The Homes of the New World/Letter XXI.

by Fredrika Bremer

LETTER XXI.

TO THE CONFERENCE-COUNCILLOR H. C. ÖRSTED, COPENHAGEN.

Sea Side, New Jersey, August 10th. 

How often, my valued friend, have I thought of you in this hemisphere, so distant from your country and your home; how often have I wished it was in my power to tell you something about this great, steadily-progressing portion of the world, upon which your eye also rests with the interest of an inquirer. Of all my friends in Copenhagen you were the only one who understood that longing which impelled me to the New World; and when I put the question to you, “Does it appear to you extraordinary and irrational that I desire to see America?” you replied, “No! It is a great and remarkable formation of that creative mind which cannot but be in the highest degree interesting to study more nearly!”

Oh, yes; and so it is, and far more so than I had any idea of, and it is far richer than I can yet understand; and I have been more willing to wait before I wrote to you until this New World with all its various phenomena and their living unity had become more intelligible to myself. And for this purpose I might have waited yet much longer, because there is much here which I have not yet seen, which I have not yet well considered, and so to say, have not yet digested!

But I cannot, any longer, defer writing to you. The necessity to thank you compels me to write. I must—I will thank you for that great, unexpected pleasure which your spirit has afforded me here upon this foreign coast, many thousand miles distant from you. For here, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, here where constellations ascend which we do not behold in our horizon, here, have I read the last-published portion of your work, Aanden i Naturen; and that treatise which you gave me in Copenhagen, “Öfver Väsens enheten af Fôrnuftet i hela Verlds Altet,” that little work, which made me so infinitely happy, through the new, joyful light which it caused to arise before me, which brought the whole starry firmament nearer to my heart, and made each star burn with a light kindred to the light of my own spirit; that glorious, little, but large work, which accompanied me across the great sea from the Old World to the New, as one of my dearest treasures, I recognised in this your book, but amplified and rendered more perfect, as I had pre-conceived it capable of being. And I have been unspeakably delighted to recognise here as mature fruit the blossom of our conversation in Copenhagen; to see here my own earnest pre-vision of the subject, rendered yet more clearly and forcibly by your lucid and logical mind.

For what can be clearer, what more rational or more certain, than that when all the stars are governed by the same laws of revolution, when all of them are subject to the same light and the same shadow, and when we, in consequence of this, are able to study them, to discover their courses, &c., to calculate the place of the star and afterwards to find the star (le Verrier), then it is evident that the resemblance between the reason of man and the reason in the universe must go still farther, must embrace all spheres and in a similar manner. If we are necessarily to understand the terms, lines, circles, parabolas, &c., as applied to all those worlds, which we discern in space, as we understand their application to our earth, if their mathematical and physical laws are the same as those which are in force upon this earth, then is it clear that the sense of beauty cannot be essentially dissimilar, and that the moral reason must be fundamentally the same, must recognise the same principles, the same radical idea. You have clearly proved these; you have shown that if these distant spheres obey laws similar to those laws which operate upon our terrestrial globe, then it is probable, nay, almost certain, that reflecting beings, endowed with reason and with minds similar to our own, exist in these remote worlds, as their highest product, as the flowers of their life and laws, yes, that it is improbable that the great Creator there should have left his work more incomplete than upon this earth.

The same light, the same shadow! and I add, the same joy, the same tears, the same yearnings, the same hope, the same wants, the same faith, the same God, Creator, Mediator, Perfecter, yes, although under different circumstances and in different degrees of development, still individually the same for all, because the same normal process of life must avail for all. I do not know whether you go with me so far; but in one thing I believe that you will agree with me, because the thought is suggested by your work—namely—that there is not, in the whole universe, any place, not even the most remote star, which is altogether alien to this world, this earth upon which we live, and that reason which exists in us. From the wintry stillness of Urania to the glowing fervent life of Mercury, from the Nebula which slowly developes itself beneath the eye of the Creator in accordance with laws and powers similar to those of our earth, to the star which having attained the highest material perfectibility, producing harmonious communities of beautiful human beings and animal life, all conditions, all changes and scenes, all degrees of development and dissimilar associations of being in nature and spirit which the human life and human imagination can conceive——and far, far more still—for where is the human imagination that can extend to the peopling of the starry firmament, to the conception of all its forms?——all this is nevertheless, in reality, human,—is the world of man; is our world. Everywhere the same laws, the same governing reason; therefore—everywhere in reality, the same soul, the same heart.

