The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1853-07-09
Te aIfui Energy.

Inc following picture OF The fearful eBei gies
ofour people in pushing every worldly enterprise
TO dangerous extreme, is drawn with a master.
hand. We extract It from long article in tie
"Pieshytefan Quarterly Review. under the
head Of Young Auerlca." Read-pause and
reflect
Thee is in this country a consuming passion
Tor gam. The nation j. mad. II trsshes with IN.
ucditle ayidlty after spvruiat.ons. OF works Ii
houI- a dav that It may have the means oi a
srnscless rrpIuslon and a glIterlng irisolty.-
Never Wa. there less avaiIciou. people. Here
ufriEueIs Tall INTO der great and enduring error
Ihe haiion ~ ihis ~ III every ihiug, is estraud.
CANT ~ no people ever were from ihe bsgIunIng
hthtftn. lhls can lie .huwn IN many waSs For
Hdmple, our mpoiis ld,t Year were upwards Of
two huudred nu,tuHs Of money, and ,hIs for A
uGng people OF uult tw.nty-thr.e millions who
have not vet cut d"Wud huudredth pdYt Of the
prlmcsa iuicst sitcs, " b. oxen up more than a
fragment oi the prairI,s that have been accumu
l"lng rleh 'egrtaLle nrulJ slnce the food We
THEA tn pay ur lherr imports. and su sen, abroad
every production ol tue -uil that Elrope would
take. AID ll.n added nearly forty millions Of
p eclr, and sili the balance at trade was tens oi
million, az ,IH-t u. these immense inpuit, in
.rrat part, ale consequence oi our extra,agaut
living
lu the old woil anil in ancient times few
mobiles aud merchants were princes and the mass.
vs were lumhle aud liughl priiarce; but here is
! whole leoI II struggling to he DOT only political
suyerrig,s, but to live ia Nxury like th. peeragp
If England. Oar remarks hiy, neither an aiia.
,n,rallc nor democratic hearing. We do not
,h'tk 'he glory oi - man Is 90 live in fine house
" tn guided furniture, oi which the eye tres and
wth an army uf servants who are endlessly
Troublesome, II any budy ch"osce to claim nm
equality with the peeIage, we have no quarrel
with ibem. What we are saying, is that no coun.
Try can physically supper, huntreds of thousand,
ot palaces. aud that the extravaganza which lie
sires 1t Is madness aud folly. Whether there
ought tn be any palaces costing money by the
hu"drod thuu.atd, We are not d,,idlng. II is
difficult ior our theology to reach TIN. evil, for
a mode Of thinking beneath, like those conyul
slon' of which geology tell u, upheavrs ,hrology
aud the scethug mass forever takes new fuinls II
struggle, enterprise, competition, luxury, colrup
ton.
1t is miserable ambition to toll oneself to
death. not tu hayp, a Wordsworth rxpre,srs it,
"pluiu living and high thinking" no, to have a
happy, cultivated, mud refined family around Que
not To have HE appliances Of pleasant suciabill
~ With friends and acquaintance, not to have the
means # intellectual Improvement, or Of cnlafg
Ell Usefulness, or ui wide intercourse with lle
noble and the gIf ed, but merely to appear hi.h
u spectacle to make the show OF beng rich to
Ill rooms, scarcely ever used, with costly furpi
ture, Ia crowd house once or twice year with
u mass Of people whose claim to be th. best
society" rests merely on then keeping up the
,ame appearances. Yet ihrs is the object for
which, IN great part, urban America lab"rs and
tll1 To winch it sacrifices thousand things oi
for more lnpurtnnce, Fashion tyranizes over
man ~ well ~ women ard conyen, ionaliiies that
no one really likes " freeze up The life blood Vi
the natiun.
The result is ulmos, incredible, when one fair
ly amls zee the life VI our people. They alter.
nate between solitude and crowds They fll the
'tr,ets aud public vehicles they crowd churches
lrcture-rounis. concerts theatres; they jostle
each other IN change, N business places, and
along fashionable walks; they al around in
the inr0xiration If the datce, or exchange inane
compliment with hundreds uf people at a ball or
party. The remainder of Their time is spent in
aInos, absolute solitude nj home, aud those who
dislike this crushing publicity can scarce find
medium between that aud solitary reading or the
society alone of their our family. l. there not
modr aiinnl /, the common sense which we
claim as our characteristic to have no influence in
moulding the mnnn.fs Of our people Must we
forever .snselesSly initiate foolish foreign man.
ners Nut men live in the most costly luxury
until three out If four ia III business, and then
hide Their heads in some obscure place, as IT,
though still honest men. they had done some
shameful deedi II III a word, il
it possible to have moderation and common ssns.
pervalIng ou, lsndl
internal improvements are Characteristic of
our time, and within reasonable limits nobly c,a'
rarters'ic. But no one eau he even casually &C.
qualn'ed with the operations of the cou,'ry
without seeing ex,nvagances here al.o. P's er-
ty, we may be assurcl will looa with amaze.
ment at these times. The velocity OF railway
train may be fearful and yet by custom Se for.
get the immense speed. At the city sf Day ton,
Ohio, we found recently constructed md con
structng nearly a dozen railroads. At Indian
apol's, IN Indiana, the ease is still more extreme,
and Al Chicago. in Illinois. fairly weariel out, we
gave up trying t, understand the projects. Some
Of these roads are hundreds Of miles long, and
all in new States yet in infancy, or at most in ex
trcme youth. But this is not excitement enough
Men are toll'ng To invent new plans or business
anu to open new avenues for trade, An Ameri'
can. We htard, mas Just taket coNract 10 cut
pine spars IN Oregon tor the Dutch navy. The
only question touching railroad to the Pacific
is which Of half dozen routes shall be taken
and two years more may witness 8 or 4 roads
thousands Of miles long, running parable to each
other, commenced almost simultaneously. We
have recently heard that lot, thirty five feet by
seventy five was rented IN an Eastern city for 20
yrais at $l4 900 u year. The earth is moving at
fearful velocity around the sun, and yet We seem
to be stun1ipy R,ll A tatr that to an Asylo.