The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-12-31

n Robert Fulton, profiting by the ex
: periences of Rumsy, Fitch, and earl
t projectors, backed by money and in
= fiuence, finally achievd the Clermon
f on the Hudson; while Longstreet'
: boat was left to rot on the banks O
{ the Savannah. 1t would be curiou
: study to estimate just where Fultol
: would stand among steamboat inven
tors if he, like Longstreet, had livet
in a Georgia village, with no Chan
cellor Livingston, no French Acadia
: my, no Earl Stanhope, no James Wat
, with nothing but raw material ant
native genius for assailing the halls
of fame.
William Longstreet made no ambi-
) tious claims; he flied no exceptions
against Providence, Fame or Fortune
because of failure. He was perfectly
J willing for such promoters as Fulton
to introduce steam navigation. When
we think of the grievances of dis
gruntled inventors in general, of the
, walls of poor, dear Eli Whitney in
particular, because he was not allow
ed to let his patent cover the practi-
cal roller-saw gin of Oliver Bull, and
so create the first American monopo-
ly of industry-we have rising res
pect for our uncommercial Longstreet.
After proving to Augusta folks that
he could do it, he Laughed last" and
turned his attention to the more pro-
itable employment Of applying steam
to the cotton gin.
The younger Longstreet, of same
happy philosophy, never pursued lit
erature as a profession, but merely
wrote from exuberance of humor and
for entertainment of friends. Ante
bellum Georgians of the college COM
munity of Oxford-made center of
culture by the homes of the Long
streets, Lamars, Meriwethers, Bishop
Andrew, and others noted in church
and state-have told of the excrucia.
ting delight of hearing Judge Long
street read from the Scenes" He
was a rare impersonater as well as
delineator of the native character, and
made laughter of the "side-splitting"
kind. Such fireside diversion of the
old-time Georgia home was a treat
that would be eagerly sought as lead.
ing attraction for Lyceum program Of
to-day. There is no evidence that
Judge Longstreet ever gave public
reading from his writings.
Georgia Scenes" was merely the
pastime of the earlier years of long,
honorable and useful life as jurist,
minister and educataor. Like many
talented writer's of the Old South, he
never seriously considered revising
and publishing his works. AS Mr..
Matthews Page Andrews has well
said of the poets: "They sang from
time to time because to them Sing
ing itself is SO sweet" So Long
street wrote for Georgians who
laughed with him, and thought not of
fame
Furthermore, under ministerial dig
nifty and influence Of early Metho-
dism, he even discredited such profane
writings as chronicled the raw, unre-
generate and virile Georgian.
Professor Carl Holiday writes: "The
Harper's brought out an edition in
1910, but the ex-humorist declined to
revise it in any way whatever, and
when the edition of 1876 appeared he
absolutely disowned it. He was at
that date an important figure in
Southern religious and educational
movements. He had been president
of Emory College, Centenary College,
Louisiana, South Carolina College, |
and twice president of the University
of Mississippi; his orations had given
him a name for eloquence, his news !
paper and magazine articles showed
that the literary spirit was merely
represented, not extinct"
There is a letter written by the !
scholarly Mr.. Salem butcher, of Au- !
gusta, to Judge Longstreet, under
date of March 6, 1867, referring to a
lecture Mr.. butcher had prepared on
The Wits of Georgia, and urging the
of Georgia Scenes" I
There is a mention in this letter of a I
less humorous, but no less interest !
ing, work of Longstreet that had come
from the press during the war, enti-
tied Master William Mitten," which
had afforded Mr.. butcher abundant I
solace" during tedious rail travel. We
would Judge from such high opinion,
that in this little war time book, our
Native Georgian had again "concoct-
ed wise one."
We must reverse the decision of this I
Georgia judge against his own work
and accept the verdict of Poe, who
concludes his review with these words:
altogether this very humorous and
very clever book forms an era in our
reading. 1t has reached us per mail
without cover. We will have it
bound forthwith, and give it niche
in our library as sure omen of bet
ter davs for the literature of the
South"
A book that marked "an era in
for the Master-whom Ten
nyson called the 'literary glory of
America" a niche, not only
n our libraries, but in halls of fame.
There should be new editions of a
book that survives with unstaled fla
,or the test of time. When really
American literature is
,atalogued, along with Poe in origi-
lality will be classed the Father of
he Dialect Story-Longstreet-Geor
ria Humorist.
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