SOUTHERN WRITERS SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND VERSE EDITED BY WP TRENT AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE," "JOHN MILTON," ETC., ETC. ас New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1905 All rights reserved PREFACE THIS Volume of selections from Southern writers, designed primarily for use in school and college classes in the South, will not, I trust, be regarded as a sectional product in the unpleasant sense of that term. The history of the South and its literature cannot profitably be divorced from the history and literature of the entire country; but just as it appears desirable that the children of each state should be given special instruction in the history of that commonwealth, so it seems reasonable and appropriate that the young people of a welldifferentiated section like the South should be afforded an opportunity to study the writers of their region in more detail than is possible when only general text-books on American literature are employed. This volume, in other words, is intended to furnish supplementary reading and information which the teacher can use in connection with work in American literature, or in a special subordinate class if there be an opportunity to form one. Many of the extracts given have also been chosen with special reference to their availability for use in connection with classes in history, which always stand in need of illustrative material, and the volume may serve the purposes of a reading book, as well as of a supplementary collection of specimens for use in classes in composition and rhetoric. I believe that I do not exaggerate when I say that a study of these selections ought to increase a pupil's interest in American literature and history as a whole, and also to open his eyes to the fact that, while the South has never been prolific of books and writers, its people have contributed a larger and a better share to the literature of the Republic than is generally admitted. The task of forming such a collection as is here presented is V 140108 |