disposal of everything beautiful and costly and artistic which the Old
World possesses, and all the shopkeepers of Europe, with the knowledge
of generations on the tips of their tongues and in the corners of their
brains, have come over to coin dowries for their daughters in the land
of the free and the home of the brave. Many of them have already made
large fortunes in the process, and are beginning to con the pages of
the late Ward McAllister’s book on etiquette with a view to social
aggressiveness.
Despite this infusion of foreign blood, the native stock and the
Anglo-Saxon nomenclature are still, of course, predominant in numbers.
There are some portions of the country where the late immigrant is
scarcely to be found. True also is it that these late-comers, like
the immigrants of fifty years ago, have generally been prompt in
appropriating the independent and energetic spirit typical of our
people. But there is a significant distinction to be borne in mind
in this connexion: The independent energy of the Americans of fifty
years ago, whether in the East or among the pioneers of the Western
frontier, was not, however crude its manifestations, mere bombastic
assertiveness, but the expression of a faith and the expression of
strong character. They were often ignorant, conceited, narrow, hard,
and signally inartistic; but they stood for principle and right as they
saw and believed it; they cherished ideals; they were firm as adamant
in their convictions; and God talked with them whether in the store or
workshop, or at the plough. This was essentially true of the rank and
file of the people, no less true and perhaps more true of the humblest
citizens than of the well-to-do and prominent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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