Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848Various
General
Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
This much have we said on the subject of the White House and its
precincts, because we took occasion, in a former work, to berate the
narrow-minded parsimony which left the grounds of the White House in a
condition that was discreditable to the republic. How far our
philippic may have hastened the improvements which have been made, is
more than we shall pretend to say, but having made the former
strictures, we are happy to have an occasion to say (though nearly
twenty years have intervened between the expressions of the two
opinions) that they are no longer merited.
And here we will add another word, and that on a subject that is not
sufficiently pressed on the attention of a people, who, by position,
are unavoidably provincial. We invite those whose gorges rise at any
stricture on any thing American, and who fancy it is enough to belong
to the great republic to be great in itself, to place themselves in
front of the State Department, as it now stands, and to examine its
dimensions, material and form with critical eyes; then to look along
the adjacent Treasury Buildings, to fancy them completed, by a
junction with new edifices of a similar construction to contain the
department of state; next to fancy similar works completed for the two
opposite departments; after which, to compare the past and present
with the future as thus finished, and remember how recent has been the
partial improvement which even now exists. If this examination and
comparison do not show, directly to the sense of sight, how much there
was and is to criticise, as put in contrast with other countries, we
shall give up the individuals in question, as too deeply dyed in the
provincial wool ever to be whitened. The present Trinity church, New
York, certainly not more than a third class European church, if as
much, compared with its village-like predecessor, may supply a
practical homily of the same degree of usefulness. There may be those
among us, however, who fancy it patriotism to maintain that the old
Treasury Buildings were quite equal to the new, and of these intense
Americans we cry their mercy!
Rose felt keenly on reaching her late aunt's very neat dwelling in
Fourteenth Street, New York. But the manly tenderness of Mulford was
a great support to her, and a little time brought her to think of that
weak-minded, but well-meaning and affectionate relative, with gentle
regret, rather than with grief. Among the connections of her young
husband, she found several females of a class in life certainly equal
to her own, and somewhat superior to the latter in education and
habits. As for Harry, he very gladly passed the season with his
beautiful bride, though a fine ship was laid down for him, by means of
Rose's fortune, now much increased by her aunt's death, and he was
absent in Europe when his son was born; an event that occurred only
two months since.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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