Oh my friend! This human heart which loves so much, and which suffers so much; this spirit which anticipates and yearns after so much, which can attain to so little, perfect so little; this poor, combating, little, large, enigmatic being—Man, is not then after all so mean, so isolated in mind, in existence! That truth which he here acknowledges is truth in all worlds in the whole universe; that existence,—that inquiry,—that life which he has here begun may be developed in infinity, and attain its object; and released from earth we may find new light, yes the Eternal light, with adoration, indeed, but without being astonished by it—without being confounded by it; because he was at home in the region of light when here, and was acquainted with its nature long since.

The same light, the same shadows! Beloved stars, kindred worlds! in the same light, in the same father's house, how near, how dear you become to me. For though darkness and discord may prevail in you, as upon the earth, yet I know that the Master lives, who will separate the darkness from the light, and dissolve the discord into perfect harmony.

I saw one day, my dear friend, at your house, a quantity of sand-grains strewn upon a glass-plate arrange themselves under the influence of a musical note into the most exquisite, starlike, and symmetrically harmonious figure. A human hand made the stroke which produced the note. But when the stroke is made by the hand of the Almighty will not the note then produced bring into exquisitely harmonious form those sand-grains which are human beings, communities, nations? It will arrange the world in beauty and harmony, and there shall be no discord, and no lamentation any more; thus say the most reasonable anticipations of all people, as you yourself have told us with scientific certainty in your “Parity of Reason throughout the Universe;” and thus has He himself told us in his revelation, as Eternal goodness. And hence it is that I see, during life's changing phenomena, amid everything dark and chaotic, amid all stars, and in all stars, amid all tears—as well as in my own—everywhere the harmonious figure, the eternal star, the child of harmony, the future world of God, the kingdom of man; and hence it is that I weep and am joyful nevertheless.

You see, my estimable friend, what a pure, divine joy your book has awoke within me. It has been your desire, your pleasure, to impart such joy; and I cannot describe to you how my soul was enriched those mornings when I sate by the sea-shore with your book in my hand, and before me boundless space, as infinite as the views which it presented to my glance; or in the evenings when in thought with you I visited those brilliant worlds above and around me, and, according to the doctrine of the metamorphosis of things, I let my fancy freely sport with the powers of matter and of mind, whilst a magnificent spectacle of electric fire was displayed in the firmament above. Festal hours and moments!

