913 1 or Clje Jrottttito tfoltq in ptratew. DISCOURSE Till SOCIAL AND MORAL ADVANTAGES or TUI CULTIVATION OF LOCAL LITERATURE. BY WILLIAM T./CM3GGESHALL, OHIO Delivered before the Beta TheU Pi Society of Ohio Uniyenity at the 54th Commencement, Jane 22d, 1858. COLUMBUS, OHIO: FOLLETT, FOSTER AND COMPANY. 1859, BOOKS FOB THE WEST. The 3Poetry of the "West. The I?rose "Writers of the "West* , "" The Orators of the "West. FOLLETT, FOSTER & CO,, COLUMBUS, OHIO, HATE now in course of preparation a series of volumes, with the above titles, designed to present a just and complete Survey of the Literature of the West These works will be edited by gentlemen of acknowledged fitness, and will be printed in the first style, on superior paper. Each volume will contain about 600 octavo pages. Contributions and Selections, or suggestions, are respectfully solicited* All communications will receive prompt attention* Address ; POSTER & CO., PUBLISHERS, Columlus, Ohio* Cjft f rotwtite foliqj in f iterator*. DISCOURSE ON THI SOCIAL AND MORAL ADVANTAGES or THI CULTIVATION OF LOCAL LITERATURE. BY WILLIAM T. COGGESHALL, oiiio gr ATI UBiuftUlf . tefort th Beta Thet* Pi Society of Ohio University At the 54lh Commencement, June 22d, 1858. COLUMBUS, OHIO: FOLLETT, FOSTEB AMD OOMPANT. 1859. mm DUOPAGE * 1 ) Reproduced by XEROGRAPHY by Micro Photo Inc. Cleveland 12 t Ohio 13 THE WEST AND ITS LITERATURE. HEN I was invited to stand in this place to-night, distrusting my fitness for such a position, I could not accept the responsibility it would impose, until I had determined the purpose of a Discourse, It was with great diffidence and deep embarrassment, I seri ously took up that question, I could not be mistaken in the character of the audience to which I would speak, I was in* vited by a Literary Society composed of young men, who are goon, with cultivated minds and willing hands, to go forth into the world to forge out careers for themselves, I knew that my voice would be heard within the walls of the first general Insti tution of Learning provided for, by the liberal foresight of Con gress, in the Great West, Bearing in mind that this Institution geeks to develop character becoming the vigor and independ ence of prosperous intelligence, I was led to reflect whether it would not be peculiarly approfriate to plead before the Students and Teachers, the thinkers and workers, here assembled, the advantages of cultivating a Literature in the West, which will represent its history and its capacities its people, their oppor tunities and their purposes. When I had decided upon that theme, I did not fear an im putation of " sectionalism." Literature which lives represents the spirit of a people. In that sense it must be " sectional," or local ; in a word, native. * * 612 4 A DISCOURSE. From the earliest Hebrew, Chaldaic, or Egyptian records, through Grecian, Roman, German, Spanish, French or English, " sectionalism" has been a vitalizing power sectionalism, not as a subservient spirit devoted to selfish purposes for narrow ends, but truthfulness to the animating characteristics of thought and action among an individual people* Plato and Demosthenes, Caesar and Cicero, Luther and Cal vin, Shakspeare and Goethe, Voltaire and Calderon, Milton and Moliere, were " sectionalists." So are Bryant and Longfellow, Bancroft and Irving, Willis and Cooper. American literature was unrecognized, in the world s highest courts of criticism, half a century ago, because it was not pervaded with the special char acteristics of the forming nation. Western literature, though in a lively degree representing Pioneer men and Pioneer times, has been disregarded, as a distinct power, in the general interest for welcome to whatever, springing out of seaboard cities, has been creditable to the national character* Let us inquire why. It is a law of mental and physical philosophy, that the char acter of a people depends greatly upon the advantages, or disad vantages, of the country it inhabits. The most favorable natural condition for the healthful devel opment of a people, i* in n climate and upon a soil which require, but which generously reward, judicious industry. That is the character, preeminently, of the soil and climate which have attracted emigrants from all quarters of the globe to " The land of the Weit, green forest land," fitly apostrophized by William D. Gallagher as the 11 Clime of the fair and the ImraebM, Favorite of Nature * liberal band, And child of her munificence." Its mountains and valleys and plains Its great rivers and inland seas, bless a people, whose ancestry had peculiar incentives to A DISCOURSE. 6 industry who, with mental cultivation, braving peril and depri vation, vigorously started a new life. Having no use for the conventionalities to which they had been accustomed, they could afford manners and customs becoming their new relations, and, consequently, it is said with truth, that western men are frank, generous, prompt ; perhaps rude ; it may be rough, according to the rules of polite society. Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, Davy Crockett and George Rogers Clark, Rufus Putnam and William Henry Harrison, were types of the character which fought the Indians, hunted the bear and tho deer and the buffalo, conquered the wilderness, and organized States. The antithesis of characteristics which distinguished their public lives, were not more deeply marked than the contrasts to have been met, in camps and circles, never known out of the forest or the settlement. Heroism, in the sense of self-sacrificing devotion to a definite purpose, was a necessity of pioneer life ; and self-reliance shone as an eminent characteristic of Western Society, when general observation was first attracted to it as an element in national councils. The social history of the early West exposes need of culture, but it evinces virtue, and its political history evinces wisdom. Consequently it* amazingly augmenting power can be explained as clearly as a mathematical problem. Self-reliant industry upon a generous soil, shaded by hills and forests, brightened by navigable rivers social vi-tue and political wisdom these won the epithet great for the West, and upon these does security for the worthiness of that epithet depend, in whatever respect it may be used, not implying extent of domain. It is said that a frontier merchant is at onco recognized in New York, by his self-reliance, his independence ; it may be, his rude generosity. The half-horse, half-alligator caricatures of Western peculiarities which have prevailed, had a natural sig nificance in the stamp pioneer life gave its inheritors. 