The national forum., 1910-07-16
LEST WE FORGET
ny CARL HOLIDAY, WI. Al,
A. e. Of "A History of Southern Literature, "a Cotton
Picker" and Other PoemS Etc

heroes of the past. Would you have
poets to thrill your nation into fruit
full activity? Then do honor to the
poets of your past. The ancient
Grecian race track was lined with the
statues of the winners Of the races of
other days, and as the runner hurled
himself along the course, he felt the
inspiration of those marble figures
beside him and knew that If he, too,
won, his statue would stand among
those others in the immortal rows.
Small is the Joy of art il it see no
present results and can hope for no
remembrance in the distant future
New England long ago recognized
these facts, and she has not failed to
reap the fruits in the high quality Of
her citizenship. To-day you may trace
by means of lasting memorials the
wild ride of Paul Revere over hill and
valley. You may even find near Bos-
ton a tablet marking the spot where
"Schoolmaster" Emerson once kept
his school You may find bit of
granite or marble or bronze telling
where Hawthorne did this, Longfel-
low that, and Whittier the other.
Those descendants of the Pilgrim Fa-
theirs, with high sense for the ideal,
have left in almost eternal forms
their admonition to future genera
tions to be worthy sons Of noble ia
thers We of the South seemingly
have forgotten the significance, the
vast Importance Of this our duty to
those who have striven for our well
fare. We have erected, it is true,
monuments to our famous soldiers ;
but what have we done for the mem
ory of those noble intellects who by
song and story and stern expostula-
tions reused those warriors to go
forth and battle for the right? Shall
he that incites to duty be considered
less worthy than he that performs the
duty?
No Shaft to Cotton.Gin Inventor.
Why, for instance, has the South
reared no shaft in honor of Daniel
Emmett, the author of "Dixie?" Why
has no tablet been placed on the site
Of the old New Orleans theatre where
that song first burst upon the South
Kentucky has lately bestowed its
tribute upon Stephen Foster, the
author of my Old Kentucky Home;
but why has Florida shown no graft
tude to him for the fame of "Su-
vance River?" Why has New Or
leans erected no memorial to the
South's greatest musician, Louis
Gottschalk? Why has Augusta, Ga.
not marked for the world the place
where Eli Whitneys epoch-making
invention, the cotton-gin, was first
tried? Why has Georgia erected nc
tribute to Francis r. Goulding who
invented and had in use sewing ma
chine nearly two years before Howe
secured a patent? 1t is said that one
of the tegares had steamboat pad
ding @&.S Savannah River before Full
y, SQSjl,alall \ 9sR the &son; but what
f9M Has taKeG GA Gre trouble to
prove the statement and mark the
shore where the craft began its yoy-
age?
Indeed, Georgia has numerous sins
of omission to account for Henry
Rootes Jackson, the author of the
Red Old Hills of Georgia" was born
at Athens and died at Savannah; but
neither town seems particularly proud
of the fact. Surely the maker of SC
stirring State-song is as worthy of a
memorial as any one of that States
innumerable Governors. Augusta
Ga, long ago carved shaft in honor
of her poet, Richard Henry Wilde;
but Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
author Of the famous "Georgia
Scenes" to whom Richard Malcolm
Johnston, Joel Chandler Harris anG
Thomas Nelson Page owe so much
and whose story, "The Militia Drill.
was directly initiated by Thomas
Hardy in his Trumpet Major" hal
received no recognition from his ma
tive city. He was president of Emor!
College and of the University of Mis-
sissippi; yet their walls tell nothinl
J Of him, At Madison, Ca, William
Tappan Thompson wrote for the tow
paper, The Miscellany, the laughabl
Major Jones Letters" Why ha
not Madison marked with some mex
pensive bronze or granite the spo
where this pioneer in American
humor did these things?
In 1901, Charleston, s. c., honoret
itself by honoring Timrod with
pillar Of stone. But see what Georgi;
has done for his schoolmate and fel
low-poet, Paul Hamilton Hayne. Hi
famous home, "Copse HAl," near Au
gusta, has been turned over to negro
family! The house where the heroi
Lyric of Action" was written, tn
house which almost daily received
letters from Longfellow, Bayard Tay
lor, Tennyson and Swinburne, tn
house that should have become lit
erary shrine of the South, has be
come, instead, the habitation of
motley collection of blacks! |
"Copse Hill' had been near Boston
but comparisons are odious.
Author OF BattIe.Song Unhonored.
There lived and died near Colum
bus, Ca, quiet country physician
named Francis Ticknor, the autho
Of ballad the equal of any in tn
English language:
HOut of the focal and foremost fire
Out of the hospitals walls as dire
Smitten of grape-shot and gangrene--
Eighteenth battle and he sixteen,
Little G iffen of Tennessee"
Poe, it is said Wronged him b,