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Untitled Article
a faint breathing of those wild sweets that load the gales of his native mountains . New England abounds in beautiful scenery ; the lakes , the rivers ,, the forests , the villages ,, the towns , and the cities , all these offer delightful pictures ; yet , except in the wildest landscapes ,
there is a deficiency of certain features which are necessary to constitute a picturesque view : castles and towers are wanting ; here are no tottering wails , broken arches , ruinated mansions , or lowly cottages to group and contrast in picturesque assemblage ; the works of man , and man himself , lack that picturesqueness of appearance which characterises the scenery of the old world . Compare a country scene in Italy with one in New England :
the dwelling of the Italian peasant is , perhaps , a picture in itself ; small , yet a most fantastic bit of architecture , stone , wood ,, and thatch in picturesque combination ; the remains of a temple or an amphitheatre ornament this rude structure ; a ruined wall props one end ; a straggling pathway , overgrown with weeds , leads by the door ; a ragged-looking donkey is browsing in one
corner , and a more ragged peasant is idly enjoying the sunshine in another ; half-naked children with dirty faces , and a beggar with his tatters and tragical visage , occupy the foreground , while the ruined arches of a bridge choke a sluggish stream in the distance ; all look very negligent and picturesque . On the other hand , contemplate a New England farm : the house is a spacious wooden edifice , neat and comfortable : the walls and fences are
in good repair ; the barn is snug and tidy , the cattle are smooth and sleek , the garden exhibits straig ht lines and regular divisions ; the roads are broad and even . Instead of beggars and idlers , you see a neatly-dressed rustic driving his waggon to market ; a smart-looking boy with his satchel trudging off to school ; or a female with a leghorn hat and silk parasol—nothing looks so comfortable , thriving , and unpicturesque .
Of such a nature , indeed , is the general contrast which strikes the observation of the American when across the ocean , and it is a contrast ever present to his mind . On the European shores , in spite of the wealth and luxury heaped up in every spot , and the thousand artificial means of promoting human happiness and
the improvement of mankind , he is struck at each step with the marks of the sluggishness and decrepitude of decaying institutions ; everything speaks to him of an old world ; and his contemplations turn by contrast to his own land , where society has begun a new career , and ail things exhibit the blooming freshness and vigour of young life .
Untitled Article
102 American Sketches .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 102, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/22/
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