6 A DISCOURSE When a thorough-bred Yankee, a regular down-Easter, cornea - a out west," with his cautious care of sixpences, he is as surely known as a fresh Hollander, or an Irishman with hrogans ; and, hot until he is so transformed that he can speak as if he were not afraid of wasting his voice, does he cease to be an object of scrutiny. It is well worthy of remark, that while Western Society is required to harmonize countless conflicting peculiarities, which accompany emigrants from all quarters of the globe, it so far preserves its original force of character, that it is competent to liberalize the shrewd New Englander, who, after forty years* wear and tear on a sterile farm, or in a narrow counting-house, comes West, with a long face, deploring the necessity of relin* quiahing good society for the companionship of wide corn-fields, fat oxen, big pigs and land warrants, or town lots and railway scrip. But the modification of character which overcomes the immi grant in the West, is owing in a great degree to an influence which always underlies progress. It exists in distrust for the past and hope for the future, inspiring a willingness to adopt and encourage whatever promises prosperity. This influence led the earliest pioneer, and it leads the latest Immigrant, if he comes hither for good purpose. In the language of a writer who has studied the history of the West, and who appreciates her opportunities : * a What, till within a few years past, the onward-coming mul titudes have found on arriving here, has been, chiefly, physical sufficiency, great intellectual expertness, a degree of moral inde* pendence wholly new to them, and capacity for almost indefinite extension, either morally, intellectually or physically. Coming in upon us by hundreds and thousands, as they now are and for years have been, their gentler and fiercer passions, like meadow William D. GalUch" HUtortcal Addmi, IS. A DISCOURSE. * .7 rivulets and mountain torrents, mixing in with and modifying our own, and their art, science and literature, their hard-hand* edness and willing-heartedness, and their experiences of life generally giving to and receiving from ours new impulses and new directions, the whole eoon to flow together in one common stream of Humanity, which will be found irresistible by any barriers that may oppose its course, must inevitably give new and peculiar aspects to the region and the era wherein it holds its way, * * * w Out of the crude materials, collected and collecting in the North- Weit^materials that are just now taking forms of Byra- metry, and exhibiting a bomogeneousness that has not heretofore belonged to them are to come arts and institutions and educa* lions better fitted for the uses and enjoyments of man, and more promotive of those high developments that are within the capacities of his nature, than anything which the world has yet seen. * * " Here, on this magnificent domain this undulating plain- that extends from the beautiful bases of the Allegheny Mount ains to the broad, fertile shores of the Mississippi River, and stretches its arms from near the 36th quite to the 42d degree of north latitude are in time to be witnessed the freest forms of social development, and the highest order of human civilization." Enthusiasm animated the pen of the writer whose words I have quoted, but it was enthusiasm tempered by judgment ; it grew out of a liberal estimate of natural opportunity. + The conditions of the superior human advancement, possible, in the lapse of time, through that opportunity, depend on well- directed industry, bumanitary ingenuity and political wisdom ; but all of these depend upon social characteristics, for upon social characteristics upon domestic life in the widest degree, rest the morals of a people ; and the morals of a people are purified or corrupted by their literature the literature they produce. The world s history is marked by periods to which literature 8 A DISCOURSE. gave character, and these periods are among the brightest on the scroll of Time. Songs and Poems, Orations and Histories, with their encouragements and warnings, are valued in all influential society, with higher and deeper reverence than whatever else the proudest nations produced. They are not only inspiring for themselves, hut they preserve whatever was inspiring among the people from whom they proceeded. The record of the world s action, as it appears in monument* or mausoleums, in pagodas or palaces, in pyramids or temples, does not teach that honor and usefulness are what men should have ambition for. These noble lessons lie in the literature, spoken from the pulpit, on the rostrum or in the forum, upon the highway or in the cloister, which, through its agents, that now search every cabin, the Printing Press, reproduces and renews. Books are the most enduring of human possessions. Litera ture is alone, of human instrumentalities, a pervading spirit which Time cannot destroy a spirit which animated tradition when time, with man, was young, and took form and comeliness in poetry and history a spirit for which ingenuity has toiled through all the centuries of the past, and to which the highest forms of human aspiration now do reverence. Nature s affinities are not monopolized in the natural sciences. The mental as well as the material world has its attractions and its repulsions. Literature, in the broadest sense, is the medium of their transmission from one man from one age or from one nation to another. Music has tones which act responsive to peculiar human emo tions, and so has Literature; but there are melodies which inspire all humanity, and there are literary utterances which find echo wherever there is a human heart. These utterances are among the surest evidences of the cultivation of the right spirit of literature by a people, but often they burst forth in signal rebuke of indifference to that spirit. Greece and Rome, England and France, Germany and Spain* JL DISCOURSE. 