Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-11-27
The Prairie Flower,

| AN INDEPENDENT MAGAZlNE VI LliEhAA YAM ~t'N
CRITICISM
| Western Literature Cuntound the phrase! we
nope we shall never hear another word about
Western Literature" as long as we live! Wla
Is "wesern" literature that it is different from
eastern or southern any other sort vt Iterature
Scarcely q newspaper or periodical which we open
is without some encouraging and condescehdihg
love- pat on the poor shoulder of "wes'ern htera-
ture," or "western poetry" or some such outra-
geous nonsense. Now we have the presumption
to believe that literature and poetry, wherever they
exist, are founded upon the same immutable prin-
ciple, which principle is communication OF hu-
man genius with the immortal beauty pervadin9
all nu,ure-whch shapes alike The cloud, the ram
bow, the starry skies, the whispering landscape
and clothes them in all its celestial essences-and
which deveepes with its beauty creating power
as well the delicate rose-leaf as the sOuis highest
aspirations after the infinite and the eternal In
the material as well as the intellectual world
every thing tends constantly towards PERFECTION
The germ bursts from the rot,ing seed, III the DARK
fnrrOw, and springs upward towards the light 10
bring forth its perfect and beautiful fUrns-eVeh
as the soul of man, struggling with the mlsIs Vi
animal passion and cropping in the darkness VI lis
imperfect organization, tends upward and onward
til it again niuges with the divine source VI
beauty whence it sprung.
This is literature; and what miserable nonsense
then, to talk of western" literature, as it 1t were
a thing apart from the general order Of nature
some interesting phenOmeGon-an intellectual
monstrosty--to be patted encouragingIy ON the
back, and to receive the stlnted and reluctant
praises of self-appointed eastern" critics, be-
slowed very much in the same manner that they
would drop shilling into the hat OF an itlnerant
| mendicant who murders Cin6erela's Waltz and
the overture to Fra Diavolo on viianous hand
organ! We want no such patronizng encourage
ment Does western patriotism, or western"
e!oquence, or "western" craftsmanship, shrink
from a comparison with the patriotic and the elo-
quent of the world! When men speak Of Clay, or
Prentice, or Marshall. do they qualify their adm.
ration by the remark that "they are pretty well for
a new counlryl" and why should distinctions so
Odious and SO ridiculous be made respecting liera-
ture! We are sick of this atfectatIOn; and, 50
far as our humble abilities go, we are determined
that it shall be done away with. We are about to
commence the publication of an independent maya
zine Of literature and criticism-includng within
its range every subject of interest in bellesletres
The fine arts and general literature. e mean to
show the increduous world that the unnotced
PRAIRIE-FLowER, which wastes it sweetness on
the desert air." CLOVIS with as divine beauty
and breathes as pure fragrance, as the gayest
exotic that taunts in the paferrCs OF metropolitan
fashion. We ask no allowances to be made--nU
indugences to be granted--our modest boquet,
because it chances to be gathered from the path
less prairie, within the shadows of the Indians
wig-wam or the rude hut of the ruder pioneer
We wish our work TO be judged strictly, severely,
without prejudice or favor; and if the PRAIRIE
FLOWER, dripping with fresh and oderous dews,
finds welcome, wel--if it be thrown aside to min
gle unnoliced with the rubbish which strews the
earth, it is also well The only favor we ask for
it is that no favor, beyond its strict deserts, shall
be extended to it.
The first number Of the PRAIRIE FLOWER will
he issued on the first of November next-after that
it will appear monthly The form chosen for the
work is similar to the other monthly magazines
a large octave, eech number containing from As to
"a pages.
The price of the Prairie Flower is SIS year.
Single numbers can always be procured, at so cents
| each
Letters relating to the work may be addressed,
postpaid, TO publishers Of the Prairie Flower,
St. Louis, Mo"
st Louis. Sept. "a, 1871.