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4
Muscle and
pluck forever!
What
invigorates life, invigorates death,
And the dead
advance as much as the living advance,
And the
future is no more uncertain than the present,
And the
roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the
earth and of man,
And nothing
endures but personal qualities.
What do you
think endures?
Do you think
the great city endures?
Or a teeming
manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the best-built steamships?
Or hotels of
granite and iron? or any chef-d’oeuvres of engineering, forts, armaments?
Away! These
are not to be cherish’d for themselves;
They fill
their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them;
The show
passes, all does well enough of course,
All does
very well till one flash of defiance.
The great
city is that which has the greatest man or woman;
If it be a
few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
5
The place
where the great city stands is not the place of stretch’d wharves, docks, manufactures,
deposits of produce,
Nor the
place of ceaseless salutes of new comers, or the anchor-lifters of the
departing,
Nor the
place of the tallest and costliest buildings, or shops selling goods from the
rest of the earth,
Nor the
place of the best libraries and schools—nor the place where money is plentiest,
Nor the
place of the most numerous population.
Where the
city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards;
Where the
city stands that is beloved by these, and loves them in return, and understands
them;
Where no
monuments exist to heroes, but in the common words and deeds;
Where thrift
is in its place, and prudence is in its place;
Where the
men and women think lightly of the laws;
Where the
slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases;
Where the
populace rise at once against the never-ending audacity of elected persons;
Where fierce
men and women pour forth, as the sea to the whistle of death pours its sweeping
and unript waves;
Where
outside authority enters always after the precedence of inside authority;
Where the
citizen is always the head and ideal—and President, Mayor, Governor, and what
not, are agents for pay;
Where
children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend on themselves;
Where
equanimity is illustrated in affairs;
Where
speculations on the Soul are encouraged;
Where women
walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men,
Where they
enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men;
Where the
city of the faithfulest friends stands;
Where the
city of the cleanliness of the sexes stands;
Where the
city of the healthiest fathers stands;
Where the
city of the best-bodied mothers stands,
There the
great city stands.
[Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.]
 |
| [2nd Avenue in New York City c. 1861.] |
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