9 through their authors, have quiet homes of love and respect in the hearts of the cultivated every where. Neither successful warriors, nor shrewd diplomats, nor wise statesmen, have as general respect as standard writers ; nor does mechanism, nor even the art of the printer or the sculptor, hold rank, in univer sality of recognition, with literature* It is the servant of the Statesman and the Artist, the Artisan and the Agriculturist; and that their uses and purposes, their glories and beauties, may be fully appreciated, every people aspiring to greatness must cultivate literature. Just appreciation will prevent it from be* coming the slave of whatever is bad in politics or war, of what ever is a defamation of Art; consequently all the questions which affect the prosperity and happiness of a people, enter into their cultivation of a literature. The citizen who is sensitive to his varied obligations, recog nizes a duty in the support of all the instrumentalities of instruc tion, and he knows literature, in even its technical sense, to be among the most important The good man lives in conscious ness of obligations to good literature, which cannot be dissevered from his duties to family, church, and government. The solidarity of a literature is not established in a genera tion. Poetry, History, or Romance, Science or Belles Lettres, may have representatives, within the first age of a people, whose individuality is distinct ; but each and all must gain recognition, independently of the people from which they spring, before it can be said that a national literature exists. It is not enough, either, that a national literature exists. It is required of a nation, which combines wide differences of characteristics, that each shall have its own representation. A Republic of letters may be a confederacy of individualities, as well as that a Republic in politics may be a confederacy of States. In Commerce, in Mechanics, in Agriculture, in Politics, the West has recognized individuality; but the poetry, romance, 10 A DISCOURSE, and history peculiar to it inspired by its natural advantages- woven into its traditions developed in its settlement do not significantly animate a literature which the popular will accredits. Tomahawks and wigwams, sharp-shooting and hard fights, log cabins, rough speech, dare-devil boldness, bear-hunting and corn-husking, prairie fiowers, bandits, lynch-law and no-law-at- all, miscellaneously mixed into "25 cent novels," printed on poor paper and stitched between yellow covers, represent the popular idea of Western Literature* Two years ago, on a steamboat trip down the Ohio River, I met a young man fresh from a counting-house in Rhode Island. He was a very intelligent young man, in the general acceptation of that phrase, but he had many stupid opinions about the West He learned that I was from Cincinnati, and he was curious to know all about Porkopolis. In perfect candor, and " only for information," he deliberately asked me whether the noise and stench, occasioned by the immense slaughter of hogs, did not make life in the city almost intolerable* I discovered, in con versation with him, that he imagined Porkopolis to be composed, in about equal proportion, of pig pens and poorly constructed business and dwelling houses* Reasoning from what he had seen of hog-killing in the town-yards of Yankee land, he sup posed that the citizens of the great metropolis for ham and bacon, must dwell in the midst of alarms to eye and ear and nose. His idea of Cincinnati was just about as intelligent as that entertained by most people concerning what literature the West has failed to encourage* For the popular opinion, that whatever individuality Western Literature has, belongs to the shock-your-nerves, excite-your* wonder school, there are two prominent reasons : First, because that opinion agrees with the* popular idea of pioneer life \ sec ond, because the descendants, or successors, ef the early pioneers have not endeavored to maintain an individual or home litera ture of a higher character. A DISCOURSE. 11 If any poem, or oration, or history, or romance, or essay, has given honor to the West, it was a spontaneous production, in defiasce to public indifference, and it failed to disturb that indif ference until New York or London had pronounced upon it. The pioneers were not always men of culture; but they were not merely hunters, who could only appreciate the merits of a rifle, or take delight in "bear signs" and " deer tracks." They were brave, intelligent men, capable of culture, and when social circles could be encouraged in their settlements, they demanded literature. In young cities, men of hope and trust presumed upon this demand, and newspapers were issued, and magazines were printed, and books were published ; but the pioneer looked out of the woods for every thing which his simple habits requir ed, excepting grain and meat. He would not believe that the forest could give him literature, His affections were with the bookstores, and at the printing offices he had known in his youth; consequently the western authors, printers and publishers, were left to act the part of pioneers, in fields supporting a thick growth of prejudice, which had to be cleared away before con fidence could be cultivated. The society of young towns and cities and farms waited to geo whether young newspapers and young editors and young publishers would succeed or not, and it witnessed melancholy failures which but served to confirm the prejudice that crushed out hope and paralyzed enterprise, Many of the unsuccessfil did not understand their own powers, nor what their enterprises required; but there were among them men and women, who, with fair encouragement, would long ago have secured the West a recognized place of honor in the literary history of America. The first literary center in the West was Cincinnati, There the first newspaper ever published in our great inland valley made its appearance on the 9th day of November, 1798. Cin cinnati was then five yean old, and contained about 500 inhab* ) A DISCOURSE, itante. The first book written and printed in tbe North-West was published at Cincinnati in 1809. Between tbe years 1811 and 1815, there were twelve books, averaging about 200 pages each, printed in the Queen City. In 1819 tbe North-West had its first literary journal. It was called the Literary Cadet, and appeared on the 22d day of November, in the year mentioned, (1819). Only twenty-three numbers of the Cadet were issued. In 1824 Cincinnati had a second literary paper, and it has had thirteen since, all of which are dead. The first literary magazine of the Great West appeared at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1819, and in 1827 the second was pro jected at Cincinnati, in which city seventeen have since died. Of all the books published in the West between 1800 and 1854, not one attained national success ; but works by western authors, published at the east, have been universally popular* To the present generation there is not known one in a hundred of the names that have been linked with the valuable in the writings of the valley of the Ohio and Mississippi during thirty years past* Those who are familiar with the magazines and newspapers that failed, or those whose experiences of life reach into the pioneer period, have recollections of which they are proud ; but a majority of the present citizens of Ohio or Kentucky or Indi ana or Illinois or Michigan, have