Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-08-19
The Giants of the Past

the worst OF all times, and public manners
and morals more hopeless than ever before.
our contemporaries pigmies and orr an
cestors giants, and to look to the future a.
the paradise of hope and the golden age
Is as old rs civilized man. In this coun
try, we are inclined to believe that the
epoch thtt followed the Revolution was
me of the utmost purity and simplicity
But it was one of the '' fathers who said
o a friend upon the adjournment of the
first Congress, DO you suppose such
set of rascals will ever assemble again?"
And in his diary John Adams appeals to
the calmer mind and juster Judgment OF
the coming age-meaning that in which
we live, and from which we look wistfully
blck to old John A Alam's cooked hat ami
knee -breeches as the symbols of nobler
time. Then there is Fisher Ames one OF
the most famous orators and conspicuous
leaders of the beginning of the century
who, studying his country at the time To
which we recur as the age of high p pIrpose
and lofty men, bewails the sor,i,lneSs. sell
| iShness, and degradation around hiW.
OF COURSE" he says, seventy Years ago.
the single passion that engrosses us, lh
only avenue To consi leratinn AMI impor-
tlnce in our so iety,is the accumulation
! property; or inclinations cling t. gold,
md are belded in it It's deeply rs that pre-
| cio is ore in the mine. As eXperienc,
evinces that populariiy-in other words
consideration and p1wer-is to be pro
cured by the metne>t of mlnkind, tn,
meanest in spirit and understanding. and
in the worst of ways. it is obvious that n
present the Indictment to genius is next t.
no.h ng."
We might suppose that we were listen
! ing to contemporary cynic; and whoever
re IDS tha history of The politics of thu
time will find that the better day,
of the republic were very like the days
n which we deplorc their disappearance
! When Mr.. Ames died, John Quincy
Adams wrote a review of his works, in
which, with the mild eqEinimiiy and
sweet moderation of the golden age, h.
remarks, 1t is a melancholy contempa
ton of human nature to see a mind s
highly cultivated and so richly gifted
that of Mr.. Ames soured and eXisperatrd
into the very rawlings of bedlaml'e." He
then proceeds to speak of those who. with
out believing Mr. Ames' "absurd and in
consistent political creed" are seltishly
eager for its propagation. being ''choice
spirits. amounting to at most six hun
JuntoO and who hold that " the porcelain
must rule over the earthenware, the blind
and sordid multitude must put themselves,
hound hand and foot, into the custody OF
the lvnx-eved. seraphic souls of the six
hundred, and then all together must GO
and soe.at for protection under the hun
dred hands of the British Briareus." To
this GENTLE strain Mr. John Lowell replie
in similar vein, beginning by speaking
of the malignitv of Mr.. Adams sarcasm
and of his following Mr.. Ames to the
grave with crocodile tears, informing him
that he hal no need 10 assail Mr.. Ames
. friends with all the venom of an lnfurlat
ed partisan. because he had already OBJ
tanned for rafting from the FederalistS
and this act of gratitude to his benefactor:
WAS unnecessary Mr.. Lowell ends hi:
, replv by saving that in the course of :
+ short political life Mr.. Adams had re, eiveC
more than seventy thousand dollars from
: the public, and that while no man pitiet
: Mr.. Ames, Mr. Adams is an object o
+ sincere commiseration with many a maj
= of high and honorable feelings, while it i
: to be doubted whether he is the object O
5 envy to any man on earth.
1 These are glimpses of the golden age
+ of that better day of the republic witt
. which our own is so often and SD injurious
? " contra>ted. Indeed. there is no fine
. cordial for despondency than glance Il
e the paradise that hovers behind our re
n treating steps. The mountain travele
+, turns and sees lovely vision floating il
: the sky.
It How family flushed, how phantom-fair,
: Was Monte Rosa, hanging there
!, 4 thOu SAINT shaiiOwy p nclPl valleys,
Il And snowy dells in golden air"
. Good lack! lie cries, are those the crae
: and precpices along which / slid an
e stumbled in terror of my life. The hang
d inc gardens of the past, the haleyon epoc
/ of our history, the lost paradise of OF
/; fathers, are all crags and precipices alon
d which the race and our country have stun
e bled and slid. If any man Is disposed
H. think that he has fallen upon evil time
IS let him open his history. 1t is marve
n Gus stonic.-EDIroR's EASY CHAIR, in Ha
~ ~ per's Magazine for September.