The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-01-03

known, the actual fromthe possible.
America means opportunity" says
emerson, opportunity not to acquire
material things, but to bridge the
chasm between the material and the
spiritual. Out of this pioneer con
sclousness have sprung the essential
marks Of American hterature-its
idealisn, its optimism. its humor. its
oellef IN a better future. but
Is 1t sense that works and creates
everything? 1t ought to be: In the
~oeslnnlnS there was Force Which
force WHITES now American Htera-
ture? Which influence has it exert
ed in America itself and in foreign
countries. Naturally we can not
measure literary forces in a banner
like physical forces We can deter
mine exactly the each of a gun; the
each of a poem only centuries can
determine. AT any rate the assertion
may be put up that the influence Of
American literature has contributed
more than anything else towards the
casting of all the various elements
of American life into a single harmon
1OuS whole. There was once a time
IN which the danger existed that
American literature might work in a
proVlnclaliZlng and separating man
ner, but when the great war was over
the two parts of the ountry reached
hands to each other in a common,
faithful leaning towards the spirit of
brotherhood which found it's highest
expression, not in party program, but
in, the ideals of our great poets.
But, since 1870, the influence of the
authors of short stories has been not
less powerful than that of the writer's
Of history for the purpose Of bringing
closer to each other the separate di-
visions Of the United States. New
Tn oil q ,oI Tho C0,fI fho Ny;JlIo a~I
Further West have come to know
each other essentially by the short
stories in which each section paraded
it's w special story or landscape.
These stories are usually called Local
ones, but they could better be desig-
mated as local national ones; for, if
they be local in theme and back
ground, they are national in their
spirit and the standard they raise.
In other words they express the local
by means Of national conceptions. But,
while they thus made acquainted one
State with another, one part of the
country with another, these stories
have at the same time unveiled the
unity in the diversity of American life,
and have strengthened the conscious
ness Of national solidarity.
The influence of American litera-
ture on foreign countries is still more
difficult to establish. But, has it not
been on the whole a valuable in
f1uence Has it not served beauty,
happiness and truth? Irving, Coop
er, Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson, Long
fellow, Bret Harte and Mark Twain
these at least have Overstepped the
bounds Of race and Of language. Will
not these mems call for general peace
and mutual understanding always be
heard more and more? At any rate,
it would not be easy for Americans
to get in war with a nation that is
acquainted with the Misunderstanding
stories on that declaims SSThe Raven"
or discusses h transcendental SOU
or can tell the adventures Of Huckle-
berry Finn.
But how about the deed? Only
this: hat in American literature the
value Of a deed goes before the value
of a pure thought. In .other words,
the American authors have found in
SEPARATION for their prose and their
verses more in things done than in
things thought of only. The themes
they take up are less those of quiet
life than those Of moving life. The
Declaration Of Independence is today
in America still considered not a
written production. but a deed.
"Weak-winged is song" a y Lowell
in his commemoration Ode, Nor
aims at that clear-ethered height,
whittier the brave deed climbs for
light" An example Of this tendency
may be given in the selection of the
names for the National American Hall
Of Fame. Men of Deed go before
men Of purely literary talent. The
first eight that were chosen are, &C
cOrding to the order of their selections:
Washington, Lincoln. Webster, Frank
lin, Grant, Marshall, jefferson and
Emerson. Another example is the
rise and development of the Ameri-
can short story. The typical Amer
lean short story is no sketch, no de-
scription, no reproduction Of quiet
life, it is the representation Of a deed.
Doubtless Observation-Disclosures has
lost something by h stress it puts
upon the deed, the event. What it
has generally lost is depth, the charm