The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-12-20
"THB POOR WHITE"


the truth to the best of his ability, and
II his error leads him into slander, ID IL
not because of malice, but because of a
deficient knowledge of American histo.
ry, Influenced to some extent perhaps
by the contempC for poverty which is
unfortunately too general.
III MIR. HOsmer knew the history OF
the yeOmen whom he calls "poor
hites,' no would know that the
gravest defects OF their character are
Intimately connected with a love OF
liberty often unreasOning and som,
times fierce. They belong to a rae.
which now, as when Robin Hood too
To Sherwood Forest with their ances-
tors against the Norman shcriffs,
prefers liberty to everything else, and
sacrifices tor il money. culture, com.
iorts. everything which in tie view OF
those who despise them makes life
desirable. They have been the pioneers
OF American civilization. Their love
pi liberty pushed them beyond the
mountains into ihe unknown west, but
even before they had followed Daniel
Boone into "iha dark and bloody
ground they had struck hard blows
tor freedom. Ii is most singular
ignorance OF history which impeaches
their animal courage when The glaring
fault of their character is readiness TO
grip their weapons and to decide every
question raised against them man to
nan and steel to steel. They are
''wdepned meR' now as they " ere when
they followed Hengist and Horsa
they do lot belong to the class " hich
vent out from Boston TO petition
Wuchin.,lnn in alI,xu Ln .nl
British to escape for fear of disturbing
'rade and damaging the shops by a
light. They are such men as surround
ed Bacon, Hansiord, Giles and Drum
mCnd in the uprising against Berkely
under Charles III. Our college pl Otessor
knows so little OF American history
that he thinks they do not love liberty
yet.
such love filed all the heart OF Drummond
wbea his brand
Of his own home made Liberty "a bea .0n
Hight.
Patrick Henry. foremost IN the breach
tor freedom, and OF this blood, too, was
Henry Clay, born almost in eight of
The birthplace of Patrick Henry. When
the hopes of liberty were ut their lowest
ebb, when such march through the
confederated colonies was being made
by the English as Sherman afterwards
made TO the sea through the confeder-
ated states, these "pOor whites" crossed
the mountains, and, under Shelby and
Sewer, struck, at Kings Mountain, the
blow which turned the tide of the
revolution back on Yorktown. And at
about the same time, one of these poor
whites, ragged, unkempt lad of
seventeen, ordered by British officer
| to do the work of a menial, refused
with all the fierce spirit of his Saxon
| ancestry and without wincing took the
coward blow with which tyranny has
always-and always inefiectually-an-
swered "the poor white' OF this blood.
Later, at New Orleans, this same poor
white, with some few poor whites like
him, held the breach for liberty. and
later still, as president OF the United
States, showed the iron determination
and the uncOnquerable aud unc0mpro.
missing loye OF liberty which from 1860
| to 1865 set America on fire with the
blaze that sprang from the soul of Abra.
hamLincOln, another of the very poorest
of the poor white trash of the south
whom this Puritan professor despises.
| And in that bloody contest these
poor whites on both sides, whether
from Illinois and Indiana or Alabama
and Georgia, from East Tennessee,
where they rebelIed against the
state, or West Tennessee, where
they rebelled against the union,
showed at Shiloh, at Chickamsugs, on
hundred fields of fire and blood, the
| anirit xul,sch thoy ohnxwah ut
Crecy and Agincourt
They were the first 10 cross the AL.
leghanies; carrying their lives in thei:
hands. The bones of their caravant
whitened the Great American Desert
aud they were the first to cross the
Rocky Mountains and see the Pacific
Ocean spreading before them as the
limit of their course of empire bulldiL &
They carried American civilization
irom Jamestown to the Golden Gatt
in just such fashion as our Puritan
friend may have seen them-the can.
vas.topped wagon, the women and
flsxen.haired children inside, the hound'
following under it the "aoIep9ednadun'
of the FAMILY riding in front will
his rifle across his pOmmel. Ii ouI
Puritan friend knew American history
be would know that this means love o.
liberty-that they cannot breathe II
such an atmosphere as he lives in, ant
that they are sacrificing everything I.
, Ind one they can breathe. Ii he knew
them be might believe possible what /
actnal-tbat in the East Tennessee,
mountains, where they rebelled agsins
their state Tor the union as they hat
once before rebelled against Nortl
, Carolina-that now when arrested TO
, exercising the liberty of making thei
corn, peaches and apples into whiske'
, and brandy, as their fathers did. The,
often die il they are kept long In con
, finement, just as the mountain hawl
dies when he Is Gagged.
| American history Is far more In
: structive and broadening study thai
! New England history, in which thi
I particular professor is pretty thorough
: ly versed. 1t may be learned frou
American history that it was one O
2 these "poor whites" who in the angl
; of the Alamo raised around hin
before he Tell a rampant for the libert
, of Texas made of the bodies OF SAINT
r Annals poems. And it was this sam
, "poor white" who said "Be sure your
3 right, then 60 ahead" 1t all colleg
I professors were only as dOcile rs som
of them are, all of them might learn
great deal from such "poor whites"
|