Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

COPYRIGHT, 1888,

BY ALFRED WILLIAMS & CO.,

B.

W. P. 8

201

• $74 ff f

142.186 AUG 17 1906

PREFACE.

THIS little book has been written to interest and instruct the boys and girls of North Carolina. It is addressed to them, is dedicated to them, and its Author would be glad to know that not one of them, from ten to fifteen years old, will fail to read or to approve of it. She will be very well content with such a test of its merits.

It is one of the brightest signs of our new day that more and more books about North Carolina are called for and find a market among our own people, and that more and more are written by our own people.

The story of our State has few romantic incidents. It is the story of a slow growth, beginning in a series of failures and marked by recurring periods of depression. Heaven had perhaps done too much for us. If we had had an ungenial climate, a stony soil frozen for half the year, and few or no advantages from Nature, we might have developed more activity, exhibited more perseverance, and built our walls more rapidly, showing ourselves in many ways more aggressive and more calculating.

That has not been our way. Ours is the story of a quiet, contented, somewhat unambitious people, not studious of change, not easily provoked-a people loyal to Law and to

iii

Religion, steady, modest, sincere, and brave; generous, but not enterprising; prodigal of their best when called upon by others or in defence of their own rights, but moving too slowly and cautiously when not under the strong stimulus of special occasions.

But these occasions have shown the world that North Carolina is worthy of high honor. Our State has always sprung to the front in resistance to oppression-has been the first and freest to shed her blood, and the last to furl her flag. She has maintained her self-respect and her credit in crises where others have wrecked both. Her moderation has stood her in good stead, and the strength and durability of her adherence to both Law and Liberty prove that her sons are true "hearts of oak."

It has been our fault that we have left our story so long to other hands-a fault that we have suffered from. If it has been well told in these pages, our children will feel each fibre thrill with a new attachment to the land of their birth, and will imbibe fresh zeal to show themselves worthy of their sires.

A list of the books consulted is appended, and I gladly seize the occasion to express my grateful acknowledgments to the librarians of the University and Dialectic and Philanthropic Libraries for their generous courtesy in allowing me the unstinted use of their books.

CORNELIA P. SPENCER.

CHAPEL HILL, N. C., 1889.

« ZurückWeiter »