Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1855-11-20
A Picture Of Our Country.

paper.
A Picture Of Our Country.
AMERICA, as she now stan dis, is a stri.
king fact. The western clearings the
immense farms ofthe Mississippi valley.
the Lake trade, the foreign migration,
toiling Africa chained to the car OF com.
merce, gorgeous and reckless Now York,
and sudden San Francisco, excite ina.
gnation, by all that they imply and
roreshadow. They represent many ideas,
and embody many wonderful and mo.
wing story; for business has its danger
and daring, its suffering and endurance,
and the changes Of fortune, in this new
world OF boundless resources and free
activity. ore more marvellous than the
tales Of Arabian Nights. This bold en-
terprisch that stretces TO the Pacific, this
skilled and thoughtful race graspng a
vast empire, like homestead, 10 cult.
vate, and plant and adorn; this brave
army Of worshippers. marching on ire.
sistibly TO the conquest Of nature, form
grand spectacle. Though their weapons
--lhe axe, the plough, and the steam en-.
sine-have not the lustre of poetry that
CLEANS from the point Of the sword; !;
though the heroes Of the farm, the work
shop and the counting house, like village
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 in &.
sect lift the basis Of an island above the
sea, to the light and air Of heaven.
But the picture has its dark side.--
The eager desire for wealth, the " inces
SAINT and Sabba,hless" pursuit of it has
become the universal passion and occu.
patton. We have that love Of money
which is the root Of all evil; and under
the deadly shade Of the tree from that
root, the love Of knowledge and art, OF
truth, and virtue, and beauty, wilhers
and dies. "In prosperity no sltars
smoke" The curse Of Midas is upon
US. Our feelings, our ideas, our aspira.
tons, are all turned into gold, and we
are starving amid our barren abunda nee.
We worship the material, not the spirit.
ual; the visible and transient, not the
invisible and eternal. We are practi.
cal, not intellectual; and our pleasures
are Of the senses, not of the reason, i'm.
agnation, and taste. We are smitten
with "the lust OF flesh, the lust Of the
eye, and the pride OF life." We are true
disciples Of the ethics Of interest and
utility, and our only morality is cash
payment. Truly has it been said, that
he who maks,h haste to get rich shall
not be innocent. lfintemperate drink.
ing be the degrading vice Of one portion
of our people, intemperate money ma.
king is the besettins sin Of another and
much larger portion, and it is difficult to
say which is the more pernicious. One
is vice Of the sense, destroying the
mind; the other delusion Of the mind,
and selfish, passion. blasting the moral
sentiments, and paIsying the higher pow.
crs of the intellect. The poor drunkard
cannot resist the "baneful cup" which
benumbs his soul, "unmoulding reason S
mlntage," and transforming him
Z" Into the inglorious likeness of a beast"
and the infatuated worshipper of Nam.
mon deliberately uses his mental facul.
ties for his own destruction, prefers the
ignoble and low to the pure and high.
and shuts out the light Of heaven from
his life. Successful industry, rapid
gains, rank, prosperity, without counter
acting causes to modify their influence,
have stimulated this passion for wealth
to excess, and have produced already,
in this new country, luxury, venality,
corruption, contempt for intellectual
pursuits and pleasures, and sneering in.
difference to ennobling and elevated sen.
liment. Hence the vulgar ostentation oil
our cities, hence the general want Of Ii.
terary taste and culture; hence the do.
plorabIe frauds Of business; hence much
OF the baseness Of our polhics.--North
American Reuiei0.