The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-06-30

foot, it is Enthusiastically apparent that he
the inhabitant of new land, must be in
tensely realistic The aesthetic languor o
an ancient community which has subsideC
into the quiet enjoyment of elegance ant
luxury will not do for this restless, ener
getic, but earnest laborer in the wilder
ness. For him the shortest, easiest anC
plainest methods are the best.
1t is this unconventional characteristic
which has given color to the charge, iterat
ed and reiterated by foreign writers tha
the American home-life is wholly coars,
and unrefned. So far as American man
ners are concerned | am not able to com
pare them with those of other lands
cannot say how American etiquette would
appear if measured by the rules of certain
English critics or of those queer mortals
whom they call aesthetics, but do not feal
to venture the assertion that the home-lift
of our people is full of all that is lovely
pure and holy. America is land ofhomes
OF all the princi Piles of the common law
which we protect so carefully, not one is
more cherished and anxiously guarded than
that which pronounces a mans house to be
his castle, in defending which he need not
retreat to the wall but may even slay him
who dares trespass within it. 1t is not a
mere abiding place, where shelter can be
found from the storms of heaven, but a
blessed haven of rest, of which father, hus-
band and brother are the props, and moth
er, wife and daughter are the ornaments
and comforters. To defend it, many a
sword is ready to leap from its scabbard;
to bless it, from the lips of prattling chill
dren, from the hearts of husbands and
wives every morn and eve ascend earnest pc
titions to the great Father of us all. All
no sentiment appeals to an American heart
like that which carries him back to the
home of his childhood Probably the most
popular song in America is "Home, Sweet
Home" AS pronounce the words, the
memories of other days come back to me,
and [ recall a scene which shall never be
forgotten A large audience had gathered
to hear an opera. The Prima Donna was
then and is yet one Of the worlds most
famous singers. Her face was of singular
beauty, and her grace and loveliness took
all hearts captive But how can describe
that voice how it rose with voluptuous
swell until every nook and corner of the
grand building was stepped in the splendid
sound how it sank to delicious murmur
until it seemed to break the silence, like
the limped waters Of purling stream as it
gently ripples DER its pebbly sands! When
+1,o lac+ eu,on+ ocbo boJ J;oJ ovva,y bor ~,
ditors burst into applause, which continued,
until she returned to repeat the delicious
music which had so charmed them. AS
she resumed her place, the great house
hushed itself in expectation; and then slow
but clear as the first notes Of the sky lark
at dawn, rose the strains of that grand old
hymn Home, Sweet Home. The silence
became profound Before was admiration
for the art of the singer, but now was gen
uine emotion, and many bright eye was
suffused as those last words, ''theres no
place like home thrilled every heart. For
time after she had closed, as if the au-
dience were still under the witchery of that
sweet voice, no sound broke the quiet, but a
moment after, the approval came so enthusi-
astic, so emphatic, that it seemed as it was
in fact, the wild expression Of pent up
feeling. Remembering this scene, L can
well understand the emotions which have
prompted the benevolent Cochran to do
honor to the author of that hymn. The
bones Of John Howard Paine should rest
no where but in the soil Of America among
the people he loved so well and whose
home -yearnings he has so pathetically en-
balmed in song.
Matthew Arnold once used these words
eff [ had to fix upon the great want at
this moment of the three principal nations
in Europe, [ should say the great want of
the French was morality, the great want
of the Germans was civil courage, and that
our, (meaning the English,) great want
was lucidity;" and explains "lucidity''
negatively, to be, ''the perception of the
want of truth and validness in nations long
current the perception that they are no
longer possible, that their time is finished,
and they can serve us no more" or to ex-
press the same idea affirmatively and in
my own words, it is; the ability to pursue
inquiry to the end and accept its results,
whatever they may be, without being de-
tered by the force of authority or the
power of ancient usages. Employing the
word in the sense thus explained, it seems
to me, this very lucidity, which Mr.. Arnold
affirms is the great want of the English, is
decided feature of the American charact-
er. No other people have probably been
as free from the weight of ancient preju-
dice as the Americans. The geographical
location of our land, the events of our
colonial history, and the necessities of our
situation have all contributed to this result.
Three thousand miles separate us from the
peoples among whom precedent has the
force of law, and our entire career has been
so brief that when we think of our youth,
we may almost affirm we have had no
past. The very settlement Of the land
does not date further back than the seven
teenth century So that it may be said,
as we have had no past, we have had
nothing to forget or unlearn. The Declara-
ton of Independence therefore not only
proclaimed our people politically independ-
ent, but found them as well mentally un-
fettered.
With their destiny in their own hands,
our fathers were limited and controlled,
only by the grave necessities of their posi-
ton. A new country to settle and rescue
from the wilderness, new people to pro-
tect and foster, it was plain, and the logic
of circumstances soon proved it, that mat
ters could not move in the grooves which
other peoples had craven; and they were
driven to the perception of the want of
validness in old nations, the perception that
they were no longer possible, that their
time was finished and could serve them no
more" So it has come to pass that
the Americans from the very beginning,
have manifested thorough readiness to
cast aside the old things that had served
their day, and adapt the fresher and more
available, wherever it could be found.
This characteristic though at times, not
without its dangers, is yet of inestimable
Il 4Iol1,, .aonoalocf1o br1t