The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864

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We quote the following brave words from this remarkable book:

'We sometimes see religious newspapers charging each other with
acts which should exclude the perpetrators from the fraternity of
_honest_ men; for, through the medium of religious newspapers, one
church, or one fraction of a church, or one ecclesiastical body, or
one member of it, accuses another of an act, or a course of action,
which, in sober truth, amounts to nothing more or less than
_obvious, persistent deception, dishonesty and trickery_.... Can
such be correct transcripts of facts? Is it true that a church, or
any body corporate, whose very existence as such is professedly to
cultivate and disseminate the principles of sound morality and true
religion, does fall so far short of the faith delivered to the
saints--does so far forget its origin, and pervert its aims, as to
violate common law and common honesty, and persist in its
violation, deliberately, against repeated remonstrances, by sheer
force? Yet we see no convulsion in the community. Nothing intimates
that a great grief is fallen upon Israel. Everybody eats, drinks,
and sleeps as usual. The pulpits still stand, and the law and the
gospel are appealed to from that vantage ground. The sacramental
cup is still raised to devout lips. The gray heads of the culprits
still go in and out among the people with no diminishing of
honor--no odium is attached to their persons; no stigmas to their
names. What a state of things does this argue! A whole church
plunges into darkness, and the

'Majestic heaven
Shines not the less for that one vanished star.'

'Can we wonder that the world will not let itself be converted? To
what should it be converted, if it were willing? Would it be an
advance for a community that sends its thieves to prison when it
catches them to merge itself in a community that is content to
print a few columns of _expose_ on the subject? If the stream where
you wish to drink is muddy, you will scarcely find clear waters by
descending. You want to go up, not down; up on the high lands where
threads of crystal cleave the gray old rocks, and gather purity
from earth's deep bosom and the sky's clear blue.

'If it is not so, if the acts only appear dishonest because we are
looking at one side, why do we not say so, or why do we say
anything about it? Every man is to be held innocent till he is
proved guilty. If there is any standpoint from which we can view
our opponent's position and find it not dishonest, we ought to
mention it. We have no right to look at him from _a_ standpoint,
and hold him up to view as a criminal, and ignore _another_, from
which he may be seen as simply mistaken, or deceived, or blameless.
Still less have we a right to take innocent facts and construct
upon them a guilty hypothesis to suit our foregone conclusion. A
_right_ to do it? _It is sin_. _It is more than murder_. It may rob
a man of what is more precious to him than his life. It attempts to
take away from a man what, taken, would leave him stripped of his
manhood, and a man's manhood is worth more to him and his friends
than his bone and muscle.'

Ah, Gail, thy keen aim has indeed struck the pupil of the bull's eye! If
false statements of varying dogmas were held 'as criminal as they
undoubtedly are,' if they were never viewed from 'foregone conclusions,'
sects would perish in the death of misconceptions, and warring
Christians would rush into each other's arms with the joy-cry,
'Brothers!' Through the misstatements of centuries, the good Protestant
minister regards the Catholic priest, ready as he may be to die for the
faith of his fathers, as a _wilful liar_, a _conscious deceiver_,
selling the souls of his flock for a Judas bribe; while the equally good
priest, in his turn, looks upon the conscientious minister as a despiser
of authority, an enemy of the Church of Christ, refusing to hear what he
believes to be its undoubted teachings, a blind man, leading the blind
into the pit of perdition. The men may be both right from the standpoint
of their 'foregone conclusions,' both wrong from the standpoint of fact.
And so it goes on, through all the lesser sectarian divisions.
Everywhere misstatement, misconception, and smouldering hatred. The
first step to reconciliation among the antagonistic members of Christ's
torn body, would be to put into instantaneous practice the wise, sound,
and just maxims of Gail Hamilton. Let us begin it, lovers of truth and
justice!

THE MAINE WOODS. By HENRY D. THOREAU, Author of
'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,' 'Walden,'
'Excursions,' etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. For sale by D.
Appleton & Co., New York.

