The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-27
WHAT TO TEACH CHILDREN.

The strength of Il people lies largely
in the emulation of worthy example and
veneration of noble tradition; it is the
individual tone and clear conception
of an ideal that quickens the pulse of
a section to effort and accomplishment.
Scntiment-meaning the heart and self
respect and pride Of Il people in its
history and the work and thought of its
ed The stronger part in the moulding of
moral and political future. Sentiment
is well nigh synonymous with character;
its proper development is the salvation
and .thc hope Of good government by,
and peace of, the masses.
We of the South stand face to face
with the crisis of the coming genera
ton. BY this is meant whether our
people shall cling to the beliefs and the
ambition of our forefathers or shall lose
by the passing away of the men who
have taken an active part in the most
momentous times of Southern history
and the non-acquaintance of the younger
generation with the thought of the
writer's and singers of the Southland,
the individuality and the character they
have moulded and which has made this
section--after a period Of unprecedented
hardships-the purest and most patriotic
country in the world. 1t means, in
short, government by the white men
of the South. who have best at heart the
interests and happiness Of Its people, or
by the unworthy leaders of an inferior
race: rule by decency or by politics.
The answer is not far TO seek: 1t
lies in the education of the tots of the
public schools. 1t is theirs to make or
unmake the future of the South. AND
it is the duty of patriotic government
to exercise the most dillgent care III
regard to the books it puts before the
minds of this army in kits. 1t is Il
fearful thing to think of the power, in
twenty years, of a thousand school chill
dren and it is fearful or a glorious
thing to contemplate the influences that
may be exerted upon the morality and
future political integrity Of that thou
sand by the readers and the histories
and the literature it thumbs its way
through during the year. In text books
is the prophecy of a race.
Shall not the children of the South
and of North Carolina study those books
and those alone that tend to make be-
lief in the honesty and the great deeds
of the people of their land and are free
from the sectionalism which has for
so long been the curse of the greatest
engine of civilization-the school book?
Shall they not have placed before them
the literaturc-which is the life-of the
soil from which they sprang? from
which may come the ideas and the ven
Grafton of patriotism and the aspira-
tions and inspirations which will best
fit them for the responsibilities of GOV
tFHllleUC SHOItiS W utAOlAt upbu TWIN
Such has not always been the case.
It should be in the future. In it lies
the salvation of the land. The South is
at last on the eve of being understood.
A common war has nodded the latent
fellowship of the sections into bond of
brotherhood which can never be sunder-
ed. The men who fought for the South
in the civil war sired the men who u
few months ago aimed the guns that
destroyed hostile fleet and who went
mp the San Juan Hill. Shall those men
be misrepresented by the books that go
into the hands of the sons of their sons?
Rather that they should learn to revere
the memory of the unselfish patriotism
of the past, and believe in the glowing
national love of the present!
There are books that have this tone.
They are good books that do equal jus
ticc; that speak from Il high plane. 1t
is charge upon those i'll position to
see that the children read them.
Time passes; old men are dying. Soon
much of the history and the glory of the
South will have no living champions:
it viii be tale of the books. Let
the books tell it Alright!