quite as little knowledge of the real merit of the literature of the past in the West as they have of the color or condition of the people who constructed the mounds of "The region of unMt. Within a period often years, counting backward and forward from 1830, there existed a literary circle of which Cincinnati was the center, which, as a whole, has never had a superior in America. Among those who were influential in that circle, I may men- A DISCOURSE, Id tion the cames of William Henry Harrison, Timothy Flint, Micah P. Flint, Daniel Drake, James Hall, Jacob Burnet, Ben jamin F. Drake, Edward D. Mansfield, William D. Gallagher, Otway Curry, 8. P. Hildreth, L. A. Hine, Caroline Lee Hentz, Rebecca S. Nichols, Thos. H. Shreve, F. W, Thomas, Lyman Beecher, Charles Hammond, Elisha Whittlesey, Albert Pike, L. J. Cist, James II. Perkins, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Eliza A, Dupuy, Amelia Welby, Sarah T. Bolton, and John B. Dillon. These names, and others I could call, are familiar to all intel ligent persons, but that their owners made valiant, though vain effort for literary support in the West twenty -five years ago, is a fact unacknowledged in the public mind. It ia a popular Bay ing that WMtvard ih itr of Eraplr* taktt tu wj, The history of the world shows that he who uttered that say ing was a philosopher as well as a poet. But literary history in the West teaches that the westward marching look back for civilization, and that by example, if not by precept, they teach their children to look for literary as well as natural light toward sunrise. Therefore does it happen now-a-days, that sUu-s which rise with a dim lustre in the literary or dramatic or artistic world of the east, become luminaries of the first magnitude when they deign to shine on our valleys. The religion of the Persians, who worship the god of day, has devotees in show, if not in substance, in the western hemifl- - phere, for though we do not worship the sun as a divine emblem, we cultivate the idea of an association of mental with material illumination in our disparagement of the occidental and our ex pectancy concerning the oriental. There is a popular notion that the western sections of a city are more healthful than the eastern, because currents of air are continually wafting the smoke and dust eastward. Whether this be true as a principle of hygiene or not, it is true that cur- 14 A DISCOURSE. rents of thought ran eastward which cany reward and encour agement away from the toiling in shops and offices, in studios and libraries, to the detriment, not only of literature in the ideal, but of morals and industry in the actual. In the year 1839, James H. Perkins contributed to the New York Review an article on "Western Literature," in which he said: "The first thing that strikes us is the amount of foreign liter ature* Not a novel of any note comes from the London press but may be met with everywhere, from Pittsburgh to the Yellow stone from New Orleans to the falls of St. Anthony. Byron thought it something like fame to be read in America, but in our day it proves no merit in a writer that his works circulate to the Rocky Mountains, * * * * Most of this foreign literature comes from eastern publishers, and is, of course, the same which they circulate in the Atlantic States. "The chief reading of the stirring men of the West relates to stirring men. * * * Western ta>te demands something which tells of men of life, of battle, of suffering, of heroism, skill and wisdom, or else something which addresses man s highest nature, his holiest and deepest feelings. * * * The west* ern people love western history, not the history of the common events of civil life> of laws, treaties and hum-drum times of peace ; but of the stirring frontier incidents ; of the struggles of the backwoodsman. * * * Having a knowledge of the prevalent love of the mass, western writers have almost buried the truly noble leaders of the pioneer bands under reiterated accounts of their doings, and yet, a full, living, trustworthy ac count of those men, such an one as ought to be written, is wanting." Mr. Perkins wrote truly, and the want to which he referred has not yet been supplied, chiefly because the people have oftenest applauded and most liberally rewarded those of their own authors, who aim to construct highly-wrought legends or A DISCOURSE, 15 romances, or who speculate glowingly upon astonishing static tics which entice capital, Cotcmporaneous with Mr. Perkins s article, William D, Galla gher published one, in which he said : " To supply the demand for select current reading, the East ern States have four quarterly reviews, twelve or fifteen month lies, and something like a score of weekly literary papers, together with twenty or thirty large miscellaneous sheets of the family class. The Western States, with an equal population, have what ? Three specimens of the family class, one weekly literary paper, and three monthly magazines. * * * Eight millions of people, one in eoil, territory and government, looking to another eight millions to furnish a literature. Independent in every thing else, the West relies upon the Eastern States and upon the old world for literary aliment." These words of complaint, from Mr. Gallagher s pen, apply with more significance to the year 1859 than they did to 1839. With our increase of population, with tho development of our material resources, Atlantic literary preponderance keeps pace. Markets for our grain and salt and iron are not only brought near to us, but literary circles are made our immediate neigh bors, and without taking the trouble to ask whether the ability to supply our literary demands exists, if we want a poem, an address, or a lecture, our first impulse is to telegraph for second hand wares, which some society over the mountains or over the ocean has put aside, If our best policy requires that writers and preachers and lecturers for the West should have a seaboard indorsement, why does it not require that we should send to salt water for our Governors, our Senators and Representatives. Doughfaces are at a discount now, and specimens plastic enough to answer any tone in the public voice anxiously await orders. Popular sentiment requires that those who come among us with strange words in their mouths and strange manners and 16 A DISCOURSE. customs and opinions in their daily work and pleasure, should adapt themselves to their new relations, forgetting not home and country, but prejudices and preferences which better life and wider opportunity rebuke. Why has not the same policy ap plication to him who crosses only mountains as well as to him who crosses oceans ; not to disparagement