AMERICAN LITERATURE AN IMPORTANT STUDY.We should not begin the study of American literature
in an apologetic spirit. There should be no attempt to minimize the debt that America owes to English literature,
nor to conceal the fact that American literature is young and has not had time to produce as many masterpieces as
England gave to the world during a thousand years. However, it is now time also to record the fact that the
literature of England gained something from America. Cultivated Englishmen to−day willingly admit that without
a study of Cooper, Poe, and Hawthorne no one could give an adequate account of the landmarks of achievement
in fiction, written in our common tongue. French critics have even gone so far as to canonize Poe. In a certain
field he and Hawthorne occupy a unique place in the world's achievement. Again, men like Bret Harte and Mark
Twain are not common in any literature. Foreigners have had American books translated into all the leading
languages of the world. It is now more than one hundred years since Franklin, the great American philosopher of
the practical, died, and yet several European nations reprint nearly every year some of his sayings, which continue
to influence the masses. English critics, like John Addington Symonds, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edward
Dowden, have testified to the power of the democratic element in our literature and have given the dictum that it
cannot be neglected.
Some of the reasons why American literature developed along original lines and thus conveyed a message of its
own to the world are to be found in the changed environment and the varying problems and ideals of American
life. Even more important than the changed ways of earning a living and the difference in climate, animals, and
scenery were the struggles leading to the Revolutionary War, the formation and guidance of the Republic, and the
Civil War. All these combined to give individuality to American thought and literature.
Taken as a whole, American literature has accomplished more than might reasonably have been expected. Its
study is especially important for us, since the deeds associated with our birthplace must mean more to us than
more remarkable achievements of men born under other skies. Our literature, even in its humble beginnings,
contains a lesson that no American can afford to miss. Unless we know its ideals and moral aims and are swayed
by them, we cannot keep our heritage.
WHY VIRGINIA WAS COLONIZED.In 1607 the first permanent English colony within the present limits of
the United States was planted at Jamestown in Virginia. The colony was founded for commercial reasons by the
London Company, an organization formed to secure profits from colonization. The colonists and the company
that furnished their ship and outfit expected large profits from the gold mines and the precious stones which were
believed to await discovery. Of course, the adventurers were also influenced by the honor and the romantic
interest which they thought would result from a successful settlement.