New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-11-17
EDITORIAL BooK-.NoTEs,

BY Donald MACLEOD, New Nork Cuafies SeASn".f
IL mo. PIP. All.
This, it will be perceived, is not new book
1t is whole year old; and that, in the present
state of authorship, constitutes 1t into nothing
short of literary antiquity. For letters have
in their highly progressive-not to say head
lone-condition, become another &c Young Amer
;ca.r For them and their new criticism to-day
alone, can, by possibility, know any thing
even yesterday was hardly better than stupid;
last week ridiculous. As for the remote period
of last month, that was, of course, in the Dark
Ages; while whole year back, was, as We have
lust said, antiquity Now, in law, it is held so
little ingenious for a man to stultify himself,
that it won't allow it ; but in the new itera ture
and politics, it is quite otherwise. Their whole
system is one of inevitable and enormous self
qualification For in order to make themselves
great or wise, they must begin by denying all
previous greatness and wisdom; and as they
themselves must presently stand, for those who
come after them, in the same position of past
wisdom, they make themselves, necessarily, the
same sort of fools that they swear all who went
before them were The :" Young America - of
to-day, must, according to ITSELF be the 'sold
Fogyism " of tomorrow. How is it to stop :
How not propagate a newer and therefore wiser
Young America? What new secret of rejuve-
nescence has it discovered Does it propose to
stop at itself that amazing "march of mind -
which it SO largely promises Unless this can
be stopped, Young America itself must be obso.
lite forthwith; and if every thing is to be
brought to stand, in order that Young Am ri
ca may continue wise, what is to become of that
a. Al d.
gress 70 Oh, paltry theory. Oh, lack brain
system In all the multitudinous annals of
human nonsense, what was ever as trashy as
thou If all the coDjoint tanners of the earth
were to collect their commodity and mould it
into one broad round mass, it would be a leather
medal quite too small to be presented to Judge
Douglas in honor of his invention
Our haster readers may, perhaps, have be-
gun to ask themselves if this is not deviation
from Literature into Politics We answer, not
at ALL We are fallen into Young America of
Letters. They proceed upon the same grand
idea both would abolish the Past: and wisely
too, we grant, as to themselves, For who could
believe in their politics or read their books that
knew Of any other Besides, he who would un-
derstand in its causes and in its truth either
the Politics or the Literature Of country or Of
an Age must study them as not only intimately
connected, but as largely one. For both are but
expressions, under different forms, Of the same
thing--the being, the mind, the soul of the coun-
try that produces them; and the Letters of
land will always be found to be reflection
from its greater shape of existence the political
If any body wants to see barbarous literature,
I.a L. 1na1~ g.. IL, L.
barian civil policy. Their ideas of how they are
to divert and how they are to govern themselves
will be found just upon a level. There never
has existed any literary excellence apart from
social soundness IT, ther tfore you would raise
the genius of either your own country's Letters
or Government, apply yourself to elevating its
morals and its religion. Treatises on Rhetoric !
or Craftsmanship will never do it, Letters
like Liberty come from the heart more than the |
head Base souls are capable of neither, Sla-
wish souls will make for themselves servile, a |
licentious people depraved literature Books
are but images of the men who write them and
of the men for whom they are written They
will be Jacobinical in a Jacobinical age. Let
any one, therefore, who wants Loeofocoism to
govern us consider how he would like it to make
our literature But we will return to our more
immediate subject, this book "Pynnshurst.
1t is decidedly clever and a pleasant one
on which we are sorry not to have earlier fallen.
But We are awkward critics and never in our
lives were able to give any body half so good an
idea of an author as by letting him do it for
himself. If he is wise, he can best show it if
he is Ounce, he always knows how to convince
4la4 Il. w
pluck out passage from Pynnshurst 1t is
little tale. He has many such This is told
him at Havre, by an old French barber, on
whom he stumbles
LITTLE PAeUETTE
You see Monsieur that Adele (that was paquettes
mother) was our youngest child very pretty and AS
merry bird, with the ghtest foot in tho dane " al
the sweetest voice for song and rosy cheek and soft
eyes full of love and genteness 80
when she went away in the morning to her ,rork
Qor she made gloves donsieur) it like light nnt
out and when she ne back the house got bright again
Well in the W Ter she kept very late ana
coming home one night, she said she was not we'll and
at las we refused to let her go any more and she
would SIT IN her room and cry all the day long and SO
oy-andby little Paquette born but Adele was
Poor Adele she is dead now we buried her the day
TIL she died she tired of holding in her arms
ana KISSING IT. but she never smiled till after she was
dead ana then the sweet light came back again to her
face Father Adrien called the smile Of the FORGIVEN
Here the old man paused for moment sighed and
so went ~
Well Monsieur, little Psquette thriyed and grew
prettier every day. aud the idol all and sister
Mary Angela, one of the good Sisters of St Vincent
taught her 10 read and write and work things
for the rich ladies' and to her prayers aud caechism
and never TO tell lie. And when she WIS Fifteen "
would have done your heart good hear the OF he,
wooden shoes and to her soft she home
in the morning from the early mass
Well at sixteen she to be married To the finest
young fellow Of Claude Bonjour in the world with on
one fault he agreed with Pierre about the rerenerato9
of mankind and universal differentiation
Now fd not think il became him well as Pierre
for Pierre knew Latin which it more natural but
he idle fellow Tor all that
So when they talked about crushing tyrants and do
ing away mobiles aud msklng all men equal little Pa.
quette would tell them that the king was a yery good
king aud that they must learn to be good themselves
could OF make bread cheaper BY killing Ring and
that the best for the poor TO get rich work
honestly, and not to spend their money in wine shops
their time in the debating societies To be happy
was to b. like father Adrien and Sister Mary Angels
who began by being good and who though born mobiles
worked harder among the poor and the sick in hour
than Pierre did in month even for himself
Then Pierre would laugh and tell her that when the
mobiles fell the priests and the sisters must go too that
they drones and lived upon the poor And then,
Monsieur little Paquette would talk them just you
did about God and holy Church; and would always come
back to this that to be happy must be good to be
prosperous must work and that Claude would be
richer If there were not any kings.
And things went till that revolution and
then killed each other and the king away
We'll, Monsieur there Is little to tell Good
little PaQuette begged and pleaded with Claude to keep
his work but he would to Paris to the barricade
a., tft.a has