Church-goers, fearful of the unseen Powers, But grumbling over pulpit tax and pew-rent, Saving, as shrewd economists, their souls And winter pork, with the least possible outlay Of salt and sanctity; in daily life Showing as little actual comprehension Of Christian charity and love and duty As if the Sermon on the Mount had been Outdated like a last year's almanac. A natural consequence of such criticism from without, and such raw and defective culture within the country, was that American writers of any moment bided their time as patiently as they could, recognizing that for the moment America must be a nation of workers who were rearing the pedestal, broad-based and grand, Whereon the fair shapes of the Artist shall stand, And creating, through labors undaunted and long, The theme for all Sculpture and Painting and Song.[10] Finally, it is worth noting that the first three eminent writers in nineteenth-century America were themselves not university products. Bryant withdrew from Williams College at the end of the first year, and Cooper from Yale toward the end of the second. The real education of these two and of Irving, who did not even enter college, was in the world of action rather than in the world of books, and their associates were for the most part men of affairs. [9] "Among the Hills" (Prelude, 71 ff.). [10] Lowell, "Fable for Critics." WASHINGTON IRVING