The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1910-08-05

tate to lay the greater stress upon
the danger of undervaluation Ameri-
can history is simply a record of the
collective experiences of the American
people. The record of the whole can
not be made up without a record of ITS
constituent parts. And the latter will
inevitably fall far short of complete
ness if we fail to realize the signific-
ance and Importance of much in our To-
cal history which close contact is apt to
cause Us to pass by as not worth seri-
fundamentals of all history is the move
ment of pulation-whether in great
waves, across oceans ani continents, or
IN smaller streams through smaller
areas. This should be one of the first
things to arrest your attention. How
was our county settled? From what
states ard ioc8lities came its pioneers
What Influences determined their move
ment in this direction? What means
of transportation did they employ in
reaching here's How did they live on
the way? What did they bring with
them? Why did they select this name
and that for their plantations and vi
lagos, their lakes and streams9 These
questions are simple, but they are his
torically vital Unless we are to an
swer them, we would as well go out of
existence at once, or call our organiza-
tion by some other name.
In recent years there has been a pro
nOunced reaction against the practice
of snbordinating all history to con-
sideration of politics and wars Both
here and in the old country historians
are more and more turning to study
of the lives of people-of their actual
daily movements, of what they did,
how they lived, what they ate and
wore, the character of houses they oc-
cupied the books they read, the games
they played-all the hundred things
which go to make up the sum total or
human life, and without a knowledge
of which history becomes a barren re-
cord. More than in any other of the
older sections of the country have we
ignored these things in the Southern
states. The libraries of the Eastern,
New England and older Western Sta
tes are filled with the chronicles OF
their counties and towns. We have
made lot of history in the South, but
we have been criminally negligent in
preserving an authentic and permanent
record of it, A fairly intimate ac-
ouaintance with, and a candid recogn1-
ton of, our shortcomings In this re
gard, have smothered any sympathy
might otherwise have with the too fire.
quent complaint that our history mas
been unfairly written by outsiders. Ii
we refuse TO provide the material for
writing it ourselves, and preserve no
written record of our own history, then
we have only ourselves 20 blame if 1t
is not written to suit us. Do not an
derstand me to include the writing o.
history among the functions of this
society, or of any other historical asso-
citation. The whole basis of written
history is expressed in the one word
sources'' The chief, in fact the one
really legitimate, function of such an
organization as ours, is the collection
and preservation of the source mater
ial out of which history may be writ
ten This should be borne in mind I'D
the preparation of every paper present
ed here which purports to deal with
historical matter. The ideal for such
papers is narration of facts so care
fully made that the most destructive
critic shall be unable to pick flaw in
their statement This ideal may be
not often attained, but it should none
the less be striven for Tradition
may, or may not, be history-accord-
ing to the fidelity with which it trans
mits facts. In committing either ira
ditions or "reminiscences to permanent
form the greatest care should be ex-
ercised to test the accuracy of what is