The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-04-12

Day In the SOuth'S History and the
Heroic Assertion of Anglo-SaxOn
Love for Law, Order and the Safety
OF Home and F'amily-It is q Tri-
umph Of Moving Picture Making,
But it's Real Greatness is its Fidel-
ity to the Verities of History.
+ The Birth Of Nation. the greatest
historic moving picture drama ever
produced, was presented in the Opera
House five times last week to aud
fences that filled it almost to it's
seating capacity at each performance.
The Birth Of a iS..ion is not a ro-
mantle drama, ncr a historical novel
picturized. but the history o. the most
momentous period Of the South, re-
produced with all the vivianess OF
reality and an accuracy Of detail that
brings back to the men and women
of the older generation. who lived
through those trying and desperate
days. the heart throbs and the heart
aches OF the bloody years of war and
tho darker and more hopeless years
OF reconstruction.
The years that have passed so
swiftly in the rebuilding of the South
ION the ruins of a proud and opulent
industrial system that had been the
labor Of the hearts. hands and brains
|of q proud and cultured people from
colonial days to the great war, have
Ito a great measure healed the wounds
and calloused the scars left by the
weapons Of honorable enemies on the
field Of battle, and by the talons Of
the horde Of harpies that over-ran
this section after Appomattox. But
the tale of those days is history and
the wrongs the South endured. the
expressions its people suffered and
the outrages inflicted upon them by
those who were temporarily in power
and who used that power with a vim
hictiveness and malicious cruelty
unexampled in the history Of the Eng
lish speaking people. can never be
forgotten. though it may be the Chris
tian and patriotic duty Of Southerners
TO forgive the oppressors Of the South.
The Birth of Nation is so true to
history that 1t is an epic Of the re-
generation of q down-trodden people
and the re-est.ablishment of q racial
lcivilization, when all but pride Of race
And the unbreakable courage Of the
Anglo-Saxon had been lost-even
| when hope Of better days in the fu-
Iture had all but been abandoned. To
the North and its people the Birth Of
|al'Nation may be a revelation. or some
OF the historically ignorant may even
regard 1t as an exaggerated romance,
but to the South 1t is a wonderfully
impressive and deeply touching re-
cital of story that is the proudest
heritage Of the race. The Birth Of q
Nation shows how people and q
country lifted themselves from dark
ness into light by their own exertions
and by their fearless and desperate dis
regard Of every personal danger in
tho defense Of their women, their
homes and their civilization.
The older people know the story
from sad personal experience, those
OF middle age, have faint childhood
recollections Of the dark days that
tried mems souls and have heard
from the lips Of their parents what
reconstruction and it's terrors meant.
But the children of today know moth
Ing and have heard little of the de-
tails Of that darkest page in the his
tory Of their State-our people have
turned their faces toward the light
and since Wade Hampton's day and
the strenuous times Of 1875 and 1878
have tried to forget and forgive the
many wrongs they suffered and have
not Impressed upon their children the
fact that their fathers and grand
Iatners paid a great price for the
peace and safety that this State now
enjoys. Therefore it is we'll that
such delineation Of the story, as is
presented In Griffith's great film
should be seen by all the younger gen.
Grafton of the South. The picture will
refresh the memories and recall old
dangers braved. perilous adventures
undertaken and worthy achieve
ments to the minds Of the Cenfeder-
ate veterans and the survivors Of the
ku Klux Klan and they will be in
spired to recite the tale to their grand
children. The picture rightly inter-
nrQfn6 ho