The first of the papers contained in this book was published in 'The
Union Magazine;' the second, 'Chesuncook,' came out in the 'Atlantic
Monthly,' in 1858; the last is now for the first time printed. The
contents of the volume are as follows: Ktaadn, Chesuncook, The Allegash
and East Branch; in the Appendix we have Trees, Flowers, and Shrubs,
List of Plants, List of Birds, Quadrupeds, Outfit for an Excursion, and
a List of Indian Words. Henry D. Thoreau was an enthusiastic lover of
nature, but no blind adorer of her loveliness. He knew her in all her
moods, was familiar with all her caprices. He was a man of strong brain,
and of accurate knowledge in such fields as it pleased him to study. The
woods have never before had such an accurate biographer, such a true
painter. He saw them with the eye of the poet as well as that of the
naturalist. Scholarship and imagination roam with him in the primeval
forests. After the most accurate and detailed description of a moose
which had been killed by his Indian guide, this anti-sentimentalist, but
true forest lover says: 'Here, just at the head of the murmuring rapids,
Joe now proceeded to skin the moose with a pocket knife, while I looked
on; and a tragical business it was--to see that still warm and
palpitating body pierced with a knife, to see the warm milk stream from
the rent udder, and the ghastly naked red carcass appearing from within
its seemly robe, which was made to hide it.' There is no joy of the
hunter here! The words are as 'tragical' and tender as were those of the
melancholy Jaques. That 'warm milk and rent udder' seems to make the
stately creature half human. He proceeds:

'But on more accounts than one, I had had enough of moose hunting.
I had not come to the woods for this purpose, nor had I foreseen
it, though I had been willing to learn how the Indian manoeuvred;
but one moose killed was as good, if not as bad, as a dozen. The
afternoon's tragedy and my share in it, as it affected the
_innocence_, destroyed the _pleasure_ of my adventure. This hunting
of the moose merely for the satisfaction of killing him--not even
for the sake of his hide--without making any extraordinary exertion
or running any risk yourself, is too much like going out by night
to some woodside pasture and shooting your neighbor's horses. These
are God's own horses, poor timid creatures, that will run fast
enough as soon as they smell you, though they are _nine_ feet high
(often eleven, with the antlers).... You strip off its hide,
because that is the common trophy, and moreover you have heard it
may be sold for mocassons--cut a steak from its body, and leave the
huge carcass 'to smell to heaven' for you. It is no better, at
least, than to assist at a slaughter house. This afternoon's
experience suggested to me how base or coarse are the motives which
commonly carry men into the wilderness. The explorers and lumberers
generally are hirelings, paid so much a day for their labor, and as
such they have no more love for wild nature than wood sawyers have
for forests. Other white men and Indians who come here are for the
most part hunters, whose object is to slay as many moose and other
wild animals as possible. But pray, could not one spend some weeks
or years in the solitude of this vast wilderness with other
employments than these--employments perfectly sweet, innocent, and
ennobling? For one that comes with a pencil to sketch or sing, a
thousand come with an axe or rifle. What a coarse and imperfect use
Indians and hunters make of nature! No wonder that their race is so
soon exterminated. I already, and for weeks afterward, felt my
nature the coarser for this part of my woodland experience, and was
reminded that our life should be lived as tenderly and daintily as
one would pluck a flower.'

Again:

'As I sat before the fire on my fir-twig seat, without walls above
or around me, I remembered how far on every hand that wilderness
stretched, before you came to cleared or cultivated fields, and
wondered if any bear or moose was watching the light of my fire;
for nature looked sternly upon me on account of the _murder of the
moose_.

'Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine
lives and grows and spires, lifting its ever-green arms to the
light--to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold
it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem
_that_ its true success. But the pine is no more lumber than man
is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and
highest use, than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and
made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to
pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a
pine than a dead human carcass is a man. Can he who has discovered
only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have
discovered the true use of the whale? Can he who slays the elephant
for his ivory be said to have 'seen the elephant'? These are petty
and accidental uses; just as if a stronger race were to kill us in
order to make buttons and flageolets of our bones; for everything
may serve a lower as well as a higher use. Every creature is better
alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who
understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy
it.

'Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the
pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it
the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for
turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have changed into a pine
at last? No! no! it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use
of the pine--who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with
a saw, nor stroke it with a plane--who knows whether its heart is
false without cutting into it--who has not bought the stumpage of
the town on which its stands. All the pines shudder and heave a
sigh when _that_ man steps on the forest floor. No, it is the poet,
who loves them as his own shadow in the air, and lets them stand. I
have been into the lumber yard, the carpenter's shop, the tannery,
the lamp-black factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at
length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light
at a distance over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the
former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones
or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the
tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and
which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and, perchance, may
go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.'

Reader, was not this man a nature lover, a nature limner, worthy to take
his place among our Giffords, Whittredges, McEntees, Bierstadts, and
Beards? Truly original, natural, and American, who among our descriptive
writers can surpass H. D. Thoreau?

PRIMARY LESSONS FOR DEAF MUTES. By J. A. JACOBS,
A. M., Principal of the Kentucky Institution for the Education of
Deaf Mutes. New York: John F. Trow, Printer & Publisher, 50 Greene
street, between Broome & Grand. 1864.

An excellent little work, intended to impart some of the rudimentary
branches of learning to that interesting class of our fellow beings who
can neither speak nor hear. Every effort made for their instruction
should be cordially welcomed, for sad indeed is their position, and very
difficult the discovery of means to reach and develop their often very
bright intelligence. These lessons can be used by parents, guardians, or
elder brothers and sisters, before the deaf-mute child is old enough to
send to a regular institution. They are divided into two parts, bound in
separate little volumes, and _filled_ with cuts illustrating the
text--or rather, the text, as is proper in such a work, illustrates the
cuts, which occupy the larger portion of the book. Teachers cannot but
find these aids of incalculable value.

THE RELATIONS OF THE INDUSTRY OF CANADA WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY
AND THE UNITED STATES. Being a Speech by ISAAC
BUCHANAN, Esq., M. P., as delivered at the late Demonstration
to the Parliamentary Opposition at Toronto; together with a series
of Articles in defence of the National Sentiments contained
therein, which originally appeared in the columns of the _Hamilton
Spectator_, from the pen of Mr. Buchanan; to which is added a
Speech delivered by him at the Dinner given to the Pioneers of
Upper Canada, at London, Canada West, 10th December, 1863. Now
first published in complete and collected form, with copious Notes
and Annotations, besides an extended Introductory Explanation, and
an Appendix containing various valuable Documents. Edited by
HENRY J. MORGAN, Corresponding Member of the New York
Historical Society, and Author of 'Sketches of Celebrated
Canadians.' Montreal: Printed by John Lovell, St. Nicholas. 1864.

We recommend this book to such of our readers as may be interested in
political economy, not as sound in theory, but as containing a vast
array of facts and giving considerable information with regard to the
internal affairs of our neighbor Canada. The Reciprocity Treaty comes in
for its share of consideration. Mr. Buchanan is a Protectionist, and
uses the arguments of his party with considerable ability. The question
of annexation is also incidentally touched upon. We do not know that we
can give our readers a better idea of the contents and policy of this
book than by placing the dedication before them.

'To the leaders of the forthcoming Party of Order, I dedicate these
pages, because I feel that the province is at the winning or the
losing, and that we shall hereafter have to hail you as the honored
instruments of our Political and Industrial salvation.

