Wake, Virginia! from thy slumber, from thy wild and traitorous dream;
Wake! and welcome loyal Northmen, sabres' ring and bayonets' gleam;
Cast aside the clanking fetters that still echo on thy soil,
Teach thy sons that no dishonor clings to manly, honest toil:
So again thy tree shall blossom, fairer, stronger than before,
And God's peace will rest upon thee, thy scourged fields will hover o'er.
VISIT TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.
APRIL, 1863.
We remember many years ago passing directly from the gallery of
Duesseldorf pictures, then recently opened in New York, to the hall of
the National Academy. The contrast to a lover of his country was a
painful one. The foreign school possessed ripeness of design, and
accurate, if in many instances somewhat mannered and artificial
execution. The native collection exhibited a poverty in conception, and
a harshness and crudity in performance, sadly discouraging to one who
would fain see the fine arts progress in equal measure with the more
material elements of civilization. Since that time, however, year by
year, the art of painting, at least, has steadily advanced, the light of
genius has been granted to spring from our midst, our artists dwelling
in foreign lands have returned to find a congenial atmosphere under
their native skies, and, in so far as landscape is concerned, we have
now no need to shun comparison with the best pictures produced abroad.
Our school is an original one, for our artists have gone to the great
teacher, Nature, who has shown them without stint the bright sun,
luminous sky, pearly dawns, hazy middays, glowing sunsets, shimmering
twilights, golden moons, rolling mists, fantastic clouds, wooded hills,
snow-capped peaks, waving grain fields, primeval forests, tender spring
foliage, gorgeous autumnal coloring, grand cataracts, leaping brooks,
noble rivers, clear lakes, bosky dells, lichen-covered crags, and varied
seacoasts of this western continent.
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