M s 1 'IX.'- • i m i « ¦,.y m M t« Vt I i \ / J«. -^ (> II* ' ^ J * \ > 1/ w ^ ^ . ¦* - ..O':- » J * ^ J u .' vv V > ; / I r u lc~P^ "i give the ft Books I for the founding of a ColUgi in this Colony' Bought with the income of the Junior Promenade Committee, Class of 1897, Fund History of the Literary and Intellectual Life of the South VOLUME VII EDITOR-IH-CHIEF JOHN BELL HEimEMAN, M. A., Ph. D., Late Professor of English Literature, University of the South. CONTRIBUTORS GENERAL INTRODUCTION WILLIAM PETBRPIELD TRENT, LL.D., D.C.L., formerly Professor of English Literature, University of the South ; Professor of English Literature, Columbia University ; author of English Culture in Vir ginia, History of American Literature, etc. INIELLEOTUAI. TENDENCIES IN TEE SOUTH JAMES HAMPTON KIRKLAND, Ph.D., LL.D., D.C.L., Chancellor of Vanderbllt University, Nashville, Tenn. CHAEACTEBISTICS OF SOUTHERN POETRY FROH THE BEGINNING TO 1865 HENRY NELSON SNYDER, Litt.D., LL.D., President of Wofford Col lege, Spartanburg, S. C. SOUTHERN POETRY SINCE THE WAR OF SECESSION EDWIN MIMS, M.A., Ph.D., Professor of English Literature, Trinity College, and editor South Atlantic Quarterly. THE FOLK-LORE OF THE SOUTH ARTHTTE HOWARD NOLL, LL.D., Lecturer on Anthropology, etc.. Uni versity of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. THE SbUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATION'S WIT AND HUMOR GEORGE FREDERICK MELLEN, A.M., Ph.D., formerly Professor of Greek and History, University of Tennessee ; now of the Knoxville Sentinel. HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE SOUTH COLYER MERIWETHER, Ph.D., Secretary of Southern History Asso ciation, and editor Publications of Southern History Association. CONTRIBUTORS. ENGLISH STUDIES IN THE SOUTH JOHN BELL HENNEMAN, M.A., Ph.D., Late Professor of English Litera ture, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLASSICAL STUDIES CHARLES FORSTER SMITH, A.M., Ph.D., Professor of Greek and Classi cal Philology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS IN ANTE-BELLUM SOUTH ULBICH BONNELL PHILLIPS, A.M., Ph.D., Professor of History, Tulaue University, New Orleans, La. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTION TO MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY SAMUEL MARX BARTON, A.B., Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, Uni versity of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES FRANCIS PRESTON VENABLE, Ph.D., D.Sc, LL.D., President of Uni versity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL HISTORY SAMUEL McCUTCHEN BAIN, A.E., Professor of Botany, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY HENRY CLAY WHITE, Ph.D., D.C.L., LL.D., Professor of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SOUTH TO THE CHARACTER AND CULTURE OF THE NORTH H. IRVING BROCK, Editorial Staff of New York Times. CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEW ENGLAND TO THE SOUTH'S CULTURE GEORGE FREDERICK MELLEN, A.M., Ph.D., formerly Professor of Greek and History, University of Tennessee ; now of the KnoxMlle Sentinel. LOUISIANA: HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LITERATURE OF THE UNITED STATES ALCEE PORTIER, Litt.D., Professor of Romance Languages, Tulane Uni versity ; author of Louisiana Folk Tales; History of Louisiana. LAW WRITERS OF THE SOUTH M. HERNDON MOORE, A.B., LL.B., Professor of Law, Univerjltv of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C. • c INFLUENCE OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF THE SOUTH JOSHUA WILLIAM CALDWELL, A.M., Lecturer on the Laws and Con stitutional History of Tennessee, University of Tennessee i author of The Bench and Bar of Tennessee. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MEDICINE AND SURGERY ROBERT MADISON SLAUGHTER, M.D., Memher Virginia State Board of Medical Examiners; Treasurer Medical Society of Vireinia • author of An Historical Sketch of Medicine and Surgery in Virginia'. viii THE SOUTH in the Building of the Nation HISTORY OF THE :^^ SOUTHERN STATES DESIGNED to RECORD the SOUTH'S PART in the MAKING of the AMERICAN NATION; to PORTRAY the CHARACTER and GENIUS, to CHRONICLE the ACHIEVEMENTS and PROG RESS and to ILLUSTRATE the LIFE and TRADITIONS of the SOUTHERN PEOPLE VOLUME VII COMPLETE IN TWELVE VOLUMES Ty^eSOUTHERN HISTORICAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY RICHMOND, VIRGINIA COPYRIGHT^ 1909 BY THE SOUTHERN HISTORICAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY Manufactured by L. H. Jenkins Richmond, Va. HISTORY OF THE Literary AND Intellectual Life OF THE Southern States. CONTRIBUTORS. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSIC HUGER WILKINSON JERVBY, M.A., Professor of Greek, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. THE SOUTHERN PRESS NORMAN WALKER, Associate eclitor of New Orleans Times Democrat, New Orleans, La. SOUTHERN MAGAZINES EDWIN MIMS, M.A., Ph.D., Professor of English Literature, Trinity College, Durham, N. C. ; editor South Atlantic Quarterly. SOUTHERN EDITORS GEORGE FREDERICK MELLEN, A.M., Ph.D., formerly Professor of Greek and History, University of Tennessee. SOUTHERN LIBRARIES EDWIN WILEY, B.A., M.A., formerly Assistant Librarian and Assistant in English, Vanderbilt University ; now in the Library of Congress. SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES COLYER MERIWETHER, Ph.D., Secretary Southern History Associa tion, and editor of Publications of Southern History Association. THE LITERARY AND INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO H. I. BROCK, Editorial Staff of the New York Times. CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII. GENERAL INTRODUCTION xv INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES OF THE SOUTH. I. Material Development xxxiil II. Educational Progress xxxv III. Literature and History xxxvili IV. Intellectual Independence xl CHAPTER I CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHERN POETRY FROM THE BEGIN NING TO 180D. Southern Poetry of the Colonial Period 1 Poetry of the Revolutionary Period 5 Poetry After the Revolution 6 Southern Poets and their Poetry up to 1865 8 CHAPTER II SOUTHERN POETRY SINCE THE WAR OF SECESSION. Poets of the War of Secession 25 Later Poets and their Poetry 31 CHAPTER III THE FOLK-LORE OF THE SOUTH. The South Rich in Folk-Lore 55 Polk-Lore of the Indians 61 Folk-Lore of the Negro 64 CHAPTER IV THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATION'S WIT AND HUMOR 73-8T CHAPTER V HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE SOUTH 88-114 CHAPTER VI ENGLISH STUDIES IN THE SOUTH 115-134 CHAPTER Vn THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLASSICAL STUDIES. The Work of Universities and Professors 136 Schools and Schoolmasters 160 CONTENTS. CHAPTER Vin ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS IN THE ANTE-BELLUM SOUTH. Theoretical and General Economics 1J4 Agriculture | J^ Mining, Manufactures, Transportation and Commerce 177 Labor 179 Negroes JgJJ Slavery }%~ Social Surveys :[°° Political Essays ; Theoretical 1°^ Constitutional Construction JJ-; Party Politics 39^ Sectionalism l^*" CHAPTER IX THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MATHEMATICS AND AS TRONOMY 200-220 CHAPTER X THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTION TO PHYSICAL SCIENCE. Contributions in Chemistry 222 Contributions in Physics 231 CHAPTER XI THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL HISTORY. Naturalists of the Earlier and Later Periods 240 Geological Surveys 253 CHAPTER XII THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY 259-268 CHAPTER XIII CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SOUTH TO THE CHARACTER AND CULTURE OF THE NORTH. Beginning of Southern Influence upon Northern Culture 272 Influence of Environment 276 Southern Influence in the North Since the War 278 Special Contributions to Literature and Science 283 CHAPTER XIV CONTRIBUTIONS OF NEW ENGLAND TO THE SOUTH'S CULTURE. Early Influences 296 In the Educational Field 298 CHAPTER XV LOUISIANA'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITERATURE OP THE UNITED STATES. French Poetry in Louisiana 317 French Literary Societies . . 319 English Literature in Louisiana 321 CHAPTER XVI THE LAW WRITERS OF THE SOUTH. Distinguished Southern Law Writers 327 Contributions of Southern Law Writers !!!!!!. 337 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII THE INFLUENCE OP THE BENCH AND BAR UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND CULTURE. Influence of Southern Lawyers 341 The Lawyers in Literature S47 The Lawyers and the Aristocracy 3'1 7 Influence upon Culture 352 The Lawyers and Religion 354 CHAPTER XVni THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROGRESS OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. Contributions to Medical Science and Literature 35G In the War of Secession 36S Since the War 369 CHAPTER XIX THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSIC. 1732-1800 372 1800-1861 380 Opera in New Orleans 386 Two Great Composers 389 Negro Music 392 Patriotic Songs 395 The Present 397 Institutional Work 400 CHAPTER XX THE SOUTHERN PRESS. Characteristics 402 Early Journalism 405 Colonial Press Conservative 409 Journalism In the Southern Colonies and States 409 Date of Establishment o£ Leading Southern Newspapers 426 Journalism and Literature 427 The Press and Industrial Development 430 CHAPTER XXI SOUTHERN MAGAZINES 437-469 CHAPTER XXII SOUTHERN EDITORS 470-483 CHAPTER XXni LIBRARIES IN THE SOUTHERN ^STATES. Early History .' 485 Destruction During the War 500 Progress Since the War 501 CHAPTER XXIV SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. Early History 511 After the War of Secession 513 Special Aid of Southern Associations and Institutions 514 CHAPTER XXV THE INTELLECTUAL AND LITERARY PROGRESS OF THE NEGRO. The Negro Characteristics and Progress 524 Negro Schools and Institutions 537 xiii INTEODUCTION TO VOLUME VII. T is a matter for deep regret that the general introduction to the three vol umes of this work which treat specifi- ^'^(gC cally of the literary and intellectual de- ''-^^ velopment of the South should not have been written by the editor to whom they were in trusted. No other Southerner of this generation was better fitted than the late Professor Henneman, through sympathy, training, and knowledge, to view our literary past iu proper perspective, to estimate adequately our current production in all depart ments of literature and scholarship, and to give the encouragements and cautions likely to be of serv ice to those neophytes of the present who bid fair to become the trained writers and scholars of the future. And apart from his admirable general equipment Professor Henneman was uniquely quali fied to furnish an introduction to these volumes be cause he occupied toward them the position of an architect toward a building. He conceived the edi fice as a whole, and it may be almost literally said that he drew the plan of every apartment. Unlike an architect, he would have joined himself to the workmen he had selected and would have made him self responsible for the construction of more than one integral portion of the work he had planned. This was not to be, but the task he left unfinished has been carried on to completion in the spirit with which he began it, and, as far as possible, along the lines he traced. It is no part of an introducer's duty to attempt to forestall judgments ; but I think that in view of the XVI INTEODUCTION. fact that I have no personal responsibility for the chapters that follow, I may venture to point out how thoroughly they cover the field of Southern litera ture, and how excellently, in some cases, they sup ply information that will be vainly sought elsewhere. Setting aside the volumes devoted to fiction and ora tory, and considering only the papers of historical and critical quality which constitute a cooperative history of the South 's intellectual development, we are first impressed by the fact that the range of Southern literary, scientific, and broadly philosophi cal efforts is far wider than the outside world or most Southerners seem to have thought. The section has always been noted for its orators, and since the war enough Southern men and women have won reputations by their novels and short stories to make the term "Southern Fiction," both intelligible to the average reader and useful rather than amusing to the student. The phrases "South ern Poetry" and "Southern Poets" also find their way into textbooks and essays on American litera ture, but they scarcely carry much definite meaning for the reader, and one is sometimes inclined to won der whether the knowledge and tastes of the pro fessors and critics who employ them might not fairly be described as prevailingly geographical. Yet Poe, Timrod, Hayne, and Lanier form a group that is both distinct and important, and, even though we should consent — as we would not — to pass over in silence their minor contemporaries, we ought to re member that the South to-day can boast of as many true poets as any other section can. This is not the day, and perhaps America thus far is not the coun try of truly great poets; but surely one of the best ways to speed the coming of great poets is to give reasonable encouragement to such poets as we have and, if Southerners do not specially encourage their INTEODUCTION. xvix own versifying compatriots, it is quite certain that these servants of the Muses will receive scant con sideration in other quarters. A recent manual of American literature, the hospitable catholicity of which verges in some respects upon the ridiculous, does not include in its elaborate index any reference to Eandall and his "Maryland, My Maryland," or to Father Eyan, Dr. Ticknor, and Irwin Eussell among the dead, or to Father Tabb and Mr. Madison Cawein among the living. The two chapters in the present work which deal with Southern poetry are, I submit, neither superfluous nor unduly sectional. Even less superfluous are the chapters devoted to science and scholarship, to the professions, and to the arts other than literature. The notion that the Southerner of the old regime was little more than a gentleman of charming maimers and old-fashioned culture has taken such root in the popular mind that but few Southern names not connected with public life or with service in the War of Secession have become familiar to the entire nation. One or two eminent surgeons, a few writers on scientific sub jects like Maury and the Le Contes, an occasional editor and professor may be exceptions, more or less, to this general statement ; but the fact remains that the South is considered by many to have been a negligible factor in the intellectual development of the country. The most versatile and prolific man of letters produced by what we call the Old South, William Gilmore Simms, has often been confused with the gallant commander of the Alabama. The accomplished historian of Louisiana, Charles Ga- yarr^, escapes notice in books that would certainly have mentioned him if he had treated a New England theme. Not one man in a hundred has any idea of the part played by Southern physicians who have settled in New York. To most persons the elective XVIII INTEODUCTION. system is a Harvard discovery and emphasis upon English studies a matter of yesterday; but the Southerner who is at all interested in such matters smiles and recalls the name of Thomas Jefferson. It would be idle, of course, to suppose that this state of affairs is due entirely to sectional preju dice and conceit on the part of our fellow Americans. Neither the Old South nor the New can fairly be said to have rivalled New England and the Middle States in contributing to the intellectual develop ment of the nation, nor have Southern writers been discreetly zealous in making known what their sec tion has actually accomplished. If less had been claimed for Poe by the South, more would already have been granted him by common consent. If the historical societies and the colleges and universities of the South had been as active in research and pub lication during the past forty years as they have been during the past ten, the culture history of the section would be far better known to the country at large. It is no reflection on the South to make this statement, for it is only of late that the much har- rassed region has attained the degree of social and economic stability that is requisite to scholarly pro duction upon an extensive scale. But it would be unfair to dwell upon the world's ignorance and neg lect of Southern achievements — to which Southern ers are supposed to be peculiarly sensitive — without bearing in mind our own backwardness in chroni cling what we have performed. It is the aim of these volumes to remove as far as may be this reproach ; and, when the following chap ters are duly weighed and are considered in connec tion with those upon education and the fine arts in cluded in another division of the work, it would seem that at least adequate materials have been gathered to enable all who are interested in Southern culture INTEODUCTION. xix to make a fair estimate of its breadth and depth. How far a cooperative enterprise on a large scale stimu lates and directs interest in such matters remains an open question ; but there can be little doubt that henceforward historians, essayists, and critics, whether Southern or not, will draw upon the infor mation here gathered and will devote greater atten tion to the part played by the section in the intel lectual life of America. Through these writers, as well as through students and readers of the vol umes so generously planned, the public will in time be reached, and the misconceptions and prejudices which now exist will be slowly dissipated. To have contributed to this salutary result, it will be seen, entitles many men and women of the New South to the gratitude not only of their fellow Southerners, but of their fellow Americans ; and the fact that so many competent contributors could have been se cured for this undertaking is one of the best proofs that can be given of the widespread intellectual activity of the Southern people at the present time. The points I have been making might be illus trated from almost any of the chapters that consti tute this volume; but two or three may be selected to serve my purpose. The chapter on English Stud ies in the South, which in the main Professor Henneman contributed originally to The Sewanee Review, will convince any reader that the South yields to no other section in the part it has played in one of the most important and interesting educa tional movements that have taken place in this coun try. The emphasis that has been laid of late years upon the study of English in our schools and colleges is not merely a sign of our modernity and our utili tarianism, as a people, nor is it a fact of pedagogical importance only. It is in large measure a result of social conditions incident to democratic expansion XX INTEODUCTION. in a new and uneonfined country, and it has been an important factor in the assimilation, through educa tion, of large masses of our alien population. But the South is popularly supposed to have been the home of the aristocrat, not of the democrat, and your Southern gentleman is depicted as an inveterate quoter of Horace and Virgil and an incontinent con temner of the vernacular literature, at least of most English books written since the days of Dr. Johnson and of all American writings whatsoever. Yet, if we turn to Dr. Henneman 's chapter what do we dis cover? Certainly that here, as almost everywhere, the extraordinarily creative and far-seeing mind of Thomas Jefferson is to be found working, and that in a real sense he may be regarded as the pioneer of systematic English studies in America. We find also that perhaps the most important concerted and plainly effective impetus given in the last generation to English study and teaching in this country is to be credited to a Southern scholar and teacher — ^not a writer of textbooks but a maker of teachers — Pro fessor Thomas Eandolph Price, incumbent of the chairs of Greek and English in Eandolph-Macon Col lege, Virginia. Greek and English! the conjunction is auspicious and not fortuitous. A great teacher thoroughly im bued with the spirit of the ancient classics, not merely a walking respository of dead learning, in terprets the literattire of his own race to yoimg men eager to upbuild the shattered social fabric of their native section, and under his inspiration and instruc tion a body of trained teachers of English goes forth to labor, not in the South alone but throughout the Union, goes forth to train up teachers who in their turn shall pass on the torch of scholarship to gen erations yet unborn. No small work this, and the man who deserves most credit for it was honored INTEODUCTION. xxi for his own scholarship by one of our great univer sities and for his character by all who knew him; yet the far-reaching effects wrought by him, being intangible, have never been understood by the pub lic, and his name, xmsupported by a monument of scholarship, will abide with us only in the event of the development of a greater interest in the things of the mind and of a more discriminating spirit of gratitude than a democracy is likely to exhibit. Such, however, has always been the fate of men who have not worked in permanent materials or exploited their own personalities in a dazzling and dominating way. It is almost idle to regret that human nature is what it is, but it is not idle to emphasize the South 's part in the spread of vernacular culture — the work of Price, of Lanier, of Baskervill, of Henneman, — or to express the hope that in the fu ture as in the past this democratic culture will never be sharply separated from that aristocratic culture which is generated and fostered by continued study of the literatures of Greece and Eome. If I may judge from my own experience the men and women who know their classics, if only slightly, have an im mense advantage in all that concerns literature and humane scholarship over those who know their classics only through translations or not at all. Thus far the classical tradition, if I may so phrase it, has been less questioned in the South than in any other part of this country — ^whether or not this has in volved a truer study of the classics and not mere lip- service; and I cannot forbear expressing the belief that in their classical heritage Southerners possess an invaluable stimulus and aid to the production of a literature of permanent worth. Perhaps the very modern — and shall I venture to say very crude — literary standards and ideals of the country at large are destined to triumph in the South along with "up XXII INTEODUCTION. to date" business methods and amorphous political and social conceptions; but, until I am forced to acknowledge such a deplorable consummation, I shall cherish the hope that the South will maintain to a reasonable extent the old standards and ideals, and that the yoxmg country will come in time and as a whole to recognize that they should be cherished because they are valid, not discarded because they are old. How valid they have seemed to some of the choic est spirits of the South appears abundantly in the chapter which Professor Charles Forster Smith has written on "The South 's Contributions to Classi cal Studies." Professor Smith could not point to the fact that his own career admirably illustrates what the classics have done for Southern culture and character and what Southern scholars have done for the advancement of learning throughout the coun try; but he could dwell with just appreciation upon the prevalence of the classical tradition in the in tellectual life of his native section and he could point to an imposing line of eminent teachers of Greek and Latin the value of whose services it would be diffi cult to overestimate. This line practically begins with the founding of the University of Virginia ; for, modern though he was, Jefferson was too wise to rush in upon those paths of iconoclasm which some leading educationalists of our own day have so blithely trod. The advent of George Long as first professor of the classics in the new institution was one of the most important events in the educational history of the South. Eecognition of the classics as a great formative element in culture was part of the South 's heritage; but profound study of them in the light of continental scholarship might have been long delayed but for the coming of the English man and for his wise choice of Gessner Harrison as INTEODUCTION. xxiii his successor. Of the work of the latter and of the men he trained — work by no means confined to the higher institutions — it is needless for me to speak. Professor Smith has presented the facts without ex aggerating their import. It may not be amiss, how ever, for one whose studies, more by accident per haps than by choice, have lain in the modern field, to bear testimony to the inspiration he has received throughout his life from his contact with Southern men whose knowledge and love of the literatures of Greece and Eome has been as the breath of their being. To have been taught by Norwood and Price and Peters, to have known Gildersleeve and McCabe and Forster Smith and Bain has meant more to me than any of these accomplished scholars has ever suspected, and I trust that a century hence some teacher of English will be impelled, as I am now, to express his gratitude to the Southern successors of the men I have just named. There should be no rivalry, only the strongest bonds of comprehension and sympathy between students of the humanities whether old or new. This leads me to remember that history is, or at least always should be, one of the humanities, and that of late there has been great activity throughout the South in historical studies. The allied subjects of political theory and of economics have also received some attention, and, in view of the important part played in the nation's development by the older Southern statesmen, it is much to be hoped that the present interest in this broad group of studies, to which biography should be joined, will be main tained. Many of the ensuing chapters are them selves manifestations of this interest. The public should know more than it does about the Southern Literary Messenger and the reviews of the Old South, and it should encourage the men who are con- XXIV INTEODUCTION. ducting the few Southern periodicals of to-day. It should also not allow the achievements of such news papers as the Enquirer and Examiner of Eichmond and the Mercury of Charleston to become matters of vague memory, much as the names of their brilliant and once influential editors have become. It is not necessary that we should think and write as those journalists did, any more than that we should pro duce lawyers of the old time erudition and quaint charm. Our editors need not be fire-eaters, nor our statesmen reactionaries. Neither, on the other hand, need we forget our traditions and bend all our ener gies toward transforming ourselves into something that approximates the average American of some other section. It seems much more desirable that we should endeavor to comprehend what our fathers stood for, especially in all matters relating to self- government, then study calmly our own situation, and resolutely acknowledge and adopt the principles and policies that seem to be most consonant with our welfare. So far as my own studies allow me to judge, no other people or fraction of a people has a more admirable body of publicists from whose writ ings inspiration and guidance may be derived. That in many cases these statesmen and publicists of the South — Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Calhoun — are the nation's also is a fact for which neither the section nor the union can be too thank ful ; but there are not a few writers on public mat ters who are more distinctively sectional than na tional, Stephens and Davis, for example, whom the Southerner of to-day, and the American too for that matter, may study with great advantage. If I may be so bold as to express an opinion on a topic which has occupied me but little of late years, I should like to suggest that for lessons of constructive states manship the writings of the older Southern publi- INTEODUCTION. xxv cists are invaluable, while for lessons of definite and resolute policy the writings of the later group are almost equally instructive. The high ideals and the broad intellectual and imaginative sweep, to say nothing of the wholesome practicality of the Eevolu- tionary leaders and the Founders of the Union raise them to the highest place as exemplars, and I can not but think that their state papers form one of the most important sections of American literature, a section which we shall undervalue, if, as is too often done, we make originality of thought our prime de mand, instead of sound validity and wide applica bility. Our early statesmen undoubtedly owed much to the statesmen and publicists of England and France, but this fact does not lessen the practical value of their writings. One of the defects of our present comparative and evolutionary methods of study is the undue emphasis they give to originality and priority. On the other hand, we are all, men of thought and action alike, too prone to make mere success our standard of value, and judged by such a standard the writings of the later Southern pub licists must inevitably be foimd wanting, unless one is careful to define the meaning of success. Much that they did and wrote is certainly valueless save as a warning, but I must repeat that the definiteness and resoluteness displayed by them ought to stand the present generation of Southerners in very good stead. The South still has its great problem to solve, and in the performance of its task it needs the con structive wisdom of the founders and the definite ness and the resoluteness of thought and expression displayed by men who have been carefully excluded from certain lists of great American statesmen. Problems that are solved blindly and indirectly are often only half solved — if that. But I am getting into deep water, and I ought in- XXVI INTEODUCTION. continently to retreat toward the safe shores of literature. Yet no one more than your student en joys a plunge — that is an occasional plunge — in the ocean of life ; and after all, according to some critics, when one is dealing with literature, one is really dealing with life. That means, I suppose, that my shore is only an illusory one, and that I may as well continue to make myself as comfortable as I can in the waves. I proceed therefore, dropping my figures of speech, to observe that the master prob lem of the entire country seems to be to-day what it has always been, the problem of securing to every citizen equality of opportunity, that is to say, the problem of establishing a true democracy. This problem has been at no time near solution, and it has assumed varying aspects during different pe riods and in different sections of the country. At present we are chiefly inclined to envisage three aspects of it — the relations of capital and labor, the rights of the public to control combinations of capi tal, especially such as are invested in so-called natu ral monopolies, and the status of races and the two sexes. It is plain that every citizen of the United States is vitally interested in all these aspects or phases of our perennial and universal problem, yet that one aspect or phase is of peculiar moment to the people of the South. It is equally true, however, that each aspect is related with every other, and there is danger ahead for any section that isolates one aspect and treats it as though it were an integral and peculiar problem. It is for the Southern people of to-day and of the generations that follow to ask themselves whether they really understand the great problem that confronts every intelligent citizen of this country, whether they accept the meanings at tached by the other sections to the words democracy and citizenship, and whether, if they do not, they are INTEODUCTION. xxvii sufficiently trained in clear thought and expressi'^n and sufficiently bold, to make their political and so cial ideals prevail, certainly throughout the South, and perhaps throughout the country. This means, in the last analysis, that the leaders of Southern opin ion have a tremendous task before them which they must fail of accomplishing if they neglect to culti vate the entire group of the humane studies in the broadest sense of the term. History and literature, economics and sociology and the theory of politics and law must be studied by Southerners with in creasing devotion and acumen, and the lessons learned must be applied with ever-greater intelli gence and resolution if the section is to maintain its individuality and augment its prestige. In the light of this fact the inception and completion of the pres ent undertaking must be regarded as a phenomenon of unparalleled importance in the history of South ern publications. No such stock-taking, if I may use a commercial term, has ever been knovsm in the South before, and its beneficial results ought to be wide spread and lasting. One of the most interesting disclosures made by this stock-taking is described in Dr. George F. Mel- len's chapter, "Contributions of New England and the North to the South 's Culture." That the South owed not a little to Northern wealth and intelligence and energy was long ago known to all persons inter ested in Southern history, and the part played in Southern education by the Northern tutor or school master has been described in numerous books; but I doubt whether many readers of Dr. Mellen's chap ter will be able to affirm that it did not greatly deepen and widen their conception of the essential solidarity of the country. We of the South are not so peculiar a people as we suppose ourselves to be, and, fortunately, the more closely we scrutinize our- xxviii INTEODUCTION. selves the more we perceive that, save in certain re stricted circles of society in restricted areas, our characteristics natural and acquired are those of our fellow-Americans, at least of those who were born in the country. It is sometimes said that the South is really the most American part of America, and so far as con cerns intermixture of races this is probably true. It is also true in a measure so far as concerns ideas and institutions. No other section has of late shown such an interest in public education, and no idea is more distinctively American than the idea that every child within the borders of a state should receive at least the elements of the training that is needed for the making of good citizens. When we think of edu cation, we naturally think of schools and colleges as the institutions through which the idea of popular education is made effective; but the public library is a scarcely less important institution for the train ing of citizens, and it may almost be called a pecu liarly American institution. It was long before the library idea, so to speak, spread to the South, not because the people did not appreciate books, but be cause the structure of society and the distribution of wealth were not propitious to the founding and fostering of public libraries. Even in the Old South, however, there were good collections of books, as is shown for example in interesting monographs by Dr. Stephen B. Weeks and Professor Yates Snowden, and to-day Southern librarians feel that the cause for which they have so long been struggling is practically won. No great collection of books an swering the needs of scholars as well as those of the general public exists south of Washington, and so long as this is the case the South in a sense cannot be intellectually independent. But, as a matter of fact, America as a whole is still, in this sense, more INTEODUCTION. xxix or less dependent upon Europe, and there is reason to hope that in the course of time the cities and uni versities of the South will be able adequately to an swer the demands of Southern scholarship. Scholarship, however, though vastly important, is not so necessary to an expanding people as a grow ing body of creative literature which expresses that people's aspirations, which puts its thoughts into words. Has the South such a literature now? Is it likely to have one in the future? What are the best means to secure it? Answers to these questions are likely to vary ac cording to the temperaments and literary standards of the answerers. Some persons may even be inclined to doubt whether the South of 1909 has fulfilled the promise of the South of 1880-1890, the South of Cable and Page and James Lane Allen and Miss Murfree. Others may see in the work of this and that younger novelist and poet and particularly in the great increase in the number of men and women who are anxious to win literary distinction the promise of even greater achievements in the domain of letters than the section can yet boast of. It is really astonishing to observe how many volumes of fiction and verse and biography and history have been published by Southerners within the past five years, and it is pathetic also, for one shrewdly sus pects that a very large percentage of the writers paid for their own plates. Whether or not, however, this large literary product has been commercially profitable and whether or not the masterly books and writers have been very few in number, it re mains clear that, along with the South 's great awak ening to the need of popular education, the spread of public libraries, and the increased study of the section's past, there has developed throughout the XXX INTEODUCTION. South a spirit of literary activity unparalleled in the region except perhaps during the feverish and un settled years that followed the War of Secession. It is plain, I think, that the average quality of the books produced to-day is much higher than was the case between 1865 and 1870, and, as the South seems to be far more stable, economically, politically, and so cially than it was twenty years ago, to say nothing of the period of reconstruction, there seems to be no reason why a normal and healthy advance may not be expected along all the lines of literary production. How far the literature thus produced will be dis tinctively Southern, that is how far it will display qualities which will be at once recognized as not ex isting in the books written in other sections of this country is a question which only a rash critic would care to answer. There will doubtless be many novels and histories and biographies and even poems writ ten the scenes and themes of which will be Southern in some senses, yet the treatment may be American, nay for that matter British, and the question will remain how far they are truly Southern products, full of the distinctive features of Southern life and character, original in form, and fresh and new in spirit. In other words, we find ourselves confronted with the old question how far American literature really is American — a question which some critics have answered with more patriotic confidence than a calm analysis of the facts in the case seems to war rant. I have no desire to imitate them, but neither do I think it necessary or advantageous to exhibit traces of that spirit of colonialism which has done so much to retard our national emancipation with re gard to the things of the mind. It seems better to emphasize the advantage the South 's classical tradi tion ought to give its writers and to express the hope INTEODUCTION. xxxi that, when some future generation undertakes, in a work like the present, to survey the achievements of the section, the volumes devoted to literature will register a progress commensurate with all reason able wishes and expectations. William P. Trent, Professor of English Literature, Columbia University. New York, April 24, 1909. THE INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES OF THE SOUTH. 'HIS brief review is modest in aim and pur pose. It cannot be a history of achievement, nor is it a description of a stable condition of life ; it is merely a sketch of a passing phase in the development of a new civilization. It is but an ef fort to voice the thought of the present South, to in dicate the trend of its intellectual movements. It is significant that these movements are in line with the course of thought elsewhere manifested. The Old South had ideas and ideals of its own ; the present South shares the thought and life of the modern world. While the peculiar civilization of former days still challenges the admiration of many and possesses the sympathy of all, the present gen eration is busy with its own concerns and is fight ing its own battles. The South is no longer a prob lem, it is not even the home of a peculiar people. It shares the intellectual movements of the world and responds to the currents of universal history. It is true that there are remote rural and mountain sec tions that do not answer to these statements, but such sections are not typical. They are back eddies that testify to the strength of the current that has swept by them. Even the negro race, in its pro gressive elements at least, reflects the spirit of the times. The advanced negro of the new South is eager to learn, ready to change, willing to abandon his distinctive habits, dialect or physical peculiari ties. He is wiling to become a part of the larger life in which he moves and figures. INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xxxiii I. Material Development. Itwill be generally admitted that the initial impulse in the reshaping of modern thought has come from science. The results of this movement have been the discovery of a mass of new scientific truths, the application of these discoveries to practical life, and the adoption of a scientific method in every field of thought and research. All these influences have been and are at work in the South. It is true that the South has made small contribution to the achieve ments of scientific research, but the same statement may be made of America as a whole. But in apply ing the results of science to the materials of life and civilization the South has made and is making rapid progress. A large part of the intellectual activity of the South at present is concerned with the practi cal problems of a material civilization. It is easy to understand why this should be so. Poverty has been a stern but successful teacher. The war left the South desolate. Accumulated resources had been swept away, means of production destroyed, the labor sys tem overthrown, and the directing, controlling white population had been decimated. The first problem was that of existence. This was simple, but not easy. The soil furnished its contribution, but labor conditions made agricultural operations uncertain and unprofitable. The splendid beginnings of manu facture made between 1850 and 1860 had come to a violent end, and there was no capital to revive them. Opportunities for employment were so scant that the young men of the South moved westward in large numbers between 1865 and 1875. Those who re mained learned the details of every form of physical labor and turned their attention to every opportunity for the creation of wealth. Gradually the richness and abundance of natural resources was realized, slowly capital was accumulated and invested in all xxxiv INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. manner of industries. The decade between 1880 and 1890 marks the turning of the tide and the beginning of all industrial revival. Between 1890 and 1900 the movement had increased in volume and power and since 1900 has taken on dimensions that attract na tional attention and interest. This revival has been an intellectual as well as a material movement. It has been based on a study of natural conditions, an appreciation of scientific truth, an application of scientific achievements to all phases of life. It has been in the main the achievement of Southerners. Foreign capital played an inconspicuous part in its early beginnings. In recent years, since the indus trial movement has become general and profits well established, there has been an influx of funds from all directions seeking investment. There has been also an accession of capitalists and of skilled labor ers, and the tide of immigration is beginning to turn southward. This article is not intended for the recital of sta tistics, but we may be pardoned for just a few words by way of simimary. Manufacturing capital in the South in 1880 amounted to $250,000,000 ; in 1890, to $650,000,000; in 1900, to $1,150,000,000; and in 1908, to $2,100,000,000. The value of manufactures in 1880 was $450,000,000; in 1890, $900,000,000; in 1900, $1,145,000,000; and in 1908, $2,600,000,000. The di versity of these enterprises is also worthy of note. ¦While cotton mills and iron foundries furnish the largest items, we must not lose sight of the value of finished products in wool, in leather, in stone, marble, wood and metals. Agriculture is beginning to feel more than ever the quickening effects of a growing intelligence. In some respects the greatest present problem of the South is to elevate rural life, to make farming profit able and attractive — the expression of a higher cul- INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xxxv ture — to bring to its service the researches of chemis try, biology and physics. To this end a new educa tion is called for and not without hope of speedy realization. The farm products of the South had a value in 1880 of $660,000,000 ; in 1890, of $770,000,- 000; in 1900, of $1,270,000,000; and in 1908, of $2,220,000,000. II. Educational Progress. The intellectual life of the South is expressing it self further in educational work. This is the out growth of definite and prolonged effort on the part of many earnest leaders and workers. In part, it is the working of a law of self-interest, the recognition of an essential relation between knowledge and power, between education and material prosperity. In part it has progressed by the simple process of imitation from one community or state to another. In part, too, it is the expression of a deep sense of justice, an abiding conviction of right, a recognition of the obli gation of strength to weakness, an acceptance of the essential spirit of a true and genuine democracy. The forms of this educational work are manifold. Most important of all is the general system of public schools that has been developed in every Southern state since the war. At no time has this movement been so strong, so intelligent as now. Slowly the fight against illiteracy progresses. Year by year the figures indicating the percentage of illiterates lessen. Most notable has been the progress made by the negro race. Instead of more than 90 per cent, of illiterates at the close of the war, the records now show less than 50 per cent. Gifts of private socie ties or individual philanthropists have contributed to this result. Valuable as these have been, they would have been of little avail by themselves. The great results have been achieved through public tax- xxxvi INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. ation, through contributions made by every property holder in the South. These contributions are made without serious protest chiefly for the reason that they are felt to be right and just. The South is not acting so much through any far-sighted policy of self-interest as from a sense of present duty, a feel ing of distinct obligation toward a helpless and feeble race. Public schools in the South still lack much of reaching a satisfactory standard of efficiency, but the present outlook is encouraging. Since 1900 they show great improvement. Annual appropriations from every state are rapidly increasing. Still more rapid is the increase in revenues derived from local taxation. School terms are lengthening, buildings are improving. Teachers are bet ter trained, defects of school legislation are being corrected, proper supervision is now sought and sup plied, and interest in public education has assumed the proportions of a great popular movement. Of course, much remains to be done, but if the present rate of improvement continues for one or two de cades, startling results will be accomplished. The significance of recent educational movements is not merely in the results attained, but in the man ner by which these have been brought about. Local taxation springs from local appreciation of educa tion and indicates an advance in community life and thought. This has been stimulated by definite edu cational campaigns, fostered by the Southern Educa tion Board and other agencies. School improve ment associations have been organized in almost every Southern state, and these have helped to pro vide new school houses, better furnished and equipped; tidy grounds, libraries and other appa ratus. Educational interests have occupied much space in the public press and have taken an im- INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xxxvii portant place in political platforms. The public school system has won recognition as a great civic interest second to none in value or importance. Mention should be made of the extension of the educational movement into the field of scientific and technical instruction. Every state has builded on foundations laid by the Federal government and is planning large things for the future. This work has been influential in promoting the material develop ment of the South and is a most profitable invest ment. The undeveloped resources of the South call for the trained worker, the civil, mining, mechanical and electrical engineer. Textile schools now ac company the cotton mills, and overalls have become the symbol of intellectual training as well as the cap and gown. Colleges and imiversities were, in the olden days, the only educational institutions expressive of the intellectual life. To-day they share that function with others already mentioned, but they still main tain their primacy. Their work has greatly improved in character. Progress has been as rapid as funds permitted. The limitations of poverty are severe and imrelenting, but the struggle for higher life and thought goes bravely on. The South does not will ingly accept a position of intellectual inferiority. This is shown by the fight now nearing a successful issue for high scholastic standards of college en trance and for the maintenance of professional in struction on a plane equal to that adopted elsewhere. We must not claim too much here. But the whole truth includes ideals and efforts as well as realized results. The hopefulnes of the present situation may be seen in the character of college professors. Most of these are young men, specialists, with defi nite university training. They have not been en ticed by hope of material reward, for salaries are xxxviii INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. pitiably small; but they are inspired by a love of learning and a zeal for culture. They have ac quainted themselves with the thought movement of the world, are in touch with scholars in other sec tions, and are in sympathy with the tides of univer sal life. In thought they are free, in spirit they are broad and liberal. Academic freedom is no stranger to Southern institutions. Persecution for opin ion's sake would be an anachronism to-day. South- em sentiment is still conservative, but it is not tyrannical. Eecent educational movements have affected ma terially the training of Southern women. A few high-grade colleges for women have been established and most of the state universities have become co educational. The traditional type of Southern woman is changing. There are not wanting signs that women are more eager for training than men. The higher classes in public high schools enroll gen erally more girls than boys. Commercial life is opening many avenues of employment to women and some are even training themselves for professional service. Social life — even in the upper circles — ^has vague impulses toward intellectual attainment. Weekly clubs alternate Shakespeare with cards, so ciology with pink teas, and discussions on civic im provement with feminine fashion and gossip. Al together, the Southern woman is more intellectual than ever before, and this improvement has been of her own striving. No strong arm has aided her in this struggle; greater, therefore, is her credit and praise. m. Literature and History. Much has been written of the barrenness of the Old South in the field of literature. Whatever the cause, the fact is imdisputed, but the New South has done something to remove this reproach. It would INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xxxix be pleasant if one might trace these new literary per formances to the stimulus of literary work in college or university, but such an effort is not warranted by the facts. Undoubtedly colleges are giving an im proved training in English, a better appreciation of literature, a juster critical judgment, and this is helpful. Literature must have a soil, the singer an audience, the writer readers of discrimination and appreciation, and books when made must have pur chasers. In all these respects the South is improv ing and the literary movement already under way is not likely to die without permanent results. The South is rich in literary material, and not all of it has yet been exploited. Where the plowshare of war cut deepest, the first fruits of tradition and of story ought to grow. The burden of Southern sor row and suffering ought to elicit a burst of South ern song. The exuberance of traditional oratory might well be transformed into the more lasting measures of poetry. Even the presence of an alien race should add its picturesque touches and lighten the shadow it has cast over Southern life and his tory. And so we point with pride to the Southern writers that have appeared in the field of pure lit erature and we hope for still more worthy achieve ments in coming years. The work of Southern students and writers in the field of history is noteworthy. This has sprung out of a genuine patriotism and has been fostered by a desire to publish the truth. It is right that the South should tell its own story, provided always that it is told fairly and squarely. This task has been aided by college professors, by librarians, by public officials and by private students. Patriotic societies have celebrated all manner of anniver saries with addresses of varying merit. Leaders in the great War of Secession like Jefferson XL INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. Davis and Alexander H. Stephens have written their stories. Other leaders have had their biographies written for them. The Southern Historical Society has published a mass of material and has stimulated the establishment of dozens of similar societies in every state and in many cities and smaller communi ties. These in turn have collected and published a great number of studies and papers. A reference to Poole 's Index will show how freely the magazines have lent their pages to articles on Southern history. This work once begun has not been confined to the period of the war. It has been carried back into colonial times and into the earliest beginnings of our life as a nation. This is one of the most distinct in tellectual achievements of the New South. The task is not yet completed. Much remains for the coming generations and no time should be lost, for valuable material is perishing every year. To the credit of the Southern student be it said that he is not merely a laudator temporis acti. He is something of a critic. The Old South was not all good and the pres ent South has many failings. No good can come of unmerited praise. Accurate statements, true and just comparisons, frank confessions, mark the true historian, and the present school of Southern writ ers is striving to manifest these characteristics and wiU merit attention in so far as it succeeds. IV. Intellectual Independence. The present tendency of Southern thought is to ward intellectual freedom. This is, after all, the su preme test of intellectual life and movement. Wher ever thought is rife, wherever progress is real, wher ever opinions are sincerely formed as the result of intelligent processes of reasoning, there will result not a blind uniformity but a stimulating diversity of conclusions. Uniformity of opinion is the sign of INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xli stagnation, of indifference, of mental apathy or men tal slavery. For a long time the South has borne the charge of intolerance and unfortunately has too often deserved it. The solidarity of political action has had its counterpart in a certain solidarity of thought. Convictions have been the outgrowth of sentiment and prejudices as often as the deliver ances of reason. This solidarity has been something very distinct from provincialism. All people are more or less provincial. Environment colors life in its outward aspects everywhere. New England seems intensely provincial to the Westerner. The true Bostonian is a Brahmin. The New York jour nals reflect a self-poised, self-centered population, and the insularity of Great Britain is frequently noted by citizens of the world. In this sense the South has always been provincial. Its rural life, its plantation homes, its country churches, its musical accent, have been its own. Its hospitality to strangers and to friends, the occupations and amuse ments of its leisure hours, its oratory and its politi cal leadership have been among its peculiarities as a province. But all this is entirely distinct from that spirit of intolerance of which we now speak. Southern intolerance was not the result of blood or character. The South was the battleground of Whigs and Democrats, the home of English Cava liers and French Huguenots, and of the virile, inde pendent, self-reliant Scotch-Irish. Southern intol erance was the distinct legacy of slavery. It is not true that this has always and in all places been the result of such an institution. Quite the contrary. But the peculiarity of the situation in the South was that here slavery was to fight its last great battle. Here was a struggle protracted through many years to maintain itself against advancing enlightenment and a purer moral code. The length and bitterness XLii INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. of the fight attested the intellectual power, the re sourcefulness of the defendants. Gradually the voice of the South on this subject sounded as the voice of one man. The many who had no slaves echoed the sentiments of the few who had many. A cause essentially weak was strengthened by consider ations of personal liberty, of state rights, of sacred- ness of contract. So imperious became the domina tion of this one idea that Southern patriots gave up the national government which they had been instru mental in building and which they had so ably ad ministered for more than half a century. When this fight was over and lost, the South passed at once into a struggle still more bitter and hmniliating. This was the struggle of weakness against overmastering savagery, of intelligence against brutal ignorance, of racial purity against racial degeneracy. Here again her foes were her own brothers, and a great ruling political party became the machinery of her persecu tion. No wonder the South became solid, in think ing as well as in voting. No wonder everything new was regarded with fear and suspicion. Slowly conditions began to change. After ten years of subjection — an orgy of misrule — the South ern states secured control of their own affairs. This was affected by a revolution — and not entirely a peaceful one. Both force and fraud played their part and left their sting and their curse. But politi cal control cannot rest in the hands of the ignorant and vicious. Such a condition of affairs is anarchy. There was no progress in the South and no hope till this state of affairs was remedied. With the elimi nation of ignorance and vice from politics, there is some hope of an intelligent division on questions of great civic interest. A change of attitude in the North has helped wonderfully to free the South from its artificial unity of thought and speech. As the INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. xliii North grows less critical, less fanatical, less severe, the South grows more open-minded, more just and more free. A commingling of population has proven beneficial to both sections. Business interests are joining both sections in all manner of worthy enter prises. Now, too, differences in political views are beginning to appear. It cannot be said now that the South believes in free trade or in free silver. Senti ment is strongly divided on these as on other great governmental questions, such as labor legislation, control of trusts, railroads, and all matters of for eign policy. Gradually there will work itself out a distinct political struggle of conflicting ideas. In that struggle party machinery will give place to party principles and politicians will yield to states men. In the realm of national politics also the South will in time have a voice and give free ex pression of its opinion. The present exclusion will not be permanent. The Southern temperament is suited for political contest. The art and science of government, once so well understood, will again be more than a memory or a tradition. The call may yet come for an Anglo-Saxon leadership, and if so the response can come from no section sooner than from the South. Thus, it is that political life, as well as the pre viously noted factors of commerce and education, are working together for the emancipation of the in dividual. This wUl come more rapidly as the years go by. It will no more be hindered by sectional strife, by political oppression, by fanatical hate. But the greatest danger to perfect individual free dom comes from the South itself. As the struggle for slavery banished intellectual liberty, so the con tinued presence of the negro population in the South hinders the formation and expression of free thought. Political issues and civic problems have xliv INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES. often been settled on racial lines rather than on eco nomic principles. When the race problem is injected into any other question, there is an end to all dis cussion, to all differences, to all freedom of indi^ vidual opinion. This attitude must be overcome by a new appeal to the spirit of fairness and justice. The South does not need to shackle itself or the ne gro in order to maintain Anglo-Saxon supremacy. The intellectual freedom and efficiency of the white race will be promoted by generous treatment of the negro. Oppression of every kind will work a double woe. In whatever form slavery may be perpetuated, just so far it will put its shackles on the minds of the Southern whites. If we treat the negro un justly, we shall practice fraud and injustice toward each other. We shall necessarily live by the stand ard of conduct we apply to him. This is the eternal curse of wrong and injustice, a curse that abides on the ruler as well as the slave. The South wUl be free only as it grants freedom. James H. Kiekland, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University. HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF THE SOUTH. CHAPTEE I. CHAEACTEEISTICS OF SOUTHEEN POETEY FEOM THE BEGINNING TO 1865. HE transplantation of English civilization to the southern half of this Eepublic may be said almost to begin with poetry, if E. Eich's Newes from Virginia, a stirring account of the "happy arrival of that famous and worthy knight Sir Thomas Gates, and well reputed and valiant Captaine Newport into England, ' ' published in Lon don in 1610, by ' ' one who was of the voyage, ' ' can be called poetry. A little later, moreover, 1623, pure literature, at least of a secondary kind, begins with George Sandys' translation of the last ten books of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Sandys was an Oxford scholar of literary repute at home, whose really cred itable piece of work gave William Stith, one of the earliest Virginia historians (1747), a chance to say that "in the midst of these tumults and alarms the muses were not silent," and writers of American lit erature after him a conventional date, 1626, the date of the publication of Sandys ' translation, with which to start the account of the beginning of pure litera ture on this continent. But neither these, nor Capt. John Smith's Sea Marke, nor George Alsop's part prose, part verse A 2 HISTOEY OE THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Character of the Province of Maryland (1666), can be called distinctively American, or Southern poetry. Though some of them were written in America, and all of them had to do with experiences in Maryland and Virginia, they were written by Englishmen for Englishmen. They are interesting therefore more for their connection with the early settlements in the South than for any literary value they may have. In 1676, however, there is a notable poem by an un known hand in praise of Nathaniel Bacon, the leader of the first organized protest against British oppres sion. Bacon's Eebellion, as it is called in history. This poem, the product of a writer who might have been born in Virginia, is embedded in the Burwell Papers, and if it does not strike the true American note, it is at least prophetic of the spirit of a hundred years later : "Death, why 60 cruel? Whatl no other way To manifest thy spleen but thus to slay Our hopes of safety, liberty, our all, Which, through thy tyranny, with him must fall To its late chaos." The second century of colonial existence begins with a vigorous, Hudibrastic account of manners and customs in Maryland, The Sot-weed Factor; or, a Voyage to Maryland, by Eben Cook, Gent. It was published in London in 1708 ; but who this Ebenezer Cook, Gentleman, was that, according to Moses Coit Taylor, struck "a vein of genuine and powerful satire," is a matter of conjecture, though his pre tence of being an Englishman condemned to emigrate to the province of Maryland might hint that he was a Marylander in hiding. Anyway, the poem was successful enough to win the compliment of a weak imitation twenty-two years afterwards in the Sot- weed Factor Bedivivus. This ends the matter of poetic literature at the South till the storm of the SOUTHEEN POETEY. 3 Eevolution gathers and breaks. Conditions were too crude, the thought, interests and energies of the people were too deeply concerned with other things. The wilderness had to be made habitable, Indian and French wars had to be fought, and, in general, the rough, immediate work of merely getting on in the new country precluded naturally any considerable attention to what is called polite literature. If there is to be a literature at all it must take the shape of sermon, history, or political pamphlet. In New Eng land religion inspired not a few attempts at pious verse-making, and even the "Tenth Muse," Anne Bradstreet, managed to flourish in the chill Puritan air; while by 1765 the Pennsylvania colony could concentrate enough culture in Philadelphia to bring forth a Thomas Godfrey, who, dying in 1763, left behind The Prince of Parthia, a tragedy, "the first important dramatic undertaking in the colonies." But to this time the South had nothing to show that poetry was cultivated to any considerable extent. Even the fiery discussions that led up to the Eevolu tion, producing finally no little lyric prose, failed to inspire anything in the way of patriotic verse much above mere doggereL A typical poem of this kind of verse was published in the Virginia Gazette, May 2, 1776, under the title of Hearts of Oak. While it is charged with patriotic fervor and interprets the reso lute mood of the time, in expression it falls far short of the occasion : " On our brow while we laurel-crowned liberty wear, What Englishmen ought the Americans dare; Though tempests and terrors around us we see, Bribes nor fears can prevail o'er the hearts that are free. Hearts of oaks are we still, for we're sons of those men Who always are ready, steady, boys, steady, To fight for their freedom again and again." Poems of this sort, together with a few rude bal lads, largely satirical in mood and representing both 4 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the loyalist and rebel side in the struggle, were pub lished in the papers of the time. But none of them has any special merit, and they are of such inferior quality that one wonders not only that they were popular but also that the fierce passions of the hour and the high patriotic idealism of the colonies were able to do no better. Sometimes the admiration for some special Eevo- lutionary hero or the occasion of his death called forth a tribute in verse. For example. Col. Alex ander Martin's Tribute to General Francis Nash (1777) is not without a certain dignity of thought and expression : " On Bimker's height great Warren is no more; The brave Montgomery's fate we next deplore; Princeton's famed fields to trembling Britain tell, How, scored with wounds, the conquering Mercer fell; lie iie ^ 4: 4: Hi })( Last flow our sorrows for our favorite son. Whom, weeping, Carolina claims her own, The gallant Nash, who, with fatal wound. Though tortured, weltering on the hostile ground, 'Fight on, my troops,' with smiling ardor said, ' 'Tis but the fate of war; be not dismay'd.' " A year later, from a Catholic priest of Maryland, Charles Henry Wharton, comes the first poetic ap preciation of the character and service of Washing ton. This poem, A Poetical Epistle to George Wash ington, is no mean performance, as the following lines will show: " Great without pomp, without ambition brave, Proud not to conquer fellow-men, but save; Friend to the wretched, foe to none but those Who plan their greatness on another's woes; Awed by no titles, faithless to no trust. Free without faction, obstinately just." Even the conventional Eighteenth century heroic couplet cannot quite conceal the discriminating in sight and the noble dignity of these lines. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 5 But verse of this serious character was not all. In the very midst of the turmoil of the Eevolution (1777) there appeared The Belles of Williamsburg, a poem by Dr. James McClurg assisted by St. George Tucker, but to just what extent is not known. The poem is in praise of the fair ladies of that famous old capital and social centre, and is in form and spirit prophetic of the character of much of the later Southern poetry — a more or less light form of vers de societe. It is a clever imitation of the same type of verse in vogue in England during the Eighteenth century. It was popular enough to call forth a "Sequel" of a dozen stanzas. Each "illustrious maid," under a conventional pastoral name, is de scribed. For example : " Aspasia next, with kindred soul, Disdains the passions that control Each gentle, pleasing art; Her sportive wit, her froMc lays, And gracefiil form attract our praise, And steal away the heart." Toward the end of the Eevolution period the verse- makers began to multiply. In Eichmond, Charles ton, and Baltimore enough thin little volumes of attempted poetry are published to indicate that the Muses were at least gaining friends if they were not inspiring genuine poetry. In 1786, at Charleston, S. C, Joseph Ladd Brown, a transplanted Ehode Islander, gave the public a volume under the title of Poems by Arouet, in which he celebrated in the Eighteenth century pastoral manner his mild love for a certain Amanda, and decided that happiness is, — " An empty, fleeting shade. By imagination made; 'Tis a bubble, show, or worse; 'Tis a baby's hobby horse, etc., etc., etc." In 1798 William Munford, son of Col. Eobert Mun- ford of Eevolutionary fame, who was also "author 6 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of two dramas and some short poems," published a volume of Poems and Compositions in Prose on Sev eral Occasions, a volume which, besides minor poems and translations, contained a tragedy, Almoran and Hamet. To his death in 1825 he worked steadily on a really creditable translation in blank verse of the Iliad. To this same period belongs St. George Tucker, who left behind one lyric which yet manages to find a place in any anthology of Southern verse. It is the well known Besignation; or Days of My Youth : Days of my youth. Ye have glided away; Hairs of my youth, Ye are frosted and gray; Eyes of my youth. Your keen sight is no more; — " and so on with the loss of all the fine things that make youth glorious. With the War of the Eevolution over and the scat tered seaboard settlements organized as part of a constitutional Eepublic, the Southern states proceed rapidly to evolve into the type of civilization already predetermined by colonial conditions. The large plantation, made possible by the system of negro slavery, is the social, industrial, and economic unit, and under it the country gentleman develops as the predominant and dominating class. Life at the South, therefore, was that of a rural aristocracy whose interests were naturally other than literary. Living in the country upon widely separated landed estates, the people failed to develop large centres of intellectual activity. While the ruling classes were themselves widely read in polite literature and culti vated in matters of taste, they were too few in num ber to constitute a reading public large enough to inspire and support authorship. Moreover, the gen eral defect of popular education and the lack of an SOUTHEEN POETEY. 7 intelligent middle class hospitable to ideas limited the diffusion of knowledge and rendered the intel lectual atmosphere unfavorable to the production of literature and discouraging to authorship as a pro fession. While it is true that, throughout the period up to the War of Secession, there were in Eichmond, Charleston, Baltimore, New Orleans, and other places no inconsiderable groups of cultivated men and women who were interested in literature and attempted to make it, while it is also true that at each of these places many magazines and reviews of high grade did make literature a matter of serious concern, yet the fact is that conditions were not those under which either a vital poetic or prose literature flourishes. The conditions to which we are referring existed not only in the older states along the seaboard but also, as the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War opened up new territory in the Southwest, the conditions in the older states were simply repeated in the new, and the South from 1815 to 1860 was, from a material standpoint, busily engaged in ex tending without change its civilization into other fields. This expansion assisted in bringing sharply to the front, and keeping them there, those great po litical issues that absorbed the constructive intel lectual energies of the South and produced that won derful race of statesmen that for so long shaped the political thought of the Nation. It may be said therefore that the really constructive genius of the South expressed itself in terms of statecraft. A rural aristocracy is naturally conservative, and it was rendered more so by this absorption of the best thought of the people in matters of politics, particularly as political thinking became more and more sectional in character and as political leaders set themselves the task of maintaining and extend- 8 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ing the system of slavery by pressing the doctrine of States' Eights. The result was that their thinking and leadership, together with the peculiar form of Southern life and the peculiar nature of Southern conditions, went deeper than mere questions of poli tics. It all tended to isolate the already conservative South, to shut it in upon itself, to detach it from the progressive thought of the rest of the world, and to prevent its receiving those large, stirring ideas that made, for example, the air of New England so stimu lating to every form of literary endeavor. It is necessary to keep these things in mind if one would understand the character of the poetic product of the South before 1860. The lack of a large read ing public, the widely scattered nature of the popula tion, the conservatism of the people, the absorption of intellectual interests in politics, the failure to welcome and appropriate the liberalizing tendencies of Nineteenth century thought — these are sufficient to suggest the nature and amount of Southern poetry. In the first place, the quantity of it is surprisingly large when all things are considered. A list of ap proximately 250 writers of verse has been made out, and from 1805 to 1860 there is not a year in which numbers of volumes are not published. This list includes verse written in almost every conceivable form, using almost every conceivable sort of ma terial, and for almost every purpose to which poetry may be applied — ^lyric, descriptive, satiric, dramatic, political, patriotic, religious. In fact, the whole gamut of the muse's lyre was run, accompanied by a multitudinous array of voices. There was, then, no lack of poetic effort, some of it modestly anonymous and some of it boldly challenging the suffrages of the public under both well known and unknown names. But all this quantity of poetic effort was largely SOUTHEEN POETEY. 9' amateurish in quality because, in the nature of the case, it was so largely the work of amateurs. One may say that among the legion of verse-makers at the South there were hardly more than four at the outside that can be described as professional men of letters — Edgar Allan Poe, William Gilmore Simms, Henry Timrod, and Paul Hamilton Hayne. The rest were lawyers, physicians, ministers, college profes sors, sentimental men and women who, busy with other things, courted the Muses only at intervals, between more absorbing pursuits. It has been said of old time that poetry is a jealous mistress who- demands an undivided loyalty, and she does not yield her best to those to whom verse-making is but a more or less superficial accomplishment and no consuming passion. Hence the poetry of the South before 1860 was what it was because it was largely the work of those who would confess to only a mild bent toward it and who regarded it as merely one of the ornaments of their culture. One would naturally expect therefore to find upon it the marks of the mere amateur. This amateurishness shows itself generally in the imitativeness of much of the Southern verse. The amateur in literature never frees himself quite from his models, and to the end he is likely to remain a remote echo. Men do not uncover and express what is essentially strong and original in their tem perament in any art to which they have not given themselves body and soul. Moreover, this is the price which must be paid for excellence of achieve ment as well as for originality. And this price was: not paid by Southern poets as a class, but only here and there by some isolated individuals. The gen eral result was that the limited excellence which Southern poetry had was due mainly to the skill with which it approximated the qualities of its 10 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. models — the monotonously smooth Eighteenth cen tury poets, the grace and melody of the Cavalier poets of love and wine, the mood and sounding rhet oric of Byron, the sentimentalism of Tom Moore, and the artificial verbal and metrical prettiness of Tennyson. These are the qualities which the Southern poets now and then caught with a considerable degree of effectiveness — so much so, indeed, that one may won der what might have been accomplished if the South- em temperament had been nourished under more favorable conditions, and had been free to receive the full tide of Nineteenth century thought and ideals. If, for example, the South had not been so tenaciously conservative, if its intellectual interests and energies had not been so completely absorbed in politics, if the industrial changes, the transcendental movement, the new social dreams of the rights and privileges of all men, the radical readjustment of the modem mind due to the application of the scientific spirit and method — if these had swept in upon the thought and genius of the South, things had been quite other wise with its poetry, one may be sure. But they did not, and Southern verse remains as the work of the amateur — imitative, light and lacking in that serious ness of mood and depth of meaning which so largely characterize both the Victorian poetry in England and that of the New England school in America. As it was, the poetry produced at the South, even the best, was narrow in range, sentimental in mood, lyric in form, and so far unoriginal and indeed impersonal that one might almost say that most of it might have been written by the same hand. Here and there, however, there projected out of the general mass of those who essayed poetry the few who do best what others do but indifferently. These are they whom both criticism and common con- SOUTHEEN POETEY. H sent have agreed to call the representative poets. But even these have won their place, not by the bulk of their work, nor by any considerable portion of it, but by the single poem that has found its way into the anthologies. An appreciation of these few poems of the representative poets, after this general discussion, will be sufficient to bring definitely before us the absolute achievement of the South in poetry. In the first quarter of the century John Shaw of Maryland (1810), William Maxwell of Virginia (1812), Eichard Dabney of the same state (1812), Washington Allston of South Carolina (1813), and Edward Coate Pinckney of Maryland (1825), had published thin volumes of verse from which a poem or two found its way into the early selections from American literature, some of them even surviving to the present time. Those that have survived are light lyrics of more or less sentimental character, and only a certain grace of versification and a mild appeal to the persistent sentimentalism in human nature have kept them from going the way of the merely trivial in literature. For example, John Shaw's claim to remembrance seems to hang by so slender a thread as one poem of three stanzas en titled "A Song" — a really dainty bit of verse- making : " Who has robbed the ocean cave To tinge thy lips with coral hue? Who from India's distant wave For thee those pearly treasures drew? Who from yonder orient sky Stole the morning of thine eye? " Again, a stanza of versified trivialty is even yet quoted from William Maxwell : " How many kisses do I ask? Now you set me to my task. First, sweet Amiie, wiU you tell me How many waves are in the sea? " 12 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. " How many stars are in the sky? How many lovers you make sigh? How many sands are on the shore? I shall want just one kiss more." When one reads the few poems selected by the va rious anthologies to represent the best of Eichard Dabney 's poems, one need not wonder that the first volume (1812) failed with the public, and that his publisher pronounced his second (1815) "a quite losing concern." Here is a stanza from Youth and Age: " Its quiet beams, in man's last days, The Hesperus of hfe displays; When aU of passion's midday heat Within the breast forgets to beat; When calm and smooth the minutes glide, Along life's tranquiUzing tide; It points with slow, receding light, To the sweet rest of silent night; And tells, when life's vain schemes shall end, Thus will its closing light descend, And as the Eve star seeks the wave, Thus gently reach the quiet grave.'' When we turn to Washington Allston we find that so distinguished a critic as James Eussell Lowell said that the really artistic spirit first came to ex pression in American literature in Allston 's Sylphs of the Seasons in 1813. Allston was a South Caro linian who achieved exceptional fame as an artist and enjoyed the friendship of Coleridge and Wordsworth. The former declared that Allston possessed ' ' a poetic and artistic genius unsurpassed by any man of his age"; while Southey was no less pronounced in his estimate, affirming that Allston 's poems were "among the first productions of modern times."* However, the modern reader of his poetry finds it hard to agree with such judgments, feeling that they are extravagant eulogies rather than just appre ciations. At the time, however, his poetry was pub- SOUTHEEN POETEY. 13 lished it was greatly superior to anything America had produced in the quality of the versification, the delicacy and refinement of the sentiment, and in an imaginative touch that suggests the nature treat ment of Wordsworth and the romantic mood of Coleridge, together with a certain vague mysticism which was no doubt due to the influence of the latter. Nevertheless, his poetry has had only enough vital ity in it to make of the poet-painter an interesting personality in the early literature of the country — the first name to connect in artistic fellowship the New World with the Old. The two following stanzas from Bosalie are characteristic, and have, moreover, enough poetry in them to set them quite apart from anything produced at the South before 1813 : " For all I see around me wears The hue of other spheres; And something blent of smiles and tears Comes from the very air I breathe. O, nothing, sure, the stars beneath Can mould a sadness like to this, — So like angelic bMss. " So, at the dreamy hour of day When the last lingering ray Stops on the highest cloud to play, — So thought the gentle Rosalie, As on her maiden reverie First fell the strain of him who stole In music to her soul." Eichard Henry Wilde (1789-1847), a Georgia law yer, congressman, and scholar, particularly in the field of Italian literature, owes his literary fame chiefly to one poem, a melancholy lyric on the vanity of life. Few poems written at the South before 1860 are so widely known as his My Life Is Like the Summer Bose, and deservedly so, being a lyric of genuine charm both in thought and expression. It is almost too familiar to make a quotation necessary. 14 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. yet the last stanza should be given if only for the beauty of the second to the last verse : "My life is like the print which feet Have left on Tampa's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat. All trace will vanish from the sand; Yet, as if grieving to efface All vestige of the human race. On that loTie shore loud moans the sea — But none, alas I shall moan for me!" Wilde's sonnet To the Mocking Bird and his Ode to Ease also deserve to keep his memory alive. While one misses in them the natural inevitableness of the best lyric poetry, stiU they have the finished, though somewhat artificial, grace that marks the work of a man of poetic temperament, if not of poetic power, and are not at all discreditable as the work of one who only occasionally essayed verse. In 1825 Edward Coate Pinckney, lawyer, adven turer, sometime professor of Belles-Lettres in the University of Maryland, and editor of a political newspaper, published a volume of poems in which were several that illustrate the persistent tendelicy of Southern verse to show its best side in the more or less artificial lyric of sentiment. A Health, A Pic ture Song and A Serenade are quite worthy of a place in any anthology of American verse. A stanza from the familiar A Health wiU be sufficient to show the quality of his work : " I fill this cup to one made up Of loveliness alone, A woman, of her gentle sex The seeming paragon; To whom the better elements And kindly stars have given A form so fair, that, like the air, 'Tis less of earth than heaven." Thus by the end of the first quarter of the Nine- SOUTHEEN POETEY. 15 teenth century, what we understand as Southern poetry, when it is worthy of consideration at all, is largely of the nature of the sentimental lyric. So generally is this the case that there is a rather monotonous conventionality about the most of it. It lacks, as we have already said, the distinguishing personal note, and fails of the piercing lyric cry that belongs to the final achievement of lyric poetry. There is, however, in no little of it a clever rhetorical prettiness, an ease and grace of versification, and, at times, a delicate beauty of fancy. It would not be quite just perhaps to say that it is defective in sincerity of mood and reality of passion. Still one cannot help feeling that it is chiefly the work of men who are merely playing with an art, or possibly men who have a dash of poetic sentiment in their nature without much of the genius of the real poet. It will be sufficient, therefore, in order to bring out the characteristics of Southern poetry from 1825 on, to go through a process of selection again, and to take for consideration only those who may be truly called representative. First, there is Albert Pike who, though born in Boston, early identified himself with the Southwest as a lawyer and newspaper editor, and devoted him self largely to the interests of Masonry. At the age of twenty-two (1831) he wrote Hymns to the Gods, which, afterwards published in Blackwood's (1839), won praise in both this country and England. Three years later (1834) came his Prose Sketches and Poems. However, only a poem or two is all that has survived of his literary activity, and even these show no particular originality, being chiefly interesting for the way they echo something of the spirit and manner of both Shelley and Keats. For example. 16 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Shelley was very near to the poet when he penned his Ode to Spring: "O thou dehcious Spring! Nursed in the lap of thin and subtle showers, Which lift their snowy wing From odorous beds of light-enfolded flowers. And from enmassed bowers. That over grassy walks their greenness fling. Come, gentle Spring." In the same way one who reads his Ode to the Mock ing Bird must think of Keats' Ode to the Nightin gale: "Hal what a biust was that! the Aeolian strain Goes floating through the tangled passages Of the still woods, and now it comes again, A multitudinous melody, like a rain Of glassy music under echoing trees. Close by a ringing lake." One poem, a lyric of disappointed love, suggest ing both the mood and manner of Tennyson when he was in the "Claribel" stage of his development, makes Philip Pendleton Cooke (1816-1850), a Vir ginia lawyer, worthy of mention in any discussion of Southern verse. Cooke contributed frequently to the literary journals of his day, and published in 1847 a collection of his poems, Froissart Ballads and Other Poems. The modem reader fails to find in them what Duyckinck {Encyclopedia of American Litera ture) in 1856 found — that they "are in a bright, ani mated mood, vigorous without effort, preserving the freedom of nature with the discipline of art"; nor indeed does he agree with the same critic that the one poem which serves to keep Cooke in remembrance, his Florence Vane, has "the merit of an antique song" in its "rare and peculiar excellence" and in its "delicately touched sentiment." On the con trary, the modern reader is more likely to feel that the poem is artificial in construction and almost SOUTHEEN POETEY. 17 mawkish in sentiment. The last stanza will be enough to remind one of what the poem is like : "The lilies of the valley By young graves weep. The daisies love to dally Where maidens sleep; May their bloom, in beauty vying, Never wane. Where thine earthly part is lying, Florence Vanel''. John Matthews Legare, of Charleston, S. C, author of Orta-Undis and Other Poems (1848), is another among these minor poets who, by a certain artificial grace and refinement of verse and senti ment, deserves a passing notice. As with the rest, there is wanting with him the swift, sure utterance of the genuine lyric mood, and one feels that the poetry is made, not inspired. Here is a character istic stanza from the poem entitled To a Lily: "Go bow thy head in gentle spite. Thou lily white. For she who spies thee waving there, With thee in beauty can compare As day with night." A prolific writer on many subjects was Alexander Beaufort Meek (1814-1865), lawyer, soldier, politi cian, newspaper editor, and author of Songs and Poetry of the South (1857), a volume which was pop ular enough to go through three editions the year of its publication. Nature, love, sectional patriotism, were his prevailing themes, and a smooth fluency and a verbal exuberance were the characteristic qual ities. His lyric to The Mocking Bird, though an ob vious imitation of Shelley's Skylark easily ranks with the best of the Southern lyrics : " Why is't thus, this sylvan Petrarch Pours all night his serenade? Tis for some proud woodland Laura, His sad sonnets all are made!" Vol. 7—2. 18 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. " But he changes now his measure — Gladness bubbling from his mouth — Jest and gibe, and mimic pleasures — Winged Anacreon of the SouthI " In James Barron Hope (1829-1887) we find an other lawyer and newspaper editor actively con cerned in literary matters and now and then publish ing a volume of verse that won him a place in the affection of those who cared for such things. His Charge at Balaklava challenges comparison with Tennyson's poem on the same subject, and in swift ness and vigor does not suffer greatly; while his Three Summer Studies is an idyllic picture of rural life drawn with charm of verse and sentiment. It deserves the place it occupies in the various selec tions from ante-bellum Southern poetry. John Eeuben Thompson (1823-1873), one time edi tor of the Southern Literary Messenger, was a prolific poet, though he is now chiefly known for one or two stirring war-time lyrics. However, his Window Panes at Brandon and A Picture are both poems with enough merit in them to make them more generally known. Both Hope and Thompson filled no small place in the literary life of the older South, and both serve to illustrate how little survives of that large body of poetic endeavor that marked the period before the war. It lacked, as we have seen, so generally reality of thought and feeling, was so defective in the matter of originality, and, on the artistic side, was so ob viously imitative that in the mass it had not enough vitality to keep it alive much beyond its own short day. However, when that lyric quality which seemed inherent in the Southern temperament really took fire in the flame of war, the result was a few martial SOUTHEEN POETEY. 19 lyrics of genuine power, perhaps the best in Ameri can literature. Already in 1814 Francis Scott Key had given the Eepublic, wdth his Star-Spangled Ban ner, its first national ode, and in 1847 the Mexican War had inspired Theodore O'Hara to write The Bivouac of the Dead. Nothing better than this last poem has been done by any other American poet in the way of a purely martial lyric. The last stanza of it is almost perfect as an appropriate expression of the elegiac mood : " Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone In deathless song shall tell, When many a vanished age hath flown. The story how ye fell; Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight. Nor Time's remorseless doom. Shall dim one ray of glory's fight That gilds your glorioiis tomb." With the breaking out of the War of Secession there came a lyric chorus made up of many voices, chanting the fiercely patriotic mood of the hour. Some were simply passionate appeals to state pride ; some told in verse the moving stories of both indi vidual and collective heroism; others paid tribute to great leaders ; and still others struck the elegiac note of sorrow for those who died in battle. Con sidering the entire mass of these war-time lyrics, a just criticism will say that they are the best purely lyric productions flung forth out of the hot passions of this war, and that some of them are among the best of their kind. The martial choir begins with James E. Eandall's My Maryland, a poem which still has power, from its direct, passionate appeal, to stir the patriotic feel ings, even after the occasion that called it forth has long passed into the sober mood of history that is 20 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. made. When it was first published it called like a blast of a trumpet to the soul of the South: " The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland I His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland I Avenge the patriotic gore That flecked the streets of Baltimore, And be the battle queen of yore, Maryland, my Maryland!" It was followed by many in the same mood at every stage of the great struggle; some, merely anony mous, were sung from the corners of local news papers and thence drifted into popular possessions ; others bore the names of already well known poets. For example, there is Henry Timrod 's Ode to Caro lina, an exceptionally fine specimen of the martial lyric : "The despot treads thy sacred sands, Thy pines give shelter to his bands. Thy sons stand by with idle hands, Carolina!" Quite worthy, moreover, to be classed with the best of its kind is Francis 0. Ticknor 's Virginians of the Valley. The last stanza will give a good idea of the stirring appeal of it : "We thought they slept! — the sons who kept The names of noble sires. And slumbered while the darkness crept Around their vigil flres! But aye the Golden Horseshoe Knights Their Old Dominion keep, Whose foes have found enchanted ground But not a Knight asleep." Ticknor is also the author of Little Giffen of Ten nessee, a lyric that tells with piercing pathos the heroism of a soldier lad from the plain people. So perfectly is the story told in simple, direct moving verse and with no little of the dramatic effective ness of the genuine ballad, that one must class this SOUTHEEN POETEY. 21 poem with the best of its kind in American litera ture. Equally well known, and deservedly so, are John Eeuben Thompson's Ashby and Music in Camp. This latter poem has won its way into the heart of the nation as well as of the South, because it brings home to a reunited people so beautifully the pathos of war. The war over, the natural mood of regret for a cause that is lost and the purpose to keep alive the memory of the heroic dead find appropriate and ade quate expression in such poems as Margaret J. Pres ton's Shade of the Trees, Father Eyan's Conquered Banner, and Henry Timrod 's Ode to the Confederate Dead. Few poems in American literature that at tempt to interpret the same mood can be classed with this latter poem in simple beauty of style and nobil ity of sentiment. The last stanza fittingly illustrates both the style and the sentiment : " Stoop, Angels, hither from the skies! There is no holier spot of ground Than where defeated valor fies. By moxtfuing beauty crowned!" It now remains to discuss the four poets who arev for the present generation, the really representative men of letters of the ante-bellum South, men who are remembered for the body of their work, rather than simply by an occasional poem — William Gilmore Simms, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Timrod, and PauJ Hamilton Hayne. Yet even in the case of these, it is not certain that any one of them, with the excep tion of Poe, will live for the future through anything more than a very few poems. Already Simms, as prodigiously prolific as he was, is hardly thought of as a poet, and nobody except some stray literary antiquarian would dare to attempt to read half of what he has written. It is the novelist that we care for, if we care for Simms at all, and it is hardly con- 22 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ceivable to us now that from 1827 to 1860 he brought out as many as fifteen volumes of verse, about one for every two years ! In this immense poetic en deavor he used a wide range of material and almost every known form of verse. He turned out with a facility little short of amazing sonnets, satires, lyrics, descriptive sketches, and dramas until there seemed no limit to the fertility of his production, at least in amount. Yet if one were to search through it all, one would find plenty of Byronic declamation, much that is mere rhetoric, a facility of versification, some originality of invention, if not of mood and senti ment, and occasionally a purple patch of what is al most poetry, the patches coming, however, with hard ly frequency enough to reward the search. The truth is Simms was a romancer of real power who wrote an immense amount of inferior verse, and one is sur prised not only at the sheer amount but also at the distinction and praise it brought the author when it was published. Aside therefore from his stories he simply remains a striking literary figure, the most striking perhaps, in an age, though comparatively recent, yet strangely remote from the present. But with Timrod and Hayne the case is different. Both are men of exceptional poetic talent, and time will rather add to, than detract from, their fame. Timrod took his art seriously, and under happier circumstances might have made a large contribution to American literature. As it is, he belongs to those whose renown is unfulfilled. Yet, withal, the high seriousness of such poems as The Vision of Poesy, Ethnogenesis, The Cotton Boll, the charming nat- nralness of Katy, the delicate beauty of The Lily Confidante, are sufficient in both distinction of im agery and melody of expression to make for him a secure place in the affection of lovers of genuine poetry. 1. TIMROn MOXIJMI'IXT, CIl ARTJCSTdX. J. SIMMS MOXL'MICXT. CH ARLKSToX. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 23 Hayne, while he lived to 1886, had yet by 1860 published three volumes of verse, and the mood and tone of his work seems rather to connect him with the past. Above all others, if one takes his poetry in the mass and in connection with the singularly win ning personality of the man, he is regarded as the most representative Southern poet. Indeed, he has been not inappropriately called the poet-laureate of his section. The gentle, high chivalry in the best Southern character, the Southerner's love of state and section, the romantic color of his imagination, the sentimentality of his temperament, are reflected with grace and charm in the poetry of Hayne. More sym pathetically and adequately than any other has he interpreted the moods and aspects of nature at the South. In the outward form of his art he has caught something of the spirit and manner of the best models, in particular of Wordsworth and Tennyson. One may safely affirm that the winnowing processes of time will leave from Hayne a larger amount of what is really excellent in poetry than from any other ante-bellum poet except Poe. Poe is the one man of genius, though in a limited sphere, whom the South produced before 1860. But while this sphere is, in truth, limited, yet within it Poe's achievement is simply unmatched in American letters both in mood and in artistic perfection of form. The weird uncanniness of some of his poems, the vague, evasive mysticism of others, the strange romanticism, the poignancy of the mood of sorrow and despair with which they are charged — all appro priately and adequately sung with an exquisitely haunting melody — make them easily the best of their kind, and they bear, too, the distinct marks of Poe's own genius. It is futile, as I have said elsewhere, to discuss the question as to whether Poe belongs to the South, or is some rare exotic transplanted from far 24 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. off realms. His detachment from contemporary ideas, his persistent lyrical mood, the melancholy atmosphere which pervades his art, his sentimental ity, the romantic quality of his imagination, are cer tainly more Southern than anything else. Bibliography. — I. Selections with biographical notes and critical comment. — Clark, J. T.: Songs of the South (Philadelphia, 1896); Duy ckinck, E. A. and G. L. : Cyclopedia of American Literature (New York, 1855); Eggleston, G. C: American War Ballads and Lyrics (New York, 1889); Griswold, R. W.: Poets and Poetry of America (New York, 1842); HoUiday, Carl: Three Centuries of Southern Poetry (Nashville, 1908): Painter, T. V. N.: Poets of the South (New York, 1903); Stedman and Hutchinson: Library of American Literature (New York, 1891); Trent, W. P.: Southern Writers (New York, 1905); Trent and WeUs: Colonial Prose and Poetry (New York, 1901); Weber, W. L.: The Southern Poets (New York, 1900). II. Historical and Biographical. — Bradshaw, S. F.: Southern Poetry Prior to 1860 (Richmond, 1900); Davidson, J. W.: Living Writers of the South (New York, 1869); Holliday, Carl: History of Southern Literature (New York, 1906) ; Link, S. A. : Pioneers of Southern Literature (Nashville, 1898); Manly, Louise: Southern Literature (Richmond, 1895); Onder- donk, J. L.: A History of American Verse (Chicago, 1901); Page, T. N.: The Old South (New York, 1892); Trent, W. P.: Life of WiUiam Gilmore Simms (New York, 1892); Tyler, M. C: History of American Literature (New York, 1878) and A Literary History of the American Revolution (New York, 1897). Henry Nelson Snydeb, President of Wofford College. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 25 CHAPTEE II. SOUTHEEN POETEY SINCE THE WAE OF SECESSION. JHEN the War of Secession closed there were a number of Southern poets who had, before and during the war, achieved more or less success in the practice of their art. Some of them had written martial strains that were in unison with the heart-throbs of the Confederacy; armies had marched to the inspiring words of Mary land, My Maryland, and Carolina, and lonely hearts had been comforted by tributes to Southern heroes. The question was, whether these same poets or others could give adequate expression to the tragedy of a desolate people. Certainly there was never a time when a great poet was more needed, one who might have obeyed the same voice that spoke to Israel's prophet of the ExUe, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." Themes were not lacking for imaginative minds — the sacred memory of the South 's dead soldiers, the hallowed presence of her self-sacrificing women, the confusion of an enfran chised race, the overthrow of a picturesque civiliza tion, the glory of human nature as seen in so many examples of suffering, the hope of a new nationalism and a larger freedom — all these might have been sung by those gifted with poetic power. One who achieved success at a later time has said: "Never in the history of this country has there been a gen eration of writers who came into such an inheritance of material." So it seems from the standpoint of the present, but conditions were most imfavorable for creative 26 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. work of any kind. There was no inheritance of literary art, no background of artistic traditions. All the causes that are generally assigned for the lack of poetry in the ante-bellum South — the lack of centres of culture, the failure of the people to ap preciate literary work, the absence of magazines and publishing houses — prevailed in the new era; and thereto were added unexampled poverty, wide spread disaster, and an overwhelming confusion of the public mind. It is needless here to rehearse the conditions that prevailed from 1865 to 1875. Lanier tersely expressed the chief limitation under which the writers labored when he wrote to Bayard Tay lor : "Perhaps you know that with us of the younger generation in the South, since the war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying." Of the poets who survived the war, few made any advance over their previous work, and only one grew in range and power of inspiration. William Gilmore Simms, who, in Charleston, had gathered about him a band of promising men and who had done so much for the cause of Southern literature, was an old and broken man. He went to work with prodigious energy upon some romances, and now and then wrote a poem that was but a feeble wail of despair. He edited a collection of Southern war poems, the introduction of which was characterized by imselfish interest in Southern literature and by a new note of nationalism. He wrote to Hayne: "I am rapidly passing from a stage where you young men are to succeed me, doing what you can. God grant that you may be more successful than I have been." The words which Simms wrote of himself are a fitting epitaph to his stormy and sad life: "Here lies one who, after a reasonably long life, distinguished chiefly by tmceasing labors, has left all his better works undone" — a remark that poign- Rusululuc nf W . ' ;, Sim Rc-nKiK.- uf j. I', Ktn SOUTHEEN POETEY. 27 antly suggests the ungathered sheaves of many an other Southern genius. Margaret J. Preston, who had, before the war, written for the Southern Literary Messenger, and during the war had celebrated the deeds of Southern heroes, after the war continued to live in Lexington, Va. — a member of an interesting circle made notable by the presence of the great Lee and by the memo ries of Stonewall Jackson. After publishing Beech- enbrook in 1866, she continued to write for Southern and Northern magazines. Her poetry is, however, imitative rather than original; beyond a slender note of pathos in contemplating the conditions in the South and a sort of common-place religious medita tion, her poetry is of little enduring value. Her correspondence, recently published, reveals her as a woman of unusual refinement of manners and cul ture. In 1870 she brought out a volume of poems, comprising legends from Hebrew and Greek poetry ; in 1885 a volume of Cartoons — sympathetic studies of masterpieces of art which she had never seen ; in 1886 Poems of Faith and Comfort, and in 1887 Colonial Ballads. Like so many Southern poets, she did not take her work seriously enough. Her husband — a gentleman of the old school — at one time objected to her being known as a poet. She herself summed up her own attitude and that of many another Southern poet when she said : "Pray remember that I have never given myself up as most women do who have made any name for themselves in literature. It has only been my pastime, not the occupation or mission of my life, which has been too busy a one with the duties of wifehood, motherhood, mis tress, hostess, neighbor and friend. Only when the demands which these relations entailed were satisfied did I turn to my pen. I think 1 can truly say that I never neglected the concoction of a pudding for the sake of a poem, or a sauce for a sonnet. Art is a jealous mistress, and I have served her with my left hand only." 28 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Perhaps the best poem she wrote after the war was A Grave in Hollyivood Cemetery, Richmond — a sympathetic characterization of John E. Thompson. It is quoted here not simply as her best poem, but as an imaginative expression of the feeling of more than one "exile" from the South: "I read the marble-lettered name, And half in bitterness I said: 'As Dante from Ravenna came. Our poet came from exile — dead.' And yet, had it been asked of him Where he would rather lay his head. This spot he would have chosen. Dim The city's hum drifts o'er his grave. And green above the hollies wave Their jagged leaves, as when a boy. On blissful summer afternoons. He came to sing the birds his runes. And tell the river of his joy. "Who dreams that in his wanderings wide, By stern misfortunes tossed and driven. His soul's electric strands were riven From home and country? Let betide What might, what would, his boast, his pride. Was in his stricken mother-land, That could but bless and bid him go. Because no crust was in her hand To stay her children's need. We know The mystic cable sank too deep For surface storm or stress to strain. Or from his answering heart to keep The spark from flashing back again! "Think of the thousand mellow rhymes. The pure idyllic passion-flowers, Wherewith, in far gone, happier times. He garlanded this South of ours. Provencal-like, he wandered long, And sang at many a stranger's board. Yet 'twas Virginia's name that poured The tenderest pathos through his song. We owe the Poet praise and tears, Whose ringing ballad sends the brave. Bold Stuart riding down the years — What have we given him ? Just a grave!" ^^C^r~^. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 29 The reference in the last stanza of the poem to Thompson's poetry suggests that from Thompson himself a prophet of Southern literature might have expected development. Before the war he had been the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger and the friend of Poe; during the war he had written two noteworthy lyrics. Music in Camp and Ashby . He was a critic of discernment and a poet of prom ise. In 1863 he went to London. When he came back after the war he became literary editor of the New York Evening Post. It is said that he would never allow a reference to the "Lost Cause," so deeply had the defeat of the Confederacy entered into his soul. Silence was the only language worthy of the theme. He died in 1873 of consumption. So within a few years a number of other poets passed away. Albert B. Meek, who had before the war written The Land of the South, died in 1865. Theodore O'Hara, whose Bivouac of the Dead was a dirge for the soldiers in the Mexican War, though it was more often thought of in connection with the Confederate dead, died in 1867. Others lived on, but gave up entirely the writing of poetry. Ticknor, the author of Virginians of the Valley and Little Giffen of Tennessee, lived the life of a country doctor near Columbus, Ga. Dr. Bruns, who had been one of Simms' circle of poets in Charleston, moved to New Orleans where he became an eminent physician. Albert Pike, who had, in 1839, published poems in Blackwood's Magazine and who during the war had written the best poem we have on "Dixie," moved to Washington, where he became absorbed in Masonic work, to which he gave the rest of his life. Barron Hope, who, in 1858, wrote the poem for the unveiling of the statue of Washington in Eichmond, was made editor of the Norfolk Landmark. Though he afterwards wrote poems for special occasions, he 30 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. never advanced beyond the work of his youth. William Gordon McCabe, the author of Christmas Night of '62 and Dreaming in the Trenches, became one of the best-known schoolmasters of Virginia — a position that seemed to deaden his poetic inspira tion, though he remained an inimitable raconteur and the friend of some of the most gifted poets of England and America. Better than any of these poets were James Eyder Eandall and Henry Timrod, both of whom had touched the high-water mark of lyric poetry in their war odes. Eandall in Maryland, My Maryland, had written what many consider the best lyric called forth by the war, but he never recovered that first, fine, careless rapture, never again felt the inspira tion that lifted him for once in a moment of inspired patriotism into the "eternal melodies." He passed the remainder of his days in the drudgery of a newspaper office. Timrod, who had written Ethno genesis and Carolina — ^poems that expressed in im perishable words the spirit of the Southern people — was to pass through one of the saddest struggles recorded in history — poverty, neglect and disease wreaked their utmost upon him. Hayne 's account of his last days is enough to melt the heart of the coldest man. Timrod 's letters suggest the tragedy of Chatterton or Keats ; their melancholy is broken only now and then by a note of grim humor. He lived long enough, however, to write the most beau tiful dirge ever written in behalf of the Confederate dead — "as perfect in its tone and workmanship as though it had come out of the Greek anthology." The last stanza merits the praise that Holmes gave to Emerson's Concord Hymn; the words seem as SOUTHEEN POETEY. 31 if they had been carved upon marble for a thousand years : I. "Sleep sweetly in your humble graves. Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause; Though yet no marble column craves The pilgrim here to pause. II. 'In seeds of laurel in the earth The blossom of your fame is blown. And somewhere, waiting for its birth. The shaft is in the stone! ill. "Meanwhile, behalf the tardy years Which keep in trust your storied tombs. Behold! your sisters bring their tears And these memorial blooms. IV. "Small tributes! but your shades will smile More proudly on these wreaths to-day. Than when some cannon-moulded pile Shall overlook this bay. "Stoop, angels, hither from the skies! There is no holier spot of ground Than where defeated valor lies. By mourning beauty crowned!" One who wrote such a poem at the age of thirty- seven, and who had written at least six other poems of the highest excellence, might have done much to realize the possibilities already suggested. He died, however, in 1867. Timrod 's friend, Paul Hamilton Hayne, was the only poet who continued to do seri ous work in the new era of Southern life. He was to be the link between Simms and Lanier. Descended from ancestors of great renown in South Carolina, and with possibilities of success in law and politics, he had before the war deliberately chosen literature 32 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. as his profession. In his first poem he annoxmces his dedication to the poet's life: "Yet would I rather in the outward state Of song's immortal temple lay me down, A beggar basking by that radiant gate. Than bend beneath the haughtiest empire's crown. "For sometimes, through the bars, my ravished eyes Have caught brief glimpses of a life divine. And seen a far mysterious rapture rise Beyond the veil that guards the inmost shrine." The test of the strength of this dedication came after the war, when he found himself face to face with a desolated city and an impoverished and broken-hearted commonwealth. With magnificent courage and faith he moved to a small railway sta tion near Augusta, Ga., where he lived the re mainder of his days in a cabin of his own building. There have been many notable descriptions of this cabin, but none more so than that which Hayne gives in an account of the visit that Simms made him in 1866. He refers to it as an "extraordinary shanty which seemed to have been tossed by a super natural pitchfork upon the the most desolate of hills." The interior accommodations were not un worthy of the outside forlornness. "We had three mattresses and a cot (if memory serves me right)," he continues, "and for supplies a box of hardtack, two sides of bacon and four-score, more or less, of smoked herring. Of cooking utensils there were a frying-pan, a gridiron, with three broken bars, and a battered iron pot." The two poets had much high conversation that suggested, at least, the times when they had feasted together in the city by the sea. Here, also, Timrod visited him in 1867, just a few months before his death. In the poem Under the Pine Hayne suggests the conversation they had SOUTHEEN POETEY. 33 and Timrod 's exquisite enjoyment of natural scenery : "When the last rays of sunset, shimmering down, Flashed like a royal crown. "O tree ! against a mighty trunk he laid His weary head; thy shade Stole o'er him like the first cool spell of sleep ; It brought a peace so deep The unquiet passion died from out his eyes, As lightning from the stilled skies." Years afterward Maurice Thompson visited Hayne to pay his homage to "the king poet of the Old South." The cottage had been somewhat improved by the deft hand of Mrs. Hayne, but it was still ' ' an arid perch for a songbird, that windy, frowsy, bar ren hill." The chairs, table and shelves had been made out of goods-boxes. The walls and ceiling of the main room were papered to odd effect with pic tures from illustrated journals. Hayne's writing- desk, at which he stood to make his poems, had been a carpenter's work-bench. Here, then, in this simple home — almost as crude as Thoreau's hut on Walden Pond — Hayne spent the remainder of his days, only once or twice going on a visit to his native city, and once as far as New England to see the poets with whom he had such intimate correspondence, and to whom he had writ ten some of his tenderest poems — at once the expres sion of his interest in poetry and of his broad na tional spirit. Here he received visits from young poets to whom he gave advice and inspiration. Although he was well past middle life when he be gan to live at "Copse Hill," he maintained a steady and persistent spirit of work. In 1873 he wrote an extensive and noteworthy introductory sketch to Timrod 's poems, thus serving to perpetuate the fame of his comrade. In 1878 he published lives of Vol. 7-a 34 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. his uncle Eobert Y. Hayne and of Hugh S. Legar6. Best of all, he continued to write poetry. He wrote to Mrs. Preston some words that ought to be the perpetual inspiration of American poets: "No, no! by my brain — my literary craft — I will win my bread and water ; by my poems I will live or I will starve. ' ' In 1872 he brought out his volume of Legends and Lyrics, ija.1875 The Mountain of the Lovers and Other Poems, and in 1882 a complete edition of his poems. A complete bibliography of his individual poems would indicate that they appeared in practically every magazine in the country, including the At lantic Monthly and Scribner's. Even a partial read ing in the files of contemporary periodicals serves to show that Hayne placed his work to the best ad vantage, although he was at times imposed upon by the editors of Southern magazines, who often ap pealed to him from the standpoint of loyalty to advance the interests of Southern literature. He was entirely dependent upon his poetic work for a livelihood, and, as has been said before, his single- hearted devotion to poetry gives him a unique place among American men of letters. Two or three of his best poems were written in his last years, not ably A Little While I Fain Would Linger Yet and In Harbor. He came to the end of his voyage on July 6, 1886. While Hayne did not strike a deeply original note, he cultivated faithfully the talents with which he was endowed. Accepting the results of the war in good faith, he soon manifested a spirit of recon ciliation and even of nationalism, especially in his attitude to the poets of New England. Lamar's noteworthy tribute to Charles Sumner was paral leled by Hayne 's sympathetic greeting to Whittier and Longfellow. In a poem to Oliver Wendell Holmes he expressed the gratitude of the South to SOUTHEEN POETEY. 