The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-08-27
GOING DOWN INTO THE
WELLS.

| GOING DOWN INTO THE
WELLS.
It is a pleasing and gratifying
thought that the Knights Of Co.
,umbus are to publish a real Amer
lean history. This implies much
more than appears on the surface
In fact, with writer's Of history.
more so than with authors Of 9TH
er text books, the rule seems to
lave been to take up few books.
;e-arrange the order, juggle the
Facts, fit them to suit prejudice,
vhim or popular fancy, breathe
over the mixture a new literary
style, and then send the product
forth as a new "history.'' The re-
suit of all this has been that the
country is flooded today with a
mass of perfectly useless and
worthless compilations that are
placed in the hands of youth and
lge as guides to the deeds OF our
,,orefathers. Both Church and
State have suffered from this ri
liculous, but tragic, method.
Now, the average writer on his
;orical subjects seems to be abso-
.utely unaware that there is such
1 thing as the art of historical
criticism, an art that has it's rules
md principles the same as any
other art or science. Such writ
ers evidently never heard Of this
art: they are like many writer's of
poetry who did not know that
such an animal as Prosody exists.
Not few Of our Catholic writers
Ire also in this class, as their elu-
cubrations fully attest.
Will the X. Of G.. committee Sc.
lect real historians for their colos-
,al and necessary work, or will
they choose men we'll known as
aovelists, poets or newspaper writ
ers? There is only one way to
sell the truth, and that is to pre-
sent truthful facts. Likewise,
there is but one way to write his
cory, and that is to give truthful
facts, not the say-so Of this or that
author. Finally, there is but a
single method to be pursued in OBJ
tanning those facts, and that is to
consult original sources, which
means the original documents,
manuscripts and records of all
kinds.
America has hitherto produced
few, very few real historians of
this class. Supreme in this order,
especially as regards Catholic
American history, was the late Ia
mented Martin I. j. Griffin, of
Philadelphia. Endowed with a
natural aptitude for such research,
he spent over fifty years in pains
taking Investigations Of strictly
original sources. To him a state
ment or alleged fact that could
not produce original evidence as
20 it's authenticity was a thing to
be suspected. Following this gen.
uine historical principle, he wrote
many volumes of priceless value
but the unusual method especial.
ly in this country Of seeking fol-
truth in the well Of truth, and not
in poisond springs, brought him
but slight appreciation during his
lifetime. Now that he has depart
ed, his full worth is understood
with most of his books out of
print today.
A letter from his son, DR.. w. L.
J. Griffin, informs us that his
father left a very large amount of
historical data-al facts CLEANED
in lifetime of scrupulous inves-
tigation Of original sources, every
thing fully and completely docu-
mented. Here is mine Of pure
gold whence the K. Of G. commit.
tee well might draw the very ma
terial that will serve their purpose
to a great extent, and that they
doubtless will fail to find else
where. We have seen tentative
list of writer's proposed for this
great history. Judging from their
established fame, one would say
that as historians they are excel
lent journalists and novelists.
Surely are the chiefs of the x
of c. fully aware Of all this need
in their forthcoming work. In
fact, their aim is precisely to undo
the harm wrought by so many
sciolists in the past who have
served up to a famished public
lcleverly garnished dishes of break.
fast food, when the mass Of read