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Dixie Book of Days

<h2>February</h2> TAMPA ROBINS The robin laughed in the orange-tree: “Ho, windy North, a fig for thee: While breasts are red and wings are bold And green trees wave us globes of gold, Time’s scythe shall reap but bliss for me— Sunlight, song, and the orange-tree.... “I’ll south with the sun, and keep my clime; My wing is king of the summer-time; My breast to the sun his torch shall hold; And I’ll call down through the green and gold Time, take thy scythe, reap bliss for me, Bestir thee under the orange-tree.” Sidney Lanier    [Pg 38] <big>February First</big> The Emperor of France made him Commander of the Legion of Honor; The Emperor of Russia, Knight of the Order of St. Ann; the King of Denmark, Knight of the Dannebrog; the King of Portugal, Knight of the Tower and Sword; the King of Belgium, Knight of the Order of St. Leopold; simultaneously with Tennyson, he was awarded an LL.D. by the University of Cambridge, England; he received honorary membership from a score of the world’s leading societies of science and scholarship; the Pope conferred upon him a noteworthy testimonial; the Emperor of Mexico gave him a decoration; and Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Sardinia, Bremen, and France struck medals in his honor as the greatest scientist of the New World, and the peer of any in the Old. The government of his own country, says Professor Francis H. Smith, has “carefully omitted his name in official records of the departments he created”; nor is it even given a place among the many inscribed in the mighty mosaic of our National Library.   Matthew Fontaine Maury dies at Lexington, Va., 1873 Texas secedes, 1861    [Pg 39] <big>February Second</big> MAURY’S LAST WISH “Home—bear me home, at last,” he said, “And lay me where my dead are lying, But not while skies are overspread, And mournful wintry winds are sighing. “When the sky, the air, the grass, Sweet Nature all, is glad and tender, Then bear me through ‘The Goshen Pass’ Amid its flush of May-day splendor.” Margaret J. Preston     <big>February Third</big> Snow! Snow! Snow! Do thy worst, Winter, but know, but know That, when the Spring cometh, a blossom shall blow From the heart of the Poet that sleeps below, And his name to the ends of the earth shall go, In spite of the snow! John B. Tabb (In welcoming “The Forthcoming Volume” of the poems of his fellow soldier, fellow patriot, and fellow artist, SIDNEY LANIER)   Sidney Lanier born, 1842 Albert Sidney Johnston born, 1803    [Pg 40] <big>February Fourth</big> What a beneficent provision of the Creator it was, to roll our little planet but one side at a time next the sun, that while one half of the world fretted and stormed and sinned, the other half might repent and sleep. William Alexander Carruthers     <big>February Fifth</big> MAURY The stars had secrets for him; seas Revealed the depths their waves were screening; The winds gave up their mysteries; The tidal flows confessed their meaning. Of ocean paths, the tangled clew He taught the nations to unravel; And showed the track where safely through The lightning-footed thought might travel. Margaret J. Preston    [Pg 41] <big>February Sixth</big> General John B. Gordon Patriot, soldier, statesman, Prince of the race of men; Cypress and rue for his passing, Laurel for sword and pen. Dust for the hand that wrought; But for the lessons taught Life without end. Ida Slocomb Matthews   John B. Gordon born, 1832 John Pegram killed near Hatcher’s Run, 1865     <big>February Seventh</big> And there’s Joe—my bully Joe—wouldn’t I walk ten miles of a rainy night to see them hazel eyes, and feel the grip of his soldier hand? Didn’t my rooster always clap his wings and crow whenever he passed our quarters? “Instinct told him that he was the true prince,” and it would make anybody brave to be nigh him. Major Charles H. Smith (Bill Arp)   Joseph E. Johnston born, 1807    [Pg 42] <big>February Eighth</big> Hath not the morning dawned with added light? And shall not the evening call another star Out of the infinite regions of the night, To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are A nation among nations; and the world Shall soon behold in many a distant port Another flag unfurled! Henry Timrod (Ethnogenesis)   Southern Confederacy begins to assume definite form in a league of seven Southern States, 1861     <big>February Ninth</big> The great change wrought by the States in resuming their sovereignty, and in forming the Confederate States Government, was attended by no anarchy, no rebellion, no suspension of authority, no social disorders, no lawless disturbances. Sovereignty was not, for one moment, in suspension. Conservatism marked every proceeding and public act. The object was to do what was necessary and no more; and to do that with the utmost temperance and prudence. J. L. M. Curry   William H. Harrison born, 1773    [Pg 43] <big>February Tenth</big> You say we shall submit to your construction. We shall do it, if you can make us; but not otherwise, or in any other manner. That is settled. You may call it secession, or you may call it revolution; but there is a big fact standing before you, ready to oppose you. That fact is freemen with arms in their hands. The cry of the Union will not disperse them; we have passed that point. They demand equal rights; you had better heed the demand. Robert Toombs (Farewell Address in the United States Senate)    [Pg 44] <big>February Eleventh</big> Equality does not exist between blacks and whites. The one