Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-10-23
The Prairie Flower,

AN INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE AND
... CRITICISM.
Western Literature Confound the phrase we
nope We shall never hear another word about
"Western Literature" as long as we live! What
Is western literature that it is different from
eastern or southern any other sort of literoture
Scarcely a newspaper or periodical which we open
is without some encouraging and condescending
love-pat on the poor shoulder Of "wes,ern ltera-
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-
cple, which principle is a communication Of hu-
man genius with the immortal beauty pervading
all na:ure-which shapes alike the cloud, the rain
bow, the starry skies, the whispering landscape,
and clothes them in all its celestial essences-and
which develepes with its beauty-creating power
as well the delicate rose-leaf as the souls highest
aspirations after the infinite and the eternal in
the material as well as the intellectual wNrld.
every thing tends constantly towards perfection
The germ bursts from the rotting seed, in the dark
fnrrow, and springs upward towards the light to
bring forth its perfect and beautiful forms even
as the soul Of man, struggling with the mists OF
animal passion and cropping in the darkness OF its
imperfect organization, tends upward and onward
ill it sgan ningles with the divine source VI
beauty whence it sprung.
This is literature; and what miserable nonsense.
them to talk of western literature as if 1t were
thing apart from the general order OF nature
some interesting phenomeEon-an intellectual
monstrosity--to be patted ehcouragngy on the
back, and to receive the stinted and reluctant
praises Of self-apponted "eastern" critics, be-
slowed very much in the same manner that they
would dropa shilling into the hat OF an itinerant
,nendicant, who murders Cinderella's Waltz and
the overture to Fra Diavolo on villianous hand
organ! We want no such patronizing encourage
ment. Does western patriotism, or western"
eloquence, or "western" craftsmanship, shrink
from a comparison with the patriotic and the elo-
quent Of the worldl When men speek of Clay, or
Prentice, or Marshall, do they qualify their admi-
ration by the remark that 'they pretty well for
u new counlry!" and why should distinctions so
odious and so ridiculous be made respecting itera-
turei We are sick of this affectanon; and, so
far as our humble abilities go, we are determined
that it shall. he done away with. We are about to
commence the publication Of an independent maya
zine Of literature and misunderstanding within
its range every subject of interest in bellesetres,
the fine arts and general literature. We mean to
show the increduious world that the unnoticed
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 fauns in the parterrcs of metropolitan
fashion. We ask no allowances to be made-nO
indulgences 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, wellif it be thrown aside, to min
gle unnoticed with the rubbish which strews the
earth, it rs also well, The only favor we ask for
it is that favor, beyond its strict deserts, shall
be extended to it.
The first number of the PRAIRIE FLOWER will
te 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
large octave, each number containing from AZ IL
81 pages.
The price of the Prairie Flower is S. year
Single numbers can always be procured, at 30 cents
each.
Letters relating TO the work may be addressed
postpaid, to"Publishars of the Prairie Flower
St Louis. Mo"
ST Louis. Sept. "a. 1871.