To the writer of reminiscences the literary student looks with hopeful eye. From such an one may be had biographical data, personal traits, literary anecdotes--in fact all the ana which the literary student of this day delights in. The humble collector of this material may not win much of fame for self--except so far as that the humbler work well done does not need to be done again and therefore wins the reward due to honest endeavor--But if he gains no reward he may rejoice in the consciousness that he is making possible the day when Mississippi may stand as a peer with other Southern States, delight to honor her own Lanier, her own Harris, her own Cable, her own Murfree, and her own Allen. Some one is already asking what's the good of all this? Such matters may perhaps be wisely assigned as school boy tasks but there certainly can be but little value in the material after it has been laboriously collected. The study of literary history supports the contention that the accumulation of the subject matter of literature is in necessary precedence to the creative work of the producer of literature. It will but be in accord with what has taken place in the past, if a student who sets to work along lines I have suggested, who accumulates material, who immerses himself in the history and traditions of his state--it will be but natural, I say, if such an one have his heart set on fire by the enthusiasm engendered by his work and be transformed from a journeyman toiling over his tasks of accumulator into literary wizard who by the incantations of his genius may call forth the spirit of his time. Such work made Walter Scott. May Mississippi see not another Scott but a literary man who under new conditions and with new material may create for Mississippi a new literature which may have like place in the world's literature with the immortal contributions of the great Scotchman. When that day comes the Mississippian will not have on his shoulders the burden of being an apologist and will not have to compound with his conscience in order to win the name of being patriotic in matters literary. I have not hesitated thus to rehearse in your hearing matters already well-known to you. If I have but retold an old, old story, I have not deceived myself into thinking that I was telling you new or startling truths. The old story--the well known fact sometimes needs to be reviewed. The fact that it is so well-known, is so self-evident--causes it to be overlooked. I am quite willing to be found fault with for rehearsing at needless length what everybody knows--provided only my rehearsing will lead to these matters being attended to. SUFFRAGE IN MISSISSIPPI BY HON. R. H. THOMPSON.