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Vol. 4, Num. 6, Serial No. 106, May 1, 1916, by Hamilton W. Mabie
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Title: The Mentor: American Pioneer Prose Writers,
Vol. 4, Num. 6, Serial No. 106, May 1, 1916
Author: Hamilton W. Mabie
Release Date: April 11, 2016 [EBook #51731]
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THE MENTOR 1916.05.01, No. 106,
American Pioneer Prose Writers
LEARN ONE THING
EVERY DAY
MAY 1 1916 SERIAL NO. 106
THE
MENTOR
AMERICAN PIONEER
PROSE WRITERS
By HAMILTON W. MABIE
Author and Editor
DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME 4
LITERATURE NUMBER 6
FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY
Fame In Name Only
What do we really know of them--these library gods of ours? We know
them by name; their names are household words. We know them by fame;
their fame is immortal. So we pay tribute to them by purchasing their
books--and, too often, rest satisfied with that. The riches that they
offer us are within arm’s length, and we leave them there. We go our
ways seeking for mental nourishment, when our larders at home are full.
* * * * *
Three hundred years ago last week William Shakespeare died, but
Shakespeare, the poet, is more alive today than when his bones were
laid to rest in Stratford. It was not until seven years after his
death that the first collected edition of his works was published.
Today there are thousands of editions, and new ones appear each year.
It seems that we must all have Shakespeare in our homes. And why? Is
it simply to give character to our bookshelves; or is it because we
realize that the works of Shakespeare and of his fellow immortals are
the foundation stones of literature, and that we want to be near them
and know them?
* * * * *
We value anniversaries most of all as occasions for placing fresh
wreaths of laurel on life’s altars. In the memory of Shakespeare, then,
let us pledge ourselves anew to our library gods. Let us turn their
glowing pages again--and read once more those inspired messages of mind
and heart in which we find life’s meaning.
[Illustration: JONATHAN EDWARDS]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course
Jonathan Edwards was one of the most impressive figures of his time.
He was a deep thinker, a strong writer, a powerful theologian, and
a constructive philosopher. He was born on October 5, 1703, at East
(now South) Windsor, Connecticut. His father, Timothy Edwards, was a
minister of East Windsor, and also a tutor. Jonathan, the only son, was
the fifth of eleven children.
Even as a boy he was thoughtful and serious minded. It is recorded that
he never played the games, or got mixed up in the mischief that the
usual boy indulges in. When he was only ten years old he wrote a tract
on the soul. Two years later he wrote a really remarkable essay on the
“Flying Spider.” He entered Yale and graduated at the head of his class
as valedictorian. The next two years he spent in New Haven studying
theology. In February, 1727, he was ordained minister at Northampton,
Massachusetts. In the same year he married Sarah Pierrepont, who was an
admirable wife and became the mother of his twelve children.
In 1733 a great revival in religion began in Northampton. So intense
did this become in that winter that the business of the town was
threatened. In six months nearly 300 were admitted to the church. Of
course Edwards was a leading spirit in this revival. The orthodox
leaders of the church had no sympathy with it. At last a crisis came in
Edwards’ relations with his congregation, which finally ended in his
being driven from the church.
Edwards and his family were now thrown upon the world with nothing
to live on. After some time he became pastor of an Indian mission at
Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He preached to the Indians through an
interpreter, and in every way possible defended their interests against
the whites, who were trying to enrich themselves at the expense of the
red men.
President Burr of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University)
died in 1757. Five years before he had married one of Edwards’
daughters. Jonathan Edwards was elected to his place, and installed
in February, 1758. There was smallpox in Princeton at this time, and
the new president was inoculated for it. His feeble constitution could
not bear the shock, and he died on March 22. He was buried in the old
cemetery at Princeton.
Edwards in personal appearance was slender and about six feet tall,
with an oval, gentle, almost feminine face which made him look the
scholar and the mystic. But he had a violent temper when aroused, and
was a strict parent. He did not allow his boys out of doors after nine
o’clock at night, and if any suitor of his daughter remained beyond
that hour he was quietly but forcibly informed that it was time to lock
up the house.
Jonathan Edwards would not be called an eloquent speaker today; but his
sermons were forceful, and charged with his personality. These sermons
were written in very small handwriting, with the lines close together.
