Arizona republican., 1899-10-24
COLONIAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN III
ERATURE-Prel minary VIEW.
BY LORENZO SEARS. LIT D,
Professor CT American Literature in Rrtwu
Universe V.
copy. lighted 1899 by Benz. Andrews

There are mans indications Of an IN
creasing interest in things colonial. The
most obvious is the latest fashion In
architecture. With its gambrei roofs.
pillared porticos. yellow and white col
oring. suggesting if not following the
style of building in the last century
Such houses must be furnished in q
manner to correspond. and the country
side is ransacked to find uncomfortable
/ chairs, clocks whose altitude is greater
than their accuracy. and sideboards
with rheumatic joints New factories
are started to make old bric-a- bfae
: and good plate is battered into better
/ The children that run about these
| houses answer to ancient names like
Dorothy. Gladys and Sibyl-the more
ancient like keEiah and Keturah. Ben
hadad and Barzillai being dropped as
to Hebraic for modern use Then the
colonial spirit spreads from the family
| to the community and societies and or
CARNATIONS spring UP to connect their
members With pilgrims and soldiers
! governors and wars. We have our col
onial DANES, and they have their wars
/ There are sons and daughters of this
! or that. distinguished i'll proportion to
/ the remoteness Of their ancestry. So
wide has the conta gion spread that We
! nave been threatened With q return of
| the full-skirted coat and long waist
coat, of small clothes and shoe buckles
although no one has yet suggested the
earlier steeple hat. doublet and trunk
hose of the puritan. Indeed. through
all this Stuart and Hanoverian restora-
ton a saving soberness of Judgment
has prevailed sufficient to keep it from
running away with its advocates. At
least. they have never taken kindly to
the Cromwellian features of colonial
art. Possibly some may discover signs
of coming Imperialism in this, and the
slogan of the future may be the old
song whose burden was:
In good cd colony times
When we lived under king
After all this looking backward ana
bringing forward IS not mere fad or
temporary craze. It's lightest move
ments are as the foam on the surface
which goes with strong current I'M
dcrneath-the historical spirit of this
generation combined with a patriotism
which means to honor the nations
founders by preserving the records of
their doings. In everybody's desire to
gather up Sibylline leaves before it is
too late, it is not strange that family
records and genealogies Old wills and
inventories, surviving plate. spinning
/ wheels. and even pewter mugs. should
get into the dragnet. Who shall say
what value any of these may have to
the historian in coming centuries?
In view of this retrospective dispusi-
ton of our time it would be glaringly
inconsistent to overlook the writings OF
the colonial period. If literature is n
trEeT record of a peoples life than the
minutes of pariiaments and town meet
lngs it cannot be neglected for histori
cal reasons. Besides. literature has a
history of its own, any part of which
cannot be understood without some
knowledge of what has gone before. \
people may change its political status
in day OF declare that it has done So
but in the domain of letters. as in that
Of nature, there is continuous growth
which knows no sudden changes. There
IS no broad cleavage between its after
development and its earlier struggles
for life These may be forgotten or de-
rlded, as a man laughs at his own
youthful efforts. without which he
would never have come to distinction
It. is pleasant to look upon the strong
trunk and branches of a tree with its
wealth of foliage and fruit. and easy
10 forget the ungainly roots below
ground. but the tree does not forget
that through them comes its life from
remote fountains. and its staying
power Accordingly. when we grow
compiacent over our recent attafn-
ments in letters. and arr. amused W..
cannot help being. at the exDlo;its NJ
our forbears. il is we'll to recall some /
sturdy qualities in their literature as
~ lllelr ne Above all. it will be need |
l u 10 keep in mind a few cfrcun
s1ahces and conditions which differed /
= ON those IN which we are placed. and /
nelped 10 make colonial literature nm
axe that of the present day.
Hst' II should be remembered thar
L was written by coIonfsts of Great
Drltaln- 1t IS not easy to understand
- 'llat TINS meant to our forefathers.
or century and a quarter the r111inr
IDEAS which We're in a coIonis+.s n,in33
IlNe Deen growing indistinct. endino, nv
sudden dismissal of then, afte,e the
ieciaratlon of independence A visi+ 70
. s'llada or passage on the Dominion
lHe VIII not invariably make them
lear 10 citizen of the United States
Hey are a matter of inheritance. and
faithful cherishing.
or 10 years we have been throwing
% the winds legacy for which we
we no more use than for crowns and
-hrones In this way we have forgot
en how largely these once s,1bstanti.,l
eallties entered into the thinking and
writing Americans. Not that ROYALTY
llWays obtruded itself into the king
iom of letters but. like the weather if
lad its inspiriting or depressing effect.
recording to its mood. How often and
TOW much this varied can be clearly
raced in the complexion of the colo
nal documents, public and private. II
hanged with different monarchs and
With the same ruler on different occa-
'ions, sometimes on account of atmos-
)heric changes in New England or Vir-
5lnia- But IN the main the colonist
vas sensible of his connection With the