The Vittum Folks #271295

What we call History contains a large percentage of probability. There is no such thing as accuracy in historical statements made even by those considered the best authority. The so-called "original sources" of history are oral tradition and written records. Traditions are usually founded upon truth, that is they grow out of actual occurrences, but cannot be trusted in detail. They are usually repeated from generation to generation to interest or amuse the young, and the recounter often consciously or unconsciously draws upon his own imagination. He is indeed a poor story-teller who cannot repeat a story in a way to make it a better tale than when it was told to him. Yet back of a tradition there is usually a fact.<br><br>Written records, even those called official, are full of error. Sometimes the recorder is misinformed, sometimes he is careless and inefficient, sometimes he has intentionally falsified. Yet from them we glean facts - facts not absolutely accurate, but approximately so.<br><br>When traditions are written down and old records copied and recopied, and the whole printed and reprinted, the possibility - we might almost say probability - of additional errors is multiplied.