Your book which was sent to me by the Danish Chargé d'Affaires in Philadelphia, Mr. Bille, was all the more welcome to me, as I had lately parted with that little work on the “Parity of Reason,” &c., which you gave me in Copenhagen; I had left it with Professor Henry of Washington, an amiable and distinguished scientific man, who, on hearing of its subject and nature from me wished to translate it. I have often heard your name mentioned with honour in the New World, together with those of Linnæus and Berzelius. Professor Henry was the first who made your scientific works known in this country. And it would delight you to know the rapidity and the skill with which every discovery in natural philosophy is here converted and applied to the public advantage. Your discovery of electro-magnetic power, which led to the invention of the electric telegraph, cannot be made more use of anywhere than in this country. Everywhere along the lines of railroad, from city to city and from state to state, is carried the electric telegraph. Distant cities, persons living in New York and New Orleans converse with each other by means of the electric wire, transact affairs of business—even affairs of marriage, I have heard—and every day are attempted new developments, new applications of those powers, the relationship between which were made known by you. The Americans seem to be particularly attracted by motive powers—by any method of expediting movement and accelerating communication. Anything which can give life and action goes most rapidly “a-head,” as the phrase is, that is to say, finds most favour with them. In the Patent Office, at Washington, where models are preserved of every machine made in the United States, which has been patented, and which amount, if I am not mistaken, to twelve or fifteen thousand—I remarked that the greater number of them were for the acceleration of speed, and for the saving of time and labour. There were also some for the perpetual movement which——now stand still. Even children seem to feel this passion for moving-machines. I saw on one occasion, a school of boys, during the time they were allowed to rest and to amuse themselves by drawing on their slates. I walked between the benches that I might see the work of the bright-eyed children and the inspiration of the moment. I saw on most of the slates smoking steam-engines, or steam-boats all in movement. But this interest in locomotive machinery has a profound connection with the movement of life itself in this country. Innumerable rivers and streams flow through this country in all directions, and give a greater facility to the circulation of life than in most other countries. Locomotives are here like pulses which impel the blood through the veins and arteries of the body to every part of the system. Nothing is so invariably a characteristic of life here as its incessant change from place to place. People, goods, thoughts and things, are in a perpetual state of movement and interchange between State and State, between the North and the South, between the East and the West; nothing stands still; nothing stagnates, unless exceptionally. The impulse and the necessity to obtain possession of all the natural resources to this country are, besides this, in full activity; and there is, in consequence, a great deal done, both by government and by individuals, to promote the extension of practical science. Geology and the physical sciences flourish; the different States send out scientific men to examine new districts within the States, and institutions are established for the advancement of useful knowledge, especially in natural history and mechanics. One such is the Franklin Institution at Philadelphia, another the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, the ornamental gothic building for which is now erected on the banks of the Potomac. This institution, endowed by a wealthy gentleman of the name of Smithson, is intended to form a central national institution, where all the scientific labourers of the United States may have a point of union. Professor Henry, who is the Secretary of the institution, was glad to have an opportunity of sending you the first printed transactions of this very important institute, and I shall have the pleasure of being the bearer of them to you.

Yes, how delightful it will be to me, on my return home, to see you and good Mrs. Örsted and Matilda, and to tell you by word of mouth what I have seen and experienced here. I can now only passingly touch upon that great theme, the life of the United States. I am like a gleaner, wandering here and there over the fields, gathering up ears and flowers to bind into sheaves and garlands, but in order to do that, I must have more than a handful; and, as yet, I have not more.

The commencement of my wanderings in this hemisphere was in the north-eastern States of the Union. I found there earnestness and labour, restless onward-striving, power both manual and spiritual; large educational establishments, manufactories, asylums for the suffering and institutions for the restoration of fallen humanity, were all admirable there, and above all, the upward-progressive movement of society. I saw before the winter set in the glorious Hudson, with its magnificent scenery, its shores covered with wood, which at that season presented the most wonderful splendour and variety of colour; I saw the rivers of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and hills and valleys which often reminded me of Sweden, for the scenery of Sweden and that of these two States resemble each other greatly, inasmuch as they have the strong characteristics of winter, snow and ice, and the dramatic scenes which these afford both of suffering and pleasure. After that I saw in the south the Palmetto States, Carolina and Georgia, and here I was enchanted by a luxuriance in the outward life of Nature, to which I had hitherto been a stranger! Would that I were able to describe to you those red rivers, the shores of which are covered with woods as yet untouched by human hand, and where no human habitation is to be found; woods which seem to swim upon the water, and where a hundred different kinds of trees were engarlanded by hundreds of different beautiful flowering creepers—a chaotic vegetable life, but full of beauty, and the most wonderful groupings, in which one discerns all those various architectural forms which we admire in temples and churches built by human hands. The primeval forest here presents them in fantastic sport, inspired by its morning dream. The morning dream of Nature! Is not Nature human, or at least full of the human element in the bad and the good, the beautiful and hideous? She must have human dreams. The primeval forest exhibits on a colossal scale porticoes and vaulted temples, pyramids, grottoes, sphinxes and dragons, flower-crowned columns, temples of joy, triumphal arches, and profound, quiet tombs. The primeval feast presents a dream of the world of man; and with what a richness of detail, what a depth of poetry! I dreamed myself back as I beheld this sight to the third day of creation, when, in obedience to the creative “Let there be!” the earth opened her maternal bosom, and brought forth the vegetable world in its morning pomp, still prophetical warm from the dream of night. You, my friend, who have so much of the poet in your soul, will not be offended that I, in this case, see rather through the eye of the biblical Genesis, than through that of science. The former beholds in one moment that which the latter beholds in a succession of periods; yet they both behold the same reality.