'In Mr. Buchanan's Letter to the Editor of the Globe, assuring him
publicly that Mr. Buchanan and all his friends, as in the Past, so
in the Future, would be found opponents to the death of Annexation,
and not its friends, as that journal basely insinuated, he states
that he is of no party, though reluctantly compelled to be in
opposition to the present ministry in consequence of their acts,
Executive as well as Legislative; but that he is of a class far
more numerous than the 'thick and thin' adherents of either of the
present _soi-disant_ parties. Those alluded to by Mr. Buchanan will
form a new party--the Party of Order, which will probably be called
the 'Constitutional Party'--its platform being broad enough to hold
all who value and respect the time-honored Constitution, whether
they be original Reformers or Conservatives in name. The new Party
of Order will comprise these elements:

'First. Conservative Liberals, or old Reformers, who have been
taught by experience, and are willing now to adopt the word
'Conservative,' at least in its adjective sense.

'Secondly. Liberal Conservatives, or old Tories, or their
descendants, who have also been taught by experience, and are
willing to adopt the word 'Liberal,' at least in its adjective
sense.

'Thirdly. Conservatives, and Conservative Liberals, who have
unwittingly been mingled up with the incendiary party, composed of
'Clear Grits' and 'Rouges.'

'And that in your discussions on the great question of the
Reciprocity Law, now about to agitate both Canada and the United
States, these pages may be of some service, is the fond hope of
your obedient servant,
'THE EDITOR.'

FAMILY PRIDE. By the Author of 'Pique.' Philadelphia: T.
B. Peterson & Brothers, 306 Chestnut street.

Family Pride is a novel of still greater interest than 'Pique.' The plot
is well conceived, the characters skilfully developed, and the attention
is fascinated even to the end. The moral is unexceptionable, the style
fresh and pure. We must however enter an earnest protest against the
manifest injustice of the closing sentence, where the talented author
has gone out of his way to find a blot for his book, the only stain upon
his fair pages. It reads thus: 'After a variety of vicissitudes, she had
embraced the Romish faith: that religion which relieves from all
personal responsibility in spiritual matters; and which teaches that
earthly penance and ascetic observances will open the gates of heaven to
the vilest of criminals.' We have studied Westminster, Episcopal, and
Catholic catechisms, the teachings in all three of which are that faith
in Christ and sorrow for and renunciation of sin alone can open the
gates of heaven. We regard it as the duty of a conscientious reviewer to
point out an erroneous statement wherever it occurs, whether in regard
to the faith of Protestants, Catholics, Hebrews, Mohammedans, Fire
Worshippers, or any other classes of men whatsoever. Misstatement has
caused an immense deal of bloodshed and bitterness among Christians. The
walls of Zion must be built of the stones of truth.

THE TANNER BOY, AND HOW HE BECAME LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. By
MAJOR PENNIMAN. 'The boy is father to the man.' Fifth
thousand. Boston: Roberts Brothers, publishers, 143 Washington
street. 1864.

A lively account of the boyhood and subsequent career of one likely to
be famous in American history. The nation's eyes are at this moment
turned hopefully upon the result of Gen. Grant's campaign in Virginia,
and all will be glad to learn that his previous life offers so fair and
pleasant a record. One observation, however, we feel called upon to make
to the entertaining Major: the youth of America should be taught to
love, to live for, and, if need be, to die for their country; but they
should also be taught to shun narrow exclusiveness and boastful vanity.
A government of a whole people should in this respect set a noble
example to all other nations.

The 'Tanner Boy' has already reached its 'fifth thousand,' and will no
doubt be eagerly read by all the patriotic boys and girls in the land.

WAX FLOWERS. J. E. Tilton & Co., Boston. 1864.

This little book contains somewhat over a hundred pages, and is gotten
up in the attractive style for which the publications of this firm have
become noted. A prefatory chapter sets forth the object of the work, and
the claims of the art. The first part treats of Wax Fruit, giving the
methods of making moulds and casting therefrom, of preparing the wax, of
coloring the fruit and giving it the proper outward texture. The second
part describes all the articles and materials required for making even
the most elaborate of WAX FLOWERS; gives the way of preparing
the wax, including its formation into sheets of any required thickness,
with all the minutiae relating to coloring, &c. The text is clearly and
simply written, and by the aid of ample illustrations everything is made
plain to the learner.

