northern children should be rs warm
and direct in its sympathy for the United
States AS our school histories all were be-
fore the war, when the cause of the
United States against the King was the
subject of the narrative Now turning
from Barnes History to Appleton Fourth
and Fifth readers do not fnL IA tia.
table OF contents single extract, wheth- |
er prose or poetry, that recognizes the |
cause of the Union before the war no
reader was thought complete without Ger
tam patriotic extracts relating to the Rev |
olution. look i'll vain in this table of |
contents, for Lincolns beautiful appeal |
to the South i'll his first message, pas
sage of touching tenderness and eloquent |
patriotism, and AS faultless in literary ex-
preston as Hawthorne | look in vain |
for the famous speech at Gettysburg that |
even English compilers included in their
books of this sort look in vain for
Lincolns brief but mastery exposition Of |
the sophistry of secession and State sov-
ereigcty ; look i'll vain for IL single war
poem, although Longfellow, Whittier,
Lowell, and Bryant all wrote lines of sur
passing literary expression and patriotic
fervor ; III short, no boy pcrusinS these
readers would ever find out that there
ever had been any war for the Union,
much less read anything that recognized
the depth and nobility Of It's patriotic
sentiment amp the justice of its cause. |
think 1t liz as important for my boy to
read Lowell's Recommendation Ode" rs
it is 1.-THE Charge of the Light Brigade,
GLOW Sleep the Brave" or ''the Death
Of the Duke of Wellington" As a mat
ter Of business these readers and the his
tory refer to were made like Hodges
razors to sell Mt the South. but the choice
pf books to educate our children is not
with us matter Of business, but mat
ter of sentiment, and | hope to see the
lay when school histories of the United
States and higher readers will not be
made as though they were intended only
for "a Man Without Country" |
would insult no fallen man, | would IN
dude no bitter words, but | would en-
force III our schools books for the child
ren OF the Union the same education of
patriotism that lis endcaringly taught on
Decoration Day, and enduringly set up
N our soldiers monuments"
The Chicago Tribune announces the en-
5asement of Miss Lille Aver, the late pill
mans daughter, TO the prince Philippe
L.onls Marie lie Bourbon, grandson of Dom
Pedro OF brazil. She is u lovely young lady :
II 20 and the prince is s. lie is poor she
very rich, having now in her own name the
moderate little fortune of S5,0OO,O0 made
nv IlllIpInllg mil In. tiaip |