The Spirit of AmericaPeople with restless minds and a strong turn for business are always on the lookout for new things to do and new ways of doing them. The natural world seems to them like a treasure-house with locked doors which it is there duty and privilege to unlock. No sooner is a new force discovered than they want to slip a collar over it and put it to work. No sooner is a new machine made than they are anxious to improve it.-from "Will-Power, Work, and Wealth"A popular pastor, poet, and educator at the turn of the 20th century, Henry Van Dyke served as Hyde Lecturer at the University of Paris from 1908 to 1909. There, he delivered a series of lectures designed to "promote an intelligent sympathy between France and the United States." Seven of these talks are reproduced here, in this 1910 volume, are his illumination of the American character and the soul of her people, from their devotion to self-reliance and fair play to the arts produced in this spirit. A valentine to his homeland and a plea for understanding, this is a fascinating look at the state of America-and Americans-a century ago.Also available from Cosimo Classics: Van Dyke's The Spirit of ChristmasOF INTEREST TO: students of American cultureAmerican author and clergyman HENRY VAN DYKE (1852-1933) was pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1883 to 1899 and professor of English literature at Princeton University from 1899 to 1923. He wrote numerous books of poetry and devotion, including Little Rivers (1895), The Other Wise Man (1896), and Fisherman's Luck (1899). |
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affairs Ameri André Tardieu character child labour churches cities citizen Civil colonies colonists common order common schools Congress Constitution course crowd Democrats dollars duty effort elective England English equal expression fact fair play feeling foreign France Franklin French George William Curtis give Grover Cleveland habit happiness Hull House human ideals immense independence industrial institutions intelligence interest James Lane Allen Joaquin Miller kind labour liberty living look ment moral nature organized Owen Wister party pass perhaps political popular President protection Puritans religious republic sense sentiment social coöperation societies soul speak Spirit of America spirit of fair spirit of self-reliance Spoils System strong suffrage temperament things tion to-day true ture understand United universities voluntary Washington Irving wealth will-power wish writers York
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Page 158 - ... it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate, with pleasing expectation, that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free Government — the ever favorite object of my heart — and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
Page 8 - Fresh pearls to their enamel gave, And the bellowing of the savage sea Greeted their safe escape to me. I wiped away the weeds and foam, I fetched my sea-born treasures home; But the poor, unsightly, noisome things Had left their beauty on the shore With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar.
Page 205 - ... the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the...
Page 75 - ... that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or...
Page 94 - US 746, at page 762, ... in the course of his concurring opinion in that case, that "the right to follow any of the common occupations of life is an inalienable right. It was formulated as such under the phrase 'pursuit of happiness' in the Declaration of Independence, which commenced with the fundamental proposition that 'all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights...
Page 55 - You have been told that we are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous of independency. Be assured that these are not facts, but calumnies. Permit us to be as free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you, to be our greatest glory, and our greatest happiness...
Page 56 - That it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs, has been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general.