of what is beyond mountains or seas, that is worthy of regard, but only in rebuke f neglect of what is here, simply because it a comes out of Nazareth?" It cannot be argued, that absence of liberal encouragement demonstrates un worthiness in the literature which the West has inspired. That argument would condemn the opinions of the present, upon many standard works of art and literature, and it would overthrow established doctrines of philosophy and re* ligion* Posterity takes delight in reversing the judgments which co- temporary jealousy or partiality placed upon the efforts of noto rious or obscure men. It is full time that, out of self-respect, the West awarded to its pioneer writers the poor justice of ac knowledgment of service, and encourage thereby strivings of Genius, which shall accomplish what is worthy of the example of the past, the inspiration of the present, and the promise of the future* Periodical literature in the West twenty years ago was supe rior, incomparably, in all most-to-be-desired qualities, to that which, associated with fashion plates and baby dresses, with pat terns for night-caps and recipes for the toilet, may now be found on the center tables of every model parlor in any western town ; and yet the w WESTERN REVIEW," projected at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1819, by William Gibbes Hunt, a scholar and an industrious, tasteful writer; the "WESTERN MONTHLY RE* VIEW," by Timothy Flint, begun in Cincinnati in 1827; the M ILLINOIS MAGAZINE," started at Vandalia, Illinois, by James Hall, in 1829 ; the " HESPERIAN," conducted by Wm. D. Gal- A DISCOURSE. 17 lagher and Otway Curry, at Columbus, Ohio, in 1828 ; the <* LITERARY REVIEW," at Cincinnati, by L. A. Hine and E. Z, Judson, in 1844 ; the " WESTERN LITERARY MESSENGER," by George Brewster, at Columbus, Ohio, in 1850 ; the " GENIUS OF THE WEST," by Howard Durbin, in 1854 ; and all of later date, " good, bad, and indifferent," whether of Ohio, Indiana, II* linois, Kentucky, or Michigan, failed for want of support, within three years of their origin, excepting the " LADIES REPOSI TORY," of Cincinnati, first published in 1841 ; which, indeed, is not to be considered independently a literary magazine, because it is the favorite of a powerful church, It is universally conceded among those who know the charac ter of literary enterprises in the West, that had merit been all that was needed to insure success, the editors and proprietors of at least half a score of magazines and newspapers had been handsomely rewarded. With them were associated, as writers, all the men and women whose names I have mentioned, and many others worthy to be mentioned ; and in their columns were published Essays, Reviews, Tales, Sketches, and Poems, which were not only indorsed by New York and Boston, but which were republished in Europe, and have found their way into school books that are universally popular. If neither ability, scholarship, industry, enthusiasm nor tact was wanting, why have literary enterprises, on the sunset side of the Alleghanies, been signally disastrous ? It cannot be de nied, that a majority of the projectors of these enterprises did not command the pecuniary resources necessary to establish a business requiring the cultivation of confidence ; but, oiler all, the chief cause lies where I have, more than once, traced it in servile dependence upon the Atlantic States, and in ungenerous distrust of home energy, home honesty, and home capacity. Now, I protest against the thoughtlessness, or selfishness, or jealousy, which exemplifies, in modern tunes, the New Testa* meat axiom, that "a prophet ia not without honor save in his 2 : : : *> *: I 18 A DISCOURSE. own country," with fall knowledge that home missions are now neglected for foreign ones, in a variety of forms and circumstan ces ; bat I am persuaded that literature hears such relations to society, that home encouragement may enlarge enjoyment of the remote in origin, and while affording gratification of curiosity for what comes to us from abroad, correct tastes, and develop facul ties which can reciprocate borrowed blessings* Literature, in the most enlarged sense, is cosmopolitan. It is a law of its encouragement, that home attention prepares most directly and thoroughly for just appreciation of whatever another people produces. The association may appear odd, indeed incongruous, but whenever I see a farm-house in one of our western valleys with* out the protecting shade of a native tree, to tell, in its silent majesty, how the wilderness and its traditions have passed away, I am reminded of that spirit of indifference which has chilled the development of an individual literature, fitly representing not only the stirring times when the Hunter and the Indian watched each other, or the Pioneer took his rifle into his new fields, when he had seed to sow or grain to reap ; but later times, in which a society, composed of conflicting elements of character, needs the guidance of genius, that has studied its peculiarities, and appre ciates its opportunities. I knew a farmer in Northern Ohio, who had a promising son* in-law, on whom he wished to make a marriage settlement* Accordingly he presented him with a corner lot, on which the native forest yet stood. The young man, wanting to build a house on his property, made a " clearing." When the house was ready to be occupied it was thickly surrounded with stumps of trees, which may have sheltered the mound-builders, who perhaps roamed these valleys before the red man twanged his bow in their solitudes. Where checkered shadows had changed and mingled for centuries, not a foot of shade protected the in* truding house. Contemplating the ruin he had made, and A DISCOURSE. 