Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/215

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Literary Messenger
191

The volume is extensively Virginian and historical. There is a history of "The Virginia Navy of the Revolution," in three numbers, with an addendum, which would be news to a great many, and accounts of three celebrations on the spot of the settlement of Jamestown. These celebrations have been revived by the association for the preservation of Virginia antiquities and measures have already been started for a grander commemoration and an Exposition, on the 13th of May, 1907, the 300th anniversary of the genesis of these United States.

There are two controversies: Superintendent Fras. H. Smith, of the Virginia Military Institute, made an elaborate report on the Progress of Education in Virginia, in which he claimed that his Military State Institution had greatly improved the colleges and academies of the State, in their curricula, methods and discipline. A friend of the University warmly reviews this report, which brings out a strong defender of Superintendent Smith. The university and college man comes again, even more so, and stirs up the Smith man.

The next spat involved the editor. He had published, from the Church Review, a laudatory sketch of Dr. John Esten Cooke, after whom his friend, the rising young author, was named. Dr. Cooke's family were of Maryland; but he,