Kansas weekly herald., 1854-09-29
Eg0qssessce Ofshe West.
ny JOHN NEwLAND MArrIrr.

EIoqssence Ofshe West.
ny JOHN NEwLAND MAFFITT.
HABITs of thought and styles of oratory
are no doubt Influenced by the scaaery and
general features of country, as wen as by
modes of education and the forms of socie-
ty. Admitting the truth of this assertion, it
is no wonder that the eloquence, of the
West is bold, energetic and magnificent.
In this glorious region, mind deyelopes ear
lier, and approaches the maturity of its vig-
Or in forms of fresh beauty and sublirnity,
which may be sought for in vain in the OIL
der sections Of the continent. Even with
out the highest degrees of mental culture,
and comparatively unlettered, 1.-THE mind that
is admitted to contemplate the scenery of
the west, to range the almost interminable
prairies, or gaze fearfully on the mountain
Businesses Of the Alleghanies, or to span
the ocean-like rivers, cannot but be filled,
imbued, overpowered with the strange and
solemn expansion of the creation around it.
But yet it is not a fact that the western mind
is in any general sense destitute of the aids
of letters less than the tame low land dwell
lers of the sea-washed, sandy coasts yet
while it reads the fearfully distinct impress
sion on natures open-leaved volume, it is
also not without the tones of varied and
useful literature. Strains Of masculine ell
oquence-thrilling as the free notes of the
m 9untain horn, and full Of the elements of
passion, are the native productions of the
West, as much in keeping with the scene
ry of the region as mind ever should be
with matter, and as true to nature as the
tones of a wind-harp to the breath
of the evening. The opinion that may
have been extensively propagated in the
elder states and along the sea-board, Of the
intellectual inferiority of the West, was no
doubt the effect of religious bigotry, or of
that jealousy which ever agitates the vari-
Gus portions of community in the rivalry of
influence and power. That opinion is now
dissipated like a vapor before the light of
truth. The great West, with sufficient en-
ergy and ability to vindicate full claim to
natural talent and genius, exhibited and
still exhibits in the profession Of law and
the sacred calling ofpulpit oratory, elements
of unequalled eloquence. The inquiry in
to what has produced this state of things,
is replete, with instruction and interest.
In the great West the superabundance
OF eastern or northern and southern talent
and enterprise congregatcs. The dull, the
unaspiring, the idle, never think of over
passing the cold-capt barriers of the Allie
ghany. The bold, the resolute, the a1nbi-
tious, leave the white cottages of New Eng
land, the sunny savannahs Of the south and
carve out their homes from the kingly for
ests Of the fresh, untouched Wilderness
What has created their eloquence ? What
has given it its tones of thunder, its wild,
soul-touching pathos2
The practice of holding religious and po-
litical meetings in the open air, extensive
ly prevailing in the West, has given a no.
bility to the soul of western eloquence.-
The dome made by the hand ofman, SPRING
ing its arch towards heaven, is yet the
bounded concave that must confne the soul
that was made to range the skies, the de-
llghtful outlet of her prison-house. The
camp-meetlng has changed the nomencla-
ture of pulpit eloqueuce. The two divis-
ions of the ancient school are now but one
In the religious oratory Of the West.
The eloquencc of the West, as contrast
ed with that of the East, presents many
striking peculiarities The eloauence
"a w A@elot 10 SODcI, pdSolOIlteSS, cO0QGQSoQ.
metaphysical; that of the West is free, lofty
agitating, grand, impassioned. The East
is pure, chastened down to a defiance of
critical ccnsure, sharpened to a fineness too
razor-hke to cleave the mountains or crave
the rocks, the West defes and transcends
criticism-unbosoms mighty thoughts, ap-
plies motives to human mind as strong as
the rush of a whirlwind, In language va
ried yet strong, and if ever defective, vet
grand. The thoughts of the West are large.
In the East, river means the brawling
and foaming Merrimae, the mountain-fed
Kennebec, or the poetic Connecticut; in the
West the same word means the proud flow
OF waves too wide to roar, and cincturine
halt the globe In their course In the East
a plain means patch of earth hedged In
by clrcumambient mountains, defended on
either hand by rock and water; in the West
PLAIN means an expanse of territory over
which the sun rises and sets through thou
sand successive horizons, and above whose
carpet Of yerdure heaven spreads out half
her stars. In the East, wind means
blast which wrcstles with mountain beech or
maple, or plays fitfu1Iy with the fallen snow;
IN the West, the same word means the
roaring impulse which aecupullates about