race is inferior in many respects, physically and mentally, to the other. This should be received as a fixed invincible fact in all dealings with the subject. Alexander H. Stephens (Vice-President of the Confederacy)   I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. Abraham Lincoln (President of the United States)   Alexander H. Stephens born in Georgia, 1812    [Pg 45] <big>February Twelfth</big> Those who would shiver into fragments the Union of these States, tear to tatters its now venerated constitution, and even burn the last copy of the Bible, rather than slavery should continue a single hour, together with all their more halting sympathizers, have received, and are receiving their just execration; and the name and opinion and influence of Mr. Clay are fully and, as I trust, effectually and enduringly arrayed against them. Abraham Lincoln (Eulogy on Clay, 1852)   The abolitionists were always the fiercest opponents of colonization. The practical improvement of the negro, in his native country, did not suit them so well as the impracticable idea of equalizing black men with white in a strange land. George Lunt (Massachusetts)   Abraham Lincoln born in Kentucky, 1809 Gradual emancipation of slaves discussed at Maysville, Ky., 1849    [Pg 46] <big>February Thirteenth</big> SAINT VALENTINE’S EVE Thou wouldst be loved? then let thy heart From its present pathway part not; Being everything which now thou art, Be nothing which thou art not. So with the world thy gentle ways, Thy grace, thy more than beauty, Shall be an endless theme of praise, And love a simple duty. Edgar Allan Poe   Florida admitted to the Union, 1845     <big>February Fourteenth</big> A Northern Tribute to the College of Jefferson, Monroe, Tyler, and Marshall As a matter of comparison we have lately read that from William and Mary College, Virginia, thirty-two out of thirty-five professors and instructors abandoned the college work and joined the army in the field. Harvard College sent one professor from its large corps of professors and instructors. General Charles A. Whittier (Massachusetts)   The charter of William and Mary College granted, 1693    [Pg 47] <big>February Fifteenth</big> DETERMINING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE NEW BOARDER “I will illustrate by an incident,” said Mrs. Paynter. “As I say, this young man spends his entire time in his room, where he is, I believe, engaged in writing a book.” “Oh, me! Then he’s penniless, depend upon it!” Henry Sydnor Harrison (Queed)   Cyrus Hall McCormick born, 1809     <big>February Sixteenth</big> A chicken that had done duty at a previous repast was set before the Rev. Scervant Jones, the first Baptist preacher of Williamsburg, Virginia, at the tavern of a Mr. Howl. Upon which the Reverend gentleman pronounced the following blessing: “Good Lord of love Look down from above, And bless the ’Owl Who ate this fowl And left these bones For Scervant Jones.”   Fort Donelson surrenders, 1862    [Pg 48] <big>February Seventeenth</big> A NORTHERN VIEW * * * It was the most monstrous barbarity of the barbarous march. There is no reason to think that General Sherman knew anything of the purpose to burn the city, which had been freely talked about among the soldiers through the afternoon. But there is reason to think that he knew well enough who did it, that he never rebuked it, and made no effort to punish it. Whitelaw Reid (Ohio)   Sherman burns Columbia, 1865     <big>February Eighteenth</big> We have changed the constituent parts, but not the system of our government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of the Confederate States, in their exposition of it; and, in the judicial construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its true meaning. Jefferson Davis (Inaugural Address)   Jefferson Davis inaugurated, 1861 Federal forces enter Charleston, S. C., 1865    [Pg 49] <big>February Nineteenth</big> 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 has mightily won God out of knowledge and good out of infinite pain And sight out of blindness and purity out of a stain. Sidney Lanier    [Pg 50] <big>February Twentieth</big> After the passage of the Anti-Ku Klux Statute by the State of Tennessee, several instances occurred of parties being arrested in Ku Klux disguises; but in every case they proved to be either negroes or “radical” Brownlow Republicans. This occurred so often that the statute was allowed by the party in power to become a dead letter before its repeal. It bore too hard on the “loyal” men when enforced. J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson   As the young German patriots of 1812 organized their struggle for liberty under the noses of the garrisons of Napoleon, so these daring men, girt by thousands of bayonets, discussed and adopted under the cover of darkness the ritual of “The Invisible Empire.” Thomas Dixon, Jr.   Governor Brownlow of Tennessee calls out the militia to suppress the Ku Klux Klan, 1869 Federal troops defeated at Olustee, Fla., 1864    [Pg 51] <big>February Twenty-First</big> The Ku Klux Klan was a great Law and Order League of mounted night cavalrymen called into action by the intolerable conditions of a reign of terror.... It was the old answer of organized manhood to organized crime masquerading under the forms of government.... Women and children had eyes and saw not, ears and heard not. Over four hundred thousand disguises for men and horses were made by the women of the South, and not one secret ever passed their lips! Thomas Dixon, Jr.   