Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-01-31
TIL ANTI-SLAVERY BUGLE.

badly, ! heard him twice some years since and
am sure be did better then.
In his lecture the effort to DO witty was very
conspicuous, and oftentimes it was successful,
Even |, with an entire absence of a sense of the
ludicrous, could sometimes see the point. The dis
course was full of interesting matter. First was
the voyage, with all its ~listless, unsatisfying, sick
ening associations. ireland; England, rural man.
ufacturing and commercial; the English character;
France ard the French, Germany, Switzerland and
Italy; these were his topics. Any one of them am
pli6ed would have been better than the whole.
lie did not seem to be quite so much enamored
with Euglishmen as Emerson, still he acknowl'
edged what everybody knows, that they arc @
people inferior to none in the world. The English
man is not aspiring. never pretends to be anything
more than he is. lie is satisfied to be q well-bred,
independent Englisbman. The nobility are also
well-bred and sensible. II a Lord should be
dropped down on a Western prairie, a squatter
might share with him his corn bread and beacon,
without ever regretting his hospi atty.
The French excel us in economies and the order
of living. The Frenchman does not build a fire
in his room, it is cheaper and better to put on his
oyercoat and take q walk to warm him. 1t is
also cheaper and better to buy q good dinner Mt a
restaurant than to keep n poor cook. | hoped to
hear tho speaker regret the absence of home
among the French, and its effects upon the nation
al character, but l was disappointed. The French
love gain even more than the Americans. With
the latter, making money is the business Of life,
with the former it is q pressing necessity, and
must be pursued with diligence that it may the
sooner be relinquished. The French women are
a study of themselves. The shops are kept by
women, and when the intrinsic merit of an article
fails to effect "A sale, it is always completed by
.hattery. Monsieur has such fine eyes, this color
will suit them" The article is sold and the
buyer too.
Of the other countries named, the spcaker,said
but little.T The scenery Of the :Rbine is far more
beautiful than that of the Hudson. The former
invites the poet and the painter, the latter attracts
the Spectator and the surveyor. Most of the
Americans who go abroad are green young men
who have no m oral right to travel.
The influence Of the Old World upon the New,
with which Mr.. Greeley closed, | thought the best
part of the lecture. While he did not hesitate to
exalt America as nearly every American does, he
did not suffer her misdeeds to go unrebuked. lie
thought a decided and ignominious defeat would
do her more good than anything else-cure her of
fllibustcring etc. Tho American revolution was
much greater in conception than in execution.
The revolution would be completed when slavery
was abolished, and there were no unjust laws to
embnrrass or to Cypress.
] thought while he was speaking, How is 1t that
men get reputation? Is it not, in nine cases out
of ten, by energy and perseverance,, and acquired
executive power rather than by genius and great
talents? But however it comes, it must l think
be very pleasant to possess. To be greeted by
three rounds of applause, before you utter n word,
to feel that everybody is glad to see you, and will
give the most earnest attention to what you say,
is not only enough to put a man at his ease, but
to inspire him and make a success Of what under
other circumstances would be a failure.
1t seems that Lecturers this winter arc hardly
at par. Even Mr.. Greeley himself called out an
audience here Of less than two hundred only. /
suppose there are a few stars who generally have
good houses. Possibly the system was commenced
at too heavy an expense. The reaction it now
suffers, will in time | trust give place to a more
healthful feeling, and a just appreciation of an
institution too valuable, certainly, to be rclin-
pushed. j. Z. j.
OwEGo, n. Y, Jan. 18, '57.