35 the generous North at the time of the yellow fever scourge that swept the Southwest. More charac teristic, however, were his poems revealing the pic- turesqueness of Southern landscapes and the mel ody of Southern birds. In Macdonald' s Raid and JEthra he displayed some power of narrative verse, but his muse was at her best in the simpler forms of lyric verse. His best poems are characterized by delicacy of feeling and conscientious workman ship. His mastery of the sonnet, as well as his severe spirit, is evinced in the sonnet My Study. "This is my world! within these narrow walls, I own a princely service ; the hot care And tumult of our frenzied life are here But as a ghost, and echo; what befalls In the far mart to me is less than naught; I walk the fields of quiet Arcadies, And wander by the brink of hoary seas. Calmed to the tendance of untroubled thought: Or if a livelier humor should enhance The slow-timed pulse, 'tis not for present strife, The sordid zeal with which our age is rife, Its mammon conflicts crowned by fraud or chance, But gleamings of the lost, heroic life, Flashed through the gorgeous vistas of romance." His ability to depict a phase of Southern land scape in a strikingly original way is best seen, per haps, in his Aspects of the Pines: "Tall, sombre, grim, against the morning sky They rise, scarce touched by melancholy airs, Which stir the fadeless foliage dreamfully, As if from realms of mystical despairs. "Tall, sombre, grim, they stand with dusky gleams Brightening to gold within the woodland's core, Beneath the gracious noontide's tranquil beams — But the weird winds of morning sigh no more. "A stillness, strange, divine, ineffable, Broods round and o'er them in the wind's surcease, And on each tinted copse and shimmering dell Rests the mute rapture of deep-hearted peace. 36 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. "Last, sunset comes — the solemn joy and might Borne from the West when cloudless day declines — Low, flutelike breezes sweep the waves of light, And lifting dark green tresses of the pines, "Till every lock is luminous, gently float. Fraught with hale odors up the heavens afar To faint when twilight on her virginal throat Wears for a gem the tremulous vesper star." While Hayne was faithfully and courageously giv ing himself to poetry, there gradually arose a group of younger writers, some of whom had been soldiers in the war. It is not so generally known that there was * ' an avalanche of poetry ' ' in the South after the war. New magazines sprang up in Baltimore, Charleston and other Southern cities, and these made demand upon poets. There was a wilderness of mediocre poetry. Partly on account of poverty, partly because they felt that the South should prop erly be interpreted before the world, and partly be cause they could not but sing, many writers arose in different parts of the South. Davidson's Living Writers of the South, published in 1869, gave a list of 241 writers, 112 of whom were poets. The author naively remarked that some of the writers "have talent and character, with corresponding results, which enable them to stand in the front ranks of American authorship; some have limited abilities, and some have none." Another collection was en titled Female Writers of the South, about which a reviewer in the Southern Magazine used the follow ing vigorous language : "We shall not have a literature until we have a criticism which can justify its claims to be referred to; intelligent enough to eixplain why a work is good or bad; * * * courageous enough to condemn bad art and bad worlananship, no matter whose it be; to say, for instance, to more than half the writers in these volumes: 'Ladies, you may be all that is good, noble and fair ; you may be the pride of society and the lights of your homes; so far as you are Southern women our hearts are at your feet — ^but you have neither the genius, the learning nor the judgment to qualify you for literature.' " SOUTHEEN POETEY. 37 Of all the writers of the first few years after the war the most popular was Abram Joseph Eyan, generally known as Father Eyan. Before Hayne and Lanier and Eussell began to do their best work, he was the poet laureate of the South. He voiced the despair of his people and their loyalty to the conquered banner of the Southern Confederacy. There are other notes in his poetry — notably the ex pression of his religious faith and his strain of mysticism — but that which made him a contempo rary influence in Southern life and has caused him to remain the most popular poet of the South was the note of sentiment and melancholy that centered about the overthrow of Southern hopes. While it is easy to see the defects of his poetry, it is also easy to understand why it has such a hold on the average Southerner. He had fluency and clearness of style ; he himself wrote the best commentary on his poems, when he said that they were "written at random — off and on, here, there, anywhere — just as the mood came, with little of study and less of art, and always in a hurry." As there is no finality in his art, so there is no outlook, no hope, but a sort of uncon querable loyalty. The Conquered Banner and the Sword of Bobert Lee are so well known as not to demand quotation here. The reader will scarcely do justice to the poet who does not know, in addition to these, The Song of the Mystic, a poem rich in its suggestiveness of the deeper realities of life. Different alike in careful workmanship and in depth of thought and feeling from Father Eyan was Maurice Thompson. Though he is not, by some, considered a Southern writer, because he lived for a long time in Indiana and later in New York, he himself claimed to be a Southerner by reason of his early life in Georgia, his service as a Confederate soldier and his constant return to the South, where 38 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. he often hunted and pursued the work of a student of natural history. His volume of poems (published in 1892) is distinctly Southern — the theme running through the entire volume is that of the melody and spiritual significance of the song of the mocking bird. When his first poem appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1873, it was at once recognized by How- ells and Longfellow as the work of "a new and original singer, fresh, joyous and true." In Thomp son's poems there are suggestions of the author's beloved Greek and English writers, but there is an unmistakable note of originality in the Southern landscapes and in the new note of freedom and na tionalism. He was one of the first Southern poets to feel that in resisting the stream of national tendency the South was fighting against the stars in their courses. He never apologized for his course in the war, but boasted that he dared to fight for the South from Lookout to the sea, with her proud banner over him: "But from my lips thanksgiving broke. As God in battle thunder spoke. And that Black Idol, breeding drouth And death of human sympathy Throughout the sweet and sensuous South, Was, with its chains and human yoke. Blown hellward from the cannon's mouth. While freedom cheered behind the smoke." Tender and imaginative is his tribute to Abraham Lincoln, in the poem read before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University : "He was the Southern mother leaning forth. At dead of night to hear the cannon roar, Beseeching God to turn the cruel North And break it, that her son might come once more : He was New England's maiden, pale and pure. Whose gallant lover fell on Shiloh's plain; He was the mangled body of the dead." SOUTHEEN POETEY. 39 Jubilant is his prophecy of the New South : "The South whose gaze is cast No more upon the past. But whose bright eyes the skies of promise sweep. Whose feet in paths of progress swiftly leap; And whose past thoughts, like cheerful rivers run. Through odorous ways to meet the morning song!" If one characteristic of the new Southern poetry was the nationalism that one finds in Hayne and Thompson, another was naturalism or realism. The ante-bellum poetry was characterized by sentimen talism, by melancholy, by an almost utter absence of Southern landscape or character. Least of all was there any humorous poetry. Even when the poets wrote of the mocking bird there was the echo of English poets rather than the melody that rang through the Southern forests. All this absence of local color passed away with Irwin Eussell 's delinea tion of negro types and dialect. Born on a Southern plantation, he understood their character, disposi tion, language, customs and habits. "He couldn' 'a' talked so nachal 'Bout niggers in sorrow and joy, Widdouten he had a black mammy To sing to him 'long ez a boy!" His story of how he began to write poetry is so interesting and significant that I quote: "It was almost an inspiration. I did not reduce the trifle to writing until some time afterwards, and then, from want of recollec tion, in a condensed and emasculated form. You know that I am something of a banjoist. Well, one evening I was sitting in our back yard in old Mississippi, 'twanging* on the banjo, when I heard the missis — our colored domestic, an old darky of the Aunt Dinah pat tern — singing one of the outlandish camp meeting hymns of which the race is so fond. She was an extremely 'ligious character and, al though seized with the impulse to do so, I hesitated to take up the tune and finish it. I did so, however, and in the dialect that I have adopted, and which I then thought, and still think, is in strict con- 40 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. formity to their use of it. I proceeded, as one inspired, to compose verse after verse of the most absurd, extravagant and, to her, irrev erent rhyme ever before invented, all the while accompanying it on the banjo and imitating the fashion of the plantation negro. The old missis was so exasperated and indignant that she predicted all sorts of dire calamities. Meantime my enjoyment of it was prodigious." Eussell very early attracted the attention of his neighbors by his poems in local papers, but he first became widely known in 1876 by his poems in the bric-a-brac department of Scribner's Monthly. His poems were among the first evidences of the begin ning of a distinctively Southern literature. There was scarcely a phase of the old-time negro that he did not present. Now it is the trader trying to de ceive his master by putting rocks in his bale of cot ton; now the preacher taking up a collection or talking to his wife just before the angels come for him. In Nebuchednezzar we have the story of the negro and his mule. More indicative of the negro 's feeling for his master is Mars John: "I only has to shet my eyes, an' den it seems to me I sees him right afore me now, jes like he use' to be, A settin' on de gal'ry, lookin' awful big an' wise, Wid little niggers fannin' him to keep away de flies. He alluz wore de berry bes' ob planter's linen suits, An' kep' a nigger busy jes a, blackin' ob his boots, De buckles on his galluses wuz made ob solid gol', An' di'mons ! dey was in his shut as thick as it would hoi'." In view of such a poem — so clearly the progenitor of Marse Chan and Meh Lady — it is no wonder that Thomas Nelson Page said, "It was the light of his genius shining through his dialect poems — first of dialect poems and still first — that led my feet in the direction I have since tried to follow. " It is no disparagement to the author of Uncle Edinburg' Drowndin' or of Uncle Remus to say that their stories have their complement in poetry in Eussell's Christmas Night in the Quarters. Modeled after SOUTHEEN POETEY. 41 Burns 's Jolly Beggars and Tam O'Shanter, it is a highly humorous and imaginative operetta — a series of brilliant incidents and pictures held together by the music of the old-time breakdown. Short quota tions give no idea of the poem as a whole ; a typical passage is "Brudder Brown's" blessing on the dance : "O Mahsr! let dis gath'rin' fln' a blessin' in yo' sight! Don't jedge us hard fur what we does — you knows it's Christmas night ; An' all de balunce ob de yeah we does as right's we kin. Ef dancin's wrong, O Mahsr ! let de time excuse de sin ! "We labors in de vineya'd, wukin' hard an' wukin' true; Now, shorely you won't notus, ef we eats a grape or two. An' takes a leetle holiday — a leetle restin'-spell — Bekase, nex' week, we'll start in fresh, an' labor twicet as well. "Remember, Mahsr — min' dis, now, — de sinfulness ob sin Is 'pendin' 'pon de sperrit what we goes an' does it in: An' in a righehis frame ob min' we's gwine to dance an' sing, A-feelin' like King David, when he cut de pigeon wing. "It seems to me — indeed it do — I mebbe mout be wrong — That people raly ought to dance, when Chrismus comes along; Des dance bekase dey's happy — like de birds hops in de trees, De pine-top fiddle soundin' to de bowin' ob de breeze. "We has no ark to dance afore, like Isrul's prophet king; We has no harp to soun' de chords, to help us out to sing; But 'cordin' to de gif's we has we does de bes' we knows; An' folks don't 'spise de vi'let-flower bekase it ain't de rose. "You bless us, please, sah, eben ef we's doin' wrong to-night; Kase den we'll need de blessin' more'n ef we's doin' right; An' let de blessin' stay wid us, untel we comes to die, An' goes to keep our Chrismus wid dem sherifi's in de sky! "Yes, tell dem preshis anguls we's a-gwine to jine 'em soon: Our voices we's a-trainin' fur to sing de glory tune; We's ready when you wants us, an' it ain't no matter when — O Mahsr! call yo' chillen soon, an' take 'em home! Amen." Dialect verse and fiction have been greatly over done in recent years, but the historic importance of 42 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Eussell's work cannot be overlooked. For the use of dialect in verse Sidney Lanier once wrote a suffi cient apology. He himself in his early days wrote poems in negro and "Cracker" dialects. To Char lotte Cushman he said, in defense of the poems : "Tell me, ought not one to be a little ashamed of writing a dialect poem — as at least one newspaper has hinted? And did Robert Burns prove himself no poet by writing mostly in dialect? And is Tenny son's Death of the North Country Farmer — certainly one of very strongest things he ever wrote — not a poem, really?" But Lanier's true work was not to be in the line of dialect poetry, though these poems are valuable as showing one important phase of his character, as they also show the picturesque life of his native Georgia. He was to be the Wordsworth or the Keats of his time, not the Burns. He is the one man of the period under consideration who deserves to rank with the greater poets of America. After a decade of wavering criticism as to his rank, Stedman seemed to settle the question, at least for the pres ent, when he put Lanier's picture in the group of seven first poets as the frontispiece to his American Anthology — an opinion shared by Mr. Curtis Hid den Page in his Chief American Poets. Lanier and Whitman stand out as the original poets of the gen eration succeeding the war. Different in many re spects, they were alike in the cosmic range and sweep of their imagination. Lanier was Southern, as Poe was not. His home life in Macon, Ga., and his education at Oglethorpe University were typical of that region. He fought with romantic heroism in the war. The story of his military career reads like that of some knight of the age of chivalry. As he shared the hopes and the disappointment of the Confederacy, so he was bap tized with the baptism of his people in reconstruc tion days, and no one suffered more than he in that SOUTHEEN POETEY. 43 Valley of Humiliation. He traveled in all parts of the South in search for health, from San Antonio to Jacksonville, and from Baltimore to Mobile. Though he moved to Baltimore in 1873, the back ground of many of his poems is that of the Lower South — the marsh, the mountains, the seashore. The birds and the forests of Georgia and Florida stirred his imagination. The song of the river that flowed by his birthplace is reproduced in the Song of the Chattahoochee ; the robins of Tampa made melody for his weary soul and sing even now in his onomatopoetic lines. For the marshes of the Georgia coast he essayed to do what Wordsworth did for the mountains and lakes of northern Eng land. It is now seen clearly that Lanier, in his poem Corn and in his essay on the "New South," was the prophet of a revolution in the agricultural life of his native land. Everywhere the ruined hilltops are blossoming like the rose, fulfilling his daring hope: "Thou gashed and hairy Lear, Whom the divine Cordelia of the year. E'en pitying Spring will vainly strive to cheer — "Yet shall the great God turn thy fate. And bring thee back into thy monarch state And majesty immaculate." Even more significant than the background is the quality of his poetry. An acute critic of New Eng land has pointed out that the tragic convulsion of the war awakened in the South "a kind of passion which America had hardly witnessed before — a lyric fervor." Now this is seen preeminently in Lanier. It is the source of his limitations as well as of his strength, but it is there — enthusiasm, emo tionalism, sentiment, lack of restraint. In The Symphony he is speaking as a Southerner in his out look on modem industrial life, which seemed to him 44 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. to be destroying the finer graces of the soul. It is scarcely fanciful to say that in the words of the horn — one of the instruments in the orchestra— he is in terpreting the message of the Old South to the modern world. The age of chivalry is not dead. The modern era of industrialism may be judged in the light of the feudalism which it supplanted. In a letter outlining the poem, Lanier said: "It is now the gentleman who must rise and overthrow trade. That chivalry which every man has, in some degree, in his heart, which does not depend upon birth but which is a revelation from the God of justice, of fair dealing, of scorn of mean advantages * * * must burn up every one of the cunning moral castles from which trade sends out its forays upon the conscience of modern society." Thus, as throughout the poem, does Southern honor speak through him. It is not well to stress this point too far, however, for in many other things Lanier was anything but a typical Southerner. He was genuinely national. Even from the close of the war he would have the seeds of that conflict utterly buried out of the sight of men. When the opportunity came to him to write the words for the Centennial Cantata at the Phila delphia Exposition, he felt, as few men in the coun try, the significance of the event. In musical con ception, though not in felicitous words, he chanted the triumph of the Union. In spite of all the physi cal obstacles that had hindered the early settlers, in spite of the distinct individualities of the various sections of the country, in spite of sectional misun derstandings leading to a fierce civil war, the nation had survived. All of these had said, "No, thou shalt not be," but Columbia answers: SOUTHEEN POETEY. 45 "Now praise to God's oft-granted grace. Now praise to man's undaunted face. Despite the land, despite the sea, I was, I am, and I shall be!" And the very same year he wrote a much better poem. The Psalm of the West, in which he sings the triumph of Freedom and Nationalism. In no other American verse is there a more vivid realization of the meaning of the Eepublic in the larger life of the world than in the Columbus sonnets of this poem. Lanier was also cosmopolitan as well as national. No other Southerner, except, probably, Thomas Jef ferson, was more alive to the life of the world or had a more open and inquisitive mind. The best that had been or was being thought and said and done in the world he aspired to know. There are two striking evidences of the modernity and the pro- gressiveness of his mind — his attitude to science and to music. While many poets had expressed fear on account of the rapid advance of science, Lanier eagerly welcomed it as the handmaid of religion and poetry. "Poetry will never cease, nor science, nor the poetry of science," he says in his earliest book. He himself became an interested student of biology, and in his poems he shows the results of his scientific habit of mind, saturated as they are with at least the largest final conceptions of current science. An outgrowth of this regard for science was his sym pathy wdth scholarship, and even his devotion, as a specialist, to his own chosen branch of English literature. He imbibed the spirit of the newly es tablished Johns Hopkins University, moving with confidence among its great scholars, and with the eager curiosity of a child always finding fresh woods and pastures new. His study of old and middle and Elizabethan English had the same effect on him 46 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. that the study of continental literatures had on Longfellow and Lowell. That which distinguishes Lanier most sharply from all other American poets is his attitude to music. His letters, as well as the recollections of those who know him best, go to show that music was the master passion of his soul. First as an amateur and then as a careful student in Baltimore, he learned the art of flute playing. Listening to the great orchestras and operas in Northern cities, and reading the biographies of musicians, he came to see the place of music in the culture life of the modern world. It was to him not a luxury, but a prime necessity — a source of education and an ally especially of poetry. What is more important is that in his poems The Symphony and To Beethoven he has interpreted in words the very soul of music. The line most generally quoted from him is the con clusion of the former poem, "Music is Love in search of a word." Nor was the effect of music on Lanier confined to his remarkable letters or to his poems on music. Gradually he conceived an idea that it was his dis tinctive work as a critic to state the relation of music to poetic form, and as a poet to create real musical effects with words. After 1875, especially, we hear much of his plans, and we see in the few poems that he left behind a partial realization of his ideals. There is not space here to go into the discussion of Lanier's theory of verse, nor to point out in detail the original work he did as a poet in the field he laid out for himself. Suffice it to say that his best poems move to the cadence of a tune. He probably chanted his words as he composed them. Sometimes in his briefer poems, as the Even ing Song, there is a lilt like the singing of a bird, and sometimes the lyric cry, and yet again in his SOUTHEEN POETEY. 47 longer poems the involved harmony of an orchestra. No other American poet save Poe has such musical effects, and Poe's melodies are simple by the side of the complex and subtle harmonies of Lanier. Lanier did not live to work out his ideas, but who knows but that some poet will make his work the starting point of the greater poetry of the future? If Lanier and Poe were not far apart in their ideas of the formal side of poetry, they were far removed from each other in the substance of their work, no less than in their lives and characters. Both of them struggled with disease and poverty, both of them died in early life, and both lie buried in the same cemetery in Baltimore. But there the likeness ends. In the complete mastery of his art and of his material, Poe was incomparably greater than Lanier — in this respect there is all the differ ence of perfection and imperfection, of achievement and aspiration. In purity of character, in a holy regard for the sacred institutions of society, in the love for whatsoever things are excellent and of good report, and in the range and sweep of his mind and imagination, Lanier was immeasurably Poe's su perior. In the loftiness of his moral character and in the richness of his spiritual endowment, as well as in his sense of the glory of the poet's work, Lanier takes his rank with Milton and the great mod ern poets of England and New England. In a memorable passage in the English Novel he says : "Cannot one say with authority to the young artist, whether work ing in stone, in color, in tones or in character forms of the novel: so far from dreading that your moral purpose will interfere with your beautiful creation, go forward in the clear conviction that, unless you are suffused — soul and body, one might say — with that moral purpose which finds its largest expression in love — that is, the love of all things in their proper relation — ^unless you are suffused with this love, do not dare to meddle with beauty; unless you are suffused with truth, wisdom, goodness and love, abandon the hope that the ages will accept you as an artist." 48 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. His own life and work coincided with the spirit of these words. There was nothing abnormal or Bohemian in his temperament. The story of his re lation to his wife suggests that of the Brownings and the Hawthornes. Among half a dozen expressions of his love, My Springs is the most notable : "In the heart of the hills of life I know Two springs that with unbroken flow Forever pour their lucent streams Into my soul's fair Lake of Dreams. "Always when faith with stifling stress Of grief hath died in bitterness, I gaze in my two springs and see A faith that smiles immortally. "Always, when art, on perverse wing. Flies where I cannot hear him sing, I gaze in my two springs and see A charm that brings him back to me. "O Love, O Wife, thine eyes are they, My Springs, from out whose shining gray Issue the sweet celestial streams That feed my life's bright Lake of Dreams. "Oval and large and passion pure And gray and wise and honor sure, Soft as a dying violet breath. Yet calmly unafraid of death. "Dear eyes, dear eyes! and rare complete — Being heavenly sweet and earthly sweet — I marvel that God made you mine, For when he frowns, 'tis then ye shine ! " The love that bound him to his family and friends broadened out into a love for mankind. Love was to him the solution of all problems, especially of industrial problems as set forth in The Symphony. Against the tyrannies of commerce, love, through the instruments of an orchestra, voices its protest in behalf of human brotherhood. And Lanier came to see that the very essence of Christianity was Love. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 49 He reacted against the Calvinism of his youth to as great an extent as Holmes did. In his letters, as in his poems Remonstrance and Crystal, we see his hatred of bigotry and narrowness, and his worship of the Master. All art and science and nature were so many roads to God, and Christ was the Incarnate Word. It is not remarkable that the Ballad of the Trees and the Master should have found its way into modern hymn-books, or that it should be sung so often during Passion Week: "Into the woods my Master went. Clean forspent, forspent. Into the woods my Master came. Forspent with love and shame. But the olives they were not blind to him. The little gray leaves were kind to him : The thorn tree had a mind to him. When out of the woods he came. "Out of the woods my Master went, And he was well content. Out of the woods my Master came. Content with death and shame. When death and shame would woo him last. From under the trees they drew him-— last: 'Twas on a tree they slew him — last When out of the woods he came."* But the most original poems that Lanier wrote — original alike in art and in conception — are Sunrise and The Marshes of Glynn, two of a series he planned to write on the marshes near Brunswick, Ga. The former, written when he was in the last stages of consumption, is marked to some extent by Lanier's limitations as a poet, his tendency to con ceits, his subordination of poetry to musical effects, his straining after utterance that is beyond him. This criticism does not hold, however, with regard to the passage on the dawn, nor to almost the whole of The Marshes of Glynn. One might be sure of Lanier's fame if there were no other poem than this. ?Copyrighted by Mary Day Lanier and Charles Scribner's Sons. Vol. 7—4. 50 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Here aspiration is achievement. We have some thing of Wordsworth's spiritual exaltation, of Em erson's optimism, and of Whitman's cosmic imag ination : "The world lies east : how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky ! A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade. Green, and all of a height, and unflecked with a light or a shade. Stretch leisurely off, in a pleasant plain. To the terminal blue of the main. "Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal sea? Somehow my soul seems suddenly free From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin. By the length and the breadth and the sweep of the marshes of Glynn. "Ye marshes, how candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free Ye publish yourselves to the sky and offer yourselves to the sea! Tolerant plains, that suffer the sea and the rains and the sun, Ye spread and span like the catholic man who hath mightily won God out of knowledge and good out of infinite pain And sight out of blindness and purity out of a stain. "As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod. Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God: I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies : By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God : Oh, like to the greatness of God is the greatness within The range of the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn. "And the sea lends large, as the marsh: lo, out of his plenty the sea Pours fast : full soon the time of the flood-tide must be : Look how the grace of the sea doth go About and about through the intricate channels that flow Here and there. Everywhere, Till his waters have flooded the uttermost creeks and the low-lying lanes, And the marsh is meshed with a million veins. That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow In the rose-and-silver evening glow. "Farewell, my lord Sun! The creeks overflow: a thousand rivulets run 'Twixt the roots of the sod ; the blades of the marsh-grass stir ; Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whir; Passeth, and all is still ; and the currents cease to run ; And the sea and the marsh are one. SOUTHEEN POETEY. 51 "How still the plains of the waters be! The tide is in his ecstasy. The tide is at his highest height: And it is night. And now from the Vast of the Lord will the waters of sleep Roll in on the souls of men. But who will reveal to our waking ken The forms that swim and the shapes that creep Under the waters of sleep? And I would I could know what swimmeth below when the tide comes in On the length and the breadth of the marvellous marshes of Glynn." Not the least remarkable point about Lanier's poetry is that it was written at a time when, through out the English-speaking world, the drift was all against romantic poetry. It may be truly said that Lanier was the last of the Nineteenth century romantics. The tendency in fiction, as in poetry, was towards realism — from sentiment to reason. Never has there been a time when so many well- trained poets were writing as during the last quar ter of the century. Lanier felt their defects, how ever, when he referred to "the feeble magazine lyrics — those little diffuse prettinesses and dandy kick shaws of verse. * * * None of them ever attempt anything great." There is scarcely a Southern state that has not a poet who displays conscientious and skillful work manship — and occasionally, we have a suggestion of the best poetry. Perhaps the best of all these is Lanier's friend, John B. Tabb. There is scarcely a month that does not bring one or more of his poems, always polished, always clever, and frequently highly imaginative in their conception. There is no better illustration of his work than the lines on Lanier : "The dewdrop holds the heaven above, Wherein a lark, unseen. Outpours a rhapsody of love That fills the space between. 52 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. "My heart a dewdrop is, and thou. Dawn-spirit, far away, Fillest the void between us now With an immortal lay." As Father Tabb celebrated Lanier, so the late John Henry Boner, of North Carolina, wrote what is, perhaps, the best tribute to Poe in the poem en titled Poe's Cottage at Fordham. Boner likewise wrote of "the lightwood fire" of his native state, and a younger poet, John Charles McNeill, of the same state, who died like so many other poets in the dawn of a brilliant career, left behind a volume entitled Songs, Merry and Sad, with many exquisite lyrics of love, and of life on the farm where he spent his boyhood. In the same state Professor Benjamin Franklin Sledd, of Wake Forest College, has written poems characterized by deep and original feeling and by suggestions of the greater poets of all lan guages with whom he has a scholar's and a poet's fellowship. In Alabama Samuel Mintern Peck has written with decided success the vers de societe, in- troducing into this country the forms of verse culti vated so successfully by Dobson and Gosse in Eng land. In Georgia William H. Hayne has followed the example of his father in cultivating the muses, though far less industriously ; and Eobert Loveman helps to keep the spark of poetry alive in a state that has, since the war, furnished so large a share of Southern writers. In South Carolina the late Carlyle McKinley, in the midst of the busy life of a journalist, now and then wrote a poem of real worth, as, for instance, his Sapelo. In Kentucky, too, as if to match the delicate work of James Lane Allen in prose, Madison Cawein has enrolled himself among the first of contemporary poets. Cawein has attracted the attention of Wil liam Dean Howells and the English critic, Edmund SOUTHEEN POETEY. 53 Gosse. In his endeavor to capture some hints of the evasive ideal beauty and the truthful impas sioned rendition of the actual rich beauty of the world of nature, he has kept up the tradition of Keats and Shelley. Now and then he has expressed with real poetic imagination a childlike sense of the wonder and bloom of the world, as when he says : "There are fairies. I could swear I have seen them busy where Rose leaves loose their scented hair. In the moonlight weaving — weaving Out of starshine and the dew Glinting gown and shimmering shoe; Or within a glow-worm lair. From the dark earth slowly heaving Mushrooms whiter than the moon, On whose tops they sit and croon. With their grig-Ike mandolins. To fair fairy ladykins. Leaning from the window sill Of a rose or daffodil . Shod with hush and winged with fleetness, You may see the Little People, 'Bound and round the drowsy steeple Of a belfried hollyhock. Clothed in phlox and four-o'clock. Gay of gown and pantaloon, — Dancing by the glimmering moon." There is no better general characterization of his poetry than that by Edmund Gosse : "He brings the ancient gods to Kentucky, and it is marvelous how quickly they learn to be at home there. Here is Bacchus, with a spicy fragment of calamus root in his hand trampling down the blue- eyed grass, and skipping, with the air of a hunter born, into the thicket to escape Artemis, whose robes * * * startle the humming birds, silence the green tree frogs and fill the hot air with the per fumes of peppermint and pennyroyal. It is a queer landscape, but one of new natural beauties, frankly and sympathetically discovered, and it forms a mise en scene which, I make bold to say, would have scandalized neither Keats nor Spenser." In such poetry— notable alike for its artistry and its poetic feeling — one sees the promise of the fu- 54 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ture of Southern poetry. When the present age of criticism has passed, when the South has become adjusted to its new life, and when again the great poets shall be heard in England and America, we may confidently expect the coming of a great cre ative era. What Hayne said of Simms is largely true of Southern poets as a whole : ' ' Circumstances were against him. He never spoke out." The story of their conflicts with adverse circum stances is a sad one, but inspiriting, and prophetic of better days. When there is throughout the South a keener appreciation of literary art, when the perspective of time is brought to bear on South- em romance and experience, great poets will arise to take their place among the great singers of the America of the future. By all considerations of climate, temperament and richness of poetic mate rial, the South is the inevitable home of poetry. BiBLiOGKAPHT. — Baskervill: Southern Writers; Link: Pioneers of Southern Literature; Mims: Life of Sidney Lanier; Trent: Southern Writers and Life of William Gilmore Simms; Weber: Southern Poets; Poems of Timrod, Hayne, Lanier, Margaret J. Preston, Ryan, Maurice Thompson, Tabb, Madison Cawein. Edwin Mims, Professor of English Literature, Trinity College, and Editor of the South Atlantic Quarterly. FOLK-LOEE. 55 CHAPTER III. THE FOLK-LOEE OF THE SOUTH. ROBABLT the oldest legend relating to the history of the United States is that of Vir ginia Dare, the first child born of English parents on the soil of North America, and one of the colony which so mysteriously disappeared from Eoanoke Island between the years 1587 and 1590. It is declared that she grew into fair maiden hood among friendly Indians and was changed by the sorcery of a rejected Indian lover into a white doe. As such she bore a charmed life, until love, triumphing over magic, restored her to human form, when she was slain by a silver arrow shot by a cruel chief. Throughout the South, since then, to see a white doe is an evil omen, and the hunters in regions where deer abound, believe that only a silver arrow will kill a white deer. Furthermore the first Scup- pernong vine known to history, found on the main land of the Carolinas in 1581, bore grapes with white skins, white pulp and white juice from which white wine was made. There are other Scuppernong vines which bear grapes having dark purple skins, yielding a reddish juice and making a red wine. These are said to be seedlings from the mother vine, and the changed color was wrought by the blood of Virginia Dare when slain by the silver arrow. Perhaps there are few in the South who now be lieve these legends. Yet the South is rich in folk lore of every kind, and when its civilization was at its best, the people held superstitions which were simply and candidly expressed, and beliefs common to most people were held more intensely than in 56 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. any other part of our land. Everything was an omen of good or bad luck. They had their ghost tales also. Hayne, the pa triot-martyr of Eevolutionary times, on his way to execution, passed the house of his sister-in-law. Standing at the window she cried out to him in agony, "Eeturn, return to us." He replied, "I will if I can, ' ' and walked on. At that window at night fall one may still hear a ghostly voice, and on the stairs and in the hall, footsteps as of a man return ing, never going down, always going up. Near the city of Charleston, South Carolina, is a certain coun try road on one part of which, it is said, may be seen in the morning and evening twilight, a big black dog, bounding along. He attacks no one, makes no sound, and disappears at the end of his chosen run, as mysteriously as he appeared at the beginning. He has withstood every effort either to cajole or to shoot him. These are typical of the folk-lore of the vicinity of Charleston with its traditions, chiefly English, but with enough of the Huguenot to give French names to most of the old families of South Caro lina. New Orleans with its French and Spanish traditions, with a history that is scarcely to be differ entiated from romance, with its Creole, or white French-speaking population, how could it avoid be ing likewise rich in folk-lore ? How otherwise could it be with a city whose paternal French government in the old colonial days sent ships freighted with girls to become wives of the settlers and to ' ' anchor the roving courier de bois into sturdy colonists"? The folk-tales founded upon the coming of these ships, first with the "Correction girls" and later with the "Casket girls," have furnished bases for many a story of higher literary type. Haunted houses are still pointed out in the French quarter. FOLK-LOEE. 57 and ghost stories abound in the minds of the imagi native Creoles. Latin ecclesiastical institutions have persisted, and there are held superstitions ga lore regarding marriage, the baptism of children and the burial of the dead, as simply and as candid ly expressed as those of the Charlestonians. Never will a mother accompany her first born to the church to be christened. Seldom will she accompany any of them. Nowhere are God-parents held in higher regard in the popular mind ; and who that has been in New Orleans has not heard of the Church of St. Eoch, the shrine to which lovesick girls and young married people make pilgrimages ? Is there any city in our country where All Saints' day is so generally celebrated as in the Crescent City? There is among the local folk customs one that is characteristic of New Orleans, if not peculiar to it ; that is lagnappe, a present proportioned to the value of the purchase, passing from the dealer to the customer. Few in deed are the sales in market or grocery from day to day, that are not accompanied with lagnappe. At a time, not a generation ago, when folk-lore as an aid to the study of anthropology and kindred sciences, was beginning to attract the attention of American students, before it was fully decided what the general term "folk-lore" included, and it was supposed that folk-lore was rare if not entirely ab sent from the texture of American life, a certain writer in a scientific journal, gravely asserted that, with few exceptions, there were neither local legends nor popular superstitions from one end of our land to the other ; yet he quickly corrected his hasty state ment by admitting the existence of two classes of native Americans who might supply in part these deficiencies: the Indians and the Southern negroes. He overlooked (naturally, for little was then known of them) three millions of white "mountaineers" 58 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. occupying the region sometimes known as Appalach ian America, forty thousand square miles of terri tory included within the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. In writing her de lightful stories sibout these mountaineers. Miss Mary N. Murfree ((?harles Egbert Craddock) brought these people to the attention of a wide circle of readers but in such a way as to show that there was a reserve of knowledge in her possession, and that she was capable of making a still more valuable con tribution to the study of folk-lore and folk customs in America. These people have a religion, politics, a moral code, folk tales, folk songs, folk customs, and folk ideas, chiefly derived from the old coimtry, even as in their speech (they are the people of the "we- ims" and "you-uns") are to be found survivals of the English of Chaucer's time. Occupying the same region as that from which the Cherokees were re moved about three-quarters of a century ago to a permanent home west of the Mississippi Eiver, they have inherited the Indian's knowledge of woodcraft and folk medicine, to which they have added what they have retained of the pioneer's belief in signs and omens and the practice of witchcraft and what ever traits the pioneers brought over the seas. The rough-and-tumble fight of the Scotch, and the Eng lish square stand-up-knock-down boxing match, were resorted to for the purpose of settling disputes until the War of Secession introduced the rifle and pistol. Then arose the "feud" in which survives the primitive idea of kin responsibility for the life of the kinsman. Some English ballads survive from three hundred years ago, ballads of lords and ladies, of cuckoos and nightingales, sung by men and women who have no idea that the words used have any FOLK-LOEE. 59 meaning and will apologize for their lack of sense. In localities where Scotch family names are common, Scotch ballads are still sung with a Scotch accent to music much like that of Scotland, which frequently drops into a relative minor like the negro plantation music. There are survivals of the wandering min strels, fiddlers and banjo players who go about making "ballets" to commemorate the deeds of the more notorious feudists, or other incidents of the homely life of the mountaineer, and thus are pro duced genuine folk songs. The "hymns" they sing at their religious meetings are folk song too, and they have nursery rhymes, folk tales and many pro verbs full of home-made philosophy, which would delight the heart of the most ardent collector of folk-lore. "What is to be will be, and that that a'int to be might happen, ' ' sums up their fatalism. They do not like to believe of themselves that they are superstitious, but one of them may well say of an other "You're as superstitious as some ol' woman that smokes a pipe and don't know the war is over. If the moon knowed what all you-uns hold hit respon sible fur, hit'd git scared and fall down out 0' the sky." And yet the belief in lunar influences is uni versal among them. Even their "moonshine" whis key seems to come within the domain of folk-lore. It originated in the pioneer period at a time when a surplus of corn could not be economically trans- sported across the mountains unless converted into whiskey, and before the right of a man to manufac ture what he pleased was disputed. It is inexplicable to their minds, that the government should have any thing to say about it, or should have the right to en force a tax by drastic measures, involving personal freedom and even life itself. In their resort to charms and amulets they fur nish some choice specimens for the collection of the 60 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. folk-lorist. The Indian arrowheads foimd in such abundance in their region are too readily assignable to their true origin to be regarded as "elf-bolts" as in the British Isles, though the more perfect speci mens may be worn as ornaments or preserved as relics of some Indian encounter in the early days. But in the mountains of Virginia are found certain cruciform pebbles, a puzzle to geologists and miner alogists, but much in demand by the snake hunters, "moonshiners" and ginseng gatherers, which are worn, not openly by way of ornament, but secretly as a charm against evil of all kinds, for the healing of the sick and by young women as love charms. They must be preserved in secret and to lose one portends evil. There are many legends as to the origin of these "fairy stones" as they are called, though the mountaineers have apparently little rec ognition of fairies in their folk-lore. The generally accepted one is that the news of the crucifixion was brought to Virginia by supernatural agents who made these stone crosses as mementoes of the event. Another is that in the remote past these stones were showered upon the Indians of the region to turn them from heathenism to Christianity. They have many signs regarding the weather and implicit faith in the portents of "the ruling days," that is, the twelve days from the 25th of December (Christmas) to Old Christmas (the old English Twelfth Night), each of which rules the weather of a month of the coming year; in the portents of "Ground Hog" day and the prognostications de rived from the goosebone, and from the hog milt (or "melt" as it is pronounced). "There will be as many snows in the winter as there were fogs in August." Friday is always the fairest or foulest day of the week ; and February always borrows four teen days from March to pay them back in the same FOLK-LOEE. 61 kind of weather in April. The first thunder in the spring awakens the snakes and lizards. Good Fri day is the best day for planting beans or garden truck, though it is a wonder that they know when the day comes, as they know nothing of its religious significance. How many of these weather signs have originated among them and how many are trace able to the Indians or to the old country are prob lems for the scientific folk-lorist. In many parts of this region there are place names which suggest that they might furnish a elew to some interesting local legends, and many of these clews have been followed up with good success. The names Thumping Dick Hollow, Shake Eag Hollow, Hell-fer-Sartin, and a host of other geographical names in this region suggest volumes that might result from an exhaustive study of the folk-lore of the mountaineers. The folk-lore of the Indians is of scientific rather than literary interest and as such the richness of the South in material of this characer can be but hastily touched upon. The folk tales of the Indians of the Southland included genesis and migration legends, probably a part of their once complete sacred myths ; plant and animal lore, local traditions, with a few songs, chiefly such as had to do with their religious festivals and dances, with perhaps some lullabies. They had, of course, folk customs and games, a wide range of woodcraft and medicine lore, and many superstitions. Most of these were common to the North American Indians everywhere. All of the Indians of the Southland have left traces of their occupancy of the country in an unusually large num ber of place-names in the Southern states. That local Indian legends were attached to these various places seems evident, for to the Indian mind every feature of natural scenery has been at one time or 62 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. another suggestive of some story, it may be of some portion of the great original cosmogenetic myth, which thus became expanded and localized and as sumed a more definite character. Such an approach to the study of Indian folk-lore is sure to result in interesting discoveries, perhaps in the correction of some popular errors. For example. Port Tobacco, Maryland, seems to have been so named because it was in the midst of a tobacco-growing country, and its name to be of English origin; it is in fact an English corruption of the Indian name "Potopaco." The names of the postoffice towns of Ball, in Louisi ana, Mississippi and Texas; Ball Ground, in Geor gia and Mississippi; and Ballplay in Tennessee, refer to sites where the Indian ball game was played. The Cherokees were the mountaineers of the Southern Indians. When, near the middle of the Nineteenth century they were removed west of the Mississippi Eiver, a considerable body remained behind in the Carolina mountains, and now, to the number of about two thousand, scattered in four counties adjacent to their reservation, preserve some of their myths and legends perhaps better than their fellow Indians of the West. When it is re called that there were about four hundred of these Indians from the mountains of North Carolina in the service of the Confederate army, it will be ob served that this remnant of the Cherokees is no negligible quantity in even a hasty survey of the folk-lore of the South. For these Indians, although adopting the dress of the white man and many in stitutions of the Anglo-Saxons, were still Indians at heart, and the war served to bring out all the la tent characteristics of the Indian. They consulted an oracle stone before they set out to the seat of war, to learn if they might expect to return in safe ty; they celebrated their start with a war dance in FOLK-LOEE. 63 which they exhibited themselves in all the charac teristic tribal paint and feathers ; they repeated the dance from time to time in the course of the war, and held their famous green-corn dance (their great thanksgiving harvest festival), and their ball games ; and on one occasion, under great provocation, they scalped one or two Federal soldiers whom they had slain. It is not remarkable that Indian folk tales galore should be found in the mountains of North Caro lina. Those which have been thus far collected and published, chiefly for scientific purposes, have many characteristics that are common to the myths and legends of all Indian tribes, or in fact to those of primitive peoples everywhere, and they are especial ly interesting as having something in common with the folk tales of the plantation negroes which we shall soon consider. They tell how in the concep tion of the Indian mind, the world was made; how the first fire originated; the origin of com and game; of disease and medicine; of the moon and thunder, and so on. For example, take the shortest of them which tells of the origin of the milky way: Some people had a corn mill from which they found one morning that their meal was being stolen in the night. Finding the tracks of a dog nearby, and sus pecting who the thief was, they watched the next night, and when the dog came and began to eat the meal from the bowl they sprang out and gave the dog a severe beating. As he ran off howling to his home in the North, the meal dropped from his mouth leaving a white trail where now we see the Milky Way, still called by the Indians, "Where the dog ran." As in this so in the other Indian myths, animals figure largely, and they are described as possessing very human traits. So it is with the stories of all 64 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. primitive peoples who are accustomed to observe the characteristics of animals which their religious systems regard as differing in no essential from hu man kind. They are organized into tribes, and have their chiefs and town houses, their councils and their games. And so rabbit, terrapin, deer, bear, fox and wolf, appear in the animal tales of the Indians to reappear in the tales of the plantation negroes. In the Indian tales of the origin of disease and medicine, and of the ball game of the birds and animals, there is a wealth of animal and plant lore. Except in a scientific way another remnant of the Indian tribes, the Seminoles of Florida, makes no important contribution to the folk-lore of the South. Of the negro population of the South three di visions may be recognized, distinguishable chiefly by their dialect. There are the negroes of the up lands of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, ex tending also into Kentucky, Tennessee and Northern Alabama and Mississippi. This is the region of tobacco and corn. There are the Creole negroes of New Orleans and lower Louisiana. And there are GuUah negroes occupying the Atlantic tide-water region from the mouth of the Chesapeake down to the northeast coast of Florida; the land of rice and sea-island cotton. The folk tales of these three, when fully collated and compared will doubtless show the same general characteristics, but an insu perable bar to the comparative study of these folk tales will be foimd for some time to come in the difficulties presented by the GuUah and Creole dia lects or patois. For the Negro Myths of the Georgia Coast, written in the Gullah by the late C. C. Jones, Jr., reached but few readers beyond the region where Gullah is known and understood, while the negro speech of the first division mentioned above has taken its place in the literature of the South and has FOLK-LOEE. 65 been widely read in the stories of a host of Southern writers. And the Creole or Gumbo dialect is, through the stories of Mr. George W. Cable, known to a smaller number of readers. Not unlikely there is a larger amount of the African surviving in the folk-lore of the Gullah as there is in their speech, than in the other two divisions, though the students who have given attention to the Gullah, claim that in its vocabulary it is for the most part English of two centuries ago, with some traces of the Scotch as found among the white mountaineers. On the other hand the influence of the French upon the speech of the Creole negroes is very marked. We are, however, here concerned with folk-lore and not with dialect; and while in that of the negro of all three divisions we find much of the African that sur vives in their superstitions, in their folk tales there is another influence quite apparent, and that is the Indian. And there is no reason why this should occasion surprise when it is recalled that Indians were enslaved as well as negroes in the colonies previous to the Eevolution. This was a frequent casus belli between the colonists and the Eedmen, and in South Carolina as late as 1708 the Indian population furnished a quarter of the whole body of slaves. The negroes have a large amount of the Indian knowledge of woodcraft, weather wisdom and folk medicine, and in their essential features the Indian animal myths agree wonderfully with the plantation tales of "Uncle Eemus." The Chero kees said of the rabbit that he was always on hand whenever there was any mischief brewing. With the Creole negroes "Compair Lapin" and "Compair Bouki" furnish the greatest amount of incidents. With the Gullah, "Buh Eabbit" plans to 'tack upon "Buh Allegatuh"; "Buh Fowlhawk" lays plans to Vol. 7—5. 66 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. catch the sxm; and "Buh Turkey Buzza'd" has an important part to play in the drama of life. It was the opening of a new department in litera ture when Joel Chandler Harris told his first stories of "Uncle Eemus." His was the first attempt at anything like a collection of plantation folk tales "which had become a part of the domestic history of every Southern family"; stories which narrated contests of wit between the rabbit, the terrapin, the bear, the wolf and the fox. In these contests ' ' Brer Eabbit" and "Brer Terrapin" are the embodiment of weakness and harmlessness, and they triumph, not through virtue but through helplessness, not by malice but by mischievousness. The stories were never intended as contributions to a scientific study of folk-lore, but are nevertheless valuable as such. Variants of these stories are to be found in various parts of the world, sufficient to establish theories for the scientific folk-lorist. Even the fa mous mediaeval folk tale of Eeynard the Fox may be regarded as having had its influence on the planta tion tales. But the most remarkable number of variants of the stories purporting to be told by Uncle Eemus, may be cited from Brazil. The theory that they were obtained by the negroes from the South American Indians seems scarcely tenable, however; it would appear more likely that the South American Indians had obtained them from the negro slaves in Brazil, and both those of the South American and the North American slave states had brought them from Africa. It is even possible that the story of Eeynard the Fox had been received from the Dutch in Africa before the coming of the negroes who had heard it, to the western shores. All these are difficult questions to settle. To one fact, however, these folk tales of the plantation bear FOLK-LOEE. 67 testimony, and that is to the childlike happiness of the negro under the slave system. Such humorous stories could never have been told by a people in such oppression as is so often depicted as the lot of the plantation negroes before the war ; nor would they be related now by the Uncle Eemuses who have survived those days, with such zest and pleasure, did they recall days of sorrow and grief. Time and space would fail to give any comprehen sive view of the superstitions of the negroes. Every thing furnishes a sign and a warning for them. An African origin is undoubted in that particular, and there are numberless survivals of actual Fetichism such as may be studied at first hand among the na tive African tribes. The most powerful implement of the negro superstition is "cunjer," which reaches its acute stage in the system of "Vouhdooh" or as it is usually corrupted "Hoodoo." This was brought to Louisiana from San Domingo, but it may be traced back to the original home of the West In dian negroes in Africa. It was with a knowledge of the superstition of the negro, approaching the scientific, that the "Ku Klux Klan" attempted to terrorize the negroes in the Eeconstruction days to prevent the complete subjugation of the white men of the South to their former slaves. So strong a hold has superstition upon the negroes of the South that it is impossible for his religion to be other than a folk-religion which suggests a wide field for inquiry and research. The chief form of expression for this religion is its hymnody, which has all the elements of folk song. The "hymns," if such they may be called, are never the composi tion of one man or one mind, but are a collection of separately improvised lines fixed in the popular memory by frequent repetition. Some of their camp-meeting songs, though lacking in dignity, have 68 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. strong rhythm and dramatic action, though they all subordinate sense to sound; and this relation of sense to sound directs attention at once to the music to which they are wedded, which is a true folk music. It has been charged that this music is African and not American, but upon examination it proves to be distinctly the result of American surroundings. It is expressive of the life of the cotton-, rice-, tobacco-, com- and cane-field; of the cabin and of the river, with an ecstatic religious vein far removed from any African music. Nor is its weird pathos an expres sion of any sorrow in the slave life, but due rather to the negro conception of religion. In 1842 negro minstrelsy had its birth in a north ern theatre in a mixed performance made up largely of songs and dances typical of negro life and char acter; as a scientific presentation of plantation folk lore (as was never intended) it was faulty, still it served to introduce some phases of negro folk-lore to the attention of a public ready to find amusement in it; and this prepared the way for the work of Stephen C. Foster, who is justly considered the folk song genius of America; and it also prepared the way for a later popular appreciation of Uncle Eemus when his time should come. Foster, although bom in the North was the son of a Virginian, and he trained himself for the production of his peculiar style of song by attending negro camp-meetings. He wrote in all about one hundred and sixty songs including "Oh, Susannah," "Old Uncle Ned," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground," and "De 01' Folks at Home," or "Suwa- nee Eibber," the latter being a negro corruption of San Juan, the Spanish name for the St. John's Eiver in Florida. These are not folk-lore, excepting as they have received folk-adoption, so to speak, but it would be impossible to complete this survey of the FOLK-LOEE. 69 subject of folk-lore in the South without mentioning this phase, the approximately good imitation of the best folk song of the coimtry. Nor should another folk song by adoption be overlooked. On the Fourth of July, 1861, while the Confederate army in Vir ginia was drawn up within hearing distance of the Federal army, General Kirby-Smith wrote that the booming of the Federal guns had been ringing a national salute. Powder was too scarce in the Con federate army at the time for any to be wasted in salutes, "but," wrote the general, "our bands have played 'Dixie' from one end of the line to the other." It is evident then that at that early period "Dixie" was the recognized national folk song of the Con federacy. The "Bonnie Blue Flag," though in tended for that purpose, never supplanted the other in the hearts of the people. "Dixie" would appear to have all the characteristics of folk song. The name is undoubtedly a negro corruption of Mason and Dixon's Line, and it is a thoroughly negro con ception of the land south of that line as a "land of cotton" with "cinnamon seas and sandy bot toms. ' ' But the truth is that the senseless wordswere written by a white man in the North, Dan Emmett, the son of a Virginian, for the use of the negro minstrels of which he was one of the founders ; and the tune was probably appropriated from an old negro air. The people and the soldiers of the South liked it. It outlived the Southern Confederacy and now bids fair to become national. About the time that "Dixie" became the national song of the Confederate army, the South contrib uted a war song to the Federal army. "Say, brothers wiU you meet us, On Canaan's happy shore ? 'i with the refrain "Glory, glory hallelujah. Forever, evermore," 70 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. was written some time before the war by a gentle man in Charleston, S. C, and was used at many a Southern camp-meeting, and was naturally taken up by the negro congregations. It made its way North and was, found in some of the hymn books there. A Massachusetts regiment on its way to the war, took it up and improvising lines to meet the exigencies of the time, evolved, " John Brown's Body Lies a-Mouldering in the Grave." It was after it had spread through the Federal army that Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was importuned to compose more dignified words for it, and wrote "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord," a hymn of high order, of too high an order in fact for it to supplant anything having the elements of folk song about it. For one great peculiarity of folk song is that it is "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Abthub Howakd Noll, University of the South, Sewanee. WIT AND HUMOK. 71 CHAPTEE IV. THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO THE NATION'S WIT AND HUMOR. f N 1897, a small volume on "Southern Wri ters" appeared. It was the work of the late Professor W. M. Baskervill, long pro fessor of English literature in Vanderbilt University. It is a biographical study and critical appreciation of Irwin Eussell, Joel Chandler Harris, Maurice Thompson, Sidney Lanier, George W. Cable and "Charles Egbert Craddock." Among these the writer whose work is distinctively humorous is Har ris, better known as "Uncle Eemus." Introducing his study of Harris, Baskervill said : "Middle Georgia is the birthplace and home of the raciest and most original kind of Southern humor. In this quarter native material was first recognized and made use of. A school of writers arose who looked out of their eyes and listened with their ears, who took frank interest in things for their own sake, and had enduring astonishment at the most common. They seized the warm and palpitating facts of every-day existence, and gave them to the world with all the accom paniments of quaint dialect, original humor and Southern plantation life." Twenty-seven years ago Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, published a vol ume entitled The Oddities in Southern Life and Character. The extracts selected as most repre sentative of Southern humor were prefaced by brief mention of the lives and works of the writers^ In an examination of the entire field the preponder ance of Georgia among these is found to be inter esting and remarkable. Mr. Watterson secures his extracts from sixteen humorists, viz.: Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Joel Chandler Harris, William 72 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. T. Thompson, Eichard Malcolm Johnston, Joseph G. Baldwin, Johnson J. Hooper, Davy Crockett, J. Proctor Knott, Charles H. Smith, George W. Harris, George W. Bagby, George D. Prentice, John E. Hatcher, Albert Eoberts and Alexander E. Sweet. Of the sixteen, five were Georgians: Longstreet, Thompson, Harris (Joel Chandler), Johnston and Smith. Hooper and Baldwin belong to Alabama; Crockett, Eoberts and Harris (George W.), to Ten nessee; Prentice, Knott and Hatcher to Kentucky; Bagby to Virginia ; Sweet to Texas. A complete list of Southern authors of humor should include Judge Joe C. Guild, who wrote Old Times in Tennessee; Thomas B. Thorpe, whose home for many years was in Louisiana, author of The Hive of the Bee-Hunter; and Samuel A. Hammett, VTho^e' Stray Yankee in Texas is full of bright humor. From Mr. Watterson 's list, Knott, Eoberts and Hatcher may be expimged. It was a single speech made in Congress, the "Duluth Speech," that gave Knott the title of humorist. Hatcher and Eob erts were newspaper paragraphers, whose humor ous sketches were widely enjoyed and quoted. Except as they were gathered into a few pages by Mr. Watterson, these do not appear in book form. Prentice belongs to the same class of writers of witty, pungent paragraphs. During his lifetime they were published in book form under the title Prentice- ana, and bear the impress of genuine fun and wit. The heyday of ante-bellum Southern humor was from 1835 to 1855. In the first year named Judge A. B. Longstreet published his Georgia Scenes. In 1840 William T. Thompson produced Major Jones's Courtship. This was followed, in 1843, by his Major Jones's Chronicles of Pineville, and in 1848 by his Major Jones's Sketches of Travel. Though not pub lished until 1867, George W. Harris in 1843 began WIT AND HUMOE. 73 the writing of his Sut Lovingood papers. In 1853 Joseph G. Baldwin published his Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. In 1854 Thomas B. Thorpe brought out The Hive of the Bee-Hunter, al though some of the same sketches had appeared in 1846 in The Mysteries of the Backwoods. In any treatment of Southern humor, the first place in rank and time is given to Judge Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (1790-1870). He was preceded by two Southern writers whose works, while not distinctively humorous in character, have a sufficient quantity of humor in some of their scenes and pas sages to make this a marked quality of their wri tings. These are William Byrd and Davy Crockett. In The History of the Dividing Line and A Journey to the Land of Eden, William Byrd (1674-1744), of Virginia, interspersed his observations with a fine wit and shrewd humor. Davy Crockett (1786-1836), of Tennessee, in 1834, published his Autobiography, which is pervaded with a dry wit and quaint humor. The drolleries and eccentricities of the author are reflected upon the pages of a book written in self- defense. Though he discharged successfully, at different periods of his career, the offices of jurist, editor, preacher and college president, it will be as the author of Georgia Scenes that Longstreet will be best and longest remembered. Eiding a Georgia cir cuit as lawyer and judge, his lively sense of humor caught the odd and picturesque shades of life about him. Its humorous incidents were transferred to the printed page; its eccentric characters were sketched with a loving, but faithful, portrayal. For popular appreciation they needed no accessories of a glowing imagination. Printed first in a newspa per, the Augusta Sentinel, which he founded and ed ited, they appeared in book form in 1835. Without 74 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the approbation of the author, several successive edi tions were brought out. In becoming a Methodist preacher and college president. Judge Longstreet practically repudiated the work, regretting that he had ever written it. He came to look upon it as mere bagatelle, the diversion and pastime of some unemployed hours. It rose to plague him somewhat. Behind his back college boys dubbed him "Old Ned Brace." When as political leader in the Democratic party he essayed to in struct and guide voters, his political adversaries of the Whig party avowed that no man from whom em anated so undignified a book and so gross carica tures of his f ellowman ought to presume to become a popular adviser. Seriously he contemplated offset ting the influence of the work by writing another Georgia Scenes, in which tears should be substituted for laughter. For his name and fame, it is doubtless fortunate that he did not execute the task outlined. The masterpiece of Georgia Scenes is unquestion ably "Ned Brace." Ned's drolleries and escapades inevitably provoke convulsive laughter. Though brief, A Lincoln County Rehearsal or Georgia The atrics, is one of the happiest sketches. Upon one oc casion, from being read in Congress, the story of this mock-fight became a successful substitute for argu ment. As an answer to a congressman hurling his harmless diatribes at the South, "Sunset" Cox sent to the clerk's desk a copy of the Georgia Scenes, and requested that Georgia Theatrics be read as his re ply. It evoked uproarious laughter. The mad rav ings of the combative congressman were effectually suppressed. Another favorite sketch is The Fight. Through all the intervening years "Eansy Sniffle" has survived as the most pronounced type of the trouble-maker between individuals or the families of a community. Another admirable sketch is The WIT AND HUMOE. 75 Debating Society. This is not strictly a Georgia scene. One of the leading characters was George McDuffie, the statesman, while the scene, Willington Academy, was in South Carolina. Though to the re fined taste the humor of these sketches may seem too rough and robust, nevertheless, as faithful tran scripts of the time, they present the broad humor and fantastic speech of a borderland of civilization. While Longstreet was a native Georgian and a graduate of Yale College, the most noted humorist of his Georgia contemporaries was born in Ohio and was self-educated. This was William Tappan Thompson (1812-1882). The humorists of the Old South were either lawyers or editors, and frequently were representative of both professions. As a boy in Philadelphia, Thompson became a printer. By way of Florida, where he studied law, he went to Georgia. In 1835 he became identified with Long- street in publishing the Sentinel. The relationship was of brief duration. The success of Longstreet 's humorous work is thought to have turned his part ner's pen to humorous skits. After publishing the Augusta Mirror for a few years, Thompson, in Middle Georgia, began to publish and edit the Mad ison Miscellany. To its pages he committed the sketches, which were published as a book. Major Jones's Courtship, in 1840. The scenes and charac ters therein belong to the delightful rural life of the Old South. Major Joseph Jones is a vigorous, un educated, unsophisticated product of plantation life. He is wildly in love with Mary Stallings, whose wid owed mother owned a joining plantation. Mary has just returned from the Georgia Female College at Macon. The faithful lover is much concerned lest so attractive a young woman, with the acquisition of new ideas, has found new beaux. By the light of a pine-knot fire the major sits in company with Miss 76 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Mary. In his doubt and excitement he spits so ex cessively and furiously on the glowing knot that there is ever-increasing prospect that the two lovers will be eventually enveloped in darkness — a catas trophe that finally happens. Before the confusion produced by the darkness ensues, Joseph is eager to ascertain whether Mary '"'had any bows down to Macon." He is greatly perturbed as she confesses, and begins to name "Matthew Mattix, Nat. Filosofy, Al. Geber, and a whole heap of fellers," whose pleas ant company she did not hesitate to express her de sire to enjoy anew speedily. The most amusing chapter of the book, illustrative of the wholesome merriment that pervades it, is that recounting the device employed by the major in popping the ques tion. Besides Major Jones's Courtship, Thompson wrote two other books of humor, with the same irre pressible major as protagonist. These were Major Jones's Chronicles of Pineville and Major Jones's Sketches of Travel. They are full of broad and rol licking fun, though unequal to his first work. Hotel experiences in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, with impressions of the sights and historic places of each city, are told in a mirthful and zestful way. At the time Longstreet and Thompson were af fording rich amusement by their sketches, there was a marked intellectual activity in Middle Georgia, of which the works of humor were an expression. After Longstreet had turned his back on the kind of writing that made him famous and that makes se cure his name, he was urged to contribute to a liter ary magazine established in Georgia. In 1838 and 1839 the religious denominations of the state opened their higher institutions of learning. One of these, the Georgia Female College, which claims to be the WIT AND HUMOE. 77 first institution of the kind in the world, opened for the graduation of young women, it is noted, is re ferred to by Thompson. Through Georgia, while Longstreet and Thomp son were at work, one destined to take rank with them was pursuing his way from North Carolina to Alabama. This was Johnson Jones Hooper (1815- 1862). He was a native of North Carolina and the son of a journalist. Having reached the then capital of Alabama, Tuskaloosa, he tarried only a few months. In Chambers county he began the study of law under a brother, and was admitted to the bar. However, his talents were almost immediately em ployed in editing the Tallapoosa Banner, at Dade- ville. It was in this newspaper, published far in the interior, that his humorous articles first appeared. At once they attracted attention, and were copied widely. After a time he was again in Chambers county, where he practised law and edited the Cham bers Tribune. It was while residing here, at LaFay- ette, the county seat, that he, in 1845, brought out his mostfamous workof humor : The Adventures of Cap tain Simon Suggs, late of the Tallapoosa Volun teers; together with taking the Census and other Alabama Sketches. By a Country Editor. The model of Hooper's character, "Simon Suggs," was living at the time the book appeared. He was Bird Young, one of the first settlers of Tallapoosa county. Brewer's Alabama says: "The pen-pic tures of Mr. Hooper probably have done an injustice to the reputation of Mr. Young. He was a plain man of much vitality and of native talent, but of fair standing as a man." Introducing his subject in the form of a biography. Hooper justifies the act by cit ing precedents. The biographies of candidates for the presidency, Jackson, Clay, Van Buren, Polk, had been written, for it was said, their "enemies will 78 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. know enough to attack and their friends must know enough to defend." In the conclusion of the book Hooper takes leave of the wily old reprobate, who is running for office, with this appeal: "He waxes old. He needs an office, the emoluments of which shall enable him to relax his intellectual exertions. His military services, his numerous family, his long residence among you, his gray hairs, all plead for him. Eemember him at the polls !" Hooper finds "Simon Suggs" in his seventeenth year, the son of a "hard-shell" Baptist preacher, back in the red hills of Middle Georgia. The lad's shrewd insight, rascally methods and thorough self- possession are prophetic of his successful career in Alabama as wiry manipulator, pious impostor, venal wretch and imperturbable swash-buckler. After cheating a victim, with cool calculation he exclaims : "Honesty's the best policy. Honesty's the bright spot in a man's character. Honesty's the stake that Simon will allers tie to. What's a man without in tegrity ? ' ' When he has exhibited an unusually good example of brazen dishonesty, he concludes with some moral thoughts. After by foul methods get ting an old Indian widow's land he exults: "Yes, there is a Providence. Ef a man says thar ain't no Providence you may be sure thar's something wrong here" — striking in the region of his vest-pocket — "and that man will swindle you, ef he can — certin." There is sunniness as well as hideousness in the pages of Simon Suggs. The grotesque and the amusing are equally presented — a little embellished, but always ridiculous either in scene or in character. Like Longstreet, Hooper came to regret that he had ever turned his pen and talents to depicting the hu morous characters and incidents about him. He felt his productions to have been an insurmountable im pediment to political preferment, which he coveted. WIT AND HUMOE. 79 An Alabama contemporary of Hooper was Joseph Glover Baldwin (1815-1864). He was a native of Virginia, and upon attaining his majority he migrated to Mississippi. After a sojourn of two years in Mississippi he moved to Sumter county, Alabama. In that state he lived and practised law until he moved to California in 1854. His enduring monument is his humorous book. Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi, which was published in 1853. Some of the sketches he had already con tributed to The Southern Literary Messenger, of Eichmond. In literary excellence and sustained vig or. Flush Times is superior to Baldwin's predeces sors in this species of literary workmanship. The opening sketch, "Ovid Bolus," is a masterly pres entation of the dexterous and accomplished liar, a man who drew on his imagination for his facts and on his memory for his fiights of fancy. Within recent times, in the national councils, the book has been drawn on for material with which to make a point or to flay an antagonist. One of the most delightful character sketches in Flush Times is the portrayal of the Virginian, haughty, self-consequential, who might breathe in Alabama, but who really lived in Virginia, never was acclimated elsewhere, maintained his citizen ship back in the Old Dominion, where his treasure was and his heart also. The conceited lawyer, still a fledgling, has his make-believe skill and learning rudely treated by an old member of the bar. Op posing counsel in a suit for slander, in dismay and disgrace he flies before the withering ridicule of old Caesar Kasm, known to the wags of the bar as old Sar Kasm. In fact, all the characters commend themselves with overflowing merriment. As the period around which to weave his sketches, Baldwin chose the so-called shinplaster era, when 80 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. commerce flourished upon a fictitious basis of uni versal credit and indefinite financial extension. He introduced pictures of the wildness of speculation and the boldness of adventure that characterized the times. He made disclosures of the frailties of men in selfish indulgence and business peculation. How ever, above the weakness and wickedness, above the fun and the mirth, there runs through the book the strong, practical insight of the man of the world which the man of letters touches and illumines for the merriment of his fellows. There is genuine sym pathy throughout. Satire, ridicule, sarcasm find little place in its pages. It is true, shams and follies, rascalities and villainies are held up to view, but to the touches of subtle humor there are added sugges tions of gentle charity. There is an originality and spontaneity about the work which made it immense ly popular in its day, and causes it still to be read and quoted. Baldwin never felt ashamed of his production, and after his removal to California he saw another era of "flush times," and thought to make likewise a faithful and pleasing transcript of them. A begin ning was made in a contribution to the same period ical that published his earlier effort. The cataclysm of civil war forbade the carrying out of the purpose. The London Westminster Review, in 1852, had an article on American literature. Speaking of a school of comic writers in the South and West it said: "In this school T. B. Thorpe, of New Orleans, and John son J. Hooper, of Alabama, are most conspicuous; and we know not where to turn for anything more rich, original, indigenous than much of the racy mockery and grotesque extravagance of their pages." Thomas Bangs Thorpe (1815-1878) was a native of Massachusetts. In 1836 he went to Louisiana, as cT^. y^ty, .^^^.S-Z-;,^^ WIT AND HUMOE. 81 he said, in search of health and wealth. In New Orleans at once he became associated with the press, at various intervals, for seventeen years editing newspapers. The strange, wild life about him had a romantic tinge. Its charm appealed to his appreci ation of the picturesque, while his sense of humor saw in the odd characters with whom he was thrown in contact excellent material for sketching. It was while guest of a wealthy planter that he found the subject first utilized. Tom Owen, a lazy, shiftless, eccentric character, withal witty, was pointed out to Thorpe. With axe on shoulder and buckets on arm, he was going in search of a bee-tree with its wild honey. For the novelty of the experi ence, Thorpe accompanied the man whose intimacy with bee life was so close that, as he declared, "on a clear day he could see a bee a mile away, easy!" The result was the sketch Tom Oiven, the Bee- Hunter. With its publication in William T. Porter's Spirit of the Times the writer achieved a remarkable popularity. This, with other sketches, some hu morous and other descriptive, appeared in 1846 as a book. The Mysteries of the Backwoods. In 1854 Thorpe published the Hive of the Bee- Hunter, a repository of sketches, many of which had appeared in the previous publication. In the main, they are the rich fruit of the pen of a nature-lover whose sense of humor has not been dulled. For de lightful humor. The Big Bear in Arkansas, A Hoo- sier in Search of Justice, Major Gasden's Story, The Great Four-Mile Day, The Way Americans Go Down Hill and A Piano in Arkansas rank with the best specimens. Tennessee's representative humorist was George Washington Harris (1814-1869). He was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he was brought a mere lad by his parents to Tennessee. As a mechanical genius Vol. 7—6. 82 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. he early attracted attention. He became a jeweler's apprentice, a steamboat captain, an inventor and a writer of political articles. The articles were con tributed to the Knoxville Argus. In 1843 his hu morous articles began to appear in William T. Por ter's Spirit of the Times, over the pen-name "Sugar Tom." When Elbridge G. Eastman, former editor of The Argus, became editor of the Nashville Union and American, Harris wrote for his friend other humorous sketches. It was in this paper that the "Sut Lovingood" articles for the most part ap peared. They ran at intervals until the war. It was not until 1867 that they were gathered together and published as a book. The local color of the Sut Lovingood Yarns, the title of Harris's book, belongs to East Tennessee. The characters are grotesque in their exaggerations. In some of the passages of the work there are sug gestions that offend. There is an indelicacy repul sive to those of squeamish tastes. One of Puritan ical mould would exclude it as inimical to decency. The ultra orthodox would denounce it as hurtful to religious belief and sentiment. However, between the lids of the book there is many a hearty laugh. There is much sound philosophy. Underneath the bald caricatures and the uncanny situations, there is much of rollicking humor. Here and there are touches of pathos. Despite the coarseness, there is much provocative of merriment. The sketches are not intended to be faithful portrayals of the people among whom Harris dwelt and whom he loved. They are sunply the outcome of a riotous imagination, which reveled in a keen sense of the ludicrous and grotesque. They are removed far from delicate humor, taking on its boisterous and outlandish phases. George Denison Prentice (1802-1870) was known WIT AND HUMOE. 83 as the father of the witty paragraph. In this de partment he exercised a rare gift. He was a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Brown University. In 1830 he went to Kentucky to write the campaign life of Henry Clay. After its completion he founded the Louisville Journal. This meant the abandon ment of law, which, like many other contemporary humorists, he had intended to make his profession. In 1859 he published a volume of his wit and hu mor, Prenticeana, the title selected by his publishers. A second edition appeared the year of his death. Prentice was averse to the publication of his wit ticisms, some of which were extremely caustic. There was such a popular demand for their per manent preservation that he saw that some other would undertake it unless he took charge. In that event there would appear jests and flings at the ex pense of former political enemies who, after the lapse of time, had become warm personal friends. On Prentice's part no word, subject or incident which might provoke mirth escaped his keen sense of the ridiculous. For the sake of a witticism or to render an incident ludicrous he regarded neither wounded pride nor offended feelings. That the ex pression or the situation was capable of a humorous turn was sufficient excuse for its publication. His witty paragraphs not only gave the Journal a na tional reputation and circulation, but made its editor known and quoted upon two continents. Concerned with the politics, events and personages of a bygone epoch and brought out years after the occasions that called them into existence, they lost much of their directness and flavor. However, they stUl bear the impress of genuine and refreshing wit. By reason of their pungency, some came near proving disastrous to this maker of fun. Upon one occasion a Kentucky journalist was cudgeled rather 84 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. severely by a cane in the hands of one whom he had wantonly attacked. Prentice indulged in ludicrous comment. The contemporary retorted with a scur rilous article upon Prentice's character, closing with the words : ' ' The mark of Cain is upon his brow. ' ' The rejoinder of Prentice was : "Mr. George James Trotter says the mark of Cain is upon our brow. We don 't know about that ; but we do know that the mark of cane is upon his back." Thirsting for re venge Trotter, upon sight of Prentice, fired upon him, inflicting a slight wound. George W. Bagby (1828-1883) was a native of Virginia, and was educated for the medical profes sion in Philadelphia. The attractions of literature were so compelling that he early abandoned medi cine, giving himself to editorial work and lecturing. The humorous aspects of life about him were treated with sympathy, and he injected much wisdom into his intimate interpretations of Virginia character. For the press he wrote over the pen name "Mozis Addums." His sketches found their way into va rious magazines. In 1860 he succeeded the poet and writer, John E. Thompson, as editor of The South ern Literary Messenger. He kept the periodical up to the high standard maintained by his predecessors. That he sustained it almost up to the end of the war will always remain a flattering testimonial to his talents and ability. After Bagby 's death his widow published, in two volumes. Writings of Dr. Bagby. Among the hu morous sketches that enjoyed wide popularity were Meekins's Twinses, My Uncle Flatback's Planta tion, Jud Brownin's Account of Rubinstein's Play ing, Bacon and Greens, or The True Virginian and What I Did With My Fifty Millions. Of his produc tions it is safe to say that the piano-playing skit is most frequently and pleasantly remembered. Where WIT AND HUMOE. 85 old-fashioned exhibitions are maintained in the closing exercises of schools, it is probable that few have been held without a happily rendered recita tion of "Ruby's Playing." Where elocutionists of approved merit entertain in remote town or village, this is one of the attractive parts of the program. This is a far more finished production than "The Song" in Longstreet 's Georgia Scenes, though there are passages in the Georgian's sketch which suggest several in the Virginian's more artistic perform ance. Charles Henry Smith (1826-1903) was bom in Georgia and was a graduate of the State University. He began life as a lawyer, and imtil near its close practised at the bar. He mingled the occupations of the lawyer with the activities of the politician and of the farmer. Thus he had varied opportunities for careful and critical observation of Georgia life. Smith began his letters of mixed wisdom and humor, wit and sarcasm, scorn and defiance in 1861. The first publication of these in book form appeared in 1866, with the title. Bill Arp, So-Called; A Side Show of the Southern Side of the War. Its motto was "I'm a good Union man, so-called; but I'll bet on Dixie as long as I've got a dollar." In the preface of his book, explaining his pen name, "Bill Arp," Smith said: "When I began writing under the signature of Bill Arp I was hon estly idealizing the language and humor of an un lettered countryman who bears that name. His earnest, honest wit attracted my attention, and he declares to this day that I have faithfully expressed his sentiments. Those who know him can see more of him than of me, and in this view of my labors I may be suspected of playing Boswell to an unedu cated and humorous man, whose name is not John son, but Arp. 86 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Smith's first letter is addressed to Abraham Lin coln in April, 1861. In view of the latter 's proclama tion calling for troops, "Bill Arp" thought "Abe Linkhorn" ought to be informed of how the Georg ian regarded it. He intimated that things were get ting too hot for him, and he would like ' ' to slope out of it." Speaking of the boys about Rome, Ga., he says: "Most of them are so hot that they fairly siz when you pour water on them, and that's the way they make up their military companies here now — when a man applies to join the volunteers they sprinkle him, and if he sizzes they take him, and if he don't they don't." After the war Smith's "Bill Arp" letters first ap peared in the Atlanta Constitution and in the Louis ville Home and Farm. These are uniformly full of homely wisdom and piquant humor. Immediately following the war they were somewhat waspish and mordant. Military government and reconstruction he resented and gave expression to the heart and voice of the South. Many of these were collected and published as books, to wit: Bill Arp's Letters, in 1868; The Farm and Fireside, in 1882; Bill Arp's Scrapbook, in 1886; Fireside Sketches, in 1890. As weekly letters these had given the author wide repu tation. They are valuable as portrayals of Georgia life. Next to Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908), Richard Malcolm Johnston (1822-1898) is the most widely known and appreciated of the Southern school of humorists. In the main, his fame rests upon his Dukesborough Tales, the first edition of which ap peared in 1864. Subsequently they were enlarged, appearing in the Baltimore Southern Magazine, and book form were published in various editions. Hav ing been a lawyer, university professor and a shrewd observer of Georgip, "cracker" life, these tales and JOKL CUAYDTJiR HARRIS, WIT AND HUMOE. 87 his other books exhibit the fruit of his warm sym pathy and lively humor. "Bill Williams," who felt that he had reached the acme of social position in becoming a clerk in a country store, can take rank with Longstreet 's "Ned Brace" or Baldwin's "Virginian." Beginning life as a school teacher, he spoke with intimate knowledge of the old-field schools of the South. They are delineated so faith fully and delightfully that interest in their character and operations can never diminish. As humorist, the work and fame of the late Joel Chandler Harris are so widespread and recognized that mention of his name gives completion to any resume of the works of leading writers of wit and humor in the South. His mere naming is illustration and verification of the truth that "the last shall be first." Geokge F. Mellbst, Formerly Professor of Greek and History, University of Tennessee. HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTER V. HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE SOUTH. NTEREST in our ancestors is almost a uni versal passion, but written history is a form of culture too elevated to be pursued until an economic basis has been secured so strong and substantial that there is leisure to record the present, to study the past and to review the progress made. Among nations with a literature, history is usually preceded by prayer, song, story, oration and allegory. But a colony goes forth with all these, and more as an inheritance from the mother country if she possesses them herself. In common with the rest of the country, the South brought over the Atlantic a respectable intellectual baggage from England. As aU dreamed of a return to that home, only a few spirits could appreciate the raw materials of the mind around them, or cared to look upon these new shores as anything more than havens of exile from which good fortune was to re lease them after a short sojourn. Besides, the forest had to be felled and the ground cleared of bush and weed by the most assiduous toil. Logs had to be hewn, riven and split in order to be carried over rough ways and fashioned into rude huts. This heavy drain on the physical powers left but little energy of brain for putting pen to paper beyond meagre letters and bare reports to the masters on the other side of the ocean. 'But there were some brave souls that could rise superior to these hardships, and leave for posterity a record of the events mingled with descriptions of the strange nature around them. Thomas Hariot, HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 89 one of Raleigh's romantic colonizers in the wilds of North Carolina, has left us his account of the expe riences of the band he was with, and his impres sions of the vast forests and of the life in them, both animal and vegetable, so faithful and true that authors ever since have relied on his views, and on the drawings of his coworker, John White. Their labors, reaching back to 1588, were certainly the first studies of the present region of the South ever made by settlers, temporary or permanent. Of course, explorers — English, French and Spanish — had preceded them, but only to glance at the strange land or wander over it and then return to Europe. The Cabots had sailed along a part of the coast, most likely, and daring gold-hungry adventurers from Spain had boldly plunged into the depths of the wilderness, floundered in the morasses and wandered, half-crazed with fatigue and misery, across the dry plains. Through the patience of chroniclers the tales of their cruelties, their suffer ings, and their disasters have been transmitted to us, but these scribes do not come within the scope of this paper. A little farther northward another figure rises from that morning gloom. In the dimness he has ampler proportions, perhaps, than he is justly en titled to. Of strong personality, roving nature, power of narration and vivid imagination, John Smith fills a wide canvas back there when credulity swallowed marvels with greediness, and when con temporary authors were scanty. Smith used the decorations of fancy rather lavishly, and has pro jected himself rather richly into the realms of ro mance and speculation, but nevertheless it is to him we have to look exclusively for many of the facts of that twilight time. For that, if nothing more, he is worth all the controversy that has raged over the 90 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. incident he tells of the preservation of his life by Pocahontas. The dispute may never be laid, but the thorough searching of his career has brought out the burden of our obligation to him as the first annalist of an enduring colony in the South. It remained for the present to gather his writings, arrange them, along with other matter relating to him, so that they can be conveniently consulted. It is to Arber's edi tion that we can turn for all of Smith's productions. There were pamphlets, leaflets, broadsides and reports from Virginia and the other colonies, de scribing the dangers from the Indians and painting the beauties of nature, mingled with missionary prayers for Bibles and tracts, and other aids for saving the souls of both white and red. The salu brity of the climate, the abundance of game and fish, the quantity of wild honey, the yellow glitter in the rocks, the fertility of the soil, the easy terms for acquiring land — in fine, all the delights and tempta tions of this region were set forth in all the glowing seductiveness of the real estate agent of a modern "boom" town. Usually, a rapid sketch of what had already been done gave a historical flavor to all. But it was more the ore of history than the bars and blocks of the stamp mill that these pioneers piled up in the shape of memorials, petitions, dia ries, letters, official reports and archives of all sorts. It was at a much later date, even down to the pres ent, that other hands sorted and raked in these warehouses, turning out monographs and volumes that are furnishing us a consistent view of those days. The characters so prominent in those occur rences are portrayed for us now in many books. The resourceful Smith, the unfortunate Raleigh, the gallant Oglethorpe, and others of less note, are all honored with dignified biographies. There are four lives of Oglethorpe, at least half a dozen of Raleigh, HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 91 and perhaps more of Smith. College and university students and professors in recent years have carved out theses and studies as requirements for degrees, as basis for desired promotion, as exercises for their talents, as works of love, or as contracts for pub lishers. Browne, Steiner, James and Randall are examples for Maryland; Bruce, Mcllwaine and Latan6 for Virginia; Weeks and Sikes for North Carolina; Ramage, Whitney and Smith for South Carolina; Jones and Phillips for Georgia. Of course the same ground has been trodden whole sale by the general state histories also, which will be treated more fully. Passing over the succession of pamphlets, it is about a century after Smith's picturesque utter ances that we come to the first formal, ambitious sketch of a Southern colony. Robert Beverly, a Virginia gentleman of considerable means for the time, with a retinue of slaves and wdth a plantation of several thousand acres, was specially endowed for the task of furnishing a comprehensive view of the locality in the first decade of the Eighteenth cen tury, or nearly one hundred years after a footing had been fixed at Jamestown. He had been educated in the fashion of the day, had traveled abroad, was in close touch with the ruling class, knew the streams and forests, the seasons and the capacities of the land, and was, in truth, a fountain of historical knowledge. He narrated the labors and achieve ments of the past, painted the natural environment, treated of the Indians and discussed the possibilities of the place. A good all-around account he drew up, permeated with human interest, not a mass of dead documents. He was of the temperament to suit the community, a man of affairs, active, a lover of life in the open air, riding over his broad acres, not a closet student poring over books. But in a score 92 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of years he was succeeded by a man of this type, naturally a member of the most learned profession of the time, a man who united two intellectual call ings in himself, preacher and teacher. This was Reverend Hugh Jones, a professor at WilUam and Mary College, who composed an account of Virginia for the home folks in hopes of drawing some reli gious support. A half-dozen years later William Byrd surveyed the dividing line between North Carolina and Virginia, but his manuscript based on this task did not become available for students for a long time afterwards. It is the highly entertain ing views of a superior mind, and altogether worthy of the reprints with which it has been honored. On towards the middle of the century, in 1747, Stith forged another link in this chain of studies, pro ducing one good volume out of the four that he prom ised, although Jefferson criticized him as labored and inelegant. Like Jones, he was a teacher, and very likely could not find time to keep his word, as his days were spent in drilling boys in the essentials of Latin and Greek. Another author, John Lawson, in this half century, had put down his impressions of the domain southward as far as Georgia, the lively sense of a traveler contending with the diffi culties and mishaps of a journey through the tree- clad stretches. Incidentally, also, he tells of the Indian, and drops bits of history, but mainly he is the preserver of material for others to work over. The demands of frontier life with the incessant perils from the aborigines, with the ceaseless war on stubborn soil and tangled growth, monopolized the most of man's strength, bodily and mental. Also, the contentions and struggles among European nations for the possession of these virgin kingdoms sent their echoes across the waves, and the combatants themselves followed, and the arena of strife was HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 93 now along the seaboard, in Canada and up and down the Mississippi valley, turning men from the peace ful paths of the mind. The distant rumblings of the storm between mother and child soon to break began to disquiet the hearts of all the more reflective, and still further drew away thoughts from the muse of history. When the clash came the wild clamor and bitter agony of a family quarrel so concentrated the general attention that all other intellectual activ ities substantially ceased. There were journals jotted down day by day of the long, fatiguing march, of the little current incidents of the company, regi ment or division; there were numberless letters penned, countless dispatches forwarded and re ceived, piles of order books, quantities of military returns and rosters, and, most pathetic of all, there were diaries, missives, depositions, testimonials of the trembling fears, tribulations and indignities suf fered by timid women and helpless children. But all these evidences of disorder and upheaval are rather the original material on which the future student was to draw in penning his narrative of these events. When, however, the soldier returned to the farm, the shop and the marketplace, thoughts were di rected to the laying of massive foundations for a great state. How much the domestic productions affected these architects can never be known, but it is undeniable that they looked to the past for ex amples, for inspiration and for warning. In this important labor a group of men from below the Potomac were leaders for the whole country. In a genuine sense they studied all history and evolved a chart destined to influence all the race. The fore most of this constructive host was Washington, one of the greatest nation-builders of all time. He was alert to the duties and dangers of the path under 94 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. his feet, but he also looked to the rear to get bearings from the road already traversed. Books on agricul ture and other practical pursuits preponderated in his library, but on the same shelves were placed such American histories as Beverly's Virginia, Stith 's Virginia, and geographies and books of travels, like Gordon and Bartram, with histories of Rome, France, Prussia and other modern European lands. Madison, whose pen was so subtle and so convincing for the adoption of the constitution, showed much familiarity with the teachings of human experience. But after the keel was laid and the ship completed, the real pilot for the destinies of the new-born re public was Thomas Jefferson. He put his own in terpretation on the sailing orders, and marked out the track that was to be the g^iide-line. He was steeped in the lore of the past, and saturated with the current of the times. He dared to formulate his construction in as exact legal phraseology as he could, as he was the mainspring in the famous Ken tucky and Virginia resolutions that were the starting point for the ' ' states rights ' ' theory. From a citizen of South Carolina, Pinckney, came large sections of our mighty charter. These men and lesser ones from the South may be said to have had the lion's share in the framing and working of that powerful instrument for our civic development. They were men of culture and of wide reading in history, and out of their study of the past, and their judgment of the present, we were launched on the momentous voyage that has carried us into ever-widening seas. This resistless passion for expansion certainly re ceived an added impetus from historical study. In the meantime the Southern states contiguous to and connected with the Gulf of Mexico had flowed along a channel almost of their own. Nature's bar riers of distance, of river, of mountain and of dif- HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 95 ference of climate had made this separation almost inevitable under the industrial conditions of the day. The complications of foreign tongues and customs had made the gap still wider and harder to close for a part of this region. All along the balmy coast of the Gulf the skies were of the hue, and the winds of the softness of those in southern Europe, on an other inland sea, the Mediterranean. Peoples from Spain had scattered themselves along the inlets of Florida and southern Alabama, while some from France had grouped themselves at a few convenient spots along the line of surf beats and in the great valley of the Father of Waters. Indeed, many had reached the salt breezes by drifting down from Can ada, to be augmented by newcomers direct from France. It was another setting of the elements than in Virginia and the Carolinas, and, consequently, another social growth of darker-eyed men and women, of quicker temper and more picturesque taste. They clung to their speech, too, and whoever wishes to search the original chronicles of their do ings will have to learn their idiom, at least, for all the earlier period. Though comparatively of scanty numbers, they have carved indentations in our or ganic structure. The Latin races reach back to the ancient city on the Tiber for their principles of government and order. The offshoots transplanted to Louisiana have grafted Roman law on our Anglo-Saxon system. Some of their social usages and amenities have also been domesticated. The ethnological characteristics have engaged the scrutiny of the student of history. The tangle of diplomacy and geography relative to the boundary lines between us and the French and Spanish has been threaded, in recent years, by care ful explorers like Ficklen, Owen and Chambers. The first of these turned out a lasting piece of work as 96 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. to the territorial limitations of the Louisiana Pur chase agreement, done with all the rigidity and thor oughness of a scientist in his laboratory. Eastward, some distance from New Orleans, in another early French centre. Mobile, another patient toiler, P. J. Hamilton, found leisure from the exactions of law to trace out all the radiations from the French core set in the valley of the Tombigbee in his Colonial Mobile. Not with such fulness, but with similar aim, a trio of investigators have afforded us glimpses of New Orleans while in the chrysalis stage. These three, Fortier, Cable and Thompson, may be all the more attractive to the general reader because they can impart more literary and philological fiavor to their style. Farther west examples of the same sort of glances into the corresponding days of Texas are provided by Garrison, Barker, Bugbee and others. The granaries of Latin data, while not so extensive as those for English, were more difficult to explore as another medium of communication had to be ac quired. Journeys had to be undertaken to Madrid, Paris and the City of Mexico, or expert assistance obtained at those points, if a comprehensive search was intended. But with the migration southward after the gen eral pacification of the country had been assured by the smooth working of the constitution adopted a few years after the conclusion of the War of Inde pendence, these Gulf regions, in spite of the alien tinge of the population, were fast welded to the main body and intimately linked with their other sisters. Besides the ties of temperature and of product, there was a social bond that riveted them together as by a band of steel. The institution of slavery ran through them all, and on them all was to wreak its bloody curse. They had but slight part in the con test with England, and very fittingly none of them HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 97 has to its credit any important history of that conflict. Nor did the Southern states above do very much towards telling the tale of that patriotic era. In his large biography of Washington, Marshall, a Virgin ian, necessarily had to cover a considerable part of the field as his hero was the central figure through it all, but it was not Marshall's purpose to describe the combats and campaigns as the end in themselves. A South Carolinian, Ramsay, did briefly sketch the chief operations, enlarging, of course, on the role that his own state played. A writer in Charleston portrayed Greene, the second military leader of the American side of the clash. There were similar tes timonials to the efficiency of other commanders, as Lee, Marion and Washington, but nothing compre hensive for the eight years of strife is the meed of the South, not for several score of years after the surrender of Yorktown. Some little incidents, however, have given rise to controversies, some of them long and bitter. One of the most fruitful of such topics is the Mecklen burg Declaration in North Carolina at a critical mo ment at the beginning of the trouble with England. Years after peace had been declared, discussion waxed warm over two sets of resolutions in favor of independence, it being sought to establish priority for this portentous step for North Carolina over the other colonies. A mountain heap of arguments and answers has been accumulated, much of it mere rubbish, but a fair segment of it of a high order of investigation and statement. In this long dispute have figured Graham, Ashe, Goodloe, Cooke, Fries, Hoyt, Salley, and others. The two last are among the latest and among the ablest, with Ashe, who in his monumental history may have said the final word so clear his conception and so strong his grasp. Vol. 7—7. 