The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-08-11
A QUESTION OF BOOKS.

A QUESTION OF BOOKS.
The gentlemen to whom is de
egated the duty of selecting th
text books for Greenville, for us
during the next five years, ar
charged with an exceedingly gray
responsibility. Few questions S
Idisturb the patrons of publ
schools as does this one of books
but too often the cost is apparent
ly the only feature considered.
The expense incident to fire
tquent changes has been largely d.
diminished by the requirement Of
Hong term contracts, but the cnar.
acter of the books selected is q
matter not susceptible of IegisIa-
tive control it is left solely to
the discretion of the school boards.
1 The first impressions made upon
a receptive mind are too often of
lasting effect for it not to be Il
matter of Importance how such
Impressions are made. This is
particularly true of history,
hence the care which should be
exercised in selecting the hlstori-
cal text books for our pu bile
schools.
Through force of conditions the
South was for many years in
bondage to the North in the mat
ter of histories dealing with the
period covering congressional
Legislation leading up to the Civil
War, and that war and the decade
and d half which followed it.
There is no estimating the harm
done to childish minds during this
period by the rotten pabulum
which formed the historical diet |
offered them in our public schools.
Children whose fathers fought |
four years to maintain principles
of government the enunciation
of which was synchronous with
the foundation of our earliest civil
institutions, and which had been
peaceably contended for in con-
gress continuously from that time,
many of which had been sustained
bv the court of last resort and
which even now. through the APP
proving words of former oppon-
ents, are proving their foundation
TO have been upon a rock, -thes Sc
were taught that their
fathers were traitors to their
were rebels without ex-
;use, and waged an inquitous war
solely in the interests Of slavery.
These so-called histories were re-
Olete with instances Of Northern
lerolsm and Rebel" cowardice.
md only occasionally felt called
upon to even so much as admit
hat, "by reason of superior num-
oers," the Union forces "were .
to retire, which they
lid in good order"
Things have changed somewhat.
We are thankful to say. and our ,
children no longer receive their
irst lesson in computation through
he process of q demonstration
hat two Rebels, and three Reb-
Us make five Rebels, while in a
negative sort of way somewhat
alrer tone perYades northern
chool histories, that is, those
ent South.
Out of the demands of people :
lowly awakened to a realization !
+ what had been going on about : :
benz, Southern school histories
ave been written, while, through !,
ne stress of this competition, the a,
enom of New England writers
ad to give way before the cupid 6
y of New England publishers. !,
sd the result is too often q sort !,
bastard work, filed with mega al
We virtues, better than former :.
I, though far from satisfactory y
'cause far from just. llis
In lecture on the Philosophy Of
History President seeIye. of
pronounces History to ed
"the grandest study il the anc
rid" This is true,-but only Phi
en- 1t discharges its grandest tho
iction, that Of ipRartine &c soIe