Evening star., 1932-10-23
The Atlantic Monthly,

Wills Mason West, in his school text.
American History and Government :"
undertakes. among other things, to de-
molish the myth that the pioneer set
tiers OF the prairie States were unlet-
tered ignoramuses. To clinch his argu.
ment he says that they read the Atlantic
Monthly THE village sewing society
eschewed gossip to listen to one of their
number reading aloud while the others
piled the needle" The women Of the
sewing circles were the mothers of
boys and girls men and women. who
may have been desperately poor in the
worlds goods, but who were abundantly
rich in the accumulated treasures of
mind and spirit. They made the au-
thentic America. And. as West insists,
many Of their cultural acquisitions came
to them through the pages of the
monthly magazine which now is cele-
brating its diamond jubilee
Founded in November, 1857. the At
lantic has reached its nine hundredth
issue. As publishing venture it has
been a genuine success 1t has sur
vived and prospered while rival period
icaE have declined and perished. Even
depressions have failed to destroy it..
1t vas born In period Of economic
stress, made the necessary adjustments
from the beginning and has maintained
its style Of formal and character Of
content throughout its career to date.
But even If it had collapsed at any
period Of its youth. it still would be
entitled to grateful remembrance for
the service it performed in its first
years in finding public for Emerson,
Lowell, Holmes, Longfellow, Whittier
Motley and other stars of the American
literary galaxy Of that era. Before the
close of It's, tenth year it had printed
The .Autoerat Of the Breakfast Table"
and THE Man without q Country"
not to mention Longfellows "Children's
Hour" and Paul Revere's Ride" Whit
tiers Barbara Frietchie," Mrs. Howe's
Battle Hymn of the Republic" writ
ten in Washingtonl. Lowelrs Com
memoration Ode" and Finch's The
Blue and the Gray" No literary journal
Of that time or this has a prouder list
of productions.
Such a noble beginning constituted a
challenge to each succeeding editor
How we'll that challenge was met Is
made manifest by the roster Of contrib
utors from 1867 to the present time
Among the celebrated names are Francis
Parkman, Charles Reade. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, William James. Carl
Schurz. John Fiske, Lafcadio Hearn,
Rudyard Kipling. Thomas Hardy, Grover
Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson. william
Dean Howells. Mark Twain. Jack Lon
don. Bret Harte, Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
Arthur Symons, John Galsworthy, Mary
Johnston, Robert Frost. Alice Meynell.
William Vaughn Moody, John Hay.
Jacob Riis, Henry James. Charles w
Eliot and many others. Doubtless an
even more interesting directory CT emf
nent men and women might be COM
piled from the subscription nles. The
Atlantic, concededly, has been famously
written, but it also has been famously
appreciated. No cultivated Americats
has been immune from its influence
The magazine continues to promote
the ends for which it was established
the encouragement Of letters, the arts
and sciences and political and social
progress. If copies are not found on
the parlor tables Of the prairie people
today, IT is not the editors fault. 1t
has just as much to offer now as ever
1t had