The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-16

The editor of the Goldsboro Argus re-
comfy asked Mr.. John X. Morris the
auastion. What do YOU think OF the
present literary life in North Carolina:
Mr.. Morris wrote the following answer
and it contains so much wisdom that We
rive it below III full:
I'VE are doing nothing. The difficult
~ rbroughout the State is just what
,ou behold locally. / have not always
aareed with Walter Page, but he IS
right about the mastery of literature.
When he lectured on this subject before
the Normal School at Greensboro Iresl-
DENT McIycr was 50 ANXIOUS that near
him that he annulled an engagement for
u. and sent a carriage to the MaAdoo
House and forced HE before my old
friend Walter. | think Walter is some
times very careless i'll his SyntaX, but Ire
j. right when he says that literature IS
right around us. 1t is. III fact, Qlscon-
nnrtpd with letters, except as the Latin
derivative Of the word suggests. 1t
would live if there were 40 written char
refers. 1t is elementary III thought, in
~cjdentaily in letters.
"A short while ago. III writing 70 Il
Young lady who is taking 4 post grad
ua.n course at this time IN English lit
crature. | told her not to forget that int
erature is in the palms of her hands
and under the s0!es OF her feet. 1t Is
in the things around, those things that
we see with our eyes and touch With our
hands. This is the literature THAT We
should cnshrine into letters.
In sending an article some time ago
to one ct the NEST distinguished jour
nal:sts in the South in which had deals
with Il little subject before my eyes i'll
North Carolina. l took occasion to sa.
what | substantially repeat. that it is
impossible to produce authors until the
schools free Us, nnt from the knowledge.
but from the thralldom of the classics.
Everything has been thought out ana
written about Greek gods, and temples,
and Roman triumphs that it is possible
to write along rational, poetic or i%nferen-
tial lines, Yet the ordained means for
the development Of the mind in North
Carolina are rehashing in the higher
courses of literature ana to a wide de-
gree in the study of English authorities.
We must he able to grab the dirt from
under our sOles and convert it INTO grains
of intellectual life.
Why is there such a disparity today
between tie New England authors and
those of the South? Why. simply be
cause New England has had 4 HaW-
thorne and others of his mental bent.
who took the things right around them
and made them big as the world itself.
The Scarlet Letter. on which Haw-
tholne based his great work by THAI
name, was actually found by him as Il
simple red letter on clotl, in tie garnet
of the old custom house, al Salem. Mass,
where he was collector Of that port. I'M
der the administration of Franklin
Pierce. His tales of The Old Manse were
ACTUALLY suggestions that came to him
WI.le living III the Old parsonage house
itself. His Twice Told Tales come
from local surroundings as definite as
the shop Of the blacksmith at C~ambrid@e.
which suggested to Longfellow The vi
l@ge Blacksmith, that has run into child
life wherever an Englisn-sleaking child
prattleS. Whenever these authors have
left American soil for their subjects they
have left III impress. Longfeilow'S
Michael Angelo is i piece of cnamctcd
work, wholly artificial, and nobody reads
it.
We have around us more than is in
New England, burt we are not taught
that it is literature. We deride it. II
at appears led by some venturesomc
hand the hand that brings it is accused
of personality, of misanthropy toward
mankind Ill trying to make somebody.
OF whom the author never Thought. :;
character whom he seeks to Insult. II
a local surrounding, or 4 local incident
Is described. somebody lodges as if the
author. instead of beng ~obliyious of their
presence Oh the earth, were aiming a
gun to Kill. It grows out of the con
Ne~ntlon2llsm that cannct diassociate in
tellcctual life from something ponderous,
with some kind Of organization, SOME
thing distinctly exclusive, and all of
Whlch Is the death Of true in~tellectull.sII
among any people.
1t IS the woman with the distaff: it
IS the man with the pillow; it is the child
With The Sooty face: the COW that comes
10 our W gate, with udder III pain for
the soft fingers OF the milkmaid: ana it
Is the creeks, whose waters go through
our own farms; these are Of the things
that make literature; and we should
study these subjects with our own hearts
aild eyes. We must see the divinity thGt
IS i'll them, aud this can not be done be-
hetth parlor lamps. The preparation Of
THIS study is awful at times. but ii,
recOnipenSc IS glorious. 1t is wrought
out In ceascloss thought. on the street. in
the cars; wherever we NAV trend. One
laugh OF 4 child is enough, when impin--
ll@ the BRAIN. to give th~ought-food for
Il year, ami may lead to such an appr@-
Hclision OF chl!d-llfe as to make us mas
ltrS Of that subject. And then the tolls
OF the night, when others sleep-toils al
most with the sweat of blood, that we
may master those things tina may eGutp
Us to e1lGody the literature around us,
at last make that intellectual life, which.
finally, fails t~enGerly as the tleecy snow,
but as genial as the sunshine over Il
community and then the fellowship of
intellectual life binds as with bands OF
steel"
rs Cheap Literature Making Litcra-
ture Cheap" is the subject of a debate
in New York between Prof. Harry
Thurston Peek and $. $. Mcclure. III
his argument in the affirmative, Prof,
Peck said:
The man Of few books is becoming
rare; the man OF multitUdinous books j.
becoming q nuisance. Readers cheaper
literature by reading Hall Caine instead
Of ~