The Spirit of America

People with restless minds and a strong turn for business are always on the lookout for new things to do and new ways of doing them. The natural world seems to them like a treasure-house with locked doors which it is there duty and privilege to unlock. No sooner is a new force discovered than they want to slip a collar over it and put it to work. No sooner is a new machine made than they are anxious to improve it.-from "Will-Power, Work, and Wealth"A popular pastor, poet, and educator at the turn of the 20th century, Henry Van Dyke served as Hyde Lecturer at the University of Paris from 1908 to 1909. There, he delivered a series of lectures designed to "promote an intelligent sympathy between France and the United States." Seven of these talks are reproduced here, in this 1910 volume, are his illumination of the American character and the soul of her people, from their devotion to self-reliance and fair play to the arts produced in this spirit. A valentine to his homeland and a plea for understanding, this is a fascinating look at the state of America-and Americans-a century ago.Also available from Cosimo Classics: Van Dyke's The Spirit of ChristmasOF INTEREST TO: students of American cultureAmerican author and clergyman HENRY VAN DYKE (1852-1933) was pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1883 to 1899 and professor of English literature at Princeton University from 1899 to 1923. He wrote numerous books of poetry and devotion, including Little Rivers (1895), The Other Wise Man (1896), and Fisherman's Luck (1899).