The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04
DIR HERITAGE
OF
An american Characteristic Which
appears in verything From
GOyernment to Literature.

are living at a time when the inner
Characteristics of nations are being
studied as never before. And the
naw century will witness a still wider
enread of this tendency. 1t is an eff
fort 10 interpret nations not in terms
of wealth or population but in terms
NJ national character and national
iaaalism. When Poe wrote
TO the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome
no not only Disseminated two nations
one from the other but he interpreted
them in terms Of national aspiration
and national achievement. When
Emerson said
And ever in the strife Of your own
thoughts
Obey the nobier impulse: that is
Rome
ne set a model for the historians
whose chief delight is in statistics.
When Tennyson described England
A land Of settled government.
4 land Of old and just Q
Where freedom slowly broadens
down
From precedent to precedent
~ summed up in a stanZa the eS-
s.ntiaI characteristic of English his
tory md English institutions through
fifteen centuries Of evolution.
America. it is needless to say. has
been variously interpreted. A foreign
visitor once declared that the most
characteristic thing about the Ameri-
can is that, when he eats soup. he
moves the spoon from him instead OF
toward him. Another discovered that
the amount Of gold In the Americans
teeth was 4 national characteristic.
American men, he added. often marry
American Urls whose only dQwry is
the gold thus stored up. These APP
prlisals belong, Of course, to the ir-
relevant stage of Interpretation.
Goethe. with his usual cosmic insight,
ventured an Interpretation that at
least puts one to thinking. Amer
lea" said he. thou art better off than
our old continent. Thou hast no
fallen castles and no eruptive basalts.
Thou dost not disturb thy spirit in
this busy age with useless thoughts
of bygone days or with u~navaillng
strife" Goethe died. however. just
as the real testing period for Ameri-
can institutions was coming on The
basalt had hardly begun to show it
self in 1892. Recently however. a
foreign critic, Gobineau. found him
self forced to the conclusion that
America is likely to be not the cradle
Of a new but the grave Of an old
race This is a startling forecast. Is
it we'll founded?
The Nature OF Idealism.
Whether it be we'll founded or not
depends solely on the answer to the
question. Are we a nation with ideals
Have we vision? All nations, living
and dead. are witnesses to the truth
Of the saying: Where there is nc
vision, the people perish" All ideal
however, whether cherished by an in
dividual or a nation. is not mere in.
tention or hope. These are gateway:
out not p~assaRe-ways. There must
be will-power back Of each. There
must be movement. a goal-ward move
ment. insistent and incessant. TIL
good intentions that are popularl.
supposed to be used as paving ma
terial in a certain place would neye,
nave fallen so low if II will" had beer
substituted for Il intend" or Il hope
Neither intention nor hope is in it
nature s~elf-realizing. They are aero
planes without mOtOr-poWer. TIL
man who sits n sings when m!
ship comes home.' may have a hops
but he is not likely to have anything
NNV. btIOTe inc eagle Ndu wings
there was through the long ear tn
determination not to grOvel but tt
soar. His will had wings before hi
BODY. wings being natures just ant
inevitable answer to the ceaseles
longing for power and opportunity
iueallSm. in other words, is no
MicaWberiSm
The second requisite Of a worth.
deal is observation-disclosures.
wonder if ever a song was suns
But the singers heart SAM
Sweeter!
| wonder if ever a hymn was runs
But the thought surpassed tn,
meter,
wonder If ever a sculptor WrOugh
III the cold stone echoed his arden
bought.