Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-07-30

American Society.
The happy influence of American institu.
tons IL. therefore. more obvious in the gen.
eral prosperity, the unremitted activity. and
the comparative intelligence OF the working
classes, than in any peculiar developme nj
VI social talent and refinement. The nbilo..
opher, however, will not seek in vain for
the noblest effects Of habit, of self reliance
ana popular education upon the indiviual.
The Instances OF humble toll rising in the
soc'al scale to the honors of art, literature,
pohticai genius, inventive skill, and saga.
erus enterprise, are innumerable; and this
10 our gfdha ana ehviable distinction, that
society, iar rom impeding, extends The hand
Vi fellowship to merit. Not, however, in me-
tropOlitan saloons or suburban villas should
the candid enquirer seek Tor the social rnits
OF fepublicanism, but in rural lite, the cast
ern village, the expanding Western town.
IN those localities which are least inv ID d
by artificial influences. Let the stated Euro
pean enter lsiierman's house on Cape Cod,
see The ROBUST housewife prepare dinner,
and then hear her talk, at the board her
own hands have furnished and spread, Of
the last sermon, lyceum lecture, or new
book. and hewiti recognize the pr ,pressiye
principle insured by s,cill equality, rel.
gious freedom and common schools. Let
nm become the guest Of Kentucky plan
ter, aud the fearless, cordial, ingenious
tone Of manners and conversation around
him will offer the most re .reshng contrast
to the conventional and heartiess atmos.
phere he has known at Paris and Vienna.
Let him talk with the farmer or mechanic
At his side in the rail-car, and he NAV
chance to acquire new idea Of the honest
dignity or general information which free
citizenship secures to humanity Its til Sc
and siuhIar Instances way side, the
caspai, tae popular manifestations OF social
liie--which test the liberal and enlightened
spin, Of American society in its broadcast
and most authentic sense
In It's more prescriptve meaning, what is
chilled society IL very mGch the same every
where. The identical tulIies which pro-
woke the satr,st at Saratoga aud Newport,
are enacted III b iden- Baden and Bath At
all places Of public resort, where cards and
the polka are the regular means of social
pastime, vulgar wealth, coxcombical pre-
tension and affected refinement viii newt
ably find their way The watering-place,
the fashionable hotel and the receptions OF
public tunctlonarics and private aspIrants
for nototicly. are he chosen fields OF social
carica,urists, all the world over. The
hits OF some of our own writer's, who
have adventured in this sphere OF literature,
are, with scarcely an exception, oi univer-
sal appli ca,lou, and have no local sgnifca-
ton except what is derived from geograph-
zeal names. Similar absurdtits are re-
corded by Goldoni and Horace Wapole, Sir
II Il -. a IL. ~.
Thackeray, Lever and peter Schlemil in
America" To men and women OF earnest
ness and intellectual resources, the ball
ro,rns the casino and the tea-party have al
ways been precarious means OF social re-
freshment Good society, in the legitimate
meaning of the word, is everywhere The ex-
ception, not the rule; hence the rtnown
which attends il. Madame Recamer's
salon the famous dinners at Holland House
in the days of Pitt, the breakfasts OF Rog-
ers, matu.inal promenades in Landor's villa
garden at Florence, Jane Austen's German
soirtes, the literary circle at Weimar, and
tabe-taik with Macintosh, or an evening
at charles Limbs, aye memorable, because
such feasts of reason and such flow of soul
are proverbially rare. Gray, the poet, sat
apart and ate ices at Roman bail: Alfieri
shut himself up in disgust; the Lake bards
rptiredto Westmorclsnd; and the biography
of every superior intelligence aud ideal as
pirant indicates that the persons whose
companionship brings solace and elevation,
be long to that peerage Of the mind and that
arstocraey of character the very essence OF
which consists in select culture or a re-
markabe idiosyncrasy, alien to the pro-
mis- cuous association and frivolous aims OF
what, in common parlsnce, we intend by
the word soctty.-[H. 7. Tuckerlnan, in
North American Review.