The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1869-05-13
WORLD.
THE TWO CIVILIZATIONS,


Don Piatt, the witty and plain spoken Wash
ington correspondent of the Cincinnati Oo"'-
nercial, recently alluded, in one of his letters
to the strong love of home that prevails at the
South, as forming the basis of much that ne
regards as admirable in the Southern charac'
fer. For this he was bitterly attacked by the
Cincinnati Gazette From the spirited re)oln-
der of Don Piatt we make some extracts:
kind friend sent me the compliment OF
column, clipped from the Gazette IN when nj. !ne
LEADING editor of that solemn old organ takes
IN n;sees a nart of my Arlington letter. wish
he had not done it. Like the famous coon, l
would have come down had he given me any
show was ready to admit that l was under
:. stress of composition" and gave forth " the
froth of dull Imagination" after cudgellng " to
hrno forth a sentiment" There is so much
delicate poetic fancy in the columns of this ven
cradle organ-there is such quantity OF ten
der. touching sentiment in the soul of this
great 6nancier, that hasten to acknowledge
NV master, and beg forgiveness for the sin OF
attempting sentiment on the heights OF Airing
ton. I saw again, can l thought he had been
valiant, and SO cunning in fence by JoVe,
had known that he would even cOudescend 10
read nv door stuff, | would have cut the sentl-
ment. and given him some solid figures, on
which to feed his statistical soul:
Nav, I would have gone further, and even
confessed that the Yankee love OF locality sur
passed in strength all other love known to hu-
imanity. woull have ceased to indulge IN
that impious belief, once my tavorlte, that, had
Adam and Eve been Yankees, they would not
have waited for the Lord to expel them from
the Garden of Eden, but would have emlgrated
long before, and gone to specializing IN Wild
lands.
would have sworn that the love OF home
was a great love in New England, and found
expression in the quiet repose OF the household,
that it was without parallel in the annals OF hui
mainly. would have denied that it was COM
mon for children to quarrel over the support
of the aged parent or that the aged parent ev-
er charged the dear children weekly stipend
for board. would have repudlated with ~
dipnation the charge that the calendar of hOr-
ribe crimes instigated by love OF money as
shown by New England, is heavier than that OF
any other civilized people known to the world.
I would have shut my eyes to the matrimonial
infelicities and divorces that make that Yankee
community, called Chicago, so famous. | also
would have sworn that the love of the home
stead was so intense that it passed down from
generation to generation of tender Yankees,
who would die in cold blood rather than part
with foot of the loved locality for slight ad,
vance. would have sworn to all this, and, II
could have thought of it, to more rather than
be stretched in torture along the loaded length
of q column in this ancient journal.
could have admitted much if not all OF this,
and vet maintained what meant to assert.
had no idea of running comparison between
the moral condition of the North aud that OF
the South. A man may be as pure aud upright
as Charles Sumner and yet have no love OF
home or attachment for the locality home has
made sacred. He may be a wicked man, and
vet be attached to the little surroundings made
dear by feelings we hold in common with the
brute creation. The Arab in his tent may be
as good 4 creature, in moral point OF view,
as the Swiss peasant in his cottage. What
endeavOred to say in my letter was that love
of home existed ut the South In way unknown
to New England. l never heard this disputed
before And in this love of home find the
foundation for better civilization than one
based on force, pride or property. The very
illustrations offered by the editor prove the
correctness Of my position, A man may adorn
his dwelling with all that art and taste can sup
ply, and yet sell the house to strangers without
pang Of regret. Paintings and statuary and
architecture may make it valuable without
making it precious. The fact that in our little
town we have made our fight with the world,
that there the wife loved, believed in and trust
ed. and the dear children were born, or grew
I'D and sickened and died, make it and all its
surrounding dear to us beyond the mere valua.
ton in monay. helped to burn houses in the
Shenandoah Valley that were on farms held by
the same families since the days of the colony.
Our New England friends would have snapped
their fingers at the loss, for the value in money
was small but the people of the Valley fought
to the death for those homes, because they
were homes.
Of course, my friend will sheer at this, and
call it another gush of sentiment, gotten up to
order 1t is common to do 80 with people who,
not feeling it, fail to understand and apprecl.
ate such thing.
Nor is his reference to emigration any hap
pier. New Engander sells out to strangers,
and seeks new lands from wish to better his
condition in a pecunlary way. The Southern
er leaves his hume, as II son goes out into the
world, leaving the old homestead III the keep
ing of the family. and chershes its memory
with life. And in this way the South has come
to be one great family. And Virginia seemed
to reach out and embrace the vast territory
such emigration has conquered. This is not
the civilization Of New England. A man there
does not have love for his home-but, as the
learned editor tells us with such very charming
nairete, he has pride I'M it He adorns it with
Il nd fhnn Sails nut fn buh