Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1883-01-26

Written for the SENTINEL.
AMERICAN LITERATURE.
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

To the most casual observer it must be
evident that the progress of the Amer-
can people as regards the product of a
distinct and distinctive literature has
been but slow. Great as has been our
development it must needs appear UNI
symmetrical Wonderful as has been our
nations progress in its century race with
older civilization, it has been but Il one
sided advancement Our factories, ma
chine shops and labor-saving institutions
are not matched by our universities, art
galleries or libraries. Lituraturc is UNI
doubleday the department in which Amer
lean genius and industry have achieved
the least. The nation that has given to
the world her Franklin, Fulton, Morse
and Edison has produced no fit rivnls of
Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Scott or even
Dickens or Thackcray. Whatsoever of
literary effort there has been has wanted
for nationdt characteristics. OF the small
number of literary men we have had, by
far the larger number have breathcd the
sacred atmosphere Of Boston This city
and vicinity seem to have been the
American Mount llelicon and the Amer
lean muse has rarely dwelt elsewhere
The star of literature seems TO have had
the californian city for its orbit around
which it has rcvolved with wonderful
persistcncy for II hundred years, and be-
yond whose limits famous author is
still rua aUis But now, rs far as re-
CARDS national permanence and welfare,
the materiallstic extreme is safe, would
it not be well to endeavor to render the
spiritual or intellectual equally so
Goethe says that to every literary na-
ton crisis must come, and there is good
reason to think that ours is at hand In
little more than twclvc-month three Of
the greatest men figuring in our literary
history have passed of the stage and are
gone. Poet, philosopher and that wonder.
ful genius, Holland, who wrought so
mighty change in the thought and feel
ing of the nation, ms well AZ minor ones
have gone to rest from their labors, leaving
blanks which must be filed The future
of the young Atalanta Of nations, as re-
CARDS literature, seems dark Indeed,
many doubt whether we are to have
future The task of establishing ma
tional literature is Herculean, but we
must have men among Us fitted for the
burden. II is no work Of to-day or
Tomorrow, but of life time So the
greater need for immediate action
One Of the greatest literary men the
world has produced said to Il young man
about entering upon literary pursuits,
IF you wish to succeed you must live
like hermit and work like horse"
but things are much improved sine
then. Thanks to growing demand f
good literature, the. authors profess
is no longer an unremunerative o,,s
though here, as elsewhere, if VIC that
wear the crown we must first
burden OF COURSE as Byr
"Men are the sport Of circur
when circumstances seem thu
men, and that "Hydra-headed "a
the public taste, is hard TO wv.
when gratified she is lavish Of
wards.
One cause why 80 little apprcciabr
progress has been made in literature has
been the nbsence from among us Of any
established class Of Hteratt, who, by
consistent use Of talents and material,
unite TO produce works Of value The
forum has claimed many period Of
splendid cloqucncc which, il bequeathcd
TO the library, would have contributed
far more to establishing nationsl honor
and would have preserved full moro dis
tinctly "tbe foot prints on tho sands Of
time" than il Numbered into the cars Of
Judge or jury. Much Of subtle reason
ing aud profound insight into the J,rin-
cipia Of political economy has been
wasted on the hustings, which il pre-.
served would have made an undying
fame for the author We have not be-
slowed too much thought on things ma
tcrial, only too little on us onim0. The
struggles Of the young goddess have
been many and bitter; her victories
hardly earned her triulnphs well do.
served aud should be we'll enjoyed.
Achilles did not chronicle his own cx-
PLOTS Mars left no general orders
or "feld reports to Jupiter Vulcan
left no record of his labors at the forge,
and so the great men Of America have
not preserved an account of their en-
dcavors and works save in the works
! themselves, and these perisbing things