The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-06

Copyrighted by T. U. DeLeon' AeVo'
 and All Rights Reserved)
 On the anniversary of the great
 Southern leaders death, at New or
 leans. December 6, 1889, and at the end
 ing of the centennial year of ms blIen
 Lit is meet that the remnant or .he
 people he wrought and strugsleu loi
 should teach their children what mar
 ner of man he really was. And It is
 with regret that some of us see the
 wear closing. and the loving and prac-
 ticaI suggestion of Mrs Corneh5s .
 Branch stone, U. D. C., unfulflled and
 almost unheeded.
 Engaged, at the opening centenary
 year of Jefferson Davis, upon a some
 what important work of ConIeoe,a.e
 chronicle, was absolutely anazeo s s
 the dense and very general ishoLaaSo
 of polite and weli-bred people or .ne
 South. regarding the most patent oe-
 tails of the Southern presidents
 reer.
 In one of his piquahte and meaty
 addresses, Hon. Champ Clark, or MS MS.
 souri. paralle1ed the manner m Mr,seas VII ass
 were treated in the histories, cyclope- dias and bigographical dictionaries or the last half century. He lnssahced among many. that Robert Toombs-an important national factor, on pun sides of the supposititious "line or wa son and Dixon-received quar.er l, coi5 umn comment, and William H. seward three columns; that Abraham Lincoln in several books averaged five columns' while Jefferson Davis--soldier, senator, cabinet minister andsleader of new ha- tion--has one column. .,
 In his premise, the brilliant and we'll equipped Missourian was exceptional Iy correct:' but his deduction from 1t seems scarcely tenable; that the dis proportion was the fault of the North. Mr. Clark left an important factor out of his calculations; that the histories and fact books have almost inVariapiy been left to Northern men 70 write; that they, naturally and properly, write for the Northern schools, libraries and public To all three of these the de- tails of Southern prowess and of south ern progress were as antfpathettc, where not absolutely terra nicignita- These Northern writers merly gave the Northern readers what was most 70 thefr taste. No public caterer, know ing that the vast bulk of his patrons dotted on pumpkin piaS, would insist upon offering them imported plum pudding. But the. South had her skill ed cooks. and plums for their cooking, galore.
 Should not Cpngressmmen Clark lay the blame at ,-our own proper door? We boast, and with good show of tus-
 
 and teachers in the South, unexcelled on the planeti that we have more uni versailles in many states than can be profitabIy. and effectively conducted; and that their alumni embrace great and world-acknowledged scholars.
 Why do these men--who write theol- ogy, science. philosophy. fiction, and poeIry--not write history as well7 Why do not the uniyersities, colleges, schools and schoolboards which they control, use books that bear false wit ness, or very little witness of any kind--against their neighbors? Why do they not sprinkle the Southern his- torical Sahara, with at least passing shower Of historical facts? Doubt less, Southern built histories and geog- raphies of Southern actions and biog- raphies would sell rapidly and become universal Southern text books; and that would pay the writers for reve- nue only" far better and more last ingly, than the most interesting TO- nance.
 There is certain servillty in the Southern acceptance of Northern pro- duct, material, mental and moral; and that acceptance is not new, but harks back to the days when the South Vaunting that, while only the tail she wagged the national dog-got all her books, periodicals, fashions and most l 
 the then different systems of the two halves of the Union may have con- doned, if not necessitated. But, in this | twentieth century, of wireless tele- i grams, inhuman phonographs and l mental searchlights. the almost uni- versal ignorance of the most fecund, 1 and most unique, epoch in national his- | tory, is at least tnexcusable!
 It was cause for sorrow that the | gentle but determined head of TheU. l D. c. found need for her proclamation, urging the chapters to promote the | of Davis and Lee. It was | cause of shame, that in long ecenten- niaI twelvemonth, the small molehill | of wis inrtiae was never surmounted | closing days see the school boys and girls of the South, reading of the exc utive of Confederate laws, and of the leaders of Southern armies, from books bearing an imprint far fron1~their own.
 Lineage and Birth.
 The Davis family comes of Welsh descent; and it Is singular to recall that the tough fighting little state that so puzzeled Edward Longshanks to conquer, lend forebears to so many mo- table factors in our civil war. Another | Davis family of Wales emigrated to South Carolina and intermarried with the Canty and' other leading people of that State. Strangely, too, they went to Mississippi and Robert, of the third generation married the presidents youngest sister, his Little Polly"
 The most French of Confederate generals, and one of the most fam ous-the Preux ehevalier of Louisiana Creole fighters-was also Welsh. Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard came down in direct descent from rid CT, the Young, a famous Welsh chief and last to yield "to proud Englands power"
 Strangest of all: the great Presi- dent-who opposed, overthrow and would never have imprisoned Jefferson Davis-was also from Welsh stock: his like the Confederates, having come to America from Wales and sat down among the people Of Penn.