The love of trade is assigned as a
reason for that comfortless custom, so very prevalent in country
towns, of married persons living in hotels, having no fireside of
their own, and seldom meeting from early morning until late at
night, but at the hasty public meals. The love of trade is a
reason why the literature of America is to remain for ever
unprotected 'For we are a trading people, and don't care for
poetry:' though we DO, by the way, profess to be very proud of our
poets: while healthful amusements, cheerful means of recreation,
and wholesome fancies, must fade before the stern utilitarian joys
of trade.
These three characteristics are strongly presented at every turn,
full in the stranger's view. But, the foul growth of America has a
more tangled root than this; and it strikes its fibres, deep in its
licentious Press.
Schools may be erected, East, West, North, and South; pupils be
taught, and masters reared, by scores upon scores of thousands;
colleges may thrive, churches may be crammed, temperance may be
diffused, and advancing knowledge in all other forms walk through
the land with giant strides: but while the newspaper press of
America is in, or near, its present abject state, high moral
improvement in that country is hopeless.
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