Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-11-20
A Picture Of our Country.

America, as she now stands, is a striking
fact. The Western clearings, the immense
farms OF the Mississippi Valley, the Lake
trade, the foreign emigration, toiling Africa
chained to the car Of commerce., gorgeous
and reckless New York, and sudden San
Francisco, excite Imagination, by all that
they imply aud foreshadow They represent
many ideas, and embody many wonderful
and moving story; for business has its dam
ger and daring, its suffering. and endurance,
and the changes Of fortune, in this new
world Of boundless resources and free activ-
ity, are more marvellous than the tales OF
the Arabian Nights. This bold enterprise
that stretches to the Pacific, this skilled and
thoughtful race grasping vast empire like
/ homestead, TO cultivate, aud plant, and
ad ,rn this brave army of worshippers,
marching on irresisiibly to the conquest O
/ nature, form grand spectacle. Though
| their weapons axe, the plough, aud
/ the steam engine-have not the lustre oil
/ poetry that CLEANS from the point oil the
/ sword; though the heroes of the farm, the
work shop, and the contingencies, like VII
! laue Hampdens, die unsung. yet great quail
| ties are often exhibited in these humble
! fields of mans effort, and their labors found
! nations, as those OF the coral insect lii the
!! basis OF an island above the sea, to the light
( anil air of Heaven.
| But the picture has its DIRK side. The
eager desire for wealth, the .'incessant and
| Sabbathlnss' pursuit of it has become the
| universal passion and occupation. We have
| that love of money which is the root of all
| evil; and under the deadly shade of the tree
i from hat root, the love Of knowledge and
art, Of truth and virtue, and beauty withers
/! aud dies SIN pros perity no affairs smoke
| The curse OF Midas is upon US. Our ieel-
ings, our ideas, our aspirations, are all turned
into god, and we are starving amid our bar
rem abundance. We worship the material,
not the splritual; the visible and transient,
not the invisible and eternal. We are
practical, not intellectual; and our pleasures
are OF the senses, not Of the reason. imagn-
alton. and as,e. We are smitten with 1.-THE
lust of flesh, and the lust ofthe eye, and the
pride OF Iife.' We are true disciples of the
ethics of interest and utility, and our Gnty
morality is cash payment Truly has il been
said, that The who makes haste to get rich
shall not be innocent" If incorporate
drinking be the degrading vice ofone portion
of our people, iatemperate monet-masiH9 as
the beseaipg sin Of another and much larger
portion, and it is difficult to shy which is the
more pernicious. One is vice of the SEN
ses, destroying the mind; the other delu-
sion o! the mind, and selfish passion, blast
ing the moral sentiments, and palsyng the
higher powers Of the int llect. The poor
drunkard cannot resist the '.banelul cup
which benunbs the soul "lnmouldiRg
reas rs mintage," and transforming him
''lntc The ing oriogs likeness OF a beast
and The infatuated worshiper of Mammon
deliberately uses his mental faculties for his
own destruction, prefer. the ignobIe and
low TO the pure and high, and shuts out tie
light of Heaven from his life. Successful
industry, rapid gains, rank, prosperity, with
out counteraciing cause TO modify their in
huence, have stimulated this passion for
wealth to excess, and have produced already,
in this new country, luxury. vena!ty corrup-
ton, contempt for intellectual pursuits and
pleasures, and sneerng Indifference TO en-
nobling and elevated sentiment. Hence the
vulgar ostentaton of our cities; hence the
general want Of literary taste and culture;
hence the deplorable frauds of bushes !,
hence much Of the baseness oil our politics.
(.North American RcUielr.