The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-12-01


came estranged from the "House of
Our Fathers" 1t was a desperate
houd and the saddest thing that ever
happened in this world, and yet, it was
a period in which Southern character
shone forth with unsurpassed glory.
No true history has yet been written
of the inward honesty of the Southern
people in the War Between the States.
Amid all the battling misunderstand-
lngs and outside all the unworthy pas
sions, which were in evidence on both
sides, the keenest truth of that terri
bic time was this: The South never
willingly made war on the "House of
3Our Fathers" Lost sight of in the
smoke of battle, obscured in the GRIM
nations and recriminations of contro-
versy, the truth was that the South
ern people loved its liberty, and the
light it gave to the world. If one asks
proof of this, let him look at us now.
If the heart of the South had not been
true all the time to a deep devotion
to the nation which Southern men had
done so much to found, would it be
impossible only SO years after all the
horror of the Civil war and the Re-
construction era for us to be saying
as General Gordon said, and as South
erners say everywhere, that we are
thankful to God that the American
Union was not disrupted? We who
have suffered so much deserved to be
believed when we assert that there
never was time when Southern peo-
pie had any war in their hearts
against the "House of Our Fathers"
1t was the fate of the South to make
protest. 1t was also our fate to de-
fend Southern soil from advancing
armies. Looking back at it now, this
is our only lament: "Would to God
that some way had been found to
recognize States rights according to
the terms Of the constitution, and that
some way had been found to rid the
nation of human slavery without the
dreadful cost of war and the horrible
entail of its pain and bitterness!"
What Have We Lost?"
"The question to face is this: Have
we lost seriously as a people our
capacity to serve the nation which we
are so glad has been preserved? If
so, what is it we have let go?
"If we recall to that period in which
Southern men were doing so much for
the world, we will mark that they
were men of great human breadth and
human sympathy. They felt them
selves in the founding of this nation
to be engaged in work for mankind.
They were doing something great and
good for everybody everywhere. They
were looking beyond themselves--be-
yond their narrow interests. They
were consciously the exponents of
democracy and the very incarnation
of its genius. Such an attitude, such
a spirit, reacted upon the character
of Southern people and ennobled it.
Now, when we turn to look at our
selves, their grandsons and their
granddaughters, we discover that the
sum of Southern thought and feeling
for more than half century has been
very much narrowed and depressed.
Out of the defensive habit engendered
the war and the bitter experience of
Reconstruction we came to be a SEN
sitive people and our motive chiefly
self-regarding. 1t is impossible for a
people to fall into this temper with
out a serious reaction upon character
and capacity. But the most injurious
heritage of the conditions which
hedged South about following the war
was the fixing of our social and politi-
cal thought upon the negro in our
midst. Our political energies have
been absorbed in our fear of what
might happen through the presence
of millions of negroes. 1t has pre-
vented us from taking counsel of our
Anglo-Saxon force in a generous hu-
man way and mas confined US to our
Anglo-Saxon feats which have not
permitted broad outlook upon man
kind and world concerns. Our souls
have not been as free to think and
feel as our forefathers thought and
felt. Thus we have been chained to
pathetic sectionalism, very different
from that unselfish sectionalism in
which our forefathers loved the South
for what the South could do for the
nation and the world If you ask me
how this situation could have been
avoided | cannot answer, but | know
that we have suffered sadly for it and
that we must in some way get free to
think outside ourselves and be able to
sweep without sympathies a bigger
horizon if we are to develop great ma
tional usefulness.
"The Vital Questions.
"The ability of the Southern people
to maintain national influence will find
its severest test in our own local civili-
cation. We cannot take a big part