New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-09-19
LIFE IN AMERICA AyD ~ FRANCE.
REPLY TO Mr.. ST. GAULARDEr.

IL D tniDg etupy a0hutu '"A =" "
Istempt &C mprehending American hfe. 10 stsrsa'
Ne monde and DO stared at oy the monde; such is
he Frenchman's conception Of earthly felicity, in
>ouupar;son with which an American would vastly
yreler cuds ceiling unwilling pigs to market, or any
s<Asr dusty and devious endesvor which yet had
eoue show Of hnmsn use some fragrant spice oil
~atuyal variety. Your true Frenchnan will 81. for
any number Of consecutive hours glued TO tha
ben shes Of the ChuPs Etysees in order to see tho
ueads pass by-to see it merely with HE eyes, re-
nember-never speaking TO a soul, never knowing
. soul IN al the moving mesa, yet perte'ty convent
% see the monotOnous waves roll on and rePeatther
Siyesome glare, till darkness comes at last TO snatch
tAen from sight and the beholdes et us hope) irou
inbecihty. To frequeot from childhood to NAE
Asod, and from manhood to ed age the same IN
changing scenes; 10 sit year IL aud yesr out on the
sare dusty sidewalks, in frOnt of thetame crowded
md noisy eejts, playing the same eternal dom;noe'
seeing pass the same thrOng of similar people, each
a hhe the other in his diversity as Big pea Is ike
little pea, a. double clover is like singh Clover
Or q wilted cabbage is Like fresh one, everiast
asly slipping the same eau srcres, eVerlastingY
hearing and repeating the stupid gossip OF Mrs
b., to-day, which wss heard and repeated Of Mrs.
A. yesterday; everlsstDgly resertug to the same
play house to applaud the same actors; running to
the same opera to 90 into estacies ever the sane
eddie; strolliDg along the same streets to gaze at
the same or similar prints in the same windows at
the end of the year which he gazed upon at the
beginning; such is your true Frehchnans coDcep-
ton Of variety such is his ideal of life aud ne cam
not but heartily despise a state of things like that
at home which drops all this imbecile routine out
~ an infinite dreariness and ennui. In short,
throughout the entire European world Especially IN
Continental Europe) you find business and pleasure
most sharply Disseminated and dIsOined. You flnd
amusement pursued as distinct conscious end
actually cOvenanted for as the purchase OF so many
psns--and finally pOcketed as so much visible, tan
gible harvest
Now, all this is utterly incredible and dismal to
The American mind, because the entire drtt OF that
mind is toward the combining of these divorced
tendencies-is toward the perfect reconciliation or
atOnement of business and pleasure; IN other words
because the American life seeks to assert itself
above all in spontaneous or aesthetic forms AmuSe-
ment for its own sake, or divorced from improve
ment is infinitely tedious to the American: he never
feels at home in it, and always prays God to forgive
him such stupidity. The Frenchman or the Ger
man seeks amusement the child seeks it, that Is,
ss an escape from dscipine as "a distraction. lie
has always been the subject of the State
or the Church, never constituent por-
tion or member and he has consequent
Iy been entertained by these astute powers
with all sorts of gllttering spectacles, agreeable
prOmeDades, delicious music, cheap beer and sooth-
ing pipes Of tobacco which might keep the animal
tame and mild and dispose him to that life of pa
tient drudgery for the most part to which the neces
sites of priest and king condemn him. Accord
IL him
distraction from care, as relief from grinding toll
IN short amusement in strictly puere form is the
only conception OF il which has entered the European
mind, and can never become elevated into higher
Eorm except by the infusion of now blood.
was IN Frankfort on-the Main few days since,
aud betook myself evening through tho hot and
dusty atmosphere to its celebrated Md'n-Lusf, or
garden by the river side, where all the citizens con-
Cregate to hear fine muslc, ana soak themselves,
their wives and little ones in the Odor OF
beer and tobacco. Contot's old garden in
Broadway was in the comparison glimpse
of some unviolated Paradise; and when / saw the
patjent people cit amid all that heated dust and
brszen din of music, deyoutly guiding endless bot
Ties of beer, devoutly consuming innuneraDlc pipes
of tobacco and then reflected that this was what
that patient people did, not now and then "' pass
ing insanity or spree, but habually as an end and
aim Of life for which they rendered heaven thanks,
my afflicted soul indignant within me, and l
vowed q vow of incODtnent amends to our own
dear indigenous Nose and Lie for having so long
failed to discern in them Il more advanced humanity,
far diviner spark Of life, than has yet got kndled
IN the freest of these European capitals.
Nose and Lie are still imperfect beings, allow.
The most devout imagination finds it hard to recog.
nze in them the type Of the perfected American
man and woman. Why? Obviously because
Mose and Lie live amid peryerse and un-
Believing generation, or are developing them
selves under difficulties. Put tun weight upon
the head Of the straghtest palm now shooting to-
ward heaven, and you will infalhbly find it grow up
dwaIfed and distorted. Now, It is not one tun only,
but q million Of tuns of established prejudice and
antruth under which human freedom still struggles
in America; and Nose aud Lie are the gnarled
and unhsndsome product of the struggle. But
Nose and Lie have at ieest this priceless merit
have this incOntestable human SAVIOR about them,
namely, that they are each to some extent a truly
spontaneous forces each greatly devoid of morality
that is, Of sOcitude "for what Mrs Grundy Will
says" each prepared 10 obey above all Thugs their
own pleasure or attraction. They may not be- at
tIacted toward any very elevated objects rs yet, be-
cause this will only from CULTURE that is, from
the fullest social recognition ofhuman freedom But
the admirable fact is, that they are ready te obey
their attractions whatever they may be, and thus
stand i'll the attitude of patient waiting upon that
Providence whose function IT is necessarily to ele
vate them. IL is easy of cou,se to mistake and
misrepresent this temper Of mind: the skeptcsG or
conservative instinct is sure TO cOnlouud il with
outrage and indifference 10 the rights of Others.
But it seems to that this is gross injustice. Nose
and Llze are living witnesses OF human Fellowship
They vindicate the right of the down'trodde1
soul of man, long stepped in poverty in fifth, in lg
BOIaDce, III debsseRent of every sort, long held 70
be the servie appaDsgc in THE world at all events
of certain established satellites and royalties, to
come f,rth from liza 1uDpenn AMI Cattars and