It was Edwards’ invariable habit to read them. He leaned with his left
elbow on the cushion of the pulpit, and brought the finely written
manuscript close to his eyes. He used no gestures; but shifted from
foot to foot while reading.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 6, SERIAL No. 106
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course
Probably no American of humble origin ever attained to more enduring
fame than many-sided Benjamin Franklin. The secret of his rise can be
tersely told. He had ceaseless energy, guided by a passion for the
improvement of mankind. A recital of his accomplishments sounds like a
round of the old counting game, “doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” He
was, in fact, all the list except the “thief.”
Boston gave him to America on January 17, 1706, but Philadelphia
claimed him early, and he stamped himself upon the Quaker City almost
as definitely as did William Penn.
Passing over his precocious boyhood, when he wrote for the Boston
publication of his brother James with a skill that at the time was held
astonishing, the day he reached Philadelphia he was a great, overgrown
boy, his clothes most unsightly; for he had been wrecked trying to make
an economical trip from New York by sailboat. With the exception of a
single Dutch dollar he was penniless. As he trudged about the streets,
his big eyes drinking in the sights, his cupid-bow mouth ready to smile
at the slightest provocation, he munched a roll of bread. His reserve
food supply was a loaf under each arm.
He was an expert printer, and printers were wanted in Philadelphia. He
soon got a job, after which he found a boarding place in the home of
one Read, with whose daughter, Deborah, he promptly fell in love.
After a few years the governor of Pennsylvania urged him to go to
London to purchase a printing plant of his own. The official had
promised to send letters and funds aboard the ship in the mail-bag; but
at the critical moment forgot all about it. So young Franklin landed in
London without a cent, and played a short engagement as “beggar man.”
Again his skill as a printer saved him from want, and he remained five
years, having a most interesting time, meeting many of the great men of
England, all of whom were charmed with his wit and philosophy.
In all that period he did not write a single letter to Deborah Read;
yet he seemed surprised and hurt on his return to Philadelphia to find
the young woman married to another. But Deborah’s husband, who had
treated her cruelly, quite civilly left her a widow, so that Franklin,
careless but faithful, was able ultimately to claim her as his wife.
For the next twenty years Franklin did something new at almost every
turn. He flew a kite in a thunder shower, drew down electricity,
and invented the lightning rod, to the salvation of generations of
rural sales agents. He invented a stove that still holds his name. He
organized the first fire company in America, and founded the first
public library. All the while he was publishing “Poor Richard’s
Almanac,” which to this day ranks as an epigrammatic masterpiece.
American politics soon claimed Franklin as an ideal diplomatist.
English and Scottish universities honored him with degrees for his
discoveries and writings. In Paris he became the most popular man of
the period, and was overwhelmed with attention from all classes.
He was one of the first signers of the Declaration of Independence; and
he rounded out his political career as governor of Pennsylvania and one
of the framers of the Constitution. He died in Philadelphia in April,
1790, in some respects the greatest of Americans.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 6, SERIAL No. 106
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN
Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course
Charles Brockden Brown has often been called the earliest American
novelist; but today his books are very rarely read. All of them are
romantic and weird, with incidents bordering on the supernatural. They
are typical of the kind of novel general at the time Brown lived.
He was born on January 17, 1771, in Philadelphia. His parents were
Quakers. As a boy his health was bad, and since he was not able to
join with other boys in outdoor sports he spent most of his time in
study. His principal amusement was the invention of ideal architectural
designs, planned on the most extensive and elaborate scale. Later this
bent for construction developed into schemes for ideal commonwealths.
Still later it showed itself in the elaborate plots of his novels.
Brown planned in the early part of his life to study law; but his
constitution was too feeble for this arduous work. He had his share of
the youthful dreams of great literary conquests. He planned a great
epic on the discovery of America, with Columbus as his hero; another
with the adventures of Pizarro for the subject; and still another
upon the conquests of Cortes. However, as with the case of many great
dreams, they were given up.
When he was still a boy he wrote a romance called “Carsol,” which
was not published, however, until after his death. The next thing he
wrote was an essay on the question of women’s rights and liberties.
This question was already becoming an important one in England, where
William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft were publishing their writings.
Brown was much influenced by the works of both.
Although Brown’s books make heavy reading, yet his companionships were
of the liveliest. It was said that no man ever had truer friends or
loved these friends better. One of his closest friends was Dr. Eli
Smith, a literary man. It was through him that Brown was introduced
into the Friendly Club of New York City, where he met many other
workers in the literary field. And it was under their influence that he
produced his first, important work.
