The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-04-11
LIBRARY NOTES
American Writers

There is book by the title Of
initial Studies in American Letters"
by man named Henry A. Beers.
We don't know anything about
Beers, but take it for granted that lie
knows considerable about his SUBJ
Ject, so we will go into his work and
get out a short outline of what he
has to tell.
The writings of our colonial era, ;"
says Mr.. Beers, "have a much
greater Importance as history than
a literature. Some of these writ
trs were preachers, such as Riger
Williams, Cotton, Mather, and Jona-
than Edwards. Then came our first
winner, Benjamin Franklin. Let no.
body tell you he is not worth read
ing.
Next, the revolutionary period.
This, the author tells us was an
epoch Of politics and the literature
mostly of polictical nature. That
brings in oratory. We have read a
lot of it and are going to read lot
more before We settle this league of
nations proposition of Mr.. Wilson's.
Of revolutionary orators here are a
few of the great names Samuel
Adams, James Otis, Thomas Jeffer-
son, (author of the Declaration of
1ndependence,) Alexander Hamilton.
tthe soul of our national constitu-
ton as it stands this day. Thomas
Paine, Ga stirring and patriotic
Philip Freneau came
in at this time as our first American
poet; Charles Brockdon Brown de-
serves mention as the first American
novelist of any note. And don't |
forget Patrick Henry
In the EZRA of national expansion"
we come to Washington Irving, who
got so unpopular for writing about
his Dutch neighbors; the great ora
tor Daniel Webster the novelist
James Fenimore Cooper the his
torian, William Ellery Charming.
Irving was the first American author
whose books were recognized abroad.
At a time too, when British writer
went unchallenged when he asked,
Who reads an American book"
irving did much to make the ties of
strong between English
men and Americans. He lived a
great deal in England and the con-
inent and wrote charmingly for
Americans of what he saw over
here. Ntzgreen Halleck was great
'oet in those days, but it little read
oday.
John c. Calhoun and Rufus Choate
helped Webster make that period
If our history immortal for it's
'ratory. 1t was the very thing that
irst attracted Europe to American
hinkers, and began to quench the
superstition mot entirely gone yeti
hat Americans were all savages, too
'usy killing redskins to bother with
intellectual.
The Concord writer's. have at their
lead Ralph Waldo Emerson. He
ct fast pace for American thinkers
d his day, and even now the New
thought philosophy admits having .
rigin in his writings. Emerson is
Justly read and studied.
This period brought forth a flock
4 new religious sects, too numerous /,
o mention" Nathaniel Hawthorne
ot in with the Transcendentalis
ONE folks who took Emerson liter
lily and hitched their wagons to the
tars and fell into all sorts of bitches
nd all that, but it wasn't Haw-
homes fault-they were an interest
ng bunch, and it didn't hurt his 6
'riting at all. These folks had a
ocialistic idea that they could form
n ideal community so they tried the 9
amous Brook farm experiment.
Whatever It was 1t gave them plenty (
time to think and write and they 1
i'd well. Hawthorne's Scarlet Let 8
Dr. stands for all times as a great
.merican classic. Theodore Parker a