It is wonderful how exquisitely flowers may be imitated--making one wish
a device for the secreting of the appropriate perfumes.

The wax once gathered by bees through many a bower,
Glows again in the form of a beautiful flower.

The artist in wax enjoys the best of opportunities for learning Botany,
both analytically and synthetically. A series of models in wax would
make the ocular study of botany possible throughout the year. The taste
for wax flowers is becoming widely extended, and high prices are brought
by the finest specimens of the art. Humanity should heartily welcome an
employment which enables many to escape the suicide of the needle!

DENISE. By the Author of 'Mademoiselle Mori.' In two vols.
New York: James G. Gregory, 540 Broadway.

There is a strange charm about this book. The story is common enough,
the characters have nothing original in their conception, and yet we are
fascinated by the detailed truth of the portraiture from the first page
to the last. The scenes are laid in Farnoux, a town in the old Provencal
districts. The ancient views and manners are still retained, and
interest us by the force of contrast with our own. Mademoiselle Le
Marchand, an odd old maid, with a genius for painting, is really the
character of the book. Denise, the heroine, is quietly and faithfully
drawn. Various picturesque phases of the Catholic faith are artistically
managed, while the faith itself is not treated with much courtesy. As a
general thing we do not like theological novels written from foregone
conclusions. We can imagine however that such a subject might be made
intensely interesting. If a master mind of perfect impartiality would
give us the effect produced upon two minds of equal mental power, of
equal moral worth, by Protestantism or Catholicity--such a study would
both interest and instruct. All religious nicknames should be avoided,
as offensive both to charity and refined taste. Episcopalians do not
like to be called Anglicans; Friends, Quakers; Baptists, Hardshells;
Unitarians, Pantheists; nor Catholics, Romanists. Let us use courtesy to
all men, that so we may have more weight when we attack erroneous
principles.

By all means read Denise; its studies of the heart are close and
accurate.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

THE CAMPAIGN.

[_Furnished by a Friend of the Editor of_ THE CONTINENTAL.]

Three routes of operation are open to an army designing to proceed
against Richmond: first, along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to
Charlottesville; second, along the railroad from Fredericksburg to
Hanover Court House; and third, by the way of Fortress Monroe. The first
has the disadvantage of presenting a long line of communication,
constantly exposed to inroads from guerillas, and for the purposes of
warfare may be considered as utterly impracticable. It would not, in
fact, be worth considering, had not some critics of Gen. Grant's
movements absurdly insisted that he ought to have adopted this route.
The second route is far more advantageous, and had Gen. Grant's purposes
been confined simply to putting his army before the rebel capital, and
lying there to seize such opportunities as the developments of the
campaign should afford, it might have been expedient to maintain by this
route communications with the Potomac. But the intentions of our
Lieutenant-General were of a much more comprehensive character. While,
therefore, following this route in his march, because it gave the most
direct and shortest line to Richmond, he did not use the railroad as a
means of communication. His aim was fixed on an ulterior object. He
designed to put his army in such a position that it should be constantly
assailing Richmond by its presence, although not a gun should be fired.
He, therefore, tried the strength of the rebel works, in passing, and
finding that time would be spent uselessly in attempting to overthrow
them either upon the north or the east, he proceeded to the new position
south of the James, and adopted the third route mentioned for his
communication with the North, having previously used it, also, for the
transportation to the ultimate scene of conflict of a part of his forces
under Gen. Butler.

Among military men, there have been, since the commencement of the war,
many advocates for an attack on Richmond from the position at
Petersburg. It has many advantages. The facilities for transporting
supplies are easy, it isolates the capital of the Southern government
from its southern and eastern connections, it interferes largely with
the internal trade of the confederacy, it confines the rebel army in a
narrow space, and it necessitates constant efforts on the part of the
confederate commanders to expel the Northern forces, thus constraining
them to leave their works and become assailants. In fine, the position
affords more opportunities for strategically investing Richmond than any
other which is accessible to our armies.

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