The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-01-20

"A History of Southern Literature, by
 Carl Holiday, M. A. The Meade Pub
 fishing Co.,
 "A History of Southern Literature. by
 Carl Holiday. NJ. A., recently professor of English Alabama State Normal col lege, now of the English department,
 University of Virginia, fills q long felt
 need And this volume Is the first effort to give the connected story of the develop ment of the literature of the south from it's earliest days to the present. The vol
 tune is divided into six sections, corre- spending to the six distinct periods in the growth of southern literature. These
 titles and dates are very interesting.
 1.-The Beginnings d607-1676).
 H.-The Period of National Conscious ness 0676-l740.
 IH.-The Revolutionary Period d7io-
 1S1O).
 IV-The Period of Expansion dslO-1SjoJ. V.-The Civil War Period ds50-1S75).
 VI.-The New South dS75-19O5). The volume has q complete index and
 the marginal topics. giving name of au- thor and dates, is most helpful. In the chapter on "rhe New South, V the author quotes from a speech made hy
 Henry Grady in 1SSG in which he says in part: "The new south is enamoured of her new work Her soul is stirred with
 the breath of a new life. The light of
  She is thrilling with the consciousness or
 growing power and prosperity. As she stands upright. full statured and equal among the people of the earth. breath
 ing the keen air and looking out upon
 the expanded horizon, she understands that her emancipation came because through the nscrutable wisdom of God. her honest purpose was crossed and her brave armies were beaten" Writes the author in this connection: With this younger generation came a genuine re- vival in literary work. True no great magazines nor publishing houses cama into existence; but q literature more purely southern perhaps than much writ- ten before the war now appeared. v Says Judge A. w. Tourgee. writing in The Forum of 1888: "A foreigner studying our current literature. without knowledge of our history and judging our civilization by our fiction, would undoubtedly conclude that the south was the seat of intel lectual empire in America
 Beginning with the orators ta tesman
 the author mentions as most prominent the names of Henry Watterson and Henry w. Grady. Of the former he says
 Perhaps 1t is because the man retains so little of sectional bitterness that he has received the attention of both south and north" And quotes a few sentences from a speech before the National Bank
 CTS convention in Louisville in 1885, so in- dicative of this trait The south, It i5
 no problem at all. l thank God that at last we can say with truth, it is simply q georgra phical expression. The whole story
 of the south may be summed up in a sell tence; she was rich and she lost her riches: she was poor and In bondage; she was set free and she had to go to work she went to work and she Is richer than ever before. God passed the rod across the land and smote the people. | Then in His goodness and mercy He waved the wand of enchantment, and To-, like a flower. His blessing burst forth. Indeed, may the south say as in the ex. perience of men Ii Is rare for any 10 say with perfect sincerity, Sweet are the uses of adversity.'