The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1857-04-09
in New Emgland.
Rev. DIR. 0sgood delivered alscturs on this
subject before sths aArtsOlub o. Boston, yws

suoJect Def1e stne g1trINAub OK bo6ton.4 tWo
mske an extract: bs7p sssd sgd tzsf ssfT
1t is not an UNCOMMON idsa. that New Eng
land is the. chosep realm Of prosy prudence
and cold calculation-that the yard stick is
above the musical sc aIe-that ffle mlltiplica.
, ton table stands beside fhea Ten Commando
ments. and the price current enters into tbs
morning meditations quite. as much a. tina
! Psalter-that the people are as frigid as tbs
climate, whose most conspicuous products,
, grafite and ice, are said 10 be no bad svmbols
of Yankee hardness and reserve.z "a snper-s
fetal view of New England History might,
confirm this notion The Puritans left behind
Them the poetry and beautiful arts Of the 3lda
world. and little desired to see them spring:
up, in their new home Some Of them must,
lave b en- acquainted with the master mind Of
! England poetry, yet in most Of these authors
\ there was so strong recognition Of the pre-
sailing notions Of Cover nment, society and re-s
| ligion, as TO make them utterly distastful to,
! men Of Puritan culture, who had seen so much
! OF the pride and vinity OF The civil and ec-
! clesiastical powers. that thev were Jealous Of
the fancy that had been 50 enlisted in their SER
vice. But the very men who condemned ina
ginations were full of them and were destined
| by Providence TO inauguratesa a new era in the
world of the ideal. The whole history OF the
| New Englanders has been the growth and
bloom of the goodly steed which was at frst
/ Sown IN tears.
| During the second century Of New England
life the foundations Of our national system
were laid, The events of, this period acted
/ powerfully on the imagination Of the people.
Do not make merry at me for naming as edu-
/ Gators of New England Imagination in the
eighteenth century two men who were gene-
| rally considered as the dryest and most matter
| of-fact characters. mean Jonathan Edwards
the metaphysian andtheologian and Benjamin
L Ill, H. n
man. Edwards taught the people to- combine
a burning enthusiasm with logical thought,
and his great works were the schooling Of
many anxious and earnest thinkers in.farm-
houses and in colleges. He taught the great
faith of the SOUPS spirituality, and the worth
lessness of every life that is blind to the truth
and dead TO the love Of God With all his
severity, and perhaps superstition, he was q
majestic ideaiist. His sermons are full of
graphic imagery. In his way he was the
Dante Of his time; and by his logical struc-
ture of divine things he did For New England
somewhat what Dante did FOR Italy bv his
mstchless vision. Whilst Edwards and others
trained the people TO spiritual visions, Frask-
lin, the great utilifarian, trained them TO ma
terial visions, and was the chief s'lcetorSo Sos
the people in their i,nssinations OF thsscornine
wonders of sclsRee ana aFi, ind astry and gov-
ernment He had in his faculty ef discovery
and invention, what We may can he ccnstruc-
tive imagination, and he has gwen 10 many
men more ideal inspiration than he himself
followed. IN as.srzsrt, 40 sssg A. zssg yy,sg
He was probably more than any other man
the designer of theAmercan Union that struc-
ture that still survives, notwithstanding the
Worcester Convention. ASurely he who did
! So much to construct our nationality, our
science and art, has been one of the educators
of the public mind. He has turned the facili-
ties Of vision to the utilities Of the earth an
sEdwardsturneci tito the spiritualties of heaven.
and he has been a kind of terrestrial Newton.
Edwards hyperborean Dante They repre-
resent types OF mind that are constantly blend
ed in the New England character, i'm which
pure idealism or pure realism is rarely found
but the tendency is what may be. called an
ideal realism, or a disposition to bring ideal
convictions TO bear upon practical realities
and work ont into plain matter -of-fact evesv
idea or conviction. This kind Of realism an.
pears in the best fruits of the New England
more ripe andaccomplished culture. The best
things have been said by men at sssork in
earnest for some practical purpose, whilst
comparatively little has been done by ANA
teurs who seek the Beautiful as asfime, or
cultivate ina giaation for its own sake. The
literary ease and elegance Of the best writeSs
and speakers came more from, the friction Of
minds in actual collision with public affairs
than from artistic elaboration The pulpit
laarneds fiuency by melting it's pedantic veS-
biage in the fires Of patriotism. The war Of
The revolution did much to stir the i'm agina.
ton. and the whole movement tended to break
up the old monotone. e21 sast RsA Ftias4
l. a.