The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-05
LET Us FOSTER A SOUTHERN
LITERATURE BY USING
SOUTHERN TEXT
BOOKS.
TO the Editor:

To the Editor:
In short communication of mine. pub
lished in these columns a few weeks
ago. it was by no means my aim to say
that a patriotic Southern literature
could he called into being by simply sub
stltntins Southern written text books
for Northern ones. A noble literature
could no more he created to order than
noble tree. To both there must he
slow delving roots before there can be
green. benefcient branches. Both strik-
ing their roots deeply into the dark soil
must strive ceaselessly upward to the
light
What / meant to emphasize was the
Importance of seeing that such litera-
tnre as we may produce is given the
right ply. 1t certainly cannot take
the right ply if our youths are mutured
on text books written at the North. and
it seems inevitably depreciatory of the
South. A literature in being patriotic
both gives and receives benefit.
All the great literators of the world
Greek, Roman, Italian. Spanish, French
English. German. Russian, had their
inspiration in patriotism.
Fate has made the South the worlds
scape-goat. Slavery, the whole worlds
sin. she had to expiate. It's sins were
remorsely laid upon her head, and even
now. while yet wandering in the wilder
ness of doubt and perplexity hands are
raised, not to help. but to hinder.
As long as the past, the present or the
future of the South rests under the cloud
which the self righteous. pharisaical
spirit of the world has cast upon it, tilc
energies Of her SONS. literary or ofhcr-
wise, should be dedicated TO her defence.
Than this there is no higher form Of
patriotism. Whether the foe bear the
sword or that more potent weapon, the
pen, there is inspiration in the battle.
and our SONS will grow strong beneath
the weight OF its duties"
The Hon. Daniel Il. Goodloe has IA
vored me with a letter on this subject
The opinions of this learned gentleman.
whose long and varied experience covers
such a large arc of our history is GER
tainly entitled to all respects and con-
sideration. He attributes the paucity Of
Southern literature to the lack of an
educated, striving middle class and to
the absence of town life, which whetted
the faculties of men by contact
While these conditions doubtless had
their effect, / think that the main cause
lies elsewhere. 1t lay in the conditions
which perforce drove the energies of
the South into politics. That intellect,
intellectual force was not lacking, is
proven by the fact that the South, while
vastly in numerical minority, ruled the
country till struck down by brute force.
In oratory and craftsmanship we were
more than the peer of the North. While
craftsmanship may have little affinity
with literature, oratory. eloquence. that
offspring of head and heart happily
blended, is her very twin brother. A
twin brother whose destiny fate alone
has cast in different. but never far di-
verging lines.
Had the Southern arm been less quick
and less steady amid the fateful dusk
OF charlottesville jackson. the
palladium Of the Confederacy fell. friend
strlekcn-had the Southern line been less
Inn on the slopes of Gettysburg had
the Southern independence been achiev-
ed, an citation Of heart and intellect must
have followed which would have found
expression i'll literature as inevitably as
did Alarcthon or the defeat of the Ar
mazda. But that crushed. dispirit