Helena weekly herald., 1881-01-01
Written for the Herald.
The AVERAGE AMERICAN.
BY j. L. DRYDEN.

To solve safely and permanently the grea
problem Of society, we must not overlook th'
importance of the mean factors. Too Otter
is the value of the unknown quantity forced
from the social standing of the extremes
alone, without reference to the influence o.
the intermediate terms. In the social equa
tion, neither the extremes of wealth and in
telligence on the one sidc nor OfpOverty and
ignorance Oh the other, is to be taken as the
true exponent Of social development; but
only when these are measured relatively
with the mean quantities, with the great
human average, do we ascertain the true
value of the whole. Is the importance of the
| Average American as a factor i'll American
society duly appreciated? And in unlertak-
ing to dissect the Average American in un-
dertaking to show what he actually is, and
what he possibly may become, we are con-
scious of undertaking no light task. TO sift
out of the historical chaff-pile the conflicting
and incongruous elements which compose the
features and characteristics Of our subject,
would exceed our limits, and we cn only
give an outline sketch and present, lOt an
individual, but a type, a representative OF
many, and endeavor to answer the question,
What is he? by the question, Whenceis he
| It was currently said by the pious people
of the mother country, at the time or New
England Colonies were formed, that Od had
sifted three Kingdoms and planted hi wheat
in America, and when we remember tlat the
/ colonization of the New World was duealmost
solely to religious persecution in Frame Ger
many and England, the claim is not without
significance. Indeed the history of American
Independence is full Of q strong religious ele-
ment an earnest practical Christianity an
abiding faith in God and q reverencetOr His
word and if you follow from its sGlrce at
| Plymouth Rock the advancing line OtAmcri-
can civilization, as it sweeps slowly bu grand
! ly out upon the wilds Of New England;ts it I'M
! finchingly pushes forward in the taceOf dan
ger and death, and plants new stations be-
yOnd the AIleghanies the SciotO and he Mis-
sissippi, you will find that the auhors Of
that civilization were men Of deep conictions,
of practical piety, and Christian ourage
men who carried these sentiments with them
into their every day life, moulded al their
actions to them and even invested thtr COM
pacts of govelnment with their spirit And,
granting for the sake of the argume1, that
they did occasionally mingle strange Ire with
tendance upon Divine services by tne and
imprisonment did even burn innocet peo-
pie for witchcraft; still, Christianitysas the
corner stone of the Colonial governnrnt; the
germs of true religion and civil liberty sprang
up side by side, fresh and vigorous with new
life; Wicklitf and Cranmer lent char tone
and 4 glorious elevation 10 the pupit, and
claimed holy reverence for the rights of
worship and the press; people shod off the
legal clogs and hindrances of the Established
church and realized as never before the
meaning of self advancement antself respon-
sibility
Out OF such material, and ,lnter such cir
cumstances, was laid the 1ounddion of what
we shall call the serious side Ofthe character
of orr Average American. But not necessa-
rily is he a man of this high, ie'vent religious
tyye by no means. Your Average American
has in his makeup, I; tinge OF recklessness, OF
abandon, of shrewd, methodical madness
which he never derived from the good old
Puritan blood of New England. \ sharp,
keen snap and energy, which hurl him
through life as though he had been shot out
Of cannon. From whence did it come: We
have social institution commonly called the
small boy, AID it matters not whether You
meet him in the shape Of the hoodlum OF
San Francisco, the wharf-rat Of ST Louis, the
news boy of Chicago the Five Pointer or
Bowery boy Of New York, the chimney sweep
of London, or the goDsin of Paris, he is the
self-same irrepressible small boy the Ne Plns
Ultra of the downward slope of humanity.
There is only one short flight Of stairs below
Illlu, ttlii lSNN lHtO tl1S CCiIti Va
degradation. lie is thorough child of the
country, and claims no parentage but the
broad principle of Liberty-he lives because
he has a right to live Like Il newly tiedged
quail he carries his house on his back. and 4
store box OF lumber pile in the city and 4
straw stack in the country are his bedroom
by night Where he comes from, how he
lives, and what finally becomes OF him, none
know and but few care. Unlike many ex
amples given in scripture, the small boy walks
by sight and not by faith He believes moth
ing except what he has seen; knows nothing
except when alone, and then his know ledge
would astonish a philosopher. His dress is
not III mode; being made up OF Il pair OF
trOwsers which hang in testOOns under his
heels, a coat many times too large for him,
which he wears because its huge pockets are
capable OF containing weeks pilfering, and
Il hat which so completely covers his head
Us to suggest danger of sutf0catiOn but that
It has no crown in it. The small boy smokes
md chews; drinks whisky and swears like u
reteran OF the army in Flanders; talks slang,
ings filthy songs, ridicules everybody, fishes
N the cutters, grins, bites, whistles selections