Joseph Habersham Chapter Organizing Regent
Mrs. William Lawson (Lucy Cook) Peel
circa 1910
The question is frequently asked, "What good does the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution do?"
And there are two simple answers. One is, Know thyself. It is astonishing how many cultured people care nothing or affect to care nothing about their origin. They go day after day to lectures on hygeine and heredity, they can tell you why one child has blue eyes while another has black. They can quote pages from the poets of other lands, know all about the Roman Conquest and the burning of Moscow, the disgusting and morbid heroines of Ibsen and the broadest sociological questions of the day. But—they could not tell you the maiden name of their paternal grandmother if their lives depended upon it. I say, away with all such superficial information, until you know who you are.
In learning to know who you are, the tremendous amount of collateral reading required is, in itself, an education, under ordinary circumstances, for in the South, poor in records, the tracing of family history is no small matter. Then when these facts are gathered, proven and recorded by the society, they become a reference book for the whole world, and posterity reaps the benefit. So that any woman who looks up her family, not only does something for her own advantage and for that of others, but she honors her parents.
The other answer is: It is a sentiment.
Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. This is a sentiment as well as a command. Honor is a sentiment; Love is a sentiment; Fame is a sentiment; Flowers are a sentiment; Churches and Schools are a sentiment. What would the world be without these?
The Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded upon a most beautiful sentiment, the divine command. They were the pioneers in the great revival of the study of American History and were the inspiration of the other historical organizations which have done so much in the last dozen years to advance our love and knowledge of our own people and our own institutions. What nobler sentiment could animate the human breast than reverence and veneration for our pioneer ancestors, and knowledge, at least, of their names, the places where they dwelt, their fathers and their children.
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