Du Buque visitor. [volume] (Dubuque, Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1836-1837, 1836-07-06

1
'of literary distinction, which exhibits
the triumph ofintellcct during the long
period Of twenty centuries. The little
territory Of Attica, containing about
thirty miles square, and half a million
of inhabitants, furnishes pregnant les
son for. the world. Their literature
Ihourished, freedom prevailed, the arts
| and sciences were cultivated, and gem
nus was honorcd and rewarded. She
sent out her armies and navies, where
yer her interest or honor required
She repealed the Persian hordes from
her land; she CALAMITY maintained her
Independence for a long series of years,
and she became the school of antiquity;
Iimparting to all other countries the
treasures Of her knowledge. How
lprouda monument she now is, even in
her desolation! From the Ganges to
the Saint Lawrence, where is the man
Eofintelligence who does not look upon
her fallen fortunes with sorrow; and
upon her future fate with solicitudc?
The Turk has ruled in the habitation Of
Pericles; and the horse-tail has waved
where the ngis was displayed. But the
Parthenon still stands, though in ruins,
yet in glory; a fit emblem Of the coun-
try it adorned in its pride, and now
hallows IN its decay. Andwhencc this
triumph Of the feeble over the strong?
How happens it, that this small spot Isl.
and has been therevcred one ofthc earth?
The school-boy upon the Missouri talks
of the Ilissus. The ardent youth, who,
at Bunkcr's Hill and New Orleans, ga
yes with intense interest upon those
fields OF blood and renown, has room
also in his heart for the stories Of Ma
rathon and Of Salamis. The lover of
the fine arts, who surveys the works Of
the chisel, which already in our coun-
try have almost fashioned the marble
into life, still thinks Of Praxiteles, and
concurs IN the universal opinion Of ar
fists, that the Venus de Mcdicis is yet
the model of statuary beauty. And the
patriotic citizen, while he blesscs God
that he was born in the country Of War
ren, and Hancock, and Franklin, and
Jefferson, casts look of reverence up
on the land ofSocrates, and Plato, and
Aristides.
"All this is the triumph of intellect;
the monument and the reward of pub
lie spirit and intelligence, and the evil
dence of private devotion to all those
pursuits, which give to mind its ascen-
dancy over matter. y
NEwsRApER s.-Therc is an eloduent
eulogy Onnewspapers in one Of the Bos-
ton journals. "a hint read in news
paper, says the writer, MAY influence
q thoughtless mother in the education Of
her child, and new energies may be de-
veloped in the child, and new objects
given to those energies -sAeinher turn,
becomes mother, and her children
derive a tenfold benefit from the origi-
nal caution that arrested the grapdmo-
ther. This may be, sof the stuff that
dreams are made Of, but we will hope
that the newspaper press, with all its
errors, abuses, and neglect, does much
Tor human knowledge and human hap
plness. How carclessly we read the
eglancc our eyes over
the marriages and deaths, and seeing
no acquaintance there, we think no
more Of them. Yet, what depth Of hui
man suffering, are conveyed in the IL
dings we read SO colaly! The bride
has left the home Of her youth. the pro-
lection Of her fathers roof, and thrown
her all Of happiness into the hands of
onc; life-oh, infinitely more than life!
is risked on the shazard Of a die!, and
God, God only knows whether tits for
good or evil. But what have we to do
with her hopes, her fears the world
bathcd in the sunlight it will never
wear again, even if her bright perspec-
tive do not prove all dclusion! What
to us are the emotions Of spirit sbur-
dened with the excess Of our strange
natures quiyering happiness?' We on
" read in a newspaper that she is mar
ricd. We only see that Mr.. Such-a-
one is dead, and left widow and chill
dren to mourn his loss.-sWhat think
we Of the ilong, midnight vigils, the |
heart-breaking tears, the gasping fare
well, the lonely spirit sinking under
The strong grasp Of passionate des-
pairv
ExTRAvAGANcE IN ATTIRE.-Mar-
uarct of Navarro who was married II, I