The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-10-07
How the German Boy First Heard o
America.

America.
The following extract is from Carl Schuz
lecture on Americanism. 1t glows with
the fire of the genuine orator:
I intend to speak of American as the
great representative of the spirit OF this age.
And when | use the word Americanism, |
do not mean that narrow and poor. policy
which certain nien apply to certain political
questions, but the ideal nature OF this coun-
; try, of this people, and of their institutions.
1t is one of the earliest recollections- of
my byhood that one summer night our
! whole village was astir in consequence of an
uncommon occurrence | say our village,
/ for was born in a small hamlet not far
/ from the beautiful spot where the Rhine
rolls her waters out of the wonderful gate
of the Seven Mountains and meanders with
majestic tranquility through one of the most
/ glorious valleys in the world. That night
our neighbors were pressing around few
wagons covered with linen sheets and load
ed with household utensils, and boxes and
| trunks, to their utmost capacity. One of
our neighboring families were moving far
away across great water, and it was said
that they would never again return. And
saw silent tears trickling down weather
beaten checks, and the hands of rough
peasants firmly pressing each other, and
some of the men and women hardly able
to speak when they nodded to one another
Il last farewell.
At last the train got into motion; they
! gave three cheers for Amer:cl! and then in
1 the first gray dawn of the morning, I saw
! them wcnd their way over the hill until
they disappeared in the shadow of the for
81 Nd rb,,~
! Ply he would be if he was able TO go with
| them to that great and free country. That
was the first time | heard of America, and
my childish imagination took possession of
! a land covered partly with majestic trees,
! partly with fowery prairies, unreasonable
/ to the eye, and intersected with large rivers
and broad lakes-.l land where every body
J could do what lie though best and where
nobody was poor, because everybody was
free.
! And later, when | was old enough to read
descriptions of this country, and books on
American history fell into my hands, the
offspring of my imagination acquired the
colors of reality, and began to exercise my
brain with the though. what man might be
and become when left perfectly free to him
self. And still later, when ripcning into
HlliIOOtt, 1 +OUhSl up lIOl4l my SCHOOl DOOhS
into the stir and hustle OF the world; and the
trumpet tones ofstruggling humanity struck
my ear and thrilled my heart, and saw my
nation shake their chains in order to burst
them, and heard a gigantic, universal shout
for Liberty rising up to the skies; and, at
last, after having struggled manfully and
drenched the earth eff Father-land with the
blood of thousands Of noble beings.
! saw that nation crushed down again,
not only by overwhelming armies, but by
the leaden weight of customs and institu-
tions, and nations, and Frejudiees, which
past centuries bad heaped upon her should
ers, and which moment of enthusiasm,
however sublime, could not destroy, then
consoled an almost responding heart with
the idea of a youthful people, and of original
institutions, clearing the way for an un-
trammcled deFelopement of the ideal nature
of man. Then | turned my eyes in the,
lively across the Atlantic Ocean, and Amer
lea, and Americanism, as fanced it, be
came to me the last depository of the hopes
of all true friends Of humanity.