The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1895-01-23
MISTAKES or HISTORY.


ana are Hard to Eradicate.
ssWhat Is history but universally ac-
cepted fable?" said learned SMITH
sonian professor. y quote the great
Napoleon. For example, consider Ply
mouth rock. In the nof Plymouth
Il a rock with fence around IL. " Is
a sort OF local fetish. On Forefather's
day every year exercises are held there
commemorative the alleged fact that
on this rock the pilgrims landed. AS
q matter Of fact, there Is no evidence
that such was the fact. Prof. Cham
ming, the historical expert Of Harvard,
has traced the story back, and believes
1t to have been started by an old man
named Faunce, who many years ago
pointed out the rock 10 some children,
SAYING: .IIere they landed"
History states that the pilgrims ar
rived on sunday, but refrained from
landing until Monday lest they should
break the Sabbath. That Is pure nom
sense. AS matter Of fact the women
and children stayed on the ship all
winter because II was more comfort
able.
"The gorgeousness and high civilian
ton Of the ancient Mexicans at the
time Of the Spanish conquest have been
permanently embalmed in history.
The whole story Is n misrepresenta-
ton. Cortez naturally wished to give
the impression at home that he had
conquered great and rich nation. In
reality it was only a halt-civilized and
| untutored people. The mode Of living
was patriarchal, whole families Of one
hundred or more persons Lying in one
house. The communal dwelling was
81 one story and necessarily Of large
size. These structures were described
by the Spaniards as palaces, The
people ate only one cooked meal each
day. for the rest OF their food depend.
ing on a grub diet picked up anyhow,
The dinners partaken Of BY SO many
individuals are reported In history AZ
'banquets.
1.-THE schoolboy learns that Columbus
was tha man Wko first conceived the
idea that the world was round, Moth
ing could be more nonsensical. The
truth Is, that he merely accepted a no
ton on this subject which had beer
handed down from classic times by
scholarly men. Ssrabo, the Latin
author, was one Of these. The concep
ton was for many centuries as faini
light glimering in darkness.
.Let me call your attention TO an In
stance Of the making Of fctiiiops his
tory. There are excellent reasons foI
believing chat the Norsemen reached
the shores OF North America before Co
lumbpE The records Of their sagas
however. give no notion Of the Locality
where they landed. Only few snel
non-descriptive facts are stated as that
they found grapes growing. Yet AZ
enthusiast named Horsford, a trustee
Of Harvard, n few years ago built OF
the Charles river . tower betweer
Waitham and Newton "a com
memorate the landing OF the Morse
yoyagers ut that point I'll,
sagas tell OF going mp a rive
and Horsford chose 10 assume that III,
Charles river was the river referred 70
Very likely the notion thus recorded
by a monument viii gain genera
credit some day. though there Is ne
more reason 10 suppose that the river
was the Charles than that II was III.
Delaware or Hudson, or any ons 81
dozens Of other rivers
- quoted Napoleon a moment ago
You probably know that no battle wa
ever fought at Waterloo, Waterlo,
was a post dispatch station some Iniiel
distant. Dispatches were sent thence
70 England. and hence the name giyef
10 the battle.
sSheridan's ride to Winchester wa
not twenty milss--not over ten miles
think. There never was any founGa
ton in fact for the story Of Barhar'
Frietchie. The same Is true Of III,
yarns about Pocahontas and JOIN
smith. Washington Star.