The Columbus dispatch., 1921-11-20
u. D. C. TO GIVE
AN ESSAY MEDAL
STUDENTS 10 WRITE ON
LIFE OF JEFFERSON
DAVIS
INTEREST SHOWN
Light To Ee Thrown On
Achievements OF The Great
President OF The Con-
federatc States.

A committee from the Stephen d.
Lee Chapter, United Daughters of
the Confederacy, composed of Mrs.
Battle X. Sessums, who is a member
of the State Historical Committee;
Mrs. Horatio F. Simrall, the state
vice-president, and Mrs. T. O. Burris.
for number of years treasurer Of
the local chapter, attended chapel ex-
ercises at the Stephen d. Lee High
School on Thursday morning and pre-
sented the subject to the student
body of interest to lovers of history,
md dear to the hearts of those who
revere the cause for which the Con-
federates offered their all.
Mrs. Sessums told in a few words
of the Essay Contest to be taken part
in by all high school students, the re-
ward for the prize essay being gold
medal offered by the state division,
the winner to present the essay in
person at the state convention to be
held next May, the expense Of the
trip to be borne by ,nc U. D c. of
Columbus.
The "Year Book compiled by the
historian of the State Division, Mrs.
w. NJ. Jones, of Hattiesburg, is an
attractive booklet that contains the
subjects for discussion each month.
Suggestions are printed on each page,
taking up the life of President Jeffer-
son Davis from childhood to his de-
clining days.
In promising her remarks, with re-
ference to the prize essay contest,
Mrs. Sessums said:
"The greater part of the history of
the United States, in the last half of |
the nineteenth century, was filled with
errors about our Southland, covering !
the period of the war between the |
states and the reconstruction period, |
due to ignorance of facts and condi- |
tions, or to prejudice; but | am glad
to say with the. dawn of the twen-
tieth century, these mistakes have in .
measure been modified. The Unit,
cd Daughters of the Confederacy wish /
to place Southern history in it's right .
light by insisting that unbiased his
torians be given place in our public
schools, and that more time be given
to the study of Confederate history.
The loyalty of the South to the re-
stored union cannot be questioned, as
was plainly shown when the United
States went to war against Spain in
1898, and when the flower of her
young manhood went across the sea
to make the world safe for democ-
racy in the late World War; for the
winning of that titanic conflict was
largely made possible by our own
Southern boys, And so, while we love
the one, we should revere the other,
and keep alive in our hearts the beau
tiful traditions of the Old South"
The subject chosen for the Stephen
ID. Lee High School is, Jefferson ,
Davis, Secretary of War"
Another medal is also offered by
Mrs. L. n. Dantzler, of Biloxi, also a
member of the historical committee,
for eighth grade pupils of Mississippi
schools This will be contested for on
the subject, "School Days Of Jeffer- {
son Davis" \
1t is hoped that the pupils in the
schools of the Magnolia State will ,
enter enthusiastically and studiously
into the spirit Of this essay writing. /
With such a transcendent subject as
jefferson Davis upon which TO write,
the best that is in the cssayists '
should be brought out. Turning the {
spotlight of history upon the i'm
mortal Jefferson Davis we find that he
Continued on Page Five.l