This was a novel published in 1798, called “Wieland, or the
Transformation.” A mystery, seemingly inexplicable, is solved as a
case of ventriloquism, which at that time was just beginning to be
understood thoroughly. His next book was “Arthur Mervyn,” remarkable
for its description of the epidemic of yellow fever in Philadelphia.
“Edgar Huntley,” a romance rich in local color, followed this. An
effective use is made of somnambulism, and in it Brown anticipates
James Fenimore Cooper’s introduction of the American Indian into
fiction.
The novelist then wrote two novels dealing with ordinary life; but they
proved to be failures. Then he began to compile a general system of
geography, to edit a periodical, and to write political pamphlets; but
all the time his health was failing. On February 22, 1810, he died of
tuberculosis.
His biographer, William Dunlap, who was the novelist’s friend, says
that Brown was the purest and most amiable of men, due perhaps to his
Quaker education. His manner was at times a little stiff and formal;
but in spite of this he was deeply loved by his friends.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
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[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
WASHINGTON IRVING
Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course
A bankruptcy produced one of the greatest American writers. If the
business house with which Washington Irving was associated had not
failed, he might never have seriously attempted to take up literature.
Washington Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1783. He was
named after George Washington, who at that time was the idol of the
American people. Both his parents were immigrants from Great Britain.
His father was a prosperous merchant at the time of Irving’s birth.
Irving was a mischievous boy. Perhaps this was due to the fact that
Deacon Irving was a severe father. He detested the theater, and
permitted no reading on Sunday except the Bible and the Catechism.
Washington was permitted on weekdays to read only Gulliver’s Travels
and Robinson Crusoe. Nevertheless, in spite of his father’s strictness,
the boy managed to steal away from home to attend the theater.
Irving intended to be a lawyer; but his health gave way, and he had
to take a voyage to Europe. In this journey he went as far as Rome,
and in England made the acquaintance of Washington Allston, the famous
American painter, who was then living there. On his return he was
admitted to the bar; but he made little effort at practising.
In the meanwhile, however, he, his brother William, and J. K. Paulding
wrote some humorous sketches called “Salmagundi Papers,” which were
quite successful.
About this time came the single romance of Irving’s life. Judge
Hoffman, in whose law office he was, had a daughter named Matilda.
The young lawyer fell in love with her; but this romance was brought
to a tragic end by her death. Irving never married, remaining true
throughout life to the memory of this early attachment.
Irving’s first important piece of writing was the Knickerbocker History
of New York. It was a clever parody of a history of the city published
by Dr. Samuel Mitchell. The book was received with enthusiasm by the
public, and Irving’s reputation was made.
His health, never of the best, again gave way. In 1815 he revisited
Europe, and made the acquaintance of many important people there,
including Disraeli, Campbell, and Scott. The business in which he was
a silent partner fell into bad conditions and ended with a bankruptcy
which left Irving virtually without resources. His brother, who was
an influential member of Congress, secured for him a secretaryship in
the United States Navy Department with a salary of $2,500 a year; but
Irving declined this, with the intention of writing for a living.
From that time he was successful. All his books were eagerly received,
and it was not long before he was considered America’s leading writer.
He went to Spain as attaché of the American legation in 1826. When he
returned to the United States he found his name a household word. Then
he decided to settle down somewhere in the country and quietly enjoy
life. He built a delightful home on the Hudson River, New York, to
which he gave the name of “Sunnyside,” where he spent his last years.
His charming personality attracted to him many friends, and there were
no worries to bother him. He continued his writing to the very last.
He died of heart disease at Sunnyside on November 28, 1859. On the day
of his funeral all the shops in Tarrytown were closed and draped in
mourning. Both sides of the road leading to his grave at Sleepy Hollow
were crowded with sorrowful mourners.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
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[Illustration: JAMES KIRKE PAULDING]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”
It is rather unusual to find that the most familiar writing of an
author is merely a bit of nonsense. Yet the verse of James Kirke
Paulding best known to us today is the tongue-twister quoted above. He
wrote poetry, most of which is gracefully commonplace, and a good many
novels, attractive in style but of no great interest.
