The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-08-16
COMMUNICATED

church fer the old PreSbyte society, and
Won speak in commentator of them. You
have said much of late, too, about the duty
and interests of our citizens TO -patronize
home artists, mechanics and labor Archi-
lecture is the creation in stone and mortar
of q beautiful ideal structure and is au en-
bodiment of poetry; and a noble buildings
visible, material poem-a revelationo OF ideal
grandeur and majestry to every eye that
glances at it. II speaks more torcibly and
clearly to the vision than printed characters;
its meaning is embraced,,at onceby insuitiOn.
The architecture of people is type OF
their civilization and taste, and as much evil
dence of their refinement and genius as
their books; it would be quite as much
credit to people to plagiaize their htera-
ture as to steal or copy their architecture.
Now, have looked at these drawings I'M
ported from Philadelphia, and as original
drafts they could be greatly excelled by two
or three resident architects here; as i'm
ported second hand affairs, they are, in my
humble view, a reproach, if not an insult to
native or resident talent. As understand
$3.50 have been sent to Philadelphia to get
copies of an old plan of church that had
been built, somewhere in that vicinity, when
$3.50 would have ELECTED original and better
! drawings from our own mechanics, with
working plans for each separate piece OF
work; these latter -vould have saved many
| hundred dollars losses, either to the church
or builders, from misunderstanding and
blunders. As an expression of our taste
and genius in building shat is to be
worthy of the commercial metropolis of In
diana we are to have a copy of a church
built after the taste of some old quaker
community in Pennsylvania. What living
real expression OF the forid impulsive ex-
uberant genius OF western Americanism will
be embodied in such copy, blnnderingly
put up from imperfect sketches, and with
out working plans? How prominently will
Hoosier genius stand out to future genera
tons in this copy of Eastern Quaker Pres
byterianism. One old log cabin preserved
in some remote forest will reveal a great
deal more of it.
But admit what The Church Committee
claim, that the plans are better and cheaper
than we could have obtained at home; for
one, should have preferred something of
native production, if it were inferior to an
imported article. II would have been an
honest original, and no counterfeit; and
would have shown the true state of the arts
among us; there would be some expression
of our own conceptions of the grand and
beautiful in it. We could a Church.
send to Philadelphia and get copies of
the eloquent sermons that are weekly
dealt out to the Presbyterian con-
gregations there, and have them MUIR
dered by secondhand readings TO our
Church, for one-quarter what we pay Mr..
McCarer for producing his good, but very
commonplace discourses for us. propose
4 avn We SNb SOpftu NhuANA uuiity We
shall havecopied sermons from Philadelphia
read in it. All things will then be in keep
ing. We shall have Philadelphia Presbyte-
rianism, in body and soul, among US.
Why do we pay Mr.. McCarer, unless it be
to have living expression of the emotions
that stir our own hearts from one who par
ticipates with US in all our thoughts, feelings
and peculiar trials; the copied sentiments
of distant communities would be cold and
foreign to our ears. If we pay for Church,
that is to be n type of our own conceptions
of beauty, We want one OF our own people,
who feels rs we do to reveal it to ms, and
give it expression, although it may not be
quite so chaste and symmetrical to other
eyes. - r1lt ee1e- .-. ~ -.
am n mechanics wife and n Presbyterian,
and intended to give my mite TO rear a
structure that would u-be credit to the
commercial metropolis of Indiana" but have
concluded the Church may seek its aid to
build where it found its plans.
THE WIFE OF AN EVANSVILLE MECHANIC