Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-20
SOUTHERN HISTORY.
ADDREss OF DR. THOMAS NELSON PAGE
IN TIE HALL OF THE HOUSE.
A Production Valuable for Practical sug-
gestions as Well as for Lite
rary Execution.


address last night IN the hall Of the
House Of Delegates before the Virginia
Historical Society and many of their
friends. A large audience Of ladies and
gentlemen was present, and the subject
discussed was "Thc Needs of History in
the South and the Importance of Pre-
serving Materials Towards It,"
Shortly after s o'clock Mr.. r. A.
I Brock. secretary Of the society. arose
and introduced the orator of heevening.
He referred TO him as gentleman whose
/ contributions 10 literature have already
made his name a household word to
every Virginia home.
The Address.
DIR. Page, after some Introductory re-
marks, said There is sufficient material
in the history OF this young world TO give
/ to both the North and the South enough
| 10 satisfy even avarice. All | demand IS
/ that the South be accorded her due pro-
/ portion
DO we know the true history Of the
/ South? II is as much an unknown learn
/ ing as that which this generation is just
discovering after it has lain 50 long con-
/ cealcd in the brief but miraculous epitaph
! of one who WAS once thought TO have had
Il little knowledge at least III the writing
OF plays
THREE sHIps.
When Phaor the sophist consulted the
oracle he was told to inquire Of the deod
GLOW NAV this be-" said the people,
"seeing the dead cannot spcsk?"
The philosopher turned TO the records
of their wisdom, and there found the
answer the oracle would give.
If the South to-day consulted the
oracle and received this answer, whittier
should she turn Her dead are voice
less.
There is no history Of the South. In
n few years there VIII be no South to
demand history.
How many are there in this audience
who cannot tell the name Of the ship
which brought the Pilgrim Fathers TO
New England ? Now, how many are there
who eau give the names of the three ves-
sells which brought first to the shores of
the South the Anglo Saxon Tace who re-
claimed America and made it forever the
home of Liberty and of Christianity?
They We're the Discovery. the Good
speed, and the Susan Constant.
The men borne hither by these three
vessels, and not the passengers on the
Mayllower, were the ArgOnauts who first
took the Golden Fleece this golden land
From that day the South has been
g., - Il b..5 ~ 4 {t,,
judgment Of her contemporaries, much
less of posterity. From that day the
deeds which have added a new continent
to Christendom and have perpetuatcd the
spirit of liberty have been left without
other memorial than their own existence.
SOUTHERN HISTORY.
A people has lived, and after crowding
into two centuries and a half a might
ness Of force, a vastness of result, which
would have enriched a thousand years,
has left no written record of ITS life. 4
civilization has existed more unique than
any since the dawn OF history, more po-
tent in its influences and yetno chroui-
Gle of it has been made by any but the |
hand OF hostility. Is there any history |
of the South which You can place IN |
your boy hands aud say, "This is the |
history OF your native land?"
do not behttle the local chroniclers |
who have preserved from absolute OBJ
liyion the records Of their native States
On the contrary, hold them and their
unrequited toll III all reverence. But for /
their labors of love the story Of the Old |
South would have been lost in the abyss |
OF the irreclaimable past.
Too much honor cannot be done such
men rs Howe and Bishop Meade. |
Grigsby, DR.. Slaughter and Brock
Upon their work must be founded the
future history Of the South.
Old Mortality was the minister of
fame Yet, notwithstanding their zeal,
a complete history OF the South and of
its civilization has never been written
1t sleeps to-day in the brain Of the un-
known historian.
This much IS predicable. Whatever
his name may be he must be essentially
a southerner. Touse Macaulay' s phrase.
he must be Saturated with the spirit
Of that civilization whose story he shall
1t is almost incredible that
a race so proud Of its position, 50 as
sertive OF its rights, so jealous of its
shoald have been so indine-
rent to all transmission of their memo
rial.
TIRE REASON.