Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1860-03-16
The Atlantic Monthly.

In order ia secure a healthy religious
moral and literary tone in society, it J
essential that the press should not onl
send abroad iis daily, weekly and month
ly publications, but that some at least 3
these periodicals should become institu
tons, living power, that while reflect
ing the mind, manners aud inieligenc,
Of the people, is welding an arm il
moulding the habits, and in giving tom
and color TO the thoughts Of that people
Such an fundamentally has long beer
needed in our country.
Our ancestors were not strictly speak
ing literary people. From their colo
NAL position they bad their attention
turned more to politics, aud from the tiei
they had lately severed in religious
matters, to theology and besides the
had for near couple Of centuries tc
maintain a warfare, sharp and unrelent.
ing for their very existence.
OF course the wealth Of English let.
ters received but small contributions in
the olden time. From the settlement Of
the colonies down to the last quarter Of
century, scarce half a dozen had made
any advance from the multitude Of wri-
tiers, and Of these we can only think Of
Jonathan Edwards and Benz. Franklin
rs permanent realities. Our fUreiaihers
we're hostile to the arts. Their ideas Of
education were analogous TO the Spartans,
who held that knowledge Of letters for
practical purposes should be common to
all, but that no encouragement should be
given to the cultivation Of elegant or
speculative literature. Even Jonathan
Edwards who was a great metaphysical
author was not Of purpose an author,
but simply by the necessity Of his genius,
which dictated, even to him, Puritan,
an artistic perfection Of logical forms
with which the most fastidious in these
days could not have quarreled.
With the establishment Of our Nation
al Independence came the desire for a
national literature. With! the increase
Of wealth, the cultivation Of the arts and
Of refinement commenced among U.s.
Every nation has its literature, and we
having become a nation, must have ours.
Il was not surprising il the first literary
productions Of the new republic were
not Of nature either to appal or to en-
chant maknd. But our columns cannot
afford lengthy history Of Magazinedom.
We will however affirm that English IL
terature received but slender aid from
the periodical press prior TO the middle
Of the present century. In 1858 Put
nam & Co. established their 4Honhk."
With editorial talent among the best in
the country, with contributions from the
richest minds in the world, they added
largely to ,be reputation Of our nation
al literature, and gave it power and in
Auence unattained by any publication on
the continent. But pecuniary difficulties
compelled the publishers to abandon the
system. After a brief existence it left
US only a name that had reached all
lands and fame enduring as the Anglo
Saxon tongue.
The loss Of Putnam was scarcely felt
before it was supplied by the " atlantic
Monthly which with its FIRST breath leap
ed into the highest rank among its fell
lows in the old world. IN looking over
the instructive and diyerting melange Of
history, poetry, criticism, reviews, tales,
editorial comments in No. l, our MOURN
ing for the dead Putnam was turned into
joy. Nor have the succeeding numbers
disappointed its first promise. In style
its papers are usually faulless, avoiding
the coarseness and blackguardism of the
Blackwood Of former times, and at the
same time steering clear of the refined
voluptuousness Of the Byronic school
In theology it discourses from a stand
point, midway between the pantheism OF
a Carlyle, and the Calvinism of Hop
kins, thus giving a coloring to the solu-
ton Of the great problem Of life at once
rational, and beneficial. With the talent
secured in its aid, combining great wit,
beautiful thoughts, sagacious criticism,
and profound learning, we can not doubt
as 10 the extent OF its influence or the
durability Of its foundation.
MORE BLooD.-The Legislature Of
Virginia refuses to commute the sentence