James Kirke Paulding was born in Dutchess County, New York, on August
22, 1779. He attended the village school for a short time; but in 1800
went to New York City, where, in connection with his brother-in-law,
William Irving, and Washington Irving, another of the American pioneer
prose writers, he began to publish in January, 1807, a series of short,
lightly humorous articles called the “Salmagundi Papers.” In 1814 a
political pamphlet of his, “The United States and England,” attracted
the notice of President Madison. He was favorably impressed, and the
next year appointed him secretary to the Board of Navy Commissioners.
He held this position until November, 1823. He was navy agent in New
York City from 1825 to 1837.
Paulding was always a successful man of affairs and an able politician.
In recognition of his ability, President Van Buren made him a member of
his cabinet in 1837 as Secretary of the Navy.
Later he retired to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he divided his time
between writing and farming. He died on April 6, 1860.
Paulding came of good old Knickerbocker blood. In his work he never
liked to revise what he had already written, nor did he plan out his
books. His best known work is perhaps the “Dutchman’s Fireside,” which
has many pleasing pages of Dutch life.
He also wrote a number of poems; but these do not measure up to the
standards of good poetry. One of them, “The Backwoodsman,” extends over
three thousand lines, few of which may be termed good.
Paulding was one of the first distinctively American writers. From
his father, an active Revolutionary patriot, he inherited strong
anti-British sentiments. Throughout his life he was a vigorous
protester against intellectual thraldom to the mother country.
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[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER]
American Pioneer Prose Writers
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course
James Fenimore Cooper was one of the most popular writers that ever
lived. Almost every American has read some or all of Cooper’s books,
and his stories have been translated into nearly all the languages of
Europe, and indeed into some of Asia. Balzac, the French novelist,
admired him greatly. Victor Hugo, another famous French writer, said
that Cooper was greater than any novelist living at that time. Many of
Cooper’s readers gave him the title of “The American Walter Scott.”
Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789. His
boyhood was spent in the wild country around Otsego Lake, New York. His
father was a judge and a member of Congress. Cooper entered Yale at the
early age of fourteen, and was the youngest student on the rolls.
At college he did not pay much attention to his studies, and in fact
was rather wayward. Before he had even completed his junior year, his
resignation was requested. His father interceded for him; but it was
useless. The young man then entered the United States navy; but, after
becoming a midshipman, he resigned to marry. He then settled down in
Westchester County, New York. His home life proved to be most happy.
He published his first book, “Precaution,” anonymously. Then came “The
Spy,” in 1821, a success from the very first. Many novels followed in
rapid succession. In 1826 he went to Paris, where he published “The
Prairie,” which many consider the best of all his books. He became very
popular abroad. The most distinguished people of Europe felt honored to
entertain him.
In 1833 he returned to America, where he discovered that his popularity
was declining, as American critics did not believe that his later
books were measuring up to his earlier standard. He resented the sharp
criticism of several of his writings, and much ill feeling grew up
between the novelist and the public.
In particular he was on bad terms with his neighbors in the village
of Cooperstown, New York, where he lived. This came to a climax
in a fierce quarrel over the ownership of a bit of woodland which
extended into the lake near his home, Otsego Hall. Cooper won in the
courts;--but the villagers evened things up with him by personal
attacks. Law-suits followed one after another. Although Cooper
pretended indifference to public opinion, nevertheless he suffered
under the abusive attacks.
Cooper was not on intimate terms with the prominent literary men of his
day. Toward the end of his life he loved his home more and more. He
was fond of walking in the woods and fields, and, as he himself said,
he had “an old man’s yearning for the solemn shadows of the trees.”
On September 14, 1851, he died peacefully in his home at Cooperstown,
surrounded by members of his family.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 6, SERIAL No. 106
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
AMERICAN PIONEER PROSE WRITERS
By HAMILTON W. MABIE
_Author and Critic_
[Illustration: FRANKLIN IN 1784
MODELED BY GIUSEPPE CENACHI]
THE MENTOR
MAY 1, 1916 · DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE
MENTOR GRAVURES
JONATHAN EDWARDS
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN
WASHINGTON IRVING
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
[Illustration: JONATHAN EDWARDS’ MEETING HOUSE
Built 1737--Torn down 1812]
The literatures of the great nations have begun with the childhood of
those nations; that is to say, with fairy tales and legends and songs
of heroism; with Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” the Song of Beowulf
(bay´-o-wulf), to name a few among many of the great beginnings of
writing. In this country the pioneer writers shared the conditions of
the pioneer builders of homes and communities. They were not, however,
a people in their intellectual infancy. The country was new; but the
people were old. They had all left literature of a high order behind
them. Many of them must have been familiar with poetry and prose in
English, French, and German, to say nothing of the classic literature
which the scholars knew; and there were many scholars, north and south,
among the early settlers.
