New-York tribune., 1901-11-03
HISTORY AS IT is KNOWN.
Oh, RATHER, AS 1T IS MUDDLED IN THE;
MINDS OF MANY CITIZENS.

the front the fact that he is par excellence the
hero of British history. Whatever portion Of
his exploits may be left to his credit by too
jealous expurgators Of popular traditions every
man, woman and child not absolutely without
education feels more less intimately ac-
quainted with the faultess king But il is
Doubtful whether even Alfred would have
achieved this fame merely through his driving
out OF the Danes and his making of laws for the
kingdom If he had not burnt the cakes OF de
confiding woman in the cottage he, too might
have been relegated to popular neglect For it
is unhappily true that the people of a country
matter what their patriotism, are for the
most part extremely ignorant Of its history
Patriotism is an easy virtue when there is no
fighting TO be done, and. indeed not difficult at
any time, being most frequently simply a firm
belief in ones own countrys ability TO lick
anything under the And in this respect.
despite the public school system Of America. the
United States is greatly ahead OF Europe
Perhaps the new teaching viii do something
toward making the rising generation more SEN
sibly and broad mindedly patriotic, leading them
TO discriminate between intelligent appreciation
OF COuntry's past and complacent self-satis-
faction over their own forethought in having
themselves born il the greatest country On
earth
Everybody outside Of asylums for the feeble
minded knows that there was once a great revo-
luton in America This, except the fact that
Christopher Columbus discovered the country,
Is the one anchor on which everybody makes
fast when questioned to knowledge of Ameri-
can history. But although the fact that this
country fought great with England is
known. there startlingly few who tell
anything about the causes which led up the
war These statements do not apply, of course,
TO boys and girls in the city who have attended
school 10 the proper age They apply, however.
to the great mass OF middle aged, poor Ameri-
cans brought up in the country, well to
many of Them in the cities. and to the mass of
voting foreigners The Stamp Tax, the attitude
Of the British people in general, the speeches Of
this country's great friends in the English Par
lament. ali these things are utterly unknown
TO the mass of the people They DO know
who settled this country. except that the Eng
Hsh had something do with it. In New-Eng-
land there is everywhere a shadowy tradition
Of Puritans and the word Mayfower may sound
familiar. but the names OF such men Win
throp. and Captain Smith. and King Philip con-
Eey absolutely idea Even the Boston Tea
party means nothing, although might think
that the picturesqueness Of that incident would
tx il in the popular memory. The SpaniaId ds are
regarded as people who were cruel, but whether
this idea is derived from recent events in Cuba !
or from shadowy recollectons of something in
the history book it is hard TO say.
Three men only stand prominently in
American history. These Washington,
Lincoln and Grant Garfield is also known even
by those who have recollection of his assassi-
nation, because the story Of his murder is often
told but Of men remembered through their
achievements the three above constitute the en-
tire list II fact, it is rather too much to say
that Grant is revered for what he did. as the
popular idea Of his exploits is vague In New
York he has a tomb which is visited on fine
summer afternoons and that makes him known
to the people OF this city at least Robert E Lee
outside of the South is not even name. As
TO thinking that the country was once small,
and that it has grown through exploration and
purchase that is hidden thing to the way
faring man. French and Indian wars exist not
for him. He does not know whether or not the
British soldiers in the Revolution were all
help TO the Continental side. All this is subtety
and confusion to him. He never heard of the
War of 1872 or of the Mexican War.
These observations apply, as before said, to
the ignorant American and to the fairly intelli-
gent but not highly educated foreigner They
are about par as to such matters 1t is
difficult TO generalize because there are innu-
rnerable gradations above and below this level
One woman aged thirty-five Connecticut born
.rd bred whose youth spent between New
Haven and Hartford, when questioned as to her
knowledge of history. made a showing almost
Frl