98 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. After passing the colonial and revolutionary eras, historical study in the South seems to have localized itself in the various states, perhaps under the influ ence of the states rights theory, although all uncon sciously we can believe. At any rate, the most impos ing memorial of this intellectual pursuit is the long array of volumes composed on the different states. The backbone of all these contributions is the solid series of state histories which began to appear early in the Eighteenth century and continue to the pres ent. They are of very unequal grades as to accuracy and reliability, but all make solid additions to knowledge and stand for painstaking industry and an appalling amount of unremunerative labor. Every one means a noble service, without reward, for the mental uplift of unappreciative readers. Practically aU go through the dreary details of colonial and territorial times, the squabbles and bickerings of jealous contestants for office, the dis putes with the superior authority in London or in Washington. They dwell on Indian tribes and their customs, and relate the numerous bloody encounters between the two races. They walk the paths made by new settlers advancing into the mighty forests. They recount the growth of population and the in crease in the cities. In the case of the older colonies they expand with great fulness on the state's part in the Revolutionary War. With the irruption of party politics into our national life, they describe the corresponding division among the voters in the local imit, often digressing into an extended general his tory of each party so as to provide the proper set ting for the small body. They also follow the slavery issue, pointing out applications of it in the con tracted field they are surveying. Again they en large when they come to the doctrine of secession, the terrible shocks of the war and the forces sent to HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 99 the front. They paint the dark days of reconstruc tion, and rejoice at the decay of fratricidal ani mosities and at the mutual understanding and re conciliation of the two sections once so hostile. They also tell of the natural features and resources, of the climate, of the products, and often array the sta tistics of progress. Not all, in fact only a fraction, tramp this long road, as half, at least, did their tasks before the War of Secession. Even of those since then, some came only to the inception of national consciousness. Of the authors trying in dignified way to give some important phases of state history, there are not a large number, less than a dozen in some in stances, and not very far over that in any, though a bibliography charitably including every publication touching on the state would mount up to a couple of hundred pages for the smallest one. Some of the more ambitious types are all that the limitations here will allow. Burk, Virginia, is among the earli est of this group of general state historians, appear ing in 1804 in four volumes, from the dawn to York- town. He had access to originals now lost, and hence he is a source in himself. He has been criti cized as rhetorical, tedious, disproportioned, giving too much space to Bacon's rebellion, but he has a selection of indispensable documents. Neill has in cluded both Virginia and Maryland in his studies of the colonial period, to which he was much devoted, chiefly emphasizing the documentary side, though he has been much attacked for inaccuracy. Browne (W. H.) has done invaluable work on Maryland, both in monographs, in a condensed, popular history, and in his editing of the records running up to nearly half a hundred volumes. A namesake, but of different family and of different orthography, Alex ander Browne, has produced monumental books on 100 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Virginia that can never be superseded, as they are primary data and studies based on them. He has a collection of biographies, too, that are very valuable. Hawks, 1857, brought out a first-class book on colo nial North Carolina, conservative, leaning towards the Tory side, but seeing all faces of the subject. A little earlier than this, Wheeler surveyed the en tire stretch of the same state to his day, but so in accurate as not to be used unless verified by other witnesses. Unfortunately, his biographical sketches are under the same ban. The latest, and considered the most comprehensive, and all in all the best of this class on North Carolina is now (1909) going through the press by S. A. Ashe, who has put years upon the task. In South Carolina one of the first to begin the more serious compilation was Carroll, with his •collection of pamphlets and other illustrations of ihe early days. Gibbes did similar labor for the revolutionary epoch. But Ramsay was the pioneer to weave a consistent web of the life of the past in that state. He took in the entire sweep and glanced over all the forms of activities behind him, as well as the natural environment. Rivers had done some of the most careful searching into colonial life. Simms, the novelist, wrote a very graphic history, used in schools, full of patriotic fervor. But unques tionably, the one preeminent history of the state is the four-volume one by General Edward McCrady, of Charleston, extending from the start to the close of the revolutionary period. It stands with the very best of state histories in the United States. All lines of development were most capably dealt with. In at least two he was exceptionally strong — social life and the importance of South Carolina's part in the fight for separation from England. He was that very rare instance among military historians; he had been a soldier himself, having gallantly served HISTOEICAL STUDIES. id through the war, and he could estimate the weight of the various motives and apportion the value of each. His vast labors got but little financial recom pense, but the state legislature rose to the occasion and purchased sets for the schools. The first of these solid productions on Georgia was Stevens' two volumes in 1847, a model, based on first-hand evidence, containing documents and covering the labors of English, French and Spanish in that state. Within a decade he was almost rivaled with a col lection of statistics, local and biographical sketches and accounts by White, who, taking a broad view, traversed the entire field. Avery, starting about that time, took similar sweep of vision, but expanded so generously on the career of a prominent politi cian, Joseph E. Brown, that he is unbalanced. Since the war, Harris ("Uncle Remus") tried the witch ery of his pen on short, highly readable descriptions of salient incidents in state history. But, all in all, the latest of these comprehensive efforts is the best, C. C. Jones's History of Georgia in two volumes. Al though he spent years in amassing and studying his material, the work of composition was remarkably rapid. He was a specialist in Indian antiquities, and an antiquarian of high order, writing a small book on the "Dead Towns" of Georgia, very pleasantly giv ing a romantic touch to the prosaic facts of decline. In Florida and the other Gulf states we come to commonwealths younger for their English blood but older for their Latin tinge. The historical literature is not so generous in dimensions as that of the older ones, though it has another flavor, especially in the beginning. In 1859 Brinton did an excellent piece of work on Florida, traveling the entire circle of his subject and holding the interest all the way. The lamented poet, Lanier, undertook a guide book on contract with a publisher, and the result of his labor 102 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. was better than the average of such hack produc tions. Fairbanks spent his strength on the colonial times mostly. The work of two authors. Brewer and Pickett, quite capably cover the civic career of Ala bama, especially the later edition of Pickett. Just at the middle of the Nineteenth century Pickett is sued two invaluable volumes, an authority on all the whole extent of the state history. Brewer, nearly a quarter of a century later, supplemented Pickett by stressing the local and biographical elements. An admirable addition to Pickett has been made by Owen, extending the narrative to the present. Both of these also lead us into Mississippi history, as the two were under the same boundaries for a season. Two others on Mississippi may be mentioned, Clai borne and Lowry, the former having original data on the territory, mainly the papers of Governor Claiborne. Lowry glances over the whole life. In Louisiana the printed output becomes richer. Hutchins included that troublesome problem of the conflicting claims over West Florida, and is full on Louisiana matters down to American ascendancy. French and Martin compiled documents and facts of importance, but the gigantic task of clearing up the tangled wilderness of the life behind was left to Charles Gayarre, who, in four solid volumes, set forth the relations and achievements of the three races that met in this arena. Of French birth and of American nationality he was well equipped for the heavy burden to be carried. Handsomely he performed the part. A richly illustrated successor is Fortier 's history. In Texas, again, the historical species differs — aboriginal, then Mexican, then independent control, merging into union with the rest of the country. This variety of life, of races, of languages, coupled with the enormous size, renders it an undertaking HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 103 of magnitude to treat this organism. Necessarily, it has not been accomplished with the minuteness of some of the other states. In fact, only recently have the masses of material been at all available for handy consultation. Nevertheless Yoakum bent himself to the attempt and gave us a good study. Within a few years the edition by Wooten, with careful addenda, has improved the original. Gar rison, also, has related the entire story of Texas for the Commonwealths Series in a capable manner. Davis, similarly, has a praiseworthy abridgment, dwelling on important and picturesque points. Nu merous studies of limited portions have lately been made, especially by the members of the State His torical Society, being published in the Quarterly of that body. One of these deserves mention, a critical examination of Coronado's journey of exploration under Spanish dominion at the earliest stage. Other contributions bear on Houston and Austin and the war for independence. Of course, the heroic event of the Alamo has been thoroughly worked over. North of Texas is the first of the wholly inland states, Arkansas, with nothing very striking in her career, and, consequently, with no abundance of his tories. Monette, who treated the valley of the Mis sissippi under French, Spanish and English influ ence, included Arkansas along with the other states southward within his scope. Shinn and Hempstead wrote school histories, and Reynolds, in part, cov ered the ground with biographies. Missouri has fared better. Houck, in three volumes, has gone over the early years with care, and there has been a large crop of books on the military side of the state history. Being on the border there were numerous events to be described during the conflict for secession. Crossing the Mississippi we are in Tennessee, 104 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. whose infancy, as well as that of Kentucky, was drenched with the blood of pioneers in their grim dislodgment of the so-called Red man. Boone and Crockett and Houston and Kenton loom up in the dust and smoke of this savage conflict. Daring deeds and reckless encounters were there for the student to snatch from oblivion. Rather soon did he begin, too, as in 1823 Haywood published his his tory, a good, comprehensive volume, especially ex pansive on the Indian. So near was he to the period he treated that he is a source of knowledge for others. Over half a century later he was, perhaps, excelled by Phelan, who produced one of the best local histories of the South. He kept an even bal ance between the colonial, or territorial, and later stages. Of special studies there are many, by Mel- len, Thruston, Wright and others. Thruston is an authority on Indian archaeology. Garrett did much for the cause by the publication of a magazine. The name of the first historian of Kentucky has been pre served in a most unusual yet refined and imperish able way. Filson, a Pennsylvanian, migrated to Kentucky and published his history of the locality in 1785. Three years later he disappeared, most likely at the hands of hostile Indians. His memory will last as long as typography and libraries do, be cause of the magnificent publications of the Filson Club, founded and maintained in Louisville by R. T. Durrett. Marshall and Butler both turned out his tories with much good in them, likewise Connelly, though largely restricted to the careers of one fam ily. Collins collected a mass of documents and left a monument to himself by the able way he brought before us the changing mirrors of the whole past of the state, physical, political, social, ecclesiastical, biographical and all. Shaler, a wonderful combi nation of science and letters, a soldier and student, HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 105 prepared the volume on Kentucky for the Common wealths Series. Beyond Kentucky, West Virginia, which is only part Southern, has been treated by Hale, Lewis and Fast, with other monographers. The segrega tion from old Virginia has been productive of con siderable discussion, some of it acrimonious and of loose phraseology. But the pride of individuality of these communi ties was being replaced by a danger facing all alike. The abolitionists were tenaciously forcing their doctrines to the front in the political sphere. The question was complicated with the issue of the tariff and with the theory of state rights. There were stout defenders of the institution of slavery, and some of them did herculean labor, mining in the past for arguments. The Bible was one of the favorite repositories on which to draw. Greece, Rome, and other ancient countries, besides medieval lands, were all ransacked for support. Dew, a college professor in Virginia, was among the earliest prominent advo cates for the system of servitude in the South. He was no mean adversary admitting his premises. Just before the bursting of the storm Harper, a jurist of standing in South Carolina, made a similar defense in a collection of papers on the subject. Later, T. R. R. Cobb, of Georgia, a very successful lawyer who rose to the grade of general by the middle of the war, put forth a well-knit plea for his side. His friend, Toombs, of greater oratorical ability but of not half the efficiency of action, laid a cool, logical foundation for the institution in a speech in Boston, one of the most comprehensive briefs ever advanced for the cause. But the giant protagonist of all was Calhoun, who, with powerful subtlety, grasped all three prongs of the matter, fusing them in his glow ing intellect into one. With the weapon of state 106 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. rights which was handed him by a free-thinker and scientist, a strong personality and a vigorous mind, Thomas Cooper, a professor in the state college, Cal houn battered the tariff which he believed would undermine the material foundation of his beloved region. It was for the purpose of preserving this "peculiar good" that he evolved from intense refiec- tion on archaic conditions of mankind the pregnant "contract theory" of government in his profound "Disquisition." It was the wrong conclusion of a mighty and fertile brain, misleading stanch follow ers into disaster. Perhaps in all the range of litera ture no historical study has eventuated in more ap palling results than the principles Calhoun formu lated from the arsenal of the past in order to bolster up the structure based on racial subjection in the South. He had lieutenants, too, and successors. Hammond and Hayne, in South Carolina, Yancey, in Alabama, and Wise, in Virginia, are a few instances, though some of them, like Wise, did not commit their views to paper in the fullest form till after the strife had ceased. To this same stage belong those mas sive volumes of the Thirty Years' View by Benton, a senator from Missouri. With the call to arms, the vitality of the land was centered on the present. Too much history was being made to allow of its being written. But the material was piled high for the coming pen. No previous war was so well preserved in despatches and reports, in newspapers and archives. Ephem eral histories came out day by day, and week by week, and month by month, but were almost wholly confined to the events and operations immediately preceding, in the field and at home. Every tendon and muscle, every thought and feeling of a proud people were strung to the uttermost to preserve what they considered their sacred rights. But in HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 107 the very exhaustion of defeat, they began to solace themselves with reviving the four years of march ing and charging, of advance and retreat. One of the quickest and most active pens, one that had been busy recording the happenings for daily readers, produced an ambitious volume that was eagerly wel comed by the disbanded soldiers. Pollard's Lost Cause had a mournful romance in its very title, and coming so soon after the hush of cannon and musket echoed in responsive bosoms. The vice-president of the Confederacy, Stephens, frail in health and crippled in body, concentrated all the acuteness of his restless mind on the legal and constitutional defense of secession in his War Be tween the States, an imposing work. It is the most systematic exposition of Southern jurisprudence on this momentous issue. Stephens also later prepared a school history which has long been superseded, though widely used for a time in the section. J. L. M. Curry, towards the close of a long, useful and eventful life, published a small volume on The Civil History of the Confederacy. He had been a member of Congress in both the United States and the Con federacy, withdrawing from the latter to do service in the field, and was consequently well qualified to judge and compare the weakness of the legislative branch with the efficiency of the military arm. Al though only a small volume, it is the most complete account of this feature of the Confederacy so far written, from an impersonal standpoint. But on the martial side the output from the press has been overwhelming. The campaigns, the battles, the skirmishes, the occasional encounter, the stray shot, have all been elaborately dwelt upon by officer and private. But the towering figure of all, standing in simple grandeur alone on the eminence, kept a dignified silence through the five years after he laid 108 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. down his sword till his death. Lee left no memoirs, made no apology, uttered no defense, but left his deeds to speak for themselves, knowing that others would do the drudgery of compiling, collating and commenting. A number of biographies have ap peared, some of the latest by Trent, White and Page — the last the famous Virginia novelist. One of Lee's descendants, with rare taste, has chosen from Lee's correspondence a volume of delightful, sen sible letters that place Lee on a high pedestal for strength of character and clearness of conception as to his duty in life. His thunderbolt of battle, Jack son, stricken down about the middle of the four years' contest, has fared equally well in the domain of literature. His wife has sympathetically culled from his letters, and an Englishman has made a thorough, highly appreciative study of him, substan tially from the Southern viewpoint. A highly eulo gistic life came from the pen of another Virginia novelist, Cooke, while the fullest Southern estimate was made by one of Jackson's staff, Dabney. Of the other prominent generals who committed themselves to paper, Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston were among those who had commanded large bodies of men during critical campaigns. Longstreet, a fellow corps commander with Jackson, devoted much space in his memoirs to the deplorable controversy over the charge of his responsibility for the loss of the battle of Gettysburg by Lee. He spoke very bluntly to his critics, and aroused such animosity that his wife, after his death, loyally took up the cudgels for his memory and added more fuel to the flame that should never have been kindled, as the residuum of unprejudiced opinion at present on both sides, among those with expert knowledge, seems to be that Longstreet was not to blame for the failure of the Southern force. The man who HISTOEICAL STUDIES. 109 led the world-renowned charge around which all this war of words has waged, Pickett, has been remem bered in at least two lives, one being by his widow. The greatest Confederate general in the West, A. S. Johnston, lives again in our midst through the faith ful life of him by his son, for a term of years at the head of Tulane University, in New Orleans. The organic head of the Confederacy, Davis, a man of great powers and unwavering aim, though of narrow vision at times, spent years of leisure in retirement in Mississippi in preparing a compre hensive survey of his part in the struggle to es tablish another republic. More of the well-poised judge and less of the zealous advocate would most likely have imparted greater weight to his deliver ances. Again have womanly love and tenderness thrown a halo around a husband's career, as his wife, in her declining years, compiled a volume to his memory. The volumes of personal experiences of the rank and file are almost legion. They are of incalculable value, too, in giving the flavor of the "human inter est" element. They deal with every conceivable phase of the conflict. Some of the most realistic are stories of capture and imprisonment, and some of the most thrilling are narratives of escapes. Some of the participants have written very fine accounts of some of their superiors. One of the best of these is Wyeth's portly volume on the remarkable cavalry leader of the Southwest, Forrest. On the side of the navy, though there is not a fraction of the deeds to chronicle, pens have not been idle or lagging. Scharf put out a general nar rative of the navy. Semmes contributes a highly entertaining story of the wonderful cruises of the Sumter and Alabama under himself, and several of his crew have followed his example. Similar 110 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFK records have been made for the Florida, the Shenan doah and other boats, including the adventures of the submarines in Mobile and Charleston harbors. In the latter these strange engines of ocean warfare sank an opposing ship, the only result of note throughout the world to the credit of the submarine to date, as yet. Numerous ex-Confederates contributed to the series of war papers in the Century Magazine and to the volumes of the Century Company on the Battles and Campaigns of the Civil War. Both pub lications created the widest attention through the country, and abroad wherever military history was appreciated. Of expert, dispassionate criticism by the participants not much was to be expected, as their feelings would be too much involved in what ever they might undertake to describe. But an ex ception seems called for in the case of E. P. Alex ander, an artillery officer, for his book lately issued in which he reviews some of the most disputed ques tions with much calmness and fulness. Not much more work of the kind can be expected as time is laying too heavy a hand on the dwindling number of actors in that mighty drama. But a new generation of writers is springing up who have turned their attention in considerable part to the tragic results of the war. They are largely the sons of those who fought, and they have done excellent work in treating the baleful policy of re construction, which was an effort to reverse all the inherited instincts and accumulated experience of the white race. Garner and Stone for Mississippi, Fleming for Alabama, and HoUis for South Caro lina, are first-class types of this new school. Satu rated with the ardor to amass the facts and to show their authority, they have built up almost unim peachable lines of testimony for their statements. HISTOEICAL STUDIES. m They had been preceded by politicians and public men in such fragments as speeches, interviews and magazine articles, with an occasional volume. One instance of the latter was the compilation edited by H. A. Herbert, who was a cabinet officer under Cleve land for a time. Of the same general character are the concluding portions of many memoirs and remi niscences. Some of the tenderest and most exquisite of these are by women, such as Mrs. Clayton, of Alabama. Bishop Wilmer also has traveled the same path with the tempered warmth of a high- minded ecclesiastic. But of all the reminiscential books, none has made a broader circle than the one showing the innermost thoughts of the Mississippi planter, Dabney, which attracted a glowing endorsement from the great English leader, Gladstone. As through a transpar ency, the noble, heroic soul of this loyal country gen tleman shines in all the integrity which no adversity could affect. There are other records of a past just as sincere, as clear, as strong, but this one stands as a type of the best, giving us pictures which con stitute a fascinating historical study of men and manners of a bygone era. It is to his daughter, Mrs. Smedes, that literature stands indebted for this book. Of the negro who had been the helpless cause of these mountains of historical works, only a com paratively small number of histories are in exist ence. Brackett made a close study of slavery in Maryland as an institution, and his example has been faithfully and successfully copied by investi gators in Virginia and North Carolina and other Southern localities. A most hopeful evidence of the progress of the race itself is the literary work some of its representatives have done on their own people. Du Bois (Atlanta, Ga.) is one of the foremost work- 112 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFEv ers in this quarter, though he is more sociological than historical. The famous educators, Councill and Booker T. Washington, have done much in the same direction. But the most in a historical way has been added and is still being done by A. H. Stone, a Mis sissippi planter, who has the ability and the leisure to make himself one of the leading authorities, if not the chief, of all the workers in this field. Other ethnological groups in the South have been treated. Temple, of Tennessee, sought to place the Scotch-Irish on a pedestal as lofty as that the Puri tan sits upon. The Creole, in Louisiana, has been gently handled by Gayarre and Fortier and others. The Huguenot, in South Carolina and Virginia, is embalmed in collections of documents, genealogies, wills and other material. The Germans, in Balti more, in Charleston and other localities have not lacked chroniclers. A sumptuous volume of the highest class of careful investigation is devoted to the Jews of South Carolina by Dr. B. A. Elzas, an eminent rabbi of London, England, and later of Charleston, S. C. In church history there is a goodly array of in vestigations, beginning rather early. In the list are Bozman for the Episcopalians, McMahon for the Presbyterians, Russell for the Catholics, Shipp for the Methodists, and Broadus for the Baptists, who are mentioned as mere examples. Others who have delved in the same field are Randall, Ingle, Weeks, Hawks, James, Petrie and numerous others. Happily, owing to the strength and foresight of N. H. R. Dawson, commissioner of education during Cleveland's first term, and the breadth of view of H. B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins University, Southern educational history has been quite thor oughly treated. Monographs usually by Southern men cover the field, state by state. There are also HISTOEICAL STUDIES. ns college and university histories of high grade. One of the first, and one of the best, was La Borde's his tory of the state college of South Carolina. All of the better and richer class of the higher educational institutions have comprehensive histories, or at least catalogues and sketches of all the alumni back to the start. Nor have the secondary schools neglected the course of their own development. In some instances the state superintendent, or other public official, has reviewed the past in some formal report. Perhaps historical study has been weakest on the industrial or economic side in the South. There are short contributions, but no substantial general effort covering the entire scope has yet been placed before readers. The most serious endeavor is that of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, under the di rection of A. H. Stone. On the side of genealogy, a great deal of reliable work has ben accomplished. Nothing better can be found than the pedigrees traced by Hayden, Stan- ard, Salley and others. The last named published a research into the Calhoun family. In the allied branch of biography the South is a laggard. Public men and prominent characters that deserve preservation are fading into the past with scarcely more than a few hundred words to retain their impression on their fellowmen. Jefferson and other men of that time have been honored with sev eral biographies, but further south, influential careers have been rather summarily dismissed. Clay has been remembered, Calhoun survives in at least three short lives, but the host of secondary lead ers that elsewhere in our land would stand before us in fitting printer's dress are almost obliterated from the realms of literature. And they must usually re main in that oblivion as generally the material was not carefully shielded, or not even collected or saved Vol. 7—8. 114 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. by the subject himself. The most hardened investi gator is balked by dark and empty space. In an other respect Southern historical study has failed, in making appeal outside of the region. Even this rough, incomplete summary shows that a mass of good historical work has been done, but it is nearly all limited to the locality. Very little of it has aroused attention beyond the sectional borders. There are some exceptions, not all being natives of the soil. Lieber, the German exile, who taught his tory in the South Carolina College for twenty years turned out volumes on different aspects of civics or jurisprudence that have been pondered in all civil ized lands. Hannis Taylor, a lawyer, diplomat and university lecturer, of Alabama, has written a widely-known study of the English constitution. Woodrow Wilson, a native of the section, though domiciled farther north, is the author of a history of the United States that has been purchased in all quarters. Such men are opening a new era of Southern his toriography; they are leading the way for the broader, more national view, even world-wide prob ably for those with the talent to command notice. The local field at the same time is being more inten sively and more intelligently cultivated. With the ec onomic and industrial growth there are at hand more leisure, more culture and more encouragement for the historical worker, and the brightest future is just ahead. Bibliography. — Adams: Manual of Historical lAterature. AUibone: Dictionary of Authors (1891); Holliday: History of Southern Literature (1906); Trent, History of American Literature (1903); Tyler, M. C. : ffisiory of American Literature (1897); Literature of American History (ed. by J. N. Lamed, 1902); library catalogues and the various books mentioned are the best sources of information. COLYEE MeBIWETHEE, Secretary, Southern History Association, and Editor PtMica^ tions of Southern History Association. ENGLISH STUDIES. 115 CHAPTER VI. ENGLISH STUDIES IN THE SOUTH. EFORE the War between the States— that great dividing line which separates every current of thought, historical, political, so cial, and necessarily too, educational, — the special study of English, in any systematic way, was neglected in most Southern schools, as in fact, pretty nearly everywhere in our country. Not that composition and the critical study of English style were altogether wanting ; but what lit tle training in English was given, was more in the line of a seeming digression, and was classified in most college catalogues — when, indeed, catalogues were published — as "rhetoric and belles-lettres." What grammar was learned was acquired through the medium of Latin, by no means a bad, but some times a misleading expedient. A course of rhetoric was associated in some way with logic (the latter being treated, indeed, very much as a form of gram mar) and in favored localities the professor of meta physics was detailed to take charge of the division in the educational forces. The first two years of a college course were devoted wholly to the three stud ies, Latin, Greek and mathematics. This was so far modified in the third, or junior, year that a place was made for a class in the physical (or natural) sciences. Finally, in the senior year, the principal feature was the lectures on metaphysics by the col lege president. Sometimes, as in old Washington College, Virginia, this last year was formally called the "English" or "rhetorical" year, as special at- 116 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tention was given to what were then termed the "English" branches. These were crowned with the course in "belles-lettres," which was evidently in tended as a finishing off or rubbing down process, and under this foreign appelation, always a little vague and mystifying as to its exact meaning, was supposed to lurk the idea of the formal study of rhetoric (Blair's or Campbell's Rhetoric and Karnes' Elements of Criticism were long favorite textbooks), and of literature, specially in its flowery phases. The old-timed orations and methods in es say writing, all traces of which have not yet disap peared in the South, give perhaps the best evidence as to the nature of this work. In most institutions — and these were by no means the least conspicuous — the chair of metaphysics was tendered to the gentlemen of the clergy ("moral philosophy" par excellence they naturally called it), and the conduct of the classes in "rhetoric and belles-lettres, ' ' of course, went with it. It seemed to be a prevailing notion that the man who could preach to the community on Sundays, was peculiarly fitted for expounding the laws of thought and ex tracting the beauties of literature on week days. Once upon a time, indeed, this was true. The sys tem was a relic, in part, of the pioneer days, when the preacher was missionary in a manifold sense — the one representative of letters, culture and higher aspirations in the vicinity. He was preacher and teacher both, perhaps even more of the latter than of the former. But, naturally, in a later period of development, under such a system, not only the study of philosophy, but especially that of English, suffered, being not even secondary, but entirely minor in consideration. The letters and style em phasized were primarily the highly ornamental or what is known technically as the "rhetorical" — ENGLISH STUDIES. 117 those which suited best the graces of the Southern orator, whether he chose to imitate his teacher and become a pulpit speaker, or preferred to follow the profession of the law, and develop in due time, as was his natural ambition, into a notable statesman of the republic. I would not appear to speak slightingly of older methods of education, when we are still so much at sea as to what is soundest and best and most ex pedient. The minds trained under older systems were of undoubted and uncommon vigor, serving well the needs of their particular day and sphere. But those needs were then fewer; the conditions of life seemingly less complex. This or that system may not meet the demands of our day; that is one thing. But that it did not produce strong men, cul tivated men, literary men (as the times allowed), perhaps as efficiently as our more boasted methods, is still to be determined by the measurement of ac tual results. Perhaps, at the time this fashion of thus dispos ing of the English classes came into vogue, it was the best possible ; and many of those teachers of the old regime were men endowed with a love for good reading, moved by the study of the best models, and easily capable of stirring the fresh minds of the crude youths in their classes. I look back with pecu liar pleasure upon my own experience with one of these — the late Rev. Dr. Whitefoord Smith, a noted Charleston divine in former days, who was for a number of years a professor in Wofford College. I became a member of one of the last classes this aged and worthy gentleman ever had the strength to in struct, and his enthusiasm and the glowing eulogies he bestowed upon his favorite authors and passages inspired not a few among his pupils with a love for 118 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. reading, and gave them many practical hints where to go for good books and what books were good. The president of the same institution. Dr. Carlisle, used to give up a portion of his time with his fresh man class regularly every Friday afternoon, in or der to ask each one of us what we had been reading and had become interested in. Probably we may have acquired less formal mathematics in actual amount as the result, and should not now be able to demonstrate any of those geometrical propositions we were sent to the blackboard to work on. But the habit had the rare merit of broadening the narrow limits and interests of a rigid college curriculum, many of the suggestive thoughts let drop have been treasured up and have constantly borne fruit, and I am sure that we went to the meeting of our debating societies on the same evening better prepared to get and make more out of them. I mention these de tails, apparently trivial, because they show fairly well the extent and nature of the English course in our colleges up to a very few years ago — and it was not every college that was so fortunate as to have chairs filled by marked personalities like Dr. James H. Carlisle and Dr. Whitefoord Smith. I suspect, too, that the students of the smaller colleges often fared better even than those of the more formal state universities, where there was not the same free, personal contact, which is the greatest factor in college formative influence. A good deal may be said in support of the claim that English studies received at first more distinct recognition and emphasis in Virginia than elsewhere in the South. Virginia, as the oldest of colonies and mother of states, has been the leader in education, and her English affinities and traditions, compara tively unchanged by mixture with foreign elements, seem to have emphasized not a little the love for ENGLISH STUDIES. 119 English classic literature specifically, and the more exact study and use of the parent tongue. Her three oldest colleges (and they are likewise the oldest in the Southern states) give evidence of this spirit. The College of William and Mary was founded un der the patronage of the Bishop of London, and in direct imitation of English models, emphasized the study of the "humanities" — borrowing the term from English nomenclature — and her linguistic studies, mainly classical, were always directed to this end. Later, Hampden-Sidney and Washington col leges (the latter now Washington and Lee Univer sity) were established almost simultaneously under Presbyterian influence, and patterned, naturally, af ter the Princeton model of those days. In the pros pectus of the former, dated Sept. 1, 1775, the debt was frankly acknowledged, with the explicit proviso only, that more attention should be given to English studies. The first interest in historical English work in America was the offspring of the fertile brain of Thomas Jefferson, constantly active, always investi gating, and making some experiment or other. He acquired, as a law student, an enthusiasm for the study of Anglo-Saxon, and continued its advocacy as a definite part of the college curriculum, from 1779, when he was a member of the board for William and Mary, until 1825, when the wishes of a lifetime were at last realized by the opening of his pet creation, the University of Virginia. Jefferson had actually written out, seven years before, what is now a curi ous synopsis of an Anglo-Saxon grammar with spec imen extracts, for his new institution ; and this was the first formal incorporation of a course in histori cal English in an American university, however meagre and defective a course of one or two hours a week in itself was. 120 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. It was, likewise, another Virginian, Louis P. Klip- stein, a graduate of Hampden-Sidney College, who, somehow or other, got over to a German imiversity, and, in order to show his interest in the subject, as early as the forties began the publication of the first Anglo-Saxon texts in America — the Gospels, and two volumes of selections, besides a grammar; but, it must be added, that scholars in our day pronounce them uncritical, and those of his own left them to lie cold on his hands to be disposed of in presentation copies to his friends. The truth is, it was too early for textbooks in Anglo-Saxon in America, whether good or bad. Jefferson made it a condition that the occupant of the chair of modern languages in the University of Virginia should be an expert in the study of the early forms of English. Two scholars, both secured from abroad, virtually filled this chair during the first seventy years of its existence ; George Blatter- man, from 1825 to 1840, and M. Scheie De Vere after 1844. There was a slight interregnum between the two, and the gap of one or two years was filled by Charles Kraitsir, a curious, all-lmowing gentleman, who (at least so states the catalogue) boldly offered instruction not only in the whole realm of the Teu tonic and Romance languages, but also in the Slavic and even Magyar tongues. During the long career (1844-1895) of Professor Scheie De Vere as profes sor in the University of Virginia he certainly touched more teachers of language and literature than any one man in the South, and perhaps in the whole country. A very incomplete list would con tain the names of Edward S. Joynes, Henry E. Shepherd, Crawford H. Toy, Thomas R. Price, James M. Gamett, Rhodes Massie, Thomas Hume, James A. Harrison, Richard H. Willis, Edward A. Allen, Henry C. Brock, Alc6e Fortier, John R. Fick- ENGLISH STUDIES. 121 len, Walter D. Toy, F. M. Page, C. W. Kent, W. H. Perkinson, J. D. Bruce and W. P. Trent. As regards general instruction in English, how ever, the University of Virginia fared no better than any other institution. Such formal instruction as could be given was left to the tender mercies of the professor of moral philosophy. It was not till after 1857 that this much-abused servant of letters was re lieved, and the subjects of rhetoric and literature were transferred to the department of history, just established. This marked the period of the McGuf- fey's Readers and Holmes's Histories, conceived for school purposes by the occupants of these two chairs, books which have not yet totally disappeared from our public schools. A distinct chair of Eng lish language and literature was first created in 1882, which was filled until 1896 by James M. Gar- nett, the translator of Beowulf, then principal of St. John's College, Maryland. The logical development was still further extended in 1893, when through pri vate munificence the subjects of rhetoric and Eng lish literature were definitely awarded a separate foundation of their own, and Charles W. Kent was called for this purpose from the University of Ten nessee. In 1898 the English language and German were combined in one chair, whose incumbent was now known as professor of the Teutonic languages. This new chair has been filled ever since its forma tion by James A. Harrison, the well-known editor and biographer of Poe, and professor of Romance languages in the university from 1895 to 1898. It should be remarked, however, that in 1896 — on Gar- nett's leaving the university — ^Harrison had already assumed the instruction in the English language. Such has been the history of the development of the study of English at the one institution commonly recognized as the most prominent of all Southern 122 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. state universities. She influenced those of other states by her principle of election in studies, by her peculiar system of distinct schools of study in place of the old curriculum, by her rigid and severe stand ards of examination, by constantly distributing a large and influential number of teachers through the South. On the other hand, it is also very possibly due to the same influence that many of these gradu ates, using their alma mater too rigidly as a model, while they undoubtedly raised the standard of edu cation in other directions, also helped to delay for so long the recognition of English studies as of equal importance with Latin and Greek. But the need and the feeling was receiving con stant utterance. The Southern Literary Mesenger is the most characteristic product and faithful ex ponent of Virginia and the Old South. The first ed itor, Edgar Allan Poe, emphasized the lack of criti cism in America, and forthwith fell to executing a good deal of reckless, but it must be admitted, whole some slashing. Later, the ardent John R. Thomp son frequently pled for a school of letters at the state university, and possibly this had something to do with the changes of 1857. Nor were there want ing attempts on the linguistic side. In the columns of the same magazine appeared two or three articles displaying interest in the origins and development of the language. The number for September, 1848, contained an Historical Sketch of the Languages of Europe with a Particular Reference to the Rise and Progress of the English Language; and in that for March, 1856, was a discussion of English Diction aries, with Remarks on the English Language, signed "A. Roane." Continuous evidence of simi lar interest may be found ; for the educated Virgin ian and Southern mind has always been peculiarly sensitive to the proper understanding and use of the ENGLISH STUDIES. 123 mother tongue. But while something had undoubt edly been accomplished, the dawn of a fuller hope was to arise immediately from another quarter. It was an institution other than the state Univer sity of Virginia, though it was the work of one of her graduates, that was to have the distinction of creat ing a school of English in the South which should send forth apostles with all the fervor of converts and enthusiasts. Randolph-Macon College would have deserved notice for devoting a separate chair to English literature as early as 1836, almost from its inception; and Edward Dromgoole Sims (a Mas ter of Arts in the University of North Carolina), gave a course on historical English in the year 1839. He was installed in that year as professor of Eng lish, after a stay in Europe, where he heard lectures on Anglo-Saxon. Tradition tells how, having no textbooks, he used the blackboard for his philologi cal work. At the end of three years he removed to the University of Alabama in consequence of having contracted a marriage not then allowed under the laws of Virginia. He was preparing a series of text books in Old English, tradition again says, when he died in 1845. Had he accomplished his purpose, these works would have preceded Klipstein's in point of time.* It was again at Randolph- Macon College (though now removed from Mecklenburg to Hanover county) that immediately after the war there was founded a distinct school of English, based on historic and scientific principles, and productive of far-reaching results. I believe that I am but pay ing a worthy tribute to one whom all his pupils have found a helpful guide and inspiring instructor, in making the statement that this movement was * other occupants of the chair of English at Randolph-Macon were William M. Wightman and David S. Doggett, both afterwards bishops in the Methodist Church South. 124 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. mainly due to the inspiration and effort of one man — Thomas R. Price. I know perfectly well that one or two institutions assert prior dates for their courses in English. Perhaps it is the case. Within the two or three years immediately following the war — I cannot help repeating the phrase as a con stant landmark — the Virginian and Southern insti tutions were demanding instinctively and almost si multaneously a training course in English, which should have regard to a knowledge both of the tongue and of the literature, the former in order to secure a more thorough appreciation of the value and spirit of the latter. It was all in the air, as we say, and two or three institutions were actively re sponsive. Gen. Robert E. Lee was called almost from the surrender at Appomattox to the presidency of the Washington College, at Lexington, and his sympathy with the study of English was one of the chief marks of his administration of five years. As a result. Professor Edward S. Joynes was giving in struction in historical English in connection with the study of German and French; and Col. William Pres ton Johnston, afterward president of Tulane Univer sity, was called to occupy a newly established Ken tucky chair of history and English literature. Dr. J. L. M. Curry, later Minister to Spain, patron of letters and life-long devotee of educational interests, opened a course in English at Richmond College, ex pressly declared to be of equal importance with the classics, almost before the smoke of battle about the Confederate capital had fairly cleared away. Thomas Hume, not long after graduating at the Uni versity of Virginia, had been giving definite instruc tion in English in a more modest female college. And I have no doubt there were others still. Every where it was a movement essentially of native growth, and nowhere of foreign importation or imi- ENGLISH STUDIES. 125 tation. It was a product answering to local needs, as those needs had become intensified through the in terruptions and derangements of the war. The suggestion of the course of English at Ran dolph-Macon College sprang from the study of the ancient languages. The feeling existed that it was impossible to expect appreciation of idioms in a for eign language, when students knew nothing about those in their own tongue. To quote from Professor Price's own words at the time: "It was irrational, absurd, almost criminal, for example, to expect a young man whose knowledge of English words and constructions was scant and inexact, to put into Eng lish a difficult thought of Plato or an involved period of Cicero. ' ' The course pursued in consequence was entirely original in its premises, and endeavored to meet these difficulties. Both the disease and remedy were brought out by the condition present; and to this, I think, may be ascribed in large measure the success of the movement and its value as a stimulus. The end set was to place, in the ordinary college course, the study of English on an equal footing with that of Latin or Greek, giving it the same time and attention, aiming at the same thoroughness, and en forcing the same strictness of method. A knowledge of the early forms of English was demanded, not as philology pure and simple, constituting an end in it self, but as a means for acquiring a true, apprecia tive knowledge of the mother tongue, and thereby for understanding its literature and other literatures all the more. It now seems almost incredible that it re quired so great an effort at the time to take this step or that old traditions could become so firmly crystal lized. Professor Price's efforts succeeded all the more easily in that they were seconded by his presiding officer, the Rev. Dr. James A. Duncan, a man of sin- 126 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. gular breadth and sympathy of mind, who had grouped about him, irrespective of church and de nominational ties, a band of worthy associates. Price, as professor of Greek and Latin, gave up the latter to his colleague, James A. Harrison, who had charge of the modern languages, and taking control of the English, developed it side by side with his Greek, so as to cover a course through four continu ous years. This was the result of the work of two sessions, 1868-70. The movement soon spread far and wide. Other institutions, impelled by the same needs, either imitated it outright — some of them ac tually going so far as always to unite the English de partment with the Greek, as if there were some sub tle virtue in the connection (building possibly even wiser than they knew) — or developed out of their own necessities, similar arrangements. Indeed, with the courses at the State University under Professors Scheie De Vere, McGuffey and Holmes ; at Washing ton College under Professors Joynes and W. P. Johnston, and later James A. Harrison; at Rich mond College under Dr. Curry, and at Randolph- Macon under Professor Price, it almost seems that the colleges in Virginia were paying at this time far more attention to the study of English than many of their sisters of like and even more advanced stand ing in the North and West. After the men at Randolph-Macon had been drilled in the rudiments and given their primary in spiration, many of them were dispatched to Europe for further training, and returned Doctors of Leip zig and fired with a new zeal. In mere appearances, it should seem as if this Randolph-Macon migration to Leipzig was the beginning of the attraction ex erted by the university on young Southern scholars, an attraction which has been rivaled in recent years only by that of the neighboring Johns Hopkins. The ENGLISH STUDIES. 127 land lay open before these young men and they pro ceeded to occupy it. Robert Sharp returned Doctor from Leipzig and was soon called to Tulane ; the late William M. Baskervill returned Doctor from Leipzig and started an impulse at Wofford College, in South Carolina, which he broadened and deepened after his transfer, in 1881, to Vanderbilt; Robert Emory Blackwell returned from Leipzig and succeeded Pro fessor Price in his work at Randolph-Macon ; Frank C. Woodward succeeded Baskervill at Wofford, in 1881, and removed to the South Carolina College, in 1887 ; W. A. Frantz has built up a following in Cen tral College, Missouri ; the late John R. Ficklen, hav ing followed Dr. Price to the State University, be came associated with Sharp at Tulane. The Eng lish fever at Randolph-Macon became epidemic. Dr. James A. Harrison accepted a call, in 1876, to Wash ington and Lee as professor of modern languages, and formed a new Virginia centre for specialists. Even Price's successor in the Greek Chair at Ran dolph-Macon, Charles Morris, soon resigned to go to the University of Georgia as professor of English. Nor has the manufacture of Randolph- Macon pro fessors of English ever entirely ceased. Howard Edwards, formerly of the University of Kansas; John L. Armstrong, late of Trinity College (N. C.) and now of the Randolph-Macon Woman's College; John D. Epes, subsequently of St. Johns College (Md.) ; John Lesslie Hall, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins), of William and Mary — are later accessions to a list by no means complete. At the same time that Price left Randolph- Macon to succeed Dr. Gildersleeve in Greek in the Univer sity of Virginia (1876), his colleague, James A. Har rison, as we have seen, became successor to Joynes, who had gone to the new Vanderbilt. There has al ways been something in the quaint, picturesque town 128 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of Lexington, high among the mountains at the head of the Valley of Virginia, that has fostered education and letters. For more than a century it has been the intellectual centre of the Scotch-Irish population of the valley, just as Williamsburg, the seat of Wil liam and Mary, was the corresponding pole for the pure English stock in the east. Rich memories clus ter about the historic town. Here are the graves of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, and here died Commodore Maury. The presence of General Lee for the five years of his life after Appomattox, made it for the nonce typical as a Southern institution. The college, first called Liberty Hall in the throes of the Revolution, was named after Washington, who ten dered it its first considerable donation, and the name of Lee was added after the latter 's death — the two names that appealed most to Southern youths with a sentiment for history. This was the natural atmosphere for the academic career of Thomas Nelson Page. There were others, too, inspired with kindred tastes. Of six graduates in the school of literature in 1869, all ultimately M.A.'s of the institution, five became professors — William Taylor Thorn, Duncan C. Lyle, Charles A. Graves, professor of law ; Dr. John P. Stridor, pro fessor of moral science and belles-lettres — the last two at their alma mater; and Milton W. Humphreys, now professor of Greek in the University of Vir ginia. The Southern Collegian, the student periodical, took at once a creditable place among the best of sim ilar productions, and ranked with the Virginia Uni versity Magazine in volume, and perhaps excelled it now and then in grace and form. Col. John T. L. Preston had been professor of belles-lettres at the adjoining Virginian Military Institute since its f oxm- dation, and his wife, Mrs. Margaret Junkin Pres- ENGLISH STUDIES. 129 ton, was the characteristic woman singer of the South. Dr. Harrison must have found his new atmosphere congenial, as he set to work to build up a definite English course. He was handicapped, however, by the fact that he was teaching French and German too, and only English philology; but he was gifted with the literary feeling, and it came to expression in his class-room. A course looking to the Ph.D. was offered, and nearly all the candidates for "Doc tor" could choose English. Many of them did so, and their influence has extended itself in all direc tions. It is very curious to trace these various ramifica tions of mutual influences, and to see them acting and interacting, crossing and recrossing. Three main lines may be detected. Just as the University of Virginia, through its graduates, became the pat tern for many, especially state institutions; and Hampden-Sidney, Davidson, Central, and particu larly Presbyterian colleges felt the influence of the course at Washington and Lee ; so Randolph-Macon affected among others, Wofford, and then Vander bilt, which, in turn, has become a new centre of ac tivity. The transmission of this spirit to Wofford Col lege, and thence to Vanderbilt University at Nash ville, is peculiarly instructive. W. M. Baskervill, trained under Price and Harrison and in Leipzig, came to Wofford, in 1876, where he met with a sym pathetic circle. The president. Dr. James H. Car lisle, had always been interested in English work, and was a close student of the history and meaning of words. Charles Forster Smith, since called to Wisconsin, was for many years fellow-professor with Baskervill, and James H. Kirkland, first an ap preciative pupil, was afterward colleague as Smith's Vol. 7—9. 130 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. successor. All three of these young scholars ulti mately took their degrees in Leipzig and were called to Vanderbilt University, of which Dr. Kirkland is now chancellor. The English language and letters were steadily emphasized by the close sympathies uniting these three men in their common work in the department of languages. Kirkland 's Leipzig dis sertation was on an English subject, though he after ward became professor of Latin ; Smith, the profes sor of Greek, was a constant contributor on English points; and Baskervill was specifically professor in charge. Through the standard which their fortun ate circumstances allowed them to set, a new centre of influence was formed in Nashville. It was this Wofford influence, if I may be personal for a space, that had much to do with sending me to the University of Virginia to hear Price in Greek, and I but echo the feeling of many in Professor Price's class-room, that it was hard to know to which of the two languages his class leaned the more, Greek or English, so intimately upon one another, espe cially in the work of translating, did the two depend. At any rate, it is singular that his pupils, stirred by the Greek just as at Randolph-Macon, have used this classical impulse to enter upon the keener study of their native language and literature. I was priv ileged to be in the last Greek class which Professor Price taught at the University of Virginia ; and con temporaneous with me at the university were other pupils; Charles W. Kent, Ph.D. of Leipzig, now Linden Kent professor of English literature in his alma mater; James Douglas Bruce, of the University of Tennessee ; and Professor W. P. Trent of Colum bia University, New York. Eventually Professor Price's strong predilections for English, and the memory of the work wrought while at Randolph- Macon, led in 1882 to his acceptance of a call to the ENGLISH STUDIES. 131 chair of English in Columbia University, New York, which he filled until his death. The interest in the early forms of English, strengthened by further study at German universi ties, led to a revival of interest in the Old English texts themselves. I have already adverted to the unfulfilled project of Sims's and Klipstein's early performances. Nothing more of importance ap peared in America until 1870, when Professor March, of Lafayette, Pa., published a grammar and specimens, which remained in general use until Sweet's Reader appeared. Before this. Professor Scheie De Vere had written his Studies in English, followed a year or two later by his Americanisms. Professor James M. Gamett produced, in 1882, a line-for-line rhythmic translation of Beowulf , the first American rendering of the ancient epic, an achieve ment based upon his class-work in St. John's Col lege ; the book has since passed through a fourth edi tion. In 1889, he added a version of the Elene, the Judith, Athelstan, the Fight at Maldon, in the same form. The "Library of Anglo-Saxon Poetry" was xmdertaken, in 1882, by a Boston publishing house, with the general editorship in the hands of Professor James A. Harrison, then of Washington and Lee. The first volume to appear was the text of Beowulf, with an English glossary, edited by Dr. Harrison himself in conjunction with a former Randolph-Macon pupil. Dr. Robert Sharp, of Tulane. Professor Hunt, of Princeton, furnished the second volume ; Dr. Basker vill, of Vanderbilt, added the Andreas as third, and Dr. Kent, then of the University of Tennessee, edited the Elene as the fourth in the series. Old English poetry has exercised further fascination for Virgin ians, and one of the latest books is another translation of Beowulf, in a free-flowing metrical form, by Pro fessor Hall, of William and Mary, making the second 132 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. version of this stirring Germanic epic by an Ameri can scholar. It has been seen that the necessity for a complete course in English was felt and received full develop ment in Virginia and the South before the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore affected the move ment. We cannot too strongly emphasize the fact of this native growth, this development from the needs of the country just after the interruptions and dis tractions occasioned by the war. Nor should we for get that it was an offshoot from the study of the classic tongues, especially Greek — the love of the grandest of ancient literatures naturally giving birth to a desire for a closer knowledge of the spirit of our own, a literature which so many of us would place in the forefront of all modem expressions of life. The English course at the Johns Hopkins was de veloped later than some others, and is still partial and incomplete on the side of literary history and criticism. Since, however, under Dr. James W. Bright, the philological course has attained its high degree of scientific accuracy, the tide, which formerly swept across the seas to Leipzig, has been steadily flowing thitherward. Many of Dr. Bright 's best pupils it seems, come from Southern colleges, with a love for their special study already implanted in their hearts. Morgan Callaway, Jr., in Texas ; the late Charles H. Ross, in Alabama; St. James Cummings, in South Carolina ; C. A. Smith, dean of the graduate depart ment at Chapel Hill, and T. P. Harrison in North Carolina, Lesslie Hall in Virginia, and many others — are Hopkins men. Some have preferred the more distant Harvard for the sake of the literary atmos phere, as in the case of John M. Manly, of South Carolina, now the distinguished head of the English department in Chicago University, and W. P. Few, dean of Trinity College, South Carolina. Among ENGLISH STUDIES. 133 Cornell graduates the most distinguished English student in the South is Edwin Mims, also of Trinity. I have made no attempt to furnish a full account of all the workers in the South and the work done. I am simply marking out a few distinct lines, along which, it seems to me, this movement has pro gressed. Of course this body of teachers, most of them comparatively young men, have to confront peculiar conditions in every case, and the work of each must be adapted to these accordingly. Every kind of method must be used, every kind of predilec tion may find its scope. I am not sure that this is in itself to be deplored. I cannot believe that any iron clad method, however approved, may suit all times and stages of development, every class of students, and (a very important matter, too) the different temperaments of individual teachers. Nor do I maintain that the output of professors and teachers in a special department is the sole or even main test of a man's work. It might, on the contrary, be the evidence of narrowing influences and a cramped environment, the mere reflection of aca demic dexterity. I believe that the broadest and most helpful work is often that which inspires with a profound love for culture and letters, and informs the soul with the instinct and the passion for truth. Everything depends so much on the ends in view and the character of the work. Looking over different college catalogues, I see some lean to aesthetics, some to historical methods; some show enthusiasm for Shakespeare (whatever else may suffer), some treat specifically of prose style, and some of verse as a science of forms ; some instruct by periods and topics, and some lay stress on philology and etymologies. I observe the greatest diversity, and I confess, with a certain equanimity; there is no opportunity for dog matizing too rigidly anywhere. No one is altogether 134 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. right, we may be sure — the study of a language and its literature has so many facets. Let us also trust that no one is altogether wrong. The work is di verse, but, it is believed, not chaotic. I am satisfied that there is turned out each year a body of students from these colleges with appreciation of the spirit of their mother tongue and its native literature. And may not the several enthusiasms and interests each awaken its own peculiar discipleship ? I believe so intensely in the personality of both teacher and pupil and in the sympathy existing be tween the two at certain stages in this development, that I trust that by all of these ways the spirit of in quiry, of study, of creation, is awakened. For, after all, it is this spirit, the instinct for creative work, which will lead to that future of education, of schol arship, of literary excellence, toward which, to judge from expression, we are all striving. There are those who believe always in new possi bilities in educational and literary movements, who delight in tracing conditions to effects, and in fore casting events and portraying the tendencies of the future. What is to be the result in the course of time of all this instruction in English, this endeavor, this straining to get and give an exacter knowledge of the native tongue and literature? It is just as characteristic, too, of England as it is of America. It seems to mean, at least, that the literature of the past will be studied, annotated, edited — no name being too poor for reverence. But will it result in broader views of life, in a conscious criticism, in strengthening the personal attitude, so that it may produce an era of its own, with new sources, new aims, and a new fulfillment? It would almost be a pity to close with a query. John Bell Henneman, Laie Professor of English Literature, University of the Souch. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 135 CHAPTER vn. THE SOUTH'S CONTRIBUTION TO CLASSI CAL STUDIES. T is impossible to make as good a showing for classical studies in the South as the facts would warrant, if one could get at them. The best Southern teachers, in higher institutions of learning as well as in lower, have, as a rule, put themselves more into the making of men than of books; partly because they consid ered the former more important, still more because heavy teaching left little energy for writing. The records of their work made upon human minds and hearts, rather than on printed pages, have, for the most part, passed away with the fleshly tablets on which they were inscribed. Hence, the major part of the material used in this paper has been gathered from the letters of classical scholars embodying either facts from their own experience or recollec tions of what they had heard from others. Doubt less wrong has been done unintentionally to the memory of many a good scholar by omission, simply because there was no record which the compiler could get at. In the space at my disposal it seemed necessary to restrict attention chiefly to the main epoch be ginning with the opening of the University of Vir ginia in 1825, and to illustrate the work in general and the spirit of the whole by a few representative scholars as typical of the many. Before the open ing of the University of Virginia there were few colleges in the South besides William and Mary, and the centres of classical influence were private 136 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. schools ; and the important work of the preparatory schools has received considerable attention in the latter part of this paper. The Work of Universities and Professors. The opening of the University of Virginia was an event of prime importance for the higher education in the whole country, and really marks a new era. In the South this university completely dominated the situation down to the war and for some time afterwards, being the model for most that was best in the colleges everjTvhere, setting the standards to which they aspired, and being the source of constant stimulus and inspiration. The University of Vir ginia, says Professor Trent, "for a long time suf ficed for the whole South, and the wideness of the field from which it drew its students is a partial explanation of the wide-reaching character of the infiuence which it exerted." This remark as to the dominance of the university in general is quite true of its influence in the field of the classics in par ticular. George Long, M. A., of Trinity College, Cam bridge, was the first professor of ancient languages (1825-1828) in the University of Virginia, being re called at the end of three years to England to the chair of Greek in the new University of London. It is said that when he first appeared before Mr. Jef ferson, the latter betrayed surprise at his youthful appearance, whereupon Mr. Long said, "Sir, it is a fault for which I am not responsible, and which time is sure to remedy." "He fixed," says Pro fessor Trent,* "the standard of requirement in his classes at a higher point than was then known in this country, and he was the instructor and life-long » The Influence of the University of Virginia Upon Sovthem Life and Though 3. 160) ; in H. B. Adams's Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, U. S. >ureau of Educational Circulars of Information, No. 2, 1888. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 137 friend of his successor, Gessner Harrison." In England Professor Long lived and worked to a good old age, regarded on two continents as a classical authority of great weight. Of his numerous works it will suffice to mention only his Classical Atlas and his translations of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. A few words of praise of him from Matthew Arnold must command universal assent: "He treats Mar cus Aurelius' writings as he treats all the other remains of Greek and Roman antiquity which he touches, not as a dead and dry matter of learning, but as docmnents with a side of modern applicability and living interest, and valuable mainly so far as this side in them can be made clear; that as in his notes on Plutarch's Roman Lives he deals with the modem epoch of Caesar and Cicero, not as food for schoolboys, but as food for men, and men engaged in the current of contemporary life and action, so in his remarks and essays on Marcus Aurelius, he treats this truly modem striver and thinker not as a classical dictionary hero, but as a present source from which to draw 'example of life and in struction of manners. ' " Gessner Harrison, the successor of Professor Long, was, says Professor Trent, "the. man who, of all others, had, so far as I am able to see, the great est influence upon the university, and through his students upon Southern life and thought"; and was, as Dr. Broadus thinks, "more closely connected than any other with the history of the university and the constitution of its prestige." Born in 1807 — the same year with Robert E. Lee — he was, in 1828, one of the three graduates in Greek in the University of Virginia, and also one of the three in medicine, these being the first men regularly graduated from the schools of the university. Mr. Long, on being recalled to England, had been asked by the visitors 138 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. to name his successor. To the surprise of all he named Gessner Harrison. The visitors gave him the appointment, first for one year, but the next made it permanent. It was an instance of remark able acumen and prevision on the part of the young Professor Long; and one of his chief titles to es teem and gratitude on the part of the University of Virginia and of American scholarship is that he dis covered, trained, and nominated to succeed himself this young Virginian. "In the opinion of many," says Professor Trent, "who from a long life and distinguished position have had opportunities of judging, Gessner Harrison achieved a remarkable triumph over his difficulties, and without invidious- ness he may be said to have done more than any one man, with the single exception of Mr. Jefferson, in raising the standard of education throughout the South." On an important point I may quote a remark of my own from an article on "Southern Colleges and Schools" {Atlantic Monthly, December, 1885) : "So far as I can learn, no American institution before the University of Virginia had ever properly em phasized ability to turn English into Greek and Latin, as well as vice versa, as an absolute pre requisite to a thorough mastery of those tongues. But from the time of Gessner Harrison, who never graduated a man in ancient languages who could not put a blackboard of English into Greek and Latin without dictionary or grammar, down to the last year's senior Latin paper * * * the Uni versity of Virginia has led all our institutions in attention to this subject." "From 1828 to 1859," says Professor Trent, "he labored zealously and successfully; then worn out, and fearing that he could not make proper provi sion for his large family, he resigned his professor- CLASSICAL STUDIES. 139 ship and opened a classical boarding-school. At tracted by his reputation, pupils came from all parts of the South. But the war broke out and Gessner Harrison did not survive it. From nursing a son who had sickened with camp-fever, he contracted a modification of the disease and died April 7, 1862. A more fitting end to his career could not have been mshed: he lived for others, he died for another." As a fit and just estimate of his worth and his work, I may quote from a personal letter lately re ceived from a distinguished pupil of Gessner Harri son's, Dr. Edward S. Joynes, emeritus professor of modern languages in the University of South Caro lina, whose connection with classical work ended as the war began, when, for a short time, he was pro fessor of Greek in William and Mary College. He says: "But my own classical life was chiefly, and most honorably, as assistant professor for three years (1853-1856) with the illustrious and really great professor. Dr. Gessner Harrison. He was the pioneer of true philology and classical education in the South — the first to abandon the old superficial system and to lay the foundation, against prejudice and difficulties almost insurmountable, of new and profounder methods, for which not only classical philology, but all branches of education in the South will ever owe him lasting obligations. None can ever take his place, either in the veneration of those he taught or in the enduring merit of his work. I have heard all the greatest scholars at the greatest university in Germany, yet I can say that Dr. Har rison's thorough teaching, his independent thought- producing method, will always remain the solid groundwork of my own philological training and my model of language teaching." * * * "I quote," he adds, "from a letter written soon after 140 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. his death in 1864, and now, in 1908, 1 see no reason to modify that opinion." "He seems to have had positive genius for lan guage," writes Dr. Humphreys. "He inspired many of his students with zeal, and his influence is felt in the South to-day. * * * His book on T/ie Greek Prepositions and Their Cases was a great contribution to Greek grammar. His only Latin work. An Exposition of the Laws of the Latin Grammar, was, for its day, a very scholarly work, but not free from errors." Lewis Minor Coleman, founder of Hanover Acad emy, had already made an enduring reputation as head of that school, when he was called to succeed Gessner Harrison as professor of Latin in the Uni versity of Virginia in 1859. A still greater career seemed to be opening before him in his new field, but he soon went with his students to the war and met his death at Fredericksburg. In 1856, three years before Gessner Harrison's retirement, came one greater even than he — Basil L. Gildersleeve. Bom in Charleston, S. C, in 1831, he was graduated from Princeton in 1849, studied then for four years in the universities of Berlin, Bonn and Goettingen (Ph.D., 1853), was professor of Greek 1856-76, and of Latin 1861-66, in the Uni versity of Virginia, since 1876 professor of Greek in Johns Hopkins University. His chief published works are a Latin Grammar (1876-1894) Persius, Justin Martyr, Odes of Pindar, Greek Syntax (Vol. I of a compendious work, 1900), and a volume of Essays and Studies. But as the editor, since its foundation in 1880, of The American Journal of Classical Philology, he is still more widely known. It is a delicate matter to write discriminatingly of the services of one who stUl survives, but Professor Goodwin, the other chief of our Trojan heroes ex- CLASSICAL STUDIES. 141 pressed himself on this very point of the Journal work as long ago as 1890 (preface to Moods and Tenses), and this I may quote: "It is with pride and pleasure that I acknowledge my deepest in- indebtedness to an American scholar, whose writ ings have thrown light upon most of the dark places in Greek syntax. I need not say that I refer to my friend. Professor Gildersleeve, of Baltimore. As editor of the American Journal of Philology, he has discussed every construction of the Greek moods, and he has always left his mark. His two reviews of Weber's work on the final sentence in Vols. Ill and IV of his Journal may well save many scholars the trouble of reading the book itself, while they contain much new matter which is valuable to every one. The acute observation that the use of av and xe in final constructions depends on the force of b)q, oicu?, and oypa as conditional relative or tem poral adverbs, explains much which before seemed inexplicable. His article on izplv in Vol. II stated important principles of classic usage which were confirmed by Sturm's statistics; and this, with the later review of Sturm's volume, has done much to correct current errors and to establish sounder views about xpfv. His article on the Articular Infinitive in the 'Transactions of the American Philological Association for 1878' and in the third volume of his Journal, practically anticipated the results of Birklein's statistics. I can mention fur ther only his article in Vol VI of the Journal on the Consecutive Sentence, which gives (it seems to me) the clearest statement ever made of the relations of w(TT£ with the infinitive to wore with the finite moods. I have expressed my indebtedness to these and other writings of Gildersleeve as occasion has required; but I have also often referred to his ar- 142 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tides in his Journal by the simple mention of that periodical. I have also sometimes omitted a refer ence where one might seem proper, lest I should ap pear to make him responsible for what he might deem some dangerous heresy." "Where did you study under Gildersleeve?" some one asked me one day. "I was never under him di rectly," I replied, "but we have all gone to school to him in the Journal and in his books." Indeed, I am fond of saying, " Gildersleeve 's greatest pupil never sat on the benches before him, yet he made him." I refer to Humphreys of the University of Virginia, who, even while a student at Washington and Lee, was, perhaps unconsciously, modeling himself on Gildersleeve 's published doctrines. Yes, we have all been to school to Gildersleeve. Two of my recent letters tell the common story. One is from Prof. W. H. Bocock, of the University of Georgia, dated Nov. 20, 1908: "I shan't begin on Gildersleeve; I'd write a book." The other letter is from Prof. Chas. W. Bain, University of South Carolina (Dec. 2, 1908). He says, "I have never had the good fortune to study under Professor Gil dersleeve, but he has been uniformly kind and help ful to me on all occasions, and, of course, all of my Greek syntax that was worth knowing was culled from the notes on Justin Martyr and Pindar, and from his wonderful articles in the Journal." William E. Peters, born 1829, was a graduate of Emory and Henry College and of the University of Virginia, and became, first, professor of Latin and Greek, Emory and Henry College, 1852-1866, then professor of Latin, University of Virginia, 1866. He returned from a sojourn of two years in Ger many to enter the war in the Confederate service, in which he rose to lieutenant-colonel. He was the officer who refused to obey General Early's order to CLASSICAL STUDIES. 143 apply the torch to Chambersburg. General Lee ordered his release from arrest. "He was brave to a fault. It is said that on one occasion he remained and fought with his pistol after his whole regiment had fled." He was for forty years one of the great intellectual forces of the University of Virginia, and consequently of the South, but a great teacher who published little; so we may well let his pupils state the case for him. Professor Bocock writes me: "His Latin Case Relations and Syntax of the Latin Verb contain one of the best first-hand collections of examples in existence; a collection which, by ex amples, silently corrects a good many misstatements of standard grammars. He was a thorough drill- master, and his men 'knew the facts of the lan guage,' to use one of his favorite phrases." "Of Colonel Peters I hardly know how to speak, ' ' writes Professor Bain. "He, too, was a very great teacher, full of enthusiasm, and the deepest read man in Latin I have ever studied under or read after. It is, perhaps, due to Colonel Peters to say that, while he states in his Syntax of the Latin Verb that he does not believe any accurate historical syntax has been written, he did not neglect it, and always taught it where he believed it had been carefully worked out. He thus saved himself the horror of perpetuating the numerous errors of historical syntax in Schmalz and in the Antibarbarus. I remember very well, in fact I have the note made then, that in 1883 he taught us that the impf. subjv. in an unreal condi tion in oratio obliqua became -rum fuisse, not -rum esse, as was taught, and is generally taught to-day. The article in the Journal of Philology by Terrell was inspired by a letter from Colonel Peters to Pro fessor Morgan, of Harvard, about this very subject. There are many points of this kind that I could mention that Colonel Peters taught us who were 144 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. fortunate enough to sit under him, long before they found their way into books. In matters of syntax I would give him an equal place in Latin with Gil dersleeve in Greek, though they worked in an en tirely different manner. Perhaps I should mention, too, that he made a very thorough study of metres, and this was one of the most delightful and in structive courses he gave. In later years I had the privilege of discussing nearly every construction of Latin syntax with him, and I never wrote him about a point that I did not find he had a full supply of cogent examples on every stand he took, and you could be pretty sure that, when he said this or that occurred or did not occur, he was absolutely cor rect, for he made such statements only on his read ing and not another's. I know it was this constant and careful investigation that led him to make his statements about historical syntax." "Colonel Peters trained more men in Latin," says Professor Humphreys, "than any other Southern teacher, and exercised an enormous influence through the men who went from here to teach Latin or Greek else where. * * * I never knew a man so completely absorbed in anything as he was in Latin grammar and Latin metres. He required his graduates to know every little detail of both. * * * He read Cicero, Caesar, etc., to teach grammar, Horace, Virgil, Plautus, etc., to teach metres. The subject matter and the literary effect he ignored and de spised." The chair of Latin is now held by Professor Thomas Fitzhugh, M.A. (University of Vir ginia), formerly of the University of Texas, selected, it is said, by Dr. Peters to be his successor. Along with the earlier professors of the Univer sity of Virginia it seems proper to mention one who spent his life mainly in a theological seminary, but CLASSICAL STUDIES. 145 knew his classics well and was, during all his career, a potent classical influence. Dr. John A. Broadus, of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was one of the greatest scholars and one of the most inspiring teachers whom the South has produced. Professor Thomas R. Price, Dr. Gildersleeve 's successor in the chair of Greek at the University of Virginia (1876-82), has left nothing in print to show his classical scholarship except reports in Gilder- sleeve's Journal, and he is chiefly known by his phenomenal success and influence as teacher of English at Randolph-Macon College (1868-76), and afterwards at Columbia University (1882-1903). He was a great teacher, whether in Greek or English, and I have never heard a living teacher so praised, I think, as he used to be by his old Randolph-Macon pupils. A large number of the important chairs of English in Southern colleges were filled by old pu pils of his, and the new style of teaching English in the South is often called "Price's method." "Pro fessor Price I knew personally," writes Professor Bain, "who did splendid work at Randolph-Macon College, and filled with brilliant success the chair of Greek at the University of Virginia. Few men have had a harder task and have acquitted them selves with a more brilliant record. As you know, perhaps, he followed Gildersleeve in that chair. * * * He was a superb teacher, most careful, accurate and painstaking. My brothers and two cousins were under him in Greek, and I got my in struction in Greek from one of his pupils, so I know from them how inspiring he was. A glance at his reports in the Journal will show what a great teacher he was." John H. Wheeler (professor of Greek, University of Virginia, 1882-87) lived only five years, but the testimony of his old pupils is that he was a remark- Vol. 7—10. 146 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. able man and brilliant scholar. "That highly gifted man," says Professor Trent, "Dr. John H. Wheeler, a graduate of Harvard and Bonn, a pupil of Gildersleeve and the successor of Dr. Price as professor of Greek in the University of Virginia, was one of the very few of whom it may be said that outside and inside the teacher you found the whole- souled man." Professor Bocock says: "I trust you wUl pay due tribute to John H. Wheeler, a thor ough scholar and inspiring teacher, a lecturer of exquisite good taste, a man of personal charm, who worthily upheld the traditions of a chair that had been occupied by George Long, Gessner Harrison, Basil L. Gildersleeve and Thomas R. Price. * * * I owe my first love to Kemper and Johnston [who prepared him for college], my great love to Wheeler — he made me go out into the night and recite a chorus from the Antigone to the stars. * * * To me he is one of three: Wheeler, Gildersleeve, Vahlen — though I was never under Gildersleeve." Professor Bain writes: "I am delighted to say that, as I had not the good fortune to study Greek imd«r either Dr. Gildersleeve or Professor Price, I was so fortunate as to be under Dr. Wheeler, who, had he lived, would have had no superior anywhere. It was from him that I first learned what Greek really was, what the study of language meant. He was a superb scholar, full of inspiration, and accu racy itself. His notes are to-day, twenty-three years after taking, full of inspiration and helpful points and valuable suggestions. Much of his work stands out in my mind as clearly to-day as when I was under him. His life was short, sacrificed to his work, and to his desire to keep that chair unspotted and unpolluted as it had been handed to him ; but no man could have had more influence upon his stu- CLASSICAL STUDIES. 147 dents. Out of seven men whom he graduated in 1884, six became teachers of Greek. ' ' Milton W. Humphreys, occupant of the chair of Greek in the University of Virginia since 1887, is a very interesting figure. Born in Clarksburg, Va. (now West Virginia), in 1844, he was a student in Washington College when the war broke out, and promptly entered the Confederate service in the artillery. His active and versatile brain, drawn even then as much toward mathematics and physics as toward linguistics, was much interested in experi ments to determine the range of the enemy. Student tradition had it that he had some of his Greek and Latin classics constantly with him at the front, beguiling therewith the intervals of camp leisure. He reentered college in 1866 and had the great privilege of graduating and of serving as assistant and adjunct professor of ancient languages under Gen. Robert E. Lee. Washington and Lee University was the first insti tution in this country to adopt the Roman pronun ciation of Latin. This was in 1868, and due to Humphreys. The head of the department (Pro fessor Harris) had told him he might investigate the subject and adopt what he should believe to have been the pronunciation of Cicero. Humphreys did so, but when the professor attended an oral at the intermediate examination he was amazed, and wanted Humphreys to abandon the "new-fangled pronunciation." But this Humphreys refused to do. He had already met ridicule enough from his students, e. g., the nickname of "old Keeckero Kaisar." He taught all the students of the first two years, i. e., four-fifths of those who went on into advanced Latin, and these, having become accus tomed to the Roman pronunciation, refused to change when they reached Professor Harris. "I 148 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. have had some fights in my life of which I am wont to boast," says Humphreys, "as when, from sunset till dark, with one three-inch rifle I fought at 400-500 yards range nine pieces of artillery under Colonel DuPont(five of them belonging to the regular army) ; but the fight of my life that required most moral courage was c=:k, j=y, v=w in Latin, with the in fluence of my full professor against me. ' ' In 1872 he went on leave of absence to Germany, and studying there first in Berlin, then in Leipzig, took his Ph.D. at the latter place in 1873. Part of his thesis appeared as his Doctor-Arbeit in 1873, all of it in the "Transactions of the American Philo logical Association" from 1876-79. The immedi ate effect upon American classical scholars was to make him at once the acknowledged classical metri cian of America and to bring him to the presidency of the American Philological Association before he was forty years old. Thirty years later at the Washington meeting of the Philological Associa tion (January, 1907), a New York scholar referred to these very papers as exhibiting profounder met rical knowledge than that shown by the great Eng lish Homer scholar, Monro. His name has long been a by-word among American scholars for acumen, exhaustive erudition and accuracy — "One of our two most accurate American scholars," Professor Seymour once remarked. Of course, the old stu dents of Dr. Humphreys, whether from Vanderbilt, or Texas, or the University of Virginia, have un bounded confidence in his omniscience, and will tell wonderful stories of what he knows about metres and mathematics, physics and botany — and most of it wdll be true. This ripe scholar has published only two books (editions of the Clouds and of the Anti gone), and a few other papers besides those above mentioned — notably, A Contribution to Infantile CLASSICAL STUDIES. 149 Linguistic (1880) — a very careful and interesting study recording, step by step, the process of develop ment made by his own first child in learning to talk. Nor must his reports for Gildersleeve 's Journal on Philologus and the Revue de Philologie be over looked. In connection with his review of Zielinski's The Agon of Old Attic Comedy {American Journal of Philology, Vol. III., 179-206) there hangs a tale at once interesting and pathetic. Humphreys, then professor in the University of Texas, was himself preparing a paper upon this very subject, in blissful ignorance of Zielinski's forthcoming work. But the University of Texas was just established and without books. I remember Humphreys writing to me to verify some things in the library at Vander bilt, for still other points he had to wait till books could be ordered from Germany. Before he had been able — for lack of books — to verify all his con clusions and appear in print, he saw one day an an nouncement of Zielinski's book. Die Gliederung der Alt-attischen Komodie (1885), with a feeling of sickening certainty that all his labor of years had been anticipated. When he got Zielinski's book he found that he himself had worked out every point made by the German scholar, and even more fully in some cases. The German work was a brilliant study — quite as much so was that of Humphreys — but nothing was left for the latter but to review Zielinski's book for Gildersleeve 's Journal. Next to the University of Virginia the University of North Carolina is, of all Southern institutions, doubtless entitled to consideration in the ante bellum period, though its success in the line of making strong public men was much more marked than in that of literature or of pure scholarship in general, or of the classics in particular. Indeed, it might easily be inferred that at the beginning — the 150 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. university was opened in 1795 — the atmosphere was anti-classical. "When Dr. Caldwell came to the uni versity the trustees and the public were prejudiced against the classics, and it was owing to his efforts that Greek was finally given its just recognition in the curriculum."* Greek was first required for a degree in 1804. After it was introduced, it was evi dently not taught so as to make it an attractive study ; e. g.. Dr. Battle in his history quotes the fol lowing from Dr. Hooper's reminiscences: "Greek, after its introduction, became the bug-bear of col lege. Having been absent when my class began it, I heard, on my return, such a terrific account that I had no more durst encounter the Greeks than Xerxes when he fled in consternation across the Hellespont after the battle of Salamis. Rather than lose my degree, however, after two years I plucked up courage and set doggedly and desperately to work, prepared hastily thirty dialogues of Lucian, and on that stock of Greek was permitted to gradu ate." But this must not be taken too seriously, for he mentioned that the terror of chemistry was quite as great. He was more in fun than in earnest, a clever fellow, the "best scholar" in his class, and became eventually "professor of humanity." Prof. Mcinual Fetter, the first Professor of Greek after the "chair of humanity" was divided, was, according to Dr. Battle, "well versed in the reading and parsing of Greek, but had the defect of most classical teachers of his day, that of not calling at tention to the literary excellence of the books he taught. * * * Those who studied Greek for the grandeur of the thought and beauty of imagery were not pleased; but those who wished familiarity with the grammatical structure of the language, the * C. L. Smith in Circular of Informaiion of Bureau of Education, 1887, p. 68, Dr. Caldwell was a Princeton man, and Princeton influence was in that early day in North Carolina exerted in the good cause, as it is to-day in a wider field. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 151 declensions and tenses, dialects and derivations of words, obtained as much as they could carry off." This same Professor Fetter seems to have had a kind heart and a sense of humor, for it is related that when he found once a student of Scotch descent seated helpless by an empty jug, he asked : "Haven't you been drinking?" "Yes, sir, a little." "How much?" "About a gallon, I reckon." We may in fer from the record that the Scotchman was "rusti cated," for we read that "he was allowed to return, graduated, and became eminent in his profession." The students had wit enough, of course, after that to speak of a Scotchman that drank, in Tacitus' phrase as capacissimus vini. If the classical professors had only been as wise as Prof. C. F. Deems, adj. prof, of rhetoric and logic — afterwards the noted pastor of the Church of Strangers in New York — who, besides the work in his own department, had a class in Horace and one in the Bible! "He did not care," says Dr. Battle, "for the niceties of parsing and grammar, but he brought out the literary power of the work studied remarkably. * * * Qf all the teachers of Latin I have known he was the most happy in showing the force and beauty of the poetry of Horace. ' ' There were some good classical scholars at the University of North Carolina from the time of the first professor of humanity. Rev. David Kerr, grad uate of Trinity College, Dublin, to the present, in cluding William Bingham, the first of that family so noted for several generations in secondary school work in North Carolina, and Dr. Andrews, a gradu ate of Yale, who, after his return to New England, prepared the well-known series of Latin textbooks. When we come to the eighties I can speak from my own knowledge, for I recall the great impression made instantly by George Taylor Winston when he 152 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. became professor of Latin, and I remember Maj. Robert Bingham writing me, about 1885, that he was the strongest college professor he knew. But execu tive work soon claimed him, first as president of the University of North Carolina, then of the University of Texas, and finally of the Agricultural and Me chanical College of North Carolina. Those who know Dr. Eben Alexander, professor of Greek in the University of North Carolina since 1886, regret that a personality so rich and rare, of scholarship so sound and stimulating, has not made itself felt in print as strongly as in the classroom. But nearly all of his life he has been cumbered about much serving, early in his career as chairman of the faculty of the University of Tennessee, then — after seven years as professor of Greek in the University of North Carolina — for four years as United States minister to Greece, more recently as dean of the University of North Carolina. He still holds his professorship of Greek, but in off hours must inter view bad boys instead of writing classical papers or books. Returning to Virginia, reference may be made to college work there. William and Mary College, Vir ginia, chartered Feb. 19, 1693, hence, the second in age of all the colleges of the country, and mother of statesmen in the Revolutionary period, was also in that period a centre of classical learning. "The country gentleman of Virginia prior to the Revolu tion knew his classics well (not critically, of course, but in mass), and could cap a fellow Burgess' line from Virgil or Horace as neatly as any M.P. over seas of his time. * * * The plays of Plautus and Terence were repeatedly acted by the students of William and Mary College to the great delight of the Burgesses and the gentry of the colony, so many of whom were educated in the great public CLASSICAL STUDIES. 153 schools of the mother country."* This good old college, which saw evil days for a very long period, has in recent years been renewing her youth and has now one of the most scholarly classical professors in the country, C. E. Bishop, M.A., Ph.D. (one of " McCabe 's boys," I think), author of important philological monographs on the Greek verbals, etc. It was hoped to make some fuller mention of Pro fessors J. J. White and C. J. Harris, who held the classical chairs at Washington and Lee University in General Lee's time. Professor Bocock says they "produced little or nothing, but were inspiring teachers and men of scholarship." But my efforts to get facts have failed. Addison Hogue, now of Washington and Lee Uni versity, has been recognized, ever since his early work at Hampden-Sidney College, as an excellent teacher — "a teacher of the same type as Peters," some one said of him. What he modestly says of his work now — "In a modest and conscientious way we try to give sound undergraduate instruction, good as far as it goes" — ^was true also of his University of Mississippi service. So conscientious has been his teaching all these years that he has found time for only one book — Irregular Verbs of Attic Prose (1889). Professor E. W. Fay, while at Washington and Lee, had already attracted considerable attention by his etymological studies. He continues, at the Uni versity of Texas, to give published proof from time to time of his acumen and of his devotion to pure scholarship. He is a constant contributor to various classical journals in the United States and England, on Latin and Sanskrit, as well as etymological sub jects. His colleague in the Greek chair at Austin, * Private letter from W. Gordon McCabe. 154 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Dr. W. J. Battle, is well fitted by training at home and abroad to further the cause of Greek by writing as well as teaching; but by accepting a deanship he has doubtless signed away most of his time to execu tive work. These two men hold chairs of which scholars have a right to expect much, for their predecessors have been such men as Humphreys, Sterrett and H. N. Fowler. "Walter Blair, of Hampden-Sidney College" (now retired), writes Professor Bocock, "was one of the most polished and scholarly teachers of the South. Like Peters and Price, he came back from his German university course to enter the Confed erate army. His book On the Pronunciation of Latin was, I think, a pioneer in this country. ' ' I cannot refrain from mentioning here two or three classical professors who were deservedly eminent as teachers, but left little or nothing in print. One of these was Prof. John Henry Neville, head of the department of ancient languages in the University of Kentucky, who died Sept. 28, 1908, at the age of eighty-one. He was, beyond question, an extraordinary teacher and a man of ripe culture. I have heard and read of his classroom method as described by enthusiastic pupils, and I recall at the moment at least five remarkable men, products of his teaching. I had a letter from him once, of the most remarkable and beautiful penmanship I have ever seen and long as a magazine article, and which, indeed, published as such, attracted wide attention and commendation. "His latinity was exquisite," said an old pupil, "and when called upon for a recommendation of a student he would, perhaps, write it off in the language of Livy." I know that is true, for I saw once such a testimonial of his in exquisite Latin and beautiful as the writing of a mediaeval monk on parchment. I have known two CLASSICAL STUDIES. 155 of his pupils who were masters of English styles very remarkable, but entirely different — James. Lane Allen, and Prof. W. B. Smith of Tulane Uni versity — ^who, I must believe, owe it above all to him. Another is a scholar of distinctly literary bent, who edits, translates and writes for the journals on Greek subjects. Prof. John Patterson, of Louisville. He made men, not books, and who will say he was not wise? Most books soon become antiquated; teachings implanted in a human soul live longer and with greater vitality. "As a teacher," writes Prof. W. B. Smith, "he was not surpassed by anyone I have ever known, and under other conditions he might have left behind him some enduring literary monument. ' ' Another great teacher is W. S. Wyman, professor of Latin in the University of Alabama (now re tired). Over fifty years professor in the same in stitution, he has been nearly all that time its chief figure, having acted several times as president and as often declined the tender of the office. He was wise in declining the office; most of the presidents are already forgotten, but "old Wyman" is one of the abiding traditions of the campus and the state. In Tennessee the highest order of classical work done, before the time of Humphreys at Vanderbilt, was, doubtless, that of F. D. Allen, who was for a few years professor in the University of Tennessee, whither he had come from Oberlin. But his reputa tion belongs mainly to Harvard. Since his day the classical tradition at the University of Tennessee has been worthily sustained in various hands — ^Alex ander, Jordan, Mellen, Shannon. Dr. M. W. Humphreys, first professor of Greek in Vanderbilt University, set the classical pace in that young institution. He was succeeded by the writer of this monograph, who, while there (1882-94), 156 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. edited two books {Thucydides III and VH), and published numerous philological papers. He was followed by the present incumbent. Dr. H. C. Tol- man, a Yale man, who is as well known for his ac quaintance with Sanskrit and old Persian as for Greek, and is the author of nine different volumes on Greek and Latin, Greek history, mythology, archaeology, Persian, etc., as well as numerous occa sional articles. Dr. J. H. Kirkland, who became professor of Latin in 1886, had already won an en viable reputation as scholar and teacher, and with his excellent edition of Horace's Satires and Epistles had given an earnest of his productive ca pacity, when he was drafted into the chancellorship. "I lament, as you do," writes Professor Fay, " Kirkland 's loss to productive Latin scholarship. His few articles and his Horace seem to represent some of the best Southern work in Latin. ' ' Univer sity presidencies these days allow no leisure for either teaching or writing classical books, and Dr. Kirkland has had to turn over his Latin chair to another. Dr. R. B. Steele, who is a very prolific con tributor to classical journals, chiefly on subjects in Latin syntax. A playmate of Dr. Kirkland 's from the town of Spartanburg, S. C, has spent all the years of his manhood in the neighboring University of the South at Sewanee. He succeeded Prof. Caskie Harrison in 1883, and ten years later Professor Trent wrote of him : "Professor Wiggins, when he took the chair of ancient languages just vacated by Prof. Caskie Harrison, was, perhaps, the youngest professor in the United States. His chair had long been the most important in the university; a natural result of church control and of the avowed following of Eng lish traditions. Under Professor Wiggins it has lost none of its prestige, although the growth of the CLASSICAL STUDIES. 157 university has brought other chairs into prominence. It is safe to say that there are few better teachers of the classics anywhere than Prof. Wiggins, and it is equally safe to say that no institution in the South turns out more well-equipped classical scholars than Sewanee." But soon after that was written Dr. Wiggins, too, was drafted into the chief executive office, that of vice-chancellor, and has had gradually to turn most of his teaching over to others. Tulane University, one of the best endowed and strongest institutions in the South, opened at New Orleans nearly at the same time with Vanderbilt at Nashville. Dr. Richard H. Jesse was the first pro fessor of Latin and was fast establishing Univer sity of Virginia traditions on the banks of the Mississippi, when he was called away to the presi dency of the University of Missouri. His successor, Professor Dillard, has lately been called to execu tive work elsewhere. But the classical work con tinues in competent hands. Prof. Walter Miller es pecially upholding the best traditions of both clas sical and archaeological erudition. One is tempted to pass over into Missouri and speak of classical and archaeological conditions at the State University, but that, perhaps, is Western territory. In the classical work of the University of Georgia the descendants of its sometime great president, Moses Waddel (see below), have been especially conspicuous. Of one of these Professor Bocock writes: "I fancy the most accomplished man who ever held the chair of ancient languages in the Uni- Tersity of Georgia was William H. Waddel (1860- 1878)." He was author of a Greek grammar. Con cerning Professor Bocock, the present incumbent of the Greek chair. Professor Bain writes: "Of the younger generation, and I am excluding, of course, 158 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Dr. Humphreys, of the University of Virginia, the best Greek scholar is unquestionably Professor Wil lis H. Bocock, of the University of Georgia. Mr. Bocock has published little in a classical way, though he has contributed much to various maga zines ; but he is a deep and accurate student, full of enthusiasm, and a most capable teacher. I have known him for years, and it has been my good for tune to have him enlighten me innumerable times, and I know that he has collected vast material in both Greek and Latin that contains many new points. I do not know of any man in the South who is his equal. You may, perhaps, recall that when Dr. Gildersleeve reviewed Fuchs' article on the 'Temporal Sentence of Limit,' Mr. Bocock sent in many examples which had either been omitted by Fuchs or which corrected him in his interpretation or conclusions. I have discussed with him hundreds of matters in Greek and have never failed to be en lightened by his thorough knowledge, accurate schol arship, breadth of vision, and thorough grasp of his subject. There has been no knotty point of syntax on which he has failed to throw some light. We have discussed together nearly every article in the Jour nal of Philology and many notes and questions of grammar, so I feel that I can speak personally and, hence, strongly of his work. He is now engaged in editing Pliny's Letters for the Gildersleeve-Lodge series. Though his specialty is Greek, and he has worked in that field for more than twenty years, yet, when he took this work up he brought to it the same methods, and by his fine scholarship, keenness of vision and accurate work has already corrected many details of historical sjmtax." Of Prof. Charles W. Bain, of the University of South Carolina, I am so fortunate as to be able to give an estimate by a scholar who knows him well. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 159 "There is," Professor Bocock says, "no better Latinist in the South, quod sciam, than Bain. Charles Wesley Bain, born 1864, one of ' McCabe 's boys,' University of Virginia, 1883-85, M.A.; Uni versity of the South, first classical master in Mc Cabe 's school, 1891-95; head master Sewanee gram mar school, 1895-98; professor of Ancient Lan guages University of South Carolina since 1898, contributor to the Nation, American Journal of Philology, article on 'Classical Literature' in En cyclopedia Americana, editor of Homer's Odyssey VL and VII., First Latin Book (Gildersleeve-Lodge series), Ovid (selections)." "Bain is one of the best men we have in the South now," writes Alexander. Of Bain's colleague Fay writes, "Greene, of South Carolina, is mentally vigorous. ' ' If space permitted it would be a pleasure to go into some detail about the conscientious scholarly work done in some of the smaller colleges, as, e. g., Davidson (North Carolina), Randolph-Macon (Vir ginia), Wofford (South Carolina), Georgetown (Kentucky). No less a pleasure would it be to tell of the work of some of the Southern scholars whom the South has given to Northern universities, notably. Professor Sterrett, M.A. of the University of Virginia, who, after taking his Ph.D. at Munich and making a name as an archaeologist at Athens and in Asia Minor, taught for a while at the Univer sity of Texas, then at Amherst, and now is head of the department of Greek at Cornell. He is the ed itor of Inscriptions of Sebaste, Assos, and Tralles (1885), author of accounts of his epigraphical jour neys, editor of Homer's Iliad. Except as to Dr. Gildersleeve, no claim has been made for the South to Johns Hopkins University, for that institution, though located at Baltimore, is national. 160 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Schools and Schoolmasters. In several of the older states good classical schools flourished in the colonial period long before the era of colleges. This was notably true of South Carolina, as shown by Edward McCrady, Jr., Colonial Education of South Carolina (United States Bureau of Education, 1889) ; of North Caro lina (see C. L. Smith in United States Bureau of Education, 1888), and of Virginia. Confining our attention to the Nineteenth century, especial men tion may be made of a great school ifi South Carolina. Moses Waddel (1770-1840) was president of the University of Georgia, 1819-29, but his name i^ chiefly connected with the deservedly famous acad emy which he founded at Willington* in Abbeville district (county), S. C. His father and mother had emigrated from County Down in Ireland, and were settled at the time of his birth in Rowan county, N. C. A cousin of his was the blind man who preached the sermon on the agony and death of Christ, described by William Wirt as rivalling the sublimity and grandeur of Massillon or Bourdaloue. Graduating from Hampden-Sidney College, Vir ginia, he taught for a time at Wrightsborough, Ga., but in 1804 opened the Willington Academy near his country seat in Abbeville county, S. C. Far from the noise and dissipation of town or city, and anxious to merit the praise of their great preceptor, the students, as a rule, worked as hard as health would permit. "Their life was simple and indus trious, and their food was Spartan in its plainness — corn-bread and bacon. Instead of using gas and student-lamps they pored over the lessons by the aid of pine torches. At the sound of the horn they re tired to bed, except a few adventurous spirits that * See C. Meriwether, United States Bureau of Education, 1889, p. 37£f. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 161 set out in quest of hen-roosts or to unhinge gates. They rose at dawn and resumed their studies." Thoroughness of work Dr. Waddel always insisted on, and the advanced nature of his instruction may be inferred from the fact that so many of his pupils entered the junior class in the different colleges, e. g., Patrick Noble (afterwards governor) at Princeton, John C. Calhoun and Judge Longstreet at Yale, George McDuffie at South Carolina College. He himself was reputed to know some of the Latin authors by heart, and "would hear the classes recite in Virgil with his eyes closed." The drones of the class would prepare one hundred to one hundred and fifty lines of Virgil for a single recitation, while the bright leaders would master one thousand. "The brilliant, ambitious boys would not be held back by the drudges; he would form new classes and push the best students on. * * * George Carey (afterwards member of Congress from Georgia) prepared a thousand lines of Virgil for a Monday's recitation when at Willington. The Virgil class was too large, and its members were of such unequal grades that the teacher announced that it would be divided on the basis of the work done by each one by the following Monday, and it was under this stimu lus that Carey did his work. George McDuffie ex celled this feat a year or so later with one thousand two hundred and twelve lines of Horace." He was a very hard student and is said "to have devoured his Latin grammar in three weeks." Hon. Armi- stead Burt says (in an unpublished eulogy of McDuffie), "Within a fortnight after he commenced Virgil, from Friday evening to Monday morning he prepared for recitation eleven hundred lines." "Men are still living," says C. Meriwether, "who speak with pride of their attendance at Willington, and their children cherish it as an honor to the Vol. 7—11. 162 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. family. George McDuffie, when a senator, and Thomas Farr Capers in after life revisited the place, and as they walked among the dilapidated houses and recalled their old teacher and his school, they were moved to tears. No other man in the South has so powerfully impressed himself on men who influenced the destiny of the country as this Willington master. He needs no monument, but lives in the great men whom he has trained. There went forth from this school 'one vice-president and many foreign and cabinet ministers; and senators, congressmen, governors, judges, presidents and pro fessors of colleges, eminent divines, barristers, jur ists, legislators, physicians, scholars, military and naval officers innumerable.' "* Virginia, more than any of the other older South- em states, had good classical schools in the colonial period. W. Gordon McCabe, in his University of Virginia Alumni address (1888), "Virginia Schools Before and After the Revolution," mentions the most important of these, and gives credit to the "Old Parsons, who, although they had never heard of logacedic rhythms, or the classification of the con ditional sentence, could read Homer and Demos thenes without a dictionary and quote Horace with an apt felicity, which seems to have gone out with the last century." But the really great classical period of the Virginia schools was coincident with the opening of the University of Virginia. "The number and character of the preparatory schools in Virginia," wrote Mr. Strode, of Kenmore Uni versity School, in 1885, "I have always thought to be due solely to the infiuence of the University of Virginia. Except under its shadow we could not * I count one vice-president, three members of the cabinet, four United States senators, two foreign ministers, ten members of Congress, six governors (several holding more than one of these offices). Among these were W. H. Crawford, of Geor gia and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. CLASSICAL STUDIES. 163 maintain the high standards which characterize what we call the University Schools." No better evidence could be adduced of the high character of the classical training given in the schools than the remark quoted by McCabe: "Gessner Harrison during his latter years here was wont to declare that pupils were coming to him from the leading prepara tory schools with a better knowledge of Latin than twenty years before had been carried away by his graduates. ' ' Among the Virginia schoolmasters of the Nine teenth century, F. W. Coleman was "the greatest teacher of his time." Bom in 1811, he entered the University of Virginia at twenty-one and was grad uated M.A. at twenty-four. He was the son and grandson of teachers, and went to the university to fit himself for better teaching. Joining his older brother, who had succeeded his father at Concord, within a year he became sole proprietor of that school, which he soon made famous. That was in 1835. Dr. Joynes, an old pupil of his, describes his impressions of Concord Academy in the late for ties.* "Concord Academy was a massive brick building surrounded by a few log-cabins, situated absolutely in the old fields — no inclosures — ^no flow ery walks — no attraction for the eye, such as I had been accustomed to in the academies I had attended in the North. Within all was rude and rough — the barest necessities of decent furniture — the table abundant, but coarsely served; the rooms devoid of all luxury or grace, no trace of feminine art, nor sound of woman's voice to relieve the first attacks of home-sickness — everything rough, severe, mas culine. "I looked and enquired after the 'Rules and Regu lations ' of the school. I found there were none. To * Letter to W. Gordon McCabe, see Virginia Schools, etc., p. 44ff. 164 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. my horror I felt deserted even by the eye of disci pline. It seemed to me the reign of lawlessness, with utter desolation and loneliness. But I soon found there reigned at Concord the one higher law : Be a man — that what I thought solitude and help lessness was the lesson of individuality — Be your self. As for discipline, there was none in the usual sense of the term. Be a man, be a gentleman, noth ing more. * * * "Obedience and truthfulness were the only vir tues recognized or inculcated at Concord : obedience absolute to Frederick Coleman — his will was law, was gospel, was Concord. There was not a boy, even of those who loved him most, who did not fear him absolutely. And truthfulness with courage. All else was forgiven but lying and cowardice. These were not forgiven, for they were impossible at Concord." "The boys studied," says McCabe, "when and where they chose, and the length of time given to a class varied from thirty minutes to three hours, ac cording to the judgment of the instructor. Boys were knocked up at all hours of the night, sometimes long after midnight, and summoned to the recitation room by Old Ben, the faithful negro janitor, who equally feared and worshipped his master. A sharp rap at the door and the familiar cry ' Sophocles, with your candles, young gentlemen,' would send the youngsters tumbling out of bed in the long winter nights, just as they had begun to dream of home or of certain bright eyes that had bewitched them in the *long vacation. ' " "Many and many a time," says Dr. Joynes, "each fellow with his tallow dip, have we read long past midnight, and never a sleepy eye while Old Fred expounded to us Antigone or Ajax." "Once the boys, playfully taking advantage of a mistake of the master, who inadvertently announced CLASSICAL STUDIES. 165 the wrong day for the next recitation, slipped off and went fishing. They reached the trysting-place two miles away and were just casting their lines, gleefully thinking they had outwitted Old Ben, when the familiar cry was heard, 'Ripides, young gen'l'- men. Mars Fred is waitin'.' " "Frederick Cole man's teaching," says Dr. Joynes, "what was it? Wherein its magic power? Why is it still famous after forty years, so that like Nestor [asto: TptT(iToiatv (Jvdaasi? Ah! I cannot tell you. I cannot an alyze or describe it. I only know that I have seen no such teaching since, and I have sat at the feet of Harrison and Courtenay and McGuffey at home, and of Haupt and Boeckh and Bopp abroad. It was just the immeasurable force of supreme intellect and will that entered into you and possessed you, until it seemed that every fibre of your brain obeyed his impulse. Like the ancient mariner, he held you with his glittering eye, and like him he had his will with you. * * * He held that the first book of Livy contained all Latinity, and that 'all the glory that was Greece' was to be found in the Hecuba of Euripides. These were his pieces de resistance, and he taught them as they were never taught before or since. From these as centres or starting points, his teachings of Latin and Greek proceeded. A copy of the Hecuba, for instance, as taught by Coleman, would be a literary curiosity. Every line, phrase, idiom, was made a centre of citation ranging far and wide over the plays (we used only the complete texts without 'notes' at Concord). 'Where does this occur elsewhere?' 'Where otherwise.' 'What is the difference?' 'What is the point thus differ entiated or illustrated?' 'Why?' — until the margin could hardly hold the references. * * * As a teacher he was the greatest of his age; there has been no other like him." 166 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. "His conversation," says another old pupil of his. Prof. Guy Carroll, "was a never-ending pleasure to his boys. Sometimes he would join a knot of them sitting in the shade on a summer evening, and enter with them into the discussion of any subject that happened to engage their attention at the moment. Presently the discussion would become a monologue. Parties at play in different parts of the grounds would drop their bats or their marbles and silently gather around. Before long it would become known from room to room that 'Old Fred is talking,' and the whole school would be collected about him, lis tening with such charmed intentness to his words that even the sound of the supper bell was regarded as an unwelcome intrusion. ' ' W. Gordon McCabe, the greatest and most widely known of the recent successors of the Colemans, was bom in Richmond, Aug. 4, 1841, and now resides there since his retirement in 1901. For an account of the discipline and instruction that obtained in his Petersburg University School in the year 1886, when it was at the acme of prosperity and efficiency, see my article in the Atlantic Monthly of December, 1885. I repeat now the estimate then expressed : "I know nothing better that the South can do in her schools than to take this school as a model. * * * The methods and thoroughness of this school, and of such schools, are worthy of imitation anywhere." As to McCabe 's scholarship, one of his "old boys," Professor Bain, of the University of South Carolina, writes (Dec. 2, 1908) : "One of those who have in fluenced my own life most is W. Gordon McCabe, formerly headmaster of the University School, Petersburg, Va., now living in Richmond, unques tionably one of the greatest classical scholars in the South or in the country in his day, and the most in spiring teacher I have ever known. I was a student CLASSICAL STUDIES. 