The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-11-10
THE sANE OF sEcTloNALIsM

tionary war sectionalism has held
sway in the United States. and FOR
several years Immediately preceding
and following the war between the
states it ragged with fearful bitterness
and vloIence on both sides of the line.
How it magnified the virtues of
ones own section and the vices of
the other, it never occurred to us so
fully and painfully until recently,
while bordering over some of the SER
mons and speeches delivered by some
of the famous men of those unfortu-
nate eras.
We have just laid down a sermon
delivered by Theodore Parker in Bos-
ton as early as 1850, on THE State
of the Nation"
In the north he saw nothing but
contentment and plenty; in the south
only sQualor and poverty. In the
north, industry and intelligence; in
the south, idleness and ignorance.
We make a quotation:
Il love to look on this state, MAS
sachusetts), its material prosperity,
its increase in riches, it's intelligence
and industry, and the beautiful re-
suits that are seen all about us to-
day. l love to look on the faces Of
the people in halls and churches, in
markets and factories; to think of our
great ideas; of the institutions which
have come of them; of our schools
and colleges, and all the institutions
for making men wiser and better; to
think of the noble men we have in
the midst of us in every walk of life
who eat an honest bread, who love
mankind and love God, who have con-
sciences they mean to keep and souls
which they intend to save"
Then he takes horoscope of the
whole country, except the south. and
gives it the same need of praise.
Then he adds:
Here l wish | could stop. But this
is not all. The north is not the whole
nation; New England is not the only
type of the people. There are other
states differing widely from this. In
the southern states you find a soil
more fertile under skies more genial.
Through what beautiful rivers the Al
leghanies pour their tribute to the
sea. What streams beautffy the land
in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi!
There genial skies rain beauty on the
soil. Nature is wanton of her gifts.
There rice, cotton and sugar cane
grow; there the olive, the orange, the
fig find home. The soil teens with
luxuriance. But there is not the
same wealth nor the same comfort.
Only the ground is rich
I'm those states we miss
the activity, intelligence and enter
prise of the north. You do not find
the little, humble school house at ev-
cry corner; the frequent meeting
house does not point its taper finger
to the sky. Villages do not adorn
the mountain, stream and sea; shops
do not ring with industry: roads of
earth and iron are poorer and less
common. Temperance, morality,
comfort are not there as here"
Mr.. Parker traces the causes for
these differences in the nature and
characteristics of the people of The
north and people of the south, as he
sees them, back to the early settle
ments.
We quote again:
New England was settled by re-
| ligious colony. The charac-
ter of the Puritans has given to New
England much of its present charac-
ter and condition They founded
schools and colleges; they trained up
their children in a stern discipline,
which we shall not forget for two cen
turtles to come. The remembrance of
their trials, their heroism and their
piety affects our preaching today, and
our politics, also"
Reaching the south, the distinguish
ed preacher said:
The south. in the main, had a very
different origin from the north.
think very few, if any, persons set
tied there for religions sake: or Cor
the sake of freedom in the state. 1t
was not moral idea which sent men
to Virginia, Georgia and Carolina.
Men do not gather grapes of thorns.
The difference of the seed will appear
in the difference of the crop In the
character of the people of the north
and south it appears at this day The
north is not 70 be praised, nor The
south to be blamed for this; they
could not help it; but certainly it is
an advantage TO be descended from
a race of industrious, moral and re-
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