The exploration and settlement of the country was a great adventure,
which involved not only peril, but very hard work. In every colony
people had to begin at the beginning,--to get roofs over their heads
to protect them from the climate, to raise the things they were to
eat, to protect themselves from the Indians,--to do a thousand things
of which people of our day are unconscious because they were done so
long ago. The distances between the colonies were great, the means of
communication were slow and infrequent, and the colonists knew very
little of one another. They were isolated communities, not in any
sense a nation. And so the early writing was the expression of the
experiences and convictions of small communities. There cannot be a
national literature until there is a national consciousness; and in the
early days in America there was not even a sectional consciousness.
There was only local consciousness.
[Illustration: THE JONATHAN EDWARDS ELM, Northampton, Mass.
Set by Jonathan Edwards in 1730--The house of Josiah D. Whitney stands
on the right of Edwards’ house]
The first book written on the continent was by that flamboyant, but
very versatile Virginia colonist, Captain John Smith; a brave soldier,
with a very warm and highly inventive imagination, whose habit of
boasting has robbed him of a great deal of credit which really belonged
to him. He wrote an account of adventures in Virginia, which may be
taken as the beginning of American writing, and still has value. There
was a long interval during which the writing of the colonists was
devoted to theological discussion, or to accounts of the new world in
which they were living.
A large part of the early writings of New England was more or less
theological; but none of this writing rose to the rank of literature
until Jonathan Edwards appeared in the first half of the eighteenth
century.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
The son of a minister who was a lover of learning as well as of
religion, like a great many other ministers of his time in New England,
who prepared young men for college, and gave his daughters the same
kind of instruction in the same subjects. Edwards was also the grandson
of a minister on his mother’s side; and his ancestry, like his
descendants, was notable for intellectual vigor. He graduated from Yale
College at the age of thirteen,--not an uncommon happening in that day
of few entrance requirements,--and the qualities of his mind and the
direction of his taste are indicated by the fact that he was already
making notes on the mind and on natural philosophy. He studied for the
ministry, and when he was twenty-four years old settled at Northampton,
Massachusetts, where he was fortunate enough to marry a woman as
remarkable as himself, of whom he wrote a description which has become
a classic in the literature of love. Edwards was pursued by a haunting
sense of sinfulness, and the depravity of the world often weighed
heavily upon him. Mrs. Edwards happily combined a piety equal to that
of her husband with great cheerfulness of disposition.
[Illustration: HOUSE IN BOSTON IN WHICH FRANKLIN WAS BORN, 1706]
[Illustration: MEDALLION OF FRANKLIN, Age 72
By Jean Baptiste Nini]
[Illustration: FRANKLIN’S GRAVE
Fifth and Arch Sts., Philadelphia]
EDWARDS AS AN AUTHOR
A man of his intensity was certain to come into collision with some of
the ideas held by his contemporaries and with much of their practice;
and Edwards finally antagonized his congregation to such a degree
that at the age of fifty-six he preached his farewell sermon. Several
avenues of work were open to him, for he had become a man of wide
reputation; but he settled at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and wrote
in the quiet of what was then a wilderness his famous treatise on “The
Freedom of the Will,” which is probably the most important American
contribution to philosophy. It is his sermons, however, rather than his
treatises, which entitle his work to a place in the history of American
literature. Between eleven and twelve hundred of these sermons are
preserved in Yale University Library. They are characterized by great
vigor of thought, intensity of feeling, and often impressive power of
statement. One of them, more famous, though in some respects not so
true a piece of literature as others, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God,” created great commotion in its time, and the glow of the fire
which possessed the preacher has not yet wholly faded from its pages.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN, from a painting by D. Martin]
LITERATURE OF THE REVOLUTION
As the War of the Revolution approached the colonists began to have
hopes and fears in common, and the war was preceded by a war of words.
