The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-02-05
THE AMERICAN TYPE.

| THE AMERICAN TYPE.
The typical American is always rich.
He may not be able to produce title
deeds and bank accounts, or other tan
gible evidences of wealth, but he is born
heir to innumerable quarter-sections in
land of promise not always accessible
to the ordinary voyager, but through
which he rOams continually in quest OF
| the pirate-hidden gold. the bonanza
| mine, the great invention, the lucky
speculation, which shall open up to
him a rapid transit route to affiuence.
Just at the present moment he may
find himself little cramped, but there
is a better day coming, day quite near
at hand when he shall burst this pinching
chrvsalid shard, and soar aloft upon
auriferous wing, the free and brilliant
butterfly destiny intends him to be-
come.
In the meantime, as far as his purse
will allow, he forestalls fortune. Born
an heir, it is incumbent upon him to
live on scale commensurate with his
expectations. To-day he has only the
1866 of twelve hundred dollars to
spend, but as tomorrow he may have
that amount multiplied by an indef-
mite factor, to save any of it would be
the height of parsimonious folly.
No genuine American ever believes
he will die poor. or suffer irreparable
loss or misfortune of any kind. Nay,
| even when such loss or misfortune has
| overtaken him, he will refuse to give it
the countenance of his recognition, and
will eXpend his last breath in unfoldin o
| some scheme for the bettering of for
tunes already past all earthly mend
ing
The American is fond of splendid
! undertakings. He revels in schemes
for building gigantic roads and man.
moth Gridges, for digging impossible
canals and inland seas. But such mat
ters must be taken in hand speedily,
and pushed with energy, or he is soon
tired Of them AilE;eirs that move slow
ly, do not move at ali for him.
He feels the impetus Gf the age upon
him, and to say of any project. '1t
will take time, it will take time" is to
relegate it to some unknown limbo,
quite beyond the sphere of his consid-
Grafton.
He loves to play the role of prince
and patron of enterprise. Or he will
be the brains, if You WILL the sinews-
never. His to glorify the work, to talk
It up, write it up, to drum for it at a
good salary, to persuade others with a
large expenditure of eloquent breath,
to invest hard dollars in it; but that he
should WELD a spade, or trundle a
wheeIDarrow. why what a waste OF
brain-powcr We're that,
Brain-pOwcr.-tha is the shibboleth
of the American; the totem which he
blazons not upon the grave posts. y
but upon bis own forehead; the potent
charm with which he expects to conjure
fortune
And by braia-power, be it understood,
he does not mean the power exerted by
thoroughly Informed, broadly culti-
waited intelligence; for the typical Amer
lean is not a close student.
The distaste for continued applica-
ton and routine, which marks his eff
forts in fields of material labor, pursues
! him into the intellectual fields.
He believes devoutly. though secretly,
| III inspirational knowledge, a sort Of
atmospheric influence, as it were, which
accompliShes for him all the results
attained only by hard study on the part
| of the routine-ridden European.
| Braiu-power with him means nothing
more than a certain intellectual alert
ncss,a readiness in grasping the salient
| features of the situation, facility for
summarizing and utilizing the know
| ledge of others.
He has no time himself to 90 into 9
subject exhaustively. What he wants
| j. results, conclusions, canned, so tc
speak, like his peaches and peas.
\ notable lack of local attachment
! characterizes the typical American.
h.S country is SO large, that he cannot
conceE trate his affection upon any par
ticular va,'!ley or mountain-side.
1t is all America, and it is all his.
Bidding farewell to his birthplace
upon the Atlantic slope he will trans
| fer himself and bis belongings to the
| shores of the Pacific, with al the ease
and gayety of heart that would attend
a holiday excursion among a more
staple people.
To him nostolgiais an unknown emo
ton, or at most, a passing sensation,
| quickly dispelled; and the immigrant,
sick with longing for Fatherland, he
| classes in his mind under the head OF
unusual and unaccountable phenomena.
| He will follow the line of new rail
| road. pitching a temporary tent at every
station, and settle down at last at some
| point hall a continent distant from his
starting place, influenced in his choice
of locality by no more weighty consid,
Grafton than that of an advantageous
opening for real estate investment. But
even when settled, he is by no means
fixed; his home being often little more
than pted-a-terre, where he keeps wife
and children, and other non-portable
property, and to which he returns al
intervals, for brief snatches of rest and
recuperation.
The typical American is always ar
individual, and strongly bent upon re-
manning an individual. He does not
lend himself readily to organizations
nor blend with smooth uniformity into
society. The heady wine of freedom
works too strongly in his blood to al
low protracted submission of his par
to rules or customs. He may for time
and solely to please himself. pay obser
vance to convention, and ruff1e it in th,
courts of fashion; but even such modi
fed subserviency soon becomes hateful
to him, and he is apt to throw off, will
fierce and scornful vehemence, the yok'
| ba voluntarily aSsumad