It was an especial delight to me to recognise among the common productions of these woods many which I had seen as rare species when I walked with you through the botanic garden at Copenhagen; of these I remember particularly the tulip-tree, and the fan-palm or palmetto, which is one of the most common indigenous trees of the Southern States.

If life in the Northern States is a grand epic, a poem full of great teaching, then is that of the Southern States a romance of infinitely-picturesque beauty—yes, even though slavery and sandy deserts exist there. As belonging to the romantic life of these States must be mentioned the negroes, with their enigmatical character, their songs and religious festivals; the cities full of orange-groves, and their many kinds of beautiful flowering trees; their piazzas, covered with honeysuckle and roses, which no winter destroys, amid which flutter sun-bright humming-birds, and which screen from the heat of the sun beautiful but pale women; their fire-flies shining forth like points of light in the night; their pine-woods, where blossoming azaleas stand like angels of light among the dark trees, in which sing thrushes, and the “hundred-tongued birds;” and for the rest, those peculiar vegetable growths which are the natural productions of these States,—cotton (particularly in the beautiful islands along the coasts), rice, and so on, the cultivation of these, as well as the mixed population. But I must stop. It is presumption to attempt a description of the life and peculiar characteristics of the States, when I know that every single State in the Union is like a perfect realm, with almost all the various circumstances and resources of a European kingdom in fertile fields, metallic mountains, navigable rivers, forests, and besides these many natural gifts and beauties which as yet are unknown, and not turned to account. Yes, it excites at the same time both joy and despair, to know that there is on all hands so much that is new, and so much which is yet unknown, and so much which I never shall know. Fortunately, however, for this country, it possesses, in its very subdivision and form of government, a great and effective means of becoming acquainted with itself. Each separate State is like an independent individual existence, and feels itself excited to emulate its sister-states (with which it sometimes wrangles and quarrels, as sisters will sometimes do in their younger years), and to become a full-grown human being on its own account. And for this purpose all its powers are called into action, and all its peculiar ways and means are examined into. Hence it is that in this land of liberty there is no limitation to experimental attempts. Everything, even the very maddest of all, may be attempted, and proved whether there is anything available in it or not. Everything, even the most absurd, is sure of having some adherents, and an opportunity afforded for trial; and I have heard Americans say jestingly, that if anybody came forth with the assertion that it was better to walk upon the head than the feet, he would be quite sure of pupils who would, in most good earnest, make the attempt whether it were possible to walk on the head. Other men would perhaps laugh at them, still would allow them to make the trial, quite certain that if by experiment it was found that walking on the head were not practicable, they would soon get on their legs again, and in the meantime they would have gained something by experience. And certain it is that several attempts, which in the beginning have appeared as absurd as that of making use of the head instead of the feet, and which were treated accordingly, have after a time succeeded, and been crowned with the most fortunate results. One such attempt may be mentioned as that of exporting ice to the tropical countries. The first person who tried this experiment, and who now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was regarded for several years by certain people as a fool. Now, however, the exportation of ice to hot countries forms one of the principal sources of revenue to North America. Great numbers of ships transport blocks of ice from the mountains of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to the cities of the Southern States, to the West Indian Islands, to Mexico, &c.

