Civilization in the United States: An inquiry by thirty Americans
General
Civilization in the United States: An inquiry by thirty Americans
United States -- Civilization
The schoolmaster has ever followed in the wake of the full dinner-pail.
He now made his appearance and began to teach. Considering the
circumstances he did remarkably well. But he too worked under a
disadvantage. He was obliged to go to New England for his learning
and for his text-books. And the historian of the Boston school,
while industrious and patient, was not entirely a fair witness. The
recollection of British red-coats drilling on the Common was still
fresh in the minds of many good citizens. The wickedness of George III
was more than a myth to those good men and women whose own fathers had
watched Major Pitcairn as he marched forth to arrest Adams and Hancock.
They sincerely hated their former rulers, while they could not deny
their love for the old mother country. Hence there arose a conflict of
grave consequence. With one hand the New England chronicler twisted the
tail of the British lion. With the other he fed the creature little
bits of sugar.
Again the scene changed. The little red school-house had marched across
the plains. It had followed the pioneer through the passes of the
Rocky Mountains. It had reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The
time of hacking and building and frying with lard came to a definite
end. The little red school-house gave way for the academy of learning.
College and University arose wherever a thousand people happened to be
together. History became a part of the curriculum. The schoolmaster,
jack of all learned trades and master of many practical pursuits,
became extinct. The professional historian made his appearance. And
thereby hangs a sad tale which takes us to the barren banks of the
Spree.
Ever since the Thirty Years War, Germany had been the battlefield of
Europe. The ambitions of the Napoleon who was four feet tall and smooth
shaven and the prospective ambitions of the Napoleon who was five feet
tall and who waxed his moustachios, had given and were actually giving
that country very little rest. The intelligentsia of the defunct Holy
Roman Empire saw but a single road which could lead to salvation. The
old German State must be re-established and the kings of Prussia must
become heirs to the traditions of Charlemagne. To prove this point
it was necessary that the obedient subjects of half a hundred little
potentates be filled with certain definite historical notions about
the glorious past of Heinrich the Fat and Konrad the Lean. The patient
historical camels of the Teutonic universities were driven into the
heart of _Historia Deserta_ and brought back those stupendous bricks
of learning out of which the rulers of the land could build their
monuments to the glorious memory of the Ancestors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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