167 under him four years and taught with him six years, so I feel that I knew him thoroughly. I was with him when the last edition of Gildersleeve 's Grammar was coming through the press, and I had the rare good fortune to discuss with him nearly every point of Latin syntax, and I can assure you he did much to make the present book what it is. I suppose next to Gildersleeve and Peters he has had more influence on classical scholarship than any man in the South. He is a thorough scholar, and I know he had more influence in shaping my career than any one else." Professor Gildersleeve speaks of him in the preface to the revised edition of his Latin grammar, as "a Latinist of exact and penetrating scholarship"; further as "a man of extensive and scholarly attain ments, the master of an easy and graceful style, an impressive and imposing speaker, accustomed to controlling and guiding young men, himself an en ergetic and ardent student." Professor Peters reckoned him "one of the most reliable, exact and accomplished Latinists in this country." Charlton T. Lewis, ranking him ' ' among the leading Latinists of America," says, "Second to no American in structor in his personal control over students and in the power to make the routine of the class a stim ulus to intellectual ambition, he is also eminent for scholarly accuracy and literary taste." Dr. McCosh, of Princeton, said, "Coit, of St. Paul's School, Pingry, of Elizabeth, and McCabe, of Virginia, are probably the best high school instructors on this side of the water." I mentioned in the Atlantic Monthly article above referred to other university schools in Virginia worthy to be compared with McCabe 's, namely, Hanover Academy, the Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Kenmore Academy, Pantops Academy, and might have added Hampton Academy, Brook- 168 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. land School, and Broun and Tebbs School. "But alas!" writes Mr. McCabe in a letter, Jan. 26, 1909, "owing to the hysteria about practical education and the public school education, that type of 'uni versity school' is fast disappearing and it is not likely that we shall see hereafter any considerable number of lads who can write Greek and Latin prose with correctness and flexibility. Eheu ! ' ' The school in Alabama most noteworthy for clas sical teaching, as well as otherwise, was that long conducted by Dr. Henry Tutwiler, one of the first M.A.'s of the University of Virginia. He gave up a college professorship in 1847 to open a private school, which was often called the "Rugby" of the South. The extraordinary success of the school — the number admitted was limited and applications were often filed a year in advance — ^was due, chiefly, to the character, common sense and learning of its founder. It flourished for thirty-five years under its founder, who died in 1884. Dr. David Caldwell was the most famous name in the early educational annals of North Carolina. The son of a Scotch-Irish farmer, he was bom in Lan caster county. Pa., in 1725, and graduated at Prince ton in 1761. "It was his practice to study at a table by the window with the sash raised until a late hour, then cross his arms on the table, lay his head on them, and sleep in that position till morning." He established a classical school in Guilford county about_ 1766 or 1767. "His log-cabin served North Carolina as an academy, a college and a theological seminary." "Dr. Caldwell, as a teacher, was prob ably more useful to the church than any one man in the United States." Such are some of the estimates given of his work. On the establishment of the University he was offered the presidency, but de clined on account of age. He died in 1824 at the age CLASSICAL STUDIES. 159 of ninety-nine, "the most illustrious name in the educational history of North Carolina," says C. L. Smith in a monograph of United States Bureau of Education. "Five of his scholars became govern ors of different states; many more members of Congress * * * and a much greater number became lawyers, judges, physicians, and ministers of the gospel." In North Carolina, as in Virginia, the most nota ble development of classical schools or academies was coincident with the opening of the state uni versity. In January, 1821, the North American Review speaks of the influence of the university, viz. : "In an ardent and increasing zeal for the establish ment of schools and academies for several years past, we do not believe North Carolina has been outdone by a single state. The academy at Raleigh was founded in 1804, previous to which there were only two institutions of the kind in the state. The number at present is nearly fifty, and is rapidly increasing." The greatest of all these North Carolina schools was the Bingham Academy, of which I wrote in the Atlantic Monthly, December, 1885, viz.: "The fa mous Bingham School in North Carolina was found ed in 1793 by Rev. William Bingham, grandfather of the present principal. He was followed by his son Wil liam J. Bingham, and he by his sons, successively, William and Robert. The school has seven teachers. Within the past five years twenty-two states of the Union and four foreign countries have been repre sented there, and attendance has increased from 103 in 1876 to 251 in 1884. It is and has been from the beginning, a private enterprise, depending solely on the brains and energy of the remarkable family that has been at its head since the foundation. The pride of the state, as well known in North Carolina as the 170 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. old university of that state, and better known abroad, it finds only a rival or two in the South out side of Virginia, and the name alone is anywhere in the South a sufficient guarantee for a thorough prep aration for college. ' ' It was recently transferred to Asheville, N. C, where it continues under the old head. Major Robert Bingham. Other classical schools maintained in North Carolina are the William Bing ham School, Mebane, N. C. ; The Horner School, Oak Ridge Institute, The Graham School. The most important educational influence in the history of Tennessee has undoubtedly been Vander bilt University, opened in 1875 at Nashville, Tenn. It has done for preparatory schools in Tennessee and the Southwest what was accomplished by the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina for secondary education in those states early in the last century, and it has done its work in this direction even better. "The credit for the happy change in the matter of preparatory train ing," I wrote in 1891, " is largely due to the ex ample and phenomenal success of the great Webb School, now at Bell Buckle, Tenn. The name of the writer of this paper has sometimes been creditably mentioned in connection with this movement. I have heard Mr. W. R. Webb,Sr., who established his school at CuUeoka in the early seventies, say that but for the opening of Vanderbilt University in 1875, when his first boys were just ready for college, he did not know what he should have done with them. The sending of these first well-trained young men to Vanderbilt was just as important for the inaugura tion of high standards there. The two institutions — the university and the school — ^have always worked hand in hand, and equal credit is due to both for the result. W. R. and J. M. Webb are brothers, graduates of the University of North Carolina, hav- CLASSICAL STUDIES. 171 ing their preparatory training from the Horner School in North Carolina. They are joint-princi pals. The older — a veteran of the war — is a man of fine executive talent, an excellent speaker, and an in spiring teacher ; a great personality ; the younger is the best school-teacher and one of the wisest men I have ever known. I used to say at Vanderbilt Uni versity, "My hardest task is keeping students up to such love of Greek as they bring with them from John Webb. ' ' The seniors in the school are taught by him alone in all the subjects — ^geometry, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Anabasis and Homer, ^neid and elementary German; and I have never known any combination of teachers in any school to teach these subjects so well. It was a great compliment to these brothers that the late Professor Seymour of Yale once planned to send his son to Tennessee just to be under the tuition of the Webbs. This school has en joyed phenomenal success for its whole history of forty years — "is every year crowded with students from all parts of the South, and sometimes rejects in one year applicants enough to fill another school." For years the limit of attendance has been fixed at two hundred, though generally a few more than this are admitted; and the school is always full, though since 1900 it has ceased advertising for pupils in any paper. The following schools that fit primarily for Van derbilt University and do about the same grade of work as the Webbs, are manned by old Webb pupils : Mooney School, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Branham & Hughes School, Spring Hill, Tenn. (now the largest preparatory school in the state) ; Peoples School, Franklin, Tenn.; Morgan School, Fayetteville, Tenn.; Massie School, Pulaski, Tenn.; Robbins School, Mckenzie, Tenn. ; Fitzgerald & Clark School, Trenton, Tenn.; Peoples & Tucker School, Spring- 172 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. field, Tenn. Besides these may be mentioned es pecially: Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, Tenn.; Wallace School, Nashville, Tenn.; Bowen School, Nashville, Tenn. ; Sewanee Grammar School, Sewanee, Tenn.; Columbia Military Institute, Columbia, Tenn. ; Castle Heights School. Good classical schools, on the model of the Webb School, tributary mainly to Vanderbilt University, flourish in other Southwestern states. One of the best of these is the Clary School at Fordyce, Ark. The following statements, taken from the Vander bilt Quarterly of October, 1908, are significant in this connection: "In the academic and engineering departments 168 new students have matriculated this fall. They have come from forty-one schools and twenty-seven institutions of higher learning. Sev enty-six have come from thirteen accredited schools. Fifty-five in all have entered by examination. Thirty-four have come by transfer from colleges and other institutions of higher grade. Practically every private school and a number of the public schools are prepared to give the full course in Greek. There is rarely a school, public or private, that is not ready to give a course in Latin through to the end of its curriculum." The commendation of Professor Hogue, of Washington and Lee University (letter Nov. 7, 1908), seems deserved: "Tennessee seems to be the Southern state in which Greek is most suc cessfully studied." Chaeles Foestee Smith, Professor of Greek and Classical Philology, University of Wisconsin. ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 173 CHAPTER VIII ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS IN THE ANTE-BELLUM SOUTH. jN the ante-bellum period and for a genera tion afterward the Northern people and those of many European countries were profoundly concerned with liberalizing their social and economic institutions and with strengthening their national governments. But in the South [the oppressive burden of the great race problem} forced the body politic into social con servatism, and at the same time the necessity of in suring exemption from Northern control through Congressional majorities obliged the Southern lead ers usually to antagonize nationalistic movements. The great world outside was radical in temper and nationalistic in policy; the South was conservative and stressed the rights of local units under the gen eral government. The world measured the South by its current standards and found the South wanting. The world was not concerned with what the South had to say in its own behalf; it refused to read Southern publications and judged the South un heard. While alien and unfriendly views of the Old South abound to-day in huge editions, the conserva tive writings of Southerners to the manner born are mostly fugitive and forgotten. Yet on the whole, the Southern product of economic and political es says was very large, and in the mass these writings constitute a varied and often excellent body of liter ature, highly valuable as interpreting and recording the life and opinions of the successive generations. 174 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. As a rule these writings deal not with strictly eco nomic or strictly political themes, but with complex public questions involving economics, politics and society simultaneously. They can be fitted into a plan of treatment only with difficulty and with some danger of slighting significant minor phases in some of the important essays discussed. Theoretical and General Economics. Economic theory is, of course, a development of quite recent growth. There was not much discussion of it in America in the ante-bellum period, and few Southerners, in particular, were closet philosophers enough to deal with its refinements. Some of the strongly edited newspapers, such as the Federal Union of Milledgeville, Ga., assigned columns regu larly to "Political Economy," discussing theoretical questions in them at times, but filling them more generally with concrete items relating to industry and commerce at home and abroad. Among the col lege professors who wrote on economic themes, Thomas Cooper, long the dominant personality in South Carolina College, schooled a whole genera tion of budding statesmen in thorough-going laissez- faire economic doctrine; Thomas Dew, at William and Mary, and George Tucker, at the University of Virginia, appear to have taught political economy, without special bias, along with various other sub jects in social and psychological fields, while J. D. B. DeBow, professor of political economy in the University of Louisiana at New Orleans, probably treated in his lectures more of concrete subjects of American industry and commerce than of unsub stantial theories. Each of these men might well have written general economic treatises, but Tucker and Cooper alone did so. After a preliminary series of vigorous essays on ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 175 banking, public debts, population, etc., written in 1813 and collected into a volume in 1822, Tucker published a scholarly general treatise on money and banking in 1839, and a statistical analysis of the United States census returns in 1843. Cooper's only formal economic writing was his Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy, 1826, which em bodied the current economic thought of the laissez- faire school. He, of course, advocated free trade and free banking. Incidentally, he estimated slave labor, under the existing conditions in the cotton belt, to be more expensive than free labor. Dew apparently published nothing noteworthy except his famous essay on slavery, 1833, while DeBow con tented himself with editing his Review and a cyclo pedic description of Southern and Western re sources in 1853-54, superintending the eighth United States census, writing a compendium of that census, 1854, and issuing occasional articles on the planta tion system and the project of reopening the foreign slave trade. Aside from the writings of these few professional economic philosophers, the South pro duced practically nothing in economic theory or in formal statistics. Robert Mills' Statistics of South Carolina, 1826, and George White's Statistics of Georgia, 1849, were mere historical and descriptive miscellanies. Agriculture. Few Southerners werejpen-and-inkjmen by native disposition. Most of them wrote for publication only under the pressure of public emergency. In easy times the reading class of Southerners would read the ancient and modem European classics, and the local newspapers would be concerned mainly with world politics. But in times of industrial crises thinking men would inquire for economic and social treatises throwing light upon American problems; 176 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the newspapers would teem with essays on the causes, character and remedies of the existing de pression, and the job-presses would issue occasional books and numerous pamphlets by local authors upon the issues of the day. In Southern agriculture each occurrence of a crisis brought forth substantial writings, whether soil surveys, descriptions of methods, or didactic es says. Near the end of the Eighteenth century, for example, occurred a severe depression in Carolina coast industry, and in 1802 appeared Drayton's View of South Carolina, describing methods and improvements in indigo, rice and cotton, and in 1808 Ramsay's History of South Carolina was pub lished, with a large appendix full of agricultural data from and for the sea-island district. During the War of 1812 tobacco was heavily depressed, and John Taylor, of Caroline, began to write his Arator essays for newspaper and pamphlet publication. In the late twenties the Eastern cotton belt felt the pinch of Western competition, and in 1828 was es tablished at Charleston the Southern Agriculturist, a strongly edited monthly which was well supported by subscribers and contributors for several years until the return of easy times. From 1839 to 1844 was the most severe economic depression in the his tory of the ante-bellum South. Cotton was prin cipally affected, but all other interests suffered in sympathy. The result was an abundant activity in economic writing, agriculture included. Edmund Ruffin, who had long been conspicuous as a soil and crop expert in Virginia, was employed by the com monwealth of South Carolina to make an agricul tural survey of the state, made his first descriptive report in 1843, and published occasional essays and addresses during the next decade upon soils and fertilizers. R. F. W. Allston, a sea-island planter, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 177 published in 1843 a memoir on rice planting (as well as a general descriptive essay in 1854 on Southern seacoast crops), and in 1844 Whitemarsh B. Sea- brook, president of the South Carolina Agricultural Society, afterward governor of the state, published a memoir upon the development of sea-island cotton culture. All of these publications were soon eclipsed in importance by the establishment of the famous and invaluable DeBow' s Review at New Orleans in 1846, which for many years afterward not only abounded in contributed articles and news items upon agricul tural and other economic subjects, but also reprinted most of the noteworthy fugitive addresses and es says which appeared in the field of Southern eco nomics during the period of the Review's publica tion. The Cotton Planters' Manual, compiled by J. A. Turner, of Georgia (1857), deserves mention as a collection of useful essays reprinted from vari ous sources on cotton culture, plant diseases, ma nures and commerce. On the sugar industry, noth ing was written in the United States of value com parable to several essays in the West Indies: Clement Caines, Letters on the Cultivation of the Otdheite Cane (London, 1801), the anonymous Practical Rules for the Management and Medical Treatment of Negro Slaves in the Sugar Colonies (London, 1803), and M. G. Lewis' Journal of a West India Proprietor (London, 1834). Mining, Manufactures, Transportation and Commerce. Upon the subject of mining, all Southern colonial and ante-bellum literature is negligible after the time of William Byrd's excellent description of the Virginia iron mines about 1732. West Virginia salt, Tennessee copper and Georgia gold were neglected by all but newspaper writers, while Carolina phos- Vol. 7—12. 178 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. phates, Alabama iron, Louisiana sulphur and Texas oil did not begin to be mined until after the ante bellum period. On manufactures, William Gregg published a se ries of articles in the Charleston Courier and col lected them in a pamphlet, 1845. He described the prior attempts at textile manufacturing in South Carolina, attributing their ill-success to the small- ness of the scale of operation and the failure of each mill to specialize in a single sort of cloth ; and he urged more extensive embarkation upon manu facturing and the avoidance of past errors. Aside from factory officials in their company reports and occasional descriptive, apologetical and hortatory writers in DeBow' s Review, Gregg, with his slender writing, seems to have been alone in the field. In the field of transportation there were innu merable essays and reports upon local problems, projects and progress in the improvement of transit facilities. Among them the treatise of Robert Mills on a project of public works in South Carolina, 1822, is notable for its elaboration and pretentiousness and for the complete impracticability of his plans. Robert Y. Hayne 's essays and reports on the Charleston and Cincinnati railroad project, 1837-39, were similarly chimerical, as were also some of the Alabama writings on plank roads about 1850. To offset the recklessness of such writings as these, an anonymous writer published a notable se ries of ultra-conservative essays in the Charleston Mercury and collected them in a pamphlet. The Railroad Mania, By Anti-Debt, Charleston, 1848. In the main the Southern essays in the field of trans portation were distinctly sane and well reasoned. Some of the official railroad reports are distinctly valuable as noting general economic developments in their territory year by year. Among such are the ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 179 reports of the Central of Georgia officers, which were collected and reprinted by the company in oc casional volumes. The genius of the Southern people ran very slightly to commerce, and their literature shows lit tle attention to any but a few of its spectacular features. The principal themes attracting the news paper and periodical writers (and there were prac tically no others dealing with commerce) were the importance of cotton in the world's commerce, the possibility of cornering the cotton supply or other wise manipulating its price in the interest of the producers, the project of establishing direct trade in steamship lines between Southern ports and Europe, and thereby attempting to reduce the Northern profits on Southern commerce, and the possibility of reopening the African slave trade. The cotton trade discussions were most conspicuous about 1836 to 1839, the study of foreign commercial relations was mainly in the fifties, and the debate over the slave trade was waged, between a few advo cates and numerous opponents, between 1855 and 1861. Labor. White wage-earning labor was probably not so extremely scarce in the ante-bellum South as most historians would have us believe, but trades-unions were few, and the labor problems apart from ne groes and slavery were not conspicuous enough to occasion the writing of many formal essays. Joseph Henry Lumpkin, later chief justice of Georgia, pub lished, in 1852, an essay. The Industrial Regenera tion of the South, which gives his interpretation of existing conditions, incidentally, in his somewhat 180 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Utopian argument in favor of manufactures. He says, in part : " It is objected that these manufacturing'establishments will become the hotbeds of crime * * * But I am by no means ready to concede that our poor, degraded, half-fed, half-clothed and ignorant population, without Sabbath schools, or any other kind of instruction, mental or moral, or without any just appreciation of character, — ^will be injured by giving them employment, which will bring them under the oversight of employers who will inspire them with self-respect by taking an inter est in their welfare." The pros and cons of employing free labor for plantation work were discussed in newspaper ar ticles, but probably the best journalistic item in this connection is that of the traveler-scientist, Charles Lyell, written in 1846 and published in his Second Visit to the United States (Vol. IL, p. 127) : "The sugar and cotton crop is easily lost if it is not taken in at once when it is ripe * * * Very lately a planter, five miles below New Orleans, having resolved to dispense with slave labor, hired one hundred Irish and German emigrants at very high wages. In the middle of the harvest they aU struck for double pay. No others were to be had, and it was impossible to purchase slaves in a few days. In that time he lost produce to the value of ten thousand dollars." Negroes. \\( ,„i The Southerners of the plantation districts were '^';',,.-' ' , as familiar with the typical plantation negroes as '¦^ they were with typical cows and horses. Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia (Query 14), characterized negroes as improvident, sensuous, in constant, well endowed in memory, poor in reason ing power and dull in imagination. Few, aside from Jefferson, thought it necessary to describe the ob vious. In the West Indies, where for many decades the volume of slave imports was enormous and where the fresh Africans were representative of all the diverse tribes from Senegal and Abyssinia to Good Hope and Madagascar, the planters were prompted to compare the tribal traits and thus to ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 181 publish discussions of negro characteristics in gen eral. But in the continental South, in the ante bellum period, the tribal stocks, Berber, Coromantee, Ebo, Congo, Kaffir, Hottentot, etc., had become blended into the relatively constant type of the American plantation negro. As a familiar item in the white man's environment, the negro was not to be described or interpreted, but was rather to be accepted and adjusted. Dr. J. C. Nott, of Mobile, at the middle of the Nineteenth century, like Mr. F. L. Hoffman at the end of it, was led to study and pub lish upon negro traits by reason of his interest in life insurance. Dr. S. A. Cartwright, of New Or leans, in the same period as Nott, was led into a general study of the negro by his interest in negro diseases. Practically all the other writers ap proached the subject of the negro as a aoroUary to the question of thefperpetuity of slavery.,; Dr. J. H. Van Evrie, of Washington, later of New York, voiced the dominant opinion when he wrote (1853) that the ills of the South were mainly attributable not to slavery, but to the negro. In 1861 Van Evrie further elaborated his unflattering opinion of the negro in his book, Negroes and Slavery, which he reprinted in 1867 with thej;itle. White Supremacy and Negro Subordination. 1 Van Evrie, as usual with controversialists, falls into the error of proving too much. ~\ In the case of anti-slavery writers, whether North ern or Southern, it required the abolition of slavery to reveal the negro as a concrete phenomenon. H. R. Helper was the most extreme example of this. His Impending Crisis (1857) denounced the institu tion of slavery with the greatest vigor as the cause of all the Southern ills, but his Nojoque (1867) was devoted to a still more absurdly extreme denuncia tion of the negro as a worthless encumbrance and 182 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. a curse. It is curious that extremely little was pub lished upon the mulatto element, except a few essays upon the orthodox but indefensible theme that by reason of their shortness of life, their infertility and their moral degeneracy, the mixed breed formed a negligible though vicious fraction of the population. Slavery. The economic and social aspects of slavery fur nished a bulk of essays only equalled in the South by that upon the political bearings of the same in stitution of domestic servitude. In the colonial period the discussion was abundant, sane, and matter-of-fact, so far as may be judged from indi rect evidence, but little of it went into print. In the period of the Revolution the discussion was so hys terical in tone that it resulted at the South more in reaction than in liberalism. The great ante-bellum debate on the subject brought forth an extreme variety of essays, both as to scope and tone, but the general inclination of the writers, with the notable exception of Helper, was to confront conditions, not theories. Before 1833 the discussion in the South tended to be a humdrum rehashing of time-honored views, relieved by an oc casional reflection of the ideas of the European economists. James Raymond wrote an essay on the Comparative Cost of Free and Slave Labor in Agri culture in 1827, which was awarded a prize by the Frederick County, Maryland, Agricultural Society. His argument follows the line of Adam Hodgson's reply to J. B. Say's discarded early views: the farmer needs an elastic supply of labor, and hireling labor is suited for this while slave labor is not; slaves are lazy, slipshod, wasteful, as contrasted with the carefulness, efficiency and frugality of free men. Raymond, of course, like the typical abolition- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 183 ist, divorced the slavery issue from the negro issue by ignoring the question of what would become of the great mass of Southern negroes when freed. Raymond also ignored the fact that in the principal Southern industries, under the plantation system, regularity was more to be desired than elasticity in the labor supply, and that slavery secured the de sired constancy in the number of laborers available. The publication of Professor Dew's famous essay in 1833, prompted by the debate upon projects for abolition in the Virginia legislature in 1831-32, demonstrated that the slavery question was essen tially a phase of the great negro question. After censuring the recklessness of the Virginia debate, and showing that slavery had been a highly service able institution in furthering human progress in many countries and in many centuries. Dew analyzes the American situation and the proposals for its betterment. He condemns the several plans, vary ing in detail, for the emancipation and deportation of the negroes on the grounds of the excessive cost of the process, the threatened paralysis of planta tion industry, and the inability of the negroes to maintain their own welfare if deported to Africa. He condemns still more strongly all plans for aboli tion which do not include provision for deportation, pointing out the social and industrial dangers of freeing an irresponsible population, and pointing to the record of the Northern free negroes and to the chaotic state of affairs in Hayti as warnings. After Dew's essay no writer could secure counte nance in the South for any anti-slavery plans unless he could show some means of readjusting the negro population in a way not endangering the security of the whites or threatening the general welfare. In close harmony with Dew's argument, essays were written in the thirties and forties by Chancel- 184 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lor William Harper and Gov. J. H. Hammond, both of South Carolina, which were reprinted in 1852 along with Dew's essay and a slender one by W. G. Simms, in a volume entitled the Pro-Slavery Argu ment. Harper, following Dew's theme in general, lays main stress upon the civilizing and tranquiUz ing effects of slavery. Hammond's essay, written in the form of a reply to Thomas Clarkson's attacks upon slavery, is an exceptionally strong apology for the institution. He concedes that slave labor is ex pensive, by reason of the slave's first cost and the expense of feeding, clothing and sheltering him and his family in infancy, sickness and old age, in bad seasons as well as good ; and he prophesies that any great increase in the density of population will cause the abandonment of slavery by making free labor available and cheaper. Meanwhile, in view of the sparseness of the Southern population and the unfitness of the negroes for the stress of com petition, he deprecates any radical readjustments and resents extraneous interference. Numerous other Southern essayists clamored for public attention, of whom only the more significant can here be noted. John Fletcher, of Louisiana, in 1851 issued a bulimy primer to prove the goodness of slavery, in easy lessons and with main reference to Holy Writ. George S. Sawyer, also of Louisiana, gave an elaborate eulogy of slavery upon historical and ethical grounds in his Southern Institutes (1859). Henry Hughes, in pamphlets of 1858-59, tried to bolster up slavery by the euphemistic device of changing its name to warranteeism, and thereby indicating that its purpose was to maintain industrial order rather than to exploit the laboring class ; but Hughes could not get an audience even in the South for his ineffective plea. Daniel Christy, of Cincin nati, entitling his book Cotton is King (1855), mag- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. IS nified the economic efficiency and vital importance o slavery as a divinely established institution. Thoug Christy may not have been a Southerner, his boo was adopted by the Southern (ultramontanists^ a their own. Professor A. T. Bledsoe, of the Univei sity of Virginia, in his book An Essay on Libert and Slavery (1856), endeavored to refute seventee specific fallacies of the abolitionists, and to vindi cate slavery and all its works, including the fugitiv slave law. In 1860 E. N. Elliott, "Presidec of Planters' College, Mississippi," bought the ar thors' rights to Christy's and Bledsoe's books, S6 cured new scriptural arguments for slavery fror Dr. Stringfellow, of Virginia, and Dr. Hoge, of Ne-^ Jersey, and an ethnological essay from Dr. Carl Wright, of New Orleans, added to these Hammond' and Harper's already standard essays, and the tes of the Dred-Scott decision by the United State Supreme Court, printed the whole in one bulky sul scription volume. Cotton is King and Pro-Slaver Arguments (1860), and sold it in great numbers t the planters and townsmen on the eve of the wai The book, on the whole, compares very unfavorabl with the more modest but substantial Pro-Slaver Argument of 1852. More notable as a contribution to thought are th two books by George Fitzhugh, of Virginia, with th curious titles : Sociology for the South, or the Failut of Free Society (1854), and Cannibals All, or Slave Without Masters (1857). Declaring himself an ou right socialist, Fitzhugh denounces the whole moc em system of wage-labor, and contends that laboi ers on hire are subject to more severe exploitatio than laborers in bondage. He advocates benevoleu despotism on general principles, and particularl where applied to a class so little capable of selJ protection as the negroes in America. He holds u 186 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the Southern plantation system for the admiration of all socialists, communists, or other paternalists. Fitzhugh, however, injures the effect of his books by his own loquacity. He adds chapters at random championing the South against the North in every possible connection, and thereby lets it seem, whether justly or not, that he is a socialist only for the sake of the argument. As an assault upon the general position held by the whole group of writers above treated, Hinton R. Helper, of North Carolina, issued his startling book. The Impending Crisis of the South (1857). He points out the relative economic stagnation in the South, asserts that slavery is its sole cause, and de nounces the slave-holding class as a cruel and wicked oligarchy conspiring for the oppression of the ne groes and non-slave-holding whites alike. Helper is a past master in the art of leaping at conclusions and concealing the feat by outbursts of perfervid rhetoric. Helper was the spokesman of a group of radical Southern non-slaveholders, but he secured relatively little Southern endorsement on the whole because he failed to meet adequately the vital prob lem of what to do with the negro population in the event of the abolition of slavery. But the North bought fifty thousand copies in three years, and at the North, where Helper's Nojoque has always been unknown, his Impending Crisis is stUl considered by thousands to be the soundest of interpretations. Daniel R. Goodloe, of North Carolina, was a much more substantial though less glittering opponent of slavery. In his pamphlet of 1846, Inquiry Into the Causes Which Have Retarded the Accumulation of Wealth and Increase of Population in the Southern States, he presented most of the data which Helper used ten years later, along with some interpreta tions which were too deep for Helper to grasp. To ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 187 the time-honored criticism that slavery hampered industrial progress by stigmatizing labor, Goodloe added a thought which he had worked out that a still more important phase of the burdensome char acter of slavery lay in its devoting a huge volume of capital to the purchase and control of laborers. He showed that by buying laborers instead of hiring them the South had long been sinking money and depriving itself of resources which might have been used to great advantage in the development of large- scale manufacturing and commerce. The final ante-bellum word upon the burdensome- ness of slavery and its actual and prospective deca dence was written by George M. Weston, who seems to have come from Maine and lived mostly in Wash ington, and at Washington to have gotten into sym pathetic touch with the clearest thinkers on slavery, and also to have read well a wide variety of perti nent literature. In his book, The Progress of Slavery in the United States (1857), he shows the relatively stagnant condition of the slave-holding communities, discussing the reasons therefor, he points out the encroaching of the free-labor system within the border of the slave-holding section, prophesying a still further restriction by econoinic process of the area and importance of slave-holding industry, he demonstrates that the then current agi tation for the congressional increase of slave-holding territory was purely political in character and of fered no economic advantage to the captains of in dustry in the active plantation districts, and he fore tells that the decadence and disappearance of slavery will! inure to the benefit instead of the injury of the South. To the careful student of Southern history it may well appear that Weston's little- known book was more representative of the views of well-informed and thoughtful Southerners than 188 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. were the manifestoes of the politicians. In those years of excited controversy just preceding the war, public opinion in the South, of course, opposed any revision of opinions in the face of the enemy. Pub lic expressions of doubts as to the perfect efficiency and goodness of the slavery system were discour- tiaged at the time. But there is little doubt that many substantial Southerners held many of the views which Hammond, Goodloe and Weston expressed. Among the evidences of this may be cited the es says of representative keen Southern students of the following generation, who it is most reasonable to suppose expressed much of what had existed, even though the ideas may have been latent, in the minds of thoughtful men in the ante-bellum years. Among the essays in point may be mentioned : W. L. Tren- holm. The Southern States, Their Social and In dustrial History, Conditions and Needs, published in the Transactions of the American Social Science Association for September, 1877, and J. C. Reed, The Old and New South (1876), reprinted in the Appendix; to the same author's The Brother's War (1905). Social Surveys. As a general treatise upon social types, D. R. Hundley's Social Relations in Our Southern States (1860) stands alone among the productions of Southern writers. Born in the South, the author says his education "was chiefly acquired at South- em institutions of learning, in the states of Ala bama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia," and was completed by a course in law at Harvard. His col legiate migrations would indicate a waywardness of disposition somewhat characteristic of well-to-do Southern youth in the period, and his waywardness crops out at many places where flippant digressions and gibes at the North mar the character of his ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 1 book. Nevertheless, Hundley was widely travele closely observant, keen in analysis and facile : characterization, and his book is valuable accon ingly. His chapters on the Southern gentlema: the Southern middle class, the Southern yeoma the poor-white and the cotton snob, as he calls tl nouveau riche of the South, are particularly usef contributions. He gives good fragmentary dat also, upon student dissipation, upon slave trade: and upon negro conditions generally, including notice of the social distinctions which prevaih among the slaves. William Gilmore Simms, in his Southward E (1854), gives informal sketches of society in Vi ginia and the Carolinas, from the point of view ( one who was at the same time a middle-class Sou' Carolinian and a citizen of the world. Joseph Bal win's Flush Times of Alabama (1853), a sen humorous work, is the chief writing upon society : the Southwest. Political Essays; Theoretical. Southern writings upon the abstract theory t government were as scarce as we have seen those iave been in theoretical economics. Practically £ state papers are negligible as essays in politic theory, including Jefferson's Declaration of Ind pendence and Mason's Virginia Bill of Rights, fi each of these was merely a brilliantly phrased s of ideas borrowed from current European philo ophy, and applied concretely to interpret and justi: the American problems and policy of the momer The writings of Francis Lieber, notable as they ar ought hardly to be claimed as of Southern produ tion, for although Lieber was a professor in Soui Carolina College for many years and wrote all ( his principal books there, he never ceased to be i 190 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. alien in the Southern country. With his mind al ways dominated by German idealistic devotion to liberty and revolution, he could feel nothing but repugnance at the conditions in the midst of which he sojourned and at the philosophy of the people who, against his preference, were his neighbors. Lieber 's books would indicate that he never con fronted any of the distinctive Southern problems of concrete racial adjustments. There remain for men tion here only St. George Tucker and John C. Cal houn, each of whom had the United States constitu tion conspicuously in mind when writing upon government in general, and each of whom was a full- fledged product and a spokesman of the Southern community. Tucker's essay, published as an ap pendix to his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), championed the Eighteenth century doc trine of inherent rights and the social compact, and applied it elaborately in interpreting the Federal system of the United States. By correlating the position of the states in the Federal compact with the position of individuals in the theoretical social compact, he, of course, provided a basis for reason ing out the supremacy of the states and the subordi nate character of the central government. He proceeded to state expressly as an inevitable deduc tion from his general scheme of political philosophy, that the several states had an indefeasible right of seceding from any Federation or Union which they had entered or might enter. Calhoun organized his formal writing in political philosophy into two treatises written shortly before his death. Of these, the Disquisition on Govern ment (1851), as Professor W. A. Dunning has well said, "is in some respects the most original and the most profound political essay in American liter ature. It is by no means a complete philosophy of ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 191 the state, nor is its relation to the concrete issues of the day much disguised ; but it penetrates to the very roots of all political and social activity, and presents, if it does not satisfactorily solve, the ulti mate intellectual problems in this phase of human existence." In bald outline the thread of the essay is as follows: Society is necessary to man, and government is necessary to society; but govern ments tend to infringe upon the just liberties and rights of individuals, and popular governments are no less prone toward this oppression than are monarchies, for the reason that popular majorities are prone to consider their own interests as the only ones which the government ought to promote, and prone accordingly to ignore and override the in terests and rights of minorities. The suffrage franchise alone will not safeguard the individual against oppression. Just as governments are in stituted to secure the weak against the strong, con stitutions are established in large part to restrain the governments when controlled by strong interests from overriding minority rights. To limit the gov ernment properly in this regard without unduly weakening it is a most delicate and difficult problem, and one which the framers of the American Federal constitution did not fully solve. This is the pro found problem as seen by Calhoun. His prescrip tion of a remedy is less strong than his diagnosis of the trouble. He proposes a system of concurrent majorities by which each great interest in the coun try should be put into control of one branch of the legislative power of the government, and thereby be given a veto power upon measures proposed by each other great interest. Calhoun's plan is not fully adequate for the solution of the problem, but neither is any other plan ever yet devised by any philos opher or any nation. 2 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Constitutional Construction. Whenever in Federal politics of the ante-bellum ;riod a majority in Congress overrode the opposi- 3n, or was about to override it, upon an important sue, it was a fairly constant practice for the )okesman of the minority to appeal to the consti- :tion and declare the programme of the majority be an exercise by the Government of unwar- nted powers. The majority, of course, could often de rough-shod and had little need of resorting to imphlets and treatises to defend its constitutional )sition. Quires were written in championship of ¦oad construction, but reams for strict construc- 3n; and it happened that most of strict construc- an writers were men of the South. Madison's ¦tides in the Federalist may be dismissed as being jvoted to explanation and eulogy rather than to le construction of the constitution. Madison soon lacted from his nationalistic position and wrote the Lrginia Resolutions (1798), which, with Jefferson's entucky Resolutions, adopted in minority remon- rance against the Alien and Sedition acts of Con- ¦ess, served for many years as the official embodi- ent of constitutional construction for the state- ghts school. Shortly afterward, in 1803, John arshall began his series of vigorous nationalistic jcisions which averaged more than one per year ir the next thirty years, accompanying the deci- ons of his court in most of these cases with ful- inations from his own pen to preach the doctrines ' broad construction. Henry Clay, who, aside from ''ebster, was the principal other spokesman in the nited States for broad construction, contributed ) arguments of note upon constitutional topics, but •nfined himself largely to arguments on the 'ounds of expediency, making special use of the 'gumentum ad hominem. The several steps taken ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 193 by Marshall and Clay gave the chief occasions for the publication of strict construction arguments by the opposing school. The principal essayists who were spurred immediately by Marshall were the Virginians, Spencer Roane and John Taylor, of Caroline. Roane, who as chief justice of Virginia had the chagrin of seeing some of his own state- rights decisions reversed by Marshall's court on appeal, resorted to the public press in remonstrance. His principal series of articles was printed in the Richmond Inquirer in May-August, 1821, and col lected in a pamphlet entitled The Letters of Alger non Sidney. Taylor issued a succession of polemical books : Inquiry Into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1813), expressing his disrelish of the consolidation tendencies of the time; Construction Construed (1820), denouncing the McCulloch vs. Maryland decision and asserting the sovereignty of the states; Tyranny Unmasked (1822), denying the power of the Federal Supreme Court to assign limits to the spheres of state and Federal authority, and advocating a state veto for emergency use in curbing Federal encroachment, and Neiv Views of the Constitution (1823), which reiterated his former contention and stressed the value of the states as champions of sectional inter ests against injury by hostile congressional ma jorities. Clay's campaign for his "American System" drew fire mainly from the South Carolinians. In 1827 Robert J. TurnbuU, under the pseudonym of Brutus, published a series of thirty-three articles in the Charleston Mercury, and promptly issued them in a pamphlet entitled The Crisis: Or Essays on the Usurpation of the Federal Government, which he dedicated "to the people of the 'Plantation States' as a testimony of respect, for their rights Vol. 7—13. 194 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of sovereignty." Tumbull vehemently urged the people of the South to face the facts, to realize that the North was beginning to use its control of Con gress for Southern oppression by protective tariffs and otherwise; and he proposed as a remedy that South Carolina should promptly interpose her own sovereignty and safeguard Southern interests by vetoing such congressional acts as she should decide to be based upon Federal usurpations and intended for Northern advantage at the cost of Southern op pression. McDuffie and Hayne promptly assumed the leadership of the state-sovereignty-and-South- ern-rights cause in Congress and many other promi nent South Carolinians fell in line, including the editors R. B. Rhett and J. H. Hammond, and in cluding most conspicuously John C. Calhoun, who drafted nearly all the state papers of South Caro lina during the nullification episode, and who, in addition, issued powerful memorials upon the issues of the day over his own signature. These writings are too prominently a part of American history to require any detailed discussion here. The final issue prompting state sovereignty ex pressions was that of negro slavery. The principal work in this group was Calhoun's Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States (1851), which supplements his Disquisition on Gov ernment, already outlined. This Discourse follows the theme of his more general Disquisition, applying its contentions more specifically to the American Federal problem; it champions concurrent major ities again, champions the historical doctrine of state sovereignty and defends, in somewhat subdued phrase, his former pet plan of nullification. The Discourse and the Disquisition were Calhoun's po litical testament; the great obituary of the state sovereignty and secession movement was Alexander ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL iJSSAYS. 195 H. Stephens' Constitutional View of the War be tween the States, which, as a post-bellum work, falls beyond our present scope. Party Politics. It was the custom of but a few leaders to address their constituents for party purposes through es says instead of from the hustings. One of these was Robert Goodloe Harper, who, upon his retirement from Congress in 1801, addressed to his South Caro lina constituents a eulogistic but sane and vigorous memoir upon the constructive work of his party: A Letter Containing a Short View of the Political Principles of the Federalists, and of the Situation in Which They Found and Left the Government. Another was Edward Livingston, who, when asking for reelection to Congress in 1825, issued an Address to the Electors of the Second District of Louisiana, which is notable for his attempt to reconcile the desire of the sugar planters for protection to their own industry with the disrelish of the cotton plant ers for the policy of protection in general, by the de vice of calling the duty on sugar a revenue item and not a protective item in the tariff schedules. Various other candidates, of course, issued electioneering pamphlets, practically all of which are negligible as essays. On a plan combining an historical sketch with political propaganda were several writings such as Thomas Cooper's Consolidation: An Ac count of Parties in the United States, from the Con vention of 1787 to the Present Period (1824), writ ten, of course, with a state-rights purpose; Henry A. Wise's Seven Decades of the Union, eulogizing John Tyler and the policy of the state-rights Whigs, and such biographies as J. F. H. Claiborne's Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman (1860), which contains secession propaganda on the au- 196 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. thor's own account along with the biography of Quitman. Sectionalism. Instead of making a catalogue of the many essays which deal with petty sectionalism within the sev eral states and with grand sectionalism between the North and the South, we will conclude our view of economic and political writings by presenting the Iheme of William H. Trescott's The Position and 'Course of the South (1850), as an embodiment of /the soundest realization of the sectional conditions I and prospects of the Southern section in the closing L^ecade of the ante-bellum period. The author, a leading, experienced, conservative citizen of South Carolina, states in his preface, dated Oct. 12, 1850, that his purpose is to unify the widely separated parts of the South. He says his views are not new, but they are characteristically Southern: "We are beginning to think for ourselves, the first step to ward acting for ourselves." The essay begins with an analysis of industrial contrasts. He says that in the slavery system the relation of capital and labor is moral — labor is a duty, in the wage-earning system the relation is legal — the execution of con tract. The contract system, he says, promotes con stant jealousy and friction between capital and labor, while the slavery system secures peace by I subordinating labor to capital. The political ma- I jority of the North represents labor; that of the ¦ South, capital; the contrast is violent. Free labor hates slave labor, and will overturn the system if it can. The two sections with many contrasting and conflicting characteristics are combined under the United States constitution, but they are essentially irreconcilable. Even in foreign relations the North \ is jealous of foreign powers for commercial and industrial reasons, while Southern industry is not ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 197 competitive with, but complementary to European industry and commerce, and the South, if a nation by itself, would be upon most cordial terms with foreign powers. "The United States government under the control of Northern majorities must re flect Northern sentiment, sustain Northern interests, impersonate Northern power. Even if it be con ceded that the South has no present grievance to complain of, it is the part of wisdom to consider the strength and relations of the sections, and face the question, what is the position of the South? In case our rights should be attacked, where is our constitu tional protection? The answer is obvious. If the expression of outraged feeling throughout our Southern land be anything but the wild ravings of wicked faction, it is time for the South to act firmly, promptly and forever. But one course is open to her honor, and that is secession and the formation of an independent confederacy. There are many men grown old in the Union who would feel an hon est and pardonable regret at the thought of its dissolution. They have prided themselves on the success of the great American experiment of polit ical self-government, and feel that the dissolution of the Union would proclaim a mortifying failure. Not so. The vital principle of political liberty is representative government, and when Federal ar rangements are discarded, that lives in original vigor. Who does not consider the greatest triumph of the British constitution the facility and vigor with which, under slight modifications, it developed into the great republican government under which we have accomplished our national progress. And so it will be with the United States constitution. The experiment of our fathers will receive its high est illustration, and a continent of great republics, equal, independent and allied, will demonstrate to 198 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the world the capabilities of republican constitu tional government. We believe that Southern in terests demand an independent government. We believe that the time has now come when this can be established temperately, wisely, strongly. But in effecting this separation we would not disown our- indebtedness, our gratitude to the past. The Union has spread Christianity, fertilized a wilderness, en riched the world's commerce- wonderfully, spread Anglo-Saxon civilization. (^'It has given to the world sublime names, which the world will not wil- ! lingly let die — heroic actions which will light the eyes of a far-coming enthusiasm. It has achieved its destiny. Let us achieve ours." Bibliography. — Acton, Lord: The Civil War in America (1866, re printed as Chap. IV. of his Historical Essays and Studies, London, 1907) ; Allston, R. F. W.: Memoir of the Introduction and Planting of Rice in South Carolina (Charleston, 1843), and Sea-Coast Crops of the South (1854, reprinted in DeBow' s Review, XVI., 589-615); Baldwin, Jos. G.: The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi, A Series of Sketches (New York, 1853); Calhoun, J. C: Works (Charleston, 1851, New York, 1853-5); Cooper, Thos.: Consolidation: An Account of Parties in the United States, from the Convention of 1787 to the Present Period (published anonymously, Columbia, 1824), and Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy (Columbia, 1826); DeBow, J. D. B.: The Industrial Resources, etc., of the Southern and Western States (New Orleans, 1853-4); Dunning, W. A.: American Political Philosophy (in the Yale Reveiw, August, 1895); El- Lott, E. N.: Cotton Is King and Pro-Slavery Arguments Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright on This Important Subject (Augusta, 1860); Fitzhugh, Geo.: Cannibals AU, or Slaves Without Masters (Richmond, 1857), and Soci ology for the South, or The Failure of Free Society (Richmond, 1854) ; Fletcher, John: Studies on Slavery in Easy Lessons (Natchez, 1852); Goodloe, D. R.: Inquiry into the Causes which have Retarded the Accumu lation of Wealth and Increase of Population in the Southern States (Wash ington, 1846). (This essay is said by S. B. Weeks to have been written in 184i; it was published first in the New York American, 1844, and in several places thereafter); Gregg, Wm.: Essays on Domestic Industry, or an Inquiry into the Expediency of Establishing Cotton Manufactures in South Carolina (Charleston, 1845); Harper, Robert Goodloe: Select Works (Baltimore, 1814); [Harrison, Jesse Burton]: Review of the Slave Question, Extracted from the American Quarterly Review, December, 1832, Showing That Slavery is a Hindrance to Prosperity, by a Virginian (Rich mond, 1833); Helper, H. R.: The Impending Crisis of the South: How to ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ESSAYS. 199 Meet It (New York, 1857), and Nojoque, A Question for a Continent (New York, 1867); Houston, D. F.: A Critical Study of Nullification in South Carolina (New York, 1896); Hughes, Henry: State Liberties: The Right to African Contract Labor (Port Gibson, Miss., 1858); Hundley, D. R.: Social Relations in Our Southern States (New York, 1860); Ingle, Edward, Southern Sidelights (New York, 1896); Merriam, C. E.: The Political Theory of Callwun (in the American Journal of Sociology, VII., 577-594) ; Nott, Josiah, C: Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian and Negro Races (Mobile, 1844); Phillips, U. B.: The Slave Labor Prob lem in the Charleston District (in the Political Science Quarterly, XXII., 416-439); The Pro-Slavery Argument, as maintained by the Most Dis tinguished Writers of the Southern States, Containing the Several Essays on the Subject, of Chancellor Harper, Governor Hammond, Dr. Simms and Professor Dew (Charleston, 1852); Ruffin, Edmund: An Address on the Opposite Results of Exhausting and Fertilizing Systems of Agriculture (Charleston, 1853), Calcareous Manures (2d ed., 1835) and Report of the Commencement and Progress of the Agricultural Survey of South Carolina for 1843 (Columbia, 1843); Sawyer, Geo. S.: Sovthem Institutes (Phil adelphia, 1858); Seabrook, Whitemarsh B.: A Memoir on the Origin, Cultivation and Uses of Cotton (Charleston, 1844); Simms, W. G.: South ward Ho! A Spell of Sunshine (New York, 1854); Taylor, John, of Caro line: Arator, Being a Series of Agricultural Essays, Practical and Political, by a citizen of Virginia (anonymously published) (Georgetown, D. C, 1813), Construction Construed (1822), Inquiry Info the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (Fredericksburg, 1814), New Views of the Constitution (1823) and Tyranny Unmasked (Washington, 1822); Trescott, W. H. : The Position and Course of the South (Charleston, 1850); Tucker, George: Essays on Various Subjects of Taste, Morals and National Policy, by a citizen of Virginia (published anonymously) (Georgetown, D. C, 1822), and The Theory of Money and Banks Inves tigated (Boston, 1839); Tucker, St. George: Dissertation on Slavery, With a Proposal for Its Gradual Abolition in Virginia (Philadelphia, 1796, re printed New York, 1861); Weeks, Stephen B.: Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South (in the Southern History Association Publications, II., 87- 130); Weston, George M.: The Progress of Slavery in the United States (Washington, 1857). Uleich B. Phillips, Professor of History, Tulane University. 200 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE IX. THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO MATH EMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. N entering upon his task, the writer is some what appalled by the fact that, in his opin ion, America has produced only one really great mathematician and that he lived many miles north of the Potomac Eiver. It need hardly be said that he refers to Benjamin Peirce of Harvard. Simon Newcomb and G. W. Hill have labored mainly on the very banks of the Potomac, and these might rank next to Benjamin Peirce, but they should be classed as astronomers rather than mathematicians. In astronomy, America has been unusually fortunate, having produced a number of astronomers that have won a world-wide reputation. But though appalled, the writer is not altogether discouraged, and he hopes to bring out facts that will show that, considering drawbacks incident to the War of Secession the South has done her share — a share proportionate to her white population. Harvard College, the first American college, was founded in 1636; William and Mary, the second in point of time, in 1688, and thirteen years later, in 1701, Yale began her career. Viewed from the year 1908, the mathematics taught in those early days seems very elementary, but then we must note the fact that when Harvard was beginning her career, it was only the chosen few abroad that possessed any special mathematical knowledge, and at Cambridge in England there was little mathematics taught. Before William and Mary was founded, the great Newton had naturally caused an immense awaken- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 201 ing of mathematical interest at old Cambridge. Were we to follow the rise and growth of American colleges, we would see that love of mathematics for mathematics' sake was slow in coming. The brilliant success of the French and Swiss mathemati cians during the last of the Eiehteenth century and the beginning of the Nineteenth century was an ob vious incentive to the study of mathematics in Amer ica, and accordingly there was what has been called an influx of French mathematics into America, which came partly direct from France and partly by way of England, which had been awakened through the scientific spirit of France. Pure English influence, which antedated the French, may be traced in some of the older colleges; but we are interested mainly in French influence, for the great advantage of French methods of presentation over the English was early recognized. The United States Military Academy at West Point was virtually reorganized along French lines by Maj. Sylvanus Thayer, whose efficiency as super intendent from 1817 to 1823 raised the Academy to a high plane. During Thayer's administration, Pro fessor Claude Crozet, the father of descriptive geom etry in America, was brought to West Point. Crozet was a graduate of the Polytechnic School of Paris, and had been an artillery officer under Napoleon. In 1821 he wrote a treatise on Descriptive Geometry for use of his classes at West Point, where he also introduced that great adjunct to mathematical teach ing — the blackboard. After leaving West Point, Cro zet became state engineer of Virginia, in which ca pacity he did work of lasting importance in the construction of superb highways. Later he taught school in Eichmond, Va. In 1858, Crozet published an "improved edition" of An Arithmetic for Schools and Colleges, which had been copyrighted in 1848. 202 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Dr. Artemas Martin, in writing of this arithmetic, says : ' ' This book is remarkable for its lucid state ments of principles. * * * Crozet is the clearest writer on this subject I ever read." We quote from Notes on the History of American Textbooks on Arithmetic, in which is to be found what is doubtless the best bibliography of American arithmetics. This valuable paper was compiled by Artemas Martin and J. M. Greenwood, and is contained in the re ports of the United States Commissioner of Educa tion for 1897-8 and 1898-9. These "Notes" were reprinted in 1900 by the United States Bureau of Education. There are several interesting Southern arithmetics noticed in this publication. It would not be altogether foreign to our theme were we to give some extended account of the United States Military Academy, as so many Southern professors of mathematics owed their education to it, but we must confine our remarks more specifically to the South. The first professor of mathematics in America whose name has come down to us was Eev. Hugh Jones of William and Mary College. He wrote for the use of his students a work (which existed only in manuscript) which he called an Accidence to the Mathematick in all its Parts and Applications, Al gebra, Geometry, Surveying of Land, and Naviga tion. He established a course in mathematics at Wil liam and Mary fully equal to that given at Harvard and Yale in those early days. He was an English man of university education. As an historian his name is justly held in great esteem by the most com petent modern authorities. One of Professor Jones's successors in the chair of mathematics was Joshua Fry, an Oxford man, who seems to have done some useful practical work in making with Peter Jeffer son, the father of Thomas Jefferson, a map of Vir- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 203 ginia. They also established a portion of the boun dary line between Virginia and North Carolina. Thomas Jefferson acknowledged his great indebt edness to Dr. William Small, professor of mathe matics when Jefferson was a student at William and Mary. Jefferson was passionately fond of mathe matics, and frequently in after life recommended its study to young men who came under his influ ence. The stimulus given to the study of mathe matics by Dr. Small, who was evidently a teacher of marked ability, and especially his influence ex erted through such a man as Jefferson, was no light contribution to the progress of mathematical learning and hence to the development of mathe matics. We can see President Jefferson's mind and his keen appreciation of the mathematical sciences in the inauguration of the United States Coast Sur vey and in the development of the United States Military Academy. Neither can we forget right here that Jefferson was the "Father of the Univer sity of Virginia," which institution he founded on such broad and sure foundations that its influence has even to this day continued paramount in the South. In passing we note the fact that Congress passed the bill authorizing the United States Coast Survey (now the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey) in 1807, during Jefferson's administration, and that a man of splendid ability, Ferdinand E. Hassler, was placed in charge of the work. Hassler had been for three years professor of mathematics at West Point, but his great work was the inception and prosecution of the Survey, in which for the first time in this country the method of triangulation was employed. At one time he lived in Eichmond, Va., where he gave lessons in mathematics to the sons of prominent men. While there he published his Elements of Geometry. He had previously pub- 204 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lished the Elements of Analytic Geometry, and sub sequently appeared an arithmetic, astronomy, and logarithmic and trigonometric tables, with introduc tions in five languages. He introduced in America the ratio definition of the trigonometric functions. In considering facts or persons connected with va rious colleges or universities, we shall now follow geographical situation rather than the age or repu tation of the institutions; and just here we shall attempt to carry the subject down to the War of Secession, reserving more recent days for the latter part of this paper. The University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson in 1819, was the natural suc cessor of time-honored William and Mary. The sec ond professor of mathematics in the University of Virginia was Charles Bonnycastle, son of John Boimycastle, of England, a prolific writer of text books. Charles Bonnycastle seems to have taught in a scientific way. He published a book on "Induct ive Geometry," which included geometry, trigonom etry, and analytic geometry. He uses the ratio definition of the trigonometric functions. There is ample evidence to show that Professor Bonny- castle's course of mathematics was far more ad vanced than that given in the ordinary college of that day. It is interesting to note that the brilliant J. J. Sylvester was elected professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia in 1841, and, though he did such signal service at Johns Hopkins many years later, it is to be regretted that in about six months he resigned to accept a professorship in England. Edward H. Courtenay, a native of Baltimore, held the chair of mathematics from 1842 to 1853. He was a graduate of West Point, and was the first regular occupant of the chair educated in America. He had taught at West Point and at the University of Penn- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 205 sylvania, and had had charge of important engineer ing work for the government. "Mr. Courtenay was a mathematician of noble gifts and a great teacher." He left the manuscript of an excellent work on the calculus, which was published soon after his death, and was used as a textbook in several institutions. Professor Courtenay was succeeded by another grad uate of West Point, Albert Taylor Bledsoe, a native of Kentucl?y, a man gifted in several fields of learn ing. Before coming to the University of Virginia he had taught at Kenyon College, Miami University, and at the University of Mississippi as professor of mathematics and astronomy. He established a course in the history and philosophy of mathematics, perhaps the first course of its kind ever offered in America. His treatise on the philosophy of mathe matics was widely known. His greatest work was in the field of metaphysical theology, constitutional law, and review articles. He resigned his chair in 1863, and became assistant secretary of war in the Southern Confederacy. After the war he was editor of the Southern Review. He died in 1877. At the organization of the Virginia Military Insti tute in 1839, General Francis H. Smith, a graduate of West Point, was made its first superintendent, a position which he held for half a century. Professor Smith published a series of arithmetics and al gebras, and a descriptive geometry. He also trans lated and published Blot's Analytic Geometry, Le- gendre's Geometry, Lefebure de Fourcy's Trigo nometry, with Tables, some of which had a wide cir culation. It is rather interesting that General Smith's latest successor, the present superintendent, E. W. Nichols, has published an Analytic Geometry and a Calculus. A year after the University of North Carolina was opened, in 1796, Eev. Joseph Caldwell, a gradu- 206 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ate of Princeton College, was elected professor of mathematics, which position he held till 1804 when he became president of the university. He was pres ident until his death in 1835, except for four years from 1812 to 1816. In 1812 he voluntarily retired to the professorship of mathematics "to secure more time for the study of theology, ' ' but on the death of his successor Le was recalled to the presidency. He arranged elaborate courses in mathematics, includ ing conic sections and fluxions, but it does not appear that any student went beyond trigonometry. He published a textbook on geometry and one on trigo nometry. Dr. Caldwell completed in 1831 an astro nomical observatory, which Dr. Kemp P. Battle, in his History of the University of North Carolina, Vol. I., says was the first college observatory built in America, that of Professor Hopkins at Williams Col lege being in 1836. It is possible that the honor of having the first observatory belongs to Yale, as about the year 1831 "the tower of the Athenaeum was fitted up as an observatory" to receive a five-inch telescope that had just been given. Caldwell's observatory was a brick structure about twenty feet square, and contained a transit, an altitude and azimuth instrument, a portable tele scope, an astronomical clock, and some minor ap paratus, all of which he bought in London from the best makers. Observations were made for longitude and latitude of various places, and on eclipses, com ets, and so forth, but these observations were lost. Soon after President Caldwell's death the building, being constructed of bad material, fell rapidly to decay, and the instruments were removed. Later the building was destroyed by fire. George Blackburn, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, was professor of mathematics in the Uni versity of South Carolina from 1811 to 1815. He MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 207 taught mathematics " as a science, not as a matter of memory." After leaving the college, he made lati tude and longitude observations for the state map. James Wallace, professor of mathematics at the University of South Carolina from 1820 to 1834, contributed to the Southern Review articles on "Geometry and Calculus," and "Steam Engine and Eailroad." He was also a contributor to Silliman's Journal. His treatise on the Use of Globes and Prac tical Astronomy , a work of 512 pages, was in ad vance of any American treatise on astronomy of its day. James B. Dodd, a native of Virginia and a self- made mathematician, became professor of mathe matics in Transylvania University (now Kentucky University) at Lexington, Ky., in 1846. He had a fine reputation, and wrote a series of textbooks on arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, some of which were very favorably received. At the present time, when to the making of text books there seems no end, it is hard for the teacher to appreciate the great possible good that a text book might do in the early days of the Eepublic and even down to the war. The making of a textbook fifty to a hundred years ago was a far more serious and important matter than in these latter days. There seems sufficient reason, then, for mentioning more of the ante-bellum books than those issued in the last fifty years, though the latter are in the main superior to the early ones. Perhaps the most striking character that ever taught, wrote and wrought south of the Potomac, was Frederick A. P. Barnard. He was a scientist of the first rank. While a short sketch can not do him justice, the following facts may be noted. He was born in Sheffield, Mass., 1809, and died in the city of New York, 1889, twenty-four years of his 208 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. long and useful life having been spent in the South. In 1828 he graduated at Yale. While teaching and pursuing his studies still farther at Yale, he wrote an arithmetic and edited an edition of Bridge's Conic Sections. In 1837 he became professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy in the University of Alabama, and in 1848 was trans ferred to the chair of chemistry and natural history, which position he resigned in 1854, to become pro fessor of mathematics, physics and civil engineering in the University of Mississippi, where he remained till 1861, when the university suspended on account of the war. During the war he was for a while em ployed in the National Observatory and later in the Coast Survey. From 1864 to his death in 1889, he was president of Columbia College, New York, which institution was transformed during his administra tion from a mere college to a real university. Pro fessor Barnard was a prolific writer on various sub jects, some of them mathematical. He was a mem ber of the government expedition sent to Labrador in 1860 to observe the eclipse of the sun. He was astronomer for the states of Alabama and Florida to settle a dispute concerning the boundary line be tween those states. In 1840, he induced the trustees of the University of Alabama to establish a small observatory, which was completed in 1844 and en larged in 1858. Originally this building was fifty- four feet long and twenty-two wide in the centre. It contained a transit circle, by Simms of London. Un der a revolving dome of eighteen feet internal diam eter was an equatorial telescope, also by Simms. This telescope had a clear aperture of eight inches and a focal length of twelve feet. Besides clocks and other apparatus there were two portable tele scopes, of four and three inches aperture respect ively. This building was the only one of the public MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 209 edifices that escaped destruction in 1865, when the university was set on fire by United States troops. It is quite remarkable and most commendable that in almost every Southern institution before the war much interest was taken in astronomy. The University of Mississippi, Barnard doubtless being the moving spirit, determined to purchase a telescope "that would put its observatory on a level with that of Cambridge or Ann Arbor, or any other in the country." Accordingly, Dr. Barnard, the president, contracted with Alvan Clark for a great telescope. This telescope, which has an aperture of eighteen inches, was completed in 1861, at which time the war prevented its delivery. Mississippi being un able to take it, it finally went to Dearborn Obser vatory at Chicago. We have now brought our subject down to the beginning of the War of Secession. For four years, during which time Southern youths from sixteen years of age and upwards were with few exceptions enlisted in the army, nearly all colleges and univer sities in the South were closed. Some that managed to keep open a part of these four years were obliged to close their doors during the awful period of "re construction." This struggling period lasted in most cases for a decade or more after the war, and we may say that the rehabilitation of the colleges and universities south of Virginia was not well un der way before 1875. The University of Mississippi was less affected, while the University of South Carolina, owing to political confusion, was not re habilitated till 1882, at which time Dr. J. M. McBryde became president of that part of it located at Columbia and called the College of South Caro lina. Virginia colleges, with the University of Virginia in the lead, were practically the first to take up the Vol. 7—14. 210 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. work, so rudely interrupted by war. But in most of the states higher education was stagnant not only for the four years of strife but for eight or ten years afterwards. In 1865 Charles S. Venable was appointed pro fessor of mathematics at the University of Virginia, which position he held for more than a quarter of a century, resigning a few years before his death on account of failing health. Charles Scott Venable was born in Virginia in 1827. After graduation at Hampden-Sidney College he became a student at the University of Virginia where he soon distinguished himself. From 1846 to 1852 he was professor of mathematics in Hampden-Sidney, but got a furlough and spent the session of 1847-8 at the University of Virginia pursuing advanced work, and four years later he spent a year in Germany, studying astron omy under Encke and Argelander and attending lectures of Dirichlet and Borchardt. In 1856 he was elected to the chair of natural history and chemistry in the University of Georgia, but the following year accepted the chair of mathematics and astronomy in the College of South Carolina, which position he held till 1862, though he was on leave of abs^ice the last two years of this period. In 1860 he was appointed one of five commissioners to go to Labra dor to observe the total eclipse of the sun. His re port is contained in the Coast Survey volume for 1861. During the war he served brilliantly in the Confederate army. While at the University of Vir ginia he published a series of textbooks on arith metic, algebra and geometry, and also a brief work on solid analytic geometry. The best of his books was his Elements of Geometry, the later editions of which contained an admirable chapter on modem geometry. The publication of this geometry marked an epoch, as it and the somewhat similar work of MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 211 the celebrated William Chauvenet of Washington University, St. Louis, did much to raise the standard of American textbooks, a special feature of both being the large selection of original Exercises, a practice now universally pursued. Colonel Venable was twice made chairman of the faculty, in which executive capacity he served the university with marked success. It was Colonel Venable who was mainly instrumental in raising an endowment for the astronomical observatory, thus fulfilling the condition that secured to the university the great McCormick telescope, to be referred to later. The superb personality of Colonel Venable was and is still felt all over the South, where many of his pupils are teachers of mathematics. He was a big- hearted, public spirited man and was too unselfish to refuse to serve in whatever way seemed best. Thus many routine duties left him no time for con tributions to mathematical journals or other original work. Perhaps the brightest of Venable 's older pupils is Professor William M. Thornton, head of the department of civil engineering at the University of Virginia. He was at one time associate editor of the Annals of Mathematics, to which he was a contributor. It is to be regretted that Thornton has not written more for publication. Here again, as is so often the case, multiple routine duties have caused apparent unproductiveness in original research. Another strong pupil of Venable 's, and afterwards one of his most successful assistants, was E. D. Bo- hannon, a native of Virginia, and frequent contrib utor to the Annals of Mathematics in its early years. Since 1885, Bohannon has been head of the mathe matical department in the Ohio State University, and has written a scholarly and at the same time a practical treatise on plane trigonometry. Profes sor Harris Hancock, a Virginian, now professor of 212 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. mathematics in the University of Cincinnati, has been unusually prolific in contributions to mathemati cal journals. Hancock began his mathematical studies imder a pupil of Venable 's, and he in turn graduated in mathematics under Venable. Mathematics at the University of Virginia is now under the charge of Professors William H. Echols and J. M. Page. Both have been contributors to mathematical journals. Page has published an ad vanced work on differential equations, and Echols has written a rigid treatise on calculus, a book in advance of any previous American work on the cal culus. The Leander McCormick Observatory of the Uni versity of Virginia was founded by Leander J. McCormick, of Chicago. The principal instrument is the 26-inch refractor made by Alvan Clark & Sons, and mounted in 1885. The present director. Pro fessor Ormond Stone, has been in charge from the beginning. The energies of the observatory have been devoted principally to the observation of ob jects that could not be observed with smaller instru ments. Several hundred new nebulae have been dis covered. Eepeated examinations of the nebula of Orion have been made. In conjunction with the Harvard, Yerkes, and Lick Observatories photomet ric observations have been made for the determina tion of standards of stellar magnitudes. An expedi tion from the observatory observed the total eclipse of the sun in 1900 at Winnsboro, S. C. The principal work of the observatory at present is the observation of double stars and long-period variables. The re sults of the activity of the institution have been made known from time to time in the publications of the observatory and in astronomical journals. Among the astronomers trained by Professor Stone at the University of Virginia, and who have con- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 213 tributed to the work of the observatory, may be men tioned Professor F. P. Leavenworth of the Univer sity of Minnesota and Dr. E. 0. Lovett, formerly professor of astronomy at Princeton, now presi dent of the William M. Eice Institute, Houston, Texas. Others are making honorable record in va rious educational institutions in the South. The Annals of Mathematics was founded in 1884 by Professor Ormond Stone. It was published at the University of Virginia until 1898, when the office of publication was transfered to Harvard University. Great credit is due Professor Stone and those who at different times acted with him as associate edi tors, who made it possible for the Annals to obtain recognition at home and abroad. The following necessarily incomplete quotation from a letter writ ten in 1896 by no less an authority than Professor E. S. Woodward gives some idea of the scope and influence of this journal, which, owing to lack of en dowment, was allowed to emigrate to Massachusetts two years after this letter was written. Among other things, Mr. Woodward said: "It is matter of com mon remark at home and abroad that the Annals of Mathematics has taken a prominent place amongst journals devoted to the promotion and diffusion of mathematical science. Opening its columns to the domains of dynamical astronomy, mechanics, and mathematical physical, as well as to pure mathe matics, it has enlisted the cooperation and inspired the efforts of a large number of investigators. Many of the contributions which have thus found their way to the public through the Annals are of unusual merit and have received the highest commendation from European mathematicians. It is worthy of remark that contributors and coadjutors have been aroused in all parts of the Union, and that the Annals has 214 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. exerted through them a trulv national influence on mathematical thought." While on the subject of journals, we note the fol lowing : The Mathematical Messenger, at first called the School Messenger, was published for a number of years by G. H. Harvill, first at Ada, La., and later at Athens, Texas. It was devoted to the solution of problems in elementary mathematics. One of its ablest contributors was J. W. Nicholson of the Louis iana State University. The American Mathematical Monthly was founded in 1894 by B. F. Finkel, now professor of mathe matics and physics in Drury College, Missouri. At first J. M. Colaw, of Monterey, Va., was associated with him as co-editor. A few years ago an arrange ment was made by which this journal is published under the auspices of the University of Chicago, and Dr. Finkel has since had associated with him one of the professors of the University of Chicago. It is published at Springfield, Mo. It contains original articles, usually of an elementary nature, and the solution of problems. Dr. Artemas Martin, of Wash ington, D. C, since 1885 connected with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, is an unique self- made mathematician. He has edited and published two magazines. The Mathematical Visitor and The Mathematical Magazine, both appearing at rather ir regular intervals. The first number of the Visitor was issued in 1877. The Magazine first appeared in 1882. Several Southemers have contributed to these journals of Dr. Martin's, which have been devoted mainly to the solution of difficult or curious problems. Dr. Martin, though nearly seventy-five years old, is still an enthusiastic lover of mathematics. Some thirty or forty members of the American Mathemat ical Society reside in the South, and some of these are MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 215 contributors to the Bulletin and some to the Trans actions of the Society. In 1877 Johns Hopkins University established the American Journal of Mathematics, with J. J. Sylves ter as its first editor, which was designed to be a journal of high rank, in which might be published original research. It has kept up its high standard and has had for its contributors many foreign mathe maticians and the ablest mathematicians in America. We do not give a more complete account of this, the greatest of our mathematical journals, because it can not be claimed as a product of the South. We men tion it because it has had worthy contributors in the South, and its influence has been felt through the length and the breadth of the land. For a similar rea son to that just mentioned it is hardly a digression to say a word or two about mathematics at Johns Hop kins University, while it would be entirely out of place to attempt to give anything like a compre hensive sketch of Johns Hopkins' contribution to mathematics. No better proof is needed of the astuteness of the late Dr. Daniel C. Gilman than the fact that when he was elected president of Johns Hopkins, he secured for the chair of mathematics James Joseph Sylvester. Sylvester came to this country at an opportune time, just at the close of the life of the great Harvard professor, Benjamin Peirce, the "Father of American Mathematics." In 1841 Sylvester, then only twenty-seven years old, but recognized as a brilliant mathematician, held the chair of mathematics for less than a year in the University of Virginia, as has been mentioned. It would be interesting to know whether his brief so journ in Virginia had any influence on his acceptance of President Gilman 's offer thirty-five years later. In the interim he held chairs in the University Col lege, London, and in the Eoyal Military Academy, 216 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Woolwich. He came to Baltimore in 1877, and re signed his position in 1883 to accept the Savilian Professorship of Geometry at Oxford, England. While he was at Johns Hopkins only seven years he not only stimulated to the highest degree the Hopkins students and established the reputation of the American Journal of Mathematics, but he with others drew the attention of the whole world to the Johns Hopkins University. We can not here give a sketch of his life nor any account of his great and multiple writings on mathematical subjects. The power of his genius will be felt in America for all time. Of his pupils, we shall have occasion to speak of two that labored in the South, G. B. Halsted and E. W. Davis. What Sylvester's successors have done in original research and in training men in mathematics, we must for lack of space pass by. Here and there in the South we find Hopkins grad uates teaching mathematics in a true scientific spirit. In the University of North Carolina, since the war, we note the names of Professors E. H. Graves, Archibald Henderson and William Cain as contribu tors to mathematical and scientific journals. For a few years, beginning in 1888, Dr. E. W. Davis, now head professor of mathematics in the University of Nebraska, held the chair of mathematics in South Carolina College. He was one of Sylvester's pupils, and his name appears as the author of articles of decided merit in various journals. William J. Vaughn, a native Alabamian, held the chair of math ematics in the University of Alabama for some years. Since 1882 Dr. Vaughn has been professor of math ematics at Vanderbilt University, and has sent forth well trained men in mathematics. A man with such a record does often advance the cause of mathematics more powerfully than some who are poor teachers but occasionally write an original article. To Van- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 217 derbilt University belongs the credit of discovering in a photographic gallery in Nashville about 1883 an unknown but ambitious young man, the now famous astronomer, E. E. Barnard. Vanderbilt gave Bar nard a fellowship and thus assisted him in getting a collegiate education. He had charge of the Van derbilt Observatory from 1883 to 1888, during which time he discovered several comets and nebulae, and gained for himself a national reputation as an ob server. In 1888 he was called to the Lick Observa tory where he more than sustained his reputation. In 1892 he discovered the fifth satellite of Jupiter. In 1895 he became astronomer at the Yerkes Obser vatory, a position which he still holds. His reputa tion as an observer is probably second to none in the world. Professor Florian Cajori, a native of Switzerland, was in the mathematical faculty of Tulane Univer sity from 1885 to 1888, having previously been a graduate student there. He is now professor of mathematics in Colorado College. Professor Cajori is the author of the following books, from the first of which the writer has drawn copiously in preparing this article: The Teaching and History of Mathe matics in the United States; The History of Mathe- m,atics; The History of Elementary Mathematics; The History of Physics in its Elementary Branches; An Introduction to the Theory of Equations; Abschnitt XX. in M. Cantor's Vorlesungen uber Geschichte der Mathematik, Band IV., Seiten 37-198. The preparation of Volume IV. of Cantor's history was in the hands of nine collaborators, of which Pro fessor Cajori was the American representative. Cajori has published upwards of sixty papers in scientific or educational journals. Many of these papers were unusually good, perhaps three on series being the most noteworthy. Professor William B. 218 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Smith, a native of Kentucky, now professor of phi losophy in Tulane University, was professor of mathematics in University of Missouri, 1888-93, pro fessor of mathematics at Tulane 1893-1906. He has published a Co-ordinate Geometry and Infinitesimal Analysis, Vol. I. He contributed a 31-column article to The Americana on infinitesimal calculus, and his name appears as a contributor to one or two mathe matical journals. The University of Texas was opened in 1882, and the following year Dr. George Bruce Halsted, a graduate of Sylvester at the Johns Hopkins, was made professor of mathematics,^ which position he held for twenty-one years. He is now professor of mathematics at the State Normal School of Colorado. Dr. Halsted has published the following books: Metrical Geometry, perhaps the best book of its kind in America; Elements of Syn thetic Geometry; Rational Geometry, a textbook for the Science of Space, based on Hilbert's Foundations; Pure Projective Geometry; Non-Euclidean Geom etry, for teachers. Professor Halsted did more than any one else to popularize non-euclidean notions, and for years he has been the authority in America on non-euclidean geometry. In 1891 he translated Bol- yai's Science Absolute of Space and Lobatchewsky's Geometrical Researches on the Theory of Parallels. He also translated Seccheri's work. He has trans lated various other works and papers from foreign languages. His name is found as a frequent con tributor to mathematical journals here and abroad. In Missouri notable work has been done at Wash ington University and the University of Missouri. William Chauvenet, soon after his graduation at Yale in 1840, was made a professor in the United States Navy. It was largely through his efforts that the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis was established in 1845. Here he was professor of mathe- MATHEMATICS AND ASTEONOMY. 219 matics and later director of the observatory until he resigned in 1859 to accept the professorship of mathematics in Washington University, St. Louis. Here his great work, A Treatise on Spherical and Practical Astronomy, was published in 1863. While at Annapolis he had published an advanced trigo nometry, and just before his death in 1870, his ex cellent Geometry appeared. William Chauvenet was a truly great man. He was one of the first American scientists to win recognition abroad. The observatory of Washington University, from Chauvenet 's time down, has stood for sound, scien tific work. Henry S. Pritchett, now head of the Carnegie "Foundation," was director from 1881 to 1897. Professor Pritchett 's principal investigations were on positions of fixed stars, double star systems and orbits of comets and satellites. At present the attention of the observatory is directed mainly to precise geodetic work. This observatory is equipped with a six-inch refractor and an eight-inch reflector and excellent minor apparatus. At the University of Missouri the present head of the mathematical department. Professor E. E. Hedrick, not to mention his worthy colleagues, has been quite active, publishing a number of papers in various journals. He has also translated Goursat's Course d'Analyse Mathematique. Professor F. H. Scares is professor of astronomy and director of the Laws Observatory of the University of Missouri, where he has made contributions to various astro nomical journals, besides editing the publications of the observatory. The principal instruments of this observatory, founded in 1853, are two equatorial refractors of 1^2 and 4% inches respectively. It would be interesting to trace more in detail the influence of individual universities or colleges, were 220 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. it not necessary to condense this account. A bibli ography of Southern textbooks and of original ar ticles contributed to journals would be in itself a good index of what the South has done in mathe matics and astronomy, but even if such a bibliog raphy could be made fairly complete, space would forbid its insertion here. BiBLioGEAPHT. — Battle, Kemp P.: History of the University of tiorth Carolina; Barnard's Journal of Education; Cajori, Florian: The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States (pub lished by the Bureau of Education) ; The monographs published by the United States Bureau of Education on the history of education in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas; Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education; various isolated articles and pamphlets. Samuel Maex Barton, Professor of Mathematics, Universily of the South. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 221 CHAPTEE X. THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO PHYSICAL SCIENCE. MEEICA has produced no great masters in the physical sciences. There have been noted workers in physics and chemistry, men who have added to the world's store of knowledge, but none whose names can be placed along with such as Lavoisier, Dumas, Fara day, Clerk-Maxwell, Graham, Wohler, Liebig, or Hofmann. Doubtless the sparse population, scattered over a great country, with few cen tres where scientific men could gather, formed an adverse condition for the development of any great scientific men. Then, too, our forefathers were busy with the development of a new country, involving the direct struggle with nature in the rough, and there was little encouragement for abstract scientific re search. There were no old educational foundations such as Oxford and Cambridge, Paris, Leyden, Got- tingen, and Heidelberg, affording a sheltered pro vision for the quiet scholar. There were no great Acadamies like those of Paris, London and Berlin where men could present their scientific contribu tions, compare notes, commend or amend, and thus feel the incitement which comes from friendly emu lation. It is true that in the early days of the republic some such Academies were founded, as the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, and that they received the cooperation of such public men as Franklin and Jefferson, and certain early but short-lived chemical societies were formed but their influence was not great and their existence often a struggle. 222 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. These conditions are changed now. There are great centres, foundations, academies and a multi plicity of journals, but the change is too recent for the effect to be marked. There is splendid work being done, however, and great promise for the future. Yet, as one distinguished Southern man of science has written, "We have been interpreters and not creators of knowledge." The peculiar genius of the American people also has been shown in that we have excelled in devising methods and improving instruments rather than in research by means of them. "Eowland made the concave grating but Zeeman used it to discover the alteration of wave length in a magnetic field." In the South, with its scattered plantations, a population almost entirely agricultural, and its weak and struggling educational institutions, the condi tions were especially unfavorable to the pursuit of pure science or for any signal accomplishment in that sphere. There was but one city which drew men of learning to it or formed a centre for the cultivation of science. This was Charleston. The position taken by this Southern city was a notable one and impressed itself upon the country. It was the seat of a well-endowed college and an excellent museum was founded there. A flourishing Academy of Science for many years held its meetings and gathered its library and an influential Journal, de voted to the medical and physical sciences was pub lished for a time. Wealth and an old-established society had brought ease and leisure. Practically all of these conditions were changed in the ruins of the War of Secession. Contributions in. Chemistry. The first of the South 's contributions to physical science were in chemistry. Schiff and Sentini* *Anualen der Chemie, 228 p. 72. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 223 mention, as the first work in pure chemistry done in America, a research upon the formation of a com pound of arsenious acid with potassium iodide. This was described in the year 1830 by J. P. Emmet. He obtained the compound in the form of a white, crystalline powder by adding potassium iodide to a very dilute solution of arsenious acid, or potassium arsenite exactly neutralized with acetic acid. Em met was professor of chemistry in the University of Virginia from its foundation in 1825 to 1842, one of the band of brilliant teachers gathered by Mr. Jefferson to aid in the upbuilding of his pet institu tion. With the exception of a few papers by Eobert Hare and the elder Silliman, which pertained rather to analytical, technical and mineralogical subjects, the communication of Emmet belongs to the earliest period of chemistry in North America. Emmet had a fine scientific mind and was a skil ful investigator. He published articles on new methods of solidifying gysum, on a new method of magnetic galvanism, on the solvent and oxidizing powers of ammoniacal salts, on the cause of voltaic currents produced by the magnet, an essay upon caloric and a paper upon formic acid as a means of reducing metals. Many of his researches were not published as, for instance, upon air motors, the use of chemical agents for stimulating the growth of vegetables, upon kaolin and upon a new element which he believed he had discovered and named Virginium, also an ingenious series of experiments upon the Newtonian theory of refraction. Gerard Froost, of the University of Nashville (1828-1850), contributed a number of papers, chiefly on mineralogical subjects. He established the alum works at Cape Sable, Maryland, one of the earliest chemical industries in this country. Only a little of the scientific work of Denison 01m- 224 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. sted can be claimed for the South. He was pro fessor of chemistry in the University of North Caro lina from 1817 to 1825. His work in chemistry was chiefly analytical and mineralogical. He established in North Carolina the first state geological survey, publishing the first report which was issued by such a survey. According to the elder Silliman, the first piece of elaborate research work in organic chemistry by an American was done by J. Lawrence Smith in 1842. His name stands out conspicuously among American chemists not merely because of the pau city of the work done by others but because of the sterling character of his own work and the number of his important researches, which were extended over a long period. Born near Charleston, S. C, in 1818, he was a pupil of Emmet's and afterwards studied under the most famous teachers of Europe. A visit to Liebig 's laboratory at Giessen formed the turning point of his life. His first organic research was entitled The Composition of the Products of Distillation of Spermaceti. In this he first made known the com position of such fats as spermaceti and refuted the views which had been advanced by Chevreul. On returning to America he founded at Charleston the Medical and Surgical Journal of South Carolina, one of the earliest and most influential scientific jour nals in the South. He was selected by Secretary (afterwards Presi dent) Buchanan to meet a call for scientific aid by the Sultan of Turkey, and for four years rendered valuable service in developing certain of the natural resources of that country. Several scientific re searches were completed and published by him dur ing this period. Later he became professor of chem istry at the University of New Orleans, then ac- PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 225 cepted a chair at the University of Virginia, and from there went to the University of Louisville. The later years of his life were spent in scientific work in his private laboratory and in travel. Be tween 1840 and 1873 he published in all seventy- eight scientific papers. The more important of these deal with analytical methods and mineralog ical subjects. He devised important methods of analysis which have proved most useful to chemists and he was recognized as a leading authority upon the subject of meteorites. Only once or twice did he touch again upon organic chemistry, the subject of his first research. It is interesting to note that his graduation thesis, submitted at the age of twenty-one, was "a very ingenious thesis, entitled The Compound Nature of Nitrogen." In 1856, J. W. Mallet, then at the University of Alabama, completed his determination of the atomic weight of lithium from the chloride, and in 1859, the determination from the sulphate. This was the first of his long and brilliant series of investigations upon the atomic weights and the first atomic weight work done in America. The results then obtained, with very imperfect laboratory facilities, stand alongside with the best work of to-day. During the War of Secession Mallet devoted his scientific knowledge to the aid of the Confederate Ordnance Department. Afterwards he became professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia and a num ber of masterly investigations upon the atomic weights, notably those of aluminum and gold, have placed him by the side of Stas as a master in that field of work. During a long and singularly active life he has published a large number of papers, some of them worked out in conjunction with his pupils, covering a wide range of chemical subjects. His work for the National Board of Health upon the Vol. 7—15. 226 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. analysis of potable waters was very valuable in improving methods and contributed much toward the clearing up of problems coimected with the pro cesses then in use and devising new ones. This and his expert investigations of water supplies have made him an authority upon the subject. His pub lished papers, including work done in connection with his pupils, considerably exceed one hundred. The announcement of the Periodic System by Mendel^eff in 1869 has marked an epoch in the development of chemistry. Many chemists in vari ous countries had been engaged upon the problems connected with this fundamental system of chem istry. One or two, as de Chancourtois in France and Newlands in England, had anticipated Men- del6eff in many of the features of the system. The law itself had been practically announced by Hin- richs of St. Louis. Little attention had been paid to these by the general body of chemists. Even the announcement of Mendeleeff received but scant no tice for a year or so after it was made in St. Peters burg. It is of interest, therefore, to note that, quite independently, L. E. Gibbes of Charleston made use of his Synoptical Table, embodying much of the system. This was practically cotemporaneous with the work of Lothar Meyer in Germany. In this dia gram, prepared for his classes in 1872 he made use of the spiral very much as was done by de Chan courtois, Meyer and Mendel(?eff, anticipating, in a measure, the work of Spring, Eeynolds and Crookes. Further, he anticipated some of the geometrical work of Haughton, observing that no linear equa tion can be constructed to give more than rude approximation of the atomic weights, and that to construct curves, two points of inflection or con trary curvature must be given. These are the ser pentine cubics afterwards worked out by Haughton. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 227 Eobert E. Eogers was professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia. He was an active in vestigator during the period from 1842 to 1850. Much of his work was done in collaboration with his brother, William B. Eogers, who was professor of natural philosophy. The papers published by him, more than a dozen in number, were largely concerned with improved methods and apparatus. Analyses, determinations of solubility and problems of composition also engaged his attention. While the contributions mentioned have been the most notable ones, a large number of investigations of lesser note have been carried out in Southern laboratories. Still, poverty of equipment and the pressure of duties in undermanned colleges have served to keep down the numbers of the workers. Aside from occasional scattered papers by a student here and there, however, the first institution in the country to send out annual reports of researches undertaken in its laboratory was the University of Virginia. These were regularly reported by Mallet in the London Chemical News beginning with the year 1872 and have continued for thirty-five years. In 1877 the Johns Hopkins University began its work and scientific research became an essential function of every true university. Lying on the border line this can scarcely be claimed as a South- em university and most of its workers have come from other sections. In 1884 the University of North Carolina began the publication of a Journal, at first an annual and later a quarterly, containing chiefly the work done in the scientific laboratories. This is in its twenty- fourth year and reports several hundred chemical and physical as well as other scientific papers con tributed by students and professors. Other institu- 228 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tions, as the University of Texas and Vanderbilt University, have reported important investigations. Within the past quarter of a century a number of Southern investigators have contributed to the progress in chemistry. The following list is only partial but doubtless covers the more important work which has been done. The limited space pre vents a fuller reference. The list is given alpha betically. J. E. Bailey, of the University of Texas, has made a number of contributions in the field of organic chemistry. Among these are researches upon the hydrazin derivatives of propionic acid, derivatives of semicarbazino acids, of hydrazo acids and hydan- toin tetrazones. Charles Baskerville, of Mississippi, has published a number of papers upon the rare earths, especially zirconium, thorium and praseodymium, with a deter mination of the atomic weight of thorium. Eugene C. Bingham, of Eichmond College, has contributed a number of papers upon physical chem istry. These deal with conductivity, viscosity and fluidity, solubility, the relation of vapor pressure to chemical composition and the heat of vaporization. A. W. Blair, of the University of Florida, has made contributions to the chemistry of fertilizers and soils as well as analytical chemistry. E. N. Brackett, of Clemson College, S. C, has done a good deal of valuable chemical work in mineralogical and analytical lines. W. G. Brown, of Virginia, while connected with the United States Department of Agriculture, made a study of the chemistry of wines. His remaining work has been chiefiy mineralogical. E. J. Davidson, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has made investigations in the chemistry of soils, foods and fertilizers. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 229 F. P. Dunnington, of the University of Virginia, has published a number of papers covering his own work and that of his students. These contain im proved analytical methods, analyses of minerals and rare substances besides a study of the distribution of titanium in soils. William L. Dudley, of Vanderbilt University, has been busied with analytical and metallurgical prob lems. He has examined the action of fused sodium dioxide on metals, the solubility of platinum and the determination of fusel oil, besides contributing to the chemistry of iridium. G. S. Fraps, of the Texas Agricultural and Me chanical College, in addition to several investiga tions in organic chemistry has made a special study of nitrification and the chemistry of foods, soils and fertilizers. W. F. Hand, of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi, has investigated the deriva tives of amino benzoic acid and certain hydroquina- zolines. H. H. Harrington, of Mississippi, has taken part in the investigations carried on in the Experiment Stations upon foods and soils. Charles H. Herty, of the University of North Carolina, has made important contributions to the chemistry of turpentine and the study of oils. Other researches of his bear upon double halides and the problem of the constitution of complex inorganic substances. He has published a number of papers upon inorganic and technical chemistry. James Lewis Howe, of Washington and Lee Uni versity, has published a number of papers upon the salts of ruthenium, the chemistry of tellurium and certain complex malonates, succinates and tartrates. He has also done some work in physical chemistry. J. H. Kastle, of Kentucky, while he has published 230 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. researches in organic chemistry, has especially de voted himself to physical and physiological chem istry making noteworthy studies in allotropism, the kinetics of oxidation, ferments, nitrification and cer tain changes in animal organisms. E. K. Meade, of Virginia, has improved analytical methods and contributed to the study of hydraulic cements. He also founded and has edited the Chem ical Engineer. C. B. Pegram, of North Carolina, has made con tributions to the study of the phenomena of radio activity. J. E. Mills, of the University of North Carolina, has published a series of important papers upon molecular attraction, deducing certain generaliza tions which promise to bear striking results. His chief work has been in the field of physical chem istry. William B. Phillips, of North Carolina, has in vestigated the chemistry of and changes in chemical fertilizers besides making contributions to the study of Southern ores and ore deposits. He has made many contributions to engineering journals on min ing and metallurgy. B. E. Eoss, of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, has improved various analytical methods for sugars and fertilizers and made a study of the chemistry of sugars. Atherton Seidell, of Georgia, associated with the Government Bureau of Chemistry, has done im portant work upon solubilities and other problems pertaining to physical chemistry. He has published an approved book on solubilities. E. A. de Schweinitz, of North Carolina, for a num ber of years Chief of the Biochemic Division of the Department of Agriculture and Dean of the Medical Department of George Washington University, has PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 231 been a pioneer in much of the work of biochemistry and has made valuable contributions to it. Charles U. Shepard added to the wealth of his section by his discovery of the famous South Caro lina phosphate deposits. He was professor of chem istry in the Medical College of Charleston from 1834 to 1861, continuing his work as a chemist from 1865 to 1880. He published about forty papers on ana lytical, mineralogical and meteorological subjects. His work on meteorites made him an authority upon that subject. F. P. Venable, of the University of North Caro lina, in addition to the publication of a History of Chemistry, the Development of the Periodic Law and the Study of the Atom, has contributed fifty or sixty papers upon various investigations, including derivatives of heptane, double salts, compounds of zirconium, with a determination of the atomic weight of this element. He has contributed also a study of valence and a modification of the Periodic System. Charles E. Waite, of the University of Tennessee, has published a number of investigations in the chemistry of foods, and nutrition, and has improved certain forms of apparatus and chemical processes. A. S. Wheeler, of the University of North Caro lina, has made a number of synthetic compounds by condensations with chloral and has also worked upon cellulose and other problems in organic chemistry. Contributions in Physics. When we consider the Southern contributions to physics we find the field more limited than in the case of chemistry. Few institutions could afford to have a distinct professorship of physics and very few had even the simpler appointments of a physical laboratory. Commonly, the study was made an ad junct to some such chair as that of chemistry or 232 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the professor in charge had to teach all or part of the so-called natural history studies. Under such circumstances little of original work, outside of the routine of teaching was to be expected. The earliest original work in physics in the South seems to have been done by John William Draper while a professor at Hampden-Sidney College in Virginia. His most important work there was on the new science of photography. He began there the experimental researches which laid the foundation of his fame. Draper later moved to New York and there continued a long and brilliant career as an investigator. Another noted name in physical science was that of Maury. While his work was chiefly that of a geographer and navigator, yet it also bore largely upon terrestrial physics. In pure physics and espe cially in his magnetic speculations and system of atmospheric circulation he met with some criticism at the time but his genius as an investigator of ocean currents and successful generalizer has been uni versally recognized and the world has accorded him the place of a leader in this field. Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Virginia in 1806. He entered the United States navy at the age of nineteen. After some years of active service, he was disabled by an accident and so was lead to devote his talents and energies to meteorological and hydrographical as well as other scientific studies. His earliest publication was a work on navigation. In a series of letters he laid bare a number of abuses in the navy, bringing about many reforms and largely determining the establishment of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was made chief of the Hydrographical Bureau, and later, upon the establishment of the National Observatory, was made superintendent of both. Many of the methods PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 233 at present in use in the Weather Bureau are due to him. During this time he devoted much attention to the study of ocean currents and the direction of the winds. He wrote his most famous book, the Physical Geography of the Sea, which was trans lated into many languages and established his repu tation among scientific men. Humboldt greeted him as one who had founded a new science. By means of deep sea sounding he discovered the Atlantic Plateau. He suggested its use to Cyrus W. Field for the laying of a cable, thus establishing telegraphic communication between Europe and America. During the war he took the part of his native state, Virginia, and served as captain and commodore in the Confederate navy. He made im provements in the application of magnetic-electricity to torpedoes. In 1868 he accepted the professorship of physics at the Virginia Military Institute and held this posi tion until his death in 1873. While at Lexington he published a Physical Survey of Virginia and also textbooks on astronomy, and both a political and physical geography. His series of geographies have been very widely used and have retained their popu larity through many editions for nearly forty years. He also had prepared Wind and Current Charts, and published two volumes of Sailing Directions, also a work on the Relations between Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere and Laws for Steamers Crossing the Atlantic. John LeConte is another Southerner whose con tributions to physics won for him a high reputation among the scientific men of the world. He was born in Georgia in 1818 and received his education at what is now the University of Georgia. After a few years of practice as a physician, he became professor 234 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of natural philosophy in the University of South Carolina, remaining there thirteen years. In 1869 the condition of political turmoil and the degrada tion of his institution led him to accept the chair of physics and industrial mechanics in the Univer sity of California where the remaining years of his active work were spent. He was acting president of this now famous university and drew up its first prospectus, giving a synopsis of the proposed courses of instruction for the first year. A few years later he was made president. It was in 1857 that the discovery of the sensitive ness of flame to musical vibrations was made by him. He had already won a respectful hearing among scientific men hj the publication of a number of papers in this country and abroad, and his important observations in this case "served as a starting-point for Barrett, Tyndall and Koenig in the exquisite applications that have since been worked out by them, in the use of flame for the detection of sounds too delicate for the ear to perceive and for the optical analysis of compound tones." Tyndall in his book on Sound makes graceful and appreciative mention of LeConte 's discovery. Lack of proper laboratory equipment and facilities had prevented LeConte from himself developing the application of his discovery. Again he attracted marked attention in Europe by his paper On the Adequacy of LaPlace's Ex planation to Account for the Discrepancy between the Completed and the Observed Velocity of Sound in Air and Gases. While his position was attacked by a number of critics, especially among English mathematicians, it met with the commendation of Sir William Thompson and Tyndall and is generally accepted to-day. The paper shows clear and exact physical reasoning and contains an original investi- PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 235 gation upon the propagation of sound in air and the nature of the atmosphere, whether it is a mixture or a chemical compound. His experiments upon the transmission of sound in water and what are called ' ' sound shadows ' ' were made in the Bay of San Francisco with the assist ance of his son, Julian Le Conte. In explaining these observations, as well as the earlier ones of Col- ladon, he advanced certain theories which still ap pear the only tenable ones. This work was followed up by the investigation of sound shadows in air. In all he published something over one hundred papers in the scientific journals of this country and England. William B. Eogers, whose chief work was in the field of geology, made some important investigations in physics while a professor at the University of Virginia. His father was a professor in William and Mary College at Williamsburg, Va. William B. Eogers received his education there and later succeeded his father in the chair of natural phil osophy and mathematics. In 1835 he became pro fessor of natural philosophy in the University of Virginia, remaining there until 1853. Later he established the Massachusetts Institute of Technol ogy. The most noteworthy of his contributions to chemistry were a number of papers published in the American Journal of Science on improved meth ods of analysis and research. These appeared chiefly between the years 1840-1850 and the work was done in collaboration with his brother, Eobert E. Eogers. He was the first to investigate the solv ent action of water charged with carbon dioxide upon rocks and minerals. His chief work in physics was upon light, sensitive flames and vortex rings. Much also that he did in geology really per tained largely to physics. Among his more im- 236 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. portant books may be mentioned Strength of Ma terials (1838) and Elements of Mechanical Phil osophy (1852). One of his most distinguished pupils, and his successor in the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Virginia, is Francis H. Smith, who for fifty-four years has been a professor there. While he has not written a great deal he has made valuable observations upon Foucault's pendulum; sounding flames ; the harmonic curves ; latitude with out astronomical observations; refractive index of gases and mixed liquids. Among others who have made contributions to physics may be mentioned the following: S. J. Barnett, of Tulane University, has worked successfully in the field of electrical displacement and unipolar induction. John Daniels, of Vanderbilt University, has in vestigated voltameter polarization and the depila tory effect of Eontgen rays. Edwin James Houston, who was born in Virginia, has won fame in connection with the Thomson- Houston system of electric lighting. W. J. Humphreys, of Virginia, has done notable work in astro-physics, the pressure effect of arc spectra, solution and diffusion of metals in mercury, spark lengths, electric discharges, etc. Charles A. Perkins, of the University of Tennes see, has investigated the magnetism of nickel, the vapor tension of sulphuric acid, etc. H. B. Shaw, of North Carolina, professor in the University of Missouri, has done excellent work upon alternating current waves, energy losses in magnetic materials, and the regulation of alternat ing current generators. James P. C. Southall, of Alabama, has worked chiefly in the field of geometrical optics. His most PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 237 notable paper has been upon Geometrical Theory of Optical Imagery. This has led him to prepare a large and important treatise on the Theory of Opti cal Instruments. W. LeConte Stevens, of Washington and Lee Uni versity, in addition to writing textbooks, has pub lished a large number of articles in American and English journals covering a wide series of subjects in physics. The larger number of them deal with physiological optics, binocular perspective, the stereoscope, accoustics and radiation. It is encouraging to note the increasingly large number of young physicists and chemists who are devoting themselves to research. Some of them have already done work under the direction of their laboratory chiefs which might place them in the above lists. As distinct contributors, however, their real work lies still in the future. Improved labora tory facilities and equipment, more leisure and the growing number of well-trained, enthusiastic young specialists give promise that Southern men will take a worthy share in the future progress of these and other sciences. Francis P. Venable, President of the University of North Carolina. 238 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XI. SOUTHEEN CONTEIBUTIONS TO NATUEAL HISTOEY. N whatever field of activity the Anglo-Saxon has thought worth his endeavor he has placed his leaders. The question is only whether he has always measured at its true value all lines of human effort. There can be little doubt that in America too little estimate is to-day placed on the worth of scientific investigation in any field. A sim ilar plaint was uttered a few years ago by an English man of science on the occasion of the death of the immortal Pasteur. He was convinced that the uni versal grief of the populace at the passing of a great man of science, demonstrating the devotion of the French people to their hero of peace, could not have had its counterpart in Great Britain. The spirit of admiration for the man of executive ability has even invaded the field of science and scholarship in Amer ica. Our naval heroes of the Spanish War are not the skillful and inventive engineers who by years of patient experiment made victory possible within a few weeks, but they are the commanders who directed the battles of a few hours. There can be little doubt, therefore, that a greater popular appreciation of the real value of investiga tion in the field of natural history would attract much more attention to it on the part of our young men of superior endowment. In this field, however, there have always been individuals who were ready like missionaries to sacrifice themselves if necessary for the sake of their ideals. Thus we find even in NATUEAL HISTORY. 239 England that many of her greatest men of science have been amateurs rather than professionals, standing in this respect even to-day in striking con trast with Germany. While this insularity which has characterized the surroundings of men of science especially in this country has had its striking dis advantages, it also has one very important point in its favor : it encourages free and untrammeled think ing. _ Within the narrow limits of this article one has only one of two alternatives in the discussion of this question. Either he must make his treatment of the subject a dry recital of facts or briefly stated an nals for the sake of completeness, or he must choose from the great mass of details those most essential and typical or illustrative of the whole, and remain content to sacrifice completeness of detail. The writer has chosen the latter alternative, and much of paramount importance has of necessity been omitted. When we attempt to divorce the exponents of natu ral history from those of other branches of phys ical science we are struck with the analogy of the developmental history of organisms themselves. We find that, just as the lines of descent of these organ isms converge back to a common ancestry in the re mote past, so were our early men of science "gener alized types," and often included in the same indi vidual the chemist, the physicist, the botanist, the zoologist and the geologist. As knowledge advanced we find more and more specialization until the pres ent time. Therefore, we are not surprised to find that many of the men more or less prominent in the early science of the South enjoy distinction in more than one field. The Anglo-Saxon historian in America is prone to begin any branch of her history with the advent of 240 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. his own race to this continent. The French and Ger man elements of our population have played a prom inent part in the natural history of the South. The early explorers from Spain touched mostly on the shores of the West Indies, Mexico and South America. Naturalists of the Earlier and Later Periods. The first English man of science to come to Amer ica was Thomas Harriott (1560-1621), Ealeigh's mathematical tutor, who accompanied him on his voyage in 1585, and assisted in the establishment of the first English colony in this country. As was true of most scientific men of his time, Harriott was more of a mathematician and astronomer than naturalist. He published in 1590 a 33-page quarto volume, en titled. Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. In this volume he listed twenty- eight species of mammals, eighty-six of birds, a number of fishes and crustaceans, besides various herbs, shrubs and trees wild and cultivated. John With, Harriott's companion, made drawings of many species which are still preserved in the Brit ish Museum. Harriott assigned for the most part the Indian names of his species. Many of his char acters are easily recognized by the layman, as evi denced by the following: "Artamockes, the linguist; a bird that imitateth and useth the sounds and tones of almost all birds in the Countrie." American nat ural history thus began with Harriott, and was first planted on the shores of Virginia and North Caro lina, if indeed we may dignify these early contribu tions as natural history. The contribution next following Harriott's was by Captain John Smith, whose quaint descriptions were accurate and trustworthy. Goode gives some interesting quotations from his work: "An opossum NATUEAL HISTOEY. 241 hath a head like a swine and a taile like a rat, and is of the bignesse of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and suckleth her young." "Plums are of three sorts * * * that which they call Putchamins grow as high as a Palmeta; the fruit is like a Medler ; it is first greene, then yellow, and red when it is ripe ; if it be not ripe it will draw a man's mouth awry with much tor ment." Smith thus described about twenty mam mals, some birds, fish and "shell fish." Eaphe Hamor, secretary of the Jamestown Col ony, published in 1615 names of over sixty animals of Virginia. John Clayton visited Virginia in 1685 and published an important list of mammals, birds, and reptiles in the Philosophical Transactions of the Eoyal Society. About this time Thomas Glover in Virginia and Eev. Hugh Jones in Maryland made minor contributions. The latter collected plants and insects for Petiver. Early in the Eighteenth century, Lawson, sur veyor of the colony of North Carolina, published ac curate lists and descriptions of North Carolina plants. About the same time Bohun and Lord (N. C.) and Vernon (Md.) also supplied specimens to Petiver in London. During this period the collector's instinct was in the ascendency, and many curios illustrative of the fauna and flora of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina found their way into the cabinets of curi ous monarchs and tavern-keepers of the mother country. James I. and Charles I. seem to have been especially active in this direction, and this doubt less contributed to a more widespread interest in such matters than exists even to-day. Early in the Eighteenth century the French ex plorers began to penetrate "Louisiana" from the north. In 1672 Denyse published two works includ- Vol. 7—16. 242 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ing discussions of the natural history of the coastal and interior of our territory. Pere Laval and Le Page DuPratz may be mentioned as authors on vari ous subjects relating to the natural history of Louis iana. Kalm (after whom our beautiful mountain laurel was named) and Swartz touched somewhat on the South. In the latter part of the Seventeenth century an important group of naturalists of the "new school" appeared in Virginia, among whom were Bannister, Clayton, Mitchell and Garden. John Bannister emigrated to Virginia before 1668, and was styled by John Eay, the great English naturalist, " erudissimus vir et consummatissimus Botanicus." He was the first to give serious atten tion to American mollusks and insects. He contrib uted in 1686 America's first systematic work on nat ural history to Eay's Historia Plantarum, "Cata- logus Plantarum in Virginia Observatarum." John Clayton, the naturalist (according to Thomas Jefferson, born in Virginia), published be tween 1739 and 1762 a work under the editorship of Gronovius, entitled. Flora Virginica. He was an acute botanist of his time, and left two volumes of manuscript and an herbarium, which were destroyed by fire during the Eevolutionary War. His name is perpetuated in the delicate little spring flower popu larly known as spring beauty, Claytonia Virginica. Dr. John Mitchell (1680-1772) emigrated to Vir ginia from England early in the Eighteenth century, and spent nearly fifty years in the practice of his profession at Urbanna. He was a man of broad scientific tastes, and wrote on a number of different topics. He is known as a botanist and zoologist as well as investigator of yellow fever. He was a cor respondent of Linnaeus, and the beautiful little trailer, partridge-berry, Mitchella repens, is dedi- NATUEAL HISTOEY. 243 cated to his memory. Tuckerman states, "Mitchell and Clayton together gave to the botany of Virginia a distinguished lustre." Dr. John Tennent was a contemporary of Clayton and Mitchell, and introduced Seneca snakeroot to our materia medica. Dr. Alexander Garden (1728- 1791), of Scottish birth, was a distinguished natur alist who spent about thirty years in Charlestown, S. C. He directed his attention to plants, fishes and reptiles. According to Goode, he was one of the most careful collectors of his day. He returned to England after the Eevolutionary War, and was vice- president of the Eoyal Society in 1783. The well- known cape jessamine. Gardenia Gardeni, commem orates his name. Mark Catesby (1679-1749) lived in Virginia and the Carolinas from 1712 to 1725, and also spent a year in the Bahamas. He wrote a valuable work on the natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas. John Bartram, of Philadelphia, was an active collector of plants in the southern colonies, and supplied many specimens to Linnaeus and his contem poraries. George III., in 1765, appointed him "Bot anist to his Majesty for the Floridas," with a pension of £50 a year. Bartram is, however, to be classed as a collector and enthusiastic lover of nature rather than an investigator. Moses Bartram, a nephew of John, was also a bot anist, but William Bartram (1739-1823), son of Moses, is a more noted figure in American natural history. Cones attributes the beginning of an Amer ican school of ornithology to William Bartram 's Travels through North and South Carolina (1791). It is much to the credit of the American natural ists of colonial times that the revolutionary system of Linnaeus found devotees at once, in marked con- 244 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. trast to the conservatism of English naturalists. The two distinguished Virginia botanists accepted the Linnean reforms, as shown in the following let ter from Collinson to Linnaeus in 1742: "Your sys tem, I can tell you, obtains 'much in America. Mr. Clayton and Dr. Colden at Albany are complete pro fessors, as is Dr. Mitchell, at Urbanna, in Virginia." Thomas Jefferson was a scientist as well as a statesman. His Notes on Virginia was published in 1781. This work treated of the natural history, re sources and topography of Virginia, and was the first publication of the Hnd brought out in the young republic. Goode says: "When Jefferson went to Philadelphia to be inaugurated Vice-President he carried with him a collection of fossil bones which he had obtained in Greenbrier county, Va., together with a paper, in which were formulated the results of his studies upon them. This was published in the 'Transactions of the American Philosophical So ciety,' and the species (a gigantic fossil sloth) is still known as Megalonyx Jeffersoni." This is said to have been the first paper on paleontology pre sented in this country. Jefferson maintained his interest in matters rela ting to natural history during his term as President. His dispatching of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the precursor of the various scientific surveys and departments of the Federal government of to-day, is evidence of the part which he played in the develop ment of science in this country. Goode says: "It is probable that no two men have done so much for science in America as Jefferson and Agassiz — ^not so much by their direct contributions to knowledge as by the immense weight which they gave to scien tific interests by their advocacy." Jefferson's name is embalmed in the graceful little plant known as "twin-leaf," Jeffersonia diphylla. NATUEAL HISTOEY. 245 It is a little singular that Jefferson's personal in terest in natural history and his prominent part in the establishment of the University of Virginia did not result in a more general popular interest in the subject through the South. His service to science, however, was not so much as a propagandist as a political economist, resulting in giving science a wider opportunity for development in the entire country. He was thus an important factor in the building of the nation. Dr. Hugh Williamson (1735-1819), of North Caro lina, among important contributions in other fields of science, in 1775 published in the Philosophical Transactions a paper on the electric eel. One of the most remarkable contributors to South ern natural history was Constantino S. Eafinesque (1784-1840), who was born of French parentage at Galeta near Constantinople, and came to Phila delphia in 1802. He was a pronounced, though er ratic genius. It is hard to give an adequate esti mate of his work. We find on the one hand that he held distinct views on evolution in advance of his time, while, on the other hand, we find him publish ing in the regular binomial nomenclature of natural history twelve new species of thunder and lightning ! Many amusing incidents are told by his contempo raries illustrating his eccentricities. While but little of his work in natural history has stood the test, he may be regarded as a genius who deserved better of the world than he received, and who might have left the world a much richer legacy had it received him more kindly. He was for seven years professor of natural sciences in Transylvania University, and during this period worked over much of Kentucky and adjoining states. Meehan says: "He endured rarely paralleled misfortunes, and sacrificed a large fortune for the sake of science * * * He died on 246 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. a cot with hardly a rag to cover him, and without a solitary friend to stand by him in his last hours." Shortly after the Eevolutionary War there was a lull among the naturalists of the South, and the sec tion was henceforth destined to play a secondary part in this field. There were left Jefferson and Greenway in Virgmia, Latrobe (ichthyologist) of Baltimore, and MacBride of South Carolina. This retrogression has been attributed partly to the sparsely settled character of the region. John Abbot contributed the materials for the first American volume on insects, entitled The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia (1797). The work was compiled by Sir James E. Smith. Scudder calls Abbot "the most prominent student of the life histories of insects we have ever had. ' ' Michaux, both father and son, visited America, and made important contributions to the botany of the South. The elder Michaux founded in 1804 at Charleston the first botanical garden in this country, which, however, was destined to a brief span of life. Several other foreign collectors made similar ex cursions and published their work about this time, as Bosc in the Carolinas in 1800. Dr. Lewis LeConte (1782-1838), father of Joseph and John L. LeConte, was an acute naturalist, and had a chemical laboratory and botanical garden on his plantation in Liberty county, Ga. He refrained from publishing his own observations, which were entrusted to other contemporary naturalists. His zoological manuscripts were destroyed by fire at Columbia near the close of the war. Stephen Elliott (1771-1830) was born in Beaufort, S. C. He graduated in the class of 1791 at Yale, and was prominent in the political affairs of his state. He founded the Literary and Philosophical Society NATUEAL HISTOEY. 247 of South Carolina in 1813. In 1829 he was chosen professor of natural history and botany in South Carolina Medical College. His chief work was his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia (1821-1827). In this work he was assisted by Dr. James MacBride, another South Carolina naturalist of note. Elliott's descriptions were all at first hand. The characters of each species were given in Lin nean Latin and English in parallel. He exhibited great skill in his diagnoses of forms, and his work among the difficult family of grasses was especially well done. His herbarium is still in the custody of South Carolina College at Charleston, and is fre quently consulted by botanists. The Elliott Society of Natural History, founded at Charleston in 1853, commemorated his labors. Eavenel says : ' ' The ver satility as well as the vigor of Mr. Elliott's mind may be seen in the variety of attainments in which he excelled. Beginning life as a legislator, in which capacity he served for many years, he took prom inent and leading parts in many of the important measures of that time." Gerard Troost (1776-1850) was born and educated in Holland, and came to Philadelphia in 1810. He helped to found the Philadelphia Academy and was its first president. In 1827 he was appointed pro fessor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology in the University of Nashville. He was also state geolo gist of Tennessee from 1831 to 1849, and in this capacity brought out some of the first state geo logical reports published in this country. He made important studies of Tennessee and its geology, publishing papers on a variety of topics. He ap pears to have appreciated dimly the importance of fossils in the determination of the age of rocks. His extensive list of titles comprises matter on miner alogy, geology and paleontology. One of his im- 248 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. portant papers on crinoids found its way into the hands of James Hall, state geologist of New York, who kept it until the latter 's death, after which, as shown by Glenn, it appeared that Hall had described from time to time many of Troost 's species, thus robbing Troost of the fruits of his labor. John James Audubon (1780-1851) was born near New Orleans, and had his first lessons in art under the tuition of David, the French painter. While a man of affairs in his younger days, he began his monumental portraits of American birds, which Cuvier, the great French anatomist, pronounced, "Art's greatest Monument to Nature." Audubon is to be classed as an artist rather than a man of science, though his work must be considered one of the world's great contributions to natural history. When one reads of Audubon's enthusiastic devotion to his work and of his privations in the forest, there is a distinct touch of pity for the man of genius. In order to atone for his lack of knowledge of zoology he frequently associated with himself men of tech nical training, as Bachman and Baird. Having now considered a few representatives among the earlier Southern naturalists, a few types will now be considered among the more recent ones. In the choice of them one is at a loss to select. Many must be omitted that ought to be included, such as John Edwards Holbrook, of South Carolina, the author of a monumental work on the reptiles of North America (1842). Southern science owes a great debt to New Eng land and her older institutions of learning. Among the men who came here from that section may be mentioned Eev. Moses A. Curtis, who was born in Berkshire county, Mass., in 1808. At the age of twenty-two he went to Wilmington, N. C, as tutor in the family of Governor Dudley. He was a very JOHN J. AUDUBON. NATUEAL HISTOEY. 249 active and energetic botanist. In 1834 he published an Enumeration of the Plants Growing Spontane ously Around Wilmington, N. C. Among the plants he especially investigated may be mentioned Venus 's fly-trap {Dionoea muscipula), the most remarkable plant growing in this country. Curtis entered the ministry in 1835, and spent some time as an Epis copal missionary in western North Carolina. He carried his plant portfolio with him and collected specimens in the mountainous region. Asa Gray said of him, "No living botanist is so well acquainted with the vegetation of the Southern Alleghany Mountains." While Curtis published some papers on the flowering plants of North Carolina, he is best known as a student of the fungi. When one con siders that in his day there was no descriptive man ual of these remarkable and difficult plants, he is led to marvel at the skill and perseverance he displayed in working them out. He paid especial attention to the edible mushrooms and published several papers on this subject. In 1867 he published a Catalogue of the Indigenous and Naturalized Plants of North Carolina, enumerating 4,800 species. This was the first attempt made in the United States to list the lower as well as the higher forms of a local flora. Henry William Eavenel (1814-1887) was born in the parish of St. John's, Berkeley, S. C. He grad uated with distinction at South Carolina College in 1832. He formed early in life a passion for natural history, which soon centered on the field of botany. As a result of an attack of illness, resulting in seri ous impairment of his hearing, he was debarred from a career as a teacher in his chosen field. He devoted himself, like his friend Curtis of North Carolina, to a study of the fungi. Professor Far- low, his biographer, says: "It is doubtful whether any other American botanist has ever covered so 250 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. wide a range of plants. * * * He discovered a surprisingly large number of new species. * * * For a long time he and his friend, the late Eev. M. A. Curtis, of North Carolina, were practically the only Americans who knew specifically the fungi of the United States." Between 1863 and 1860, he pub lished Fungi Caroliniani Exsiccati, which was the pioneer in this field in America. He also published a number of minor papers, not, however, commen surate with his actual services to science. Professor Farlow says: "Apart from the publications which bear his name, if we would correctly estimate his contributions to American botany, we must also in clude the very numerous notes and comments fur nished by him to other writers, through whose pages they are scattered, a monument to his liberality and freedom from professional jealousy as well as to his industry and acuteness." Eavenel 's name is per petuated in the very peculiar genus of rusts, Bav- enelia. The German revolution of 1848 sent to America a number of worthy citizens, including prominent nat uralists, of whom the South obtained a share. Among these may be mentioned Gattinger, of Ten nessee, and Mohr, of Alabama. Charles Theodore Mohr was bom in Esslingen on the Neckar, Dec. 28, 1824. He brought with him to America that enthusiastic devotion to science for which his countrymen are so justly celebrated. After a rather varied career in several sections of the country, he finally settled in Mobile in 1857. Here he engaged in a profitable drug business until the period of the War of Secession, during which time he was employed by the Confederate govern ment in manufacturing and testing drugs. Dr. Mohr subsequently came into touch with the prominent botanists of the country and contributed a number NATUEAL HISTOEY. 251 of papers, especially along economic lines. The greater part of Dr. Mohr's collections are the prop erty of the Alabama Geological Survey, and are de posited with the University of Alabama. His name is perpetuated in the beautiful shrub, Mohroden- dron, Silver Bells, which grows in his adopted state. Dr. Mohr was a careful, painstaking student, and kept fully abreast of the advancing thought in his field even to his ripe old age, as indicated by the fact that he spent his last days classifying and ar ranging the herbarium of the University of Ala bama according to the latest advanced system of Engler and Prantl. Mohr's chief work was Plant Life of Alabama, published in 1900 by the United States Department of Agriculture from material furnished by the Alabama Geological Survey. A name long to be honored in the annals of Amer ican botany is that of Dr. A. W. Chapman, the author of the Flora of the Southern United States. Chapman was born of English parents in Southamp ton, Mass., in 1809 ; died April 6, 1899, at Apalachi- cola, Fla., in his 90th year. After his graduation from Amherst College in 1830 he began life as a teacher near Savannah, Ga. He soon equipped him self as a medical practitioner, and finally made his home at Apalachicola, Fla., in 1847, where he spent the greater part of his long and useful life. Dr. Chapman became enthusiastically interested in the rich Southern flora, and an active collector in his adopted state. He was a constant correspondent of Drs. Torrey and Gray and contributed much mate rial to their Flora of North America. Dr. M. A. Curtis, of North Carolina, and Dr. Chapman under took to prepare a manual of the flowering plants of the Southern states east of the Mississippi Eiver and south of Virginia and Kentucky, but on account of the latter 's active interest in the fungi, Dr. Chap- 252 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. man undertook his task alone. He finally brought out his first edition in 1860, just at the opening of the war. He heard nothing of the results of his labors for four years, "when Dr. Gray," as he writes, "smuggled through the lines a budget of friendly notices of the work which appeared during those years in the periodicals of this country and Europe, and all at once I awoke to bigness." Dr. Chapman's work was for many years the leading authority on the plants of the South, and in the 88th year of his life he brought out a final edition of the work. Dr. Chapman was a man or rare physique, and in the quiet retirement of his Florida home en joyed the high esteem of his neighbors and fellow townsmen. He was a hospitable gentleman of the old school and a delightful correspondent. His final collections went to the Biltmore Herbarium. Dr. Chapman's loyalty to the scientific interests of the South is shown by statements to the writer in 1895. He was offering his collection for sale, and wrote: "I want it to remain in Southern hands." After disposing of the collection to the Biltmore estate, he wrote: "I have succeeded in keeping my herbarium at home. I have sold it to the Vanderbilt establishment at Biltmore, North Carolina." Dr. Chapman's biographer. Dr. Mohr, says of his crit ical work in systematic botany that it "evinces the scientific turn of mind and the method required for enduring work in phytography, which secured to the author a place in the ranks of the writers of author ity." As above stated, the bulk of the natural history work done in the South has been due to individual initiative. This is true even when we take account of the institutions and organizations such as the state geological surveys, for they were founded at the earnest solicitation of a few active individuals. NATUEAL HISTOEY. 253 In this short sketch no full discussion can be given of institutions; they are treated elsewhere in this work. Yet, a general reference to their bearing on work in natural history must be made. Geological Surveys. Geological research in the South, though hardly to be considered "natural history," should perhaps be considered on account of its relation to the main subject ; and with it a short sketch of the establish ment and personnel of representative state geo logical surveys. The earlier Southern state surveys were estab lished — North Carolina in 1823 ; Tennessee in 1831 ; Virginia in 1835 ; South Carolina in 1844 ; Alabama in 1848 ; Missouri in 1853 ; Mississippi in 1854. Denison Olmstead (1791-1859), "a Connecticut school-teacher," while professor of chemistry in the University of North Carolina, began a geological survey of that state in 1823. While this can scarcely be dignified with the title of survey, it nevertheless marks the first appropriation out of public funds made in this country for such a purpose ($250 for four years!) On Olmstead's call to Yale in 1825, he was succeeded by Elisha Mitchell (1793-1857). This survey suffered varied fortunes, but a notable point in passing is that Mitchell's geological map of North Carolina, published in 1842, was the first of its kind to be issued in this country. Mitchell made important contributions especially to the theories of the origin and distribution of gold deposits in North Carolina. He lost his life by accident while explor ing the noble mountain peak which now bears his name. His name is also commemorated in the Elisha Mitchell scientific Society of the University of North Carolina, which is one of the most efficient organiza tions of its kind in the South. 254 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. L. Vanuxem (1792-1848), while professor at South Carolina College, was the first American to point out the probable absorption of atmospheric gases by the earth's crust, and consequent secular changes in the terrestrial atmosphere. Michael Tuomey (1805-1857), a native of Ireland, was the first geologist of South Carolina, and went to Alabama in 1848. He deserves especial mention as one of the most active and earliest workers on Southern geology. James M. Safford (1822-1907) was appointed state geologist of Tennessee in 1854. His Geological Reconnaissance was published in 1856. Merrill says: "From a strictly geological standpoint the matter given in * * * the closing chapters of the report was of greatest importance * * * This re port shows on the part of Safford a thorough insight into the intricacies of the structure of the state and an ability to grasp the salient features and master the broader problems in a manner perhaps not real ized by many of his contemporaries and successors." Joseph LeConte (University of South Carolina) published his first geological paper on coral growth as exemplified on the peninsula and keys of Florida (1857). According to conclusions here reached — a fundamental contribution to the theory of the sub ject: "The peninsula and keys of Florida have been the result of the combined action of at least three agencies. First, the Gulf Stream laid the founda tion; upon that corals built up to the water level; and, finally, the work was completed by the waves." Joseph LeConte (1823-1901) was born on his father's plantation in Liberty county, Ga. His life reads almost like a romance, and cannot be even ade quately glimpsed at in this brief sketch. His youth was spent on his father's plantation, and he at tended college at Athens, Ga. He spent much time in NATUEAL HISTOEY. 255 travel through the North, and took his medical de gree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. He later became dissatisfied with the field of medicine and spent some time at Harvard with Agassiz, where his surroimdings served as an agree able mental tonic. LeConte 's first professional charge was at Ogle thorpe University, Midway, Ga., where he taught all the sciences. He next filled for four years the chair of botany and geology at the University of Georgia, to which he was called in 1852. Owing to adminis trative difficulties here he accepted the professor ship of chemistry and geology in the College of South Carolina in 1857. In spite of his onerous duties here, he continued to write occasional import ant papers on various scientific and philosophical questions. During the period of the war the College disbanded, and LeConte served the Confederate government in several different ways, being in 1864 appointed chemist of the Niter and Mining Bureau with rank of major. In 1868, after the trying vicis situdes of the reconstruction period, Joseph Le Conte, with his brother, received calls to the Uni versity of California, and the South thus lost the services of another of its men of genius. In LeConte 's estimate of his own life accomplish ment, he says, among other things: 'In geology, I believe some real advance was made in my series of papers (1) on the structure and origin of mountain ranges; (2) on the genesis of metalliferous veins; (3) especially in that on critical periods in the history of the earth; (4) on the demonstration of the Ozarkian or, better, the Sierran epoch as one of great importance in the history of the earth." The devotion of LeConte 's students and friends in the University of California was sublime. He passed away in the embrace of his family and loving 256 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. friends during a visit to the Yosemite Valley in 1901. Among the especially effective geological surveys made or being made in the South may be mentioned the Arkansas Survey, under the directorship of Dr. J. C. Branner, himself a native of Tennessee, now of Leland Stanford Jr. University; the Alabama Sur vey, by Dr. Eugene A. Smith ; the Texas Survey, by Dr. F. W. Simonds; the Mississippi Survey under Dr. E. W. Hilgard, now of the University of Cali fornia, whose career in the South would make a fit ting accompaniment to that of LeConte, his friend and colleague of many years. It is to be regretted that in many states there has been a growing disposition to shift responsibility to the National Geological Survey. From the stand point of purely scientific accomplishment, if not eventually from economic ends, there is no doubt that the cause may suffer in the hands of one im mense bureau, dominated by one man or a few men, who are at least in danger of suppressing freedom of discussion. Among the factors making for advancement in these fields in the South should be considered a num ber of institutions besides the state geological sur veys. The educational institutions in the South are treated elsewhere in this work. Especial attention should be called to two estab lishments that are active factors in the field of bot any, viz., the Missouri Botanical Garden, at St. Louis, and the Biltmore Estate of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, near Asheville, N. C. The former, estab lished by Shaw, is one of the important scientific in stitutions of the entire country, and the latter has an important collection and library, and a corps of active workers in the field of forestry and system atic botany. NATUEAL HISTOEY. 257 Much is, doubtless, in the future to be expected of the Agricultural Experiment Stations, which were founded by act of Congress in 1887. The bill estab lishing these institutions is known as the Hatch Act, Eepresentative Hatch, of Missouri, having been a prominent advocate of the bill. The Experiment Stations were founded for the scientific investiga tion of problems related to agriculture, and some of the most important problems of biology are legit imate fields for exploitation under the terms of the Hatch Act. Unfortunately, in several Southern states the activities of the Experiment Stations have, in the hands of the demagogue, been diverted into improper channels, so that they have become rather bureaus of information exploited for political ends than really scientific institutions. Fortunately, these conditions are improving. The field of natural history has now given way to the science of biology. Its problems have ramified into so many channels that no one man can now hope to compass it all. The great need of the South now in order to encourage real accomplishment in this and other fields so important to the industrial as well as cultural progress of the region, is adequate libraries and a healthy, enthusiastic public senti ment tending to attract amateurs to the study of the still incompletely explored region of the South. In an attempt to trace out the factors that have produced the South's contributions to natural history, we find that the earliest devotees came with the first colonists from Great Britain, and brought some exponents of this field of culture among others to the shores of Virginia and North Carolina. After the establishment of the United States as a nation, the encouragement given by Jefferson and others of Virginia was an exceedingly important factor to the whole country. During the Nineteenth Vol. 7—17. 258 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFK century the South owes much of its accomplishment in this field to the influences of the older New Eng land colleges, and especially to their alumni who emigrated southward. In Louisiana and other sec tions of the South much is due to scientific influences from France, as illustrated by Audubon and Lang- lois. Due consideration must also be given to the influx of Germans, as illustrated by Mohr, Hilgard and Gattinger. It is quite probable that up to the period of the war there was more local interest that might be considered indigenous in South Carolina than in any other Southern state. From the ethnical standpoint, judging from the leading lights among Southern naturalists, we are compelled to yield the palm to the French element of our composition, for considering their proportion they here certainly predominate, though much is due the Germans. BiBUOGRAPHT. — Audubon, John James, Life of, by his widow (New York and London, 1902); Call, Richard E.: The Life and Writings of Rafinesque (Filson Club Publications, No. 10, Louisville, 1895); Engel- mann, George: The Botanical Works of the Late George Engelmann, ed. by Trealease and Gray (Cambridge, 1887); GiU, Theodore: Biographical Memoir of John Edwards Holbrook (Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Science, 5:49, 1903); Goode, G. B.: The Beginnings of Natural History in America (Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. III., 1884-86); Hilgard, E. W.: Biographical Memoir of Joseph LeConte (Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Science, 1907); MerriU, Geo. P.: Contributions to the History of American Geology (Annual Report Smithsonian Institution for 1904); Riley, F. L.: Sir William Dunbar: the Pioneer Scientist of Mississippi (Mississippi His torical Society Publications, 2: 85-112); Scribner, F. Lamson: Southern Botanists (Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, 20: 315, 1893); Schweinitz, L. D. von: A Sketch of the Life and Work of (Journal Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society for 1885-6); Smith, E. A.: Charles Theodore Mohr (A biographical sketch inMohr's Plant Life of Alabama); Trealease, W.: The Academy of Science of St. Louis: A Biography {Popular Science Monthly, 64:117, 1903) and The Missouri Botanical Garden (Ibid., 62:193-221). Samuel McCutchen Bain, Professor of Botany, University of Tennessee. PHILOSOPHY. 259 CHAPTEE XIL THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY. N his very unique and interesting Autobi ography, Prof. Joseph LeConte relates, in expressions of grateful pleasure, the dis cussions upon scientific and philosophic subjects which he enjoyed in the summer of 1858 with Mr. Langdon Chevis, a South Carolina coast planter. He asserts that, in the course of their dis cussion of the famous Vestiges of Creation then exciting the world-wide interest of scientists and philosophers, Chevis expressed and amplified in con siderable detail the identical thought regarding the "survival of the fit" as a prime factor in organic evolution that was subsequently enunciated and elaborated by Darwin in the Origin of Species. Le Conte then says: "Why did he not publish his idea? No one well acquainted with the Southern people, and especially with the Southern planters, would ask such a question. Nothing could be more remark able than the wide reading, the deep reflection, the refined culture and the originality of thought and observation characteristic of them ; and yet the idea of publication never entered their minds. What right had anyone to publish, unless it was something of the greatest importance, something that would revolutionize thought?" This, undoubtedly, expresses, with exactness, the mental attitude of the Southern scholar of former days. Deep thinkers were the men of the planta tions; wide readers, keen observers and profound reasoners. And yet the dignified modesty and the 260 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lofty ideals of intellectual culture which were the outgrowth of their peculiar environment — the del icacy, refinement and seclusion of the family life upon the large, slave-cultured plantations — led them to shrink, instinctively, from obtruding the results of their quiet refiections upon the notice of the world at large, unless, indeed, it should be something so important as to "revolutionize thought." Hence it is that much of the best thought of the South has been lost to permanent literature. This does not mean, however, that it or its infiuence has been lost necessarily to the world. The philosophic con ceptions of the great thinkers were promulgated and disseminated through oral discussion with friends and neighbors and hospitably-received visitors from abroad upon the great patriarchal estates, by volu minous correspondence, by family teaching and in the schools and colleges which, for the most part, were manned by instructors of the same modest and retiring type. No better illustration of this characteristic quality of the Southern scholar is afforded than by the case of LeConte himself. While a professor in Southern colleges, before the war period, he observed and reasoned and had reached practically all the great scientific deductions which subsequently made him famous, and yet he published no papers expository of his work or ideas until his removal from the South to California at the close of the war. The influence of Southern thought upon philosophy, like its influence, in the main, upon the literature and upon the theories and practices of government, was mainly in the development and the maintenance of high ideals on the part of the individual and in the immediate community, rather than in technical con tribution to a general literature, and it was exerted ihrough actual living and in personal and oral teach- PHILOSOPHY. 261 ing rather than through the agency of the printed page. The libraries of the world therefore contain but few books or publications upon technical philo sophic subjects furnished by writers of the South in the earlier periods of its history. And yet, if the aim of the highest philosophy be the apprehension of the fundamental and eternal principles governing right living and determining the relations of man to God, his neighbor and Nature, the ideals of conduct exemplified by the men of the South in their individual lives and their social relations, born of their close observation and thoughtful reasoning and commended to their chil dren and their immediate communities, must have had an infiuence upon current local thought and upon the development of the communal life even greater than that which would have been afforded by technical investigation and publication, no mat ter how profound. It is not contended, by any means, that exemplary liAdng was universal through out the South, nor is it denied that its peculiar social institutions involved something of evil to all con cerned and something of injustice in the classifica tion of its peoples consequent thereon. But all ob servers are agreed that, from its early settlement to the time when its intellectual energies were absorbed in the great political disputes which led to the War of Secession, the thought of the South and its communal spirit were directed and domi nated by the quiet and profound thinkers of the great plantations and the superb examples of ethical living which they afforded. Perhaps, therefore, the noteworthy and the peculiar contribution of the South to philosophy in its earlier history was the creation and the fine effort at realization of high ideals of human conduct based upon the essential and immutable principles of truth, equity and jus- 262 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tice. The great teachers of the schools and colleges of the South of the period, many of whom, after the fashion of the times, were clergymen as well, held to these ideals and exalted them in the estimation of their pupils and thus, although contributing but little to the literature of philosophy, they impressed upon the community at large a truly philosophic mode of thought which subsequently became crea tive and now bids fair to become highly and richly productive. During the colonial period this lack of original contributions to philosophy on the part of Ameri cans was undoubtedly due to the fact that the coun try was more imitative than creative, as became a political dependency. Foreign influences completely dominated and overshadowed whatever feeble at tempts at philosophizing in the shape of printed books were made by the American colonists, and among the influences those of the British were, of course, predominant, through Locke, Berkeley and Eeid ; then followed the French naturalism of Mon tesquieu, the materialism of La Mettrie and the eclecticism of the positivists ; and finally the German influence as known in the works of the Kantian and post-Kantian idealists. I. W. Eiley, in his American Philosophy — The Early Schools (1907), says that though the study and writing of philosophical works was uncommon in the colonial period, still "not a few of the early planters were men of decided specu lative tastes who were familiar with the abstract philosophy of their times; but their interest being chiefly practical, they fell back upon the fundamental principles of political and ethical science, because of their desire for political independence." The various philosophical movements in America be came sectionalized in their broader aspects, the North standing for idealism, while the South stood PHILOSOPHY. 263 for materialism and the middle West for the philos ophy of common sense. ^ Even so, the bibliography of the South's contribu tions to philosophy is not altogether a blank and barren page. Aside from the great political phi losophers who were foremost in developing the genius and in shaping the governmental forms of the young American Eepublic, and who held it fast for many years to sound public policies, among the earlier writers of the South were some whose works are worthy to rank as original and valuable con tributions to the technical literature of philosophy. The Essays, Moral and Philosophical, of the bril liant and versatile George Tucker (1775-1861), the biographer of Jefferson and for many years pro fessor of philosophy at the University of Virginia, contain, among many other reflections which are valuable, a treatment of the Will which is strikingly original and suggestive. Of the native materialists of the South probably the most original was Joseph Buchanan (1785-1812) of Kentucky, who, in his Philosophy of Human Na ture, denied that the soul had an independent and immaterial existence and asserted that mind is merely an organic state of matter. Another early materialist was Thomas Cooper (1758-1840) of South Carolina, who was offered the professorship of natural science and law in the Uni versity of Virginia. While Cooper was strongly condemned by many for his radicalism in philoso phy, religion and politics, his influence throughout the South, and particularly in South Carolina, was powerful, chiefly because of his advocacy of the doctrines of extreme state's rights, nullification and free trade. He was therefore one of the political philosophers whose principal work consisted in shaping the policies of the coimtry. His writings 264 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. include Political Essays (1800) ; Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy (1826) ; and A Treatise on the Law of Libel and the Liberty of the Press (1830). Thomas Jefferson, while he did not contribute much to original philosophy with his pen, greatly aided the study of philosophy by his broad-minded ness in planning for the University of Virginia and in the selection of works to be used. The influence of the foreign schools of philosophy is seen in his recommendation of Hutcheson's Introduction to Moral Philosophy, Locke's treatise on The Conduct of the Mind in Search of Truth, and works by Dugald Stewart, Lord Karnes and others of their stamp. He then sought to instil into the minds of the stu dents the principles of French rationalism through the use of Condorcet's works, and he also recom mended Priestley's Corruptions of Christianity. Another Southern philosopher was Frederick Beasley (1777-1845), who was bom in North Caro lina, entered Princeton in 1793, and after graduation was a tutor in the college. He subsequently became an Episcopal priest in Baltimore, a member of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia and provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He wrote Search of Truth (1822) ; Review of the Philosophy of the Human Mind by Thomas Brown; and Vindication of the Argument a Priori. The Philosophy of the Animated Existence of John Berry Gorman (1793-1864), of South Carolina, a semi-scientific, semi-philosophic explanation of the relations of mind and body is noteworthy as con taining germ-ideas which have since been largely elaborated in our modem physiological psychology. The Follies of Positive Philosophy of Thomas Lanier Cluagman (1812-1897), of North Carolina, presents a trenchant, brilliant and very suggestive PHILOSOPHY. 265 attack upon Comte and his followers as understood in his day. Of later date the monographs on Memory by J. K. P. Sayler (1839), of Tennessee; on The Law of Hypnotism by E. Stewart Hyer (1860), of Georgia; and the more pretentious work on Ethics, Descrip tive and Explanatory of S. E. Mayes (1863), of Texas, are admirable contributions to the topics in dicated. Another type of contribution of this period which should be taken into account in this connection is such as is furnished by writers of the character of Joseph LeConte and Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, some of whose works are more philosophic than scientific. Joseph LeConte was born in Liberty County, Ga., Feb. 26, 1823, and died in the Yosemite Valley, Cal., July 6, 1901. In 1841 he was graduated from Frank lin College, Georgia ; studied medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; and later entered the Ijawrence Scientific School at Harvard. He was professor of natural science in Oglethorpe University, Georgia, in 1852 ; of geology and natural history in Franklin College, 1852-56 ; of geology and chemistry in the University of South Carolina, 1856-69; and from 1869 until his death of geology and natural history in the University of California. His articles in philosophical journals created wide spread comment because of the keen insight and originality and evidences of deep research. He con tended that a true psychology must be reached through investigations in physiology. His Religion and Science (1873) was a series of Sunday evening lectures delivered in the Independent Church, Oak land, Cal., and gave what he called a rational view of the fundamental truths of religion from the sci entific standpoint. His Sight: An Exposition of the 266 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Principles of Monocular and Binocular Vision (1880) is an original contribution to science and is much used in psychological courses. In Evolution: Its Nature, Its Evidences and Its Relation to Re ligious Thought (1887) he strives to answer the three questions: What is evolution? Is it true? and If true, what then? Nathaniel Southgate Shaler was born in Newport, Ky., Feb. 20, 1841, and died at Cambridge, Mass., April 10, 1906. After graduating from the Law rence Scientific School, Harvard, in 1862, he served in the Union Army, then returned to Harvard as assistant and instructor in geology and zoology, in 1868 became professor of palaeontology there, was transferred to the chair of geology in 1887 and from 1891 until his death was dean of the Lawrence School. From 1873-80 he was in charge of the Ken tucky Geological Survey, was at various times com missioner of agriculture of Massachusetts, and from 1884 was in charge of the Atlantic division of the United States Geological Survey. As said above, many of his works were more philosophic than scien tific, the chief of them being The Nature of Intellec tual Property; The Interpretation of Nature (1893); The Individual: Study of Life and Death (1900); The Neighbor (1904); The Citizen: A Study of the Individual and the Government (1904). He also wrote Kentucky: A Pioneer Com monwealth; The United States of America: A Study of the American Commonwealth (1894) ; and many geological and scientific works. Chief among what may be called the present-day philosophers of the South stand, of course, Noah K. Davis, late the distinguished professor of moral philosophy in the University of Virginia, whose prolific pen has contributed numerous standard texts to the literature of philosophy, and James PHILOSOPHY. 267 Mark Baldwin, of the Jolms Hopkins University, whose frequent and brilliant papers rank him among the most acute and profound of modern psycholo gists. Noah Knowles Davis was born at Philadelphia, May 15, 1830, and when he was six years of age his parents moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 1849 he was graduated from Mercer University, Penfield, Ga., and then spent several years in the study of chem istry, also during these years editing The Model Architect and The Carpenter's Guide. In 1852 he was appointed to the chair of natural science in Howard College, Marion, Ala. ; in 1859 became prin cipal of the Judson Female Institute at the same place; in 1868 was elected president of Bethel Col lege, Eussellville, Ky. ; and in 1873 was appointed to the professorship of moral philosophy at the Uni versity of Virginia, which he held until 1906, when he became professor emeritus. He has given much thought and attention to metaphysical studies and many philosophical treatises written by him have been published. The first of these was an extensive work on deductive logic entitled The Theory of Thought (1880), a work which, based on the writings of Aristotle, is one of the most acute, comprehensive and satisfactory treatises on logic written in Eng lish. He also published Elements of Deductive Logic (1890) a work intended as a text-book for students; Elements of Psychology (1892) ; Elements ¦of Inductive Logic (1895) ; Elements of Ethics (1900) ; and Elementary Ethics (1900). James Mark Baldwin was born at Columbia, S. C, June 12, 1861. His early education was obtained at Thompson's Military Academy, Columbia, S. C, and at Salem Collegiate Institute, Salem, N. J.; he then entered Princeton University from which he gradu ated in 1884, during the years of 1884-86 further 268 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. pursued his studies at Berlin, Leipzig and Tubingen, and in 1886-87 studied at Princeton Theological Seminary. During the latter years he was instructor in French and German at Princeton; from 1887-89 was professor of philosophy at Lake Forest Univer sity (111.) ; and in 1889 became professor of phi losophy at Toronto University, Canada. While at Toronto, Dr. Baldwin established the first labora tory of experimental psychology in the British Em pire. In 1893 he was called to the chair of psychol ogy at Princeton and while at that university estab lished a similar laboratory. After ten years of service at Princeton, he became professor of phi losophy and psychology at Johns Hopkins Univer sity, Baltimore, Md., where he now is. Dr. Baldwin is a strong believer in experimental psychology and a weighty exponent of evolution as applied to consciousness; and has made a special study of illusions, social heredity, organic selection, and genetic psychology. Among his contributions to philosophy and psychology are the following works: German Psychology of To-day (translation, 1886) ; Handbook of Psychology (1890) ; Elements of Psychology (1893) ; Mental Development in the Child and the Race (1896) ; Social and Ethical In terpretations in Mental Development (1898) ; Story of the Mind (1898) ; Fragments in Philosophy and Science (1902) ; Development and Evolution (1902) ; Genetic Logic (Vol. I, 1906). He was also editor- in-chief of the Dictionary of Philosophy and Psy chology (1901-6) ; and edited the Psychological Re view, Princeton Contributions to Psychology, and the Library of Historical Psychology. Henry C. White, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga^ THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 269 CHAPTEE XIII. CONTEIBUTIONS OF THE SOUTH TO THE CHAEACTEE AND CULTUEE OF THE NOETH. EW Englanders at all stages in the history of the country have busied themselves so actively with advertising in print their part in the making of America ; the compact cir cle of New England authors before the war managed so effectively to enhance each other's reputations by piling criticism on authorship and authorship on criticism again ; that most foreigners and many busy Americans have absorbed the notion that American character is a New England product, and "culture" a plant nourished solely in that region. This idea has been reinforced by the assiduity of New Eng landers since the war, in working over their material, in composing voluminous biographies, appreciations, memoirs, poems, critiques, histories about every New Englander who ever wrote a book, or, indeed, did anything out of the ordinary. This assiduity reflects, of course, no discredit upon New England. Quite the contrary. But it must be taken into account in reducing to its actual value New England's real part in the making of the coun try. Especially it must be taken into account in any attempt to get at what the South has contributed to the character and culture not only of the nation at large, but of that part of it which New England is currently reported, on her own authority, to have moulded — the Northern half. As a matter of fact, what is called the Puritan influence, what is fathered on the New England conscience, is not essentially 270 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Puritan at all ; it is British seriousness, aggravated by a hand-to-hand conflict with a new country, and the responsibility for it is shared about equally by Massachusetts and Virginia. The New England conscience flourishes vigorously even to-day in the inhabitants of the Old Dominion, and while the expression is sometimes different, the variation may be charged chiefly to the effect of climate and soil. The truth is, that so long as Amer ica was distinctly a nation of transplanted Britons, the New England conscience, so-called, was a com mon heritage of all. It is only since the flood of alien blood has swamped the country and diluted the original strain that this conscience has ceased to be the common standard, however modified as to par ticular judgments by differences in the conditions to be faced. In New England proper at one time, for instance, it approved capital punishment for witches, promoted piracy and drew sustenance from the slave traffic. In the South, at another period, it sanc tioned the duel and the holding of the involuntary black man in bondage. At the present time, because the white population of the South is still of pre ponderantly British decent, because the alien has not swarmed over the land and diluted the original stock, the last stronghold of the New England con science is actually below Mason and Dixon's line, with its citadel at Eichmond, Va. The thing sur vives, in spots, in New England also, but only in little pools and back waters not yet reached by the tide. Even the presence of the negro, with his stone-age morals, has not sufficed to destroy it in the South —though it has, of course, modified it— for the negro stands outside the stream. So much in general, in order to clear the air for the consideration of the effect of the South proper upon the North proper; that is, the influence of the THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 271 characteristics acquired by the Britons transplanted to the country south of Philadelphia by contact with their new environment upon the Britons, and others transplanted to the country north of Philadelphia as modified by their new environment. In the first place, then, the Briton in the South, even if he were not descended from the landed gentry, a special breed of masters of other men in the old country, presently developed for himself a special breed of masters of men by reason of his training on a plantation where he ruled over many. At the same time he gained a boldness, an initiative, an adaptability quite foreign to the stay-at-home Briton. For he had to rule over an alien and bar baric people in a new and unformed country strange to him and to them. In the second place this Briton in the South did not develop technical skill — having no use for it; did not develop parsimony, because with so rough an instrument as the negro to do his work cheese paring methods were impossible. Also, living mostly out of doors, having few long winter nights to kill, he was not tempted to read and write over much. The Briton settled in New England (for we must exclude New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania from this classification; indeed, all three up to the time of the War of Secession had more affinity with the South than with New England) was forced by his environment into a narrowed life. He lived in villages, in small towns, and his kingdom was his house and garden, not a thousand acres; he bred citizens, not rulers; he worked in a country not physically lavish and he learned parsimony. For the same reason he acquired technical skill ; he built ships. In the long winter nights he read and wrote. His library had been selected and brought over from England at the very height of the Calvinistic mad- 272 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ness which possessed that country for a while, did its work and then receded as all such movements normally do. Upon these books thus selected, the New Englander fed — he had few others — and from them he drew inspiration. Hence in New England the theological taint grew and stamped permanently upon the people certain marks of the religious fa natic and the doctrinaire which linger to this day. Beginning of Southern Influence upon Northern Culture. The influence of the South upon the character and culture of the North begins with the Eevolution, when the colonies, which up to that time had pursued their separate evolutionary paths, joined together to march in company upon a broader way. It is a commonplace of history that, in the movement which divorced the colonies from the mother country, the South, concentrated for the moment in Virginia, in stinctively took command; that New England not without resentments (for her training was no more in taking orders than in giving them) accepted Vir ginia's leadership and continued to accept it in the national government until the West, grown to man hood, snatched the sceptre which it was to hold till the great corporate interests of the present decade, and the one just before it, laid hands on it. These brought it for a season to Wall Street — a Northern habitat, geographically, but representing actually the collected masterfulness of all the sections, with the West preponderant in the list of masters. Thus the first influence of the South upon the char acter of the North was in furnishing a type of states man — a type which modified profoundly New Eng land's native idea, the glorified selectman. That selectman, in the person of John Adams, demon strated very early that the qualities which made the ruler of a pent-up Utica were not the qualities which THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 273 made a President of the United States. The larger qualities, dormant in the New Englander because of disuse, were promptly developed with the hint the Southern statesman gave. That section furnished presently a Webster, at the same time that the theo logical ferment working in her was busy manufac turing John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison and Horace Greeley to carry on her influence in another and later stage of the country's development. Just here it is well to note that the influence of Thomas Jefferson is one the nation is constantly acknowledging without anything like an adequate comprehension of what it is or how it is applied. Everybody knows that in the last resort every pro fessor of democracy appeals to Mr. Jefferson, and labels as "Jeffersonian" any brand of heresy which he is desirous of palming off upon the plain people. North, South, East or West. The truth is that the influence of Jefferson in these later generations has been largely maintained and applied by the institu tion which he founded with the loyal assistance of Joseph Carrington Cabell under the shadow of his home at Monticello — the University of Virginia. That foundation, the first educational establishment on the continent the inspiration of which was not at all religious but purely civic — indeed, it remains in a certain very real sense the only educational institu tion in any English-speaking country which is of purely civic inspiration; which retains no taint of the original monastic ideal of the college — has been the interpreter to the whole country of the civic spirit of the Eevolution, best embodied in Mr. Jeffer son's person ever since it opened its doors in 1825. In a manner the whole South is alumnus of it — for it has been the meeting place of the selected youth of the ruling families of that section from the begin- Vol. 7—18. 274 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ning, the point from which, after imbibing that civic spirit, they streamed out over the land. The cumulative influence has been enormous — ^for if you are a Southern man, whether your point of origin is Maryland or Texas, whether your residence is Mobile or Bangor or San Francisco, either you are yourself an alumnus of the University, or your father was — or, at the remotest, your grandfather. Thus the University has become the nurse of a whole political school, an entire attitude toward law and authority, the formative power behind the party — by whatever name it has been called from time to time — which has insisted on the strict limitation of the centralizing tendency in our government, which has upheld the rights of the states as against the federal power, and been, by and large, the apostle of local self-government. All this again is no more really "Jeffersonian" than the New England conscience is Puritan. It is the British instinct of local independence and per sonal privacy, and is stronger in the South to-day for exactly the same reason that the New England conscience is stronger there; because the original British stock is least dilute there and holds still to its instincts, though the manifestations are, as in the other case, widely determined by the local condi tions. The influence, in question, concentrated in the South, and absolute master there, has permeated the West and served in the North to put a drag upon the drift, constantly increasing in that section, to wipe out local independence — a drift which is due to the same pervasive alien who has destroyed the New Englander 's own New England conscience. How powerful the drag has been it would, of course, be rash to attempt to estimate, but it has at least served to keep the conservative minorities alive. The model of statesmanship continued to be the THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 275 Southern planter-aristocrat type until the advent of Andrew Jackson, who represents the effect of a rude backwoods environment of more than one genera tion's duration upon material not very different from that which furnished Washington on the one hand and Adams on the other. He made possible the appearance in public life of what has since come to be considered the typical Yankee — by no means a New Englander, but a product of the ragged edges of British civilization. Such a product, also, was Abraham Lincoln, possessing no more of the theo logical taint, which is New England's hall mark, than Jackson himself; being, in fact, the direct de scendant of the transplanted Englishman placed in circumstances where he had to civilize himself, with out a model, with hardly any guide but the strong grain of the stock from which he sprang, however irregularly and uncanonically. Lincoln furnished the next type, and it is a South ern, not a Northern type. The like might be found all along the edges of the Southern wave of popu lation as it pushed westward into the wilderness. It could not be found along the edge of the wave which had its origin in New England, because, among other things, the creation of the type demands the skip ping of at least one generation of literacy and thrift. The man must start from the very bottom. The uncouth Westerner who gave the tone to American statesmanship and the cachet of Ameri canism abroad from Jackson's time, almost to our own, is thus an offspring of the South rather than the North, though the South is apt to disown him and the North to claim and glorify him. Actual geneological back-tracks in the case of any one of the notable examples of the type in our history, whether it be Lincoln or Jackson or Davy Crockett, or more florid specimens like Thomas H. Benton and Sam 276 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Houston, usually lead to a Southem origin, and any body who chooses to survey the field may easily con vince himself from statistics that the Yankee grew up in the Southwest. He made Missouri and Texas, and Missouri and Texas made him. He did not make the Lake States nor was he made there. That region is of the foreigners' building. Having begun thus iconoclastically and robbed New England of the fatherhood — nay, even the grand-fatherhood — of the American type which was sired along the Mississippi and came by descent of blood from all the states east of the Father of Waters, but more especially from those South of the Ohio, the contribution of the South to the national character and its influence upon the North is made moderately dear. Influence of Environment. We have said, however, that the characteristics of the American as he now is — ^not as he will become after he has assimilated the multitudinous Latin, Slav and Jew, are essentially British characteristics modified variously by various environments. We have indicated that the main differences between the type of American found in the South and the type of American found in the North are products pure and simple of such differences of environment. To clinch that proposition it may be well to take ac count of the population of that part of the original South which lies west of the Tide-water country in the foot hills and in the mountains. The primary and original governing type in the South was evolved in the Tide-water belt. This was the type of Washington and the elder statesmen al most to a man. The population of the inland section was formed partly of those who had passed through the Tide-water and acquired the Tide-water charac- THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 277 teristics, but it was made up largely of newcomers — many of whom were Scots and came down by way of Pennsylvania. This type, except that it did not tend to group itself into towns (because it was set tled for the most part in a magnificent farming country with ideal conditions for stock-raising), became very much more closely assimilated to the New England type than did that of the Tide-water. The belt of this composite population extending South as far as northern Alabama and sending out colonies and individuals in every direction in every generation was always more or less closely affiliated with New England — the bonds being more especially those of religion and the result being the importation of a great number of teachers and preachers from that section. This tendency was increased by the fact that institutions of classical culture were few in the South (the scattered population conspiring to make them so), and by the further fact that the Southern young man classically educated preferred, if he were not a planter who had acquired his edu cation for its own sake, to pursue the law or politics as a career rather than the Christian ministry or the art of the pedagogue. The net result was an enormous number of New Englanders employed as teachers in the South, and the selection of many of them as presidents of col- ledges, like Hampden-Sidney in Virginia, which were imder the Scottish-Presbyterian influence. Either, however, these good men soon returned to their own people or they were utterly absorbed into the South ern community which had employed them. Their de scendants teem in the South now and are in no way differentiated from other Southerners — in fact, whatever peculiar coloring a stay of a couple of gen erations in New England had given their original English or Scots substance was in the very nature 278 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of things wiped out by a stay of a like extent in the new environment. The Piedmont type of South erner was, in fact, entirely congenial to the New Englander, except in minor details — and in these minor details it was the newcomer who adapted himself. The process has continued steadily, and is still going on with immigrants from the states north of the Potomac and Ohio. For, except in rare cases, these immigrants came, and still come, singly or in small groups, and the mass influence promptly re duces them to type. A Southern community has a very exceptionally powerful assimilating influence — a much greater one than a Northern urban com munity because of its homogeneity and solidarity — qualities due in their turn to the fact that these com munities have developed as organic wholes through generations of the same families in the same relative positions and have not been required to absorb new people in bulk. Southern Influence in the Worth Since the War. Since the war the influence of the South on the Northern population has changed its work ing method. Before the war it was indirect; it worked by example in high places by reflex from the type developed, first on the Southern plantation, and second by Southem emigration to the West. Since the war it has been direct. The Southerner has come North to live. Wherever he has come he has brought with him, naturally, a certain number of characteristics acquired by his English stock during its generations of existence in the Southem states. These characteristics may be seen at work in the new environment producing results very different from those produced in the old, and strangely modified by their applications. A Southerner practices poll- THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 279 tics by instinct. He may be found in all the Northern cities, therefore, holding office. In New York he joins with those other instinctive politicians, the Irish, and his inbred specialty being the handling of men in masses, he is apter, even among the Irish, to lead than to follow. Further, the Southern white man is apt to grow up in his native community unaware of the existence of any social stratum above that in which he moves — the sky is the limit that way. He forms the habit of looking level at other men, or down, never up. Consequently he comes into the more complex North- em urban community as free as is the Westerner of any obsession of a barrier behind which fortune's favorites move in their orbits. He walks with as sured feet where the native (who is more often than not of quite un-American parentage) would hesitate to enter, and wins his way rapidly in liberal profes sions and in business by virtue, in part, of that as surance. The number of men of Southern birth and breeding who are high up in their professions, as doctors, lawyers, clergymen, teachers, in New York, for instance, is quite out of proportion to the total number of Southerners in the city. Only the West has anything like a corresponding number, if we exclude, as we must for the purpose of this article, those furnished by the immense alien element in the city, chiefly Jewish. There is not a great newspaper in the city in the year 1909, the editorial staff of which does not con tain in responsible position several young men who have come within a few years from small Southem towns. There is hardly a publishing house or a magazine where they are not to be found exercising similar responsible functions. There is none of these establishments in which the number of South emers is not steadily increasing. One New York 280 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. newspaper, and that not the smallest, draws almost half its editorial staff from the South. On many of the others the number is almost as large, while the West, England and Canada furnish a great part of the remainder. In fact, nearly all the new blood is drawn from these three sources. The distinguishing characteristic of the majority of these young men from the South is a certain cool alertness, an untiring energy — those very qualities which are popularly supposed to be Yankee special ties. They are workers. Their watchword is effi ciency. They are utterly destroying the traditional Northern notion of the easy-going, impulsive South ern character. They are actually emphasizing and strengthening in the ail-American urban character, those qualities of which the Northener has been apt to suppose he had a monopoly. Further, they are doing what the Northerner, who visits the South as a tourist merely, would never have done. They are, by transforming his preconceived erroneous idea about them, by showing him that an American in a New York environment will show pretty much the same whether he was bom in South Carolina or Maine, doing more to promote the solidarity of the country than all the abolitionists and secessionists put to gether ever did to divide it. At the same time also, because they have smoother edges in certain ways, by reason of their inheritance of qualities acquired in a more generous climate, they are promoting a taste for similar smooth edges. For one thing, they have tended steadily to reduce the frigidity of social in tercourse in the upper circles and to increase the amenities in circles less high. For all of these young men have had time in their youth to learn what the Southem darky calls "behavior." The Southern woman has, of course, exercised the greatest influence in this particular direction, and THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 281 it is an influence which was not interrupted even dur ing the war. Long before that time Southern fam ilies had been continuously residing in New York, and the tone of its society had been strongly influ enced by the women of these families. For women are great conservers, and those who have been brought up in a leisurely civilization and taught from the cradle to expect certain observances, having once grown to maturity in the midst of them, will insist ever after on the continuance of these same ob servances even though conditions have radically changed. Since the war the Southern woman, thanks largely to Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, has been surrounded with a special atmosphere of what is known as Southern "chivalry" and crowned with a nimbus of romance. Aided by this nimbus, her influence per sonally exercised in the town — ^whether as wife and daughter of Southern colonists, the humble boarding housekeeper (she has been an institution for a long time in that capacity, a sort of social centre around which the errant bachelor population of the city has revolved), or lately as the student, school teacher, or social worker — has been continuous and powerful. Especially in the last three capacities in the last de cade, and with the West as ally, she has affected pro foundly the tone of middle-class life in New York, and in a lesser degree that of other great cities in the North. It is enough in all these cases to show the effect in New York, however, because New York is the clearing-house of the country — the place where all influences focus and work upon each other, and whence these same influences flow out in every direc tion so that each geographical extreme of the land feels, less or more, the effect of the life of the other extreme. 282 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. The process may be indicated as follows : Immediately after the surrender at Appomattox there was a sudden exodus of Southerners — usually comparatively yoimg men who had entered the Con federate army at the beginning of the struggle, re mained in it throughout and returned to their homes to find there no means of making a living. These exiles flowed into all the larger cities of the North, but especially into New York. In each of these cities, and again especially in New York, they founded solid businesses, and were the nucleus of the South em colony which up to a few years ago was a char acteristic feature of all the larger Northern cities. This colony grew up socially as an urbs in urbe, sufficient to itself, but its influence permeated by degrees the whole life of even the greatest of these towns, working generally in the direction of probity in business and sanity and simplicity of life. For the exiles were selected men, and had been tried in a furnace exceeding fiery. And besides, the Southerner is, necessarily, a conservative force wherever he settles in America. As a member of the original stock which established our institutions, social and political, he clings to these institutions though they be now shaken and submerged by the invasion of the continental European and his rapid increase. A review of the list of merchants and bankers in New York city from 1870 to 1900 reveals a surpris ing number of Southemers among them doing a business, remarkable rather for solidity than ex- pansiveness, yet rather large than small. A similar review of the Hst of merchants and bankers to-day reveals, though in lesser degree, since New York now draws its foremen from all the world and not from the country merely, a number still disproportionately large. All of which does not exclude the contribu- THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 283 tions from the South to the sphere of high finance proper as in the person, say, of Thomas F. Eyan. What we are getting at, however, are contributions to Northern character distinctly Southern. The high financier, it may be admitted, is an American type not indigenous to that section. Types which are indigenous and upon which the country at large, and the North in particular, has founded its ideal m each case, are the statesmen of the old school and of the middle century, the soldier, the pioneer and woman on her more gracious side. The newest type of statesman, the man of business, is the offspring of no section. He has his origin in the complex commercial organization of the country at large, and the raw material comes from wherever it may be most conveniently got at. Special Contributions to Literature and Science. Consider next the matter of culture, which, of course, is inextricably entangled wdth that other of character and many of the phases of which have al ready been presented incidentally. While the New Englander was writing sermons and histories and voting as one of many in his town meeting, the Southerner was rulmg his plantation autocratically and administering his province as one of few. When the War of Independence was over, then, the one con tinued to write sermons or histories or what not, and the other wrote state papers, reports and orations. He wrote these with a practical purpose. Neverthe less, they were the expression of his culture, which was the culture not so much of books as of life. Thus he actually formed American oratory and American political style upon the most approved English models at the very time that New England was at tempting to found American literature upon models good and bad borrowed from the same source. 284 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. No American literature was then founded or has yet been founded upon any models. American litera ture is still merely English literature, and the con tributions to it which are significant come from all parts of the country about equally, and borrow from each part some particular flavor. Washington Irving wrote English literature with a New York flavor, meaning by that a hint of broad Dutch. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote English literature with a New England flavor — the theological taint. Edgar Allan Poe wrote English literature with a flavor of his own, belonging not distinctly to any section — though the South has left its mark there — yet having a wider appeal than either. Joel Chandler Harris and George W. Cable, since the war, have written literature with the Southern flavor strong. Mark Twain has written it with the tang of the Southwest and Bret Harte with the salt sting of the Farther West which stretches over the Eockies to the Golden Gate. Finally, the man who calls himself 0. Henry is writing English literature here and now with the bitter-sweet taste of the New York mixing machine of hetrogenious populations in the very ink of them. This is a hasty survey which, nevertheless, sweeps the whole field and catches all the most upstanding peaks of original achievement. But to take the South's contribution chronolog ically, the influence of George Washington's writ ings — ^not his state papers only, but his painstaking reports and letters on a thousand homely subjects — of Jefferson's, of Madison's, of Marshall's and of the rest of the founders of the nation, have been ac knowledged perfunctorily and then overlooked. It would be just as intelligent to overlook the influence upon American culture of the public press of to-day. Political writings were the chief reading in the post- Eevolutionary period for the plain people as news- THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 285 papers are now. For one who read Cooper's novels or Irving 's Sketch Book, there were a thousand who read the Farewell Address, a hundred who read after Mr. Jefferson, fifty who perused the Federalist. Witness the larger public taste of the country (in cluding the North), only latterly conducted to ro mance and poetry and clinging even to this day to the political page of the newspaper — ^lineal successor of the Federalist and the admired orations of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Jolm Eandolph, of Eoanoke, Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. It is customary to leave out of account what the South did in pure letters before the war, and it is fair enough to do so. It is customary, also, to write expansively of what New England did for pure let ters in the same time. As a matter of cold fact, though the early flower of New England studiousness and midnight lucubration bloomed luxuriantly in print, the most of what was written was very dis tinctly second-hand and second-rate, and resulted in the setting up of many false gods of culture. Much that was second-rate was printed in the South also — though not so much. In other words, the differ ence is that one section, having a population con centrated in narrow geographical limits, became a reading circle sufficient to itself and developed a school of minor poets and other minor writers which this reading circle studied, adulated and celebrated; the South could not develop such a circle — since its population was scattered sparsely over a vast terri tory — it did not, therefore, develop a school of writers. The writers were there, they wrote, and their writings were printed, but they were scattered like the population ; they could not build a composite reputation as bees build honeycomb in a hive, and as New England built her literary reputation. In short. New England's culture was concentrate and cumu- 286 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lative, the South's was dissipated. Thus the sec ond was spread, not by books but by individuals. The South talked. The North talked and took notes. We have the record of one ; of the other we have no record. But all the while the South visited the North; the North has only lately got the habit of visiting the South. We may set the work of Poe over against that of Hawthorne as choice literary flowers of the culture of the North and South, respectively — both, by the way, in a certain fashion noxious flowers, born of the taint rather than the wholesomeness of each section — and say that the influence of each on the section of the other is about equal. In both cases this influ ence is less than it should have been from a stand point of pure literary merit. For the moral flaw on one side and theological flaw on the other held, and still hold, many aloof. Poe is not yet admitted to Chancellor MacCracken's Hall of Fame. To be sure there are those who would make the point that the flaw in one case was in Poe and in the other in the subject matter — but that does not change the fact that the flaws In each case narrow the audience. However, culture is not all literature. It includes science as well — as a basis, as a stimulus. And the two most considerable scientists of the country, in the ante-bellum period, the only American contribu tors to the world's sum of knowledge, after Benjamin Franklin, were Maury and Audubon. John James Audubon (bom in 1780 at Mandeville, near New Orleans, La.), died in New York in 1851. His Birds of North America (1830-1839) called by Cuvier the "most magnificent monument which art has yet raised to ornithology," may be consid ered, outside of any mere scientific value, to have furnished the impetus of a very favorite branch of culture in New England nowadays, a fad in the THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 287 schools, and to be the fons et origo of the whole na ture study business considered as a cult. New Eng land has erected it into a cult with Thoreau for its prophet; New England makes cults of everything, and every cult must have a prophet. But Audubon was the real ornithologist. It was Matthew Fon taine Maury (born in 1806, near Fredricksburg, Va., officer in the United States and Confederate navies, died in 1873), who, after circumnavigating the globe in the Vincennes and getting a hurt which crippled him, mapped out the ocean currents and discovered the circulation of the sea — a piece of knowledge to which modern science and modem navigation owes an incalculable debt. Everybody who has enhanced his own personal store of culture by acquiring a smattering of physical geography owes something to Commodore Maury. While we are upon this point we might mention the fact that the South has furnished also the great est classicist of the country. Basil Lanneau Gilder sleeve (born at Charleston, S. C, of Princeton, Berlin and Bonn, and of Gottingen, Ph.D., with degrees also from Harvard and Yale), long at the University of Virginia and now professor of Greek at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, is that great classi cist. He has written a Latin grammar which sparkles with wit between the paradigms and a work on Greek syntax which breathes life mto the dryest part of what many persons choose to consider the dry bones of the language of Homer, Herodotus, Aristophanes and Plato. Most persons North and South with a modicum of classical education are in debt to Dr. Gildersleeve for glimpses of what culture really is. Following after the first tide of Southerners who came to New York to seek their fortunes when the war had made that quest obligatory — the tide which 288 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. took up business with a will — came another wave, made up, usually, this time of younger men who had managed, somehow, to go to college for a few years just after fighting was done and who, in the absence of paying occupations at home, had been forced upon literary ambitions. These came to New York as the market-place of letters. Wave after wave of like young men has flowed into the great city steadily since, pushed on by the poverty and lack of oppor tunity of the native environment, part of it from the beginning being diverted into those newspaper channels where literary ambitions are subtly trans formed into something of which the city has greater need. Eeenforcing these emigrants have come, one by one, attracted also toward the market-place, those Southerners who have done their earlier writing at home and won recognition at long range. The result has been that the literary colony in New York, shading on one side into the cool and capable company of newspaper men and publishers already mentioned, and on the other into the main commercial stream, has lost every trace of a New England complexion and acquired one which takes its color largely from the South with a strong dash of the Pacific Coast, and, of course, not insignificant traces of other regions, as of Indiana. Some of its Southern-born members live in town, some appear periodically in the haunts which fringe Broadway, and their influence flows out steadily into the com munity and beyond into the nation both by what they write and by what they do. The roll of them is the roll of all the contemporary writers of Southern origin. You will find their names in the tables of contents of the magazines and in the publishers' lists. The catalogue is too long for inclusion here. The direct influences of the South since the war proceed chiefly, however, in two streams. Samuel THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 289 Langhorne Clemens, called Mark Twain (born in 1835 at Florida, Mo., the son of John Marshall Clemens — sign of the Southern statesman's per vasive influence, already mentioned, in that name), printer-errant, Mississippi pilot, and in these times the acknowledged and acclaimed great American hu morist, is the channel of one of them. Mark Twain stands in the whole world's eye as the embodiment of American — Yankee — humor. He stands for it in the North's eye. He is proof of what was said before that the Yankee is a product of the Southwest — ^not of New England. His influence upon both culture and character in the cities of the East has been too considerable to admit of estimate, and both the cul ture and the character are of the South, by origin and by quality. The other stream comes from east of the Missis sippi and is racy of that soil. Joel Chandler Harris (born in 1848 at Eatonton, Ga.), a member of the staff of the Atlanta Constitution for many years, in his "Uncle Eemus" stories has taken a phase of life, a picture of a mental state, where the child's mind meets the negro's on a sort of level, a state through which every Southern-born white has passed, and fixed it as Mark Twain has fixed the mental state which was a phase and a product of the rapid growth of the West. Harris has given to the Northern reader some thing which he takes in as naturally and absorbs as avidly as a fastidious scholar the uncouth verses of Walt Whitman — because the thing is fresh, strange, yet shot through with something which is felt by in stinct to be real. The same sort of effect upon the Northern reader — an opening of the mind to a new actuality — has been produced by the Creole stories of George W. Cable, and the pictures of the starved life of the Tennessee mountaineers which have made Vol. 7—19. 290 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the name of Charles Egbert Craddock (Mary NoaiUes Murfree, born in 1850 at Murfreesboro, Tenn.). In all of these the element of unfamiliarity in the dialect has piqued curiosity and contrived a vogue (like that of broad Scots stories), which has carried the influence much farther into the Northern com munity than it would have gone had the authors used plain English. The most influential of all the writers of the South east of the Mississippi, so far as the North at large is concerned, is, however, Thomas Nelson Page (bom in 1853 at Oakland, Va.), at one time a lawyer in Eichmond. His Marse Chan, published in a New York magazine in 1884, practically created for the generation in the North then growing up the three or four Southern types which, to their dying day, will represent to them what the South is. Mr. Page has enlarged on the same types since. He set a fashion which has been much followed by linking the Blue and Gray in Meh Lady, and he is respon sible largely for the picture which appears before the Northern eye when the word South is mentioned. It is a very charming picture, full of figures ro mantic, picturesque, pathetic, touched with a very lovely sentiment. It is even, to a Southerner who can make allowances for the indulgence of the loving hand that wrote, a very true picture, but as the aver age Northener takes it it is deplorably false and mis leading in many particulars. The influence on Northern culture is not less on that account, and Mr. David Belasco and other wise managers of play houses have recognized the hold the phantasy has taken upon the Imagination of New York and made melodramas in which the romance and pathos is still more emphasized, the sentiment extra sugared. By which means the influence has grown — and grown awry. Also Mr. George Cary Eggleston has worked THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 291 the same vein without Mr. Page's skill and feeling, and filled New England with notions of a romantic, chivalrous, flightly and somewhat childish-minded South, which does the hard-working common-sense population on the warmer side of the Potomac great injustice, although it has, no doubt, an excellent softening influence on the New England reader for whose delectation it is primarily composed. Then there is Francis Hopkinson Smith (born m 1838 in Baltimore, Md.), lighthouse builder, con structor of the foundations for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and of the seawall of Govern or's Island, charming painter in water colors. He began by creating Colonel Carter of Cartersville, who stands in the Northern eye for the Southern gentleman as Page's women stand for the Southern gentlewoman. Colonel Carter has much to answer for — delightful as he is. But Mr. Smith has long lived in New York diffusing in his own person the real quality of the Southern gentleman, he has written books which breathed his genial spirit, almost one a year for many years. His influence among a smaller and selecter audience than Mr. Page's has done much to show the North what Southern culture is in fact. Mr. Smith's writings produce upon the reader much of the effect which might be gained by visiting (properly introduced) the best families of Baltimore, Eichmond and Charleston. The Influence of Sidney Lanier (born in 1842 at Macon, Ga., died in 1881) has grown since his death, but is like Poe's Influence; it does not focus upon the North. Am^lie Eives, however (born in 1863 in Eichmond, Va.), guilty very early in her life of shocking the country with her The Quick or the Dead, has been a forerunner of much. Whether it has been her example or whether she was merely a symp- 292 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tom of a movement, it is certain that the subjects she selected when she was a young authoress, and the side of those subjects which she elected to empha size, are those upon which the authors of twenty years later In New England and New York are cen tering much attention. Miss Eives, now Princess Troubetzkoy, was the beginning of woman Insurgent against the conception of herself (in literature at least) as the demure child of the proprieties. Mrs. Burton Harrison (born in 1846 in Fairfax county, Va.), who, as Constance Cary, of a famous Virginia family and married to Jefferson Davis's private secretary, was a flgure in her youth distinctly Southem, has in her later years grown up with New York, as it were, and written very modernly — quite putting out of countenance Mr. Page's lay figure of the Southern woman which refined melodrama has made its own. A distinct influence in magazine literature may be traced to James Lane Allen (born in Kentucky in 1849). The sentimental mood which Mr. Allen culti vates is distinctly decadent, but it appealed, never theless, and The Kentucky Cardinal and The Choir Invisible have had many readers and many imitators. And one might go through the list of Southern con tributors to current fiction and cite name after name — as Miss Mary Johnson, Miss Ellen Glasgow, Mr. James Branch Cabell, whose Influence as a cumu lative force is quite as considerable as that of any similar group of minor writers. On the more serious side especial account must be taken of the work of men like Walter Hines Page (bom at Cary, N. C, in 1855, and educated at Eandolph Macon College in Virginia and Johns Hopkins in Maryland). Mr. Page, in a riper stage, is the very type of the cool, capable, tirelessly ener getic Southerner already mentioned, as having such THE SOUTH IN NOETHEEN CULTUEE. 293 a strong and direct influence on New York and the country at large. The record of what he has accom plished from editing the St. Louis Daily Gazette and the Raleigh State Chronicle, through his service on the Evening Post of New York dty, on the Forum, as manager from 1887 to 1890, as editor from 1890 to 1895, on the Atlantic Monthly in Boston, again as editor, up to the founding of the publishing house of Doubleday, Page & Company well indicates exactly the kind of work the Southerner is now do ing in the North and the kind of influence he exer cises. Something of the same sort of Influence is exercised by Adolph S. Ochs, chief owner and pub lisher of The New York Times. For though Mr. Ochs is the son of Jewish parents of German nativity and was born in Cincinnati, the Influences which sur rounded his upbringing were those of East Tennes see, and the tendency of his newspaper has been to collect and focus upon the field in New York a large number of Southern men whose influence is the more effective because it is concentrated. In lines academic and scholastic the South is strongly represented in most of the larger institu tions of the country outside of New England. It is not hard to see that Woodrow Wilson, President of Princeton (born in 1856 at Staunton, Va., educated at Princeton and at the University of Virginia), is in a position to make the influence of the South felt upon a large number of sons of the North in a most impressionable stage, both directly, as head of the great university which has always been a sort of link between North and South, and indirectly through his voluminous historical writings. At Columbia, as Professor of English, William Peterfield Trent (born in 1862 at Eichmond, Va., educated at the University of Virginia and at Johns Hopkins, editor of the Sewanee Review, 1892-1900, 294 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. extensive writer on literary subjects and with the late Dr. John Bell Henneman, his successor as editor of the Sewanee Review, editor of Thackeray), exer cises a similar moulding influence which, by the way, from the nature of the attendance at the New York institution, is spent largely upon the youth of what we have called the alien flood. It touches directly the sons of recent emigrants from the continent of Europe — chiefly Jews — who, in receiving our civil ization, are subtly modifying it. The South, curi ously, has shown itself better able to absorb these people than the North, and though the difference is largely due to the fact that the South has never been called upon to digest large masses of them at once, it is also true that the edges of contact are less sharp. The peculiar culture of the South, then, the pecul iar character of the South, is very busy in New York working on that composite city and assisting steadily and effectively in the creation of the composite American which it is the business of New York to evolve, perhaps. From New York a composite in fluence streams out, a composite upon which the South has put its mark indelibly. In other cities, not quite dissimilarly composite, the same influence works, in some more, in some less. The cumulative effect on the northern half of the country from Maine to Oregon is very great — is greater even than the effect of the northern half upon the southem. For the North has not yet been able to go to the South to live without utterly losing its identity, per haps because it comes in such small numbers, per haps because it is constitutionally less British in blood, less conservative, less clannish. H. I. Beook, New York City. NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 295 CHAPTEE XIV. CONTEIBUTIONS OF NEW ENGLAND TO THE SOUTH'S CULTUEE. ^HEODOEE EOOSEVELT, in his Life of Thomas H. Benton, speaking of the fact that Benton was prepared for the University of North Carolina by a New Englander of "good ability," says: "Indeed, school teachers and peddlers were, on the whole, the chief contribu tions made by the Northeast to the Southwest." This is the statement of a partial fact in a charac teristic way. Mr. Eoosevelt overlooks hundreds of men and women, in other fields, who, born in New England, gave honor and service to their adopted section, and Imparted a reflected glory to that of their birth. The statement of President Eoosevelt gives a very inadequate idea of the work and Influence of New Englanders in the South. The truth is, from the beginnings of the republic up to the time of Lincoln's election, when the South's voice was dominant in the councils of the nation, when its political prin ciples and policies controlled largely the trend of public affairs, the permanent value of the New Eng lander 's contributions to its development and wel fare is almost altogether ignored in estimating the formative and guiding influences of this brilliant and thrilling period of national history. It is safe to say that in the forces that stood for moral culture. Intellectual development, high civic ideals and politi cal purity, no leaven worked in the mass of Southern life and thought with more potent and salutary effects. 296 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Early Influences. Before the cleavage between abolitionism and slavery became sharply deflned, the Southern states presented an attractive field to New Englanders from every point of view. Not by the scores and hundreds they migrated thither, but by the thou sands. There were few settlements attempted, com posed exclusively of New Englanders. Two of these will illustrate their achievements. The colony of Dorchester, S. C, that in 1695 settled about twenty miles Inland from Charleston, found itself much hampered after a fifty years' existence. Not to speak of an unfavorable location in the swamps, families had grown and intermarried until the lands became too narrow for further expansion. Finding that they could not hold their young people and desiring to continue their compact exist ence, the Dorchester community determined to seek a habitation elsewhere. Between 1752 and 1754 the Dorchester of South Carolina became the Medway of Georgia. Between the Altamaha and Ogeechee rivers a grant of nearly 30,000 acres of land had been obtained, whereon settlement was made. In the Georgia abode the New Englanders prospered and exercised a large influence in colonial affairs. Ee- ligion flourished. Education was in the hands of skilful schoolmasters. Just and wise officials were selected. The part played by this settlement de serves to be emphasized. In Georgia it took the initiative in espousing the cause of independence. The leader of the Eevolutionary forces in Georgia was Dr. Lyman Hall, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Yale College. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was made gov ernor of the state immediately after peace was de clared, and a charter member of the board of trustees of the University of Georgia. Another New Eng- NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 297 lander of the Medway settlement, almost equally conspicuous in the public and educational life of the state, was Nathan Brownson, graduate of Yale, gov ernor of the state and charter trustee of the uni versity. An original member of the same board was Eev. Abiel Holmes, father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was pastor of the Medway congregation. Another New England colony that entered signifi cantly into the cultural life of the South was one that settled in Mason county, Ky. Just after the admis sion of the state many families from Connecticut settled therein. At once their influence in favor of good schools became pronounced. Mason long en joyed the reputation of being the best-schooled county m Kentucky. From it went forth a noticeably large number of teachers, preachers and editors. Some of the families became distinguished, particu larly the Johnstons and Wadsworths. Dr. John Johnston, who moved to the state from Salisbury, Conn., was a favorite physician, noted for scholarly tastes and activities. His eldest son, Josiah Stod dard, became a United States senator. Another son, Albert Sidney, became the eminent Confederate general. However, it was not In settlements that the New Englander Influenced most the higher life of the South. Either singly or in groups, as merchants, lawyers, doctors, ministers, educators. Inventors, manufacturers and editors, they exerted a powerful Influence m the moral and Intellectual uplift of the section. Before the construction of railroads, the approach almost Invariably followed three definite lines of travel. These were by way of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico ; or through the Mid dle states to some point on the Ohio Eiver, thence down that stream and the Mississippi Eiver ; or by way of the Valley of Virginia. Following their 298 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. movements, one will find them gathering in cities, counties or regions in little pockets, as it were. This was true, in a marked degree, of the graduates of New England colleges. In Charleston, S. C, could be found a cluster of Harvard men; m Savannah, Ga., of Brown men ; in Mobile, Ala., of Yale men ; in East and West Feliciana Parishes, La., of Wesleyan men ; in Middle Georgia, of Middlebury men ; in East Tennessee, of Amherst men, and in Natchez, Miss., of Bowdoin men. Wherever the New Englander settled perma nently, when neither teacher nor pastor, he became a factor in intellectual and social life. It was as trustee of schools, as the founder of public libraries and of historical societies, as the builder of churches and as the orator of public occasions. Their homes were centres of cultural influence. To illustrate, in Natchez, their mansions, libraries and works of art bespoke the best that was in American civilization. Winthrop Sargent, a Harvard alumnus, was the first governor of Mississippi territory. His home, "Gloucester," comrnemorating his birthplace in Massachusetts, was a refined abode. "Arlington" was the home of S. S. Boyd, a classmate of Seargent S. Prentiss at Bowdoin College and his fellow-citizen at Natchez. The private library at "Arlington" contained 8,000 volumes, while among the paintings that adorned its parlors were Eaphael's "Galatea," a copy by Cecconari; Vemet's "A Marine Piece"; Schwelnfurt's "Convoy of Prisoners"; Barrocio's "An Annunciation," and a "Magdalen" of Carlo Dolci. In the Educational Field. While in business and professional life the New Englander affected potently the life of the South from the cultural viewpoint, it was in the educational field that this influence was most evident. For pur- NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 299 poses of demonstration, let it suffice to follow with some detail the work of the New England college president in the South. Georgia was the leader in the introduction ot the New England college president. Abram Baldwin may be justly designated the father of the University of Georgia. A native of Connecticut and graduate of Yale College, he was at one time a tutor in his alma mater. As soon as the Eevolutionary War ended he went South and settled in Georgia. At once his talents were recognized. He was elected to the legislature, where he began to advocate the estab lishment of a state university. Securing the passage of an act for its charter, at the first meeting of the board of trustees, among whom sat five New Eng landers, he was elected president, to serve until the institution should go into operation. In 1800 the trustees determined to elect a professor of mathe matics. Next to an unavailable endowment, all that the university had was a name, without even a local habitation. Baldwin had known in Yale Josiah Meigs as a graduate, tutor and scholar of approved standing, and recommended him for the position. The salary tendered was $1,500, with $400 additional for the expense of removal to Georgia. Upon his arrival Baldwin vacated the nominal presidency and Meigs was chosen his successor. He was instructed by the trustees to erect ' ' one or more log buildings for the college," and was requested to teach all studies and classes until students enough to justify the employ ment of a tutor should be in attendance. Accord ingly, in the woods of north central Georgia, he laid the modest foundations of the young institution, laid off a town, in prophecy called it Athens, and devoted himself resolutely to the tasks assigned. After two years of toil and hardship he congratu- 300 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lated the board of trustees upon an attendance of "between thirty and thirty-five students." Differences with trustees in regard to the manage ment of the lands belonging to the university brought about rupture. After a service of eight years he was removed from the presidency and made professor at a reduced salary. Because of criticisms upon the action of the trustees, he soon lost his professorship. He labored untiringly and unceasingly for the suc cess of the infant institution. Established In a frontier state, far removed from the population most disposed to patronize a higher institution, with no buildings, no equipment and a faculty of one or two tutors, the university achieved a moderate success. After trying several administrations, only one of which was successful, the trustees, again, in 1829, elected a New Englander, Alonzo Church. In the meantime the office had been offered to another New Englander, N. S. S. Beman, an alumnus of Middle- bury College, who had enjoyed marvelous success as. principal of Mount Zion Academy in middle Georgia. President Church was a native of Vermont and a graduate of Middlebury College. Soon after gradua tion he went South and taught in a Georgia academy at Eatonton. Ten years preceding his election he had been professor of mathematics in the university. His success as a professor and his zeal in all college affairs had commended him. The confidence was not misplaced, as thirty years of fruitful administration testified. During his entire administration he held the institution in a firm grasp. He was a man of fine address and cultured tastes, accurate in scholar ship and eloquent in speech, just and rigid as a disciplinarian. After giving forty years to the in stitution, Dr. Church resigned and betook himself to the quietude of a farm near Athens, where he died in 1862. NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 301 In providing other Georgia colleges with presi dents. New England was further called upon. The first president of Oglethorpe University, the Presby terian college of the state, was Charles P. Beman; the second president of Mercer University, the Bap tist institution of Georgia, was Otis Smith. Both of these men were Vermonters and graduates of Mid dlebury College. In point of time, the College of South Carolina was the next institution which called a New Englander to start it upon a career of usefulness and prosper ity. Determined by the representative character of its alumni and by the influence they exerted. South Carolina's college ranked as a leading institution of the South up to the War of Secession. It is cer tain that in molding and crystallizing the peculiar doctrines and distinctive policy of the South, it had more to do than any other Institution of the section. The first president who shaped the policy of this hotbed of slavery protection and tariff opposition, and placed it at the outset upon high ground, was Jonathan Maxcy, a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Brown University. It is not asserted or Implied that he had part in shaping or discussing the momentous issues which threatened the life of the republic, for he died in 1820, just as they ap peared above the political horizon ; but he had much to do with training some of the minds most promi nently identified with their agitation. Taking charge in 1804, Dr. Maxcy directed its af fairs until his death. Within this period of sixteen years he made for himself a fame as deservedly im perishable as any in the list of early American col lege presidents. In a peculiar significance he suited the traditions and conditions of the people with whom his lot was cast. A trained logician and rhetorician, by his arguments and eloquence he captivated his 302 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. audiences. It is little wonder that under him were trained three men, William C. Preston, George McDuffie and Hugh S. Legar6, who, living in the same state and at the same time, yielded superiority to no other three men of the same period in natural endowments and oratorical power, or who stood more distinctively representative of the culture and sentiments of their section. Add to this fact that under his regime were educated eight governors of Southern states, four lieutenant-governors of South Carolina, eight United States senators, twenty-five representatives in Congress, sixteen judges and chancellors, seven college presidents, not to speak of college professors, ministers, lawyers, members of state and national governments, and journalists, and one may judge somewhat of the fruitfulness of his work and administration. Wherever opportunities offered he was in every part of the state making public addresses, by his eloquence stirring up the people to the importance of their institution and to the need of higher education. Another New Englander who wrought effectively for college education in South Carolina was Eev. Jasper Adams, born in Massachusetts and graduated at Brown University. He presided ten years over the College of Charleston. In 1824, attracted by a salary of $2,500, he took charge. For two years he labored assiduously to elevate it from a grammar school rank to the dignity of a college in fact as it was in name. The trustees gave feeble support to his efforts, sympathizing more with the state institu tion. South Carolina College. Despite the broaden ing of the work, increased attendance, the raising of funds for new buildings and outfit, the trustees so hampered his administration that, in disgust, he re signed, to accept the presidency of Hobart College in New York state. The trustees, after attempting NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 303 in vain to put their own ideas in force, recalled him and gave him unrestricted control. For eight years the growth and expansion of the college was unprece dented, and it registered the high-water mark in its history. With his acceptance of a professorship in West Point Military Academy, the institution de clined in numbers and efficiency. Other New Englanders who presided over South Carolina colleges were Eev. George Howe, born in Massachusetts and graduated at Middlebury, for fifty-two years a professor in Columbia Theological Seminary and at the time of his death president, and Abiel BoUes, from Connecticut and a Brown alum nus, who for a brief period was the head of the Col lege of Charleston. The first New Englander to become president of a Tennessee college was Eev. Charles Coffin, a Massa chusetts man and Harvard graduate. In early man hood he went to East Tennessee to aid in the moral and intellectual elevation of the mountaineers. This was in 1800. For ten years he was professor in Greeneville College, of which he became president in 1810. He continued in this position until 1826, when he was called to the presidency of East Tennessee College at Knoxville. This position he vacated in 1832, and spent the remainder of his life in pastoral work and on his farm near Greeneville. He trained many men who became distinguished on the bench, in Congress and in journalism. Dr. Coffin was followed into Tennessee by Eev. D. A. Sherman, from Yale and Connecticut, who from 1820 to 1825 was president of East Tennessee College. His work was not effective, and he went thence to Middle Tennessee where he was engaged twenty years longer in educational work. Joseph Estabrook, born in Massachusetts and graduated at Dartmouth, was the most noted New Englander in 304 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the college work of Tennessee. Through the Valley of Virginia he found his way into the state, and in 1828 became principal of Knoxville Female Acad emy. His success in this field was so great as to point to him as the man best fitted to restore the waning fortunes of East Tennessee College, in 1834, at the lowest ebb in its checkered career. Taking charge, the institution at once felt the quickening touch of his masterly hand and entered upon a course of unexampled prosperity. Making Amherst, in which he had formerly been professor, the model and bringing in the main his professors thence, he felicitated the state upon having a second Amherst within its bounds. Horace Maynard, a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of Amherst, who be came congressman, minister to Turkey and post master-general, was one of the young men persuaded to cast his fortunes with the college, thus becoming permanently a citizen of Tennessee. George Cooke was another New Englander and Dartmouth man who presided over East Tennessee University, as it came to be called by legislative enactment under Estabrook 's administration. Among other New Englanders who made enduring records in the Southwest was Eev. Franceway E. Cossitt, representing New Hampshire and Middle bury. Soon after graduation he migrated westward and became a Cumberland Presbyterian minister. The first college organized under the auspices of this offshoot from the Old School Presbyterian Church was at Princeton, Ky. Of this Dr. Cossitt became president at the outset of the enterprise, in 1826. When, in 1843, the institution was moved to Lebanon, Tenn., and became Cumberland University, he ac companied the college to its new home. The most unique and remarkable career of any president of a Southern college was that of Eev. NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 305 Horace HoUey, nine years president of Transylvania University in Kentucky. He was bom in Connecti cut and graduated at Yale. In 1817, while pastor of Hollis Street Unitarian Church in Cambridge, Mass., he received an urgent call to Transylvania at a sal ary of $2,250. For years the Institution had been the battleground of sectarians and politicians, who well-nigh wrecked its fortunes. Dr. HoUey, after visiting the university and weighing long and care fully the field and its possibilities, determined to throw himself imreservedly into the work, hoping to rival the foremost Eastern colleges. His energy, enthusiasm and magnetism excited unbounded confi dence and elicited active support from all quarters. Henry Clay was added to the board of trustees and gave cordial cooperation. The legislature was in duced to make liberal appropriations. Students came in annually increasing numbers from the South and Southwest, the attendance mounting from about 100 to over 400. Distinguished travelers, if Transyl vania was not in the immediate line of their travels, went out of their way to visit it and were entertained by the honored, brilliant president. Lexington be came best known as the seat of Transylvania Uni versity, and was called the "Athens of the South." Despite the success, there were disintegrating in fluences at work from the outset of Dr. HoUey 's ad ministration. His religious views and affiliations were distasteful, especially to the Presbyterian Church which had hitherto controlled the Institution. Other denominations were gradually alienated, and established rival colleges. Dr. HoUey finally suc cumbed to the storms of opposition that he had aroused by his liberal theological views and free speech. Attendance upon theatres, horse races and other places of popular amusement was another occasion for condemning his conduct, impugning his Vol. 7—20. 306 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. motives and reflecting upon his private life and char acter. On the eve of engaging In educational work in Louisiana, while on a sea-voyage from New Orleans to the North, he was attacked by a more deadly enemy than hostUe theologians, and died at sea from yellow fever. Northern scholars of reputation and experience were induced by liberal salaries to undertake the revival of interest in Transylvania, but after a few years gave up the task as hopeless. Eev. Alva Woods, a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Harvard, was Dr. HoUey 's successor. While pro fessor in Columbian University at Washington, Henry Clay had learned his worth, and influenced him to leave the professorship of mathematics and natu ral philosophy at Brown University and to accept the Transylvania presidency. For three years he vainly endeavored to revive Interest. After an Interval Eev. T. W. Hoit, from Connecticut and Yale, was inducted into the presidency. Two years sufficed to show that he could make no headway in buffeting the counter-currents that had set In during the HoUey administration. When the various denominations in Kentucky began their college enterprises, they invited New Englanders to organize them. In 1827 Dr. Martin Enter, Massachusetts-born but a non- college man, was made president of the Methodist College, Augusta, retaining the position five years. In 1826, as mentioned, the Cumberland Presbyteri ans opened their new college under Dr. Cossitt. In 1830, after two unsuccessful attempts to induce New Englanders to accept the presidency of their new col lege at Georgetown, the Baptists succeeded in getting from Newton Theological Seminary Eev. Joel S. Bacon, a native New Yorker. His term of office was brief, when Eev. B. F. Famsworth, from Maine and Dartmouth, was chosen president and held the posi- NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 307 tion only a few months. Not dismayed by frequent changes, the Baptists secured Eev. Eockwood Gid- dings, a native of New Hampshire and graduate of Colby University, as president. He died during his first year in office, but had filled the position long enough to have it said that his administration was most successful. He put the college upon a sound basis and, for the times, secured a good endowment fund. As the result of his unceasing labors and ardent enthusiasm he fell the victim of overtaxed energy and consecrated zeal. The forces controlling the higher education in North Carolina were almost wholly from Princeton, in New Jersey. In the second decade of the Nine teenth century Yale furnished to the University of North Carolina a distinguished trio of professors in Denison Olmsted, Ethan A. Andrews and Elisha Mitchell. The University never had a New Eng lander as its president. It barely escaped, inasmuch as its most distinguished and efficient president was Gov. David L. Swam, the son of a New Englander. The founder and first president of Wake Forest Col lege, the leading Baptist institution of the state, was Samuel Wait, a New Yorker and the first honorary alumnus of Colby University in Maine. Eev. J. B. White, bom in New Hampshire and graduated at Brown, was connected sixteen years with Wake Forest, and was its president four years. In Virginia the presence and influence of New England in college administration was marked. There were four men who left their impress upon Virginia colleges. These were Jonathan P. Cushlng, Stephen Olin, Charles Collins and Ephraim E. Wiley. Cushing, born in New Hampshire and graduated at Dartmouth, was called, immediately upon gradua tion, to Hampden Sidney College, serving as tutor and professor. In 1821 he became its president, a 308 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. position he filled and ado^-ned to the time of his death in 1835. Previous to his administration the affairs of the college had been in a disordered state. Financial troubles had hampered its usefulness and threatened its suspension. Out of its difficulties he brought it triumphantly. Dr. Olin was a native of Vermont and a graduate of Middlebury. After graduation he went South and taught in South Carolina. Then he was chosen pro fessor In the University of Georgia. From this posi tion, in 1833, he was called to the presidency of Ean dolph Macon College, the leading Methodist college of Virginia. For five years he filled the office with great acceptability, when he resigned to take the presidency of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. When the Methodist Church in Southwest Virginia determined to establish Emory and Henry college, they applied to Wilbur Fisk, president of Wesleyan University, for a president. Fisk wrote frankly that Southern colleges had suffered most from the offi cious Interference of trustees, but he thought an en tirely satisfactory man could be had, provided he had a controlling voice in administration. The con cessions were readily made. Dr. Fisk recommended Eev. Charles Collins, born in Maine and a Wesleyan graduate. Dr. Collins brought with him his faculty of New England men. For fourteen years he di rected the affairs with conspicuous fidelity and emi nent success. Eesignlng, he was succeeded by Dr. E. E. Wiley, a native of Massachusetts and an alum nus of Wesleyan, who belonged to his predecessor's first faculty. How successful his administration was may be judged by the fact that he presided over the institution twenty-nine years and educated some of the most prominent Southern men in church and state. When the University of Alabama was established. NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 309 Alva Woods, already mentioned in connection with Transylvania University, became its first president. His success as an administrative officer and as a disciplinarian was not altogether satisfactory. He was not suited to a pioneer condition of society. After six years of unremitting toil, not without some fruitful results, he resigned and returned to Ehode Island. When the Baptists of Alabama founded their leading institution, Howard College, S. S. Sherman, a New Englander and graduate of Middle bury, was called to its head. He had been tutor in the IJniversity of Alabama. He taught some years in the state, and at one time was president of Judson Institute, the Baptist school of Alabama for young women. The most distinguished president in the college annals of Mississippi was F. A. P. Barnard, whose fame was increased by his twenty years' presidency of Columbia College in New York. A native of Massachusetts and a graduate of Yale, after varied experiences as teacher and editor in the North, he was called, in 1837, to a chair in the University of Alabama. His seventeen years as professor in this institution contributed greatly to the intellectual de velopment of the institution and the state. In 1854 he was elected professor of mathematics and astron omy in the University of Mississippi, then in the sixth year of its existence. Two years afterwards the presidency became vacant. It was a time of growing political excitement, and of strong oppo sition to Northern men who were not pronouncedly in sympathy with the South upon the slavery issue. However, considering Dr. Barnard's wide knowl edge of educational systems and his successful expe rience, the judgment of the trustees commended him as eminently qualified for the presidency, and the office was entrusted to him. With energy and pru- 310 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. dence the task was undertaken. Despite the cavU- llngs of envy and the prophecies of failure, under him the imiversity moved forward, increasing in at tendance and public confidence untU the outbreak of the war. During the five years of his incumbency vital reforms were Instituted, the standard of schol arship was elevated, patronage from surrounding states was attracted, progressive methods prevailed and the university was lifted to a dignified rank among similar institutions. When the students with drew almost in a body to become enrolled in the Confederate army, he resigned the office and went North to his own people. There were other New Englanders who presided over a Mississippi College. Consider Parish, a graduate of Williams, and Walter Hillman, Massa chusetts-born and a Brown alumnus, were presidents of the Baptist college of the state, Mississippi Col lege. They were widely useful and representative men. In Louisiana colleges were started on an elaborate foundation, only to succumb to adverse fortunes after a skyrocket experience and a spasmodic exist ence. A few New Englanders were engaged to pre side over these, but their administrations were short, uneventful and unproductive. Alexander H. Ever ett, from Massachusetts and Harvard, after some experience as diplomatist and writer, was president of Jefferson College, but after one year returned to the North. D. 0. Shattuck, bom in Connecticut and honorary alumnus of Wesleyan University, presided over Centenary College, the Methodist college of Louisiana, but abandoned it after four years. Be ginning as a peddler he attained to a position of emi nence at the bar and in politics. In 1853 the Baptists of Louisiana organized a higher institution of learn ing, whose first president was Eev. Jesse Hartwell, NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 311 a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Brown. The institution, with the high-sounding title. Mount Lebanon University, he conducted with wisdom untU death cut short his administration in 1857. In Texas, in 1837, not so long after a fellow New Englander, Moses Austin, had received from Mexico a large grant of land for colonization pur poses, Martin Enter, who appeared in Kentucky's educational life, was appointed by the authorities of the Methodist church to superintend the establish ment of colleges. After beginning the work, over come by fatigue and exposures, health soon gave way and death ensued. His work was undertaken, in large measure, by Chauncy Eichardson and William Halsey, graduates of Wesleyan University in Con necticut. In a desultory field and under primitive conditions these men worked faithfully and planted ideals that have borne some good fruit. Named for the son of Moses Austin was Austin College, the Presbyterian college of Texas. One of its first presidents was Eev. E. W. Bailey, a native of Maine and graduate of Dartmouth, who, in 1863, died in office. For the most part, efforts in behalf of the higher education in Arkansas and Florida belong to the post-bellum era. Under the reconstruction regime, in some states college presidents from New England were sought. Among those elected who declined was Cyrus Northup, now the president of the Univer sity of Minnesota, who was invited to the presidency of the University of Alabama. Instead of arousing any enthusiasm, such executives, as a rule, were classed among carpet-baggers and were, therefore, odious to the intelligent population of the section. Having followed the New England college presi dent into the states where his ability was recognized and where his services were utilized, it is seen that 312 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. he was a most efficient cultural force. In a new en vironment and under new conditions, with little to encourage and much to dishearten, with few prece dents to guide and with pathways to cut, he seized the reins with masterly hand, pushed on with unfail ing courage, and reached a lofty eminence whence he could look back over the devious ways passed and the divers difficulties overcome. Such was the rep resentative type of the presidents coming from New England who administered the affairs of the colleges of the Old South. They are seen to have organized the leading colleges of church and state ; to have in fused new life into institutions threatened with ex tinction ; to have appealed successfully to legislative bodies and church assemblies for larger endowments and better equipments; to have been great factors individually in popularizing education and broad cul ture, and to have given themselves unwaveringly and unceasingly to the cause advocated and to the duties imposed. Some failures are attributed to them, but the largeness of their achievement in the aggregate, the honesty of their efforts and the value of their labors far overbalance the account on the debit side of these devoted servants of state and church. In practical sagacity and conservative management, one will find with difficulty their wisdom excelled; for fruitful results in behalf of intellectual awakening and spiritual uplift, one will have to go far to find their labors surpassed. For every New England college president who la bored in the South, there were at least five college professors and a hundred schoolmasters who ex emplified New England culture and set up New England school methods in the Southern states. It may be safely maintained that among the wholesome currents of Influence that permeated the ante-bellum South and gave an uplift to its civilization, that ema- NEW ENGLAND IN SOUTHEEN CULTUEE. 313 nating from the New England educator was the most effective and lasting. Scant memorials, otherwise than in the lives of those taught, exist of many of these men of cultured brain and heart. They poured forth from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Brown, Bowdoin and other colleges of the East, and from almost every New England com munity not like the stream irrigating the parched desert, but adding its beneficent waters to the forces that sweetened and enriched the life of the Old South. Many like Horace Maynard in Tennessee, Sergeant S. Prentiss In Mississippi, Hiram Warner In Georgia, Amos Kendall in Kentucky, Albert Pike in Arkansas, rose to distinction in political life ; but the great majority, with the passing away of those who were under their tuition, passed into oblivion, leaving no inheritance where they labored save the impulses to the higher intellectual and spiritual life they sought unceasingly to cultivate and to perpetuate. BiBLiOQEAPHT. — Adams, Herbert B.: Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Clarke, Alvin LaFayette: History of Higher Education in Kentucky; Clarke, Willis G. : History of Higher Edu cation in Alabama; Collins, Richard H. : History of Kentucky; Elton, Romeo: President Jonathan Maxcy's Remains; Jones, Charles Edgworth: History of Higher Education in Georgia; Meriwether, Colyer: History of Higher Education in South Carolina; Merriam, Lucius S.: History of Higher Education in Tennessee; McDonnold, B. W. : History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; Mayes, Edward: History of Higher Education in Mississippi; Peter, Robert: History of Transylvania University; Smith, William R. : Reminis cences of a Long Life; Stevens, William Bacon: History of Georgia (2 vols.); Tyler, William S.: History of Amherst College; White, George: Historical Collections of Georgia; White, Moses: Early History of the University of Tennessee; General Catalogues and Necrologies of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Brown, Am herst, Williams, Vermont and Wesleyan. Geokge Fbedeeick Mellen, Formerly Professor of Greek and History, University of Tennessee. 314 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XV. LOUISIANA'S CONTEIBUTION TO THE LIT- EEATUEE OF THE UNITED STATES. OUISIANA occupies a unique position in the literary history of the United States, In asmuch as it possesses a literature written in two languages, in French and in English. The establishment in New Orleans by the Ursuline nuns, as early as 1727, of a school for girls gave to the women of Louisiana a culture which produced a refined and polite society in colonial times. Many boys belonging to wealthy families were sent to France to be educated, and brought back to New Or leans a French culture, which, added to that acquired by the girls at the convent of the Ursulines, main tained in Louisiana a French atmosphere, even dur ing the Spanish Domination. Indeed, while Louisiana formed part of the col onial empire of Charles III. and of Charles IV. of Spain, the French language was as much the mother tongue of the Louisianians as when the colony was under the rule of Louis XIV. and of Louis XV., of France. Most of the Spanish officials married wives of French origin, and the language of the mother be came that of the family. The best proof that French was the language generally used in Louisiana during the Spanish Domination is the fact that the first work in the Uterature of Louisiana was written in French in 1779, seventeen years after the colony had been ceded to Charles III. by Louis XV. Having become Spaniards, in spite of their love for France, the Louisianians had endeavored, in 1768, to throw off the Spanish yoke and to establish LOUISIANA. 315 an independent government. They had failed in their heroic efforts, and the chiefs of the Eevolution against Spain had been ruthlessly put to death by General O'Eeilly. Governor Unzaga had ruled mildly and wisely, and the colonists had become somewhat reconciled to the rule of Spain in 1779. In that year Bernardo de Galvez was Governor of Louisiana. He was young and wished to acquire military glory, and this opportunity was given him when Spain joined France in her alliance with the United States and declared war against Great Brit ain. The latter power had obtained Mobile, Baton Eouge and Pensacola by the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Galvez resolved to expel the British from their pos sessions adjoining New Orleans, and succeeded in doing so in campaigns which took place from 1779 to 1781. Baton Eouge was captured by Galvez, in 1779, with an army composed almost entirely of Louisianians of French origin. This exploit was related in an epic poem published in New Orleans in 1779, La Prise du Morne du Baton Bouge par Monseigneur de Gal vez. The author of this work was Julien Poydras, a native of Brittany in France, who had arrived in Louisiana in the beginning of the Spanish Domina tion and had succeeded in amassing a fortune by his intelligence, his energy and his perseverance. He had begun his life in the colony as a peddler, going with his bundle on his back from house to house along the coast of the Missisipppi Eiver, received with boundless hospitality and selling all his wares. When Louisiana became American, Julien Poydras occupied important political positions in the terri tory of Orleans and in the state of Louisiana, and, at his death in 1824, he left large sums of money for charitable purposes. Among his bequests we may mention $30,000 to the parish of Pointe Couple, and 316 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the same amount to the parish of West Baton Eouge. Each year the interest of the money bequeathed was to be given to the young girls without fortune who had married during the year. Poydras 's poem is not a work of great literary merit, but it is interesting as being the first product of the literature of Louisiana. It was evidently in spired by Boileau's epistle on the crossing of the Ehine by the cavalry of Louis XIV. Like the Ehine, the Mississippi was sleeping when he was awakened by a noise like thunder. He sends Scsesaris, one of his nymphs, to find out what is happening, and on her return she relates the exploits of Galvez and his army. The Spanish governor is described by Poy dras with as much splendor as Louis XIV., by Boi- leau, and the Mississippi is delighted with the prow ess of Galvez. The epic poem is followed by a short song which ends as follows : "He is a magnanimous hero. Let us vie with one another in singing, And with a unanimous voice, Let us raise him to the skies. In the beautiful temple of memory Let us erect altars to him. Galvez merits the glory Of becoming immortal." The second work of the literature of Louisiana is a tragedy, Poucha Houmma, by Le Blanc de Ville- neufve. It is a drama of the classic school and was published in 1814. The subject is the sacrifice of an Indian who gives up his life to save that of his son. The tragedy begins with a dream, as in Eacine's Athalie, but seems to imitate Corneille more than Eaclne, inasmuch as there is in the whole play the as piration towards the sublime and the superhuman to be found so often In Corneille 's great works. Of the romantic school is A. Lussan's Martyrs de la Louisiane (1839), and L. Placide Canonge's France et Espagne and Qui Perd Gagne. The latter LOUISIANA. 317 is a witty comedy, dedicated to Alfred de Musset and deserves to be compared with some of Musset 's best proverbs. The other two works are of the genre of Hernani and Buy Bias. Among our dramatists may be mentioned Oscar Dugu^, Dr. Charles Del6ry, and Dr. Alfred Mercier who published in 1888, Fortunia, an interesting drama in five acts. As it is not our purpose to give a complete history of the French literature of Louisiana we shall name, in regard to history, only Charles Gayarr6, whose Essai Historique sur la Louisiane (1830), and his Histoire de la Louisiane (two volumes, 1846 and 1847) preceded the author's excellent work published in English in four volumes. Erencli Poetry in Louisiana. It is in poetry that the French literature of Louis iana is the richest. Indeed, many poems of great merit have been published in New Orleans, and the works of our authors deserve to be better known. Adrien and Dominique Eouquette, Alexandre Latil, Dr. Charles Testut, Mrs. Emilie Evershed, and Dr. Alfred Mercier were our best poets. The following translation from Les Soleils ("The Suns"), by Dr. Mercier, is given as an example of sublime thought and beautiful language: THE SUNS. "We are the suns, the victors of Night, Before us she flees and dies. To us space ! To us eternity, to us whose flame encircles The profound immensity and shines everywhere. Glory to us, powerful Kings, whose look gives birth To the spheres describing the orbit around usl Our warm light rejoices each world; Life is a benefaction of our pure and sweet fires. To us alone belongs the infinite space; Immortal, we float and always advance. Bom of oiu' movements, rivers of harmony Circulate in the ether everywhere we pass. 318 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. NIGHT. You lie, O Suns, to me alone belong Space without limits and immortality. Beyond the distances which your beams reach, My dark abyss extends its gloomy immensity. Scattered here and there on my cloak of ebony, You adorn for a time my severe beauty; It is allowed only to me, me your sovereign, To say aloud: — 1 have always existed. Numberless suns before your birth, W ere sparkling already on the bottomless abyss; Where are they to-day? Who bemoans their absence? Who looks for their splendor which disappeared from my forehead? Cease, then, conceited ones, to sing your praises 1 Give light, give warmth to the inhabited worlds. 1 shall absorb you, fleeting phalanxes, When by time which flies your days will be counted." Dr. Alfred Mercier was also the author of the novel I'Habitation St. Ybars (1881), which gives the best idea of life on a large sugar plantation in Louis iana before the great war between the states. We may not agree with the ideas of Dr. Mercier on social questions, but we admire the accuracy with which he has described customs of by-gone days. He gives local color to his book by an occasional use of the Creole patois, which is very pleasing. The follow ing page is really charming : "D&non, the little son of the planter, has caught two birds and has put them in a cage. He goes to the kitchen to show them to his nurse, Mamrie, who says; " ' Sit here and tell me how you caught those bidlfinches.' "D&non did not need to be urged; he related his expedition in all its details. He expressed himself vsith an animation which delighted Mamrie. Seated on the floor in front of him, with a smile on her lips, she followed with increasing admiration, all the phases of his story. Her face, mobile and expressive, reflected everything that passed on that of the little boy, as if he had spoken before a mirror. "D6mon ended his epic, accompanying his words with great gestures which frightened the birds; the male renewed his efforts to pass through the bars of the prison; his head was covered with blood. D^mon pushed him back, saying with impatience: "' Stay qidiet, fool 1' LOUISIANA. 319 "'You take it easy,' said Mamrie to him, 'You took away his freedom and you want him to be pleased. I should like to hear what you would say, if you were put into a cage like this.' '"Put me into a cage,' exclaimed D4mon with a tone of wounded pride. ' I shoxdd break everything. I would get out and take vengeance on the persons who had imprisoned me.' " ' Bah 1 That is only idle talk,' replied Mamrie : ' If you Were put into a good cage with good iron bars you would not break anything; you would cover yourself with blood, and as you would see your efforts amounted to nothing, you would bend your head and stay quiet as the bullfinch will do in a day or two.' " ' No I ' answered D6mon, ' I would not eat anything and I would die.' '"That is a fine reply,' said Mamrie: 'You are very proud, you are indeed a St. Ybars." "The unfortunate bullfinch, exhausted, was lying down; his breast swelled painfully; his black eyes sparkled with anger. The female, which had taken refuge in a corner, uttered low plaintive cries. After a moment of silence D6mon said, "'Mamrie, see how the female is sad.' '"It is not astonishing,' answered the good negress, 'She is thinking of her little ones! They are hungry, they are calling their mother; but the mother will never come again; it is a screech owl or a snake that will come to eat them.' "D^mon was pensive. While his nurse attended to one thing and to another, he was looking at his prisoners. He got up and went out with out saying anything. After a few minutes Mamrie saw him reenter; his bird trap was empty. "'Well,' said she, astonished, 'Where are your birds?' False pride prevented D^mon from saying what he had done; he answered with embarrassment : "'They escaped.' "'They escaped,' said Mamrie, shaking her head, 'You are lying. I am sure that you freed them.' " 'Weill It is true,' acknowledged D6mon, ' It is your fault; what you told me about the female and her little ones pained me.' "The eyes of Mamrie filled with tears; she stretched her arms towards D6mon, showing him all her teeth and saying: "'Come here, rascal, let me eat you alive.' " French Literary Societies. Dr. Alfred Mercier rendered a great service to the French literature of Louisiana, not only by his writ ings, but principally by founding, in January, 1876, the Ath6n^e Louisianais, a literary society which has greatly contributed to the preservation of the French language in Louisiana. The Athen^e is affiliated 320 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. with the Federation of 1 'Alliance Frangaise in the United States and Canada. It publishes a quarterly magazine which contains interesting articles and poems in French, and which is the oldest of its kind in the United States. The presidents of the Ath6n6e since 1876, have been Dr. Armand Mercier, Gen. G. T. Beauregard, and Professor Alcee Fortier, and the perpetual secretaries have been Dr. Alfred Mercier and Mr. Bussiere Eouen. A great many people speak French in New Or leans as a mother tongue, and a visit to the old French quarter of the city is very interesting. In the " Vieux Carr6" one sees a curious mixture of the architecture of France and of Spain, and one enjoys the charm of what is left in Eue de Chartres and Eue Eoyale of the Latin civilization, of which the in fluence is felt to a lesser degree, in every part of the Crescent City. To that civilization is due, to a great extent, the artistic taste of the people in New Orleans, their talent for music and the beautiful pag eants during carnival time, which come to a climax at Mardi Gras. Besides the Ath^n^e Louisianais, a society has lately been organized in New Orleans to introduce again the study of French into the primary and grammar grades of the public schools. The knowl edge of French in Louisiana not only gives cul ture, but is of great practical use. In southwest ern Louisiana there are still many persons who speak but little English, and merchants, lawyers and physicians who deal with them must know French; and no one can be very successful in the legal profes sion in Louisiana if he does not at least read French well. Our civil code is based principally on the Code Napoleon, and decisions of the Cour de Cassation of France are often accepted as authoritative by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, for our law, like that LOUISIANA. 321 of France, is derived, to a great extent from the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian. The importance of French in Louisiana is consid ered so great by the lawmakers of the state, that the laws enacted by the legislative assembly must be pro mulgated in French as well as in English, and in some parts of Louisiana, in New Orleans, for in stance, judicial advertisements must be pubUshed in French and in English. English Literature in Louisiana. The French literature of Louisiana is interesting and characteristic, but there is also in the state an important EngUsh literature which has felt some what the influence of the French literature and of Latin civilization. We shall give a brief account of it and shaU quote as an introduction to the subject the following lines from our Louisiana Studies: "For several years after the cession to the United States the condi tions were not favorable to English literature. The settlers from other states were not very numerous, and they were too much absorbed by their material interests to attend to literary pursuits. As the prosperity of the state increased, more attention was paid to education, but the culture of the people, as in other Southern states, was directed prin cipally to statesmanship, and we had great orators, distinguished jour nalists, but comparatively few authors of note. It is proper to state, however, that the celebrated DeBow' s Review exerted a great influence upon literature for many years. Its pages contain papers of value on all kinds of subjects, and it is a complete encyclopedia of the Old South. "The institution of slavery is said by many to have been detrimental to literary activity. It was not, perhaps, so much slavery itself as the material prosperity accompanying it which] was a drawback to litera ture. The Southern people were content with attending to their mer cantile and agricultural interests and with governing the nation, to a great extent, and although many were highly educated, few wrote works generally included in the term 'literature.' Too many, however, spent their energy and their talents in defending, with their pens, the cause of slavery, a cause which was naturally considered by them legal and just. Slavery, in that way, injured literature." The learned jurist Frangois Xavier Martin, was our earliest historian. His History of Louisiana, Vol. 7—21. 322 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. published in 1827, is written with French clearness and conciseness. The battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815, is related in detail, as well as the events lead ing to the imposition of the fine upon General Jack son. Judge Martin justifies the action of Judge Hall, and the opinion of this great jurist is very val uable. Charles Gayarr6's History of Louisiana and his History of Philip II., are important works. The author, born in 1805, died in 1895, and was the best known literary man in the state. He was an admi rable example of the highest culture brought about by the French and Spanish Dominations in Louis iana. Besides his histories he published two histor ical novels, Fernando de Lemos and Aubert-Dubayet, and many magazine articles dealing with life in Louisiana. Miss Grace King's New Orleans, the Place and the People, is an interesting work, and her Balcony Stor ies are charming. Miss King gives a far better idea of the customs of the people of New Orleans than Mr. George W. Cable. His Old Creole Days have some artistic merit, but in most of his work he gives a totally false picture of the Creoles of Louisiana. Two books dealing with the War of Secession are of great value. Col. William Preston Johnston's Life of Albert Sidney Johnston, and Col. Alfred Eoman's Military Operations of General Beauregard. Col onel Johnston was president of the Tulane Univer sity from 1884 to 1899, and was a master of English prose. He wrote also excellent poetry and was an accurate student of Shakespeare. Col. Alfred Eo- man gives a correct history of the Confederate gen eral who fought so well at Manassas, at Shiloh, at Petersburgh, at Drury 's Bluff, and whose defense of Charleston was a marvel of the art of the military engineer. Another important work relating to the LOUISIANA. 823 war is Gen. Eichard Taylor's Destruction and Recon struction. The son of Zachary Taylor played an enviable part in the war, and has related his cam paigns in an interesting manner. One of the best biographies published in this coun try is Professor Pierce Butler's Life of Judah P. Benjamin. The author has succeeded admirably in his picture of ante-bellum days, as well as of the ter rible war times. The Life of Bienville, by Miss Grace King, is a scholarly history of the colonization of Louisiana. Our dramatists are Judge T. Wharton CoUens, whose Martyr Patriots represent on the stage the tragic story of the Eevolution of 1768 against Spain ; Charles Gayarre, whose School for Politics is a sharp and amusing criticism of American politicians ; Espy Williams and E. C. Wharton. We have already mentioned as novelists Charles Gayarr6, George W. Cable and Miss Grace King. Other writers of fiction have distinguished them selves in Louisiana. Charles Dimitry wrote The House on Balfour Street, which has been compared with Dombey and Son and with Vanity Fair. Dr. W. H. Holcombe wrote A Mystery of New Orleans, in which he makes a curious use of hypnotic influ ence ; Laf cadio Hearn produced in New Orleans his remarkable Chita, which is as poetic in its descrip tions as Pierre Loti's Pecheurs d'Islande; Mrs. Euth McBnery Stuart began her literary career while liv ing in Louisiana, of which she is a native, and wrote her initimable stories of negro life ; Mrs. C. V. Jami son published in 1891 her delightful Lady Jane, and Mrs. Mary Evelyn Moore Davis contributed to the English literature of Louisiana many interesting novels and stories, among which are. At War Times at La Rose Blanche, Under the Man-Fig, An Ele phant's Track, and The Wire Cutters. 324 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Mrs. Davis was a distinguished poet as well as a novelist. Her Pere Dagobert, and Throwing the Wanga have been greatly admired and My Love Went Sailing O'er the Sea is graceful and tender: "My Love went Sailing o'er The Sea, And gold and gems he promised me, But one white shell he had for me. A sailor lad my love was he. But 'Captain yet, my lass, I'll be,' He cried with that last kiss to me. I watched the ships sail in from sea. With white sails spreading wide and free, And sailors chanting merrily. And captains tall and fair to see Stood on their decks; but none to me Held out the hand or bent the knee. At last a ship crawled in from sea, Crippled, and stained and old was she. And over her side my Love stepped he, And down at my feet he bent his knee; ' A sailor still, my girl I ' cried he. And one white shell 1 bring to thee." Mrs. Davis was a charming woman and had, for a long time in Eoyal Street, in the "Vieux Carr^" a salon, where men and women of letters and musi cians met most pleasantly. Mrs. Mary Ashley Townsend, (Xariffa), was one of our best known poets. Her Creed is celebrated, and Lake Pontchartrain is beautiful : " Into thy sapphire wave, fair Pontchartrain, Slow sinks the setting sun; the distant sail. On far horizon's edge, glides hushed and pale, Like some escaping spirit o'er the main. The sea-gull soars, then tastes thy wave again; The bearded forests on thy sandy shore In silence stand, e'en as they stood of yore. While yet the red man held his savage reign, And daring Iberville's adventurous prow As yet had never cut thy purple wave, Nor swung the shadow of his shining sail, Across the bank of the Biloxi brave. Ah, placid lake! Where are thy warriors now? Where their abiding places — where their grave?" LOUISIANA. 325 James E. Eandall wrote My Maryland while he was a school teacher in Louisiana and Eichard Henry Wilde, author of the charming poem. Lament of the Captive, better known as My Life Is Like a Summer Bose, was a professor of law for several years in the University of Louisiana at New Orleans. Adrien Eouquette wrote English poetry as well as French, and so did John Augustin, author of War Flowers. Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson (Pearl Elvers), was also a graceful poet, and so is Mrs. Julia K. WetheriU Baker. Louisiana is proud of having given birth to John J. Audubon, the great naturalist and artist, whose de scriptions of the birds of America are masterpieces of clearness and accuracy. Gottschalk, the renowned musician, was also a native of Louisiana, and so was Eichardson, the great architect. Henry Vignaud, the distinguished Columbian scholar, is a native of New Orleans. Louisiana's contribution to literature and art has been noteworthy. Her French literature is unique, and her English literature is interesting and impor tant: BiBLioGRAPHT. — Fortier, Alcfe: Louisiana Studies (New Orleansi 1894); McCaleb, Thomas: The Louisiana Book (New Orleans, 1894). Alcee Foetiee, Professor of Romance Languages, Tulane University of Louisiana. 326 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XVI. THE LAW WEITEES OF THE SOUTH. HE five men distinguished above all others, according to John Fiske, in the work of con structing our national government and put ting it into operation, were George Wash ington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall. Of these "five founders of the American Union," as Fiske terms them, three might in a broad sense be re garded as Southem law writers, namely, Madison, Jefferson and Marshall. The Writings of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, Upon the Federal Constitution is the title of a small vol ume published in 1839. No law book has yet been given to the public to which one wishing to acquire a thorough comprehension of the spirit of the Fed eral constitution could be more safely referred; for it contains the greatest decisions of the greatest American chief justice, who has been aptly de scribed by James Bryce as "a second maker of the constitution." Marshall's law writings, however, are confined to his judicial opinions, and in a paper like the present any treatment of the written de cisions of the Southern courts of last resort would be altogether impracticable. Nor can Thomas Jeff erson, in the strictest sense, be classed as a law writer, for while his published writings not infre quently deal at some length with various questions of law, there is not among them a treatise or essay entirely devoted to any legal topic. Of the trio above named, therefore, James Madison is the only one LAW WEITEES. 327 who, for the purposes of this article, can be deemed a law writer. Distinguished Southern Law Writers. James Madison was born in Port Conway, Va., March 16, 1751, and died at Montpelier, Va., June 28, 1836. He must be ranked as one of the two or three greatest writers on constitutional law that America has produced. ' ' To him and to Hamilton, ' ' said Judge Story, "I think we are mainly indebted for the constitution of the United States." His papers in the Federalist — being about one-third of the entire number — and his Reports of the Debates of the Convention Which Framed the Constitution of the United States, are invaluable to the student of constitutional law. Certainly no one had a larger share in the framing and the adoption of the Federal constitution than Madison. His services in the Con vention of 1787 entitled him to be called the ' ' Father of the Constitution." John Fiske declares that "he was the constructive thinker who played the foremost part among the men who made the constitution." He acted as chairman of the committee which re ported the constitution. Among his contemporaries, his knowledge of constitutional law was regarded as unequaled. His affection for the Qonstitution and for the Union that it accomplished found utterance in these words: "The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is, that the Union of the states be cherished and perpetuated." St. George Tucker was born on the Island of Bermuda, July 10, 1752, and died in Nelson county, Va., Nov. 10, 1828. Coming to Virginia in 1771 to complete his education he was graduated at the Col lege of William and Mary in 1772, finished a course of law, and began practice in the colonial courts. After a distinguished career at the bar and on the 328 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. bench, he was, in 1789, made professor of law at William and Mary, succeeding Chancellor George Wythe. His best known legal work is his annotated edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, published in 1803. Tucker's Blackstone was for years a valued textbook in Virginia and other states. The appendix to the first book contains a disquisition upon the origin and nature of the Federal constitution. It has been said that it is a tribute to the originality as well as to the ability of the author that all subse quent controversial disquisitions on the subjects treated in this work "have appealed to him as au thority, or have attempted to overthrow his doc trines. ' ' He also published an essay on the question, "How Far the Common Law of England is the Com mon Law of the United States." Henry St. George Tucker, eldest son of St. George Tucker, was bom in Williamsburg, Va., Dec. 29, 1780, and died in Winchester, Va., Aug. 28, 1848. After graduating at the College of William and Mary he became a lawyer and settled at Winchester, Va. He was appointed chancellor of the state in 1824 and served until 1831, when he was made presi dent-judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals. This last named position he resigned in 1841 on being elected professor of law at the University of Vir ginia. He published Commentaries on the Law of Virginia (2 vols., Winchester, 1836-7) ; Lectures on Constitutional Law (Eichmond, 1843) ; and Lectures on Natural Law and Government (Charlottesville, 1844). Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, the second son of St. George Tucker, was bom at Williamsburg, Va., Sept. 6, 1784, and died at Winchester, Va., Aug. 26, 1851. He was elected professor of law at William and Mary in 1834. Though known chiefly as the author of The Partisan Leader and George Balcombe, he is 5^f LAW WEITEES. 329 also known as the author of the following law books : Lectures Intended to Prepare the Student for the Study of the Constitution of the United States (Phil adelphia, 1845) ; and Principles of Pleading (Boston, 1846). Edward Livingston was born in Clermont, N. Y., May 26, 1764, and died in Ehinebeck, N. Y., May 23, 1836. As the works by which this great jurist made such a deep impression on his own age and on pos terity were all written during the portion of his life that he was a citizen of Louisiana, it seems not improper that his name should be included in a list of Southern law writers. He became a member of the New Orleans bar in 1804, just after Louisiana had been acquired by the United States. In 1820, having been elected a member of the Louisiana leg islature, he, with two other members, was commis sioned to prepare a civil code for the state. Having made a close study of the legal systems of Eome, France and Spain, as well as that of Great Britain, he was especially fitted for this undertaking. The draft of the code, which was chiefiy his work, was adopted by the legislature in large part in 1825. Livingston's most notable work, however, is A Sys tem of Penal Law. This was divided into a Code of Crimes and Punishments; a Code of Procedure; a Code of Evidence ; and a Code of Eeform and Prison Discipline. It also included a Book of Definitions. The merits of this work were acknowledged by the most advanced thinkers of every civilized nation, and entitled the name of its author to be "ar ranged," in the language of Jefferson, with those of the sages of antiquity. It was in recognition of the value of his System of Penal Law that Livingston was chosen an Associate of the French Academy of Moral and Political Science. In 1831 President Jackson appointed him secretary of state, and in 330 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. 1833 sent him as minister plenipotentiary to France. His works on criminal jurisprudence were published in New York in 1873. Hugh Swinton Legar^ was born in Charleston, S. C, Jan. 2, 1797, and died in Boston while on a visit to his friend George Ticknor, June 20, 1841. In 1832 he accepted the position of charge d'affaires at Brussels, where he remained until the close of 1836. After his return he was elected to Congress from South Carolina. In 1841 he was appointed by President Tyler attorney-general of the United States and after the withdrawal of Webster from the cabinet, discharged for some months the duties of secretary of state. Among the articles in the two volumes of his "writings," edited by his sister, the only contributions to legal literature are : The Con stitutional History of Greece (Vol. I., p. 367) ; The Origin, History and Influence of Roman Legislation (Vol. I., p. 502) ; Kent's Commentaries (Vol. IL, p. 102) ; Codification (Vol. IL, p. 482) ; and Chancellor D'Aguessau (Vol. IL, p. 559). With regard to Legar6's paper on The Origin, History and Influ ence of Roman Legislation, Judge Story, in an ad dress to the students of Dane Law School, said: "Whoever reads that essay, and I hope you all will read it, will perceive his vast attainments in the civil law. ' ' These essays are characterized by a bril liancy and breadth of scholarship that are hardly paralleled by the writings of any other American jurist. So highly did Judge Story esteem Legar^'s judgment that in the lecture to his students above mentioned he declares : "To me, had my own career closed before his, a single word of praise from his lips, could I have looked back to know it, would have been as valuable a tribute as from any other human being. ' ' One of the chief objects of the latter part of Mr. Legar^'s life was to expand the common law LAW WEITEES. 331 of this country by infusing into it the more liberal principles of the civil law. His studies had brought him to the conclusion, also reached by Edward Liv ingston, that it "was practicable and desirable to infuse a larger portion of the spirit and philosophy of the civil law and even of its forms and process into our system of jurisprudence." His untimely death interrupted this work, and no American since, perhaps, has been so well qualified to continue it. John Caldwell Calhoun was born in Abbeville dis trict, S. C, March 18, 1782, and died in Washington, D. C, March 29, 1850. Though he was actively en gaged in the practice of law only a few years after his admission to the bar of South Carolina in 1807, his writings have caused him to be regarded by competent and impartial critics as one of the great est masters of constitutional law who has appeared during the history of the American people. The two treatises written towards the close of his life, entitled A Disquisition on Government, and A Dis course on the Constitution and Government of the United States, were published after his death and are contained in one volume of 400 pages. John Stuart Mill, in commenting on the great ability of this posthumous work speaks of its author as "a man who has displayed powers as a speculative political thinker superior to any who has ap peared in American politics since the authors of The Federalist." James M. Walker was born in Charleston, S. C, Jan. 10, 1813, and died in the city of his birth Sept. 18, 1854. Upon graduating at the South Carolina College in 1830 he devoted himself to the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1834. In 1850 he published a pamphlet entitled An Inquiry Into the Use and Authority of Roman Jurisprudence in the Law Concerning Real Estate. In 1852 his Theory 332 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of Common Law appeared. Professor Greenleaf, in a letter written on Aug. 24, 1852, says of this essay : "I have mentioned it to Professor Mittermaier, of Heidelburg, as the only philosophical treatise which our profession has of late produced." Conway Eobinson was born in Eichmond, Va., Sept. 15, 1805, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 30, 1884. His Law and Equity Practice, in three volumes, was published during the years 1832-1839. He spent some time abroad in gathering the ma terials for his Principles and Practice of Courts of Justice in England and the United States, which was published in two volumes in 1860. The value of this work, as alike comprehensive and profound, has been recognized by high authorities both in England and America. The closing years of the author's life were devoted to his History of the High Court of Chancery and Other Institutions of England From the Time of Julius Coesar Until the Accession of William and Mary. The first volume of this work was published in Eiclimond in 1882. Alexander H. Stephens was born near Crawfords- ville, Ga., Feb. 11, 1812, and died in Atlanta, Ga., March 4, 1883. He was elected to Congress in 1843 and remained there until 1858, when he retired for the time from public life. In 1861 he became vice- president of the Confederacy. After the war he was twice United States senator, and at the time of his death was governor of Georgia. His Consti tutional View of the War Between the States shows him to be one of the closest and most logical thinkers who has dealt with the great questions at issue. His remarkable gift of clear statement and his general vigor of Intellect, which caused Abraham Lincoln, after listening to one of Stephen's speeches, to pro nounce it "the very best speech of one hour's LAW WEITEES. 333 length" he had ever heard, are everywhere evident in this masterly treatise. Judah P. Benjamin was born in St. Croix, West Indies, Aug. 11, 1811, and died in Paris, France, May 6, 1884. He removed to Wilmington, N. C, in 1815. After spending three years at Yale, he studied law and in 1832 was admitted to the bar of New Orleans. Two years after entering upon the practice of the law in New Orleans he published a work entitled Digest of Beported Decisions of the Supreme Court of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. This work proved of great value to the members of the New Orleans bar and to students of the rather unique legal system which at that time prevailed in Louisi ana. In 1852 and again in 1857 he was elected United States senator for Louisiana. During the War of Secession he served as attorney-general and secretary of state for the Confederacy. After the war he escaped by way of Florida and the Bahamas to the West Indies, and thence to England. He en tered as a student of Lincoln's Inn in January, 1866, and the following June was called to the English bar at the age of fifty-five. After one year of practice he published A Treatise on the Law of Sale of Per sonal Property, which passed quickly through sev eral editions, and is now recognized as a legal classic throughout the English-speaking world. Baron Pol lock says: "Few works in English law have been so readily accepted and so universally used as Ben jamin on Sales." Of Benjamin's remarkable career in England, Senator Hoar, in an address to the Vir ginia Bar Association in 1898, declared : "I suppose there is no American, certainly no American law yer, who did not feel a thrill of pride when the fa mous Southern statesman, Judah P. Benjamin, af ter the war, made his way over every barrier and 334 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. easily took his place as leader and head of the bar of Great Britain." John Barbee Minor was born in Louisiana county, Va., June 2, 1813, and died in Charlottesville, Va., July 29, 1895. He was professor of common and statute law at the University of Virginia from 1845 to 1895. In 1873 appeared the first and second vol umes of Minor's Institutes of Common and Statute Law. The fourth edition of these volumes appeared in 1891 and in 1892. In 1878 the fourth volume was published — the third edition of which in 1893 ap peared in two parts. The whole work as published in 1895 covers nearly 5,000 pages ; yet Senator Dan iels, author of the well-known work on Negotiable Instruments, has declared: "Minor's Institutes contain more law in fewer words than any work with which I am acquainted." This monumental work has been very generally cited as authority by the courts of last resort throughout the United States, and is regarded as indispensable by a great many Southern lawyers. John Eandolph Tucker was born in Winchester, Va., Dec. 24, 1823, and died in Lexington, Va., Feb. 13, 1897. He was admitted to the bar in 1845. He was elected in 1870 professor of equity and public law in Washington and Lee University. He was a member of Congress from 1874 to 1887, and served as chairman of the ways and means committee, and again as chairman of the judiciary committee. He was president of the American Bar Association 1892-93. His treatise on The Constitution of the United States, in two volumes, edited by Henry St. George Tucker, was published in 1899. This work amply sustained his reputation as one of the ablest constitutional lawyers of the country and is re garded by those who have made a close study of it LAW WEITEES. 335 as one of the most valuable contributions yet made to this branch of the law. Augustus Hill Garland was born in Tipton county, Tenn., June 11, 1832, and died in Washington, D. C, Jan. 26, 1899. He was admitted to the bar in Wash ington, Ark., in 1853. Served in the United States Senate as senator from Arkansas from March 5, 1877, to March 5, 1885, when he took his seat in the cabinet, having been appointed by President Cleve land attorney-general of the United States. Sen ator Davis states that Garland was regarded by his fellow-senators as "one of the ablest constitutional lawyers which this country ha's produced in a gen eration." His work on Federal Practice met with a favorable reception immediately on its appearance, and continues to hold its place as one of the leading treatises on the subject. John Warwick Daniel was born at Lynchburg, Va., Sept. 5, 1842. In 1887 he was elected to the United States Senate from Virginia. His well-known work on Negotiable Instruments, published in 1876, has proved of great value to the profession. It has passed through several editions, and has probably been more frequently cited as authority by the appellate courts of the United States than any other American work on the subject. He is also the author of the work on Attachment, published in 1869. William Wirt Howe was born in Ontario county, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1833. He graduated at Hamilton College In 1853, and subsequently studied law in St. Louis and in New York City. Shortly after the close of the War of Secession he became a member of the New Orleans bar, and from 1868 to 1873 was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. In August, 1897, he was elected president of the American Bar Association. In 1885 he published Municipal History of New Orleans. The value of 336 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. his scholarly treatise entitled Studies in Civil Law, published in 1896, is distinctly enhanced by its charm of style. Hannis Taylor was born in New Bern, N. C, Sept. 12, 1851. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar at Mobile, Ala. He rose rapidly to prominence in the state and Federal courts, and is recognized as one of the leading living authorities on questions of constitutional law. The first volume of The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution was published in 1892, and has since gone through sev eral editions. This work has met with an enthusias tic reception from many of the foremost scholars and jurists of the day, and in recognition of its merits the degree of LL.D. has been conferred upon the author by the universities of Edinburgh and Dublin. In 1893 Mr. Taylor was appointed by Pres ident Cleveland minister plenipotentiary to the court of Spain. The second part of The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution was published in 1900. This part is entitled The Aftergrowth of the Constitution. Mr. Taylor is also known as the author of International Public Law, Jurisdiction and Procedure of the Supreme Court of the United States and The Science of Jurisprudence. Christopher G. Tiedeman was bom in Charleston, S. C, July 16, 1857, and died in New York City, Aug. 25, 1903. After graduating from the Charleston Col lege, he attended lectures at the Universities of Goettingen and Leipsic. On his return to this coun try he entered the Columbia Law School and gradu ated therefrom in 1879. He began the practice of law in his native city, but in 1881 accepted the offer of a chair in the law faculty of the University of Missouri, which he held for ten years, resigning then to accept a similar chair in the New York University Law School. In 1883 he published his Law of Real LAW WEITEES. 337 Property, which has since been largely used as a textbook in law schools of the country. His Limita tions of Police Power, published in 1886, met with a particularly favorable reception, some prominent critics declaring that it was one of the most import ant and most interesting of the law books which had been published in the United States during the pre ceding quarter of a century. Other books published by Dr. Tiedeman are Law of Commercial Paper, Law of Sales, Municipal Corporations, and Unwrit ten Constitution of the United States. Contributions of Southem Law Writers. The law writers of the South above named consti tute a comparatively small portion of the total num ber. During the past two or three decades there has been a marked increase in the output of law books by Southem lawyers. Some of these treatises are of great merit, and deserve extended notices, but the limits of this paper permit merely a bare enumeration. The following is a partial list of the works of Southern law writers not heretofore men tioned : New Views of the Constitution of the United States (1823), by John Taylor, Caroline, Va. ; A Treatise on Criminal Laiv (1838), by J. A. G. Davis, of the University of Virginia ; Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators (2 vols., 1st ed. 1841; 2d ed. 1857), and Digest of the Laws Repre senting Real Property (3 vols., 1st ed. 1839; 2d. ed. 1855), by John Taylor Lomax; An Essay on Limita tions (1844), by William T. Joynes, of Petersburg, Va. ; History of a Suit in Equity, as Prosecuted and Defended in the Virginia State Courts and in the United States Circuit Courts (1st ed. 1854; 2d ed. 1882), by Alexander H. Sands of Virginia; The Practice of the Courts of Law in Civil Cases Vol. 7—22. 338 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Founded on Robinson's Practice of 1832 (1st ed. 1877; 2d ed. 1891-92), and Pleading and Practice in the Courts of Chancery (2 vols., 1st ed. 1882-83; 2d ed. 1889), by E. T. Barton, of Winchester, Va.; Notes to Vol. I. of Minor's Institutes on Corpora tions (1894), by William M. Lile, of the University of Virginia; The Law of Tax Titles in Virginia (1898), and Conflict of Laws (1901), by Ealeigh C. Minor, of the University of Virginia; Hughes on Admiralty (1901), and Hughes on Federal Pro cedure (1904), by Eobert M. Hughes, of Norfolk, Va. ; A Treatise on the Law of Domestic Rela tions (1905), by Joseph E. Long, of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va. ; The Four teenth Amendment, by Hon. Henry Brannon, of West Virginia; Equity Procedure (2 vols.), and Equity Principles (1 vol.), by Charles E. Hogg, of the University of West Virginia; Procedure in the Courts, Law and Equity, by W. P. Willey, of the University of West Virginia; Pleading and Practice, by John Prentiss Poe, of Baltimore, Md. ; Juridical Equity, by Hon. Charles E. Phelps, of Maryland; Sylabus of the Law of Real Property, by Eichard M. Venable, of Maryland; Principles of the Law of Personal Property, and Digest of Criminal Law, by William T. Brantley, of the Uni versity of Maryland; Equity Procedure, by Edgar G. Miller, Jr., of Maryland; Elements of Corpora tion Law, by Joseph C. France, of Maryland; Domestic Relations, by Hon. Henry D. Harland, of Baltimore, Md. ; Marriage and Divorce (1884), Hus band and Wife (1888), by David Stewart, of Mary land; Criminal Law (3d ed. 1904), Custody of In fants (3d ed. 1899), by Lewis Hockheimer, of Mary land; Testamentary Law (1878), by Ed. Otis Hink- ley; Criminal Law (1886), by William H. Malone, of Maryland; History of a Law Suit (6 eds., 1st LAW WEITEES. 339 ed. 1852), by Abraham Caruthers, of Lebanon, Tenn.; Suits in Chancery (5 eds.), by Henry E. Gibson, of Knoxville, Tenn.; Studies in the Consti tutional History of Tennessee, by Hon. J. W. Cald well, of KnoxviUe, Tenn. ; Wills and Administrations (1894), by Eobert Pritchard, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Foundations of Legal Liability (3 vols.), by T. A. Street, of Nashville, Tenn.; Hand-Book of the Law of Public Corporations, by Henry H. In- gersoU ; Due Process of Law Under the Federal Con stitution (1906), by Lucius Polk McGhee, of the University of North Carolina; Regulation of Com merce Under the Federal Constitution (1907), by Thomas H. Calvert, of Ealeigh, N. C. ; The History of a Suit at Law (1st ed. 1856; 2d ed. 1860), by James Connor, of Charleston, S. C; The Federal Courts (1st ed. 1896; 2d ed. 1898), by Hon. Charles H. Simonton, of Charleston, S. C; The Law of Personal Injuries (2d ed. 1902), by Hon. John L. Hopkins; Domestic Relations (1899), by W. C. Eogers, of Nashville, Ark.; Telegraph and Tele phone Companies (1906), and Modern Law of Fail ing and Insolvent Corporations (1908), by S. Walter Jones, of the University of Mississippi ; A Treatise on Land Titles (1895), by Lewis N. Dembitz, of Louisville, Ky. M. Heendon Mooee, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina. 340 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XVn. THE INFLUENCE OF THE BENCH AND BAK UPON SOUTHEEN LIFE AND CULTUEE. N America there are no nobles or literary men, and the people is apt to mistrust the wealthy; lawyers consequently form the highest political class and the most culti vated circle of society." These words are taken from DeTocqueville's Democracy in America, a book of weight and au thority in its time, but now almost forgotten. It is still true that we have no nobles and that we are apt to mistrust the wealthy. But it is no longer true that we have no literary men. We have them in abundance, nor do we lack literary women. The declaration in regard to lawyers is now to be con sidered, more especially as applied to the South. When the sentence quoted was written it was, per haps, as nearly true as the average generalization, a comprehensive qualification in view of the extent to which this country, and especially the South, has suffered from the generalization of philosophic, philanthropic and corrective commentators. The statement was not unqualifiedly true when it was written, because from the days of Capt. John Smith we have never been entirely without literary men. It was incorrect, also, in that it failed to take into account as "cultivated" the clergymen, all more or less "literary," who, from the first, were conspicu ous and influential in America and who frequently combined teaching with preaching. In so far as the particular matters with which the French philoso pher dealt in his book were concerned, his state- BENCH AND BAE. 341 ment was fairly correct, because the preachers and teachers, usually, did not take part, actively, in politics. Influence of Southern Lawyers. The position of the lawyers in the South was in no respect different from their position in the North, their influence arising from the same causes and having the same limitations in both sections. That is to say as education, intelligence and competency in public affairs, have advanced among men of other occupations, the influence of the lawyers has in some measure decreased. Not proportionately, because the lawyer deals with a subject of great importance which requires special knowledge, and constantly and to an unusual degree, attracts the public attention, and therefore his prominence is greater than his Intellectual supe riority to men of other callings alone could produce. This last fact is illustrated by the continuing con sequence of lawyers in England and in those parts of the United States where the masses of the people are best educated and most attentive to public con cerns. At this time, in our country, the persons of greatest prominence and greatest influence are the very rich ; the very learned in all branches of knowl edge; the greater educators, such as college presi dents; the writers and the lawyers. The clergy, even more than the lawyers, have suffered, tempo- rarUy at least, a distinct loss of position in recent years, but this is less true, perhaps, in the South than in any other part of the country. There are fewer very rich men, fewer authors, fewer great institutions of learning in the South than in some other sections of the country, and, to the extent that this is true, the lawyers continue to be relatively more prominent and more influential. The first century of the life of our coimtry was a 342 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. period of political development and adjustment, and that fact alone would have made the legal profession of especial prominence even if the diffusion of cul ture had been more general. Whatever the causes may have been, the fact is indisputable that, down to the War of Secession the attention and the intel ligence of the South were directed mainly to public questions, and that condition has continued, though in steadily lessening degree, until the present time. For the last thirty years the legal profession has been losing its monopoly of public attention and of public affairs. It is very common to hear the speak ers in the campaign of education, which is now going on In the South, say that formerly the centre of life in every community was the courthouse, but now it is the schoolhouse, and the statement contains much truth. The change is precisely such as has occurred in other parts of the country. We must not conclude, however, that the lawyer is in the way of losing position entirely, for, obvi ously, that can never occur in the South or in any other part of the country. In every law-making body the lawyer is still dominant except, perhaps, in matters of economic legislation, despite all that is said of the invasion of such bodies by men of wealth, and to a large extent this must continue to be true of necessity, because the time will never come when the lawyer will not be needed in making, as well as in administering, the laws. While it is true that the prominence of the legal profession in the South is attributable to the same general causes that gave it influence elsewhere in America, in the early days, it is also a fact that these causes were more persistent in the South than in the North. The rolls of the Continental Congresses contain the names of many learned and capable lawyers, but the distinctively American lawyer was the prod- BENCH AND BAE. 343 uct of conditions succeeding the Eevolution. The great crisis did not make demands exclusively upon any one class of men. Washington, Franklin and Hancock were not lawyers, and Jefferson's renown and influence were never dependent in any degree upon his proficiency at the bar, or upon his attainments as a student of the municipal law. Independence, changed condi tions, new institutions, made the opportunities and created the necessity for the American lawyer. The peculiar genius of Marshall would have had but little chance for 'development in an English colony, for his gift was in the line of what we may call constructive jurisprudence. And this same capacity to apply the principles of English law to new conditions, to adapt them to the requirements of new institutions, to reject the common law and the Westminter deci sions when necessary, and, sometimes, to make new law without the aid of legislation, was the distin guishing characteristic of nearly all our great law yers for half a century after the Eevolution. This process of legal and institutional evolution and in novation was less obstructed in the younger than in the older communities. The freer life of the new West and Southwest encouraged progress and change. Therefore, in the younger communities the lawyer found his best opportunities and was most in demand. The most Important, or, certainly the most radical, legal and institutional changes have, as a rule, had their origins in the younger states. These states led the way in abolishing the property qualifications for voting and holding office, which were to be found in all the early constitutions ; they have made the most important modifications of the township system; some have extended the suffrage to women; some have adopted the referendum and the Initiative, while the very latest Western state 344 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. constitution has startled the conservatives by its many daring innovations. A century ago Tennessee and Kentucky were the West, and when Tennessee adopted her first constitution in 1796, Mr. Jefferson declared that it was the most democratic of the six teen state constitutions then in existence. In building new institutions the lawyers were in dispensable, and many men eminent in the profes sion followed the frontier southward or westward and were makers of laws and institutions succes sively for the new communities as they yeached the point where civil organization became necessary. John Haywood, probably the most learned lawyer and one of the most scholarly men in the Southwest at the beginning of the Nineteenth century, was a judge first in North CaroUna and then m Tennessee. W. C. C. Claiborne was a leader in Tennessee and then in Louisiana. William Cocke went from Vir ginia to the Watauga country, then in North Caro lina but now in Tennessee, in the last quarter of the Eighteenth century, served in the legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina, aided in founding the republic, so called, of Transylvania, was a leader in the short-lived state of Franklin, a judge and United States senator in Tennessee, and at last one of the foremost men in the Mississippi territory. Prob ably no other American has participated in the making of so many constitutions or represented so many constituencies. Just so soon as a community became sufficiently settled and secure, for civil rights to become matters of concern, the lawyers came and took charge. In the Southwest the Indian wars were succeeded quickly by strife, sometimes hardly less sanguinary, over land titles, and the lawyers reaped rich har vests of fees and of political preferments. In the midst of the first period of exceptional progress, in BENCH AND BAE. 345 the "flush times" of the Southwest, came the panic of 1837, and everybody and everything got into court. But this was only an additional and tempo rary source of infiuence for the lawyers. No sooner had the Federal constitution been adopted than grave questions of construction arose, demanding knowledge of the law for their determination. The combative spirit of the frontier delighted in politics, and as there were very few newspapers, the orator became a mighty power. Never was public speech so much in demand, never was the public speaker so much admired, or so infiuential, and nearly al ways he was a lawyer. It was also to the great benefit of the lawyers that the combativeness of the frontiersman made him a ready and persistent liti gant, while his want of training in business was a prolific source of contention. It is to the credit of the Southern people that they esteemed not only the speaking lawyers, but also the learned lawyers, for it happened frequently that the oratorical advocate was not a profound jurist and the people were quick to see the fact. No one ever put Patrick Henry and John Marshall, as lawyers, in the same class. The law was, as it is yet, essen tially an esoteric science, and substantial acquire ments in it unaccompanied by the gift of speech were sure guarantees of public admiration. The Old South, until the war, was rural, and population was dispersed far more than in the least populous parts of the North. The Virginia, Carolina or Alabama planter lived isolated in the midst of his spreading plantation, and came in contact with his fellows, mainly, at the remote church on occasional Sunday mornings, and at the remoter courthouse on Satur days and court days. Conditions were unfavorable to the creation of a literature, and nearly all the books were written in the North. Southern men 346 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. universally regarded public service as the most hon orable of pursuits, and the bar as the avenue to such service. Sons of the rich and prominent families frequently turned to the law, and there were few members of the profession who did not expect and seek office. There were public men who were not lawyers, as, for Instance, Andrew Johnson and W. G. Brownlow, of Tennessee, but a list of the prominent men of the South down to 1861 would be, mainly, a roll of attorneys. In 1860 the Southern leaders were in Virginia such men as Hunter, Mason, Wise and John Tyler ; in North Carolina, Vance and Clingman ; In Georgia, Toombs, Stephens and Cobb ; in South Carolina, Ehett, Chesnutt and Barnwell; in Alabama, Yancey, Walker and Clay; in Tennes see, Nicholson, Bell, Harris, Johnson; in Missis sippi, Davis, Lamar and Barksdale; in Arkansas Pike, Garland and Eector; in Texas, Sam Houston, Eeagan and Wigf all ; in Florida Yulee, Mallory and Morton; in Louisiana, Slidell, Benjamin and John A. Campbell. These were nearly all lawyers and they are not a tithe of the members of the profes sion in the South who were of national reputation and large influence at the time referred to. The final attitude of the South upon the great constitutional question which divided the sections was determined In large measure by Jefferson and Madison, and in much larger measure by Mr. Cal houn. Of the active and efficient advocates of states- rights just before the war, the most conspicuous were Ehett, of South Carolina, and Yancey, of Ala bama. The lawyers of the South led in the secession movement, as they had led for seventy-five years in all public affairs. If we look as far back as the second quarter of the Nineteenth century the great names are : Jackson, Polk, Houston, Pinckney, John BENCH AND BAE. 347 Marshall, Calhoun, Hayne, Grundy, King, Craw ford. Always it is the lawyers. The Lawyers in Literature. The literature of the South before the war was produced in large part by the lawyers. Mr. Cal houn was an author of no little merit, and Jefferson and Madison are among the foremost writers of the country on political science. John Marshall wrote a life of Washington, and there were many contribu tions by lawyers to the literature of political con troversy. Jere Clemens, of Alabama, wrote novels which were read fifty years ago, and Judge Long- street was the author of Georgia Scenes, of which he was much ashamed, not dreaming that it was to become a classic. Albert Pike was a poet of inter national reputation. The Lawyers and the Aristocracy. A fact of the greatest importance is that the pro fession corrected certain inevitable tendencies to ward aristocracy in the South. The bar was attain able by every aspiring young man, and success waited upon intelligence, probity and industry. The young man of the humblest origin came to the bar and succeeded if he had the capacity, and it hap pened not Infrequently that the sons of poor and obscure men rose to the highest positions. There can be no better illustrations of this than Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. It was due thus very largely to the influence of the bar, that while the South Indisputably presented certain features of aristocracy, it was essentially democratic. Nowhere in the country was merit more certain of reward or ability more promptly recognized, without regard to considerations of birth or fortune, and the dominant sentiment In the 348 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. South, notwithstanding the Institution of slavery and Imperfect local institutions, was not only genu inely but intensely democratic. Mr. Lincoln's birth was not more obscure, or his early life harder, than that of Andrew Jackson, not much more than that of Henry Clay. The legal profession attracted and encouraged talent very much as the church did in the Middle Ages, and with very much the same re sult. It was the bulwark of thorough Americanism and pure democracy. It is not true, as so often asserted, that there were only two classes of whites in the South — the aristo crats and the "trash." The aristocrats, so named, the old families of large, landed estates, were com paratively few in number, and the "poor white trash" less numerous than is generally believed. The great body of Southem whites did not belong to either class, but were plain average, middle-class people, intelligent, of sound morals, independent and patriotic. There was, probably, no part of the South where this good element of population was not in the majority. It furnished many of the more prominent lawyers, and, by its numerical strength, enforced a regard for itself which sometimes degen erated into demagogy. Nothing could be more absurd than the concep tion of the South as the home of a domineering, haughty, slave-holding aristocracy, without any other white population than the "crackers" and the mountaineers, to whom recent fiction has assigned so many and such impossible varieties of uncouth speech. That the rich slaveholders had an influence disproportionate to their numbers, such as wealth always gives, is true, of course, but the middle class of respectable and Intelligent whites, often slave holders to a limited extent but in no degree aristo cratic, in fact or in pretense, was everywhere in the BENCH AND BAE. 349 majority, and it was from this class that the bar was most largely recruited. Moreover, the aristocratic element owed its indisputable prominence not more to wealth and family standing than to the ability and personal worth of the men whom it put forward as its representatives. That the Southern aristocracy was composed, as a rule, of men of high character and of honorable pride is true, but it is also true that it was not only limited in influence and re strained from excesses, but spurred to greater exer tions by competition with the more numerous plain people ; and the principal, or, at least, the most con spicuous field of endeavor and of honorable rivalry was the bar. It is only just to add that the aristoc racy, in turn, by its intelligence, moral worth and high standards of conduct, exercised a strong and valuable influence upon all other elements of popu lation. Let us examine the antecedents of a few of the great Southem lawyers and political leaders. If we leave out Washington, the most conspicuous names in the Old South are Jefferson, Clay, Jackson and Calhoun. Not one of these was of Cavalier blood or, strictly speaking, of the aristocratic class. Jefferson was, in part, Scotch-Irish, in part Welsh, without pride of lineage and intolerant of aristoc racy. Jackson's birth was so obscure that there is dispute as to where he was born. Clay was popu larly known as "the mill boy of the slashes." Cal- hoim was of plain, good, Scotch-Irish descent. His mother's family came to America not more than forty years before the Eevolution, a part of the Covenanter migration in search of civil and religious liberty. William H. Crawford, of Georgia, the rival of Jackson and John Quincy Adams, was a poor boy and began his career as a school-teacher. William E. King, Vice-President of the United States, was 350 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of a plain but good North Carolina family. William Wirt, of Virginia, was born of a Swiss father and a German mother, and was too poor to obtain a col lege education. Sam Houston was of a frontier Scotch-Irish family. These are sufficient illustra tions of the fact that the bar of the South contained, from the first, many eminent men who were not In any sense aristocratic by descent or in sentiment. On the other hand it must be acknowledged that it was benefited both in morals and in manners by those of its members who were of high social stand ing and culture. The opposition of the South to liberal construc tions of the constitution was inherited from the great Virginia statesmen of the first period of our history, but it was kept alive and strengthened not only by sectional differences, but also by the strong democratic opinions and the conservative attitude of its lawyer leaders. It is not necessary to my present purpose that I should demonstrate, or even assert that this attitude of the profession was due to the influence of the plain people in its ranks. Neither is it within my province to consider whether the tendency was right or wrong. I am concerned directly only to show the influence of the bar on Southern thought and life, and the conservatism of the bar is a fact of the first importance because it accounts in large measure for the course of the South, in politics from the adoption of the constitu tion to 1861, and has had not a little to do with the direction of events since the war. Another fact worthy of special attention is the record of the Southem statesmen of the old regime. I make no comparison between them and the public men of other sections. It is enough to say that with out exception, so far as I know, the great statesmen of the South before the war were men of unques- BENCH AND BAE. 351 tioned integrity and of sincere patriotism. By force of intellect and of character they long exerted a con trolling influence in affairs and almost, without ex ception, deserved and received public respect and confidence. They were always positively, sometimes unduly, insistent upon their rights and those of their constituency, but they were strong, fearless, capable, honorable men, strenuously and genuinely patriotic, and their long ascendancy in affairs of state was marked by efficiency, honesty, economy and fidelity to duty. The South has a right to be proud of these states men of the old time, and so has the legal profession, for the great majority of them were lawyers. The tone of the profession must have been high when it produced the long line of great and good men and strong lawyers that began with Peyton Eandolph, Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Wirt, Pinck ney, and contains the names of Clay, Calhoun, Craw ford, King, Berrien, Hayne, Jackson, Overton, Hugh L. White, Polk, Grundy, Cobb, Stephens, John Bell, Toombs, Ehett, Yancey, Davis, Wise, Breckenridge, Benjamin and Catron, to say nothing of such law yers of the border Southern states as Luther Martin, Pinkney, Menton, Eeverdy Johnson and Taney. Long ago a representative of one of the old and aristocratic families of the South, a genuine "fire- eater," consulted me with regard to the choice of a profession for his son. I said to him that in my opinion the law did not offer so many advantages as formerly. He replied that the law was, and always would be, "the ruling profession of the world," and repelled with warmth my suggestion of the oppor tunities for success in commercial life. His scorn of the "shopkeeper" was outspoken and emphatic. His estimation of the law was characteristic of his generation, and I have tried to show how much there 352 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. was to support it. I am very sure that, on account of the conditions prevailing from 1789 to 1861, lawyers commanded more respect and wielded more Influence in the Southern states than ever before, or afterwards, in any part of the world. The intel lect of the entire section went almost exclusively into the profession, and the result was a long line of lawyers, judges and statesmen, whose names reflect honor upon our country. They were learned lawyers, eloquent advocates, just and wise judges, capable and incorruptible statesmen. No single man so profoundly affected the politics of the country as Thomas Jefferson; none has exerted so powerful an influence on its jurisprudence as Marshall; Webster's arguments were not so effectual in determining the real nature and effect of the constitution as Jackson's uncom promising attitude toward nullification; no states man has had such a personal following as Clay, un less it was Jackson; and, until 1861, Hamilton had not attracted or convinced so many mmds as Jeffer son or Calhoun. When we consider the facts here briefly outlined, it is no wonder that to the people of the Old South the law appeared as "the ruling profession of the world." Influence upon Culture. As to the influence of the bar upon the culture of the South there can be but one opinion. The logical inference is supported, abundantly, by the facts. The lawyers being, usually, men of education were examples to others, and were also the active sup porters of every movement for the advancement of learning. Mr. Jefferson founded and fixed the pol icy of the most notable Southem university. As a rule, the early Southern colleges were corporations created by the legislatures and controlled by self- BENCH AND BAE. 353 perpetuating boards of trustees, and an examination of the records of these institutions will show not only the numerical preponderance of the lawyers, but also their controlling influence in these corpora tions. It would be interesting, if it were possible, to ascertain how many prominent Southern lawyers were school-teachers. Sometimes they became presi dents of colleges and universities. Frequently they were editors. Judge Nicholson, who was twice sena tor from Tennessee, Yancey, of Alabama, and Ehett, of South Carolina, were engaged, actively, at times, In newspaper work. Every calling that required intel lectual training, every movement for the advance ment of education and the Improvement of morals were supported actively by the lawyers. In all re spects their influence upon culture in the South was wholly good and strikingly effective. In their general social relations their conduct and their influence were excellent. The prominence of their position and the almost universal desire and expectation of public service made them exception ally responsive to the ethical requirements of the communities in which they lived. But beyond this negative virtue, which might be attributed to an in telligent self-interest, there were a genuine and posi tive desire and purpose to serve their fellow men and their country. No body or class of men ever had higher ideals or exhibited greater excellence in private or public life than the old-time Southem lawyers, with whom, mainly, I am now concerned. They were not free from the Infirmities and faults of their time and of their environment, but impar tially judged they are entitled to all the commenda tion I have given them, and their honorable example is an inspiration to their successors. At the bar the Southem lawyer was zealous but honest; on the bench fearless, impartial and incorruptible; in poli- Vol. 7—23. 354 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tics his record, known to all his countrymen, is clear and altogether admirable; in private life he was guided by the strictest standards of conduct, and by a constant regard for the courtesies of life and the rights of his feUowmen. It is not my purpose to idealize him. That he had his share of the weak nesses common to men is admitted, of course, but my present business is to depict him as he appeared in the large to his fellow citizens, and thereby show what his infiuence must have been on Southern life and culture. The Lawyers and Keligion. This account would be incomplete without refer ence to the connection of the lawyers with the reli gious life of the South, and here again I may be sus pected of indiscriminate praise and of a desire to arrogate to my profession all the virtues. The as sertions which I am about to make do not admit of positive proof. Nevertheless, they are well founded. The profession did not escape in early times the Eighteenth century French influences, but it was not seriously infected, and it is affirmed confidently that in proportion to numbers, the lawyers of the South have been very much more largely represented in the churches than any other class of men. To an extent wholly exceptional, the lay activities and leadership in churches of all denominations have been in the hands of lawyers. It has been so in the past, and it is so now. The assertion is made with out qualification, and an examination of the facts, past and present, would confirm it. Joshua W. Caldwell, Author of The Bench and Bar of Tennessee. MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 356 CHAPTEE XVIII. THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTION TO THE PEOGEESS OF MEDICINE AND SUEGEEY. HE first century of the colonial era pro duced no contributions to science. Exist ing conditions demanded few physicians, and those not of the highest type. The colonies were infested with quacks and charlatans. "They abounded," says an old writer, "as the lo custs of Egypt. ' ' That the practitioners of the day were chiefiy noted for their extortionate charges is evident from the fact that masters permitted their sick servants to die without calling in a physician, rather than pay the fees demanded. This led to the passage of an act by the House of Burgesses in 1639 to correct the evil. The House of Burgesses, in 1736, enacted a law regulating the fees to be charged by physicians. This is the earliest fee-bUl on record in this country,, and it is interesting to note that it encouraged higher medical education in that it allowed physi cians who had taken a degree to charge nearly one- half more than it did those who were educated by serving an apprenticeship. The Eighteenth century found the colonies so in creased in population and wealth, the latter bring ing increased education and refinement, that a field was opened for more and better equipped physi cians. During the first half of the century the best practitioners were, chiefly. Englishmen or Scotch men, well educated men, some of whom were investi- 356 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. gators and writers, and made important contribu tions to medicine or natural science. After 1750 a number of Americans went abroad to study medicine, and after the establishment of the medical school in Philadelphia in 1765, a still larger number of young men from the Southern colonies sought degrees there. The University of Edinburgh attracted the larger number of those who went abroad, and at the time of the Eevolution nearly all our best educated physicians were gradu ates of that school. The Southern colonies were bet ter supplied with educated physicians than were those of the North. Contributions to Medical Science and Literature. The first physicians of the Southern colonies to make contributions to medical literature were John Mitchell, M. D., F. E. S., and Dr. John Ten- nant, of Virginia. Dr. Mitchell was an Englishman who came to Virginia about 1700, and resided there nearly fifty years. He was an eminent botanist and physician, and wrote on medicine, botany and his tory, and was a man of genius, originality and ac curacy of observation. He made a study of yellow fever and prepared a paper on the subject, which, through Dr. Benjamin Franklin, fell into the hands of Dr. Benjamin Eush during the terrible epidemic of that disease in Philadelphia in 1793, when he and the physicians of that city were at their wit's end as to some treatment by which to check its ravages. Adopting the treatment suggested and making it known to his confreres, by a combined effort they were able thereby to check the terrible mortality. Dr. John Tennant is said to have been a native Virginian. His most important writings are a de scription of the climate and epidemic diseases of the colony, and several articles on the therapeutic value MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 357 of the plant Poly gala Senega, which he was the first to make known. John Clayton, of Virginia, was a noted botanist, a correspondent of Linnaeus, and the author of a much quoted work entitled Flora Virginiaca. He discovered many new plants and wrote on the sev eral species of tobacco and their cultivation. During the first half of the century Virginia had not a few men who were eminent both as citizens and physicians. Among these were Dr. Thomas Walker (of Albemarle), who is accredited with having been one of the first to trephine bone for abscess, which he did in 1757; Dr. Thomas Walker (of Caroline) ; Dr. William Cabell, the founder of the family in Virginia ; Dr. Walter McClurg and Dr. John Bayn- ham. Dr. Cabell maintained a private hospital in Nelson county for his patients from a distance, and performed many operations. The Carolmas, from a comparatively early period, furnished numerous contributions to medical litera ture, and for some years led all the colonies in the study of the natural sciences. Dr. William Bull, of South Carolina, was the first native American to graduate in medicine. He took his degree at Leyden in 1734. Ten natives of South Carolina graduated from Edinburgh between 1768 and 1778. This colony had several very eminent physicians, who were Scotchmen and graduates of Edinburgh, and who contributed to the literature of medicine and natural history, prior to the Eevo lution. Of these. Dr. Lionel Chambers contributed, among other articles. An Account of the Weather and Diseases of Charleston; Dr. John Lining, A De scription of Yellow Fever, a work which to-day stands unrivaled for accuracy; and Dr. Alexander Garden, numerous communications to the Eoyal Society on natural history. Drs. James Moultrie, 358 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Alexander Barron, David Eamsay and Samuel Wil son were prominent physicians of the same period. The names of these men, says the late Dr. N. S. Davis, "will always make the early history of medi cine in that State Ulustrious. ' ' In that stormy period leading to and including the Eevolution, the medical profession contributed its contingent to that brilliant galaxy of statesmen, patriots and soldiers furnished by the Southern colonies, and who had so large a part in the founding of the nation. The profession in Virginia contributed Arthur Lee, Theodoric Bland, Hugh Mercer, Walter Jones and Adam Stephen (also sometimes spelled Steven) to the service of the state, or to the army; while some score gave their services in the medical corps. It is of mterest to note that two of the first six regiments raised by the state were commanded by physicians, viz.: Hugh Mercer and Adam Stephen. North Carolina furnished, too, her quota in the persons of Drs. Ephraim Brevart, Nathaniel Alex ander, Hugh Williamson, the author of a History of North Carolina, and Eobert Williams. Dr. Bre vart was the author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Drs. David Eamsay and David Oliphant were among those given by South Carolina to the cause. Dr. Eamsay was the author of The History of the Revolutionary War. Dr. Lyman Hall, of Georgia, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and later governor of his state. Drs. Noble W. Jones and Nathaniel Brownson, also of Georgia, lent the cause their aid. The credit of having established the first institu tion for the care of the Insane, exclusively, is Vir ginia's. This institution was also the first in which MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 359 provision was made for the colored insane, and its founding marked the beginning of the rational treatment of insanity in this country. This hospital, established in 1769, still exists as the Eastern State Hospital at Williamsburg. The earliest known quarantine act was that passed by the General Assembly of Virgmia in 1722, and was for the prime purpose of keeping yellow fever out of the ports of the province. In the latter half of the century, inoculation for the prevention of smallpox was extensively resorted to in the colonies, having been introduced Into Charleston, S. C, as early as 1738. Many hospitals for the purpose were opened throughout the coun try, the first in Virginia, being that of Dr. Walter McClurg, at Williamsburg. Mrs. George Washing ton was inoculated whUe in Philadelphia, as was Thomas Jefferson, who went there for the purpose in 1776. It is said that General Washington seri ously contemplated having the whole army inocu lated, as smallpox was more fatal to the troops than the weapons of the enemy, but the project was never carried out. The practice of the use of calomel in the after treatment of inoculation, as originated by Huxham, was introduced into this country by a Dr. Thomas, of Virginia, and is said to have reduced the mortality from one in one hundred to one in one thousand. When the Nineteenth century dawned upon the infant, but rapidly developing nation, the standard of the medical profession was advancing along with the other lines of progress. A review of the con tributions of the South to medical progress and literature shows that a constantly increasing num ber of physicians, who were, practically, all native- born and well-educated, were contributors. In the literature of the period (1790 to 1860) may be found 360 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. descriptions of the numerous epidemics which oc curred ; other articles treat of the Indigenous fevers and other diseases, and many describe surgical cases and operations. While it is unfortunately the fact that many of our ablest physicians wrote little or nothing, and failed to give the world the benefit of their knowledge, many of the articles published are of great interest, and are valuable contributions to medical and surgical literature. The names of a few of the contributors, with a mention of their contributions, will be made in the following pages, as examples of the highest type of the Southern physician and surgeon and their work. Many others, not a few of whom are equally as de serving as those mentioned, are worthy of their names, deeds and writings being here recorded, did only the length of this article permit. Convenience only has been consulted in the selection of the names used. An excessive use of the lancet was one of the chief therapeutic errors of the period. Dr. Benjamin Eush bemg the foremost advocate of the practice. Pro tests against these excessive bleedings were begin ning to be heard, and among the first to inveigh against the error were some Southem physicians, notably Dr. B. W. Dudley, of Kentucky, Dr. WiUiam Hubbard, of Virginia, and Dr. Elisha C. Dick, of Alexandria, one of the consultants in the last illness of Washington, in whose case he strenuously op posed further resort to the lancet, advocating, in stead, tracheotomy, but was overruled. Not until the early decades of the last century was typhoid fever recognized as a distinct disease, hav ing been confounded with typhus, and in malarial districts, with remittent fever, and here again we find Southem physicians at the front in helping to bring order out of chaos. Dr. J. P. Mettauer and MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 361 Dr. Alexander Somervail, of Virginia, and others of the Southern states wrote valuable articles showing that they recognized a variety of continued fever which was neither typhus nor remittent fever. In 1785 a Virginian had the honor and renown of receiving the Harveian prize for that year. The prize was awarded to John Lee, of Virginia, for his essay. An Inquiry Into the Properties of Opium. In the period of years between 1785 and 1875, two native-born surgeons lived and practiced surgery in Virginia, and deservedly acquired more than na tional fame. The older and first of these was Wil liam Baynham (1749-1814), of Essex county, a pro found anatomist and skillful surgeon, of whom it was said that, with the single exception of Dr. P. S. Physick, of Philadelphia, he was the only surgeon in the country up to that time who had done any thing for the improvement of his calling. He made, while studying in London, some original discoveries in human anatomy, and there was scarcely any knowm operation in surgery that he did not success fully perform. His operations for extra-uterine gestation alone made for him an enduring name in the annals of surgery. The second of these. Dr. John Peter Mettauer (1787-1875), of Prince Edward county, was prob ably the most remarkable man the profession of this country has produced. He deserves to rank at the head of the list of the surgeons of this country up to his time, while, as a matter of fact, surgical his tory gives hun mere mention. So great did his reputation become in a very few years after his graduation that patients flocked to him from all the surrounding country, and even from other and dis tant states. The number of young men desiring to study under him was so large that he established, and maintained for a number of years, a medical 362 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. school, and graduated quite a number of physicians. He used these young men as assistants and nurses. In the fifty years of his most active work he per formed an enormous number of operations of every variety, in the last week of his life performing three operations, one of which was for cataract. He was the first in Virginia and one of the very first in America to operate for cleft palate, which he did in 1827. However, the work for which he is entitled to the greatest renown was his successful operation for vesico-vaginal fistula, a terrible affliction that had never before been cured. He did his first successful operation for this condition in August, 1838, ante dating Sims, who has received all the credit, by a number of years. He was, too, a most voluminous author, and published an enormous number of ar ticles dealing with almost every subject in surgery and medicine, for he was a very able physician as well. A man of great versatility, he could Invent and devise, and when he needed some new instru ment or appliance he devised and made it. Truly, he was In deed and word a contributor to medicine and surgery. Another benefactor of his race was Dr. Ephraim McDoweU (1771-1830), a native of Virginia, but later of Kentucky. He acquired fame as a surgeon, and has the enviable credit of being the first surgeon to successfully do an ovariotomy at a time when the operation was universally considered impossible. He did this in 1809, when it required the highest degree of moral and physical courage to make the attempt, so unjustifiable was the operation held to be. Had he failed, his life would have been in danger. The published report of his two first opera tions, both successful, excited much comment at home and abroad, their authenticity being doubted and the author's veracity questioned. "A back set- MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 363 tlement in America — Kentucky — ^has beaten the mother country, nay, Europe itself, with all the boasted surgeons thereof. In the fearful operation of gastronomy with the extraction of diseased ova ries." The writer, the editor of an English medical journal, here speaks the truth, but in a bitter spirit of sarcasm, as is shown by another sentence: "Our skepticism, and we must confess it, is not yet re moved. ' ' This operation, now one of the best estab- Ushed and most successful, has proved a Godsend to Innumerable women m saving immeasurable suf fering and many thousand lives. Dr. William C. Daniel, of Georgia, has the credit of priority in the employment of extension in the treatment of fractures of the thigh. Dr. Charles McCreary, of Kentucky, in 1811, performed the operation of excision of the entire clavicle. In 1816 Dr. John King, of South Carolina, did one of the most remarkable operations on record. In a case of abdominal pregnancy, in which the head of the foetus presented in the pelvis outside the vagina, he in cised the walls of the latter, and whUe pressure was exerted on the abdomen above, applied the forceps, and had the rare good fortune to save both mother and child. Dr. J. L. E. W. Shecut, of South Carolina, was a contributor of some valuable observations on medi cal subjects. His most important articles may be found in his Medical and Philosophical Essays (Charleston, 1819), one of which is an account of the yellow fever epidemic of 1817. An Account of a Pestilential Fever As It Pre vailed In Wilmington, N. C, was published by Dr. A. J. DeEossett, of North Carolina, in 1790 {Medical Repository), and is an early paper of interest. Dr. Mathias Lengue and Dr. John Newman, of North 364 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Carolina, published some valuable articles in the last decade of the Eighteenth century. Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, a native of Virgmia, but a citizen of Kentucky, was a surgeon and teacher of extended reputation. He was noted for his suc cessful operations for vesical calculus, an operation which he performed 225 times, and was probably only surpassed by J. P. Mettauer with his 400 simi lar operations. Dudley was declared in England to be the foremost lithotomist of the Nineteenth cen tury. He was a pronounced opponent of bleeding, and never failed to inveigh against the practice. He taught anatomy and surgery In the Transylvanian University. Prior to 1828 he trephined for epilepsy in several cases, with 60 per cent, of recoveries. Dr. WiUiam McDowell, of Virginia, published, in 1828, an essay On the Pathology of Bone, in which he advanced views far ahead of his time, and advo cated the principles of treatment of the present day in diseases of bone. Dr. Paul F. Eve, a native of Georgia, who in his early career was a volunteer surgeon in the Polish Eebellion, was a noted surgeon and teacher. During his career he was professor of surgery in several Southern medical schools, and published over 600 articles on professional subjects, of which mention may be made of the following : Remarkable Cases in Surgery; What the South and West Have Done for American Surgery; and a Report of Twenty Ampu tations and Thirteen Resections of the Hip-Joint By Confederate Surgeons. He is believed to have been the first American surgeon to have done an hyste rectomy, and he performed many of the most diffi cult operations in surgery. Dr. Daniel Drake, born in Kentucky in 1788, was a very noted physician of the West. He was at one time professor of medicine in the Transylvanian MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 365 University. He published numerous works and papers, notably. The Climate and Diseases of Cin cinnati (1810) ; Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, etc. (1850) ; and Practical Essays on Medical Education and the Medical Profession in the United States (1832), a book well worth reading to-day. Dr. Henry Miller, of Kentucky, introduced the method of applying caustics in solution to the cavity of the uterus by means of applicators wrapped in cotton. He was the first in the West to use anaes thetics in midwifery. Dr. J. C. Nott, of Alabama, a prominent surgeon, excised a diseased coccyx for coccygeal neuralgia to the entire relief of his patient. He was the first to describe the disease and its remedy, which he did in 1844. An abdominal surgeon of note and a teacher of obstetrics was Dr. Eobert Battey, of Georgia, who did many difficult operations, of which some were original. He was also the author of numerous papers. An History of Medicine and Surgery in Georgia has been written and published by Dr. L. B. Grandy of that state. Vaccine virus was first brought to the United States in 1799, when Dr. Jenner sent Dr. Water- house, of Boston, a small quantity, and from the latter Thomas Jefferson obtained some, from which he supplied his own and other states. Vaccination was received with much favor in the South, the op posite being the case in the North, and Immediately took the place of inoculation, many Southern physi cians writing articles setting forth its efficacy and advantages. In the earliest decades of the Nineteenth century Louisiana, in Champ Manuoir, Trabue, Eandolph, 366 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Davidson, MarshaU, P. G. Thomas, E. H. Barton, J. A. Eiviere and M. M. Halphen, furnished con tributors of valuable papers on yellow and other fevers and diseases. In later years the Louisiana profession has had some markedly able men, as examples of whom we may mention Drs. S. E. Chaill^ and Joseph Jones, physicians, and Eudolph Matas and Edmond Sou- chon, surgeons. It is now acknowledged that the priority in the use of a general anaesthetic in the performance of an operation belongs to Dr. Crawford Long, of Georgia, he having first used ether for this purpose in 1842 (March). Dr. Eli Geddings, of North Carolina, was the first operator to pare the edges in operating for lacera tions of the cervix uteri. In 1852 Dr. Marion Sims, a native of South Caro lina, but then a resident of Alabama, published his essay on vesico-vaginal fistula, and introduced a speculum which developed a new principle of exami nation. Mettauer, of Virginia, had successfully operated for this condition for years prior to this, and had described his operation In the journals, but the profession did not seem to appreciate the value of the operation until Sims introduced his simple method. It is probable that the ease with which the operation could be done with Sims' speculum, and the fact that he went to New York and demonstrated it, had much to do with this. To Dr. Sims and his coadjutor. Dr. T. A. Emmet, who was a native of Virginia, the world owes much for their work in the advancement of gynaecology, and in establishing and disseminating an exact and systematic method of studying the diseases of women, much facility in so doing being afforded by the use of the Sims specu lum. His fame, most deservedly, became world- MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 367 wide. Every physician in the land, and in the South particularly, should read Sims' Autobiography. Dr. Norwood, of South Carolina, was the first to call attention to the value of preparations of the plant, veratrum viride, as a vascular sedative, now regarded as of great value in the treatment of puerperal eclampsia. The first amputation of the hip-joint done In the United States was by Dr. Brashear, of Kentucky, early in the Nineteenth century. Drs. Thomas Penniston, E. D. Fenner, E. S. Chaille and W. Stone, of Louisiana, were noted ex perts in yellow fever, and Dr. Joseph Holt in quar antine and disinfection. One of the greatest discoveries of recent years, that of the true means of the transmission of yellow fever through the medium of the mosquito, was made by a Southerner, a native of Virginia, Dr. Walter Eeed, of the United States army. Dr. Greenville, a native of Virginia, who became a prominent surgeon of Texas, and was professor of surgery in the Texas Medical College at Galveston, was the deviser of several valuable inventions ap plicable to surgery. He was also a yellow fever ex pert, and the author of a work on Yellow Fever and Malarial Diseases, Embracing An History of Yellow Fever in Texas. The devotion to duty and the heroism of the pro fession was never better illustrated than in the time of that terrible epidemic of yellow fever in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., in 1855. While this epidemic was only one of many that have visited Southern cities, it serves well to illustrate the fact that when duty called the profession has not been found want ing. Beginning about July 7 and lasting more than three months, it depopulated the two cities, causing 2,000 deaths in Norfolk alone, a mortality of one in 368 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. three of the white inhabitants, and was equally fatal in Portsmouth. During this terrible visitation, not only did the local physicians remain steadfastly at the post of duty, but from North and South, and from the latter particularly, came heroic men, physi cians and others, "who for naught but the love of their race, flew into the jaws of death." No less than forty-five physicians are known to have fiUed martyr's graves, giving their lives to the cause of stricken humanity. Did space permit, their names should be here recorded. In the War of Secession. We come now to the War of Secession, with all the suffering and horrors entailed by it upon the Southern people. Like their brothers of the rank and file, the medical corps of the army answered well and truly their country's call. Coming from civU life and practice, for there were comparatively few who had had experience in the United States army, how rapidly and well did they adapt them selves to the requirements of army life and practice. Says Dr. Hunter McGuire, and no one was better qualified to judge than he : " I can say with truth that, before the war ended some of the best mditary surgeons in the world could be found in the Confederate Army. His scant supply of medicines and hospital stores made him fertile in expedients of every kind. I have seen him search field and forest for plants and flowers whose medicinal virtues he understood and could use. The pliant bark o£ a tree made him a good tourniquet; the juice of a green persimmon, a styptic; a knitting-needle, with its point sharjrfy bent, a teanculum; and a penknife, in his hand, a scalpel and bistoury. I have seen him break off one prong of a common table fork, bend the point of the other prong, and with it elevate the bone in depressed frac ture of the skull, and save life. * * * Years before we were for- aUy told of Nelaton's method of inverting the body in chloroform nar cosis, I have seen it practised by the Confederate surgeon. * * * Many of the medical officers of this corps were killed or wounded on the field. * * * During the terrible six days which followed the re treat from Richmond, the medical men, by their unswerving devotion MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 369 to duty and cheerful support, contributed no little to inspire the heroism which turned our defeat into honor, and made Afipomattox one of the proudest memories of the war." Many remarkable operations were done and valu able contributions to the literature of military sur gery were made by Confederate surgeons, some of which are to be found in the Confederate States' Medical and Surgical Journal, which was published in Eichmond, Va., from January, 1864, to January, 1865, and in other publications. Two interesting historical facts may be related in connection with the Medical College of Virginia. It was the first medical school established south of the Potomac that attracted Southem students from the Northern colleges in any considerable number. Again, during the War of Secession, it was the only medical school in the Confederacy to continue its work, except the University of Virginia, which only graduated five men during the period. Two sessions annually were held, and a supply of surgeons for the army thus kept up. Since the War. In the period of nearly half a century which has elapsed since the war, the South has not fallen be hind in her contribution of able men to the profes sion, men who have made and are making their mark in all departments of medical science, and who are doing their full share in its advancement. Space does not permit the mention of names or contribu tions, but post-bellum literature teems with both. No more important subject has engaged the at tention of the profession of late years than that of higher medical education, and it is gratifying to ob serve that the Southern profession is domg its part to bring about a standard to which it may point with pride. It may be here observed that the University Vol, 7—24. 370 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of Georgia, as early as 1835, advocated an associa tion for the purpose of bringing about an elevation of the standard of medical education, and the first object in view In the organization of the American Medical Association was a similar one. (See article on Medical Education, Volume X.) No one means to the end has done half so much towards accomplishing the purpose as the establish ment by the various states of boards of examiners, for by this means the inferior colleges have been forced to elevate their standard of requirements in order to graduate men of sufficient education to pass the examinations of these boards. At present the great object to be attained is the elevation of the preliminary requirements for entrance upon the study of medicine, or, in other words, that the applicant should possess a liberal academic education in order to enter a college of medicine. This object is gradually being attained and, ultimately, the end will be accomplished. No account, however brief, of the contributions of the South to medicine and surgery would be com plete were no mention made of the professional men she has given to other parts of the country. Let us name, in conclusion, just a few of these physicians. Such men, for instance, as Nathaniel Chapman, WUliam E. Homer, John K. Mitchell, Thomas D. Mutter, Joseph Hartshorne and Joseph Price, of PhUadelphia; T. A. Emmet, E. C. M. Page, S. D. PoweU, L. C. Gray, W. G. Wilie and J. A. Wyeth, of New York, and a host of others who have migrated to various cities of the country and have "acted well their part wherever they were." The army, navy and marine hospital service, too, have had in their Southern members some of their very best officers. BiBUOGRAPHT.— Beck, J. B.: Historical Sketch of American Medicine before the Revolution; Billings, J. S.: and others: A Century of American MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 371 Medicine, 1776 to 1876; Davis, N. S.: Contributions to the History of Medi cal Education and Medical Institutions in the United States; Da Costa, J. M.: Physicians of the Last Century; Dennis, F. S.: A System of Surgery (Chapter on the History of Surgery by J. S. Billings); Forest: Great Pestilence in Virginia; Gross: S. D.: American Medical Biography; Hening: Statutes at Large (Vols. I. and IV.); Johnston, George Ben: A Sketch of Dr. John Peter Mettauer of Virginia; Slaughter, R. M.: History of Medicine and Surgery in Virginia (Unpublished) ; Tennent: Epistles to Richard Mead; Thacher, James: Medical Biography with History of Medical Science in the United States; Toner, J. M. : Medical Men of the American Revolution; Watson, I. A.: Physicians and Surgeons of Amer ica; Medical Repository (1817, Vol. III., containing report of case operated upon by John King of Edisto Island, S. C); Various articles in medical journals and the transactions of state societies. EoBEET Madison Slaughtee, Member Virginia Board of Medical Examiners; Author of History of Medicine and Surgery in Virginia. 372 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XIX. THE SOUTH'S CONTEIBUTIONS TO MUSIC. 1732-1800. 'he story of Southern music, as a part of the general history of American art, has never been adequately told. The making of the books has been left to Northern and New England investigators, and they have naturally laid stress on the sources of the sections with which they were most f amUiar. Elson and Eitter, the two great compilers of the musical data of American his tory, faUing to collect the facts of early concerts and opera life in the Southern colonies, have filled their pages with the minutest references to happen ings In New York, Philadelphia and New England, and in neglecting to collate the Southern statistics have lost all perspective in their induced generaliza tions. It is undoubtedly true that the cavaliers of Virginia and the English Huguenot settlers of Caro lina made no attempt to absorb into their music any local color from the new world. It remained a more or less foreign thing in a strange land, yet it is also undoubtedly true that the taste of the early South erners was more refined and their performance more artistic than were the narrowly limited and strictly pious utterances of the Bay Psalm Book and its grace-giving predecessors. But although no indigenous music phase evolved, concerts were given in the Southern colonies which would have pleased the modern educated ear far more than the tuneless and timeless praises to the Almighty in New England, where secular music was anathematized as frivolous and sacrilegious. In MUSIC. 373 Carolina, Virginia and Maryland there were no such religious and musical prejudices, so that the trans planting of English musical culture to the new world was not thwarted here by prohibiting Scriptural quotations. In thus shifting the stress of our early musical life to the South, it will be necessary to cite some facts in order to win conviction for so unorthodox a conclusion. From the several dates of colonial settlement until about 1725 there was practically no music, save such as new settlers in a savage country can find tune, heart, and throat for. These men, al though m. a barbarous land, were not barbarians themselves. Many were educated and refined — ^no doubt some were musically cultivated — and as soon as room was found on the small vessels that bound them to the mother country, it is not surprising to find mention made in inventories of imported or gans, violins and harpsichords. The culture of the South was more refined, but it must be admitted that the seriousness of New Eng land was more creative. If a typical American school of composition can be alleged even to-day — which is a very open question — there is little doubt but that its roots will be found in the ear-splitting, but — to them — soul-satisfying hymns of the Puri tans. The music of the Southern cavaliers and royalists was a luxury and an adornment of society, while the singing of the Puritans and Pilgrims was an intimate expression of their deeply protesting re ligion. Therefore, it is only natural that the latter should have taken root and become truly American. For, until music is regarded seriously and is used to express some vital process, it is unlikely that a really national school of art can arise. There is record of an organ imported into Caro lina in 1723, and it is probable that this was not the 374 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. first instrument of the kind in the South. An old colonial inventory of 1740 Includes, among other articles of luxury, "eighteen pieces of painting, five hundred pounds worth of books, and a violin." A study of the files of Eighteenth century newspapers* shows clearly that the first large musical activity of artistic significance on these shores was devel oped in Charleston, S. C. This city, before the end of the Eighteenth century, had over 20,000 inhabi tants,! ¦w^iio bore a wide reputation for culture and good taste due to the close contact with aristocratic life in England and the wealth of the traders and planters. In the South Carolina Gazette for Satur day, April 8-15, 1732, appears this notice: "On Wednesday next will be a consort of musick at the Council Chamber for the benefit of Mr. Salter." The publication of the Gazette was only begun in January of this year, and, in all probability, con certs had taken place considerably before this date, for that they were then well established is evidenced by the fact that in the summer and fall of 1732 three more "consorts" were advertised. The pro grammes of this early date were never published — nor were they in Europe — but since the colonials were ambitious to do all things as London did, it is probable that Corelli, Purcell, Handel and Gemini- ani were among the favorite composers. It is by no means certain that the concerts advertised were the only concerts that took place. Indeed, it is far from likely that this was the case, for chance after-men tion now and then reveals instances in which there was no antecedent notice. Two concerts are adver tised for 1733, one each for 1735, 1737, 1738— aU "for the benefit of Mr. Salter," which merely means *See the invaluable source-book of O. G. Sonneck, Early Concert-Life in America (Leipzig, 1907). tStatistica of population in this article are from estimates published in Seventh Census, 1850. MUSIC. 375 that this gentleman was the business manager and promoter of the enterprise. The first song recital of America — "none but English and Scotch songs" were sung — took place in Charleston on Feb. 26, 1733. Other concerts are noticed in frequent suc cession, as many as four in 1734. There are many lacimse from this time up to 1751, probably due to a failure to advertise for some reason, since many musicians are mentioned as coming to Charleston and settling there during this period. Sacred music was taught, and "Psalmody according to the exact rule." Concerts are fashionable, and if "accom panied by obliging behavior they may bring in three or four hundred guineas per annum." An English surgeon. Dr. Milligan, after a visit to the provinces, published in London that the ladies "are fond of dancing, sing well, and play upon harpsichord and guitar. ' ' A decade later occurred an event of first impor tance in American musical history. Historians of music are accustomed to cite the "Stoughton Musi cal Society of Massachusetts," founded in 1786, as our pioneer musical society, but the "St. CcecUia Society" of Charleston has that honor, coming into the world In 1762 as a serious musical organization, provided with an elaborate set of rules and regula tions.* It had a competent orchestra of gentlemen performers who had sufficient skill, and profession als who were engaged by the season. Its managers went far afield to secure the best talent in the market. This advertisement appears in the Boston Evening Post for June 17, 1771 : "Chaelestown, South Carolina, April 11, 1771. "The St. Coecilia Society give notice that they will engage with, and give suitable encouragement to musicians properly qualified to *See South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, 1900, pp. 223-227. 376 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. perform at their concert, provided they apply on or before the first day of October. The performers they are in want of are: a first and second violin, two hautboys and a bassoon, whom they are willing to agree with for one, two or three years. "John Gordon, President. "Thomas Ln. Smith, Vice-President." This society's concerts were rarely noticed in the local papers, since they were not open to the general public. Until 1822, with an interruption during the Eevolutionary War, concerts were given regularly every fortnight during the season, and music was its first and only love. After that date it became a purely social organization such as the Philadelphia Assembly. Josiah Quincy, of Boston, writing of a Southem journey in 1773, describes the music of one of these concerts as "grand, especially the bass viol and French horns." A Frenchman, whose salary was 500 guineas, was the best violin soloist he had ever heard, and many of the performers were ama teurs like Gen. C. C. Pinckney, who played the cello, and Ealph Izard. That he thought the respect and attention paid to music were more sincere in Charles ton than In his own Boston is evidenced by his ob servation that the ladies are "in taciturnity during the performance greatly before our ladies ; in noise and flirtation after the music is over pretty much on a par."* In 1792 Maj. Thomas Pinckney, then Minister to England, was requested by the managers to send out "one grand pianoforte and twenty pounds worth of the best modern concert music." President Washington, speaking in his joumal of his visit to Charleston in 1791, wrote that he went to a concert. His soul seems to have been more impressionable to feminine inspiration than to mu sical enkindlement, for he commented : ' ' There were ?Quoted by Mrs. St. Julien Eavenel in Charleston, the Place and the People. MUSIC. 377 400 ladies, the number and appearance of wch. ex ceeded anything I had ever seen. ' ' The yoimg men of the day were often educated in England, the Southern tide-water strip was in close relationship with the mother country, and music and instruments were now a precious portion of many a shipload. "Vauxhall Gardens," in the usual imitation of London fashion, were opened in 1767, "with con certs of vocal and instrumental music." An Or- phseus Society is mentioned in 1772. "Benefit" concerts are advertised more or less frequently by Peter Valton, Franceschini, P. A. von Hagen, Junr., and others. After the war musical activity revived with an increased interest. Theatrical companies visited Carolina and the local and itinerant musicians of the older concerts found competitors in the members of these troupes, who improved the shining hours of their stay by organizing benefits for themselves, assisted by local talent and by other members of the troupe. From 1793 to the end of the century music flourished like a green bay tree. In 1794 the Har monic Society appears. English opera was intro duced. French and Italian opera was sung by a French company which had escaped the Eevolution- ists in San Domingo. These companies joined forces with the local musicians, and "full pieces" were performed with well-balanced orchestras of thirty instruments. At this period in opera were heard the works of the English Arne, Atwood, Shield, and the French and the Italian Eousseau, Gr^try, Cima- rosa, Paisiello. In concert the compositions of Stamitz, Gossec, Haydn, Gyrowetz, Pleyel, Mozart, Gluck. London herself could offer no more. On 378 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Dec. 17, 1795, the following typical programme was given : Act 1st Stmfhonib Haydea Song, by Mrs. Pownall Concerto on the Basso, by Mr. Le Roy Pleyel Duett, by Mrs. Pownall and Mr. Bergman La Chasse Stamitz Act 2d Stmphonie Pleyel Concerto, Pianoforte, Mr. De Villera Kotzeluch French Song, by Mr. Pownall Concerto Violin, by Mrs. Pownall OvERTDRE, The Battue of Ivrt Martini N. B. — Between the acts Mr. Le Roy will perform several pieces on the Spanish guitar. Silence is requested during the performance. The French Eevolution had driven many good musicians to seek exile in America, and this remark able programme is an index of the good taste of the period. In 1773 a Grand Musical Festival, consist ing of "the celebrated Stabat Mater of Doctor Haydn," was perhaps the first use of the term ' ' Musical Festival, ' ' which has become so important a movement In our day. These are a few of the facts gleaned from the precious records of the Charleston Library. They could doubtless be paralleled for the last quarter of the century in the case of other Southern cities, if only their newspaper files were in such excellent preservation. Music in Charleston was earlier culti vated than in other Southem cities, and had, down to the Nineteenth century, a more vigorous life, but Maryland and Virginia also enjoyed concert and opera towards the end of the century. The Mary land Gazette for Jan. 24, 1793, announces a "musical performance" at Annapolis. Baltimore, outgrow ing Annapolis, from 1784 on enjoyed sporadic con certs and regular seasons of subscriptions after 1788. Symphonies, overtures and various forms of chamber and vocal music appear on the programmes. Alexander Eeinagle, the harpsichordist and con- MUSIC. 379 ductor, Mrs. Oldmixon and Miss Broadhurst, the singers, J. H. Schmidt, the organist, contributed to the entertainment. Gallic Influences after the French Eevolution was marked until 1798, when, for political reasons, the whole of America suffered a reaction against that country. German, Italian and English musicians were also here in numbers and worked together harmoniously. Our music then, as now, was distinguished for its cosmopolitan character: all of Europe was drawn upon. In Vir ginia, Williamsburg, Eichmond, Fredericksburg, Alexandria, Norfolk and Petersburg all had music at an early date. George Washington in his ledger noted his expense for concerts at Williamsburg in 1765 and 1767. Fredericksburg has a concert ad vertised in the Virginia Gazette for Jan. 10, 1784, a concert by the "Harmonic Society," which proves a well-established and organized activity. Peters burg is first noticed in 1795, Eichmond in the same year, Alexandria in 1793, Norfolk in 1796. Savannah, Ga., had a remarkable musical life for her size. In 1766 the Georgia Gazette mentions the usual "benefit concert of musick," and in 1796 a "grand concert" is heralded with all the trappings of symphony, song and concerto. New Orleans probably had concerts in the last decade of the cen tury. In 1791 a company of French comedians, refugees from San Domingo, began a series of oper atic performances there. The Louisianians have found opera necessary to their happiness ever since. These dusty facts have been thus itemized in or der to lay carefully the foundations for the novel and unpopular contention that the South had a comparatively rich and ripe musical experience be fore New England had foimd it in her conscience to open a very ready ear to the seductions of secular music. This conclusion is reinforced by contempo- 380 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. rary letters and by all tradition, besides by the survival of a considerable quantity of printed copies of music of an early date. The music is such as the cultivated taste of England approved in the Eight eenth century. Although the population of the Southern colonies was more heterogeneous than is superficially sup posed, in general the English element absorbed the others, and so the service of the Established Church of England stamped its characteristic on Southern church music. The Low Church tendencies of Southern churchmanship were, in part, Anglophobic results of the Eevolution. Yet, until 1807, there were choirs of surpliced boys in the South, and at tunes bands supported the organ, a performance which afterwards, and even nowadays, would be good cause for a parochial secession. 1800-1861. All attempts at composition were nothing but English transferences, and there was little of that. The first American composer, rough, ungrammati- cal, but vigorous and native, was William Billings, of Boston. One of his contemporaries, Andrew Law (1748-1821), himself a composer of hymn- tunes, did some pioneer work in the South as a teacher of singing. He seems to have been the first connecting link between the Southern colonies with their cul tured exotic music, and the stammerings of Amer ican composition in the Billings School of Boston. Law, with the hopeful desire of providing an easy means for teaching his refractory pupils how to read, invented an odd system of notation which abandoned the use of the conventional staff with its five lines. He was one of the first to give the air or tune to the soprano part. The usual habit had been to give the contralto and melody parts to male voices MUSIC. 381 and the tenor to women. The school thus brought into connection with the South produced a regiment of psalm-tune composers. It was but a pulling in fant, but, at least, it was alive. Music — and good music — was the ordinary enjoy ment of the plantation household. Many planters brought teachers from abroad, some English, some German, Swiss or French. The harpsichord, piano, violin, cello, flute and guitar were domesticated on rice and cotton plantations. Voices were intelli gently trained by these foreign teachers. The memoirs and "letters of the period almost invariably depict home scenes to the accompaniment of music. Perhaps nowhere in America during pre-Eevolu- tlonary days was there so vivid an enjoyment of the best that music had to offer. And this love of music continued, in varying mood, up to the War of Secession. Why then did not a school of native composition arise? A general answer would be. Why has Amer ica never, to this day, developed a really national musical expression? The more specific answer is, of course, to be found in the aristocratic construc tion of Southern Patriarchal Society. To write worthy music requires, first, a long and studious application to the laws of its grammar, and second, an impulse of genius which is usually attended by a profound personal or social crisis. The rich Southerner could acquire the first in England. His condition of life was not apt to make him suffer the second. The poorer man of the middle class might have suffered the second, but had no oppor tunity to acquire the first. When the wars of Eevo lution and Secession came and the stimulus of national tragedy was at hand, the cultured men who could have made the music were shouldering the muskets. There were no men to spare; none to 382 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. permit of a body of inactive spectators, with feelings wrought to a high pitch and with leisure to express themselves artistically. In the first two decades of the Nineteenth century a new movement is inaugurated in Massachusetts, fostered by the Stoughton (1786) and Handel and Haydn (1815) Societies. Oratorios are published and collections of music which far surpass any pre vious American attempts. The South furnished the man who made the best of these collections and whose achievements swung American composition from the Billings and Law psalmody to the broader ambitions of the last century. "The father of American church music" was Dr. Lowell Mason, born at Medfield, Mass., Jan. 8, 1792, who spent his youth and young manhood (until 1826) in Savannah, Ga. He was, at first, only an amateur musician and studied composition with F. L. Abel. Some of his sacred music came to the attention of Dr. G. K. Jackson, "the severest critic in Boston" (Elson). Jackson wrote: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation." It found a publisher in Boston, becoming "The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, harmon ized for Three or Four Voices, with figured Bass, for Organ and Pianoforte." Mason's name is ab sent from the title page at his own request. He explained: "I was then a bank officer in Savannah and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." He realized in five years over $4,000 from his copyright, and then determined to make music his profession. He went to Boston on a guarantee of $2,000 a year and soon became president of the Handel and Haydn Society. The contrapuntist, Hauptmaim, said that MUSIC. 383 the "harmonies of his tunes were dignified and church-like, and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious." Charles C. Perkins, in the History of the Handel and Haydn Society, asserts his peculiar fitness to lead American music in these words: "First and foremost he was not so very much superior to the members as to be un reasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Sec ond, he was a born teacher who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man who could understand them and be understood of them." This third reason is an Interesting com mentary on his Savannah environment. He published as many as fifty manuals, instruc tion books and musical collections. Even after he had gone to Boston to live, his Infiuence was felt in the South through his "Teachers' Conventions," which assembled representatives from many states and returned them missionaries. His adoption of the Pestalozzian system over the old psalm tune method of singing brought about the "Boston Acad emy of Music," an institution for teaching vocal music. Its propaganda influenced teaching in the South, for the third annual report (1835) of the Academy states, "Letters have been received from persons in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia * * * Missouri, Tennessee * * * Maryland * * * asking for information relative to measures which they ought to adopt in order to introduce music as a branch of education into the communities where they live." It is interesting to note that the pro grammes of the St. Cecilia Society in Charleston contained many names of the "first families" of the state and province. The list of Billings's class in Boston is no such Debrett of Massachusetts. Popular taste in instrumental music in the early 384 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. years of the Nineteenth century was generally bad — but popular taste in America still is. There seems to have been a revival of those noisy and unmusical "battle pieces" and marches that must have made the days — and nights — of the early Eighteenth cen tury in England hideous. In proportion to the in creased tone of the hammer of the pianoforte over the goosequUl of the spinet, this last period must have been even more hideous. The Battle of New Orleans was a prime favorite. Yankee Doodle and Washington's March gave frequent delight to the patriot who was so fortunate as not to be an artist also. The South has a passing connection with, though no real claim on, Gottlieb Graupner, who could hon estly be called the "Father of American orchestral music." He was a Hanoverian oboe player; he spent some time in Charleston in orchestral work, and m 1797 married a singer in that city. He went on to Boston and became the founder of the Boston Philharmonic. In the South musical taste seems to have risen with the passing decades until the war swept everything away. Great artists like Ole Bull, Grisi, Mario, Brignoli, the young Patti, were heard In the larger cities. In 1850 broke out what was called the "Jenny Lind fever." She toured the country extensively, carrying everything before her. Phenomenal prices and enormous crowds were her generous portion, and enthusiasm such as even Patti in her prime could not Inspire greeted her in every place. Besides the New Orleans opera (of which more later), Charleston and Baltimore from early m the Nineteenth century shared with New York several operatic troupes. Even Boston, the cultured, was passed by, for she was still obsessed with the frivolous evil of secular music. Only Handel and Haydn and staid psalmody were safe. Henry C. MUSIC. 385 Timm, born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1811, came to the United States in 1835. Writing for Musical America, he gives this account of his activities in the South: « « » » I became musical director of a dramatic company; the orchestra consisted of fourteen musicians only. We went to Charles ton, S. C, and played during the season of six months such operas as Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (Henry Bishop's version), Kossini's La Gazza Ladra and Cinderella (R. Lacy's version), La Sonnamiula, and even Freischiltz, and with the players in the orchestra! I had to write additional notes in both the wind and stringed instrumental parts, in order to cover the deficiencies caused by the missing parts. Yellow fever during the summer months was, at that time, a regular visitor at Charlestown and I went, therefore, with the company to Buffalo; and after another season in Charleston we went to Balti more, where I played, during the six months we were there, the organ at the Episcopal Church. But before leaving for Charleston again a complimentary concert was given me at Baltimore, when I played Mendelssohn's Capriccio in B-minor, with a fairly complete orchestral accompaniment. "A few days before the close of our third season in Charleston the theatre burned down. * * * On leaving Charleston I joined Sig- nora Velane, an excellent singer, and Signor Be Begnis, the original 'Figaro' in Rossini's II Barbiere. We gave concerts in Norfolk and some other places in North Carolina (sic), but made little more than our expenses." The musical taste of these days was formed more or less directly on New York, which had now estab lished opera. A glance into the bound volumes of sheet music for piano of the before-the-war South ern home will soon reveal their musical gods. Eos- sini, Donizetti, Gluck, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, had displaced Handel and Haydn. La Sonnambula, Norma, Orpheus and Eurydice, The Barber of Seville, Fidelia, Robert le Diable, were among the operas whose selections were much played and ad mired. Beethoven was exalted to his rightful place at the summit of the musical Olympus, which is al ways a touchstone of sound appreciation. The Ital ian school was on the crest of the wave, although the English light opera had had seventy-five years Vol. 7—25. 386 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. of popularity. The musical experience of the South and of the whole coimtry was distinctly broader and taste more catholic. By the thirties and forties troupes and single artists came from the continent of Europe to make money in the new world, and English supremacy was displaced. Opera in TSevr Orleans. Long before anything more than occasional oper ettas were given in the North, New Orleans was sus taining a regular company in light musical farces and operatic pieces. It was the first American city to establish opera permanently. The French opera of New Orleans, although not of the same high standing as the New York opera of to-day or the national operas of Europe, has certainly been of the greatest importance In the musical life of the nation, and is the South's greatest institutional contribu tion towards it. As early as 1791 the record begins. Just what pieces were performed in the first years is not as certainable. At a theatre on St. Peter's Street in July, 1810, the Barber of Seville was sung by a French company, and in the next month a Bomeo and Juliet was put on. In the usual careless habit of Southemers about preserving documents, the castes of none of the operas remain to us. In St. Philip's Street stood the Theatre St. Philippe. In 1808 operas and ballets were given there. Entirely independent of New York taste and New York money, foreign artists were sought abroad and most of the operas sung In France were heard in this Paris of America. The theatre was unusually large and handsome, having "two circles and a parterre accommodating 700 persons with seats." In 1813 a grand opera house was completed. It was called the Theatre d 'Orleans, and soon attracted to itself MUSIC. 387 the patronage of the other theatres. Four years of success ended with a fire that destroyed it. The splendid phoenix that arose from its ashes cost nearly $200,000, and was the finest theatre in Amer ica. In 1818-19 John Davis, from San Domingo, began there a triumphal career as impresario. For twenty-five years he presented the best French and Italian opera in a manner not unworthy of the high est praise. Scenery, costumes, mise-en-scene, were the best that could be secured abroad. The artists came from Paris in the fall and stayed through the season. Stars were not the main attraction; the companies were of a high general average and the musical scores were given complete — not cut, ar ranged and doctored — as they usually were in New York, to suit the limited capacities of singers and orchestra. Eossini, Mozart, Mehul, Boieldieu, Spon- tini, Auber, Meyerbeer, received entirely capable treatment. New York had an occasional taste of good opera from these French troupes as they went to and fro between seasons. The opera was the focus of social life in the pic turesque city, crowded with the belles and the gal lants who filled New Orleans in "the season" from the plantations of Louisiana and Mississippi. Memoirs of that day never fail to mention the bril liant scene — the jewels and the beauty of the women, the dashing chivalry of the men, the perfection of the music. In 1859 Mr. Boudouisqu^ was the moving spirit in the erection of a new opera house, still in exist ence, and in arrangement still the most beautiful in America. In 1866 the Theatre d 'Orleans burned down after an honorable life of fifty years of sincere and artistic endeavor and splendid achievement. The new opera of Mr. Boudouisqu6 took its place, and the two most brilliant seasons New Orleans had 388 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ever known were the two years before the kneU of civil war. Since the war the opera has changed hands fre quently, and has never again been established on so sound a basis. The brothers Alhaiza made desper ate efforts against odds of death and shipwreck to fumish opera in 1866-67, and one of them, Paul, did succeed in giving some Italian opera that year with Madame Patti-Strakosch (sister of Adelina Patti) as the star. Struggling against debt, the Opera House Association has at times emerged victorious for art, notably in '68, '72, '80. In recent years our standards of achievement in opera have advanced considerably with such performances as the Metro politan Opera House Company, and later Mr. Ham- merstein's company, have offered in New York. The relative importance of the New Orleans opera has therefore diminished. And yet, although in constantly precarious uncertainty as to box office success, it is stUl the great rendezvous of New Or leans society. Its chorus and orchestral work are not up to the highest modern standards, but the nov elties of the French and Italian school have several times been heard in New Orleans before the New York managers have dared to present them — for instance, Puccini's La Boheme — and more than one singer has been Introduced to fame in New Orleans and thence been Introduced to fortune in New York. In light opera, Offenbach was an old friend to New Orleans long before New York cultivated him so zealously. Among the artists who have sung in New Orleans opera are Patti-Strakosch, Michat, Castelmary, Duonestre, Ambr6, Pellini, Jourdan, Bouxmann. On the whole. New Orleans can be justly proud of her record. She led America in giving opera a per manent home. During the luxurious years before MUSIC. 389 the war, she was unstinted in her money and uncal- culatmg in her demand for the best art. Only a few years ago it was possible for Eitter to write, "The Opera Comique, the refined unique form of lyrical comedy, as originally developed by French musical genius, is, with the exception of New Orleans, not much known, neither is it cultivated in the United States." The late reaction to French and Italian opera in New York nullifies that statement to-day, but the New Orleans opera was the pioneer. For instance. La Fille du Regiment, Lucia di Lammer- moor, Norma, Gemma di Vergy, were. In 1843, In troduced to New York by a French company from New Orleans. At present many of the favorites of the Op6ra Comique in Paris, and of the new Italian school (Puccini, Leoncavallo, etc.), are creditably sung in the Crescent City; and with the rapid growth of wealth we may hope for even better things to come. Two Great Composers. The first American to win European notice in composition and performance was Louis Moreau Gottschalk, born in New Orleans of English-Creole parentage. May 8, 1829. With Dr. WUliam Mason, son of Dr. Lowell Mason mentioned above, he marks the budding recognition of America in cosmopolitan music. His chUdhood boasts of all the prodigious feats usually ascribed to musical genius, for he played the organ in church at the precocious age of six! At thirteen he studied pianoforte under Stamaty in Paris. The Gallic capital was presently stirred into a furore over the young American. Chopin predicted the highest things for him ; Berlioz called him a "consummate pianist." He toured France, Switzerland and Spain. It is related that In Spain a bull-fighter presented him with his sword and that the Infanta made a cake for him with her 390 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. own hands. Orders and decorations without num ber were showered upon his Bohemian head. In 1853 he returned to America and began traveling as the great native virtuoso, playing his own compo sitions almost to the exclusion of other and more virile music. His technique was equal to all de mands, his touch exceedingly lovely, and his rendi tion poetic, although, like Chopin, he sometimes fell as he Incllned and became too sentimental. He ap peared more than a thousand times in this country, and it is alleged gave eighty concerts in New York in one season — an astonishing number for those days certainly. His life was overcharged with the feverish atmosphere of footlights and green-room, and on Nov. 26, 1869, at forty years of age, he fell senseless while playing in Eio Janeiro, dying three weeks later. Gottschalk was eminently a composer for piano. The larger forms did not suit his genius, although he wrote two operas (which were never performed), two symphonies and some marches scored for or chestra. In piano composition he is passionate, poetic, with Southern grace and tropical languor. The Last Hope, of boarding-school popularity, is not typical of his highest reach. Ossian is worthy of him, and Bamboula, Banjo, Le Bananier are con sidered to have foremost rank. They are elabora tions on negro and Creole themes. A pseudo-school of young imitators sprang up after him, but soon withered away. In the first place, Gottschalk was too original for successful emulation. In the second place, his tongue, his education and half his birth were foreign. His compositions are distinct echoes of France and Spain, with too little Americanism in them to become foundations for a cis-atlantic type. John Henry WUcox, born in Savannah, Ga., in ¦f(( ..^^l^ ^^"^^^'^^^^^ 4^ MUSIC. 391 1827, may be mentioned here as an organist of some repute. The South has given to music one of the greatest post-bellum composers of America in Frank Van der Stucken, born in Fredericksburg, Gillespie county, Tex., Oct. 15, 1858. His father, of Belgian descent, fought as a captain of cavalry in the Con federate army, and after the war removed to Ant werp. The boy studied music under good teachers and acquired considerable reputation as a composer. Grieg and Liszt admired him exceedingly. In 1884 he returned to America and has lived here ever since. He has been very active in directing choral societies and symphonic concerts, first in New York and then in Cincinnati, where he is now the most important musical figure. Twice he has played the part of missionary to Europe, taking the Arion Male Chorus on a tour in 1884 and directing a series of exclusively American programmes in Paris (at the Exposition) and other cities in 1889. As conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra and dean of the Cincin nati College of Music (1897-03), he has done for the musical culture of Cincinnati what Thomas did for Chicago. In composition he has created important works in the largest orchestral forms with all the novel de vices and elaborate scoring of the most modem masters like Strauss and De Bussy. All the re sources of the orchestra are taxed for effects of tone color and contrast. A symphonic prologue, William Batcliffe, interpretative of Heine's poem, is of the ultramodem school. Explanatory motives, unac customed combinations, violent contrasts, freedom in form, dissonance and cacophony are employed to accompany a printed programme story. An early and beautiful composition in a less iconoclastic style, is his music for Shakespeare's Tempest. His 392 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. songs are much admired, though they are entirely and sometimes too Insistently "up to date," losing charm m the strenuous Intensity of the emotional delineation. There is probably no other man in the West of his rank as a composer — and there are only two or three In America. Negro Music. The plantation song of the Southern negro is the only real development of folk-music that America has known. The Indian melody can hardly be In cluded. It belongs to a race that has come Into no contact with American civilized life, and need not be considered In a sketch of Southern music. But the quaint melodies and fascinating rhythms of the old-fashioned "befo '-de-war" darky of the rice and cotton fields are not negligible. They constitute a rich field of melodic material for future composers, and have already furnished themes for some impor tant American compositions — Chadwick, in the Scherzo of his Second Symphony, has used this material; Dvorak has constructed his New World Symphony out of it; Gottschalk employs it in some of his piano morceaux; Scho enfold 's Suite, op. 15, has a plantation movement. It is not at all likely that any considerable part of this negro music was brought from Africa. F^tis {Histoire Generate de la Musique) recognizes no musical sense among the African tribes. Captain Burton {The Lake Region of Central Africa) de scribes their primitive monotonous cadences and strongly nasalized recitatives. He asserts that, though they are "admirable tlmists and no mean tunists," they have no creative originality and rest satisfied with the ceaseless reiteration of a few favorite forms. They display a good deal of emo tion and often use the modes of mourning and dis- MUSIC. 393 tress. This primitiveness under the new conditions of American slave life developed into the plantation song which every Southerner familiar with the cot ton field knows so well. The early barbaric but keen sense for rhythm and emotional voice-expression evolved into the odd religious syncopated laments. A great deal of nonsense has been written by vari ous misunderstanding gentlemen of the North con cerning the tragedy of soul which the Southem slave experienced and which he sang out to find com fort and refreshment from the sting of the lash. These writers read into the minor phrases of the melodies the bleeding heart of a persecuted race. It is time for such superficial statements to be cor rected. The advance in artistry from the primitive African recitative to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, or Motherless Child, is not accounted for by a stimulus of suffering in the lives of these people, but is the direct result of that marvelous imitative faculty which the race has always shown. The negro is a born copyist. He absorbed manners, customs, lan guage, ideas of his new white neighbors with a facil ity that to every observant Southerner was perfectly obvious. This racial trait is still evident in a hun dred ways. Where then did he get the pattern to copy? The stuff out of which his songs are com posed was the Imported raw material of Scotch, Irish and English songs which came to the South with the early colonists and have disappeared, ex cept in this form. In addition, many of his songs are transformed Protestant and Congregational hymn tunes. In Louisiana the French Influence is perceptible. In the Mississippi Delta the life of the river-boat leaves its traces. Occasionally a song is heard which, with its Intervals and slurs that defy transcription, is probably, in part. Indigenous to Africa. Even in this class it is practically impos- 394 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. sible to determine how much is African and how much is simply the result of primitive uncertainty of tonality (vid. Parry, Evolution of Music, chapter on "Folk Music") in using the later material. That the negro had a latent musical gift cannot be denied, for the plantation songs have charming melodic character and irresistible rhythmical at tractiveness. The potential musical capacity of the race seized on the material offered with avidity — under the favorable conditions of a temperately warm climate and In contact with a generally friendly civilized race — and has produced the only body of folk-song certainly American, one which is not so far Inferior to those of many of the European nations. The melodic phrase is often artistically wrought, the contrasts are well set off, and the rhythm is varied, yet sufficiently law-abiding. Har mony is very rarely employed — it is never used in genuine folk-song. The songs are sung to successive physical motions in executing some task, or else "shouted," i. e., with dancing and patting of the hands. The ante-bellum negro, speaking broadly, was a happy individual, well fed and contented. A pathos similar to that in the negro melodies is found in folk-song the world over — being due to the employ ment of certain repeated cadences and intervals unusual In the more self-conscious music of ballads and patriotic airs. From its appeal one cannot draw a soul-tragedy. The words are often highly imaginative, as in figures like the "bleeding of the moon." The negro Is intensely superstitious and emotional. His im agination, in larger share than his reason, working on fragments of the Bible stories, which were the only human documents he knew, inspired the words of many of his songs. They are sometimes striking. MUSIC. 395 often anachronistic incantations to various Scrip tural characters and twisted historical allusions; not seldom the source was completely misunderstood and sheer absurdity results — meaningless combina tions of letters doing semi-phonetic service for the original intent. Both major and minor modes are used with a frequent tendency to the pentatonic scale, although the diatonic is foimd also. Common-time is usual; but to give the real effect, one has to hear them sung to the swing of the oar or "shouted" in ecstatic worship. Grace-notes, slurs, quaint postponements of accent, gliding attacks abound. And all gain strong character from the sweet voices, the out-of- door verve and emotional gesture of the singers. It is necessary to state that the vulgar "ragtime coon-songs" of the concert hall and minstrel show are decadent types and bear little relation to genuine negro melody. Stephens Collins Foster modeled his folk-songs on the plantation type, as his Old Uncle Ned and Oh, Susannah. From a study of negro camp meetings he composed songs that have gone true to the heart of the nation — My Old Kentucky Home, Old Folks at Home or Suwanee River, and Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground. Of some of these songs a million copies were sold. Foster was a Pittsburger, and, therefore, the story of his pathetic life lies outside the limits of this article. Poe — the great Southern poet — was his favorite author, and surely his folk songs, caught from the lips of the darkies and moulded into ballad form, are as intimately South ern as any musical tradition the South could have. Patriotic Songs. For the Eevolution and the War of 1812 no songs were composed by American authors. There were 396 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. no native composers to supply the demand. Such tunes as were sung, Yankee Doodle, America, Star Spangled Banner, were boldly appropriated from the enemy or from other foreign sources. In the War of Secession, Dixie, the Southern song par excellence, was composed for a minstrel show by an Ohio man, and the Southern soldiers, simply because they liked it, sang it into the heart of the Confederacy; and nowadays it seems to be thor oughly nationalized, arousing almost as much en thusiasm on one side of the Potomac as on the other. Southem ownership in Maryland, My Maryland, is vested only in the words, which are by James Eyder Eandall. Another Baltimorean, Miss Hattie Cary, wedded the words to the splendid German folk-song, 0 Tannenbaum. This immortal wedding was made in Heaven and it gave wings to the words, so that they flew to every camp-fire in the Southern armies. The Bonnie Blue Flag is of Southern origin in words and music. If the North was levied upon for Dixie, the South gracefully paid her debt by providing the music for the most popular song of the Union soldiers. Glory Hallelujah, alias John Brown's Body. The air can not be positively traced back of 1859, when it was heard at a colored church in Charleston. William Steffe, who wrote Sunday-school tunes, claims it. It became popular among the negro congregations, worked its way north and appeared in Methodist hymnals there. The words began, "Say, brothers, wUl you meet us?" The tune was drafted into the martial cause in Boston to the present familiar words. It inspired Julia Ward Howe to write for it the splendid Battle Hymn of the Republic, begin ning, * ' Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord"; but the Northern soldiers preferred MUSIC. 397 to continue the requiem of John Brown and the exe cution of Jeff Davis. When upon the Field of Glory, by J. H. Hewitt, was one of the Southern battle songs effectively set to music by H. L. Schreiner. A. E. Blackmar also wrote spiritedly for the Southern soldiers. The real national anthem of the South, as well as the North, has not yet been written. Dixie is not dignified enough to hold the content of a nation's ideal, and America is not American. The Present. When the war broke out the foreign artists lost no time In departing these shores. After the war the South was, of course, too utterly Impoverished to support the fine arts. There was little music of any kind. The decade and a half of "carpet-bag rule" was a time of suffering and struggle, and there was no leisure and no money for music. Taste naturally declined under these conditions, and when traveling companies found their way South again, Offenbach was in great demand. La Belle Helene and La Grande Duchesse were the watery gems that shone to most applause. Gilbert and Sullivan's sparkling superficialities were received with even keener delight, and for a time the South, in common with the rest of the country, went mad over them. New Orleans usually had seasons of French opera, but recently the rest of the South has been accus toming itself in these days of rapid transportation to go to New York for its grand opera. Emma Abbott and others have toured the South. Grau and Savage have brought companies through — even Parsifal with the Metropolitan orchestra visited the larger cities. Damrosch has brought his orchestra to many Southern cities. It is the custom for musical societies to bring great artists like 398 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Schumann-Heink and Sembrich to give recitals. Paderewski and Eosenthal have played almost everywhere, but the list would soon grow out of all bounds. In general, the great artists cover the whole country, radiating from New York. This is becoming more and more the artistic, as well as the financial, centre. There will not be a provincially Southem school of American music, because the country is daily becoming more thoroughly nation alized. There is not yet an American school, and philosophers are contending that true art must, in the future, be International and not sectional. But in this great art work of the world America will play an increasingly important part, and the South, as musical culture is more and more widely diffused, will contribute much to America. The most hopeful sign is the spread of musical intelligence through the agency of choral societies, organizations for ensemble playing and institutions of music. Cities like Louisville, Baltimore, Charles ton, have their orchestras or choruses which give experience to their members and inculcate higher ideals among the public. The Peabody Institute of Baltimore — the best conservatory in the South — has sustained an orchestra of excellent quality for years. The Baltimore Symphony orchestra* has done some good work. These institutions have made Balti more the most Important musical city of the South to-day. Nashville, Tenn., a live educational centre, has much music in connection with her colleges and schools. There is no permanent orchestra or choral society, but good programmes of the small forms of ensemble-playing are given from time to time. In connection with Converse College for Women at Spartanburg, S. C. — one of the most roundly devel- *Sidney Lanier, the poet-musician, should be mentioned as a flutist in this or chestra. MUSIC. 399 oped musical departments in the South — a festival is held every spring. Local chorus and orchestra combine with great artists to make a festival of high rank. Louisville has organized her music and has done choral work of the first class. In Atlanta, Con- stantin von Sternburg (the well-known Eussian) did much for the ideals of one of the new cities of the South, which have no traditions. Charleston has the famous old Wagnerian singer, Anton Schott. He gives recitals every season. A Philharmonic helps to keep alive the local spark that once gave light to lighten musical America. New Orleans, outside of her opera, is still in very close touch with the new French school of composition, and there one can hear Gallic novelties before New York knows them. St. Louis has a flourishing musical life. Ever since 1838 it has had a Philharmonic society, at first under the auspices of St. Louis University. The Liederkranz, the Musical Union, the St. Louis Choral Society, the Mendelssohn Club, and several German male choruses cultivate the forms of cham ber music, symphony, chorus, etc. Alfred G. Eobyn, born in St. Louis in 1860, is widely known for his artistic songs. Homer Moore is engaged upon an elaborate operatic trilogy, intended to embody in musical form the drama of American social evo lution. The titles are The New World, The Pilgrims and The Puritans. The special gift that America has made to the musical world is in her array of prima donnas. Of these the South has produced Clara Louise Kellogg, of South Carolina, Minnie Hank, of New Orleans, Alice Nielsen, of Tennessee, Carrie Bridewell, of Alabama. 400 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Institutional Work. There is an incalculable amount of work done by private teachers of varying quality in practical in struction for violin, voice and piano. But it is gradually being recognized that the art of music is not consummated in the ability to play or sing a few "pieces" acceptably. A serious study of the forms, history and technique of composition are necessary to effect that artistic comprehension which must be more generally possessed before a musical atmosphere and a consequent fertUity of invention can exist among us. To this end the growth of the musical college and the department of music in other institutions is tending. In the bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education, 1908, No. 4, an attempt has been made to collate statistics of these centres of education. Although the figures are not entirely complete the result is strik ing. This recent organization of what was before more or less aimless endeavor is only just begun, and is the best of all auguries for future musical vitality. Based on this report the figures for the South follow : NO. OP NO. OF INSTITUTIONS. PUPILS. Independent Schools of Music 7 1,797 Musical Departments of Universities and Colleges 38 3,106 Musical Departments in Colleges for Women 39 4,786 Normal Schools 33 5,898 Secondary Schools 72 3,912 Grand Total 189 19,499 This report Includes only the mstitutional work being done. The number of free lances teaching music it is impossible to determine accurately. It is very large and is being constantly recruited from the graduates of the above institutions. To-day, MUSIC. 401 when the South is financially prosperous again, an appreciable percentage go to New York, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Chicago to study; and not a few to Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Munich, Dresden, Brussels and London. The whole movement, in most of its phases, is little more than fifteen years old, and the cumulative effect of so many lines of serious interest steadily converging towards a riper musical culture is an important item in Southern life to-day. Teachers' conventions are regularly established; festivals are increasing each year. The secondary school awakening is one of the most encouraging signs (see table p. 400). Sight-singing and the ele ments of musical grammar are being grafted into the high school curriculum, not with the intention of discovering prima donnas and virtuosos, but on account of the inherent right of music to a place in the educational programme. This sound point of view, if faithfully adhered to, will, of itself, do much in laying solid the foundations of a worthy music- temple for a country whose climate, traditions, manner of life and increasing wealth ought some day to predispose towards art. BiBLioGBAPHY. — Souneck, O. G. T. : Early Concert-life in Ameri ca (1731-1800), Leipzig, Breitkopf & Hartel, au invaluable source book for this period; Hitter, Fr6d6ric Louis: Music in America, new ed.. New York, Scribner's, 1890; Elson, Louis Charles: The History of American Music, Macmillan, New York, 1904; Immortal Songs of Camp and Field, by L. A. Banks, Cleveland, The Burrows Brothers Company, 1899; Baker: Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, N. Y., 1900; Mathews: One Hundred Years of Music in America, Chicago, 1889. From all these books it is necessary to pick the material bearing on Southern Music from a mass of facts developing the general story of American music. There is no book devoted exclusively to South ern music. In working up the Southern history in detail, main de pendence must be placed on the early newspaper files and unpub lished records of individuals and of societies. HuGER W. Jbevey, Professor of Greek, University of the South. Vol. 7—26. 402 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XX. THE SOUTHEEN PEESS. Characteristics. ^HE Southern press, as it exists to-day, is the creation of the last twenty or twenty-five years and of men, most of whom are still living. This is true of the newspapers of the country as a whole, for at no previous period has there been such rapid change, such marvelous devel opment; but that journalistic development has, for obvious reasons, been most marked in the South, for its press until lately was backward, suffering from many restrictions and limitations, with the most serious obstacles to overcome and arduous duties and obligations to perform. These conditions and difficulties have made the Southern press char acteristic of the South and its people, for it has been closely identified with them, called on not only to furnish the news but to lead and encourage all popular movements, to act as educator and adviser. As a consequence, it has been, far more so than any other press, the patron and developer of home litera ture and of industrial and material activity. The South lacking magazine and publishing houses, those who sought fame or distinction in the field of let ters have found the only encouragement, the only sympathetic opening for them, in the newspapers, which became, as it were, the ante-room to the Tem ple of the Muses. In an altogether different line, but for similar reasons, the Southern press has played a far more important part in the Industrial development of its section. That development was naturally from without rather than of internal ori- THE PEESS. 403 gin and growth; and it called for education and en couragement. The papers were expected to find the needed capital, to attract immigrants, to arouse en thusiasm. During the period 1885-1900, no journals in the coimtry gave more space or showed more in terest in industrial development, in manufactures, mining, agriculture and every branch of production than those South of "Mason and Dixon's Ime;" and it is mainly to their efforts that the great prog ress of that period was due. These efforts are still echoed in their columns. In proportion to the amount of matter they pub lish, a much larger share is given to industry in the South than elsewhere ; and an equally larger propor tion to local literature, to home poets, novelists and essayists. The Southern press has thus become the nursery of home talent in the same way that it has sought to build up new industries, to develop natural resources, to establish factories and to promote education. These efforts are responsible for the trend of Southern journalism and give it those char acteristics which make it sui-generis and distinctive. There is a natural similarity in the papers of all countries and yet a marked difference. All are sup posed to cover the same field, to give the news of the world with timely comments thereon, and explana tions when necessary; but nevertheless, no one wUl ever mistake a French journal for an English one, even if written in the same language ; and the antith esis between English and American newspapers is nearly as great. While the papers North and South are written on somewhat similar lines and have the same American characteristics, they are different both in the matter they contain and in their atti tude toward their subscribers and readers and on most public questions. In this first particular, a writer of a statistical turn of mind, in a recent pub- 404 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lication of the University of Pennsylvania, giving the class of news furnished by the leading papers of our several cities, showed by the unquestioned evi dence of statistics that the Southem press gave pro portionately, a much larger amount of industrial and religious matter, more local literature, poetry, etc., but less gossip, theatrical and dramatic news; m fine that the Southern press was more serious, assuming more the attitude of guide, counselor and educator, than of simple news gatherer and amuser. Thus, the editorial page of the Southern paper plays, in proportion to its size and circulation, a more important part than in the North and West, where there is a disposition to minimize it or drop it al together, on the theory perhaps that the people have outgrown the necessity of editorial advice ; whereas in the South, it is still the form and practice for a paper to advise its readers on all questions of local moment, and not on politics alone. It naturally fol lows that the Southem journals usually exercise more Influence than their confreres "across the line," — an Influence probably largely gained during the period succeeding the War of Secession, when the people had to turn somewhere for advice and generally turned to their papers. While it is true that the character of the South em press of to-day has been largely formed during the last twenty or twenty-five years, it must not be imagined that the South was deficient in journals before that time. On the contrary, its press has a long and honorable record, and many of the papers of to-day are continuances or successors of those having their origm in the Eighteenth century. In this respect, there was very little difference in the history of the two sections. Journalism started in both under similar conditions, but the character of the people and of the country, the vicissitudes of THE PEESS. 405 fortune, the mode of life, the ideas current, soon brought about "a parting of the ways," a difference in methods and ideals which grew greater in time as is the case in all lands. The Frenchman finds an English paper dull and heavy; the Englishman de nounces the American journal as flippant and un trustworthy — each has a press which meets its ideals and its tastes; and this is equally true of all sections of the country and especially so of the South. Early Journalism. The source of early American journalism was, of course, the mother country. There were no printers and consequently no publishers in America until Englislnnen, or more generally Scotchmen, came over and set up their presses among us. In "the art preservative of arts," Philadelphia is entitled to the leadership and held that position for many years, although Boston issued the first newspaper. It was William Bradford, of London, who estab lishing himself in Philadelphia became a publisher there, both of books — generally acts of the council — and of newspapers ; and whose sons and grandsons spread journalism through Maryland and Virginia and into the wilds of Kentucky and "the territory northwest of the Ohio," leaving honorable names and reputations as publishers. They were printers rather than editors and their gazettes would scarcely be classed as newspapers to-day, as they lacked news and were mere official "papers" giving the proclamations of governors and the proceedings of the councils. These publishers were generally prac tical printers hired in England by the colonial agents and paid in produce. They printed the laws, and having the type handy, added to their official salaries by issuing "gazettes," as newspapers were then almost universally called. Being officials of 406 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. the government it was natural that they should avoid criticism ; and editorial comment on their part was practically unknown. Some of the early royal governors viewed printing and the newspapers with great suspicion. The famous boast of Governor Berkeley of Virginia that, "thank God there is no printing press in the colony, ' ' is well known. On a par with him was Governor Nicholson of South Carolina who opposed the bringing of a printer to the colony, and wanted to know what bond of as surance would be given that if the printer came, he would publish nothing objectionable or which might cause any bad blood. Such were the humble beginnings of that journal ism, without which the South would never have reached its present freedom or prosperity. In later years, at the time of the American Eevolution, the gazettes had made some little progress. They gradu ally dropped the colonial title "gazette" and showed a tendency to long and magnificent names. It was a period of flamboyancy, of exaggerated expres sions and the ordinary newspaper would have thought it was belittling itself if it used so simple a title as the "News" or the "Times." They called themselves "The Eights of Man," "The Children of Pallas," "The Eagle of Liberty," "The Banner of the People," and even Ben Franklin modestly gave his paper the grandiose title of "Universal In structor in all the Arts and Sciences." Next to the name, the most Important feature was the motto, for each paper bore next its title a long and bom bastic motto, Latin the favorite, then English and French, Indicative of its devotion to the people, its patriotism, its independence and its courage. There were only thirty-seven newspapers in the country in 1775 when the Eevolutionary struggle began, publishing in aU less m a week than the THE PEESS. 407 ordinary Sunday edition of a first-class paper to-day. McMaster, who is not always free from prejudice, notes that only eight of these papers were pub lished In the South, Maryland not being In cluded; but, as a matter of fact, m proportion to white population, this was a fair showing. Nor did the number of papers after all indicate circulation, influence, popularity or their character. Virginia and North Carolina had two each, Georgia one and South Carolina three. After the revolution (in 1784), the total had grown to fifty-three, of which eleven were published in the South, or fifteen includ ing Maryland. There were, however, both North and South, sorry excuses for papers, as we know them to-day, al though even then the sections were moving on dif ferent lines in the matter of journalism. News was as yet unknown, an undiscovered item. There were no means of getting it ; no system of collecting or exchanging it. There were no correspondents and few of the papers thought of getting news from any point fifty miles away. Circulation outside of the town in which they were printed was not looked for, and no attempt was made to secure it. Papers were denied the use of the mails ; they were not re ceived at the post office, and the only way in which they could be sent to subscribers outside the town of publication was by bribing the post carrier to put a few copies in the portemanteau or valise in which he carried the letters. It is needless to say that imder these unfavorable circumstances, it was impossible to send out more than a dozen papers although they were small affairs, never over four pages, with each page about a quarter of the present standard size. Later, a Maryland paper ran a post system of its own to supply those subscribers who lived in the suburbs or in the neighboring districts 408 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. and towns, this being the first appearance of the modern newspaper carrier and delivery wagon. An other Maryland paper showed still more enterprise for it operated a post line from New York and thus supplied itself with the Eastern and English papers from which it could occasionally get items. But with few exceptions, there was very little news published. The average paper was a weekly or bi-weekly of four small pages, printed on the shabbiest kind of paper. There was no editorial page, its place being supplied by vigorous editorial appeals to subscribers who seemed to be in a chronic state of delinquency, to pay up in money or produce. There were a few advertisements, of which runaway slaves and stray horses were the most numerous and the most conspicuous. The news was obtained almost wholly from private letters which were solicited from every quarter. Introduced with the remark that "a letter received by Mr. Brown from a friend in New York," conveyed the intelligence that half that city had been destroyed by fire a month or two previous. When no letters were received by subscribers, the paper had no news and found it no easy matter to fill up. In such case, the printer took any copy he could lay his hands on. The result was absurd, for papers, having little space and no news, published merely as "space fillers" ponderous vol umes, theological and historical; for Instance (one of them republished in its columns Eobertson's His tory of America, a book altogether out of date, al though it took three years to complete the task. There were, of course, differences between the early papers, some being much better than others. As a general rule, the South Carolina and Maryland papers ranked highest in the South, containing the most news and spoke out most earnestly and strong ly on public questions. On the other hand, the Vir- THE PEESS. 409 ginia. North Carolina and Georgia papers were weak in news and in editorial utterances. Colonial Press Conservative. The colonial press presents generally the same characteristics whether the papers were published in the Northern or Southem colonies ; but after the Eevolution, the difference between them became more marked, and the divergence steadily grew greater. The Southern journals as a class, were more conservative and less abusive and vitupera tive. The extravagant language used in denimcia- tion at that time is well known, and has confused not a few historians for it has required some effort to rescue the reputation of Washington from the abuse poured on him by the scurrilous writers of his day. The language used was never quite as abusive in the South as in other sections, either be cause public sentiment did not approve of it or be cause of the prevailing belief than a person thus abused enjoyed the right of calling to personal ac count the editor who assailed him. In still later day, the duello, although responsible for many dis graceful rencontres between editors, and the loss of many valued lives, generally checked the tendency to abuse and scurrility. Journalism in the Southern Colonies and States. The experience and vicissitudes of papers and edi tors varied considerably in the several colonies and states. Maryland led the South m journalism. It brought out the first Southern newspaper, yielded a much larger crop of "gazettes" than its neigh bors to the South, and its press showed great jour nalistic zeal, vigor and force. A printing press had been set up as early as 1689 by William Nuthead at St. Mary's, then the capital of the colony, but the 410 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. publications, both at St. Mary's and Annapolis, were almost wholly of a religious character. In 1727, John Parks began at Annapolis the pub lication of the first newspaper in the South, The Maryland Gazette. He was the printer to the colony of Maryland, and the Gazette was merely the side issue, usual at that time, when every colonial pub lic printer issued a journal for the publication of certain official papers. The Maryland Gazette, the humble beginning of the powerful and influential Southern press of to day, was printed on a sheet a little larger than fools cap, four pages, two columns to a page. The ever lasting motto in this instance was from Cicero, ' ' Cuius vis est homlnis errare ; nuUius nisi insipien- tis, persevare in errare," — an unusually modest declaration for the time. Parks was a practical printer, educated in his trade in England. He came to Maryland at the in vitation of the colony which had grown tired of having all its printing done in Philadelphia. His success brought him the business of the neighboring colony of Virginia, and in 1729 he became official printer for the latter as well as for Maryland, each colony paying him for his services a salary of £200 per annum "in country produce." Finding Virginia the more populous and richer province. Parks left Annapolis for Williamsburg, then the capital of Vir ginia, in 1732, and made the latter his permanent abode. This left Maryland wholly without a printer, and it had again to send to Philadelphia for all its printing, even for handbills. The Maryland Gazette was revived at Annapolis in 1745 by Jonas Green, but died again in 1765 from the Stamp Act, which closed out so many of the early American papers. Green published the last edition in mourning rules, declared that the "times THE PEESS. 411 were dismal, doleful, dolorous and doUarless"; and announced his purpose to cease the publication of his newspaper rather than submit to "the intoler able and burdensome taxes imposed on the newspa pers by the Stamp Act." The Gazette, however, was revived after the Stamp Act was repealed, and proved one of the strongest supporters of the colo nies during the Eevolutionary War. Because of the stress of the times, and the high price of provisions, it was compelled during the war to reduce its size to that of a half sheet and to raise its price to £5 per annum. It survived until 1839. The first Baltimore paper was The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser, published in 1773 by William Goddard. Typographically, it was probably the best paper in the country at the time, the type being new and very beautiful elzevir instead of the second-hand type which most of the other pa pers used; the paper was heavy book paper, and the presswork was admirably done. The Journal and Advertiser showed enterprise in other lines than in its typographical and mechanical make-up for it established a rider from Philadelphia to Baltimore so that it could get the earliest papers from Phila delphia, New York and other cities to the North and East of Baltimore, as well as the British and French papers and thus keep abreast of the news. Goddard seems the prototype of the journalist of the day. He announced himself as independent, that his paper would "be free and of no party," that its purpose was not to indulge in acrimonious debate but to publish the news. He took practical and in telligent action to that end ; and the mails being un certain and neglected, he announced in his pa per as early as 1774, a plan for an American postal service, which within a year, was well under way from Maine to Georgia. His sister was appointed 412 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. postmistress at Baltimore and held that position for fifteen years. Goddard retired in 1792, the paper subsequently passing through many hands and fin ally ceasing publication in 1797. The Maryland Gazette and Advertiser, was estab lished at Baltimore by John Dunlap in 1775 to ex pire in 1779 ; another paper of the same name started in 1786 to fail in 1791. Thus, papers sprang up and faded away, year after year, with such a similarity of names as to confuse the modern student of jour nalistic history. This is well shown in the flood of newspapers which struck Frederick and Hagers- town, Maryland, in the last years of the Eighteenth century when the politics of the young republic, which had just thrown off the British yoke, was be coming partisan and bitter if not abusive and vitu perative. In the short space of ten years, Frederick saw five new newspapers, The Federal Gazette and Advertiser, The Maryland Gazette, The Bights of Man, The Herald and The Key; while the small town of Elizabeth (now Hagerstown), had three. The Washington Spy, The German Washington Corres pondent, and The Centinel of Liberty, each paper abusing all the others and all persons who were not members of its party. Among the Baltimore papers of which there were three established during the last years of the Eigh teenth century, the most important was The Balti more American and Daily Advertiser, founded in 1799 by Alexander Martin, and which survives to day in the Baltimore American, after passing through several hands and a number of variations in its name. The press of the District of Columbia naturally saw its birth at Georgetown, for Washington was unbuilt or inchoate until about the beginning of the Nineteenth century, whereas Georgetown was a THE PEESS. 413 prosperous town with great social attractions and advantages. It is not to be wondered, therefore, that of the nine first papers established in the District of Columbia, six should be at Georgetown and only three at Washington. The Times and Potommack Packet was established by Charles Frerer and Thomas N. Fosdick in 1789, struggling under the stupendous motto borne on its first page "Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be Instilled into your Children that the Liberty of the Press is the Palladium of all the civil, political and religious Eights of Freemen." The Packet seems to have been a progressive paper for its day, as it pledged itself to deliver its papers in the homes of subscrib ers, and "to serve those at a distance at the quickest convenience," and it guaranteed to furnish them "articles of intelligence, original essays, etc." The George-Town Weekly Ledger, published by Day and Hancock, followed in 1790 ; and The Colum bian Chronicle in 1793, published by Samuel Hanson. The latter carried the motto from Junius, "For a people to be Free, it is sufficient that they will it." The Ledger was swallowed up by The George-Town Centinel of Liberty and Advertiser, which went still further in the motto line, starting out with the quota tion from Montesquieu : ' ' Liberty is the right of do ing whatever the laws permit ; and if a citizen could do what they forbid, he would no longer be possessed of liberty because all his fellow-citizens would have the same power. ' ' This evidently did not please the editor, those days when the fortunes of a paper were supposed to be bound up, in some way, with the force or appropriateness of its motto; and Montesquieu was dropped for Washington in 1798 with the declaration "Every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union as a whole." 414 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Thus in the short space of five years the Chronicle, Centinel and Advertiser (all one paper), had gone through Junius, Lafayette, Montesquieu and Wash ington in the search for an appealing motto. The first Washington paper. The Impartial Ob server and Washington Advertiser, was begun in 1795 by T. Wilson; The Washington, printed by Benjamin More, followed in 1796. More was candid with his subscribers, frankly acknowledging that The Washington was started not "to fill a long felt want," but primarily to make a living for himself and secondarily to amuse and inform his readers. Whether he succeeded in his second prosposition is imknown, but he certainly did not in his first, for the paper survived but little over a year. The National Intelligencer and Washington Ad vertiser, established by Samuel Hanson Smith of Philadelphia in 1800, was one of the first great pa pers of the country. It was originally a tri-weekly but became a daily in 1813, publishing a weekly called The United States Gazette. In 1812 William Seaton and Joseph Gales, Jr., secured control of The National Intelligencer, dropping the extra title "Advertiser." These two men were the only con gressional reporters for many years, and we de pend to-day on the columns of The National Intel ligencer for some of the most Important debates in the earlier days of the republic. Virginia does not show as well In the matter of early newspapers as Maryland, this being probably due to the early Internal troubles of the colony. A prejudice had grown up against the printing press and printing was, for a while, prohibited by the House of Burgesses; but this prohibition was ultimately withdrawn. The first newspaper did not arrive until 1732 when John Parks who had done the public printing for THE PEESS. 415. both Maryland and Virginia moved down to Will iamsburg from Annapolis and started The Virginia Gazette. It prospered under him, although never more than an official paper issued by the colonial printer ; but when he died in 1750, the Gazette died also. Three other papers followed in pre-revolutionary times, all "Gazettes." One year after Parks died, another printer, William Hunter, turned up at WUl- iamsburg and started The Gazette, which may be considered as a continuation of Parks' paper. It was a better edited journal, however, than its prede cessor and contained, during the tempestuous times just before the Eevolution, a number of valuable. political articles signed "Virginia Centinel," evi dently written by one of the statesmen who were leading the popular cause — ^but who the writer was has never been made known. Hunter died in 1801 and The Gazette was enlarged and Improved by his; successor, Joseph Eoyle, and stiU further improved by Purdie and Dixon. From 1766 to 1773, another Virginia Gazette was published at WUliamsburg by William Emd and continued by his wife Clementina after Elnd's death,, finaUy falling into the hands of John Pinckney. The fourth of the Williamsburg "Gazettes" was started in 1775 by John Clarkson and Augustine Davis and afterwards removed to Norfolk where the British captured the press and carried it off' with them when they evacuated that town. The first North Carolina paper was The North Carolina Magazine of Universal Intelligence, started at New Berne In 1755, a vapid paper containing no news and little of public interest, given up mainly^ to extracts from theological writers and British magazines. Andrew Stewart, the provincial printer started the same year (1755) The North CaroUna. 416 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy at Wilmington, fairly good, containing some news and a most decided im provement on The Universal Intelligencer. In 1767, The Wilmington Advertiser was established, and In 1769 The Cape Fear Mercury by A. Boyd, a badly printed paper, destitute of all system in its arrange ment and contents. Of all the Southern colonies. South Carolina ranked first In the number and standing of its news papers. It came a little behind Maryland and Vir ginia in the date of the establishment of its first journal. As early as 1712, South Carolina had sought to get a printer to establish himself in the colony if only for the printing of the laws which had to be sent to London to be "set up." When Francis Yonge went to London as the colony's agent in 1722 he was instructed "to procure by the first opportunity a printer with his tools" and he was authorized to advance any printer who would come £1,000. Governor Nicholson and his successor Middleton did not like this idea, regarding the pro posal to print the laws "unreasonable" and express ing fear lest the printer might publish something objectionable and without license. In 1730, Eleazer Phillips of Boston was persuaded to come to Charles ton as the first printer to the colony of South Caro lina, but died soon after of yellow fever. A second printer, Thomas Whitemarsh, arrived the same year and started The South Carolina Gazette, but he also fell a victim to the yellow fever. The Gazette was revived a few months afterwards by Louis Timoth^e, a Huguenot, who subsequently anglicized his name to Lewis Timothy. The paper thus established was one of the best and most influential in America and played a prominent part in the revolutionary poli tics of South Carolina. Timothy was a violent whig, a man of great force and always on the side of free- THE PEESS. 417 dom and liberty. He bitterly opposed the Stamp Act, and was one of the most ardent supporters of the non-importation agreement. His paper sus pended in 1775, on account of his politics, was re vived m 1777 and published untU the fall of Charles ton in 1780 when he was captured and sent as a British prisoner to Philadelphia. He was lost at sea while returning to Charleston. The paper was carried on for some years by his widow and her son Benjamin Timothy. His great-grandson, Peter Tim othy Marchant, was one of the members of the house of Marchant, WiUington & Co., publishers of The Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, thus forming a connecting link between The Charleston News and Courier of to-day and The South Carolina Gazette of 1732. At the time of the Eevolutionary War, South Carolina led all the Southern colonies m the matter of newspapers, boasting of three as against two each in Virginia and North Carolina and one in Georgia. These were The South Carolina Gazette (founded In 1732), The South Carolina General American Gazette (1766) and The South Carolina Country Journal (1766). In proportion to its white population, it had more newspapers than any of the American colonies. The papers, too, were of a rather higher grade than those of the other colonies, containing an unusual amount of news, the doings of the court in London and the proceedings in parlia ment, a page or two of advertisements, the shipping lists, a good deal of local news including marriages, births and deaths, moral and social essays after the model and style of those in the Spectator, all in the most approved Johnsonian periods. Among the unfortunate South Carolina editors of these days was John Wells. Although educated in the trade at Edinburgh, and although his father. Vol 7—27. 418 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. like him, a printer, was a stout royalist. Wells took a prominent part in the work of the patriots, and fought and issued newspapers in the cause until he was captured by the British in 1780. Although he had served with courage and distinction in the Eevo lutionary War at the siege of Savannah, when or dered after his capture by the British to sign a pa per to the British government acknowledging his rebeUion and error, he did so to save his property in Charleston, it is said. This act, he followed up by the publication of The Royal Gazette at Charles ton. He was prosecuted, in consequence, by the state government and left with the British army when the town was evacuated, going with a large number of other South Carolina loyalists to the Bahamas where he established at Nassau, The Royal Bahama Gazette. He had always hoped to return to his native country and was arranging his affairs to enable him to do so when he died. The first Georgia newspaper The Savannah Gaz ette, like most of the other originals, was established simply for the purpose of publishing the official mat ters of the councils. The publisher, James John ston, was a Scotchman, a printer by trade, who re ceived a handsome pecuniary consideration for com ing to America and becoming the printer of the colony. He published an edition of the laws, and, in 1763, established The Gazette. It was issued twenty- seven years by Johnston and suffered the usual vicis situdes of a newspaper in those days. It was com pelled to suspend by the British Stamp Act which put an almost prohibitive price on newspapers and which was the subsequent cause of the rising of the colonists agamst the mother country. The Eevolu tion later caused a suspension of The Gazette for several years especially as Johnston had put the royal arms on his paper ; but, after the struggle was THE PEESS. 419 over, it became ardent in support of the patriotic cause. The Augusta Chronicle and Gazette of the State, founded in 1785, was the second newspaper estab lished in Georgia and is one of the few survivors of that period. It bore, as its motto, the quotation from the constitution of Georgia "The Freedom of the Press and trial by Jury shall remain inviolate." It was printed by John E. Smith, at that time state printer, Augusta being then the capital of Georgia. The Chronicle has been a great absorber of other papers. In 1793, it swallowed The Southern Centi nel and Universal Gazette, and in 1877, The Consti tutionalist, becoming then known as The Chronicle aad Constitutionalist. In 1885, it issued a centennial edition, giving the history of the paper for the pre vious hundred years. Alabama was late in getting out in journalism, and its first paper was not established until 1812 when The Madison Gazette was printed at Hunts- ville. At that tkne St. Stephens was the capi tal of the territory, and the official journal and acts of the territorial legislature were printed there. Florida was also late in the matter of newspapers, its oldest being The Weekly Floridan, established at TaUahasse in 1828. Early Mississippi journalism centres altogether around Natchez, where lived all the white popula tion of the territory, the northern and eastern por tions being still in the hands of the Indians. In 1800, The Mississippi Gazette was established at Natchez by Benjamin M. Stokes. It passed, within a year, into the hands of Sackett and Wallace who showed considerable more enterprise than its founder, and made arrangements to send the paper to subscribers throughout the settled portion of the territory. In 1801, The Intelligencer was established by D. 420 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Moffett and James Ferrell at Natchez ; and in 1802 The Mississippi Herald, by Andrew Marschalk, also at Natchez. The latter was by far the best paper published in Mississippi up to that time, containing an excellent variety of reading matter, and six col umns of advertising, a prodigious amount for the tune and the territory. Perhaps the most striking feature of that journal and wholly out of accord with the journalistic practices of the time was a col umn of friendly notice of a rival paper soon to be established in Natchez, The Mississippi Republican and Advertiser. The Herald was decidedly in ad vance of the time In speaking In this amiable man ner of a rival, instead of denouncing it, and this may explain its early collapse. Four other papers fol lowed in the next five years, all at Natchez ; The Con stitutional Conservator by John Wade (1802), The Republican and Advertiser (1802), The Mississippi Messenger by John Shaw and Timothy Terrell (1804), and The Chronicle by John A. Winn & Co. (1808), making seven papers established in that lit tle town in as many years. The first newspapers in Louisiana were naturally published in French as that was the language of a large majority of the population, before and at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Le Courier du Ven- dredi {Friday Courier), is said to have been pub lished as early as 1785 when Louisiana was under Spanish control, but not a copy of that paper has survived and little is known about it, and, indeed, there are grave doubts as to its existence. Le Moniteur de la Louisiane {The Louisiana Moni tor), started in 1794 and was of much the same char acter as the American papers of the day, although giving more news, particularly European news, than they did. With the establishment of the American Dominion THE PEESS. 421 in 1803, The Telegraphe, published at New Orleans, as Indeed all the other early Louisiana papers were, started life, having a motto in French from Bailly "PubUdty is the Safe-Guard of the People." Le Telegraphe, — the name was used by many papers of those days, forty years before the magnetic tele graph was Invented, — was issued by Beleurgey and Eenard, and published originally, wholly in French ; but in 1810, part in French and part in English. In 1804, a year after the purchase of Louisiana, the first English paper in Louisiana, and the first in that language in the Mississippi Valley, was issued at New Orleans by John Mowery. It started with only nineteen subscribers, but as the subscription was $10 it lingered for some years. In 1810, Louisiana possessed eight newspapers, all in New Orleans, of which one was wholly in English, one in French, four in French and English and two in Spanish. The first newspaper published in Kentucky was T/ie Kentucky Gazette at Lexington in 1787, by James Bradford of the same Bradford family which, com ing from London to Philadelphia, had established a chain of newspapers through Pennsylvania, Mary land and Virginia. The people of Kentucky were so desirous of having a newspaper in their territory that the Board of Trustees of Lexington gave Brad ford all the land he needed for an office. The press was brought overland from Philadelphia, and took nearly a year to reach Lexington. The office of The Gazette was a one-story log cabin covered with clapboards. Under every possible disadvantage, the paper became a success from the start. As a mat ter of fact, it was the only paper in all the west and without a rival within a radius of 500 miles. A copy was too precious for personal use, and Perrin describes how The Gazette was sent, far and wide, 422 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. through Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and neighbor ing territories by post riders. When it reached a settlement, the best reader among the Inhabitants was called on to mount a stump or chair and read to "the assembled multitude" every word in The Gazette, advertisements included — ^which incident is presented in the well-known American picture, "Eeadlng the News." Bradford subsequently be came printer to the state of Kentucky in 1792 and left the paper to his sons at his death. It survived until 1848. Stewart's Kentucky Herald was established by Thomas H. Stewart at Lexington in 1795 ; The Ken tucky Journal by Benjamin J. Bradford at Frank fort in 1795 ; The Rights of Man or Kentucky Mer cury by Darius Moffett at Paris in 1797 ; The Mirror by Hunter and Beaumont at Washington, the same year, and The Guardian of Freedom by John Bradford at Frankfort in 1798. The Bradfords, John, Daniel and Benjamin, thus controlled four papers in Kentucky at that time, constituting a ma jority of the territorial press. The first daily pa per was published at Louisville, The Public Adver tiser by Shadrach Penn m 1826. Conditions were very similar in Tennessee, where the first paper. The Knoxville Gazette, was estab lished in 1793 by a printer from Massachusetts, E. Eoulstone, during the exciting period when the peo ple living m what is now East Tennessee were en deavoring to secede from North Carolina, of which state they then formed a part, and to set up a state government of their own. From the very be ginning. The Gazette, which was a paper of consid erable force and ability, exercised great influence among the mountaineers who constituted its chief subscribers. MEXICAN Ni;WS. THE PEESS. 423 The Texas press was the outgrowth of the war of independence against Mexico, and the newspapers, first established there, might almost be called a part of the Texas army. A printing press had been set up by Baker and Borden at San Felipe (now Aus tin), with the coming of the Austin colony and a paper was issued therefrom. The Weekly Telegraph, publishing extras without number, whenever news came in by the early mail from the United States, via Fort Jessup. At nearly the same time, 1835, the people of eastern Texas established at Nacogdoches, The Emigrant Guide — ^mainly, however, for circula tion in the states, to Induce emigrants to come to Texas and cast their fortunes with that young re public. The Telegraph was an army paper, moving from point to point as the Mexicans advanced. When they reached Austin, The Telegraph retreated with the Texan forces to Harrisburg where it was printed for a while. But the Mexicans advancing further, the press and type were captured by them and de stroyed. The indefatigable and patriotic editor, however, did not abandon the field but bought a new press and type, made his headquarters at Columbia and there continued to publish his paper which proved one of the most useful and valuable friends of the republic during the period of its war with Mexico. The growth of the Texas press was rapid from that time, and five years afterwards the single weekly. The Telegraph, had grown to twelve, two of them bi-weeklies. Arkansas, being among the Southern states last settled and organized, naturally did not develop an early press. The original settlements were along the Mississippi or the Arkansas near its junction with the mother river and the first paper was estab lished there. The Arkansas Gazette. The founder was one WUliam E. Woodruff, a printer who moved 424 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. there from Long Island and settled at Arkansas Post. Woodruff was probably invited to Arkansas for he was at once made "printer to the territory." He printed the laws and edited The Gazette which was merely an official publication of proclamations, acts and official notices, without news and with no comments on the events of the day. Woodruff, as a matter of fact, was a printer rather than an editor and attending to the former duties properly, there were no causes of complaint. The territorial gov ernment moved from "the post of Arkansas" on the Arkansas Eiver to Little Eock in 1820 and The Ga zette moved with it. It is one of the few of the first papers in a state to survive in The Little Rock Ga zette of to-day. Such was the early record of Southern journal ism. It is impossible to follow the history through all the phases of the next sixty years. It is sufficient to say, that during that period, hundreds of papers rose and fell in the South. There was a disposition to spread rather than to centralize, and each leader and faction wanted an organ as mouthpiece. The result was an immense number of papers which were necessarily weak because of this excess. New Or leans, which supports only two English morning dailies to-day, boasted in its earlier days of twelve ; and Ealeigh, N. C, at a period when it was only one-third its present population, had no less than ten, a majority of which are now represented by The News and Observer. Many of the Southem papers rose to national im portance. The Richmond Enquirer, for instance, be came the organ of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and attracted the attention of the whole country by its utterances. It was The Enquirer which, in lay ing down the proposition, that Mr. Jefferson must not and would not become a presidential candidate THE PEESS. 425 for a third term, established that great doctrine of our imwritten law on that point. It was another Virginia paper, published in Alexandria, which when summoned before Congress for publishing the news of the capital, established the principle and right of the press to publish all the news. Weakened by division, the Southem papers dur ing the greater part of the period from the revolu tionary days to the War of Secession, devoted them selves excessively to political discussion and ig nored far too much the news of the day. During the War of Secession their condition was miserable, and they necessarily exercised little infiuence. It was considered in the South more patriotic to fight than to write. In the heat of battle, there was naturally little opportunity for discussion and the bad news service that existed and the difficulty of getting any news whatever reduced the Southern press to its lowest and weakest stage. The Eich mond, Va., papers. The Enquirer, Examiner, Sen tinel and Whig, alone showed any great activity; while the Louisville Courier- Journal, under George Prentice, has been credited with having prevented Kentucky from seceding. Elsewhere, in the South, the papers were not only without news but frequently without paper, sometimes printing their editions on packing or wall paper. Of one North Carolina edi tor, it is said that, for lack of paper, he wrote the editorials on a shingle, scraping the writing off after the article was "set up" and being then ready for another. It is significant of the press of the two sections during that period that no paper in the South was ever "suspended" by the Confederate government, the fullest latitude being allowed in the discussion of all questions; whereas in the North, there were scores of papers suspended or mobbed. Only occasionally were the Southern papers re- 426 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. quested not to publish any Information about mili tary movements, lest the news might reach and inform the enemy; and such requests were in aU instances complied with. Date of Establishment of Leading Southern Newspapers. The following table gives the date of establish ment or consolidation of some of the leading South ern papers of to-day : 1785 Augiista Chronicle, 1865 San Antonio Express, 1799 Baltimore American, 1868 Atlanta Constitution, 1803 Charleaton News and Courier, 1869 Louisville Herald, 1816 Knoxville Tribune, 1869 Cliattanooga Times, 1819 Little Rock Gazette, 1871 Austin (Tex.) Statesman, 1821 Mobile Register, 1872 Baltimore News, 1827 New Orleans Bee, 1872 Raleigh News and Observer, 1828 Montgomery Advertiser, 1876 Nashville Banner, 1828 Columbus (Ga.) Enquirer-Sun, 1876 Norfolk Ledger-Despatch. 1832 Louisville Courier-Journal (Cour- 1877 New Orleans Item, ier), 1880 New Orleans States, 1835 Nashville American, 1880 Chattanooga News, 1837 New Orleans Picayune, 1881 Louisville Times, 1837 Baltimore Sun, 1881 Memphis News-Scimitar, 1840 Memphis Appeal (Avalanche 1857, 1884 Birmmgham News, Commercial 1889), 1885 Houston Post, 1842 Galveston News, 1885 Dallas News, 1849 Louisville Anzeiger (German), 1886 Charlotte Observer, 1850 Richmond Times-Despatch, 1886 Knoxville Sentinel 1850 Savannah News, 1891 Houston Chronicle. 1863 New Orleans Times (Democrat 1891 Columbia (S. C.) State, 1876, Times-Democrat 1881), 1898 Atlanta Joumal, 1865 Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union, 1906 Atlanta Georgian, Seven Southern papers have passed the century mark. The Annapolis Gazette (1745), Baltimore American (1773 or 1799), Annapolis Republican (1809), Alexandria Gazette (1800), Lexington, Va., Gazette (1804), Charleston News and Courier (1803), and The Augusta Chronicle (1785). It will be noticed that a large proportion of the papers in the table given above are hyphenated con solidations. These forty-four thus represent over 150 journals, established at various times, and pur chased or combined with the more successful ven tures. There are two characteristic features of the South ern newspapers which illustrate the distinction and difference between them and the Northern journals. THE PEESS. 427 resulting from conditions prevailing in the South — their literary tendencies, both before and since the War of Secession, and their editorial work in de veloping the national resources and in building up the Industries of their several states. This latter work became especially necessary after the four years of war, and the ten years of even more de structive political strife that followed under recon struction. The absence of magazines in the South (for the few established, with possibly the exception of The Southern Literary Messenger were short lived and far from inviting or prosperous), and the absence of publishing houses of note, forced the young South ern writer into the columns of the press. For this reason, the Southern papers were naturally led into the fields of literature and nearly all of them gave special encouragement to local talent. Moreover, newspaper work seemed then the only opening for those who had literary ambition or a taste for writ ing, to show what they could do. The result was to give a distinctly literary flavor or tone to the Southern press, which has turned out a much larger proportion of writers of the first class than that of the North; the latter devoting their at tention more to the collection of news. Journalism and Literature. It will thus be found that nearly all the Southem writers won their spurs in journalism and that the newspaper was the stepping-stone to litera ture. Scarcely a first-class paper in the South but has graduated one or more writers who rank high in the world of books. A glance over the journalistic field will show how nearly identical it is with the field of literature. In New Orleans, for instance. The Crescent had 428 HISTOEY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. Walt Whitman as its editor for some years. The staff of the Delta included Henry Linden Flash, the poet, Alexander Walker, the author of Jackson and New Orleans. Brennan, the Irish poet and patriot,, Eichard Henry WUde, author of numerous poems,. and especially "My Love is like a Summer Eose,"' while among the many other contributors to its col- ums was Mary Ashley Townsend (Xariffa) author of On the Bayou and other poems. The Times gave the first opening to Irwin Eus sell, that American Chatterton, father of negro dia lect poetry, and author of Christmas in the Quarters, and other charming poems, not fully appreciated un til after his sad death; and it numbered as one of its editors Bishop Hugh Miller Thompson, author of many lay as well as religious works. When consolidated with the Democrat, it blazed with literary glow. Among the editors were Laf cadio Hearn, who published, while in that position, several promising books and who was afterwards to obtain world-wide reputation as a writer of unexcelled bril liant style, and as the only foreigner to thoroughly read .Japanese character and to see behind the Jap anese screen; and Henry Guy Carleton, the play wright ,author of Memnon, the Egyptian, The Pem- bertons, Paul Durand and other plays, while among- the staff writers were Miss Bessie Bisland (now Mrs. Wetmore), author of Alas the Poor Widower,. a Life of Hearn and other books; Miss Jeannette Duncan, author of a dozen novels and books of travel, Charles Gayarre, the Louisiana historian^ Charles Patton Dimitry, Samuel Mlnturn Peck, Julie WetherUl Baker, and others. The Picayune contributed through two of its edi tors, Lumsden and Kendall, the best history of the Mexican War, while George W. Cable, the novelist got his Uterary start in life as a reporter on that pa- THE PEESS. 429 per with his Drop Shot Sketches, and John Dimitry also worked on its staff. The Yazoo Sketches with their inimitable "bar" stories, the rules of the Cres cent City, which has contributed more slang to the American language than any other book, Down Among the Dead Men, and a hundred other produc tions that have since been received into American literature, all saw the light through the medium of the press of a single city, New Orleans. The list might be extended a thousandfold, if all the papers were included, and if this article dealt with Southem literature instead of with South ern journalism; and it might thus be shown how miuch the press of the South did for the literature of the whole country, how it trained and disciplined the younger writers. And this large invasion of "literary fellers," into journalism as opposed to news gatherers is probably responsible, in part, for the careful, elevated and classical style which char acterizes the writings of leading Southern newspa pers. What is said of New Orleans could be said with equal truth of nearly the entire South. The Atlanta Constitution has given the country "Uncle Eemus" (Joel C. Harris), Henry Grady, the Southem ora tor, Frank Stanton, and a host of others. Among others who took an active part in journal ism or made their first appearance in literature in the columns of the Southern newspapers may be mentioned Eichard Malcolm Davis, T. C. De Leon, Opie Eead, Thomas O'Hara, Simon Chaudron, Henry Timrod, James Barron Hope, Alexander Beaufort Melke, George D. Prentice, George Henry Calvert, William J. Thompson, A. B. Longstreet, Edward A. Pollard, E. L. Didier, and many others. The union between journalism and literature is perhaps best illustrated in the case of Thompson 430 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. and Longstreet who together started The Augusta States, and who are respectively the authors of these popular classics. Major Jones' Courtship and Geor gia Sketches. Chaudron was editor of the New Orleans Bee; Timrod was war correspondent of the Charleston Mercury. Father Eyan whose Banner of the South, The Sword of Robert Lee were among the best liter ary products of the War of Secession, was editor of several religious journals; O'Hara of The Bivouac of the Dead edited The Mobile Register, Louisville Times and Franklin (Ky.) Yeoman. Eandall, whop My Maryland was probably the most stirring of all the war poems, edited The Augusta Chronicle and afterwards the New Orleans Morning Star. Hope was editor of The Norfolk Landmark, Opie Eead of The Arkansas Gazette. The list could be made pages longer, but enough has been given to show the close relationship between literature and joumaUsm in the South. The Press and Industrial Development. Even greater In importance to the South and the Union were the services rendered by the Southem press in the upbuilding of the coimtry. Without this assistance the losses and injuries of the War of Secession and Eeconstruction would not have been overcome. When Judge Kelly of Pennsylvania, "Pig John" Kelly as he is generally called, the apostle of protection and industry, said, in the gloomy days succeeding the War of Secession, ' ' The development of the South means the enrichment of the nation," he laid down a proposition the truth of which we can fully appreciate to-day. But for the active work of the Southem press, the at tention it gave to industrial development, the many manufacturing, commercial and industrial editions THE PEESS. 431 its papers issued, the space they devoted to natural resources, etc., the new growth of the South would have been delayed many years, its agricultural and manufacturing wealth would have remained undis covered or undeveloped, and the country as a whole, would have been much poorer to-day. The same idea had occurred to many Southern leaders before ; but they failed to secure the popular support necessary for success, and except here and there, the march of Industrial development in the South had been slow. The explanation probably lay in two conditions — the fact that slavery tended to magnify agriculture, for which the slaves were best fitted, and to minimize manufacturing ; and the lack of interest shown by most of the Southern newspa pers of ante-bellum times in industries in the re stricted sense of manufactures. During the period just previous to the War of Secession, a period of apparently great prosperity to the South, when it was playing the leading part in the affairs of the nation and when its sons were ad ministering, in large part, and administering well, cleanly and efficiently, the government of the country, it was natural that politics should assume an exaggerated importance in the eye of the people and of the press. The latter de voted itself mainly and in many cases, almost ex clusively, to the discussion of political and constitu tional questions. The discussion was on a broad and high plane, national rather than local, and as many and as able articles were published during this pe riod of partisan and sectional debate as saw the light of day during the formative period of the re public, when Hamilton, Madison, Adams, Monroe and Jefferson contributed their papers to The Fed eralist and other journals of the times. A few editors took a different view of the situa- 432 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tion and saw in the development of resources, the building up of manufactures and wealth of all kinds, the influences that would, In the end, settle the is sues of constitutionalism, states' rights, secession, etc. Among these stands out most conspicuous in his services and far in advance of his time and his section, Daniel D. B. DeBow, who for so many years, edited DeBow 's Review in New Orleans and who, in sisting that the future of the South lay in industrial development, in the use of all its manifold resources, preached these lessons for years and, through the columns of his magazine, did all he could to awaken the South to its opportunities and its needs. When the great Southern convention over which John C. Calhoun presided, met at Memphis in 1845, it sent a thrill of Inspiration through the South ; by showing that it was not doing, in certain lines of in dustrial activity and in internal improvements, as much as the other sections. Among the delegates to that convention was DeBow. He was Inspired by the speeches made and by the general tone of the con vention for, establishing himself at New Orleans, he began the publication of his magazine, devoted to commerce, manufactures and every other line of industry. Its success was instantaneous and great and haci the other Southern press followed the path he blazed, the South would have reached the highest point of development many decades before it did. Unfortunate, there were few men as enthusiastic as he on the subject and few as capable in this particu lar line. DeBow was only twenty-five years of age when he established his magazine but he showed himself far in advance of his time, and a genius In his able treatment of all matters bearing upon the material progress of the South. He was only thirty years old when he was appointed professor of polit ical economy in the University of Louisiana, one of THE PEESS. 