Yes, North America, by means of the speculative disposition of her people, by means of her political subdivision, her institutions which afford free play to individual peculiarity and will, in evil as well as in good; America is the land of experiment, and its commencement, in the field of experimental humanity, reveals a boundless prospect as to what it may yet bring forth. One of its sons drew the lightning from the clouds; another created wings out of steam for all the people of the earth, so that they might fly round the world; a third has, oh the happy man! discovered the means of mitigating life's bitter enemy, bodily suffering, and of extending the wings of the angel of sleep over the unfortunate one in the hour of his agony! And all this has been done in the early morning of the country's life, for in computing the age of a world's cultivation which has a thousand years for its future, two centuries' existence is merely as the morning hour; the day lies before it as its future. What will not this people accomplish during the day? Of a verity greater things than these! That will I venture to predict from its eye; for that eye is vigilant and bright; it is early accustomed keenly to observe the object which is, without asking about that which was, and without being checked by the warning cry of antiquity; it has a watchful eye, undaunted courage, and unwearied perseverance. And if this observant eye, when the working days are over, and the sabbath recurs, were directed more exclusively upon spiritual things, would it not even then make discoveries and introduce science and certainty into regions where now humanity is merely at home, by means of hope and faith. I believe so, because the purpose of this people's gaze as well as of their social arrangements, is, above everything else, to compass those ends which are of importance to the whole of humanity; I believe it, because the Germanic element, the character of which is profoundly intellectual and transcendental, is, in this country, mingled with the Anglo-Norman, and from the union of these two races a third national character may be expected, which shall combine the highest speculative thought with the clearest practical intuition.

But I will not any longer occupy your time, and perhaps your patience, with my endeavour to show the harmonious figure in the star of the American Union. Regard this then as an ear of corn, plucked from a rich harvest field. When I have completed my wanderings, when I have returned to you, I shall bring more with me. By that time I shall have visited the most Northern States of the Union, the land of the White Mountains and the Indians, and that great West, “that great wonderful West,” as the people of the West call it; where, in the vast valley of the Mississippi, there is said to be room for more than two hundred and fifty millions of people to live comfortably; where rich American corn grows in unexampled luxuriance, and where one first begins fully to comprehend the phenomenon of the United States' progress, or as it is called “growth.” As regards this growth, this progress, and in what it properly consists, I hope at some future time to converse with you.

When I may see you again—whether this autumn, or not until next spring—I do not know. If my mother and sister consent I shall remain over the winter. The great kindness and hospitality with which I am received, makes it easy for me to visit very distant States and places. This is a blessing for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful. This hospitality, however, which would make my life a perpetual festival, is too much for the powers of my mind and body. The nation has a warm, youthful heart, and that one must confess with pleasure and gratitude, even if one is one's self too old or too stupid properly to receive what they wish to give.

The very reception, both outwardly and spiritually, which they give you is a part of this youthfulness of life. America is a hospitable land for strangers, not alone as they may come outwardly in flesh and blood, but as regards thoughts and ideas. And this is shown by the veneration which is felt for many of the scientific names of Europe. And I expect to see much seed of future development germinating here, in consequence of the increasing and more inward approximation of the American and Scandinavian mind. You are here generally known, and are becoming more and more so every day. When H. Martensen's theological writings are known here he will produce an epoch in the religious knowledge of the New World; for the state of this presses onward to that harmonious figure in which every separate particle forms a portion of the great universal harmony. And of this kind is Martensen's Philosophical Theology.

I am at this moment greatly distressed by the intelligence of the war, which has again broken out between Denmark and Holstein. And we hoped for peace!

But that brave little people cannot lose the victory. There must be, I predict it, a good ending to the war; and Denmark will arise therefrom stronger and greater than before! May it be so; and when I again see you and my Danish friends, may we drink a skål to Denmark's honourable peace!

I inclose in your letter a few lines to Andersen. His “Fairy Tales” are universally read and loved in this country, both by great and small, as they are with us. Let me be retained in your remembrance, and regard as your

Sincerely devoted, and grateful friend

FREDRIKA BREMER.