The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-13
THE ENRICHMENT
Of COUNTRY LIFE,
An Address of Power by
Prof. W. L. Poteat,
The MAN OF The FIELDS
This and Not He Of ire City is The True Man
Of the World in Capacity to Grow,
To Endure, To
Achieve

The Enrichment of Country Life" an
address at once brilliant and profound.
delivered by Prof w. l.. Poteat, or Wake
Forest College, president of the North
Carolina Historical and Literary Asso-
citation, was one of the features OF the
meeting of that body in the Pullen Audi
torium of the A. and NJ. College last
night Prof. Poteat is speaker of origl-
nality and power, and his address was
heard with deep and unfiaggng interest.
He spoke In part as follows:
THE ENRICHMENT OF COUNTRY
LIFE.
II venture to think that this subject,
prevalent as it may seem to be at nrst
thought, touches in reality the very foun-
dations of al we hope for as members OF
this body and citizens OF this State. ours
il a rural community, and IN spite OF the
late Eruption of steam and Its iron wheels,
I trust it is decreed above that 1T
shall remain a rural community The
history which we wish to make and to
record. the literature which we wish to
evoke and scatter; in short, the MANHOOD
and womanhood which we wish TO grow
and to brighten must be in the country
and of the country. And observe, this
fact is not a handicap, but a call and q
guarantee To see that it Is 50, let me
rem nd you that mankind in its long world
history has shown itself to be most re-
sponsiye to the moulding action of exter
nal natural conditions. The political his
tory of country, as Sir Archibald Geikie
has demonstrated, is largely predeter-
mined by its geological history. The SHIFT
ing out and distribution of the elements
of composite population, the develop
ment of the national industries and com
merce, the localization OF the vocatlons
of the inhabitants, are directly controlled
by its physical features. But the in
fluence OF land contour and water and sky
penetrates beyond these externals of life.
1t extends into the sphere of the spirit,
and with an intimate and subtle power
applied for generations with a prssure SO
constant as to be unconscious, it trans
forms in the end the very temperament
and character of a people.
Not only so. When man and nature
have thus given and taken and come to an
understanding with each other; when man
finds his place in nature and settles into
it, he finds himself also. He comes to his
own in capacity to grow, or to endure, or
to achieve He Is in the condition of
stable equilibrium, set broad based ike a
granite pyramid and ready for whatever
Heaven may send This alliance with ma
ture is his strength. And so it has turned
out that the man of the field is the man
of the world. The history of civilization
can hardly be said to begin until man
roots himself in some loved spot of ground
Once rooted-whether by Nile or Eu-
pirates, or indus, or Rhine-his pillow and
axe lay the foundations of civilized life,
or upon demand turn sword and spear t?
defend it. From the days when the OLD
Saxon, standing astride his burrows
changed transient defeat into an cndur-
ing victory over Angle and Dane and Nor
man, down 10 Concord, where
Once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world,
Your Anglo-Saxon farmer has been your
prime maker of history.
Moreover, your farmers, if he is not
himself historian or poet, is the father
of the historian and the poet, for country
life Is the native soil of literature. The
literature OF which / speak here is the
Literature OF Power, as distinguished
by De Quincy from the mere literature of
knowledge. Amid the bloodiest conven-
tons and social vanities of the city its
tension and artificial methods of life, litera-
ture willis and perishes 1t must have
solitude and time in which to terminate
It's life is in its unfettered spontaneity,
and the free winds that blow under the
open sky are its sustaining breath. The
country produces the man. the country
fills his heart up with materials. the coun-
try bids him write Whether literature
concern itself with the details or the wider
aspects of nature. with the passions or the
occupations of men, its best examples will
be supplied by the incidents and situa-
tons OF common life under natural ex-
ternal conditions. Is it not true that every
period of renewal in the history of litera-
ture is a period of freshened commun-
ication with nature, either in clear
look into the face of the great world out.
side us, or in a new discovery of the Gle
mentary, and therefore universal simpli-
cities OF the great world within?
l. THE WANDERING
THE blessings of attachment to the soil
nature, which draws after it a bright re,
tnue Of dependants; the opportunity OF
Sclf.rca ization in an atmosphere of indie.
rendence and freedom, and repose; ex-
emption from the pettinesses and moral
obliqutes which swarm on the surface
OF crowded and conventional life. But
distinct as they are and excellent botl'
for character and for achievement. they
do not seem greatly to impress the average
man. He may go so far as to admit them
III theory. but he declines to be practi-
cally influenced by them While he is
singing the praises of rural life. he packs
up Tor the city. This impulse to wander
forth from nature and gather into the
city group is wellnigh as old as mankind
liseii. IL was the second man, who as
we read IN an ancient writing, went out
from bis locks and from the presence of
the Lord. and buided city. Fear lay
back OF this primitive wandering. fear of
natures vast soitudes and fear of the
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