The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-04-09

tire. an iCeaiism which finds its IN
SEPARATION in deeds rather than IN
thought, but idealism none the less
What the Times reviewer calls the
kernel Of faith and hope n u
age appears also. most unn1isiaka-
hlv in numerous other parts of the
boo4.- a whole chapter, one cannot
fail TO note, is given TO call IN
American Literature" the writer
OWL how this idealistlc spirit re-
ceiyed characteristic expression IN the
writings Of Longfeliow, Emerson.
Hawthorne. Poe, Holmes. Whittier.
and Lanier. 1t would be hard TO mo
twenty consecutive pages III
the book which would not make tnls
point clear: that Dr.. Smith CONSIDERS
American literature as an expression
Of national character. national aims,
national aspiration. Chapters worth
reading on his point are those on
James FenimOre cooper. Marx
Twain and American m and Inc
American Short Story.
New England Transcendentalism and
Amos Bronson AlcOu.
n following little dig at DR.. Smith
is worth quoting as a specimen OF the
New York Times criticism:
DIR. Smith is always anxious to APP
pear thoroughly scientific in ais expo
sitions> Frequently he offers neat III
tie groupings of salient points, num-
bercd for easier surveyal by the read
er. There are five such points which
he seems to consider the main aSalla-
BILE facts concerning the tr~anscendent-
alist movement. They are as follows:
"'(1)The movement had its origin
in Germany CD It reached America
bv direct and indirect Ways: directly
through German writer's, and indi-
rectly through Carlyle and Coleridge.
60 It's f1oWering time lasted from
1885 to 1916. 90 During 0 years
its influence was almost wholly re-
stricted to a small group of e Eng
land writer's. conferred mainly at Con-
cord, seventeen miles to the northwest
Of Boston. So The spokesman Of the
movement was Ralph Waldo Elmer
son. That is all! much being
said, what more can we want to know
about these men who Graded the lit
erary and ~philosophic spirit tina has
become recognized as most specifically
American? And if you know the dis
lance Of Concord from Boston. may
you not be expected to figure out the
rest for yourself-namely, that the
movement, after all, was made in
Germany"
The fact is that the movement was
made in Germany. To quote-"almost
at random as the Times Review man
would say-here is what Walter c.
Bronson, OF Brown University, says
in his wonderfully compact History OF
American Literature %. G.. Heath &
Co, 1900. "NeW England Transcend
entalism had its roots in the philoso-
ply of Kant. In opposition to the
philosophy Of Locke, the prevailing
system OF thought In England and
America, a system which, by its as
sumption that all knowledge is deriV-
ed from experience through the
senses. tended logically to materialisn
and skepticism, Kant sought to show
that the ideas Of the Reason-the
Soul, the Universe as One. the Abso-
lutte Being, or God-are not derived
from experience, but are implanted
in the very constitution OF the mind
which thus has intuitive knowledge
of high truths that can never be
reached by the mere logical under
standing or the physical n The
ideas of Kant were further developed
by Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and other
German philosophers; clothed with
poetic beauty and mystical fervor By
Goethe and Richter; expounded with
the elegant Iucidity Of the French
mind by Cousin, Constant, and others
transp1anted into England in the writ
lngs of Coleridge and Carlyle; and
chiefly in their French or English
dress, brought to America durins
Emerson's youth and early manhood
The new idealism contributed it's shar,
to the ~so-calied Romantic Movement
Which, IN the latter part Of the eigh
teenth century and the early part O
the nineteenth did so much to breal
through the crust Of tradition ant
turn fresh stream Of thought ant
feeling into nearly nvQrv 1nrort,~.-
of life in the principal countries @
Europe. In New England likewise
within a narrow circle, the new idea
exerted a powerful influence for
time, as will appear more fully in tn,
course of u study of the Sage O
Concord
So long a quotation is made for tn,
sake of the very obvious parallel. Th,
"neat little grouping of salient points
by which DR.. Smith tries "to appea
thoroughly scientific in his exposi
TONS" is in plain truth a clear an,