The news & observer., 1904-10-30
LITERARY NOTES.
THE REAL JEFFERSON DAVIS

No public man i'm America has been
so little understood as jefferson Davis.
He was the civil leader of q cause that
was lost and he had to pay the penalty
eXacted of every civil leader who
fails. The military leader who is
overcome in conflict may be exiled or
deported or punished, but there is a
martial glory that the conqueror can
not take from him. His own soldiers
love him all the more for his defeat
and mingle their tears with those of
their commander. Lee did not suffer
by defeat. He was the hero of battle
and the personal leader of great
armies. The soldiers saw him in
command. They We're inspired by his
courage and strengthened by his
splendid resignation when the hour OF
surrender came. There was a glamour
even in the scene under the apple tree
when Lee surrendered to Grant.
The civic leader, the statesman who
bears the burden of seeking to estab-
lish a new government works in the
cabinet ana away from cor tact with
the army and not in the calcium light.
He has grave duties that give him no
time to see the people. He must form
ulate it's methods of taxation that will
support the party, and critics of every
method of taxation always abound. He
must outline the general operations of
the army, and there are 2 thousand
men in every county who are conSci-
Gus that they are endowed with spc-
cial talent for planning great cam
paiPns. No step that an executive can
take, however wise, is free from
criticism. and he has no army under
him that live him the personal COM
fort and support that cheer the mill
tary cheftain.
Mr.. Davis undertook the hardest
| task any mortal of this century has
undertaken. He tried to make bricks
without straw. He lacked the traits
to win the enthusiasm and love of the
people. He possessed the qualities
that gained respect and admiration,
but not the love such as Stonewall
Jackson and Zebulon Vance inspired.
He had qualities of craftsmanship,
heroism, endurance second to none of
the great men of his day. He was q
man of the highest intellect, the clear
est views, and he had the courage to
follow his convictions. If success had
been possible, he would have been
crowned as the founder of a great Re-
public. 1t was not among the possi-
biities and therefore he suffered, not
alone for his own failure TO establish
the Confederate States of America, but
he was made the vicarious sufferer for
every follower OF the Lost Cause.
Something more than year ago
Mr.. Landon Knight. long literary crit
ic of the Atlanta Constitution, began
a series of articles on THE Real JEFF
ferson Davis in the Pilgrim Magazine.
They were written in a style to show
the man just as he was. The most of
the readers of that magazine knew
the Jefferson Davis as the North mis-
understood in 1S60-66 and as they
still misunderstood the man Mr..
Knight undertook to give a
flesh and blood picture of JEFF
ferson Davis as he was-n0t as
his enemies ainted him. "the
evil genius of Rebellion" and not as
his warmest admirers painted him
the second Washington and Jefferson
in one FORM But the author drew
the true picture, showing the high
| portion to which the President of the
Confederacy is entitled in history. The
demand for the story of this most
abused and greatly misunderstood man
| was so great that the Pilgrim could
not furnish the back numbers and in
response to requests from men search
ing for the truth, living in the North
and South, the series of articles have
been put in book form. One critic of
note, writing of the volume says:
THE story of the Real Jefferson Davis
has far more merit than Van Rolt's
Calhoun or Trent's sketches of Toombs
and stephens"
The publishers make the exceptional
offer to send a copy of the book and
whole years subscription to Pilgrim S
Magazine for one year for $3.50. 1t
should be read hv every man who
wishes to get a clear view in brief OF
Jefferson Davis, for Mr.. Knioht has in
exactly two hundred pages given a
story of the life of that great man.
of whom it was said at his death:
Where once ragged the storm of
battle now bloom the gentle flower of
peace, and where the mocking-bird
sings her night song to the southern
moon, sweetly sleeps the illustrious
chieftain whom q nation mourns. Wise
in council, valiant in war, he was still
greater in peace, and to his noble, un-
selfish example more than to any
other one cause do we owe the indelli-
bic inscription over the arch of our
union 'Esto Perpetua.'
ELLEN AND MIR. IAN-By Cover
neur Morris, Author of tom Beau
ling" Aladdin O'Brien." etc From
tispiece by Leon Guipon; 200 pages.
II mo. Price $1.25. Publishers:
The Century Company, New York.
Ellen is the dearest of girls, and Mr.
Man c Iowa bIa n littIa Iod o,,o,,