BEIEF ESSAYS 209 



the British bumblebee is a coarser and more hairy 

 creature than ours; and the fox and the squirrel, as 

 well as the domestic animals, are less sleek and 

 trim than with us. Our bright, sharp climate has 

 its effect upon all things, but it is only up to a 

 certain point that this effect is matter for con- 

 gratulation. All European forms are refined here, 

 but presently there is danger that they may become 

 attenuated and weakened. The children of Euro- 

 pean parents born here — Irish, English, German 

 — are, as a rule, much more shapely and clear-cut 

 in. feature than when born in the same rank of 

 life in Europe. But they are less robust and virile, 

 especially the girls; while, probably, the next gen- 

 eration will be still less so. Here comes in the 

 setback. What appears to be the most serious dan- 

 ger now threatening the American race is just this 

 tendency to over-refinement, and the consequent 

 failure in reproduction. 



This tendency has set its stamp upon our men- 

 tality, so that our literary and scientific works, and 

 all the varied outcomes of our mental life, are char- 

 acterized by clearness, quickness, aptness, rather 

 than by force, or depth, or real mastery. Our lit- 

 erature, as such,' has less bulk than the English or 

 German, less body and more grace and refinement. 

 Compare Emerson with Carlyle, or Eiske with 

 Spencer, or Hawthorne with Scott, or Prescott 

 with Macaulay, or Howells with George Eliot. Up 

 to a certain point this deftness and clearness of 

 our authors gives them the advantage; but when 



