The Dixie Book of Days
Founding the First Permanent English Colony in America at James Towne, Virginia, 1607
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
Preface
In the preparation of this volume of quotations illustrative of thehistory and literature of the South, the editor wishes to acknowledge thekindness of publishers in granting permission to make selections. Hedesires especially to express his appreciation of the courtesy of thefollowing firms: D. Appleton & Co.; Bobbs-Merrill Co.; The Century Co.;Doubleday, Page & Co.; Harper & Brothers; Houghton, Mifflin & Co.; B. F.Johnson Publishing Co.; P. J. Kenedy & Sons; J. B. Lippincott Co.;Longmans, Green & Co.; Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Co.; The Macmillan Co.;Martin & Hoyt Co.; The Neale Publishing Co.; G. P. Putnam’s Sons; CharlesScribner’s Sons; Southern Historical Publication Society; Alfred M.Slocomb Co.; Small, Maynard & Co.; Stewart & Kidd Co.; F. A. Stokes Co.;State Company; Stone & Barringer Co.; and the Whitehall Publishing Co.
M. P. A.
Baltimore, Md., April 30, 1912.
Introduction
This volume of brief selections from a wide range of Southern expressionin prose and verse leads into fields of American history and literaturewhich, perhaps, are not well known to the general public. The reader isnot offered stacks of straw to thresh over; on the contrary, it has beenthe aim of the compiler, in a most congenial and delightful task, toafford others easy access to grain that he has already garnered. Generallyspeaking, the genius of literary production in the Old South did notaspire to an outlet in the field of professional endeavor. There were,however, many gifted writers who regarded production in prose and verse asa pleasant recreation rather than an end, or as an accomplishment commonto cultured minds, to be called forth as occasion offered, or when someemotion prompted expression.
By way of illustration, William Henry Timrod may be regarded aspotentially a greater poet than his better-known son. Yet he was one ofthe occasional poets of the old régime. John Laurens composed a sonnet ashe lay[Pg 8] dying of wounds and fever incurred in defence of his country; andStuart, in a later struggle, wrote verses while engaged in riding aroundMcClellan’s army. These and many others like them never seriouslyconsidered revising or publishing their work. They sang from time to timebecause to them “singing itself is so sweet.” This peculiar diffidence isa relic of the past; and at the present time, one need but review the listof leading American novelists to find that a remarkably large proportionhave come from the South a