Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03
MISTAKES OF HISTORY.
Smithsonian Professor Pricxs Some
Holes in Acccpted neIiefs.

what is history but universally accepted
fableT' said a learned Smithsonian pro-
fessor to a writer for The Star Il quote
the great Napoleon. For example, consider
Plymouth Rock. In the town of Plymouth
is rock with a fence around II. 1t is
scrt of local fetch. On Fcrefathers day
every year exercises are held there COM
memorating the alleged fact that on this
rock the pilgrims landed. AS matter OF
TACT, there is no evidence that such was
the fact. Prof. Claiming. the historical
expert of Harvard. has traced the story
BACK and believes IL TO have been started
by an old man named Faunce, who many
years ago pointed out the rock to some
cnidreh' saying: Here they landed
history states that the pilgrims arrived
on sunday but refrained from landing
S Snsii \. MONDAY lest they should break the
oappath. That is pure nonsense As n
matter of fact, the women and chiljron
stayed on the ship all winter because a.
was more comfortable "
Of i me snrSeoasnaga and hish civilization
the Spanish conquest have been nerma.
rentiy embalmed in history The whole
STORY is misrepres sntation. Cortez nat
uraily wished to give an impression a,
nome that he had conquered a great AMI
rich. nation. In reality IL was onIv q hale
civilized and untutorea people. The mode
OF IWlng was patriarchal whole families
OF lU or moro persons living in ere
house. The communal dwelling was OF
ore story and necessarily of large size
These structures were described oy the
SDaniards as palaces The people ate
only one cooked meal each day. for the
rest or their food depending on n grub
diet picked up anyhow. The dinners, nar-
taken OF by SO many individuals are re-
ported in history as .hanquets'
The schooiboy learns that Columbus wa.
the man who first conceived the idea that
, .ne world was round Nothing could be
merely accepted 4 notion. on this subiort
which had been handed down from classic
times by scholarly men. Strabo, the Latin
author, was one OF these. The convention
was for many centuries as, a faint Uyht
glimnerinS in darkness -.>.F =
Let me call yoCr attention to an in
S TIne or the making of fictitious history
mere are excellent reasons for believing
that the Norsemen reached the shores az
Nofth America before Columbus The rec
orss OF their sagas. however, give no notion
Vi the iocalty whore they landed ONLY a
Few such non-descriptive facts are stated
as that they found grapes growing. Yet an
enthusiast namef Horsford a trustee OF
harvard a few years ago built on tte
Nharies river a tower between Waltham
ana newton to commemorate the landing
OF the Morse voyaecrs at that point The
sasas teii OF going up river and Hors-
FORD chose to assume that The Charles
river was the river referred 10 Very
lkeiy the notion thus recorded by n mon
cmeht VIII gain general credit some day
IL reason to suDOOse
tnat the river was the Charles than Thai
IL was the Delaware or the Hudson or anv
one Of dozens of other rivers
quoted Napoleon 81 moment ago You
probably know that no hattie was car
lousht at Waterloo. Waterloo was a post
dispatch station some miles distant Dis-
patches We're sent thence to England and
hence the name given to the battle
ShSridan's ride to Winchester was nor
twenty nlnes-not over ten miles / think
ihere neve: was any foundation In fact
lor tne story OF Barbara Fraitchie The
same is true of the yarns about Poca hontas
and John Smith"