19 knowing what the example of his father and his father-in-law had been, he planted a few puny shade and fruit trees in his garden and before his door ; and consoled with the attention they required, the young man did not once think what a fool he had been, when, without forecast, he destroyed the monarchs of the woods, among whose boughs the winds of ancient time had sighed, He was a blockhead, to be sure ; but he was as wise as his neighbors, among whom forethought had been wanting, for ma terial beauty and the enjoyment of natural poetry. Destruction, as well as cultivation, was a law of necessity in the pioneer period ; but, while one was exercised without judg ment in the material world, the other, without discretion, has been neglected in the mental ; and, therefore, precedent leads social circles to overlook what would win them honor and confer happiness, as precedent led the young man, of whom I complain, to be wasteful of what would have afforded his home generous protection, and himself refined satisfaction. , Everybody says, " A narrow man is the fancy farmer who removes the monarch oak, or beech, or elm, to surround his resi dence with the alianthus, the catalpa, and other exotics ;" but quite as narrow is the fashionable hero-worshiper, who encour- ages support in literature, of that for which curiosity is the chief stimulus, while native talent and ingenuity go abroad begging. The spreading catalpa, the tall poplar, the luxuriant alianthus, adorn our country gardens and beautify our town walks ; but he who would strip all our hills of their native crowns and plant upon them these exotics, would act the part of a lunatic. Yet he would be no more insane than w he who, in art and litera ture, worships strange models, with affected or acquired contempt for whatever originates among bis own people* Why does America hold high rank for native ingenuity in mechanism, and for energy in trade and commerce ? Reward waits upon effort* Honor and fame offer immediate premuium* 90 A DISCOURSE. for triumph* It was logical that the most direct need* of the nation should first gain satisfaction \ but every energy of every circle in America, need not now be wholly and exclusively de voted to what will augment material wealth and power. The amenities of life, the quiet advantages of contemplative pursuits, are more valuable, though less imperative, than material wealth or power more valuable not only to individuals but to commu nities, because what they accomplish has perennial significance for good, furnishing the standards by which the future always estimates the real greatness of the past. If we trace the paths along which the literary hopes of the past in the West are buried, we find numerous neglected graves, around which long processions have gathered. The character* istics, trials, failures, or successes of even the chief mourners in these processions, I will not be permitted to sketch in this Lec ture. Several evenings would be required to present a satisfact ory review of the poetical, historical, legendary, legal, medical, theological, and political literature, which has been creditable to our society* Only in a course of Lectures, would I undertake to mention, with the thinnest outline of their productions, all the respectable writers of the Wvst. I refer to them in a body now for the purpose of connecting the present with the past, in a few general facts which, in my opinion, possess distinct importance* From Rufus Wilmot Griswold s "Survey of the Literature of the United States, in three volumes, regarded by the most in fluential critics as standard authority, the analytic inquirer learns, that whatever forms of inspiration may repose in the grand old forests, or along the mighty rivers, or upon the solemn mountains, or on the broad plains of the West however fre quently, in the old time gone, its groves may have been made musical with the unwritten cadences of aboriginal poetry, it has not yet been productive of pale-faced writers* In his volume on "The Prose Writers of America," Mr. Gria- A DISCOURSE. 21 wold recognizes, with biographical notices, only two men who are identified with Western Literature, First : Timothy Flint, born in Massachusetts, who came to tho West ns a Missionary ; and after ten years hard service m that capacity, chose Literature as his profession his exclusive vocation and wrote and published with such poor pecuniary success, though a man of industry and rare ability, with a glow of poetic fervor in his style, that he baa never had a legitimate successor. Second . James Hall, born in Pennsylvania, who, like Mr. Flint, was a magazine editor and a writer of romances, and val uable works of history And statistics j but, unlike him, chose banking instead of writing for his vocation, and has had many successors, legitimate and illegitimate. Incidentally, Mr. Griswold mentions F. W, Thomas, author of the novel, " Clinton Bradshaw," and other works of merit ; and Morgan Neville, author of " Mike Fink, the Boatman," a forgotten romance. But, with these exceptions, the student of Literature could never ascertain, from "standard authority," that there had been prose writers in Ohio, or Indiana, or Kentucky, or Illinois, or Michigan. Toward the Poets of the West, Mr. Griswold has been more liberal. He recognizes Micah P. Flint and Albert Pike, from Massachusetts; F. W. Thoma*, from Rhode Island; G. D. Prentice, from Connecticut ; Wm. D. Gallagher, from Pennsyl vania ; F. Casby, born in Kentu ;ky, and Otway Curry and G, W. Cutter, born in Ohio ; Annie P. Dinnies, from South Caro* lina ; Laura M. Thurston and Lydia Jane Pierson, from Con necticut ; Rebecca S. Nichols, from New Jersey ; Amelia Welby and Margaret S. Bailey, from Virginia ; Sophia H. Oliver and Sarah T. Bolton, born in Kentucky ; Frances A. and MetU Victoria Fuller, from New York, and Alice and Pbebe Gary, born in Ohio. It will be observed, that among twenty poets, Ohio has orig- 22 A M8COUR8S. inal claim to four two of the masculine and two of the feminine gender while Kentucky has one masculine and two feminine ; but that neither Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, or Missouri, is rccog- nixed as having either a native prose writer or poet. Only those men who, writing prose in the West, pubKihtd it at (he Mast, have been considered by Mr. Griswold worthy of notice ; consequently a large number, whom the people of the West should honor and respect, and who deserve to be intro duced to every student of American Literature, are grossly blighted. Among them, I may take time to mention Daniel Druke, the flrt student of medicine in Cincinnati, and the first man who, from the Went, called the aid of Literature to the development of the natural resources of the Ohio basin who, during a long life of remarkable activity, was the earnest friend of all intellectual progress ; nnd who, bcMiden an invaluable work on the " I >Unur* of the MiMHincippi Valley," 1< ft influenced which must exurt great foroo in tho settlement of the principle! which are, hereafter, to guide the mental and physical life of our people ; James II. Perkins, a man of great soul and high poetic temperament, who did signal service to the historical literature of America, nnd who was tin- author of Talcs and Sketches, which Imvo had nn wld cJnuilution it* tho Amcricun pruiui could give them ; Benjamin F, Drake, author of a " Life of Black Hawk," and a "Life of Tecumseh;* requiring laborious re search, and throwing much light upon the careers and charac ters of the great representative men of the forest; E. D. Mansfield, whose works on Politics, Education and Biography, entitle him to most respectful consideration : not to speak of Burnet and Hildreth of Ohio, Marshall and Butler of Kentucky, Dillon of Indiana, Ford of Illinois, and others, in a list longer than I dare now repeat, who have made contributions to history no less important than many to which the " standard authority" I have spoken of, pays respectful deference. . A DISCOURSE. 