The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-02-10
ost vsliantly against inimical wind

Coming down to more recent tines; ~
find monarchial forms Of government a
lone in vogue. Education and positio'
were confined to few of the nobility on
ly;--thc great mass of the people being
mere serfs or slaves, laboring to suppor
in luxury and ease, despotio and titled
aristocracy.
How marked the contrast at the pres.
ept dayl We boas. OF land where all
are freemen,-aN sgs ncblensn:-Wheas
every boy san read, and where the veri-
est beggar is better educated apd better
clothed aud fed, than sas .he English
peasant of two centuries ago. We live
iu time and in cline where the people
make their olcn laws, and vsagc the only
ruler We acknowledge, is good old gen
tlemau by the name of MoyoritT-Shen
monarchies are getting 20 be unpopular,
and when it is universally adni;.ed that
the bes: form Of government is where the
| people govern themselves. The tactics
aud uachinery for human slaughter, no
longer claim exclusive attention; the war
horse has been h.rnessed to the plow,--
the swora and the helmet have been u an
afactured into steel pens, and ladies'
hoops, and the roar and tumult Of h.ttls,
have given place to the hun Of the facto-
ry spindle, and the ring cf ths blask-
smiths anvil.
Men, no longer ambitious Of ca,,ips
each others tbroats, satisfy their thirss for
blood by skiuning each other on, Wall
street, aud shaving paper at $50 peF cent.
The system Of robbery and p!uOder pre-
vsiling in those barbaric ages, has been
remodeled aud sdapted to the refinement
and civilization OF more modern tises;
and SO well is it suited to the wants and
eonveniences Of the community, and so
beautifully does it work in practice, that
men caa now be robbed with the creates.
facility and in the most hupape aud con-
siderate manner. This is one great evil
dence of the onward march Of civilization.
The pickpocket, the garote, the swell mob,
the drop game, are among the reiinements
and luxuries Of this generation, and tho
they might more properly be classed e.
g.ong the achievements Of the age, in our
third division, yet they nay be iutrodur.
ed here to make more distinct the con-
trast between the present sge, and those
rude and benishted ones which have gone
before.
Our great and gloriou, nation is not
now distracted BY feudsl and intestine
ware, as has been the ease uith othsr ns-
tons iu the history Of the past; it ia not
divided into hostile clans eternally at war,
the one With the other; but it is one yast
brotherhood, composed of concord AIT
spirits dwelling together in harmony.
cheating each other in the most legal and
manner; and whose worthy
in the Congressional Halls
settle their little difference, as it becomes
Statesmen snd scholars Of the Nineteenth
Century, go to do, with canes aud carving
knives.
Another great and important distine-
ton between the present aud former ages,
is in the department of Literature. The
present, unlike the past, has produced no
great literary work. 1t can boast of no
intellectual prodigy like Homer, Virgil,
Milton or Shakespeare. The world does
rot look for another Illiad: in the domain
Of Literature, those master spirits of the
past will ever reign triumphant, unap-
preached and uuapproachable. One
great reason of this, has been before men
.ioned;-it is because the atte ntion Of the
age has beer directed elsewhere. 1t is
,be hobby of this generation to make
railroads and canals, and not poems or
tragedies. 1t is this practical, common
place sentiment which precludes the
probability of any great, immortal liter
Try production. The man who digs
bitches, and drives mules, is more need
ID and better rewarded, than is lie who
.dorns the literature OF his country; and,
u these days of utility, a patent mouse
rap is better capital than an epic poem.
Had Homer, Virgil or Will. Shakespeare
ived in these days, they would have been
inevitably obliged to give up the cultiva.
ion of the muse, and go to raising cab
'ages and turnips. Nay. should even
hat classic steed, Pegasus, bimself,
rom time immemorial the exelu.
i've property of the muses. should even
Ie, By chance, slight upon these utilits.
4 IL 1