The grievances of the colonists were stated many times, sometimes with
great force of reasoning and clearness; and a literature of discussion
and debate, which reached the public largely through pamphlets, came
into existence. Samuel Adams of Massachusetts wrote a stirring defense
of the rights of the colonists. James Adams, James Otis, and Thomas
Jefferson came to the front in this discussion; and their writing took
on the dignity of literature.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN]
THOMAS PAINE
One of the most vigorous contributors to this discussion was Thomas
Paine, an Englishman by birth, whose ability as a writer attracted the
attention of Benjamin Franklin, then in London, at whose suggestion
Paine came to America. He had already made himself somewhat noted as
a radical critic of the English government and political system, and
within a year of his arrival in this country became editor of the
Pennsylvania Magazine. His “Common Sense,” a pamphlet published in
1776, was a very vigorous argument in favor of severing all ties with
the mother country. The argument was put so strongly, and at the same
time with such simplicity, that it made a great impression on all
kinds of people, and the Pennsylvania legislature, in recognition of
the services he had rendered to the American cause, made him a gift
of five hundred pounds. This pamphlet was immediately translated into
various European languages. His “Crisis,” which was published from time
to time during the war, was also of great importance to the Americans,
and the first number was read by order of Washington to every regiment
in the colonial army. This was in the terrible winter of 1776, and
the spirit and courage expressed in these papers did much to relieve
the despondency of the time. The “Age of Reason,” an attack on the
Bible, published in 1794, shocked the world, and so beclouded Paine’s
reputation that his great service to the country has been largely
overlooked.
[Illustration: CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN
By Wm. Dunlap--1806]
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
If one wanted to name three men who are in a supreme degree
representative of three leading American types, he would not go far
astray if he named Franklin, Emerson, and Lincoln. Several years
before the Revolution Hume described Franklin as “The First and indeed
the first great Man of Letters in America”; and Dr. Johnson, in that
most delightful exploitation of ignorance and eloquence, “Taxation No
Tyranny,” described him as “a master of mischief.” Franklin was then
one of the foremost representatives of the colonists, and one of the
most ardent advocates of their claims. For thirty years Europe knew
more about him than any other man in America, not excepting Washington.
He was a Bostonian by birth, the son of a tallow chandler. He had a
casual contact with the Boston Latin School; but his formal education
was finished in his eleventh year, when he began to work as a general
utility boy in his father’s shop. He was fond of reading, and was
fortunate enough to possess Bunyan’s works, and a little later he was
reading Robinson Crusoe and other works by Defoe, who undoubtedly had
great influence on his style. His love of books inclined him to the
printer’s trade, and his self-education went on rapidly. Another piece
of good fortune was finding a volume of the Spectator. He has given a
very interesting account of his use of this classic of sound, clear
English prose, and has described its influence on his language and
style. Then he read Xenophon’s “Memorabilia,” which gave him a clear
idea of the Socratic method of discussion. At the age of fifteen he was
already writing for the colonial press, contributing essays notable for
their very sensible moralizing and their practical wisdom; for Franklin
was, and still is, the representative of American practical sagacity
and commonsense.
POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC
Fame and fortune came to him with the publication of Poor Richard’s
Almanac, which began in 1732 and was continued for a quarter of a
century. These almanacs went into almost every house in America,
and served not only as calendars, lists of events, warnings about
the weather, with doggerel verses, but furnished proverbs of a very
practical character, and also margins on which all sorts of notes could
be written. “Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee,” is a good
example of “Poor Richard’s” practical wisdom. His personal experience
at home and abroad made Franklin in many ways the most conspicuous
American of his time. His industry is shown by the fact that his work
fills a hundred and seven volumes. In this mass of writing, of greatest
importance is his Autobiography, which told the story of his life from
his childhood to his arrival in London in 1757. It is a straight,
clear, unpretentious piece of writing, and, all things considered,
must be considered one of the most important original contributions to
American literature.
[Illustration: MATILDA HOFFMAN
By Malbone]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING
From the painting by Gilbert Stuart Newton]
[Illustration: BUST OF IRVING IN BRYANT PARK, NEW YORK CITY]
JOHN WOOLMAN
[Illustration: SUNNYSIDE, IRVING’S HOME NEAR TARRYTOWN, N. Y.]
[Illustration: TABLET BY V. D. BRENNER, ON WASHINGTON IRVING HIGH
SCHOOL, NEW YORK CITY]
If John Woolman’s work had borne any resemblance to that of Jonathan
Edwards, Charles Lamb would never have said of it, “Learn Woolman’s
work by heart.” It was as far as possible removed from the Dantesque
vigor of the Puritan preacher. Woolman was a Quaker, born in New
Jersey, with very few educational opportunities, but of a naturally
religious nature, and seemed early, though in a perfectly normal way,
to have thought of the world as the creation of a great and benignant
God. Like many other naturally serious youths of his time, as of
Bunyan’s time, he was sorely beset by a consciousness of sinfulness,
which he expressed in terms that today seem morbid in their intensity.