23 But Mr. Griswold is not alone in his disregard of the literary claims of the West. A "Cyclopedia of American Literature" was published in New York in 1855.* Its editors are Everet A. and G. L. Ducykink, who for several years conducted the Literary World, a recognized organ of literary information and discussion. They claim most decidedly to represent the literature of the nation, past and present. Let us inquire into their fairness respecting "out West." Twenty-three persons, whose names are, or have been, identi fied with western literature, are recognized in the Cyclopedia- sixteen asprose writers, and seven as poets. Among these per sons are Lewis Cass, Thos. II. Benton, Henry Clay, Dr. Chas, Caldwell and Bishop Philander Chase, but neither Otway Curry, George W. Cutter, E. D. Mansfield, John B. Dillon, Thos. H, Shreve, Judge Jacob Burnet, S, P. Hildreth, Timothy Walker of Cincinnati, I, B. Walker the theologian, Rev, Edward Thomson of Delaware, W. W. Fosdick, Rebecca S, Nichols, Sarah T. Bolton, Metta Victoria Fuller, Mrs. Ruter Defour, or Annie P. Dinnies, are regarded with the briefest mention. They, and all of lesser note who write " out West," independent of certain city cliques, are even behind Franklin Pierco, whose name indeed appears in the index, because Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his biography. The Cyclopedia recognizes two poets native to Ohio Alice and Phebe Cary ; one poet native to Kentucky William Rosa Wallace; one prose writer native to Illinois John L. McCon- nt-li, author of the novel " Talbot and Vernon," and one prose writer rative to Kentucky C. W. Webber, the " Hunter Natur alist;" but with these exceptions, the world is left in ignorance, so far as the Cyclopedia of American Literature can leave it, of native talent for authorship in any Western State. By Chr le Sen bur . 24 A DISCOURSE. j The Pucykinks hftv done justice to a few men and women whom Griswold overlooks, and they have slighted others whom he recognizes. But, without fear of successful contradiction, 1 affirm that neither Griswold s Survey of American Literature, in three volumes, nor Ducykink s Cyclopedia, in two vojume*, nor both together, can be given credit for due respect to west ern authorship, while they exhibit active diligence in " making a good show " for all the giants and many of the dwarfs of east* era authordom. Looking outside of mere literary circles, let us inquire of east* ern fairness toward western men. In 1857, Appleton s publish* ing house of New York issued two American Cyclopedias one of Eloquence, one of Wit and Humor. In the Cyclopedia of American Eloquence, the only western man mentioned, excepting Henry Clay, is Tecumseh, but eastern men not half so well known for eloquence as Tecumseh s con queror at Tippecnnoe, have the honor of biographical notices, with select passages from their speeches. In the Cyclopedia of " Wit and Humor, something nearer justice is done western talent, because Micah P. Flint, Geo. W. Bradbury, James Hall, Sol. Smith, Geo. D. Prentice, J. M. Field (Everpoint), J. S, Robb (Solitaire), J. L. McConnell, and J. V. Watson are honorably mentioned j but had the same dili gence in the pursuit of wit and humor been exercised for the west that has been for the east, I could quote other names from Mr. Burton s Cyclopedia. Permit still another illustration of the fact that either on ac count of ignorance or of illiberal spirit, critics and compilers "down east" do injustice to the "great west." In 1858, D. Appleton & Co. published "The Household Book of Poetry" compiled and edited by Charles A. Dana, one of the editors of the New York Tribune. In his preface the editor says that he undertook to " comprise within the bounds of a single volume whatever is truly beautiful and admirable among A D I 8 C O U K 8 E , 25 the minor poems of the English language," and he claims to have developed "a considerable store of treasures hitherto less known to the general public than to scholars and to limited cir cles," from " careful and prolonged research in the current re ceptacles of fugitive poets," He claims, also, that it has been his constant endeavor " to exercise a catholic as well as a severe taste ; and to judge every piece by its poetical merit solely, without regard to the name, nationality or epoch of the author." It is not too much to say that the people of the West who are expected at least several thousand of them to be purchasers of Mr. Dana s book, are familiar with poem*, from writers within their circle of acquaintance, which are quite as good as many of those that have been selected by him as poems of Nature of Childhood of Friendship of Love of Ambition of Come dyof Tragedy and Sorrow of the Imagination of SentU ment and of Reflection or of Religion, The poems for which we. make this claim are not "fugitive pieces," merely, that have gone the u rounds of the papers," but may be found in books with which, it is fair to presume, Mr, Dana, as an editor of a leading journal, if not as the editor of a book of household poetry, ought to be familiar. Alice Cary, Mrs. R. 8. Nichols, Mrs. S. T. Bolton, Geo. D. Prentice, W. D. Gallagher, James II, Perkins, John B. Dillon, Gco. W, Cutter, Otway Curry, F. W, Thomas, and others we might name, who are yet young, are not poets of mere local reputation, or authors of " fugitive pieces," only. None of them are quoted by Mr. Dana. The only person quoted who is recognized as western, is Mrs. Amelia Welby. Her M Old Made " is given as a poem of sentiment and reflection. We invite the curious to look at Mr. Dana s book, and then consider whether Alice Gary s "Pictures of Memory" George D. Prentice s Lines to my Wife," or "The Closing Year" Otway Curry s " Kingdom Come," or " The Going* Forth of God" F. W. Thomas s song, "Tig said that Absence Conquers 26 A DISCOURSE* Love" W. D. Gallagher s August," or his lines to Autumn, in his poem on " The Miami Woods/ or his u Conservative," or " Laborer," or Coates Kinney s Rain on the Roof," are not quite as good as much written in New York or Bo ton, or there* abouts, to which " Household Poetry" gives consideration. > While making these analyses of unfairness to talent identified with the West, I do not forget that whatever may be true re specting lack of information, or partiality, on the