, 1841-10-09
THE PRAIRIE w
In Independent Magazine Of Literature
and Criticism.

and Criticism.
Western Literature! Confound the phrase,
we hope we shall never hear another word
about "Western Literature as long as we
live, What is "westcrn literature" that II
is different from eastern or southern or any
other sort of literature? Scarcely Il news
paper OF periodical which We open is with
out some encouraging and condesccnding
love-pat on the poor shoulder OF "western
literature or "western poetry or some
such outrageous nonsense. Now we have
the presumption TO believe that literature
and poetry. wherever they exist, are found
ed upon the same immutable principle, which
principle is a communication OF human ge-
MUS with the immortal beauty %pervadlng all
nature-which shapes alike Tire cloud, the
rainbow, the starry skies, the whispering
landscape, and clothes them all in its celes-
tial essences-and which deyelopes with i.s
beauty-crea,ing 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 world,
ever thing tends constantly towards perfec-
ton. The germ bursts from the rotting
seed, in the dark furrow. and springs upward
towards the light TO bring forth its perfect
and beautiful forms-even rs the soul of man.
struggling with the mists Of animal passion
and cropping in the darkest of its imperfect
organization, tends upward and onward I'LL
it a~gain,mingles with the divine source OF
beauty whence If sprung.
This is literature; and what miserable
nonsense, then, to talk Of "western" lI.era.
ture, as if it were a thing apart from the
general order Of nature-some interesting
phenomenon-an intellectual monstrOsity-
to be patted encouragingly on the back, and
to receive, the stinted and reluctant praises
of ~seli-appointed "eastern" critics, bestowed
very much in the same manner that they
would drop 4 shilling into the hat OF an itine'
rant mendicant, who murders Cinderella's
Waltz and the overture to Fra Diavolo or
villanous handorgan! We want no such pat
ronizing encouragement. Does "western'
patriotism, or "western" eloquence, or "wes'
tern" craftsmanship, shrink from a compare
son with the patriotic and the eloquent Of
the world2 When men speak Of Clay, Oh
Prentice. or Marshall, do they qualify Their
admiration by the remark that 'they are pref
ty well for a new country? and why should
distinctions so odious and so ridiculous be
made respecting literature? We are sick
of this affectation; and, so far as our humble
abilities 90, we are determined that it shall
be done away with. We are about to com
mence the publication of an independent
magazine of literature and criticism-lnclu
ding within its range every subject OF inte'
terest in belles-lettres, the fine arts and gene
raj literature. We mean to show 10 the in
credulous world that the unnoticed PRAIRIE
FLOWER, which "wastes its sweetness on 1.-THE
desert air." CLOVIS with as divine a beauty
and brenthes as pure a fragrance, as the gay
est exotic that flaunts in the parterres of me.
tropolitan fashion. We ask nc allowance &c
be made-no indeIgences to be granted-oul
modest boquet, because it chances to be gath
cred from the painless prairie, within the
shadow of the Indians wig-wam or the rude
hut Of the ruder pioneer. We wish on
work to be judged strictly, severeIy-with
out prejudice or favor; and If the PRAIRIE
FLOWER, dripping with fresh and odorou
dews, finds welcome, well-if IT be thrown