The gold leaf., 1910-09-01

Our People as a Whole
Should Forever Cherish.
Richmond Times Dispatch.
Southern Leadership Since the
Civil War" is the title of an able paper
in the current number Of the North
American Review. Its author is Pro-
lessor Garland Greener, of the Uni
versity of Arkansas, a native South
erner and the son OF n Confederate
soldier. The article was called forth
by the recent unfavorable comments
upon the placing of the Lee statue
in the Hall of Statuary at the
National Capitol.
Taking up these protests, Profess
or Greener declares that they indi-
cate a tendency in the North "to
consider the achievements and the
spirit OF the South as in no sense
forming part OF our national heri-
tage." The conditions resulting
from the war are briefly discussed in
the article. The social and political
upheaval is commented upon and ex-
planned, and then Professor Greener
asks:
"To a problem SO stupendous as
this, who in the South brought the
most charitable spirit, the largest
outlook and the noblest solution?
With what leadership of lower con
centions has his spirit been forced to
combat? In the ultimate light of his
tory how should his labor be judged?
| should unhesitatingly say that the
man who most fully exemplifies the
loftiest leadership in the South since
the war is Robert Edward Lee
not only the consummate flower of
the old South also the beacon
and prophet OF the new . . | be-
lieve that if the American people
would repair their greatest neglect
! of the legacy derivable from a single
character in their history, they would
have to acquaint themselves thor
oughly with the real nature OF Lee
. . . And the period most worthy oi
emphasis-the one which is generally
overlooked-is that in Lees life
which followed the collapse of the
Confederacy."
wise, broad leadership 50f Of Zee Zee, Pfrtofe2s
or Greener sets off the spirit repre-
sented in the writings OF Thomas
Dixon and in the poetic works oI
Father A. J. Ryan. The "vitrioIic'
note struck by Dixon, he says, is the
natural outcome OF q narrow spirit
of resentment and bitterness at the
wrongs OF the days of Reconstruc,
tion. He laments that the spirit o
Father Ryan's poetry, which he takes
as expressive of a large body ot
Southern sentiment past and present
is so pathetic, so mindful, of the past
and so forgetful of the present. With
gentleness but with frankness, be
criticises this sad feeling of the laud
ator temporis acti, this tendency
to idealize a departed condition D
Neither OF these sentiments, he thinks
has been helpful to the South, while
on the other hand, Lees patient and
far-seeing spirit was constructive and
helpful, dwelling hopefully in the
present and future.
81 have heard from a hundred
stand points and in hundred dis
guises," says Professor Greener, "the
Impossible longings of Ryan express
ed, and | have said in my heart that
they were as the borrowed splendor
of the moon when compared will
Lees reply to a kinsman who had
asked what was left to be done: you
can work for Virginia-to build heI
up again, to make her great
again
''With sympathetic touch, Profess
or Greener then outlines the position
in which General Lee found himself
after Appomattox. For the first
time in his life he was without officia
position, his estate had been cOnfis
Gated, he was almost without mon
ey, he was suspected, scanned, anc
assailed by the people OF the North. :
Yet, points out Professor Greener
with undaunted fortitude and for
bearance ne met the issues that
the times presented. He cOunseled
patience and submission. He urgeU
economy, Insisting that the lavish
ness OF ante bellum days could DC
longer be maintained. He encouraged
industry. He gave his old soldiers =
rallying cry that any brave people
should admire Tell them they
must all set to work, and if they can
not do what they prefer to do, dc
what they can Professor Greenel
then shows that General Lee prac
ticed what he preached by taking VI
. the work OF training young SoutherT
men at Washington College.
1t is in his summary that Profess
. or Greener points out the construc
tive character Of Lee. He says:
Let me state more clearly than
have hitherto done Lees basic claim
on the gratitude Of the nation. i
, rests In the fact that his spirit wa
. essentially creative. Perchance th'
: assertion sounds strange to thOs'
. who have heard. time out OF mind
that the South unbendingly arrayeC
, against the innovating forces of tn
, North, stood first OF all for con
servatism. Let Us revise the ide;
that admits no exception and make
current the knowledge that the bes
men on both sides were gifted witt
qualities not confined to their section