part of " stand* ard authorities " for American literature, the fact remains clear that the great central valley has not been signally distinguished by native genius in poetry, romance, or history, not because talent or genius has been wanting not because inspiration has been absent, but chiefly because repose has been denied time to individuals for study and labor time to the people for mel lowing influences which impress popular opinion with respect for the noblest forms of mental force, and stimulate inquiry for delights from a calm and lofty sphere* The pioneer period of the North-west was remarkably a period of all-absorbing material demand, and it was brief* Sixty-six years ago* the first newspaper was published in the North-west; fifty years ago| the first book was printed here. Of all the men and women who have labored significantly for literature in the great valley, not ten lave been called to the higher life* The others are yet with us, and it is not too late to show them that they are cherished, and will be remembered with gratitude* We may regret that our literary pioneers did not meet wider encouragement and ampler reward, but we need not complain, unless we take care that the future does not have reason to complain of us. Knowing what the past ha* been, we may con* fidently appeal to the present for the future. What has the past been ? Discouraging, as I have shown it 1793. t 1809. A DISCOURSE, 27 disheartening, unjust to enterprise and industry which aimed to enrich its mental character, but opulent, bountiful in all materi als for poetry, for romance, and for history, The west has a new opportunity. This central valley is the heart of the Republic, and it may give tone to the entire system. % It is the glory of our institutions, not only that they open op portunity for the forming hand, but that they educate the in forming spirit. Removed from the direct influences of the old world with intimate relations to the South, to the East, and to the Great West, beyond the Mississippi with a past mysteri ous, awe-inspiring remarkable for potent results with a pres ent active, buoyant, intelligent with a future full of promise, if the central valley, of the heart of which the homes of this au dience are a part, must continue subordinate in any of the fun damental activities of civilization, it will only be because the people are untrue to themselves. I speak advisedly when I say there is brilliant promise for noble achievement in all the highest walks of literature, in native mind which now asks direction. As citizens, as friends, best policy and noblest principle de mand of us that we require society to begin to make whomever has a thought of value, understand that at home recognition will be given it, whether it is good for the soil, or the shop, the office or the parlor whether it shall culminate in a plow, A new motor, a poem, an oration, a history or a statue. Provided with capabilities for erual rights, in opportunity, for all its citizens, let the West aspire to set the glorious example which just Republicanism contemplates the successful working of a social system based on goodness and truth among men, who cultivate the " memorable, the progressive, and the beautiful," whether they are what the world calls workers or thinkers. If tradition be credited, there was a literature in the West before the rifle s report and the woodman s ax displaced the war- whoop and the twang of the bow before smiling fields appeared, 23 A IMS COURSE. wher deep groves had for centuries welcomed sunshine, and invited shower*. If the red men had a touch of poetry in their manners and customs, as well as oratory in their councils, from character stamped by the inspiration of nature, shall white men fail, out of civilization, to attract regard for higher achievements than those which satisfy mere physical necessities ? The West has now shaping for homogeneousness, elements of character impressed with the individuality of its own early period, and with ancient civilization from the maturest nations, and all being quickened by the spirit of modern progress commerce having its pressing demands satisfied, trade and manufactures enjoying far-reaching triumphs of genius circumstances con spire to demand of the people of to-day, literary development which shall bring to us honor and respect as abundantly as no toriety for wheat and whisky, for corn and pork, brings now to us dollars and dimes. The epic, the lyric, the pastoral, repose in tradition, and in legend and story in groves and prairies -in rivers and cascades in fruitful valleys, and on picturesque hills ; history lives in our progress ; romance is an ever-pervading spirit of our valleys and water-courses and hill-sides ; but it will remain unwritten history, or poetry, or romance, except under spasmodic influen- ces, or with spasmodic effort, and the people of the West will win scornful censure, unless they encourage, with pen and purse, and good will and good words, instrumentalities which are com* petent to individualize a Western Literature* Literature is chief among teachers ; it preserves the past and cultivates the present* Its development is highest among a people s honors. That people which invites rich gifts, in poetry and history and romance, from all other people, taking no pains to reciprocate favors and cancel obligations, is weaker and meaner than an individual who will accept presents, to which neither courtesy nor charity entitles him* A DISCOURSE. 29 Young Men s Literary Societies, with libraries and lectures, discussions and essays, have been organized in nearly all of our towns and cities, They are an outgrowth of intelligent senti ment, fostered in our colleges, seminaries, and high schools. Professors and Teachers, in a large degree, command their in terest and usefulness for the future, From college halls and school rooms, in which compositions are read and discussions and declamations are heard, convictions and incentives may go out, which, in the next generation, can accomplish for a home literature all I have demanded all I have hoped in this Discourse, May I not appeal to this audience for thoughtful consideration of what I have urged for executive interest and local pride in a local Literature ? Societies, such as that I now address, are potent for literary culture. They have weighty responsibility. They can stimulate local pride in local poetry, and romance and history, Let each member bear actively in mind, that it is nobler to develop new thought than to circulate old ; that the capacity which produces is grander than that which enjoys. THE POETS JLND POETEY OF THE WEST. 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