Southern Historical Society Papers.
THE IDEAL HISTORIAN OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
By JAMES BARRON HOPE.
In the future some historian shall come forth both strong and wise
With a love of the Republic, and the truth before his eyes!
He will show the subtle causes of the War between the States,
He will go back in his studies far beyond our Modern dates;
He will trace out hostile ideas, as the miner does the lodes;
He will show the Union riven, and the picture will deplore;
He will show it reunited and made stronger than before;
Slow and patient, fair and truthful, must the coming teacher be,
To show how the knife was sharpened, that was ground to prune the tree;
He will hold the Scales of Justice; he will measure praise and blame,
And the South will stand the verdict, and will stand it without shame!