He accused himself of offenses of which it is quite certain that
he was innocent; but he began very early to understand the gospel
of love and to desire above everything else to live in complete
harmony with the will of God. He was not satisfied, however, to do
this by simply obeying the law of righteousness or acquiescing in a
will which he could not oppose. He was eager to make his obedience
positive and active; so he became one of the earliest antislavery men
in the country, and one of the most ardent. His genius saved him from
fanaticism; while his simple earnestness and his effective appeal to
the higher ideals of his auditors made him a persuasive speaker. He
hated slavery; but he never attacked the slaveholder. His nature was
one of singular purity and harmony; and as he had no self-consciousness
and no ambition, and writing was simply a means of expression, his
nature got into his style. Although an illiterate Quaker, an English
critic declared that “He writes in a style of the most exquisite purity
and grace.” His Journal, which is considered one of the classics
of early American literature, is an unaffected and intimate record
of his thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It was begun in his
thirty-seventh year. It is not in any sense great literature; but it is
real literature, and as contrasted with all the colonial writing, save
that of Edwards and Franklin, it stands out by reason of the purity of
its style and the beauty of its feeling and thought.
[Illustration: JAMES K. PAULDING, by Jarvis]
The note of mystery was struck early in American writing, “Peter Rugg,”
by William Austin, appearing in the New England Galaxy in 1824-1826.
CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN
Charles Brockden Brown’s stories were published still earlier; and
he is often spoken of as the predecessor of Hawthorne. Like Francis
Hopkinson, he was a Philadelphian, who studied law and made literature
his profession. His first novel, “Wieland, or The Transformation,” was
a story of ventriloquism, very artificial, but skilful and interesting.
This was followed by a much more striking tale, “Edgar Huntley,” a
tale of terror, which seemed to predict Poe, and this in turn by three
or four other novels. Brown was an industrious man, and his activity
extended into other fields. He published a number of pamphlets and
semiscientific treatises. His work had little permanent value. It was
sentimental and unreal, and lacked art; but its morbid psychology and a
certain kind of intensity gave it popularity at the time.
[Illustration: PAULDING’S HOME AT PLEASANT VALLEY, N. Y.]
WASHINGTON IRVING
American literature in the strictest sense of the word really began
in the city of New York with the publication of Washington Irving’s
Knickerbocker History of New York. New York was then the most
cosmopolitan of all cities of the New World, as it was the largest.
It was a pleasant town of twenty-five thousand people, and it had
picturesque traditions; for it was first settled by the Dutch, who had,
in a way, taken possession of the Hudson River. They were followed
in turn by the English, and still later there was a large influx of
French Huguenots. When the Revolution broke out eighteen languages were
already spoken in the city of New York. It was natural, therefore,
that the literature of imagination, of humor, and of sentiment should
find a soil in the cosmopolitan society of the town; and Irving, who
was born in the year in which the British troops embarked for England,
who declined to go to college, as his brothers had gone, but read
law and, probably with greater avidity, books of general literature,
and was a lover of nature, had both the temperament and the taste to
write gentle satire. He was a born observer and loiterer, a man who
saw and felt and meditated. He had the high spirit of youth, and when
he returned in 1806 from Europe he was still a young man, and there
were some other gifted young men in New York to keep him company. They
published anonymously a series of semi-humorous, satirical comments
on men, women, and things social, dramatic, and literary, under the
title “Salmagundi,” and in these papers Irving’s humor, sentiment,
and delightful style were conspicuous. They were followed by the
Knickerbocker History of New York, in which the audacious young man
broadly burlesqued the ancestors of some of the foremost people in New
York. It was good-natured; but it gave great offense. It was, however,
the first book of quality and feeling written by an American. In 1815
Irving went to Europe a second time, and did not return until 1832.
During that interval he published two books, which made a reputation
for him on both sides of the Atlantic, “Bracebridge Hall” and “The
Sketch-Book.” These books made the colonists, irritated by their long
discussion with England, more tolerant of the mother country, because
they recalled places and customs that had been dear to their ancestors,
or to their own youth. Thackeray called Irving “the first ambassador
whom the new world of letters sent to the old.”
