Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-07-01

world knows, and It is probable that most OF
the country thinks of it as a businessrm N aed
common sense and sound finance.
All of these things it has. and all OF them
will be duly illustrated in the coming ceiepra-
tons. But in addition to that, Missouri Will
be revealed as a state with a romantic PAST
and vivid imaginative consciousness Oh u, Al M
of its story will be told in pageants and IN
local histories. Missourians will be taught 10
sec themselves as the descendants of an heroic
race. holding soil for which men nave oareo
and died. .s
That, of course. is the way any people should
think of itself. 1t should nave a nasionat Vo
the past. A man should think OF himself, not
as a being isolated. in space and time. put as
part of a long and interesting romance.
Merely to know the vague outlines of nat
ional history is not enough. A man should know
intimately the story OF the SOIL on wnicn ne is
born and lives, and the part of his own fore
bearers played on it. National heroes and re-
mote events are hard to grasp, but the aolns
of your own flesh and blood, and the things
vivid to. you and give you a new perspective
on life.
There is perhaps no country in the. world
which is so devoid of this historical conscious
the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, set forth IN
dull histories, and taught to sleepy scnool chill
dren, is all We have.
cut and dried which captures the popular I'M
agination. In every other civilized country MS
tory has been made forever real to the people
in great work of art-dramas, novels, poems,
songs. Think of any period of British that you
please, and you can also find a great story aRoI.
It. in prose or verse. The life of the British
people has been immortaliZed by great artists
from Chaucer to Thackeray. The same IS true
of France and of Germany, and or the Sca rnoi
works of art, these countries have FOLK tales, pal
lads, songs, many of them of unknown origin,
that carry the national story ana siaoitlons y
generation to generation.
What has the United States to compare WIN
this? Its story has been short: put one Oh T II
100 .tr;Eino in tho history of the race. IHe
Revolutionary War produced nothing worthy 10
be called a great work of art. we nave noun,
ing left of that great epoch save a canned ana
somewhat ridiculous school book version OF II,
in which George Washington is represented as
a tin saint, and the causes OF the troupte "
all obscured. It's emotions and color, It's hu-
man values, are lost forever. Only art can pre-
serve these.
The civil War was a vastly more significant
human event than the Revolution, and we have
nothing to remember 1t by except a Few pad
melesiramas, and a few novels, most OF whlch
are not much better. .
re exploration and conquest Of the West 1s
one Of the most thrilling and astonishing Things
in human history. It. has not produced a s shasn
literature of paper back novels ana masazine
stories has been written about it. which Is one
long Justification, containing nothing OF the real
quality Of pioneer life. Buffalo Bits Wlld west
show, perhaps, is the nearest thing to a work OF
art that the western movement proauced, .h,s
country a certain consciousness of its literary
poverty. Critics tell us that we are having a
literary AWAKENING. N thO y 'CoN
of historical p~ageants is a part OF TINS AWAKEN.
ing. Missouri, perhaps without intending TO 40
SO, is contributing her share to this lnteilectuar
renascence by digging up and celebrating hef
own history. For the stuff which all OF these
local historians and pageant writer's will bring
to light is the raw material of art, and the IN
the artist when he comes along.
Missouri's Stirring Past.
Missouri surely offers him a great and unused
opportunity. Missouri is the heart OF America,
and the Mississippi, which marks its border, Is
Americas great aorta. All OF tne taree sr new
continent had been subdued, Missouri became
down this great river and explored, only a rev
generations ago, over the ground where MIS-
souri's farms and cities are today. De Soto, La
Sale, Lewis and Clark, the Boones-such is the
succession OF heroes VINO FOUND me ha1t WY W. th he
continent had been subduel, missouri pecanie
the starting point for the exploration and con-
quest of the western half. independence, now a
quiet suburb of Kansas City, was long the start
ing point for the Santa Fe trail, by which the
Yankee and Spanish parts of America We're con-
nected. This road, over which for half a century
a great commerce was carried on IN wagons,
opened up the southwest and led to the Mexican
War. Thousands Of Missourians travelled over
it, In fact, it is doubtful If any state in the
Union furnished moro Of the pioneers for the
conquest and settlement of America west OF the
great" river. Missourians fought the Mexican
War, too, for Kearney's command was made up
largely of them. A Missourian in those days
was a very distinctive kind OF man. famous IIr
lous command over the reluctant mule and the
deadly rifle. Tn from Missouri and you gotta
show me" originated back in those days. Inose
hardy gentlemen who cleaned up the buffalo
and kicked the red man off the prairie were
(most OF whose parents came from MissourD
made. up a large part Of the band of pioneer
cattlemen who brought up the hrst longhorn
herds from Mexico, and made the first long
drives to the COW towns of lurid memory on the
Missouri river. -.
There is no room here to describe the crucial
part Missouri played in the Civil War, nor the
part she has played since the industrial and po-
litical life of the country. Every great national
event has affected her. No state has a story
more significant, nor more typically American.
SIissouri may well be proud to tell 1T to the.
world.