The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1906-07-27

! Sun After a celebration of Peggy Stuart
Day at Annapolis gentleman from Bos-
ton wrote to The Sun asking for a sketch
of Peggy Stuart for use in & book he was
writing about distinguished American
women, and concluded by asking why
| Maryland had never erected d monument
Why have not the people of the South
written histories of the United States as
we'll as histories of their Own immediate
localities?
There are various circumstances and
conditions which explain the fact that
the bulk of American books are written
by Northern and not by Southern men,
fact which can be verified by the in
spection of any ordinary library The
pre-eminence of the North In this respect
has not been due to superior education,
although education in the North has been
more general. In the South in the CEN
fury preceding the Civil War it was the
common practice of the wcll-to-do plant
ers to send their sons to college. In CO.
lOnial times many of them went to the
English universities, and in later years
down to the Civil War to the best Ameri-
can colleges, such as the Universities of
Virginia and North Carolina and others
i'll the South. Down to 1860 Princeton
was largely supported by the South. In
education and literary attachments the
Southern Senators had no superiors in
Congress. Then why did not these edu.
Gated men write more books? Those in
public life did not do so because long con-
tinuance in office was the rule, and these
men did not have the time to engage in
making books. 1t is, Of course. we'll
known that climate has vast influence
upon the habits and occupations of men.
In New England the rigorous winters,
occupying half of the year, drive men to
indoor occupations, and those of lit-
erary turn take to writing. In the
South, because of the milder climate,
outdoor life has always been the habit
of the people, and they do not confne
themselves to houses even in winter
This, perhaps is the chief explanation of
the smaller number of Southern authors.
But some of the very finest of all Ame1i-
can books have been written by South
eTners Woodrow Wilson's histories and
historical papers rank with the best ard
the most accurate. The "Southcrn
Planter and Eliza Pinckney" are re-
garded as the two best American books
of their class.
Mr.. Clark not only believes that States
and localities should take care of the rec
ords of the great deeds Of their own peO-
pie, but that in the case of the star actors
in the worlds drama each one should be
his own Boswell Caesars fame, he says,
was greatly promoted by his common
tary upon the wars in Gaul and that
Nenophon would be unknown but for
his Anabasi5.
Says Mr.. Clark:
'Others have marched as strcnuously
and fought as bravely as Nenophon and
his O,C00 only to vanish into oblivion;
Jul III anu LIS DSllu liz CshlOllS liJS
mortals because he wrote the Anabasis,
which has delighted and instructed mil
lions of ambitious boys and which will
delight and instruct succeeding millions
till the earth shall perish with iervent
heat.
''The triumphal expedition of Gen. Al
exander w Doniphan aud his heroic Mis-
sourians into the heart of Mexico by way
of Santa Fe, traversing a vast wilderness
full of hostile savages, subsisting on the
enemy's country, winning numerous vic
tories over the very flower of the de-
scendants of the Knights of CASTLE and
Aragon, never loSinga gun, flag,
prisoner or a skirnish, though frequently
engaging ter times their own number;
never drawing from the Government
dollar. ration, piece of clothing or an
ounce OF ammunition from the time they
left Fort Leavenworlh, Kansas, till, rag
ged, starving, but invincible, they re-
ported to Gen. Zachary Taylor on the red
field Of Monterey In difficulty, in cour-
age, in fortitude, in glory, in results, it
eclipses utterly the far-faned retreat
which Nenophon has embalmed in i'm
mortal prose.
Every schoolboy knows by heart the
fascinating story of the Greeks; but few
remember the more wonderful perform
ance of the Missourians. Mirable dictu
The glorious name of Doniphan, the con-
queror of New Mexico, Arizona and Chi
huahua does not even appear in some of
our most pretentious encyclopedias. =
Baltimore Sun.