The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1888-06-16
HISTORICAL STUDY.
Tho Spirit of History Revealed by
Studying the Individual.

s"The men who have striven to get at
the spirit Of history have found it by
studying the Individually" This sem
tence, called from the address of Prof.
Oren Rooth Of Hamilton College, at the
recent annual meeting of the Oneida
Historical Society at Utica, deserves to
be recorded in golden letters. He fur
ther said: "Until recently historians
have dealt with that which was great
rather than small. 1t is certainly true
that there has been an awakening in
historical research in this country. The
antiquarian Is no longer an object of
sneers. The world Is learning to ap-
preciate the efforts Of such men. The
historians are striving to gather the
facts concerning our early national life.
The first incentive to this work Is the
condition Of general historical science.
History was, not long ago, merely
chronicle. We want, flesh and blood,
and not the skeleton alone. Local his
torical research enables us to get at the
spirit Of things. 1t is not the crest Of
the wave that has the tidal force. We
must come down closer to the indiyid-
ual, closer to the heart Of the people.
We have had years enough in America
to awaken that passion and pathos Of
which so much has been written in
other countries. I should like to get
down little nearer to the homes and
influences Of the men whose names
adorn history's pages.'' A knowledge
Of the principles Of human actions ex-
ceeds in value all other learning. and
it's Importance in adjusting the true ma
ture and measures Of right and wrong
can not be overestimated. Secret his
tory Is the supplement Of history itself
| and It's great corrector. The combina-
tion of secret with public history re-
suits in perfection which separately
is possessed by neither. Secret history
appears to deal exclusively with minute
things; thus its connection with great
results is too often overlooked.
The study Of human nature was
what rendered Socrates the wisest of
men. There is nothing which more
thoroughly reveals the individual or
unriddles mysterious event than the
trifling incidents that in themselves
count as chaff. No pictures Of human
nature are moro useful than those
found in friendly correspondence. In
reading secret history we are occupied
III observing what passas atherz tt.:ni In
being told OF it; that is, we are transform
ed into the contemporaries of the writers
and are enjoying their confidence.
They mark the commandments and we
the ends, and oftentimes what appears
to them uncertain becomes to us un-
questionable. We recover what would
otherwise be lost to us in the general
views of history. The story of per-
iod is never complete without particul.
ars, any more than dinner is complete
without side dishes. The letters OF
Washington possess a charm that is
foreign to stately hlstory-they illum-
mate the pages Of history. There are
secrets in the art of reading to which
attention may be given with profit. 1t
Is not always necessary to read the
whole Of book. 1t is often sufl-
cient to seize the plan and examine
some Of its pages. The ravenous ap-
petite Of Johnson for reading is thus
expressed III strong metaphor by a cer-
tain writer: ''IIe knows how to read
better than any one; lie gets at the
substance Of a book directly; he tears
out the heart OF it," The much-ne-
elected preface and index Of book are
of more use to the reader than is gencr-
ally supposed. Some of our great geni-
uses are experts in the art of index
reading. We venerate the inventor Of
the index. We often learn the char
acter Of work through these sources.
Read both preface and index, as the
light thus obtained will help to regulate
your course as to the amount of time
te be devoted to the book.