433 the first if not the first professorship of the kind in the United States, and only thirty-five when he was appointed superintendent of the United States cen sus, and performed that work so achnirably. The thirty odd volumes of his magazine tell the indus trial and material development of the South during the period preceding the War of Secession, and his earnest efforts to awaken and arouse the South to its neglect of its opportunities. It was treated by the politicians as a hobby of his ; we can now realize that he was a statesman of the highest order, a prophet, seeing far in advance of his day. DeBow worked at his task during all the long years when the political and constitutional struggle between the sections was growing more and more bitter. He kept it up even after actual war was under way; and not until New Orleans surrendered to Farragut, did he abandon his mazagine and his efforts to de velop and strengthen the South through commerce and manufactures. Six months after Appomattox, he took up his work again and determined to revive his publication and wrote: "The restoration of the South can, it is hoped, be effected upon the basis pro posed by the President [Johnson] and no greater field could be opened for the investment of capital, from every quarter." DeBow 's Review was revived, "devoted," as its editor expressed it, "to the restor ation of the Southern states and the development of the wealth and resources of the country. ' ' He never realized his hopes but died soon after wards in 1867, during the gloomiest period in the history of the South; and we can realize now that he, even with all his enthusiasm and energy could not have triumphed over the unfavorable conditions that then existed. No industrial revolution was possible during the unsettled and demoralized period from 1865 to 1872. A great deal of political agitation, of Vol. 7—28. 434 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. preUminary work and of constructive statesmanship was necessary before the South would be in a posi tion to take up the work of industrial development. The history of the Southern press during that pe riod of reconstruction was honorable in the highest degree. It was a period which tried men's souls. The Southern newspapers which had barely sur vived the War of Secession, were poor and disabled when peace came. A number of new journals sprang into the field to plead and fight for the restoration of civil government. None in the South suffered more during this second warfare, no less destructive than the actual battles in the field, than the editors who aroused and organized the Southem people to free themselves. Many papers perished in the struggle ; many editors were arrested and imprisoned ; but the fight was kept up until complete victory was won. As Governor Chamberlain has pointed out in his ac count of his achninistration in South Carolina, the fall of the reconstruction governments was sealed when the press of the South took the lead in the movement against them. Mr. DeBow was therefore premature by fifteen or more years; it was not possible to build up any in dustries under the conditions and government that then prevailed. It was necessary to change condi tions first before the task of rebuilding could begin with any hope of success. This was accomplished through the efforts of the press; and in the early eighties all the friction and demoralization that had formerly existed being removed, the work of indus trial regeneration was inaugurated. To-day when the development is proceeding satis- factorUy it is difficult to realize how much hard work was necessary to start the ball a-roUing. Little was known about the South at the time ; some prejudice still existed against it, the outgrowth of sectional THE PEESS. 435 and political prejudice. And it was not regarded as a good field for investment as its resources were, as yet, hidden from view and unknown. Nearly all the work of genuine reconstruction — the reconstruction of industry — was done by the Southern press ; and it had in this a task unknown to the papers of the North or West, but one which brought it closer. to the people; and in the end, by the greater wealth thus produced it tended to bene fit the papers themselves. The Atlanta Exposition of 1881, was mainly the work of the newspapers of that city and, although on a small scale, it succeeded in attracting a great deal of attention to the South and in giving the rest of the world a beter knowl edge of what it had to offer. The World's Cotton Centennial at New Orleans, in 1884 and continued in 1885, was distinctly a newspaper enterprise with the editor of the Times-Democrat as its originator and director-general. It made the North acquainted with the wealth of the Southem press, with the iron and coal of the Birmingham district, with the possi bilities of rice-growing in Louisiana and Texas, and the lumber, iron and rice Industries of the South of to-day may almost be said to have had their birth there. It is impossible, for lack of space, to tell the whole story of Southern material development since then and the close and intimate part of the press the newspapers as well as trade papers like the Balti more Manufacturers Becord has had in it; but it can be said, in a general way, that in the quarter of a century since the New Orleans Cotton Exposition, the Southern press has given more attention and more space to industrial questions, — ^manufactures, immigration, education, etc. — than any papers in the world; and that it is to their active, intelligent 436 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. and persistent work that the South owes so much of its present prosperity. From this short sketch, it is possible to see how much the Southern press is the outgrowth of the last few decades and what wonders it has accomplished for the South during that period. The work it has had to do, the difficulties it has encountered, have naturally given it characteristics not shared by the newspapers of other parts of the country, has brought It closer to the people, and has made it dis tinctly representative of the South, preserving the best traditions of the past, at the same 'time that it is in line with the activity and spirit of progress of the present day, and, instead of a few papers, as it had a short time ago, it now boasts of 5,550 to lead and aid the people to stiU greater and better things. NoEMAN Walker, Associate Editor New Orleans Times-Democrat. MAGAZINES. 437 CHAPTEE XXI. SOUTHEEN MAGAZINES. INCE 1828, when the Southern Review was established in Charleston, the South has not ^^ been without a, magazine. The history of these magazines is an interesting, if not Inspiring, one. Projected by some ambitious pub lisher, or by some man of letters desiring an organ through which he might communicate to the world as well as give opportunity to other writers, they have risen and fallen with the successive years. Not one of the ante-bellum magazines continues to be published to-day; the oldest of those that survive is but sixteen years old. And yet the story of their careers is one of the significant chapters in the in tellectual development of the Southern people. Although not first in point of time, the Southern Literary Messenger is the most significant in point of duration and importance of all these magazines. The first number appeared in August, 1834, and the last In June, 1864, Eichmond being all the while the place of publication. The man who conceived the project was Thomas W. White, a practical printer of Eichmond, who had spent some of his early life in Boston. Although he was not a man of the highest culture, he had the practical knowledge necessary for the publishing of a magazine. He knew how "to write a very good and coaxing letter," and thus secured as contributors some of the most promi nent men of letters in the country. His liberal views on national questions conciliated Northerners, and his being a native of Virginia strengthened him in the South. While his professed object was to "call 438 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. forth the slumbering and undeveloped talent of the Southern people," at the same time he sought to command the best talent in all sections of the coun try. In the first nine numbers of the Messenger White was aided in his editorial duties by James E. Heath, auditor of Virginia. Furthermore, he Immediately secured contributions from Eichard Henry Wilde, Mrs. Sigourney and Alexander B. Meek. Wilde, be sides contributing prose and poetry, obtained nearly one hundred subscribers in Augusta, Ga. Such Vir ginians as Thomas E. Dew of William and Mary College, Beverley Tucker of the law department of the same institution, and Lucian Minor rendered him valuable assistance by contributing thoughtful ar ticles on current subjects. College commencement addresses form a large part of the contents. As early as 1835 Judge Tucker published an argument in favor of slavery based on Blackstone. He was answered, however, by more than one contributor, and by the editor, who said: "Whilst we entirely concur with him that slavery, as a political or social institution is a matter exclusively of our own concern, as much as the laws which govern the distribution of property, we must be per mitted to dissent from the opinion that it is either a moral or a political benefit. We regard it, on the contrary, as a great evil which society, sooner or later, will find it not only to its interest to remove or mitigate, but will seek its gradual aboUtion, or ameUoration, under the influence of those higher obligations imposed by an enlightened Christian moral ity." These words are a notable expression of the best sentiment of Virginians before the South became fixed in its advocacy of slavery as an econoinic and political necessity. Still more noteworthy was a series of articles, which began in the third number of the first volume, written by Lucian Minor, giving his observations and impressions of life In New England in 1834. MAGAZINES. 439 They had appeared first in the Fredericksburg Arena, but had been revised by the author for the Messenger. In 1871, James Eussell Lowell published in the Atlantic Monthly some extracts from Minor's Joumal from which the articles were written, com menting on his "Boswellian genius for observa tion," "his constant reasonableness and good taste, the fine breeding of letters," and above all on his catholicity of spirit in serving to show the feeling of the better type of Southerners. As these articles are read now in the files of the Southern Literary Messenger, they strike one as among the most dis- ¦ criminating and balanced studies ever made of New England life. The author describes the social cus toms and the educational development of that sec tion, trying always to find those points which would be most beneficial to the people of Virginia. " No other six weeks of my lite have had compressed into them half so much excitement, or half so much interest. * * * Those Northern states have very far the start of us Virginians in almost all the constitu ents of civilization; yes, further than my state pride will even now let me own without a struggle. They are more public spirited than we. They are more charitable. They possess better organized social and civil institutions. * * * In their thorough practical understand ing of the word comfort, they are as far before us, as we are before the Hottentots." At the conclusion, he appeals to Virginians and New Englanders to understand one another better, anticipating by half a century the well-known words of L. Q. C. Lamar: "My countrymen, know one an other and you will love one another." The greatest Impetus was given to the newly formed journal, however, by the fact that in March, 1835, Edgar Allan Poe began to contribute to its columns. White had written to John P. Kennedy for contributions, and Kennedy, who had recently had an opportunity to judge of the artistic work of Poe, commended him to the editor. Poe began 440 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. by sending his short stories Berenice and Morella, and then book reviews. In June he was invited by White to come to Eichmond and assist him in the editing of the magazine. He went In August and in December he was made editor-in-chief at a salary of approximately $800. Poe remained as editor through January, 1837. During the eighteen months in which he was connected with the magazine he pub lished fourteen stories, nearly all of his early poems — either m their original or revised form, — and more than one hundred book reviews and editorials, his contributions to each number varying from ten to thirty pages. In the last number which he edited he contributed more than one-third of the entire contents. The number of titles in the Poe bibliog raphy for 1836 is larger than in any other year of his life. There is no question that a later editor was right in claiming that "no magazine ever pub lished so many shining articles from the same pen" in the same length of time. The Atlantic Monthly, twenty years later published the writings of men most of whom had become famous; but Poe was as yet unknown. In every number he was making a reputation for himself and the magazine. In his contributions to the Messenger he anticipated all his later work. The general type of his tales, the particularly haunting quality of his poetry, the penetration and fearlessness of his criticism, even his "authography" and marginalia are all to be found here; later years only served to develop pow ers and characteristics already evident to the reader of the Messenger. He seems at one time to have been interested in his work. In a most enthusiastic letter to Kennedy, he says: "My health is better than for years past, my mind is fully occupied, my pecuniary difficulties havevanished, I have a fair prospect of future ^ f. /fW^ 6 ^4 •%^ 3r§T; MAGAZINES. 441 success — in a word, all is right. * * * Hr. 'White is very liberal. Next year, that is at the commencement of the second volume, I am to get $1,000. Besides this, I receive from publishers nearly all new publications. My friends in Richmond have received me with open arms, and my reputation is extending, especially in the South. Con trasting all this with those circumstances of absolute despair in which you found me, and you will see how great reasons I have to be grateful to God, and to yourself." For a while he worked at his task with zest as well as energy, and at one time planned a number of the magazine to which all the leading writers in the country would contribute; we have his letters to them, glowing with hopes of the future. We are justified in concluding that he was a most indus trious and Indefatigable editor, author and critic during this period, and that if he had continued as he began in Eichmond, he would have led a far dif ferent life. That which contributed most to the success of the magazine and to his fame was the criticism writ ten by Poe of contemporary American literature. He was, as Lowell said, "almost the only fearless critic in the country" at that time. In one of his reviews of two popular poets of the day, he set forth his view of the state of contemporary literature and his ideals of criticism. Following the period in which American criticism had simply reflected con temporary English views, there had come a time when American critics indulged in an excessive laudation of native writers. "We are becoming boisterous and arrogant, in the pride of a too Bpeedily assumed literary freedom. * * * ^^ get up a hue and cry about the necessity of encouraging native writers of merit; we blindly fancy that we can accomplish this by indiscriminate puffing of good, bad, and indifferent, without taking the trouble to consider that what we choose to denominate encouragement is thus, by its general applica tion, rendered precisely the reverse. * * * Deeply lamenting this imjustifiable state of public feeling, it has been our constant endeavor, since assuming the editorial duties of this journal, to stem, with what little ability we possess, a current so disastrously imdennining the health and prosperity of our Hterature." 442 HISTOEY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. He was true to his ideals, too. From the time when he created a sensation by his caustic review of Norman Leslie, a novel by one of the most popular men in New York City, he insisted on high standards of literary work; "No true, we mean sensible, American, will like a bad book the better for being American," was one of his theses. He had the word "danm" in his critical vocabulary. In Simms' Partisan he found "instances of bad taste, viUainously bad taste." He characterized an other book as "utter folly, bombast, and Inanity." Of G. P. E. James, he said, "He has fallen apparent ly upon that unlucky mediocrity permitted neither by gods nor columns. ' ' While such criticism sounded harsh, it was the honorable course to be pursued where low standards of art prevailed. Such criticism, coupled with superior creative writing, caused Paulding to write to White in Jan uary, 1836: "Your periodical is decidedly superior to any periodical in the United States, and Mr. Poe is decidedly the best of our young editors." Poe strongly resented the charge made by a Eich mond paper that his reviews were of a slashing kind, and altogether destructive, claiming that of the ninety-four reviews published in six months, the overwhelming proportion was favorable. Perhaps a modern critic would complain of Poe's favorable criticism more than of his unfavorable. But at the time his great service was in letting the public know that an editor would adopt a conscientious attitude towards all books that came before him. Along with much work that is necessarily temporary in its character, there were some reviews that anticipated the philosophical breadth of his later works, the Rationale of Verse and the Philosophy of Compo sition. Such papers as those on Bryant's poetry, on Coleridge, on Longstreet 's Georgia Scenes, and on KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That we Sc:^^.^ c^ ' are held and firmly bound unto /^7i^^K£*L\LA Ci.AIRAW Referring \" a I'roj.nse!] Ci'tlleK'e and Liltrar\- m X'lfK'inia. LIBRARIES. 485 when not interrupted by Captain John Smith's in numerable preparations for expeditions against the natives, in translating into unusually creditable English verse the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Early History. Who the founder of the first American library was, the most minute investigation has been impotent to reveal, and, however interesting any speculations re garding his identity may be, the establishment of the same would still be secondary to the facts already to be gleaned from the passage quoted, that even in the South's earliest years plans were completed for the University of Henrico, and the nucleus of its library already placed in trust with the Virginia Company. Yet these plans were destined never to be realized ; famine, internal dissention, and the terrible massa cre of 1623 brought them all to naught, and it was nearly three-quarters of a century before James Blair founded William and Mary College at Wil liamsburg; New England in this way being permit ted to anticipate Virginia by nearly sixty years. In spite of this, however, it should not be inferred that the colonists of Virginia were not alive to the value of books. The gulf between the Southern col onies and England was a matter of space alone ; the life in Virginia and the Carolinas being as closely modeled on that of the mother country as conditions would permit. The manorial system, of course, was the one adopted, and developed as an institution to such an extent that it has left an ineffaceable mark upon the manners and traditions of the Southern people. In spite of its faults and anachronisms, the feudal system tends to develop a type of culture all its own. Being based in spirit on the idea of the family, it discourages the growth of large commu nities, hence we should expect to find the children 486 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. taught by private tutors, and libraries gathered by private collectors. This was the case in the Southern colonies. It has been more or less a puzzle to some well-intentioned historians that Southern men should have taken such a very prominent part in the formation of the Union. Perhaps the most illuminating light that has been thrown upon this problem has been the publication, of late, by The William and Mary Quarterly of pri vate libraries owned by the Virginia gentry. These collections ranged from a half a hundred volumes to five and six thousand; the library of William Byrd and that of Thomas Jefferson approximating the lat ter figures. In all more than sixty libraries are enumerated, and a very reasonable estimate would place the number of books in the private collections of Virginia prior to the Nineteenth century at 50,000 volumes. What was true of Virginia was equally true of the other colonies, Maryland and South Caro lina certainly not lagging far behind the Old Domin ion in matters of culture. In North Carolina, Stephen B. Weeks finds traces of nearly forty large private libraries, collected prior to the Eevolution. In these lists of private libraries some very inter esting facts arebrought to light,not theleast of which is the exceeding high quality of the books purchased. It was a small and poor collection, indeed, that did not have its selection from the Latin poets, the Greek philosophers and dramatists, and often works of French and ItaUan writers. Nor were these merely school texts, for where prices have been assigned for purposes of sale they have been such as would indi cate that the editions were of standard library qual ity. This inference is borne out by such copies as have come down to us in collections still intact, or which bear the autograph or bookplate of some colon- nial owner. The unusual number of folios, too, which LIBRARIES. 487 are quoted in these collections are an additional proof of this contention. The most remarkable collection of which we have knowledge was that of William Byrd, 2d, of West- over. Byrd was one of the most wealthy and influen tial of the Virginia manorial lords, and is said to have possessed at one time an estate that approxi mated 200,000 acres. He was educated in England, and In intimate touch with the most cultured men of the time, among them Eobert Boyle, Earl of Orrery, the famous physicist ; General Oglethorpe ; the Duke of Argyle ; Mark Catesby, the botanist ; the Marquis of Halifax; Sir Eobert Southwell, and many others. His extensive learning is clearly shown by the books he purchased which were unusually well catalogued in 1777. They are grouped under the following heads: "History; Voyages; Travels, etc.; Law; Trials, etc.; Physick, etc.; Entertainments; Poetry; Translations, etc. ; Divinity, etc. ; Classics and other Latin and Greek authors; Miscellaneous." Some of the titles quoted in the list of 5,000 volumes fill the soul of the modern book lover with envy, and he is tempted to speculate regarding the fate of this re markable collection of books. That they were scat tered we know, for copies bearing the bookplate and coat-of-arms of Byrd have turned up here and there, a number of them, it is said being in possession of the Eidgeway branch of the Philadelphia Public Li brary. The Library of Congress has an exception ally fine folio. Petit 's Leges Atticce, which was one of the books obtained by purchase from Thomas Jef ferson. Perhaps other works were purchased by the latter at the sale of Byrd's library, but they have not been identified. Another early colonial library of especial interest was that of Dr. Charles Brown, a physician who was interested in natural sciences. The books in this col- 488 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. lection were mainly devoted to mathematics, chemis try, physics, medicine and kindred topics. Indeed, it is a commentary on the learning of the Southern colonist to find so many books on scientific topics in their libraries; hardly a one of the whole sixty or more listed failing to contain books of that nature. The fate of the collection of Dr. Brown is hinted at in a paragraph in The Virginia Gazette, 1738, to the effect that this was "the finest and most copious in natural philosophy and physick ever exposed to sale in the colony. ' ' This library contained 82 folios, 128 quartos, 407 octavo, and 6 miscellaneous, and was valued at £108. In 1719, the library of Orlando Jones was inven toried at £484, which would indicate that his collec tion was exceptionally large and valuable. The li brary of Councillor Eobert Carter of Nomini Hall, Westmoreland county, inventoried in 1772 more than 500 volumes. The Carters constituted a large and influential group of families, all of them com posed of people of culture and possessors of large collections of books. That the art of music was not neglected is evidenced by the inventory of the library of Cuthbert Ogle, which contained a splendid collec tion of music, including works on the theory of the same. Numerous references to purchases and re- pairings of spinets and other instruments also prove that music played no inconsiderable part in the life of the men and women of the time. The most noted collection of books started during the colonial time and indeed, the most interesting private collection from the point of view of content and influence on American Ubrary history, was that of Thomas Jefferson. The Southern makers of en franchised America were all men of unusual learning and catholicity of taste. Madison, Eandolph, Mason, we know were not only possessors of splendid coUec- LIBRARIES. 489 tions of books, but also were in intimate touch with statesmen and scholars in Europe. This was partic ularly true of Thomas Jefferson, who was an insati able reader and an unusually gifted letter-writer. He was in correspondence with the leaders of the Eighteenth century school of philosophy and state craft, influencing and in turn being influenced by the men who led in the transformation of Europe. His collection was the fruit of fifty years of patient watchfulness, and at the time of its purchase by Con gress as the nucleus of the collection destined to re place the one destroyed by the British, numbered 6,700 volumes. The fact that the Library of Con gress was first instituted at the suggestion of Presi dent Jefferson made it peculiarly fitting that his col lection should be purchased to supply the loss of the original library at the hands of a foreign foe. In ad dition, the United States gained for a comparatively moderate sum, the most remarkable private collec tion in America. This library forms a striking index to the astonish ing genius of its owner ; his universality, his profund ity, his generous sympathy with everything that stood for freedom of the human spirit were clearly revealed in this collection of books still preserved to us amid the 1,500,000 books that constitute the Li brary of Congress. A goodly number of the works, particularly those in philosophy and statecraft were presented to him by the writers, and the title pages and flyleaves bear the autograph inscriptions of such men as Condorcet Dupont de Nemours, in fact, many of the choicest spirits of the age. As an evidence of his scholarship a good share of the works, many of them on the most abstruse sub jects, are critically annotated by his own hand, the French works often containing the comments in the language of the text. It might also be asserted that 490 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. Thomas Jefferson was the father of American li brary science, for he was unquestionably the first in this country to arrange an extensive collection of books according to a scheme of classification both minute in detail and comprehensive in scope. The scheme was adopted from Francis Bacon's classifica tion of human knowledge, and on the purchase of the collection, was adopted by the Library of Congress as its own arrangement, serving during its growth of a century from 7,000 to more than 1,000,000 vol umes. As has thus been indicated, the earliest develop ment in book collecting assumed the form of private libraries, yet recent investigations have proven that the first endeavor to institute public libraries in America was made in the South. This was due to the efforts of Thomas Bray, the founder of the So ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel. Indeed, the first systematic plan for the establishment of pub licly supported free libraries, as far as we know, in the history of all time must be accredited to this Lon don preacher who flourished during the reign of Wil liam and Mary. Thomas Bray has been quoted as a shining example of what may be accomplished by a man of mediocre ability who is possessed of deter mination. Nevertheless, if the fact of his being some three hundred years in advance of his age and being in possession of an insight enabling him to see the educational potentiaUties of the library, be not in the nature of genius, then the definitions of the latter quaUty are all at fault. In addition, he hag been criticised in England for estabUshing nothing but clerical libraries, and in America for not keeping his libraries aUve after his death, yet aU of these points conceded do not deprive him of the credit due for a work great in conception, and in view of the besetting conditions, equally great in accomplishment. Nor WAI.Sll MKiloRIAL LlliRARV, S IIWAXI-IIC, TKXX. J, (.ossTT I,rl'.I¦;AR^^ mkmrhis, tkw. LIBRARIES. 491 should it be assumed that his interests were merely theological ; every activity towards social betterment. found in him a worker who stopped at no sacrifice in its furtherance. He was the friend of General Ogle thorpe, and allied with him in the movement for prison reform, aiding also the latter 's plan for col onizing Georgia. Thomas Bray's scheme, as outlined in Apostolick Charity, Primordia Bibliothecaria, and other pamphlets published during the last decade of the Seventeenth century, involved the establishment of a publicly endowed free library in every cathedral town and important parish in the British Isles and the colonial possessions. More than 400 libraries were proposed in this comprehensive scheme, 160 of which were actually placed in operation, of which a modicum still exist in Great Britain, and 150 in the foreign possessions, all of which have disappeared, or have been absorbed by later collections. The fact however, that none of the Bray libraries still exist in America does not in any wise militate against their historical interest, nor against their contemporary influence. In Neil's Founders of Maryland is given a list of thirty of these libraries established in Maryland alone. Of these the collection at Annapolis was the largest, containing 1,095 volumes. The average vol umes to each library were thirty, the whole totaling 3,043 volumes. The books that form these libraries have in large part disappeared, a few, however, still remaining in the Library of St. John's College, An napolis, bearing the inscription, "De Bibliotheca An- napolitana" — melancholy vestiges of an enterprise worthy of a better fate than the one experienced. The Bray libraries were established in Virginia, in North and South Carolina and Georgia ; books valued at £2,400 being sent to the colonies prior to 1700. 492 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. It was seventy years after the disastrous failure of the University of Henrico that an institution of higher learning was instituted in the South. This was William and Mary College, founded in 1693 at Williamsburg, mainly through the efforts of Com missary James Blair. This was the second college established in the English colonies, the first being Harvard, in 1636. There is good reason for assum ing that the nucleus for a library had already been gathered when the doors of the college were opened, for it is recorded that the original selection of books was made by the founder, whose private library in addition was bequeathed to the same on his death. From the statement of Dr. John Millington, a former librarian of William and Mary, we learn that the library was the recipient of many valuable gifts during its career. "Many books were presented by Sir Alexander Spotswood, Eobert Dinwiddle, and the General Assembly of Virginia. Louis XVI., of France, also presented the celebrated Cyclopaedia, and a number of quarto volumes on natural history, splendidly bound and illustrated. President Jeffer son and the Honorable Eobert Boyle of Ireland, were among the donors." Perhaps no institution in America has experienced more misfortunes than this famous old school. Dur ing the Eevolution, the buildings were occupied by the French, and part of the same was destroyed. Just how much the library was injured it is difficult to estimate; it is not reasonable, however, to infer that it went unscathed. Again, in 1850, it suffered from fire, the main buUdmg being destroyed, re built, however, only to meet almost total destruc tion during the War of Secession. At this time the buildings were gutted and the library numbering more than 8,000 volumes was destroyed. It has only LIBRARIES. 493 been during the last few years that the college has found renewed life, again taking its place among the institutions of the land. The library now num bers more than 10,000 volumes. The first public library founded in the Southern states whose history runs undisturbed to the present is that of the Charleston Library Society, which grew out of a library club organized by seventeen young men of Charleston, S. C, in the year 1748. In 1754, in order to permit the development of a public li brary, a royal charter was applied for. The receipt of this, however, was delayed eighteen months, ow ing to the fact that the vessel bearing the document was captured by a French cruiser ; which incident, as stated by the catalogue of the library issued in 1770, had "almost fatal consequences to the Society." Nevertheless, this temporary backset was soon over come, and from thence to the Eevolution the library prospered; so much indeed, that in 1770 an interest ing catalogue was issued, showing that the library at that time was in possession of 2,956 volumes. This catalogue, of which the Library of Congress pos sesses one of the few copies in existence, is perhaps the earliest library catalogue issued in America. The books listed therein were of high class ; many of them, in truth, of greatest interest and rarity to-day, Eliot's Bible being one that may be particularly noted. The esteem in which the institution was held by the citizens may be inferred from the large num ber of subscribers, who appeared to be undismayed by the severe conditions of membership, and the heavy fees required. According to the provisions of the charter, it was necessary to pay the sum of £50 in order to become a member, weekly dues of five shillings being paid until the sum of £200 in all had been paid. Failure to attend regular meetings sub jected the offender to a fine of ten shillings, and fail- 494 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ure to serve as an officer when elected resulted in a fine of £5. A salaried librarian and assistant were provided for, their entire time being devoted to the Ubrary. A somewhat interesting detail to be noted in the rules was the one providing for a sliding scale in the lending of books. According to this, the reader was permitted to keep pamphlets out four days ; octavos and duodecimos, twelve days ; quartos, sixteen days, and folios, twent-four days. In addition, twelve hours were added for every additional six miles traversed by the member in traveling to his home; a very necessary recognition of conditions arising from the manorial system of life then in vogue. A fine of five shillings was assessed for every twelve hours a book was permitted to become overdue. The success of the library may be inferred from the fact that in 1775 the property of the Society was esti mated at $20,000. In 1771, John McKenzie, a lawyer of Charleston, who had long been an active worker for the Library Association, and in addition an ardent collector of books for his own sake, died and left his private li brary of nearly 1,000 volumes in the care of the So ciety, to be preserved by it until a college should be established in Charleston, in which event the institu tion should receive them. These books duplicated, more or less, works already in the Library Society, and on the foundation of the college at Charleston in 1791 were transferred to that instituttion. In the disastrous fire which occurred in 1778, destroying one-half of Charleston, all of the collections of the Library Society, with the exception of 185 volumes were burned. The McKenzie collection, being stored elsewhere, fortunately escaped all damage except that of rough usage. The long continued war coupled with this disaster, LIBRARIES. 495 reduced the library for a while to a state of compara tive non-existence. Immediately following the dec laration of peace, however, the Society was reorgan ized and a new collection begun. In 1790, the num ber of volumes was 342 ; in 1808, 4,500 ; in 1811, 7,000 ; in 1850, 12,000; in 1904, 30,000. The Society has issued a number of publications, the earliest being ' * The Eules and By-Laws, ' ' three editions of which were printed between 1761 and 1770. The first catalogue was issued in 1770, with an appendix, containing accessions, in 1772. A cat alogue of the McKenzie collection was also issued in 1770. Other catalogues were isued in 1790, 1802, 1806, 1808, 1811, 1818, 1826, 1831, 1847, 1854 and 1876. The issue of 1826, compiled under the direc tion of the president of the Society, Hon. Stephen Elliott, was a most important bibliographical effort, particularly from the point of view of classification, the catalogue and supplement to the same compre hending in all 511 pages. The collection suffered greatly during the war, the building being used as a hospital. As soon as peace was restored the library was reopened and again took up its activities. In 1874, the Apprentices Li brary, founded in 1824, which had been partially de stroyed by fire in 1870, was merged with the Library Association, the latter thereby broadening its scope and influence. The second existent public library founded in the Southern states prior to 1800 was that of Alexandria, Va. This resulted from a meeting held at the home of John Wise, July 24, 1794. Its charter was ob tained in 1798, and modified in 1799, under which law it has continued until the present. A catalogue of sixty-one pages was issued in 1856, at which time the collection numbered 4,481. The Alexandria Library, however, has been more or less inactive since the 496 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. war, and now contains fewer volumes than were re corded in 1856. The first public library to be organized in the val ley of the Mississippi was the Lexington (Kentucky) Library, organized in 1795, about fifteen years after the settlement of the region. The founding of this library and of Transylvania University, so early in the history of that tremendous enterprise, aptly called "The Winning of the West," reveals the temper of the men who made the success of that en terprise possible. The leader in the movement for the establishment of these institutions was John Bradford, the founder of the first press in the West, and one of the most remarkable figures of his time. The friend of Clay, and of other leaders of pi oneer Kentucky, he wielded an influence less widely known than that of those men, but none the less vital. As the editor of the Kentucky Gazette, which was the first of a long list of newspapers instituted by him, or through his influence, he was in a very true sense the moulder of political and social ideals for that newly settled region. When the difficulties of overland transportation in pioneer Kentucky are considered, the wonder grows that a proposition for organizing a public library should have been considered at all. It was necessary to import the greater number of the books from Lon don, in which case they were subjected to risk from ocean, river and overland transportation, resulting in month-long delays, and often total loss from the elements or from the savages. In spite of this, a fund of $500 was collected, to which Washington, Adams, Burr and other noted men contributed, and in 1796 the first consignment of books arrived in Lex ington. For a while the collections of the Library Society were united with those of Transylvania Uni versity, but in 1799 a separation was deemed essen- LIBRARIES. 497 tial, and a charter was obtained for the Library So ciety in 1800, under the title of "The Lexington, Georgetown and Danville Library Association," thus indicating that it was the purpose of the found ers to establish libraries in other important commu nities in the state. An extensive catalogue was is sued of the library in 1821, which shows that at that time it was in possession of approximately 8,000 vol umes. Another significant fact to be gleaned from this catalogue is the statement that the Lexington Ubrary had absorbed the Lexington Juvenile Li brary in 1810, thus proving the existence of a chil dren's library in the wilds of Kentucky more than twenty years before the foundation of the famous Apprentices Libraries of Philadelphia and of New York. In 1857 the collections numbered 11,000 vol umes, which in 1904 had grown to more than 15,000. During the decade following the outbreak of the Eevolutionary War, literary and educational activi ties, of course, were reduced to a minimum ; yet sev eral institutions of learning were founded within the period. These were Hampden-Sydney College (Vir ginia, 1776) ; Washington College, now Washington and Lee (Virginia, 1776) ; and Washington College (Maryland, 1783). These now have libraries of 15,000, 50,000 and 5,000 volumes, respectively. In addition, the following other institutions possessing libraries ranging from 3,000 to 50,000 volumes were founded before 1800: St. John's CoUege (Mary land, 1784) ; College of Charleston (South Carolina, 1791) ; University of Tennessee (1794) ; University of North Carolina (1795) ; University of Nashville, Tenn. (1796) ; Washington College (Tennessee, 1795); Charlotte HaU School (Maryland, 1796); Transylvania (now Kentucky) University (1798). The period following the Eevolution was marked by the opening up of the great West, an enterprise Vol. 7—32. 498 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. whose very conditions forbade much concern with matters of books and learning, and yet we know that many of the pioneers who passed the AUeghanies from the mother states of Virginia and the Carolinas or down the Ohio and the Valley of Virginia, from Maryland and Pennsylvania, not seldom carried with them precious chests of books and indeed, presses and type for the making of the same. John Bradford, one of the pioneers of Kentucky, issued the first num ber of the Kentucky Gazette, the earliest newspaper in the West, in 1787, when Lexington was still a vil lage surrounded by a stockade. Five or six years after that, when William Blount was appointed gov ernor of the territory south of the Ohio, now the state of Tennessee, at the instance of President Washing ton, he carried with him into the wilderness a com plete printing outfit and a skilled printer, George Eoulstone, who was destined to become a person of no little influence in the new state. Eoulstone issued the first newspaper in Tennesee in 1791, and printed in addition. Public Laws and other works until his death in 1804. Along with Governor Blount, acting as his secre tary, also came his brother, Willie Blount, who pub lished m 1803, A Catechetical Exposition of the Con stitution of Tennessee, one of the earliest endeavors to teach civics to the youth of America. We are well aware from the writings of these men and of their contemporaries, and from the advertise ments of booksellers in contemporary newspapers, that even at this early time books were ardently sought. There were a number of private libraries of considerable extent gathered together, one of the largest being that of John Haywood, the first his torian of Tennessee, and a man of unique genius. As an additional testimonial to the value set upon education, it is a fact worthy of note that hardly was LIBRARIES. 499 a settlement established than a school building was erected and a teacher employed. Thus only three years after the settlement of Knoxville, Tenn., Blount College, the progenitor of the University of Tennessee, was chartered, and two years after the establishment of Davidson county, Davidson Acad emy (now the University of Nashville) , was founded. According to Ehees' Manual of American Libra ries, 711 libraries were established in the Southern states from 1800 to 1859, the majority being con nected with educational institutions. It is interest ing, in addition, to note that many valuable collec tions of books were gathered by the students of these institutions in conection with their debating socie ties; eighty-three of these society libraries being formed containing collections ranging from 100 to 3,000 volumes. The influences of these collections of readily accessible books upon the young men who were members of these societies is quite beyond esti mate. Commencing with the decade of the thirties historical societies were organized in the Southern states which began a work too long neglected — that of gathering and conserving historical sources. Much of this, because of thoughtlessness and failure to appreciate its value had alreday disappeared, yet through these agencies much has also been saved. Prior to 1855, nine of these societies had been organ ized, namely: Virginia Historical Society (1831); Kentucky Historical Society (1838) ; Savannah His torical Society (1839) ; Maryland Historical Society (1843) ; Missouri Historical Society (1844) ; Alaba ma Historical Society (1850) ; South Carolina His torical Society (1855) ; Tennessee Historical Society (1855) ; Historical Society of Florida (1857). Until the beginning of the recent movement to ward free libraries supported by public taxation, 500 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. public libraries were mainly organized on the coop erative, or share-holding plan, the use of the books being restricted to the members and their families. Seventy-five such Ubraries were in activity in the Southern states at the outbreak of the war, to which may be added the state and other administrative li braries, the majority of which were Instituted during the ante-bellum period. The most important collec tions of this kind were those of Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Kentucky and Louisiana. Destruction During the War. It is quite impossible for those who are unac quainted with conditions to understand adequately the transformation wrought upon the South by the War of Secession. Almost in the twinkling of the eye the whole social fabric of the South was swept away, and a half-century has hardly sufficed to produce an entire readjustment to new conditions, so funda mental was the change. Whatever might have been the virtues or the failings of the ancient regime, it was an anachronism, and as such was repugnant to the modern spirit, which marked it for destruction and with it all the memorials and traditions gathered through the long years. The libraries and colleges, indeed all institutions that fostered and conserved its culture, suffered heaviest. Almost every school building in the South was occupied at one time or other by soldiers as barracks or hospitals, and books and instruments of unknown value were used as fuel or served as toys for the idle hours of high privates. In many of the libraries, broken sets and mutilated volumes still remain as pathetic reminders of the days of blood and fire. The famous library at Charleston was partially destroyed, the building being used as a military hos pital ; all of the Virginia institutions suffered great- I. Lilirary, University of West \'irgii ::. Liltrary, Trinity (_'nllcy,e. LIBRARIES. 501 ly, as did those in Kentucky and Tennessee. The most astonishing episode, however, of the kind, in that most astonishing conflict, was the burning of the library building and collections of the University of Alabama, during the final days of the war. This library, which was one of the largest and best se lected in the South, was ruthlessly destroyed at a time when the issue of the conflict had been decided, and no conceivable gain could have resulted from such an action. Hardly had the war come to an end than the South betook herself to the tremendous work of rehabilita tion. The largest share of this labor was of necessity directed towards political and economic reconstruc tion, yet the social forces were not neglected. The school buildings were rebuilt or sessions held in tem porary quarters ; libraries were reopened and stock taken of the tattered remnants of once valuable col lections. It must be confessed, however, that the library development during the three decades fol lowing the war forms a record marked by few en couraging features. The universities found them selves confronted by dismantled buildings and greatly reduced sources of income, the funds from which, of course, were devoted to the Immediate ex igencies of the Institutions. The libraries, being less imperatively needed than buildings and instructors, were allowed, for the nonce, to languish. Indeed, it was not until the decade of the eighties that we find the collections indicating any marked evidences of growth. Progress Since the War. The awakening of library enthusiasm in the North ern states, which led to the formation of the Ameri can Library Association in 1876, did not reach the South for fully fifteen years. One Southern libra rian was a charter member, and several attended 602 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. conferences prior to 1890, but the representation of the section was exceedingly slight, even to 1895. The first city library club in the South was probably one organized in 1893 at Knoxville, Tenn. A congress of women librarians met at the Cotton States and Inter national Exposition held at Atlanta, in 1895, the suc cess of which showed the awakening of interest in Southern library conditions; and librarians were invited to take part in the educational and literary program of the Tennessee Centennial which was held two years later. In 1897 a Georgia Library Asocia- tion was organized, and In 1899 the American Li brary Asociation held its first conference in the Southern states at Atlanta. This proved of great benefit in stimulating interest in library expansion, and in encouraging the formation of library clubs and state associations. A Ubrary club was organized at Nashville in 1900, which was the nucleus for the Tennessee State Library Association, the first con ference of which was held in 1902. Other states have formed associations as follows : Texas and Florida m 1901; Alabama and North Carolina in 1904; Vir ginia in 1905 ; Kentucky in 1907. Several inter-state meetings have been held, although as yet no South ern association has developed, notwithstanding the fact that such an organization, if affiliated with the American Library Association, would be exceedingly desirable, for it could Institute a propaganda not pos sible to the national association. In several of the states, library commissions have been created, and in others the state department of education has been empowered to perform the func tions of such commissions. The recognition of the li brary as an educational force, approximately coordi nate with the school is, in itself, a tremendous for ward step. The theory that education ceases with the receipt of a diploma has been justly exploded. LIBRARIES 503 and the library, at last, has attained in the South, as in other sections, its recognition as the "University of the People." Yet its efficiency would be mini mized were it content to remain a passive agent, merely a storehouse of books, so to speak. In this respect, also, the Southem libraries are becoming aware of their responsibilities and grasping their op portunities. In order to reach the people who are unable or disinclined to seek out the main libraries, systems of branch and traveling libraries are being developed, the former for the benefit of the city dweUers far distant from the main library, the lat ter for those in the rural districts who are cut off from all sources of literature. The pioneer work of this kind was done by the women's clubs of the South, the first traveling libraries being sent out from 1890 to 1895 by the women of the Kentucky and Tennessee Federations to the mountaineers of the AUeghanies and the Cumberlands. Now there are well-organized endeavors in the majority of the Southern states to place well-selected collections in every community of any importance whatsoever. The most notable expression of this movement is to be found in North Carolina, where legislative enact ments promulgated in 1901, 1903 and 1905, had made a systematic plan of campaign feasible. In this state alone there are approximately 2,000 rural and school Ubraries, aggregating more than 175,000 vol umes, and accessible to 250,000 inhabitants, for whom they are the only sources of any literature worthy of the name. South Carolina has followed the example of her sister state, passing a law in 1903 permitting the maintenance of libraries by communities of more than 5,000 inhabitants, and in 1904 passing a school library law under which, prior to 1907, more than 800 libraries had been established. Virginia has also instituted a system of traveling libraries under the 504 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. direction of the state librarian, more than 500 of these being In successful operation. Prior to 1901^ traveling libraries, publicly or privately supported, were also in existence in Maryland, Georgia, Ala bama, Louisiana and Texas. One of the greatest detriments in the development of public libraries in the past has been the lack of specific legislation authorizing the taxation of a com munity for the support of such institutions. This difficulty, however, is gradually being overcome, and already several states have enacted statutes provid ing for the same, and in the others legislation is pending. With the new century the South has entered, as has been indicated, into an era of astonishing library expansion. With regard to this, and in all deference to other forces that have promoted the same, it is no disparagement of the latter to say that this has in great measure been due to the philanthropic activi ties of Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The munificence of his gifts, and the cooperative conditions usually con ditioned on their acceptance, have awakened many Southern men and women to an interest in a work concerning which they had had little previous knowl edge and no enthusiasm. The opportunity for obtain ing a library building that would be an ornament to the community has in many cases proven a tempta tion too strong to be ignored, although the gift in most cases has carried with it the necessity for sup porting and collecting a library. While it is true that from time to time small towns have accepted gifts upon conditions that they have found somewhat oner ous, yet in no case has there been failure to make the best of the opportunity, notwithstanding the sacri fices involved. The existence of the building has of ten served as a psychologic influence in attracting books from unconsidered sources; the structure I. Carnegie T.ilirary, .\tlanta, r,a. J. Carnegie Lii.irary, Montgomery, .Ma LIBRARIES. 505 alone being a permanent and generally wholesome object lesson in architectural taste. It is quite im possible to enumerate more than a few of the dona tions made by Mr. Carnegie : Louisville, New Or leans and Eichmond have received over $250,000 ; At lanta and Nashville have buildings costing more than $100,000; and in connection with the former an en dowment fund for the support of a Southern library school has been tendered and th'e school has been In successful operation since 1905. Chattanooga, Mont gomery, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Dallas and Worth, have buildings costing $50,000. In addition to dona tions to public libraries, Mr. Carnegie has been very generous to many educational institutions- — Tuskee- gee Institute, perhaps, benefiting to the greatest ex tent. It must not be thought, however, that Mr. Carnegie stands alone as a benefactor of libraries in the South ern states ; indeed, within the last twenty years, gifts to libraries have been numerous, and relatively mu nificent. The Cossitt library at Memphis, Tenn.; the Howard Memorial Library at New Orleans; Lawson McGhee Memorial Library, at Knoxville, Tenn.; Asheville Public Library, North Carolina; Trinity College at Durham, N. C. ; John B. Stetson University, at DeLand, Florida ; Vanderbilt Univer sity, at Nashville, Tenn.; Tulane University and Sophia Newcomb College, at New Orleans, and oth ers, have large gifts of moneys for library buildings. and books. It was in the universities and colleges that the li braries were first systematically collected, and one would expect a proportional expansion. This, how ever, does not appear to be the case. It is only of late that the majority of the Southem universities have awakened to the comprehension of the work of the library. Apparently they have found it very dif- 506 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ficult to divest themselves of the tradition that the li brary is more or less secondary to the more strictly academic functions and departments of the univer sity. The policy of placing the library in the hands of a professor or of forcing the librarian to do work of teaching in order to piece out a very inadequate salary has had a deleterious effect upon library ex pansion in Southern educational Institutions. Signs of better days, however, are strongly in evidence, and at last the library is becoming recognized for what it really is — the veritable heart of its institution. This change of attitude has in part resulted from the adoption of the seminary method of instruction, ren dering it necessary for the students to gain access to original sources of information, hence requiring the adoption of modern systems of library administra tion. Nevertheless, there are still not a few col leges that have no regular librarians, or if they have, are paying salaries entitling that official to a rank hardly better than that of an instructor. The university libraries, too, have been singularly unfortunate. As has already been indicated, war and fire have destroyed some of the largest collec tions in the South. Nor has the evil star finally set for in 1895 and 1905, respectively, two of the largest collections in Southern colleges suffered almost total destruction ; those of the University of Virginia and the Vanderbilt University. The first named had suffered less from the war than the majority of its fellows and had gathered what was perhaps the largest and best academic col lection in the Southern states, numbering 50,000. The library, in the mind of Thomas Jefferson, was the Unk that bound all of the academic departments of a university into unity, and by his solicitude for the library in his plans for the University of Vir ginia he strove to realize that ideal. Conditions, of LIBRARIES. 507 course, have prevented its fuU attainment, yet the influence of the library on the students of the univer sity and through them on the scholarship of the South is beyond estimate. The famous rotunda has again been restored by skillful architects and the collections therein are being developed along modern lines. The library of the Vanderbilt University was founded contemporaneously with the university it self. Commodore Vanderbilt setting aside a share of his original gift for the purchase of books. In 1904 the collections aggregated 42,000 volumes. Of these 21,000 were burned in the fire that destroyed the main building in 1904. Some of the special collec tions, especially those in ancient and modern lan guages, were especially valuable and were a total loss. The buildings, however, were soon replaced by a new structure and every endeavor is being made to replace the losses on the shelves. One of the best working collections, particularly in literary criticism and philology, is possessed by the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn., and housed in the most satisfactory building, from an architectural point of view, in the Southern states. This library was the especial object of devotion on the part of Prof. John Bell Henneman, and will re main an enduring monument to his scholarship and enthusiasm. The libraries of the university contain approximately 30,000 volumes. The University of North Carolina has an excellent library of 50,000 volumes housed in a building valued at $55,000. This is one of the few universities that possesses a large endowment for the upbuilding of the library set apart from the general funds of the institution. Trinity College at Durham, N. C, has a collection of 30,000 volumes, and a library building valued at 508 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. $45,000, the gift of James B. Duke, and in 1905, the library of the University of Georgia was moved into its new buUdlng, the gift of G. P. Peabody. The nucleus of the library of the College of Charleston, as has been noted, was the gift of books bequeathed for the purpose by John McKenzie, in 1771, and entrusted to the care of the Charleston Li brary Society until the institution should be estab lished. It was not imtil 1791 that this event tran spired, at which time such remnants of the original gift as had survived were transferred to the univer sity. In spite of its long career the library has failed to develop in proportion, numbering only 15,000 vol umes in 1904. The following Southern educational institutions have collections numbering 20,000 volumes and up ward: University of Alabama (20,000); Alabama Polytechnic (20,800); University of Georgia (30,- 000) ; Mercer University, Georgia (27,750) ; Emory College, Georgia (29,708) ; Berea College, Kentucky (20,630) ; Central University of Kentucky (20,099) ; Kentucky University (20,000) ; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (23,000) ; Louisiana State Uni versity and Agricultural and Mechanical College (26,000) ; Tulane University, New Orleans (36,000) ; United States Naval Academy, Annapolis (44,000) ; Mt. St. Mary's College (26,000) ; Woodstock CoUege, Maryland (67,000) ; University of North Carolina (42,000) ; Davidson CoUege, North Carolina (20,000) ; Trinity College (28,500) ; South Carolina CoUege (33,783) ; Presbyterian Theological Seminary (20,- 000) ; University of Tennessee (20,000) ; Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn. (21,000) ; Vanderbilt University, Nashville (36,000) ; The University of NashviUe, Tenn. (20,000) ; University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. (26,000) ; University of Texas (50,- LIBRARIES. 509 000); Sam Houston Normal Institute (20,000); Baylor University (20,000) ; University of Virginia, (60,000) ; Washington and Lee University, Virginia (50,000) ; Union Theological Seminary, Virginia (20,000) ; Eoanoke College, Virginia (23,000) ; Vir ginia Theological Seminary (25,000). No city south of the Mason and Dixon line has a library history longer and more remarkable than Baltimore. Indeed, in this respect, it takes rank with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago, as a centre of library activities. Some of its collections, doubtless, may claim their origin in the Bray libraries, while others more recently in stituted, have developed to first rank and influence. Of these the most important is the Peabody Institute, founded by George Peabody in 1857, who endowed it to the amount of $1,400,000. The plan of its founder involved the bringing of all cultural influences to the people of Baltimore, hence a share of its activities had been devoted to supporting lecture courses, a symphony orchestra and an art collection, yet the library has more and more overshadowed the other phases of the work of the institute. This splendid reference collection now numbers more than 150,000 volumes. In addition to the Peabody, Baltimore has the libraries of the Johns Hopkins University, aggre gating 125,000 volumes; the Maryland Historical Society collections (41,000) ; the Enoch Pratt Free Library (219,865) ; and forty-four other collections ranging from 1,000 to 40,000, aggregating in all more than 1,000,000 volumes. Louisville and New Orleans are rapidly developing into centres of library activity ; the former, by means of the extensive gifts from Mr. Carnegie, has erected a splendid central library building, a $30,000 branch for the negroes of the city, and is expending in addi- 510 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tion $200,000 for eight branch libraries. Louisville possesses. In addition, the large collection of books of the Filson Club, numbering over 50,000 volumes. New Orleans had three libraries prior to 1830, all supported by lotteries, but on the passing of the French influence in 1845, these were supplanted by a school library organized by Mr. Shaw, of Massa chusetts, and finally in 1849, by the foundation of the Fisk Free Library endowed with a building which was afterward donated to the Louisiana University. In 1886 Miss Anna Howard, the daughter of Charles Howard, founded as a memorial to her father, the Howard Library, giving $115,000 for the building. It is strictly for reference and numbers 50,000 vol umes. New Orleans, also, has benefited from Mr. Carne gie's philanthropy, he having given $275,000 for a central free public library and three branches. The social forces are the most difficult of all to measure. Their dynamics are so subtle and so wide ly diffused that long periods of time alone serve to supply the data necessary for weighing and measur ing. Of the Influence of his books upon the man of the early South, we are permitted to judge by the work the Southerner did in the forming of the nation. Again the schools and libraries of ante-bellum days surely had a large share in the development of the men who defended, by impassioned speech and heroic deed, social traditions and an ideal of the state doomed by the spirit of progress. Of the influence of the library movements of the present, it is too early to judge, yet it is not beyond reason to proph esy that they are destined to work with power to wards a higher culture and a purer democracy, Edwin Welet, Libra-n/ of Congress. HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 511 CHAPTEE XXIV. SOUTHEEN HISTOEICAL SOCIETIES. Early History. 'N the region generally known as the South,, comprising the states of Maryland, Virgmia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and. Tennessee, there have been enumerated some sixty- five historical societies, counting all that formally claimed interest in that study as a part of their pur pose in any degree. The titles of their publications, of every sort mount up to about 800, equaling, on a rough circulation, 250 volumes, octavo, of 500 pages each. Not one of these institutions is a century old, even if we allow the earliest date claimed. The first step in their chronology goes no farther back than 1819, an honor attributed to the New England So ciety of Charleston, S. C, which has really been only social, with activities limited to speeches at an annual dinner. It was twelve years later, 1831, before a liv ing one came into being, that finally, after two dec ades of virtual sterility, developed into a healthy producing organ. It was in keeping with the en vironment and traditions of the state that to the Virginia Historical Society belongs the credit of thi&, historical primacy in the South. Furthermore, the organizers were in step with the spirit of national leadership in Virginia from colonial days, when they declared for the interests of Virginia in particular and the United States in general. This elevated view has been maintained till the pres ent, and the long series of volumes are perma-^ 512 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. nent additions to the sum of knowledge, both for the locality and for the country at large. Virginians have migrated southward and westward, to the Gulf of Mexico and to the Pacific Ocean, and to their de scendants in all quarters it is a matter of deep inter est to have the letters, diaries, documents and other original material of colonial times put into print so that all can follow the swelling streams of influence that radiated from that little band at Jamestown. This emphasis on the importance of primary data has been the guide line towards which all the others have tended, furnishing a high example for the rest. The South shared in the almost universal indiffer ence to study of the past in the United States for some six or eight decades after the adoption of the constitution. Although more than a dozen of those totaled above were formed before 1860 ; they did but little of lasting value, some, indeed, only gasped and then died to be revived after a lapse of years. Their whole output before that era would scarcely make a dozen dignified volumes. But there were some contributions of weight and significance. The South Carolina Society had begun to feel its way into the mass of colonial archives in English repositories. Virginia was looking in the same direction. She also issued, in 1859, the address of Professor George F. Holmes, of wide vision and comprehensive grasp as he pointed out what a beacon star that little knot of men that settled on the James had been in the world experiment of an English colonial empire. Pathetic, too, he was as he saw the impending storm of fratricidal strife that was soon to break. Almost a dramatic antithesis to his utterances did the So ciety present a couple of years later when they placed in typographical dress Washington's Diary, cover ing the first two years of his service as President. A fine but vain attempt to allay passions by spreading HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 513 before all the innermost thoughts and calm words of the Father, at the birth of the republic that was now to be split in twain. After the War of Secession. During the four years of gigantic contest, and the subsequent ones of slow and painful readjustment, men's energies were with the present, and there was no leisure or inclination to gaze backwards. But as soon as men had settled in the new order Virginia again took the lead and m 1870 the State Society sent out a circular calling for aid, but it was more than a decade before she began the issue of those solid volumes of colonial and revolutionary data. It was not, however, till well on in the last quarter of the century that the South caught the fever of his torical interest that was becoming so general throughout the land. The fires of patriotism began to burn and organizations to be formed based on descent from the formation stages of our civic life. Genealogy was almost a passion, and anxious days were spent in libraries and among public records in trying to trace pedigrees back the required distance. This veneration for the family tree gave a great im petus to the cause. Stimulated by all these forces there was an abundant flowering which soon turned to periodicals. About the dawn of the Twentieth century there were more than a dozen of these maga zines, though a few gave only a part of their pages to the subject. There were two in West Virginia, one in Maryland, one in Washington, two in Virginia, two in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, one in Alabama, one in Texas, one in Missouri, one in Kentucky and three in Tennessee. This list includes two limited to the War of Secession, which had grown into an important field of investigation on both sides of the conflict. In a short while every Vol. 7—33. 514 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. Southern state had a state society in working array, though many have never got any farther. In this expansion Virginia is again in the front. Her quar terly, now numbering nearly twenty annual volumes, owes a large part of its success to the careful gene alogies which compose a considerable fraction of the whole. South Carolina took the same course, though not with such large circulation. A measurable harvest, however, has rewarded all who have been able to afford proper tillage, as there are always some connections who are willing to pay a fair price for this pardonable, even commendable, vanity. Special Aid of Southern Associations and Institutions. But once more does the South illustrate the gen eral tendency in the country. It was found that this culture was too elevated for the average run, and that the fees from a restricted but appreciative class came too slowly to justify much publishing. Indi rectly, all, in time, got some of the benefits of the wider diffusion of historical knowledge, and it was urged that all should contribute to the cost. Taking the cue from their brethren of the West, the volun tary state organizations in the South commenced to appeal to the commonwealth to carry the burden. The pioneer in this new path was Thomas M. Owen, of Alabama, who has merited unstinted praise. He had been one of the three organizers of the Southern History Association In Washington, D. C, had re vived the Alabama historical society, and had been a vigorous worker in other ways. Fo: innately, he had held public office and knew how to appeal to poli ticians and the public. He drafted measures, secured their adoption by the state legislature, and obtained appropriations for advancing the cause. His efforts have resulted in the creation of a state department of history at Montgomery, devoted to collecting and HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 515 publishing, but with most strength on the former. The museum of relics and manuscripts is rapidly growing, following one of the finest examples in the country, that one in Madison, Wis. Mississippi soon copied the Alabama model with some happy modifi cations; later South Carolina and West Virginia took the same cue. Virginia is indirectly doing something of the same by enabling her state libra rian gradually to put in print the store of original material that has been preserved. Maryland ac complishes similar ends by aiding the State Histor ical Society in making available the state archives. Virtually all the other states have done something for the cause, either through voting money or by pro viding quarters, or reaching the same goal in a roundabout way through some of its subsidiary agencies, such as the state university or other school. Among all forms of civic contributions the city of Charleston is unique. For a number of years, un der the inspiration of Mr. W. A. Courtenay, first a book dealer, then a cotton manufacturer, and at one time mayor, the annual volume of municipal reports contained, as an appendix, some historical data. In the main these papers were of the highest value, be ing original material in the local field. Mr. Cour tenay went to personal expense to insure the excel lence of the series. Transcripts were obtained from London and other foreign sources, besides the har vest from the homes in the neighborhood. Glances were thus afforded back to the founding of the city. After Mr. Courtenay 's removal to the western part of the state to supervise his cotton-mill ventures, less of his time and knowledge could be given to the editing, and the quality and quantity of the historical addendum declined until it practically ceased, but he gave Charleston a distinctive place among Amer ican cities in the way of helping historical study. 516 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. On these foundations thus rapidly sketched have arisen some features of special Interest. Prominent among these is the influence of the War of Secession. Although much bitterness of spirit and harshness of language have been displayed, yet a great deal of good has resulted both in reviewing the past and in quickening the historical sense. The most powerful factor in arousing general Interest is the organiza tion known as the Confederate Veterans, while the most solid increment to permanent literature has been the annual volumes, over thirty, of the Southern Historical Society, with headquarters in Eichmond, Va. Eev. J. W. Jones and Col. E. A. Brock, suc cessive secretaries, saw the importance of the utter ances of the participants in the conflict, and have constructed an imperishable storehouse for the fu ture delver. But it was the Confederate Veterans' organiza tion that had the popular following. It was not or ganized until 1889, but through its numerous camps, now nearly 2,000, through general and local meet ings, and above all through its monthly organ, the Confederate Veteran (Nashville, Tenn.), it has made its influence felt in every corner of the South and to distant points wherever a group of former Con federate soldiers can be gathered. The magazine has over 20,000 subscribers, a figure never ap proached by any other Southern magazine before its time, and perhaps none since. It is a private enter prise built upon the memories and traditions of the war. Its pages are filled with stories, reminiscences and observations of the actors themselves, and the whole output will be invaluable to revive the setting and recreate the atmosphere of that period. There are also biographies of the dead. The standard is generally high, the tone simple and natural, with little of controversial nature. It is a very worthy HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 517 attempt, in the rhain, to portray in plain, straight forward style the facts and deeds of one side of an awful conflict. A sister association was composed of women, en titled the United Daughters of the Confederacy, usually assembling at the same time and place as the veterans. Their voice was also a monthly, the Lost Cause (Louisville, Ky.), of the same general aim and scope as the other, but not so full or so selective. But it ceased after a few years as the field was not wide enough for both. This ladies' auxiliary has. also been instrumental in the compilation and pub lication of books dealing with woman's part in that four years' strife. Notable among such books is the one showing the part of the South Carolina women in the war. A committee of the Daughters did the editing but the state defrayed the expenses of print ing. There are other accessory Confederate asso ciations that are beneficial to historical study, but these are the leaders so far, at least, as size and numbers are concerned. Besides these that clearly stated their limitations to the war period, there has been only one historical association that tried to cover the entire section throughout its career, the Southern History Association formed at Wasliing- ton in 1896. While the constitution included aU the past, very little of its strength was put on the years subsequent to 1850. Its activities were confined to the issuing of a magazine, at first quarterly, then bimonthly. There were several annual meetings, but for business purposes only after the first two or three, but the publications mounted to eleven annual volumes and one extra. Emphasis was laid on two lines, original material occupying about three-quar ters of the total space, and book reviews and notes the most of the balance, all of a high level. The work definitely closed in 1907 for lack of sufficient 518 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. support, but there were no financial claims left un paid. The career was never exceeded among histor ical associations on the business side, as the maga zine was maintained eleven years on membership fees alone, except for a slight assistance during the last two years. The work was of undoubted influ ence and won high commendation from competent judges. The machinery of organization is intact and the effort can be revived if a way should be opened. Of the more restricted associations there are some with special features, though the output of all is of the same quality substantially. In addition to its publications, the Maryland Association has some thing of a social side, as there are large, comfortable rooms where members can confer, while a bond of union is furnished by the regular assemblies, month ly, during the winter. There is also a fairly good library of general works. The Virginia society has a commodious home used chiefly for a library, museum and offices. As already said, its energies are mostly expended on the quarterly magazine, with much stress on Virginia genealogies, all care fully edited by the efficient secretary, W. G. Stanard. Much of the success of the Society is, beyond ques tion, due to these pedigrees. In South Carolina an ethnic element comes to light in the Huguenot Soci ety of Charleston, confined mainly to the state where the bulk of the descendants of the early French emi grants still reside. An annual meeting and a printed report, made up in considerable part of valuable documents, constitute the current of the life of the Society. Similar interest in the French stock is seen in associations in Alabama and Louisiana, though not under that avowed title. One of the latest of the state organizations, that of Texas, has a different background from all the others, as a part of its territory was once under a HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 519 foreign flag and then Independent. The petty colonial details or the bare legislative enactments of the other states are here replaced by the romance and heroism of the clashes with Mexico, and by the pride in a republic that guided for a short time its own destiny. Around these two centres the imagina tion can play, and the thoughts can dwell on definite points of interest. Out of these advantages and out of a more extensive constituency has been erected the largest of the state societies, but the printed matter does not yet equal that of some of the others. Kentucky, in some respects, furnishes the most remarkable of these bodies. A quarter of a century ago, in Louisville, was formed the Filson Club in honor of an early historian in the state. Since then about a score of the most sumptuous volumes have appeared dealing with some phase of Kentucky his tory, all of quarto size, of fine, heavy paper, with widest margins, handsomely illustrated. Indian struggles, Kentucky soldiers in our foreign wars, Kentucky artists, town histories, etc., have provided themes treated in the series. The moving spirit has been Mr. E. T. Durrett, of breadth of view and of generous nature. The members, several hundred in nmnber, are scattered over the state. The educational institutions have had no mean part in the general movement. While few have had the means for the establishment of a full professor ship of history, in some instances much valuable aid has been furnished by an association in connec tion with the institution or by the publication of studies by the management. Such subsidiary agen cies are to be noted at Eandolph-Macon in Virginia, at Trinity in North Carolina, at Vanderbilt in Ten nessee, at Washington and Lee, at Lexington, Va., and also at the Normal College in Nashville, Tenn., at the University of North Carolina, the University 520 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. of South Carolina and other institutions. Including, of course, the Virginia University, whose imprint is SO plain on the educational field south of her. But the strongest pedagogical centre for radiating historical influence is furnished by the Johns Hop kins University, in Baltimore. Founded on a for tune whose foimdation was laid in Southern trade by a Baltimore Quaker, it was very fitting that his means should thus return a blessing to this section. Under the guidance of Professor H. B. Adams, a man of liberal sjnnpathies who could appreciate the particular circumstances of the region below the Potomac, a strong impetus was imparted to histor ical study among the more advanced students of the subject in the South. Young men were attracted to Baltimore, which, as a flourishing commercial centre on the borders of both sections, was well adapted to widen their vision and enlarge their charities. Here they were also introduced into the transplanted at mosphere of a German university, and trained in the methods of scientific research. Many returned to their localities to teach, and towards the beginning of the present century the fruits of their culture be gan to appear in small circles around their institu tions. More definite still were their contributions to the historical magazine that Dr. Adams estab lished on the university funds. A couple of stout volumes annually came from the press, of which a, very appreciable portion was written by Southem men on Southern topics. Besides periodicals already referred to as organs of associations, there were several others of value to historical work, either as private ventures or as college journals. The Gulf States Historical Maga zine, conducted by two enthusiastic young men in Alabama, was an ambitious attempt on a high plane, but the circulation could not be made large enough HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. 5211 to be remunerative, though it was devoted entirely to history and geneaology. There are two literary quarterlies — the Sewanee Beview and the South Atlantic Quarterly — that have historical articles of value in nearly every issue. The religious denominations caught something of the fever, and both Baptists and Methodists formed associations for preserving church history. The Baptists in western North Carolina for two or three; years regularly published biographical sketches,, but again the financial side was weak. So with the, efforts elsewhere of other branches of the Church. It is the material basis that is insecure in all the Southem historical organizations and efforts. Only^ three or four societies own convenient quarters, and not one of these has more than a meager income- bearing endowment considering the extent of the work for them to do. Less than half a dozen can afford salaries of any sort, and the equipment in nearly all is scanty. Because of pecuniary troubles,, over half of the magazines counted above have^ ceased. But at present the outlook is more encour aging than ever. The deaths have removed the^ struggling and made more room for the vigorous.. The trend is everywhere towards public appropria tions, which can always be made ample enough for legitimate needs. Thus far the legislatures have^ been generous, and great hopefulness is ahead. Bibliography. — Griffin, A. P. C: Bibliography of American His torical Societies (Vol. II of Annual Report of American Historical Association for 1905) ; Handbook of Learned Societies and Institu tions, published by Carnegie Institution (Washington, 1908) ; Files, of American Historical Review and of Southern History Association, especially ihe latter; Reports and publications of the various his torical associations through the South; Files of Southern Historical periodicals. COLYBB MeBIWETHEB, Secretary Southern History Association, and Editor- Publications of Southern History Association. 522 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. CHAPTEE XXV. THE INTELLECTUAL AND LITEEARY PEOGEESS OP THE NEGEO. ¦^EE present descendants of those Africans belonging to various negro tribes who were imported into the United States between 1619 and the disappearance of the slave im port traffic in the earlier decades of the Nineteenth century (the original twenty had Increased to 750,- 000 In 1790) are the outcome, the most of them, of at least six generations of exposure to the hot-house influences, good and bad, of a white man's civiliza tion entirely alien and imposed. Eudely and utterly cut off from the life of their own race and flung helpless into the midst of another which used them but did not take them in, they have for all these gen erations, per force, founded their ideals and aspira tions more and more, as their native background re ceded, upon the visible part of the life of the domi nant and overwhelming white man whose fields they tilled and whose table they served. Of this white man's modes of thought they had in the beginning but the dimmest understanding. To his maimer of life in vast houses of wood and brick and stone they could have no sort of initial inclina tion. Nevertheless, when they sought something better than they had, they could find no other model. They have gone on to this day, therefore, imitating the white man's house and his walk and conversation whenever opportunity offered. As to his modes of thought, they were not so easily got at. One could do as he did. One could not tell why he did it. And THE NEGRO. 523 consequently the things one did lacked something of coherence and effect. However, the secret might well be hidden in the mysterious volumes which adorned the white man's shelves, and from which, if one was permitted to touch them at all, it was necessary to remove accu mulated dust with care. Since the African's de scendant learned to read he has been seeking that secret, and finding it still obstinately eludes him, has been industriously committing to memory the formulas, symbols of the secret, set down in the white man's printed books. Thus the African's descendant has done the best he knew. And if by reason of the anthropological abyss of twenty centuries or so between the negro and what for convenience we may call the Teuton, he has selected the accidental and the superficial characteristics of his model and missed the essen tials, if the formula is a formula merely, and carries no comprehension with it, nobody in his sober senses can blame the African's descendant for that. Acutely observant of manners, he conceives that manners make the man, not man the manners. The man he cannot change. He changes the manners as best he may. The old-fashioned negro major domo copied floridly the best — his master's. The negro of to-day is apt to copy rankly the worst. The selection of the model is a matter of accident in both cases. As a free man the African's descendant no longer sees the best. He must find his level — and that level is naturally the bottom in a civilization where he is the least at home and the worst equipped of all the competitors. The matter is one of eco nomics and dynamics, not of morals or of ethics. 524 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. The Negro — Characteristics and Progress. The American negro, or negroid, to be exact, for by 1860 when he had increased and multiplied to 4,500,000 the proportion of mixed breeds was large, has lost the standards of the black race, its separate race pride, and must borrow, though he cannot un derstand them, the standards of a population whose evolutionary path has been diverging from that of his own people for centuries. He is a mimic — often a marvelous mimic, but the root of this thing he tries to do is not in hun. He is acting a part, not living a life. Off the public stage, that is, when the white man's eye is not upon him, and where he can find a mass of his fellows large enough to allow him to lose sight, for a while, of the white man's. overshadowing culture, he promptly reverts to type — reverts even though the actual proportion of negro- blood in his veins be small. Partly because the negra blood is younger, nearer to the primordial pithecan- thropoid beast; partly because the taint of it bars. him from the white man's fellowship and the in stincts in him which are those of the white race lie dormant and undiscovered, while the others, which are those of the black race, are nourished by the negro environment into which he is forced. In no field of the American negro's activity is it so important in order to estimate fairly what he has accomplished to hold these matters of recent history and remote ethnology so clearly in view as in the province of literature and work in what may be called intellectual pursuits. All such prog ress since the war may be grouped under two heads. — that which borrows its formula from the ethno- logically indefensible theory of the New England abolitionists that the negro is merely an uneducated sun-tanned white man, and that which continues without any particular theory the process of imita ting the dominant white next to the imitator's elbow„ THE NEGRO. 525 which began when the first twenty negroes were dumped among the transplanted Englishmen at Jamestown. The type of the first is W. E. Burghardt DuBois, born in 1868 in Great Barrington, Mass., educated among white men at Harvard and Berlin, refusing categorically to admit the existence of any real eth- Bological gap between the two races whose blood he shares. The type of the second, is Booker T. Wash ington, born about 1858, in Franklin county, Va., of a mulatto slave mother and a white father, laborer in a coal mine, educated by his own efforts at the negro school at Hampton, identified from the begin ning with the black race in that peculiar relation to the white population around it which has become second nature to both in the South. Washington bases all his policies upon an instinctive recogni tion of the gulf between the two branches of the human family to both of which he can trace his descent, but only one of which will recognize him as a member. It will be seen as we proceed that prac tically all the other notable examples of both of these types also have a share of white blood, that the ' ' in tellectual" progress we are viewing is that of the negroid, not of the negro. This matter apart, however, generally speaking, negroes or negroids who rise to any eminence in their native Southern environment will be found (whatever their expressed theories) allowing in the instinctive manner noted in Washington's case, in all practical matters for the existence of a gulf which nature has made and custom fixed. Speaking generally, negroes or negroids brought up in com munities where the negro population is too small for the individual to be forced into exclusive asso ciation with other negroes or negroids, where as a child he goes to school with the children of the 526 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. whites on a plane of more or less equality, where the crude fact of the chasm, so evident when the races meet in masses, is not thrust upon him m his most impressionable years and made a part of his habit of thought — such negroes or negroids will be found trying to ignore the existence of any chasm in act and denying it in words. The one kind, which may be called (so far as America is concerned) the normal, tend, where they have ambition, to preach thrift and to seek economic improvement first. These feel instinctively that a negro with property is in a stronger position to ask for the political and social equality which, naturally enough, all negroes desire, and they are well aware from personal experience that the negro as a field-hand, servant, or squatter can get neither. Following their instinct they take the only road toward their ultimate goal which, though circuitous, appears practicable. The other kind, exotics, potted plants of humanity, cling to the white man's printed book. They have seen the educated negro, the African grown under glass as it were, accepted as a social equal in com munities where there is no mass of negro population banked behind him to use him as an entering wedge for a black invasion — where he is as much a curi osity and an incident as a single monkey at a ban quet — and no amount of experience afterwards can convince them that the royal road for their eager feet does not lead straight through the white man's classroom to the white man's dinner table and be yond. These exotics never, or rarely, learn that while what is called "prejudice" may be lulled to sleep between individuals of diverse races, the mu tually repellant instinct of race masses (an ethno logical protective envelope) is not thus to be over come. Having in fact, themselves lost their own THE NEGRO. 527 race instinct they must fail to allow for it in others more normally bred. Thus negro progress in the United States lies In two divergent lines, both of which produce results which may be called literary and intellectual if you choose; for, while the negro writes little but briefs in his own case against the tendency of the white man's civUization to reject him as unfit, it is here that he uses the best efforts of his Teutonically ' ' edu cated" brain — here that he appears, in fact, as a creature rather of mind than of instinct. He writes to Insist that he is fit. So DuBois writes, the graces of New England cul ture, the fastidiousness of the Boston literary per son, clothing strangely, but not disguising, a pas sionate aspiration and a fierce resentment. Setting out as impersonal mind to prove his point by argu ment and cold statistics, he drifts infallibly into the region of primitive personal feeling, bursts into lyrical appeal, invective, rhapsody, loses the white man's logic in the black man's emotion. It is then that he is really eloquent, that what he writes is really literature, though, as there is nothing intel lectual about it, nothing analytical, it may be con sidered to detract from the force of his plea instead of helping it. For these lyrical outpourings argue lack of control, lack of direction. The case to be proved is not that the negro is a poet — Uncle Eemus, in his cornfield, is that, and black Mammy in her nursery, and so, doubtless, was fanatic Nat Turner, at the head of his band of ig norant blacks in the Virginia insurrection of 1831, slaying white women and infants and attacking a lonely schoolhouse and slaughtering all the children. Nat held himself inspired, and his language was quite lyrical. The case to be proved is that the negro is a self-possessed contributing member of the body S28 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. politic — a good citizen in a republic of white men who have most of them outgrown the use of poetry for the purposes of daily life. It is otherwise with Booker T. Washington, the l)ulk of whose voluminous writings do not pretend to be literature in any sense, who argues very little and rhapsodizes not at all, whose language is any thing but lyrical, who builds like the bee with con crete material, who accumulates facts to show what the negro has accomplished as a member of the white man's economic household — how he has learned to read and write, how he has made a decent living at trades and professions, how he has acquired land and a house and carpets on the floor and a cabinet organ in the parlor, and, perhaps, a bank balance, and a fair imitation of the white man's code of family morals. Washington does show, so far as these things can show it, that the negro can be a self-possessed, contributing member of the body politic, a good citizen. What he fails to show, of course, what he cannot show, in the nature of things, is this: that such a good negro citizen has any proper place in the white man's republic. In other words whether that republic would not be better for the substitution of a good white citizen for each of these good negro citizens. And whether it should not, with malice toward none, aim frankly at such replacement. Washington has written many books and maga zine articles. His first book Up From Slavery, his own autobiography, a human document of great value, is his sole contribution to literature proper, the rest of his output consists of reports and the sermon of thrift iterated and reiterated after the fashion of the schoolmaster who has a class of In attentive, half-formed, irresponsible beings under him, and who conceives that the only way to reach THE NEGRO. 529 as many as possible of these beings is to keep pa tiently at it, dinging the same lesson into their ears. It is not a bad method, but only a very patient man can use it successfully. Washington is a very pa tient man. He is an instinctive plodder, but he rep resents the negro's highest intellectual achievement because he has known how to concentrate his mental energies steadily upon a practical matter. His at least is the Intellect directed, efficient. What the negro must demonstrate is that he does possess this intellect efficient, that he can hold his own economically with his white neighbor, not that he can memorize the white man's textbook formulas and get good marks at free school or even capture Ehodes' Scholarships. Thomas Himter, long presi dent of the Normal College of the City of New York, the apex of the Metropolitan public school system for girls, declared a few years ago, that while nearly all of the many negro girls who had entered this school in his experience of it, had appeared to learn rapidly at first, only one of the lot had ever man aged to get through the upper classes, where the work began to call for judgment more than memory. Mr. Hunter was as nearly as possible an observer without prejudice in this case, and his opportunities were excellent. What he noted, besides agreeing perfectly with the teachings of the ethnologists, is confirmed by the opinion held currently everywhere in the country that the negro high school or college graduate unless he turns teacher or preacher (when all he has to do is to pass his formulas along undigested) is not an effi cient Instrument — that he rarely builds on the foun dation of his learning and discovers practical application for his academic accomplishments. That, in short, he is like the cannibal with the missionary's top hat. The exceptions to this rule among the Vol. 7—34. 530 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. negroes who stand out from the mass of their fel lows are few enough. Booker T. Washington, as already noted, is such an exception. Frederick Douglass has been accepted by some as another, though he owed most of his seeming success to the fact that he was used by the white abolitionists as human exhibit A of the black man's wrongs and was pushed ahead by them, not on his own merits, but on the merits of the cause. The Maryland slave (born 1817 of a white father and a negro mother) possessed undoubtedly ability and shrewdness which fitted him for better things than the work of a field hand. He rose by his own ef forts to the grade of mechanic, but what happened to him after his escape from slavery to Boston, af ter the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society launched him as a lecturer, cannot be set down as his achieve ment. He was a sign and a symbol held up for men to see. He was floated on the top of the abolition wave into public office. He did not climb there. Nothing that he wrote is literature, nothing need be filed for posterity's reference except his autobiog raphy, The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. That is a document in evidence. As Douglass him self in life was exhibit A of a cause, so his book is historically exhibit A of the true Inwardness of the movement m favor of that cause. But it is raw ma terial merely, as much so as is the talk of Mandy to Eufus in the kitchen. In fact, the genuinely intellectual side of the negro, the power to use the mind Independently, to judge, analyze, combine, is not nourished to any very profit able extent on books at all ; rather it thrives on every day practical affairs. In every community in the South and in many in the North, you will find the shrewd, successful negro or negroid who has these powers though he cannot sign his name, and along- THE NEGRO. 531 side of him the college-bred negro, full of parrot phrases and classroom jargon, utterly lacking the powers which the other daily exercises. The ex planation seems obvious. The negro is mentally quite sufficiently developed to use his brain with effect upon the immediate and the concrete. He is not sufficiently developed to start with the white man's generalizations, or more exactly, the formulas in which these generalizations are expressed, and work down to the concrete. He is in the class in arithmetic. He is not fit yet awhile for that in algebra and analytics. The capable Booker T. Wash ington is in type and in fact exactly like Peter the successful barber and Walker who runs a profitable carrier's business in a certain Southern town, though neither Peter nor Walker can read or write. It is Washington's native shrewdness which has made him what he is, which has enabled him (as did Walker also) to stand well with the white commun ity while he leads the blacks. His knowledge of the white man's books is incidental. Indeed, it is strict ly limited to a small set of simple and purely utili tarian chapters. It is the rule of three. Algebra, Washington does not attempt, nor pretend to con- noisseurship in the fine art of letters. Of all the negroes who have essayed books after the white man's pernicious example, the earliest ex hibit, Phyllis Wheatley, was a case of the hot-house process pure and simple. This slave girl, born in Africa and brought to Boston at the age of about eight years in 1761, was kept in a house of one John Wheatley of that town, and "educated" — taught the trick of verse. Her verses were printed as a curi osity at the time and her "Poems" have no other interest. It may be said, in fact, that every achievement, especially every intellectual or literary achievement. 532 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIPE. of every negro gets, because it is the achievement of a negro and as such a curiosity, an amount of ad vertising which makes it loom much larger than life on the contemporary horizon; which must be discounted in any calm estimate of the mtellectual and literary progress of the race. What is true of Phyllis Wheatley absolutely, or Douglass largely, is true to no inconsiderable extent of Booker T. Washington and DuBois. Both owe a certain part of their seeming eminence to thfe quality of rarity which is the sole distinction of the man with six fingers. Even Paul Laurence Dunbar (b. Dayton, 0., 1872; d. 1906, contributor to newspapers in New York and sometime a member of the staff of the Library of Congress) admittedly a genuine, though minor, poet, has a fame quite disproportionate to his actual place in the catalogue of contemporary minor poets. He, too, is, in part, a curiosity. Yet Dunbar has put into verse very simply and sincerely that range of the negro's emotions which is not too primitive for public expression in the white man's country. The unrestrained negro poet is heard only where the negro is quite himself — when masses of negroes are gathered together out side the white man's pale, where the suppressed race instinct collected there blazes up and not remote savage ancestors take possession of the bodies of their descendants and break up the veneer of the white man's manners with which they are overlaid. White men have caught the weird and savage note of this poetry at negro night camp-meetings, which are the ancient African religious orgy dressed in a Chris tian garment as a bushman might wear a white shirt. A negro, if he would be a published poet in a white man's country must be a minor poet. So Dunbar sang — in Oak and Ivy, Majors and Minors, Lyrics of a Lowly Life and the rest — of the negro sad and glad THE NEGRO. 533 — ^not of the negro fiery and passionate. He has writ ten prose also — a novel The Uncalled, and a volume of stories Folks From Dixie — but it is of no signifi cance. On the other hand, the late Joel Chandler Harris, taking the negro as he seems when he is minstrel in the white man's hall provides in his immortal stories of "Brer Eabbit," better negro literature for consumption in the white man's country, than any literature the black man has ever written for that market. Because the negro, to appear natural to the audience to which American authors look for support, must be the negro as the white man knows him. The negro himself cannot see himself as the white man sees him. What he writes about himself appeals to the white man necessarily much less strongly that what some observant white man writes about him. All the other well-known negroes of this country are, like Washington and DuBois, teachers or else preachers — disguised sometimes as editors of negro newspapers. Washington is the voice of Tuskegee, reporting progress, conciliating the white man, in viting funds to invest in more progress, also the voice of the leader pointing his people to what they have done and exhorting them to further efforts. DuBois is the voice of Atlanta — of a little band of negroes now marrooned in the Black Belt, who have acquired more or less of the white man's culture and resent bitterly exclusion from the fellowship of the cultured who live across the color line. DuBois in The Souls of Black Folk, and from time to time in all that he writes, makes true negroid literature. He speaks with the voice of the outcast from his father's house. The ordinary negro, bred among his kind, has no such voice. For he is not an outcast from his father's house, or if he is, he has never 534 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. known that house. If, therefore, he prospers among those of his own color he is usually proud and con tent. DuBois, writing about the negro of the Black Belt, nevertheless always imputes to him his own bitterness. He labors, indeed, to awaken in him that bitterness and to use it as a lever of progress. DuBois 's exhibits of his race's claims and wrongs as The Philadelphia Negro and The Negroes of the Black Belt, and his many magazine articles on what the educated negro has done or can do, what the white man has denied him or would deny him, are special pleadings not literary in intent. As pleadings, as already hinted, they lose effect in the court to which they are addressed because they ig nore the essential circumstance that the question at issue, so far as the country at large is concerned, is not so much how to advance the negro as to how to prevent the negro from retarding the upward ten dency of the rest of the population. Bishop Henry M. Turner (born at Newberry Court House, S. C, 1834), chaplain of colored troops dur ing the War of Secession, official of the Freedman's Bureau, member of the Georgia legislature in the reconstruction period, and afterwards postmaster and detective in the Federal secret service, is now chiefly known as an agitator for the removal of his race to Liberia. He is preacher and politician. He has composed a book on Methodist Polity, compiled a hymn-book and written The Negro in All Ages. He is a power among his people, but it cannot be said that he stands for any intellectual progress in his race. On the other hand, William Saunders Scar borough (born in Macon, Ga., 1852), a graduate of Oberlin, the first college to encourage co-education of the races, and now professor of Wilberforce Uni versity in Ohio, has devoted himself to the scholastic. He is professor of Greek. He has published a book THE NEGRO. 535 of first Greek lessons and a translation of The Birds of Aristophanes, and he has written on negro folk lore. As Dunbar was the poet of the race, so Scar borough appears as the scholar. Archibald Henry Grimke (born in Charleston, S. C, 1849), a graduate of Lincoln University, prac titioner of the law, resident of Boston and editor of The Hub newspaper, author of lives of Charles Sumner and William Lloyd Garrison; and Francis James Grimke (born near Charleston, 1850), a min ister, are both contributors to the negro's side of his case against American civilization; while T. Thomas Fortune, lately editor of the negro organ The Age, in New York City, is another contributor not without ability to write and think. He has pub lished The Negro in Politics and Black and White. Charles W. Chesnutt (born in Cleveland, 0., 1858), schoolteacher in the South for some years and now a lawyer in his native city, is yet another whose name is more or less frequently signed to articles bearmg on the problem of which he is an embodied fraction. He has published the Conjure Woman and A Life of Frederick Douglass. Daniel Murray, in a Preliminary List of Books and Pamphlets by Negro Authors, published for the Li brary of Congress in 1900, has gathered enough names and titles to fill a thin booklet. His list con tains 182 names of authors and 266 titles of their writings, and is yet obviously incomplete even as a summary of negro authorship up to 1900. Analysis of the titles shows that most of this output consists of papers on educational or religious subjects, argu ments on the negro question, or autobiography. Sev eral writers have attempted poems and some few fiction, but what has been accomplished in this direc tion is negligible. The bulk of the 266 titles are titles of pamphlets merely. 536 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. The names of negroes who are credited with more than one title include, aside from those already con sidered: E. C. O. Benjamin (eight titles, one a Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture) ; Edward Blyden (three titles) ; WiUiam Wells Brown (five titles) ; Alexan der CrummeU (four titles) ; Martin E. Delaney (three titles) ; Joseph E. Hayne (two titles) ; James H. Hood (four titles) ; Edward A. Johnson (two titles) ; John M. Langston (two titles) ; Daniel A. Payne (four titles) ; I. Garland Penn (two titles) ; H. Cordelia Eay (two titles) ; John P. Sampson (two titles) ; C. S. Smith (four titles) ; T. G. Steward (three titles) ; Benjamm T. Tanner (five titles) ; D. Augustus Straker (two titles) ; Marshall W. Taylor (five titles) ; George W. Williams (three titles, in cluding A History of Negro Troops in the Rebellion, A History of the Negro Race, and The Negro as a Political Leader). We may mention besides, Eloise Bibb, author of poems, and Linda Brent, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. There are, of course, any number of negro or negroid preachers and teachers whose writings, of no importance in themselves, have found their way into print in church and school bulletins and in similar ways. In a certain sense all these composi- sions, also, are exhibits of intellectual progress, but they are like the schoolboy's essay which gets into the school magazine, they are to be considered as "exercises," not as achievements. There have been since the war a number of negroes, often negro preachers, who have held public office; some have been members of Congress and have had speeches printed. No one of them, however, has been anything more than a pawn in the political game. It is im possible to use them as sign posts of intellectual progress or samples of literary success. THE NEGRO. 537 Negro Schools and Institutions. The quality of the intellectual progress of the race has been indicated in treating of the negroes who are known as writers, the agents of that prog ress have been the negro public schools of the South, supported mainly by the white people of the South during a period when they have been hard put to it to educate their own children, the individual efforts of any number of Southern white men and more Southern white women in their several communities, and various schools organized chiefly under the auspices of the American Missionary Association of Northern membership and abolitionist inspiration. At the close of the war an army of women from the North marched upon the South to rescue the freed slave from his ignorance, and though some men came too on the same errand, the sentimental, even somewhat hysterical quality of the movement — its essential feminist character — has left its mark upon the work, and, in view of the highly hysterical character of the negro himself, has mixed much harm with the good sought to be accomplished. The Amer ican Missionary Association, however, founded Hampton Institute in 1861, and the Freedman's Bu reau, set up in 1865 as the legal guardian of the emancipated blacks, spent, prior to 1870, $5,000,000, and established or helped in establishing some two thousand schools, many of which have, of course, perished, while others — usually those in which the American Missionary Association or some religious body was also interested — have survived and pros pered. Between 1868 and 1878 twenty-five normal and col legiate institutions, scattered from Virginia to Texas, and mainly or exclusively devoted to negro education were established by various religious de nominations — the Congregationalists and Baptists 538 HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. leading. WUberforce in Ohio had already been foimded in 1857 — the first negro university, perhaps. Berea CoUege, in Kentucky, had been opened as a mixed school before the war also, and it was only in 1908, after half a century of its existence, that the United States Supreme Court affirmed the con stitutionality of the Kentucky law forbidding the co education of the races there. The years immediate ly following the war saw after the establishment of Hampton Institute in Virginia, the model and fore runner of Washington's famous Tuskegee, the foun dation in 1866 of Fisk University at Nashville, Tenn., of Howard University in Washington (1867), of At lanta University in Georgia, of Lincoln University in Tennessee, and of many other colleges for negroes throughout the South. Most of the more ambitious of these institutions had the patronage of Northern religious bodies, the support of Northern philan thropists and a teaching force in the beginning of New Englanders or New England educated negroes. Besides 131 separate public high schools in 1900, there were 128 secondary and higher schools for negroes controlled by religious bodies. Northern or Southern. These schools, where they have not been "indus trial," have tended to the production of teachers and preachers only. Their aim has been to di vorce the negro from the soil, as the aim of Wash ington's school at Tuskegee (founded by him, under an appropriation of the Alabama legislature in 1881, and since jointly supported by the state and his ef forts), has been to hold him to it — to encourage him to become Its owner. Eloquent commentary on the practicality of the two policies is found in the census figures for 1900, by which it appears that the negro continues to be more successful economically in agriculture than anywhere else. In that year THE NEGRO. 539 there were 746,717 farms operated by negroes — 187,- 797 by their owners, 557,174 by tenants. The aver age size of these farms was 51.2 acres, the average value of the farm products $308. The proportion of negroes owning farms had increased 3.5 per cent, in the ten years preceding. Of 3,807,008 negroes en gaged in gainful occupations employing at least 10,- 000 negroes in 1900, 33.7 per cent, were agricultural laborers, 19 per cent, farmers, planters, or overseers — 52.7 per cent, in all. These same returns showed that the negro mechanic was losing ground, partly no doubt, on account of the discrimination of trades unions against him. The census of 1890, which showed 57 per cent, of negroes engaged in agricul ture as laborers or farmers, 31.4 per cent, in personal service, 5.6 per cent, in manufactures, and 4.7 per cent, in trade and transportation, showed only 1.1 per cent, in "professions" — mostly teachers and preachers, with a few doctors and lawyers. This 1.1 per cent, was the result of twenty-five years of "higher" education. Before 1870 there were practically no public schools for negroes in the South except in Memphis, New Orleans and Nashville. Naturally the care of the black man in bondage was his master's, not the state's concern. In 1877 the total number of negro children of school age in the District of Columbia and the former slave states was reported at 1,513,065, and of that number 571,506 were enrolled in the pub lic schools. By 1882-83, when the colored school pop ulation of the District of Columbia and the former slave states was reported at 1,944,572, the enroll ment in the public schools in that territory was 802,- 982. So that within two decades the South had built up a public school system for the blacks, in spite of the fact that the whites of that section had in the same period to rebuild their homes and for- 540 HISTORY OP THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. tunes and provide somehow for the education of their own children. By 1901 a million and a half negro children, or 57 per cent, of the whole number of school age, were being educated in these schools. The higher education so-called, which has affected a few thousands only, has been almost exclusively under Northern direction and has depended largely on Northern support, because only persons at a safe distance from the centres of negro population could fail to recognize that the negro of the South in the present generation, at least, did not need and could not take, with any real profit to himself or the com munity, any such higher education. He must, his white neighbors saw, if he built at all, build upwards from the foundations, not from the air downward — in other words, do as they had done. The result of all this education of both kinds — low and high — so much of which is utterly misdirected and none of which is scientifically adjusted to needs which the kindest and wisest white man can under stand only imperfectly, is this and no more — that the negro has learned to read and write. The amount of the negro's literary and intellectual progress since emancipation is really that he has become more than 50 per cent, literate, whereas be fore that time he was almost wholly illiterate. That is a long step, considering everything that must be considered. He has spent all his available energy during almost a half century in gaining it. As befits one still in the primary grades, his leaders are still primary teachers and neither he nor they have risen above the purely academic stage in the white man's culture. All negro literature may be described most accurately as classroom exercises by pupils and practice essays by pupil teachers. g H. I. Beock, New York City. YALE UNIVERSITY a39002 00i*l 1 it386b