[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF COOPER, Burlington, N. J.
The center house is the home of Capt. James Lawrence]
[Illustration: OTSEGO HALL, COOPERSTOWN, N. Y.
Cooper’s boyhood home]
[Illustration: COOPER IN 1822, painted by J. W. Jarvis]
JAMES K. PAULDING
One of the most prominent members of the little company of young men
subsequently known as the Knickerbocker writers, who were all friends
of Irving, was James K. Paulding, whose youth fell in the period of the
Revolutionary War. In consequence he received very little education,
but had great vigor of mind and energy of character. He early became
acquainted with Washington Irving, and a strong friendship grew up
between them. Paulding was one of the contributors to the Salmagundi
papers, and began early to write for various periodicals. His diverting
history of “John Bull and Brother Jonathan” passed through many
editions, and his satirical tendency made him popular at a time when
the feeling in this country against Great Britain was very strong.
A pamphlet entitled “The United States and England,” which appeared
in 1814, secured political preferment for Paulding, and he was made
secretary to the first board of navy commissioners. A story published
in 1831, “The Dutchman’s Fireside,” founded on an earlier description
of the manners of the early Dutch settlers, was his most successful
production, passing through six editions in a year, and being
republished abroad and translated into several languages. Paulding’s
talent, although genuine, was not distinctive enough to secure his
permanent reputation; but he remains a very interesting figure in a
group of delightful writers, and his early skits, if they may be so
called, were very keen satirical comments on some offensive British
traits and qualities.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
[Illustration: BUST OF COOPER
David d’Angers--1828]
[Illustration: LEATHER STOCKING MONUMENT AT COOPERSTOWN]
Cooper, who was also a New Yorker, published “The Spy” in 1821.
“Precaution,” his first effort in fiction, which had already appeared,
was a study of English society life, about which Cooper knew very
little, and it was a failure. In “The Spy,” Cooper knew his ground
and his people. He had spent much of his boyhood at Cooperstown, in
central New York, near the scene of much of the Indian fighting. He
had heard stories of adventure from Indian fighters and trappers. Many
of the men who had fought in the American ranks during the War of the
Revolution were still living. “The Spy” was instantly popular, because
it was the first really American novel written by an American. It dealt
with a very interesting character, Harvey Birch; and it appealed alike
to the men who knew of the war from experience, and to those who had
been brought up to revere the veterans of the Revolution. Europe, too,
was intensely curious about the Indian, and the stories that followed,
especially those in the Leather Stocking Tales, were translated into
almost every European tongue, and are still read in all parts of the
Old World. Boys in remote German villages are still playing Cooper’s
Indians.
Cooper was a very uneven writer, careless, and indifferent about
artistic effects. He was often diffuse and often commonplace, and he
had not much skill in drawing portraits of men and women; but he could
tell a story rapidly and dramatically. He knew how to keep his readers
in suspense, and he knew nature, both on land and at sea.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERATURE _By Henry S. Pancoast_
BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE _By W. P. Trent_
An excellent treatment of the subject
in brief.
A STUDY OF PROSE FICTION _By Bliss Perry_
A scholarly work by a distinguished
critical writer.
ASPECTS OF FICTION _By Brander Matthews_
An informing and also a charming
literary study by a recognized
authority.
LITERARY HISTORY OF AMERICA _By Prof. Barrett Wendell_
HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN AMERICA _By Prof. Barrett Wendell
and C. N. Greenough_
A condensed survey of the subject.
MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FICTION _By Clayton Hamilton_
A simple, interesting, practical book.
AMERICAN LANDS AND LETTERS _By Donald G. Mitchell (Ik Marvel)_
A most attractive work, valuable in
its informing qualities, and written
in most delightful style by the
author of “Reveries of a Bachelor.”
THE OPEN LETTER
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81. China
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86. China and Pottery of Our Forefathers
87. The Story of The American Railroad
88. Butterflies
89. The Philippines
90. Great Galleries of The World: The Louvre
91. William M. Thackeray
92. Grand Canyon of Arizona
93. Architecture in American Country Homes
94. The Story of The Danube
95. Animals in Art
96. The Holy Land
97. John Milton
98. Joan Of Arc
99. Furniture of the Revolutionary Period
100. The Ring of the Nibelung
Volume 4
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104. Great Galleries of the World: The National Gallery, London
105. Masters of the Violin
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