Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 01 (of 14), 1898

EDITED BY FRANKLIN L. RILEY SECRETARY ( REPRINTED 1919 ) By DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D. Secretary
VOLUME I.
OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 1898
OFFICERS FOR 1898. PRESIDENT, Gen. S. D. Lee. VICE-PRESIDENT, Dr. R. W. Jones. SECRETARY AND TREASURER, Franklin L. Riley, University P. O., Miss. ARCHIVIST, Chancellor R. B. Fulton. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, Dr. R. W. Jones, Prof. J. W. White, Supt. S. F. Boyd, Supt. A. A. Kincannon, Prof. Franklin L. Riley.
All persons interested in advancing the cause of Mississippi history are eligible for membership in the Society. There is no initiation fee. The only cost to members is annual dues, $2.00, or life dues $30.00. Members receive all publications of the Society free of charge. Single members, $2.00 a year. All communications should be addressed to FRANKLIN L. RILEY, Secretary and Treasurer .

Vol. I. JUNE, 1898. No. 1.
BY DABNEY LIPSCOMB, A. M.
To awaken greater interest in what, however estimated, Mississippians have accomplished in the field of literature, to provoke research into even its remote and unfrequented corners; and, chiefly, to place more prominently before the people of his much-loved State a poet too little known, is the double purpose of this essay.
The poet needs no introduction and offers no apology on his entrance into the domain of history; for he is no intruder there, entitled indeed to a place of honor in the proudest capitol of that noble realm. Homer precedes Herodotus and makes his record doubly valuable. The poet is in fact the maker in large measure of the history of the world. Through his entrancing and inspiring voice the aspirations of humanity have been elevated, ideals lofty in thought and deed have been constantly upheld, and will to dare and do the utmost in the cause of liberty and righteousness has been imparted in the hour of need. In the poet's verse we read, as nowhere else, the inner throbbing life of man. High or low his ascent of Parnassus, his words have a charm for us, if the Muse has bidden him welcome; and the nearer he is to us the more apt he will be to express our peculiar griefs and joys in his melodious strains.