The View of a “Reconstructionist” The Ku Klux Order was a daring conception for a conquered people. Only a race of warlike instincts and regal pride could have conceived or executed it. Men, women, and children must have, and be worthy of, implicit mutual trust. They must be trusted with the secrets of life and death without reserve and without fear. Judge Albion W. Tourgee (Ohio)    [Pg 52] <big>February Twenty-Second</big> First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting. Henry Lee (Father of Robert E. Lee)   George Washington born, 1732    [Pg 53] <big>February Twenty-Third</big> Won in the Name of Virginia; Governor Patrick Henry to Colonel George Rogers Clark: “You are to retain the Command of the troops now at the several posts in the county of Illinois and on the Wabash, which fall within the limits of the County now erected and called Illinois County.... You are also to take the Command of five other Companies, raised under the act of Assembly which I send herewith, and which if completed, as I hope they will be speedily, will have orders to join you without loss of time, and are likewise to be under your command.... The honor and interest of the State are deeply concerned in this.”   George Rogers Clark appears before Vincennes, 1779 Battle of Buena Vista; Col. Jefferson Davis wounded, 1847 Mississippi readmitted to the Union, 1870    [Pg 54] <big>February Twenty-Fourth</big> The importance of this brilliant exploit was destined to be far greater than even Clark foresaw, for when the treaty of peace was being negotiated at Paris in 1782, our allies, France and Spain, were both more than willing to sacrifice our interests in order to keep us out of the Mississippi Valley, and the western boundary of the United States would undoubtedly have been fixed at the Alleghanies instead of the Mississippi, but for the fact that this western region was actually occupied by Virginians. S. C. Mitchell   The vast Northwest had been thus won by a heroic band of volunteers, led by one of the most dauntless warriors that ever risked life for country. Thomas E. Watson   George Rogers Clark stipulates to Governor Hamilton the terms of surrender of the Northwestern territory, 1779    [Pg 55] <big>February Twenty-Fifth</big> From Inscription on tablet in St. Michael’s Church, Charleston, South Carolina. “As a Statesman he bequeathed to his country the sentiment, ‘Millions for defence not a cent for tribute.’”   Charles Cotesworth Pinckney born, 1746    [Pg 56] <big>February Twenty-Sixth</big> IN THE PETERSBURG TRENCHES Winter poured down its snows and its sleets upon Lee’s shelterless men in the trenches. Some of them burrowed into the earth. Most of them shivered over the feeble fires, kept burning along the lines. Scanty and thin were the garments of these heroes. Most of them were clad in mere rags. Gaunt famine oppressed them every hour. One quarter of a pound of bacon and a little meal was the daily portion assigned to each man by the rules of the War Department. But even this allowance failed when the railroads broke down and left the bacon and the flour piled up beside the tracks in Georgia and the Carolinas. One sixth of this daily ration was the allotment for a considerable time, and very often the supply of bacon failed entirely.... Henry A. White    [Pg 57] <big>February Twenty-Seventh</big> We follow where the Swamp Fox guides, We leave the swamp and cypress-tree, Our spurs are in our coursers’ sides, And ready for the strife are we. The Tory camp is now in sight, And there he cowers within his den; He hears our shouts, he dreads the fight, He fears, and flies from Marion’s men. William Gilmore Simms   Francis Marion dies, 1795 Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, N. C., 1776    [Pg 58] <big>February Twenty-Eighth</big> The war began, the war went on—this politicians’ conspiracy, this slaveholders’ rebellion, as it was variously called by those who sought its source, now in the disappointed ambition of the Southern leaders, now in the desperate determination of a slaveholding oligarchy to perpetuate their power, and to secure forever their proprietorship in their “human chattels.” On this theory the mass of the Southern people were but puppets in the hands of political wirepullers, or blind followers of hectoring “patricians.” To those who know the Southern people nothing can be more absurd; to those who know their personal independence, to those who know the deep interest which they have always taken in politics, the keen intelligence with which they have always followed the questions of the day. Basil L. Gildersleeve    [Pg 59] <big>February Twenty-Ninth</big> THE LAND WHERE WE WERE DREAMING Fair were our nation’s visions, and as grand As ever floated out of fancy-land; Children were we in simple faith, But god-like children, whom nor death, Nor threat of danger drove from honor’s path— In the land where we were dreaming! ········ A figure came among us as we slept— At first he knelt, then slowly rose and wept; Then gathering up a thousand spears, He swept across the fields of Mars, Then bowed farewell, and walked behind the stars, From the land where we were dreaming! ········ As wakes the soldier when the alarum calls— As wakes the mother when her infant falls— As starts the traveler when around His sleepy couch the fire-bells sound— So woke our nation with a single bound— In the land where we were dreaming! Daniel Bedinger Lucas [Pg 60]     <hr style="width: 50%;" /> [Pg 61] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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